“Ah, my feet hurt when can we get enough money to buy new reindeer and a new sled to replace the ones we lost? This is taking forever…” complained a Purple skinned male merchant to four other merchants of varying age near him.
Their destination was the far south city Kodria, and each of them was pulling makeshift sleds with all of their goods on them. On their journey south they had the misfortune to encounter several monsters who killed the reindeer and destroyed most of the sleds that had all their goods.
“We should be there in a few days if we don’t run into any more monster attacks,” said an elderly purple-skinned merchant who was in charge of the group of five.
“We’re near enough that we might see other merchants that we can ask for help or see if they’ll allow us to tag along,” said a middle-aged man who was the son of the elderly merchant.
“Look! We have such good luck! A large group of people are coming this way! Let’s hurry and see if they will allow us to join them on our way to Kodria. ”
The large group that had been spotted on the snowy horizon soon became clear to see.
The five Puman merchants halted in their tracks as they watched the large fierce giant wolves with what looked like fully armored knights riding them, quickly near their position on the small snowy road.
At the front of the group was a large Minotaur running next to the largest of the fierce wolf mounts with a knight that wore dark black armor. On the other side of the dark knight, a small wolf ran playfully in the snow keeping pace with the large wolves.
300 of the large wolves carrying the knights along with 50 sleds pulled by reindeer stormed past the merchants not paying any attention to them. In less than five minutes the large group had disappeared from their view in the direction that the merchants had come from.
The five shocked Merchants took several minutes to register what they had seen.
“What was that?” asked the young complaining merchant.
“Look like someone’s army…” said the middle-aged man.
“I know that. But why have they gathered in such a great force?”
“I don’t remember seeing anything wrong when we passed through the area a few days ago… but their faces looked really serious…” said the old man as he tried to think of a reason for what they had seen.
“Father we should not stop for long tonight. Whatever trouble is north of use I do not want to get caught up in it. The faster we can get to Kodria, the safer we will be.”
“Good idea big bro. I don’t want to ever be on those guys’ bad side,” said the youngest.
They continued walking south for several minutes full of thoughts about escaping to Kodria.
“Damn it!” shouted the youngest suddenly surprising the others.
“What?” “What is it?” “Did something happen?” asked the others at the same time.
“If we won’t be stopping tonight then I won’t be able to rest my sore feet!”
***
Akira and the Cavalry soldiers did not stop to rest and chose to eat and sleep on top of their companion Garg mount as they headed north.
The Gargs were unfazed with all the constant running. If they needed to, the weakest of the group could run nonstop for at least a week. Those stronger could run around two weeks. The reindeer were of hardy stock and could run for several days but were not as strong as the Gargs.
As the large group of fierce warriors had continued to storm north no sane monsters dared to peek out of their hiding places when they passed by. The few merchants and wandering hunters they passed had all been scared beyond belief when they saw them.
On the dark dawn morning of the third day, Akira could see several ships in the distance that were currently unloading werewolf warriors and supplies. Akira could see Varbu was next to the ships coordinating his own warriors he had brought along to help if a fight did break out.
Several officers saw Akira and the cavalry and came running to the edge of the quickly forming camp so they could greet Akira as he arrived.
“How long until we are ready to intercept the northerners,” asked Akira, not wasting any time.
“We should have everything in order before lunch,” said one of the Officers.
“Alright get back to your duties. There is no need to stay over here,” said Akira as he had Grarr turn around to face the cavalry behind him.
“Take care of your mounts and then get some rest while you can. We will be leaving after lunch,” said Akira.
The warriors all dismounted from their mounts and sleds before they gathered the prepared food and water to feed their mounts.
The Gargs normally did not like having to eat prepared food like this and loved to eat what they hunted but there was no time to go off and hunt and there was the possibility of a battle happening soon so they could not wander off. So they ate the dried meat and drank the water pulled from the Unfreezing river and then found a choice spot to lay down and rest for a few hours.
Their Riders joined them with their own ground coverings and blankets quickly falling asleep so they could be well-rested in the afternoon.
Akira and Klyn had a few more things to take care of than the others and were forced to stay up longer going over plans with Varbu.
“Make sure you send that message to the grand elders. They need to know that we have arrived and will move out in the afternoon,” said Akira. They had just finished looking over everything that would be needed in order for the coming campaign.
“Don’t worry, I’m going right now to see that it is down,” said Klyn.
The two parted ways and Akira walked back to where Grarr waited next to a simple tent that had been erected.
Two guards stood nearby, one guarding the flap while the other was patrolling around the tent keeping an eye out for everything that happened near the tent.
Akira nodded to the two guards who had saluted him and then he walked inside the tent with Fluffball following behind him. Inside the tent, he found Zundar already sleeping on a large fur rug.
Akira silently flopped down onto the lone cot with Fluffball jumping up next to him. He pulled the covers up and went to sleep to get a few hours of rest.
***
“Miss you can not go in there! The commander is sleeping!”
“I am tired of waiting!” said Mileena as she burst into the tent and stormed over to Akira who was groggily sitting up.
“Get out of bed!”
Millennia pulled the covers off of Akira and Fluffball causing a cold wind to assault the two. This ended with her receiving a kick in the gut from Fluffball’s hind legs.
“Yap!” said a sleepy Fluffball who was unhappy at being rudely awakened and continued to push on Mileena’s stomach as he stretched.
“What time is it?” asked Akira. Worried he had overslept due to how demanding Mileena sounded. He saw that Zundar was not in the tent and had already left.
“An hour and a half until noon. I’m sorry commander I could not keep her out any longer,” said the guard. He knew that she was in a relationship with Akira so he was not too worried but did not want to get in trouble for her waking him up.
“It’s all right,” said as he waved the guard away. He turned to Mileena. “What’s so pressing that you had to barge in past the guard and wake me up?”
“It’s just that all you do lately is work, travel, or sleep. We hardly have any time to talk or eat together and now…,” said Mileena with a pitiable face.
“Pii!” said Piiperella as she stuck her head into the tent to see what was going on inside.
“Sigh…come here,” said Akira as he waved for Mileena to come closer to him.
Mileena tried to but her gut was still being pushed back by Fluffball who was now stretched out in a weird body position and had fallen back asleep.
Akira moved Fluffball’s legs and pulled Mileena into a hug. For the next hour and twenty minutes, the two of them talked about trivial stuff and ate a nice grilled lunch as if there was not a large battle looming.
Akira exited his tent fully refreshed and equipped. He was ready to take care of whatever needed to be done. Mileena exited the tent and followed behind him along with an energetic Fluffball who had slept well.
The temporary camp was abuzz with activity as everyone made their last preparations before gathering with their units and forming up.
He hopped onto Grarr who was fully rested and pulled Mileena up to sit in front of him.
They rode in silence towards the large gathering of sleds and Gargs. All the words that needed to be said had been said already.
“AWOOOOOO!” Akira gave the order for the army to form up. After several minutes of frantic moving, the infantry were all in tight formations behind the cavalry. With Varbu and his orc warriors bringing up the rear as the rear guard.
“Today we march to block the Saber fang’s army! I would rather not have to fight fellow brethren but if talks do fail…DO NOT hesitate or lighten your attacks when the order is given,” shouted Akira.
Several howls rang out affirming their commitment to following Akira’s words.
“March!”
***
Tormoid lazily sat in his tent and drank some warmed wine and ate a few pieces of grilled fish for his dinner.
The Saber fang army was waiting for the Ramia and Demigods that were joining them for this adventure south.
An irritated Duke Erock Nama entered the tent and started angrily questioning Tormoid for the hundredth time.
“What is taking them so long? We should have been at Kodria two days ago!”
“There is nothing we can do. Plans like these never hold up, something always happens. We just have to wait for them. They should be here any day now.”
Just then the sound of a whistle rang out notifying everyone that a large group was nearing them.
“Finally that must be them,” said Erock, as he rushed out of the tent.
“Awo~!” he sent out the order for the army to begin mobilization so they could move out.
Both Erock and Tormoid went to the edges of the camp where the army was gathering so they could great their temporary allies.
Only a minute had passed when their faces changed from smiles to blank shock. The army marching towards them was not the Ramia or the Demigods but an army of several thousands of werewolves and Orcs.
“Awoo~!” Erock frantically sent out another order to hurry the warriors to gather for battle!
Akira stopped the army several hundred yards away, making sure that they were out of the range of any arrows.
“They know we are here,” said Varbu who stood next to Akira along with Zundar, Klyn, and the other elite guards.
“Do we attack now or wait to see what they do?” asked Zundar who was getting pumped for a fight.
“Let me know and I will coordinate the shamans’ buffs so that we are fully prepared,” said Klyn.
Akira was still unsure how to approach the other side to try and at least persuade them to call off their foolhardy plans.
His predicament was quickly solved when Erock, Tormoid, and several bodyguards separated from their army and rode out with a white flag of truce, only stopping when they reached halfway between the two armies.
“Let us see what they want,” said Akira, ordering those around him to follow. Before moving forward he made sure that Tanner carried both a white flag as well as Kodria’s battle standard.
100 feet separated the two groups as they stared at each other sizing up the other. Tormoid and the other werewolves along with him had already all transformed while Akira and his own guard had not.
“So, it is you,” said Tormoid with a sour look on his face.
“Yes, it’s me,” said Akira.
The two sides were quiet again for a few seconds.
“I see you brought the white flag out first. Does that mean you wish to call off this foolish endeavor?” asked Akira.
“We have no intention of surrendering! We have only come to ask you for your surrender and for you to hand over Kodria to us!” said Tormoid before Erock could speak.
Erock held up a hand and had Tormoid shut his mouth.
“How did you find out we were coming?” asked Erock. “Even If you only found out when we arrived you should have not been able to mobilize so quickly.”
“You think the Demigods are your friends? They are just using you. We are all of the earth tribe, we should unite together and not fight among ourselves.”
“Stop spouting bull-crap,” said Tormoid.
“I know the demigods are not our friends, but you are mistaken. It is not they who are using us, but we are using them to complete our goal. I will only ask you this once, surrender or we will defeat your army and capture you before taking over your city,” said Erock.
“I will have to decline that demand. I do not wish to fight you when we have a mutual enemy that we should face instead. If you put this to a stop now I will overlook this misstep just this once,” said Akira.
“Then we have reached an impasse,” said Erock.
“Take this!” said Tormoid as he reached back to throw a javelin at Akira.
Zundar, Dolph, and Vilkas all jumped in front of Akira, but the attack never came. Surprisingly Erock had grabbed onto the end of the javelin and was looking at Tormoid with an angry glare.
“You have already stepped on my honor by talking out of place. I overlooked that but trying to attack during a white flag meeting… Are you seeking death? I will not allow you to ruin my honor any further!” said Erock angrily.
“What honor? We’re going to steal his city, where is the honor in this?” asked Tormoid.
“That and this is different! There are some things you should not do! I will not allow you to ruin my battle honor!”
Akira thought he had a warped sense of honor.
Erock turned to Akira and said, “Whoever wins this battle will be the owner of Kodria!”
“I will never accept that!” said Akira.
“I will make you accept it!”
As the two turned to head back to their armies, they were stopped when they saw two shaman were being carried on the back of two Garg mounts running towards them waving their hands frantically.
“Wait…” said Akira to the other party.
“What is it now? Do you want to surrender after all?” asked Tormoid.
“Lord! Horrible news!” shouted one of the shaman!
“Calm down! What is it?” asked Klyn.
“The Grand elders received word from the Coldpelt clan of Bleur shor!”
“And?” asked Akira.
“…They were attacked by a large force of demigods and their minions…
… and there are other groups headed to the other areas in the north! They will surely go to Crowmaw soon!”
“Don’t spout such nonsense!” said Tormoid angrily as he turned and ran towards his waiting soldiers.
“Where is your honor? You don’t need to use such weak mind games. If you are too scared to face me on the battlefield then just surrender now,” said Erock with disdain, before running towards his army followed by his officers and guards.
It seemed there would be a battle no matter what, but between who and where?
