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[Alija]

Alija walked silently to the common yards of the air force, her hands empty. Her raken was saddled and ready, waiting for her on the other side of the yards. They would leave shortly, she knew, a relatively small force, though large for the air force. Before they could, though, she knew they needed to gether. The entire expedition had been planned so suddenly, it seemed, that she would not have been surprised if half her brothers and sisters did not know what was going on. She herself knew only half of it, and that more from muttered conversations in the halls than from the few direct orders she had received.

Reaching the yards, she waited patiently for the Captain of the Air to apear. That he would be leading the excursion into the Blight himself showed how serious the situation was, or at least how seriously it was being taken, by the air force, and, likely, by the Empress herself. That in itself was enough to make Alija proud to be taking part. At the thought, her fingers began to twitch, itching to get her in the saddle so she could begin. First, though, she would have to wait.

[Halmek Delmoor]

Halmek walked through the door and into the area where the morat'raken in this group were waiting. He would be commanding this particular group as they flew towards the Blight. The slower exotics, the lopar, grolm, and s'redit, had started for the Blight several days ago. The to'raken would not start for another couple days, except those carrying sul'dam to the ground forces. This was an interesting venture. The exotics had never before undertaken a military action on their own; always before they had supported the Ever Victorious Army. But the Blight was not a normal foe, and exotics would stand better against the creatures living there than soldiers would. They were bringing most of their military force to the Blight, leaving only a few to go with the army, as well as the torm and corlm, who could be hindrances in the Blight.

He addressed the gathered fliers. Most had little idea what they were doing, and it was never good to go into battle with a command that did not know that. "Most of you probably aren't sure what exactly is going on. The Blight has been unusually active lately, and the Empress is sending us to quiet it. We'll be heading in without support from the army, so we'll have to be careful. we will have a few sul'dam and damane, but most of those are going with the Ever Victorious Army." He could tell them what they were doing, but he could not tell them everything; the Empress had commanded him to keep silent. "Mount up." He walked over to the raken stables to saddle his own raken. It was not often he got to fly.

[Alija]

Though Alija had known most of what was going on, she listened to the Captain's words sagely. The Blight awakening, after it had been quiet so long - even receding - she knew, was not a good sign. Still, there was nought that the Empire could not conquer, and she had resounding faith that they would do exactly that.

Looking around only briefly as the men and women of the air force readied themselves, she mounted up as instructed. Her raken was quiet despite the commotion; sitting astride her saddle, she only wished that her own nerves were as calm. Still, she would not let her unease show; if she had anything to take with her into battle, it was at least that she could appear to be strong. Squaring her shoulders in determination, she flicked her reins carefully as she followed the rest of the morat'raken, away and into battle.

[Alija]

It was a fair distance from the city to where the Blight began to encroach, but, even with frequent stops - it would not do to arrive for battle in time for their raken to collapse - they made the journey swiftly. In fact, despite her quiet reassurances that she had been looking forward to the day, Alija could not help wishing that they had not made quite such good time.

When they finally stopped, it was just on the edge of the Blight. Before them, Alija could see the sry land shift almost imperceptibly, become something far more foreboding than mere desert. This close to its edge, she could not see any of the things she was certain that they would be fighting, but something told her they would not be far in.

Listening to the Captain of the Air as he began to speak, not in general terms this time but of strategy, she noted with a mixture of excitement and nervousness what she was to do. As the Captain finished, she gave a short nod to those around her, and then, with a subtle flick of her reins, rode into battle.

[Alija]

Alija thought the battle was brief. When she had time to stop and remember it, it seemed hazy in her mind, and all the buildup, all the anticipation, seemed to be over in little mor than a flash. There was blood, she knew that; a lot of blood. Blood didn't bother her, though, especially when as much blood spilt was that of the Blight's creatures as was that of men and women. But there was more than blood, pieces of human - and other - anatomy that she had never even known existed, much less had ever wanted to see in the light of day. She had wondered, briefly, if any of this might have been easier at night. Not the attack; they had attacked in daylight for a reason, and she supposed that they may have had half as many casualties again had they waited. But seeing it all, all the carnage, all the loss ...

Before they left and regrouped, Alija was not even sure if they had won. For that matter, she still was not sure of it after they had retrned to the city. They had killed as many Shadowspawn as could be hoped for, and they had not left before the first miles of the Blight were clear. But they had also lost many of their own, and it would be weeks at least before they could see whether any of it had done any good, whether the Blight would once again retreat.

In the face of all that, it seemed strange that, once they did return to the corps in the city, there was nothing but rejoicing in the barracks. The mourning would come tomorrow, along with the uncertainty, and the waiting. For tonight, though, it seemed as if all those things did not exist, would never exist. She had seen more than one man torn limb from limb, lost more than one friend in front of her very eyes. But as she drank, slipping slowly into oblivion, all she could think was that it might yet not be over.

[Halmek Delmoor]

OOC: Wow, sorry I took so long replying to this! I forgot about it!

Halmek regrouped his forces outside the Blightborder. He and his most senior handlers sat around around map in the tent, and one moved a marker- denoting a unit of raken- into the camp area. The battle had been long and pitched, but Halmek was sure they had stopped the Blight's spread, for now at least. Whether the Blight would retreat... It was irrelevant; they would see in the following weeks. The exotics- particularly the ground-based ones- had taken a grievous blow, the handlers only slightly less so. Exotics reproduced slowly, and were hard to replace. For now, they had to retreat.

Halmek gave the order to retreat. Most of the raken and to'raken would fly south tomorrow, and the ground exotics would leave today, to reach the capital in around a week. Perhaps it was too late to join the campaign against the outlying tribes, but perhaps not.

OOC: Sorry, this is short too! Just not a lot to write now, I guess... [I][/I]