Part 2 "Charging P'Orhks"
The Young Justice gang crawled of the hole leading onto the plain. Anita turned the corner cautiously. Wielding both swords at the ready. "Coast is clear behind us no P'Orhks in sight."
"Looks like we're in no danger at all." she said as she stepped into the wooded brush. She turned surprised as she stared into a group of archers with slung bows drawn and pointed at her.
From all around the group tall slender archers with long combed back slick black hair and sharply pointed ears approached. They were equipped with giant longbows as tall as themselves each equipped with a long white-feathered arrow. They wore garments of shimmering white that hung from them loosely but oddly stiffly as well. Each wore large shimmering white capes that folded around their feet.
"The El Fvis." Aleks gasped. "Please listen we mean you no harm, and we do not wish to trespass in your wood. I am King Aleks Ahnder of the DeWorfer city of Elhm Erawld. I seek an audience with the King of the El Fvis, and the Queen of the El Eeg Forest."
One of the El Fvis, the tallest and most handsome, strode forward. He smiled arrogantly looking down at Aleks Ahnder. "And for what reason would the King of the small Deworfers seek the King of the tall El Fvis?"
Aleks looked up at him earnestly. "To reveal a threat to both our people."
"You bring with you a threat to our people. The humans are the despoilers of the earth, Long have they been our enemy. What would you say to the El Fvis King to explain such things?"
Aleks stared brazenly up at the l Fvis knight. I would say that these are but five of the eight heroes of the stones. This is what I would say to the El Fvis King but that I were allowed to speak with him."
"In fact you do speak with him, with words so well spoken. The heroes of the stones!" The tall handsome El Fvis raised his hand and all the bows were lowered. "I am King of all the El Fvis people. I am King El Evan son of Gud Luvin."
Aleks held out his hand. "I am Aleks Ahnder of the Royal Howse clan. King of the DeWorfers."
El Evan smiled. "Come I will take you to her majesty, the immortal queen of the forest."
Cassie stretched out over the city walls. She saw small masses of crude boats on the other side. The P'Orhk boats were oddly shaped being square and flat on both ends like floating matchboxes.
There were many of them bundled along the other shore she could make out a group of P'Orhks carrying a new one to the water and dumping it in. "More boats all the time. They're going to attack soon."
"Ha let them," Cissie said, staring out over the walls at the huge drop before them. "They'll never be able to scale these walls. Why, a group of archers would make short work of them before they ever came close."
That is perhaps correct. Ariss said standing beside her. "However the number of archers at our command is quite few. Unlike you humans we have short arms and cannot pull back a bowstring that far. It's a shame really as we have a great number of bows and arrows in the warehouses that are made in the far northlands, they are the finest made in all of Innbee Tweenerth and are in great demand in all the lands.
Now I would gladly trade them for the pittance of a meager sack of flour.
"Hmm…" said Cissie, "I think I might have a solution to your lack of archers problem."
Impulse and Cissie wandered into a large hall.
Inside it long giant tables were benched together. Seated around these the DeWorfers ate silently. A DeWorfer ladled out soup from a giant pot.
"C'mon." Cissie exclaimed lets get some archery volunteers she wandered down on of the table isles.
Terror and misery were encrusted in the faces of the DeWorfers. Even the children sat silently. "Geez how depressing," Bart thought. "They need something to take their minds off everything." He smiled as he noticed one of the children throwing a dice on the table.
The gang was led through a deep forest. They traveled along a narrow winding path. Robin looked up at the surrounding woodland. "The vegetation is getting thicker the deeper we go."
Then he spotted the tops of large trees in the distance. He kept walking toward it but they didn't seem to get much closer which meant that they were very far away. Then they reached an area where the canopy of the surrounding trees was broken. There towering in the air far above them and the rest of the forest tress were enormous pines. The stood side by side in a huge line that seemed like a huge wall separating the inner and the outer forest.
They finally came to the base of the trees and gazed in awe at the tree trunks, which measured the circumference of a large house.
They wandered on past the pines and here the path changed no longer was it covered by bare earth but was covered in a crisscross knitted fabric of thin and twisted yellow vines. "Hey that's cool all the paths here are covered with yellow sticks." Anita remarked.
"Ya mean we're following the yellow stick road?" Slobo smugly remarked. They had walked quite a distance when they crossed over a large flowing fiver. Here trees on either side of the river reached out with their branches to each other. Hung from crisscrossed hugging branches of thick and sturdy vines was a small footbridge. "We cross over The River Daans."
Slobo nudged Anita with his elbow and twisted his hips cubby checker style. More like a twisting stream. Anita covered her face to repress her smile.
They traveled a great while further, until they reached a small stream. Beyond the stream lay huge rose bushes as large as maple tress. El Evan called out before the giant rose bush. It began to fold outwards laying its thin branches over the stream. Soon there was a bridge of full roses spanning the stream and leading into the palace grounds beyond.
The gang stepped across the bridge of roses before the thorny gates and stared in wonder at the awesome castle before them. It loomed high into the air the trunks of tall trees providing the support structure on a lattice work of intertwining branches of vines of all sorts that formed the living walls of the castle.
The gang entered the castle and looked up to see that it had no roof they could see the clear blue sky above them. There sitting before them on a giant thrown of twisted vines was Ivy. She wore a thick gown of shimmering leaves. On her head she wore a crown of thorns and roses.
Cissie watched as the DeWorfer women and men she had gathered up practiced shooting her modified bows at a target. The modification she had made to the bows was a simple one. She had extended the grip on each bow with an attached small handle. This technique required that that the archer be of greater then average strength, which suited the DeWorfers just fine as their small stocky limbs were imbibed with great strength.
Kon looked on with skepticism. "Doesn't mater how strong they are. You're never going to hit any of them way over there on the other side of the lake. And I don't care what Cass says they're never going to attack. Scaling this wall is impossible. I mean look at it, it's way too high to throw a grappling hook, and they there's no place to lay down ladders to scale the walls."
Cass shouted out from where she was gazing over the edge of the wall. She notices them beginning to line their boats together in lines running toward the castle. "They're coming."
The Deworfers under Cissie's command looked nervously over the walls at the approaching lines of P'Orhks. One of them shot an arrow, but it landed far short of any P'Orhks and plinked harmlessly into the water.
Cissie raised her hand. "Don't waste your ammo wait till they get in range."
Ariss called to a DeWorfer guard. "Get every man to the walls! We're being attacked!"
A group of DeWorfers with long spears and halberds rushed up to the edge of the city walls.
The line of P'Orhks was growing. The boats at the front of the rows began to come into range of the archers.
Cissie commanded. "Draw." The group of DeWorfers strung back their arrows.
"Loose." she commanded. a volley of arrows went fling outward catching several of the P'Orhks in the first few boats of the rows. Several of them toppled overboard sinking underneath the water like stones.
Those in the boats behind them, who pushed forward to take their place, quickly replaced the ones that fell overboard.
Cissie commanded another volley of arrows be released this time even more hit their target, yet those in the back rows quickly replaced them.
The gang approached Ivy seated regally on her thrown. "Well, well. Long time no see, centuries in fact. Although come to think of it, it hasn't really been long enough. Is this a pathetic attempt to capture me and bring me to justice?"
Robin stepped forward. "No Ivy."
"Queen Ivy." She corrected him.
Robin continued. "We're not here for any of that, I'm asking for your help."
"My help?" She laughed.
Aleks Ahnder stepped before Robin and flung himself on his knees and bowed before Ivy. "Oh great Lady of the wood, I beseech you to let my people pass through your forest to escape the siege of hunger."
What occurs beyond the borders of great guardian pines of the El Eeg forest, is of no concern to me or the El Fvis.
"It shall be your concern when the mad wizard's P'Orhk army breaches your boarders. The prophecy speaks that when the wizard awakes he shall consume all the lands in blackness, and can only be opposed by the eight heroes of the stones." Aleks spoke sternly.
"Perhaps a test of the hero's mettle. There is still the problem of the growing ring of death that lies deep in the forest." One of the El Fvis suggested.
"Yes." said Ivy thoughtfully. "Yes! If one of you can remove the ring of death from the forest I shall grant your request."
"Ring of death, piece of cake. Death is my middle name. Well maybe more so my last name. Fraggins. Slobo Fraggins. Take it easy guys I got this covered."
Slobo headed off into the woods.
Robin stepped to follow him. He was stopped by Secret's hand on his shoulder. "Let him go Robin. Only he can do this."
The P'Orhks long lines of boats, attached end to end, had reached the outer wall. The P'Orhks passed down through the lines of boats giant bars of metal. When they had reached the wall, they began attaching the pieces of metal together, connected them with the metal bars in the other boats, until the metal formed a grid. This they slung a thick rope net across. They tipped this against the wall and constantly added to it from the bottom. "That giant net mesh ladder is coming ever closer to the top of the walls. This attack was very well planed." Cassie looked below her.
Cissie flung arrow after arrow at the P'Orhks. She often hit them in critical moments when P'Orhks lifted the framework higher so that more pieces could be stuck on the bottom.
Finally the netting reached the area just underneath the wall.
Then they came at them. Slow, sloppy and uncoordinated the P'Orhks climbed the netting.
Cissie struck one with her arrow sending it crashing into another who was climbing up behind him.
The DeWorfers, Cass and Kon fought stubbornly any of the P'Orhks trying to scale the walls.
Time passed, the sky grew darker.
The night grew thicker. Both black and red blood stained the green marble of the city's wall. All through the evening the P'Orhks had kept coming ferociously. Cissie slumped down exhausted, her bow hung limply at her side. Cass came up behind her and lifted her to her feet. "I'd have thought you'd be all excited to be here."
"What are you crazy?" Cissie stared out at the mass of limbs and body parts, by the wall.
"Think of it Cissie, you might finally meet your dream fantasy man."
Cissie's eyes brightened. "A tall dark Elvin archer. Ha, and you laughed." She reinvigorated slung an arrow in her bow
Slobo retreated into the forest sniffing the air every now and then. "Yup, it's getting stronger alright. This place reeks with the scent of death but it ain't right somehow."
Slobo followed the scent, further up ahead he saw an area where the trees had lot their leaves. Grayness seemed to hang over the area. He walked toward the gray haze. Lying on the ground in the area of the grayness Slobo could make out several dead forest creatures. He walked into the gray area, he instantly felt cold as if the temperature had dropped suddenly. Everywhere he looked in the gray area he saw nothing but dead things. Dead insects. Dead frogs and snakes. Dead rabbit like creatures. Dead elk. He sniffed deeply. "That's funny, there's no funny smell."
Then he noticed something when he began to look at them closely.
"My god they've been dead for ages. Riga mortis set in weeks ago for most of these animals, but there's nuthin' decomposing. Geez there's nothing living here. Even the bacteria are dead." He began to notice the gray darkness about him getting steadily darker. He tried looking through the gray haze. "Damn sun's going down, without light I wont be able to find a fraggin' thing in this mess. Oh well, guess I'll have to wait to tomorrow when the sun comes out again." And with a carefree manner, he lay down among the dead animals and went fitfully to sleep.
P'Orhk and DeWorfer corpses smeared the floors of the towers. Not one had been able to breech the walls yet but the defenders were growing tired. Cissie could no longer feel her arms. It seems she had pulled back the bowstring a thousand times. Her arrows struck with deadly accuracy. The creatures she killed never behaved as living creatures would. They did not scream in pain. They did not clasp for life. They rushed headlong towards her onslaught, oblivious to their own destruction. Robotic, controlled, inhuman. No matter how much she willed herself to her task she could not help but be unnerved by her actions. As Robotic as they were and perhaps because of it she felt a certain amount of sympathy with the poor creatures. And with each one that she slew that feeling nagged at her more. "We can't keep this up. The city's going to fall."
Cassie ignored her as she thrust he sword into another P'Orhk trying to scale the wall.
"Cassie did you hear me! We've got to get everybody out of here as quick as possible!"
"We'll hold out. The gang will come back with reinforcements, you'll see." Kon was leaning over the edge of the wall swinging his sword down upon the head of a P'Orhk climbing up the net. The P'Orhk grabbed at his sword hand then pulled him over the wall crashing into the sing of boats piled with P'Orhks beneath him.
"Kon!" Cassie yelled. Without thought she leapt over the wall descending slowly into the area Kon had fallen.
Kon looked up from where he had landed in the boat to the P'Orhk who stood before him. The P'Orhk smiled as he raised his sword. Cassie descended slowly, belting him in the face with the heel of her boot. The P'Orhk flew backwards into the water. "This little piggy is having none."
Kon stood with her back to back as they faced the P'Orhks on either side of them.
A P'Orhks mace smashed into Kon's plated thigh denting it in and puncturing it in places. Kon slumped forward.
The P'Orhk went to bring a mace down on Kon's head.
The P'Orhks head and mace hand where cut off cleanly by Cassie's heavy long sword.
She grabbed the slumped Kon and jumped high into the air over the walls.
Cassie descended with Kon in her arms. She gestured to Cissie. "Get Bart, and start evacuating the city. We can't protect it. It's going to fall."
Cissie ran into the assembly hall where the citizens gathered to eat. The scene was animated as a large group of DeWorfers was gathered around Bart with small sheets and pencils in their hands. They tossed dice on the table and shouted.
"Ha! 10 hit points."
"I swing at the P'Orhk on my left."
"Now that's something you don't see every day." Cissie approached the table. "Bart, Cassie wants you to take a message to Robin."
Slobo awoke the next morning to the same dull gray haze surrounding him. Strangely they haze seemed to be emanating from him. "Geez, giant ring of death, what a pain in the ass."
At that moment he became aware of a sharp object beneath him. "Ow."
He reached underneath him and grabbed a hard black pyramid shaped object. The moment he touched it the gray haze about him began to disappear. Everything cleared, he looked up to see the blue sky through the branches of the naked dead trees. He held up the stone in his hand to examine it. The stone was the deepest shade of black. So absorbing was the black that it seemed not to be a stone at all merely an object of completely empty space. It seemed freezing to the touch yet was not cold. It seemed heavy yet weighed little.
He looked at it with fear and confusion. "Man, this thing scares me." He shook his head. "Get a grip Slobo, it's a stupid rock." With that he slipped it into his pocket and headed back toward the gang, whistling as he stepped over the dead animal corpses.
Bart Ran into the palace escorted by El Fvis knights, in their white capes and shimmering white garments, who had run along side him. "Robin! Robin!" he shouted.
Robin stepped out from his tent and called over to Bart. "I'm here. What's up?"
"I've got a message from Cassie, ok now hold on a second." He said panting hard.
"You have to catch your breath?"
"No," he said panting, "I'm trying to figure out what the message was. Oh yeah. I wrote it down." He took out a piece of paper and stared at it quizzically. "Hmm. The sky is falling. The sky is falling. We must evaluate the sky."
Robin grabbed the note, looking at it in disbelief. "What are these little chicken scratchings?"
Robin examined the note carefully. "It's not sky falling, it's city falling. We've got to get reinforcements back there quickly."
"You may not leave until I give you leave to do so." Ivy walked regally behind them.
Slobo entered from the forest behind them, nonchalantly walking into the sheltered glade. "I got the trinket that's been causing you all the trouble."
Secret wandered away from the area when he had come into the glade. Slobo looked at her. "Do I spook the spook?"
Secret looked at him sadly as she floated further away from him. "You have the stone."
Suddenly Ivy looked over at him extremely interested. "The stone? What stone."
Slobo reached into his pocket and pulled out the black stone.
Ivy gasped, and stared at the stone astonished. El Evan, Alecks Ahnder and those others stared at the stone equally perplexed and amazed.
"The black stone of death the most powerful of all the stones created. My god it's, it's hideous." El Evan turned his eyes away from it.
"He's right that thing is making me nauseous. I can't stand to look at it." Aleks clutched his stomach.
"It frightens me." Impulse said simply. He stared at it, not able to turn away from it, quivering in fear.
Robin recoiled as well. "Man, me too, put it away Slobo."
Slobo shoved the large stone back in his pocket. The wave of anxiousness passed. Robin looked over at Bart. The color was drained from his face. He stood limply. "Bart, what else did Cassie say?"
Bart turned still somewhat struck with terror. He screamed loudly. "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"
The waterfalls pounded the water beneath it. The wind blew the spray towards the walls of Elhm Erawld. The spray slicked the oily blackened blood that was beginning to cake the walls and the rope netting used to scale them.
With less sure a grip the weary defenders could more easily knock the P'Orhks from the net into the waters below.
"How many more people left in the city?" Cassie turned to Ariss.
"A nice few, where going to need a lot more time. Getting everybody out through that one small tunnel isn't easy. Many P'Orhks have gone up the sides of the cliffs and roam the plateau. We have to watch to see that none is spotted. Everybody's heading for the El Fvis forest, and the El Fvis haven't made any moves to stop us, not yet anyway."
"We might not be able to hold out much longer." Cissie pointed to the far embankment which was swarming with many more P'Orhks as well as groups of other larger, more beastly creatures. "They're just waiting for the wind to change, and they'll all come our way."
"This is crazy." Cassie knelled in despair. She tried vainly to whip the black oily blood from her hands and face, managing only to smear it. She looked to Kon who was still defending the wall intensely. He was cut and battered; his superpowers had been reduced far more than hers. But still he fought on, oblivious and uncaring of the dangers that befell him, or perhaps it was because he cared so much for the dangers that befell the people. She watched him proudly as he struggled with a P'Orhk. And if he cared so much how could she do no less than him. Strength returned to her fagging limbs, as she rushed again to the wall with sword drawn.
The Young Justice gang and a group of DeWorfers prepared hurriedly to depart for the city.
El Evan stood before, the group he and his knights wear clad in their white Saatihn. "The lady has commanded that the stone city must not fall. My Knights and the host of El Fvis warriors and hunters shall fight with you."
Aleks was strapping on his thick armor. He muttered under his breath. "They must not take the plain."
El Evan interrupted. "We shall not let the city fall."
Alecks looked up warily at El Evan. "The city is doomed. Do you forget what the legends say?"
El Evan looked sadly at him.
The city green from marble weaned, with high and mighty walls.
The hero teens with magic gleaned could but watch its low and tragic fall.
El Evan stared resolutely at Aleks. "They may take the city, but on my life I swear, they shall not keep the plain."
Cissie gazed at the scene before her. The wind had finally changed and the creatures on the other side of the lake began piling into the lines of boats swarming again toward the castle. "This is it. We've had it. Do we make one last stand or do we run for it?"
Cassie looked around the mass of tired defenders at the wall. "Run for it."
"Retreat! Retreat!" Cissie called to the DeWorfers down the line. They took off running down the steps of the castle, to the other side of the city where the tunnel was.
They peaked out through the exit hole on the plain and saw a huge amount of DeWorfers gathered in the bushes nearby.
Ariss Tawtell was the last one through the hole. He pushed up several full sacks he had. Kon helped him up the hole by taking one of the large sacks. "Hey these are heavy. What the heck you got in here?" He opened the sacks and pulled out a leather bound book.
Ariss Tawtell grabbed the book and placed it back in the sack. "This is what I managed to salvage from the great library of Aleks Ahnder's. I fear it is soon to be burned and looted."
Ariss went over to an area close to the hole entrance and slammed down one of his sacks on it. In a stroke the ground over the tunnel began to collapse in upon itself. Barring its use by the P'Orhks.
"Hurry we gotta retreat back into to woods." Cass beckoned them with her arm.
Then they heard a voice shouting in the distance. "Forward. Forward to the plain."
"What the heck?" Cassie peered into the distance. Slim tall men with great tall longbows rushed out of the forest toward the plane above the city. The DeWorfer defenders who lay about on the ground exhausted stared in awe at the El Fvis warriors.
A tired injured DeWorfer slumped against a bush. His mouth fell open at the site before him. "It does not seem real but this is as the legend foretells. El Fvis fighting along side the DeWorfers."
The ragged and bloodied defender stood, his body filled with renewed energy. "Forward to the plain!" He cried and ran after the El Fvis warriors. The other DeWorfer soldiers stared at each other then sprang to their feet as well bounding onto the Plain of El Helm Arraad.
End of Part 2
"The Lord of the Stones" m