Sabre-Tooth War Cry

The instant the sun began to rise and those golden rays of light flow through the windows of the carriage your body stirs. Shortly after your eyelids part open as you lay there without moving. You stare up at the ceiling of this carriage with a Sunrider in your arms and you knew that today was the day that could change so much within your life. A tiny part of you wanted to sit in this soft warm bed with Ashe in your arms and forget about everything, unfortunately that was impossible to do.

As you turn your head, you see that red head still softly sleeping, her nude body passed out right next to you with her head buried in the nook of your armpit. You smile at the sleeping broad, happy that you were able to have such an emotional night with Ashe once more at the river and you hope and pray for many more times at the Turth with her.

You knew shortly after the sun begins to rise, horns from the Syndicate will blast out, awakening everybody up and making sure they will get ready for war. You imagine that will happen soon, most likely within the next hour or so. As much as you want to still sit here and relax until those horns blast off, you decide against it.

Snaking your body out of the bed, causing Ashe to roll around a bit and groan out, "Darien..." her raspy voice whimpers out, "Is it time..."

You place a hand on her cheek and look back into her emerald eyes, "Not yet." you whisper, "Go back to sleep, we still have a little bit of time, keep resting." With a mumble of something you didn't understand, the tired Sunrider rolls back over before slamming her eyes shut, almost instantly falling back asleep. A soft grin forms across your face before you stand up off the bed and make your way over towards your armor and weapons on the table.

Just like you've done many times before, you work the Sabre-Tooth Armor up your body, pulling on the trousers first and making sure they are form fitting and tightly bound and then immediately afterwards working on the tunic and doing the same thing. After that you pick up your short sword and holster it at your waist before your right hand brings your dagger up towards your face.

As you twirl it around in your fingers, dancing the blade between your digits you grab the grip with the tips of your fingers as you look at the handle. Gazing at the golden engraved name of your sister that Rivianne etched into it because Lexie asked her to, showing you that even though your sister physically isn't around anymore, she will always be there at your side during your battles. You lift the blade towards your lips, giving that etched name a kiss, "Love you sis." you whisper to the blade before you carefully holster it down in your waist, right next to the very same pouch you always carry around, the pouch with your most prized possession, the other part of Claire you will always cherish, that lone purple pressed tulip.

A few deep breaths later, completely decked out in your armor and your weapons, you bring your hands up to your hood and drape it across your face, once more shielding yourself behind the fur and the fangs, making sure you are as ready as can be for the upcoming war.

You didn't do much with your remaining time as you moved around the encampment talking with different warriors and wishing them the best of luck. You also met up with your Tiger, making sure to give her one big meal of some raw meat as well as allow her to go drink as much water as possible to hydrate up. You most likely were going to stay on your tiger for the beginning of the fight, as many of your troops charge into battle and soon after you would follow them in, most likely jumping off your tiger and allowing it to go around solo, killing whatever Rathkin scum it could.

Being quick and agile on your feet was something you were good at and even though riding your tiger gave you an advantage with height, speed and strength, you knew that between spears or arrows it would be much harder on your large cat to dodge those weapons. Also, you figure if she didn't have to worry about you the entire time, she could probably do a lot more killing.

As you thought, after only about twenty minutes after waking up, blasts of horns were echoing out over the lands, not only your own but mere seconds after yours blasted off, the horns from the south, from Rathkin were mimicking as well, signaling to both sides that war was almost here.

Making your way back towards your carriage you finally meet back up with Felix, Sylvius and Ashe who are all wearing their respective armors and are ready to go as well. "A good morning for war!" Sylvius nods at you as he looks at the rising sun, the cool yet damp air of of the morning was comfortable for all, "Let's kick some Rathkin ass!"

"Hell yeah!" Felix replies immediately, "The Syndicate won't fail today!" he raises his hand in the air, holding up a giant two handed axe.

"Alright you three, unfortunately we are going to split up for the time being, I trust all of you" you look between the three close friends, "I want you all to spread out down the Turth, get in with groups of warriors and do what you can to spread words of wisdom and lead them as best as you can." you tell them, "All the warriors that are fighting on foot will march in, the riders on horses and tigers will do what they can to flank in from the sides, but also follow shortly behind those on their feet. Any archers will stay back, flooding the area with arrows if possible." the plan begins, "If someone gets injured, fall back immediately to the medical tents, if you can get patched up and return to battle then please do so, if not, don't worry, you did your job, rest up or travel back north to the Syndicate when you are able."

You step forward, placing your right hand on Sylvius's shoulder and your left hand on Ashe's. They all do the same, the four of you standing in a square, Ashe's hands on your shoulder and Felix's, Felix's on Ashe's and Sylvius and Sylvius on Felix and yours. Your head moves side to side, looking at all your close friends for potentially the last time. "You guys..." you half smirk between them all as your throat feels as if it tightens up slightly.

"We'll catch up after the war." Sylvius interrupts out as his eyes know exactly what you're thinking, "No need for words now, we will share them together once we all return home." he nods before continuing, "Once we get back, Darien, I'll tell you how grateful I am to have met you in my life."

"And how lucky we are to have you as a friend! Felix says next, immediately after his best friend.

"And how proud we are to be able to fight by your side..." Ashe continues.

You can't help but feel such joyous delight, these great friends of yours, doing what they can to lighten the mood. You can't say any words at the moment but your head keeps nodding up and down, looking between the three of them as you continue to hold their shoulders. With a deep breath you tilt your head down to the ground and calm yourself, "Good luck my friends. I will see you all at the end of the day." you return your gaze and bear the biggest smile you can.

Ashe drops her grip and lunges forward to you, throwing her arms across your body and giving you a tight embrace, "For the Syndicate..." she whispers out before she steps back, gives you a nod and moves off towards the east, moving away from you and walking towards another giant group of warriors to help lead and guide them.

Sylvius reaches his arm out and you give his forearm a hefty shake, "For the Syndicate..." he nods before he too turns toward the east to follow behind Ashe and head towards another large group of warriors.

Felix places both his hands on each of your shoulders, looking at your face, "For the Syndicate..." he gives a grin before closing his eyes briefly, exhaling hard and turning to the side just as the other two did, him too, making his way to lead.

You watch the three of them walk away, ready to each guide a section of army into the war with Rathkin. You couldn't be happier to have them leading your troops with you and you know they will do whatever they can to make sure the Syndicate wins.

Many moments go by as you pace around, the horns still blasting off every minute or so. As you look towards the South, you can see the Rathkin army starting to line up, many of their warriors dressed in basic armor but also the random handful of Elite Warriors, decked out in that golden thick armor. You don't see a sign of Commander Rixx anywhere but if he's truly as good of a warrior as you know he is, you will find him in battle at some point today.

"Okay girl..." you run your hand across the white fur of your tiger, "You ready?" she softly purrs in your direction as you leap up on top of the back, "Alright..." She moves around, making her way towards the river as you ride her back and forth a little bit. As you do, your warriors are almost all ready. Thousands upon thousands of men and women are lining up down the Turth River, as far as the eye can see, all different shapes and sizes, all different armors, all different weapons and all of them fighting for you, fighting for the Syndicate, it was truly a sight to behold.

The march south slowly started to begin as you wanted to lead your entire army either across the shallow parts of the Turth or use the handful of bridges scattered around. The plan was to fight Rathkin in their territory just south of the river where it's patchy grasslands and more wide open plains.

Funneling all the warriors and Sunrider's across the bridges and onto the opposite side of the river took a little longer than you wanted but Rathkin didn't budge, they stood there, about a thousand meters away still forming their lines and getting ready.

Your army does the same, now across the river, standing in rows of warriors, as far as the eye can see. It was at that point you hear a blast of a horn again, followed by another and then silence for a handful of seconds. Your eyes focus towards Rathkin and with each blast of the horn, their warriors seemed to adjust in their stance. After the bout of silence, the third ringing of a horn sounds off and the entire line of Rathkin began to march slowly, making their way in almost perfect unison towards your position.

The time was now, the war was about to begin and with that, you go to the front of the pack and pull out your short sword, bringing it high into the air and drawing the attention of many of your warriors, "Sicilian Syndicate!" you shout, yelling as loud as you can to allow as many of your troops to hear you. As you look down the line you can see what appears to be Ashe on her tiger in front of a giant group of warriors, sending orders as well. "Stories will be passed for generations about the war that took place today! Those stories will be shared among all boys and girls about the day that the Syndicate brought Rathkin to their knees!!!" you bellow out your voice, booming it through the air, "So raise your arms my fellow warriors because today, Rathkin will fall and the Syndicate will reign supreme!!" your tiger hops around, leaping back and forth with such grace as your warriors all pull out their weapons and raise them high into the air.

Your tiger turns around as you face the marching rows of Rathkin soldiers who have closed the distance by about half. Pulling out your dagger you raise both that and your short sword into the air, "FOR THE SYNDICATE!!!" you shout as loud as you can which is echoed by every single warrior behind you.

And just like what Rathkin did with the blast of horns, your albino sabre-tooth tiger, that one of the kind creature, let loose the loudest, most gut wrenching war cry she could muster. It was quickly reciprocated by every other Sabre Tooth Tiger in the pack, the growls and roars of so many tigers echoing through out the lands, signaling your troops to march forward, telling them the battle has started and the war is underway.