What was left of Morrison's force regrouped with the Commander and after initial confusion it was finally apparent what shape they were in.
"Begin to have troops loaded onto the transports. Have the armored vehicles, tanks, and artillery disabled. I want the evacuation completed in the hour."
"Sir most of the supplies will also be left behind." Cautioned Major Roland.
"All the supplies are to be left behind." Said the Commander coldly. "Have them destroy what they can Major, but if we don't move quickly, we'll be the ones attacked and surrounded."
Something then blocked out the sun and everyone looked up to see a creature flying across the sky. It was large and featherless. The creature then flew down and snapped its jaws at the men but missed. A man was seen with a lance riding on the beast. Several machine guns opened up in response, but the creature gained altitude and fled.
"Major get on the tele and have them scramble the SPADs and reconnaissance planes. I want to know exactly what the enemy forces are doing. Get everyone out of here immediately!"
The armored figure still sat on the dragon just outside the hole. His army had moved deep into the woods now cutting down any survivors they found. The woman with blue feathers had come up beside him but he paid her little mind.
She took a deep breath and shouted up to him. "My Lord we have secured the field and have sent out dragon riders to scout out the area! I presume you want me to halt the army now and wait for the scouts to return!?"
There was a brief pause but then the rider responded. "Continue to press the attack." It was a deep voice that shook her to her core. "I want to know where the cities and major enemy bases are. Any enemy forces in the field and camped are to be engaged immediately. Plunder the villages and towns for supplies. Slaughter any enemy troops, but I want at least some of the commoners taken alive and brought to me. If any areas put up significant resistance, I will deal with it personally."
The siren looked down. His response was not surprising, but she like the rest of the army were tired after the long march and fighting from earlier in the day. "My Lord…" She hesitated for a moment with her stomach in knots did she dare question him? "Should we not rest and resume the attack in the morning in high spirits?"
"Is it not the great dragon that has done the brunt of the fighting? Press on, once their towns and villages are occupied and fortified then they may rest for the night."
"As you say oh great Apostate." She said with a quick bow.
Private Moore sat on an old hunting platform looking out into the woods. He and only a small number of soldiers had been left to guard the camp. They had to make sure that no one could come or leave without proper screening. In addition, they had a responsibility of caring for the peoples and making sure food and medical supplies were rationed properly. Although they were in a tentative position, they did have two machine guns which could easily be positioned for a fight whether it be from without or within.
Moore was soon hit by a strong stench which simply confused him at first but soon became unbearable. Even the worst summer days on the dairy farm where he once worked didn't smell that bad. Then he saw a number of people approaching. They were slow and appeared to lumber as they went. He soon saw that they were far larger than normal humans and were armed with large axes. He flipped off the safety on his gun and pointed it at them. He waited another minute and then fired at the closest one. The shot missed but it was meant to raise the alarm more than to actually hit his target. The creatures immediately let out howls and ran forward.
The sound was deafening, and Moore needed to steady himself. He fired a second shot which found its mark and the beast fell. He fired again and another monster fell, his fourth shot missed. The attackers were now at the base of the tree but simply ran past him oblivious to his presence. Moore figured that they were bypassing him much to his relief. Suddenly more shots rang out in quick succession. He looked on as the monsters at the front fell. Then he heard machine gun fire and row after row of beasts were mowed down. Still they kept coming and coming. It looked as if they would all be killed but finally the few left broke off and ran in every direction. He shot another three down as they fled back past him. Only a small number escaped out of the range of gunfire.
A quick investigation of the bodies confirmed they were in no way human but bruting monsters with skin either grey or green. They were covered in black clothes and mostly had large axes much too heavy to pick up. The stench was horrible, and the soldiers soon withdrew and formed a perimeter around the camp. Although they had no riders fortunately Moore had three homing pigeons, and quickly scribbled two pleas for reinforcements and fixed the messages to two of the birds before releasing them. All they could do was wait low on ammunition and supplies.
The siren looked down at the bodies of dwarves on the ground with bloody wounds. She looked up to see a survivor running up to her pointing at a nearby house where loud bangs were coming from.
She held up her hand and released wind magic upon the building breaking the windows and forcing the door wide open. She then used a gust of wind on herself flying right through the door. She pulled out a knife and slit the throat of a man lying on the floor. Another man entered the room armed with a shotgun and pointed it at her, but she was quick to duck and stabbed him in the stomach. After she found no one else in the house she emerged and sat on the stone steps. The dwarf returned to her.
"Are there any other strongholds?" She asked.
"No." said the dwarf. "We killed everyone, but I lost 10 of my own fighters."
"Very well check the surrounding woods for other men and then post guards around the perimeter of the village, we will rest here for the night."
The dwarf quickly followed the siren's orders. She herself was distraught about how high the losses were becoming. The men of this world knew some type of fire magic and the casualties were mounting. She had just received a report that the one engagement involving orcs with actual warriors of this world had ended in disaster with almost all of them killed.
If the Apostate did not intervene again, they would soon bog down into stalemate and be forced onto the defensive. Then she looked up just in time to see a dragon rider land and come up to her. She was not eager to take in more bad news but to her relief the news was welcoming.
"Mistress I have located the main enemy force five miles from here and they are in full retreat."
"Where are they going?" She replied.
"They are heading East. They appear to want to get as far away from us as they can get."
It was a perfect time to eradicate the enemy force before they could regroup, but who would lead the attack? It seemed like the best move was to send the dragon riders but if they were lost the army would be blind. She needed a race that could hit hard and retreat in the blink of an eye.
"Rider go to Fergus and have him send his best elves. Have them disable the enemy's vehicles and kill as many of the fire spitters as they can, but they may retreat if they lose the upper hand."
"Yes Arbiter!" He took off with his dragon and soon disappeared over the treetops.
The siren immediately felt uneasy with her order. Although the elves were reliable, they often suffered from internal division. Against her advice the Apostate had decided to merge the elves and dark elves into a single force. They were peoples who thought completely different and were originally quite hostile to one another. They were binded together out fear alone. This was a low-risk wager, but if they failed it would probably be because of infighting and she would have to personally straighten them out again.
Beveren looked out in the distance as smoke rose on the National Guard's position. After staring for a few minutes one of her scouts returned and informed her about the enemy's withdrawal. This was a great relief to Beveren, now they were free to regroup with Hoffman and Caron. She was about to order her forces to link up with her human allies and escort them to safety when something in the sky caught the corner of her eye. Her feeling of relief turned to terror when she realized it was a flying dragon. It could be nothing else but a scout for the Harvester. The dragon flew closer but soon turned and was out of sight. The National Guard was not leaving just because of them but out of fear they would be caught between her forces and the Harvester's. What Beveren originally thought would be a slow and organized regrouping would instead be desperate evacuation. There was no time for hesitation.
"The Harvester has entered this world!" Beveren yelled to the scout. "Send our fastest warriors to alert Caron and have the humans come to us immediately! Everyone else I want on standby to leave at a moment's notice."