I don't own the franchise and I am getting rid of my games soon, because I won't be playing WoW again. Good things come to an end. But not this fic. That will take a while more!
Chasing Through Hell
Crash and Burn
The sense of victory, of strength Maurus had felt a moment ago went out like a candle and the chaos on the wall faded into the background, his attention fixing on the fire blooming from the point where the ballista bolt had hit. His heart went cold, his lungs refused to draw breath and his eyes stung as the fire spread with incredible speed, eating through the zeppelin's outer casing and revealing the charring, skeleton-like framework beneath, flying in the face of all Widget's claims that the zeppelins had gotten safer over the years. His grip on his axe slackened, the weapon suddenly weighing twice as much, as the front end of the zeppelin dipped and the massive craft began to lose altitude. It plummeted toward the army below, trailing flaming wreckage and dark figures which could only be passengers who'd rather fling themselves off than crash beneath the flames. They fell in ones and twos, cloaks and robes fluttering around them like colorful, lame wings that did little to slow them.
A small voice in the back of his head insisted that there were more zeppelins, that the goblins were notoriously unreliable, that it was impossible to say which zeppelin really would be the first one the wall. But those thoughts were almost completely drowned out by the guilt and sorrow clawing a hole in his stomach, a twofold agony stemming from failing both the entire zeppelin and Arianna in particular.
Something heavy and snarling hit him and there was a sharp tug on his right pauldron. On pure, unthinking reflex, he brought his arms close to his sides, shielding the parts of his arms only covered by mail. It was a good thing he did. The force behind the repeated stabs dented his plate and would have rent apart any mail.
He whirled, trying to dislodge the orc and saw that Zrahi, Gor, Crava, Javyn and Zilja had stepped in, shoulder to shoulder, to hold the frothing orcs back while he stared stupidly at the crashing zeppelin. They'd been pushed back so there were only a few feet between him and them and the fel orcs had forced a hole in their formation, through which the orc clinging to his back had gotten through. The pain of the blows against his back and neck woke Maurus from his stupor and the sight of Crava falling, still laying about himself with his axe even as he crumbled to the floor, made the icy, numbing grief in Maurus' body turn to fire. Rage ran like molten lead through his body and his lips peeled back from gritted teeth.
He lifted his left hand and groped over his shoulder. Strong jaws and sharp fangs closed around his pointer finger and he jerked his hand back, thankful for the chain and plates of steel on it, before trying again. This time he felt his fingers close around the uncovered head of the orc and he heaved while abruptly stopping the spin he'd been in. He felt a sharp snap reverberate through his arm and his muscles screamed as he pulled the orc over his head and sent him flying over the heads of Jayvn and Zilja. The orc crashed into his comrades, knocking over several of them and the wicked blade he had in place of his left hand slashed into the face of another, making him reel back with a howl. Despite the rage surging through Maurus, there was an odd clarity underneath his emotions and in the moment of confusion, he reached out and pulled Crava back, out of the reach of the fel orcs' weapons. Crava moaned as he was moved, one limp arm drawing a trail of blood along the stones while his other arm still held his axe in a vise-like grip.
"Drunnya! Heal!" Maurus shouted. Even as he did, he placed his health stone in Crava's free hand and squeezed the hand closed. He only paused long enough to see the flash of light as the stone disintegrated before rising and gripping his axe tightly. An explosion made him glance to the side to see that the ballista was simply gone and Mathias and the rest were drawing back, struggling to avoid being overwhelmed by the fel orcs. He felt strangely cheated, though the idle thought vanished in the rolling rage he felt and he turned his focus completely on the fel orcs in front of him.
"To me," he roared and stepped forward. Crava's comrades had taken advantage of the moment to close ranks again, though they readily stepped aside for Maurus. His loud and furious assault drew the attention of a good number of the fel orcs, giving his comrades the moment they needed to close in again and more warriors Maurus didn't know joined them from the side where the ladder still stood.
He hacked and sliced, roaring out his fury and pain, ignoring what strikes the enemies got past the comrades flanking him. When a large orc in ornate grunt's armor began giving his group orders he felt a slight burst of relief, readily letting Commander Krunk take over. The confusion and the sheer force of the Horde's initial assault had kept the fel orcs on the back foot, but they had recovered as the last remains of blood lust evaporated from Maurus and his warriors. The battle blurred into noise, blood and the weight of his axe as they fought to keep their foothold.
Slowly, the Horde was pushed back toward the merlon. The demonic strength and heedless frenzy of the fel orcs had become somehow more focused, directed by orders bellowed in bestial voices from further along the wall. Warlocks and archers moved along the back of the fel orcs, sending arrows, fire and dark magic into the Horde warriors, weakening the line for their fellows.
Even through the haze of rage Maurus kept himself in, he began to worry. More Horde kept coming onto the wall, but the area along the merlon was already filled with those wounded that the healers managed to recover and if the Horde warriors kept getting pushed back, they would trample the wounded before going over the merlon themselves.
The arrival of the zeppelins changed the course of the battle and completely justified the importance that had been put on destroying the ballistae. With an upward swing of his axe, Maurus sent a fel orc stumbling back into the orcs behind her and then a shower of lights and arrows flew over his head, the arrows bringing down a score of fel orcs while the bolts of magic exploded into flashes of fire, lightning and ice, cutting down more enemies and weakening those that survived the barrage. Commander Krunk roared in triumph and the rest of the warriors took up the cry as they fought their way forward, emboldened by the casters that poured onto the wall.
Maurus wanted to turn, to run back to the zeppelins and search through the casters in the vain hope that he'd find Arianna. But he pushed away the urge and advanced with his soldiers, striking out with strength born of rage and the blood lust the shamans wove over him. Mathias had found his side again, fighting with stiff but efficient movements, eyes shining with pale light and dark intent. On his right, Javyn and the rest were holding that side and further to the right, Calen fought, the bursts of holy light still giving the group an advantage.
"Push the curs over the edge," Maurus growled as the fel orcs began to buckle under the renewed assault. He saw the warlocks slink back toward the stairs that led down into one of the courtyards. "Let them fall and break."
He felt grim satisfaction as they accomplished just that, forcing the fel orcs back too quickly for them all to make it to the wide stairs along the walls. The orcs furthest back tumbled, screaming, down to the courtyard below.
Maurus led the the way down one of the wide staircases, over stone steps made treacherous by the blood and the dead. The fel orcs, seeming oddly small suddenly, were falling back along the length of the wall, retreating down stairs to the courtyard or withdrawing toward the center of the fortress. On the closest other staircase, Commander Krunk and his elites hacked their way down, faster and with much more ease than Maurus and his comrades. The Horde casters and hunters stayed on the wall, raining down death into the courtyard, keeping their counterparts among the fel orcs from doing too much damage, though they were hampered in turn by their targets' retaliation and the projectiles coming from the inner wall.
As Maurus and his unit stepped down the last steps and began fighting across the courtyards, he realized that the fel orcs, for all their ferocity, were more coordinated than he'd thought. Not only were they managing a controlled retreat now, but they were taking care of those wounded they could. Behind the fel orcs fighting him, a number of robed orcs, different from the warlocks, helped the few fel orc who had the worst wounds while the wounded, but still mobile fel orcs were making for the gates in the second wall, retreating to the inner courtyard and the main body of the Citadel.
Not all the wounded retreated. Several of the orcs Maurus managed to wound stepped back from the front line, only to return a little later and it was only when he saw the flash of green that he realized why: Health stones.
Still, the fel orcs were falling back. Maurus' unit fought along the left flank of the spearhead that was Commander Krunk and his elites and slowly, the Horde moved across the courtyard. It was like digging through stone, but suddenly, the last of the fel orcs broke, sprinting for the gate right behind them as fire streamed over their heads to burn and distract the Horde. Some fel orcs still fell, but the rest made it through the gate just before the portcullis fell, separating the Horde from the fel orcs.
The courtyard quieted, though the moans of the wounded and dying still floated through the air and the sounds of battle around the Citadel still reached them, the distant clash of steel, screams and frequent booms serving as reminders that it was far from over. Maurus lifted his gaze from his bloody axe to the battlements above, fearing, once again, what would come down from above,
"Back up, bring your wounded. Short break," Krunk ordered, his voice carrying easily through the relative quiet and most of the people in the courtyard drew back to the outer half of the courtyard. Healers were already at work along the outer wall, treating the wounded.
Maurus slumped down a short distance from a wounded troll, his muscles feeling like lead, as fresh Horde soldiers came down the stairs and streamed past him. Hunters and offensive casters followed, their eyes on the battlements above, ready to deter anyone planning to shoot down into the courtyard.
Now that the battle didn't demand all his attention, he ached, though what filled the most was how heavy and empty he felt. Sluggishly, he took stock of his comrades. Mathias was standing by his side, tense and restless, his gaze wandering between the inner gate, the top of the outer wall and Maurus himself. Their remaining comrades stood or sat in a loose circle around them. Crava was still missing and hopefully he was still alive, somewhere on the outer wall. He wasn't the only one Maurus didn't see. Almost a fourth of the soldiers he had gone up the ladder with were missing and the armor of his remaining comrades looked like someone had gone over them with heavy hammers and poured a bucket of blood over them.
Widget was missing too, and Maurus looked around quickly, feeling a burst of frantic worry that subsided just as quickly when he found her with the other goblins close to the gate, ringed by seven warriors in full plate, with heavy shields. A small hint of worry remained because the goblins were looking through their packs, doubtlessly after explosives.
Widget looked up and waved him over. He glanced at the gate, swallowed and laid his axe walking over, receiving nods from the warriors as he came close and unslung his shield from his back.
"Time to put all that steel to more use," Widget said brightly. "Shield's up."
Sighing, he bent down a bit and formed up with the other warriors, raising his shield above his head so it created a dome with the others' shields over the goblins in the middle and with that they hurried forward, entering the archway containing the portcullis. He hadn't missed the holes above him, but right now, he didn't dare look up, once again fearing an arrow or worse through his eye.
His heart was beating quickly and heavily in his chest when they stopped at the portcullis, worried by both the threat of the fel orcs and the threat of the goblin's explosives. He looked steadily forward, eyes scanning for any fel orc with a spear, bow or a handful of flame as the goblins set to work. He was surprised to see no threat beyond the gate, merely glimpses of the fel orcs regrouping and the goblins had no trouble with attaching their red blocks along the sides of the portcullis. He adjusted his stance to shield one of the two that clambered up the gate, attaching more of the blocks about halfway to the top and still nothing menaced them.
Before he knew it, they were hustling away from the gate again, trailing long fuses and Maurus hurried back to his unit as Krunk shouted orders. The fuses were lit at the same time that a barrage of magic and arrows soared up towards the battlements over the inner gate, covering the druids, again in bird form, as they rose along the inner wall.
The explosions rocked the inner wall and tore apart the portcullis, leaving only a few jagged pieces of metal behind, jutting from the top of the gate like teeth. The fresh warriors pressed toward the newly opened way, preceded by a few thrown explosives and a salvo of arrows. Soon the sound of battle rang through the courtyard again as the goblins spread and went back to their units.
Maurus sighed, slinging his shield on his back again as Widget waddled over to him and plopped down. She sighed as well, though hers was half-way content and he felt his hackles rise. She glanced at him, opening her mouth, but apparently changed her mind and closed it again.
Quietly, Maurus conferred with the others to find out the whereabouts of their missing members and confirmed that at least six, Javyn among them, were dead. As he did, he kept glancing at the casters around him, feeling a sinking disappointment each time.
When Stone Guard Stok'ton declared the break over, Maurus dragged himself up, turning to the gate. Commander Krunk had gone in along with the fresh soldiers and the fighting was happening on top of and past the gate. The courtyard, dotted with corpses and splattered with blood, was a dreadful sight, but the mangled bodies of orcs, tauren and trolls also made it easy to summon rage, so he could push aside the draining sadness. He gripped his axe with both hands, stoking the angry fires in his body, steeling himself in preparation for going back into the battle.
Something tapped against his hand and he glanced down at Widget. Beneath her round helmet, her eyes crinkled and she was smiling widely again. He felt his jaw tense and his teeth grind against each other, his anger unreasonably turning towards her for having such an expression on her face.
She pointed and he jerked his head around, at first not seeing anything but more casters and warriors. Then he spotted the dirtied, soot-stained red robes and the sleek helmet, noticed the gliding walk that was so different from the movements of the orcs and trolls walking across the flagstones.
"Arianna," he called, loud and rough, straightening, his firm grip on his axe slipping so the weapon came down to hang limply along his side. His stomach suddenly didn't feel so empty, his body felt lighter and he stopped so desperately holding on to his rage, no longer needing it just to stand anymore.
Arianna's gaze roamed the top of the inner wall before it lowered to meet his and as she steered straight toward him, he was so focused on her glowing green eyes that he nearly didn't notice the almost naked, pale-skinned, winged demon sauntering along behind her. Right now though, he couldn't care less about the succubus. He crossed the distance between them in a few long strides before reaching out and enveloping Arianna, crushing her to his chest. Despite barely feeling her through his thick armor, he was very aware of the great contrast between his own body, huge and thickly limbed and her short, thin frame, her helmeted head only coming up to just under his throat. But still, she seemed to fit there.
"You're not exactly comfortable." The words were dry, muffled and a little strained, but there was a hint of relief in them and he felt a faint touch through the mail along his throat. Then there was a slight push on his chest. "And you're covered in blood."
He released Arianna and took a step back, the smile behind his helmet turning a little crooked as he saw that the blood from his armor had rubbed off on her helmet and clothes.
"Not mine," he said, his voice still a little rough. He was about to continue when he noticed the group they'd fought alongside on the wall pass by them. In the center of that group was a tight cluster of people in robes, casters who'd joined them.
They couldn't just stand around and he glanced at the warriors behind him. His comrades were standing, ready and restless. They'd formed into a loose ring again, and trolls, forsaken and orcs in colorful robes had joined the two shamans, Drunnya and Shayla in the middle of the formation. He turned back to Arianna and said: "Well, join your fellows."
She snorted, but passed him without protest and he knew without looking that she would be right behind him. As she passed, he looked properly at the succubus for the first time and he felt his fur stand on end. She could have been Arianna's sister, if it hadn't been for the demonic features, reminding him of his strange nightmare, though she was curvier, less angular than Arianna and her demeanor showed none of Arianna's primness. Her hips and tail swung in a way that made Payta's walk yesterday seem subtle and as she passed him, she gave him an intrigued, sultry look and briefly touched his arm as she passed. Just having the succubus behind him made him uneasy, but it trouble him further that he felt an undeniable heat at her touch and the alien expression on the familiar face, a heat he couldn't wholly blame on the succubus' aura.
He was almost grateful for the sullen muttering that rose from the soldiers around him. It gave him something more urgent to focus on instead of the swirl of emotions that Arianna's reappearance and the succubus had drawn forth.
"Why'd you bring that? I doubt the whore can track," Mathias spat from beside Maurus.
"She can fly," Arianna responded tightly, after hesitating slightly. Maurus though he heard a minute quiver in her voice when she added: "We're lucky I had second thoughts before boarding."
Her answer, and her tone, made Maurus swallow thickly. Mathias snorted, but didn't respond and Maurus was glad he relented and not really disappointed at Ash's absence. As much as he wanted to find the dreadlord, he couldn't deny a certain relief at not having a way to track him right at that moment. He didn't know what Mathias would do if the trail led one way and they were ordered another. Neither did he know what he would or should do, if Mathias pressed the issue.
The muttering didn't stop though and Maurus realized he had to shut it down before anyone worked themselves up like Guth's men had in Ashenvale.
"Shut it!" he barked, voice loud and unyielding. He pointed with his axe at the ruined gate. Already, Horde soldiers were hurrying through, marching shoulder to shoulder. "We have better things to do than squabble."
The unit quieted and they followed the flow of Horde soldiers, passing beneath the broken teeth of the gate and through the tunnel-like arch which was dotted with troubling dark holes, before coming out into the inner courtyard and Maurus felt his stomach roll with sudden nausea, his skin crawling with a sensation like cold maggots despite the heat of the peninsula. The inner courtyard was huge, black with blood and the main Citadel at its center was a huge and solid stronghold, rising high above him in vaguely round tiers. Great spikes of stone and what looked like enormous tusks jutted from the walls, giving it the appearance of a colossus covered in spines. The two gates visible from this side were easily wide enough for eight orcs walking shoulder to shoulder and looked like dark, yawning maws, sending shivers down Maurus' spine. The architecture was undeniably orcish, but harsher, starker, with none of the rounded shapes and warm wood that softened the orcish buildings in Azeroth. Desiccated corpses and strings of bones and skulls hung from walls and outcroppings, competing for space with the pale banners displaying a scarlet hand dripping with blood. Trophies and banners weren't unusual for orcs, nor for any of the Horde except the blood elves and the forsaken, but the corpses and bones along the walls here were a world apart from those of the Horde. Where the trophies of the Horde were carefully selected and treated, turning each into a piece of art, the ones along the Citadel had only seen the most rudimentary of preparation, the bones and skulls seemingly having been gnawed clean and strung together and the corpses having just been set up after, or even before, death.
The battle around the foreboding Citadel was even fiercer than it had been along the outer walls. The Horde soldiers pushed fiercely against their enemies, who had been bolstered by a large number of demons. Fel guards, the giants Maurus had fought in Ashenvale, rose above the small-looking fel orcs, holding up much of the front line and allowing many of the fel orcs to draw back to the Citadel while fel hounds snapped at the ankles of the Horde soldiers, making any overeager advance risky. Blasts of magic and shimmering balls of light intermittently lit up parts of the battlefield and there were sudden flashes of light where magic was countered by casters and magically reinforced armor. Arrows sped through the air as archers took whatever shots they could, many of the arrows coming from almost invisible murder-holes along the walls.
Past the west side of the main Citadel, across the area where the ground dipped down to the level of the central gate of the outer walls, Maurus thought he could make out silver, blue and purple, the colors of the alliance that were attacking from the south. On the closest inner walls the Horde soldiers, druids and warriors, had almost defeated their opponents, though the fights up there were still intense and high in the air, ghostly drakes darted around in what looked almost like a dance, fighting wyverns, gryphpons and hippogryphs.
Stone Guard Stok'Ton barked out an order and led Maurus and the other new arrivals to the left, toward the flank that was struggling against the deadly combination of fel orcs, demon giants and casters. The latter was a mix of different types, one in blood red robes, with pauldrons of horn or bone and skull-like helmets, while the rest wore obscuring, dark robes and seemed to billow like smoke. Like Maurus had seen forsaken or troll priests look, once or twice. No matter their appearance, their magic was devastating where it reached, blasts of fire or shadow making their victims writhe and retreat in pain or panic that the fel guards took full advantage of.
"Clear a way!"Stok'ton bellowed and the soldiers ahead drew back, creating a gap in their lines for the arriving soldiers. Maurus howled in unison with the others as the charge took them into the demons, who hadn't expected the counterattack and he drove his axe down into the shoulder of a demon who had yet to pull his own blade from a dead orc. It howled in pain, but didn't fall and instead swung its sword up towards Maurus' face, only to jerk back as something black lashed over Maurus' shoulder and into its face with a crack.
Shocked to realize that Arianna's succubus had just distracted the fel guard, Maurus jerked his axe back and struck again, this time hitting just beneath the giant's helmet, cutting almost entirely through its neck. The demon gurgled in pain, falling to its knees as it crumbled into dust and Maurus ground his teeth at the unfairness of it. Once again, the Horde was losing lives while the demons escaped their deaths.
He hardly had time for that idle, angry thought though, because they had to maintain their momentum.
"Left one, Arianna," he barked, almost biting off her name. Utterly ignoring the demon to his left and the flash of gold and lightning on his right, Maurus met the strike of the demon right in front of him. He caught the broad blade of the demon just beneath the head of his axe.
The demon pushed on Maurus, keeping his attention as the demon on his left aimed its axe at him, but it turned translucent half-way through the swing, which passed through Maurus with no more effect than a slight tingle. Mathias stepped through the banished demon and stabbed his sword up, with expert aim, beneath the jaw of Maurus' opponent.
Baring his teeth in a fierce smile, Maurus pushed the limp demon backward and swung his axe at the next enemy, a fel orc that seemed unprepared for the axe sweeping through the ash cloud where the demon had been. Stepping forward along with Mathias and Calen, with the rest of his unit tight around him, he focused on hammering through the opposition while his comrades protected his flanks. Arianna and the casters chanted continuously behind them, carving holes in the opposition with deadly strikes of magic and weakening the defenders with more subtle spells.
Again, the defenders of the Citadel were pushed back. It was a slow, grueling fight, but inch by bloodstained inch, the main Citadel came closer. As it did, the demons made up more and more of the defenders, the fel orcs falling back behind them and vanishing into the massive maws of the Citadel. Despite the progress, Maurus only felt his rage and unease steadily increase. It wasn't right, that the fel orcs were retreating, that the demons were doing so much damage without truly losing something. But there was something else that deepened his unease.
The were getting close to one entrance, clashing almost exclusively with demons by then, when a voice rose over the battle din.
"Is this it, Bladefist?" Maurus glanced toward the sound and found the wolfs-head mask of Nazgrel himself, Advisor to Thrall and leader of the attack, where the fighting was bloodiest. His voice was full of fury, scorn and loathing, as he thundered: "Is this what you sold your souls for?" He flung aside a demon. "Damned your people?" A lance of searing lightning leaped from his free hand and burned a hole straight through an enemy warlock. "The Legion has made you weak!"
The naked hatred and the unflinching strength in the commanders voice sent a ripple of confidence through the Horde soldiers and they pressed forward harder, as Maurus finally found the cause of his unease. Putting together Kargath Bladefist's reputation with what he'd heard of storming fortified positions, Maurus couldn't believe it could be so easy to take the stronghold. And now that he thought about it, many of the fel orcs hadn't shown quite the strength he thought they possessed, though that could, maybe, be chalked up to the defenders being the smaller, weaker orcs. But that didn't make sense. He was hardly a great tactician, he was barely keeping his unit together, but it seemed to him that surrendering the walls couldn't be a sound tactic.
Though he couldn't see the faces of the others, there was a tension in the air that gave him the impression that he wasn't the only one thinking those thoughts.
He could do nothing but keep fighting though. They were committed, had bled too much by now to simply withdraw and they had to take the Citadel to ever have a chance of traversing the peninsula. He batted aside a blade that one of the remaining orcs had instead of a hand and smacked her in the head with the knob of his axe, feeling too-brittle bone, courtesy of Arianna's curses, completely cave in beneath the helmet. He stomped forward, toward the shadowy form of one of the fel orc casters, letting his axe carve into the chest of a shadowy fel orc, sending him tumbling to the ground just before he could unleash a handful of shadow at Mathias. He tugged his axe from the body as it became clearer, the hazy shape congealing into a solid form and was about to turn to the next enemy when he noticed the faint, green light appear on the stone beneath the corpse.
The grooves in the stone, which had almost vanished beneath all the blood, revealed themselves with the faint light. They weren't just the seams between stones or random scars from the long years but instead swirls and symbols that was encompassed by a modified circle. The bottom of Maurus' stomach seemed to drop out as he saw the same weak light spring up around him and heard gasps from behind him, two of them sounding like Arianna.
Glancing quickly back, he saw more circles coming to life throughout the courtyard. Even on the inner walls and to the south, by the Alliance, he could see the glow illuminate the warriors from below and he could smell the corruption wafting up, like smoke from a fire. Feeling like he was breathing in burning embers, he suddenly realized he'd felt the same utter revulsion in the caves beyond Demon Fall Canyon.
He wanted to turn, ask Arianna what was going on, but forced the impulse aside, turning his axe for his next attack.
Then a deep, deep rumble boomed up from somewhere beneath Maurus, erupting from the gate ahead like it the Citadel itself making it.
He stopped what he was doing and he wasn't the only one. Except for the fel hounds, which scampered off like frightened rats, everyone froze, fel guard, fel orc and Horde alike as the ground trembled and the air shifted. The sound grew, a deep reverberating howl, torn painfully from something old and huge and hate-filled, wordless but as solid and undeniable as the pressure before a thunderstorm, before it began fading again, echoes still ringing off the walls. Maurus could think of nothing that could make such a noise nor what could inflict such agony as there was in the howl and he shuddered. Around him, the courtyard remained frozen, everyone seeming rooted to their spots, even the demons, as the howl rose again, growing even louder, reaching into the sky.
Maurus looked up, and saw the dark, reddish sky above, with the sluggish streaks of lighting and greenish auroras, twist in a few dozen spots, like still water that suddenly swirled into a whirlpool. The rest of the courtyard did as he and then despairing cries rose from many of the Horde soldiers while the fel guards and remaining fel orcs cheered in guttural voices.
He just had time to notice that many of those that wailed were the older orcs, trolls and tauren, elites and veterans, before he saw the first glint of green-white fire appear in the middle of one of the vortexes in the sky. Another deep, raw howl rose from below as shrill whistles came from above and his heart shot into his throat, pounding furiously.
Dragging his eyes from the meteors streaking down, he managed to deflect an axe and shove the attacker aside before shouting: "Forward!"
Around them, orders flew through the air, most of them to the effect of "seek cover'. But one stood out, Advisor Nazgrel bellowing: "Break down their doors. Get inside!"
With panic lending Maurus strength and resolution, he lunged forward, toward the wide opening of the nearest entrance to the main Citadel, despite the thick portcullis that had fallen some point in the last few moments. He crashed into a fel guard, sending it stumbling and hurtled through another that Arianna banished, making a third leap back to avoid his axe. As the unit hurried forward, he felt a dozen impacts of weapons, but he ignored them as he simply used his mass to open a path away from the open ground. It was reckless and might have killed him if it hadn't been for his comrades. Mathias and the other warriors guarded his flanks while Calen's blasts of holy light blinded orcs and fel guards and Arianna's magic lashed out, weakening demons and boiling several fel orcs from within. Even the succubus forced enemies off balance, her whip cracking with expert precision.
Maurus was almost beneath the arch of the entryway when the ground shook and a blast of heat and force flowed over him. Against his better judgement, he turned and looked back out into the courtyard. Past those still standing, he saw Zulkis, Neveen, Tragkul and Kalm lay sprawled on the stone, along with several casters he couldn't name, flung to the ground by the force of the impact behind them. They were all dirtied and smeared with blood and didn't move, though he couldn't tell whether they were dazed, unconscious or dead. In a moment, it might not matter, because just behind them, black stones rose from a crater and formed into a body not quite thrice Maurus' height. Twenty-something more infernals rose from where they'd fallen and as one, the flaming monsters emitted hellish shrieks that rent through the air and felt like knives in Maurus' ears. Arianna, Calen and most of the trolls in sight cringed, free hands coming up to cover their ears, to little effect because of their helmets.
The sound and the devastation, dozens of Horde dead in a heartbeat, made Maurus' stomach lurch and his mind whirl with rage and fear.
"Fire and earth!" Maurus shouted desperately, directing his order at Shayla and Drunnya as the nearest infernal stepped forward, the blood beneath its feet sizzling and the flagstones glowing red. The two shamans reacted instantly, seemingly too stunned to think, but somehow understanding what he meant. Shayla crashed her hammer down upon the ground while Drunnya threw her arms out toward the infernal. As the stone next to Shayla heaved, pieces of rock the size of Maurus' thighs forming into a rough body, fire sprang from Drunnya's fingers, forming into a burly shape before crashing against the infernal.
The infernal's charge was slowed by the fire elemental and Shayla's earth elemental stopped it completely when it joined. As the elementals fought, the two shamans did what their opposite had done and a moment later, two more elementals were holding back the infernal.
Maurus' idea wasn't unique and plenty other shamans had already sent elementals against the other infernals. Other casters threw whatever they could at the infernals to slow them, though most of the bright blasts of magic seemed to burn off the green flames. He saw the undead he'd dubbed Speaker, his tattered, scarlet robes fluttering about him as he reached out with clawed fingers and stopped an infernal in it's tracks, binding it in chains made of light. Other warlocks stood out amongst the crowd, sending their familiars against the infernals or binding or weakening them with magic and the distinct golden-edged armor of blood elf paladins gleamed as they also threw warm light against the infernals. Arianna and Calen added their strength to that of the shamans' elementals, golden light and a flash of darkness somehow both seeming to dampen the flames.
The rest of the soldiers, warriors and druids mostly, tried desperately to adjust to the infernals' presence, while the remnants of fel orcs, fel hounds and fel guards still in the courtyard threw themselves forward, frenzied by the openings. On Maurus' left, the side Calen had been on, they had the other Horde holding up the flank, but on his right, Mathias and the other warriors had to push back against the fel guards they' rushed past.
Given a moment to think, Maurus glanced around, trying to ignore the screams and explosions and the soldiers thrown through the air by the infernals. He caught sight of Widget, not far from the infernal and the dead and wounded. She was crouched low, almost digging herself into her massive backpack, making herself even smaller than she was and from the position of her head, Maurus could see she was following the infernal's every move, except when she glanced up. Her gun lay at her feet, seemingly forgotten.
"Widget!" he shouted. He pushed himself forward, through the casters, digging into a pouch at his side. His fingers felt numb and clumsy now that he needed even the barest finesse. "Widget! Get up!"
She didn't react. As he reached her, he weighed the bomb in his fingers, the layer of slightly sticky, tar-like material it had been coated in, before taking aim. He might be terrible with throwing weapons, bows and guns, but he'd thrown plenty of stones in his life, even if this bomb was made for hands much smaller than his.
"Bomb! Get back!" he shouted as he threw. He grabbed Widget's backpack and pulled her back as the bomb sailed through the air, over the two fallen that were being helped up and back by their comrades. Three of the elementals drew back, one of the earth elementals remaining in place, wrestling with the infernal and without it. It was lucky it did, because if the infernal had taken a step forward, the bomb would have gone over its shoulder. Instead it hit and stuck right between the head and the shoulder and for a few heartbeats nothing happened. Maurus thought he could see the coating beginning to melt off the bomb and it slipped a little down the shoulder.
'Of course it fails me now!' a part of him screamed furiously. The though had just formed when the bomb went off with a crack like thunder. Maurus could feel the force of the explosion like a shove to the chest and a pressure in his ears, but there was no fire from the explosion itself, only from the displaced flame of the infernal. The coal-black rocks that made up its body shattered and the flames went out with a final shriek before both the infernal and the earth elemental crumbled into a pile of scalding rock.
"Mathias!" he yelled, as another infernal charged and the remaining elementals threw themselves forward to intercept. "The bombs work! Gor, switch!"
Mathias bashed his shield into the knee of one of the fel guards and stepped back from it as it faltered, the movement stiff. Gor stepped in to fill his place, denying the demon the chance to recover, while Mathias sheathed his sword and pulled a bomb from his own belt.
Trusting Mathias to take care of this infernal, Maurus clamped a hand on Widget's shoulder and she looked up at him, eyes wide and glassy, mouth open. He didn't think he'd ever seen her that shaken, though his experience with her in combat was admittedly limited, but at least she was responding now.
"How many of those bombs do you have?" he asked urgently and she blinked. When she didn't answer, he shook her and said, with more emphasis: "How many without fuses?"
She blinked again. Another explosion, distinctly goblin somehow, sounded and some life came back in her eyes.
"Ten," she squeaked. Maurus swallowed. He had three, Mathias had three, two in a moment, and there were plenty of infernals in the courtyard. The earthshaking, agonized howl rose above the battleground again and Widget looked past Maurus. He followed her gaze and felt like his heart might burst out of his chest as his eyes confirmed his fear. More infernals appeared in the sky, trailing long tails of green fire and the twisted holes in the sky showed no signs of disappearing.
"Not enough," Widget added and Maurus had no doubt she was right. He had no idea how long the rain of infernals would last, but they would run out. Another explosion rang out and the shockwave slapped against Maurus and Widget and she would have fallen had he not had a hand on her shoulder, but when Maurus glanced up, he saw the nearest infernal on the ground, but still burning. Its legs were gone and the elementals were pounding on it, but one massive fist cracked the earth elemental and beat back the flames of the fire elementals while the other dragged it forward, seeming intent on the Horde soldiers instead of the elementals.
It raised a hand, ready to smash down on Zilja, who was dragging an unconscious mage back and Maurus sprang forward, abandoning Widget to smash his axe into the infernal's upraised arm, throwing off the blow just enough. The heat was like a furnace and he was easily more than an arms length from any flame. He smashed his axe down on the infernal's head next and it shrieked at him, seemingly angered more than affected. He managed two more blows, feeling it crack, before the elementals swarmed back and he could retreat a few steps, just in time to avoid another blow of its huge fist.
The courtyard shook when the second wave of infernals crashed to the ground and the battle seemed bleaker than ever. The inner walls were free of enemies and the fel guards and fel orcs in the courtyard were getting overwhelmed, but it was only because the Horde soldiers were desperate in their haste to get away from the much more dangerous infernals. Horde veterans almost looked as desperate as Maurus felt, though they seemed to have some measure of control over the situation, while there green soldiers died in droves, simply crushed by the infernals. And arrows kept flying from arrow slits in the walls of the main Citadel, taking down unwary warriors and casters.
"We can't stay here," Arianna called to Maurus. If he hadn't heard the desperate tone in her voice and if he hadn't been shaking with desperate fear himself he would have snorted and rolled his eyes.
"Open the gate!" Commander Krunk shouted from somewhere behind the infernals. A group of armored warriors and two goblins with heavy bags went by Maurus, going into the archway toward the portcullis. It was a huge, dark tunnel and the portcullis looked solid and immovable. That wasn't even the worst part, because as he watched them reach the gate, thin spears lanced out the holes in the portcullis, forcing the warriors to block the attacks and preventing the goblins from getting near enough. Moments later, what he'd feared since first looking up at the outer walls of the Citadel happened. A stream of sizzling, dark liquid came pouring from above the gate, splashing on the shields of the warriors, burning exposed skin and setting the less protected goblins to shrieking and in the ensuing confusion, the long spears went out again and again, finding the flesh of the warriors and the sappers.
"How do we get that?" he demanded, turning to glance at Widget. Her head whipped around to the gate and back to Maurus' face.
"I don't know," she wailed. "Even without the defenders, it's too solid. I'd weaken, then blow up. Or cut it. But-"
"How do you cut steel?" Maurus asked, the incredulous question slipping out despite his much more pressing concerns.
Apparently, Widget was in the same odd state, answering the question seemingly without thinking: "Lots of heat."
The shriek of the maimed elemental made Maurus look forward, just in time to see its flames flicker and die, but two more infernals were already coming forward to take its place. Seeing the crumbling earth elemental and the wavering fire elementals, he raised his axe. He was about to throw it away to draw his shield when he noticed the dull red glow on the edge. It wasn't from any fire, the metal itself was glowing and his eyes went wide.
"Clear a path!" he shouted, stepping forward, switching his axe to his left hand. His right hand found two more of Widget's bombs. "Clear a path!"
For a moment, he thought the others wouldn't obey, but then they pushed themselves to the side, even the elementals moving aside, clearing a path wide enough that the infernal would have to divert its course to hit them. He hurled the bombs in quick succession and this time they exploded quickly, sending the infernal crashing to the ground in a mound of black rubble. Maurus thrust his axe out at the other infernal, locked his eyes on the burning pits that passed for his eyes and rose to his full height, letting out a roar filled with all the defiance and scorn he could muster.
It worked. He could almost feel the infernal's gaze and its intent to utterly destroy him. With that accomplished, he turned and followed the instincts in him that screamed for him to run, moving swiftly back toward the gate. As he did, he glanced at caught each of the shamans' gazes and barked out: "Be ready to hold it!"
When the ceiling passed above him, he felt a surge of squirming fear in his stomach, though it was a pale shadow to the terror he felt as the enclosed space was heated by the infernal behind him. He turned, seeing the mound of stone and fire coming down on him and managed to stop himself right in front of the corpses of the warriors and goblins, only as its right fist came down on him. He leaped diagonally forward, curling in on himself and felt three impacts. One was the ground, another was the infernal's fist glancing off his neck-plates, turning them scorching hot in that instant and the third was his arm bouncing off the infernal's leg, also earning him a burn that made him cry out in pain.
He was immensely grateful to see blasts of lighting, a shadow bolt and a golden wave pass over his head, driving the infernal back for the heartbeats required for the elementals to catch up.
He got to his hooves in time to see the infernal pressed against the portcullis, shrieking and struggling, but unable to really move with it's midsection held in place by the earth elemental and its arms caught by the fire elementals. It might have been the glow of the green and golden fires, but he was almost sure he could see the metal of the portcullis glow red.
"Widget!" he called, breathless. "What do I do?"
Seemingly roused by the passage of the infernal, Widget came scurrying into the tunnel. Just outside the opening, Arianna, Calen, Mathias and half the unit looked in. Beyond them, the courtyard was still a scene of carnage.
Widget pointed at the backpack and shouted over the infernal's cries: "One in each corner. Jam them in."
Maurus grabbed one, and hurried to do as he was told while Widget took the other one, holding it over her head like a shield. He felt sweat beneath his armor and abruptly truly feared that the pack would explode while in his hands.
"Set up and get out," Arianna shouted from outside. Maurus was about to argue, but then he caught the tone, a mix of commanding, smug and assuring. He pushed the backpack into he corner, ignoring the suffocating heat emanating from the three flaming creatures and hurried backward.
Widget shrugged off her backpack and handed it to him.
"Get it on its head," she said, half-excited, half-desperate, pointing at the infernal. Maurus nodded and flung the pack, then grabbed Widget and ran out of the opening and she shouted: "Fire in the corners, now!"
Maurus caught the flash of anger in Drunnya and Shajla's eyes. They stood on each side of the gate, looking ready to get out of the way, but despite their apparent displeasure, they did as they were told, gesturing and shouting in an unknown language into the opening.
Thunder rolled out of the tunnel-like entrance, concentrated to a wave of force that Maurus was grateful he'd gotten out of the way of. He was even more grateful as he saw another infernal charge past him, into the tunnel, only just noticing the bands of white fire around its limbs. Commander Krunk and his elites followed, the casters in their midst including a very focused looking Speaker.
Maurus looked into the opening when he heard growling and screams erupt from within. The elementals were gone, but in the sickly glow of the infernal, he could see deep into the downward sloping tunnel, past the shattered remains of the portcullis, where the bound infernal was smashing a way through the fel orcs who had been waiting on the other side, apparently unprepared for the destruction of the portcullis or the rockslide of dead and living infernal.
A smile crept onto his face, though whether it was a triumphant or manic one, he couldn't tell. Fighting down the tremble in his limbs, he bellowed, voice much steadier than he'd expected: "It's open. Follow me!"
His unit immediately gathered around him, the casters, Widget and those wounded that could still move in the middle, the warriors around them. He could sense the movement in the courtyard as the Horde adjusted and prepared to enter the main Citadel. It was a gamble, but as long as the infernals kept coming down, it was a risk they had to take.
So, once again, feeling the walls press in around him, fighting to keep his hands from shaking, and with the pressure of command on his shoulders, Maurus went down into the unknown tunnels filled with demons and their allies.
Man, I suck at the whole "keep a schedule" thing. I have no excuse. I hope this long one was worth the wait. I hope it doesn't feel like I'm dragging out the story, but I wanted to do justice to what storming a fortress such as this must be.
Please let me know what you think. Any input is much appreciated.