Twenty Seventh day Eleventh Month Four Thousand and Six Hundred and forty-four rings of the Great White Tree.

High Priestess Offeiriad y Goedwig

She retreated back to the wall and rested against it. The fighting was turning against the elves. She looked over at the battlefield at the fallen priestess who had already perished at the hands of the humans and dwarves.

Only a few of her fellow priestess remained alive, she spied Morwyn on the wall standing next to the young elf who had won her heart. Morwyn, her star prodigee who would one day take her position as High Priestess. After the events of the last couple weeks she feared that it would be sooner than later.

First she had fought a duel with an old scruffy woodsman. She had been confident that she would defeat the old elf quickly and efficiently. Yet he had fought her to draw. Deep down she knew that if the old elf had really tried he could have defeated her.

Then came the main battle against the union where so many elves had perished. Over half her order had met their demise on that dreaded field.

Now she feared that the rest of her order would perish as they desperately attempted to defeat the union soldiers guarding this fortress.

She wondered what the handful of priestesses she had left in Gellifew tending the great white tree grove, and how they were surviving under the union occupation.

There were a few saplings that must be reaching maturity any time now and they would need to be planted. She had hoped to show Morwyn the ancient rites that surrounded the planting of a new white tree.

The duel purpose of the priestess of the grove was to nurture and protect. To tend and grow the great white trees and then march off to war and fight to protect the way of life of the elves. Duty and blood intertwined together.

Before she could show Morwyn any more of the secret rites of the order, they would need to survive this battle.

The battle began to turn against them after the arrival of four individuals. She had heard of the union's famed monster elimination squads but to see them in action was another thing entirely. To fight them was yet another thing entirely.

She clutched the wound on her shoulder. To think a human, had somehow wounded her. The women had been exceptional warrior. If she hadn't slipped on the blood stained courtyard then the high priestess didn't know if she would have won the fight.

As she rested, she voiced a chant to the one tree and the wound closed over, the healing magic washed over her. As she recovered she watched as the battle continued.

There were only two remaining with a member's of the monster elimination squad. A hulking seven foot tall knight with a massive axe who was currently fighting off five orcs.

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The other was the powerful grey elf wizard. Who currently fought against the few battle wizards they had brought with them to the fortress. Already one of her fellow confederate battle wizards was down and dying.

Then there were the dwarves, one of the famed long beard regiments almost two thousand strong. These elite soldiers were not hampered by the dark night. They were used to fighting in their dimly lit tunnels deep in their mountain homes.

Another round of musket fired and dozens of elves and orcs fell to the ground as they were killed by musket balls.

She looked over at the Cyffredinol as he attempted to rally his soldiers. The old elf that she had fought in the duel stood at his side.

"Form up lines. Steady as you go. First line fire, second line forward, reload. Front Line fire."

The Cyffredinol yelled over the screams of the battlefield.

Several hundred elves and orcs in two loose lines attempted to fight off the dwarves.

A cannon on the wall had been turned around to fire down into the courtyard. Knocking dozens of dwarves down. She saw that it was one of the elves that had been part of the squad that Morwyn and her lover had been with when they infiltrated the complex reloaded the cannon.

Then there was another break through for there side. Morwyn's partner the young elf that had lead the party that had opened the main gate had fired his musket at the grey elf wizard.

Normally the magical protection that the grey elf wizard used would have protected him. The musket ball must have been enchanted because it made it through the grey elf protection and inbeded into him. This allowed the remaining wizard that was battling the grey elf to cast a spell which smashed through the grey elves defences and blasted him from feet and he collapsed to the ground.

She didn't know if this is what inspired her to rejoin the battle or if her healing spell had done its work regenerating her back to full strength.

She engaged the last remaining member of the monster elimination squad. She sword able to penetrate the weak points of his plate armour and draw blood. Before the human could retaliate she had danced out of his reach.

The orc warchief had also decided to join this battle and her swung his sword down at the human knight. The human managed to bring his axe up to block the blow.

A couple of human soldiers charged the warchief. She intercepted the humans and quickly dispatched them. Allowing the warchief to finish his contest with the knight.

The human desperately strained against the blow. Perhaps if he hadn't been sapped by a dozen wounds the human may have been able to hold back the warchiefs sabre.

But eventually the warchiefs sabre smashed through the humans gaurd. The orcs strength caused the blade to cut through the weakened plate armour. Rending a mortal wound.

Finally the knight was down. She ducked down as another volley of musket fire from the dwarves hit the confederate lines.

The Cyffredinol was pulling back his soldiers.

"Fall back towards the gate"

He yelled

The cannon on wall fired again down on dwarves creating another path of destruction.

The dwarves produced two portable cannons and returned fire on the cannon on the wall. She watched as the cannon balls smashed into the wall.

She couldn't tell if the cannons had hit the one up on wall, but it was silenced. Maybe the elves that had been operating cannon had decided to fall back to the gate. Maybe they were dead.

The union soldiers both human and dwarves began to advance. The situation was looking more and more dire. It would take a miracle to extract them from these circumstances.