Legends of Marithia: Book 1 - Prophecies Awakening: Uncut and Extended Second Edition (25 page)

Andrielle’s army began a rhythmic beat with
their weapons and shields, their hearts racing with adrenaline.
Andrielle drew her sword, and slammed her face guard into place
with its hilt. She pointed forward through the trees that began to
part and open a path for the army to enter.

“Onward to victory!” she screamed.

“To victory!” they all began to chant.

The ground trembled with the movement of
Andrielle’s army as they began their march towards Kassina’s
waiting Forces of Darkness.

Black clouds billowed into the sky and the
stench of smoke stained the crisp night air. Flashes from the
battle lit up the tear-streaked faces of sniffling children as the
mothers who were either too weak to fight, or needed for the
safekeeping of the survivors, made their way toward the glow and
skyward beam of She’Ma’Ryn, far from the Battle of the Elven Woods.
The women carried heavy packs on their backs with supplies and
materials for making shelter. A handful of elven warriors
accompanied the survivors for protection.

A woman managed a smile as she addressed the
large crowd of children. “Come now, we are under the queen’s orders
and we will be safe in the woods.”

The children nodded as they held their heads
low and continued the long walk without complaint. “Remember, we
have the dragons on our side now,” the woman continued. “And when
the battle is won, we will return to Veldrenn to rebuild and
celebrate.”

Chapter 17: Death from Above

“This is not the first time that the knights
have been involved in war, nor will it likely be the last. However,
for the first time in my life, I fight not only for my king or
kingdom, but for the survival of the world as we know it.

A burden such as this can either provide hope
and courage, or weigh one down into hopelessness and despair. I
don’t have much time for the latter.”

(Sir Dryden of Veldrenn)

Kassina turned her scowl to her busy catapult
crews and viciously spat out an order. “Aim at those damned
dragons, or we’ll lose this battle before it has even begun!”

She puffed loudly and collapsed her body into
her makeshift throne in annoyance.

Finn dove hard at Kassina’s cart and blew a
fiery path towards her position, his eyes narrowing on his
target.

“Look out!” exclaimed Aidan from the cart,
struggling against the rough ropes to escape. His flesh was torn
through and bled into the ropes.

Finn! Be careful, one of our own is beside
her,
ordered Karven from far above.
Watch your fire!

Kassina snapped to her feet and quickly
chanted a spell of protection against fire.

“
Celatum sit ignem de corpo mei.
”

In a series of pulses, a large, transparent,
glowing sphere covered her entire cart. The red-hot flames turned
to steam as they touched her magical sphere.

"Damn you, witch!" growled the young dragon
as he circled around.

Finn! Be careful! Don’t get too close to
her,
screamed Karven’s voice in his mind.

Foolishly ignoring Karven’s warning, Finn
swung as hard as he could with his tail while he flew over
Kassina’s head. She responded by sending a potent charge of
electricity through the tip of his tail. Finn crash-landed into the
ground behind her, his form grinding through the dirt and sending
up a large cloud of dust.

“You stupid fool, did you
really
think
I’d be that easy to kill?” laughed Kassina.

Bang…

Bang…

Bang…

Karven's desperate voice burst into Finn’s
mind.
Finn! Get off the ground, now!

Bang…

Bang…

Bang…

Finn shook his head in confusion and regained
his footing when he saw what was coming. The golem, Glaucus, was
charging at him with full speed and was closing on him quickly, a
large oak tree in his arms. Finn didn’t have enough time to take
flight and could only brace himself for the inevitable impact,
shutting his eyes and folding his wings over himself.

Bang…

Bang…

Karven rocketed through the air between them
and smashed his tail with shattering force into the gigantic golem.
Glaucus flew back a short distance and flattened out over Aidan’s
makeshift rack, sending a large spray of dirt, wood and blood into
the air around them.

Kassina shot lightning randomly through the
air to repel any attackers. Seizing the opportunity, Finn flapped
his wings as hard as he could to gain flight as undead knights
quickly closed in on him. Putting as much distance between them as
possible, Finn climbed high into the dark sky. He glanced back to
see the bloody remains of Aidan dangling from the ropes.

That was too close, Finn,
said Karven
sadly.
Choose your kills wisely and try to avoid friendly
casualties. That loss may have been avoidable.

Finn banked and plummeted from the sky,
vengeance surging through his veins. He sent more flames into the
skeleton archers, narrowly dodging arrows aimed at wounding him
where he was vulnerable. Shrieks filled the night air when another
flaming tree was dropped heavily into the skeleton warriors’ midst.
Kassina responded with two well-placed fireballs that hit the
delicate wing membrane of another unfortunate attacking dragon.

“No! Althar!” growled Karven as he watched
from above.

Althar plummeted to the ground, his heavy
form landing gracelessly beside one of the catapults. The dragon
growled in pain as he got back to his feet. Seizing the
opportunity, Althar inhaled deeply and set the catapult and its
team alight with dragon's breath.

“Damn those dragons. Archers, ready your
weapons and fire on the wounded one!” ordered Kassina.

With grumbles and shrieks, they responded and
turned to the downed Althar, whose wings let off wisps of smoke
from the damage.

Finn again dove at their position, blowing
fire at the endless stream of archers moving towards Althar. On his
ascent, he ripped handfuls of them from the ground in his claws and
took them high into the sky before sending them helplessly
plummeting to the ground to shatter into pieces.

Hundreds of archers knelt in position, took
aim and released a volley of arrows at the downed dragon’s great
body. Althar folded what was left of his wings as tightly as
possible and rolled himself into a ball to protect himself. Their
arrows bounced off his scales and fell uselessly to the ground
beside him. Althar unfolded himself and stood proudly, blowing fire
over the new catapult crew who were desperately attempting to
retrieve and fire the weapon.

Kassina’s power was weakening and she knew
she had to conserve her magic. She returned her attention to
commanding the remainder of her army. Suddenly, the two dozen elven
guards surrounding the city burst from the furiously burning forest
and charged at the ranks of skeleton warriors before them.

“So, the elves have
finally
decided to
join the party?” laughed Kassina. “Don’t make me laugh. Archers,
ready and fire! Destroy this pitiful display of defiance.”

Two battalions of skeleton archers growled in
annoyance as they took their positions and sent clouds of arrows
screaming towards the elven guards. One of the elves raised a fist
in the air, and the other guards quickly took positions in a square
around him. They joined together by each placing a hand on the
shoulder of another as they combined their powers and cast a spell,
their eyes glowing with power.

“
Ex silva phasmam flaminis
evocamus.
”

A faceless wind spirit burst from the trees
and hovered above them before looking up to the sky at the arrows
speeding towards their position. It reeled back, let out an eerie
scream, and burst into the path of the arrows, taking leaves and
dust with it in the powerful winds it created. A few dragons were
sent barrelling in the sky, desperately trying to regain flight
after being knocked off course by the sheer power of the wind. The
arrows connected with the magic wall of wind and stopped in
mid-air.

“You
can’t
be serious,” exclaimed
Kassina, staring wide-eyed at the hovering arrows.

The guards pointed to the archers, and the
spirit breathed something in a language nobody could understand. It
flew back momentarily before turning to hurtle in the direction of
the archers. The skeletons screamed and scattered as the cloud of
arrows now smashed into their positions with furious force. Kassina
narrowed her eyes and crunched her fists as she turned to her
undead knights. Her anger was so great that her nails shredded the
skin on her palms.

“Go deal with these troublesome elves, now!
And do not fail me, or you may as well be dead already!” she
barked.

They grunted in response, drawing their
swords as they marched towards the waiting elven guards. A tremor
shook the ground, and Kassina watched as the remaining wall of
trees slowly parted.

At first, she could only see Andrielle’s
shining armour as she rode out onto the open battlefield. The trees
continued to part as the remainder of her accompaniment galloped
out to stand beside her. The elven guards quickly followed suit and
reassembled behind their queen.

The rumbling ground stopped momentarily.

“So the mysterious Elven Queen and her
following fools and commoners decide to come out of hiding?”
laughed Kassina darkly. She bared her fangs and screamed at the top
of her lungs. “Is that
really
the best you can do? You
dare
challenge a fully manned Dark Army, and the most
powerful sorceress of all the lands, with this pitiful display of
guards and a few of you on horseback? Are you really that stupid,
or did it take you many years of being queen to master that kind of
idiocy?”

Althar seized the opportunity to reach safety
and charged out into the open as fast as he could, weaving from
side to side in the Elven Queen’s direction in an attempt to avoid
enemy weaponry.

“What is this? Even the great dragons have
cowards among them? Take him out!” Kassina ordered with a
chuckle.

The remaining catapult detail shouted orders
to each other, took aim and released a burning missile into the air
in the dragon’s path.

“Look out!” screamed Helenia, standing in her
stirrups.

They could only watch as the missile bounced
off the ground and curved toward Andrielle. Althar twisted his body
to leap into the path of the missile and growled as his unshielded
stomach was savagely hit. With a loud groan of pain, he crashed
violently into the ground, head first. The force of the impact
frightened their horses, which complained at the large dragon’s
body sliding in their direction. Dirt and soil sprayed in their
direction from the impact of the powerful dragon. Althar’s body
slid to a grinding halt a few feet away from Helenia, who looked
him helplessly in the eyes and watched as his life left his damaged
body and his flesh went limp with his final breath.

Andrielle pulled hard on her reins, causing
her horse to rear up high on its hind legs and send a loud neigh
into the air. She raised her sword high and cast a spell.

“
Spatha mei galbine flagrat!
”

Her sword burst into green flames, which was
the signal they had been waiting for. With a loud cry of
“
Forward
!” escaping the forest, Andrielle’s army began their
march out from the darkness and protection of the trees. Kassina
watched as thousands of them came into her view, heavily armoured
and many armed to the teeth with weapons made from otherworldly
materials and colours. The front lines of Andrielle’s army ceased
marching, standing in a linear formation a few short paces behind
Andrielle.

“Dragons, take formation! The elven army has
arrived!” cried Karven.

The remaining dragons flew high into the air
and circled the army from above, regaining their strength as they
hid themselves in the darkness. Kassina turned her view to the
skies, where the battlefield was watched closely by the gods, but
also by the darkest and most deviant of eyes.

Suddenly Shindar's voice filled Kassina’s
mind.
Kassina, your time has come. The prophecy can finally
begin its fulfilment. The power we need to bring me back into this
world lies in the souls of those who stand before you. Kill them
all and we shall rule this world together in the time of the Blood
Red Moon. You have done well and have served me with strength – now
finish what you have started.

“To victory!” cried Andrielle and Helenia in
unison as they and their accompaniment marched forward, leading the
army into battle.

The force of their charge rattled Kassina’s
cart, and she leapt off it before turning to her Forces of
Darkness.

“Kill them all, and let there be no mercy!”
ordered the dark sorceress with glee, as they in their turn marched
to meet the elven forces in the middle of the battleground.