Fourth of Frostmaire

As promised, the combined forces of Lustria and the Tios Principality, aided by Brimur’s reinforcements, had begun their assault on the valley early on the second of Frostmaire. They had struck at dawn, the Third Guard Corps leading from the western flank. The first hour had been uneventful, just a nervous march through the mist that had covered the land. Jacque Mieur could still remember the moment that they had heard the first chittering through the mirky air. He had kept his company moving forward until the elf, Brimur, had called him to stop. Minutes later they had faced their first enemy, savage insectoid creatures lacking eyes and hunting by sound. They had been trapped for a day fighting them off, facing a foe that burrowed through the earth searching for prey. They soon knew that they had entered a valley of horrors. For the next two days they fought no human, no elf, and no feral orc, but only grotesque monsters that seemed to be born of a madman’s nightmares. Deformed humanoid creatures, birds covered in scales, and heavily armoured six-legged beasts with trunks lined with pincers seemed to burst out of the mist and cut through the Lustrian lines before they could reform and mount a proper counterattack. Even the orcs and mages seemed to struggle, taking heavy losses as they forced their way forward. Only the occasional runner from Valliers gave them hope that beyond their shrinking lines anyone else was still alive and fighting.

Jacque rose on the morning of the fourth with an agonised groan. His whole body ached after the physical and emotional punishment of the two days’ fighting. His company was down to forty men, most of whom bore some injury. There were no seriously injured among them. The fighting had been fierce enough that if someone was brought down by their wounds, they didn’t live long enough to need help. This was another level of warfare to anything that Jacque had been trained for. As he forced himself to his feet, he let his mind fill with images of Shontelle standing in wonder on the riverboat, capturing his heart with her beauty and innocence. Every fight he survived was one step closer to returning to her. If there’s still a world outside this mist, he thought, and every thought of the woman he loved vanished into the distant sky.

“Another day in hell,” a deep feminine voice said. Jacque looked over to Barilax, the huge orc clothed in boiled leather that did nothing to hide her rippling muscle. She hefted a battle axe in her hands and gave him a toothy smile. By now he no longer cringed at the sight of orcs. Out of sheer necessity, he had accepted them as comrades. “At least the mist is lessening.”

And it was, Jacque realised with a jolt. He could see a few yards now, though all he saw was blackened grass and bloated corpses. Still, he would take any form of good news by now. Barilax grunted as she looked out at the landscape.

“Death is death, Lieutenant,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re caught by an arrow or a bug. You’re still dead.”

The orc was right, he knew, though it seemed of little comfort as he saw what remained of those he’d lost in the fighting. He stood still as the wind pushed against him, forcing the mist further back. It was a small comfort to know that the dragon was dead, killed the day before as it attacked the southern front. The thought of facing such a beast made him shiver, and he forced it out of mind as he watched his men assemble for the next push.

“You should let us lead today,” Barilax said softly so no one else heard. “Your men are exhausted.”

It was almost tempting. The orcs had proven to be an unstoppable force, as did the mages who had come with them. When Jacque’s men had tired, Barilax’s forces had given them relief and crushed what enemies remained.

“No,” he surprised himself by saying. “This is our land. We must lead.”

The orc’s mouth turned upwards ever so slightly, almost as if she were giving him a sign of respect. The moment was short-lived. Brimur and his friend, another orc named Arak, came close with weapons drawn.

“I’m sorry, Lieutenant, but we are not alone,” the elf said softly.

Jacque cursed. “It begins already.”

Brimur nodded and pointed northeast. “Barilax, shift your orcs to cover that flank. We will reinforce the Lieutenant’s men here.”

It no longer shocked Jacque that the orcs followed the elf’s commands. He himself had seen Brimur in action with his incredible blend of magic and vicious sword-work. All these mages of the Silent Order were like that. They fought like orcs with an overwhelming brutality that shocked him even as they acted so proper when the danger had passed. They were a strange group, but Jacque was glad to have them on his side. Arak stayed with the mages and began barking out orders. They intermingled with Jacque’s troops, who accepted their presence without argument. They wouldn’t refuse any ally in this cursed place.

Before their enemy came into view, a fierce blast of wind knocked many of them to the ground. A strange column of golden light exploded into the sky, and the mist disappeared in an instant. Jacque saw that they were at the bottom of a rise, and over the hill came more of the deformed humanoid creatures that they had fought. They looked as if they were once human, coated in rotted flesh and with long claws instead of nails. As they charged they howled like wolves, sending chills down the spine of every human now reforming their lines. More came from the north where the orcs were assembling.

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“Brace your shields!” Jacque screamed out. His men planted themselves firmly and raised their shields to provide cover for themselves and the mages amongst them. He stood on the end of the line and brought his shield up. Brimur stood between him and the next Lustrian and gave him a curt nod.

“Fight well,” the elf said. “Make your people proud.”

He gave no order to his mages, but they unleashed their powers with devastating effect. Dozens of the monstrosities collapsed as their bodies shattered around them. There were too many for even their combined magic to overwhelm, though, and in minutes they were upon the Lustrian force. Jacque smashed his shield forward in to the face of the first to reach him, and it was like attacking an oak tree. His whole body shuddered from the impact, but the creature fell backwards. Before it could rise its chest caved in as it was pressed by an invisible force. Brimur was a good friend in a storm.

There was no letup in the attack. Another of the creatures slashed at Jacque, and the impact of its claws on his shield almost knocked him over. He lashed out with his sword, cutting through one arm, and followed it up with a quick slash that sent its head tumbling.

“Hold your ground!” he yelled as he engaged a third monster. A howling scream told him that one of his men had been taken. He glanced over in time to see a beast smash a shield out of a Lustrian’s hands, then plunge its claws into his leg. The soldier screamed as he was hauled off his feet and out of view amongst the monstrous horde. The hole was quickly filled before it could be exploited, and Jacque offered a silent prayer of thanks for his rigorous training schedule. Despite the horrors that they had faced, his men had performed admirably so far.

The Watchers struck now, launching a flanking attack on from the right side. Their weapons blazed red and blue as they cut their way through the horde. Jacque took his chance.

“Forward!”

Almost as if they were a single organism, the Lustrians took a single step forward in unison. The mages kept in step and the formation did not break. Every minute or two Jacque would shout the order and step by bloody step they began to push the creatures back. The fight had lasted for half an hour when they heard the thunder of hooves. A company of Tiosian cavalry crested the hill and crashed into the enemy from the rear, making short work of them as they were overwhelmed from three sides.

Jacque saw how his men began to relax, and quickly gave the order to check the bodies. It was gruesome work as they plunged their swords deep into each beast to make sure that it was truly dead, but Jacque had lost four men to these things when they had faked death in order to ambush him. The arrival of the Tiosian cavalry, however, was a sign that the tide had turned. Breakthrough had occurred somewhere in the valley. A horse stopped before Jacque and Brimur, and a man in silver armour with purple stripes along the arms dropped to the ground. He introduced himself as the company commander and began to tell of the breakthrough when the ground seemed to shift beneath their feet. A rumble came through the air, along with screeches as more creatures rushed past them fleeing south. Some of the soldiers took opportunistic swings, but stopped when they realised that it wasn’t an attack. As one, they looked north as the mountain began to crumble.

***

Of all the beasts that Delorax had taken from the continent of Zarmi, his favourite was the world-eater. It was this immense beast that had drawn him to the continent, and that he had needed Falkar to tame. The inhabitants of that strange land worshipped the world-eater, calling it ‘Sanlim’ and praising its power even as they trembled at the very thought of its passing. For days it had slumbered in its burrow beneath the mountain, lulled by the mysterious melodies of the earth. For all his knowledge, Delorax did not know where the beast had come from. There were no others of its kind that he had discovered, and no knowledge of them beyond the one continent. That didn’t matter to him, only its power. He had summoned it weeks ago, and it had carved into the mountain north of the valley, hollowing it out before going to sleep and leaving no evidence of its arrival. Only now, at Delorax’s bidding, did it rouse itself and begin to shatter its home. It began as only a few falling boulders before the entire shell of the mountain collapsed inwards to reveal Sanlim in its terror. Even coiled like a snake, it towered above the gathered armies as they scrambled to reform their lines to face this new threat. The sun shone off dark green, leathery skin that rippled with thick muscle. It had no eyes, but two nostrils flared as it smelt the fresh prey before it. It let out a snort that flattened trees, then unfurled and began to slither closer, carving a new valley as it advanced. Valliers and his Tiosian counterpart were quick to bring their siege engines to the front of their lines, but even now they knew that catapults would do little against such immense force. The same rocks that had brought down a dragon shattered against Sanlim without any visible effect.

Brimur cursed as he watched the monster tear through the earth towards them. Castilan stood beside him, and they stretched their senses to confront the serpent. Immediately they found themselves confronted by an aura that they had never experienced before, a resistance to their minds that almost physically pushed them back. Castilan called for the Brilhardem to gather as Brimur steadied himself for another push.

By now Sanlim was drawing close to the siege engines. Its face split open to reveal a gaping maw filled not with teeth, but with red tendrils dripping with saliva. The braver of the catapult crews launched at the tendrils, and were rewarded by a deep bellow as one of them burst apart in a shower of crimson. Their shouts of joy were short-lived. The remaining tendrils shot out with astounding speed, smashing wood and flesh into pieces. Those cursed to be caught in their grip were pulled off the ground and into Sanlim’s mouth, where they were plunged into pools of acidic saliva.

Brimur felt every moment of searing agony as the soldiers were consumed. He let his anger build, then unleashed it against the beast as his students, led by Castilan, pushed against its resistance. By now Sanlim was slowly advancing again, its tendrils lashing about and seizing its hapless victims as they tried to flee. Whole companies were snatched away and swallowed by the beast, an unstoppable force of unnatural horror. Still the majority of Sanlim was curled up in the ruins of the mountain. A dark shadow fell over the land as Brimur opened his eyes and looked up at the beast’s face as it filled his vision.