The Stone Hills. Winter...
About seven miles southeast of where the battle is taking place between a substantial sized force from Justifier Maxime's army, and a combined army of dwarves from various clans, to the east of Išorkam Uñd.
Helbe the elven thief is on a hilltop, frowning as he looks of to the south. The blurred and shielded elven magic user is looking for someone and something, and he can't find either of them.
"Bloody hell" mutters Helbe the elven thief, who then silently adds, by the forest gods, is he holding his power within himself?
That infact turns out to be true. Because a little while later, Narladene the ground pixie suddenly appears infront of the young elven noble, and says "I've found him" the tiny winged creature makes a face, then adds "He's been holding his power within himself, that's why you couldn't find him".
"Bloody knew it" mutters prince Helbenthril Raendril in the royal elven language, then switching to the regular elven language, he asks the naturally magical creature who is attached to him "Where?".
"There" says the ground pixie who lands upon the right shoulder of the elven masterthief and points, nodding his hooded head, the young elven noble looks to where Narladene has pointed. Then after she grabs a hold of his shoulder, he shifts away.
It takes him a handful of shifts to get where he wants to go. Once he's on the side of another hill, which he starts walking up, Helbe the elven thief tells Narladene "The battle has begun" he points skywards, and adds "I went up and had a look back to the northwest, and saw that they had engaged with the enemy".
The tiny winged creature who is the middle of her eighth century of life, still relatively young for one of her kind, says "He might know too" the elven princeling glances sideways at her, and she adds "He's pretty powerful for a wizard".
"Oh?" says the elven master assassin, who then adds "How powerful?". "Well more than you are" slyly says the ground pixie, the elven magic user snorts, then wryly says "That's not exactly difficult" he continues with "A lot of spellcasters are more powerful than me".
Narladene, who still finds it difficult to believe that a royal elf such as Helbenthril Raendril, is fairly weak magically compared to a lot of other practitioners of magic, tells him "About as powerful as that fat delver Barmil".
"That is powerful for a wizard alright" murmurs the young elven noble from the principality of Laerel, which is off the coast of the Southlands.
The ground pixie who is attached to him, knows that though he's not particularly powerful. He makes up for that with how talented he is with magic, and how skillful, not to mention how inventive.
For though most spellcasters go through life without creating a single original spell. Helbenthril Raendril, who at just over two hundred years old, young for any elf, let alone a royal one. Has already created a number of spells that had never been thought of before.
Then when the blurred and shielded elven magic user gets to the crest of the hill that's got a dusting of snow on it, which is yet to melt on this sunny winter's day.
He looks down into a valley nestled between a few hills. Down in the valley is an army, it's the main bulk of the forces of the Justifier Maxime.
"Quite a few of them" murmurs the grandson of the ruling prince of Laerel, Helbe the elven thief figures that there must be in excess of two and half thousand guards down in the valley, and that doesn't count the numerous amount of camp followers and support guards who are with them.
That's just an advanced party the dwarves are battling at the moment, the elven master archer thinks to himself as he watches the army down in the valley below.
They're not actually moving at the moment, it looks like they've briefly stopped for their midday meal.
"Right" quietly says prince Helbenthril Raendril, who then asks the ground pixie standing on his right shoulder "Where exactly is he?".
"He's there" is the answer from Narladene who points to one of the tents that have been put up, as the army from Belinswae briefly stops.
Now what should i do? the young even noble from the principality of Laerel thinks to himself as he rubs his jaw, and contemplates what he'll do now that he's found the wizard Maxime, who is one of the Justifiers of Belinswae, who have invaded the Stone Hills.
The Southlander has been given orders to kill the Justifier down in the valley below. He's just wondering what else he can achieve while he goes about killing the leader of the army that has pushed into the Omban clanhold.
Now that he's closer to the enemy army, he wonders about something else "You know an army that big, you'd think he'd have a number of other spellcasters with him" says the elven princeling, who continues with "I don't sense any".
"Nor do i" says Narladene with a frown upon her face, she continues with "Only other one's nearby are with that lot fighting the dwarves at the moment" she adds "There's a couple there" the ground pixie pauses once more, before saying "Well there's just one now".
Helbe the elven thief nods his hooded head, the battle to the northwest, is too far away for him to sense. So he has to rely on Narladene to inform him with what's happening there magically.
"Still, you'd think he'd have at least a couple with him here" murmurs the elven magic user, who looks around and senses, before he says "I wonder if he's cast anything recently?".
He looks at the tiny winged creature on his right shoulder, and asks her "Is he casting at the moment?" he gestures down at the enemy army, and adds "And has he set anything?" as he has a suspicion the wizard from Belinswae knows how to hide his spells.
"He's not casting at the moment" answers the ground pixie, who then adds "But you're right, he has set a few spells in and around the army down there" she then informs the young elven noble at what they are.
After she does, he asks her "What's he using to hide those spells?" prince Helbenthril Raendril adds "Describe it".
A masking spell? the elven magic user thinks to himself after Narladene describes to him how the wizard is hiding the spells he's set.
The elven masterthief slightly shrugs, then having the ground pixie tell him exactly where the hidden spells are. And seeing that the army below is about to get going again, as tents are being pulled down. The elven master assassin shifts down into the army from Belinswae, as he has a job to do.
As he walks between Justifier's guards, unseen and unheard, Helbe the elven thief faintly smiles as he doesn't see a single wyvern with the army, or any in the skies above.
He suspects there are probably a few around, but they're somewhere away to the south. Since he and lord Farque have either captured or killed most of the tame wyverns that Justifier Maxime's army have been using.
The grandson of Prince Raendril slips through a barrier spell around a tent, with his shield spell making him undetected by the alarm spell around the tent too, as he follows a couple of guards inside.
Helbe the elven thief stands to one side, looking at the Justifier who is with a couple of his commanding officers looking at some maps on a camp table, as guards start packing up other things in the tent.
Ah so that's where you're hiding them, the elven masterthief thinks to himself as he reads the mind of the wizard, and finds out where he has a trio of spellcasters who are usually with him. They're far away to the south, infact they're in northern Belinswae.
The Justifier, a man in his late thirties, tall for someone from Belinswae as he's nearly six foot tall. Has them come to him via rift, whenever he's in need of them.
Think I'll bring them here too, the elven master archer thinks to himself, who then continues to read the mind of the wizard Maxime, who wears the typical wizard's robes. Helbe the elven thief is surprised the Justifier doesn't have a staff, since he looks so much like a stereotypical wizard.
The Southlander slightly nods his hooded head as finds out what lord Farque suspected. That the smaller army of Justifier Maxime to the northwest, was to engage the dwarven forces here in the Omban clanhold, to try and wipe them out. Or at least severely damage them so that they're no longer a threat to the Justifier's forces.
Before he moves the main bulk of his army northwards into the heart of the Omban clanhold, north of Išorkam Uñd, where they can take over the mines and underground settlements of the dwarves, along with the Omban mountainhold itself.
Clever, he's got superior numbers, might as well use them to his advantage, the elven prince from the island of Laerel thinks to himself, then having decided what he's going to do, which isn't kill the Justifier from Belinswae straight away, the elven master assassin casts a spell, and takes over the mind of the wizard Maxime.
The commanding officers are slightly surprised when Justifier Maxime suddenly tells them what he's about to do, they stand back, and little while later, a rift starts to form in the middle of the tent.
The wizard from central Belinswae, sends a couple of the guards packing things up, through the rift to get what he wants. It's only a few moments later that they return, with them are a trio of spellcasters who have been staying in an inn in a town in northern Belinswae.
The three, a hedge wizard, a witch, and an apprentice magic user. All of whom are not particularly powerful. As the Justifiers of Belinswae like to have control of those spellcasters they don't kill, who they have work for them.
Helbe the elven thief who can easily cast multiple spells at the same time, when most other practitioners of magic find it difficult to cast two spells simultaneously, and near impossible to cast three at once. Takes over the minds of the three newcomers.
Then the elven magic user has them, along with the wizard Maxime, wreck havoc here within the large army in a valley nestled between some hills.
The commanding officers, the guards infront of them, and most of the tent, vanish in a swirl of fire, as the wizard Maxime creates a fireball that he sends hurtling away from himself.
Helbe the elven thief who is a bit behind the Justifier, has the trio of spellcasters from northern Belinswae hurry after the departing fireball. Casting spells of their own. The fairly powerful wizard follows more slowly after them, as they attack their own army with the full force of their magical powers.
The blurred and shielded elven princeling follows behind the Justifier, controlling all four spellcasters from Belinswae. Making sure they do as much damage as possible before the elven master assassin kills the wizard Maxime.
A blast spell from the hedge wizard slams into a group of guards loading gear into the back of a small wagon.
The witch curses a group of other guards, sending them running away, screaming and howling in horror.
While the apprentice magic user controls the minds of two experienced guards, and has them attack the squad of pressed guards that they've been reluctantly in charge of for the last month since they've made their way into the Stone Hills.
Panic breaks out amongst the army of the army of Justifier Maxime once the guards realise what's going on,
A large sinkhole appears, fifty feet wide, sending everything and everyone within it, crashing down twenty five feet into the earth, thanks to the spell cast by the wizard, whose army this is,
Helbenthril Raendril has the four spellcasters whose minds he has control over. Cast spell after spell, attacking their own guards.
Illusions of demons rise, so lifelike and tactile, that for brief moments, it seems like they're so real, that many of the guards who face them. Drop dead in fright, or pass out because they can't comprehend what they're actually seeing.
Clouds of birds appear to peck and attack the unprotected eyes and faces of guards. In a place, the Stone Hills, where bird life isn't particularly abundant to begin with.
A large bolt of lightning shoots down from the clear sunny sky, eliciting a peel of thunder after it slams down into the ground amongst a group of guards trying to run away from the chaos and madness around them.
Their bodies are flung about, with more than a few burnt beyond recognition when the bolt of lightning strikes them.
The earth at one end of the valley erupts upwards in an explosion, sending debris flying everywhere, along with about fifty guards who are caught up in the explosion.
A wall of water, eight foot high, and double that in length. Slams into fleeing guards. When the water strikes them, it instantly turns to ice. Which slams into the bodies of the guards it touches. Instantly pulverizing them, turning them into a bloody and pulpy mess.
After the witch is killed by an arrow from a particular brave guard who fights back, though he does go up like a burning wick as the witch kills him in her last moment of life.
Helbe the elven thief kills the wizard Maxime by slamming one of his spike punchers into the back of the Justifier's skull. After the wizard casts a rather large energyball, amongst some of his fleeing guards, creating a rather decent sized explosion.
The elven princeling shifts back up to the hillside he observed the army from earlier. There he continues to control the minds of the two remaining spellcasters. The hedge wizard, and the apprentice magic user. Having them continue to cast spell after spell.
After a while, and seeing that the enemy army. Well those that aren't dead or wounded. Are fleeing en masse. Prince Helbenthril Raendril has the apprentice magic user, who is almost out of power, and needs to recuperate. Set himself on fire, and run amongst some of the fleeing guards, setting them on fire too.
Then the elven magic user kills the last spellcaster, the hedge wizard. By having the older man, blow himself up amongst a group of Justifier's guards who are running away in a panic.
Watching the chaos the elven masterthief has created, Narladene the ground pixie says to him "You know, for someone who has a bit of a lax attitude to life, not to mention other people's possessions, you've got a bit of a nasty streak to you".
"Why thank you, from you that's a compliment" says Helbe the elven thief, as he knows the tiny winged creature who is attached to him, is about the most vindictive individual one is likely to meet. Who has a mean streak a mile wide, figuratively of course.
Narladene grins as they watch the enemy army down in the valley that's in disarray after the Justifier who commands it, turned on it . . . . . .
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