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[Colour=Pink]"Sacre bl..."[/colour]  Her whispered reaction to the sight of the teeming fields trailed off, but the surprise and distress in just the first word was apparent to Grimes, next to her.

The cascading sound of a succession of arrows nocking and bowstrings pulling to their maximum tensile strength.  The booming voice of Commander Thorn sounding like the command had come from the heavens.  "By your orders, Captain," the quiet but firm nudge from her second in command.

[Colour=Pink]"Of course,"[/colour] MacKensie replied, giving a small and curt nod as her eyes followed a wave of arrows that rained down from a nearby block on the Right Wing, to shower the enemy unit of female knife wielding warriors who were following close behind a siege tower for cover.  [Colour=Pink]"Behind the siege tower!  Aim!"[/colour] She left a pause to give the Rabbits time to sight their mark.  Then, [Colour=Pink]"Fire!"[/colour]  A flurry of arrows released, MacKensie herself too letting fly a fire-infused bolt from her primary crossbow, before switching it out and drawing her left-handed secondary crossbow to let fly a ice-infused bolt.  [Colour=Pink]"Fire at will!"[/colour]

Such was the Ranger's dexterity that she could continue to switch, in and out, each of her crossbows, reload them one at a time and fire off both bolts in about the same time that the average archer under her command could nock, draw, aim and release a single arrow.  Magical forcefields appeared above the dark elven screamers, deflecting arrows in droves, but the multitude of arrows coming down from the entire Right Wing, coming from multiple angles, meant that many projectiles got past the shields and felled the unarmoured warriors by the dozens.

The Rabbits stayed focused, their Captain's eyes sighting another unit of screamers perhaps forty ranks back, following behind one of the trailing siege towers.  It was a far distance, but MacKensie reckoned the target was just within range.  She let her block get off another two waves of arrows on the heavily-dwindled advanced unit of screamers, before taking control once more.  [Colour=Pink]"Hold your fire!"[/colour] The battle not long since started and she'd already shouted more than she'd ever had to since childhood arguments with her little brother Xander.  She wasn't used to it, but she was not self-conscious about it either.  The adrenaline of the moment was enough to carry her through.  [Colour=Pink]"The furthest siege tower on the right!  More screamers behind!  Ready!"[/colour]  Again; that rolling cascade of multiple arrows nocking and bowstrings stressing.  [Colour=Pink]"Aim!"[/colour]  The shifting of leather and steel armour as all archers lifted their sights forty-five degrees for maximum distance.  [Colour=Pink]"Fire!"[/colour]

The siege tower that arrived first to the wall, on the Right Wing, did not park itself in front of the Rabbits, but close by, maybe two blocks away.  MacKensie called for attention and readied her block to fire upon it.  The Rabbits waited for the door to fall open and bridge the gap to the wall and as the orcs and goblins came charging across the gangplank, they were met with a hail of arrows in their flank.  Dead enemies, mostly goblins, fell from the height as the Rabbits readied again.  Numberless more orcs and goblins appeared from inside the siege tower.

[Colour=Pink]"Aim for the neck!"[/colour]  MacKensie ordered, noting that the heavy amrour of the orcs was non-existent in this one deadly area.  [Colour=Pink]"Fire!"[/colour]

It didn't matter how many fell.  More appeared.  And the sea of enemies in the field below seemed unending.