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

by Donald Wigboldy

  When at last they topped a last hill and beheld their enemy, they were in pitched battle with the Grimnal’s vanguard. From atop his mount, Darius could see how the battle flowed below them. Two great armies surged around what looked like an eye in a storm. The resistance seemed so small that he wondered how they could survive and then he wondered if perhaps that lack of size was actually one of the reasons.

  With the river to the east and north, the enemy could not ford the northern rapids easily and simply relied on their strength to try and force their way through the resistance. The army to the south seemed to crash upon the Grimnal's army like waves across unbreakable stone spreading to the west as well preventing any possible escape for those brave soldiers.

  "They won't last long, I'm afraid," Janus said matter-of-factly from beside him. "Their defenses can't stay fresh enough to keep the waves of creatures back, if the enemy continues to press their numbers into them like they are."

  Darius realized that the elf was right despite his earlier observation. "Then we had better hurry, gentlemen," he ordered the wizards beside him. "Order the men to spread to either side of the wizards, Janus. I'll leave their best positioning to you. Protect us when they decide that we are the more important morsel."

  Janus gave him a quick glance and asked, "Are you sure that they'll believe as much?"

  Darius had turned to start and organize the wizards, and simply shouted over his shoulder, "You'll see."

  Darius sent Tate and Xarien with one elf wizard a piece to either side. They distributed needles much like the magic ones that Darius had used the day he had met the elves so long ago. Casting a brief charm for each soldier presented with a handful of needles, the apprentices and wizards moved along the lines of infantry distributing to them all as quickly as possible.

  Darius set another trio of elven wizards to casting their strength into the pine cone-like seeds of a local plant that they had gathered in a brief detour to the battle. The horsemen then took handfuls back to their squads and distributed them as well.

  The final five wizards and Darius worked a third magical spell. It was not related to the others in anyway. Nature was to be defied by this spell. In fact this piece of magic would take great strength to bend the world to their wills, and Darius knew that they would be nearly useless after its casting, but the risk was necessary. Chanting alongside the others, the wizard began to weave the powers of the other men around him in a specific design and blend that caused a feeling of electric current those nearest their circle.

  Several minutes passed and Darius had no idea of the progress of the other men or their work as he focused his power with the other wizards with him. He didn't see as Tate led the others around the horsemen to lay enchantments to the elven arrows as well to gift them with extra strength and the added ability of being able to find their enemy in near perfection. Darius didn't know when the defensive lines finally began to buckle and pull into themselves in near exhaustion down below them either.

  Janus stalked between the two halves of their command and finally huffed to Electra, "When is he going to do this? They'll be dead like he feared if Darius doesn't hurry."

  "Look to the south, my lord," she answered drawing his attention away. Following her finger, Janus discovered that the first forces of their allies had finally come to do battle. He feared that even they would be too late to save the vanguard.

  "Prepare!"

  Janus started at Darius’ shout.

  "Now!" the wizard's voice seemed to boom like the thunder of a great storm and with that shout the earth trembled. Janus watched as Darius acted as the point of the wizards' powers. Pointing towards the enemy below them, Janus noticed a sudden stalling in the enemy's attack. Some creatures fell though none of the defenders stood near them. More and more began to fall or look about in alarm.

  Then he heard a sound unlike any he had heard before in all his centuries. The very earth seemed to shout and scream in one deafening moment. Janus witnessed with them all as the ground opened in wide cracks beneath the enemy. Flames began to shoot up from the split stone like huge fiery waves to turn orcs and trolls into living torches instantly. Goblins fell into the breaches with kiriaks and armored viles. The giant beasts known as myloks raised their tusked heads and cried out to the sky as lava pulled their heavy bodies down and turned them to ash in moments.

  Janus listened as the quakes began to finally, blissfully fade away. "Charge!" he ordered the magically endowed soldiers around him. "Destroy them with the magic given to you, my soldiers. Destroy them now while they lie about in shock and fear."

  The horsemen leapt away from the hill first. Archers fired as they careened towards the still massive armies before them. Screaming like madmen, the elves added their cries and arrows to the confusion of the enemy. With their magic properties, arrows found their marks and dug deep into thick mylok hide. Only the armor of viles could resist their new strength, but many were still injured as the shafts seemed to find the seams and creases in their joints. As they closed the gap, a mass separated from the confusion of the enemy and turned to face this new threat.

  Less than a thousand strong, the horsemen turned at the last moment. Each hefted a pine cone and tossed it into the charging mass. Janus heard the thunderous explosions as the concussive cones sent dark beasts hurling back in tattered pieces. The enemy's numbers were too great to be discouraged now, however. Too much had happened and a bloodlust had settled upon the beasts. In their anger, they would not stop before they had destroyed this new menace.

  The horsemen broke to either side of the infantry who strode defiantly towards the thousands strong who chased their comrades. The front lines threw their needles in small handfuls. Expanding greatly, the air suddenly filled with spears that hurtled into the enemy ranks. Arrows quickly flew to strike down more as another row of gnome infantry launched their spears as well. The death being inflicted was enormous and still the creatures fought their way forward through the storm of spears and arrows.

  The infantry threw the last of their needle spears and drew their swords and shields into place before them. Horsemen waited until the last possible moment and tossed their cone grenades into the front of the mass causing one last great mass of confusion. The infantry charged in even as the enemy sought to pull themselves together in the face of this last distraction.

  Janus prepared to charge into the fray. He unsheathed his magical sword, Tireleya, before noticing the mages before him. The elves, who had worked the great cataclysm with Darius, lay or sat exhaustedly around the human wizard, who appeared to be chanting again.

  Electra had noticed along with the humans of the wizard's band, but, as his lover, her voice cried out first, "Darius stop! What are you doing? You can't try another spell so soon. You'll kill yourself!"

  Janus strode to confront the wizard, but as he took in the raging magic surrounding the man he stepped back fearfully. Gathering himself, Janus ordered, "Stop this, Darius! You have done enough already. The enemy falters and sits ready to fall before the army coming from the south. You don't need to risk yourself anymore."

  The wizard heard his voice and, though the chanting did not stop, he opened his eyes to look at the knight angrily. This time Janus gasped at the face before him.

  Darius eyes were white and gleaming with power. Lightning seemed to crackle across his face and his hair stood up as with static. The man had his staff planted firmly in the ground and Janus knew the truth of the power before him. The knight doubted that he had a strong enough will to try such a feat despite his power in magic. Janus guessed that Darius was most likely at the verge of losing to the engulfing power he held even now as prepared to loose his spell.

  Electra was about to grab hold of the wizard in her worry before Janus grabbed her firmly. "Don't touch him!" he warned.

  "But he's going to kill himself, Janus!" she cried frantically.

  Shaking his head against her claim though he feared as much himself, Janus replied, "No, Electra, if
we interfere, he surely will lose control and kill himself and us along with him. Let the wizard work the magic or the power will consume him with its intensity."

  Fighting the urge to interfere himself, Janus noted a change in the magic surrounding the wizard. Strobing flashes of light suddenly lanced from the earth around Darius. "Get back!" Janus shouted to be heard over the crackling light.

  They all fell away from the wizard and shielded their eyes as best they could while still watching for the results of this magic. Janus heard it before he actually spied its actions. Thunder echoed throughout the river valley as lightning bolt after bolt began to strike the first army on the other side of the river where they struggled to push the defenders back from the bank.

  Dozens and dozens of the bolts struck from the sky down onto the dark army. Janus guessed that the noise of the thunder confused them more than the actual blasts of light, but still the enemy slowly panicked and finally withdrew from the conflict. Running for the forest to the east, the enemy disappeared leaving only the remains of the second army to stand against the might of the entire force of the allies bearing down on it from three sides.

  Janus took his gaze away from the battle below as Darius finally lifted his staff and slowly fell over onto the ground. Electra and Bagheer jumped to his side at once. The holy knight quickly noted the enemy fleeing from the gnomes and elven horsemen now. The fight had finally been driven from them and his men could let the main army finish the task of destroying them.

  The holy knight knelt beside the wizard even as Electra glanced up at him in fear. "He's not breathing, Janus!"

  Nodding as he realized the same, the elf let his magic filter into him. Using his mystic insight, he looked at the fallen man before him. He could still feel Darius’ spirit though his normal senses would believe him dead.

  Janus nodded again, "Don't worry, Electra, it is like that first day he over used his magic in the forest. Darius will recover, but I would suggest getting some food and water ready for his waking. If I know this magic, it will leave him very hungry."

  "You know best, Janus," Electra sighed, but continued to hold the man she loved tightly.

  The knight heard her sob as he looked again upon the battlefield below them. Shaking his head in unbelief, Janus hated to admit it aloud, but he finally had to agree with Darius that all this was worth it. The vanguard was nearly finished battling the enemy as very few of the dark army remained that had not already fled.

  The enemy's second army had been broken leaving only a small remnant that fled into the west pursued by elven horse and gargoyles. The elves of Bairhdia that remained to fill the garrisons could handle what was left he figured.

  Shaking his head again, Janus wondered if saving all those men would mean as much if they could not find a way to defeat the Dark One.

  Chapter 51

  The last goblin soldiers ran from Dante and the squad of dwarven axe men that had joined with him after losing their leader during the battle. Seeing the fight had gone out of the little, green, knife wielders, Dante signaled to the others to halt. The soldiers obeyed readily in their exhaustion and several, noting the battle finished, took seats on the ground to rest.

  Still unbelieving of the outcome of this battle, Dante scanned the battlefield around them in wonder. One moment the swordsman was filling a breach swarming with enemy soldiers and monsters, and the next he felt the earth tremble and the dark army stalled. Dante had not been close enough to see the cataclysm being unleashed upon the army before him, but, when the air rained down lightning bolt after lightning bolt, he realized the battle had quickly turned to their favor.

  Fears spawned by the destruction of Peleth at the beginning of his long journey were quickly laid aside as he realized that it was the dark army's forces that suffered the sky's wrath this day. That had not meant the finish of the fighting though. Several more minutes of intense combat were needed to decide the matter as the enemy tried one last time to shatter their resistance. Finally, cut and bruised, exhausted and bloody, the allies watched as the main body of the allies swept away what little remained of the dark host's second army.

  With the end of the struggle, Dante's attentions were quickly invested in finding the members of his command. Worry set in as he stepped through bloodied grasses littered with the dead and dying. He feared for Valenia and all those others who had begun to feel like his own family. Perhaps these people were even closer than that after such trying battles as they had all faced together.

  An image filtered into his weary mind of the battlefield viewed from above. Misery's sight seemed to pick out all the kills vividly, but his feathered friend also spied Valenia not far off from him and with her were the others. A great weight lifted from off his chest and his step seemed to gather strength with the knowledge that the woman he loved still lived.

  Dante glanced behind him to find that the dwarves had deserted their temporary leader. He could barely muster a wry smile at the realization that the dwarves could follow anyone in a crisis, but still their differences led them back to their own kind as soon as they found the chance to leave him. A dry, raspy chuckle filtered through his cracked lips sounding like a wounded frog in the quiet air.

  The din of battle was fully gone from the air now, the lieutenant noticed as he drew his canteen to his lips thirstily. He still remembered the battle at Turo and wondered how so many lives could seem so meaningless and empty under the scrutiny of the vast sky. Even now the cries of the wounded came thinly to his ears from all around him, the world moved on without notice of their struggles even as Misery floated on a breeze above him.

  "Mercy!" a voice cried out strangely accented and so close to him that Dante nearly jumped out of his boots at the sound.

  Looking about him quickly, Dante spied the source nearly under his boots. His eyes narrowed in anger as he spied a dark green goblin huddled before him. The creature was covered in blood and, though most of the sticky liquid came from the battlefield to cover its body, Dante could see its right leg bent at an awkward angle and a gash on its forehead that still oozed dark goblin blood.

  Dante's hand started to stray to the hilt of his sword ready to slay this dark spawn. Seeing the movement, the creature balled itself up and cried pitifully, "Mercy, master, mercy."

  A flutter of dark wings heralded Misery's arrival as he considered the wretch before him. The raven nearly landed atop the little goblin as it landed. Dante watched as the bird stared at the creature in curiosity.

  The goblin lowered one arm warily and, noting man and bird, the creature looked from one to the other.

  Misery pecked at the goblin's shoulder and the small soldier squeaked again and hid its face from the raven's hard beak. "Mercy, mercy," he squeaked again.

  The raven hopped over a pair of corpses before finding more suitable meat and ignored the others. Dante nodded slightly to himself, though he didn't recall making a decision, "Why should I give you mercy? It was you and this army that tried to kill us. You would not have shown me mercy, goblin, why should I give mine to you?"

  The goblin peeked out from his protective arms and, seeing the bird safely away from him, he answered in the strange accented voice, "Gibble serve you, master. Gibble serve you. Serve well, master. No kill Gibble. Mercy, mercy."

  Knowing himself a fool, Dante nodded, "Fine, I'll give you mercy, Gibble, but fail me and I will kill you."

  Dante still couldn't believe that he was helping an enemy even while he made a small splint for the goblin's leg and cleaned the head wound placing a bandage upon his forehead. Gibble took it all in stride with several more `thank you's and `serve you well's as he tended the creature. The sugary thankfulness nearly made Dante wish that he had left the creature alone.

  They received many stares and several soldiers pointed in their direction as they crossed the field to finally find Valenia and the others. He thought the sight of a man with a raven on one shoulder leading a wounded goblin had to be a first for them all.

 
Valenia laughed coldly as he came into view, "Dante, you don't need to pick up strays from the enemy, you know. Why is that thing with you anyway?"

  "Yeah, lieutenant," Erphen added, "I thought we came to kill things like him."

  Gibble moved closer so that he was nearly hugging Dante's leg. "Mercy, mercy," he chirped frantically at the sight of so many angry humans. "Gibble be good, master."

  Dante noted that most of the faces reflected a sudden look of surprise at the goblin's speech. Riad confirmed the look as he muttered in shock, "He can talk."

  Laughing at their responses, Dante retorted, "And now you can understand why I couldn't just kill him. He was defenseless."

  Valenia looked at him sternly, "And when he is no longer helpless? What then, Dante? Will he kill us all while we sleep? Will he run away and find his own kind?"

  Gibble moved quickly before the sheltering leg and made a clumsy bowing motion. "Serve master," he answered strongly before moving back to stand just behind him again.

  Sighing in exasperation, Valenia replied, "What will we do with him in battle, Dante? You don't think it's over yet do you?"

  Misery lifted off his shoulder in a quick flapping of his wings. Dante turned to follow the bird's path ignoring Valenia. Seeing riders approaching, he smiled. "Later," the man said waving off her worries as he proceeded to go and greet the newcomers.

  Misery continued his low flight and finally landed on an outstretched arm of one of the riders. Dante's smile became a grin and he shouted to the only man he knew that Misery would see as a friend, "Darius!"

  The wizard waved with his free hand as his right placed the raven atop his shoulder. Dante could see the exhaustion in the other's face and in the bend of his drooped shoulders. Darius reined in his mount as he and his entourage of followers came upon the soldier. "I see that you have survived again, my friend. Are you injured? There is so much blood on you I can't tell."