Chapter Twenty-Two

As the sun begins to rise, General Von Dee’s forces come to a large woven tree wall, sneering the general calls for a scout to check it out. A man in dark leathers nods and darts forward, but before he can get far two dark-skinned elves appear from the trees and hold up their hands. One of the elves, the male, calls out, “ Go no further you are encroaching on the land of the wood elves, Roothome. State your business.”.

The general narrows his eyes and nudges his horse forward, stopping ten feet from the elves he calls out, “ I am General Von Dee of Albion Army, we are here to investigate the reports of high elves in these forest. We will investigate fully. We knew not of you; wood elves was it?”.

The same elf that spoke nods, then the general continues, “ We knew not of the wood elves presence, but we must still complete our mission. Will you allow us to continue peacefully or will there be an issue?”.

With the general’s last words that are more threat than question, the men under him shift, hands on weapons and staffs. The elves narrow their eyes at the general’s words, “You will have to speak with our leaders. Allow us to inform them of your ….. visit.”.

The general eyes the elves for a moment weighing the pros and cons of attacking them now, while it would be easy to kill these two and storm the walls, he highly doubts they are alone and if by chance these elves are in fact not involved with the high elves, it would not be prudent to attack them without knowing their full strength. The general takes a deep breath and releases it, “ So be it, but let it be known, if you plan to attack us we will show no mercy as we return the favor.”.

At this both elves smile and the female that had remained quite till now says, “ If we wanted to do that we would have already.”.

With her words the trees surrounding them rustle, pulling the general’s eyes up to see another dozen elves and a few goblins sitting on the branches, with bows, not drawn, but in hand. The general smiles, they got him. Still smiling the general says, “ We wait your return.”.

As Bigsly and the other survivors run along the path the army had left, with dawn approaching. Turning back, they cannot see anything pursuing them in the early morning light and decide to take a much need break. Letting Lily down, Bigsly collapses against a tree, his eyes shutting before he even hits the ground. Whether it was seconds or days, Bigsly can’t tell but he is pulled from sleep by the sounds of screams and Lily’s frantic voice begging him to get up. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Bigsly allows his eyes to open slowly, his mind moving slowly from the lack of sleep. As his eyes open, he catches site of a dozen wolves circling the survivors. The shock and fear pushing the sleep from his weary mind, Bigsly jumps up. Pushing Lily behind him, Bigsly looks around at the circling wolf pack as they corral the humans closer together in a tight huddle. A wolf stalks close to Bigsly and Lily and snaps at the air, causing Lily to yelp. The wolf continues to do this till Bigsly, along with Lily, make their way into circle with the rest of the survivors. After everyone is brought together, Bigsly can hear the priest casting spells of protection over the group, shimmering light cascading over everyone. As the spells continue, the wolves stop circling and stand still, eyes focused on the humans. The wolves in the direction of the village, and where Bigsly finds himself standing, part and allow a gigantic black furred wolf with glowing red eyes to step forward, the beast’s snout above even Bigsly’s head. The creature eyes the group of humans for a moment, before it barks loudly, “ RUN!! AND DON”T STOP!!!”.

As the wolf yells for them to run the wolves blocking their way move, and fear over takes the shock and curiosity of a talking monster, and the group of survivors do as they are ordered and rushing out of the opening. Bigsly grabs Lily and take off after the other survivors, looking back over his shoulder to see if the wolves are chasing them, they are not, he can swear that the wolf that spoke winks at him.

Lupin watches as the humans run away, a portly man running with a little girl looks back at him and Lupin winks at him. The man turns away back with shock, causing Lupin to chuckle to himself. Shaking his head, he turns to the direction the humans had come from and snarls, his pack flanking him. As he eyes the path, he can make out the shapes of shadowy creatures running towards him. With a bark Lupin rushes forward his pack following behind him. Lupin bursts through the ranks of the shadowy creatures, his fangs ripping through, slimy, dark flesh. Acid blood burns his tongue, causing him to yelp. Gritting his teeth, Lupin barks orders to his pack, and shifts to his two-legged form, his pack mirroring him. Standing on two powerful legs, Lupin swings his clawed hands at the creatures, swiping blindly. A thin creature with pointed ears floats above the others, swirling darkness in its hands. The creature throws the darkness in its hands, waves of darkness hit one of his pack members, the wolf-man letting out a yelp of pain followed by screams in agony. Growling, Lupin rushes to his follower’s side, as the rest move to protect them. Shadows wrap around the man’s body, creeping out form the man’s chest moving to infest the rest of the body. Lupin grits his teeth and places a bloody paw on the man’s uninfected head. Focusing on his divine energy, Lupin pushes it towards the infected wolf-man. Even though Lupin hopes that his divine energy could over power the darkness, it is quickly apparent that it is a losing battle. The more energy he feeds into his follower the fast the darkness grows. With a sad eyes, Lupin looks the man in the eyes, and says , “ You served well.”.

With these words, Lupin slashes the man’s throat, hot red blood gushing from the fatal wound, splattering across Lupin’s face, and washes down his claw. Lowering his now dead follower, Lupin stands and howls with anger and fixes his glare on the floating creature and jumps towards it. Before, the demi-god could reach the spell casting creature, it releases a wave of dark energy , knocking him to the ground where he is quickly engulfed by a horde of creatures. Lupin bites, kicks, and claws at his attackers, catching some in the throat and others simply grazing them along an arm or leg. Has he fights, he can here his pack fighting around him, some howling in victory and others in pain. Pushing past his own pain, as the creature’s claw into his flesh, his own blood dripping from open wounds, he pushes energy into his claws, the tips glowing white with divine energy. Lashing out, Lupin’s claws cut several of the creatures in half and sends others flying back. Fighting to his feet, Lupin looks around, his claws ripping into shadowy flesh as he looks around. He watches has several of his pack fight to get to him and other fallen members. He sees as several of the creatures pin down, one of his pack and vomits a dark miasma into her mouth, muffling her screams. Baring his fangs, Lupin fights on as he watches the same pack member rise to her feet, now covered by swirling darkness. His former ally, howls low, and rushes at members of the pack, claws of shadow ripping into the back of an unexpecting wolf-man. Lupin tries to fight his way back to his pack, but when he cuts down one creature two takes their place. While Lupin is focused on the fight, a shadowy creature holding a dark sword and shield makes its way up to the group, followed by others holding a range of weapons, from swords to maces to spears and staffs. By the time Lupin, notices the new comers, it is too late. They circle around him; the other creatures continue to rush him. Along with their attacks, the others rush him as well. Dark metal cutting into his back, and maces crushing his bones. Magic wraps around him, pulling him to the ground. Lupin fights against tendrils of darkness, but is unable to move, only able to listen as the creatures over take his pack, their howls of pain feeling his ears, followed by the howls of something evil takes their place. Soon the sound of fighting stops, and silence is all that feels the forest, and his heavy breathing. A shadow falls over Lupin, fighting to look up he sees only a wall of darkness and a painfully white smile. Lupin growls, “ NAVOID!!”.

Navoid leans down and takes looks face in cold, slimy hands, and whispers sharply, “ Please, call me master.”.

General Von Dee and Lord Sven are led by a pair of elves and goblins to a part of the woven wall, that splits open and allows them to enter. As they enter through the whole, it closes behind them and they find themselves in a larger tent with a wooden table, in the middle. Seated at the table are several individuals, two dark elves, a goblin, a horned red creature and elf, more surprising than the high elf is the presences of the high-priest Thomas. General Von Dee snarls at the group, and barks at them, “ I knew the high elves were involved, but you a human, and a high-priest at that. You TRAITOR!”.

General Von Dee’s hand moves to his sword, but Lord Sven places a calm hand on the general’s arm and shakes his head, and says, “ We should hear them out, General. If they had wished to kill us they would have.”.

The general snarls, but moves his hand away form his swords hilt, but not far. The wood elf sitting in the middle of the table smiles slightly and says in a deep hissing voice, “ Thank you, Lord Sven. I was led to believe you were a leveled head man. I am glad to see that is true.”.

Lord Sven glances at Thomas before fixing his eyes on the elf at the head of the table and says, “ I see that you know my name, but I am afraid I do not know yours, Mr.….?”.

The wood elf’s smile broadens, and he says, “ I am called Yasevl.”.

Yasevl gestures to the others at the table, starting with the red horned creature sitting next to him, then moving to the wood elf next to him, and the goblin at the end of the table, “ This is Igneous, my brother. This is Nevil, the chieftain of this village, and Heva, the leader of the goblins that call this place home.”.

General Von Dee, snarls and asks, “ Brother?”.

Yasevl shrugs and says, “ A story for another time.”, Yasevl gestures to his left at Thomas, and the high elf and continues, “ I believe you are familiar with high-priest Thomas, and this is Vola Magina, an ambassador from the high elf kingdom of Arcanea.”.

Lord Sven takes in this information and nods to himself, then says, “ As you know, I am Lord Sven of Forestedge.”, gesturing to the general, “ And this is General Von Dee of the Albion Army. Thank you for speaking with us.”.

Yasevl nods and gestures to two empty seats and says , “ Please sit, we have much to discuss.”.

The talks go on for over an hour, Lord Sven having to go and assure the anxious army that everything is alright and to not provoke the elves and goblins. It takes a while of talking and calming before General Von Dee stops yelling and cursing and is willing to talk, but it happens, that is until they bring up the news of the creatures that have taken over Forestedge. General Von Dee slams his fist on the table, and yells, “ Bull! You expect us to believe that it just so happens that a group of creatures attack the same town we left, only days after we leave, and that you have a spy in. I think you are just trying to send us running so you can prepare an ambush for us.”.

Lord Sven’s faces grows pale and looks to Vola, “ Can you show me with your magic?”.

Vola shakes her head solemnly, “ I am afraid we have lost contact with our agent a few days ago, she was attempting to flee the village with a group of survivors. We are not sure if they made it.”.

Sven attempts to swallow the lump in his throat but finds it to dry and begins to gag and cough. Yasevl calls for water, and a wood elf comes through the other side of the tent with cups and a pitcher. The elf sets the cups down and takes one and fills it with water and hands it to the choking human. Lord Sven takes the wooden cup and drinks its content in one gulp and offers a weak thanks. The General rolls his eyes and says, “ You aren’t actually believing them, are you? Why would they care what happens to a human village? They just want us to be gone long enough to gather their forces.”.

Lord Sven fixes and glare on the General and hisses sharply, “ Shut up, General. If they wanted us dead, we would be.”.

The General is about to respond, when a goblin rushes in to the tent and whispers into Yasevl’s ear. Yasevl stands and addresses the group, with a serious voice, with a hint of condescendence, says, “ A group of humans been spotted heading this way, they looked to be survivors of the village.”, turning to address Thomas adds, “ They maybe in need of healing, gather your priest.”.

The elderly priest nods and makes his way out of the tent. Yasevl turns to Lord Sven and says, “ I am sure it would go a long way if they were to be greeted by a familiar face.”.

Sven nods, and stands, “ Thank you.”.

Yasevl only nods and waves a hand at the woven wall behind them, the wall splitting allowing out into the Forest. Sven rushes out, while the General simply stands eyeing the group. It is Vola that breaks the silence, “ You should go to General in case they were followed.”.

The General grits his teeth, but only tilts his head and stomps through the opening. As the General makes his way out, Thomas comes rushing back through the tent followed by all of his priest, as the last of the priest make their way through the opening, Yasevl collapses into his seat and sighs, “ That could have gone better.”.

Nevil speaks up and says, “ Could have gone worse.”.

Heva adds in, “ Yeah, we could’ve had to kill them.”.

Vola perks up and says, “ Still may.”.

Yasevl rolls his eyes and rubs his face and asks allowed, “ What do you think Igneous?”.

Yasevl looks down to his brother and sees that the imp is eyeing the opening intensely, “ I think we should get ready for a fight, with either the humans , or those creatures.”.

The room grows tense and the others look towards the opening and stand. Without a word they move to get their people ready. Igneous staying behind to guard the opening.

Bigsly’s fatigue fades slightly as he catches the sight of the army, and group of priests rushing towards them, pushing himself a little more, he doesn’t stop until he and Lily are surrounded by soldiers and priest. Letting Lily down, he drops down and begins laughing out of exhaustion and joy, calling out he says, “ We made it! We’re safe.”.

A priest begins checking him for wounds as another checks on Lily.

Caria finds herself embraced by the high-priest, the older man pulling her close, “ Caria! I am so glad to see you made it!”.

The priestess smiles and says, “ Yeah so am I.”.

As the priest take care of the survivors, Lord Sven makes his way up to the group, checking on each of them individually, before making his way to Bigsly. Sven’s stoic face gives way to one of relief, kneeling down he hugs the larger man, “ I am glad to see you made it friend.”.

Bigsly returns the hug, “ It is good to see you, Lord Sven. I have a lot to report.”.

Lord Sven pulls back and fixes dark eyes on Bigsly, “ The creatures are they real.”.

Bigsly looks at Sven in surprise, “ How do you know of the creatures, my lord?”.

“ The high elves have just informed us.”, Sven says then adds, “ So it is true then, Forestedge is gone?”.

Bigsly nods his head and says softly, “ Yes, the creature came from out of nowhere and begin changing their victims into more of them. We were able to escape with the help of an elven spy, Ira. She gave her life to give us a chance to make it here.”.

Sven closes his eyes and stands, holding out a hand to Bigsly, which the man takes and his pulled to his feet by Sven.

“ I need you to tell the general, and our new…. allies all that happened.”, Sven says with his gazer fixed on Bigsly.

“ Of course, my lord.”, Bigsly says before turning to Lily, “ Lily, come on we have to go.”.

The little girl, who was being comforted by a priestess, looks up at Bigsly and walks over to him and takes his hand. Smiling, Bigsly say, “ Lily, this is Lord Sven.”, turning to Sven he says, “ Lord Sven, this is Lily….. I am looking after her.. until her mommy gets better.”.

Lord Sven nods at these words, sadness feeling his eyes. Crouching down, Sven offers a hand to Lily, “ Hello Lily, it is very nice to meet you.”.

Before Lily can respond, a horn blares from behind them, then another from the atop the wall. The soldier pull their weapons and the general mounts his horse, and yells, “ MEN!! GET READY!!”.

Suddenly, a wood elf drops from the trees next to Lord Sven, causing the man to jump, as well as Bigsly and Lily. The elf fixes his gazed on the lord, and says, “ The creatures are coming, you need to get your people inside the walls.”.

As the elf says this, a large hole forms in the wall, showing a waiting army of goblins and elves, wood and high. Sven looks at the elf, with uncertainty, before yelling, “ GENERAL GET OUR PEOPLE INSIDE NOW!”.

The survivors from the village, and the priests, begins to make their way through the wall at the protest of the soldiers and the General. General Von Dee spurs his horse towards Sven and says, “ You can actually believe them, this is just a ploy to trap us! They have an army waiting!”.

Sven takes in a sharp breath and says, “ Fine, you and your men can stay and fight, but I am taking my people inside.”.

Raising his voice, Sven yells, “ ADVENTURES GET INSIDE NOW! THE EVLES AND GOBLINS ARE FRIENDLY, DO NOT ATTACK!”.

The adventures look between Lord Sven and General Von Dee, before they do as order, rushing behind the villagers. Sven turns to Bigsly and says, “ Come on, we need to get you and Lily inside.”.

Bigsly nods and picks up Lily and runs along side Sven. As they make it into they wall, they can hear howling and screams, they turn to look behind them. They watch as the first of the creatures rushes at the soldiers. Large wolf like monsters, ripping into the unsuspecting soldiers. The General stares at the carnage for a moment before ordering his men to move into the wall. The General rides his horse through the hole, followed by his men that are not already fighting. The hole begins to close as the creatures begin to push past the soldiers. As the hole closes, a large thud shakes the wall. The two armies look at one another with uncertainty, both sides not sure if they should attack or not. The tension is broken by the yelling of Nevil, the wood elf, “ Archers to the wall!”.

Vola follows with her own order, “ Spellcaster get into potation, reinforcing that wall and attacking the enemy!”.

The elves and goblins rush to follow their orders. The humans watch as the elves and goblins, begins climbing the wall and casting spells on the wall. Thomas yells, “ Help the elves with reinforcement and support those on the wall with shields and healing.”.

Sven watches as General Von Dee eyes the scene before them, as a snarl spreads across his face and he yells, “ You heard them men, archers, casters to the wall!”.

Sven smiles at the General, who is too focused on directing his soldiers to see. Yasevl walks up to Sven, while holding out a hand says, “ Glad to see you made the right call.”.

Sven grasps the extend hand and says, “ Really the only one, but I am too.”.

Yasevl looks to Bigsly and Lily and says, “ You can join the other survivors at the temple on the other side of the village, there is a group of warriors and priest there to keep you safe.”.

Bigsly looks to Sven, who nods, before thanking the wood elf and takes Lily towards the temple.

“ You and the general should come join us in discussing the plan.”, Yasevl says pointing towards a group of people huddled behind the armies.

Sven nods and says, “ I will follow in a moment.”.

Yasevl nods and walks away. Sven takes a moment to compose himself before he makes his way to the General who is still barking orders to his soldiers.

The General notices Sven’s approach and says, “ If you came to say I told you so, don’t.”.

Sven shakes his head and says, “ No I am just here to ask if you will come with me to discuss the battle plan with our new allies.”.

The General sneers at the word but nods his agreement and the two make their way to the group of leaders.

Igneous makes his way to the top of the wall along with the archers and spellcasters. Looking below he watches as the creatures slam against the wall. He adds his own fire to the airs, fireballs, lighting, and varies other magical attacks that rain down on the enemy. Igneous watches as one of his flames, engulfs a humanoid creature, its shadowy flesh melting away. Moving his focus, he continues to fling flame at the creatures, until he spots the group standing behind the rushing forces. Several of the creature hold weapons and staffs, one floats above the group dark energy forming in its hands. In the middle of the group stands a small dark figure with a wide white smile. Darkness seems to radiate from the creature, all light around him becoming dull. Somehow Igneous knows that the creature is the one behind this all. He looks behind him at everyone below waiting to fight, and at his home. He looks back to the creature and, even though the thing has no eyes, he can tell it is eyeing him. This thing is the reason his people are in danger, this thing tried to kill him, his brother, and his friends, and had killed elves and goblins in the process. All because it wanted him, well if it wanted him, then Igneous would give him what he wanted.

Igneous narrows his eyes and allows flames to spread across his body. Fire engulfs him and grows solid to act as armor. He now stands taller, his feet being lifted up by the flames, his arms thick and coming to an end in large sharp claws. Igneous focuses his flame, forming it into two large wings behind him. He will finish this now. He rushes forward, hot gust of wind knocking those close off the wall, he can hear people calling for him to stop, but he doesn’t listen. This thing is the leader and he would end it now. As Igneous flies toward the creature, flames shooting out and burning the creatures below him as he goes, the thing only smiles wider. This only angers Igneous and causes him to go faster. As Igneous is about to reach the thing, he is knock out of the air by a large creature. Igneous hits the ground hard and rolls to a stop inside the woods, away from the fight, losing some of his flames in the process. Igneous lashes out with a torrent of flames but is only able to burn trees. He eyes his surroundings, a bush rustles and he blasts it with flame. He hears a swig snap behind him, swirls around to release more fire, but soon finds himself knocked to the ground, with sharp red teeth baring at him. Igneous looks upon his attacker, with its large frame covered in wiggling pitch-black fur, and red spike protruding along its spine. To Igneous’ surprise the familiar voice of Lupin fills his ears, “ Your time is up imp!”.

To Be Continued…..