Chapter Four: Ice Between Wind and Fire
Many days had passed – Kiht couldn't keep track of exactly how many, but the time had come. Dayn had never let her meet the group she would be fighting alongside. It had her frustrated, but she didn't have much choice. The shortest way out was through three interconnected Ixal camps. Her plan was to hope that the attack would cause enough of a distraction for her to sneak through all three. It was a long shot, but at least she knew success would return her to the Central Highlands. What she had learned opened her mind. She could feel that her body was undergoing a change. Regardless, her objective was the same; she had spent enough time in the icy, rocky hell. It was time to go home.
Kiht stood atop a rock formation at the top of the hill. It was the dark of night, but with her Moon-keeper eyes, she could see the two camps clearly. An almost vertical rock wall; higher than the hill and rock formations she stood upon, was the backdrop of the small Ixal camp below. At least a dozen rope ladders were strung up the side of the rock wall. This appeared to allow the Ixal from the camp below to climb up to the larger camp above. The larger camp, sitting atop the plateau-like mountain, had its own set of walls. Because of Kiht's angle, she could not see into the camp atop the mountain. However, the camp below was easy to gaze into from her angle. The smaller camp had one Ixal war balloon. Like a typical Ixal camp, it had assorted torches and tents. There was a small amount of guards on patrol, and a half-dozen sleeping watch wolves roped to their posts. Kiht had already scouted the camp the night before. She made sure she memorized it, and had no need to take another thorough look.
She was told to wait. She would wait until Dayn and his group attacked first. Despite the Ixal camp being small, she had her doubts. Dayn and his group would get to surprise the Ixal, but with the walls and the gate, the Ixal would have plenty of time to prepare for battle. There were only a few ways that Dayn and his group could attack the camp without giving them the chance to prepare. Once again, she had no choice but to wait and see if Dayn's assurances would hold true.
Kiht was not left to wait much longer. Suddenly, a roar blared through the skies. Kiht immediately crouched, and attempted to take cover near a boulder. She recognized the roar, but before she could even think about what was happening, the dragon came to a loud, abrupt landing right in front of the Ixal camp's gate. The beast let out an abrupt burst of fire from its maw that set the Ixal wall and gate aflame. Watch wolves abruptly started barking and snarling. Every Ixal in the camp was quickly awake. However, without waiting long, the dragon crashed through the burning gate, and began spewing fire onto the tents and guards. Following behind the dragon were a group of men on foot. There were at least a dozen men; most of which were in rusty armor. They charged forward into the camp. It wasn't long before three more figures emerged from the from the darkness of the night behind the men. They were Aevis.
Battle ensued as Ixal and wolves frantically attacked the frightening intruders. That was why Dayn did not want Kiht to meet his group. That is why Dayn was so vague and cryptic. He and his group were Dravanians - human cultists fighting besides dragons to prove their loyalty to the Dravanian cause. It suddenly struck Kiht that she had been spending all those days with a dangerous, corrupt man. She began to wonder if she herself had been corrupt by his teachings somehow. However, it was too late for her to second-guess her choice. She was left with one objective.
Kiht swiftly made her way to the camp, and into the fray. The situation began to fill her with a sense of familiarity. Once again, she was attempting to make her way past two opposing forces without wanting to join either side. She was shaken; running so close to Aevis and the dragon, but they paid her no mind, and continued to attack the Ixal and wolf targets. The air began to fill with smoke as everything in the camp was set ablaze. The dragon had gone directly for the war balloon, and destroyed it before the Ixal could even think of getting it off the ground. Kiht bolted to a rope ladder then began climbing quickly.
As she made her way up the rope ladder, she saw many Ixal from the camp above making their way down. An airship flew overhead; the Ixal planed to attack from above. That was when a smaller, flying dragon arrived. It shot a stream of flames on to the Ixal airship before the bird-men even realized it was there. Kiht was fortunate. No Ixal had tried to climb down the rope ladder she was climbing up.
She finally found herself at the top of the cliff. However, she could not rest. In front of her was a small army of Ixal - squawking and howling at the Dravanian forces. There was enough smoke in the air, and enough of a distraction that most of the Ixal didn't notice Kiht. She saw that the camp gate was wide open, and the wooden walls they built made it so that the only way to continue to the Central Highlands was through their camps. She bolted for the open gate while drawing one of her mythril knives. Unfortunately, one Ixal was not inclined to ignore her. He unleashed a watch wolf, and the snarling beast charged at Kiht.
Clawed paws scraped the rocky ground covered in a thin layer of snow as the wolf closed in on her quickly. She was so intent on getting through the gate that she almost didn't notice the beast charging at her. At the last moment she turned, braced herself and readied her knife by holding it low while keeping her other arm near her neck. The wolf lunged and latched on to her arm. Were it not for her plated guards, the massive fangs would have easily bit into the flesh of her arm. The force tackled her on to the ground, but she kept hold of her knife. As the wolf shook his head; attempting to thrash her around, she thrust her knife forward into the beast's neck. The wolf let go, and let out a gurgling yelp. In its final moments, it was thrashing away from her.
As Kiht got to her feet, the Ixal who unleashed the wolf was upon her. He was armed with a shield and scimitar. He attacked her with a flurry of slashes. She drew her second blade, and jumped away as she cut her knives out to parry a few of his attacks. However, the Ixal did not relent – he followed through with continuous combinations of slashes. Kiht was hard-pressed. She was at a disadvantage in terms of reach. She needed to change that.
In a bold act, she suddenly threw her left knife at the Ixal's neck. The blade connected with flesh, but did not cut very deeply. The Ixal thrashed back in reflex; pausing his attack, and giving Kiht a split second to charge in low. She was so fast that the Ixal didn't have time to bash her with his shield before she moved in to point-blank range. She thrust her knife into his chest over and over again; growling violently. It was her one opportunity to take down the Ixal before falling back into a disadvantageous position. It was enough – the Ixal staggered back and fell to the ground in a heap. Kiht recovered her second knife then continued towards the gate.
Just as she entered the gate, the flying dragon let out a stream of flames on to the Ixal force below as it flew right over their heads. Kiht was almost scorched by that attack, but she was fortunate enough to only feel the heat from it. She began to move from tent to tent; trying to stay out of direct notice. She only had to hope that the dragons would be more of a distraction than a subtle Miqo'te.
Suddenly, the large dragon that had attacked the camp below, abruptly landed in the center of the camp Kiht was in. It began indiscriminately setting fire to everything nearby. In the process, it had set fire to an airship, but there was another airship near the gate to another camp about to take off. A trio of Ixal frantically prepared the ship. It was clear they wanted to save it from the dragon's attacks. However, Kiht's objective was the gate.
