by Thandi Ryan
The Azari and the dark army marched on to Amalah. They had been on the very edges of Parades and it did not take them long to enter into Amalah; the Azari and the dark army continued to march, and by the afternoon, they were in the north of Amalah. The guard heard the army approaching before they caught a glimpse of them. The army marched hard and heavy and their stamping feet could be heard from nearly a mile away.
As the guard, Islanders and sorcerers finally caught sight of them, they muttered and swore under their breath, some took in a deep breath and it took them a good few seconds before they realised that they had not yet exhaled. Those in the front looked on the army before them and they too felt scared, they wondered if they could lead and they wondered if they could hold and defend Amalah and then they realised they had no choice – they had to.
The dark army marched closer until they were just about a hundred metres away from the guard and the formation continued to march until they were directly opposite the guard. The guard looked on as the soldiers became parallel with them and then turned to the left to face them. Rakan, Rufus, Waldon, Kenaz, Luxor and Bryce, stood in front of their soldiers and stood shoulder to shoulder with each other. By now their hoods were on and only they could see each other’s faces.
‘It’s good to be home,’ Waldon said.
‘Yes, it is,’ Kenaz agreed.
‘And here we shall stay,’ Rakan said.
‘I see everyone in Amalah has turned out today,’ Kenaz observed. ‘But mostly I see Amara; she wears a cloak like ours,’ Kenaz said very surprised.
‘How can that be?’ Waldon asked.
‘It appears Maddox was not the only one who knew how to make the cloaks,’ Rufus said.
‘Perhaps not,’ added Bryce. ‘But they were not as powerful and skilled as he, for they would surely have made more than one cloak given their situation.’
‘That’s true,’ Rakan said in agreement. ‘Anyway it matters not, whether they have one cloak or two, we have six and an army twelve thousand strong and another four thousand to arrive from Lansten the next night. ‘They do not stand a chance,’ Rakan said.
‘Do not be so sure Rakan,’ Waldon said, cautioning his friend. ‘They will defend Amalah to the death and those in the front look pretty powerful. We have seen some of them from when we took the other nations. By all accounts, they should have died but now, they stand opposite us ready to fight again.’
‘Forever cautious, Waldon,’ Rakan said. ‘I know you are a great soldier and you weigh matters up before you speak and act, but ask yourself, honestly – do you really think they stand a chance?’
Waldon looked at Rakan for a few seconds before he spoke: ‘They stand some chance – yes. How big a chance I do not know, but Rakan see what I see; your father and Häkan, great leaders of the guard, Amara an Empress, sorcerer and wearer of the cloak. Ellora an archer, Dale of Parades – which troubles me, for she is a powerful seer and look, I see empaths, sorcerers, maverick soldiers and the woman from Mantor who fought me and Kenaz before out running our soldiers – so yes they stand a chance.’
‘I agree with Waldon,’ Kenaz said. ‘Do not think this war will be easy Rakan – it will not.’
‘No, it will not,’ said Luxor. ‘But has it been easy taking eight nations? No – it has not. One nation at a time was taken and one nation at a time fell. None of it was easy but we have succeeded nonetheless and it will be no different in this case.’
‘I agree with you both and you are right Waldon, we should not be overly confident in this situation but Luxor I agree with you more – Amalah will fall just like the others – Amalah will fall.’
‘Yes, it will,’ Rufus said. ‘But it won’t, if all we do is talk about its fall rather than actually bring it about.’
Rakan looked at Rufus and raised his eyebrows before he spoke: ‘You have a point Rufus.’
‘I thought so,’ Rufus replied.
‘Are we all ready?’ Rakan asked.
‘Yes,’ they all replied.
‘Then I will give the word,’ said Kenaz.
Kenaz broke line with the others and stepped forward, he looked ahead and observed the army in front; he had once been a part of the guard and now they were enemies. He looked at the front now and spied Ellora, Amara, Michael, Garrick and Häkan immediately, then he observed the council and some of the people whom he’d seen in the nations. He looked on Callan Knight and smiled to himself, he would have to finish what they had started in the inn in Mantor; he would make sure of it – he would, or Waldon would.
Kenaz then looked to the sorcerers in the blue and red robes and then the guard behind in full uniform and battle dress and then, he turned and looked at his own army and smiled. They looked far more ferocious and menacing than the guard did – and indeed they were. They too wore in a uniform and battle dress. They were dressed in all black and the only other colour visible was silver and that was the weaponry that they all brandished. He knew his army would show no mercy and he knew that they would not stop until they had reached southern Amalah and crushed the guard en – route. He turned to his soldiers and shouted at them:
‘ARE YOU READY?’
‘Yes,’ they replied.
‘ARE YOU READY?’
‘Yes,’ they roared in deafening union.
‘I SAID ARE YOU READY?’ Kenaz boomed again.
‘YES,’ They roared ferociously and deafeningly once again.
‘THEN SHOW ME,’ Kenaz shouted. ‘SHOW THE AZARI AND OUR ENEMY JUST WHO WE ARE,’ he said challenging them.
The dark army once again let out their fearsome war cries and howls and stamped their feet to an unspoken rhythm and as they did, they psyched themselves up for the coming war; the war that was going to be the last one of the nations.
The guard looked on as the dark army continued to make the enormous din, for what seemed like an eternity. Some of the guard gulped in fear and some of them began to tremble slightly. The din was intimidating – even to the most war weary soldier and for some, it took everything they had to hold on to their nerve.
‘HOLD STEADY AND HOLD FIRM,’ Garrick shouted to them. ‘We are all in this together and we will beat them,’ he told all of those present.
As Garrick turned to the front after speaking with the ranks, he looked ahead and as he glanced, he was just in time to see the cloaked figure of Kenaz give the signal to his army. The first two lines of the dark army began to march forward, passing the six Azari as they advanced.
At first the soldiers marched towards the guard, they had their weapons at the ready and they brandished them menacingly. As the dark army grew nearer the order was given and they broke into a run.
‘HERE WE GO,’ Garrick said to those around him.
Those in the front divided in half and retreated from the formation, as they retreated; two rows of archers stepped forward and now stood in front of the sorcerers.
‘ARCHERS,’ Garrick bellowed. ‘READY, AIM, FIRE!’ he commanded them.
The archers drew their bows and fired their arrows high into the air, they rocketed upwards and then began their rapid and deadly descent to the ground where the dark army were. As in Parades, the sorcerers who were running with the soldiers turned most of the arrows into harmless pieces of dust or wood. Garrick was undeterred by the sorcery on the other side and he called forward the second set of archers, as he called them, the robed sorcerers behind him began to chant.
Garrick gave the order for the archers to fire and as they fired, the one arrow that each archer had fired – turned into two arrows as they flew with great speed through the air. This time there were too many arrows flying far too fast for the dark sorcerers to stop them effectively and they landed on their intended targets.
Many of the dark army who were running fell to the ground in agony as the arrows hit them and pierced their body armour and bodies and remained lodged there. Garrick wasted no time with the next set of archers and as he gave them the order and they fired, their arrows doubled as the sorcerers continued
to chant and use their magic. The soldiers of the dark army were falling and the six Azari from behind, could see that their numbers were depleting. They sent the next wave of soldiers in and after they had run a few metres they sent another wave after that. Now, the dark army had three waves approaching the guard and they then sent two more waves but this time, the first wave ran at the very end of the formation on the left and they were followed by another wave that ran at the end of the formation on the right.
The second wave of soldiers finally reached the first wave and together, they reached the front line. By now, the archers had left the front line and were taking cover and Garrick, Häkan, Callan, John, Hemi and the guard stood at the front line and started to fight. The dark army rushed the guard and knocked many over as they arrived; from there, swords and battle axes clashed and clinked as once again, everyone fought to the death.
Once again, another bloody day fell upon the nations as soldiers fell to the ground, wounded or dead, while everyone else carried on around them. At that time, Ellora was in the thick of things and she used her bow to deadly effect. Where the guard had engaged the dark army and were outnumbered, she saved them with her bow and arrow. What speed she had, an arrow had barely left her bow and she was already reaching for another and putting it to deadly use. The princess continued to shoot; never missing her target and a captain of the dark army made it his duty to find out who was depleting their number. The other archers had followed Ellora’s suit and they hid in or behind trees and continued to fire on the enemy.
Häkan, Garrick, Michael and Hemi were fighting on the first line, they tried to help each other whenever they could but deep down; they all knew it was every man for himself and only the Gods, skill, strength and luck would keep them alive on this day. The dark army were losing against the four men. Häkan, Garrick and Michael had vast experience and used it to their advantage and Hemi used his two swords, which the dark army had never come across before, and they found it difficult to avoid the blades, which were often deadly.
John and Callan Knight fought side-by-side, one always looked out for the other and they took on the enemy together. They fought with everything they had; weapons, hands and feet and all the strength and grit that they could muster.
Earlier, Garrick and Häkan had made the dark army do all of the hard work and made them come to them; they had been able to take many soldiers out but still many more came towards them to fight and defeat them and take their nation from them and all the nations surrounding Amalah. When Garrick and Häkan saw the army approaching from the sides, they gave the order to break formation and retreat. Once again, Garrick and Häkan had used good and clever tactics and were able to retreat to the forests of Amalah, giving them a huge advantage over Rakan’s soldiers.
The sorcerers on the other side tried to take out the archers but the arrows were coming from places unseen and there were too many at a time, they were too fast, not to mention that they had sorcerers and sorceresses to deal with on their own right.
Now that the fight had moved into the forest it was pure chaos, as people would run, fight and hide. The sorcerers fought each other using all the magic that they knew; energy balls were hurled to and fro as well fire balls that exploded on impact. The sorcerers used spells and potions and both sides turned their enemies into animals or inanimate things or bound them with overgrowing woods and plants. The sorcerers were on the offensive and defensive and they were trying to protect their soldiers at the same time.
The forest was awry with soldiers fighting, sorcerers casting spells, colourful magic flying through the air and archers hiding in bushes and trees. Ellora had long since taken cover but unluckily for her, no one in the dark army had managed to find her until now. The captain had made it his mission to find the archer who was taking out his men. He had taken seven of his men to find her and by the time he found her he only had five men left. Ellora was surprised to find that the dark army had made her position and the captain and his men were surprised to find that the archer was a woman. Ellora seemed out of sight and far from the guard when the captain and his men found her; they dragged her from her position and she managed to quickly take out two with her crossbow before they surrounded her.
‘A woman!’ the captain said, horribly surprised.
‘Yes,’ Ellora said simply, as she reached for her dagger.
‘That won’t help you,’ the captain said arrogantly. ‘You’ll be dead before you use it,’ the captain said, as his soldiers looked on and laughed at the predicament that Ellora was in.
Ellora backed away slowly but the soldiers inched forward with every step she took. She did not want to die, because she did not want to leave Amara alone or Garrick for that matter and she did not want to die leaving Amalah and the nations the way they were, but she knew that she surely would; for there were five of them and one of her and she knew that she could not take them all. She lowered her dagger and inched back and as she thought about her inevitable end, she thought of Kalon “How she had missed him,” she thought to herself and wondered if she would see him again.
The dark soldiers drew frighteningly close to her and as they raised their swords Ellora closed her eyes for she did not want to see her own death. She heard two thuds as two objects hit the soldiers and then she heard a sword slice through skin and the clink of weaponry and wondered why she was not in any pain – or dead yet and so – she opened her eyes. When she did, she saw two headless bodies on the ground; one being that of the captain and then she saw John and Callan Knight standing opposite her and staring at her, while the five members of the dark army were dead on the floor.
‘Princess, you are the best archer in Amalah, we can’t lose you,’ John told her.
‘Thank you,’ she said humbly and with real gratitude. ‘I owe you both my life.’
‘Don’t thank us yet princess, if we don’t win this war, you’ll probably wish that we hadn’t saved you,’ Callan Knight replied.
‘You have a point Callan Knight, but still, I thank you now for even if we do win this war I might not live to the end of it,’ the princess replied.
‘If we remain here talking we certainly will not,’ John said interrupting them both.
‘Then let’s go,’ Callan said putting on an expression that said: “What are you waiting for.” before she broke into a wry smile and gently took hold of the princess by the arm.
‘Stay with us princess,’ John said. ‘With your arrow and our swords we should get through this.’
‘Then I will stay with you,’ Ellora said decisively.
The three made their way back to the thick of battle and stuck together throughout. Elsewhere in the battle there was pure chaos now that the formation had spilt up, there was fighting everywhere; Amara Thaddeus, Zach and Imogen were in the heart of the fight and Michael fought with them, remaining at Amara’s side far as long as he could until he was needed elsewhere. He knew he was needed but he was reluctant to go – but in the end, he left her to fight with the others and went to fight with Garrick and Häkan and the guard.
In the beginning when the war had started, the six Azari remained where they were. They did not join the fight they simply looked on as their soldiers and sorcerers went into action; watching from afar. When the fight moved to the forest, Waldon and Kenaz were the first to join in and then they were followed by Luxor, Rufus and Bryce and as each one joined the death and mayhem increased.
At that point, the grounds where the war had begun and the forest in which it continued were filled with bloodied bodies; dead and alive. The air was filled with the stench of death, blood, sweat and fear, and was made up of an array of colours as the sorcerers worked their magic against the dark army and dark magic.
The Empress and her guard were fighting hard, they were being driven south into Amalah city but they were inflicting heavy losses on the dark army. They had prepared well, for they had set many traps in the forest and Rakan’s army fell into many. The guard were concerned though, for eve
n though they were inflicting heavy losses on the other side, they did not expect to be driven back quite as quickly. The senior officers were even more concerned but they led their men anyway and they took advantage of the stocks and supplies that they had hidden in secret caves and stashes within the forest. The war raged on from day through to the night and when night came, the guard acquired the distinct advantage. They knew the lay of the land and the traps that they had set, become even more unavoidable to the other side.
As the new day dawned, the dark army pushed the guard even further south but the guard – even though they were retreating south by force; had a new found hope. They knew that the heavy fighting in the night had significantly reduced the number of the army and they knew that, now on the numbers they had a chance – they could win if they just kept fighting, harder and for longer.
Time went on and the morning passed and the guard retreated from the forest and into the open lands, with the army hot on their heels. The guard and sorcerers took cover in villages, huts and inns where they made use of the stocks and supplies that Garrick and Häkan had organised. Once again, Ellora and the archers used their bows to deadly effect as they fired from the buildings that they were hiding in.
As the archers kept the army at bay, the guard took food and weapons and retreated further south so that they could regroup and make another formation. Not long after most of the guard had retreated, the archers began to regroup too. They retreated south to join the guard and sorcerers and as they pulled back; Ellora, in company with Callan, John and a few remaining archers, changed their arrows to flame tipped arrows and they fired them at the ground, the surrounding buildings and into the air. When they hit the ground, the ground burst into flames trapping many of the army; and once the village was ablaze, they had enough time to retreat and rejoin the others.
They collected their horses and rode to where the guard were now stationed and then they rode to where Garrick, Amara, Michael, Häkan and Thaddeus were now standing, which was at the front line once again. When they reached there, they dismounted the horses and released them, the horses sensed death in the air and they fled as soon as they were given a slap on their rear to indicate their freedom. When she saw that Ellora had arrived safely, Amara ran to her sister and hugged and kissed her.