The Battle of Ebulon (30 page)

Teardon who had not yet
joined the fray watched as The Raygon took its true form of a large
dragon, letting fire explode from its mouth and setting several
groups of Orcs alight. Teardon drew her sword and leapt from the
cliff landing a few feet from the king Orc who had lead the horned
warriors against Wynter’s undead. The King’s weapon was drawn and
pointed towards her. She stood up and pointed her weapon back at
him he charged towards her and she blocked his first blow
successfully. Teardon managed to connect with his armour on more
than one occasion and cracks were starting to form weakening his
armour. The King who was not without skill barely connected with
her armour leaving only scratches and small dents before he backed
off and let out an almighty roar.

Teardon looked past him
to see what was left of the army and not distracted by other party
members charging in her direction. She held her claymore in front
of her ready to defend herself. The party had managed to defeat
about half of the horde now and only about fifty warriors of all
different kinds of Orcs were coming towards her. The Raygon flew
down and landed in the middle of the charging army crushing some
under her feet. The Raygon started picking off surrounding Orcs
throwing them into the air and catching them in her mouth. The
remaining Orcs had reached Teardon and her blade now. Her skill was
unmatched by these creatures and she slayed many of them as she
forced her way through the Orc army and towards the
King.

The King had retreated
well into the middle of the horde now narrowly dodging The Raygon.
Aylen and Wynter were now working together, Aylen would clear the
Orcs that tried to surround Wynter as she completed her necromancy.
Kastion had entered the battle full force now and he barely left
the ground as he ripped and tore at surrounding Orcs. Maliki was
now at Teardon’s side and was cutting down the Orcs that managed to
miss her claymore. Maliki stayed behind her and devoured souls as
quickly as they became available. Teardon had reached the king Orc
now and had forced him to engage her in battle.

The army was falling fast
as Aylen, Wynter and Kastion were getting closer and closer to
Teardon, Maliki and The King. The Raygon had taken to the sky again
and was raining down fire onto the battlefield. Teardon and the
King were still locked in combat when the stragglers, the Orcs who
were lucky enough to have survived and that were either missing
limbs or holding fatal wounds started to retreat into the
mountains.

The King brought down his
sword with enough power to send Teardon sliding a few meters
backwards still with her claymore in the defence position. The King
looked to his heavily damaged armour and back up to Teardon who was
already charging towards him again. He raised his sword to fight
back but she moved so quickly now that he could not keep up his
defences. Teardon then moved her sword in front of her connecting
with the King’s armour again and again until she managed to hit him
with enough force that she cracked his armour and found the flesh
of his belly. He looked towards the sky dropping his sword and
letting out an almighty howl of pain she lifted her sword above her
head and threw the king causing him to land hard on the ground
meters behind her.

“That’s thirty-two
battles we have won now,” Aylen said happily clapping her dainty
hands and landing on Teardon’s shoulder.

Maliki Placed his hand on
Teardon’s other shoulder and she looked up at him and said, “No I
am not hurt my love,” Maliki bowed and removed his hand from her
shoulder.

Wynter and Kastion had
rejoined the party now and they all watched as The Raygon turned to
shadow once more and inhabited the cold air behind them.

“Does the voice ask more
of us?” Wynter asked.

“The voice asked for aid
no more and no less,” Teardon answered.

“Where will we go now?
What shall we do now?” Kastion asked eagerly.

The sound of war drums
started up again and they all looked towards the sound to see the
dull light of torches moving towards them. They looked at each
other and started towards the light, The Raygon took to the sky in
front of them and Aylen clapped and started singing
“Thirty-Three!”

This is an
original story written specifically for the Anthology. Though the
writer hopes to expand on the foundation she has placed
here.

Entry Point
14- by Wayne Borean

The Ebulonite sergeant
gawked at the blue-green whirlpool that had formed above the
battlements. He quickly sent a recruit running to find a superior
officer. A few moments later a senior captain huffed his way up the
stairs. He stopped, and stared bright eyed at the
apparition.

"What," he started to ask
when a dark skinned, short, heavily muscled man dressed in a white
silk toga trimmed with red stripes, burst from the centre of the
whirlpool, grabbed him by the front of his armor, and lifted him
one handed into the air.

The sergeant shocked,
hesitated, and was lost. A shapely leg appeared, followed by a blue
eyed red haired head, wearing a rather thin green silk dress, with
her left breast bare. The nipple that winked at him mesmerized him.
"Men," she commented sadly. "Husband, put him down. Now. Before you
embarrass us."

The short,
heavily muscled man did so, with ease. The captain guessed that he
was no more than five feet tall, but must weigh close to one
hundred and eighty pounds, looking more like a dark skinned, black
haired, heroic statue than a real person. In fact with his tanned
leather colored skin he was darker skinned than most of the
Orcs...

No. No Orc was
that handsome, scars or not. And the man had scars. He couldn't be
all that old, maybe twenty at the outside, but you could see where
he'd been wounded a few times. Minor wounds, but wounds.

Another leg appeared,
followed by another blue eyed red haired head. Identical woman,
identical dress except yellow, identical nipple. The sergeant
shuddered, and drew his gaze up to her eyes. They were cool,
amused. She reached behind, and helped through a third woman, this
one no taller than the man, wearing the same style of dress in red,
but as dark skinned, and black haired as he was.

Another delightful nipple
to avoid looking at, this one purple from pregnancy. Just great.
Staring at the woman he almost missed seeing the tawny head, with
dark tipped ears, till a snarl drew his eyes down to about her
waist, where a large cat like creature strode. Cat like. Large
blue-green eyes stared up at him, a thick tawny, dark tipped tail
lashed in impatience.

The red head
in green continued, "You called for help. The Goddess asked us to
come. We are here. You should be
honored
that she was willing to
spare her Beloved," and bowed to the short man she'd indicated as
her husband, her uncovered breast bobbing hypnotically. "And where
the Beloved of the Goddess goes, so go his wives, the priestesses
of the
Goddess.
"

Continusing, “You were
lucky. The Imperator was free currently.” She looked at the blank
look the captain gave her. “Strange. The Goddess gave us the
ability to be understood, that word must not be in your language.
Supreme War Leader? Does that make sense?”

The captain nodded. Still
stunned, it was all he could do.

“
He’s also our
greatest warrior, as well as junior member of the Imperial Senate
from our family,” she continued. “And Beloved of the Goddess for
his services to her.”

A look over her shoulder
at the pregnant woman with the incredible creature, now sitting at
her feet. "We must rush. Kanerva is near her time. I am Pirjo,
please tell us what needs doing."

#

"So," continued the woman in green, "Facing this
gate is the Eagle Horde, made up of a number of tribes. Brrck is
the leader because they couldn't agree on anyone else, but he isn't
a warrior. The previous leader, Grg wasn't a warrior either. The
tribes wouldn’t name a warrior as Horde leader, for fear a popular
warrior might gain too much power. The tribes don't really agree on
anything, though there are two general factions, and several
smaller ones, correct?"

The captain very
carefully looked her in the eye. When his gaze had wandered
downwards towards the delightfully tanned breast earlier there had
been a worrying growling noise from her husband, who she continued
to refer to as 'Beloved of the Goddess' and nothing
else.

"Yes. We can't drive them
away, we don't have enough troops left, and if we don't drive them
away, they'll come over the wall before long and masacare us. Or
eat us. I’m not sure which would be worse."

He paused. “How do you
stand the cold?”

“
The Goddess
provides,” she replied simply.

Then she looked at her
husband. Their husband. One man with three wives? Preposterous. But
the two red heads stood beside him, while he massaged the pregnant
wive's bare feet, the beast curled beside him. He looked up at the
one in green, made a sign with one hand, and nodded yes.

She nodded
back, and said, "In that case, we need a place where we can make an
announcement to the Orcs."

#

The dark
skinned man strode out onto the balcony like he owned it. No, like
he owned the entire city. The Orcs didn’t notice. They continued
their usual affairs, mending armor, tending wounded from the last
attack, cooking, eating, readying scaling ladders.

The man took a place at
the front of the balcony, the beast standing on its hind legs,
muscled front legs on the balcony railing. It let out a most
horrible sounding noise. It might have been a roar.

That got the Orcs attention. Everything stopped
as they looked up at the balcony. The small dark man raised a well
used, well kept long sword above his head, then lowered it towards
them.

Pirjo, the priestess in
green took a position to his right, Reeta the priestess in yellow
took the other side. Kanerva, the very pregnant priestess in red
stood where she could be seen for a minute, and then sat on a chair
supplied by the sergeant with a ladylike grunt, the cat-beast
curled up beside her.

Pirjo spoke,
in what appeared to be a conversational tone to those on the
balcony, but it was apparent that the Orcs heard her clearly.
Apparently the Goddess had made sure the Orcs could understand her
too.

"Orcs of the
Eagle Horde, we are priestesses of the Goddess. Our husband, who is
Beloved of the Goddess will fight your chosen representative in
single combat for possession of this gate. Choose your
representative."

The 'Beloved of the
Goddess' sheathed his sword, crossed his arms on his chest, and
waited.

A buzz came from the
assembled tribes. On the hilltop where the Eagle Horde leaders were
standing a disagreement became evident. The one identified as Brrck
shouted back at them, “This is no trick? We get the gate if our
warrior wins?”

The ‘Beloved of the
Goddess’ raised his sword again. Pirjo said, “Yes, you get the
gate. But you will not win.”

That caused an
even bigger stir. The evident confidence of the man on the balcony
was an insult to all Orcs.

But not all
Orcs were stupid. Brrck was holding forth at length and with great
volume. He was convinced that this was a trap of some sort. Then a
spear point tore through his back and out from his chest in a
shower of gore. This upset the other Orc leaders, and the hilltop
dissolved into a melee, as Orcish politics beget Orcish
violence.

Pirjo breathed, "You were
right husband."

The 'Beloved of the
Goddess' winked.

Several Orcs
fled the fighting on the hilltop towards their tribes. The Cardinal
Tribe, from which Brrck came, had been watching the hilltop. They
were furious that one of theirs, even if he wasn't a great warrior,
had been killed. All of the tribe’s warriors, over three thousand
strong, rushed the hilltop, weapons drawn.

Their
traditional enemies, the Pelicans, were slow to react. By the time
that the Pelicans realized what was happening, the Cardinals were
slaughtering everyone on the hilltop. Fifteen hundred Pelicans
rushed the Cardinals. The
neighboring
Panther and Turkey
tribes, another three thousand warriors, reacted to the Pelican
advance by following them into the fray.

The chief of the Badgers
was jumping up and down, and screaming. Pirjo looked at him, and
they could hear him attempting to keep his two thousand warriors in
order.

One of his
sub-chiefs decided enough was enough. He promoted himself in the
time
honored
Orcish manner, by lopping off the chief's head
with a battle axe. While the Badger line was confused, by the
sudden promotion, they were hit by two thousand Black Bear warriors
from the side. It appeared to be an attempt to pay back a long ago
slight forgotten to everyone else.

The captain looked at the
battle below. “What an incredible slaughter. What an incredible
slaughter.” He leaned back against the wall muttering.