Web of Lands 2

by Brent Tyman

  I grinned at the lizardman as he gave the opening I needed.

  “Your kind sport heavy plate armor, so you are on par with us. I thought the lot of you were refugees,” I said. Slithertick looked away for a moment, as a soft growl emanated from his throat.

  “Most are simple farmers, tailors and loggers. A few are even merchants,” Slithertick admitted. He then sighed slowly as his shoulders slumped a tad. “The rest are former Korodan military, you would be correct to call us deserters.”

  I quirked an eyebrow up at this news and tried to keep a neutral face. Desertion brought up a painful memory of my past, back when my father died. I did not want to relive it again, not now.

  “So you were military before? Did you flee in the face of battle?” I asked, but Slithertick’s tail slapped against the ground angrily.

  “No!” he said, loud enough that some of my guards grew wary. I raised a hand to calm them.

  “No!,” Slithertick said again, this time much more softly. “It is not my fault, I am the reason my people were not slaughtered at the start of the crisis.”

  I could tell that Slithertick was internally debating with himself, trying to decide whether or not to tell me anything. His tail whacked against the ground as he decided.

  “I pursued a simple farm life with my moon and young ones,” Slithertick said. “We had just planted the seeds before a massive ball of prime stuck the earth. It shattered the mountains and crushed much of the uninhabited lands in the north. My family and I fled to the south cities, where we told them of what I saw. They laughed it off but sent a token force to the north to check my claims. None returned and when news of demons destroying villages sprouted, they drafted me back into service.”

  I noticed that some of my own men listened to Slithertick’s tale, as the conservation gradually died down around us. I nodded for him to continue.

  “I was a commander before, before I grew sick of the incompetent decisions that the empire’s leaders put forth,” Slithertick said with a hiss. “The south cities had become a cesspool of corruption, where coin is the only thing that matters. All coin flows into the empires coffers, which the emperor uses to buy his whores nice things. The military serves itself, not the people, and they care not when their own men die. Once the losses against the demons had grown too steep, they ordered me and my men to do the unthinkable. They tasked us to go to the site of great balls impact and close it. No support, no mages, just the fifteen hundred strong men at my command. It was a futile attempt to see if a small enough army could break through, where the sure outcome would be our deaths.”

  We passed by a small incline where we both looked upon the beautiful scenery of rolling hills and lush grassland. The hills were still too small here, but it was a vision of perfection none the less. This land we had found was meant for us, I just knew it.

  “I could not leave my family alone in this world,” Slithertick said as he seemed to enjoy the view too. “So I spoke with many of my men and had the willing ones escape with their families to the south. We left in the night and came across other civilians who wanted an escape to the conflict. We did not plan to leave the empire at first, merely live in a secluded part of it. Once we had reached your borders, and heard of an army coming south, our fates were sealed. If we do not fight, we will not live.”

  I mulled his words over and the more I thought about this red lizardman’s plight, the more I liked him. Incompetent leadership was not an issue back in Frostburn, but now that I was a king, any failure of mine would make all who follow me suffer. I faced every challenge by making sure that my men never had a reason to doubt me, and their belief that I knew what was best would make them fight all the harder.

  “You have a strong sense of camaraderie, and duty,” I said with a nod. “I respect that. We could use men like you, if you do not return to the farmer's life after.”

  Slithertick was silent for a moment before he opened his snout to let out a bellow of a laugh.

  “Haha, as soon as I plant a seed, no doubt the Gods will enact another calamity onto this world. They must indeed be angry already to invite demons to the land,” Slithertick said. I nodded back to him as I kept my lips from twitching.

  While these lizardmen were not my people, I had no wish for them to be my slaves, at least for now. To maintain relations, we would need to keep a close lid on the true origins of the chaos orb. The capital city and my people knew the truth, at least to some extent. Only a select few knew it was me that sent the orb to the Korodo empire. We would see how long this secret would stay under wraps.

  “If I may say, that design of your helmet is interesting,” Slithertick said. I looked down to the metaled helmet hooked on my side.

  “Yes, my men carry a design for their helmets for life,” I said.

  “I can see it is a skull, but what do the small dots represent?” Slithertick asked. It was perhaps the most innocent question in the world but I could feel my hands tighten into my palms.

  “Oh, its nothing.” I said as I looked away. “Just a hundred dots, a hundred sins.”

  The lizardman was silent after and I was grateful for it. I had no wish to say anything further about this.

  The rest of the day's journey was uneventful. Slithertick had retreated to stay among the rest of his kind, so I spent my time either mingling with my women or I marched in silence.

  One thing that irked me was that Raina was not with us. I had grown fond of the woman, as she seemed to be very competent in leadership. She should still be in the south for now, but I idly wondered how she was doing. I should see about getting her permanently in my command group once this was all over.

  Zelenia, as promised, spent the night with me once we had set up camp for rest. She had dragged me into my tent and had me slowly take off her new clothes. The fact that this woman wanted my seed so much had become quite amusing to me. I was perfectly willing to give all I had to her.

  Tessa had also appeared later and spent some time with me after Zelenia was sated. I had hoped the pair would be intimate with me together, but it seemed they preferred me alone for now. One thing they did do was sleep with me together, which I approved of greatly. Their curvy bodies pressed against my own was a pleasure I thoroughly enjoyed.

  The nights ended like this for the next few days until we reached the river for our plan. Zelenia said that the Colalask had been born two days ago and was on its way here. Eliandra offered to portal the creature over, but Zelenia assured us that portals would not work with it, as it was too big to fit through one. This made me even more curious to see what it looked like.

  I gathered the trio and my women around for a meeting on how we could defend the river side the most effective way. The point along the river where it was shallow enough to cross was surprisingly quite narrow, which made it perfect for us.

  “We could dump pointed spikes in the water?” Lyan suggested. “We don’t need to cross, only them. They will need to slow down to not get their feet caught.”

  “Huh, an actual good idea from you,” Dryan remarked with his grin. Lyan rounded on him.

  “I am full of good ideas, like making every day a free drinking day. That one never caught on though,” Lyan said. I knew exactly what would happen next. A whack on Lyan’s side by Utalis’s armored gauntlet resounded in the air.

  “We could have the Ralasks start their assault first,” Lunara said as she pointed to the river bed in front of us. “Their range is very impressive and I think they are very nimble. Perhaps they could retreat behind our lines once the demons cross the river on mass.”

  That was a good idea, the Ralasks acid was incredibly potent and if it could melt through plate armor, it would no doubt do serious to a demons skin.

  “Good suggestion, we can do that, and the spikes idea,” I said with a nod. “Have the scouts come back yet?”

  Dryan crossed his arms and looked over at the river. “Yeah, they reported to me and Utalis. The demon army is about a day away, as we predicted.
Should be here around tomorrow afternoon.”

  I could tell that something was off from his expression. Where was that grin of his? Or at least a smile.

  “Well, what's wrong?” I asked, and Dryan turned his head to stare at me.

  “It's that Gertz, the scouts say he's a huge fucker with strange symbols on his bare skin. They think he's strong and also a mage,” Dryan said.

  “A demon mage? That’s pretty rare, ain’t it?” Lyan said.

  “It is, and very worrying,” Eliandra said as she clenched part of her dress.

  “I think Slithertick mentioned off-hand that they used foul magic, but I didn’t really clarify,” I said.

  I wasn’t sure that demons could use prime that well, or at all. I knew they had some capacity for it, but the ones that had any magical talent during the times we summoned them to Frostburn were rare.

  Even if this Gertz had access to prime, it would not affect our strategy. It was more something to keep in mind.

  “Lets focus on the plan for now,” I said to everyone. “I will handle Gertz.”

  Of the ten thousand troops that were my people, six thousand of them were infantry. This would be either swordsmen, spearmen or axmen. Every one of them had shields, although that was mostly because of our attack against Zelenia’s children before we met in person before. We had two thousand bowmen as well as one thousand crossbowmen. There were also two thousand riders that I needed to make use of too.

  After some fervent discussion about how to use the terrain to the best of our advantage, we came up with a good plan of attack.

  We would place palisades on our side of the river to further limit the demon army as they cross. This combined with the spikes on the river floor would ensure they would wade through slowly.

  All the ranged troops would attack as soon as the first demon's foot got wet. They would continue their barrage until the demons got across. Once that happened, we would allow them to get a good distance from the river where the riders would smash into their sides. The infantry would join the battle then, and the range troops would focus on the demons in the water, to avoid hitting our own troops.

  I would personally search for this Gertz and kill him. Once this high demon was dead, the result of the battle would be a sure thing.

  And if there was one thing I loved, it was a sure thing.

  Chapter 19

  A horn blasted off in the distance. I could hear a rumble roll across the air as the opposite end of the river went from lush green to a deadly shade of red.

  They were finally here, the Lynic demons.

  From my position this far away, it almost seemed like they were something akin to lizardmen. They had thick tails that slid along the ground, bulging muscles and a darker shade of red skin that Slithertick sported.

  That was where the similarities ended. As they got closer, the difference between the two were obvious.

  Demons had more human like faces, but twisted in a permanent snarl. Their mouths had a few teeth that protruded upwards, almost cutting into their red lips. Horns of all different shapes and sizes jutted out from their temples, and I knew personally that some of them loved to use those as weapons against their enemies.

  Some demons had wings that sprouted out of their back but I learned that in the mortal realm, or at least in a place not in the red deep, they could not fly with them. The air was apparently much thinner in the red deep, according to a demon I had spoken to many decades ago. This meant their wings could not support their body weights on a planet linked to the web of lands. Then again, demons were notorious liars, so it might not be true. I was very persuasive with that one, however.

  As far as I could see, Lynic demons did not wear much armor, if any. Their skin and thick muscles were solid enough for protection. I could see that some wore a black material that looked like chain mail, but most was bare chested. Some wore thick shoulder pauldrons and loincloths that surrounded their waists, but that was mostly it.

  Another horn blared, and the sea of red stopped just short of the river. Since the demons had to cross such a narrow ford, it seemed like their numbers were endless. I saw red all the way to the horizon. The scouts had confirmed that their troops were still ten thousand strong, so it didn’t worry me.

  I couldn’t see Gertz in the distance, but I knew he would show up, eventually. I could not wait to crush his skull underneath my boot.

  Tessa appeared before me, almost in an instant. I assumed she had used her ability there. We had found that she had a knack for being able to deliver messages fast and safely across the line, and she seemed to enjoy being of help to me. Her gorgeous face gave me a smile.

  “Master, the siege engineers want to know if you would like for them to fire?” Tessa asked.

  I raised a hand and rolled an armored thumb along her cheek in response. Gods, she was beautiful.

  “Yes, have them fire at will,” I said with a grin. She gave me a quick kiss, and before she pulled away, she disappeared before my eyes. I saw black mist slide along the ground as it passed between my troops’ legs.

  I placed a hand on my hip and a small part of it touched the sword on my belt. A smooth melody replayed on my head and I almost cursed as I flinched away. It annoyed me to no end that I had this infernal sword with me, but it was a sword passed through generation after generation. Through kings and great warriors. It was said the first king of Frostburn had it, back many millennia ago. The fact I had to use it when I…

  I hissed out my breath as I shook my head. There was no time for that now, I had to focus on the now.

  I just wondered if their souls were still in here, judging me, cursing me. I sighed as I took another deep breath.

  An advantage of arriving here with a day to spare was that Eliandra could portal back to the capital. This is how we could quickly gather up supplies and, more crucially, siege engines.

  We brought some trebuchets and ballistas. Some were from our own supply that we brought into Asterlia, the others were ones we seized from the Fulgremians. They were more meant for sieges to begin with, but the extra range they gave us would put pressure on the demons to cross the river on our terms.

  “Ugly little shits,” Lyan commented from beside me.

  “Not as ugly as your mug,” Dryan responded. I rolled my eyes at this display. Sometimes it felt like it was only me, and Utalis that acted like proper Tier Ones. In fact, Utalis would be more favorable pick to replace Eklis if anything ever happened to him. If only he talked more. I still needed to get around to bringing him out of his shell.

  “How is that Colalask Zelenia?” I asked the Zegari. Zelenia tilted her head, and I saw her eyes become absent for a moment before she focused them on me.

  “Soon, it is very close. Do not worry, I will direct it to the battle as appropriate for you, my consort,” Zelenia assure me as she drew close.

  “Please watch as my children rip apart these demons for you,” she whispered in my ear. Gods, even after all the nights we had spent over the past week, she still had quite the effect on me. All my women did, in fact.

  Some shouts from behind me grabbed my attention. Before I could look back to see what was going on, a whirl resounded in the air as the trebuchets released their loads. I watched the large stones roll over and over as they arced over the river and smashed into the demon army.

  “Haha,” Lyan exclaimed, “looks like it ain’t ten thousand anymore!” he cheered as loudly as he could. This made the rest of my army cheer out with war cries. I barely had time to think before the ballistas fired their bolts. They streaked through the air and struck the sea of red with deadly precision, although it was hard to miss.

  A massive guttural screech reverberated along my ears as the demons raised their weapons and charged right for us. Their swords were black and twisted in strange angles as they glinted in the sunlight.

  I did not need to give the order. As soon as the first demon was in the water, the ranged troops showed them the error of their ways. The arche
rs had already nocked and aimed their arrows, which they loosed in a volley right at the enemy. Arrows flew across the river and struck down many demons as they crossed.

  I could vaguely see some of them struggle as their feet hit the spikes we placed on the river bed. I grinned as some fell just from that alone.

  My grinned widened, however, when I saw what came next.

  To ensure that the acid did not burn up the arrows' mid flight, the Ralasks would attack only after the archers did. As the archers nocked their arrows for another volley, it was their turn.

  I spotted their tails turning green along the veins before they twisted their backs to arc their tails forward. Green balls of acid erupted from their openings. The demons seemed a tad confused at this display, as they likely did not expect an enemy like these creatures. The balls gained significant height before they all dropped as one onto the demons.

  “Yes, my children are most formidable like this,” Zelenia commented, and I had to agree.

  The demons’ skins practically melted off their thick muscles. I could hear their screams from here as we plucked their lives from this world and their corpses floated away down the current of the river.

  What amused me most was that the acid spread all along the narrow ford, no doubt causing significant pain, even if they did not get directly hit. It would likely not be enough to kill them, but any pain we could enact on these scum would go a long way to sating my hate for them.

  Anyone that threated my people would suffer the same fate as these demons. I would make sure of that.

  “This seems to be going well,” Eliandra said. “But I still do not see their leader.”

  “Do not concern yourself with these matters. My consort will slay this Gertz,” Zelenia assured her with a smirk.

  “Try not to take too many risks once the battle is truly underway,” I said as I nodded towards the demons. “These Lynic demons know how to fight.”