<b>The Attack - Part II</b><br/><br/>The general lowered the smoking pistol. Its shots had been spent in glorious pyrotechnic flashes of green death. With a hiss and a small cloud of verdant smoke the pre-charged ammunition box was emptied and the general slammed home another. It was all too easy. The aviari were plucked from the sky and ground like fish speared in a barrel. They had nowhere to go, nowhere to run. No hope. No future.<br/><br/>Around the village were small pockets of yahnus archers and riflemen. They poised with their weapons aimed skywards, snatching the sleep-dazed birdfolk from the sky with deadly accuracy. The Kaiser had sent the best he could and there were precious few misses from the yahnus soldiers. The dying aviari tumbled from the dark sky like a perverse, vibrant rain.<br/><br/>The ground levels were all but cleared of the aviari and there were none of the true targets to be had. They must have fled to higher ground, realised the general. The sport had moved on and it was time to pursue them. With a displeased grunt, the commander gave the order to ascend to the treetops.<br/><br/>All around the yahnus that were not busily engaged in butchering the defenceless villagers immediately began to swarm upwards. With swords and knives clutched in their teeth the agile warriors began their ascent. They clambered onto ledges and walkways, bounding along after the fleeing aviari. Any of the birdmen slow enough to remain were easily caught and dispatched with merciless violence.<br/><br/>Pockets of meaningless resistance sprung up and many of the assaulting soldiers lost their lives at the end of the simplistic aviari weapons. Yet for each of the yahnus slain there were at least fifteen more of the elite soldiers to take their place and the birdfolk’s resistance crumbled. The brave fighters found themselves spitted and hacked apart under a flurry of blows. There was no mercy graced upon their pitiful fighters. Only bloody husks were left in the wake of the furious yahnus.<br/><br/>The yahnus were quiet as they killed, their mouths universally hidden behind their blank black masks. They were silent killers, enigmatic and graceful in their brutality, using every one of their limbs and even their tails to dispatch the birds.<br/><br/>The general climbed with them, nearly matching the yahnus in athleticism and enthusiasm for the hunt. Those poor unfortunates falling to gunshot and dagger meant nothing to the general. That they had fallen and died with such bloody satisfaction simply meant that they were unworthy of living.<br/><br/>The slaughter was magnificent. There were blood splatters across the floorboards and the tree trunks. Slumped, mutilated forms lay everywhere. No one was being spared, not the old, not the young. It was a bloodbath and it sang to the dark and twisted heart of the general. If there was a rational side to the slickly dressed creature it was being drowned in the avalanche of debauched bloodshed.<br/><br/>That quiet voice that whispered in the back of the general’s mind ‘this is wrong’. The general ignored it and dived headfirst into the massacre.<br/><br/>Both pistols came out and fired into the dark, lighting up with night with their staccato cries. Every time the barrels belched forth their magically charged payloads another life was snuffed out in a cloud of burned viscera. Point, click, bang. The action was repeated more times than the general could recount. The dark heart beating with that corrupted chest sang with the thrill of it all.<br/><br/>The general had just taken the head clean off one of the filthy aviari with a solid shot to the back of her head when a yahnus lieutenant bounded up, wheezing and panting.<br/><br/>‘We have the girl, general!’ announced the yahnus officer. ‘A couple of levels up, we’re securing her as we speak.’<br/><br/>‘Good. Excellent even.’ came the muffled and inordinately calm response from the general. ‘I want you to send more men. Do not let the woman slip from your gasp. She must be secured, the Kaiser wills it.’<br/><br/>‘As you wish, general’ said the lieutenant snappily. ‘It shall be done, I shall rally a detachment and have them escort the female to the ground levels.’<br/><br/>‘See that you do. Should they lose the female I shall personally deliver your head to the Kaiser on a platter made from the marrow and bones of your men. Now go!’ barked the general.<br/><br/>Smug feelings of superiority surged through the general as the lieutenant skittered away. The primary target had been acquired. All that remained were the strange group that had somehow allied themselves to the pathetic human. Some possessed some skill, it had been said, although the general had yet to see any sign of that with their own eyes.<br/><br/>‘Hunting time.’ hissed the general through clenched teeth.<br/><br/>The general waded into the brawl like a ship into a storm. One pistol was holstered, replaced by one of the vicious fighting blades. Blade and firearm sang their violent song, blasting holes in bellies and hacking deep into necks and ribs. The general fought with what seemed like the strength of ten men, effortlessly sidestepping the clumsy thrusts of the aviari warriors.<br/><br/>The actions of the general were methodical. Each level of the village was being cleared. Purged of the foul avian plague that had been so recently residing within the Kaiser’s forest. It was cathartic. The general didn’t need to think. To kill was all that mattered.<br/><br/>A sudden flare of movement in the air above the general made them pause and reflexively point a pistol skywards. There was a vibrant blue birdwoman flying through the air, clutching in her hand another of the other human targets. It was too perfect an opportunity to miss. With a slight squeeze of the trigger the general sent the aviari tumbling to the ground, minus her lower body.<br/><br/>The general could barely withhold their glee when they saw the remains of the dead bird splatter across a bronze-hued bird and her child. It was too perfect, all too easy to blow the spluttering creature's brains all over the forest. Then the general saw him. The rank, rotting ramen. He was on the list. One of the select few to be spared. The Kaiser wouldn’t mind if he was delivered minus a few limbs.<br/><br/>The general smiled behind the mask and then summoned a squad of nearby yahnus. They were busy hacking apart a hut filled with cowering, aged aviari. Their hooked climbing blades were being put to good use, rising and falling in bloodied arcs. The screams of the dying were musical, perfect pitch yowls of agony of horror. There was no time for that, the survivors of the hut would be taken care of regardless. They were too old and infirm to fly, the follow up squads would ensure their slaughter.<br/><br/>Instead the general issued a bellowing order and pointed directly at the skulking ramen. The soldiers looked up from their ghastly work and organised themselves. They weren’t fast enough.<br/><br/>The ramen had noticed quickly that they had drawn the attention of the general and had about faced, keeping the bronze aviari's child hidden away from the general’s covetous gaze.<br/><br/>None of that, thought the general. The pistol came up and a barrage of shots belched forth, hurtling in the direction of the distant ramen as the yahnus bounded forwards after him and his pathetic, precious aviari child.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>