Into the Frey

      Pulling back on the reigns of his horse, Reinhardt came to a stop at the top of a steep hill. Roas brought her horse to a stop beside him and the rest of their force arrived behind them. With a mixture of almost four hundred thieves, thugs, and other criminals, he was surprised they had managed to arrive at the ambush site at all.

       "Are you ready for this?" Reinhardt ignored the question, deciding to go through the motion of checking the Dragon Tails for anything that might make it malfunction. Content with it's condition Reinhardt turned his attention back to the task at hand. Watching the gates to the Duzee city begin to open he moved his horse closer to the edge of the cliff, getting a better view.

       "What do you know of this place Roas?" Since they had some time before the entire force was out in the open he decided that it would be a good idea to learn about the area. A strong wind rolled over the cliff face, forcing his cloak to wave playfully. A view like the one he had only came about once in a lifetime. The sheer size of the city would put most to shame. Hundreds of miles of stone wall protected the city, and master Astraeus, from any threat.

       "This is Nivged, the capital city to the Duzee empire. More accurately it's one of their only cities. Up in these mountains it's difficult to find the space to build anything larger than a town. This opening sits at the intersection of five mountain ranges, making it secluded and very naturally defended. Without our earth elementalist we would never have been able to move a sizable force through the mountains to get here."

       "How many people live in there?"

       "I'd say well over two million, and to make matters worse it's typically one in every twenty people who can shift wind."

       "So it's possible that nearly one hundred thousand people in that city are wind elementalists? Those aren't good odds."

       "Luckily for us most of that number aren't very skilled, but the ones who are serve Astraeus. So it's possible that over ten thousand could meet us on the battle field. I don't believe he would pull all of his warriors from the city, that's why he has the four winds, but you can't underestimate the man."

       "Thanks for the information Roas. It's almost time to move into position. We need to focus on our mission now." Giving a quick signal to the nearby earth elementalists they began dragging the earth around Reinhardt downwards. Taking control of their powers, Reinhardt opened the hole wider and leveled it out, creating the opening to a cave. Starting his horse down the steep hill the party fell into line and entered the tunnel.

       Silence fell over the detachment. Stress flooded the empty tunnel, surrounding them with unease. Forcing the slope to level off Reinhardt started picking up speed. Spurring his mount into a full gallop he gripped the reins tightly and leaned forward, balancing himself perfectly on the strong animal. Catching sight of Roas pushing her mount into a gallop Reinhardt turned forward again.

       Pushing his strength outwards and forward the cave wall exploded, having reached the edge of the cliff face. The echo on the towering walls reminded him of thunder, but it was hundreds of galloping horses breaking into the canyon. With only half a mile of space between the charging rebels and the surprised and scrambling Duzee army, they had a slight advantage.

       Already waves of wind attacks were tearing towards them. Only bothering to deflect the ones with enough power to hurt the riders, Reinhardt found it easy to protect his men. In what seemed like moments they had cleared half the distance between the canyon wall and the now advancing army. More powerful gale's had begun approaching and required more concentration to redirect.

       Lights began to flash to life from within the formation of men. Small balls of fire burned into the air along with even more gale's of wind. Gathering the fire into larger groups Reinhardt began passing them to Roas, allowing her to take control of them. Without missing a beat the younger elementalist began returning the fire to their owners. As the front line rushed towards the advancing charge hundreds began falling to the heat of their own attacks.

       Within striking distance of the main defense Reinhardt grabbed the strongest attacks he could find. Turning them back on their casters as he dulled them down, making them non-lethal. Rows of men flew through the air, and out of his way. Without slowing down they raced into the mass of men, continuing to push the men out of his way with their own attacks.

       Screams filled the air as the two groups collided behind Reinhardt's still advancing horse. Finally out of his defensive range, hell poured down onto the men who were now open to attack. Continuing his advance relentlessly, Roas stayed close behind, burning soldiers to ashes with stolen fire. Watching her fight from the corner of his eye it was clear that she could become a master. Having learned most of what he himself had taught her only days before, the beautiful woman fought with a ferocity he had never encountered before.

       Slipping in past his defense, a large slab of ground displaced beneath his horse and threw Reinhardt from the animal. The ground came rushing up at him, cracking a rib as he impacted. Rolling to a stop he quickly forced himself back to his feet. Searching for horse he could see it on the ground some distance away. It didn't take more than a glance to see that the fall had killed the animal.

       Collecting a passing gale Reinhardt pushed the wall of enclosing soldiers back, giving himself some room. In the distance fire was tearing through large groups of men. Swords and spears cracked and splintered like lightning in the night sky. Cries of pain and victory rang through his ears. There was no way to tell who was winning, but with the sheer size of this army he had a fairly good idea who would come out victorious.

       Gaining some courage a few soldiers lowered their spears and advanced on Reinhardt. The first to approach lost his eyes to to the Dragon Tail's blade. Still advancing on where he stood the next few soldier's didn't have time to react before wind threw them into some nearby onlookers. Wrapping the wire of his weapon around another man's legs, Reinhardt pulled him off balance and tripped up a few more running men.

       Finally feeling what he had been searching for, an unusually strong blade of wind tore through a few of his own men. Grabbing hold of the attack he dulled it and sent it whirling back at an approaching line of attackers. The battle died down as a line of men parted in the distance. Searching with the eyes of ravenous animal, Notus' eyes locked on Reinhardt. Breaking eye contact, Reinhardt could see Zephyrus and Eurus walk into the opening made by their brother. From behind he could feel Boreas approach and at that moment he could feel the eyes of all four men in his soul. 

       "I'm glad you managed to find me." The fire of their hatred glowed in the night, but Reinhardt didn't care, his own fury burned inside his heart. "I've been waiting to pay you back for what you did to Briccio." 

Author's Note

The war begins and Reinhardt leads the small force on a frontal assault of the much larger army.
If I haven't hooked the reader prior to this part of the story than this should do the trick...I hope