As the village of Haden came into view, he could see that Lord Marcello, General Lang, and the commanders had already arrived. They all had a look that made it clear that they were all feeling the same thing. He broke into a run so he could join the throng of giant leaders gathered in the square in the heart of the little town. As he entered the circle, the feeling of uneasiness left him and everyone relaxed a bit. The king did not waste any time in getting down to business. Giants were blunt and straightforward as a people, and King Angus epitomized this trait more than any other.
“There has been a slight change in our plans. I have met with none other than Mistress Khalida,” began the king raggedly as he tried to catch his breath.
“You met one of the Elementals?” asked Commander Boaz in surprise.
“Yes, she is actually one of the elder guardians,” the king replied impressively. “She has joined our side of this deadly conflict. She is leading the allied armies against the axis armies in their vain attempt for domination. She has asked us to take up all of the defenses of Landen.”
“That is not a problem. What of the army of Yukio and the army of Landen?” General Lang asked impatiently.
“They will regroup just east of here to gather all of their available strength. General Yukio will lead a campaign against the high elves in the north. His mission will require him to drive back these wicked fiends into the canyons of Nairi. The army of Landen will join forces with the army of Aran, which will arrive in a couple of days. They will make a push against the armies of orcs and the high elven army in the south. We will solely be responsible for the defense of this country,” explained the king.
“So, what is the plan for the defenses?” asked Lord Marcello.
“Marcello, you will take your siege warriors to the north cliff and the northeastern entrance right away. Inform General Yukio of Mistress Khalida’s orders and send him to the eastern plain straight away,” ordered the king. Lord Marcello bowed low and departed at once.
“What of the rest of us?” the general asked impetuously.
“General Lang, you will take the main body of our army to the southern cliff and the southeastern entrance. Your troops will be responsible for defending that vital area,” replied the king. “Commander Boaz, you will move to the shores of Lake Lachlan. There is a possibility that some of the high elves will try to attack from that direction.”
“Yes, sir!” saluted the general and the commander. They both departed to begin their new tasks.
“Commander Gerodi, you will come with me to defend the western wall. Once the army of Yukio begins their push, the high elves may try to traverse the western wall. We must be ready for them,” ordered the king.
“Is it true that all of the defenses on the southwestern wall have been destroyed?” asked the commander.
“Yes, it is partially true. You will need to help General Lang rebuild and retool those defenses. Let’s move out; time is our greatest enemy now,” said the king wisely. His face darkened with a fierce look of determination.
Within hours, the border defenses of Landen were under the giants’ control. The army of General Yukio had retreated to the eastern plains to regroup. The army of General Lysander had already gathered their strength in that region. There were some one hundred and fifty thousand horse riders of Landen all ready for war. Foot soldiers and archers filled out the rest of the ranks. The entire army of Landen totaled some two hundred and fifty thousand strong. General Yukio’s army was considerably smaller in numbers, but they had done the most fighting thus far. There were only fifty thousand now instead of the one hundred thousand plus he had before his bloody campaign. The army of General Sanjay arrived two days after the two armies had gathered together. They all waited for more instructions before they moved out.
Lord Marcello and his siege warriors settled into their new defensive positions quickly after Yukio’s army dispatched. There were troops stationed at the northeastern gateway where improved siege weapons were being constructed in the town of Baden some two miles south of where Marcello made his camp. The people of Baden offered to not only host the giant soldiers while they build new weapons; they gave them the supplies they needed to make the new siege weapons. While all of these preparations were being made, the army of Queen Kishi was preparing for a fresh assault. She had rallied her troops to make a push on the northeastern gate. Her movements did not go without notice however. Several of the giants along the northern wall noticed the army moving to the east.
Several messengers were sent to Lord Marcello to make him aware of these movements. They were not surprised to learn that the formidable wizard already knew of the high elven armies positioning. He had sent out a magical web to sense any movements by the army in the plains below. He knew that this move would require him to position himself at the gates to provide a magical support to the troops already stationed there. General Yukio had told him that there was a witch at their lead. She was their queen, and she was a very powerful sorceress. The general had given details of just how mighty Queen Kishi was. Lord Marcello had been pondering ways of defending his soldiers and himself from sound magical attacks.
He departed immediately for the northeastern gate, which was called North Gate by the residents living just south of it. He continued his musing while he walked briskly toward the gate. He knew that he needed to at least place an invisible wall between the high elves and his troops. The problem with this was that the wall was limited in height. When he could solely focus on creating the wall, he could probably make it reach some thirty feet in the air. However, he was not going to be able to do that in this situation. He could probably manage a fifteen-foot wall which should protect the giants, for the most part, from enemy projectiles. He needed to do something spectacular to fend off the high elves and make them think twice about their destructive plans.
By the time the giant wizard reached the gate, the high elven army was already positioning itself just out of reach of the siege warriors stationed at the North Gate. They were making no attempts at hiding what they were doing or even what they were planning. However, Lord Marcello knew better than to dismiss these tactics as foolish or misguided. He knew that their sorceress was about to do something to put the favor of the impending conflict in their court. Marcello did not waste another minute. He quickly summoned his staff out of thin air and did several incantations all at once.
An icy blue wall formed suddenly between the high elven army and the giant soldiers at the gate. As the giant wizard twirled his staff faster, a green and purple cloud formed over the heads of the startled high elven army. Green and purple flashes of lightning began to fill the air over its prey. When the green lightning made contact with a person or the ground, a cloud of poison gas would fill the air with a small popping sound. The purple lightning would send out shock waves with every hit. If it made contact with a person, they were killed instantly and would continue to send out shock waves until their burnt corpses exploded. This ingenious attack killed a few hundred instantly and injured a little over a thousand. When there was no magical attack sent at the giants, Marcello realized that the witch queen must not be among the ranks. She must have remained in the Nairi Canyons. We might be able to send these fiends back to the canyon lands without the assistance of Yukio’s army.