The effects of Dominic’s Roar were not entirely as expected – or desired. The beasts around him filled with panic largely fled, some even crushing others in their flight, which worked to his advantage. For a moment, a couple of his Pride members were revealed by the fleeing beasts as the enemies closest to the mouth of the funnel ran into the open space beyond.

  Unfortunately, some were unintentionally maddened more than fearful. Or perhaps they were maddened because of fear – their reflex was to attack what frightened them, especially with the packed ranks denying many an escape route. Either way, Dominic quickly found himself hard-pressed as he was cut off once more from his Pride by the beasts closing in on him.

  Tooth and claw attacked him from every angle, and judging from the green tinge to his health bar, he had already been poisoned. The sizzle and burn of acid landing on his fur made him snarl even as he fought back against his attackers.

  Finding that he was struggling to make any dent in the beasts ganging up on him both due to their strength and sheer numbers, he leapt upwards.

  A moment later, feeling jaws close around his back paw, he realised that it might not have been his best idea. The weight which had attached itself to his leg pulled him down and off balance, his wings not powerful enough to keep both of them in the air or even stable.

  While he dropped inexorably down no matter how much he laboured to stay up, he did his best to kick whatever it was off his back leg. But it refused to let go, its surprisingly-blunt teeth crushing more than slicing, his paw screaming in pain. Giving up on that temporarily, Dominic tried to take advantage of the height he still had, spitting acid around himself – his venom might have run dry, but his acid hadn’t.

  Some of the creatures drew back; others tried to press the attack further. When he’d lost enough height to make his hindquarters an easy target, he tucked in his wings and dropped the rest of the distance, crushing those of his attackers who were standing below him – they would regret forcing him back down to earth.

  Four feet planted once more on the ground, he was quickly attacked again.

  ‘Need a bit of help here!’ he exclaimed in the Pride chat even as he bit and swiped, exchanging one of his own blows for three of his opponents’. The irony – he’d attacked to lessen the press of numbers against the elves, yet now found himself outmatched and overwhelmed. It didn’t escape him that he was now in the same situation he’d warned his Pride-mates to avoid. Desperately trying to reduce their numbers, he did his best to concentrate on a single enemy, going for the kill every time he could.

  It worked – slowly. But his health bar was quickly draining. His stamina didn’t fare any better. Unfortunately, even if he was definitely the highest level in this fight and bigger than most of his opponents, numbers had a power of their own, and the sheer variety of his attackers meant that at least some were always able to get through his defences, no matter what they were.

  When he bit or swiped at an opponent in front of him, those behind and to his sides tore at his hindquarters and flanks. When he swung around in a Tail Strike, there was always one able to either jump over his strike or duck below it. When he beat his wings to buffet those around him, they suffered sharp teeth set into them or a large weight landing on them in an attempt to pin him down. Then, a particularly large beast slammed into his left wing, forced an unnatural bend outwards with a nasty cracking noise, and left it dragging limply on the ground. After that Dominic stopped using his wings as weapons and just did his best to keep them out of the way.

  Before long, Dominic had to activate Second Wind, not keen on using carcasses considering how many lay around that his opponents could use too, despite all his efforts to grab as many for his storage space as he could. His health and stamina both shot up – but the time was now ticking.

  No help had come yet – his Pride was too beleaguered themselves at the moment. Even the albuhas were struggling against an enemy which seemed capable of powerful jumps straight upwards, harrying them and stopping them from coming to the aid of either Dominic or the other Pride members. Dominic was on his own.

  Suddenly, an idea came to mind. If only he could get out of this encirclement….

  ‘We haven’t tested that in combat yet!’ Leo yelped fearfully in his mind.

  ‘We don’t have a choice unless you want to die here,’ growled Dominic with determination.

  ‘Doing this might kill us faster!’ argued Leo.

  ‘Then at least we’ll take as many of them with us as we can,’ Dominic snapped at him.

  Leo didn’t answer.

  Dominic was nervous – they’d only tested this once before.

  Concentrating was difficult, but necessary, though the time he needed to do so earned him several more injuries and a notable chunk taken out of his health pool.

  And then, in an instant, they were a body-length ahead and up, and Dominic’s tail and ass were on fire. He stumbled forwards a few steps over the backs of the beasts before him, feeling oddly off balance. Something was wrong.

  Daring to take a moment to check on the pain radiating from his tail, he twisted around to check if it really was on fire. The reality was far worse.

  When he’d used Flash Step, he’d successfully got his body clear of the enemy encirclement by going up. However, bad luck seemed to have intersected his tail with the head of the creature he’d first tried to Flash Step on top of.

  Neither of them had come out unscathed. The alien creature was only now falling over, its head and neck blown to bits. Dominic’s tail tip, however, was just gone – and the head of the metal mace with it.

  ‘My tail!’ Leo exclaimed with horror.

  It must have exploded, Dominic realised as he saw the way those around had been peppered and injured by piercing shards of bone and metal. The shock was enough to cause a momentary lull in battle. But that lull was over quickly, and the large beast now beneath Dominic’s feet heaved like a boat on the sea.

  Dominic dug in his claws reflexively, then scrambled to make a break for it towards the Pride he could see not that far away from where he was. With one wing broken, he couldn’t even attempt to escape by flying. Unfortunately, the lack of counterbalance, normally provided to him by his tail, meant that instead of being able to run sure-footed across the tops of the beasts, he slipped and fell instead. Before he could recover, the beasts around him pressed forwards, like sharks smelling blood.

  Dominic regained his feet quickly and twisted around again, his tail flaring in pain as he used it to counterbalance his movement, the rest of his injuries raising their own protests. At least he was starting to get used to not having half of his tail when all four of his paws were touching the ground.

  Snarling, he dared his enemies to approach. He was injured, but he wasn’t out, and he’d make them pay for every drop of his blood they’d draw.

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  ‘We come!’

  Dominic looked up at the sky and saw the albuhas heading towards him. Good – reinforcements. But beyond them, Dominic could see that their absence was costing the rest of the Pride – without their distraction more beasts were attacking the already-beleaguered circle of Pride members, even if Dominic didn’t see any of those jumpers that had been attacking them earlier.

  He needed to end his own skirmish quickly. Dominic decided to go all-in. Orienting himself towards where his Pride was, he opened his mouth and let out a short Roar, concentrating on his intention to kill anything in his way.

  The lines of enemies between him and his Pride thinned slightly, but not enough. Still, it gave him a little bit of space.

  Activating Rage, he felt a sudden wash of increased strength as the world slowed just a little to his perception. After backing up as much as he could, taking several bites to his hindquarters as he did so, he pushed off the ground with his powerful legs. Leaping forwards, Dominic once more activated Momentous Charge. Already bigger due to Rage, Momentous Charge gave him the effect of a gigantic bowling ball as he slammed into the group of beasts who stood between him and his Pride.

  Some of the beasts attempted to run as a whirlwind of sharp claws, sharper teeth, and burning acid dug into their midst. They found that running was of little use, however, as the albuhas fell from the air onto their backs to end what little was left of their lives.

  Dominic emerged out of the other side of his knot of enemies to see his Pride before him. His Roar had helped lessen the burden on them a little, but it made Dominic seethe to see several lions surrounded by knots of enemies. He ran towards those knots and bulled straight into them, snarling at the lions involved to get back behind the Pride lines.

  As he twisted around to face the battle again, he saw another consequence of his previous Roar.

  When he had tried to scare all the beasts away, he hadn’t taken into account that he was in the middle of them. Which meant that some of the beasts he’d scared away hadn’t dared to run around him to flee. Instead, they’d gone for the only other escape route – piling onto the choke-point.

  The elves had apparently been able to reinforce the area, but they were faltering under the strengthened press of beasts attempting to get past them – and the press had only further increased as a result of this last of Dominic’s Roars.

  Seeing the timers of his Second Wind and Rage ticking down, and knowing that the sense of unending strength and stamina would only remain for a short time longer, Dominic decided to make it count. And more than that, how dare these beasts attack him? He wanted to taste blood – all of their blood.

  Once more calling on Momentous Charge, Dominic ran towards the packed beasts at the point where the space between the hedges narrowed.

  ‘Brother! This isn’t wise! Brother! We’re too low on health! Dominic! Stop!’

  Leo’s words were like the buzzing of a fly – annoying, but ultimately inconsequential. Dominic’s paws pounded the ground like a heartbeat, his size swelling once more.

  The impact of the wrecking ball of a lion was even more powerful than his opening move. Beasts actually flew up into the air as he drove into the back of their lines. Several died in the collision alone; more as he brought his claws and teeth into action.

  Blood filled his mouth and he snarled in pleasure. It wasn’t enough. He ripped and tore at those around him, caring nothing for the strikes his attacks earned him in return.

  ‘Dominic! Our health! It’s almost gone!’

  The panicking tone of his companion briefly raised a sense of concern within Dominic, but it was quickly washed away by the sheer confidence in his strength and his desire for more blood, more death, more, more, more!

  And then it was gone.

  Dominic shrank in size, and the confidence and strength which had propelled his movements left only cold and awful, impeding pain behind.

  Reality hit like a freight train – he could barely move, he was surrounded once more by enemies, and worse, there was but a sliver of his health remaining and only a couple of minutes left on his Second Wind clock.

  Dominic eyed the beasts surrounding him with a quiet whimper that he would deny ever left his lips. He couldn’t do this! He was in too much pain and too damn tired. ‘Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.’

  ‘You think?’ Leo asked sarcastically.

  There was a brief lull – he’d stopped attacking and had a little space around himself from when he had been larger before and his opponents seemed wary of him. That wouldn’t last, though – they’d soon sense his sudden weakness and attack nonetheless.

  His mind raced, trying to work out a way he could come out of this with his hide intact. Well. Somewhat intact, anyway. The feeling of blood trickling through his fur informed him of his many, many wounds; his whole body was a ball of pain.

  ‘We still have a health potion in our storage space,’ Leo urged him.

  ‘We won’t have the time to get the cork out – the moment I move, they’ll attack.’

  ‘Then absorb a carcass!’

  Dominic grit his teeth, but agreed to that one. It might accidentally strengthen some of his enemies too, but so be it.

  The ground around him was covered with carcasses; it was easy enough to trigger the absorption of several of them. The moment they dissolved into golden dust, however, the beasts around him attacked.

  His health was like a yo-yo – every time he managed to get a little bit back, it was ripped away by a strike or bite that ripped a new wound into his hide or worsened an existing one.

  And worse, he saw some of the golden dust benefiting the creatures around him, negating the work of his own strikes. Which was especially bad because, stuck in the recuperation period after the boost of Rage, he was slower and weaker than normal. His stamina never got high enough for him to risk using many Abilities, though he did use Quick Strike judiciously along with Crushing Bite and Powerful Swipe at their lower levels and for as little time as possible.

  All the time, Dominic saw the timer for Second Wind tick down inexorably. Less than a minute until it ripped away what little health he still had remaining.

  ‘We need to get out of here!’ he said to Leo desperately. The lion agreed wordlessly, but there was a hint of helplessness to it – he didn’t have any more of an idea than Dominic of how to do that.

  The enemies seemed unending and the lion was too tired, hurt, and over-extended to figure out any better plan than to try to carve his way back out of the mess of enemies. He would try to jump but he was feeling too weak to do more than just pad slowly forwards towards where he knew his Pride had to be. He’d fly but his wings were a mess of blood and feathers, half-ripped apart in his reckless attack and with at least one bone broken.

  Just as everything seemed lost, less than fifteen seconds left on the timer for Second Wind, no more carcasses left around him, Dominic realised that there were fewer and fewer attacks happening from in front of him. He tiredly looked beyond the beast just before him to see a wall of bloody lions and amesheks fighting their way through to him with determination written on their bodies.

  ‘Get inside the circle!’ ordered Sekhmet who was leading the charge, sternly.

  Dominic didn’t need to be told twice.

  Hurrying as quickly as he could – which was barely more than a fast walk – he headed into the protective circle.

  Inside, Nyx came to him, surrounding Dominic with golden dust. He idly noted that she must have increased Healing Cloud – the dust was already emerging a paw’s width from her body. Then the effects of the healing started washing over him with a sense of euphoria and warmth.

  His limbs couldn’t hold him up any longer and Dominic sank to the ground.

  ‘We can’t sleep here! Don’t be an idiot – again!’ scolded Leo.

  ‘I’m not sleeping,’ Dominic protested even though he couldn’t argue the idiot tag – what good was a battle plan if he tossed it aside for no good reason? ‘I’m just closing my eyes for a moment.’

  Suddenly a massive pain and icy cold hit him, which ripped his eyes open. The timer of Second Wind had run out. Dominic saw his health and stamina plummet towards zero as they were ripped away by the double-edged sword of his Ability.

  Using the last of his concentration, he summoned several carcasses from his storage space and immediately Consumed them. The drop rate slowed, but it was still happening far faster than he preferred.

  He tried to summon more carcasses as the golden cloud around him thinned, but his over-wrought body was simply unable to push any further. He faded into blackness as his health and stamina once more approached empty.

  here!