Blitzkrieg

Aurei's friends do a daring lightning raid into the Imperial legions' camp.

27.

Blitzkrieg

 

 

In the evening, two days later, the mood in the Imperial camp was festive, for Aegoppa had fallen easily and the soldiers enjoyed the plunder of the victory.   Many lay drunk in their tents, having gorged themselves for a full day - a gift from Fendoris-  with food, liquor and as many terrified women as they wanted.   They slept secure that though the Necromancer’s Guild had been defeated by Haroldris; his city was in ruins and his forces refused to engage them.  

Tomorrow they would break camp to begin the advance on King’s Reach, but tonight there was one last night of celebrations; somewhat toned down in the orderly environment of the camp, but still festive. 

 

Yet deeply repressed in the back of many of the drunken soldiers’ minds were the tales they had heard of some of Haroldris’ nobles.   His wife was said to be a Faesidhe wizard.   One of his Duchesses was that barmaid that they had heard so many vulgar songs about, only now, they said, she had killed a Death Knight and destroyed an entire airship by herself.  

There were others too, Drow, Ogres and Orcs, they said.   Others claimed that the Kingdom was favored by the Watchers and that they came to the King’s aid with great magic.   It was utter nonsense, certainly, but the tales from this northern land usually seemed strange and many would be glad when the campaign was over.

 

It was late night, a cool, star-filled night with no sound or threat except from the chirping of countless crickets.   Around them stood the strong wooden fence of the camp, with a moat and several rows of sharpened stakes hampering anyone foolish enough to approach.  

But why would they, for manning the walls were their battle mages, Ogres and Trolls, all vigilant in their duties in return for a generous share of the plundered treasures.  

 

Safe and sure of their supremacy to any force around them, the camp was sprawled out lazily, while in the very center of the camp, the pinkish white arcane glow of the Emperor’s protective sphere hid his activities as well as those of his entourage as they sampled the fruits of the noble ladies of Aegoppa in the grand Imperial style.

 

It came suddenly, the sound of something small falling from a great height, then bouncing with metallic ringing like a handful of dropped coins.   But it was what immediately followed that caused the camp to erupt in chaos.   For diving out of the sky with an ear-piercing shriek was a huge bird of fire.  

It dove straight down like an eagle preparing to snatch a fish from a lake, but at the last moment it banked off, still giving off its horrid cry as it swooped over the tents of the soldiers, its fiery form setting the canvas dwellings ablaze.   In an instant, half the camp was on fire as the supernatural bird seemed to move like lightning through the camp.  

 

Pandemonium ruled as soldiers rushed all around, franticly trying to put out the fires or stop the firebird from its path of destruction.  

 

Suddenly in the midst of them stood scores of strangely armored soldiers, carrying equally oddly shaped swords and spears and these strange intruders immediately attacked the bewildered legionaries.  

“Ambush! Ambush!  We’re under attack!” the calls filled the night, spreading through the camp quicker than the fire.

 Unnoticed by the panicking men, three figures floated to the ground, much quicker than a feather, but they landed safely and immediately flung cloaks around themselves, blending into the shadows near the glowing pink sphere that surrounded the Emperor’s tent.  

Moments later the pink sphere flickered and disappeared and rushing out of the huge purple tent that was now revealed as the sphere dissipated, came 12 men and two women, all surprised at the sight they beheld, yet feeling even more annoyed at the interruption to their revelry.  

 

One of the men yelled and waved to one of his centurions, who rushed up to him with a bow and quickly told the man about the current situation.   The man yelled loudly, gesturing this way and that, and the soldier quickly raced off to do his bidding.   Shaking his head, the man turned to speak to a large, black cloaked form next to him, dressed in very fine black chainmail.  

 

But as he opened his mouth to speak, he noticed out of the corner of his eye, something tossed to the ground nearby and he shouted a warning, but abruptly there was no sound and a moment later everything went pitch black as if some one had thrown a blanket over their heads.  

Everyone within the area of effect panicked and instinctively tried to escape.   

They missed one of the three forms from nearby throw her cloak back, revealing a beautiful and quite pregnant Elven lady, who raised her hand with her palm facing the darkness, then made a violent slapping motion, as a ring on her finger twinkled.

 

Within the sphere of darkness and silence, a great force slammed into them, knocking them hard to the ground.   For a few moments the force beat against them, and then suddenly the darkness was lifted, just in time to see with a flash of blue light, beings appear in a large circle around them.

As they laid there stunned, the circle of beings charged at them with weapons drawn, all in complete magic silence.

 

Sir Davit struck first, focusing on the Emperor’s Vampire advisor.   With two swipes of his Gambian Vorpal Flametongue sword, he took the head off of the Vampire, which burst into flame for a few seconds before his body went incorporeal and vanished.  

 

Aurei, thinking of the report of women and children slain by the forces of the Emperor, stuck at the stunned Fendoris.   She attacked without any qualms, for all the evil he had done.   Her swords connected savagely, killing him easily and his undead form let out a silent scream as her Holy Sword ended his existance.

 

Witnessing Aurei’s success, Eleazar diverted his attack and took out what appeared to be a Vampire that was serving as one of Fendoris’ bodyguards.   He thrust his sword through the chest of the Vampire, killing it immediately and sending his form into a mist.

Aeric and Alis selected another Vampiric-looking bodyguard and as Aurei and Eleazar were killing their opponents, they too ended the existence of their foe, sending him into a ghostly state as it floated back to the Emperor’s tent where his coffin was probably located.

 

Zeatt and Alvis took on a third Vampire and easily destroyed it with a few swings of his great sword and her rod of flailing.

 

Unable to cast a spell due to the silence stone of Eleazar, Sophia stayed back and monitored the soldiers of the camp.   They had noticed the events, but had not yet responded, though she was ready if they did.

 

Khord stuck at the last of the Vampires in the Emperor’s bodyguard, at the same time that Siris fired an undead slayer arrow into him.   The creature vanished in a mist-like cloud.  

Rori used her Sonic staff as a club (as no sound could be generated due to Eleazar’s stone of silence) against a very large Ogre that laid there stunned.   The brute reeled from the blow but got to his feet just in time to be wounded by Pectros’ sword.  

The Ogre held a great war hammer and swung it at Pectros, but missed completely when his form shifted slightly, as a result of the captain of the ducal guard’s displacement cloak.   Before Pectros could return the attack, Rori had hit the Ogre with another swing of her staff, stunning him.   He swiped at the girl with his war hammer, the blow knocking the sorceress from her feet and sending her rolling.  

Enraged, Pectros ripped at the Ogre with his sword, sending his blade through the Ogre’s chainmail.   His eyes bugged as he sank to the ground, then fell backwards, dead.  

 

Pectros ran over to the girl, turning her over in a panic.   Her chin was already bruising and she was unconscious, but it had only been a glancing blow that had connected, so she’d survive.   Pectros breathed a sigh of relief and stood guard over her as she began to regain consciousness, while the ambush of the bodyguard members continued.

 

Lute always targeted spell casters first in battle, knowing their potential danger, and though the silence stone kept spells at bay, he still selected the only obvious wizard, who was stumbling over his robes in a frantic hurry to stand.  His first chop knocked the wizard down, and his second cut finished him off, much to the Half-Ogre’s relief.  

 

All that remained were six warriors, and Haroldris targeted the one whom he perceived to be the strongest.

He struck strongly, but the man fought back, his blows sending Haroldris reeling from supernatural strength.  

 

The King brought his great sword around in a low arc, then reversed and swung high.   That did the trick, for the return stroke caught the warrior in the face and killed him.

The five surviving bodyguards knew they were in dire straits and forgot any loyalty to the Empire or the Necromancer’s Guild and did whatever they had to do to escape.

One leapt to his feet, twirling his black cloak around him and in the blink of an eye he suddenly was a giant bat, flapping his wings madly to get away.   He soared out of range quickly and nearly got away, but the Firebird, who had now moved from the tents of the soldiers to setting the palisade around the camp on fire, saw the movement and immediately attacked.   Seconds later the bodyguard fell screaming to his death, his magic cloak on fire.

 

One of the bodyguards was a woman who fought with two weapons, and she rushed Aurei, hoping to cut her down and rush into the camp, to be lost in the chaos.

Her spinning blades were met by the Drow girl’s own weapons.   Aurei’s blades found the lady, injuring her in the arm, but one of the bodyguard’s swords clipped the duchess’ chin.   Yet the lady was no match for Aurei’s belt enhanced strength and a fierce swipe brought her sword down enough for Aurei’s Drow long sword to cut through her torso.   She fell flat forward on her face, dead.

 

The next bodyguard found Sir Davit in his way, but instead of attacking with his hand axe, this man yanked a dreaded necklace of fireballs off his neck and instead of throwing just a globe or two, flung all nine of the missiles into Sir Davit’s chest.   There came a huge roar from the explosion of the fireballs that was felt rather then heard in the enchanted silence, and Davit was thrown backwards many feet from the blast. 

The bodyguard ran as fast as his chainmail would let him, past the downed Paladin toward the frenzy in the Imperial camp, but Sir Alvis pointed Helke at his back and the man was knocked from his feet by the gale force wind, outside of the radius of the silence stone.

Lute and Pectros reached him before Alvis arrived and charged him at once.   Lute’s axe disabled the man with a hard chop to his leg. He swung his hand axe, desperately trying to defend himself, though Lute’s chainmail absorbed the blow.  

Lute’s next chop was stopped mostly by the bodyguard’s heavy helm, but it stunned him from the impact.   This time Lute’s axe found the man’s throat, sending his head bouncing once as it left his body.

 

While Lute and Pectros killed their foe, another bodyguard attacked Eleazar with a huge hammer that seemed far too heavy for him to swing so freely.  

But instead of swinging it, amazingly he flung the hammer directly at the half-Drow.  

The blow threw Eleazar backwards 30 feet, knocking the wind out of him as he lay stunned on the ground.  

 

Aurei and King Haroldris both moved against the thrower as he tried to rush past them.   Aurei scored two hits on the man, but failed to knock him down.   It was Haroldris who finished him with a swipe from his sword.  

 

Aurei didn’t even wait for the man’s body to fall before she was running over to Eleazar.   Sound suddenly popped forth as she left the radius of the sphere and she was horrified to find four imperial soldiers with their swords drawn, rushing forth to attack the half-Drow knight.

 

She screamed in rage and leapt at them; their eyes widening when they beheld an enraged Drow upon them.

Two were cut down before they had time to bring their swords or shields up in defense.  

 

The third soldier managed to get his shield up in time, but the impact from her blow splintered his shield.   Dropping it, he turned and ran, with the fourth soldier at his heels.

 

 

 

She let them go, kneeling down to check on Eleazar.

His plate armor had a horrid dent where the hammer had smashed into his chest, and blood trickled from his lips as he labored to breathe, but he gasped out, “I… I… okay.   Must… have… had… giant… belt…”

Aurei nodded and placed both hands gently on his cheeks, then leaned in and kissed him while saying, “In the name of Yesh be healed!”

As her lips touched his, he felt his chest wound greatly lessen and he could breathe again.   He kissed her back very briefly and reluctantly pulled away, “I’ve never seen a Paladin use lips to lay hands before.” 

“Are you alright?” she asked, then used her spit to clean the blood from his chin.

“Eww! Aurei!” He said at the action, but she just shrugged and backed up so he could stand up.

 

They glanced back over to the others and found that the last of the Imperial bodyguards had wisely surrendered and stood with his hands high in the air while Lute took his great axe from him. 

Outside the ring of silence, Zeatt was tending to Sir Davit, who was badly burnt, but was healed by her spell.

 

“Come on!”  Eleazar whispered to Aurei, and he hurried over to where he had tossed his silence stone; his superior nighttime vision quickly finding the rock.  He snatched it up and put it into its lead locket container and immediately sound was restored.

 

From another direction, a large group of Imperial soldiers were rushing toward them with their shields up and swords out as if charging an infantry column.   Alvis called out a warning, but Sophia held up her hands, “No worries; I’ll take care of them.”

She pointed her staff at them and flicked her wrist, sending a bolt of lightning into the advancing men.   The first eight went down jerking and twitching, but it was enough to deter those behind them and they turned and quickly retreated.

A couple of javelins whizzed by them, one grazing Lute’s arm.

They turned to see another group of soldiers standing at a safer distance, sending volleys of the missiles their way.

“I’ll take this one.”  Queen Eioldth spoke to Sophia and she raised her hand.   After a twinkle came from her magic ring, a huge hand appeared in front of the spear throwers and she again did a slamming motion, which sent the legionnaires sprawling.   They quickly withdrew as well.  

 

From one of the few guard towers on the wall that wasn’t burning, they heard an arcane chant and saw a couple of robed men waving their hands about, preparing to cast a spell at them.

“My turn.” Rori mumbled through her swollen, bruised chin with a painful smile at the Queen and Sophia, and she pointed the Sonic Staff at the tower and flicked her wrist much like Sophia had done.  

 

There came a loud boom sound and the blast of sound threw the two spell casters and an Ogre out of the guard tower to the earth below.   

 

“We’re still in great danger.” Eioldth said to the group that now was moving in closer together.  “We’ve got to try to end this madness quickly.”

 

Haroldris looked around quickly; the firebird of Li-Chee and the penny soldiers were keeping the Imperial legionaries occupied, but more and more were noticing the activity around the Emperor’s tent.   Soon the trickle of soldiers coming against them would turn into a flood.   It was time to end this, and he knew what he had to chance.

The King leaned close to his wife, “I need the voice amplification spell, quickly!”

Eioldth began chanting the spell at once and nodded to her husband.  

Haroldris held his sword high in the air and spoke, his voice booming throughout the camp.

 

Reviews

[Erin Winter]

Also, I love the historical reference in the chapter name, Lightning War, the strategy that made Germany so successful in WWII. And it fits so perfectly too.

[Erin Winter]

All these battle sequences are truly epic, and somehow manage to continue with the plot line. It's fabulous!

[Eddie Davis]

Thank you Erin, I appreciate your kind words. I worried that I might have done too much battle sequences.

[Erin Winter]

I'm certainly not complaining.

[Elina]

"Many lie drunk in their tents..." I think that perhaps "lie" ought to be "lay?"
" His wife was said to be a Faesidhe wizard and one of this Duchesses..." This sentence seemed a tad long, to me.
"In seemingly an instant..." The wording seems a little awkward, here.
"...his undead form let out a hideous scream..." Assuming I'm understanding this correctly, this takes place while Eleazar's silence stone is still in effect. If so, you may want to clarify that there's no sound. ?
"...where his coffin probably was located..." It may sound better if you switch "probably" and "was."
"Lute had long targeted spell casters first in battle..." The word "long" seems a little out of place, here. Unless I'm just missing something...which is very likely.
"They too quickly withdrew." It would help the flow if you added a comma before and after "too."

What a great chapter! I loved the little moment of humor with Aurei and Eleazar; the "healing kiss" and cleaning his bloody chin with spit.

[Eddie Davis]

Thank you, Elina, and good find on the silence stone transgression, that was embarrassing to have missed that!

[Elina]

Haha! I do the same thing all the time. I'll go back and think, "Well that was silly of me. How could I miss that?"