Beveran arrived back at her camp hidden deep in the hills. All the women stood ready looking upon her as she went deeper into the camp. Most were scantily clad having strips of cloth and leather as a result of leaving behind more heavy armor while on the move. Some held bows, but most held long knives. As she moved further in however the warriors were more fully covered with leather armor and then she came across two women who had traditional dress and fully armored overlooking an exquisite tent.
Inside the tent sat the Queen in royal attire, most notable being her long red cloak and golden jewelry. She also had fine fur as white as snow. The only thing peculiar about her was her small size being a young child. The Queen's crystal blue eyes met the regent's. Beveran who felt nothing but shame in the Queen's presence quickly bowed her head to the ground.
"Forgive me my Queen I meant not to look upon you without permission."
"Regent what news do you have about the enemy?" The Queen said in a stern manner.
Beveran let out a sigh and braced herself for the response. "I'm afraid the war will continue my young Queen. There was no reasoning with the natives."
The Queen laid her head on her hand with a look of disappointment. "Is that so or did your stubbornness get the better of you again?"
"My Queen!" she said alarmed. "The condition was complete surrender and return to our world, and the enemy leader was firm on the issue."
"I see." She said dejected.
"I just wish your mother was still alive. She could sway any man to her whim."
"Well the former Queen is dead." She said annoyed.
"I understand but..."
"Beveren I want an end to this one way or another. I will not spend another year of being dragged around by you like a common slave. I leave all the battles and tactics to you, fight to your heart's desire. But once negotiations resume, I want a solution whether you agree to the terms you described or worse."
"My Queen how…?"
"The longer this goes on the less we will get. Only death awaits those who fight."
"And if you return home and are captured by the harvester?" Said Beveran frustrated.
"Your afraid of him. If you want your fight fight him."
"You don't think I want to!" Beveran returned her face to the dirt and clawed the ground.
"Oh Beveran…" The Queen's tone changed. "I know you brought us here to uphold the alliance, to protect me. But we merely escaped one killing ground and entered another. It was a mistake to come here and I fell for it same as the Huguenots. If I gave the order right now for my women to fight to the last breath, I know they would, but I do not want that."
"My Queen we have no choice. It is either fight to the end or be enslaved."
"Beveren stand and look upon my face."
She immediately hopped to her feet and locked her eyes upon the Queen.
"We must have faith. We cannot defeat them; we must surrender ourselves to the gods." Said the Queen.
"You believe prayer can save us?" said Beveren confused.
"The apostles Regent there our only hope now."
A scout came up to Sir Caron with a message who took it and tossed it aside. "So how many men can you still field?" He said to Sir Hoffman.
"Including the calvary I have 125 I can call up now."
"So that puts us at less than 200." He sighed. "If we are attacked again, we'll have to split up our forces and try for a breakout."
"I remind you that Beveren's forces have remained untouched. Call on her forces to fight, she talks all tough but has yet to deliver on it." Said Hoffman in frustration.
"That's because of the young Queen, she still desires peace."
"Is she not the Regent?!" yelled Hoffman. "She should not be taking orders from a child."
Caron did agree but did not say so out loud. Instead he grabbed a letter opener and opened the note. After a brief reading, he sighed in relief.
"Well what does it say?" asked Hoffman.
"The National Guard seems to be fortifying defensive positions and is unlikely to attack anytime soon."
"Strange. Nevertheless, our chances for a breakout are slowly slipping away."
"That's not something I'm concerned about." He smiled. "With Burmilla food and water won't be a problem. We can still hope that talks can get us out of this."
"I just hope you are right Sir Caron. I have no choice now but to follow your lead, try not to disappoint me."
Back at the void the field had been cleared and a camp had been set up in the woods. The artillery and tanks had been set up on the wood line aimed at the hole. The only thing left on the field was a small lean too meant to shelter guards left to monitor the void at close range. Sergeant Morrison was there discussing matters with the guards when suddenly a rider emerged and came up frantic.
"Sir we have engaged the enemy!"
"How many?" Said Morrison.
"I don't know but they have a monster!"
Morrison didn't hesitate a second being prepared for this very situation. "Go to the camp and have them send out a fresh rider to alert the Commander." The rider eagerly responded. He then spoke to the guards. "Abandon this position, have the artillery ready for bombardment and alert the troops."
They quickly returned to camp and everyone was armed and ready. A corporal asked if reinforcements should be sent in.
"No." replied the Sergeant. "We are to hold position he until I receive orders from the Commander.
Soon after a transport truck emerged with men all over it. Morrison sent some men to stop it, but it sped off into the woods.
What was happening? He thought. Surely with three tanks anything the enemy could throw at us would be stopped dead in its tracks.
Then another truck emerged lit in flames. It soon stopped in the field and men emerged covered in fire writhing on the ground before becoming dead still. Then emerged a monstrous head. It was a creature that had to have come from the depths of Hell itself. It had glowing yellow eyes and spiked red head. It opened its jaw reveling black jagged teeth. Then its maw glowed. Flame emerged from its mouth consuming the shack and causing the stricken truck to explode.
Morrison ordered the artillery to fire and every gun in the tree line went off. The rounds at first fell short but soon they had the target in dead sights and three rounds directly fell on the creature, but instead of exploding on the creature's hide the rounds exploded short of the creature's body. The explosions were absorbed in a blueish glow like some force was surrounding the monster protecting it from harm.
Once the guns fell silent the creature turned its head and once again flames spewed from its mouth and swallowed up the tree line. The artillery guns and the one tank they had were gone. Sergeant Morrison and a third of his men had ceased to exist. The dragon then fully emerged revealing its huge size. On its back a man in grey armor which had black marks throughout. The marks on the armor were grit from battles of his past. His helmet once grey was now completely black with spikes similar to the dragon. He looked upon the flames taking in his first victory in a foreign world.
Behind him centaurs emerged galloping off into the wood line. Shots rang out here and there in response to the horse creatures but soon fell silent. Then a full army emerged elves, orcs, dwarves, cat people, medusae, and humans.
And thus the National Guard fought for survival.