“-They think they are safe, that we will stop the invading humans and keep them from all our lands, that well bleed and die for it, and that they need not bow, that they can carve their own little corner of Demonia, and make their own kingdom, and they are half-right. Kill all that oppose, burn their villages, curse their land and do not let them ever leave it, let them starve generation after generation, let them hunger and starve and kill each other for time on end, they need not bow to the dragons, need not offer anything for forgiveness, for that they will have nothing to offer.”

- Year 524 after Hellgates- King Edrick Dragonsvain,

-“Creation of Amina" -“Beast-men arrogance and fall”

-The city of “Pandoria” or “New Hope”, the city of the damned, cursed and monsters, that is what the capital of Demonia, is known as in the rest of the known world, but far from a place of misery it was a rather prosperous place, while it couldn’t be called beautiful, but it is clean and organized, rivaling the glory of the human dwarven and elven capitals, surpassing them in some aspects, but do you know why I bring this up now Ender?

A tall figured, covered in a black simple, yet sturdy black robe, his face hidden in the hoods shadow, as he leaned on his chair, old wood cracked, it has seen better days. Across from him, a young man was seated, dark eyes and hair fell short of his shoulders, rather lean build, not enough muscle to be a soldier, all the same he couldn’t pass for a sickly scholar either.

-I am rather perplexed that you would sermon me on a thing thought to children, I haven’t forgotten your teachings, from so many years ago, if that’s why your concerned, uncle, but I assume it has to do with the plan to fight the human invasion in the elven forest?

-Your right, forgive me, I was feeling nostalgic, but your fathers plan is reckless, if by some chance we are dealt a crushing defeat, with so much committed to the battle, we might not be left with enough to defend the mountain pass, if that were to happen this city may be lost.

-And with that a blow we will never ever be able to recover from, I understand that well. Mother also agrees, but I do suspect other less honorable reasons in play, when father proclaimed his intention to commit the Mordred mages from the get go, she all but told him fuck off, took the her people and strolled out of the throne room, his face was priceless. On that note uncle read this.

Ender casually, took an envelope, with the seal already broken from a pile, from it a small piece of paper, and written on it 3 names, Enrica Flowergarden, Cirina Rivergaze, Roselle Lifetree.

-Roselle Lifetree isn’t she the daughter of one of the head elders? What is the meaning of this?

-It just one of many letters and reports that paint a rather bleak picture of the war, for our kingdom that is.

-So the elves finally allied with the humans?

-I’m not certain on the specifics, the 3 are highborn and in custody of different human powers, it seems to me they are hostages, they are the only ones I got confirmation for, I bet there are more as several family members of high ranking elves haven’t been seen lately. As to why Elfengarden would accept this, I have nothing solid.

-I trust you warned your father, his majesty Edrick of this?

-Warn him? Yes, not that it given it any heed, he is to prideful for that, tell me uncle what is my name? It is Ender Mordred Dragonsvein. Mordred, my mother’s family name, a slap in the face of his authority right from his sons name. No, he will never agree to it, he will not hold in the mountain pass, where it would turn in a war of attrition, in which the necromancers of the Mordred family will shine and his loyalist will crumble.

-Taking on the human armies in the forest, might be in our favor, with their siege weapons rendered useless, but if the elves break neutrality, the battle might go very bad for us.

-Mother is already pulling her support from the campaign, she is creating a separate army in her name, what she will do with it, I suppose, it depends on how bad it turns out for fathers army. As for father, he must be thinking that his beloved dragon tribe will suffice, with the aid of the orc and troll hordes.

-I’ve been diving in the “Hellgate” for too long, haven’t I? I’ve been missing for too much time, too many things, to think will tear each other apart while the enemies army marches to our borders, maybe we don’t deserve to survive this.

-Well it’s all a rather sick game, in truth, I can’t deny I play it myself, what about you uncle? Where do you stand? If I may be so blunt, you might not be one for politics, but you hold sway over the Mordred mages as much if not more than my mother.

- I have 2 choices one, support the king and lead my men to the slaughter, or support the queen and rip the realm apart, don’t you love politics? Tell me what should I do?

-You confuse fondness with competence, but yes I enjoy getting one over on people quite a bit. “Support me in taking over the kingdom and I shall grant you the office of prime minister”, is what I would like to say. Who knows? Maybe we could truly finish off mother and father, if they don’t beat us to it, even win the civil war to fallow, but we would never have the strength to survive what comes after.

-Jokes aside, pull out as many magicians as you can from mother, weaken her army, I do not believe there is any way to stop father, but might keep mother from doing something ill advised, I would like to say that attacking exhausted army of father is beneath her, but I would like not to take that chance. Hide them outside the forest, you might be able to stop a pursuit battle if the mages deploy a barrage at the right time, assuming it comes to that, I will arrange for an escort small as it may be, whatever you do, make sure they don’t suffer many casualties.

-Your fairly certain that your father will be defeated.

-With mother pulling out, other small faction did the same, fathers host will not reach a 4th of the enemies, and that’s not considering what the elves might bring, even assuming they only give them a handful of guides, they will have the terrain advantage and an ambush will be impossible, but as father pointed out with the artillery and cavalry out of the way, and the forest making skirmishes where our foot soldiers are vastly superior, we might still be able to win or at least inflict enough damage that they can no longer afford to invade.

-So if you had your way you would unite all the armies and march on the elf forest?

-Hard to say, even with all the forces, the loses that we will likely sustain would take too long to recover, on the other hand, as I already said they have arranged for amble supply lines, we won’t bleed them out in the mountains like the last war, its aggravating that they learned, isn’t it? Father made the point that their forces would set up camp at the base of the mountain pass and set siege to it while waiting for reinforcements, so it would be better to attack them before the armies have the chance to join up, while I do agree with this, he is making light of the elves, while they haven’t wared in centuries, but I doubt they are powerless in their own forest. Regardless, whatever question about this being the correct strategy ended, when he ordered the Mordred mages be deployed at the start of the battle with minimal protection, basically on the front line, he must have thought he was being witty, he would weaken the too powerful faction, while sparing his loyalist, rather foolishly overestimating his own authority, If you ask me, it has been a long time since he could order something like this to the Mordred, hasn’t it?

-Maybe I should have taken over all those years ago when I had the chance, power struggles seem to be all the rage, at the time the opportunity presented itself, I told myself it wouldn’t be worth it, that the cost wouldn’t out weight the benefits, maybe I was naïve. Regardless, what will you do?

-Sadly I have to go with ‘dear’ father, otherwise I would appear a coward, and well, without the support of the Mordred family, fathers army will be fatally lacking in mages, not to mention it wouldn’t be funny if my parents get any weird ideas to kill each other, that’s fine for all I care, but their armies would be dragged into it.

-Ender I urge you to reconsider, it is a fool’s errand that will get you killed, and puts you in a delicate situation with our house, it could look like you picked dragon tribe over us, but your relationship with your father is bad, even if the enemy doesn’t get you, your father might decide to help an stray arrow into your skull.

-Considering his personality, there won’t be something like a blade in the back, a honorable duel is more his style, gut me in 1 second flat, or have his orc do it, then I might stand a chance, but he would duel me himself after, no, most likely have that girl do it, Cristina Amberise was her name I believe, the thickest dragon blooded since my father, I’ve dueled her once, when we visited his home village, soon after my return from the human lands, showcasing the difference between me and her for the whole tribe, how much of a disappointment I was, needless to say it worked, any hope I had of being the next head died then.

-I have seen her in passing, training herself in the castle yard, when I when to greet queen Joana, do you think you could beat her? She is quite the monster, a whelp and already about as strong as the average dragonling.

-If I had time some time to prepare a few potions, maybe, if I used every trap, ability I kept secret and dirty trick and some of the families prized possessions, with some luck, but no, I am not a match for a dragonling warrior, not in a duel at least.

-It is good to be able to admit that much to yourself, it couldn’t be easy having the pride of being the most gifted necromancer of your generation, but you can’t possibly turn the tide of a battle, you are what now 28 years old? That is far for maturing as a mage, do you think a fledgling mage can turn a war on its head? Not even a necromancer.

-And yet you are known as the as “Nightmare Lord”, “Battlefield’s silence ”, infamous for doing just that, for what you did before I was born, turn the tides of war, in some hundreds of years you will be a legend for it.

-As stories tend to, it was blown out of proportion, there is some truth to it, I don’t deny it, but I had to pay a steep price for that much power, regardless, I was nearing the end of my second century of existence at the time, you can’t be so full of yourself to compare yourself to something like me.

-No, I can’t match you, not any time soon, that’s why I got my hands on this little thing, to help breach the distance, I think you will agree it will be effective.

There he pulled the chain from his neck under his shirt, a silver pendant with a night sky blue gem imbedded into it, “Darkday” one of the Mordred most prized artifacts.

-So it’s like that, can you use it at your age? It couldn’t have been easy to get permission to take it, or the fortitude to use it. I am impressed, guess I you aren’t a child anymore, but you do not have enough power, please don’t tell me you were planning to burn into your life-force to supplement your mana. To be so young and reckless again, those were the days. Here take my ring it should be enough of my own mana stored.

-It’s a nice gesture, but we both know it will not work, mana rings are attuned to its owner.

-I did a test long ago our mana is rather compatible, at worst you will break the ring but it will last long enough to get the job done and I am alright with that, but the best part is that it can act as a medium for “Farspeak”, I trust you still remember the spell, with that strong a connection I should be able to help you keeping that blasted artefact under control, too many good mages lost their minds to it.

-I see, thank you uncle.

-It’s nothing, I understand why you feel like you have to do this, but even like this it might not make the difference.

-Win the battle? Yes I understand, but it might buy the army enough time to get away, I hope I can stall enough time that the army isn’t run down, and chances are it will come down to that. Father doesn’t seem not to comprehend that this invasion is bigger than the one 2 decades passed, the last one was estimated at to be 100000 strong, while this one is has only 80000, but the number of horses has nearly doubled, most of the infantry has decent armor this time around and the logistical support is prepared for a long drown out war, they will not starve by the thousands in the mountain when winter comes. Worse it seems that is not the only host, other armies are being prepared, got confirmation that another 40000 men will be ready to join them before the first snow if they were to march on us, I do have some hope that they will attack other human lands as they are depleted of soldiers, but we can’t count on it.

-A rather competent network of spies, you managed to set up.

-Hardly, most of them are clueless peasants that don’t know who they are reporting to, thinking they are sharing harmless banter for some cooper coins, its rather expensive to set up and maintain, but with enough ‘harmless banter’ and some capable agents to supervise, manage, and maintain, you got yourself an information network spreading half across the human lands, a very expensive one mind you.

-I must admit that your years outside the kingdom where not waisted, I was worried you might be found out and killed, never to hear from you again, or turned against us, or worse coming with some proposal of peace to open up the boarders or such.

-No I understand human nature to well for something so foolish.

-Is that so? When I was your age I still harbored hope, that maybe humans and demons would realize that they are not so different, that we might have peace.

-It is because I know we are so alike, that I know we can’t have peace.

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Pandoria’s throne room was simple as it was grand and empty, high ceilings, pillars leading up to a chair made of stone like the walls, covered in shortly trimmed fur, with a simple yellowish carpet leading to the chair down the middle of the room, only decoration was torches adorning the pillars and walls, lighting pockets of the room. Only 3 people were in the throne room when the doors opened.

-Your majesty Edrick Dragonsvain, you have summoned me?

The troll bowed in greeting, not kneeling, as it is customary was somebody of high importance, removing the hood from his head, dressed in his skin cloak made him looked rather savage, unhuman long chin and nose, sharp eyes, bluish complexion with red lines of paint below the eyes.

-I have, High Shaman Arsen, I request twice the shamans to join the campaign, and I will reward the clans accordingly.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

-We already pledged all the shamans in their prime, your majesty, any more we would need to take the young’uns and the elderly.

-Do what you need, I will give them half the pay of trained shamans to the uninitiated, and full to the elderly as a sign of respect, and compensate the clans for their services as well, I will grant you an extension of the borders 30 miles west, there is a river there should suffice as a barrier with the beast man and the land hasn’t been scorched, it should be enough good farmland to repay them.

-Your majesty is very generous, I shall bring the matter to my people, they will agree to it, I will make certain of it.

Footsteps echoed in the throne room, as a bulging form of an two and a half meter tall old orc stepped forward in the torch lights, covered by fur and iron armor, his muscle and green skin could be seen in the joint gaps in the armor, clearly not custom made, but most of it war prizes, as it is traditional garb of orc warriors, their pride, with strong chin and flat nose, that has clearly been broken at least once, and missing half his earlobe, from there up his chick a scare runned up to his forehead, through his forever closed eyelash.

-Half trained brats and lame old Trolls, will not replace the Mordred.

-No not nearly, Gnom, but it will have to do, there will be a reckoning when this is done I swear, I will teach them a lesson in obedience, like I did with the beast-men just 10 years ago.

-You still had the support of the Mordred back then, I will have you remember we’re the ones that killed more of the beast-men, but they turned their land barren, many are fearing their curses more than your wrath, the necromancers aren’t the only ones to go with your crone-wife, the werewolves, blasted dogs of those bone sacks went with them, more than 2000 mutts, the harpies are divided and so are the rest of the beast-men. Regardless, I will call on the retired orcs, the old farts, peace doesn’t suit them, they will jump at the chance to die in battle and more of the young ones they can’t wait to get their blade wet. But I have to ask, are you certain? That crone aside, your son all but called you an idiot over taking the fight in the elven forests, where he found the spine I do not know.

-If we don’t kill the first army that comes, they will just poke at our defenses again and again, a war of attrition in which the Mordred’s will prosper, all the while our people suffer loses, worse, other armies will come, while our defenses will falter, they will be getting stronger with each passing month, at some point they will manage to trickle from the mountains, some parties, then some groups, they will poke our supply lines, at worst we might be besieged on both sides of the mountain pass, after that well have to pull forces from the 3rd army up north, if they don’t attack that border also, imagine if the desert people realize how weaken we are by the crusade, even if they don’t take the chance to invade, they will still raid for riches and slaves, and we can’t dismiss the possibility that the “Hellgate” might open again, it has opened just 7 years ago, it could stay closed 100 years, or it could open when we have are fighting a war on two fronts, a full blown epidemic of corrupted, while we do not have a soldier to spare, can you imagine? So no, we cannot hold in the mountains for years, for the pests to die out, they are prepared for it this time, elves or not. Isn’t it better to have a real battle, then slowly being chocked to death?

-It will be a good battle, there isn’t much else need say.

-No there isn’t, old friend, there really isn’t.

King Edrick, made a hand gesture, becoming the girl at the end of the chamber to come closer, red long and straight hair, reptilian wings both almost as tall as her and twice as wide, a long tail that she coiled around her left leg out of hobbit when waiting, for a human girl she would be considered on the tall side, green eyes, slightly silted, snake like, perfectly clean face, with a small straight nose, she was considerably attractive, only the youthful appearance she still had stopped her from being a beauty, sharp half inch nails, wearing a red one-piece, tick that covered her whole legs and arms, with fur collar, a practical and beautiful dress gifted to her by the king.

-Your majesty?

-You don’t need be so formal, I will announce you to be the next demon king, well queen, so there is no need to show me so much respect as my hair.

-But the prince?

-He is but a human, a Mordred, there is no dragon blood in him, the dragons have always ruled from Pandoria, it shall stay that way, my blood or not, we won’t bow to those blasted corpses.

-You will join us on the campaign, in my entourage in battle, at my left hand, I’ll have Gnom at my right hand as always, Ender can sit at the back with the baggage carriers, and other unworthy of battle, that is his place, he will march carrying supplies with the slaves.

-Edrick, don’t be a fool, don’t provoke the Mordreds yet, he is well regarded among them, who is to say that whore wont attack us over slighting her son, there will be time for killing them after the invasion has been dealt with. Keep him close, do not let him out of your sight either, with our blades at his neck it will make the crone think twice about attacking us, at least until the battle has passed and the troops had some rest, after that do with him what you will.

-You have a rather scheming mind, for a orc warrior, my friend, maybe you should have been born a human.

-Being disconcerted with other wills and wishes, is the luxury of the strong, my father taught me so, do not be as full of yourself to think you can still afford it.

-Move your asses, faster! Faster! Do you think the enemy will wait for you to trample them beneath your hooves? Give me two more laps I tell you!

The centaur leader roared, middle aged but still retained all the vigor of his prime, clad in armor from shoulders to hooves, like the rest of them, just slightly better quality, he was overseeing the 150 odd armored centaurs from a hilltop, with weapons poised, at times charged, at times marched, in the fields surrounding Pandoria, leaving a tick dust cloud in their wake, they were all sweating and tired, but they all had a crazed determination not to be the first to falter, their competitive spirit pushing them to the limit in a contest of endurance.

-Jack, I see your pushing your men quite a bit, I am relieved you weren’t my instructor.

-Lord Ender, I have to thank you for the armor, it must have costed you a fortune to procure it.

-It did, I trust they are getting used to wearing it?

-Yes certainly, while they could have run much more and faster without it, it will keep many of them alive when the time comes.

-The time is soon I fear, I have your first assignment, provide escort to the mages that will be with my uncle Valentin, protect them if they engage, and be ready to run with them if it gets dangerous, keep casualties at a minimum first and foremost , I’m placing you under my uncle’s command.

-When I pledged my clans allegiance to you 10 years ago, in a desperate attempt to save what was left of my people from the purge, I believed well just received some grassland in your territory and be left to our own devices, but you provided consistent help for us to settle in, without that, I fear many would have died of starvation and sickness, but we were spared from that, then I worried that soon well have to pay a steep blood price, and here we are 10 years later, the first time you order us to shed blood for you, but even like this you provided armor and weapons for us, we will not fail you, we will trample the enemy in your name, whoever that enemy might be.

-Even like this that armor doesn’t compare to the human knights, do not make light of them.

-No it doesn’t, nothing we can produce does, I still remember the war of my youth, we would trample their foot soldiers, we would outrun and outlast their horses to no end, but there were the ones clad in metal from head to toe, their horses covered in metal chains on chains, rings of metal linked to other rings of metal, hundreds upon hundreds, chainmail I believe they called it, we could never stop their charge, their swords would cut us, their lances impale us, while our would break onto their armor, we could run circles around them shooting our bows, but most would just bounce off, only some lucky shoots would land upon a joint and draw blood, or hit the horses legs and the knight would die in the fall, while our skin and leather clothing would give no pause to their crossbows. No I do not underestimate their knights, I understand the value of their blasted armor.

-If it comes to it, do not help fathers army, if you would suffer heavy loses for it, I told my uncle as much, but unlike most of this kingdom his loyalty is more patriotic then it is tribal, or in a long shot of saving me, remind him I am going to die at a later day, if he sacrifices you to save me today.

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The sun has long since downed and the patrons of the “Wolf’s den”, are long lost to sobriety, they wouldn’t drink away their senses to this degree usually, but they will march to war very soon, so they took the chance to enjoy themselves.

-The king was really pissed, his face turned so red from anger, his face was so contorted and red, I am shocked smoke dint come out of his ears , I haven’t heard a dragon die from a stroke, but I swear he almost become the first.

A round a big table in the middle of the tavern a group of more than half dozen werewolves, where making marry, rising their cups at times, standing up and making faces, jabbing each other, laughing like they have no fear, no to show that they don’t.

Deeper in the tavern, away from the noise of marry-making, a young werewolf was looking over, his trains where not as pronounced as most of his people, he had a tail and his legs were more harry than most humans, but his face wasn’t anything different, only his yellow eyes had a sharp glint of an animal, he had proud futures, square jaw, he was good looking, with long brown hair tied into ponytail, reaching down his back and a whimsical expression. On the chair next to him an old one stood, overlooking the drunks with a tired expression, but most could not tell, for he had the head of a wolf, with the same yellow eyes, fur covered hi whole body, only patches missing from sword cuts, on his back on his belly chest, face, no limb was spared of scars.

-Rather fearless warriors, wouldn’t you say father? For mutts that haven’t seen blood yet, they wouldn’t be able to breath in the kings presence much less insult him.

-Rather foolish idiots that tempt fate, with the anger of people they can’t bear.

-Since queen Joana, told his “royal majesty” king Andurn to “shove it” and “go die in the hellhole”, and that was among the tame ones, mind you, the royal anger has been on an all-time high, it will not reach new peaks from some drunken insults of nobodies, nor will it recede without retribution I fear.

-You are probably right Marc, I do not see the king letting this go, he will probably attempt to purge the Mordreds, after the war, as he did with the beast-men, regardless of right and wrong the werewolves, will stand by the Mordreds, as we always had. “Slaves dogs of the bones”, was among the things the other beast-men called us, how are they doing now? How many survived the purge? How many died of starvation and illness in their now cursed land? Our loyalty to the Mordred house has been our protection, we pay for it and they always did right by us, this is our way for centuries now. We don’t serve the dragons, we serve the necromancers, my bad hobbit of preaching has gotten the better of me ,forgive me son.

-But what will we do when they are not united? To witch Mordred we owe our allegiance?

-I know prince Ender is your friend, but your duty is first and foremost to the Moonborned clan, as my hair you are its future leader, you must remember this, you will be chief after this war, or during it, I will retire one way or another, this will be my last war.

-He come to me earlier today, he requested our warriors to provide protection to his uncle and his mages, I told him I have to talk with you.

-And what would you have me do? No, what would you do as the clan leader?

-Considering the size of our clan, and the other clans are mobilizing, providing around 200 is about what is expected of us, I suggest we go with 150 warriors to the queen, and send one of my brothers with 100 for Ender, we would risk most of our warriors, but I do not believe that he would throw away his centaurs, we shouldn’t incur heavy losses on that front. Does my solution please you ?

-It is acceptable, whatever the decision right or wrong, you will have to learn to live with the consequences, as a leader, but in truth, ultimately I do not know.

-I know I haven’t made a choice, loyalty and duty first, is what you taught me, but this is playing both sides.

-If the time comes you have to choose between the queen and prince, do what you think best for our people, that said, queen Joana has the respect of all the werewolf clans, most Mordred mages listen to her, and she has the ear of the harpies, what does prince Ender have? Some land between the Mordred lands and the Dragonling tribe, if there was anything ever between a hammer and an anvil, that would be it, a handful of Mordred mages that might want to pick him over his mother, the centaurs, what is left of them that is, let’s be generous 200 fighters, a drop will not fill an ocean, and well your friendship, one werewolf clan out of 10 big ones, the packs will fallow the majority, his father can’t stand the sight of him, he has no influence in the Dragonling clan, much less have their backing, even if his father was out of the picture. That being said there are the sleeping liches, not that they do much, but that’s by choice, not by lack of power, that’s one thing they defiantly don’t lack, I’ll admit they make my skin crawl, I still remember 50 years ago when a few of them went all out, I have nightmares about it every now and then about that day, they taking part in a feud between them is most unlikely, but Enders relationship with that lich Valentin, a force of nature himself I can attest to that, is very good, I heard being said that he is the son he never had, and for him Valentin was the father that wanted him, so who knows where the chips may fall. The king and queen will never be at peace again, one of them will die sooner rather than later, but the queen and her son, while there isn’t much love there, they might not go to war with each other after all.