The Chronicles of Lumineia: Book 02 - The Gathering (38 page)

They didn’t
have to wait long before Gaze spotted an elf dressed in tan and green clothes
that blended perfectly with city stride into the street. Lifting a magnificent
longbow, he began sending arrow after arrow into the pack of startled fiends
blocking their way. The shafts of death flew so fast and precise that several
perished before the rest could respond, but then they screamed in rage and the
whole group flooded towards the ranger.

Arzai didn’t
hesitate. In a flash he raced towards a wall and scaled the exterior of a
building almost as fast as he'd run on the ground. Just as he disappeared onto
the roof, the rest of the Quare reached the building. Some followed him to the
top while others bounded down side alleys in pursuit. In moments the street was
clear and Lexi led them across.

“Will he be
okay?” Gaze asked. He’d seen so many cavalry get killed by the agile Quare that
he couldn’t imagine a single person outrunning them, even an elf.

She smirked,
“He’ll be fine, trust me.”

He hid his
doubtful frown but followed her into stables that had been recently concealed
from the outside to look like a pile of debris. She gestured to one of the
guards and ordered a retreat as she mounted a brown mare. Pointing with her
chin, she indicated two horses off to one side. “Take those and follow me.”

Gaze leapt
astride the roan and urged him to follow Lexi. In seconds other elves appeared
and the whole group trotted out of the stables, heading west. “How many
Riverguard are here?” Gaze asked one of the elves next to him.

“Fifty,” the
elf replied, keeping his eyes on his side of the street. “We split up when we
entered the city.”

Anders
apparently overheard the answer because he pulled his horse closer and said in
an undertone, “Is it just me or are these elves like a special combat force?”

Despite the
situation Gaze grinned. “They seem pretty tough, and they certainly saved our
skins.”

As the road
straightened out Lexi picked up the pace. In unison, the entire command
followed suit. Hooves pounded the ground, casting dust into the sky and marking
their passage. Less than ten seconds passed before Gaze heard a series of
crashes coming in their direction.

The fiends had
heard them.

A wall
shattered as a giant Kraka charged right through a house. Seeing them so close
it lunged, its sword reaching for them, but their fleet-footed steeds were
already out of reach. Gaze threw a look back and saw the house it had plowed
through crumble even as the hulk turned to give chase.

A deep
rumbling began to build, increasing in intensity until it shook the ground. Then
buildings on their flanks disintegrated as Krakas thundered through them. Walls
exploded as giant fiends clawed for them. Squeaking through the narrowing gap,
they ducked massive swords and grasping hands with only one casualty. Quare and
dogs swarmed over buildings and through the holes, bellowing their anger. Like
a pair of shears tightening on a piece of cloth, the roaring horde closed on
them with a fury.

Gaze flinched
as more burst into view beside him, but fought to keep his focus on the clear
road ahead. His heart thundered in time with his horses' gate, and he prayed
they could stay ahead of the chase. Rounding a curve, he saw the city gates come
into view.

Feeling a rush
of relief, he kicked his horse to greater speed and spared Anders a glance. For
one brief second it looked they were going to make it. Then the fiends began breaking
through ahead of them and rushed to cut off their escape.

“Riverguard!”
Lexi called in a tight voice, “Hold them off!”

Several of the
riders peeled off and slowed, ready to give their lives so they could escape,
but Gaze felt his anger burst into rage at so many that had died to allow him
to live. Hate at the loss thundered through his body and he shouted, “NO!”

Hearing his
protest, Lexi threw a look back and saw his expression. Her face lit up as she
saw what he was going to do and her whistle cut through the din. The riders
that had slowed rejoined the pack as Gaze closed his eyes, gathering every bit
of energy he could find. Pouring his emotion into his magic, he did not see the
fiends begin to close the circle in front of them, nor did he feel the air
darken as the sky clouded over.

“Gaze . . .”
Anders said in a rising tone, and he opened his eyes. On every side the black
army chased them. From behind they followed, from the sides they crashed
through or climbed over buildings, and ahead they massed in the street. In
every direction they formed a sea of writhing enemies descending towards them.

Then Gaze
raised his hands and yanked the energy to the ground.

Streams of
lightning cascaded from the sky in a deadly waterfall, filling the air with its
heavenly energy. Fiends cried out as white shafts of magic lanced through their
bodies before coursing into the ground, detonating and tossing others to their
death. Hundreds of Quare died in a matter of seconds, Sipers were charred to
dust, and even mighty Krakas stumbled and roared. Ahead of them, the barricade
of flesh took the brunt of the magical assault, with most of them left smoking
in shallow craters. The few that survived were dispatched by well-placed arrows
from the elven warriors, and a moment later, their horses leapt over the ash
remains. Then they were through the gates.

Glancing
sideways, Gaze saw two other groups of riders fleeing the city from the north
exits. Beside him, Anders pumped a fist into the air and raised a cry of
exultation . . . but it shifted to one of despair as they saw the line of giant
skorpians to the south. Their huge pincers snapped and their tails whipped back
and forth in unison, sending thousands of barbed shafts arcing towards them.

Gaze, drained
and exhausted from channeling so much energy, raised his left hand and clenched
it one last time. More lightning answered his call. Although much thinner and
weaker than before, it crackled into a shield that knocked most of the deadly
rain out of the sky. Managing to dodge the rest, the elves’ horses carried them
to freedom.

Gaze looked
back one last time and saw the city crumbling and burning from the lightning. Relief
at their escape warred with the numbness of witnessing the southern capitol
destroyed. Turning forward he saw the blond hair of Lexi bouncing in the wind,
and felt a flash of comfort.
At least we have friends
. She looked back then
and caught his gaze, flashing an approving smile that he returned.

They had a
week of hard riding to get to the Blue River. Between them and the elven
kingdom, nothing remained except the emptiness of grasslands. Behind them, the entire
breadth of the once great kingdom of Talinor lay in ruins. Forests burned,
cities were destroyed, and an endless tide of black creatures marred the
landscape.

Gaze's
homeland was gone.

Chapter 29: Unexpected Allies

Wind whistled
around Braon’s face as he flew west with Newhawk and Thacker. Just moments ago
they had received word from the gnome king that a small group of dark elves had
appeared from the western mountains. The news had buzzed through the seven
commands like wildfire, and many of the soldiers were afraid of an attack.
Braon couldn’t blame them. Dark elves were said to be the most evil of any race,
and there were quite a few tales, most likely based in truth, that said that they
slaughtered without mercy.

By far the
most superstitious, the humans had needed firm discipline to keep their fear in
check, and once again Braon was glad that prince Graden was in charge of many
of them. The prince had kept his wits about him, and hadn’t bent to requests to
slay the newcomers before more could arrive.

Rubbing his
eyes, Braon looked at the defenses that were nearing completion in many places.
In the last week many of problems between the races had smoothed out, aided in
large part by the firm leadership of the generals. Even the barbarians and
amazons had thrown themselves into building the Lake Road fortifications. It
boded well for their efforts that those two groups were working together. The
few disagreements had been well handled by Golic. The large barbarian had
turned out to be exactly what he needed on that flank.

Reiquen banked
to the right as they approached the far western battalion. Commanded by the
little gnome king, Talfar, the section was comprised of gnomes and orcs and was
by far the least organized. Braon hoped that its distance from the city, as
well as the sheer number of gnomes and orcs, would prevent it being overrun. Talfar
had also developed into a competent general, and Braon had used the gnomes’
respect for their king to organize the defenses in The Gray.

Below him,
most of the cliff-top defenses were working well, and he pulled from his
musings to get a better look at them. Sweeper crews were training hard, and had
developed a rhythm that would be vital during the battle. Ballistae crews had
also honed their craft until they were proficient and accurate. Sweepers and
Boltmen, as the army called them, had started a rivalry that Braon had
encouraged. It had aided in the bonding process of the various races and would
further boost morale during the battle.

Behind the
cliff top battlements, the sequence of three divisions within the battalions
had become well established. He could see the front line training, which they
would do throughout their eight hour shift. Currently the front line was just
pulling back, as if being driven by the enemy. Just as the phoenix glided
overhead, the cavalry came rushing in, spears lowered to sweep the invisible
enemy off the cliff and close the hole in the defenses.

Farther from
the front, the first reserve waited for their turn on the front line. During
their down time, they prepared arrows and bolts and participated in classes to
teach them about the different fiends. At first, the information training had
caused significant resistance in the troops, but soon the knowledge that Braon
had learned in the elven archives about krakas, skorpians, quare, and sipers,
as well as the three generals of Draeken’s army, had proved its worth. The
veteran soldiers and new fighters alike had realized the value of knowing the
approaching enemy’s strengths and weaknesses.

Braon knew
that fear in the face of the unknown would be catastrophic to their efforts,
but it wasn't the sole purpose for the training. The classes had also helped to
quiet the doubters. Without physical proof, many of the less educated masses
still didn't believe the fiends were coming.  Of all the races, only the
barbarians and amazons had witnessed the fiends. After their arrival, Braon had
made a point of temporarily stationing barbarians with other divisions. The
tales had spread of their own volition.

“There,”
Newhawk said, pointing, and Braon turned to where he indicated.

They were
currently flying over The Deep, the middle battalion on the west. At the moment
it was staffed by dwarves. Working as only dwarves could, they were finishing
the defensive wall and preparing the oil. When Braon had first seen it, the
cliff dipped to eight-hundred feet at this section, but now a two hundred foot
wall raised it to the level of the cliff. Twenty feet thick, Braon hoped it
would be even stronger by the time the battle began. He still needed a general
and an army to place there, but only ten days remained before the fiends
arrived.

On the other
side of the dip, he could see a cluster of buildings that had been hastily
constructed a comfortable distance from the cliff’s edge. The command center of
Gray battalion, it housed Talfar, The Gray captains, and Talfar’s link, Jason,
the older of the two twins, and their respective guards.

A large group
of gnomes and orcs had surrounded a small cluster of people. As they neared, it
turned into four black-skinned elves, several gnomes, and Talfar with his
bodyguards. Next to the gnome general stood Jason with his personal guards.
Even from this distance Braon could hear the mob of superstitious orcs and
gnomes calling for the death of the dark elves.

Braon frowned.
There should be more discipline than this. He’d already ordered Talfar to keep
things under control.
Reiquen
, he thought, addressing the phoenix.
Would
you mind giving them something to really be frightened of?
The answer in
his head was a low chuckle, followed by the ear-splitting war cry of the giant
bird.

Silence fell across
the rabble of angry soldiers, and they were now close enough for him to hear
Talfar angrily command his troops to get back to their posts. As the phoenix
circled to land, many of the orcs trundled back to their training, casting
fearful looks at the firebird. The few that remained turned out to be higher
ranked gnomes that clearly felt they had the right to stay and watch the
outcome.

Reiquen back
winged to land, sending waves of hot air into them. The moment they were on the
ground, Newhawk jumped off the bird and stalked right up to the cluster of
smaller gnomes. “Is there something you require?” he demanded.

Most of them
looked at each other for support until one said, “We wondered why the dark
elves are here.” He glanced at the dark-skinned group and spit. “They are not
welcome he—”

Newhawk
stepped up to the brazen gnome captain as Braon dismounted. “You will fight
with whoever you are ordered to fight with,” Newhawk said. “Furthermore, you
will
obey your commanding officer and return to your command.”

The gnome
began to protest but Newhawk raised a hand. “You already fight alongside the
dwarves.” The gnomes bared their teeth at the reference to their racial enemy.
“And they are proving to be an excellent ally for this battle, but I will make
this simple for you. You will fight with the gathering, or
against
the
gathering. Which is it?” Newhawk folded his arms and waited.