lilfluff

Title: They Think What?!
Fandom/'verse: Original
Summary: Invasion never seem to go as planned, even when the enemy is caught completely by surprise...
Word Count: 1034
Prompter:

aldersprig

It was a valuable world. A mostly intact ecosystem by Imperium standards, plenty of land to divide up, and according to the seers no magic worth speaking of. Battle Sorcerer Shethkane looked over his troops with an eager tooth filled grin.

"The seers have located one of their major cities. We move as soon as the gates stabilize. The fools have built it ripe for the plucking. No city walls, no interior walls, and the only troops to be seen are few in number and carry neither swords nor identifiable wands or staves." As he expected this brought a similar grin to his boys. "This city is ours! And from it soon we shall take their world for the Imperium! You shall be the first to set foot on this soil and so shall you have first choice of the rewards..."

Along the wall what once seemed little more that watery curtains began to glow. Shethkane's ears perked then flattened as a discordant chime sounded rather than the crystalline bell tone he was used to hearing. This sounded more like a desperate battlefield gate than a set supported by a full circle of the Imperium's best. His own briefing earlier had mentioned this was one of the furthest conquests, piercing through more celestial veils than any to come before.

A wavering view of the city, barely lit by the morning sun appeared within each curtain, as if seen through disturbed water. Slowly the view grew steadier and with a shake of his tail Shethkane lifted his ears and turned back to his men. Raising an arm to point a claw to the gates he shouted out the order all had been waiting for.

"The gates are open! Advance! Advance to victory and glory!"

Preferring to lead from the front Shethkane waited only for a point squad to charge through the central gate before leading his own behind them. The gates flashed and rippled with colors as the warriors passed through them, giving little warning when he came through to find his squad colliding with the first. Despite their training and experience the point squad had stopped only a little ways out from the gate, calling out warnings about a monstrous beast that wasn't anywhere to be seen. He left it to his sergeants to clear the path and instead began preparing a siege-breaker spell to announce their arrival to their new subjects. Or drop the monster if it actually existed.

With a gasp the sorcerer stumbled. He still had his own inner strength. That which was used to call upon and shape the outer magic of the world around him. An outer magic he could not feel but the faintest traces of if even that.

"Impossible. Certainly some worlds are more difficult than others but... what happened to this world's magic?"

Grabbing an arm he pulled himself up by a startled lieutenant's limb. He turned to call through the gate for mage stones only to gasp again when the gate that should have stood open for a week, flickered and failed instead. Revealing beyond it a terrifying giant of a creature stalking towards them with a sound like sputtering torches coming from it's mouth. A mouth showing long and clearly sharp teeth.

"Around and strike!"

Reaching inwards again after the frantic warning he shaped the sphere of power, thrusting it at the creature where it splashed into an eruption of flames in the monster's face. It's fur smoldering the beast took a fearful leap away from them. A handful of arrows took flight and sent the monster fleeing.

That one spell burned through nearly all his core strength. His two apprentice sorcerers fared little better after producing even weaker magics. Something else was bugging him, but it wasn't until he looked around with no monster almost upon him that he began to understand.

The trees were utter giants. It would take nearly a squad to circle the trunk of the nearest tree. And the buildings beyond the trees were even more terrifying.

"Impossible."

A scream to the right caught his attention and revealed a monstrous creature at least eight times the height of the first that had attacked them. Shethkane swallowed his pride and called out to all the troops close enough to hear.

"Retreat! This way, fall back this way!"

Huddled within another wooded area hours later the sorcerer panted desperately, his robes and armor abandoned while he struggled to recover from another feeble attempt at spell casting and the horrifying summer heat.

"Impossible, how do those giants survive this? I'd sooner..."

His companions stiffened and his voice trailed off. Turning he saw two of the giants approaching them, dressed in garishly colored clothes as if they wanted to be seen. With a shout one darted forward and the soldiers about him retreated and abandoned him. He couldn't blame them. He'd ordered them to do as much not even an hour ago after their last encounter with the giants. Despite his weakness he stood on shaking legs and stumbled slowly for the heavier growth opposite where his men had fled.

The monster stood over him and gave out a shout that had his ears flat against his head. Large hands took hold of him and pulled him high up into the air, more sharp calls coming from the giant.

"Mage-Captain! It thinks it's protecting you!"

Shethkane twisted as he could in the giant's grip, catching sight of one of his newer sergeants.

"What!"

"I've got a bit of mind touch, you'll understand if I haven't said so before?" Shethkane could understand that, the man would have been marked and allowed to stay in the regular units if that had been known. "I see you do. She thinks we were threatening you."

"What? Wait, she?"

"I'm not sure yet, but that's how her mind feels to me."

"That's fascinating I'm sure. But why should she care?"

"Well..." At that the man actually seemed embarrassed. "She thinks you're cute."

"What! I'm a Master Sorcerer, master swordsman, veteran of countless campaigns. I. Am. Not. Cute!"

"I'm afraid she disagrees sir. She's, you aren't going to like this sir. I think she wants you as her pet."

To

aldersprig's prompt, "What do you mean, human women think I'm cute?"