Scouting For Romance

Entry 65, Part 2

With the battle over, we were left to count up the dead.

Only a few of us actually killed anyone, and of those of us who did, only a handful killed more than one. I bit through the arm of one cloudlander and he bled out. Ludwik easily cleaved one man in twain, but then nobody else was dumb enough to get within swords reach. Anatol didn't kill a single person, as he was spouting off encouraging words and directing his followers.

To the surprise of nobody, Tobiasz killed the most. By the end of it, he was covered in wounds, and walked around with a crimson sheen.

Teodor had the next highest kills, each of his opponents being dispatched from just one shot, their meat and bones sent everywhere.

Surprisingly, it was Anita who took third place. Throwing men to the ground, then stabbing them, turned out to be an effective tactic.

"Tytus. How many did you kill?"

He looked away, his ears wiggling, "oh, you know. A number.

"You did not kill any."

"I... Jovaisa said the goal was to survive. I focused on surviving."

"I killed one. I am better than you." I raised my chin five degrees higher, to signal my superiority over him.

"N-now wait-!" He turned to me, blushing, but paused when he saw the blood on my face. "Uhh... did you lose a tooth or something?"

"That is impossible. I bit through an arm."

"You didn't, uh... 'eat it', did you?"

"..."

Rather than dignify that with a response, I limped away.

The total dead on the Cloudlander side was 29, with dozens more wounded.

The casualties on our side was that almost everyone was wounded in some way, and five scouts were dead. But 'dead' is misleading, and I'll get back to that in a moment.

For now, we had the wounded to deal with. Many cloudlanders grabbed their injured fellows as they ran, but most were left behind. Missing limbs, holes through their flesh, bones visible, some pretty nasty stuff. Despite the pain, they knew what situation they were in, so some swung their swords wildly in a vain attempt to keep us back.

That's when Jovaisa came in, crouching before one of them. "Do you understand me?" A dominant, commanding voice.

The cloudlander nodded.

"Do you want to die?"

He shook his head furiously.

"Put that sword down and we'll fix your leg. I won't have you stab me when I'm trying to save your life."

Through pained, tired eyes, he glanced around at all the big, scary peldaks which surrounded him. It took a moment, but he eventually dropped his sword. Jovaisa smiled, held out his hand, and the cloudlander grabbed it. This was when Jovaisa scooped him up over his shoulder and walked back to the bastion.

"That ended faster than I expected! Grab the wounded and our dead, let's hurry back."

I limped over to a wounded cloudlander. Tytus was with me, it was one of the men he injured. A vertical stab wound on the left side of his torso, near the stomach. He rolled around on the cold ground, arms around his gut to keep anything from leaking out. Given peldak/cloudlander biology, it wasn't a bad wound. He'd probably heal even without medical attention.

Tytus nudged me forward.

I looked down at the man. "Do you understand me?"

He didn't stop panicking or writhing.