Excerpts from “Zeyr” Part 2 - Emily

[Part 2 of a 9 part series]
The Southern Mountains had always fascinated Sissca [2], but today, they seemed rather ominous and threatening because Zikkanians lurked there. “Ready, Sissca?” Alex [3] asked her that morning. Sissca nodded dumbly, unsure of why she was lying. Darkaî’s deep, thunderous voice echoed around them, breaking the silence in their ravine. “All stand! Two arms!” “Atteeeeeennntion!” everyone chorused. Alex, being the farceur, went full circle and kicked his heel, saluting Darkaî. Darkaî nodded and whispered something to second in command, NaTasha. She returned with a salute and flew off northwards.
Waiting for the signal, Sissca followed Alex to their small group. They were planning to split up and seek out small groups this way. Sissca, being the healer of the group, continually went over healing spells in her mind. “Consentiay,"[4] was a common one. She mispronounced it several times before realizing she was doing it wrong. “Aargh…” she whispered under her breath. She shivered even though the humid mountain air was quite warm. “Master,” Darkaî stated, coming over to Alex. “Lead. You will take post there.” He pointed one irritably long claw [5] towards a mountain to right in the north. “I suspect Viscroy will place some of his soldiers there, more than likely some with low skill in magic. Avalanche help and the sort. Take care of them.”
Alex nodded, then added, “So, they throw rocks at us, we throw rocks back. Gotcha.”
The small group barely managed a stiff laugh. “Make sure that your game of toss will stop them from getting to our inner lines, Alex, or I will join you and it will not be pretty.” He turned and went to the next group.

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[2] Sissca is a female humanoid consisting of parts from a fox, a cat, and a human. She, in
the earlier parts of this story, is described as shy, but smart and good not only with
swordfighting, but with magic as well, being a Darthayslian.

[3] Alex is a male humanoid, a mix of a cocker spaniel and human, missing an arm thanks
to gang green when he was young. Though he’s smart, he’s more of a joker, not being able to take too much seriously. Being a Zikkanian, he is better at swordfighting than fighting with magic and is made a captain for this war.

[4] Consentiay (cuhn-sen-tee-AY) : Kakálian - A powerful healing spell used by magic-
casters to cure injuries such as torn ligaments, bad gashes, and internal bleeding (Literal­ - “one sent to heal”).

[5] Darkaî is a Darkalinite, a word in Kakálian meaning “snake-dragon.” These monsters
are overly intelligent and good at not only magic, most being Kakálians, but at swordfighting. They top most humanoids in any subject and live for a terribly long time. Their actual form is rather scary, they being, on average, about sixteen feet tall. They have long arms, but no legs, and a thick, snake-like body ending in a tail fan. They have two wings on their shoulders, normally translucent. They have snake heads and males have a hood, females a headdress of some other sort. Darkaî just so happens to be black. NaTasha, his “army-buddy,” is silver and crystal blue.