Minutes would have been a better word. Anyway, title says a lot about this chapter.
Chapter 2: Rampaging Trees
Besides the chopping and sawing noises reverberating through the forest, nothing made a noise. No birds sang, no branches cracked underneath the feet or hoofs of local animal life. And this change had happened almost overnight. It was as if the Orcish peons had scared all the animals away while they were cutting down more trees to build their settlement.
This was only an advantage to Talgrun. It meant that any sounds heard which did not come from the orcish workers were most likely from the elves. However, to most of the other orcish warriors it was unsettling. Now, even though orcish warriors were among the most fearless, the smallest sound made them nervous.
As Malkak had said their group was on guard. Some distance away Talgrun could see Malkak standing near a group of working peons. He seemed to use every chance he got to berate one of the peons for sloppy work, or to just insult them. While the Warchief of the Horde had promoted equal treatment for everyone, those decisions did not carry as much weight when he wasn't around however. And the chieftain of the Warsong clan, Gromm Hellscream didn't really try to maintain those decisions in the Warchief's absence, but it could be that the chieftain was just to busy with building settlements and such. Talgrun liked to think of it that way. And even if Malkak was being horrible toward the peons, Nielak was standing only a few paces away, ready to intervene if Malkak went to far.
In fact Malkak was going to far again. He had a peon on his knees before him and was shouting something unintelligible at him. He was already raising his hand in preparation to hit the peon in the face, when Nielak's hand came down on Malkak's shoulder. If Malkak was an inflated baloon, than Nielak's gentle touch was a needle. Almost instantly Malkak calmed down and turned away to watch the edge of the forest for any elves that might be lurking there. When Nielak was sure Malkak wasn't turning around to charge the peon, he extended a hand and helped the worker up.
"Will he ever learn?" Said the warrior just beside Talgrun, saying what Talgrun was thinking. He looked at the one who had said it. It was Garona, a female named after the to some famous and to others infamous stealth expert of the first war between humans and orcs. While this Garona relied a lot more on speed and being more agile than her male counterparts, she was nowhere as stealthy as the old Garona, nor did she really want to be. There were no laws or rules against female orcs as soldiers, there never had been, but it was just unusual. Even now with the Warchief promoting equal treatment, female warriors were still few, although more and more became warriors.
"He will probably never learn." Talgrun said in a even voice.
Confident that he didn't have to go over there to keep Malkak in check, Talgrun resumed his watch over the forest. To his surprise an owl was sitting on a branch directly in front of him. It looked at him intently, cocking it's head slightly to the side. The only times he had seen owls was during the night. And now that all other animals were gone, it seemed even more strange. It's head returned to a normal position and then turned to look across the clearing at the other orcs, almost as if it was scouting. Then it suddenly took to the air again.
Midday passed without anything happening. Talgrun was still guarding the same post when a warrior came striding towards him. "Senior Sergeant Talgrun! Can I have a word with you?" Senior Sergeant was Talgrun's rank.
Talgrun saw that the warrior coming up to him was a grunt, the normal rank and by far the most common, but Talgrun wasn't much for being so formal and thus didn't use ranks with soldiers of lower rank, only when talking to superiors he used the proper formalities. "of course you may speak. What is it that made you abandon your post?" Implying that someone had abandoned his post almost an insult. Abandoning your post was something you didn't do unless ordered to do so, or facing impossible odds, if you abandoned your post for any other reason it was dishonourable.
The grunt seemed unaffected by the insult, apparently having a good reason to abandon his post. "There was this owl. . . sitting on a branch. . . and it kept looking at me and the others." The grunt was speaking nervously, but was obviously trying to hide that nervousness. It was embarrassing to be nervous of such trivial things as an owl in the trees, unless there was more. An owl had been looking at Talgrun and the others around him as well.
"You let an owl scare you away?" It was a harsh insult to imply a warrior was scared of anything. It was clear on the other orcs face that he did take this one as an insult, but he couldn't speak up against a superior. Mostly anything implying a warrior was anything less than fearless and honourable was an insult.
While the orc was still clearly trying to keep his anger in check he said, "Just come take a look, I am sure you'll see what I mean."
Talgrun signalled for Garona to stay sharp and not let anything surprise her while he was away to take a look. On their way to the other orcs post they came across Nielak and Malkak. Talgrun momentarily stopped to tell them the same thing as he told Garona, he then moved on again.
The other orc's station was just on the other side of an outcropping of trees that seemed to extend from the forest like a grasping arm, trying to cleave the clearing in half. Another orc was there as well. They all worked in guard groups of two, so if there was anything to report, one could go to an officer while the other stayed behind. The orc who had stayed behind saluted as Talgrun came into view.
"The owl was sitting right of there. It was looking in that direction. Every now and then it would look around the clearing." The orc who had reported to him waved his arms around to indicate the field of view of the owl.
As Talgrun saw the field of view indicated by the orc and a thought developed in his mind. But for that to be true he needed more proof. He walked back some distance so he could see where the orc had said that the owl was sitting and where the owl he had seen himself had been sitting, several hundred feet away. He could see that the fields of view for both owls were totally different, giving view of different parts of the clearing where the workers were busy. There was only one thing missing, in between the two locations was a part neither of the owls could have seen.
If he was right about his thoughts, and he hoped he wasn't because it probably meant an attack was under way, then the only reason that he had found out was because this nervous orc had reported something that would normally have seemed trivial. He turned to the orc and said, "You did well to report it, now stay here with him," He pointed at the orc who had stayed behind, "And keep the area safe."
After having said that he abruptly turned and ran to the top of a low hill to get a good look of the situation. If those elves are using owls for scouting, than there should have another owl around there. He looked at a few young trees about in between the two locations where he had just been. Near those trees was a guard group which might have noticed the owl, but didn't find it necessary to report. It would be his best chance to proof his theory.
With long strides he walked towards the guard group. One of the two guards noticed him and saluted. Before the orc could begin any formal sentence relevant to Talgrun's rank, Talgrun asked, "Have you seen any owls in the trees around those trees?" Talgrun pointed toward the young trees.
Momentarily the young orc looked dumbfounded. He quickly regained his posture looked at the trees for a moment, then turned back to Talgrun and answered, "I didn't see any owls around those trees, only one in them." The orc replied with a smile.
As a reply Talgrun made a face indicating he really wasn't in the mood for humour at the moment. "Good, that was all I needed to know." He turned again and began looking for Krizslak. The two orcs both looked like they were questioning his sanity, but quickly returned to their duties.
It wasn't difficult to find Krizslak, he was standing on top of a hill, giving him view of the whole clearing where the workers were busy taking the branches of trees and using saws to cut them into straight pieces, which could be easier used in construction. Krizslak, as a shaman, didn't use the same armour as the warriors. In contrast to the warrior's thick spiked asymmetrical shoulder plating mixed with leather to cover the chest and legs, Krizslak wore the normal white furred shaman robes. Instead of an axe, which the warriors use, A pair of artificial claws protruded from a pair of white furred gloves. All in all it looked like Krizslak was wearing a white wolf's skin. On the back of his robes the Warsong clan's mark had been painted in purple, It was a menacing looking open mouth with a few sharp pointy teeth in it. Purple was the Warsong clan's favoured colour. The shoulder plating of the warriors was also painted in purple, so everybody would know to which clan a warrior belonged.
Krizslak eyes were hidden away behind a wolf's head, which served as a sort of helmet, Talgrun always wondered how much protection something like that would give. The lower jaw of the wolf's head had been removed so someone's head could fit underneath the head. In the place where the wolf's eyes used to be, red lights glowed. Talgrun thought those lights must be what anyone wearing such a mask sees with, for the light seemed to be berating him for leaving his post.
"I saw you walking around down there, going from post to post. Why didn't you stay at your own?" Krizslak asked in a stern voice.
Talgrun saluted and immediately began explaining, "We may have a problem." The red lights blinked on and of for a moment and then seemed to spur him to explain. "Owls were spotted in several trees along the edge of the forest."
"Owls. . . And this is a problem?"
"It might be since there were three, in three locations, each over seeing different parts of the clearing. Together they could see the whole clearing." When Talgrun got the feeling that Krizslak wasn't convinced, he added, "Owls are creatures of the night. And have you listened to the sounds other than the chopping noises?"
The words seemed to be going around in Krizslak, being analysed in all ways possible. Finally Krizslak's lips contracted in deep thought. All of this took place in a few scant seconds. "This might indeed be a problem. Tell the workers to stay away from the woods and only let them work on the trees already cut down. Pull the warriors back along with them, get them as far away from any potential arrows as possible without needing to slow down the work of the peons. I'll speak to the commanders." Krizslak saluted, slapping his fist against his chest, turned and ran towards a watchtower in the distance, where a commander would be, overseeing the work of several groups of peons and warriors.
Talgrun didn't feel the need to salute, since Krizslak had already turned away and was running away. Instead he ran straight back down towards the first group of guards and workers. He saw it was Nielak and Malkak. "We need to escort these workers away from the trees. There might be an imminent attack. Nielak you take these workers back as far as you can that direction," He pointed towards the hill, "and Malkak, you go in that direction and tell all the guards you come across to do the same, then come back here. Understood! Than I'll go in the other direction and tell those guards."
"What!" Malkak shouted. "Escort this lowlife scum! I say we stay and fight anything coming from those woods."
Before Talgrun could reply anything he noticed a dark smudge in the corner of his eye racing towards him. He turned to looked at it. This act saved his life, the arrow that was meant to pierce his temple now only grazed the side of his face. Apparently the elves figured out that they were found out.
Malkak immediately let out a fierce roar and raised his massive battleaxe, ready to do battle.
"MALKAK! Do as I told you, despite what you may think, there are not an infinite amount of workers to replace those that die here, or you of course want to do the work yourself. If anything, I am still your SUPERIOR! And I will stay your superior for the rest of your most likely short life if you continue like this!" Sometimes pulling rank was the only thing that worked with Malkak.
Another arrow shot forth from the bushes and hit a peon in stomach. The peons had been listening to the conversation and were already gathering their things. Nielak raced over the stricken peon and helped him up, then began shouting towards them to get a move on. Grudgingly Malkak turned and ran, to fulfil his orders.
Nielak looked at Talgrun for a moment and nodded that everything would be alright with his charges. Talgrun in turn nodded and then started towards the other guard groups. It didn't take long to get everyone away from the woods. They gathered on the hill to wait for orders from Krizslak. In the distance they could see other groups doing the same thing.
Besides Talgrun's grazing shot and the peon's stomach wound, they had lost two peons, both dead with arrows in their backs, and one warrior to a shot in the back of his head. All of them shot while retreating to the top of the hill. And by the looks of the hurt peon, they were going to be down one more soon. One of his fellow peon had pulled out the arrow, something that might have been a questionable act, since the arrow had acted as a sort plug to keep the blood in. Now the dark purple-red blood was flowing out of him freely. The same peon that had pulled the arrow had now ripped a piece of cloth from the sleeve of his working tunic and was pressing against the wound with force to keep the blood from pouring out.
Talgrun felt a slight numbness on the side of his face, as if the muscles and nerves were relaxing without his permission. He felt the area for a moment and was surprised that the skin in that location didn't feel anything. Maybe some sort of poison? He walked over to the bleeding peon. Besides the peon lay the bloody arrow. He picked it up, hoping to see some indication of what sort of poison it might be. He could see nothing odd about the arrow, except of course that it was drenched in blood.
Looking down at the peon he saw the effects of the poison when hit with more of it. The peon was barely moving, looked pale, he hadn't lost that much yet to become pale, his breathing was shallow and a tired look was present in his eyes. Perhaps it effects the muscles. His shoulder began feeling numb and the numbness crept further down his right arm. This might become a problem if we need to fight.
That fight was about to show itself. Not far from where they were waiting, a small crop of trees still stood as if to defy the orcish axes to cut them down. They weren't very tall, very young. They stood barely two times higher than the average orc, this was probably the reason why they hadn't been cut down, to small. Their branches began moving, making cracking noises, but not breaking. Then their trunks bended downward at an impossible angle. The trunks bend back up with a much higher speed than should be possible. As they reached the top of their up ward swing the roots suddenly burst out of the ground, throwing rocks and earth around.
The orcs just stood there, amazed by the spectacle before, while the trees formed a small line. They formed like soldiers before the orcs. They totalled seven. The orcs that had regained their senses were raising their weapons to fend of attacks, should the trees suddenly attack. By the time the trees did indeed began marching towards the still surprised orcs it had occurred to most of the orcs that this was some sort of trick from elves, so they had all raised their battleaxes and some were even shouting battle cries. Their cries however, seemed a bit less certain than usual.
In the distance Talgrun could see the same thing happening, trees getting out of the ground and then rushing towards the orcs. He refocused his attention on his own surroundings. "Fan out! We outnumber them! Don't let any of them past us! You," He pointed back towards the peons, "get you axes and make sure none survive if they get past us!"
The trees were not far away now, and they were increasing speed. One of the peons spoke up against the order. "We're not soldiers, we are only good for chopping trees, as you grunts remind us often enough of!"
This hit a sensitive spot with Malkak, who was close enough to overhear. He was about to turn around when his common sense told him to focus on the walking trees about attack him.
Talgrun wasn't in the mood for sarcasm, but he would not let this peon make his point. "Only good for chopping trees?" He looked back towards the trees coming for them, "I don't see any problem." He said dryly. He picked up a small axe used for cutting down trees and threw it towards the peon, who caught it in one hand and smiled at the returned sarcasm. Talgrun was pleased he didn't need to tell the other peons, for they were also picking up their axes.
As he turned back towards the real soldiers he saw there was only a distance of about twenty feet left between them and the trees. The argument between him and the peon had taken to much time. His surprise to find the trees so close to them already was quickly overcome by the need to do something. "Charge!" The extra momentum for the orc grunts would give their axes some more penetration when they hit the first time. Sure enough when the two parties met branches, and in one case and entire trunk, were cut right of. The trees attacked with their branches in powerful, but slow strikes. One grunt went flying when a thick branch hit him dead centre on the chest. The grunt wasn't dead, but had certainly had cracked a few ribs, he would be down for a while.
Nielak and Malkak, with their opposite natures, were surprisingly working together well. Together they cut of branches in rapid succession. When Malkak took a hit against the jaw and went to ground, Nielak quickly cut of the thick branch that was surely going to crush Malkak. They didn't take long to finish their foe of.
Elsewhere things didn't go so smoothly. One grunt got crushed beneath the full wait of the tree he had been fighting. That very tree then made a turn toward the peons, apparently thinking they would be an easier target. Talgrun saw it's intentions quickly enough, and with no opponents of his own he rushed over and intercepted it. He swung his axe in a downward arc and hit the tree diagonally on the trunk, cutting deep. The only thing preventing a complete bisection was that the numbness in his shoulder was getting worse. He tried to pull the axe out, but his shoulder wouldn't allow it. The tree, realizing it had a new dangerous opponent, focused it's attention on Talgrun as if it felt no pain from the near bisection. A thick branch swung against Talgrun's midsection, flinging him away. Besides the pain in his midsection he found that he had been holding on to the axe while being hit by the branch, the axe had been pulled free. He quickly got back up and cut at the tree from the opposite side of the existing cut. The axe came down and cut diagonally towards where the old cut had ended, making a sort of V. The tree flayed about, trying to stay upright. The peons quickly sprung into action and began hacking at it with their smaller axes. Beneath their combined onslaught the creature quickly fell.
Talgrun surveyed the area for more targets. Already six of the seven trees lay dead. Three orcs lay dead as well, while two were severely injured. The one with the cracked ribs had managed to get up, but was holding his chest as if it could burst open and drop small pieces of broken bones on the ground. At least he would be able to walk. The other injured one had a pulverised femur, apparently a tree decided to land on the orc's leg with it's full weight.
The rest of the grunts had the last tree surrounded. It tried to break out more than once, but each time more branches were cut of and it was pushed back into the middle of the circle. Before any fatal blow could be dealt to it, it a greenish explosion sending parts of it flying in all directions. Talgrun had seen such explosions before, they were but one spell of a powerful shaman. He looked around for the source and saw Krizslak standing not so far away. Krizslak began walking towards Talgrun.
Before Krizslak said anything, Talgrun looked around. In the distance other groups were still fighting of the trees, especially those that had more to fight to begin with. Other groups were retreating before an obviously more powerful force, leaving behind many dead and wounded. It seems they had it easy here.
Talgrun could see Krizslak's eyes flaring up when he spoke, "You've done well here, but we're retreating back to the watchtower, we will have some trolls there with spears and throwing axes ready. We're expecting more to happen, today." That last word surprised Talgrun a bit, but it was made clear when he looked at the sky. It was quickly getting darker, in the distance the sky was turning crimson red. The day would soon come to an end.
Talgrun nodded his agreement with retreating back to the watchtower and then turned towards the remaining orcs of his group. "Alright then, we are retreating ba-- damn" The numbness in his face was affecting his jaw muscles as well. "we are retreating back to the watchtower, to fend of any attackers there." He made sure he didn't trip over anymore words this time. He could already see Malkak's face turn sour at the prospect of retreating. "Oh, and Malkak, I am sure you'll see that we are making our defensive line there because we want to make it an effective defence, with as many casualties as possible on their side and the least possible on ours." Malkak's face turned even sourer because he didn't get the chance to say what he wanted to say.
The grunts quickly followed the order and headed towards the watchtower in the distance. Krizslak stepped closer to Talgrun and the red lights dimmed a bit as if Krizslak's eyes were narrowing to look at Talgrun more closely. "What was that? You faltered in your words, I never saw that before from you."
Talgrun looked briefly at the now completely limp peon being dragged along with the rest. "I got a grazing hit by an arrow." He pointed at the small cut on his cheek. "I think they poisoned the arrows."
"Well I might be able to help wi--, Uhm, I can't help with that right now." Krizslak pointed beyond Talgrun.
Talgrun turned and saw what Krizslak meant. Many walking trees stepped from the forest and began their trek towards them. A lot of bigger ones were among them as well, ranging up to four times the size of an orc. Without words, both turned simultaneously towards the watchtower and sped towards it. The continuous retreating didn't sit well with any of the orcs, retreating spoke of cowardice. But staying and fighting against much larger forces and dieing because of such foolishness was something of the old Horde, when the demonic corruption still burned fiercely in the orc's veins. Now, common sense usually won of the bloodlust. Although there were exceptions like Malkak.
When they arrived they could see that two catapults had been moved to the watchtower, to provide artillery. The moment the first tree came over the hill the catapults fired. The massive rocks took a few seconds to reach their destination, then came down, exploded and sent many pieces of various things flying. A sort of rumble-like scream reverberated across the clearing as if all the trees let out battle cries. At the same time the low pitched sound of bullhorns came from all directions.
The horns signalled for the elves to attack as well. Now between the trees rode the purple elves on some kind of enormous cats. They swung their curved blades in the air and let out battle cries of their own. Now, with the enemy coming at them with numbers in the hundreds, Talgrun forced the numbness away. From now on the battle was beginning in earnest.
Night Elven society was a strange one. At least it was to anyone not of that society. Almost all activities occurred during the night. Night elves preferred the light of the moon to that of the sun. After all, the moon represented their goddess, Elune. And now that the whole camp was being wakened at broad daylight, everybody was a bit out of their element. They were all sleepy and sour of mood. Xani and Chereesa were especially sleepy, having been awake for two days and only having slept a very short while before being wakened now.
When an officer with a bullhorn stepped into the barracks and blew it as hard as he could, All of them almost jumped right of bed and lined up, most wearing only their undergarments, others wearing nothing. They were, however to sleepy and focused on the officer at the same time to notice any attractive parts of each other.
The officer put his arms behind his back and shouted as loud as possible, "Everybody report to the square fully equipped as fast as possible!" He immediately turned around and stepped out again without any more words. The men and women almost simultaneously turned and ran to clothes lying besides their beds. Especially those that didn't have anything on to begin with hurried to their cloths. Xani wasn't in such a hurry to get her clothes, since she was already wearing them. When Xani and Chereesa had come back to the camp, and after Xani had talked to Kaylin, they had both immediately been put on guard. After that had ended Xani had just removed her armour, but hadn't bothered with her clothes. She had just walked up to her bed and let herself drop right on it, falling asleep almost instantly. Chereesa had been even worse, not even taking of her armour.
All archers wore the same leather armour, it gave as mush protection as possible while being as light as possible. All of them also wore a cape, used for camouflage and warmth should the need arise. The all had almost identical bows. A lot of the archers however sketched words or icons in the side of their bows to personalize them. Xani wore mostly the same thing as the archers, except that she wore a slightly lighter tinted cape with white edges and a crown decorated he green haired head to indicate she was a priestess. All of them used the same swords for close encounters, a straight short sword. Most of them however weren't as adept with the sword as with their bows.
A captain walked into the barracks and began lining up those that had already put on all their equipment. When all of them stood in a line, it looked as if someone had duplicated a single Night Elf forty times. Except the difference between men and women, the men being much wider at the shoulders and having a more angular face. The captain marched them out of the building and led them towards the main square where already another captain was placing his charges in four lines, each ten long, then standing in front of them.
All groups of forty were placed so they all looked at a wooden platform, which had been build overnight. In total, there were two hundred of them. Plus the command staff of Kaylin, including the captains of the various groups of forty and her second in command: sub-commander Julios, who had been so kind in waking them up. There were 117 archers, 78 hunters/huntresses and 5 priests, including Xani.
Hunters rode their fierce sabres with enough skill to simultaneously let the sabre attack with claws and attack themselves, which was not easy to do considering you need to hold on tight with one arm and strike the enemy with the other. Instead of swords or bows the hunters used glaives that looked a lot like three curved blades attached to the others at equal angles. They were even capable of throwing them. Hunters were the first line in battle, and as such wore heavier armour to protect them. Metal plates covered nearly every inch of their bodies. The sabres themselves had metal armour as well, covering their heads and legs. But right now, all sabres were at the stables, leaving their riders at the square.
It was very rare that all of them were called to the square at the same time for an announcement. In fact, the only time it happened before was when they had arrived at the camp. It was clear on everybody's faces that all of them expected something big. It was merely unsettling to Xani, she didn't like it when there were a lot of people gathered and she was right in the middle of it. Another reason why she sometimes sought solitude to practice her hobby.
Kaylin was a shorter than average Night Elf. But now that she stood on the wooden platform, she seemed to tower above them. Kaylin herself was wearing the same type of armour like the hunters, but hers was more ornate. In contrast the dark coloured standard of the hunters, the edges of her armour was silvered. It all had grey tint to it. Except her long cape, it was a deep black with a silver sword stitched on it. At any rate, there was no doubting she was the leader.
Kaylin began speaking in a even, calm voice. Loud enough to reach all of those present, but soft enough to not have shout at the top of her lungs. "I have just received a message. In short it reads: Our forces in southern Ashenvale have attacked the enemy, who have been desecrating our beloved forest. However they are encountering stronger resistance than expected, even the help of our powerful ally Cenarius can't push these invaders out of our forest. Therefore, reinforcements are requested, that's us." Mutters erupted amongst the gathered crowd. Kaylin let them mutter for a while before she broke it up with more information. "By midday a caravan will arrive here. With it will already be seven more regiments like ours. We will join them and then pick two more regiments. We will then proceed to the battle, and will arrive there in a matter of days." Kaylin looked a lot more alive, younger, now that she had the prospect of a battle.
Indeed it went as Kaylin has said. By midday the caravan arrived. Supplies were loaded onto some of the caravan wagons. While the supplies were being loaded, Xani and Chereesa found time to take a look outside the camp, to see the rest of the troops. They climbed a tree, which gave them a view of the assembled troops. 1400 regular troops were gathered, plus another 50 officers. The commanders and sub-commanders of all the regiments had gathered just outside the city entrance, probably to discus the shortest route to the battle.
Chereesa was looking in awe at the mass of soldiers, all fully equipped. Some rode around on their sabres, but most just sat in groups, talking and laughing. "I have never seen so many soldiers gathered, never seen so many people for that matter. . . Gathered."
"I have. . ." Xani said, thinking back to when she was much younger.
"No you haven't. You're not old enough to have seen so many people gathered."
"The start of priestly training, before they divide the potential priests into groups they gather them all in the capitol where the high priestess gives a speech about the nobility of being a priest." When she saw Chereesa looking sceptical. "Alright, maybe not as many as are gathered here, but make no mistake, a lot of people aspire to be priests. Okay maybe not as many as are gathered here. . . But a lot nonetheless." So many people and I already feel uncomfortable by just thinking of having to be down there.
Her unease showed on her face. Chereesa had known a long time that Xani didn't feel comfortable amongst large crowds, even thinking of crowds could make Xani nervous. "After one day among them you will feel better, you'll see they are to busy thinking about the battle ahead of them then to pay you any heed." In almost all ways, Xani was the complete opposite of Kaylin, she also contrasted pretty strongly from Xani, but not in all ways.
"I know, I know, but there is something else."
"Is it the battle?"
"I can deal with the battle, I have been trained with the bow. I grew up with a bow in my baby hand, just like you and everybody else. I think I know what they felt. What you call 'at least something unpleasant'. Now that it is so close I feel something in the air, and it certainly isn't pleasant."
That made Chereesa think. She too her time doing so. After having contemplated carefully she said, "I wonder who or what the enemy is. Kaylin didn't bother to tell."
"If she doesn't bother to tell, we will probably know the enemy when we see them, it, whatever the enemy is. The first sign would probably be the fact that they try to kill us."
"Probably. . ."
A figure breaking away from the command group caught their attention. The silvery colourations immediately indicated her to be Kaylin. She was walking back into the camp. She stopped right under the tree Xani and Chereesa were silently sitting in. Her head tilted backwards, slowly turning towards Xani and Chereesa. "Xani! Are you sitting in a tree again! There is nothing wrong with that now. I am gathering the regiment one last time on the square before we move out with the rest." Without further words she continued on her path, to do exactly as she said she was going to do.
Mere minutes later the entire regiment stood ready again. Kaylin began peaking again in the same voice she had used before. "The supplies are loaded onto the carts, the equipment is loaded onto the carts, we are ready to move out!" Nobody moved a muscle before she actually gave the order. Kaylin smiled for one of the few times in her life. "SilverBlades, MOVE OUT!"
(A/N) And was the second chapter. I already have the third one ready, but it is so absolutely massive and I haven't even attempted to spell check it yet. Yes, I spell check it, so if you see any returning mistakes, please say so. EDIT Hmmpf, just checked. The trick to substitute the lines doesn't seem to be working properly.