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Vivace caught sight of the kalona racing towards him out of the corner of his eye. Still he pretended not to notice them. They needed to get closer first. He took deep breaths to steady his nerves even though his legs and wings quivered in fear he couldn't move yet. Undoubtedly this would be the hardest part. He watched and waited until the group of kalona crossed into the trapped area. Suddenly Vivace snapped his head up and raced away from the spot down a special, trap free path letting a single, warbling note out of his mouth to signal the others that it was time to strike. For an agonizing second there was nothing and then he heard the tell tale scrabble of claws on rocks.

Devmani was the first up. He took a satchel in his mouth and another in his talons before scrambling up onto the boulder. He could see the kalona and picked his target a pale one with long, scraggly wings and wicked looking eyes. Then he jumped into the air and opened his wings. He soared over the kalona and dropped both of his rock parcels before circling back to the boulder to pick up more.

Zamyr followed Devmani only moments later choosing to take three loaded bags instead of two figuring they wouldn't have much time to go back for more before the kalona came after them in the air. He selected to drop two bags on the purple maned stallion that Lorenna made clear was Xelloss and the white female. If he could take out their wings they would be less of a threat.

Lorenna was pleased to see both Devmani and Zamyr get up without it hitch. They would continue to do their work along with Vivace. Now it was the time for the flutters to strike. Lorenna noticed they were still one short but she would have to worry about that whenever he showed up. "Alright. Go for the eyes or use the traps we set! Watch out for the rocks!" Lorenna said before flying out of the bush no bigger than a dragonfly. Time to cause some havoc.

Phibrizzo watched as the angeni fled. It figured, they couldn't even handle a simple task. Then something odd happened. Two winged and clawed creatures were soaring over the kalona and dropping things. A trap. Phibrizzo frowned.
"Well, let's see them get out of this."

Othelia saw the hippogryphs took off and as the first parcel dropped from the golden one's talons she felt her foot sink into the ground. Othelia stumbled forward but her foot was caught tight. She looked down to try to figure out what she was in so that she could free herself. It looked like a rabbit hole. Her favorite food was after her.

Zelcion snarled furiously. It was a trap. He reared back trying to snap at one of the winged creatures but it was just slightly out of reach. If he could have flied he would have gone after it.

Yseult shrieked in pain and snapped at the pale cream colored gryph. It felt like a rock had just been dropped on her tail. She kicked the bundle off only to discover that it really was rocks. It was a bag full of stones. "They're dropping rocks!" She snarled in case the others hadn't figured that out yet.

In her small flutter form Lorenna pushed at a rock on a snapping sapling trap to Yseult's right. Attached to this one was a hunting knife Hisoka had stolen from some humans. It was the slowest of the traps given the weight of the knife but it could still pack quite a punch if it hit. As soon as she freed it she would fly off to another spot anticipating another drop soon. The first had worked out marvelously and they had scored a direct hit on one of Xelloss's brood and a less direct one on the mare she was working on impaling currently.

That was when she heard Xelloss. She scowled. Unfortunately Xelloss always had been rather quick on his feet. Lorenna had been hoping that the traps would keep them confused for a little while longer. Time for some new orders.

Lorenna shifted into her fully grown size and nudged the rock off quickly so that the white mare couldn't snap her throat. "Winged team! Get in as many more drops as you can before they reach cover! Change to grounded tactics after that!" Lorenna barked out the orders quickly before shrinking back down and flying of in a strange pattern that would hopefully be hard for her enemies to attack. She had no intentions of dying today even if her team could handle the rest on their own.

Devmani had just scrambled up onto his launching point with three bags when Lorenna made her announcement. He had to move faster now and after that he would be focusing on making use of his long talons. Just as fast as Lorenna had appeared she had disappeared and Devmani took another sweep over the field dropping each of his three bags on a different target.

Vivace could only hold one bag but he would make it count. He had only just gotten aloft when Lorenna made her announcement. It was time for some fancy flying. What he lacked in claws Vivace made up for in flying ability. With his long braid wrapped around his neck like a multi layered scarf he flew at Xelloss with unmatched speed. This was for his sister and everyone else who had died needlessly that day. Vivace didn't drop the satchel, he threw it at Xelloss as hard as he could before turning up sharply and looping back for more rocks. He could see Zamyr beneath him taking off with another three. If the kalona weren't in bad shape by the time they made it to cover then they had gotten very, very lucky.

Yseult was not having a good day. She had gotten her tail free and had been preparing to follow Xelloss's suggestion and head for the trees when that accursed black flutter mare appeared scarcely two feet away from her. Before Yseult got a chance to lunge for her she saw the tree snap forward. A sharp pain tore threw her as a human's blade ripped through the delicate membrane of one of her wings. Yseult pulled away sharply keeping the blade from doing much more damage but her wing was wrecked. It only took a minute to fully assess the injury but by the time she had finished the damn mare had vanished. Cursing and snarling she made to run away to the trees only to have something dig into her neck.

Yseult reared back and thrashed her head around trying to see what had gotten her. She couldn't find it. Lapointe was too low for her to see.

Zelcion took a hit on his right hip from a bag of rocks as he fled for cover just like Xelloss had suggested. The second it hit he knew that he didn't want that to happen ever again. His bones ached around the spot and the flesh felt like it was throbbing under his coat. Forget the others for now. They could regroup under the trees and plan a counter attack. He was certain that's what his father was planning.

Othelia was working her foot out of the hole it had gotten caught in. For some reason it was harder than it should have been like something inside had caught hold of her. As she struggled she listened to Lorenna's little speech of orders. So she was leading this assault after all. She finally managed to free her foot as she wondered who else of her old allies were about when a familiar voice reached her ear followed by a pair of teeth.

Othelia snarled savagely and whipped her tail up and around trying to slice the little flutter away from her ear. "Beryl! How dare you?!"

Kill Lorenna! Xelloss was shouting. A fat lot of good it would do him giving those orders right now. Yseult was under attack from Lapointe and his needle. Lorenna would have to applaud him for that later. A quick survey revealed that only two had made it under the cover of the oak tree, one, Xelloss's son that attacked Padmapani, looked unscathed. The other, baring a striking resemblance to the first, was fighting against one of their traps that was doing a marvelous job at mangling his ankle. Othelia was struggling against what appeared to be Beryl. She wasn't likely to die at any second from the attack but it was keeping her an easy target for their rock drops. Speaking of...

Devmani glided out over the field clutching four bags. The last of his stash. Two he dropped over Othelia and two he dropped over Yseult. The way they were tossing their heads about lead him to believe that the flutters were fighting up front so he was careful to aim solely at the haunches of the kalona mares. Then he let out a series of trilling notes that would let the others know he was out. He circled to the other boulder to land this time in case they had extra.

They did not have extra. By the time Devmani landed Vivace was already airborne with another present for Xelloss and Zamyr had the last two in his claws. "Get over to Lorenna's boys." Zamyr said before spreading his wings and flying after Vivace. He would give his final two to Xelloss as well since he seemed to be the one calling the shots.

Vivace dove at Xelloss again clutching the strap of the bag firmly between his teeth. Just like before he threw his bag at Xelloss giving him murderous looks before pulling up sharply. On his climb he let out the same song that Devmani had used earlier before falling into a circling pattern. The next stage would be direct attacks for which Vivace would be staying up in the sky.

Zelcion flinched when the trap closed around his son's ankle. They should have realized that there wouldn't be a safe point out here. They entire field was one giant death trap specifically designed to kill the kalona. "Stop moving!" Zelcion snapped going to his son's aid. Perhaps it wasn't the mazoku way to help each other out like this but this was still his son and Zelcion wasn't just going to let him suffer. For now they were safe from aerial drops and the rest of the forces seemed occupied giving him and Zenoskelis a chance to get his ankle free.

Zelcion examined the trap looking for some sort of emergency release. It didn't look like there was one. Zelcion scowled. This was going to be unpleasant. "Try to pull free when I start tugging." He said before biting down on the contraption to pry half of it it away from Zenos's ankle. What he wouldn't give for some of these nasty contraptions of his own.

Yseult completely ignored Xelloss's orders. She couldn't even see the damn flutter, how was she meant to kill something she couldn't see to attack? Besides, she was busy. Whatever had stabbed her throat had pulled away leaving the wound free to slowly bleed and clot. She continued to search for her assailant but couldn't see it. All she could tell was that something seemed to be weighing down her hair every now and then. Assuming the two events were related Yseult stopped thrashing around for a moment hoping to spin about and surprise it.

She turned her head sharply and then screamed in agony when something smashed into her hind quarters. Her back legs buckled under the force and she dropped to the ground. She had forgotten about the hippogryphs in her rage over the invisible enemy. "Damn you all!" She swore hauling herself back to her feet as quickly as possible.

Othelia thought that Beryl deserved to get bitten into two halves the way the flutter kept shrieking at her. Her tail scored a direct hit on the flutter but it didn't take long for Beryl to rebound. Othelia's ears flicked back when the rain of rocks began. She dodged one bag entirely but in doing so set herself up to catch a second one on the back. All the while she could feel Beryl attacking her underbelly like a flea.

"Enough!" She snarled before dropping to the ground hoping to squash Beryl like the insect she was.

Zamyr had known that the kalona were going to start flying sooner or later but is was still a bit intimidating to see one take off so close to him. Zamyr turned his wings to make for the ground. He lacked the speed and control to fight in the air. It simply wouldn't be a fair match even with his claws. The talons were more of a use when it came to picking at an opponent below you anyway. "Vivace, kalona up!" He shouted to the Padmapani recruit. Vivace had no weapons like pointed teeth or sharp talons but what he did have was an ancestry of winds and angeni. Vivace was capable of soaring like no other if he put his mind to it.

Vivace heard Zamyr's cry and he looped around to see who was flying with them now. He wasn't particularly surprised to see that is was Xelloss. Moving just like he had with the bags in his jaws Vivace streaked towards Xelloss like an arrow loosed from a bow. His long tail flew out behind him like a banner. There were no rocks to drop this time but he could still kick the kalona's face in.

The sight of Xelloss in the air made Lorenna a little nervous as they only had one strong flyer on their side. The others that Lorenna thought might be capable seemed to be sticking to the ground. The white mare was still under repeated attack that she couldn't seem to break out from, that could change at any time so Lorenna would have to watch. The other, a pale stallion, didn't seem to have the ability at all. She glanced over at him and found that his ankle was soaked with blood and ratty in appearance. One of their clamping traps had done wonders. The other two had wings too small to allow for flight. One was tucked under the tree but the other... Lorenna turned to find Othelia. She was on her stomach but where was Beryl? Hadn't she been over there?

It was time for the next stage. Growing back to her normal size Lorenna barked out the call, "Ground team, move in!" It was time for the twins to join the fray. She just hoped they were prepared for what they would encounter. After issuing the orders Lorenna shrank back down and flew over to look for Beryl. She couldn't let one of hers get taken out like that.

The twins had been waiting for their time with shockingly different reactions. Thatcher was anxious and excited. He couldn't stand still pacing back and forth burning with the desire to ask Devmani how things were every time he came back but managing to hold his tongue for the sake of the mission each time. Fletcher was also anxious but he was also concerned. He was concerned for those already on the field. With every cry of pain Thatcher was certain they were winning but Fletcher wondered if those sounds had come from one of their people.

When Lorenna called for them Thatcher erupted from behind the rock feeling completely ready for action. Fletcher followed closely with Devmani. The three formed a single file train as they raced out. There were set paths to follow on the ground. Any missteps and they would end up on the wrong side of a trap. "By the tree!" Fletcher directed. There was a pair of kalona just standing there probably thinking themselves out of harms way. Thatcher nodded and picked up the pace as he turned down a second invisible path that would lead them too the tree and their waiting opponents. He didn't bother to look around them but Fletcher did. Things did seem to be going well for them so far but it was hard to tell with half their numbers shrunk down to avoid being seen.