Chapter 11–The beginning of the end
Gondar trekked further through the jungle, approaching, ever cautiously, the enemy's main base. This was where the tracks were leading, though Gondar could not fathom why Slithice would want to go towards the main Dire base. What he did know was that with every hour, the tracks grew fresher: he was catching up, and catching up fast.
Just as he began to think that maybe Slithice had deserted and fled to the Dire base, he found that the tracks took a sharp left turn, skirting around the edges of the open zone where they could be easily seen. Glancing back, he saw that Yumero was tense, his sword drawn and at the ready, while Lyralei was more laid-back, her bow strung but not loaded, and her face a passive, mildly observing look. She trusts me to be able to detect any danger before it comes, Gondar thought, which may not be the best idea, "Keep alert," whispered Gondar, "we don't know what's up ahead."
Travelling on through the underbrush, Gondar found the trail getting farther and farther from the enemy camp, and breathed a sigh of relief. It occurred to him that perhaps Slithice was also tracking someone, and that was why she had made so many twists and turns. Then, approaching a large clearing, Gondar halted. He heard voices coming from the clearing. Many voices.
Gondar told Yumero and Lyralei to stay put while he scouted on ahead and, using his knowledge of stealth to it's maximum, he poked his head through the bushes and looked out into a war camp with over ten Dire heroes in it. There was Terrorblade, Invoker, Lion, Tidehunter, Dark Seer, Lich, Brood Mother, Warlock, Nyx Assassin and Outworld Devourer all listening to Doom as he laid out some sort of battle plan.
"So," he rumbled, "We are sending you, Arachnia, to go into the Radiant jungle and meet up with our contact there. If they're real, then we've got ourselves some intel. If not, then you get out of there."
"If he is real," Doom continued, "then we should be able to cross the river with none the wiser and come out to attack their top outpost. Then we can send Nyx and Broodmother off to eliminate anyone who tries to rally a resistance while Venomancer sets up plague wards. Then we'll blast in with our forces on mid while they try to take us out on top, smashing their outpost there and killing any stragglers. Ancient Apparition will lead that attack, and if we can locate Keeper of the Light we can even get Chaos Knight on board."
Gondar could barely believe what he was hearing. This was too much: with Chaos Knight actually acting on their side and counteracting Keeper, combined with this kind of a surprise attack, the Dire could very well win the war! He had to warn Radiant, Slithice be damned.
Dark Seer said "This is all extremely risky. My free mind doe not perceive time linearly, so` I have seen where this road you are going down ends, and it does not end well."
Doom barked "I don't care what you see, Ish'kafel! This whole time, we should've been winning, but I've been listening to you and where has it gotten me? Nowhere! The Dire army is stronger than Radiant by far, and after the Night of Terror we should have won! But we've been listening to your suggestions, and so we haven't gotten any real progress this whole time! This time, we're doing it my way."
"Perhaps if you could wait a little, give me some time by myself, I could see more clearly–"
"No. We do this now or never, I say now and that's final!" Doom said, glowering at Dark Seer.
I have to get back. If there is a traitor amongst us, I must warn the Radiant! Wait… what's that sound?
Gondar slowly turned around, turning to face the sound. What he saw was Slithice the naga siren, creeping towards them so as not to alert the Dire heroes while Lyralei eyed her and Yumero gestured for Gondar to return. She had a bandaged left arm, though it still grasped a sword, and her other hand was holding an odd weapon: a straight, single edged sword with a jagged blade and a dark purple glow about it. Gondar slowly extradited himself from his hiding spot and crawled back, thanking Zeus he hadn't let himself get startled & give away his position.
Slithice reached them, and spoke in a low whisper which was obviously taking her considerable effort to maintain yet retained the musical sound her voice always had, "What are you doing here?''
''Looking for you," Yumero whispered curtly, "The commander wants you back."
Slithice shook her head, hissing "'But my job isn't done yet! If you want me to come back with you, you must help me rescue Dark Seer."
Dark Seer? The strategic genius behind the Dire's deployments and many of their operations? The one who has been by Doom's side before every major engagement? We're to rescue him?
"What do you mean "rescue" him?" asked Gondar, then it hit him. Ish'kafel was behind the Dire's deployment and strategy. The very same deployment and strategy which had allowed the Radiant to outmaneuver and defeat them at nearly every turn while Legion Commander was in control and to blunt their advances even while they were leaderless. Then there was the matter of the Radiant Army being assembled so quickly to fight them off when they attacked top…
"He's a traitor, isn't he?" asked Gondar. "Yes," replied Slithice, "He's been using whatever time he gets alone to psychically commune with Templar Assassin and tell her their battle plans."
"But," said Gondar, "we need to warn the Radiant of the attack!"
"Dark Seer can do that better than you can," said Slithice, "but for that we need to get him out of there. I've been awaiting the order to do that since I was first sent out here by the Legion Commander, but haven't been able to do it alone while he's guarded by the likes of these people."
Gondar asked "Why not put them all to sleep and then haul Dark Seer out?"
"Because," Slithice responded, shaking her head, "I could not then evade the Nyx assassin. He would hunt us down and kill us both, or at least delay us long enough for the others to catch up."
"Why not just use your shadow blade?" Asked Lyralei.
"Because Somewhere in that carapace of his, Nyx assassin is carrying dust of appearance. I saw him get it a couple days ago."
"Well," said Gondar, "I suppose then we'd better handle that assassin."
"And how," asked Slithice, "do you plan on doing that?"
"Do it your way: put them to sleep and escape with Dark Seer. Then we'll handle the assassin."
"You can handle the Nyx Assassin? Are you sure about that?"
And for the first time in forever, Gondar was absolutely sure he could do it. "Of course," he responded, "after surviving Phantom Assassin, Spirit Breaker, Skeleton King, Tidehunter, Slardar, Magnus and Roshan, this will be easy."
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A song broke on through the air, filling the Dire forests with the sounds of beauty untarnished by malice and calming the vilest of hearts. Doombringer himself found himself drifting off to sleep, his thoughts of conquest, for the first time in millennia, far from his mind.
All other sound ceased as all became enraptured by the siren's song, a universal call which reached out even to the most alien of intelligences. Thus was the Dire forest at once more lively and more silent than it had ever been before, with not even the distant hooting of birds nor the slight rustling of leaves customary of that blighted land heard, as all other sounds bowed down in silence to the queen of all music: the clarion call of the siren.
The song was scarce over when Lucifer realized something was wrong: Ish'Kafel was missing! Roaring in rage again, the moment of serenity vanishing from his mind as suddenly as it had come, he shouted at the Nyx Assassin "YOU! SOMEONE'S STOLEN ISH'KAFEL! GET THEM!"
He then rounded on Cryxalis the Sand King and bellowed "YOU GO WITH HIM! WE NEED TO EXECUTE THE PLAN NOW, BEFORE ISH'KAFEL TELLS THEM ANYTHING!"
"Of course," Lucifer heard Nyx Assassin say in his mind, "I will kill this Siren and rescue Ish'Kafel, or offer him to Nyx if he is a traitor."
As the rest of the band went across the river, Sand King and Nyx Assassin went off into the forest in hot pursuit, Nyx Assassin invisible and way in the lead, tracking the Siren's thoughts with a dogged zeal–so dogged was this hunter that he never even considered the possibility that he himself was hunted.
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When Cryxalis caught up with Nyx Assassin, he found much to his chagrin that his companion was in a rather different state than he'd expected him to be in: he did not, for example, anticipate to find him shackled to a tree, nor did he expect there to be an arrow in his face, and the large shuriken embedded into the back of his neck, lodged between two plates of carapace, was particularly galling. In fact, were he prone to such outbursts, he would have undoubtedly broken out into vicious cussing and seething. However, ever rational, the spirit of the Scintillan Wastes decided to bugger this whole chase and get underground before they started filling him with sharp objects. And he did just that.
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Returning to Slithice and Ish'Kafel, Gondar stated "We took care of him."
"Good, good," said Ish'Kafel, "Now I shall warn the Radiant army, though I fear it may already be too late. The Dire currently possesses sufficient forces to force us back to the innermost reaches of our base and destroy most of our outposts, especially if they catch us out with an all-fronts attack."
"Wait," asked Lyralei "What changed? Why are they now winning?"
"Because they've beaten us in an arms race. They have plied the jungles, looted the camps and bargained with strange merchant-spirits. Though Ursa recently slew Roshan and acquired the Aegis of the Immortal and the Crystal Maiden possesses Aghanim's Scepter, most of the great artifacts are on their side: Doom is itching to draw the Abyssal blade, Necrolyte holds the Makansm, Huskar possesses Satanic and, rumour has it, one of them has The Rapier."
That's just lovely.
I have no idea what a Mekansm is, and i've never heard of Satanic, but The Divine Rapier!
Wars have been fought over that Rapier! Kings have beggared themselves trying to buy it, and empires have been shattered by it's wielder! Hell, it was literally made to kill gods!
"If they have The Rapier, then what can we do?" asked Gondar, wondering how (or if?) this Dark Seer planned to turn this around, to which he replied "Not "What can we do?", "What can you do?" and what you can do is turn this whole war around in one fell swoop. What you can do is fulfill your destiny."