Fallen Crown (Orc Destiny Volume II) (The Blood and Brotherhood Saga) (11 page)

Looking to all of his captains and allies one by one he
accepted their nods, and rising he left the tent with them as the sun dipped
below the horizon beyond. The fires in the human camp had been fed, growing
immense, casting dancing light in all directions. The twisted shadows of the
humans among the fires seemed to stretch across the valley in long serpentine
forms of darkness, but that was only an illusion, and Gnak quickly dismissed it
from his thoughts when he heard the sound.

From across the soon-to-be battlefield, a great cacophony of
howls arose, joining together as one, causing goose pimples to form on Gnak’s
flesh. Several of his clan, both Orc and goblin, visibly shuddered at the
sound. He could not help but wonder what horror the humans brought with them,
though the night did not reveal them. Instead, only half an hour later, even
from across the valley, hundreds of prowling sets of glowing eyes moved among
the shadows where the fires could not reach. Gnak watched the eyes, and watched
still as small contingents set forth across the dark valley from his own side.
The big chief was sending troops to harass the enemy and starve them of rest.
It was a good plan.

Watching through the darkness he and all his clan, like
every other, watched as the small bands of Orcs and goblins closed the distance
between themselves and the humans. Closer and closer they crept in the night,
careful to avoid the light where humans could see them. Gnak watched as the
first group grew dangerously close to the human guards, but never did they
reach their target. Out of the darkness the humans’ beasts came, springing onto
their foes with tooth and claw. The beasts were nothing the Orcs had ever seen
before, all feral rage and bristling fur, and within minutes every one of the
parties sent to harass the humans was reduced to mangled flesh. Some of his
kinsmen were left alive, their bodies torn to bits, as they screamed in pain,
calling to their comrades for help. No help came.

Throughout the night the big chief sent parties to test the
humans’ defenses, and again and again they were tore limb from limb. It seemed
the humans had allies of their own, and they were vicious creatures with
strength and size to rival the Orcs’. Gnak did not know what to think of the
creatures, only that he wanted to keep his men away from them at all costs. But
when morning came, all hopes of delaying or ending the battle before it started
were dashed.

Light spread across the sky to chase away darkness, as the
shadows of the mountains to the east shrank with every given moment. Thin,
wispy clouds, sailed high in the heavens as birds flew in great flocks, all
headed beyond the mountains to the south. Gnak watched as the human army began
to stir across the valley, and he was caught off guard when the first deep note
of the Orcish war drum broke the silence to carry across the still morning air.
The big chief intended to attack during the day when humans were less
vulnerable? Gnak wondered if the leader of many clans was a big a fool as his
plans made Gnak believe.

Again and again the note crashed through the air, being
picked up and joined by others. Within a span of minutes, hundreds of huge
drums were pounded in a slow, steady rhythm that reminded Gnak of the beating
heart he had held in his hand not long ago.

Looking out across the side of the valley he shared, he
watched as many clans of Orcs gathered with goblins, trolls, and ogres. Forming
a solid line of black iron and flesh several hundred bodies deep, they began to
slowly move forward as more and joined their ranks. Even without his order to
do so, some of his clan began to move, but Gnak had a plan.

“Gathos!” Gnak shouted above the din of marching and
drumming. “Gnak pray Ishanya give power, give strength. Gnak pray she make Orc
and goblin better. Make learn new ways. Gnak pray Ishanya protect Gathos. Now
all pray!”

He watched as his captains took their cue and all began
repeating his prayer, the entirety of his clan turning away from the surging
tide of bodies to face the makeshift altar at the center of camp. It only
bought him less than five minutes, but every one of them counted. Then, when
the prayer was done, Gnak ordered them into battle formations and, taking Jen’s
words to heart, he ordered them forward, behind the vast majority of the army.

It was an hour later that they crossed the halfway point of
the valley, the ground shaking beneath the pounding of their feet. Ahead, the
humans collected on the northern slope of the valley, their numbers too few to
even have come. Gnak doubted they would last the morning. Onward Gnak and his
clan marched at the rear of the invading horde, and estimating, he guessed they
had at least ten times the numbers that the humans had mustered, but it was
then that his question from the previous night was answered.

From atop the valley’s crest, a wall of non-human troops
marched down to join the humans, and with them great dire wolves prowled in and
out of the lines. It was apparent that the fur-covered troops were related to
the four-legged beasts that walked among them. They were not a large force,
perhaps half a thousand, but they were muscular hulking creatures whose heads
swiveled as they marched, watching the movements of everything. Though Gnak
could not put his finger on it, for some reason he knew the creatures to be
unnatural. Looking to their head, he watched as an oddly armored pair of humans
led the beasts. Something about the human commanded his attention, but he did
not have long to ponder the matter, for at that very instant the roar sounded and
the wall ahead of him surged forward.

Drawing his blades, Gnak charged ahead with his troops.
Cursing the big chief’s stupidity, he watched as the humans held their ground,
the higher ground, waiting for the charge to come. Higher numbers or not, the disadvantage
of fighting uphill should have been apparent, but went ignored. Another quarter
mile passed beneath his feet, and all around him battle cries filled the air as
thousands of voices shouted their hatred of the opposing humans.

The humans retaliated by ripping down the nearest line of
tents to reveal large metallic machines. It took only a few seconds to discover
what the things were designed to do.

In a series of loud sounds, the war cries of both armies
were punctuated by the
thwonk, thwonk, thwonk
of the machines as giant
spears sailed through the air at incredible speed to slice through the Orcs and
goblins nearest the humans. Near a dozen were injured or killed with each shot
of each machine, the passing of each bolt carving out a swath through the
invading army. Those hit by the strikes cried out, their screams lost beneath
the feet of the onward surging line. Angered by the attack, those ahead of Gnak
increased their speed as explosions sounded all around. Gnak could not believe
his eyes.

From both forces, men of giant stature sprang up from the
armies, bearing massive blades, and hammers. Out to meet his kin the giant
humans came, stomping upon his kind, and striking them down by the hundreds
before the invading champions could meet them. From ahead the humans loosed
arrows by the thousands, and a rain of death arced out of the sky as the battle
cries turned to bloodcurdling screams of agony. Fireballs lanced from both
armies with devastating effect, as living, burning troops of all races stumbled
about with their bodies engulfed, the flesh melting from their bones as their
final screams were silenced. There was neither honor nor pride in a war such as
this.

Gnak, so far back in the lines, was helpless to do anything
but watch as those from his race fell before the better prepared humans, but
the tide was already turning. Blast after magical blast was traded among the
armies, but with so few troops, every loss was felt heavily by the humans.
Their archers and mages began to thin, as blasts from Gnak’s side sought them
out in an attempt to end the rain of death. But still the war machines the
humans used sent giant bolts to slay many with each strike.

Onward and uphill the line moved slowly as Gnak strode upon
gore beneath his feet. He had reached those who were first to fall. His people
cared nothing for the dying or dead, they simply walked upon them, crushing
them into the ground and desecrating their remains. It made Gnak sick. How many
of those now reduced to thick sludge beneath him could have been saved?

Turning his attention back to the battle, a flash of
brilliant light drew his eyes off to the left, across the battlefield. Watching
for its source, he witnessed as the leader of the fur-covered beasts raised his
hands, pointing them outwards towards the lines of the invaders. He was armored
from head to toe in what appeared to be a skeleton of blackened steel. Every
oddly formed bone showed plainly on the surface of his armor where spikes
protruded at the joints, making even his armor a weapon. Upon his head the man
wore a helm that resembled the same beasts he led, the maw of his helm gaping
wide to reveal the human beneath.

Bright, lancing, bolts of sickly yellow green lightning
sprang from the man’s fingers, reaching out and grasping at dozens of Orcs and
goblins alike. With explosive force, everybody the lightning touched exploded
into half-charred bits of meat and gore that smoldered as it rained down
amongst Gnak’s allies. Though any rational man of any race would have been wise
to turn and flee the man, those nearest him simply rushed into the void created
by his devastating strikes, taking up the fight where those destroyed had left
off. Filled with the screams of the injured and dying, a breeze carried aloft
the scent of burnt hair and flesh, causing Gnak’s stomach to turn uneasily.

Again the lightning came, but this time the horde retaliated
with magic of their own, as great balls of fire burst forth from the invaders
to smash into the human wizard. But still the human did not falter. Raising his
hands, it were as if the magical ballista simply snuffed out as it broke around
him, but that was only the beginning of his show of power.

As the fireballs relented for only a fraction of a second,
the man appeared to shimmer as he separated into more than a dozen identically
clad warriors. Each of them then spread out all across the hillside of the
valley, as the horde’s magic users spread their assault among all of the newly
appeared human warriors. But Gnak could see through the man’s trick. Looking
intently upon the scene as he moved forward with his clan, he noted that only
one of the replications had a will within it. Even from here he could see the
small light within the man. The rest were apparitions he had created. It was an
impressive conjuring.

Moments passed and the magical assault upon the human’s
replicas lessened. Without warning all the false illusions vanished, as the
human wizard began casting destruction anew. All around Gnak his clan began to
turn and flee in panic, making a hole in their line as a great shadow fell over
them. Diving aside as the immense foot came crashing down from above, he looked
up from his back as the giant of an Orc rushed forward, trampling its own
allies beneath its feet. Just steps ahead, and dozens dead beneath it, the
giant Orc brought blades to bear against an equally sized human warrior.

The two titans clashed, trading blow after blow, smashing
lesser warriors beneath them. Dodging a slash from the human, the giant Orc
retaliated with a blow to the human’s shoulder, the thick Orcish blade biting
through the armor and deep into the joint. But injured and at a disadvantage,
the human did not falter.

Falling back a step, the giant human jerked away from the
Orcish attacker, prying loose the blade from his shoulder just as a giant ball
of green-hued fire smashed onto the face of the blessed Orc. Back the Orc
stumbled, and Gnak looked up to see the thrower of the magic still upon the
hillside, before he was again forced to dive out of the way of the giant warriors.

All around him lay the dead and dying, crushed by the
blessed warriors battling above them. Screams and cries burst forth from ruined
bodies everywhere, their orbs of light pulsing within them. Gnak fought to
regain his feet. Fighting to stay focused amongst the chaos, and rising again,
he stumbled just barely out of the way of the Orc’s massive foot as it again
smashed to the ground. Looking up, half in a fog of confusion, Gnak watched as
with a popping sound the giant Orc warrior shimmered before shrinking back to
an unblessed size just feet away from him. He watched as the Orc tried to flee,
but with the towering human warrior before him, there was nowhere he could go
as the heel of his foe descended from the air above to crush him beneath a great
armored boot. Gnak watched as flesh became jelly and sprayed out all around the
massive foot, and in that instant a rage enveloped him.

For all the wrongs his people committed, and for all the
faults they had, they did not deserve such slaughter. None needed to die in
this wretched place, crushed beneath their own race or another, or incinerated
by magical fire. No. Things needed to change. Filled with anger and
frustration, Gnak rose to his feet, his hands half curled above him as he
roared to the heavens. As if in answer the sounds of the battle dimmed in his
mind, and a vision of Jen appeared in his memory as something around him
changed.

As if they were thrown from all corners of the battle by
those who faded from life, the wills of thousands began smashing into Gnak,
bursting through him and congregating within him in an instant. Discarded were
the wills of those lost to life, and as such they came to him at his time of
need. Reacting by both anger and instinct, he pointed to those who lie dead
around him, either half charred or half crushed and he willed them back to life
and back into the fight so that no more living must die. As if great puppet
strings descended from the sky, the fallen began to jerk and rise, some of them
crawling and dragging destroyed limbs behind them.