“Leave a small detachment here with me and pursue those traitors,” ordered Kishi as she let go of her beloved friend. “Do not let them reach their destination no matter what the cost. If they should reach the High Plains before you overtake them, encamp the army at a safe distance from the cliffs and send me word. No one has ever taken Landen, and I do not believe we could do it on our own. However, maybe we could get some allies together and change that record. I will communicate with Lord Aellenas while you make your pursuit. He should have some allies for us by now.”
“It shall be as you wish, malady,” said the general with a bow. She stood him up once more and kissed him hard on the mouth before turning away to enter the castle gates. Jaali went into action at once and ordered a small regiment of soldiers to remain behind with their queen. He then turned his attention to the matters at hand. “All right, you can see that our unworthy foes have turned tail and fled. Let’s hunt them down!” Shouts of agreement rose from the ranks. The air was also full of vulgar language as they began their pursuit of Yukio’s army. Never before had a group of elves used such unbecoming language.
As General Yukio rode ahead, he was consumed in dangerous thoughts and was in a rather vile mood. First he lost the love of his life, and now he had been unable to keep his queen from being murdered. He had been so successful in defending her against assassination attempts in the past and could not understand why he had failed this time. Why was she sitting in the throne room? I told her to hide in the secret cavern until I came for her. What possessed her to do such a rash thing? He was perplexed by Daria’s actions and knew that she must have been coerced somehow to allow herself to become such easy prey.
After the army behind him was completely clear of the canyons, he called a halt to their retreat. He had to explain to the troops what happened and what they needed to do now in order to survive. Yukio did not like the idea of retreating, but he would much rather run than get his entire army killed needlessly. He had lost a significant number of soldiers in defending their homeland and did not think it was wise to defend a place where they had experienced a great tragedy. The general knew that it was time to leave when his men left their defensive positions to attack the high elves in a wildly unorganized assault. He also knew that they would be able to find protection in the High Plains of Landen. Allies would save them from utter annihilation and would help them recapture their beloved homeland.
“Men, we need to regroup after the tragedy we just experienced with the loss of our beloved Queen Daria Thejar,” began the general evenly. “We must retake our lands, but first we need help to accomplish this. We will go to our brethren in Landen and seek their protection and aid. We will be reunited with our families who left us weeks ago. We might even be able to garner the support from the men of Aran as well.”
No one said anything or made any sudden movements. It was as though they were in shock or stunned somehow. The death of their queen did not seem real or final until General Yukio uttered those earth-shattering words. The soldiers took a moment to reflect on what just happened to them, and for the first time fear entered into their hearts. They had much better defensive positions, and they had held the high elves off for weeks. Murmurings and whisperings began to fill the air as they stood there trying to make sense of what had happened. They had not listened to another word of Yukio’s after making it clear that their beloved queen was dead.
“Quiet! We do not have time to mourn or to place blame. We must move forward if we are all to survive another day. See!” said Yukio, pointing at the high elven army cresting the lip of the canyon. Shouts of terror and dismay erupted amongst the ranks. The general had to do something and do it quick or they would surely lose an open plain battle.
“General Yukio, maybe we should surrender,” stammered one of the soldiers from the middle front of the army nearest to him.
Yukio, who was not a very patient man to begin with, snapped. He used his psychic powers to convince several key soldiers to agree with him so that the rest of the army would agree to move out. Voices began to shout approvals to what the general had said, and many of the captains barked orders to stand at attention and to prepare to move out. The discontent and fear evaporated in the air around the army. Every soldier stood stalk still while waiting for the command to move out. The downcast looks and shifting eyes were replaced with stern looks of determination. The general was pleased with his easy manipulation of his troops.
“Move out!” bellowed General Yukio.
The reduced army of Nairi began to march at a quick pace toward the cliffs of Landen. They bent their course directly east once they were within the shadow of the cliffs. General Yukio rode ahead to make sure that there were no obstacles or traps that lay ahead of them and then turned his steed about to check the rear of the army. He wanted to see just how close the wicked fiends were. He needed to know if they were coming at him with their full strength or if General Jaali had sent only a portion of his army. He also wanted to ascertain whether or not his evil sister-in-law was among them. He wanted to rend her limb from limb more than anyone else. He smiled wistfully at the very thought of exacting his revenge on the little witch. Beware, Kishi. I will have my revenge! You and your high elves will follow in the tragic footsteps of the Eldar!
***
General Jaali could see in the distance, probably some ten miles away, the army of Nairi hugging the cliffs of Landen. They are heading for King Leroy’s kingdom just like we suspected. I must motivate the troops to move faster. “Let’s pick up the pace! We must engage them before they reach the High Plains!” barked the general. The army picked up the pace so much so that they were traveling at top speed. The distance between the two armies began to shrink as they ran full out. It was as though an invisible whip was snapping at their heels. The general was amazed at their ability to maintain such a feverish pace. He ordered the archers to the front and sent them on ahead to see if they could get Yukio’s attention. They ran full out for a few hundred yards and then stopped to release a volley of arrows. The first barrage hit a couple of the stragglers and did exactly what General Jaali had hoped would happen. General Yukio turned about on his steed to face his attackers, and then he bore down on them.
The archers were surprised that the general would rush them all by himself when there were a couple hundred of them. The moment this thought crept into their heads, it was replaced by another terrible thought. The troops began to hallucinate and see things that were not there. Before they had released one arrow in the direction of the charging mad man, they turned on each other and began to shoot one another. General Jaali roared in frustration and ordered the rest of the army to go to the aid of the archers. The soldiers complied with the command, but they did so with trepidation in their hearts. As they narrowed the gap, they saw the crazed Yukio reach the confused bowmen. Within a few moments, every single archer was dead. They died at the hand of one another in most cases, but General Yukio had killed some thirty plus with his sword.
The army came to halt in spite of themselves and stood there transfixed, gazing at the blood-soaked general. Yukio gave them a wicked smile and jumped on his horse in one fluid motion. He spurred his beast hard, and they bolted back toward the Nairi army that was still marching at top speed along the cliff. General Jaali snapped out of the trance and ordered the bewildered soldiers to resume their march. They did not react at once, and the general could tell by the look in their eyes that they were all spellbound in some way. Jaali decided to wait patiently for at least some of them to come around because yelling at them had no effect.