The Stone Hills. Winter...
Justifier Marsille sits upon his wyvern, impatient as his army gets underway for the day. Dawn has broken, and though some squads have formed, and are on the road and are moving out. Many others have yet to even pack up their gear, let alone actually be moving off, as the army continues northwards into the Stone Hills.
The sorcerer who has landed and is on the hillside where the night's camp was, and in some places, still is. Wraps his cloak tightly around himself as the misty morning is a rather cold one.
The justifier who went up earlier with a couple of other wyverns and their riders, returned because visibility is poor along much of the road. His officers have sent out scouts as they usually do in the early morning.
They'll see what's happening on and near the road, better than he and the other wyvern riders will be able to see from the air.
The sorcerer Marsille, is frowning as he's just cast a wind spell to dissipate some of the mist, that's coming in from the east. A spell that he thought was successful in the casting, but it seems it hasn't been. When a rider comes up the hill, and stops near his wyvern.
"Justifier, there's someone on the road up ahead" says the rider, who is a subaltern, one of the officers who has sent out the scouts. "Who?" asks justifier Marsille "We're not sure justifier" replies the junior officer, who continues with "It's just one person by the looks of it" he pauses for a moment, before adding "It's a man, not a dwarf".
That piques the sorcerer's interest, and after lifting his eyebrows up in surprise, he dismounts and says to one of his aides "Get my horse".
The mount is close by, and as it's brought to him, he says to the nearby wyvern riders and their squads "Bring up the wyverns a bit later" he continues with "We'll be on the road".
Justifier Marsille gets up into the saddle of his horse, and before he sets off down the hill, he calls out to some nearby officers who are overseeing the breaking down of the rest of the camp "Get that bloody lot moving!" he follows that up with "I want them on the road with the rest of the army now!".
The sorcerer, along with the subaltern who rode up with the message. As well as two more officers, and his personal guards. Ride down the hillside towards the road. The further they ride down, the thicker the cold mist gets on this cold winter's day.
Tamric Drubine and Lisell Maera share a look after Helbe the elven thief speaks to the two of them. The young elven noble has moved off into the mist, to speak with sir Percavelle Lé Dic, who isn't all that faraway from the two youngsters from south of the equator.
Tam and Lis are with a unit of archers and warriors with crossbows. They're hidden amongst rocks and boulders to the west side of the trade road, they're about a hundred and fifty yards further south of the redoubt. Spread out to the south and north of them, are other units. Including the unit of dwarven warriors with heavy spears, that sir Percavelle Lé Dic is with.
The heavily armoured knight who is sitting down on a rock behind a boulder, tries not to sourly smile, and fails to. When prince Helbenthril Raendril walks out of the mist towards him, and quietly tell him something.
The nobleman from the kingdom of Druvic who didn't particularly care for what the young elven noble just told him, though he will abide by it, grudgingly though.
Blinks as the elven masterthief looks in the direction of the road that's close by, and suddenly disappears. A few of the nearby dwarven warriors share glances with the earl of Lé Dic in Druvic.
Then the elven magic user reappears, over his shoulder is a dead man. The elven princeling lowers the body to the rocky ground "One of their scouts" quietly says Helbe the elven thief, who then suddenly disappears again.
"Glad his highness is on our side" murmurs the dwarven warrior closest to sir Percavelle Lé Dic, the heavily armoured knight in the order of Saint Mar-che nods his full helmed head in agreement with that sentiment.
They've made their way down the steps at the end of the tunnel in the redoubt. And into another tunnel, an old culvert that's been rebuilt into a tunnel. That passes beneath the trade road. They're on the east side of the paved road now, and are heading southwards.
Clan chieftain Baedin Kraelin, his cousin Barmil the delver, along with Helnd, his acting second. As well as the rest of the warriors who were in the redoubt, join up with the main force of the clan army. Who are waiting silently in the mist on this, the east side of the road.
Once they're with the bulk of his army, who are hiding amongst the rocks and boulders, and scrubby looking trees. As well as in the water ditch right beside the road, a water ditch that's dry at the moment, thanks to any water that was in it, being cleverly diverted thanks to grates that have been opened.
Listen to the approaching enemy army along the trade road. The dwarves who can hear far more clearly and much further than humans, thanks to their enhanced hearing. Hear the sounds of horses to the south on the road. Making their way through the mist, heading this way.
It won't be long before the enemy will go by their position, as the plan for the battle intends them to do.
On the road itself, a couple hundred yards south of the rock wall that's the redoubt, where the paved trade road ends, and turns into a cart track, that curves away, and goes uphill to the Kraelin clan mountainhold. Stands a large dark figure in the mist, who is by himself, it's lord Farque.
The undead warlord who is sensing everyone in the area, can clearly see through the mist with his ultra vision. The heavily armoured deathlord who has seen most of the enemy scouts killed by Helbe the elven thief. Looks to the south along the trade road, where he sees the approaching army in the eerie light of dawn through the morning mist.
There's a slightly sour looking smile upon the youthful seeming face of the deathlord of Farque behind the visor of his full helm as he watches the enemy army in the distance.
The undead being who was a general, then battlelord and a very young age, looks on in a disappointing manner at how disjointed the enemy army is.
The undead warlord who can see from his position on the road, the hillside the army from Falnic in Belinswae, set up camp for the night. Sees plenty of their foot soldiers still coming down the hillside, while a lot of the mounted guards are thinly spread out along the road.
The support guards with the supply wagons and carts, are getting the camp followers moving. Some of them are already on the road and underway. The units on foot who are already on the road are getting mixed up with these camp followers.
Then the heavily armoured deathlord glances down to his right, where lying flat in the ditch on the west side of the road, the high side. Is the dwarven warriors led by Karne the Axe Thrower, who came with him from the redoubt.
"Not too far away now" quietly says lord Farque, the dwarven warrior Karne, nods his head as looks up at the large heavily armoured figure standing on the road by himself. The undead warlord then looks away to his left through the mist, where he can just see the abandoned village on the shore of the small lake.
The village that he was in yesterday morning, when he encountered a patrol of enemy guards. The lord of the death realm briefly glances at what's just to the north of the empty village. Then he looks back along the road to the south and continues to watch the justifier's army from Belinswae approach.
The sorcerer Marsille and those with him ride forward. Passing other mounted guards and those on foot. Many of whom make way for the justifier who leads this particular army from the city of Falnic in Belinswae.
They come upon the lead riders about a mile or so north of the hillside where they made camp, justifier Marsille nods as he sees that the riders in the lead have reined up. Forcing those who are further back along the road who are strung out, to form up in their ranks.
"Good" murmurs the sorcerer Marsille, who then adds "A semblance of order for once". The justifier suspects the mist this morning has forced his guards to be more professional in their approach to the day's march. With the more experienced guards waiting for those units who are mainly made up of those who have been pressed into serving in the justifier's war against the dwarven clans of the Stone Hills.
When the sorcerer and those with him get to the front group of riders, justifier Marsille is met by one of his commanding officers, who the sorcerer asks "Where's this person that's been spotted?".
"He's further on justifier" says the commanding officer as they get underway again, their horses moving at a walking pace. The senior officer gestures to a mounted scout, who says "Nellin here and a couple of the other scouts spotted him".
The sorcerer nods his head as the cold wind starts to blow more freely down here on the road, sending the mist swirling as they ride north.
"Any of the other scouts seen anything?" asks the justifier who is sensing all around for anything magical as they ride through the eerie looking light of just after dawn due to the rising sun shining through the mist.
"They haven't all reported back" says the commanding officer, as they ride, unaware that dwarven warriors are off to either side of them, off from the road, within the boulders and rocks, as well as the scrubby looking trees on the east side of the road.
The senior officer gestures down the road, and they see a pair of guards, with their mounts, on an incline, just off the west side of the road. The lead group of the army, as well as justifier Marsille and those who rode forward, join them.
They're two of the scouts, and one of them says "Justifier there" the scout who is pointing north, continues with "You can see him when the wind blows and parts the mist". The sorcerer who is still sitting upon his horse, while others have dismounted, looks carefully to the north. And eventually spots a lone figure standing in the middle of the road, a figure that's definitely not a dwarf.
"Who is that?" murmurs the sorcerer Marsille, who probes the mind of the person standing about eighty yards away from their position. The sorcerer blinks in surprise when he comes up blank.
A gust of wind blows by, and a moment later they get a better view of who it is that's standing on the road. "Big bastard" says the subaltern who informed the justifier of the presence of the person standing on the trade road that goes into the heart of the Kraelin clanhold.
"Armoured in full plate too if I'm not mistaken" says the commanding officer, justifier Marsille nods in agreement, then he looks at those riders who have just formed up behind them. And as the mist slowly thickens again, the sorcerer says to one of the riders "Sir" he pauses as the commanding officer beside him helpfully murmurs "Donam".
"Donam, would you happen to know who that individual is?" adds the justifier as he gestures north along the road, to where the mist is starting to obscure the lone figure standing in the middle of the road.
"I can't say that i do justifier Marsille" says sir Donam, a knight in the order of the Victorious Sword, one of a handful of knights serving in the army of the sorcerer Marsille. The knight, glances at his squire mounted beside him, who says "Looks like he could be an avenger of some kind".
"Mayhap he is" says the heavily armoured knight, justifier Marsille slightly frowns as he's vaguely familiar with that term, and he says "You mean a former knight?". "Yes justifier" says the knight in the order of the Victorious Sword, who then adds "That's what he could be".
The sorcerer nods his head, then as more and more of the mounted ranks form up behind them on the road, Marsille hears the sounds of wyverns in the air, they've left the hillside where the night's camp was, and are approaching.
Just then, one of the scouts says "There" and points to the figure they can barely see now that the mist has formed up again. Now standing behind him, they see other figures, much shorter, obviously dwarves.
"So they're here" quietly says justifier Marsille, who continues with "They're going to make a stand here before the road ends, and the track beyond it goes up their mountain". The sorcerer looks at his senior officer and tells him "Commander prepare the front ranks to attack".
Eighty yards away on the trade road, lord Farque who is watching the enemy, listens to the dwarves led by Karne the Axe Thrower, continue to gather behind him after they come up from their hiding place in the ditch next to the road.
Once all fifty or so of them are behind him in the mist, some spread out across the road behind him, Karne steps forward so that he's only a few yards behind the large, heavily armoured deathlord.
"Looks like they're going to form up and charge my lord" murmurs Karne aka Axe Thrower "They are" is the quiet comment of lord Farque. The old dwarven warrior standing a bit back from him is silent for a few moments, then he quietly asks "Are we waiting for something my lord?".
"We are" is the quiet reply of the lord and ruler of the lands Farque, who with a brief glance away in the direction of the abandoned village to the east, he adds "Reinforcements". Karne suddenly feels the air infront of him go freezing cold, and a faint blue glow come from large, heavily armoured figure standing infront of him . . . . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment