Chapter 2: The Heroes Do Battle
Ashram and his men moved out of the Valisian fortress early in the morning. They had not yet received word about the position of Valis' advanced force, but Ashram was intent on keeping their mission on schedule. Beld's forces were no doubt well on their way to the rendezvous point in the cliffs.
Ashram rode at the front of the army as it crawled along a path that was beaten out of the forest. Following closely behind him was Pirotess, who he wasn't acknowledging. Despite his apparent indifference towards her, she stayed ever so close to his side. There was a dense fog hanging in the morning air. It slowed their progress and would no doubt be a factor in the impending battle.
'All the better.' Ashram thought to himself confidently. 'This will make it easier for us to maneuver undetected.' Since the Valisian Army didn't employ the services of elves, who possessed a much sharper degree of visional acuity than humans, the shady weather gave the Marmo forces a distinct advantage. The dark elves possessed the same natural gifts as other elves.
As they continued down the forest path, Ashram spotted a small silhouette on the horizon, coming down the trail towards them. The silhouette seemed to be in a hurry, rapidly growing larger as it approached. As the figure came within a fifty yards, Ashram could see it was a Marmo scout, riding as fast as he could. Ashram held up his hand, signaling his troops to stop. The entire column gradually came to a halt, section by section. The rider slowed as he approached, dismounted, and knelt before Ashram.
'Good, this news must be urgent.' Ashram thought as he looked down upon the scout. "Well…?" He asked impatiently.
Breathing hard from the ride, the scout began to speak. "Lord Ashram..." He stammered out. He was still trying to catch his breath. "We've spotted Kashue and his army... he's moving this way... only a few miles north from the ambush site!" The scout pointed excitedly.
"Good." Ashram smirked. "Report to the dark elves and tell them to be prepared for Kashue's arrival." He commanded. "Tell them to stay alert and watch out for enemy scouts, there's bound to be a couple lurking about. Kashue wouldn't be foolish enough to go into battle blind. My forces will move into position above them on the cliffs as planned. Be sure to remind the elves to wait for my signal before unleashing their attack." The rider nodded and remounted. Soon he was out of sight. Ashram signaled his men to move forward again. "Double quick! We have to be ready to strike before the Valisian Army arrives!" Ashram waved his hand forward.
'Very soon now.' Ashram thought firmly.
Two hours later, Ashram and his army had reached their destination in the cliffs, and had started to form-up into battle positions. As his men continued getting into formation, Ashram looked down upon the flat valley below.
At first, there was nothing to see but the fog. However, after some time had passed, Ashram could see someone in the distance coming towards their position. The figure was very hard to see, it was little more than a dot really. One couldn't be sure if it was a man or just an animal wandering around down there. The mist was still thick in the valley and clouds filled the sky, completely blocking out the sun.
'The conditions are perfect.' Ashram thought as he scanned the forest for the signal that indicated the dark elves were in place and ready. 'If the monsters are in place along the edges of the forest surrounding the valley, then all we need is Kashue to step into the trap.' It was difficult to see through the dense fog. Ashram could barely make out the outline of the trees at the base of the cliffs.
"Lord Ashram, I can see something in the trees." Pirotess announced. Her keen elfin eyes served her well, giving her a notable advantage in the search.
"What is it you see elf?" One of Ashram's officers replied.
"It appears to be a candle or a torch being waved in the forest." She answered.
"Good." Ashram spared a glance towards her. "That's exactly what we are watching for. That's the dark elves' signal, letting us know that they are ready. Now all we need to do is be patient and wait..." Ashram looked back down to the valley below. Now he could see several small figures coming into the valley, slowly spreading out. "… and it won't be very long now from the looks of it."
As Ashram had assumed, the small figures entering the valley had indeed been Valisian scouts. The dark elves had no problem cutting each one down from their horses quietly with throwing knifes. When it was over, and all the scouts were down, Ashram could see the dark elves encircling one of their corpses, putting what he guessed was some type of enchantment on it.
There was a red flicker of light, for just a moment, and then the corpse rose up under its own power. Very slowly, it turned around and started to sluggishly walk back in the direction the scouts had come from in the first place.
"What are they doing?" Ashram directed his question to Pirotess.
"They have performed a Puppet Master spell on that body. It is now theirs to command." Pirotess answered him promptly.
"So they are pulling his strings?" Ashram asked.
"Yes." Pirotess confirmed.
During the conversation, Ashram's ears picked up a faint noise coming from the distance. It was a muffled rumbling that was growing louder.
"Ashram, I..." Pirotess started to speak.
"I know." He interrupted her. "I can hear it too." He turned and looked back to one of his officers. "Prepare to give the signal." An archer stepped forward out of the Marmo ranks and pulled out a single, extra long arrow. The arrow had an oil soaked rag on the tip. "Don't light it until I tell you to do so." Ashram warned, he wanted to make his intension clear. Lighting too early could give away their position and spoil the trap. The timing had to be perfect.
When he was certain his order was clear and understood, Ashram looked down again into the valley. The fog had started to thin and Ashram could see a large number of men moving into the valley. The puppet scout was headed right towards them. 'The dark elves have done well, that thing can distract them just long enough for us to give the signal unnoticed.' Ashram thought. 'I will have to see to it that they are properly rewarded after the battle.' He turned to the archer behind him. "Light it now." The archer lit the rag, strung back the bow and awaited his order. Ashram paused until the archer was ready. "Loose!" He barked.
The arrow shot up into the murky morning sky, and then plummeted back down towards the trees. Just after the arrow struck the ground, Ashram could see the monsters pouring out of the underbrush like an evil black flood. The lightly armored beasts made little noise as they rushed towards the Valisian column in the mist.
Meanwhile, the puppet soldier had walked past the head of the Valisian column unhindered. It paused for an instant, turned around, and lunged at a tall rider, whom Ashram assumed was King Kashue. Ashram couldn't be positive who it was through the fog, but it did seem that the rider was the one leading the Valisian forces, and therefore, had to be Kashue.
It was no matter though. Whoever it was, Kashue or otherwise, easily struck down the assassin. However, by that time the monsters were almost on top of them. Because they were so distracted by the zombie's bizarre attack, many of the Valisian foot soldiers were taken completely by surprise. A good many of them only heard something approaching in time to turn and see the first wave of monsters pouring into them. The monsters overwhelmed the first couple ranks of the foot soldiers they met.
Their leader, who Ashram still assumed was Kashue, did all he could to encourage his men to fight back and counter attack. But his horse was struck down by a huge ogre, causing him to fall from the saddle. The attack wasn't enough to finish the man though; he valiantly fought back to his feet and killed the ogre. He fought on, killing several more beasts. Whoever he was, he was a skilled warrior. He did his best to rally his troops, but the Valisians were nearly surrounded and being slaughtered all around him. It seemed hopeless.
The unknown Knight leading the Valisian force was about to be stabbed in the back by a dark elf that had managed to sneak up behind him. But at the last possible second, the dark elf was struck in mid-air by a spear, piecing him through the chest from behind. The elf's impaled body fell back to the ground, kicking up dust upon impact just behind the tall knight.
Ashram looked up to see another knight on the back of a small white dragon, hovering over the knight on the ground. Ashram could just barely hear the dragon mounted knight shout to the man on the ground before swooping down and attacking more of the monster shock troops. Ashram distinctly heard the name Kashue amide the shouting.
'So it is Kashue.' Ashram thought enthusiastically. More dragon riding knights swooped down from the clouds and joined the battle. 'Damn, I wasn't expecting this.' Ashram thought. 'But it won't make any difference in the end. This just means less of the monsters will survive the battle.' That fact didn't bother him too much.
He watched with pleasure as orcs and goblins were hit by spears thrown from the sky, or being plucked from the ground by dragons' talons and then dropped back down again.
The monsters were almost completely helpless against the Dragon-Riders attacks. Every now and then one would get lucky and manage to spear a dragon as it swooped down at them. Ashram watched as one was struck in the wing, thrown out of control. It crashed into the melee below, crushing both Valisian troops and monsters as it landed. At one point, one of dragons got too close to Ashram's army in the cliffs, and spotted them.
"Take that beast down, NOW!" Ashram shouted to his archers urgently. If they were discovered, the entire plan would fall apart. Arrows flew up in a flash and struck both beast and rider repeatedly, ensuring they would tell no tales. They fell to the forest below snapping tree branches and hitting the ground with a tremendous thud.
This chain of events had gone completely unnoticed by the enemy below, who were too enthralled by the battle. The archers prepared a second volley, should another dragon rider should stray too close to them.
"Lord Ashram!" One of Ashram's officers yelled enthusiastically. "The scouts report that King Fahn's army has been sighted nearby! And they're coming this way!"
"What should we do? If we allow them to join up, they will be an even bigger threat!" Another soldier added. Most of Ashram's men were still ignorant to their master plan, so he decided to let them in on it.
"The plan is to drive our prey into the hunting ground." Ashram said as the wind flowed through his hair and lifted his cape. He figured his men would understand his meaning. He stared down at the ongoing battle from the cliffs. 'My Lord, the prey is almost in the trap.' Ashram thought confidently.
A couple minutes later, Fahn's army charged into the valley, rescuing Kashue and what remained of his crippled division. They had done so not a moment too soon; the number of men under Kashue's command was dwindling fast. Most of them were poorly trained and lightly armored foot soldiers that had very little battlefield experience. The monsters had inflicted a great deal of damage, despite the Dragon Riders' harassment.
With the arrival of Fahn's men, the tide of battle swiftly turned with the fresher and heavily armored Holy Knight's on horseback smashing into the unprepared monster's ranks. As Ashram had anticipated, the monsters were quickly being overwhelmed and wouldn't last much longer. But they had already served their purpose, so it was no matter.
The Dragon Riders disengaged from battle and departed back to their base at the Valisian capital. With the arrival of Fahn's men, they were not so desperately needed and the dragons could only sustain such intense fighting with a heavily armored rider for so long before they became exhausted. If they didn't withdraw soon, they wouldn't be able to make it back to Roid, Valis' capital.
The monsters fought hard and the battle raged for several more intense minutes. In the end, the Holy Knights were all grouped into one mass in the center of the valley. Only a few monsters remained alive, scattered around them. Ashram smiled, Fahn must have thought he had claimed the field in victory. But he, and his entire army, were completely unaware that they were being boxed in from both sides at that very moment.
The day progressed into the afternoon and the fog lifted, revealing the battlefield in its entirety. Hundreds of bodies of both monsters and men were scattered about the valley. The bodies were more concentrated in the center, where they were almost piling up.
"Prepare to attack!" Ashram ordered while dismounting his horse and walking over to the edge of the cliff. From his high perch, he could see Emperor Beld and his army were approaching from the south on the opposite side of the battlefield.
While Fahn and his soldiers had been busy fighting the monsters, Beld had maneuvered his forces in behind them. He was closing off Fahn's only remaining escape route. The Valisians spotted Beld's army approaching and Ashram could tell it was now starting to become obvious to them they'd played right into Marmo's hands.
With the fog completely gone, Ashram's force could be seen without much difficulty. The Valisians looked up and felt the gravity of the situation developing around them. They were surrounded, and Ashram's men occupied the high ground.
It was then that Ashram got his first good look at the enemy below. The average Valisian foot soldier wore a simple white tunic with a large yellow cross over imprinted on the chest. The tunic had light chain mail armor on under it. A few of the soldiers had helmets, but most just wore chain mail, which extended over their heads and neck.
The Valisian knights uniforms were far more decorative. They wore fancy white plate armor engraved with golden lions. They too, bore a yellow cross, but theirs' was smaller and was on the chest plate. They had bright red capes and a white and gold helmet with an open face.
Ashram could hear Valisian soldiers shouting wildly below. They quickly tried to scramble back into ordered ranks. Ashram watched them briefly, just taking in the moment. It was quite a view from up in the cliffs. Finally, Ashram drew his sword and held it straight up in the air, catching the sun's rays, signaling the attack. His army and Beld's both charged down from the cliffs with a thunderous war cry.
The battle lasted for hours. Many warriors on both sides fell. Things were starting to slow down as exhaustion set in. Even Ashram was starting to tire, he had killed countless adversaries and his black armor was stained, dripping red with blood. The bloody aroma was thick in the air and assaulted Ashram's senses. This was the largest, and bloodiest battle Ashram had ever fought in. It was a tooth and nail fight, neither side wanted to give in. It seemed like it would come down to a last man for whichever side lost.
Amid the fighting, Ashram spotted two Holy Knights that thought they could take him down. They positioned him between each other, attempting to divide his attention. Their plan was flawed however; they had very poorly underestimated his strength, speed, and skill. Even together, they proved to be no match for him.
As they charged, Ashram stepped forward slashing the first man diagonally across the chest in a flash, powering through his armor, before he had the chance to move his sword to strike. The other Knight tried to take advantage of Ashram's turned back, but was quickly decapitated when Ashram swung around and cut upwards like a bolt of lightning. The man's head flew off about five feet into the air, leaving his armored body to crash to the ground.
'Who's next?' Ashram thought while looking for any more would-be opponents. Just then, he heard the clanking of armor on armor. It was someone running towards him from behind. He turned to see a young, undisciplined looking knight in old rusty armor charging at him. The young man held his sword over his head, yelling like a maniac.
'You've got to be joking... how pathetic.' Ashram thought. He would have laughed out loud, if it was in his nature to do so. He easily sidestepped the boy's attack and hit him in the back of the head with his sword's hilt. The boy fell forward and rolled several times before crashing to a halt. The boy got to his feet looking around stupefied, wondering why his attack had failed. Ashram stood about twenty feet away from him, looking unimpressed.
"You should know, a sword is not a toy." Ashram taunted him.
"What, a toy…?" The young knight stammered out angrily.
"Let me demonstrate its proper use." Ashram offered as he raised his sword. Once again, the boy used his running and yelling approach to attack.
'You're obviously not well trained.' Ashram thought as he moved to meet him. But halfway there, someone yelling out a name distracted him.
"Parn!" The voice called out from Ashram's left. He turned his head just in time to see a high elf throwing three knifes at him.
'Shit!' Ashram thought as he prepared to move out of the path of the daggers, but stopped when two of the knives were somehow deflected. He decided to cut the last one down himself, which he did successfully with his sword. Unfortunately, this was a mistake and he too late realized it. 'The boy!'
Ashram turned just in time to see the young knight swing his sword. Luckily for Ashram, the boy's timing was way off. The boy's sword just barely nicked Ashram's cheek. The wound was no worse than that of a small paper cut. It was the tiniest of scratches and probably wouldn't even leave a scar.
Still, Ashram was surprised, he had after all been just a couple inches from death. The shock of it was well illustrated on his face, but his expression quickly subsided to his normal icy facade. He saw Pirotess drop down to his left side, he presumed it was she that was responsible for stopping the other two daggers. She was preparing to attack the boy.
"Wait, I don't need you." Ashram growled as a drop of blood rolled down his face. His honor, and pride, required him to personally avenge this offense to his person.
Ashram was now livid. The thought of being killed by this type of an opponent, and due to a cheap trick, left a sick feeling in his stomach. He promised himself that the boy would suffer for the dishonorable assault. Ashram turned and slammed into the young knight, locking swords with him.
They held this position for a moment. Ashram stared into the boy's blue eyes to intimidate him. Ashram's strength was beginning to overwhelm the boys, his sword pressed ever close to his throat. He was preparing to spin off to the boy's right and cut the legs out from under him to finish him off, but before he could, he heard someone's voice calling out in the distance. It was someone shouting Beld's name; calling him out to fight. He soon realized it was King Fahn. Ashram broke the lock up by knocking the boy backwards to the ground with a powerful forward thrust. Then he ran off to find Beld.
'The Emperor may need my help soon.' Ashram thought as he ran through the endless sea of fallen combatants.
Ashram ran all the way back to where Beld's army had first entered the valley and found that Beld was still there, and had not yet taken part of the battle. He was still mounted, with two guards by his side. King Fahn could still be heard shouting his challenge from across the battlefield.
Ashram's master was a bear of a man. He was a few inches taller than Ashram and at least thirty pounds heavier. Beld's skin was unusually tan and his hair was a faded dark red. He had faded green eyes and a huge scar on the right side of his face that started at about his forehead and ended at the outer ridge of his chin. He had long sideburns, but was otherwise clean shaved. He was a man who appeared to be in his early sixties. His armor was that of what you would expect an emperors to be. It was primarily black with gold engraved into the edges and of course the golden eyes of Marmo were present. Beld's cape was black on the outside and a dark royal purple on the inside, it was hemmed with white animal fur.
Ashram calmly walked up to Beld and asked, "What now Sire?"
"Now Ashram...?" Beld said as he dismounted. "Now it is time for me to do my part." It became apparent to Ashram that Beld had been planning on this all along.
Minutes later, Beld and Ashram walked out together to meet Fahn and Kashue in the middle of the battlefield; between what remained of the two armies. When they were about fifty paces away from their adversaries, both Ashram and Beld stopped. Beld looked over to Ashram briefly, then he took a few more solo steps forward and stood in silence. From across the dusty battlefield, King Fahn drew his sword. Beld did the same.
King Fahn was similar to Beld in several ways. For one thing, they were both about the same size. Fahn was a towering ox for a man his age, he too was an older man. He however appeared to be in his later sixties. He had a long white hair and a full white beard. He wore a small golden crown with a single ruby at its center. He had light blue eyes. His armor was nothing less than breathtaking to look at. It was polished white plate armor that was encrusted in all of the edges with etched gold. His crest had golden lions designs carved into it and his chest plate had a golden cross forged right into the armor. His cape was white on the outside and a light royal purple on the inside.
The two men stood in silence for a moment; both of their swords began glowing. The two old heroes began to speak to each other, but Ashram wasn't really listening to their words. He was distracted, almost entranced, by the Demon Sword. There was something alluring about the way it glowed. It completely captivated him. Before then, Ashram had never seen the Demon Sword burn so fiercely with purple energy. He wondered what the difference was now.
Beld's sword had been bathed in the blood of a demon that Beld had killed before becoming ruler of Marmo, thus the title "Demon Sword". It was also know as "Soul Crusher", because when it came into contact with a person's flesh, it would drain the life out of the individual. It was a deadly and powerful weapon indeed, and also the symbol of Imperial Marmo dominance. It was said, he who holds the sword rules all Marmo.
Even the slightest cut from the blade could be fatal; the demon sword's hunger was legendary. Ashram remembered one occasion when a servant was polishing the sword and accidentally cut himself. Ashram could recall finding the man on the floor, quivering, with the sword lying next to him. It took three days, of atrocious torment, for the poor man to finally die. Beld never told Ashram where he had originally obtained the magical blade, but he suspected it was spawned from some great evil given the nature of the sword.
Ashram spared a glance at Fahn's sword too. If he didn't know much about the Demon Sword, he knew little to nothing about Fahn's sword, other than it was called the Holy Sword. Ashram assumed it probably had some special powers like Soul Crusher, but what those powers entailed, was a complete mystery to him. It seemed, like their masters, the swords themselves were bitter enemies. When brought together, their powers increased. Ashram concluded it was for that reason that Soul Crusher was pulsating with so much power now.
Ashram's daydreaming was brought to a halt when both Beld and Fahn suddenly roared. They charged towards one another and their two magic swords resonated as they collided against each other. Ashram looked upon the spectacle with awe. In his mind, he knew it was going to end like this. The two leaders, the great heroes of old, deciding the outcome of the war. It was meant to be this way. Fate had dictated it.
Fahn and Beld were both master swordsmen. There was a certain grace to their movements, although perhaps a little sluggish due to the combination of age and heavy armor. It was as if it were all just a dance... but a deadly one, with no room for mistakes.
There was pause in the action as both men stopped to catch their breath. After a very brief amount of time, they refocused their strength, preparing for one final clash. They spoke just a few final words to one another, then they once again ran towards each other, swords poised to strike. When they were close enough, they leapt into the air, and delivered what they intended as their final strike to each other.
King Fahn's strike hit home first, the Holy Sword sunk deep into Beld's shoulder armor and into the flesh underneath it. Then Beld's blow struck Fahn on the forehead, severing the king's crown. Both men fell to the ground and remained motionless. All who watched stood in shock.
Ashram took a few steps forward in amazement. 'Could Emperor Beld be dead?'
As he took another step closer, Ashram saw Beld move. Slowly, supporting himself with Soul Crusher, Beld stood up. Ashram was relieved and moved to assist Beld with standing, but while he walked towards Beld he could hear a strange whistling noise coming from above. He looked up to see what it was and saw a ray of purple light streaming from the sky, straight towards Beld. Instinct took over, and Ashram began running towards Beld.
"Sire, look out!" At that moment, Ashram lunged to push Beld out of the path of the stream of light. But in so doing, he put himself directly into it. It struck him in the left shoulder, piercing straight through his armor. Bones could be heard snapping as the surge of energy forced its way through Ashram's body and out the other side.
When the initial force of the blow had ceased Ashram could feel that he was trapped against the ground. He looked over to where he had been struck and was shocked to see a spear sticking out of his armor. The tip of the spear was protruding out of Ashram's shoulder and into the ground. Ashram cried out in pain, he could not control himself, it was unbearable. It was like a fire scorching him from the inside out. He could see that blood was very quickly pouring out from the wound.
After a few moments of utter agony, Ashram could feel someone tugging on the spear, pulling hard to release it from the ground. It was Beld, pulling with only his right arm. Beld was obviously in pain, blood trickled down from his shoulder wound, but he was determined to remove the spear from the soil.
With one final robust heave, Beld successfully freed the spear from the rocky dirt. Then he slowly turned Ashram on his side, the spear still imbedded in his upper torso. Ashram looked upon Beld's face, which was covered in dust and red with emotion. Fear was something that Ashram had never seen before on Beld's face, but at that moment, it was unmistakably there.
"Ashram, listen to me. Hold on boy. Stay alive! I command you to!" Beld said in his booming voice, but with a slight hint of unsteadiness.
"I...will...try Sire." Ashram managed to force out a response, after mustering all the will power he had.
"Healers! I need a healer over here at once!" Beld's panicked voice thundered into the Marmo ranks. After a moment, a small woman in grey robes scurried from the ranks, followed by another. Pirotess had already made her way there. She dropped to her knees and gripped Ashram's hand.
"My Lord! Do not die on us, we need you!" She pleaded with him, her eyes started to swell with tears. Ashram looked up at her and smiled. Almost driven unconscious from the pain, he raised his hand to her chin, softly caressing it with the tips of his fingers. At that moment, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
Ashram tried to say something to her, but no one could make it out. A small amount of blood trickled down from the edge of his lip and he stopped talking. The healers arrived and started looking him over. Ashram's body trembled from shock and trauma.
"It is important that we not remove the spear before we are prepared to treat him, if we do he will surely bleed to death." The first healer announced. "We will need to move him as soon as possible, there is no time to waste." She added as the second healer started a healing chant.
"Emperor, you're injured!" The other healer pointed out his bleeding shoulder. "Let me help you."
"No! My injury is not serious, it's just a scratch, attend to Ashram first. And know this healer, your fate will be the same as his, if he dies, then so do you." Beld said gravely.
Ashram could feel his body being lifted up and carried away. He looked to Pirotess, who was still holding on to his hand. She said something to him, but he couldn't hear her, his vision was growing dark and fuzzy around the edges and then went completely black.