The PUB’s shift to Battle Mode cleared Oskar’s vision and his HUD simplified to vital information only. As the three of them, Touwon in the lead, drew near enough for Oskar to get a feel for what was happening, the question as to why it was harder to detect people than it was to detect wildlife flashed briefly through his thoughts.

  And then, the sheer numbers ahead overwhelmed that thought. Adrenaline gripped him, and everything else slipped away. The thing about war is it strips you of everything; all your masks… all the lies you tell yourself and others as you go through life… leaving only you.

  When you leave all your masks in the sand, what remains is the core of who you are… and what you’re willing to do to survive. For Oskar, survival wasn’t just about him anymore, and the fear of losing Fox or Penny shoved all hesitation down into the sand with the rest of the useless things that war had stripped from him.

  In defiance of the fear he felt, a primal shout tore from Oskar’s throat, scraping it raw, and he turned the corner like hell let loose.

  At the sound of Oskar’s yelling, a tall blue Croc turned sharply, the corner of his mouth curling towards a toothy snarl he would never finish.

  Oskar’s spear-turned-mace smashed into the side of his head with enough force that the body was still standing when Oskar’s mace caught a Hyenaman on the backswing, tossing the smaller creature’s lifeless body airborne.

  A larger Croc moved to intercept, and Oskar used Talau to sweep the sand out from under him. The mace crushed the upper back of the surprised Croc and slammed the bright green unmoving into the sand.

  Touwon was engaging two Hyenamen just ahead, both his kurang were lit up with blue fire. Oskar swung a hand up to intercept a third, who was diving toward the Kobold, with a razor thin line of sand powered by Sora and Talau. It was a much weaker version of what the Sandwyrms did, but Oskar knew exactly what a power washer could do, even from this distance, thanks to Erik’s status as his big brother. The attack wasn’t overly powerful and therefore didn’t cut deeply, but hit with enough force to turn the creature in midair.

  Dread hit Oskar as he realized the Hyenaman was still on an awkward trajectory toward Touwon, but a shield popped up around Touwon, thanks to Erik. Cursing under his breath, Oskar moved in to finish the disoriented Hyenaman, shifting his weapon back into a spear for the coup de grace.

  He swept the spear upward at another of Touwon’s attackers, and realized using the spear made the razor thin sandblast attack feel more natural. Thankfully, the move was more than enough to give Touwon the opportunity to gut the other opponent, leaving the final Hyenaman for Touwon. Oskar smiled humorlessly when he heard a meow behind him and the Hyenaman screamed.

  Apparently, Sara’s awake.

  Trusting the communication between his and Erik’s PUB to warn him of a flank, Oskar pushed past, looking for Fox, and wondering where Penny had gotten to.

  He found her fighting on the other side of a pair of tents. The Kobold was being herded into the bend of a sand dune by a group of four Hyenamen darting towards her, laughing and taunting, and two Crocs who were yelling encouragement and stalking forward more cautiously.

  Or cowardly, Oskar thought as he saw a female Croc and two dead Hyenamen splayed out unmoving in the sand by the tents.

  Oskar tried to close the distance, but he was too far and moving too slow. Instead of giving away his presence, he launched himself into the air for a surprise attack from above just as Touwon and Erik came up behind him.

  Shifting his spear back to a mace, he allowed himself to go just high enough to see over the dunes, threw out a scan that thankfully found nothing, and came down on the back of the farthest Croc with a two handed Momentum Transfer that predictably obliterated the big blue spearman.

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  Turning, he was just in time to see Fox jumping around between enemies like a Kobold possessed. Two Hyenamen were down by the time the other Croc darted toward the tent, and snatched up a cowering figure that Oskar had not even seen.

  “Stop!” The Croc screamed as he held a jagged knife at the new Kobold’s throat. The command was snarling something frantic. The Kobold in his arms, who upon further inspection looked much older than the other two, was wide-eyed but otherwise calm.

  Now plenty close enough, Oskar used Sora to fling the final Hyena straight up into the air. The Croc watched wide eyed as the creature’s scream faded with distance, and even the older Kobold’s calm mask slipped as the creature flew upward.

  “But… I said stop. You not stop,” the Croc said lamely, now nervously watching Oskar, who grinned at him.

  “You didn’t say please.”

  He was prepared to step in and wondered how precise a shield Erik could throw up around the Kobold, when Fox moved.

  Oskar wasn’t sure what the Croc’s plan was or how he planned on getting out of that situation alive, hostage or not, but he was pretty sure it didn’t include Fox completely disappearing from view and then slamming both of her knives in his back from behind so hard that he fell over without even a whimper.

  Fox immediately disappeared again due to her Sandstrike activating Fade and Blur but revealed herself immediately as the female Kobold with streaks of gray in her fur tumbled to the sand, Goggles knocked askew. She was quick to fix them and scrambled away from the dead Croc before standing.

  I didn’t even see Fox move. That was scary fast.

  Oskar found Penny moving around the outskirts of the camp to look for more enemies. She’d taken out a Hyenaman trying to escape all on her own, and Oskar sent his thanks through the bond. Even Sara was hot stepping up the dune on the opposite side to take a look for further danger while Erik was watching their six.

  We’re really working like a team. It’s beautiful. Now we’ve got to figure out what the heck just happened.

  Fox moved forward, quickly cleaning her blades on the Croc’s grimy tunic before stowing them away and helping the older Kobold to her feet.

  “Foxsune, is that you?! And of course, Touwon. Reckless,” the older Kobold spat. She glared at Oskar, and then turned to Touwon, who was standing nearby, still keeping an eye out for threats.

  “How?” Her voice was low and urgent, but smooth. It was much like Fox’s own voice, but without the strange pitch jumps from what Oskar had long ago deduced could only be from some form of Hyena heritage.

  Hyena… Hyenan?

  As always, Fox was business first, and ignored her question to ask, “Are there more? Are you harmed?” The older Kobold waved away Fox’s concern and put on a stern, reproaching aunt face like she hadn’t just been saved from who knows what by Fox.

  “Why did you come back, mongrel? I suppose that means you’re in trouble and you need what’s left of our butchered people to save your hide.”

  Oskar was stunned at the Kobold’s attitude, and even worse, Fox looked ashamed. On paper, that was kind of exactly what was happening, but Oskar wasn’t going to let anyone get away with talking to Fox like that. Erik beat him to it, though.

  Stepping forward and ignoring Fox’s attempt to stop him, Erik stood over the Kobold, whose haughty look had only strengthened as she mentally distanced herself from the life debt that she owed Fox.

  “What would you have done?” he asked simply. What Erik had lost in size, he’d gained in looking like someone had sewn him back together after putting him through a few autopsies. His scars and new, bright blue eye made him look like a straight up horror villain.

  “I’ll n… not,” she sputtered a reply, but Erik cut her off, “Shut up. That’s not what I asked. What I asked was, what would you have done? I’ll clarify just in case you’re too stupid to understand what I’m asking. What would the next twenty four hours of your life be like if Fox hadn’t just jumped into four attackers with zero hesitation to save you? Picture it. If you say anything other than thank you to… Foxsune… I’m tempted to drop you off at the next group of Hyena’s I see and find out. You owe her your entire life. Also, if you ever call her a mongrel again, I’ll feed you your own skin. Trust me when I say I can keep you alive throughout the whole process.”

  Holy hell.

  To her credit, she held onto her defiance longer than Oskar expected. Erik had been a little… ok, a lot more aggressive than Oskar would have been, but Oskar suspected a softer approach would not have broken through her fa?ade of delusion. She took a moment, staring around the entirety of the Dorn Collective before finally looking at Fox and saying, “Thank you,” with just enough deference to avoid more of Erik.

  His brother hesitated for a moment before eventually turning his back on the Kobold and walking off towards Sara. The cat was hot stepping back down the dune on the sand towards the group, and she took the opportunity to jump up into Erik’s unwaiting embrace. He barely caught her and cursed as she scrambled to balance herself, scratching his chest and arm in the process. Oskar’s eyes widened at the litany of curses.

  “I thought you joined a convent?” Oskar called after him. Erik glared and acted like he was about to throw the cat at him. For her part, Sara didn’t look even remotely concerned at the empty threat.

  Speaking of liking jib cuts, this author's jib is an awesome academy story I'm reading now. I found out about this story because I was reading one this author's completed series and reached out to let them know how much I was enjoying it. Found out about this little gem, which is currently on Psychological Rising Stars. Please check it out!