The Gods Pugna – The Battle of the Gods 1
By Imperfectionist ;D
I bet everyone is going to go back to the previous chapters to remember what happened earlier, because they forgot, just because the author hasn't updated in 2 months and 13 days! I'd like to say I'm sorry and I hope you will enjoy this chapter.
Also Disclaimer: I don't own any tortallan stuff or an all so sexy Joren. However Shineal and Felix is MY characters!
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The weather turned colder, and the sky was filled with swarming clouds. The three companions stopped for a midday rest at the edge of the Great Road East a couple of miles inside the border of Maren, where it was nothing but wilderness. The dirt and the stones stretched beyond their sight.
Felix was handing out rationed bread and wine underneath a lone healthy looking tree. Until Kel caught sight of a moving cloud of dirt and sand miles away with her spyglass, with all the cleverest invention, this spyglass calculated for her the cloud was approximately thirty miles away and it was headed towards her!
She focused closer to the moving dust to just enough see that black dots were in fact men, marching, to a battle. From her Yamani training kept her from looking panicked as she did a rough count of a thousand men, meaning ten companies. She calculated it would take them about three hours to reach her point. She jumped off the lowest branch of the tree and shoved her spyglass into Joren's chest.
"There's an army of 1000 men coming travelling towards our way. It doesn't look good to be in their way, we have around eight hours to ride off here and somewhere safe. We could ride into the hills north of here."
She ran to her saddle bags and pulled attached most of her useful items onto herself. She replaced her ordinary chain mail with one that was designed by Shineal, one of the most powerfully protective chain mail. She fastened a griffin feather band onto her forehead, a round helm, a pair of gauntlets made of the finest steel and it fitted her hands like gloves.
She looked over her shoulders to find Felix wearing a chain mail and sported a crossbow fully strung. Joren was fixing a shoulder piece of armour with the help of his lover.
Kel strapped her dagger with the unknown gem and her sword at her belt and jumped onto Hoshi's saddle with her glaive at her hand. She wriggled herself comfortable and found Joren summoning her on his trusty horse Katura. She rode close and peered up to see Felix at the top of the tree camouflaging in greens and browns.
"I told Felix what would happen. We are going to get off this road, while she hides up in the tree as a look out. There are a few hills a mile north of here. We should be out of view by then. Alright let's go."
Joren nudged his foot lightly and he headed for the hills of forest at a fast pace, while Kel rode after him. He was confused. Why would a large army be riding along this road? And they were wearing no particular colour to extinguish a realm and the flag was just plain black, in the centre bared a simple white circle . Many predictions swarmed in his head but none of them made sense. He focused at his destination and got his horse into a fast gallop. The faster both Kel and he get into the forest the better.
Ahead he saw blurs of colours and he wondered whether he should stop to inspect before moving on. Katura made the decision for him as she reared up on her hind legs. He frantically held on to the reins and straddled the horse to keep himself on horse. A slim teak wood glaive held him from behind to keep from falling backwards. He looked to see his squire by his side; at the moment, he felt grateful Kel was his squire.
He looked ahead now that Katura has calmed down. The sight has stunned him, for nothing in his life has he seen such march of the oddest combinations ever.
In the head, was snakes of all sizes and colours slithering along the dirt, most were poisonous and deadly. Behind them were herds of wolves, of all different shades of grey, black and white. They came at a trot, bearing their sharp fangs, a sign of their brutal ability. At the rear were the feline Cats family, there was so many different types, Joren couldn't name them all. They moved proudly with their heads up high, with the greatest form of elegance known. Their paws created a storm of dust behind them. Above the fierce beasts, were the birds of prey that reigned terrors in the skies, their squawks were piercing and their claws showed no mercy in killing.
A familiar cold breeze blew into his face and Shineal appeared in front of him. He looked at what she rode and almost backed up with surprise to see Shineal sat on a fully grown polar bear.
"Shineal, may I ask, why are you, sitting on a, polar bear?" He asked.
Can't you see? I'm going to war. And you are to map out our attack."
She flicked her hand in the air and clenched her hand in a quick motion. When she closed her delicate hand, it held a long and thick icicle that looks sharp enough to pierce meat.
Joren watched Shineal fiddle with her deadly icicle as he unravelled the complicated puzzle in his mind. He thought Shineal didn't look the warrior sort and she still doesn't even when she has perched herself on a vicious stead and held a sharp weapon. In his mind a great tapestry began to take form, he looked at Kel and she gave him her confidence and enthusiasm in one glance. He swung himself off Katura swiftly and using his knife, marked the road and the land within three miles range. He then drew boxes in a row on the road.
"Right, if everyone listens carefully, I'm giving a summary." He shouted that matched one of Lord Wyldon, Joren and Kel's training master. "The army of the enemy's stretches here. I want snakes evenly spaced on both sides of the road and poison as much men as you could. All birds fly above the army and dive, kill, then fly off. We could turn as much odds round as we could. We then shall split this army in small bite sizes so we can crush them as easily as we could, though don't get yourself crushed, your gods or goddesses may not forgive me. I shall put you in small groups and then place everyone together in a three attack groups. Stay with the attack group first and then move with your small groups." He turned to Kel who knelt next to him in fascination.
"Kel, you are to set the three attack groups once I have done with the smaller squads." He turned to the fierce animals surrounding him, "all snakes go to your position and you would know what to do when you see soldiers to bite. Now the rest stand in lines of formation while Kel and I sort you into groups and give further detail."
The arranging started and ended smoothly and efficiently. Kel was reminded of her sparrows and Jump (the dog she had in her page years) when she saw how intelligent and how disciplined the beasts were. Soon everyone was at their post waiting for the enemies to come and they could attack.
Kel was with the second attack group, Joren has posted her as the commander of that group. She protested but was threatened by Joren's sword very near her nose, which she gave in. She felt shameful after so much Yamani training; she had forgotten her place of authority. At this moment she hid under a few large boulders – aids from the stone god – with her group, who involved lots of attentive wolves and restless jaguars. Silently she prayed to any listening Gods for not a great victory, but the survival of the world from such evil force.
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Felix sat comfortably in the tree with her crossbow strung; waiting till the front line came within her range. In her own time she struck down a few soldiers in the front line; though the march still continued forward. In the corner of her eyes she saw Joren charging into the march so gallantly, crushing the soldiers like they were a set of children's set of tin soldiers.
Even if she has met Joren for an extremely short time, she felt she wants to admit the commitment that she will always be with him till and after the day that she dies. Silently she prayed to the gods that her lover finishes the battle unharmed.
She rubbed her small nose to focus; she knew it was dangerous to be thinking such irrelevant thoughts while she is in battle. Swiftly began shooting down men like carrots. She was so concentrated in her slaughter; she never noticed the small group of men coming towards her way.
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Soon the battle was in great confusion, a time where all you can concentrate on is your own fights. This was exactly what Kel was doing. Together Hoshi and she stomped through thickens of soldiers. She plunged her glaive into the faces of the soldiers who turned round or knock them down to the floor skilfully and brought them to their deaths.
She turned left and saw a soldier approaching her with a mace in both hands; maces where hard to fight against and can easily hit you, Kel pulled back a bit to wonder if the glaive will be long enough to reach his face before he throws it aimed for her head.
Suddenly a grey blur jumped onto the shoulder of the warrior and swiped its great paw at his face. The man screamed and swung one of his mace towards the wolf, the deadly iron spikes dug into the wolf's back like pins in a cushion, causing the valiant wolf to let go. The blood faced soldier screamed his success and Kel took this time to lunge, and the glaive pierced through the back of his mouth, choking him to his death.
Kel didn't have enough time to check the valiant wolf that saved her, as two bulky soldiers came her way, with the butt of her glaive she plunged it at one man's black breast plate, causing him to stumble backwards and collapse into the other behind him. She continued to make her way through the thick mass of the enemy, the toil of it showed by the sweat droplets running down her face and her cracked lip. Her muscles tensed more as she fought. Her passion for this battle shone like a torch in the stillness of the night. Her skill of fighting and her cool head has reflected in her glaive and she has once again proven wrong those who said girls can't fight.
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Like the tide of the waves, the tide of the battle moved south of the Great Road East, leaving a trial of the coppery smell of blood and the mark of death as they went. Joren tightened his grip on his sword as he felt a stinging scratch on his face, an annoyance to him. His opponent was faster than he expected, and Joren let him to scratch his cheek. Joren pulled back, leaving enough space for his horse to turn and kick the man to the floor, and a sickening crash in the skull.
He glanced round the course of the activities surrounding him. Like an apple in water, Shineal bobbed up and back down into a sea of black armoured men, held in her hand was her speciality – thick icicles – She sat boldly and perfectly balanced on the ferocious polar bear that knocked soldiers down like a child would with his set of tin soldiers.
He scanned the area for Kel, he only realised he held his breath when he sighed to see Kel was still in one piece. Though he doubt it when he saw five soldiers of the enemy, armed with spears. He nudged Katura to the spot of danger, out of his belt; he pulled out a throwing axe and threw it with an immense amount of power. This struck one down between the helmet and the armour in the neck. He charged through knocking another down and left it for Kel to finish him off. He watched Kel dealing the other three from the corner of his eye. He swelled with pride as he watched his squire striking down three against her.
They both fought side by side, trampling over Herds as Harlequin did over their enemy. Their victories littered the dusty soil, as a sign of warning to those who fought against the pair. Soon the battle became clearer on who had the upper hand.
The God's sent army had thinned dramatically, only the immortals, the mortal humans and some fortunate four legged mortals stood still fighting wearily but with a passion glowing like amber. Their high hopes and faith gradually turned ill, from the diving statistics.
Joren got into a body lock with his current opponent. He had fought on foot for a while since he saw how Katura was better off without his weight on her. He almost fell to one knee to meet his doom. When all of a sudden, his opponent dropped his sword, wide-eyed and fell backwards hitting the battered ground. It brought great confusion to such mortal as Joren but surprise overtook him when the great tides of wind started bashing him. He tumbled backwards and landed on the heaps of the dead behind him.
The tides brought the stench of death and the coppery smell of blood up his nose and mouth, which caused him to choke. Thick blankets of clouds loomed over, sheltering the earth from the remaining light from the setting sun. The wind gentled to less stronger gushes, that whipped Joren's sweat mated blonde hair into his face. It cooled down parts of his heated body through the cracks of the armour he wore.
He stood up jadedly and glanced at the Gods around him. They all looked into the sky, with a blank face and stood with a strong stance. He too stared into the sky and his mind recognised the object of everyone's greatest threat.
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END OF CHAPTER 16!!
Phew! I would like to say I am extremely sorry for no updates in ages. Well lots happened to me in the past 2 months and 13 days, which was not all-good stuff. So I had a busy time and had lots of emotional breakdowns. But I'm working hard on chapter 17 so I can get it out of the way before I go to France!
I want to say thank you to:
Alcapacien, Shinigami Clara, Rani, Death Goddess Assasin, blue_athame, Lady of Masbolle, Mystic_moon_empress, Call Me Nobody?!, Rowana Silvakisma, for all your wonderful and helpful reviews which made me smile in a very hard time in my life.