Chapter 98 March to War.
March to war, slay your enemies.
Burn their cities to the ground.
Enslave the weak and the unworthy.
Those who do not obey the strong, shall perish.
Nuriss the Bone Chieftess.
Sluka’a no krek! Krek nh’i krekolak! ~~ March to hunt! Slay your prey!
Sra’apo ti-a’arj lorka’ak ~~ Burn dogs’ dens!
Kashla a’ari! Kashla yoma’ari! ~~ Bind weak! Bind sheep!
Ti-a’ari ler korpa’a, boa’ari! ~~ The weak who do not serve, is food!
Grushka’a ti-a’ark kotpo! ~~ Sacrifice we wolves bring!
No nh’i sakra’a la’aoko! ~~ To (shall-our) bone cheiftess!
Marching with an army at my back is a new experience for me, and having an orc tribe backing me up is even weirder. Their language carries on the air, which sounds like a mix of canine growls and guttural human speech.
Occasionally they sing war marches that I don’t understand. I do ask Jolla to translate one of these war marches for me when I grow curious. She obliges with disdain smeared on her face.
Ignoring her disdain, I have her teaching me the orcs’ language. Although at times, it feels like I have to pry out the knowledge from her. Soon enough I find a different alternative with Balgrum as my linguistic teacher, the orc is more than happy to teach me his language.
The orcs takes their housing with them. Since their houses are nothing more than wooden poles holding sewn hides between them, they’re very mobile. The orcs also take their children with them, domestic animals which mainly consists of actual sheep, and of course their slaves.
Aside from the walls and the bonfire in the middle, the orcs take everything from the stronghold.
On the way, I go back to my routine of meditation, training Zoe, and practicing my flying spell until I get used to it.
The march takes longer than I anticipate. Our way to find the orc tribe was rushed on horseback, but we don’t exactly have horses for over a thousand orcs. Not to mention the slaves and the orcish children who are slowing us down. At least these people are used to long marches. They construct their leathery houses each dusk and disassemble them each dawn. And after twelve days of walking, we finally arrive back at Red Cedar City.
{28} Lokamesh (May) the 7th
“My queen, the siege had already begun.” It’s afternoon when Lepp gives his report on one knee. Earlier, I sent him ahead to scout. “The enemy is assaulting the walls from the north and south, the city is about to fall!”
I smooth my purple skirts and turn to the orc at my side. “We’re just in time then. Balgrum! I’m leaving the battle to you. I want to save my city, and destroy the army laying siege to it.”
“Graa’a!” the orc turns to the crowd behind and shouts in their language. “Krekolak Goa’ar! Krek Goa’ar! la’aoko wuala’ak! Ti-a’ark!”
“Ti-a’ark! A’ark! A’ark! A’ark! A’ark!”
They rush forward, screaming war cries from the tops of their lungs. The orcs run between the trees toward the direction of my city. We can’t even see the city from here, and they are already charging.
I press my heels against my horse’s rib and ride with their charge. The horse snorts and shies from the charging orcs, making me regret that I’m not riding Loyal right now, he wouldn’t be bothered by a bunch of orcs.
The forest opens up, showing the destroyed plantations north of the city, now replaced by tents and war machines. Chaos has taken over the wooden walls. Men fighting, screaming, and cursing. I spot ladders all across the walls, which don’t seem all that high at the moment. There are also multiple gaping holes in them. The city gates are open wide with my men slowly being pushed deeper into the city.
I estimate at least two thousand men in green, a color I assume belongs to Janara's soldiers, mine wear red coats. Two thousands. That’s just outside the walls, and from this side. Who knows how many men we’re fighting?
The orcs charge ahead, right through the enemy camp and siege machines at the back. They strike like a black tidal wave into the backside of Janara’s green-cloaked army.
Orcs are much taller than humans. The shortest orc is two meters tall, while some of them reach two and a half. They also have wider shoulders than the average human, they’re natural brutes. The back of the human army falls under their axes like wheat under scythe.
I advance behind them due to my horse being afraid of the orcs. I pass by the corpses the orcs left behind. These corpses lay near piles of round boulders that are used for the catapults. Each of these boulders is at the size of a man, I can’t imagine how the soldiers even carried them to the catapults. I can see the marks these boulders have left on my walls, the places where the wooden walls broke and fell. I could probably lift these boulders… I just have to make them lighter… Yes… I’ve been looking for a way to fight an army, how about throwing rocks at them?
I get off my horse, and tie it up to an abandoned tent pole. I touch the boulder at the top of the pile. “Myrsha kalfit.”
The boulder bolts forward, and I cut off my mana while it’s in the air, returning the original weight to the rock while letting it keep the initial momentum it gained from my ‘Repulse’ cantrip. I can’t see the drop, but I can only imagine what it does to the enemy soldiers.
Serving as a human catapult is empowering. Much better than throwing needles like Drusilla… But it costs way too much mana… I’ve just spent above fifteen gems of my gravity mana over a single boulder… I bet earth mages can do this for half the mana…
My ten soldiers take over another catapult and load it. They are more efficient than me, and the next boulder is thrown faster using the catapult. I can do so much more, all I need to do is join that fight. I can throw fire at them, or ice… a frozen water jet will do better than throwing stones.
I pick some rose petal and make the hand gestures. “Myrsha, nia tsaf lah, lah shitol ni latsa lah, fel ka’am J’an nia kent”
Stolen story; please report.
With a small cloud of purple smoke, and a speck of amethyst light from the elemental that circles around me, I soar toward the sky. The battle seems different from a bird’s eye view. The black mass of orcs breaks into the massive green army and pushes them against the wall like a tidal wave. But I also note that my walls have already fallen. There are still a few soldiers in red on them, mainly on the left side of the wall, but they are being pushed back. A small group of soldiers in green already forms up on my streets, prepared to march further into my city.
I fly fast, above the left side of the enemy army. Throwing a boulder was dumb… I’m already out of gravity mana… with that and the ‘Lesser Flight’ spell… I shouldn’t be that wasteful and I should use other elements to conserve mana… I pat my gem pouch. If my necklace runs out, I can still drain them…
“Kushjak!”
I miss the soldier who jumps aside in a panic and pushes another, the two fall in a heap. The 'Firefly' hits the oily ground and the flames erupt with a hiss. The fire spreads rapidly. Those who are caught in the oil burn alive, thrashing violently on the ground in vein attempts to douse the flames. The screams of agony pierce the sky.
I’ve created a wide half circle of fire, and the soldiers in green who are stuck in the middle are trapped. It blocks their retreat and forces them to face my orcs, all while isolating them from their friends. It allows the orcs to push in the left flank. Even my soldiers on the left side of the wall manage to gain some ground with my makeshift wall of flames, mainly since the smoke blinds the enemy soldiers on the wall.
The fire spreads and stops at the foot of the wooden walls. Salik probably covered them with water...
The odor of charred flesh from below makes me wince. Brief memories of other times surface, times I still feared Adir and his fire magic.
Some of the enemy soldiers below, point up at me, and a second later arrows are flying my way. Instead of casting my defensive spell, I move. My flight speed is incredibly fast, and I am a very small target. As long as I keep moving, It’s near impossible to hit me with an arrow in this chaos.
I laugh, adrenaline flooding my veins, dodging arrows with ease feels good. So much better than serving as a human catapult… I fly toward the middle of the enemy army. “Nimuwal!”
I fly lower. Right above the wet soldiers’ heads. “Revis kas!”
Doesn’t matter. I fly lower, almost landing near the soldier who died to my electricity. Most of the men in green run, while two of them charges directly at me with their spears. “Rial aluwe ri!”
A wave of cold freezes the water around me in a radius of five meters. Puddles turns to ice, and the drenched men are now covered in frost. I’m disappointed when they don’t turn into frozen statues like with the worgs' breath, but the sheer cold is enough to stop them. The pair charging me collapse, holding onto their spears. One of them gets up, determination in his brown eyes.
I soar, leaving a frozen chaos behind me. The orcs use the chaos to break the lines. I watch as the soldiers get mowed down by the violent orcs with grim satisfaction. The one who tried to kill me, loses his head to an orcish axe.
I eye the right side of the battle. I doubt the orcs would need my help there, it’s already collapsing, it can’t hold without the middle and the left. The soldiers in green retreat toward the fields, some of them circle the walls, shields held high for arrows.
The orcs who give chase are quickly recalled by Balgrum’s bellowing voice.
“Aaaaah!” Sharp pain pierces my face like a heated metal. I taste warm metallic blood that floods my mouth, I cough, struggling to keep the flowing blood out of my windpipe. Even flying feels different, slower. I fly back north, toward the forest, retreating from the battlefield.
I can feel a wooden shaft in my mouth. I touch my mask to confirm what I already know. An arrow is nailing my mask to my cheek. Someone managed to hit me despite my speed. I am lucky the arrow didn’t hit my brain. Let’s get the hells out of here! I need to go low, low! I lower my attitude carefully, my flight spell acts weirdly, it doesn’t fully respond to my mental commands. Probably because of the pain, focus! I need to focus!
I pass the orcs’ lines, and fly low in order to land near the siege machines.
I gasp when pure agony blooms on my lower back. My flying spell winks out of existence, and the world turns upside down all over. Then everything turns black.
*~*~*
Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: connected: 1 gem replenished per minute.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 73
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 11 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 22 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 11 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 16/17 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 33 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 5 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 11 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: formed: 46/50 gems
Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield. Ayla’s Freezing Vapors.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.
Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.
Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.
Focus capability: 17 patterns.
Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.
Personal Wealth: 1738 Magic Gems. 63 Diamonds. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.
Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
4 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 10g
Fresh lavender petals, 10g
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 26/100
Present Companions:
Languages:
Toml’a
Sinteo
Myrsha
Felul
A'arkalu 1/10
Injuries and scars: melted skin; face, upper chest, chain scar. Arrow wound in the cheek. Lower back? Unconscious.
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Kingdom’s treasury: 8,438 gold coins.
Kingdom’s citizen: 5,898 humans, 2,251 human children. Twin Moon Tribe: 1,243 orcs. 294 orc children. 164 sheep-slaves.
Kingdom's army: 1,243 Orc Warriors. 800 Levy militia. 900 Footmen. 26 Peacekeeper Knights.
Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder
Jolla SilverQuill
Talbot Bookkeeper
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom