We see the desert clan fan out across the plains as they descend the mountain.

I join the lines of the Twilight Clan, ready to fight shoulder to shoulder with Clavius, Adriano, and Demian. I may barely know them, but their bond to another human woman unites us in a way that transcends the normal bonds of Clanbrothers.

We move forward, keeping the tents behind us. In those tents are Elsie and Amber, protected by a small squad of women fighters. There are a small herd of sandsprinters saddled and ready, and should the battle go poorly, they have orders to escape with the human women.

But we will not lose. The women will not have to flee. We will triumph, and I will defend my woman and my honor as a man.

Clavius orders us to halt, and then he whistles.

The sandsuckers are prodded and adjusted, and men with large swords cut the straps on the catapults. The arms fling huge boulders across the desolate plains, and the first rock hits just short of the Desert Clan’s lines. The boulder shatters, and a small rock flies forward and cuts down one of the men.

The line backs up, and all the warriors around me cheer and roar. Another catapult fires.

We all look up as the rock cuts across the red and purple sky, blocking the stars as it propels forward. And just as I look down to see where the rock will hit, purple explosions of light explode out from the Desert Clan’s lines, shattering the darkness of the mountain’s shadow all around them.

I just barely have time to fall to the ground, pulling Clavius down with me.

Demian and Adriano fall down beside me, but a man to our side is struck with a bolt of energy. His entire upper body disintegrates, and his legs collapse down in a heap.

“Scatter! Fall back!” Clavius shouts. “Bows! Fire!”

The crossbowmen fire volleys as the rest of us jump to our feet and rush back toward the tents. I pray that the women will have fled the moment they saw the glow of energy weapons.

I doubt any of the Twilight Clan have fought against guns, so I start reflexively shouting orders, not caring that it may dishonor Clavius. I have more experience against the technology of the inner regions and Capital.

“Fall back toward the night!” I shout. “Use the cover of darkness to get in close!”

It’s a long shot. How many of us will get cut down before we can reach cover of night? Still, we can act as a moving wall to slow them down while the women flee toward the relative safety of night.

I rush toward the tents, diving behind cover of a small bushes each time I approach one. I wait until a shot has already gone off before I run out of cover again. The bush won’t actually protect me at all if they shoot it, but they’re less likely to shoot a bush than they are a figure running across open terrain.

By the time I reach the tents, I look back and see dozens of dead bodies all around. Some of the bodies are steaming, their blood and flesh evaporated by the intense heat of the blasts.

The shots have stopped though. Our lines are completely broken, but I see 30 or 40 warriors still alive, all hiding behind large boulders or tents.

The urge to break lines and go look for Elsie is strong. I could get her on a sandsucker, and run away while the Twilight Clan slowed them slowed them from chasing us.

But not only is that dishonorable, it is just delaying the inevitable. I have to stop and fight. I have to end their pursuit. Now or never.

“Stay in cover,” I shout, “We’ll be able to pick them off if they approach. By my count they only have two or three guns.”

“It felt like 100!” Demian shouts.

“That’s what they want,” I say. “Get one of those guns from them, and it’ll be a mostly even fight for us.”

I risk a peek. They are a few hundred strides from us now, but they are approaching cautiously. Scared even.

The problem with energy weapons is they dull your senses. It’s such an overwhelming advantage that my former clan doesn’t even feel they’ve truly fought us. But now that they are getting into our spear range, the sudden realization hits them that they can actually be killed–that their guns do not make them invincible. We, on the other hand, are full of adrenaline and ready to take our opening. We’ve suffered losses, and we are hungry for revenge.

I keep looking back, hoping to see the sandsprinters rushing into the night, but I don’t. Maybe they left already. Elsie must be safe already. She has to be.

There are near 100 of our enemies left alive. Even if we get a surprise jump on them, and even if they had no guns, we’d likely lose.

I get an idea, one that is mostly to delay them from catching Elsie than anything else.

“This is Titus,” I shout from behind the boulder.

“Titus!” someone shouts back. “Surrender the aliens so we don’t have to blow your head off.”

“You’ve lost great honor,” I shout back. “This is not a cowardly way to fight. With the Emperor’s toys.”

Silence. Good. I’ve gotten under their skin.

“So we’ll spear you,” he finally shouts back. It’s not a voice I recognize. Leadership must have changed, though they still know my name.

“After gaining an insurmountable advantage,” I say. “I challenge your strongest warrior to one-on-one combat.”

“Titus!” Clavius’ voice roars. “This is our battle.”

I ignore him. “Don’t dishonor the name of the Desert Clan. If you kill me in this dishonorable battle with your toys from the Emperor, then I’ll hope only that I am remembered as Titus of No Clan, and not Titus, formerly of the cowardly Desert Clan.”

“Bacillius will fight you,” a deep voice rumbles. “I, Bacillius, our greatest duelist.”

I stand up now, showing myself. I hold my skullspear high up in the air.

Bacillius is stepping forward too. His horns are massive, as is his body. I have long legs and an athletic build, but Bacillius looks like he spends all day lifting boulders for fun.

“After I kill him,” Bacillius roars, “You give us the alien. By your honor!”

“By my honor,” I say.

Two men with guns approach, holding them up and grinning at me.

Then, to my horror, I see another two men bring in Elsie and Amber, their arms tied behind their backs.

Clavius growls and rushes toward them, but one of the gunners fires at his feet, blowing the ground out beneath him. Clavius is blown backward by the exploding debris, and he slides back, tumbling and rolling. His eyes are closed, but I see his chest rise and fall. Amber cries out for him.

“If anyone else tries to interfere,” Bacillus shouts. “Shoot to kill.”

I see Adriano gripping his spear, though I can’t spot Demian. I pray he won’t be stupid enough to move, but I shout to him just in case.

“I will win this battle,” I say. “Holster your spears.”

Adriano glares at me, but he does holster his spear.

If I do lose, they will be within their rights to fight anyway. I am not of their clan, and they can honorably claim that my loss is not their loss. The Desert Clan is stupid to not point this out in advance, and demand someone from the Twilight Clan fights instead. I just hope that either Demian or Adriano is smart enough to spot and exploit this loophole, should I die in combat.

“We fight with our weapons of choice,” Bacillus booms down at me.

As he approaches, I realize he’s nearly a full head taller than me, and I am by no means a small man. How could anyone be this big?

“Fine,” I say. “I choose skullspear.”

It’s the only honorable choice, and I expect him to choose the same.

“Fetch my weapon,” Bacillus shouts back, to no one in particular.

For a moment I fear they’re going to give him a gun, and he’s just going to vaporize me from ten strides away. Then I see a man holding a huge mace in both hands, as if he were hauling a huge, over-sized piece of furniture. The mace is basically just a huge metal ball on a big metal rod, but that metal ball is bigger than my head, and the rod is thicker than my arm.

Bacillius snatches the mace out of the other man’s hands, and he raises it effortlessly in one hand, even though the other warrior could barely hold it with two.

I wonder if I shouldn’t have demanded we fight bare-handed, but that would have been even worse. If this man can hold a mace of this size, then he could easily crush me with his bare hands. The spear is my only real chance of killing him. As long as I can dodge his blows, I stand a chance of poking a hole into his skull, or if that’s not possible, then maybe bringing him down with a lot of stabs to his body. I can bleed him out.