The worg riders hacked and slashed at him while their beasts attempted to tear him to shreds with their claws and fangs, but the wizard’s barrier held firm. Pilk knew his magic would soon fade and while he had to continually renew his shield he was unable to cast any aggressive spells and so he began to focus on the next one.
Raziyan infantry finally made it to the wall and began boosting each other over it. Pilk was tempted to strike at some of them but he had been instructed to focus on the wizards and to assist the worg riders. His help along the wall would have been unnecessary anyway as archers and crossbow orcs picked off any trying to make it over and the ones that did were soon cut down by the orc warriors behind the wall.
The Raziyan wizards realised that they were being targeted and the ones who could made a hasty retreat. While the worg riders had killed many archers they soon found themselves under fire by pockets of organised resistance. O’tukka signalled Pilk that it was time to get them out of there. He created an escape gate immediately.
Seeing an opportunity to get beyond the walls, a group of Raziyan infantry charged towards the two created gates. Pilk looked across at O’tukka to find out what he should do about it and the orc shaman yelled out to him to let them through.
Master Pilk instructed his fellow wizards to keep adding power it to make sure it stayed open for the worg riders. The Raziyan infantry began streaming through the two gates and looking around quite confused. A few moments later the worg riders returned and trampled them, but tried to kill as few as possible.
Turning his attention to the west, Pilk noticed a wizard’s fireball had caught fire to the wall and seriously weakened it before it was extinguished. Evidently the attackers had noticed it too and were now ramming it with a log. As it collapsed, the attackers charged through the opening with a loud battle cry. The orcs behind the wall soon found themselves hard pressed.
* * *
General Krak’too swiftly gathered a group around him and charged off with a primal roar towards a breach in the wall. As he charged, more orcs came to his side and by the time he reached the opening, he had a good fifty warriors with him.
The first Raziyan widened his eyes in horror at the furious general and even though he got his sword in place to block the general’s attack, his sword snapped in two and the general’s falchion dug hungrily into the man’s flesh; his scream was short lived as he collapsed to the ground.
General Krak’too paid him no more heed as he brought his left handed blade across to block the attack from the next enemy in line. The Raziyan put a shield up to block General Krak’too’s overhead chop that followed, but the general had no intent to follow through with the attack. Instead he slapped the flats of the two enchanted blades together and the blue rings of energy slammed into the man’s shield and threw him back into his fellow soldiers.
Bolstered in confidence by the arrival of their general, the orc defenders increased their fury and made the most of the confusion caused by the hurtling Raziyan and pushed the attackers back. However, while this breach remained the attackers would continue to press through. His archers and crossbow orcs in the nearby buildings were concentrating fire on the breach which was helping to alleviate the press.
While he was thinking of a way to seal the gap, a Raziyan charged toward him with his shield lowered. General Krak’too turned side on, braced himself and met the shield rush with his own lowered shoulder. The human was knocked off his feet and General Krak’too wasted no time in smacking him across the head with the blunt side of his falchion.
Allowing his orc warriors to charge past him to confront the last few attackers, Krak’too retreated and looked around for a solution. He found it a block away as he found a pile of wooden boards that had been used to build the wall. He called some orcs to him and ordered them to help him carry them while he told others to fetch hammers and nails.
The orcs carried three boards to the breach and a moment later an orc arrived with a bunch of hammers and a bucket of nails. Krak’too yelled out his intentions to those still heavily engaged and as he counted down from three to zero those orcs retreated while the board carriers charged forward. Krak’too hacked down any Raziyan who charged them until the board was firmly against the wall. Orcs set to it with hammers and nails to fix it in place while the second board was placed above it and then the third on top of that. Many hands held the boards firm as the attackers continued to ram it.
Eventually the heavy archer and crossbow fire from above had the attackers retreating from that section of wall and the orcs were able to finish fixing it with nails.
While they had been busy with the breach, many had made it over the wall further along and the general once again found himself heavily engaged. He set his blades in motion as he ducked, jumped and kicked out at the attackers. He tried not to kill those he engaged, wanting to take as many prisoners as possible, but sometimes his bloodlust was simply too strong. The attackers soon learnt to give him a wide berth and so the general had to chase his targets.
He noticed a man almost equal in size to Gerard who was killing quite a few of his orcs and so he fought his way toward him, dispatching two more orcs on the way. Finally he faced the large man. Those nearby gave the two combatants plenty of room — orc and human alike.
The man wielded a long sword and shield as many of the others did. He danced toward Krak’too and swung his sword aggressively. The general easily blocked the attack but was a little surprised by the strength behind it. He retaliated with a swing of the falchion in his left hand only to have it thud into the solid wooden shield.
He retreated and parried the counter attack, but the man swung out with his shield at the same time and hit Krak’too painfully in the right shoulder. The general went with the hit to lessen its blow but it put him off balance for the next strike which came at him quicker than he expected. Not able to get his falchion up in time, he threw himself into a sidewards roll.
The man pursued him but Krak’too jumped to his feet in time and once again balanced. The man circled around him with a confident grin as the battle continued furiously behind him. Krak’too returned the man’s grin before going into a vicious attack routine that had the muscly man retreating. General Krak’too wanted to put him off balance so that he could get a solid kick in, but the man was surprisingly light on his feet for his size.
The general’s opponent finally got in a solid block and stopped retreating, forcing Krak’too to ease up and a moment later he found himself back on the defensive. He was sweating and out of breath and so focused on his combatant that he couldn’t take note of how his warriors fared nearby. He had to finish off this man and soon so he could take charge of the battle field once again.
The human soldier swung his sword frantically in a horizontal motion at about chest height. Rather than try to block it as the man no doubt expected, Krak’too dropped painfully to his knees and swung hard at the man’s legs scoring a nasty cut on his left leg. The soldier hopped back in pain but uttered no cry. The blood from the wound fed Krak’too’s enchanted blade a little but he knew it wouldn’t be enough to throw this man off his feet.
Quickly jumping back up, the orc general had his blades well placed to defend against the wild counter-attack. The man was angry; Krak’too could see it in his eyes. The nasty wound to the warrior’s leg had him dancing around a little more awkwardly and the general made the most of that by focusing his attacks from left to right, forcing him to place more weight on that leg.
Beginning to tire, the human warrior swung his shield out abruptly in an attempt to push Krak’too back, which he was forced to do, but he came in behind that swing and scored another hit on the man’s shield arm. His combatant was starting to look worried.
General Krak’too pursued his advantage and the man hobbled back frantically. He did well to block most of the general’s attacks but before long Krak’too earned a solid hit on the man’s right shoulder. The Raziyan tried to block the next attack with his sword but it was
knocked right out of his weakened grasp and the general’s falchion bit deeply into his chest. The man stood there weakly, looking into the general’s eyes. After a moment he gave a slight nod and collapsed.
Finally General Krak’too was able to have a good look around him and realised with relief that his warriors had the situation well in hand. He called out to a few orcs nearby who weren’t currently engaged and ordered them to get the collapsed human to a cleric. The fierce one would be delighted to have such a fine warrior as captive and hopefully that’d help alleviate any suspicions he may have.
After a quick breather, General Krak’too went and joined the fray once more. It didn’t take too long to clear the city of invaders and soon after that, the Raziyan retreat was on in full.
* * *
Grand Master Rotager closed the heavy, leather-bound book and placed it back down gently on his desk. The story that Master Pilk had told about an ancient connection between Ka’ton and this orc-infested world had him intrigued. Since then he had visited the upper floor of the academy library and started reading through books that had long been thought of as myth.
The world of Aleri was an amazing place. Great human, dwarf and orc kingdoms were scattered around the world. Cities dwarfing Estermere in size were common place and magic was much more powerful with the strongest magic users given high ranking titles — the king himself was required to be strong in the magical arts.
Humans, dwarves and orcs lived in peace; the only enemy being the giant kin. The three races fought side by side against them in fierce and spectacular battles. The giant kin were not as numerous as the combined races, but their size, strength and powerful magic made them a formidable foe. The nine foot ogres were the smallest among them.
Then a powerful human necromancer by the name of Sylestra had begun desecrating dragon burial caves by reanimating their bones. A number of dragons sought retribution only to be killed and turned into zombie dragons, further strengthening her already formidable armies. One dragon had escaped the battle and began waking others and spreading the news. The fury of the dragons was unstoppable; cities were totally destroyed, flesh was turned to ash, kingdoms toppled and much history was lost. None would have survived, with the exception of giant kin as they were allied with the dragons, had the gods not created the great gates.
Magic on the new world which was to be called Ka’ton was much reduced and the art of necromancy abolished altogether. It was thought this was a punishment of the gods. Since it had been necromancy that had led to the destruction of Aleri, it had been taken away from them and all magic reduced until they could once again win favour with the gods — but Grand Master Rotager now knew better.
He got up from his chair and started pacing back and forth in his office. Master Pilk had humiliated him in front of King Cassien and that would not do. The little scatterbrained wizard would pay. King Cassien would pay. It was time to call another assembly.
The Marching Dead
The retreat didn’t last long. The Raziyans organised themselves into neat ranks and charged with a mighty battle cry. As loud as they were, Pilk noticed a bit more trepidation about them. Rather than keeping their eyes straight ahead they looked around nervously, obviously expecting something to jump out of nowhere.
Archers took aim and released their arrows and all over the battlefield, men fell screaming to the ground. Even though a lot of arrows were blocked by the round shields of the Raziyans, many found soft flesh to dig into.
Getting the signal from O’tukka, Master Pilk once again formed a gate in a clear spot on the battlefield and the worgs began to charge through it. Only five had made it through before Raziyan wizards sent a barrage of spells at the gate in an attempt to close it.
“Keep strengthening it,” ordered Pilk. Mistress Cali and Master Efron continued to boost its power while Master Pilk tried to think of what could be done to stop the spell onslaught. The wizards were well out of range of any offensive spell in his repertoire, but he had to put a stop to their assault — they were relying on the worg rider attacks.
Matters got worse when the Raziyan cavalry charged out from a copse of trees, although it looked significantly reduced from the numbers he was told. Not willing to risk it any longer, Pilk formed a gate in the middle of the room and set it to exit as close to the group of wizards as he dared. With a deep breath he leapt through, cutting off Mistress Cali mid-sentence as she tried to stop him.
Instantly strengthening his orb of protection and getting his bearings, Pilk pulled a wand from his belt and pointed it at the group of three wizards. A small pea of fire leapt out, followed by another and then another. The three peas continued to grow as they spiralled toward their target.
The three wizards noticed the enlarging fireballs at the last moment and dived away in different directions. Not fast enough though, as the first fireball hit the shield of the closest wizard, hurtling him away in the direction of his dive at a staggering speed. The trailing two fireballs missed the wizards but exploded amongst a large group of archers charging forward behind them.
Pilk suddenly felt his orb of protection weaken and when he heard the arrow hit the ground beside him he knew what had caused it. With a quick look in the direction it had come from, he realised that he couldn’t stick around for too long; even now another five arrows were launched at him. He jumped aside to avoid some of them, but his shield had still weakened and the wizards had regained their feet and were in the midst of spell casting.
Wanting to give the worg riders as much time as possible, Pilk pulled another wand from his belt, pointed it at the wizards and uttered the release word. An incandescent blue wave of magic shot forth from it which continually increased in size as it progressed.
A bright white lightning bolt shot through the magical wave, dulling its colour but not altogether sapping the magic from it and the bolt hit Pilk’s shield with enough force to make him stumble back a step. Master Pilk’s wave hit the wizards a moment later and once again knocked them down, but Pilk barely registered that as he turned back toward his gate, not wanting to push the limits of his shielding.
He froze in place when the Raziyan warrior brought down his sword to strike him. He hadn’t even heard the man’s approach. Pilk’s orb of protection collapsed under the strain of the physical attack but slowed its approach long enough for him to dive aside. Even so he received a nasty gash in his shoulder.
He willed his enchanted dagger into his hand, rolled over and flung it at the surprised man. His look of surprise soon gave way to one of pain as he gripped at the dagger in his chest. That grip failed as Master Pilk once again willed the dagger back into its sheath and watched the man collapse.
Pilk had just got back to his feet when an arrow hit him in the chest, taking him to the ground again. The last thing he saw before his vision failed was Mistress Cali leaning over him, tears streaming down her face.
* * *
Sylestra flew over the top of her marching army, riding on the back of Zaydok. They had made good progress and were even now exiting Izhal Kelanga, the Mystery Forest. The army would arrive at the walls of Ken’thor within the hour. Sylestra decided to fly on and scout ahead. She was anxious to move things along quickly; she wanted to reach the Gate before O’tukka had a chance to close it.
The bells of Ken’thor rang loudly and many orcs were crossing the drawbridge into the walled section of the city. Ken’thor was much larger than Izlalek and had long ago outgrown its walls. A wide moat surrounded the older city which was a part of Arkishna Kalin, the Rocky Lake.
The bells must have been ringing for some time as the majority of the outer city had already been evacuated. The walls were crowded with warriors and the mounted catapults loaded and ready. Behind the walls was abuzz with activity as warriors directed the citizens to safety.
Fingers from all over the city pointed to the sky as they noticed her flying above them. One crazy orc even fired an arrow at her which fell well short. She had a brief chuckle to her
self when a nearby officer whacked the orc over the back of the head.
She was not wearing her orc outfit, deciding it was time to reveal the true nature of the Ta’zu. A mix of orc, human and half-orc soldiers were even now marching for Izlalek to reinforce the captured city. Sylestra circled the city taking note of every detail and flew back towards her army.
General Jak’ho had evidently seen her approach and had her worg ready at the front of the army. Sylestra dismissed Zaydok allowing him to go and hunt for a time until she needed him, while she mounted her worg and rode alongside General Jak’ho.
A short time later, they crested a large hill that afforded a panoramic view of the city below. Farmland spread before them, giving way to blocks of houses and then to taller buildings closer to the city walls. Beyond the walls were many towering structures with grey gabled rooftops, but towards the far edge of the city one building rose well above the rest. It was the Castle, and her flight over the city had shown her that it was surrounded by a citadel — high, solid walls leading all the way to the lake. Ken’thor was not about to fall as fast as Izlalek.
Instead of being weakened by their attack on Izlalek, Sylestra’s army had been strengthened. The captured orcs had been sacrificed to Nefari to strengthen the necromancers’ and necrolytes’ magic and their corpses along with the corpses of all the fallen were reanimated into zombies. The graveyards of Izlalek had also been visited by powerful necromancers and thousands of skeleton warriors had been raised which more than replaced the ones that had been shattered during the overthrow.
The massive army marched through the deserted city streets. The bulk of the army was able to march down the wide paved road leading to the gates of the main city. Meanwhile the rest of the warriors and undead were led through the maze of streets on the left and right flanks. Sylestra watched the buildings on either side carefully for signs of a trap or an ambush but none was forthcoming. The Black Skulls were making this far too easy for her.
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