>>5888018>>5888042>>5888043>>5888238>>5888322>>5888361The Rex, flanked by the entirety of the royal guard, approaches the massive demonic hyena and delivers the terms.
"Yes, we return the girls, and you kill us anyway," the demon deduces. "You will send away the dragon, and once he is gone, a hole in perimeter will be created. The girls will be upon our backs. As we run past your men, we will drop them."
The Rex narrows his eyes. There is no guarantee that the creatures will uphold their word---in fact, it seems all the more likely that they will not. He demands to see the state of the prisoners, and the large hyena calls for one to be released.
She stumbles out of the cave, walking on weak and shaking legs, covered in cuts and dried blood. Her clothing is in tatters, and her hair is a mess. But it is the look in her eyes that says it all; the emptiness, the despair, the horror. Her face is a mess of blood and tears as stares off into space, as though not seeing anything at all.
"She's alive," the demonic hyena pack leader says with a monstrous, sickening grin.
There is no releasing these creatures, the Rex resolves. Not after what they have done. This cannot happen again, not to our people, not to any peoples.
The Rex speaks with the dragon, and puts a plan into action. The dragon flies away, but only making a show of it. The hyenas give the dragon time to reappear if that were the case, but the dragon has been instructed to return only in the event of a signal being given.
The demons of the plains emerge from the cave, some twenty or so left, with the savaged girls upon their backs. The Rex gives a signal to allow the army to make way, an opening in the east. The hyenas begin to charge towards it. The nature of their victims means that some of them lose their balance or grip and fall ahead of time.
Now the Rex springs his trap. The wolf-scouts, having moved into position and hidden in the east, charge to close the gap, letting loose their hounds. The hyena demons split up into two groups, heading north and south, only to find the army rapidly closing on that position, mostly normal scouts.
The most skilled priests combine their magic to create a bright white light and send it up into the sky; the signal for the dragon to return. The dragon swoops down, prepared to assist in finishing off these monsters.
Backed into a corner, the monsters fight ferociously, and some of them maul the girls that managed to hang on or use them as meat shields. Those that can be freed from the monster's backs and dragged to safety are, but most of the hostages die.
