The massive magician moved swiftly to stand beside the enraged general. “What is it, Lang?” he queried calmly.
“Kill that little wicked elf that has created this magical barrier,” he ordered, pointing at the now-infamous Lord Dukker.
“I will see what I can do,” replied Marcello simply. He had a look of intense concentration on his face as he sized up his opponent. This is a formidable foe if he could have removed my silver mist so easily. This invisible barrier is difficult to create and even more laborious to maintain. How has he managed this?
“Are you going to attack him or just stand there thinking?” blasted the impatient general. Lord Marcello did not pay him the slightest bit of attention as he raised his arms to the sky. He began to mutter a series of spells under his breath as he arched his staff toward a point in the sky high above them. Clouds did not form, but the sky became full of lightning as though a massive storm was about to be unleashed. Marcello knew that his first attack would do very little, but he wanted to get the warlock’s attention.
Lord Marcello closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them abruptly. They had turned bright yellow and were making odd crackling noises. He angled his staff toward the high elf below him, and several bolts of yellow lightning struck him where he stood. The blackened figure staggered slightly at the repeated attacks on his person. Then he seemed to right himself and threw up a personal protective barrier. This was exactly what Marcello was hoping for. He knew that the little warlock could not keep a massive barrier up at the same time protecting himself with a smaller more intense version for himself. The gigantic magical wall dissipated with a faint pop. Marcello slammed his staff down to the ground and bellowed, “Fire at will!” Missiles filled the air once more, and this time they struck several of their targets. The wicked elves did not have time to finish their additional siege weapons, so they began to move the ones they had toward a makeshift bridge.
When several of the giants turned their attention toward the bridge that had been crudely made by the orcs, they came under attack from the dark elf below them. He sent up balls of fire that ripped through their defensive weapons like kindling. Marcello rushed to their aid by throwing up walls of ice for the flames to hit. As the giant wizard reached the troops who were being attacked, he heard screams of pain from behind him somewhere. He wheeled about to see that the wicked warlock was now systematically destroying all of the defensive weapons that he had just saved. Several giants were sent tumbling over the hundred-foot cliff to their deaths. Some actually survived the fall, and it was their screams that ripped through the air. General Lang sprang into action.
“Commander Boaz, take your artillery units and station yourselves a few paces back from the edge of the cliff. Boaz, have runners coordinate your attacks for you,” ordered the general decisively. The commander and his soldiers fell back to a more secure distance from the attacks of the warlock. Runners appeared at once, and the artillery of the giants began to rip through the air in a more definitive pattern.
“Commander Gerodi, have your troops fall back behind the artillery units. We will have need of you and your soldiers if those vile betrayers and filthy orcs enter this land. Leave a few thousand here to defend Commander Boaz’s ranks, and take the rest to fortify the southeastern gate,” Lang ordered. The commander saluted and carried out the orders he had just been given.
“Lord Marcello, I need your ranks to divide up now,” Lang began. “I want your catapults to line up just behind Boaz’s artillery. I want them to use a magical fire so that it cannot be quenched. I want your trebuchets along the southern wall to hammer any orc or high elf that attempts to take the southern route. I have received word that the cliff to the north of us is being defended by General Yukio and his army. The army of Landen is defending the portion of the western cliff that we are not. I have also heard that there are over one hundred fifty thousand horse riders, so our job is to delay and kill as many as you can. The horsemen will do the rest,” explained Lang to his good friend Marcello.
“Your strategy sounds like the best possible plan. I will divide up my siege ranks as you have commanded. What of the king’s guard?” asked the giant wizard.
“Ask them to accompany King Angus to the capital city of Landen. King Leroy is awaiting him there. They may be used to help shore up the northern defense, or they may be asked to watch the eastern sea,” replied General Lang.
“I will send them straight away then. We should not delay the king’s departure for the capital,” agreed Marcello. “What would you have me do?”
“I want you to get back up on that bluff and pound them into the ground. If you get the chance, kill that wicked warlock if you can,” Lang said with great disgust.
“I will try to make you proud,” the magician replied.
***
Lord Dukker was in the throes of a full on tantrum once he realized that the giants had pulled back from the edge of the cliff. He cursed them with every vile and hateful thing he could think of. He had successfully driven them back from the wall and had destroyed many of the defensive weapons that the people of Landen had created. That was why the troops nearest to the enraged Dukker did not understand his outbursts. They thought he had accomplished exactly what he was hoping to do. They did not understand that he was frustrated because he let the elves and giants escape. He was also infuriated by the fact that the giants had a wizard that was not only powerful, but he was intelligent as well. He had not planned on this and did not know exactly what to do. The brute will be impossible to bring down because of his resistance to magic!
The troops around the downcast warlock began to inch away slowly. They all knew that he was probably the most powerful warlock in Tuwa, and they did not want to be around when he lost his cool completely. Lord Aellenas stopped ranting and raving after a few more moments. He then seemed to be lost in his own thoughts and did not recognize the people around him backing away in fear. His brow furrowed as he concentrated on what course of action to take. I must do something dramatic to send the appropriate message to these giants. I should probably send the orc siege warriors back into the forest to continue their building of catapults and siege towers. I should probably send some of my archers to protect their southern flank from a surprise attack by the army of Aran.
“Commander Nolan, I want you to take your archers back into the forest to protect the soldiers who are building the siege works,” ordered Aellenas. “Make sure that you are out of the giants’ range before you begin working. I will also be sending a small number of our archers to watch your southern flank in case the people of Aran decide to come up for a look.” His expression was cold and dark as he gave his orders. His eyes were filled with such great anger that he could not hide it from those he was addressing.
“Whatever you want,” replied the orc commander gruffly. He did not like the fact that the warlock felt his archers were superior to his own.
“Commander Regulas, send two detachments of archers to assist our stout friends,” Dukker said to his commander over the high elven archers.
“Yes, sir!” snapped the commander in reply as he saluted the dark elf. He did an about-face and trotted over to where his archers were stationed.
As the orc siege warriors and two detachments of high elven archers made their way into the shadowy portents of the Black Forest, Dukker turned his attention to the cliff wall that rose high before him. He had decided to do two things as he had watched the troops leave. First, instead of using the makeshift bridges of the orcs, he would create a magical passage that would allow the armies to walk on the waters as though they were earth. He did not believe that it was wise to be caught on this side of the river by the army of Aran who would get involved in this conflict sooner or later. Second, he would order the armies to gather in the southern plains just out of reach of the defensive weapons of Landen. Once he was there, he would work on a strategy that would limit their losses and inflict the maximum amount of damage.