The Kingdom

The Saber's eyes glazed and he tumbled off the Trican. Wearily, I flipped up over the neck frill and landed on my feet as I pulled a pair of long knives from my belt. There were at least four Sabers on board and they were all surging toward me.

This was a battle for survival. With a roar I ran toward them.

The desert wind was blowing again and I was grateful for it, because it had blown sand all over the blood on the surface of the Trican's back. I could tell the Trican was tiring, but gamely she kept on as at least 30 Sabers were climbing up her sides, tearing into her thick hide in search of a perch.

I ducked under one paw strike and ripped my knife along the Saber's flank. The Saber fell over the side and dislodged two of its brethren on the way down. Another Saber was before me, rising up to give me a fanged hug, and I stepped into the embrace of its paws and rammed both blades deep. Its paws shrugged off my shoulders even as the insane light in its eyes faded into darkness.

Another Saber swiped at my legs and I heaved the dead one before me over to fall onto it, knocking the newest aggressor free of the Trican's back. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a Saber in flight and I let the momentum of my heave of the dead Saber carry me over backward.

I landed hard on my back. Numbly I thrust one knife upwards just in time to gut the Saber passing overhead of me.

Awash with blood from my gutted victim I scrambled up to my feet, only to be startled from my fight for survival by the loud bellow of the big female. It wasn't a cry of death, but of war, and then the air seemed to ring with the sound of my friend's cries only manifested in greater volume.

It was almost comical to see the way the heads of the latched on Sabers swiveled forward. They abruptly let go of the Trican's flank and dropped to the ground.

I turned my head forward to see what had provoked such a reaction. The entire herd had come to us. Not just the female's herd, but all the Tricans of the valley. They were strung out in a long unbroken line running at full tilt with horns down. Sand kicked up behind them forming a wall of dust 50 feet into the air. It was a beautiful sight.

My head turned back to see the rest of the Sabers, numbering almost two hundred, running in the opposite direction. They weren't going to make it.