Nomads Plains. Winter...
There's just over a hundred and twenty miles between the two portals in the Nomads Plains. And they travel a lot of that by way of a rift cast by lord Walashàele. His army and the elven mercenaries hired in southern Maladimbáh, and a smaller number of nomad tribesmen go through it as well.
They traverse the rest of the way to the second portal on foot and on horseback. With the exception of those flying on the backs of griffons.
Who have been ranging far and wide, to the western edge of the plains. Where one such griffon is returning from. On the back of which is Riley Hait the mercenary ranger, who is sitting behind Jalindílth Walashàele, the daughter of lord Walashàele.
They're returning from seeing the gathering of tribal nomads near the edge of the dry, arid plains. Where it meets the region of Belinswae.
The ranger Hait nods his head when Jalindílth Walashàele points and shouts "There!". He takes her word for it, and a little while later he spots the army from the elven principality of Maladimbáh to the east, who are approaching some small, bare hills along the plains.
The attractive elven maid then gestures away to their left, to the north. The mercenary ranger from the Southlands looks that way, and spots what the elven magic user has seen.
"Wild one's?" asks Riley Hait the mercenary ranger as he looks at the flight of wyverns in the sky to the north "They are" replies the daughter of the head of house Walashàele, she continues with "They won't come anywhere near Bright Claw".
I wonder why, the ranger Hait dryly thinks to himself, as he's already seen evidence of wild wyverns getting too close to the griffon he's upon.
Earlier today, a pair of wild wyverns got a little too close to the elven maid's griffon than it would of liked. The Southlander is pretty certain the elven magic user had no control over the griffon that mauled the pair of wyverns that came to see what it was doing.
The ranger who was raised and trained in the elven principality of Envadarlen in the Southlands was surprised the griffon didn't actually kill the two wyverns.
He said as much to Jalindílth Walashàele. Who informed him that Bright Claw was only playing with the wild wyverns.
The larger griffon gave each wyvern a good thump or two. As well as a fairly decent rake along their flanks to give them something to talk about.
The injured wyverns fled for their lives. And Jalindílth Walashàele told the mercenary ranger from south of the equator, that if Bright Claw wanted the two wyverns dead, they would be dead.
They drop down in altitude as they approach the low hills, they circle a pair of them, which are really only large mounds more than anything else. Between them is the portal, the otherside of which, is in the region of Belinswae. Only a handful of miles from the coastal city of Falnic.
The griffon Bright Claw lands upon one of the mounds, letting out a chirp come purr as it hunkers down, allowing the pair on it's back to get off it easily.
The ranger Hait gets off the large winged creature after the attractive elven maid, and the two of them head downhill to where a number of the army are waiting near the portal.
"Where's Dorc?" asks the mercenary ranger from south of the equator "And where's my horse?" he adds in a murmur, hoping the large ork hasn't wandered off with his mount and fucked it to death, then eaten it.
"Oh he's around" replies the tribal leader Chanük as the two of them, along with a number of other nomad tribesmen stand off to one side of the portal.
They're speaking in the language of the plains nomads, which is the same as the dialect of the hordes barbarians of the southern tundra, which Riley Hait really is. Since he's actually Zubutai Timaginson, who just happens to inhabit the body of the mercenary ranger from the elven principality of Envadarlen in the Southlands.
"Your horse is with those of the mercenaries you hired" says Chanük, the ranger Hait nods his head as he spots his mount amongst others at the base of the hill on the otherside of the portal.
The portal where Jalindílth Walashàele is talking with her father the lord of house Walashàele, and their cousin Galacithàné.
"Did you see my brother?" asks the nomad leader "I did" replies Riley aka Zubutai the barbarian hordesman who tells Chanük about his meeting with the far hunter Saladén on the edge of the plains. And how the gathering of the various tribes, mostly those from this side of the plains is going.
"Quite a few are dotted along the edge of the plains" quietly says Riley Hait who figures Jalindílth Walashàele is telling her father, and their cousin the exact same thing as the three of them converse in the noble elven language next to the stone portal.
"Must of counted more than eight thousand tribesmen as we flew over them along the edge of the plains" quietly says the Southlander "Will that be enough?" asks the tribal leader "With this lot here, what nearly another four and half thousand" says the mercenary ranger, who shrugs his shoulders, then adds "I don't know".
The mercenary who was brought up and trained by the elven warders of Envadarlen, then quietly tells the Chanük "Numbers won't really matter, we've got surprise on our side" Riley aka Zubutai Timaginson then adds "They might see all of your fellow tribesmen coming, but they won't see all of this lot, who'll be at their city gates quicker than they'll ever believe".
The tribal leader nods to that, then he looks behind the ranger Hait, and says "There's Dorc" the mercenary ranger who is in actual fact, a hordes outrider from the southern tundra, turns and spots the large ork coming around the side of the hill that the griffon Bright Claw is on top off.
The large winged creature squawks at the passing ork warleader, who eyes up the griffon as he goes by it. Riley Hait sees the ork weaponsmith lick his lips as he watches the griffon. The mercenary ranger wonders if Dorkindle wants to fuck or eat the griffon. Riley aka Zubutai Timaginson suspects both. Which is indeed correct.
Although the day is fairly cool for here on the Nomad's Plains, it amounts to being like a fairly warm spring day on the coast of Belinswae where the city of Falnic is.
And even though it's beyond mid afternoon, and things are starting to cool down again. Dorc da Orc is sweating as he makes his way to where Riley Hait and Chanük are standing.
The large ork who is drinking from a bag of the fermented ewe's milk that the tribal nomads make. Just hopes there's another overnight frost tonight.
For the Nomad's Plains can be surprisingly cold at night during the wintertime. The warleader of the ork race just wishes it was cold during the daytime too. But no such luck, as it's too warm for his liking, even though it's winter.
"Where have you been?" asks Riley Hait when the large ork gets to them "Around" is the reply of Dorc da Orc, a reply the mercenary ranger thinks is more than a little evasive. But he doesn't push the matter.
"We gonna go fucken through?" asks the ork warleader who nods at the stone structure nearby "Maybe" is the quiet reply of Riley aka Zubutai the barbarian hordesman. Who knows that this portal has only been operational again since the end of summer. When lord Farque, Dorc da Orc and Mira Reinholt ran across it.
And the undead warlord had the Vexilian mage in exile power it up again after centuries of non use.
Dorkindle grunts after drinking the last of the ewe's milk, looks around for something else to drink, when lord Walashàele calls them over.
The two from south of the equator, along with the tribal leader Chanük make their way over to the trio of elven nobles from the principality of Maladimbáh who are standing next to the portal.
"So, how about a quick trip through the portal to see how things fare on the otherside?" asks lord Walashàele in the common language "Sounds good to me" says Riley Hait, the head of house Walashàele nods, then asks "What's exactly on the otherside?".
"Dorc" says the ranger Hait as he looks at the large ork who is the only one here to of gone through this particular portal "Huh?" grunts the weaponsmith from the wolf tribe of orks, who then adds "Fucken what?".
"What's it like on the otherside of the portal here?" asks Riley aka Zubutai Timaginson who gestures to the partially dilapidated structure next to them.
Dorkindle grunts, then looking at the portal, he shrugs and says "You can fucken see for yourself cunt, look there's a little hill, and all them cunts over there" he pauses before adding "And all the fucken horses, mmmmm pretty horsey".
The mercenary ranger rolls his eyes, then says "Not on the otherside of the actual structure, but on the otherside of the portal" seeing the large ork scowl at him, for he thinks he'll have to repeat what he just said, and Dorkindle hates repeating himself unless it's actually something he's interested in.
The ranger Hait quickly adds "I mean through the portal, when you actually go through it, to where it takes you" the big ork, who is in exile from his homeland the Ork Range grunts, then mutters "Why you not say that in the first place you stupid pony fucker?".
The mercenary ranger from south of the equator sourly smiles, then the ork warleader who waves one of his large, meaty, frying pan sized hands at the portal, says "It's on a small fucken hill with rocks all around" Dorc da Orc continues with "There a fucken road close by, hmmm but you can't see the magicky door from the road".
"Good place to come out unobserved" quietly says lord Walashàele, the ranger Hait nods in agreement, then the ork weaponsmith points at the portal "Is the cunt working?" he sniffs then adds in a mutter "It smells all fucken magicky".
"It's operational" says the head of house Walashàele "Good" grunts Dorc da Orc, who remembers which way to enter the portal correctly, and he steps through it and disappears.
There's a moment of silence, then Riley Hait says "Well looks like we're going through then" the mercenary ranger from the elven principality of Envadarlen in the Southlands continues with "If you're coming along, might as well go through" he then silently adds, before that big fucking idiot runs off and attacks Falnic by himself.
The Southlander nods for the tribal leader Chanük to follow him, and the ranger Hait goes through the portal. After a moment of slight hesitation, as he doesn't exactly know what's going to happen, Chanük steps through the portal as well.
He's followed by Jalindílth Walashàele, and finally lord Walashàele, who before he goes through, tells his cousin Galacithàné "Be ready for our return, who knows when we'll send the army through".
Behind some large standing stones, Riley Hait glances back as lord Walashàele is the last one to walk out of the portal, the stone structure of which, is more complete and not dilapidated compared to the otherside.
This side of the portal is in cave that opens up onto a hill, a hill that's covered in standing stones and piles of rock.
The mercenary ranger is looking down at a road that goes by near the base of the hill, a road that he recognises. The Southlander looks away to the left, to the west, where he spots a town just a under couple of miles away. He nods his head, when Dorc da Orc who is sitting on a large rock, says "There it fucken is".
Further west, about another two miles beyond the town, the city of Falnic can be seen on the coast.
"I haven't been here in a long time" quietly says lord Walashàele, the nobleborn elf continues with "The city has got bigger, and that town down there was just a small village the last time i was here".
The tribal leader Chanük, who has only ever been to the very edge of Belinswae before, to a couple of the villages where the half breeds live.
Is surprised at the surroundings here near the coast, where the rocks are an almost white colour, compared to the sand colour they are on the dry arid plains that he calls home.
Lord Walashàele, who like his daughter Jalindílth is holding his power within himself so that other spellcasters who might be in the area can't sense him, says "We can move the army quickly along that road to the city, which isn't even four miles from here" he then adds "Or i can cast a rift there, but either way they'll only get a short amount of warning of us coming".
"Hopefully they'll get none at all, because they'll be concentrating on the army of nomads coming from the plains" quietly says Riley Hait, who then looks at the large ork who is sitting nearby.
And though the mercenary ranger knows Dorkindle is a stark raving mad idiot most of the time, well all of the time really. But when it comes to warfare, the ork weaponsmith knows what he's going on about.
"Dorc" says the ranger Hait, the ork warleader grunts and looks over at the Southlander, who asks him "With our forces, how would you attack that city?".
The large ork looks away to the west at Falnic, and after just a few moments, he explains what he would do with their forces to attack the largest city in the region of Belinswae . . . . . .
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