Ready as they ever would be, the dwarfs had strapped in their stash of treasure on every ship, and spent their days sharpening blades and strengthening shield and armor. Bilomaur Van had felt no more comfortable with this entire endeavor until Darius assured him that King Dwaven would most likely insist Bilomaur stay off the battlefield. As a potential heir to the throne, should anything happen to King Dwaven's children, Bilomaur would remain with the Kings and Queen of the alliance hidden in the palace and away from danger. Tradition required the leaders to stay safe in times of war, no matter how brave or battle-worthy they might be.
By the time they arrived at the port of the central Durturnian Mountains, most of the dwarfs were long ready. Stationed patrols greeted them as they disembarked from the ship. These guards were a mixed faction of the allied army patrolling the sea and were quick to welcome the Darvane dwarfs whose journey was not yet over. Their final destination was Orzo, which was still days away. Darius too needed to pass through Orzo to reach Haelleenia, so he traveled right along with them. The dwarfs wasted no time and started running toward their destination. Darius did not plan to run for two to three days like the persistent dwarf folk; that madness would have killed him, but he accepted the guard's offer of a horse.
Their journey continued upon the fields of Urnen under the shadow of Durturnian's central mountains at its base. Two and a half days of riding and running with the never-ending sound of clinking and jingling of heavy dwarf armor got them to their destination.
The sun peeked through a crowded cloud-filled sky while fog pervaded the grasslands of Urnen when they entered the great city of Orzo. There was no happy greeting for Darius and Calysto or any other dwarf at first. The dwarf city, filled with all native races, was chaotic. Anxiety filled the air as the eastern forces prepared for an attack on their stronghold. After a commanding officer at Orzo learned of Bilomaur's family lineage, he was rushed away and escorted to Loomis and safety. Bilomaur felt some guilt leaving the others behind, but the decision was out of his hands, and cowardly Bilomaur accepted his fate in relief as it meant he wouldn't have to fight.
At the time Calysto and Darius arrived, Elzeenor and Magus remained busy setting enemies ablaze while Amaud was well on his way. Even though they knew no specifics about what was coming, an impending attack seemed certain. To keep watch, men and women of elf, dwarf and mortal races occupied the gate of Orzo. Given everything they'd learned to this point and realizing the potential threat lingered close, Darius changed his mind. He too would fight. He would not leave the Easterners to fend for themselves when he knew how much he could help them. Elzeenor was his friend, after all. Haelleenia would have to wait a little longer.
For a good week, he and Calysto stirred around the dwarf city awaiting the enemy. Once scouts reported the foe seen in a full-scale march in their direction, everyone came out waiting for the battle. Fully armored and standing in lines, they looked out toward south Urnen. Archers from within the mountains and upon the gate filled the high places. The dwarven group's timing could have been better. Still, the Darvane dwarfs arrived in time and offered what little aid they could. They weren't but a few thousand, but Darius made up for a good portion himself. At first, an allied captain tried to send Darius off thinking him only an old man, but Darius refused.
"Glad ya decided to fight wizzy," Calysto said. Far across the foggy fields of green, deep in the distance, the third army Elzeenor had described treaded in, its mission to destroy Orzo and rip apart this allied host.
"Who said I stayed to fight? I may just sit about and watch?" Darius answered, smiling.
"Calysto knows betta den dat. Ya crazy, old man." Calysto stayed by Darius's side as he roamed the field looking for someone or something within the midst of their allies.
"Bad guys dat a way," Calysto said, stating the obvious as she pointed south. When she looked at the armored soldiers, she felt a little naked. Neither she nor Darius had any fancy elf or dwarf armor. Darius dressed as he normally did, and Calysto only accepted some light protective gear. Unlike a dwarf, she wasn't fond of wearing anything too heavy. Since she was fast and agile like a cat, anything too heavy slowed down what Calysto thought was her greatest asset.
"I see that well enough, Calysto. I am hoping to find a friend of mine out here." After hearing stories of what had been happening, Darius worried for Elzeenor.
"I is right here. Calysto friend enough. Ya other man arrive soon. Now we get ready." Calysto again pointed outward to the approaching army, still a good distance away.
***
The oncoming enemy traveled more slowly than expected and gathered in separated immense swarms as they awaited two other armies to link with them at the rear of their parade. However, unbeknownst to them, Elzeenor had laid waste to one army in Yuken’s Point while Amaud Ujero had accomplished his assignment by imprisoning and flooding the other army, so the enemy plans would not come to fruition. Even without the threat of those two armies, the remaining force that marched upon Orzo far outnumbered the allied forces. This enemy army divided into two segregated marches which spread far and wide. One army was composed of minotaurs and the other of a mixed faction from the dark realm. No matter where they came from, they all came for the same purpose.
In front of the horde, a chariot carried one commander. Two drymraith steered the first chariot where a stout green dratzel stood. His yellow eyes beamed, and his nose was twisted, broken and bent in three places. He led a portion of the dark host. Behind him on the front lines were mostly dratzel-troll kind, capable of withstanding many hits and built like sentinel guardians.
Within the ranks of minotaurs and upon a dark rhino, Offedius, the Black, minotaur Queen of Lamisdoria, rode alongside Ockgillith. Being a Queen now meant little. She, like any other minotaur in the enemy host, was nothing more than a zombie. Yet, much like Laelliandir had been chosen, Ockgillith and Offedius represented the head of the minotaur forces, with Ockgillith surpassing his Queen in importance. Easily the largest minotaur on the field, some claimed he was not a minotaur at all but a mutant that took the shape of a minotaur. Ockgillith stood as large as a dratzel troll, even larger than some of them. Yet, unlike a troll, he was both fast and intelligent.
***
Ockgillith was the one warrior Albatros feared most. He had joined the army defending Orzo and waited in proximity to Darius and Calysto for the fighting to begin. He too sat upon a rhino, staring down at his own tainted people. Unlike the rest of the allied forces, Albatros found himself in a baffling predicament. He intended to defend the east, but to do so, he would have to fight his own kind, and he wondered if he would be capable of doing so. Still, he knew his fellow minotaurs were menacing and surpassed the might of most. These thoughts unsettled Albatros and he realized his ax would be useful one way or another.
"Archers, prepare!" A man on horseback shouted orders as he rode, addressing the elves and mortals posted high on the side of the mountain. Darius pushed by some soldiers as Calysto followed.
I hope he turns up. Darius thought, still seeking Elzeenor, but now stopping near a group of familiar dwarfs while studying the impending enemy.
"This gonna be fun!" Calysto shouted as she tried to energize her dwarfs. "Those things are 'bout to have a really bad day. Ya ready to show dem what Darvane folk can do?" Calysto asked, her voice carrying beyond their regiment and distracting other commanding officers giving their final drills. The Darvane dwarfs' morale was high. They screamed and carried on in such a way that Darius could not help but chuckle after seeing the confused looks on the native dwellers' faces. "Today, we stand up for our kin, our families and land! Today we ain't no merchants but fightas! We take dem foul folk and break 'em and chase dem back to wherever they came from! We gonna do this here! Calysto says, Darvane dwarfs strongest of all! We win, I say!"
Calysto’s enthusiasm was contagious. Many of the Durturnian dwarfs joined her, cheering the allied host on, which motivated more people further down the lines to do the same. The
morale was decidedly higher than it had been before Darius, Calysto and the dwarfs arrived.
When the opposing army came within a few hundred yards, they stopped. The enemy dratzel captains addressed their troops in languages of their own and commanded these tortured beings. Meanwhile, the eastern defenders readied their shields, making a long wall upon their front lines. The archers, in the back or high above, had their arrows ready to take flight as they watched the enemy. Ockgillith and the dratzel commander yelled at the same time then turned toward Orzo. When they did, their armies charged forth.
No sooner than the assault began, the eastern commander ordered the archers to fire their arrows, which flew into the gloomy sky, finding their marks on the bodies of their advancing enemy. While the sounds of horns and screams filled the air, the clouds also opened. A heavy downpour of rain added more misery to a terrible situation.
Where the wall of shields held strong, the allies, from behind and between the gaps, jousted their spears into their foe. In other places in the line, the minotaur and troll forces barreled through rendering it useless. Here soldiers took up arms and fought toe to toe, and where Darius and Calysto stood, behind many stout dwarfs, a couple of trolls charged, busting right through the smaller defenders with their clubs. Aware of the oncoming peril to dwarfs, Calysto and Darius both acted out of instinct.
"Take out dere legs!" Calysto yelled. Still armor-less, she fought her way through, holding her spear high. Darius said nothing as he stepped before a giant troll that had cleared his path of dwarfs. After Darius plunged his staff into the ground, a bright light pulsated around it, then expanded, throwing back the troll and several foes behind it. Calysto jumped past Darius, whirling her weapon this way and that, hacking away. Following her lead, the dwarfs changed their strategy and joined the scuffle with axes and shields raised.
The trolls and minotaurs stomped around like giants, proving lethal. The archers from above kept their aim on those types mainly, but the drymraith bearing dratzels and the pulslings proved just as vicious and fast as lightning. Their foes threatened annihilation, but the allied host were no weaklings. The coming of Calysto, the dwarfs and Darius had buttressed the Eastern forces. Even without armor, Calysto handled herself better than many on the field. Although she was not as powerful as Darius, her speed and grace were a marvel to behold.
Darius also handled matters himself. Unequaled, he held the greatest power of all who fought in Orzo, save perhaps Albatros and his enchanted ax. Darius conjured and bent the elements to his will, but only to the small degree he could handle without exhausting himself. He dampened part of the soil turning it into a mushy sinking surface around advancing fiends then returned the soil to its natural state binding the enemy in the ground. He preferred the beaming energy of light or a burst of fire here and there, for those tricks took little out of him, and he needed to keep up his strength.
The defense held strong for many hours, and the eastern alliance proved effective, but the number of enemies was daunting and seemingly never-ending. For every adversary struck down, three more came as replacements. The archers high above could see what the allies on the ground could not. This host, even without their two armies, would eat away at their forces and in time succeed.
Ockgillith stood out among this horde, ripping apart any in his path as he rode through upon his rhino. He was colossus as he tore through the field with a barbaric ax in each of his hands. When a group of archers targeted him, they took down the beast he rode but left him unscathed. Ockgillith's armor was far too thick for any arrow to penetrate, and the dreadful menace was every bit as mighty on foot as he had been upon a rhinoceros.
Albatros focused his skills against dratzels and pulslings, unable to kill his own. Yet, he remained a true menace as always. His mighty swings ripped through enemies with ease, taking out countless foes. Yet against such a massive host, Albatros could only do so much. They were outnumbered.
Long into the battle, as the Kaelliakie's power began dwindling and the outcome appeared grim at best, reprieve found them. Far beyond the enemy host, Elzeenor's army rode from behind, closing in as they stalked the ghastly horde. Elzeenor galloped at the head with riders on all sides, ready to scour Orzo and paint it red.
***
Elzeenor's strategy proved successful. The arrival of his forces changed the course of the battle. Instead of the reinforcements the enemy expected, Elzeenor's host greeted the enemy armies' rear. The surprise attack rippled through them like an unwanted storm, thwarting their plans and sending them into chaos. Elzeenor lost few of his own while defeating two of the enemies' mammoth units.
Still wearing the dark armor he had used on his mission, Amaud, along with the elves who’d traveled with him, also returned to join Elzeenor, and he rode near the Head Commander when they collided into the unsuspecting foe and ravaged everything in their path.
It became an onslaught from this moment, with the power of the cavalry unequaled. Elzeenor’s host swept through the large opposing army with such strength it did not matter their size for how they used it was far more potent.
Ockgillith also spotted the silver-haired elf as he trampled through the horde, and he was not pleased. With smoke unfurling from his nose, he promptly dispatched the Kaelliakie warriors around him before charging toward the oncoming riders. He slammed his giant hooves into the ground as he advanced, and his red eyes gleamed in anger as he was intent on destroying this unpleasant group of visitors. Ockgillith sent anyone in his path fleeing while he focused his scorching fury on Elzeenor. Engrossed in his work, Elzeenor did not see Ockgillith's approach until he had already charged into the side of Elzeenor's horse, sending both sideways onto the soil.
Riders around the immediate vicinity scurried away, unaware of who had been hit. Elzeenor detached from the horse upon contact with the ground and rolled multiple times before finally stopping and getting his bearings. By that time, Ockgillith charged at him once more. He swung his mighty ax toward Elzeenor, who instinctively threw himself out of harm's way. Again, Ockgillith swung his second ax, forcing Elzeenor to dodge once more. His pursuer plowed the land with his two blades, coming at Elzeenor with not only great strength but phenomenal speed for a minotaur.
The Head Commander could not remember ever being the target of such a heated pursuit. Given his brilliant strategic mind, Elzeenor typically dealt with foes long before they spotted him, never in doubt about his survival. Yet, this day, he struggled against Ockgillith’s colossal might and barbaric swings.
"Off with you!" Magus yelled when he glimpsed Ockgillith's attack and slammed his own body into the minotaur. The force caused Ockgillith to stumble forward, and when he twisted around to face his attacker, he found Magus's bow jamming into his left eye. Magus was not the only one who offered help. Amaud also rode aside Ockgillith slashing the side of his arm and halting in front of Elzeenor. Glowering at the fiend from within his dark menacing armor, Amaud raised his blade to confront Ockgillith and defend his commander, ready for the fight of his life, minotaur or not.
Ockgillith roared at them as he stepped forward and swung his ax at Magus, keeping his other eye on Amaud. Magus jumped backward while Amaud charged forward to strike at the beast once more. Ockgillith's furious attack met Amaud's assault with his ax that almost knocked Amaud off his horse, if not for Elzeenor catching him.
"Why do you fight with them, Ockgillith? You are not like this," Elzeenor said, but the Ockgillith he spoke of no longer existed. This one was enraged. He aimed his axes toward Amaud and Elzeenor, but both dodged. Then Magus found an opportunity to jump on Ockgillith. With fists tight, he leaped upon Ockgillith's broad back and brought his bow against his throat, attempting to choke the foul beast, but it had no effect. Ockgillith ignored this unwanted attack and again swung wildly at the other two forcing them to retreat. He was fixated on repelling the unwelcome fighters, feeling no pain from Amaud's strike. Undaunted, he bashed and kicked at them as he strode forth like a juggernaut. In time, one un
lucky stroke left Amaud disarmed to Ockgillith's overbearing might. For good measure, no sooner had Ockgillith stripped Amaud's blade straight from his grip, the minotaur jammed his goliath hooves into the dark knight's horse, sending them rolling into the field. Elzeenor was next.
He took a moment to grab Magus from around his neck and toss him from his view. Finished with the other two, he set sights back on Elzeenor. To avoid Ockgillith’s wide strikes and untamed fury, Elzeenor twisted and sprang around the terrain. When it looked as if there was no hope for Elzeenor, the unexpected happened. No more swings came from Ockgillith. Elzeenor looked back after an attempt to dodge the foe and saw Ockgillith standing motionless, his hands about his side while a giant-bladed ax protruded from his chest. Straight through his breastplate, the blade ripped through Ockgillith's torso. For a moment, his red eyes stared disbelieving before rolling to the back of his head. After that, the ax was withdrawn, and Ockgillith fell forward upon the ground at Elzeenor's feet. Towering before Elzeenor stood a welcoming sight.
Albatros had come. Still, upon his rhinoceros, Albatros killed his brother after seeing the havoc Ockgillith wreaked. With Elzeenor as the prime target, Albatros knew what he must do. There was no choice. Ockgillith needed to be stopped, but Elzeenor could see the despair riddling Albatros's eyes. In the chaos of battle, they shared no words but a look of reverence instead, before turning to continue their deadly dance.
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