The Emperor's Shadow War (Tales of Alus Book 2)

by Donald Wigboldy

  "We will succeed, gentlemen. We have to."

  Chapter 49- Darius and Dante

  Darius sat upon the bench near his tent. Electra leaned against him resting a hand gently on his thigh. Her sigh of contentment surprised him slightly on this the last day before meeting the dark army in the field. Dante and Valenia sat on another bench, while Tate and Meria took up yet another. All eyes seemed to glance up to see what the others might be thinking from time to time, but they all seemed calm as they tried to enjoy the night air.

  With the likelihood of a storm of death in battle about to happen tomorrow, all of them were left thoughtful. Other friends from both groups had joined them earlier in the evening and now these six remained as Bagheer and Sgt. Lane stood on guard towards the edge of the lamplight. They had talked little after dinner and all of them seemed content to sit quietly until Darius finally broke the silence. Looking at those across from him, he asked not for the first time, "Are you all sure that you want to come with Janus and I? You know that whoever goes could easily end up dead? I don't want anyone going that is unsure of themselves given that fact."

  "Just a possibility, actually," Meria retorted quietly.

  Darius knew the young woman only slightly despite all these weeks of travel together. He was surprised that she would be the one that would answer so sarcastically. Even more surprising was her newly close friend, Tate, jumping in on that retort, "She's right, Darius. You have to stop trying to get any of us to quit. We've been through too much to get this far to stop now.

  "You're going to need as much help as possible to break into this fortress of the Dark One's. Don't try to turn any help away now. You can't afford to, Darius."

  Dante chuckled though his face seemed untouched by the laughter. "I've seen armies and cities destroyed by this monster already, brother. I've lost men and women from both commands. I'm supposed to be immortal and, if that's so, then no matter how this goes, I'll fight to stop this dark creature's advances every day of that life.

  "He's caused too many deaths for any of us to believe that we can allow him to continue. You worry that some of us may die. Better that and find a way to stop him here, Darius, than to stay back and find out that you failed. If you and Janus can't destroy the Emperor, then we're all doomed anyway, since the Visionaries counted on us to be the only hope of stopping him. Now how can you ask me or any of the others to stay behind when staying behind isn't any safer if the Dark One wins?"

  Darius sighed, "You've told me of how you felt about losing so many of your men before, Dante. You told me that if it is within your power, then no one else will die in your command. You'd rather put your life in the way than let another man or woman die. Can I help it if I feel the same way?"

  A hand brushed his hair gently as Electra spoke, "We do not blame you for trying, Darius, but your wishes will not change the fact that we are all going with you. We are all much like a family here now. None of us will let you down despite your misgivings. This is how it has to be."

  Sighing again, Darius nodded in resignation, "I know. Maybe it's all the pressure of knowing that either Janus or I will be most likely left in the other realm. If the Dark One can be drawn into the void, then that could easily happen to the one who pulls him in. We don't know if that person can escape or not. There are so many things that we don't know and that which we do know is so daunting."

  "You and I have been through a lot already," Tate said quietly. "If anyone can succeed and return to us, I would guess that it would be you so let's stop being so worried about it. What will be, will be. Let's try to enjoy this evening. We'll all wish for a quiet night like this in a few more days. Hopefully, one day we'll be able to sit out in the courtyard at Aerwold just like we used to do before all this, but we'll have all our new friends with us to celebrate our victory. Let's think of that time rather than the next few days all right."

  They broke up shortly after that. Darius and Electra moved off to the quiet of their own tent as did the others. The wizard could not sleep and neither of them could think of making love on a night like this. Electra lay in his arms as they tried to draw strength from one another. Whispering long into the night, the couple expressed words of encouragement and hope, plans for a time when this war would all be over, and so many other things were said though they may have believed little enough of them. Eventually, Electra began to breathe deeply as she drifted off to sleep. Darius wished that he could do so as well, but sleep was unwilling to come this night. His nerves would not allow it.

  Instead, as the faint light of the moons came through an opening from one side of the enclosure, Darius meditated upon the beautiful woman beside him. The golden curls swept behind the pointed ears that marked her as an elf, the full lips and smooth curves of cheeks and jaw, and even her petite body wrapped in traveling clothes, the man couldn't get enough of her and feared that he might not see her for much longer. It frightened him that such a possibility existed.

  When the first shouts of alarm were cried into the night, Darius awoke wondering when sleep had finally caught up with him. Electra moved beside him quietly in the darkness and opened the flap of the door fully. "Bagheer?" she questioned the man who remained nearby at all times.

  "War parties coming from the east and north. The Dark One comes to do battle before day light," replied the bodyguard calmly. "It's time to arise and fight, my lady."

  The wizard was at the doorway and gently nudging Electra forward before Bagheer had finished his statement. "We need to find the Grimnal and Janus. They'll need us at the front immediately."

  Darkness was the Emperor's ally and as such it made sense for his army to attack while the light of morning was still a few hours off. For the alliance gathered against him, the darkness was a hindrance for most. Though the elves and gnomes had fair night vision, finding their enemies would still be harder than when the sun finally arose. Human archers were next to useless without the daylight and many were superstitious about the night. Their shots were less aimed and many men simply fired into the darker masses hoping to cause confusion in the enemy ranks.

  Only the dwarves and gargoyles seemed nearly unhindered. The dwarves were a race that burrowed under ground and, though they used lanterns in most of their work, their eyes adjusted quite well to the dim light of night. The allies didn't even bother to guess about the vision of the winged allies as they struck into battle fearlessly. It was just another portion of the power that the great creatures possessed and everyone was glad enough for it.

  As twin arms of the dark army swept through the valleys and hills, armies of dwarves moved to the fore even as the gargoyles with Lord Grimnal's forces flanking either side took the very center of the defense. Dante and Valenia had found a place alongside the legendary lord as the armies marched the last yards separating them. In the vanguard, they walked alongside gargoyles and men alike. Dante watched as Lord Grimnal calmly set out his orders for the forces around him even as the first goblins and orcs crashed into dwarven forces and the first of the gargoyles as well as his human soldiers.

  Dante had his sword, Dark's Bane, glowing in one hand and the Spear of Aleile in the other as they waited hearing the sounds of battle in the near distance. Valenia stood at his side, even as the survivors of their long journey stood ready to defend their leaders' backs.

  Noting the glowing sword in Dante’s hands, Lord Gerid, the Grimnal, came to stand beside the lieutenant. "I've never seen a blade quite like this one," he remarked admiring the weapon. "Have the Certen weapon smiths discovered knew techniques of forging since last I visited them?"

  "No, my lord, this was a gift given to me by the great dragon, Drakus, who guarded the ring. He thought that I would last longer with such a weapon and my old sword broke on these beasts as he guessed. Drakus has an odd sense of humor and seems to think that I will make an interesting diversion in this battle against the Emperor."

  The lord looked to the sky and questioned quietly, "How can he see you, I wonder, if he remains on
Alus? This dragon sounds interesting to me. Perhaps after we have defeated this Dark One, I will have to seek him out and find out more about him for myself."

  "That is if we win the battle, Lord Grimnal," Dante spoke grimly.

  The giant lord laughed loudly. Several of the men and gargoyles nearest them glanced over at the sound, but the Grimnal ignored them as he replied, "I have fought many battles in my time, Dante. From them I have learned many things, first I have not found a man that can kill me and second, believing that I cannot be defeated or lose is a better way to view the battle before me. Coming onto the battlefield uncertain, will probably result in defeat. On the other hand, there is bound to be someone on the other side that believes so as well I guess. Thinking about him is best left for the time that you are actually defeated by that one. Don't you agree?"

  "Whatever you say, my lord," Dante agreed grudgingly. He believed in a positive attitude as much as anyone, but the reports of the numbers in the dark armies attacking now had him discouraged. With all the forces that the allies had been able to muster, the enemy were still rumored to be nearly double that of theirs. Such odds, even with warriors like the gargoyles and the stalwart peoples of this world, seemed quite daunting.

  But he was immortal the lieutenant had reminded himself trying to be positive. Dante took a quick glance at Valenia. She smiled slightly, though her mind was still on the battle ahead of her. His lover was immortal also, so she could survive this as well, he added in his thoughts. Still Dante worried over her safety. Mentioning once that he wished Valenia would remain behind to be safe, the mistake committed just once. Her temper had been barely held in check as she reminded him of her words to him at Drakus' cave.

  "I let you go off once and told you that I would never let you leave me behind again," the woman had reminded him immediately. "Don't you dare try to keep me away from your side, Dante, or I'll kill you myself just so I don't have to worry over you," she had warned only slightly in jest.

  He had obediently never mentioned the idea again.

  "There," a voice shouted from nearby. Dante found the soldier and he shook himself from his thoughts. The man pointed towards a dark mass surging towards them. Sparks of metal meeting metal glinted throughout the mass as the dwarves and gargoyles fought to stem the tide of monsters.

  Lord Grimnal raised his huge battle axe over his head and shouted, "For life, for freedom!"

  The men and gargoyles took up the lord's battle cry quickly. Dante found himself echoing their voices with his own as he and the others charged courageously into the horde.

  Darius stood with the other wizards, human, elf, and a trio from the race of the gnomes as well. They were there to do two things in this battle. First, their magic could defeat great numbers of the creatures and secondly, they awaited the appearance of the dark army's own wizards. The elves and dwarves had spoken of the disasters brought upon cities and towns that didn't have magic to fight against the enemy. It was said that storms had arisen to shatter walls with lightning, fire balls rained upon soldiers in the field, the very earth tore apart loosing lava in the cities or simply opened up wide enough to swallow whole divisions of dwarves and elves.

  Darius' heart raced excitedly as he prepared himself alongside the others. He had never been set in a battle this way. The few skirmishes the Dark One set upon him had been different. Only the last battle at Darvus could be considered a true battle. As he looked out at the dark masses crashing into each other, he realized that battle was like unto a pair of children squabbling beside this.

  "Darius?" Matalchus' voice startled him from his reverie. "Prepare yourself, boy. The scouts have warned of a group of wizards coming in with the eastern most army."

  "Right," he nodded. The butterflies in his stomach flapped harder again as he tried to search for the group in the darkness. It was a ridiculous thought to believe that he would find them without using his nature magic, but his mind was already swept away by the sheer magnitude of the work ahead of them.

  "Do you feel it?" one of the elven wizards asked, even as Darius felt a prickly tingle like electricity moving up his arms. He knew that the other magic users felt that same reaction, even as all their heads turned to scan the sky. The magic worked upon it and the clouds began to turn angrily above them.

  "Join together, brothers," the chief mage of Faierhden, Bralgain ordered. Hurriedly moving to obey, the rest of the mages followed the elf, who was acting as their leader in the resistance. The mage had had much success in fending off the Dark One over the past year and, with such experience under his belt, he knew more about the dark magic being used than most of the rest put together.

  Darius took one last look out into the dark masses of the armies below and wondered how the others were faring.

  Dark's Bane sliced through yet another troll as Dante used his spear to block a goblin's knife thrust. Valenia brought her sword down splitting the little beast's skull saving him the trouble. An orc was sent spinning to the earth minus its left arm as Riad used his blade, gifted to him by the dragon, to slay yet another from just behind him. The men and women of their squads acted as one. No enemy could attack one of them without finding a second blade or shield thrust from another side.

  Dante was proud of these soldiers that fought with him. They had become something rare and he doubted that any other group worked together quite as well. They were family now in soul, if not in blood. Each man and woman knew the other and helped fill holes in the other's defense. Beside him, Valenia acted as another piece of him as their people fanned out to either side in a wedge.

  A fire urchin swung into his face sweeping away the thoughts of his people for the moment. Dark's Bane glanced off the creature's thick hide surprising him. He twisted as a flaming claw whistled closely past his face. The Spear of Aleile thrust towards the urchin's chest, the beast turned it aside and pushed closer still.

  Valenia shrieked angrily and slashed at its armored arm. It roared angrily and turning on her, the creature seemed to lose interest in Dante. The spear sank deeply and unforgiving into its chest just below its armpit. The creature shrieked and collapsed learning its lesson too late to save its life.

  "Thank you, my love," he shouted to Valenia, who couldn't respond as a troll filled the hole quickly.

  A roar from nearby his other side forced him to turn quickly to see what approached. A monster, larger than the trolls and urchins, appeared towering over man and beast alike. Great tusks curled from its large, gray-haired head and it was endowed with muscles of great mass and strength. Dante feared going after the beast, but doubted that any normal man could face such a creature with anything but a magical blade.

  He was proved wrong as another roar answered its challenge. Bodies of trolls and orcs were thrown aside suddenly as if they were leaves being blown away in a fall wind. Gerid, the Lord Grimnal, appeared like a whirlwind of blades as he used his axe and sword alike to meet the creature known as a mylok.

  The beast seemed unimpressed as it swung a massive hammer in the lord's direction, but the Grimnal was too quick. Dodging aside, he brought his sword up and sliced a gouge of flesh from the creature's arm. It howled angrily and tried to crush the man's head with its other hammer. The axe hacked at the wrist above it, though the mylok's skin was too thick to allow a deep cut.

  Again, the mylok howled. This time it tried to capture the man in between both of its arms. It nearly worked as the lord couldn't slip away from the outstretched appendages. Instead, he drove forward unflinchingly with his blade slicing deep into the monster's abdomen. The metal sank deep and bloody ichor flowed from the wound. It screamed in pain, but didn't stop from wrapping its powerful arms around the Grimnal's chest. It started squeezing and the man screamed in frustration and pain.

  Dante leapt in and drove the Spear of Aleile into its chest much as he had into the urchin. The spear slid through the armor and flesh within as if it were moving through butter. It should have pierced the beast's heart, but still the monster con
tinued to try and crush its original quarry.

  Valenia jumped past him and cut at the back of its knee trying to cut its tendons. Dante hacked at the mylok's left arm with Dark's Bane trying to cut the lord free. Lane and Calla hit it with their weapons from the other side as the remaining members of their band fought off the creatures coming to the mylok's assistance.

  A fifth blow from Dark's Bane finally cut through bone and inner flesh of the creature's upper arm. With that loss, Grimnal broke free of the giant’s grip. Valenia's efforts brought the mylok to its knees and, with a roar that drove fear into the beast's heart, Grimnal clove the mylok's head in two with his great axe. Letting it topple to the ground lifeless, Dante then retrieved the spear. A nod from the lord was all the thanks that the man could spare as he retrieved his sword from the creature's stomach and rushed into another fray.

  "Gods!" Lane exclaimed from beside him as they turned to face a pack of orcs. "That beast would've killed an ordinary man, but the Grimnal runs back to battle as if nothing had ever happened."

  Dark's Bane sent an orc staggering back as Dante gasped, "Perhaps I'll be that powerful one day, but somehow I don't believe that any man will ever be as powerful as the Grimnal. I think that it hurt him though, Lane, but that immortal won't allow injuries to stop him while there is work to be done."

  "He is much like you then, all right, lieutenant," the sergeant gasped as he tried to laugh. "You aren't as big as Lord Gerid, but you are definitely as determined, sir."

  Dante laughed, "Thanks for the praise, my friend, but I know my limitations. I know that I would never want to face the Grimnal as my enemy that is for sure."

  Letting their thoughts of the giant immortal drop, the men and women turned all their energies to defeating the creatures before them. Dante was tired as were all of them by the time the sun finally broke over the hills to the east and with it the enemy suddenly faded away as well.