Blood Moon

by The_Darker_Fonts

Chapter 26: The Diversion

Night was falling fast when they had finished the last of the heads were buried, little markers indicating the graves. Hemorrhage’s heart was heavy, his head downturned. If he had simply trusted that Halven wasn’t trying to trick him or had let Argon go alone to collect the others, then maybe he would have been able to prevent this treachery. He might have been able to convince the soldiers who had done this that they didn’t need to, at least. Maybe save the lives of a few dozen soldiers and prepare for the battle they would be forced to face.

Instead, there was this. The destroyed village and the slain loyal soldiers, left as a gruesome display for Equestria to mourn. Muttering a final prayer to Luna for the brave soul who had stood against treachery, Hemorrhage stepped away from the grave and took a brief glance over his shoulder.

Ailade still sat quaking at the edge of the hill in rage, low growls escaping her mouth. While he knew almost everything about the werewolf, the one thing he had never quite figured out was her affinity to normal ponies. He cared for them as other living creatures, but he had no desire to ever live among them as a nocturnal. For her, though, this amount of death was outrageous and unforgivable, too many innocent lives lost to something undeniably evil. He wanted to reach out a hoof and tell her that everything would be okay, that they would avenge these innocent lives lost… but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

He needed this rage to be maintained and stoked. They were in enemy territory, and had been for some considerable time. They hadn’t known that, though, which meant that reckless actions such as flying from hill to hill and scrambling around the slopes was a foolish way of going about. It was a miracle they hadn’t been spotted yet. Still, they had taken the time to respect the dead and clean up Sombra’s horrendous mess. That meant they were both behind schedule and out in the open. Luckily, darkness was their ally. They would be able to find their foe by the moonlight and fires they lit.

“What should we do, Hemorrhage,” Argon asked softly, nodding towards Ailade. The mare would be able to hear even their whispered words.

“What we can,” he said sadly, staring at her. Her ears were perked up, obviously listening in on the conversation they were having. She probably wasn’t fooled by their guise, but at the very least it was a way for her not to feel called out. “We’ve done our part in honoring the dead, now let’s go avenge them.”

“Indeed,” Leper growled as he prowled past them, staring out over the small valley between hills. “I can smell the scent of these stallions’ blood in these hills. Somewhere out there, the murderers are dragging their bloodied swords and spears with them. They didn’t even clean their tarnished blades!”

“They lack any respect for the lives they took,” Ailade declared, standing up and turning to join the trio. “We will show them equal respect when we terrorize them in the night.”

“Enough,” Hemorrhage hissed, lifting his head up. He stared at his three friends, his coven, and frowned at them all. “You let rage control you so easily? We know where they are and have seen the smoke of their camp. We must not allow ourselves to be blinded by fury and zealous vengeance. Our allies will be meeting with us soon, and from there we can make our plans. We will not harry the camp tonight, or at least, not until a levelheaded plan has been established and agreed upon with our allies.”

“I agree,” Argon stated, stepping forward and laying a hoof on Leper’s shoulder. “Halven has granted us a good number of other nocturnals to work with, powerful ones that will assist in our effort. We need to be wary, though, that we do not let the strength of darkness fool us into reckless action. We are not invincible.”

“Fine,” Leper finally grumbled, stepping away to look out in the distance, smelling the air. “They seem to be settled for the night anyways, but they aren’t having much luck keeping warm. Maybe three or four fires.”

“The hills aren’t very forested, but more than anything, I think they’re afraid of being spotted,” Hemorrhage pointed out. Slowly, tapping a hoof against his chin, he came to a realization. “Perhaps I sized up the situation too quickly as well. These soldiers know the general plan at the very least, but they just killed many of their major leaders in this mutiny.they’ll know they were the force sent to stop Sombra’s force and that there wasn’t supposed to be any other armies coming in the next few days. However, they’re afraid of being found out still, which either means they’re afraid of one of our armies coming, or more likely, they’re going to attempt to dive deep into Equestria, perhaps all of the way to Canterlot.”

“We can’t allow that to happen,” Argon concluded. “Therefore, we’ll need to cause a diversion to keep them in the Oppotimare Valley, to give Celestia and Luna time to react and stop the damage from tearing apart Equestria completely.”

“Precisely,” Hemorrhage grimly confirmed. Looking over to Leper and Ailade, he saw determination in their eyes. “It seems that we will have a raid tonight after all, with or without our allies to reinforce us. We need to strike quickly but efficiently. Kill as many as possible in as brutal a manner as possible. Be bloody, massacre them. These ponies spook easily if all it took for them to switch sides was one battle. Leave those who witness our attack scarred and loose-lipped about what they saw. In whatever way you can, destroy both their morale and their soldiers. The fate of Equestria rests on whether or not we can scare these traitors back into the deeper Oppotimare.

“We hit at once, four of us together, again and again throughout the night. Maybe they’ll realize it’s the same four individuals causing them damage, maybe they’ll think it’s coordinated efforts of different small groups of Equestrian forces. Either way, I believe our goal will be achieved. If they think it’s four individuals alone causing the damage, they’ll hesitate at the thought of what thousands could potentially do to them. If they think it’s coordinated guerilla warfare, they’ll believe they’ve moved themselves into a position where the enemy can strike from all sides. Whatever the case, our goal is carnage outright. Make them question the cost of the fight. Am I understood?”

“Clearly,” Argon nodded solemnly.

“Of course,” Leper quickly added, sitting upright.

Ailade stepped forward suddenly, leaning in as she whispered, “Once, it would have taken you hours to even consider the possibility of such a dangerous attack. What changed?”

“The last time I hesitated, it got over four thousand innocent ponies killed,” he answered bluntly. “I had the blood of many ponies on my hooves before today, but I’m now awash in it completely. I always preach against feeling shame. Tonight, I shall unleash my shame and rage on those responsible for the massacre of innocents. Will you be by my side for that?”

“Of course,” she replied, taking a step back to stare into his eyes. “It’s time we nocturnals finally put to good use our monstrosity.”

“Very well,” Hemorrhage growled. Taking a second to draw in a breath, he looked at his three companions. Letting out a husky breath, he ordered, “Move out.”

Author's Note:

A short chapter to return with, but an important one nonetheless.

Comments

[TheVirtuousOne]

media.tenor.com/YVu3lRKLdS0AAAAC/werewolf-van.gif The nightmares creep from the shadows.... Pray your end is swift!

[The_Darker_Fonts]

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