There was a high whir as a tiny bolt shot past Tiger's right ear.
This time he was lucky because if the bolt had been a few inches to the left, his ear would have been severed in a gush of blood. But he was not exactly lucky in this fight, because many of the scars and wounds he suffered cast a reddish tinge on his face.
And he'd even lost his right middle finger in the past few hours. But to wield a sword, nine fingers were always enough.
He had to stuff his long, scaly tail into his armor, which was a little too tight, so that his opponents could not knock him off.
The tail grows back on a Draconian, but only with almost unbearable agony. However, they are comparable to those he had to endure now, because his armor was not only very tight, but also quite heavy.
But it had to be, since his flaky skin is rather inferior protection against an attack by the Lex.However, not many of the Draconians wear such strong armor, because its manufacture requires a certain amount of time and a lot of material. Therefore, ordinary soldiers are not even allowed to wear the slightest protection, but have to fully rely on their weak scale armor. Because their only supplier of ore, the dwarfs, are rarely seen and when they do, they have already lost a lot of this valuable raw material to thieves and sometimes to the Lex.
And so such armor is reserved for generals only. But even in spite of this armor, the lizard-like body of Tiger was not unharmed.
All over his armor were cuts from which slowly and carefully dripped red, glistening blood. Overall, his otherwise dark green body, through the blood of his enemies and himself, looked lighter and shimmered slightly silvery through the sun, which was reflected on his armor.
However, there was war paint on his cheeks, painted with ashes.On his right cheek one could see three horizontal bars that showed everyone else his rank, that of a general. So he was one of the most important people in this battle. His left cheek, on the other hand, was adorned with a silver pentagram.
This was actually only useful in the event of death, because through this sign one could find out where he came from. Each city of the Draconians has its own mark and is therefore unmistakably different from the others.
But this method is not particularly effective. On the one hand, the ashes blur extremely quickly and completely new figures can thus emerge. On the other hand, the said ash is not waterproof.
And so it often happened after a downpour that the battlefield was full of Draconian corpses.
The Lex, however, could match their fallen in a much simpler way. Each family tree has its own coloring of the chitin shell that surrounds its body.
This body is only about three times the size of a full-grown Draconian head and has more hair than its enemies all over its body, but its eight legs are an unbelievable size.In older specimens of their breed, their length ranges from 25 times their body length, right up to the younger ones, whose legs are just as long as the arm's length of a Draconian.
In addition, they are razor sharp.
Although their legs are a dangerous weapon, it is at the same time their greatest weak point and therefore of course particularly well protected by the equipment they were able to capture from the dwarves.
This very good tank makes it difficult for the Draconians to bring down a Lex, but they always find ways and means to break through their armor.
And that's the best you can do, because once a Lex loses a leg, he goes to the ground and is at the mercy of whatever the Draconians could do to them. But the more casualties the Lex suffer, the smarter they become and protect themselves exactly where they were last hit hard.
Since they have six separate eyes with which they can keep an eye on their entire surroundings at all times, it is ultimately also possible for them not only to concentrate on their defense, but also to keep an eye on the tactics of their opponents.And it is precisely for this reason that this war has been going on for several decades. And even after the two hours that have already passed, this battle still seems to want to end.
While there have been many casualties on both sides, the Draconians seemed to be slowly gaining the upper hand.
The bolt that shot past Tiger's ear hit the leg of a Lex standing behind him. It came from Andor, a warrior in a special unit called Draks, as the dwarves call them, who specializes in crossbow handling and one very good friend of tiger.
Mumbling a low "thank you" Tiger jumped aside to avoid being struck by the falling body of Lex. Another Lex raced with huge strides towards his companion to protect him, but another bolt shot at him and bored into one of his eyes. But that didn't seem to bother him and he just kept walking.
Tiger had no choice.With a mighty leap he got between the two Lex and waited for the approaching one with drawn sword in one hand and a small round shield in the other.
The Lex had almost reached Tiger when another bolt flew over it. Nevertheless, even this did not bring him down. This time, however, the shot provided Tiger with a significant advantage.
Another eye was injured. The second of the pair below. And so the Lex didn't have an eye to look at the ground directly in front of him. Tiger saw his chance and ran towards him.
The Lex didn't stop in spite of his injured eyes and kept walking undeterred.
Tiger, however, avoided the front legs of the Lex and managed to place himself exactly under the body of his enemy.
Running to keep up with the pace of the Lex, he held his position under the Lex's body long enough until it finally reached the body of his injured comrade, who had one of his legs stretched in the air to show him exactly where he was.As soon as he got there he stopped abruptly and turned to protect his comrade. But at that very moment, Tiger took the chance.
He hit with all the strength he had left and cut off the lower part of Lex's two legs.
This could no longer hold due to the loss of two supports and collapsed.
Tiger, although he had hardly any strength left, stretched his sword with both hands over his head, as now the body of Lex threatened to fall down on him.
As the Lex fell on the upright blade, a sound escaped it, brighter than anything Tiger had heard before.
Completely startled, he let go of the blade and put his hands to his ears, hoping that it would stop soon.
But before that happened, the Lex collapsed and buried Tiger under itself.
Tiger himself passed out and saw nothing of the rest of the battle.

"There's another one here!" heard Tiger when he woke up.
The body of Lex was still lying on top of him, but since his body wasn't particularly big, Tiger managed to push him away to rest first.He looked around.
Corpses from both parties lay everywhere, but the Lex seemed to be in the process of removing their brothers.
"Somebody still lives here!" shouted one of those who "cleaned up".
"From us?"
"No one of those bastards!"
The Lex stepped up next to Tiger and looked down at him with the lower pair of eyes.
"Get up!" He ordered him, but Tiger had no more strength to move in any way.
The Lex kicked him in the side with the front of his leg, but the only thing Tiger could do was cough up blood, and that's exactly what he did.
"So it's not dangerous anymore. Maybe we should take him with us."
"Or we can eat it right here.", Laughed one of the Lex.
The other Lex began to laugh too, but suddenly another one of them appeared and told them to be silent.
"We have an agreement! Don't forget that. Fight yes, take prisoners or take away those who are still alive, no!"
"Nobody cares anyway. Besides, who would notice?Most of these bastards stay here and rot anyway! "
Now the apparent commander was furious.
"Do you dare to question my authority? If so, I have no problem bringing one less back."
With the last words he threw his subordinate on the floor and brought one of his legs to stand dangerously close over his neck.
Immediately the rest of them took a step back and watched the spectacle from further away.
Tiger, however, had struggled to straighten up and was leaning against the body of the dead Lex.
He still had a whistle in his ear from the sound the Lex had made, but he could clearly hear the argument between the two in front of him.
His sword was still in his enemy's chest and his shield lay shattered next to him. Tiger was holding his right arm as the Lex had fallen awkwardly on him.
Although he collapsed, his legs did not appear to have suffered any major damage.His tight armor continued to constrain him and for this reason he began to get rid of it. But the pain in his arm kept him from really moving freely.
The two fighters, however, had calmed down again and started looking for their own kind again.
Tiger was finally able to look around properly.
The vast battlefield glowed red with the blood of those who had passed away, and there were many of them. Occasionally he saw a few soldiers who had straightened up and were treating their injuries with their own hands whenever possible.
The Lex meanwhile collected their kind in a kind of big sack.
This sack was more like a kind of net, because a few holes had been cut at the bottom so that the legs of those who had fallen would not take up unnecessary space in the sack.
But despite these holes, the bag was already filled to burst.
Finally freed from his armor, Tiger got to his feet completely and set about looking for survivors of his faction as well.However, he didn't have to search long for it.
After only a few steps he saw the first badly wounded but living Draconian.
He leaned down to this one.
His breath was shallow and his movements were slow and careful.
"Can you stand up?" Tiger asked the soldier.
The soldier opened his mouth, but before he could start talking he began to cough up blood.
"General ... let