The dark Mistress had not been the only one to learn a valuable lesson from the battle outside Kiva’s walls. I, too, had learned from that debacle, and now it was finally time for me to put that knowledge to use.
Ridge had spent the last few weeks tunneling underground, directly beneath the feet of the Dark Land’s army. He’d carved out a massive chamber right below them, hardening its floor while weakening its ceiling as much as possible. Once his work was done, the huge hollowed-out area was filled with countless barrels of volatile oil—refuse from our forges and others like them across the Realms—further enhanced with the addition of Eryn’s alchemical powder. Fearing discovery by my unseen observer, we’d hidden those shipments among our regular supply deliveries and concealed the entrance to the long tunnel inside one of the fortresses’ large warehouse buildings. I’d taken the concept of the Laskan’s hidden explosive device and used it for my own purposes, magnifying the power of the wicked trap by many times in the process. On my signal, Eryn activated over a dozen flame trap devices that were scattered among the open barrels of oil, igniting the liquid death we’d placed in the ground below our enemy’s camp.
A tremendous fireball erupted into the sky as massive gouts of crimson flame burst forth from the ground. Even as far away as we were, the earth shook beneath our feet as the fierce explosion tore through the ranks of their massive army. Burning oil sprayed in every direction, igniting everything in its path while a billowing cloud of ashes spread out above.
The detonation was the signal for our attack to begin, and as a hail of charred bodies and hunks of burning flesh rained down in front of us, the sound of thousands of galloping hooves came charging from behind. Eryn and I pressed ourselves into a slight depression in the side of the narrow canyon walls as our cavalry thundered past, beginning our assault against the deadly horde that still remained. While our infantry was still rushing forward to join the fray, the mounted soldiers unleashed their pent-up fury on our shocked and disoriented foes.
The explosion had rent a huge chasm down the center of the canyon, leaving behind a gaping fissure of flame that divided our enemy’s forces in two. As our cavalry closed in on the half that was trapped on the side closest to us, they opened their attack with a volley of quarrels, launched from special crossbows Dellon constructed specifically for their use. Each mounted soldier was armed with a brace of these instruments of death, and they sent a torrent of bolts into our enemy’s scattered ranks before quickly wheeling around for another pass.
Bodies were still falling to the ground when they rained a second shower of missiles amidst our now panicked foes. Despite the losses they’d suffered in the initial explosion and our subsequent attack, the Dark Land’s army still clearly outnumbered our cavalry, but the utter shock of what had occurred rendered them unable to respond in any organized fashion. With the advantage still clearly on their side, our mounted soldiers unhooked their lances and ripped through the very center of what remained of our enemy’s army. Finally, with crossbows emptied and their lances shattered or left still impaling our foes, sabers were drawn, and our cavalry struck a few final blows as they withdrew back to the safety of our own lines. Their volleys and charge had slain thousands of the Dark Land’s soldiers, and even more importantly, gave cover for an even more devastating assault.
The attack by our cavalry had not only thrown the enemy’s forces on our side of the canyon into a state of complete disarray but also drawn the attention of those who were trapped on the other side. The orcs, goblins, trolls, and other monstrosities looked on helplessly as their brethren were being slaughtered, and their inattention led to their destruction.
Bane flew in fast and low, following the canyon’s contours as it wound from North to South. He let out an ear-splitting roar just before unleashing his flames, joining them with the burning fires already raging beneath him. Unlike our cavalry, Bane’s target was not the soldiers of the Dark Lands, but their deadly machinery instead. In a single pass, the winding path of Bane’s fires incinerated the few ballistae that had managed to survive the massive explosion of our trap, removing the biggest threat against him from the battlefield. Bane’s thunderous roar of triumph echoed through the canyon as he circled overhead, waiting only for my signal before launching his next attack.
While both of our attacks were underway, the rest of our Army made it into the wide space at the North end of the canyon and arranged themselves in our usual lines. A row of stout, heavily armed and armored soldiers formed a solid wall of metal ahead of a second row of spear-wielding troops. Evokers and archers stood a pace behind them, with Curates scattered in between the two ranks of damage-dealers, and on our flanks, skirmishers stood ready to repel any attempt to outmaneuver the deadly array of our weaponry.
The cavalry rearmed their crossbows and took up a second set of lances, preparing to launch another lightning strike while I looked over our formation. Bare traces of black ringed my vision when I invoked my Shadow Armor, but the world around me maintained its normal hues as I kept my fury in check. I found Stel standing with Khorim and Broda, who had chosen to fight alongside the skirmishers on our left flank. Saibra sulked nearby, still clearly upset with me for having sent her there. She’d wanted to stay by my side to protect me, but I already had more than enough guardians if the battle went our way, and if it didn’t—well, even her blades wouldn’t have made any difference in that case. But out there, she had the chance to make some kills, and the benefits of Saibra’s Oath would be a boon to both of us. She wasn’t very happy with my decision, but eventually, Saibra relented and joined Stel and the others with the skirmishers.
Ella commanded the guards that remained beside me since she refused to do anything else, and I saw no reason to fight her on that. Though she’d been conflicted over her decision, Venna was among the Curates stationed between our spears and the rows of Evokers and archers, and I smiled when I noticed how conspicuously close she was to where Líann had lined up.
In all, our formation nearly bridged the entire gap in the Northern end of the canyon, and with a silent signal from me, Bane swooped down to seal off the Southern exit with a wall of burning flames. Now trapped between a line of fire and a row of Dwarven Steel bristling with the tips of our razor-sharp spears, the army of the Dark Lands saw its doom. Even then, they still outnumbered us by more than two to one, but with Bane overhead threatening to incinerate them at any moment, the final result was no longer in doubt.
On command and in unison, we began our slow forward march. The echo of thousands of boots shod in Dwarven Steel rang through the canyon as we advanced towards the remnants of the encampment, but it was not our intention to engage the enemy in close combat. As soon as we were within range, our entire Army came to a halt, and the archers and Evokers brought their deadly arts into play.
My own Shockwave enhanced arrows flew out amid the black cloud of bolts and lancing strikes of fire and lightning as the devastation of our combined attack rained down upon our enemies. Absolute terror took hold, and I saw more than a few panicked bodies running headlong into the flaming pit of the deep fissure as they sought to escape the fury of our assault. But not all of the Dark Land’s soldiers were quite so overcome, and a large contingent quickly formed up, sending an onslaught headlong at us in a desperate attempt to escape from the deadly ambush they’d been trapped in.
Ogres, trolls, and orcs massed together, joined by every manner of foul creature that still remained among their devastated forces. In another coordinated volley, our archers and Evokers unleashed a shower of death upon the front ranks of our charging foes, stalling their advance momentarily as those behind were forced to hurdle over the bodies of their slain comrades. The slight pause gave Bane the exact opportunity he needed, and his fires traced a path of utter destruction along the jumbled lines of our foes; the few who escaped his attack quickly fell amid the hail of arrows and Spells that followed immediately after. Although we’d slaughtered most of our enemies, we were forced to wait to
finish the battle until the wall of flame Bane left in front of us died down.
The stench of charred flesh mingled with the foul odor of burning oil and the bitter residue of Eryn’s powder while we waited for the flames to be extinguished. The Evokers did their best to speed up the process by casting water Spells on the fires, and I added my own ice arrows to their efforts. Unfortunately, the result was a wet slurry of burnt flesh blocking our advance, a morass that no one seemed eager to venture through. The Evokers were forced to use a few rounds of earth magic to clear a path for us through the putrid mess, but eventually, we were able to make our way back into the fight.
Bane had not allowed the enemy any respite during our delay and continued to rain death down upon them while we’d been busy clearing away the foul remains, so there was little left for us by the time we rejoined the fight. With the enemy’s forces scattered and in complete disarray, Evans signaled, and our Army broke into several smaller units, each of which then fanned out to hunt down our few remaining foes. Fully rearmed, our cavalry rejoined the fight as well, but with their own special mission: hunt down and capture any valuable enemies that might still remain, with a special focus on anyone wearing a set of dark links around their neck.
My guardians surrounded me as I stalked across the battlefield as well, intent upon that very same purpose. With that thought in mind, the arrow I held nocked on Retribution’s string was not one of my God-forged shafts, but a Khelduin one; I would not risk killing any Deathless I found with one of those mighty bolts—I wanted them taken alive.
Scanning the canyon, I took in the huge fissure that had been torn through its very center; blackened earth and scorched rock formed a wide perimeter around its edges with patches of burning oil scattered haphazardly across the entire area. Thousands of bodies, charred and twisted almost beyond recognition, littered the ground before me, marking the locations where our enemies had fallen victim to the devastating trap we’d set for them. The smoldering corpses ranged in size from small kobolds to huge monsters, larger than the mightiest ogre I’d ever seen. Still blistering in the heat, something truly tremendous, easily twice the size of an ogre but with four burly arms, lay amidst the carnage. Even in death, the massive creature still managed to radiate a sense of danger and menace, and although I had no idea what that… thing was, I was glad we hadn’t been forced to face it on the battlefield.
In the background, the sounds of battle rang out across the entire canyon as our soldiers engaged the ragged remains of the once-mighty army of the Dark Lands. But with our superior armor and weaponry, and the numbers having shifted to our favor, the clashing ring of metal on metal only came in brief, sporadic bursts that ended almost as abruptly as they began. The archers and Evokers still did far more damage than their conventionally armed counterparts; piercing shrieks echoed around me as their shafts struck true while rapid flashes of lightning illuminated the shadows of the canyon.
But for all my searching amid the bodies and those still barely clinging to life, I found none of the Deathless. I knew they had to be there, but began to grow despondent when I failed to locate any of them. As the day grew late and the fires finally began to grow dim, my hopes of capturing one of the Deathless renegades had been nearly extinguished as well when one of the cavalry soldiers rode up to me.
“We have one, Empress!” She shouted in excitement.
My vision briefly flickered with a deep green light when I heard the soldier’s words. Finally, after all this time, we’d captured one of the soulless bastards.
“Take me there!”
In a single fluid motion, I jumped up behind the woman and dug my heels into her horse. Clinging to the soldier’s armor with all my might, I held on as the surprised trooper guided her mount back to where the Deathless was being held. Saibra had rejoined my guards by then, and her shouts mixed with others as I sped away from them, heedless of any danger and only concerned with the captured Deathless.
When the trooper reined her horse to a halt, I slid off and strode towards the chained figure on the ground ahead of me. He was badly burnt over the left side of his upper body, and the melted flesh of his face and ruined eye were a truly gruesome sight, but glimpsing the links around his neck left me no room to pity his condition.
“He was unconscious when we found him,” the sergeant in charge of the unit informed me. “We chained him up and took his gear away before healing him enough to make sure he’d survive.”
“You did well,” I complimented the man as I knelt beside the prisoner. “Tell Evans I said to give your entire unit a commendation.”
“Hello, Logan,” I greeted the Deathless when his lone eye turned towards me. “Jazmine told me a lot about you—before I killed her.”
Even as badly burned as he was, Logan’s red hair and burly form made my identification of him quite easy. He tried to move when I spoke of Aimee’s ‘game’ moniker; whether it was to escape or a vain effort to attack me, I wasn’t sure, but Logan seized up in agony when his seared flesh protested the sudden motion.
“I have more important matters to attend to at the moment,” I spoke to him in a calm, almost reassuring tone. “When we see each other again, I’ll only have a few questions to ask before I kill you too.”
Logan’s only response was another grunt of pain as I stood up and spoke to the sergeant again.
“You have my authority to commandeer as many people as you feel are necessary to get him to our fortress safely,” I ordered. “Keep him alive and under constant guard until I can question him.”
“Yes, Empress!” He replied with a crisp salute.
Ella and Saibra finally caught up with me just as I started walking towards them. The expressions on their faces told me that neither of them was very happy with me at that moment, so I didn’t give them an opportunity to convey their displeasure.
“It was Logan, the human Warrior,” I informed them as the mounted soldiers began rigging up a travois to transport the badly wounded Deathless.
“And you couldn’t wait a few extra minutes to find that out?” Ella glared at me.
Okay, so my distraction didn’t work.
“Don’t do that again,” Saibra whispered under her breath.
“Sorry,” I relented after a moment when it became clear that they were both truly upset with me.
“You make us feel almost useless when you do things like that,” Ella spoke softly so that her words wouldn’t carry to the rest of my guardians, but with enough anger and frustration in her voice to make me cringe inside. “And if we feel that badly, how do you think the rest of your protectors feel when you simply run off on them?”
I’d always asked both my companions and my Tári to tell me when I did anything wrong, or in this case, incredibly stupid and inconsiderate, so I certainly couldn’t fault them for doing just that. Although I’d felt compelled to see the Deathless as soon as I found out one had been captured, I was embarrassed over just how truly short-sighted my actions had been. As Ella pointed out, it really would have only taken a few extra minutes for me to walk here with my escorts. My Imperial Guards put their lives in constant jeopardy trying to protect me, and I’d done them a great disservice by rushing off without them.
“I’m sorry,” I looked past Ella and Saibra and addressed Aiva, Rhal, and my other guards directly. “That was very inconsiderate of me. I’ll try not to do that again.”
Although I meant it, I knew myself well enough not to actually promise, and the rough laugh that escaped Rhal told me he knew me well enough to expect no more than that either. Still, I kept my pace slow as we walked back towards the large area that had been set up as a field hospital, and the somber duty that I knew awaited me there.
Venna was no longer our chief healer; in fact, she rarely visited the infirmary anymore—her duties as my Minister superseded her other obligations. Even so, she was busy assisting the other Curates as they tended to the wounded, casting her healing magic on one of the injured soldiers just as I entered t
he tent where she was working.
Nearly all the wounded had already been seen to by then, although a few were still being brought in occasionally as small pockets of resistance continued to be ferreted out, but for the most part, the battle was completely over. With her responsibility to the living having been attended to, Venna silently led me to the resting place for our dead.
The still forms of hundreds of bodies—perhaps more—lay on the ground beyond the hospital tents; row upon row of our fallen seemingly slept peacefully under the late day sun. Although I’d witnessed almost the entirety of the battle, I was completely unprepared for the sheer numbers that I saw before me. As far as I had been able to tell, it had been a near-total rout. While I certainly expected there to be some casualties, the vast number of dead nearly brought me to my knees.
“How?” The single word escaped my lips.
“There were some rather intense skirmishes on the opposite side of the battlefield,” Venna sighed. Although she’d had a little more time to absorb the severity of our losses, she was clearly still distressed by them as well. “And there was also that pair of Deathless.”
“What fucking pair of Deathless?” I glared at her, furious over the numerous deaths they’d obviously caused and the fact that this was the first I’d heard about them.
Venna took a step back from me before I realized that my vision had tinted green. I was forced to close my eyes and take several deep breaths to calm my seething rage before I even dared to look at her again. When I did, the world around me resolved into its true colors once more, and I spoke to Venna as calmly as I could manage.
“Do you know what happened?” The words still came out icily.
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