Vegenrage: Dragon Reclaim (24 page)

CHAPTER 18
The Ilkergire Minions Assault Erkensharie

The morning is coming in Erkensharie, and the tensions are high. No one knows what to expect, but anxious eyes are watching throughout Erkensharie. Gannream and Gairdennow descend on Erkensharie as the sun is rising, and they have five of the smaller dragons with them. The plan is for the smaller dragons to search through the forest for the flesh of the elves, while Gannream and Gairdennow are going to seek out the magic-using elves, but for now, they wait at the forest edge.

The beasts of the Ilkergire are already making their way through the Erkensharie Forest, and the elves may have to respond. This is hopefully drawing the elves out, and the smaller dragons are anxious to go in and feast, but Gairdennow and Gannream hold them up for now. All the minions of the Ilkergire are coming from the south. The Zillwerns fly up due south. They can fly, so the Vinegrowers have no effect on them; however, the Treestriders are devastating to them. The smallest and youngest of the Treestriders pelt the Zillwerns to death with the little horns on their heads. The Zillwerns actually feast on the tasty little half-wooden insects, but they are swarmed, and more than half of the Zillwern numbers are gone as they fly deeper into the forest to face the midsize Treestriders. The Zillwerns do spit a lot of acid and start fires all around the forest, but the Treestriders avoid this for the most part. The young adults feast, flying through the air, chasing and catching the Zillwerns. They catch them in their barbed arms and head to limbs of trees where they devour the Zillwerns. The Zillwerns’s only offensive weapons are their beaks, and they are no match for the Treestriders. The Treestriders catch them from the back, and the acid of the Zillwerns is useless against the Treestriders. The Treestriders are faster, have better natural weaponry, and easily eat most of the Zillwerns that have survived the younger Treestriders. Some Zillwerns advance deeper into the forest, and here, they can avoid the adult Treestriders, but the few in number that they are will prove to be nothing more than a small nuisance to any elves they encounter.

The Tronglebire have made their way north as well. They are also attacked by swarms of young Treestriders, but the Tronglebire breathe fire, incinerating lots of them. The Tronglebire can leap from tree to tree but move mostly on the ground, so they are under attack from the Vinegrowers as well. The Vinegrowers wrap them up and start to constrict them, but the Tronglebire spew their acid and ignite it with the fire they breathe. It is a slow march north, but the Tronglebire have good offense in the form of fire that allows them to kill many of the Treestriders and Vinegrowers.

The bog wolves have moved up from the deep south of Ilkergire and follow close behind the Tronglebire. They have thick fur coats that give them good protection from the young Treestriders that find it hard to penetrate their fur coats. For the most part, the young Treestrider’s horns are not big enough to really hurt the wolves. They do get some good stings in, but they mostly get caught in the hairy fur of the wolves and are carried along as the wolves move north through the forest. When the Tronglebire and the wolves meet the midsize Treestriders now, they face a more serious danger. The Tronglebire are able to kill them with the fire they breathe, but a lot of the Treestriders make aerial assaults through the trees and land on the backs of the Tronglebire where they can bite with their powerful and deadly jaws. The wolves are easily scooped up in the barbed hinged legs of the Treestriders and are flown up to high branches where the Treestriders can maneuver them and make lethal bites and then consume the wolves. The wolves are active, full of energy, and do not go without a fight, and some of them do get the best of the Treestriders but end up falling to their deaths or being maimed from very high falls. The Tronglebire and wolves fight hard and leave a trail of blazing forest behind them. The Tronglebire suffer a lot of deaths, but they are able to scoop a lot of midsize Treestriders into their deadly mouths, and they are consumed. They are now only maybe two hundred strong and make it to the third and final wave of the Treestriders. The Vinegrowers steadily catch Tronglebire and wolves as they advance and slowly constrict them to death, constantly knocking their numbers down, and now the adult Treestriders attack. When the adult Treestriders hunt the large herbivores of the Erkensharie Forest, they usually just fall on their prey, impaling them with their sharp harpoon-like legs. They are an ambush predator, and they still are, but they use a very different tactic with the advancing minions of the Ilkergire. They still wait silently high in the trees, but as they hear the approaching danger, they move lower in the trees to get a better view of what it is. As the Tronglebire come into range, the adult Treestriders launch a harpoon from one of their arms, impaling the Tronglebire or wolf, and swing it into the large trees around, knocking them senseless. This helps prevent the Tronglebire from breathing fire, and the wolves really have no defense. The adult Treestriders are too big, too strong, and make quick meals out of the caught prey. The Tronglebire and the wolves fight with all they have, but they are finally overwhelmed by the time they make it to the adult Treestriders. They have actually fought their way a hundred miles into the forest well into the light of day but fall short of ever seeing any elves. They do manage to kill a lot of young and midsize Treestriders but are really no match for the defenses of Erkensharie Forest.

The orcs have moved up from south of the Zillwern nest and enter the Ugorian Forest where the Zillwerns did. They move on the ground and are quickly attacked by the young Treestriders and Vinegrowers. Orcs are very large heavy humanoid creatures. They are very strong and mostly immune to pain. The young Treestriders swarm them and cause many stinging attacks, but the orcs treat them like mosquitoes, killing lots of them with each swat from their large hands, and pay more attention to the Vinegrowers that wrap them up and try to constrict them. The orcs are very strong and wield heavy wooden clubs. They are strong enough to pull the Vinegrowers from the trees or to pull the roots from the ground. If that does not work, they club the Vinegrowers, crushing them. Some of the orcs do fall prey to the Vinegrowers and are crushed to death, but a lot of them manage to escape the Vinegrowers and young Treestriders, making it to the second wave of midsize Treestriders. The orcs fare surprisingly well against the midsize Treestriders. The Treestriders attack with their barbed hinged legs, but the orcs, being very strong and fearless, grab the Treestriders by the neck, by the wings, and by the legs, whatever they can grab, and they are strong enough to pull the Treestriders to the ground where they club them to death. They crush the bodies of the Treestriders. They crack their skulls and rip off the wings and legs. The orcs pay no attention to the painful barbed legs that stab them and retaliate by clubbing the Treestriders to death. The Vinegrowers manage to get some of the orcs off guard and constrict them to death, but many of the orcs make it to the adult Treestriders, and this takes them half the day to reach them. Again, the orcs prove to be a very worthy adversary. The adult Treestriders lie in ambush mode like they always do, and when the orcs come into view, they launch a harpoon into them and try swinging them into trees. Orcs are very heavy, but the Treestriders are strong enough to swing them into trees, and this tact works on some of them, knocking them out cold or disorienting them enough so the Treestriders can raise them and make lethal bites to them. A lot of the orcs caught by the harpoons latch onto the trees they are swung into and are strong enough to pull the Treestriders from their high perches, and then violent battles ensue. The orcs start clubbing the Treestriders senseless, cracking their skulls and breaking their legs and arms. Once on the ground, the Treestriders are at a great disadvantage. They have very limited mobility, and the orcs quickly swarm them and club them to death. The Vinegrowers are still a threat to the orcs and catch many of them off guard. The orcs ultimately are all killed before they reach any elves, but they have killed many of the adult Treestriders. They, along with the Zillwerns and Tronglebire, have killed a lot of the midsize Treestriders as well. This is a large forest, and most of the day has gone, but this section of the Erkensharie Forest has suffered greatly, and there are many more Vinegrowers and Treestriders in battle to the west.

The ogres have made their way up from the far southwest of Ilkergire and enter the Erkensharie Forest from about seventy miles west of where the Tronglebire entered. The hobgoblins enter about twenty miles west of the ogres, and the Crainatours fly over the forest. The Meglasterns are entering the forest from the western side. The Vinegrowers and Treestriders are everywhere in the forest and begin to assault the intruders. Ogres and hobgoblins are big and heavy and rip a lot of the Vinegrowers from their roots, but some of them are crushed to death. The young Treestriders have little effect, and the midsize Treestriders suffer heavy losses. Treestriders gather in numbers from those in the surrounding forest, and the Treestriders to the east have been occupied by the Zillwerns, Tronglebire, orcs, and wolves. Again, the ogres and hobgoblins serve a severe blow to the midsize Treestriders and kill many of them while suffering some losses from the Vinegrowers and Treestriders. The adult Treestriders kill many, but they also suffer greatly. The hobgoblins and ogres do pass the Treestriders but still contend with the Vinegrowers that knock down their numbers here and there.

The Crainatours fly above the forest and are attacked by the midsize Treestriders. The Treestriders fly up and catch the Crainatours flying back to the branches of the trees to devour them. The problem is the Treestriders are not large enough in numbers, and most of the Crainatours fly past untouched. The Crainatours fly right into the path of the deadly Terrahawks where they are completely outmatched. The Tarrahawks are yet another guardian of the Erkensharie Forest.

The Erken trees of the Erkensharie Forest provide the perfect nesting habitat needed by these magnificent hawks. These hawks are about 140 pounds and make large nests that take up all the branches of a tree that they nest in. The Terrahawks have lifelong mates and sit atop the Erkensharie world with watchful eyes. The only time there are more than two Terrahawks in the nest is when they are raising their young. The Terrahawks have no natural predators except for the dragons. They weave wonderful nests throughout the top of the Erken tree. They masterfully weave their nests to allow enough of the branches and leaves to get the sunlight they need to grow strong and healthy. To fly above the Erkensharie Forest and see all the nests scattered all around is a majestic sight that very few ever see. These hawks have very powerful talons that are sharp and crushing. Their beaks are deadly tools that they use to surgically take their prey apart with and devour them. The Crainatours are no match for the Terrahawks and are quickly knocked from the sky or caught to be feasted on. This is a rare feast for the Terrahawks, and they eat every last Crainatour.

The Meglasterns enter Erkensharie from the southwestern edge where the Long Forest and the Erkensharie Forest are fairly close. They stampede right into the forest, and the young Treestriders have no effect on the thick hides of the Meglasterns. The Vinegrowers are not fast enough to keep up with the Meglasterns, and they run right past them before they can get a hold of them. The midsize Treestriders are just not big enough to contend with the Meglasterns. They fly down and stick their barbed legs into the Meglasterns, but the Meglasterns are surprisingly agile and swing their heads to the side and knock the Treestriders off them, then they gore the Treestriders with their very large double-pronged horns. This leaves devastating holes in the Treestriders, and they fall to the ground to be killed quickly by the crushing hooves of the stampeding Meglastrens or to die slowly on the ground from their injuries. Some of the Treestriders get stuck on the horns of the Meglasterns and are smacked into trees, breaking their bodies and leaving a trail of dismembered Treestriders. When the Meglasterns reach the adult Treestriders, they are pursued and get harpoons stuck in them from the arms of the adult Treestriders. The Treestriders are bigger than the Meglasterns, but the Meglasterns are heavier and running. They drag the Treestriders along, and the Treestriders use this momentum to pull themselves right into the Meglasterns using their legs to impale the Meglasterns. This causes great injuries, some fatal, to the Meglasterns, but there are great battles between these fairly matched species. The Treestriders swing through the trees and launch a harpoon into the Meglasterns, pulling themselves down, and drive their legs into the back of the Meglastrens. The Meglasterns swing their heads powerfully, crashing their horns into the Treestriders. They slam the sides of their bodies into trees and do all they can to smash and crush the Treestriders. Once the Treestriders have impaled the Meglasterns, they start to take out large chunks of flesh with their crushing jaws and sharp teeth. The Meglasterns actually work together, goring Treestriders stuck in the backs of their own kind. They gore them and swing them into trees violently, breaking their bodies, and many die this way. They swing their horns, knocking Treestriders off other Meglasterns, and trample them to death. The Treestriders bite, rip, and eat flesh from the backs of the Meglasterns, and this is a bloody and brutal confrontation, as both sides deal death to the other. The attacking Treestriders slow down the forward march of the Meglasterns, and now the Vinegrowers are able to ensnare them and cause crushing deaths to the wounded and those that are overwhelmed by the Treestriders. The Meglasterns devastate the adult Treestrider numbers, but ultimately, they do not reach any elves.

The march north of the Ilkergire minions has taken all day. There has been no seen presence from the dragons. Ubwickesdon and Interford have made no contact. The beasts of the Ilkergire have suffered greatly today. The strong and healthy fighting males of all the different species have been eliminated on this day. Fortunately, there are no opposing forces to the Ilkergire, or they would be easily dominated at this point. The species here can rebound from this disaster, but the bogs and swamps of Ilkergire have lost nearly 60 percent of the strong of all the predatory species here.