by Adam Drake
Holding my breath I leaned back. I wanted to try to move away but I could not be certain of my footing where I landed.
This close I could see the incredible detail of the troll's features. The pores in his green oily skin, the bristly hair that jutted out of his huge nostrils like pitchforks.
This game was so realistic that even his breath stank like a fetid wind wafting over a slop pile.
For several long agonizing moments the scout stood like this. Eyes scanning, dagger inches from my chest.
Then, the scout relaxed and snorted. He turned away and moved southward, slinking through the trees. Soon, he vanished from view.
I sighed with relief and resumed my own way.
At the tree line, I paused. The plains curved due west from here and continued south to the middle.
A cavalry unit rumbled by, shaking the ground. None of the troll riders glanced in my direction.
Keeping close to the trees I went west until the forest ended at a large clearing.
Amara's base.
It did not look that much different than mine, only she had three of each unit's buildings for quicker training. These were lined up side by side next to her Keep.
The Keep had been upgraded, too. Troll Lookouts with crossbows watched from the tower's crown.
From the top of the keep emanated the golden beam of light indicating the location of a banner. My banner.
Amara was inside with it. But what for? Added protection? Made sense. She could not be assassinated while safely hidden away within the walls of the Keep.
Admittedly, I had hoped to catch Amara unaware and back-stab her causing her to drop my banner. But that pleasure appeared to be denied from me. For now.
This was another tactic I took note of for future use. If you have the banner but can't win, hide.
I scanned the rest of the base and was surprised to see she had a gold mine right next to her Keep. She didn't have to go looking for her gold like I did. Instead, she lucked out and had the gold right at her starting area. I could see workers digging furiously away and bringing buckets of gold out of the mine and dumping the nuggets into a huge iron hopper.
A little further north at the tree line was a quarry. So she had that near her starting point, too.
This explained how she was able to attack me so early in the game. Everything was here to help her get started with minimal delay.
Plant the banner, build the keep, get the first worker unit, build the barracks, train the grunts and rush south.
I tried not to feel annoyed, but failed.
Directly north of the Keep was the skeletal altar. A blue banner fluttered in the wind within the grasp of a skeletal hand.
Slumped next to the altar, large and terrifying, was Yuinnick. The great eagle didn't look to be in good health and its eyes were closed as if sleeping. In fact, its health indicator was less than 10%. I must have inflicted a bleeding wound on the champion causing it to lose so much health.
It was probably slowly regenerating like Grax.
Looking about I noticed no units assigned to guarding the altar, let alone the base.
Everything Amara had was at the middle or on its way there.
As I surveyed Amara's domain, an army unit emerged from each of the buildings having finished their training. They immediately marched or galloped off, some via the southwest passage, the rest the southeast.
Perfect. All the buildings were starting to train again, which meant I had about five minutes.
With a final look around I detached from the tree line and moved toward the altar. As I approached, my eyes danced from Yuinnick, to the Lookouts above, and to the Keep door which was closed.
When I arrived at the altar, I paused. Yuinnick was the closest threat but was oblivious to my presence. It seemed lost in its regeneration process.
The blue banner fluttered in the wind.
The moment I grabbed this, all hell was going to break loose.
Okay, Vee, you can do this, I thought.
I took a deep breath and reached for the banner's wooden handle.
The Keep's door suddenly slammed open.
I froze, hand an inch from the banner.
Amara bolted out of the door and marched in my direction looking angry. In one hand was my banner.
Uh-oh.
Maintaining my Shadow Form, I summoned my sword and tensed for a fight.
But instead of coming at me she went to Yuinnick, who's eyes blinked open at her approach.
“This is taking too long,” Amara said. I couldn't tell if that was directed at the eagle or she was just talking to herself.
She jumped up into the great eagle's saddle.
She's leaving! I thought with jubilation. This would make snatching her banner that much easier.
As Amara settled in, Yuinnick flapped his wings in preparation for take off.
The strong winds it produced caused the banner next to me to flutter wildly.
As the long blue banner whipped in the wind, the end of it curled around to graze my outstretched hand.
At its touch, my Shadow Form shimmered slightly for a moment, like a heat wave in a desert.
Amara happened to be looking in my general direction, and suddenly her head snapped over to look directly at me.
Uh-oh.
The elven woman's eyes widened with alarm. “You!” she screamed.
Time to go!
Without wasting another moment I grabbed the banner and my Shadow Form dropped.
You Have the Enemy Banner!
The next instant I summoned Smoke who appeared beside me.
“You FILTERED!” Amara roared. She screamed at the Lookouts to shoot at me.
As I leapt onto Smoke, a crossbow bolt actually ricocheted off the banner's wooden pole with a loud twang.
I kicked at Smoke's sides and we were off.
Behind me, Amara was shouting filtered obscenities at me, then at Yuinnick for not moving fast enough. But within moments, she had the great eagle champion lifting off in pursuit.
This is nuts, I thought. What I was doing was crazy.
Instead of following the plains in either direction that lead to the middle, I headed straight for the wall of forest directly south.
From somewhere above and behind me I heard the flapping of giant wings. A bolt zinged past my head.
Go! Go! Go!
The trees got closer.
A huge shadow fell over me and I turned to see Yuinnick's giant talons reaching down for me.
With a shout of surprise I jumped off of Smoke. At that moment, the mammoth bird snatched the horse and lifted him off the ground.
As I tumbled to the earth, I barely managed to keep a hold of the banner. Quickly, I ran straight at the trees as fast as my legs would carry me.
Behind me I heard Amara shouting at the eagle and heard Smoke drop heavily to the ground and whinny in pain.
You mount has been killed.
Sorry, buddy, I thought grimly, running like a Shadow possessed.
The trees got closer.
Wind buffeted me from behind, again, and the eagle's shadow fell over me.
From my peripheral vision I saw the tip of a great black talon start to curl around me.
Letting out a shout I charged into the forest.
Yuinnick's outstretched feet practically propelled me forward, and I dived between two huge oaks.
I heard the eagle crash into the trees, and it shrieked. Branches snapped and wings flapped with the impact.
But instead of looking back I kept going. Tumbling, jumping and ducking under branches.
Soon, the sounds of the great eagle and the filtered shouts of Amara were diffused by the thick foliage.
Heart pounding, and lungs bursting, I moved as quickly as the terrain would allow.
As I moved southward, I realized I was grinning like a maniac and even laughed.
I had Amara's banner!
Next stop: The platform altar.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
I ran as fast as I could manage, but the very terrain conspired to slow me to a crawl.
My heart still pounded hard in my chest and I felt gallons of sweat pour over my body under the simulation suit. I was elated to the point of being giddy looking at the magnificent blue banner in my possession.
But I didn't fool myself into thinking I had won in any way. Not even close. In fact, the hard part was just beginning.
The crush of units at the middle intensified, no doubt because Amara was now increasing the pressure to seize the platform.
My units were fighting heroically, but even now I could see they were being pushed back. Both prongs of formations had shifted southward and now formed a single front.
Above the forest canopy, I heard Yuinnick screech and flap its mighty wings. Amara was in pursuit. And even though I couldn't see her, her icon was prominent on the map right above mine.
Would she drop down and attack me? It would mean giving up the support of her eagle champion as the huge bird could never get through even the top portion of the forest canopy.
As I progressed southward, Amara circled above. She was trying to think of what to do. Good. Let her fret for once.
After following me well past the halfway point of the circular forest, Amara flew southward to the middle area.
I allowed myself the slightest feeling of relief. Fighting her in this terrain would not have been ideal, and I suspected she knew the odds of winning would weigh heavily in favor with who owned the platform. So that was where she would go.
It was also my only destination.
I considered hiding out in the forest indefinitely. Amara would eventually have to come in and confront me. But that would be pointless and extend this Battle Field nonsense for ages.
No, I wanted this stupid game to be over and done with, once and for all. And I would do it by not hiding or avoiding a fight, like Amara did back at her Keep.
This would be settled where it was intended to take place all along.
The middle platform.
Soon I was within about fifty paces of the southern edge of the forest. Even at this distance and with all the trees enclosed around me, I could hear the intense sounds of combat.
On my map could be seen all the unit icons jammed so close they practically overlapped each other.
I zoomed in for a clearer picture of what was happening and immediately spotted a problem.
The forest edge was lined with enemy units which only minutes before was under my units' control.
They were blocking my way to the platform.
I scoffed. This had to be Amara's doing. She knew I would emerge from the forest at that location and did everything she could to get her men into position there. In fact, I now noticed the entire forest was encircled by enemy units. Amara had me completely surrounded.
Quickly, I gave commands to my troops defending the northern edge of the platform to push north toward the trees. Each unit leader confirmed the order, but looking at the crush of enemies they were facing, I doubted it would do much good.
Still, I had to try. Sitting and waiting for something to occur was not in my DNA, much to my detriment.
Skulking forward, I drew closer to the forest edge. Movement could be seen between the trees as men and horses fought in the middle clearing.
Then I saw them. Grunts fumbling through the trees in my direction. Dozens of them. Watching them try to negotiate the tangle of foliage was laughable. But they were slowly making progress.
They were coming for me.
Not wanting to retreat, I climbed. I had grown slightly adapt at scaling the trees here as I'd gotten so much recent practice. In the upper canopy, I jumped from branch to branch, and from tree to tree, making my way southward.
Below I heard shouting and caught the occasional glance of a grunt staring up at me. If they wanted to come up here, let them try.
One grunt threw his spear, and it thunked into the bark next to my feet. Others started in kind and soon spears where swishing through the surrounding air, some striking close by.
I moved faster, mindful of my balance.
Then I reached the very edge of the forest and from the safety of a huge branch thick with leaves, peered downward at the chaos below.
Amara's units had now pushed right up against the northern edge of the platform. My units were fighting like rabid animals to keep them back but the pressure was too great.
Past the platform were the mass assembly of my own army waiting to join in.
Arrows flew from every direction. Screams and death were everywhere. The carnage was staggering.
Sensing something amiss, I turned and looked behind me.
Amazingly, two grunts had managed to climb the tree and were now trying to take aim at me with their spears.
Time to go.
With a final glance at the mass of enemy units between me and the platform, I jumped outward through the leaves. My Leap ability kicked in and I found myself soaring through the air.
A swarm of arrows zipped by me in the same direction, fired only a moment before my jump. Several struck me along my right side and in an instant my health bar dropped by half.
As I fell downward amongst the arrow cloud, I had the strange arrow-eye view of their trajectory.
But I came up short of the platform.
Instead, I landed right on the shoulders of a troll cavalry leader who grunted with the impact. Someone managed to slice my left thigh with a sword and nearly caused me to fall.
Even injured, I could still use my momentum and jumped from the cavalry leader and sailed over the front lines.
An attempt at a graceful landing was foiled by my odd angle and extensive injuries, and I tumbled across the platform to slam hard against the altar.
For a few seconds, my avatar could only see stars.
Arrows landed around me, and someone was screaming at me to get back. I looked up to see a footman leader trying to help me but an arrow punctured his temple and he fell from my wobbly view.
Well, I'm here, I thought, trying to stand.
Human cavalry and footmen created a line across the platform only a few paces from the altar. A massive crush of enemy units pressed against them.
I'm losing the platform.
Grax loomed over me. “You are injured.” He said, log-club on his shoulder.
His health bar was worse than mine. “You, too,” I said.
Suddenly, the sky darkened.
It was Amara on Yuinnick circling overhead. She was low to the ground, and I ordered all my archers to change their targets to her.
As arrows shot up toward her, she dived.
“Death now,” Grax said, hefting his weapon. “It shall be glorious.”
I blinked at the red banner in my hand. What was I just standing here for?
Quickly, I whirled about and jammed the banner's handle into the waiting skeletal hand.
Blue Banner has been captured! Five minute countdown begins!
A counter appeared on my view-screen, but I didn't have time to even notice.
Amara practically fell from the sky and slammed into me. We tumbled across the crowded platform, bouncing against the legs of horses and men.
As I skidded to a halt, I saw Yuinnick fly straight into Grax who dropped his club at the last moment to grab the giant bird with both arms.
With a loud thump both champions shot across the platform and vanished over the edge. A huge splash of water geysered upwards when they hit the river.
Amara had recovered and stood with sword in one hand, and my red banner in the other.
“Time to fail, you miserable FILTERED!” she yelled.
Before I could retort a footman stepped out of the front line crush and stabbed her right through her abdomen, its point sticking out her back.
Screaming in pain Amara dropped my banner where it landed in an upright position right at the edge of the platform above the river.
Your Banner Has Been Dropped!
Amara's
health bar dropped to less than 20% and she grabbed her injured side with her free hand. With her sword she decapitated the footman.
Stunned, I moved toward my banner. If I could just nudge it off the platform, it would be returned. Or maybe since it hadn't been placed in the altar it would be instantly returned at my touch. One way to find out.