Morning was here, and the temporary camp was filled with people bustling around.

"Move it! Arrows are coming through!" Scouts were running around with boxes of arrows. They were en route to the ambush site.

"Are the traps placed?" Shouted Titus.

"Hey, you, careful with those jars, they are filled with poison!"

"These are his Majesty's afternoon snacks, make way!"

Things eventually calmed down when most of the preparations were done.

Chris and his subordinates were having one last briefing.

"My scouts just sent confirmation that the Kunalls are a couple of hours away. They will send another smoke signal when the Kunalls are just an hour from the ambush site." Said Titus. "The traps are also in place."

"Then, it's time." Confirmed Chris. It was time to give orders to his troops. He scanned their faces and saw many emotions shared on their faces — excitement, eagerness, but also worry and fear.

Chris sighed. [I wonder what kind of face they see on me right now.] Chris noticed his fists were clenched, and his palms were starting to get sweaty.

[Not the time to crumble now.] He took a deep breath and addressed his men.

"Aim, shoot, and wait for orders." Said Chris in a clear voice. "This is all you need to do for victory."

This statement clearly shocked the hunters. But it had a positive effect.

"That's right. No need to think of complicated stuff. I only need your arrows to reach their bodies. Don't even aim for their heads! The poison on the arrows will bleed them dry, and they will fall before even reaching you!"

Chris paused for effect and continued.

"Wait for your orders and shoot. And you'll come back as heroes! Kunalls are not invincible! Remember, there are only twenty of them to kill today."

"Remember what all of this is for! A new city! A new country! Those Kunalls must die for our future!"

"A NEW CITY! A NEW COUNTRY!" Shouted the soldiers.

"Damn right! Those bastards are intruding on our turf! So let's teach them a lesson! Let's f*ucking kill them all!"

"Kill them all"! Everyone shouted.

"Now go!!"

****

Chris watched the troops leave in high spirit. He took another large breath to relax.

"Great job, my King." Complimented Berg. "You looked quite dashing. Too bad Miss Mia was not here to see."

"Don't tease me, Bergy. I am tense enough as it is." Said Chris as he slumped down on a log. "You certainly know better than me. Are they going to be fine?"

"Of course." Confidently replied Berg. "It is as you said. There are only twenty Kunalls."

"Good."

Ferlin and Titus moved their troops on each side of the patrol route. Only, Ferlin separated from his troops and moved forward to intercept the Kunalls with the Hornet's traps, or as his King affectionately calls them, "the sucker traps."

Both groups had the high ground working for them and were hidden on the other side of the hills waiting for their targets.

The arrows were now dipped in the red hornet poison. It should weaken the Kunalls with every passing second. It had a strong bloodletting effect after all. Chris speculated that it was a combination of an anticoagulant and something that sped up the heart.

Hopefully climbing the hills in those conditions would be very hard, even for the Kunalls.

Chris went to a high vantage point. His job motivating the soldiers was done, and he did not need to join the fray personally. After all, he would only be a hindrance as he had no training with the bow and he was physically weak. But it was alright, for his job was to lead not to fight.

He found an appropriate spot to view the battlefield and waited there with his two usual guard escort.

Everyone was in place, and it was now the waiting game.

It was almost 10 am when the smoke signal finally appeared. The Kunalls were less than an hour away!

Tension rose again, but no one lost their calm.

And then the Kunalls were finally here.

[Time for the play.] Thought Chris.

But the sight of the Kunalls temporarily took his breath away. He was looking down at the road from a few hundred meters away, but even from there, they looked huge. In contrast, the soldiers hiding on the hillsides looked tiny.

If he had to guess, he'd say they were all close to three meters tall, just like Berg described them to him. They were two times as tall and large as regular humans.

[Holy crap they are huge...] Worried Chris. [Luckily we are not fighting in melee range. Can our guys even reach their throat with regular swords?]

[Let's see... They walk on hooves, probably a remnant of their past, but they have proper hands to hold their weapons.] He squinted to see better. [Hmm, it's hard to see, but their hands look strange.]

Chris turned to his guard escort. "What's with their hands? They look weird."

"They are a different from ours, my Lord." The guard was thankful it was a normal question for once. "They have three very thick fingers. They are the equivalent to our thumb, pinky and middle finger. They have three-toed hooves as well, so it might have come from that." Guessed the guard.

The rest was pretty much what Chris had imagined from Berg's description. They had fur which was a light brown and orange mix. There were differences in tints between them, however. Two large horns were also protruding from their head. They looked deadly.

They were clothed beneath the waist and wore no armor as they were proudly displaying their tough bodies.

Chris shuddered as he imagined the Kunalls charging at him.

But it was no time for that as Ferlin kicked off the plan on cue.

The Kunalls were now close enough the refugee camp and just underneath the Sucker Traps.

"Fwoosh", "Fwoosh". Multiple arrows were accurately launched in succession, all hit their targets, and the angry and painful cries of Kunalls echoed in the valley.

[Damn. That Ferlin is good.] Praised Chris as he watched him run back to the main ambush spot.

Everyone's attention now turned to the refugee camp. This was a play after all, and everything had an order.

The cries were loud and were not missed by the guards who ran back to the camp to warn the others.

****** ******

"What's going on?" Shouted Krag, the scout leader. "Why are there so many red hornets in the middle of the damn road?!"

"What are you waiting for, you idiots? Kill those bastards!"Ordered Krag.

"It's hard, leader! They fly too fast for our weapons!" Answered a scout fighting back the hornets.

"Then squash them with your hands if you have to!" Angrily shouted Krag.

"Leader, look on the ground! Nets!"

"What? Someone placed traps here?" His gaze followed the road, and he finally noticed smoke rising not far on the horizon."A camp? A human camp!"

"Ignore the bugs you dumb bastards! Get the humans before they flee!"

[They placed traps to protect their camp? This can't be a small group.] Delighted Krag. [Kuku. I smell achievements!]

"CHAAAAAARGE!"

****

Refugee Camp.

A sweaty guard was making his report in a hurry. "Miss Mia! Miss Catherine! This is bad. Really bad!"

Mia and Catherine looked worried. "What is it?"

"Twenty Kunalls are coming this way! Luckily they seem to be fighting of red hornets, but this should not last long!"

"Is our camp exposed?" Asked Mia.

"I believe so... They were already walking this way. They must have noticed the camp by now."

"How long do we have before they get here?" Asked Mia.

"Hard to say, Miss Mia. Perhaps fifteen minutes? Or less..."

Mia looked at Cat: "Twenty Kunalls... Can we do it?"

Cat sighed and answered "Not a chance. One axe swing and a man will be cleaved in two. Twenty of them against incomplete fortifications and our numbers? It's better if we flee."

"Flee? They are minutes away. Even if we give up everything we have, we'll still be lucky if our people don't trample themselves in panic, let alone flee." Worried Mia.

Cat nodded. This didn't look good.

"If we can't flee, but can't beat them by ourselves... How about asking your boyfriend for help?" Smiled Cat.

"Hm?" Mia didn't understand Cat, but then she thought of yesterday's meeting. "Cat! This is not the time!"

"He's got 200 hunters with him. Just ask him for help. Our pride is worthless if we die here." Said Cat in a hurry.

Mia immediately nodded. She stood up and looked at the guard. "Hurry and send a messenger to the hunter camp east of here. Give him the best horse and tell him to go as fast as possible. No time to write a letter, tell him to ask the leader of the camp for help. Twenty Kunalls are on the way! We need help! GO!"

"Yes, my Lady!" Replied the guard as he rushed out. It wasn't often that their leader raised her voice that much.

Cat picked up her sword and her armor. "Good, now we have a chance."

She prepared to leave but stopped suddenly. "Huhu. I just noticed. He is not that bad."

"What do you mean?" Asked Mia.

"Didn't you find it strange? Two hundred hunters appear out of nowhere and camp minutes away from us. You'd usually put some distance between the camps, right? And what kind of beast are they hunting that they need two hundred hunters to take it down? I certainly didn't see anything like that around here, or we'd be long gone... Or eaten!"

"You mean?!" Mia finally understood Mia's point.

"Right. Something kept bothering me. If they were hostile and wanted to rob us, then I'd understand better, but it wasn't the case. And now, one day after their arrival, a bunch of Kunalls show up. Isn't that too much of a coincidence? Didn't you say he seemed to 'invite us'? It finally makes sense."

Mia's beautiful eyes glowed brightly: "He knew about the Kunalls! He is waiting for us to ask for help!"

"He probably wants to score some point with you." Teased Cat.

"Stop teasing me." Mia Chastised. "You know that he wants us to join them."

[Or both.] Smiled Cat.

"Well, here I go, we've got to delay the Kunalls until we get reinforcements." Said Cat as she went to rally her soldiers. "Don't leave the tent, Mia. Things are going to be dangerous for a while."

****

Chris followed the messenger leaving the refugee camp with his eyes.

"Good." He sighed in relief.

The scout reached the camp in less than five minutes. Berg was waiting for him, as planned, and agreed to help.

Just then, the Kunalls came in view of the refugee camp. Most of the red hornets were dead or had given up. They could see the incomplete wooden barricades, and around those, a few dozen soldiers were rushing behind a redhaired woman.

The Kunall's eyes were red, both a mixture of rage and excitement.

"BATTLE!" Shouted Karg.

This was all they needed to resume their charge like wild beasts.

The soldiers behind Cat gripped their swords and gulped hard... They had to fight against that?

When suddenly a rain of arrows appeared from the nearby forest.

The battle was on!