Ogre Captain Casht
The king! The king was dead! Killed by that arrogant child who calls himself King of Narnia! What do they know of greatness, these puny Humans? How dare they give themselves the same title as Methalain! He had united us, raised us from the dirt, and lead us here when our mountains could no longer support our numbers. There were too many of my people for anyone else to control and lead in this cause. How could he have fallen? How could he have left us bereft? Left me, his most loyal captain?
I stopped myself from further raving. It served no purpose. I shoved it aside with my grief and looked to the battlefield to salvage what I could from the situation. Many of my people had fled north, back towards our blighted home in the Mirror Mountains. Others still fought these grotesque creatures of Narnia. There was no hope of a victory without Methalain, and for one disloyal moment I cursed him for losing control and entering the battle against the Narnian king. I had warned him. Striplings though they may be, I had never heard tell of any cowardice or weakness on the part of Narnia's two kings and if the Giants spoke aright, they had never lost in battle. Some charm held sway over them and their fortunes and I knew deep down it was not luck that allowed the Human to slay my king.
Around me stood Methalain's personal guard and the favorites of his court, more than five tens by count, all of them castrated of influence and power with the king's death. His useless, empty death. They were stunned, staring at his corpse. I pushed past them and laid hold of the sword still driven in his flesh and yanked it free. It was baptized in his blood, cold steel awash in drying brown blood. Methalain's blood royal. Would that I could return it to the High King in a like manner.
And why not?
"With me," I ordered, looking to the noble Ogres around me. The turned to me in a daze. They had no direction without Methalain to dictate their every move and thought. "The High King has fled the field. We'll circle around and slay the creatures in his encampment behind Narnia's lines. We'll avenge our king by robbing them of theirs. Who is with me, warriors of Roon?"
They all were. Single-minded creatures that they were, they completely forgot the army struggling on the field and I no longer cared.
We gathered up fallen weapons and set out, heading first north, then turning to the southeast to intercept the Narnians.
