I was jolted awake by some damn shaking. I was riding on something resembling a massive wheelbarrow!? Dozens of goblins were pushing me as far away from that ominous horde as possible. Archers were raining arrows down upon Kasho's gang, keeping them from closing the distance without raising a shield wall. Quantity had transformed into quality, and the poisonous arrows were doing their work.
"Haha! That old orc proved useful for something! Who would have thought there was a passage through the ravine, ha!" Barga slapped the old man on his ear and shouted, "Move it, you lot, fall back along the route! Beyond the ravine, let those old geezers eat our dust!"
I could see part of my body regenerating. Blood had dried on my scales and maw, and the bone in my leg was definitely broken because it hurt like a motherfucker!
"What's the situation?" I asked, the embedded javelins quivering with every word. "What about the battle!? What about the center of the army!?" I pressed, and he replied, looking weathered one moment and suddenly beaming the next.
"Heh, we took a beating! No matter, we'll lick our wounds and return if we must. Anyhow... something tells me those damn orcs, may the Sword God stab them to death, weren't acting alone! They certainly wouldn't have come up with such a ploy with their murderous little brains... Tch!"
Horns resounded from every direction as we sped along a strangely trampled forest path that seemed to bypass thorny bushes and treacherous streams — streams which, with a sliver of carelessness, could have become our grave. The elites of this former brigand secured the rear, flanking the pursuit and riding off on their wolves before the enemy could retaliate.
"The center held and didn't collapse; the right flank is worse off, but the enemy bled there too, I reckon. A falcon brought tidings..."
I swallowed hard; Barga fell somewhat silent, and I expected the worst.
"That vampire girl of yours thrashed their leader, and that wimp sounded the retreat. Would you believe it? Ha! The report also mentioned that such panic and chaos erupted among the orcs and their human mercenaries that they nearly killed each other trying to restore order as quickly as possible! Ha!"
Human mercenaries? Holy shit, everything hurt so damn much. I had no strength left for anything! I was completely drained of aura, and yet... and yet I felt a strange unease in my heart at the mere thought of Vay, Banyak, San'Xa'Hu, Argos, Valeria, and the others... Mago had paid with his life. Were they okay?... Could I actually be worried about them? As if they were important to me!? What happened to you, Oskar, ahh! I'm becoming as sensitive as a broad!
For a moment, I thought that perhaps I was no longer that pathetic loser, living trapped in my own thoughts, in that sperm-reeking room; selfish, wretched, crushed by a failed life... Hm... Who would have thought that actually turning into a monster would awaken the humanity within me... Unbelievable.
From these pathetic musings, unworthy of an emissary of a Beast of the Cataclysm, I was jolted by an arrow that thudded into the back of the wheelbarrow, barely missing a scrawny hobgoblin. The little guy shrieked, completely shaken. He looked terribly young, but he kept pushing. These were Barga's people after all — no wonder he had made a name for himself in the west...
"Come on! Am I supposed to push this myself, you failures!? Faster! Faster!"
Two riders on wolves drew near, and behind them rode Kasho with a spear and shield, dodging arrows. His wolf, draped in thick hide and some durable fabric, bolted forward despite numerous hits, howling and snarling as if possessed by some kind of narcotics.
"You cowardly lizard! Stand and fight! You hypocrite! You minion of vampires!"
They had closed in enough to attack us, but then I saw a smirk form on the face of my savior, Borg's younger brother.
"Now!!!"
We passed a line of thicker trees with strangely leafy ground, and several goblins pulled a rope to hoist from concealment a dozen or so interconnected stakes, sharpened and long!
Kasho's riders couldn't brake in time at that speed, and the wolves yelped as they were impaled upon the sharpened timbers! At the last second, Kasho leaped off and cleared the second line of the fence at a 45-degree angle, only to fall directly beneath the drawn bowstrings of the goblins camouflaged behind the trees and bushes, who had been anticipating this very moment.
"Buahaha! What a fool, he fell for it!!! Haha! I'll take your head, traitor!"
Barga rode up on his wolf and, with one powerful slash, severed the head of Mago's murderer from the rest of his body. Caught off guard and dying from the dozen or so arrows embedded in his flesh, Kasho only let out a pathetic wail:
"No! Ple—"
The head rolled across the ground, and the green-skin, experienced in forest skirmishes, grabbed it by the hair and held it high in a gesture of victory. Roaring loudly so that everyone would hear:
"I am Barga! Chieftain of the Brown Bears tribe! Son of Burg! I have slain the traitor Kasho of the vile Red Serpents tribe!"
Euphoria erupted on our side, while the enemy's morale utterly collapsed. Even I — grievously wounded and weak — forced a smile. Now Mago could rest in peace. As for the rest of that tribe... well. Their time would come...
He took the head and rode behind us, and the archers also fled, abandoning the hastily constructed trap — one so mundane and simple that I would never have expected it myself. White Stone City was still far away, and the sounds reaching my ears did not inspire optimism.
I saw goblins fleeing as fast as their legs could carry them, bearing familiar emblems on their shields. One of them spotted our group; at first, he feared we were traitors from the left flank, but he sighed in relief upon seeing the marks of the Brown Bears and Banyak, who, with a formidable detachment of a hundred goblins, had attacked the enemy forces on the right flank. After a brief skirmish and exchange of blows, he had broken through to the rear of the army's center to lick his wounds here. He pulled arrows from his body, and one of his horns was bloodstained; he reeked of wrath.
"Artax? You survived? Good!" he said, panting, and I could detect a childlike euphoria in his voice. "Damn, it hurts!"
Two had fallen from their wounds; perhaps thirty wounded goblins were placed on stretchers, while the rest were supported under their arms. Blood poured from the minotaur's side, but he pressed on regardless. Barga was bragging with the head of the slaughtered traitor, while I simply stared at the stars, wishing for it all to end. The wind howled, horns blared, and the murmur of hundreds of footsteps gave me no respite. The entire army was rushing south. What about the rest? What about Valeria? I racked my brain, and my heart beat ever more frantically.
"Retreat! Flee south to the capital!"
"The Queen's order! Fall back! The Queen's order!"
"Run for your lives, anyone who values them!!!"
Pathetic cries echoed around, and I myself was slowly losing consciousness. Only the sight of the Valar banner, held by one of the goblins, gave me heart. Something I had poured so much soul into was supposed to fall apart!? Over my dead body!
"We'll reach the ravine soon; there's a passageway along it, and from there it's a straight road to the river, Artax!"
With every step, Barga was losing his good humor; I think even he could feel the enemy forces snapping at our heels.
And so it was. Not a quarter of an hour passed before I sensed, far to the east and north, the onslaught of familiar orcish auras. I concentrated, wanting to find the black aura of Valeria or Vay. For a few seconds, something else jolted me out of my exhaustion; I felt as if I had glimpsed a bloodthirsty monster before me — powerful and poised to strike.
A red-violet aura... somewhere far away. So damn powerful... akin to... No. It's impossible! I had last felt something like this before the mysterious entrance beneath Vort'Ayem and during my encounter with Zod...
Who in this forest could be that powerful!?
For a moment, I felt as if I had pressed my face against an ignited, weird flame — a cold, menacing, inhuman aura! Was it a dream!? Were these delusions or hallucinations!? I hoped so!
Soon, we found ourselves above the ravine, which stretched for many meters and was immense. Before Barga could herd us toward the vicinity of the unexpected passage's entrance that he spoke so much of, I saw Argos carrying a bound orc upon himself — huge and unconscious. Vay was supporting Valeria, while San'Xa'Hu and Doirak shielded the rear. They all looked exhausted, like someone who, just like me, had barely escaped with their lives.
Numerous enemy auras were descending from the north, northeast, and northwest — thousands of orcs and humans. There were perhaps fewer than a thousand of us standing here, and the first among us were rushing across a packed causeway, supported by numerous logs and mounds of clay, such that an entire wagon would manage to cross.
I myself lacked the strength to lift my head; I felt the noose tightening around our necks. A massive din of hooves and boars approached from every side, and panic among the green-skins swelled to cataclysmic proportions; everyone fought to cross to the other side. The greens pushed so aggressively that some slid all the way to the very bottom of the ravine!
"One at a time, you rabble! Make way for the Queen! Shield-bearers and spearmen, defend the rear!"
Barga shouted, but his orders and cries, like the shouts of the others, were lost in the cacofony of a terrified and demoralized green army that was lacking in discipline...
I could feel that Valeria's aura was still present — and not weak at all. Perhaps at least she, out of the two of us, would escape...
What did we get ourselves into!?
"Surrender! I am Leman the Humming Knight! Thousand man commander of the Battle Ghosts! Hand over Bardus and lay down your weapons, and you shall escape death! You have no chance of escape! Do not die like fools!"
The enemy drew up into a charging formation — at least, that is what I sensed; I had nearly lost my sight, my eyelids closing on their own from weakness. I heard nothing but the panic of everyone around me.
We stood like that for a minute or two, until the sounds of horns blared. It was then that I felt an overwhelmingly powerful existence descending upon the battlefield from afar. I heard a piercing roar — so close to a dragon's, yet different!
Suddenly, in a fraction of a second, a vast amount of aura descended from above, and I only heard the words of some woman in my mind:
"Be on your way, little knight, while I still permit it! Today you shall not take Varyn's daughter! She must atone for what she has done. Under my hand!" She laughed, then said in an irritated tone, "Well, why are you still standing there with those weaklings!? There is nothing here for you!"
I witnessed the mighty roar of some flying creature, bearing an aura so powerful and ominous that I struggled to breathe. The great wyvern soon assumed a human form, clearly visible in the moonlight, enveloped in a red-violet aura! A pair of goblins helped lift my head. I opened my eyes. I froze.
Level 179!!!
Is this even normal!? Even that damnably powerful old dragon wasn't anywhere near such might. I'm finished! What could this monster want!?
"Eh, this hydra has already taken quite a beating... A waste of my time." Chills ran down my spine; hundreds of gazes turned in my direction, only to soon shift to the vampire girl, whom the powerful woman approached in the blink of an eye. "Come along, child, we have a long journey ahead! You'll be taught a lifelong lesson, I guarantee you."
She landed above dozens of warriors, whom she blasted into the air with a sudden eruption of aura; her boots did not even touch the clay-covered surface before the causeway. Vay gripped Screamer, a black aura exploded, and I did not see what happened. I only saw the black aura extinguish almost to zero within a second, and some body fall into the ravine, bathed in something green.
Then, the massive silhouette of a purple, wide-winged creature rose once more among the goblins. It snatched Valeria in its talons and, with a single buffet of its wings, soared high into the air until it vanished past the horizon.
A powerful blast of wind knocked down dozens of goblins; Argos froze, and of the enemies to the north, there was no trace... They had fled.
We were left alone. Terrified. Valeria — our queen and my dear friend — was gone...
The fate of the Valar and my own, stood on the brink of an abyss.