Wow, I cannot say how long I've been itching to write a fight scene. I imagine some of you feel the same way. This is the battle I've been promising: our favorite Horde vs. one very big centaur. Enjoy.

Chapter 27

Slowly but surely, the cackling portal swelled and expanded. It took all of Shaak's focus, all the power he had ever learned, but once the portal could sustain itself the blood elf was able to look down at the gnome who'd aided him. Despite a stature of two feet, this one was clearly blessed with great power.

"Is it ready?" Taff asked.

"Yes," Shaak said. "But I don't know if this will work. I've never combined my magic with another's so that more can make the jump."

"It doesn't matter. This is our best chance," the bull said. "We go in teams of two, ten second intervals. Ready?"

They said yes in rough unison.

Taff and the paladin called Breach strode forward and leapt through the portal. It was ten eon long heartbeats before Nessus and Eck made the jump, leaving Shaak and Wonki alone.

"So you're one of those blood elves everyone made such a fuss over," she squeaked in a voice that immediately grated on Shaak's nerves. He was not particularly fond of gnomes as they utilized demons, same as his people, and yet no genocide had been initiated against them. "Let's see what you've got."

Shaak took his wand in his dominant hand and his rapier in the other. Holding his breath, he made the jump.

For a moment, he spun in nothingness. No sound, no sight, no weight to his being. "he pushed his feet to what he thought was down, and to his relief landed on something solid. He forced his way through the weightless, soundless darkness and towards the sounds of battle, the tastes of magic. Nature's magic, shadow magic. The magic of the light and the magic of the demons.

Shaak awakened to the intimacy of war. The sounds. The smells. The sight. It was a breathtaking sight. A centaur, infinitely taller and wider than anything he'd seen before, was engaged with Taff and Brecha. Their bravery was something spectaculuar. They scurried around the centaur's stomping hooves and swing Morning Star, striking at any opening in his defenses. They screamed and roared and swung their hammers and summoned their respective magic. If only the Alliance and Horde could unite as they did.

Away from the melee, Eck resited spell after spell to keep the tauren and the dwarf filled with vitality. He summoned shields to keep them safe from harm; the light forbid they be struck with the gargantuan club that swung through the air with savage fury. Wonki the gnome and an imp she had summonded threw blast after blast of demon arcane. Shaak quickly joined her, summoning flames that would singe and sear the touch. As for Nessus, he had taken to peppering Magnus with arrow after arrow. Most had little effect, but one found its mark in the humongous centaur's eye.

Magnus roared in pain. Bracha took this chance and swung his maul into one of the centaur's forelegs. Magnus swept his Morning Star down and hit the dwarf, who went flying across the battle field. Taff caught her, but the force she carried knocked him to the ground.

Magnus's wrathful gaze fell upon Nessus. He flung his Morning Star at his counsin, who seldom had time to duck for cover. The great centaur was upon the casters in a heartbeat. He took Eck and Shaak in a gigantic hand each and began to squeeze the life from them. For Wonki, he lifted a huge foot up and began to lower it, content to grind the gnome beneath a hoof.

There was no thought to what Shaak did next. In a flash, he heated the blade of his rapier and drove it into the grip that held him. Flesh succumb to the white hot metal as if it were butter. He was released, and when the blood elf landed, he darted beneath the centaur. Into Magnus's vulnerable underbelly, he released the largest fireball he could muster. This drove the centaur back, and saved Wonki and Eck from a painful death.

When a bolt of lightning struck his blind side, Magnus turned to the source. Taff held Bracha by her arm and threw her at the centaur. She gave a cry of dwarven bravery as she swung her hammer into Magnus's jaw, a strike that at last caused him to fall.

Nessus released a laced bolt into his demonic cousin's other eye, effectively blinding him. Magnus began to flail wildly, desperate to stand. Taff and Brach slipped between his flailing hind legs to reign blow down onto his horse like body. The casters did their part, throwing bolt after bolt at their foe.

At last, somewhere in that assault, Magnus drew his last breath, and found death.