The Magus shook his head.

“This still puzzles me but I have a bad feeling about this,” said Eupoos with a hint of worry.

“Maybe we give them too much credit,” interrupted Konstite. “The dwarves might be right about the humans being soft and weak. And stupid for that matter. I can see us marching up to the stronghold and they'll find a way to lose that stronghold.”

Ignoring Konstite’s comment, Colet turned to Eupoos.

“When Notelis relayed the message from you regarding the reinforcements, he mentioned you sensing unholy powers in that human. What did you mean by unholy powers?”

“Unholy may have been the wrong word here because it suggests the power is related to something sacred or to some god or gods.” The Magus paused to pick his word carefully. “The better term would be dark. I sensed dark powers from that human. It was brief but, to sense it from where I stood, I knew immediately he was a problem.”

“Dark powers?” The topic intrigued Ides.

“Dark powers, as the name suggests, originate from the darkness of all beings. Don’t ever be tempted by it because, behind its great power, one pays a horrible price. Old stories suggested how addicting the power was for mortals.”

“What sort of spells belong to dark powers?” inquired Colet who wanted to understand the seriousness of the situation.

“I didn’t delve deep because that’s how one gets corrupted by it. From what little I learned, dark powers involve curses, mind manipulation and summoning monsters.”

“Basically the spells of our demon allies?” asked Actolio.

The Magus broke character when he burst out laughing. It took him several seconds to regain his composure.

“What the demons use pale against dark power spells. I assure you that the real deal is much worse. If the demons wielded actual dark powers, they would be the ones we’re fighting, not the humans.”

“And you believe that human possess some dark powers?” Colet tried to steer the conversation back to the matter at hand. “The dark powers might be why these humans are sent to be slaughtered?”

“I wish I can provide you more information, chieftain.” Eupoos gestured to the battlefield. “Let’s end this battle first. I will see if I can dig up more information on this matter afterwards.”

Seeing wisdom in the Magus’ words, the centaur chieftain turned his attention to the battle at hand. The spear wielders attacked from the front as they chucked javelins at nearly point blank into the human ranks. Due to their agility, the centaurs easily withdrew before the humans could respond. After a series of rinse and repeats, numerous humans were dead or badly wounded leaving the center of the human formation badly depleted of able-bodied soldiers. The flanks fared little better. The Uxlut appeared and disappeared into the shadows making them elusive as they whittled down one flank. The goblins went for the most direct but equally effective method of brute forcing through the humans’ other flank. Their wolves tore apart the fatigued and demoralized humans who no longer resisted. The battle ended shortly after Colet’s arrival marking the first victory for the coalition.

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“That was a boring battle,” said Konstite. “I expected them to put up more of a fight.”

“Agreed,” replied Actolio. “Now that half of their garrison lies dead here, Torpin Fortress will be easy to take.”

While the two centaur leaders bickered about who could take the fortress first, Colet studied the carnage before him. Tolien, always the keen one, approached him.

“What’s on your mind, chieftain?”

“Those soldiers we fought. There’s something I can’t put my finger on but something felt off.”

“I felt the same thing,” replied Tolien. “I had some time to study them further. They appeared to lack discipline and were disorganized compared the elite human soldiers. All of these are indications that we fought their common soldiers.”

“Common?” Konstite overheard the conversation. “Now that you mentioned it, they put up no fight. I heard Holy Knights would give any opponent a hard time, maybe even my shieldbreakers.”

After ordering some centaurs to assist the Uxlut and goblins in burying the dead in mass graves, Colet met with Ruazk and Gabs. Following the exchange of a few words, they returned to their respective camps. Casualties for the coalition were relatively low and those were only the centaurs under Ides. During the initial engagement, human archers returned fire and some of the arrows found their mark. In the next couple of volleys, Ides specifically ordered his centaurs to target the enemy archers until the humans no longer had ranged support. Without their archers, the rest of the humans were kited until the human morale dropped as their losses mounted. Once more centaurs and eventually their allies arrived, the humans could only hold their position until they were annihilated.

Colet led the centaur leaders back to their camp at the head of all the other centaurs. The supposed victory only filled the centaur chieftain with dread. Eupoos was already deep in thought but Colet feared the Magus would find the truth too late. Once orders were given for the centaurs to get some rest, Colet returned to his tent where he stayed until morning. He failed to get any sleep because the battle on the previous night bothered him. Until the Torpin Stronghold was taken and the dark power human could be defeated, he doubted he could get any sleep. Worry and the weight of his race's extinction weighed heavily on his mind. Upon giving up on sleep, Colet exited his tent to see a centaur messenger arriving.

“Chieftain, the dwarven leader has sent out an invite to all the coalition leaders. He says he has urgent matters to discuss and needs your presence as soon as possible.”

What now? Skostaer must be plotting something.

Unwilling to show disrespect to the dwarven leader, Colet ate a quick breakfast before he headed out with Notelis and a handful of handpicked centaurs. Their uneventful journey brought them first to the dwarven camp ahead of the other coalition leaders. Like the previous night, the centaur chieftain was escorted to Skostaer’s tent. For once, the dwarves, including their leaders, weren't drinking and appeared serious.