Author's Notes: Hey everyone, I hope that you liked the last chapter and that you will like this one as well, as always I own nothing.
Karl and the others left the site of the ambush and made their way back to camp, he had thought that they would burn the bodies of the dead Beastmen but Heinrich told him that they did not have the time needed time to burn the bodies, additionally, if the Beastmen never returned then the others might assume that they had gotten lost or deserted. If, on the other hand, their bodies were found then it might put the Beastmen on edge and make them less willing to leave their main force in order to forage.
As they returned to the camp they took a different rout, one which included backtracking, taking random turns and sending members of the group off to lay false trails. Naturally this meant that it took far longer to return to the camp and it was only an hour or two till sunrise by the time that they returned to the camp. As they had no wounded to tend to Heinrich called them all together and led them in a quick prayer to Sigmar and Taal, with Karl silently throwing in one to Ulric. The men then broke up to eat and see to their gear. Karl was eating some dried meat that Heinrich had given him when he heard someone coming up behind him. Turning he saw Thomel and his son, Linus, approaching him.
"Might we have a word with you in private?" Thomel asked, in a tone which made it quite clear that his request wasn't actually a request. Not wanting to make a scene in front of the woodsmen, whom would likely take the wizards' side, Karl mearly nodded and, rising them to his feet, followed them a little ways away from the others. Once they were far enough away to be certain that they could not be overheard Thomel turned to him and began to speak.
"Now that we are alone, let us have an honest answer from you. A person does not simply find a Skaven amulet made of Warpstone, nor would they likely know to keep it contained to prevent it from effecting them. Now let us have the truth of the matter." As he had been speaking Karl noted Linus had moved a little ways off, ready to use his magic in case Karl should turn violent.
Karl weighed his options, he could lie but he had the feeling that the wizards would see through any lie he might tell and that could lead things becoming violent, which was to be avoided at all costs. On the other hand, he could not realistically expect that his telling them that he was a werewolf would end any better. So he decided to go for a partial truth.
"I work for a man known as Marx, a Gray Wizard, I work as an investigator and bully-boy on his behalf when needed. I learned that there was something going on in Helmsburg and during the course of my investigation I found the item that you found on me, I was bringing it to Marx when you found me and took it away from me." The two men looked at each other for a moment then Thomel nodded and then began to speak, softly as if to himself.
"That makes more sense and it would be like those shadow-lurkers." He then turned to regard Karl completely.
"Regardless, the coming battle will be a desperate one and we will have need of your assistance. Afterwards, assuming you survive, you can tell your master that the item in question has been dealt with." Karl merely nodded, glad both to be of help to the people around him and to be rid of the thing. As far as he was concerned if Marx wanted the thing he could come to the woods and ask these wizards for it. With that out of the way they returned to where the others were finishing their breakfast and were posting some as sentries while most were laying down to sleep. Around noon Heinrich roused those who were sleeping and they set off to a new site in an effort to avoid being found by Beastmen patrol.
Things continued in a similar vein for the next several days. They would strike out at small bands of Beastmen and then move to avoid detection. These raids were for the most part successful, killing or wounding several dozen Beastmen while sustaining few casualties themselves. Never the less, they did take loses and the number of beastmen grew and grew till one morning Heinrich announced that the main body of the Beastmen force was drawing near and it was time to leave the area. One of the men asked where they were going, Heinrich replied that they were going to Tower Stone, an abandoned castle which he and other band leaders had agreed to meet after a certain amount of time had passed or they found themselves facing too much pressure from the Beastmen army.
The journey took three more days but they were able to make the journey without incident, though they heard the sounds of Beastmen moving near them. Karl and the others kept a heavy watch every time that they stopped, this was rare however; as Heinrich and the wizards pushed the men as hard as they could. Around noon on the third day they were challenged by a hidden sentry. Once they had identified themselves to the man's satisfaction he revealed himself, another woodsman by the look of him, he gave them leave to proceed on. Several minutes later the trees ended and they found themselves in a large clearing.
Karl was not sure how large an area it was, but it was quite large. In the center of the clearing, set on a rocky hillock, were the remains of a castle. Around the hillock a number of tents had been set up. Most of these were refugees, women, children, the disabled and those men too old to fight. But there were also armed men there as well, some of them were woodsmen like those Karl was with, but most of them had the same look as those Karl had seen before when he faced Beastmen for the first time, peasants and townspeople drafted into militias and holding weapons for the first time.
Heinrich instructed the others to set up their own camp, then he and the wizards started walking towards a cluster of men, Karl decided to invite himself to their meeting and followed along, if the others noticed him they made no comment. They walked up to a group of men, dressed either as woodsmen or militia garb and one man in a military uniform which was far finer than any worn by the militia members. They turned to when they heard Karl and the others approaching.
"Heinrich," One of the men said; "It is good to see you. You are later than expected and I was beginning to fear that something had happened to you."
"Far from it." Heinrich said with a laugh; "In fact, we were having such a good time we were reluctant to bring it to an end it."
"Well," the man said, his tone grim. "I fear that the good times have come to an end." He indicated the others around him. "All of the reports that I have been receiving indelicate that the enemy army is far larger than what we first believed.
"This man," here he indicated the man in the uniform; "Arrived this morning with a message from General Nenker Hassel." Here he motioned to the man, who began to speak.
"Gentlemen," the man began; "General Nenker Hassel has sent me ahead to inform you that he is aware of the situation and his heading here with all haste. He would have been here sooner but he has had trouble raising an army of sufficient size to combat this threat. Never the less, he has raised one and is on his way here now and he hopes to be here by the end of the week."
"That's all very well and good." Said another of the men. "But do you think that the Beastmen will be so kind as to wait till he arrives?"
"I cannot speak to that." The soldier replied. "I know that the General is aware of the problem. However; if he were to rush here as fast as he could his forces would be arriving here piecemeal and that would result in nothing more than higher casualties on our side." While this statement was not what the men wanted to hear, it was clear that they all acknowledged the logic behind it.
"Till the General arrives," one of the men said after a moment; "Perhaps we should hold off anymore patrols. The only defense that we have here is the fact that the Beastmen don't know that we are here. If we keep hitting them then there is the chance that they might figure out where this place is before the General arrives."
"We cannot just sit here!" Another man interjected. "If we aren't patrolling then the enemy might come up on us without us being aware of it! They may also change their rout of march and the General could miss them entirely." The debate went back and forth for a while before a decision was reached. It was decided that patrols would be sent out, but that they would not engage the Beastmen unless it could not be avoided. Meanwhile the wizards would remained at the refugee camp, tend to the sick and injured and place wards around the camp in case the Beastmen should discover the camp.
The weather was beginning to turn cold as autumn began to set in. Karl was worried, even if the Beastmen were defeated they would have already burned down many these people's homes and the winter might end up killing more of them than the Beastmen. Not that they would not make a good effort to do so. Karl had joined several of the patrols and had even gone out occasionally on his own. There had been some raised eyebrows when he had volunteered to do so but Thomel had supported it, saying that Karl had experience at such things but declining to go into further detail.
Finding the main body of the Beastmen army proved to be of no difficulty, they practically left signs to mark their passage. They destroyed or killed anything that they found that was made by men. Charcoal burners' huts, farmsteads were burned and cattle and sheep were slaughtered, along with any people who had not made good their escape. Often it seemed as if these acts of destruction were pointless, they did not seem to gain anything from them and seemed to be doing them merely for the pleasure of destruction. Worse, it was clear that the rout that they were taking would take them very close to Tower Stone and it was likely that the human encampment would be discovered.
The Beastmen army itself was terrifying, though perhaps 'army' might be too generous a term, in truth they seemed more of a large mob than an organized force. There were the horned ones and the ones without horns, just as it had been before, only there were more of them this time. There were also the large minotaurs and a number of mutants who hung around the edge of the Beastmen's camp and seemed to be there to do the grunge work for the larger, more powerful members. Karl could not get to close so his efforts to find the leader of the host met with little success. He was also on the lookout for any Beastmen spell casters, like the one he had faced before. Karl could smell the stench of foul magic but he could not trace it to its source, even worse it seemed that there was more than one source of the smell, meaning that there was likely more than one spell caster in the host. This news was far from welcome when he reported it at the camp but it did not seem particularly surprising.
From the look of it, it seemed likely that the host was a conglomeration of many different tribes and as each would have its own shaman, the name someone gave to the Beastmen spell casters. The explanation of multiple tribes also explained all of the fights that Karl and the others saw, indeed every time Karl and the others watched them they observed fights between the brutes, fights which almost always seemed to end in death for one of the combatants, often it ended in death for both as the winner often found themselves in another fight as soon as they won the first fight.
If anyone harbored any hope that the Beastmen would kill each other off, that hope soon faded, the host was too numerous. Indeed, it was so large that Karl and the others were unable to get anything resembling an accurate count of the Beastmen numbers, though all agreed that it was in the thousands. Some were even beginning to wonder if the forces that General Hassel was bringing would prove to be sufficient, even if he should arrive on time. Moral was not helped by the weather, which continued to get worse on an almost daily basis. Then the army arrived.
Karl was sleeping with several other men in a tent that they shared when they were awoken by a commotion outside. Rushing outside they saw that the whole camp was buzzing with activity. Emerging from the woods was a large body of men, the army had at last arrived.
First came the cavalry, it was a mixture of lightly armored outriders and heavily armored knights. There were also groups of young men who, instead of lances carried pistols. After them came the infantry, ranks of spearmen, swordsmen, men with halberds and men with firearms. After these came men wearing unusual armor and carrying large pikes. Finally, at the rear of the column where three cannons. There was also a rabble of men who had the look of mercenaries about them. There was also a baggage train but Karl was not looking at them, his attention was drawn to the party of riders who had left the column and had ridden forward to speak to the leaders of the group.
The leader was a man in ornate plate armor with thinking brown hair and eyes and sporting several scars on his face. Next to him was a short and rather fat man in cloths that looked unusually fine to be in the middle of nowhere. Another of the party had darker skin and curly black hair and armor similar to the type the pike men wore. Next to him was a tall, burly man with red hair and beard. He wore elaborate red sleeveless robe and tattoos covered his ruddy skin. A staff was across his saddle and a sword was at his belt, as did a number of keys. What caught Karl's attention most, however; was the person next to him. She was dressed similarly to him, in a sleeveless robe, though her robes were a duller color, more rust brown than red. She also had a staff but no swords or keys. But it was none of that which drew his attention, he knew her.
It was Clare! He had not seen her since she had left for Altdorf, an event that seemed a lifetime ago, he had thought of going to see her but he had been reluctant to do so. She had gone to study magic and he was not eager to go to a place full of people who might recognize him for what he was. There was another reason as well, he was afraid that Clare would see what he was. He was fond of her and he was afraid of how she would react if she saw that he was not human. Uncertainty seized him, half of him wanted to get her attention and the half of him wanted to hide. Not sure what to do he started to push his way back into the crowd around him.
"KARL!" Clare called out, causing him to turn around. "Karl wait!" She said something to the robed man, who nodded as he turned back to the other men, his mind clearly on their conversation. She turned her horse towards Karl and came over at a fast trot. When she reached him he threw herself off of her horse and tackled Karl, wrapping her arms him. As she hugged him he noted that her arms, which bore a few tattoos as well, were toned and she seemed stronger than when they had last met.
"Clare," he said, trying to think of something to say; "You've changed." This caused her to laugh.
"I see that you have developed a sense of humor, or at least a talent for stating the obvious. I went to a place to learn magic, I should hope something has changed! Oh it is so good to see you again!" She said as she buried her face in his chest. Karl, quite aware of the smirks, wolf-whistles and cat-calls coming from those around them, hurried her off to find a little more privacy. As he did so his heart-rate slowly returned to normal. It seemed that she had not detected anything different about him and for that matter neither had the other two wizards. It seemed that the ability to do magic did not automatically mean that they could see through him. Once they were a little ways off, far enough that he did not fear them being overheard, he turned towards her.
"So, how has studying magic been?" Her face lit up with enthusiasm.
"It has been wonderful! It was rather frightening, the way the instructors scowled at us and warned us about the powers that we magic users can wield and the many ways that we can abuse it or lose control of it, so I will admit that I was more than a little intimidated at first. But once we got started it was thrilling and, actually, the danger makes it more exciting.
"At first it was mostly just learning the basics, how to make fire and how not to burn ourselves or anyone else with it by mistake. Once we were able to do that we began our apprenticeships. Magister Hartnid chose me as his apprentice. I was rather frightened of him at first, he seemed so gruff and demanding and I will admit that he can be difficult at times, but he really is a good teacher. I have learned a great deal from him and he says I am doing well. Well, what he really said was that I haven't been too stupid so far, which is quite high praise from him."
"I am glad to hear that." Karl said; "I was worried about you."
"Well, as I said, it was difficult at first, especially because I couldn't read it when I got to the college. Fortunately, we Pyromancers don't worry too much about that."
"Pyromancers?" Karl asked.
"That is what we Fire Wizards call ourselves." Clare said. "As I was saying, we don't depend on books as much as others, not like those Gold Wizards or those pompous Celestial Wizards, stupid star-gazers always going around acting all superior and acting like they know so much more than the rest of us." This last was said in a low mutter which was barely audible. She let out an exaggerated sigh and was silent for a moment and then began to speak again.
"As I was saying, we Fire Wizards don't bother much with books. We prefer to focus on the practical instead. In fact, Magister Hartnid said that I was almost ready to begin sparing with other apprentices when the call came to the college from General Nenker asking for aid with this expedition. Magister Hartnid was reluctant to bring me along, he said that I wasn't ready for battle, but the college had few magisters present at the time and they insisted that he take me with him and I must say, as we are going after Beastmen, I am quite glad." As she said the last part her face darkened and her, set in a ponytail, seemed to writhe as if it were made of flame." After a moment she took a deep breath and calmed herself.
"But enough about that. Tell me, what have you been doing since we parted? I bet you have had all sorts of adventures." As she said this the last of the anger left her and she looked very much like the girl Karl had rescued before.
Karl focused on how he would respond to that question. While he could tell her some things he was not sure about other aspects of his activities. He did not know if he should tell her about the Skaven, he did not know if Fire Wizards believed in the rat-men and he did not want her to think him mad. Even if she did not think him mad it could be bad, most people dwelt in ignorance of the Skaven, she would likely be curious about how he had come by the knowledge of the rat-men and he was not ready to tell her of his work with Marx. He certainly was not ready to tell her about Yuviel, in fact, he probably never would be. So he gathered his thoughts and prepared to tell a highly edited version of what happened when they were interrupted.
"Girl! Come! We have preparations to make!" Called a gruff voice. Turning toward the source Karl saw the Fire Wizard looking towards them, Clare sighed.
"Coming Master!" She turned back to him. "I have to go now, seek me out later, please?" This last was said in voice which was both hopeful and nervous, as if she were afraid that he would say no.
"Of course I will." He assured, she smiled at him and turned and left, a happy bounce in her step.
Karl had no patrols for that day and he did not feel like hunting, most hunting had been called off anyway for fear that hunters may draw the Beastmen back to the campsite anyway, so he went to try to make himself useful to the refugees. He had no skill at healing but he could help in other ways. He helped set up shelters, fetching water and any other odd jobs that he could do to be of assistance. All the while the army set up their camp, in contrast to the random, haphazard set up of the refugees and militia members the tents of the army were set up in neat lines so straight that that they almost looked unnatural. Though they were all neat it was clear which tents belonged to the common soldiers and which belonged to the knights and nobles. What drew his attention was a small cluster of tents a little ways off from the rest. His thoughts were interrupted by a slight cough behind him. He turned to find himself facing a middle-aged man dressed as a servant.
"The Apprentice Wizard Clare Hitzig presents her compliments and requests the pleasure of our company." Karl nodded his assent and let the man lead the way. They headed towards the small collection of tents set off from the others. The man led him to one of the tents and held back the flap and motioned for Karl to go in. The space was small, yet cozy, about fifteen feet long and eight feet wide. There was a table and a few stools and a simple cot. At the foot of the cot was a traveling chest.
Clare was sitting on the cot, she had a book in her lap and was reading by the light of several candles. She had a finger on the page and was moving it along with her reading. She was reading aloud and Karl saw that she was still struggling with some words.
"Then Lord Sigmar did s…s…smite the Orcish hhhoards with Ghal-Maaarazzz and…" At that moment she seemed to become aware of someone in the tent with her. She looked up and smiled when she saw that it was Karl.
"Karl, it is so good to see you! And thank Sigmar you have come to save me from this!" This last was said as she waved the book and then placed it in the chest. "Have you eaten yet?" He shook his head no. "Exhalent! You can eat with me then!" They headed to the table on which were plates of dried meat, bread, cheese and some sort of fruit. "Candied figs from Estelia," she said; "Magister Hartnid is very fond of them and I have developed a liking for them as well." With that they began to eat. The food was better than what Karl had been living on and the wine was better than the water, which was all that he had had to drink for some time, though he found the figs a little too sweet for his taste.
As they ate Karl told her of his activities since they had parted. As he talked he tried to keep the worst parts of what he had seen and experienced out of it and he definitely left out any mention of Yuviel. After he was done he asked about her, she claimed to not have had an experience anywhere near as exciting as his had been. Indeed, this expedition would be her first time leaving the college at Altdorf and it was only the desperate need for people to halt the Beastmen advance.
"Are things really stretched so thin?" Karl asked her. She nodded glumly.
"I am afraid so. Both the Orcs and the Beastmen have been active of late and several expeditions have been sent out to halt them. This is merely the latest. I would not be surprised if, when we returned to Altdorf, we find that more outbreaks have occurred and we are marched out again as soon as we march in." Not wanting to continue along this gloomy line of conversation Karl cast about in an effort to find something to talk about instead. Then he remembered what she had been doing when he arrived at her tent.
"I see that you have been learning to read." Her face flushed a deep red.
"Learning being the key word. While we Pyromancers do not place as great a value on academic studies as some of the other Orders do as we prefer to focus on the more practical aspects of magic, we still need to do some studying. I will admit, I have not enjoyed learning to do so very much. Many of the other apprentices could already read and it made me feel stupid that I could not, especially when they assigned a younger apprentice to tutor me. Though he was very kind and did not tease me about it like some of the other apprentices did. I prefer the practical lessons."
"Throwing fire around?" Karl asked in an amused tone. She put on a fake glare and spoke in mock-stern voice.
"One does not 'throw fire around'. One calls on the Wind of Aqshy, it is a test of strength, will…" Here she could hold it up no longer and she burst into a fit of laughter, which Karl joined in. After a few moments lack of breath forced them to stop and they sat there trying to get their breath back, when they began to speak again Clare had lost her humor.
"Do you think that we can win?" Karl looked at him in surprise.
"What brought this on?" He asked, her reply was a shrug.
"We Fire Wizards are a loud and aggressive bunch but that does not, whatever some other wizards think, mean that we are stupid. Magister Hartnid does not think much of the general leading this force. He has won a few battles and no one doubts his courage but he is far from brilliant and in this battle the enemy will have many of the advantages." For a moment her gaze grew distant, as if she were reliving an unpleasant memory. "And the last time we fought Beastmen we literally had to be saved by divine intervention, something I don't see happening again." Karl wanted to comfort her but he knew that he could not simply say that everything would be alright, both of them had seen too much to believe that to be true.
"I can't say that everything will be alright all we can do is hope for the best and at least this time we are better prepared for what is to come." She nodded, her look of misgiving past and her eyes seemed to glow with an inner fire.
"Indeed, and I must say, I am glad that the first targets for my fire are Beastmen. Do you remember what I said about them? I do and I will start with these misbegotten wretches." As she spoke Karl felt the temperature of the room rise and the fire from the candles grew brighter and higher. Then she seemed to realize what she was doing. She took a deep breath and seemed to force herself to calm down. As she did so, the temperature returned to normal and the candles died down.
"I should not have done that." She said; "We are told from day one how dangerous our powers can be and how easy it is to lose control of them. We are passionate, which is both our strength and weakness, as our emotions can fuel our powers and make them harder to control at the same time. So we train from the beginning to control our emotions. It has been very hard for me." This last was said in little more than a whisper. Karl sat there for a moment, then he rose, went over to her and hugged her and after a moment she returned it. Her skin was warm to the touch, but after a moment he felt her shiver.
"Are you cold?" He asked her. "You feel hot but your shivering."
"Another of the weakness of Fire Wizards. We are very vulnerable to the cold. What is cool weather to you is cold to us." Here she smirked; "On the way here Magister Hartnid slept in enough blankets for an entire family." Karl looked over at the cot.
"I don't see that many blankets on your bed."
"Well, I have not been using Aqshy for as long as he has, the longer one uses it the more sensitive one becomes susceptible to the cold, among other things. Still, I am more sensitive to the cold than I used to be."
"Well, that sounds rather unpleasant." Karl said. Clare nodded. Then a smile which was part nervousness and part anticipation.
"If you are so concerned about it. Perhaps you could help me stay warm tonight. You are still my hero and I am not the scared little girl anymore."
The next day the army began stir before dawn, with the various regiments beginning to form up in preparation to move. Karl had returned to the woodsmen, whom he had first met and seemed most comfortable with. He did not know all of what was going on but from Heinrich he heard that the army would be marching that day and that they would be ranging ahead to scout the way ahead of the army. He wolfed down a hasty breakfast, ignoring the smirks that some of the others were giving him. Shortly thereafter, Karl and the others set out. The others had arrows knocked and ready to draw, Karl had never practiced with the bow but fortunately he had been able to wrangle some powder and shot from the army quarter master for his pistol.
They set off and headed into the woods, they did not have to go far before Karl began to notice that things were wrong around them. The forest was too quiet, there were no birds or animals and Karl could not smell any nearby. Then the wind shifted and he caught the smell of Beastmen, they were close and drawing closer. As he was in the lead he signaled a halt and they all took cover. Heinrich came up to him.
"What is it?" He said, his voice so low it was barely audible.
"Beastmen," Karl replied; "They are close." Heinrich nodded.
"I thought so, all the signs are here." Heinrich was silent for a moment, deep in thought. "I am going to send some men back to warn the army before it marches. But I don't know if it's actually their main force or a scouting force and we need to confirm which." He quickly detailed off of several men and sent them back along the way that they had come while the rest of them continued on. The farther they went the stronger the smell of Beastmen grew stronger and stronger and it was clear that they were near and both Karl and the others were on edge, then they heard the sound of something coming closer.
Heinrich signaled the men and they all again took cover. Shortly after they did this a number of Beastmen emerged from the woods. These were all of the smaller, hornless variety, carrying bows and javelins. They seemed to be performing the same task as Karl and the others, scouting ahead of the main force. At first Karl thought that they had not been seen, as a number of them passed by them, then one of them let out a bleating cry and hurled one of its javelins at one of the human scouts, taking him right in the chest.
Even as the man fell to the ground his comrades loosed their arrows, dropping a number of Beastmen, unfortunately there were far more Beastmen than there were humans and these wasted no time in launching a hail of missiles at the humans, while most of these missed their targets several more men went down. Karl had already fired off all three of his barrels and, not having the time to reload, had drawn his swords when he heard the sounds of more Beastmen coming. Risking a glace he saw them emerging from the shadows of the trees, hundreds of them. To his horror he saw that hundreds more were on either side of them; this was no scouting party, it was the main host!
"Heinrich!" The man turned and looked around, he quickly took in the situation.
"Run! Everybody run!" Immediately, all those who were still capable of doing so took to their heels. The men were skilled, having lived their entire lives in or near the woods, but even they were no match for creatures who had lived their entire lives in the forest and were creatures of it in ways that men could never be. They hounded the men as they ran, seeming to just materialize from behind trees behind, in front of or on the flanks of the fleeing men. When they fired arrows or threw javelins there was little to worry about, they were very poor shots and the majority went wide. When they launched attacks with hand weapons, or tackled the fleeing men it was another matter altogether, whatever else the creatures were many of them were stronger than the men and all were natural killers.
Karl, Heinrich and a few others hung back as much as they could and tried to help those brought down, some they could help and others they could not. After what seemed like forever the Beastmen broke off their attack and the survivors burst into the clearing. There was the army, nearly formed up and ready to march. The men ran on to where General Hassel, Clare and her master and the other officers were clustered together on their horses near the cavalry detachment. They spotted the approaching woodsmen and turned to face them.
"What is this?" General Hassel demanded as they drew close.
"THEY'RE COMING!" Heinrich yelled as they drew close. "THEY ARE COMING! NOT FAR! HERE SOON! THE WHOLE DAMN ARMY!" Panic reined, officers dashed about bellowing orders, trying to get the men into battle formation and the guns into a positon. Meanwhile word had already reached the refugee camp and the people there were panicking, seemingly wanting to flee but not knowing where to flee. All this added together to create a mass of confusion which hindered the army's efforts to form up into battle formations to prepare for the Beastmen assault.
A scream tore from the refugee camp which caused everyone to look towards the forest. The Beastmen were emerging from the forest. It was clear right away that the army would not be able to prepare to receive their assault in time, a fact which was abundantly clear to everyone as the Beastmen continued to pour from the forest. They did not appear to have much, if any, in the way of organization but there were thousands of them and they threw themselves at the humans in seemingly endless waves. The humans rushed to get into a position to repel the assault. Some of the spearmen managed to get into lines and the Beastmen crashed against them.
Unfortunately these men were in the minority, elsewhere half-formed ranks of humans were swept aside by the rush of Beastmen. A load boom signaled that at least one of the cannons had been set up and put into action. Beastmen screamed and squealed in pain as a cannon ball tore through a cluster of them. Then with a whoosh a line of fire shot across the field, then shot several feet into the air, cutting most of the Beastmen off from the humans.
Karl was too busy to notice most of this, being engaged in keeping himself alive. He and the other woodsmen had gotten swept up in the fighting, mixing in with other humans who had not managed to form up in time to receive the charge. Everything was a mess of chaos and confusion. Because the Beastmen, while numerous, were not in anything resembling organized battle lines. This meant that Karl could be fighting foes coming at him from all sides one moment and then find that there were no enemies near him. Not having time to go for skill he simply lashed out at anything that was not human and came close enough for him to strike at. It all blurred together, with the Beastmen ceased to be individuals and became one massive blur of fur, claws, teeth and weapons. He hissed in pain several times as weapons tore into him, fortunately, everyone around him were too busy to notice his body regenerating from these wounds.
The wall of fire meant that the number of Beastmen Karl and the others were facing was drastically reduced. Karl and the other who had survived the initial Beastmen onslaught fell on those foes on their side of the fire. Once these were cut down Heinrich, now sporting a bloody rag wrapped around his head, called on all of them to fall back to the remains of the castle, where the other survivors were heading back towards. While the castle was in ruins, it was a higher elevation and more defensible than the clearing around it and so it was there that the humans were seeking to rally.
As he ran towards the hill Karl smelled the stench of Chaos magic. Looking back he saw a green mist settling on the fire, smothering them. As the flames died away a mass of Beastmen charged forward. They were the four-legged kind, like the one Karl had fought in the Dark Elf arena. Karl was not sure how many of them there were but the number was at least in the hundreds.
His attention was caught by the thunder of hooves ahead of him. General Hassel had apparently rallied his cavalry and was leading hem in a charge to cover the retreat of the refugees and the rest of the army to the hill. Their progress was hampered by the fact that they had to move through the fleeing civilians and retreating infantry. This hampered their speed and made it difficult to hold their formation. The four-legged Beastmen had no such difficulty, simply running or cutting down any of their fellows who got in their way. Then a mass of roots and vines burst from the ground and entangled the leading ranks of the Beastmen.
Standing alone off to the side Thomel and his son where waving their staffs and chanting, continuing to encourage the plants in their growth, furthering throwing the Beastmen into confusion and hampering their efforts. Seeing them and recognizing them as the source of the magic a number of the Beastmen broke from the main body and charged towards the two wizards. As they charged towards the wizards many of the Beastmen hurled throwing spears, many of these went wide but one took Thomel in the chest, who fell to the ground, blood flowing from his mouth.
"Father!" Linus screamed as he rushed towards to his father's side, though it was clear that there was nothing that he could do. He clutched Thomel to his chest, rocking back and forth sobbing. Then the cries of the oncoming Beastmen caught his attention. Linus whirled towards them, hate blazing in his eyes. He shot to his feet, chanting something in a near shrieking voice. His staff seemed to meld with his body, his skin taking on a bark-like appearance. Once this was completed he dashed towards the oncoming Beastmen. As he neared them thorns the size of daggers sprouted from his fingers and he began to slash and gouge any of the creatures which came close. Blows landed on him but many could not cut through his bark-skin. Eventually, however; the attacks broke through and he was hacked to pieces.
With the death of the wizards their spells died out and the Beastmen broke free, but the damage had been done. The human cavalry had cleared the other humans and were now charging full tilt towards the Beastmen. There was also another benefit, by sending so many after Thomel and Linus the Beastmen, while they outnumbered the human cavalry, had divided their forces while the humans were in a single body. The humans crashed into one of the groups before the Beastmen could reunite. The Beastmen were thrown into confusion and dozens were hacked down and many of the others turned and fled.
Fresh bellows and the braying of horns signaled the arrival of more Beastmen, these were pouring in from all sides, threatening to cut the cavalry off from the rest of the human forces. A signal was blown and the cavalry wheeled about and began heading back towards the human lines. Karl and the other woodsmen, having made it to the human lines and taken up a position halfway up the hill, shouted cheers and encouragements to the horsemen as they galloped back to the other humans.
From the trees thundered chariots drawn by giant boars these gave chase to the cavalry and were rapidly gaining on them, these were joined by the remainder of the four-legged Beastmen who were charging in on the flank of the humans. From the hill the cannons, handgunners and woodsmen fired on them, as did Clare and her master, all of them desperate to drive the Beastmen back. It didn't work. The chariots continued to gain on them and while some of them fell this did not seem to discourage them. With a horrendous cacophony of screams and curses the chariots and four-legged Beastmen overtook the cavalry. While some managed to cut their way out and make good their escape the majority of them, including General Hassel, were pulled down and hacked to pieces. Their sacrifice was not in vain, the few who go away were able to make their way to the hill where the humans had at last been able to form up and were prepared to receive the Beastmen charge.
The first rank was made up of blocks of spearmen, flanked by detachments of halberdiers with the center being made up of the men armed with pikes, standing slightly behind them were the swordsmen. Farther up the hill were the men armed with firearms, including the young men who had ridden when they arrived but who had now dismounted in order to fight on foot. This included the remaining woodsmen armed with their bows and Karl with his pistol. Finally, amid the ruins of the castle were the cannon, the refugees and the remaining spell-casters.
The Beastmen, having finished off the cavalry, threw themselves at the infantry. Here they met with far less success. They crashed into the wall of spears but failed to break through. As they struggled in vain to break through the spearmen the men armed with halberds would charge in to take the Beastmen in the flank. Thrown into confusion, the Beastmen became a confused mass and were either cut down or fled. While this was happening more Beastmen continue to pour from the trees, these did not charge at once, instead these ones were driven by kicks and blows from their leaders into something resembling battle lines, once this was done they began to advance.
Instantly all those with ranged weapons began to pour fire at the advancing lines of Beastmen, as did the wizards. As Karl waited for the Beastmen to come into range of his pistol he watched Magister Hartnid as he summoned a massive ball of fire. Once the summoning was complete the man hurled it at the oncoming Beastmen. When it made contact with the enemy it exploded, sending waves of fire out in every direction and burning many of the creatures. Clare was doing her best as well but her results were nowhere near as spectacular as Magister Hartnid's. Rather than summoning massive blasts of fire she was restricted to launching smaller balls and arrows of fire at the enemy. While her efforts lacked the flash and style of her master's, they still killed several Beastmen.
Despite taking horrendous loses, the Beastmen pushed on and finally reached the human lines. Again the spearmen and pike men held the line while the halberdiers moved to flank the enemy when the opportunity presented itself. This time, however; the Beastmen spread their forces out across the line and did not dissolve into a confused mass. While the men fought back as well as they could here and there Beastmen forced their way through the lines of spearmen. Whenever this happened detachments of swordsmen quickly moved in to seal the gap, while all the while the human missile troops poured a steady stream of fire into the enemy's rear ranks. At last the Beastmen could take it no more, they broke and fled back to the trees.
It went like that for what seemed like forever, the Beastmen would charge, the humans would hold and then the Beastmen would break. But each time it would harder to throw the Beastmen back and every time they fell back more dead and wounded humans would be lying on the ground. After the third assault the front ranks were pulled back up the hill, their casualties forcing them to constrict their lines. In between assaults men gulped down a few mouthfuls of food and drank from canteens. Then a cry went up to announce that the Beastmen were preparing another assault. Wearily the men moved into positon and watched as the enemy formed up, but they did not advance, they seemed to be waiting for something.
Then the earth began to shake beneath their feet and with a chores of roars that threatened to deafen them all a score of minotaurs burst from the trees. They were led by one even larger than the others and wore crude armor. It pointed an axe as large as a man at the human lines and roared again, the sound it and all the others surged forward. The shaking of the ground increased till it seemed that the humans would all be thrown to the ground long before the creatures reached the human line.
Frantic shouts from the officers broke the men from their stupor and those manning the cannons frantically began to bring their guns to bear on the oncoming monsters. The handgunners opened up as well and Magister Hartnid and Clare began to hurl their magic at them as well. Unfortunately they were tired, having been using their magic for hours and that weariness was shown in weakened spell casting. Hartnid's spells were far less flashy and noticeably weaker while Clare was barely producing more than large sparks. Bullets thudded into the bodies of the minotaurs but they did not seem to even notice that they had been hit. Despite their size they were moving so fast that the cannon crews could not line up their guns fast enough to target them. They were soon reduced to firing as fast as they could in the hope that they would get lucky and hit one, astonishingly they did. A shot from one of the cannons took one of the brutes full in the chest, ripping the creature in half. By that time, however; the others were close enough that the cannons could not be depressed down far enough to target them. With a blast the handgunners sent a final volley into the beasts, as if final realizing that they had been hit, two of the beasts staggered and collapsed, then the others hit the human lines.
The shock of the impact threw men into those behind them while the sweeps of the minotaurs' axes cut down four or five men at a time. Spears were thrust into their hides, some snapped off on the impact while others sank into the beasts, with seemingly little effect. While some of the beasts at last succumbed to numerous wounds, it was happening slowly and dozens of men were killed or wounded for each one of the minotaurs that fell. To make matters worse, the rest of the Beastmen army had advanced unmolested while the humans were concentrated on the minotaurs' advance. When these joined the battle it was too much, the line shattered. Holes where punched in the line at multiple points and men began to break and run.
Karl and the woodsmen had charged down in an effort to help stem the tide of Beastmen, their arrows expended. Karl swung left and right with his swords, the enemy seemed endless. He suddenly found himself facing one of the minotaurs. The beast bled from a dozen wounds and one arm hung uselessly at it side. Never the less, it was still deadly, which it proved when it swung its remaining axe at Karl. Diving to the side Karl barely dodged it in time, scrambling to his feet Karl tried to move to the creature's crippled side, fortunately at that moment one of the spearmen thrust his weapon into the beast's sides. The thing bellowed, more in anger than pain, and swung at the man. Karl did not wait to see if the blow made contact or not, he was launching his attack.
He rushed in and drove one sword into the back of the creature's knee. The creature stumbled and went down on one knee. Letting go of the sword Karl dashed up to the creature's head, which was now at the same level of Karl's chest. He grabbed one of the creature's horns with one hand and with the other he thrust his remaining blade into the creature's throat and twisted the blade from side to side. Once he was sure that it was dead he jerked his blade free and then moved to free the other blade as well. Looking up he realized that the fighting had swept up the hill and he was virtually alone with the Beastmen. Fortunately, the Beastmen around him were too focused on the humans fleeing up the hill to realize that he was there.
He dashed up the hill, determined to reach the defenders. The lines had shattered and had not reformed, the defenders now fought in smaller bands isolated from one another. A loud roar drew his attention. In an area otherwise free of fighting the leader of the minotaurs and Magister Hartnid were faced off with one another. Magister Hartnid was a wreck, his robes were torn and bleed flowed from several wounds and his breath was coming in ragged gasps. His opponent did not look much better, it was also bleeding and was sporting several burns. Hartnid's staff was gone but he still held his sword and fire blazed along its blade, while the beast still held both its weapons, the massive axe in one hand and a large club in the other. The two glared at one another for a moment and then the beast bellowed and lunged at his human opponent.
Hartnid stood his ground, he thrust his free hand out towards his opponent and spat out a phrase. As he said it the Beastman's club burst into flames. The creature yelped in surprise as its hand burned and dropped the club. Taking the axe in both of its hands it continued its onward rush. Hartnid dodged to the side while striking out with the sword. At first it seemed that he had miscalculated, his opponent was too far away for his blade to reach. Then the flames along the blade shot out to burn the Beastman's face. It bellowed and brought one of its hand up to cover its eyes, temporarily blinding it. Hartnid took advantage of this to dash in to strike at the beast's exposed belly. It must have either heard or smelled him coming because it lashed out with one of its feet, taking the man full in the chest.
The magister flew back half a dozen feet to slam into a pile of stones, even from where he was Karl could hear the snapping of bones. The Beastman bellowed in triumph and advanced on the downed mage. The man forced himself into a sitting positon and held his hands out about six inches apart, as the creature advanced on him he began to chant something, a fire building in the space between his hands. It grew and grew as he continued to chant. Just as the creature came close enough to strike the man Hartnid thrust his hands forward and the fire he had summoned exploded into a massive fire ball, consuming both of them and reducing them to masses of chard bones.
The battle was clearly lost, the human pockets of resistance were being worn down and overwhelmed by the superior numbers of the Beastmen. Those humans who still could were fleeing from the ruins into the forest, Karl wished them luck but he was not ready to flee just yet, he had something to do first. He found Clare not far from where her master had died. Like him she was exhausted and near the end of her strength, but like him she was determined to fight to the last. She was surrounded by Beastmen, alternately chanting and cursing as she threw fire in all directions. Her foes were so focused on her that they did not hear him coming up behind them. He beheaded two simultaneously, this caught the others attention and they turned to face him he stabbed one through the belly while lashing at another one. That blow missed but before it could counter-attack Clare set it on fire. That was all that it took, the other fled. Karl turned to Clare.
"We have to go!"
"I cannot abandon my master!"
"He's gone! The battle is lost and we need to get away!"
"I WILL NOT RUN FROM THESE MONSTERS!"
"If we stay we die! If we run we can fight another time! A time when they don't have all of the advantages!" His arguments at last seemed to sink in. The fury seemed to leave her eyes and her hair, which had been curling as if it was made of flame, lay down. As her anger drained away the strength seemed to leave her body and she slumped to the ground in exhaustion. Karl scooped her up and began to run. All around them the battle was coming to an end. He feared that the Beastmen would turn on them now that the fighting was ending, fortunately they seemed to be indulging in celebrations, including eating the dead and raiding the human's liquor supplies. In the confusion they failed to see Karl as he carried Clare from the battlefield. It seemed like forever but at last they reached the bottom of the hill and the worst of the Beastmen concentrations. Karl put his head down and ran.
Author's Notes: Hey everyone, I hope that you liked this chapter. What did you think? Was the battle realistic? Please let me know in the reviews. Till next time please pray for the families of those injured in Charleston and those injured in the shooting, the Americans held abroad, the sick and homeless, kidnapping victims and all those who need prayer. Bye and may Jesus bless you.