Zenora
75. The Real Battle

As a second volley of horn-sounds, echoed between the trees of the forest, loud screams followed behind them, and the rebels and Orcs stormed outside of the forest.

Brock had yelled, for his warriors to hold their places, while Archeops commanded his hunters to send out a volley of arrows to the enemy.

A lot of shields appeared around the storming rebels, from the mages that were still hidden in the forest. But still, a lot of their warriors got hit badly. Then our warriors, who were directed by Brock, charged into the rebels, and the real battle has begun.

A lot of things happened at the same time.

The machines below us, guided by Terralon’s best engineers, shot their magic thunderbolts, towards the forest. Trees shook, unrooting and exploding, trying to force the rebels out of their hiding. As expected, a lot of them mustered their bravery, and charged unto the battlefield.

The rebels didn’t only exist of powered people, but a lot of strong, ‘normal’ people too. I remembered the story, that Markus told me, about the Humans without powers, getting angry at the King’s decisions. But what Markus had left out, was that his mother was leading the rebels, and through the years, they recruited a lot of powered people and Orcs as well.

Archeop’s hunters, were flying everywhere on their gryphons, shooting at all the enemies. Servants came rushing in, every now and then, placing new arrows on the ground, for hunters to get.

Some of our mages were defending, shielding all the warriors and hunters they could see. Some, were casting badass spells, where fireballs were send to their targets, or ice was formed on the ground, to make the rebels fall down.

The warriors were taking the first, and most hits, as they are on the front line. In the distance, I knew Brock was there but I couldn’t see him clearly, as it was really crowded where he was.

Blood was spilled in so many places, that the grounds soon became satiated of the red liquid. Bodies were lying everywhere, and growls erupted from my throat. Ursai, heard me and nudged his nuzzle to my side. I turned to face him, and he put his nose gently against my belly.

“You know what is in there, right?” I asked Ursai, and he nodded.

“Thank you for reminding me.” I said, and I could breathe calmly again.

I just hate seeing my people getting hurt, and this was going on for a few hours already. More and more people were send to the infirmary, and the injuries they had, were so severe, that some died there as well. We had a lot of losses on our side, and we had to turn the odds soon.

“Cirilya, is it time already? We are losing them too fast.” I asked her, wondering when we should execute our plan.

“Not yet Emily, if we show our abilities now, then there are still too many rebels to charge into us. Because when they realize what is happening, they will only focus on us.” She said, and I knew she was right, but I couldn’t take it any longer.

“Cirilya, we have to, I can’t keep my mind straight anymore.”

“Hmm. Okay, I’ll inform your father.” She said and we went inside the tent.

“Hunny, be careful please, I don’t want to lose you.” He said and kissed me on my forehead, when he came outside. “I won’t dad, I’ll return to you.”

Cirilya and I went down the ramp on the side of the terrace, while Ursai followed me. I grabbed a bunch of extra arrows, and filled my quiver to the fullest. We both looked at each other and smiled.

“I heal, you shoot, deal?” Cirilya said.

“Deal.”

Cirilya and I, had come up with the plan to get to the centre of the battlefield, and then create a circle, where Cirilya would heal our injured people, and I would keep the rebels away.

Sooner said, than done.

We made our way to the centre, by me shooting at all the rebels I could see, and Cirilya healed the most bad injuries. I had to wait for her for a few times, as some of the injuries took longer to heal. I tried to save my arrows, and used my mages shields as well. Sometimes to protect our warriors or hunters, and sometimes to prevent the enemies from hitting our people. Whenever I created a shield on an enemy, it gave our people the time to take a better pose, so that when I dropped the shield, they could instantly kill the enemy. I know that I could use my shields to make them explode, but I couldn’t mentally do that.

Cirilya tapped my shoulder, signing me to proceed further to the centre.

I fought off some Orcs and Human rebels, not yet showing my warrior’s abilities. Showing off my mage, has them confused, and focused on me enough already.

We stood in the centre now, and our people took the injured people to us. Me protecting them with shields, while they walked our way. At the same time, Cirilya was healing the wounded ones that were on the ground, around us. Ursai fought fiercely as well, his swipes could harm several people at the same time. He bit off some heads, and mauled people with his sharp claws, tearing right through their tough gear.

The rebels, more and more, started to realize what we were doing, as I noticed that they were grouping up, to fight our way. They were angry that someone could heal the injuries that were caused by them.

“Cirilya, more rebels are coming! Brace yourself!” I yelled to her, and she nodded.

An arrow was flying in her direction but I caught it, mid-air, and shot it back to the Orc of who it came from. I shot a few more arrows of my own, but then found that there were none left. I put my bow on my back, and picked up a sword, from one of the fallen warriors.

I had to start using my warrior abilities now, together with my mages shields. I tried to focus on the rebels alone, as I didn’t want to see our people getting hurt. It was difficult though, as everywhere around me, my people got killed and fell to the ground. Soon, dust from the ground, started to whirl up, and I knew that my eyes turned red too.

I had to guide my thoughts, towards my babies, quickly! Cirilya saw my struggle, and focused her hearing onto my belly. The familiar sound, that ran through her mind, soothed my nerves. Once again I could focus on the battle. The fury rose inside of me a few more times, and each time it came faster than the one before that. But I had to pull through.

The sword I carried, sliced through our attackers, and more groups of rebels joined together and charged towards us. I focused on my speed, and killed target after target, going faster with each movement. Until I could barely follow my own actions. I was fighting based on pure instinct now, not even trying to plan how to kill someone, I just simply did. My quick movements felt almost unearthly, but I liked that I could kill my opponents so easily, slitting their throats, breaking their bones, splashing their blood into the air… holy crap! Where is my mind going!

Did the Mage’s Fury unleash itself without me noticing? No, I’m still standing on the ground, and no dust is whirling up. This feeling that I got, is different, and I wasn’t using magic, only my warrior skills.

“Emily! Are you alright?” Cirilya yelled to me. I looked at her, and frowned. Was I injured? I looked towards my body, but I couldn’t detect any major injuries, besides the scratches and cuts, that I had received.

“Your eyes were gold coloured just now!” Oh! Okay, gold eyes for the warrior. I’m so relieved! But it frightened me at the same time as well. Sure, this new development was far from as powerful as the Mage’s Fury, but it still was strong. The speed at which I could move, was really useful in battle. But the thoughts that I had… those weren’t normal, not for me anyways.

“Garosh, kaggagh oktak tamog!” An Orc behind me yelled, saying it was his time to play now.

I turned around and saw the biggest, maddest Orc there could be on the planet. Well I thought he was, as he towered over me, where I needed to look up, straining my neck muscles to even look and reach for his eyes. He had this wicked grin on his face, ready to tear me limb by limb. His green face and torso were covered in scars, his teeth were yellow, and around his neck dangled a necklace made of small bones. The massive two-handed axe he was holding, was covered in small bones also, and blood dripped from one of the sharp edges.

He charged onto me, swaying his axe towards me, with great speed and force. I avoided his attacks barely, as he was clearly trained well. This giant, was one of their secret weapons, trained to take down their most feared enemies. Some Orcs behind him started to laugh, seeing my face slightly in fear, because this Orc was terrifyingly big and strong!

I whistled for Ursai to join me, as he was fighting off the rebels, on the other side of the circle.

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