Mist rose steadily from the banks of the river. The elven Loremaster attempted to penetrate it with his bright gaze, to no effect.
“A thousand curses,” he muttered to his lieutenant. “The reptiles must have known we were coming. They have have picked the field of battle to their own advantage, the scrolls tell of how they love to fight in river-infested lands. So much for a surprise attack.”
“My Liege,” said the lieutenant, “We have defeated the lizardmen with ease in previous battles. They cannot withstand our martial prowess, rivers or no.”
“It’s that kind of confidence that has been our undoing so many times. Tell the men to be ready for anything, keep a constant watch. There may be -”
He paused to listen to a far off sound.
“What was that, Master?” said the lieutenant, suddenly more worried. “It sounded like some kind of demon.”
The cry came again, but much closer - a shill scream slicing through the air. Abruptly, winged shapes appeared through the clouds.
“That was no demon!” Cried the Loremaster. “Terradons! Tell the men to take cover!” Even as he spoke the words, he began to hear the whistle-thunk of falling rocks. A good number of man fell lifeless, their helmets cleaved in by the impact.
“They’re behind the lines!” shouted someone. An elf manning the giant bolt-thrower slowly collapsed with a long, thin javelin in his throat. More cries went up.
“There! In the river! They’re coming from the river!” The airborn menace was forgotten, the ranks closed up to face the swarms of dripping skinks that were moving faster than could be thought possible, their impassive faces bent on death. Blowpipe darts began to whistle among the tightly clustered elves, coated with fast-acting toxins. “Damn skinks”, muttered the Loremaster. “They don’t line up and fight properly, you can never get them where you want.”
Then there was another sound, that of heavy footfalls. “Good gods!” wailed the lieutenant, “what is that?!” Hulking kroxigors could be seen loping among the skinks, the smaller lizards dancing around them in an ever-shifting pattern that gradually coalesced into a fighting formation. But the earth-shaking foot-falls did not belong to the kroxigor. The elves’ eyes moved upwards as a new shape emerged.
“ROOOOOOAAAARRRR!” said Reks.
“Take them, my lizardmen!” proclaimed the valiant Ra Phee-Ki, as the lizard lines broke upon the elves. “By the way, Reks, you know it’s generally more scary if you actually roar, rather than merely saying it. Just a tip.”
Skinks fell by the dozen to elvish steel, but the chaos of their attack, the crushing stokes of the kroxigor, and the devastation that was Reks proved too terrible a combination for the warmbloods to withstand.
“Fall back!” shouted the Loremaster. “Back to our outpost! Regroup at my stan-”
“That’s quite enough of that”, said Ra, matter-of-factly, giving the elven leader a solid biff to the back of the head with the handle of his giant mace. “You skinks, stop wittering and take this chap captive, we may need him later, especially if he knows who’s got my sword.”
He paused, looking around at the flocks of darting reptiles. “Honestly, give me some decent saurus lads any day, these little fellows make my eyes hurt. The rest of you, we’ve still got plenty of work to do. Forward!”
---
Mood: Encouraged
Listening to: the cries of the dying
God most likely to sacrifice to: Xapati, god of Vengeance
Honestly, the revered Lord Tzu Dhok’u going off looking for elves was the best thing that ever happened to our campaign. Ini-Go’s mobile forces have proven most devastating in these rain-soaked lands. First, he lead us to rout a whole Chaos battalion. And now a major victory against the elves, a long-desired revenge for the humiliation they subjected us to at the start of the war.
Ra told me how it happened. His scouts discovered that the elves had word of his coming with Lord Dhok’u’s army - the mammals apparently decided that a divide and conquer approach was preferable, and gave Tzu the slip, coming after us in the east instead. Ra got wind of the plot just in time, and raced off with Reks to warn us. Apparently he had to slip out of camp at night, since Tzu - in a predictably stubborn rage - had forbidden him to go. Thank gods Ra defied him, incomprehensibly wise and glorious though he may be, since without his arrival we would have been lost.
When we heard what the elves had planned, we were able to lay an ambush for them at a place where two great rivers meet. Ini-Go’s aquatic troops were perfectly suited for this terrain, although Ini-Go himself ran off before the battle in pursuit of some “five-fingered man” who apparently had killed his father. Ra was not used to commanding skinks, but his tactical genius still won through. It was not clean sailing, however, especially not when their terrifying Phoenix made another appearance. It set upon a group of kroxigors, ripping them to shreds with its enormous claws and talons, and then fell on one of the stegadons, Muph’a-Sa’s smaller mate, grasping the entire dinosaur in its claws, heaving her a dizzying distance into the sky, and dropping her to her unfortunate demise on our troops below. (Almost like what was once described in the prophecies…)
I cannot describe the anguish and rage that came upon Muph’a-Sa at this point. He churned the ground beneath him to mud in his fury, and with the most ferocious below I have ever heard, he lunged at the phoenix, impaling it on his long, razor sharp horns and trampling its feathers into the marshy ground. The devastating charge carried the beast into a column of the enemy’s finest glittering cavalry, who met a similar demise at the hands, or should I say hooves, of the furious stegadon.
On the other side of the battlefield, there was a slightly less fearsome display of fury, as the frail old priest Ini-Mehni was overcome by his orcish frenzy, and charged headfirst, all alone, at a group of at least twenty archers. Tiny as he is, his madness was such that he actually managed to fell one of the elves before they overcame him. Fortunately he was recovered at the end of the battle, battered but alive. While he is still tragically insane, he seems to have a new-found respect, or perhaps even fear, of the elves.
Meanwhile, While the last of the skinks were succumbing to the elven arrows or pursuing the enemy’s tattered regiments around the field, Ra all by himself stormed the stronghold where the enemy had made its final stand.
---
“Hmm,” said Ra, surveying the building. “I’m afraid this looks like a one-man operation, Reks old boy. The thing is made of solid stone, and the door is far too small for you to fit in. See if you can bash it down from the outside. Meanwhile, I bet you 100 ixti grubs that they’ve got my sword in there, and I’m damned if I’m going to let them keep it for a second longer than necessary. See you at the victory party!”
Ra leaped off the carnosaur, smashing the door of the building apart with a grunt. As the debris cleared, Ra looked around at the large numbers of battle-ready elves within.
“Right, who’s skull do I have to smash around here to get back what I accidentally dropped and then you took from me?! Hmmm?”
The elves looked at the one in a colourful robe, a low-level mage of some sort, who seemed more than a little afraid, despite superiority in numbers. Finally he summoned the will to speak to his troops. “Well? Don’t just stand there! Get him, you fools!”
Ra sighed. “Fine. I was actually hoping you’d say that.”
Outside, Reks could hear a commotion, punctuated by the occasional scream. He smashed his tail against the crumbling walls a few times, until one of them collapsed. Entering, he saw Ra admiring a huge, shimmering blade, cradling it lovingly. The bodies of the elves were all around him. Out of the window, the lone figure of the mage could be seen hurrying across the field in the direction of the elven territory.
“Roar?” said Reks.
“I told you it was in here,” replied Ra, wiping some blood off his scales. “Still had to kill this lot to get at it of course, stupid warmbloods."
There was a coughing sound.
“Someone still alive, eh? Well let’s just - oh, it’s Huan!”
Huan Dae’req-Shon, the scar leader, was leaning against a wall, barely conscious, arms and legs bound with thick elven twine. His crown was still fastened firmly to his skull.
“What the bloody hell are you doing here, old chap?! Gods am I pleased to see you. How are you even alive? You had about 50 spears poking through you!”
“Gnnnnnn,” said Huan, amicably.
“Right, right, sorry, questions later. I’ll have Zhat give you his finest herbal remedies straight away. Don’t worry, that’s the last you’ll be seeing of the elves for a good while, let me tell you!”
---
After the battle, I encountered Ra on the riverbank, gazing into the waters, as the elven standards filled the air with smoke.
“It’s been a good day. Got my sword, thank gods. Got me old mucker Huan back, the lads will be pleased with that. Showed those pointy ears what’s what…”
“But?” I prompted.
“But what?”
“You were going to have a but.”
“Oh it’s nothing. It’s just...I wonder what Tzu is going to do when he gets here.”
I wonder the same. If Ra hadn’t done what he did, the elves would have annihilated us. But that kind of logic doesn’t work for Tzu. He likes his commands to be obeyed. I just pray our venerable lord is in a good mood and has not been sacrificing to Xapati lately, as I was before the battle.
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