Destiny

by Jason A. Cheek

  Slowly the thunderous sounds of the drums faded away as Nessa focused her thoughts on the river and the path she should take. Minutes passed as the natural rhythms of the forest slowly came to her, when she suddenly heard the faint sounds of combat carried on the light breeze. Her long ears automatically pivoted, individually seeking out the direction of the ruckus when she heard a distinctive shrill cry she remembered all too well from her childhood.

  Nessa’s eyes shot open as she sprang to her hooves in one fluid motion. Without a second thought she took off at a reckless gallop heading upriver. Slipping and sliding on the moss covered rocks her heart pounded in her chest as she raced to reach the battle in time. She knew the sound of a Wild Elf death cry when she heard one!

  ***

  Location Irlendria / Tiberius Decius Lupus:

  Tiberius' lungs pumped like a smith’s bellows as he charged through the dense woods towards the distant sound of horns. His long curved horns led the way as his bulls followed close behind him, their lorica segmentata armor clanking loudly in the unnatural silence of the forest as they ran. Unlike the rolling grasslands of the Imperium, they were constantly forced to duck under the many low hanging tree branches or leap over the knobby roots that rose up out of the uneven ground.

  Steam rose from Tiberius’ flaring nostrils as his body struggled to release the excess heat building up in his system, but still the edge of his vision was tinged with the red telltale signs of berserker rage. Extreme physical exertion always held the risk of bringing with it the mindless fury of his people. Nevertheless, he drove his legionnaires onwards at the merciless pace.

  Barreling through the thick foliage blocking their path, they passed by a Nightclaw hunched over a fresh kill, but before the dangerous beast could do more than roar out a warning. They’d already left the predator far behind as Tiberius led them in a straight line towards their goal. The tactical side of his mind screamed in warning at his blind flight after the Thirteenth, but at the same time, he knew if there were going to be any hope of reforming the Alliance of Aurenko, the surprise attack had to be stopped before it was too late.

  The distinctive sounds of combat rang out ahead of them as Tiberius saw black smoke billowing into the sky. His ears flattened against his helmet at the burning stench of death. Visibility quickly dropped to only a few feet as they approached the thick smoky-white wall that marked the outer limit to the raging battle. From somewhere deep inside came the shrill whistle blasts of the Legion’s Centurions as the battle lines began to advance. Slowing down to a quick walk, Tiberius held up a gauntleted fist. Using the Legion’s hand-speak, he communicated silently with his bulls as the Elven war drums began pounding out their warning high overhead.

 

  As the loud clanking sounds of metal plates shifting into place rang out around them, Tiberius motioned Decanus Cornisus to his side. Leaning close to the smaller male’s ear, he spoke quickly. “Under my direct command, you are to take orders from no one else but me. I want your bulls to be prepared for anything.”

  The only sign of surprise Tiberius saw was a slight widening of Cornisus eyes as the small male saluted smartly without hesitation. “Yes, Sire”

  All around them the heavy throbbing cadence of distant war drums began answering the city’s cry for help as he saw the blazing grove for the first time. Tiberius’ breath caught in his lungs as he recognized the burning Mother Tree. It was Bel Arbre Ciel, the Forest Clans capital city.

  An overwhelming feeling of dread took hold of Tiberius’ heart as soon as he saw the burning bodies plummeting to their deaths from high up in the trees. Hundreds were dying, many of them small children. All hope for peace fled Tiberius’ mind as his hands unconsciously clenched into fists in futile anger. Still, Tiberius had to do what he could to somehow salvage this disaster for his people.

  Listening to the orders being called out, Tiberius could guess where the command group would be located for this type of attack. Quickly he guided his bulls in search for the general leading the battle. As the rage flowed through his veins, Tiberius fought to control his mounting fury, his mind reeling at the culmination of events that could have led to such and unimaginable attack being possible. The plan must have been decades in the making. His strategic mind knew that this could only end with the start of another Tuonellian invasion. Only, this time, there were no Klavikians left to bring the Alliance back together.

  The first rule of war taught in the Imperial War Academe was to know your enemy. Typically that was not meant in the literal sense. In most one-on-one confrontations the obvious foe standing in front of you was typically your enemy, but when it came to empires battling one another, the true enemy was not always so simple to deduce. Now that Tiberius knew what was happening, he could find a way to stop it. His people wouldn’t be used as scapegoats for the destruction of the world!

  The screams of the dying filled the air around them as Tiberius saw the Thirteenth Legion’s Silver Wolf next to the pennant of the Imperium rising out of the hazy smoke ahead of him. The symbol of Akras’ silver sickle on a golden field filled him with hope. Coming in range of the command group, he saw the Commander directing the battle.

  “Commander Scipio, you will stop this assault at once.” As one, the Thirteenth’s Command Group turned around in shock at the sound of his deep bellow. Incredulously, Mettius Scipio looked at him as if seeing a ghost. Quickly the Commander pushed his way to Tiberius side grasping him by the shoulders.

  “Legatus, you’re alive! General Volturcius told us you had been assassinated by the Elven Clans during the celebrations.”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Tiberius saw Cornisus warily move in closer as he corrected the Commander harshly. “Is that how you speak to your new Emperor?”

  Laying a callused hand on Cornisus’ armored shoulder, Tiberius spoke sharply. “That will do Cornisus!” Seeing Scipio’s look of shock, Tiberius slung his arm over the gruff Commander’s armored shoulders looking grim. “It’s a long story best told when we have more time, but trust me when I say that the report of my demise was part of a nefarious plot against the Imperium.”

  Turning Scipio towards the sounds of combat, Tiberius spoke with authority. “I’ll expound on the specifics later, but first I want the Bucinator ordered to signal the Legion to stop all hostilities and pull back. The recall point will be southwest of the forest, where the First and Second Legions fell.”

  With a curt nod, Scipio gave the order. Immediately the buglers began signaling the Legion’s recall as Tiberius scanned the smoke around them speaking urgently. “The Imperium has been betrayed. This General Volturcius is not who he claims to be. He is to be found and …”

  Turning back around, Tiberius froze as he saw Scipio’s eyes light up with an eerie green glow at the mention of the General’s name. Instantly, the Commander’s face turned into a savage mask of hate. With a cry of shock, Tiberius fell back as the old bull lunged at his neck teeth first.

  Tiberius fought to keep the gnashing teeth away from his exposed throat as the yellowed tips of Scipio’s aged horns gouged deep furrows down both of his black furred cheeks. Blood streamed down his muscular neck in rivulets as he fell to the ground with the Commander on top of him. As they rolled around in the dirt, Tiberius heard the stomp of hooves as the clash of melee combat suddenly erupted on either side of him. Focused on his own fight for survival, Tiberius couldn’t spare a second to look at what was happening around him.

  The old bull’s strength was incredible. Straining with his entire body, Tiberius arched his back to escape Scipio’s gauntleted fists clawing blindly at his face. In the back of his mind, Tiberius realized this was the same type of mindless fighting they’d faced during their battle against the Praetorians inside Gravida’s fortified walls. Still, it just didn’t make any sense for Scipio to attack now. They’d just been talking as if everything was fine. What in Akras’ name was going on?

  At any time, Tiberius could
have triggered his Wolf Gauntlets to end the fight, but for the love of the grizzled commander, he kept his tinnearlian blades sheathed. Capturing Scipio’s armored wrists in his powerful grip, Tiberius locked horns with Scipio as he pushed the Commander back with all his might. Just as he managed to push the old bull away from him, Tiberius saw Cornisus coming up behind the Commander with his bloody gladius raised for a killing strike. Gasping for breath, Tiberius bellowed urgently.

  “Don’t kill him!” Seeing the confusion on Cornisus’ blood splattered face, Tiberius held the Decanus’ eyes explaining the order. “We need him alive!”

  Quickly strong hands pulled the insane Scipio from on top of him as Cornisus gave him a hand up. All around him, wide-eyed legionnaires moved about quickly to secure the safety of their Legatus. It took an entire contubernium to subdue the old bull until they managed to bind him with thick ironidium shackles.

  Unbelievably, Scipio still frothed at the mouth struggling to break free as his vacuous black eyes bulged in their sockets from whatever had driven him insane. Cornisus assigned four legionnaires to hold Scipio as Tiberius inspected the five dead bulls laid out on the ground nearby. The bodies were hacked up bloody messes. Even in death, each male’s face was twisted into a frozen mask of hate. From what Cornisus had witnessed of the attack. Whatever had happened to them had occurred simultaneously.

  Silently Tiberius thanked Akras that there weren’t more deaths this time. Taking one more look at the dead, he shook his head in silent consternation. There had to be a logical explanation for what was happening to his people. None of this made any sense. How could six Minotaurs suddenly turn into mindless creatures that attacked their own people?

  Whistles blew as Centurions began giving new commands to their centuries as buglers around the grove relayed the order to withdraw. When over the roar of the mounting forest fire, Tiberius heard the sounds of combat. Looking towards the base of the burning Mother Tree, Tiberius saw a group of Minotaurs slaughtering a ragged line of Elven defenders. Even from this distance, he could see the battered Elves wore the insignia of King Elladan’s House.

  The lightly armored Forest Elves fought desperately with swords and daggers to hold back the advancing Legion’s heavy armored lines to protect the handful of injured that had escaped the burning flames. Bright flights of powered arrows slammed into the advancing bulls from around the grove, but without the Ironidium Knights to hold back the legionnaires advance, they were being cut down like wheat before the sickle. Flaring his nostrils, Tiberius took a step forward focusing on the legionnaire leading the advance. With a loud bellow, he called Scipio’s second-in-command to him.

  “Centurion Secundus!”

  A second later Secundus’ fist thumped against his breastplate with a metallic clang as he snapped to attention behind Tiberius. “Legatus?”

  Looking back over his shoulder, Tiberius pointed towards the base of the Mother Tree. “Who are those legionnaires advancing against my orders?”

  Squinting through the smoky haze, Secundus met Tiberius’ eyes grimly. “Legatus, that’s General Volturcius and his personal guards.” Before he could say more, a resounding crack reverberated through the ground as the base of the Mother Tree suddenly crumpled upon itself.

  For a moment, it looked as if the forest was falling in on itself. The massive trunk was as thick as a town’s Coliseum and the canopy of its limbs stretched out across the top of the forest a quarter mile in every direction while its crown rose above the forest a good hundred yards.

  Open mouthed, Tiberius watched the humongous tree’s sudden collapse stop as it leaned precariously against the rest of the grove. Screams of terror filled the air as thousands of Elves plummeted to their deaths when the Mother Tree came to an abrupt stop. Tiberius’ heart sank as he realized those were the lucky ones.

  With an unnatural speed, the roaring fire began spreading throughout the living city. Trapped in their homes high above the forest, the survivors were faced with the horrific option of being burned alive or leaping to their death. As the entire grove flared into a fiery inferno, Tiberius heard the tremendous sounds of splintering wood as the Mother Tree suddenly plummeted to the ground, crushing the smaller trees that had caught its initial decent.

  After pushing the Tuonellian invaders from the Imperium’s overrun cities towards the end of the Great War, Tiberius knew well the destructive power of bursting wood. Yelling out a warning he pulled Secundus to the ground activating his Wolf Gauntlet.

  “Delta Formation!” Heavy horned heads whipped around in shock at the urgency in Tiberius’ voice as his shield wall began deploying. Immediately his legionnaires’ combat experience and training took over. Triggering their gauntlets they dropped to their knees into defensive positions as a thunderous explosion ripped through the air.

  Tiberius ducked behind his Wolf Gauntlets as the heat wave from the firestorm washed over the entire grove. With it came the deadly explosion of razor sharp splinters of tinnearlian-wood blasting through the air. Even though his scuta hadn’t fully deployed, enough of the scutum had formed to offer his body some protection from the burning chunks of wood slamming against his helm as the air was sucked from his lungs.

  Slowly the pressure of the scorching blast dissipated as the fire rose higher into the air. Gasping for air, Tiberius staggered to his hooves pulling Secundus with him. Turning around, they both stared at the nightmarish scene before them. Looking around in shock Secundus spoke haltingly.

  “What in Akras name just happened?”

  “The trees of the grove shattered from the weight of the Mother Tree’s collapse.”

  Thick billowing clouds of smoke stung their eyes from the roaring forest fire as burning ash choked their lungs. Smoldering splinters covered everything, some even piercing the legionnaires’ heavy armor. Across the clearing his legionnaires bled from numerous wounds, many withering in agony on the ground from the intensity of the explosion, except for the handful of bulls from his personal retinue who were already rising to their hooves. Except being battered and bleeding, his guards were otherwise unhurt. Like him they had used their gauntlets as a shield to protect them from the worsts of the flying shrapnel.

  “About ten years before you joined the Thirteenth, we were deployed to help the Elves hold the Great Forest with the Eleventh and Twelfth Legions under my command. Retracting his shield, Tiberius met Secundus’ grim eyes. “The miles of devastated forest you saw on your march in were destroyed during the Battle of Daeron Fortress. The Tuonellians would use their fiery artillery rounds to shatter the trees above our heads as they drove to break our defensive lines.” As the haunting memories came back to him, Tiberius’ eyes took on a faraway look. “They almost succeeded. Our losses were so horrific during the invasion that we were driven back to the walls of the Fortress. If it hadn’t been for Ilmarinen Ironwolf coming to our aid, our lines would have never held.”

  Shaking the memories away, Tiberius focused once more on Secundus. “It wasn’t until after the forest had been destroyed around us that we were able to drive the Tuonellians back.” As fresh legionnaires from the reserve century began moving around the grove to help the wounded, the rest of the bulls took up a defensive position around them as a grisly Centurion came to attention in front of Tiberius.

  “Legatus, your orders?”

  “Centurion Horatia, gather up the dead and wounded and pull back to the recall point.”

  “Sir, yes sir.”

  With a quick salute, the Centurion took off after his legionnaires calling orders as Tiberius turned to Secundus. “I want you to complete the Legion’s withdraw from the Great Forest and ...”

  “Hhhuuurrraaalll!” The bellow of rage cut Tiberius off before he could complete his sentence as Commander Scipio leaped to his hooves. Blood streamed down his shredded face as he swung his horns in a wide arc with his powerful neck, goring the legionnaire helping him up. As the male fell back clutching his gut, Scipio's head whipped around head butting the second legi
onnaire holding him. As the bull fell backward stunned, Scipio charged blindly towards the roaring fire bellowing in rage.

  Tiberius was the first to react. Leaping after the insane Commander, he ran as fast as he could. He couldn’t let the old bull escape. This was his chance to discover what was happening to his people! Tiberius managed to tackle Scipio to the ground near the base of the fallen Mother Tree as Cornisus made it to his side a second later. Together they dragged the enraged Scipio to his hooves as Secundus and Centurion Horatia came running up with a group of legionnaires a moment later. Breathing heavy, Tiberius bellowed to be heard over the raging forest fire.

  “Do not let Scipio out of your sight and get my Legion to safety!”

  Tiberius released Scipio to Centurion Horatia’s contubernium as the sounds of combat suddenly rang out behind him. Turning around in consternation, he froze as he saw General Volturcius lift a struggling Elf high into the air with a long clawed hand. From this distance, he could see the Elf was none other than King Elladan. Taking a closer look at the General’s face, Tiberius realized it was no longer that of a Minotaur, but the bleached face of a Tuonellian Hulk. He felt Cornisus tense at his side as they heard the creature’s guttural voice shout in triumph.

  “Die knowing your people will be slaughtered for the Horde like cattle!”

  In horror, they both watched the Hulk’s jaws open wide as its fangs tore the King’s face off in one bite. Throwing the body away, the Hulk howled as it began wading through the burning debris with five contuberniums following close behind.

  Pausing for a moment, Tiberius watched the legionnaires sharply as his logical mind warned him something wasn’t right. There was a wrongness about the bulls’ movements that screamed out to him as he watched the five contuberniums fall in behind the Tuonellian in a disorganized mass. He’d never seen trained legionnaires move like that. Imperium Legions moved in precise formations at all times. Their tight formations moved as a single unit on the battlefield and were the trademark of the Imperium’s armies.