"Plus the dwarves would make strong allies," Khadgar pointed out. "If we help them they may agree to help us in return. They'd make excellent scouts and first—strike units."
"We could certainly use them and their gryphons," Lothar agreed. He glanced up, caught Turalyon's eye, and nodded. "Rally the troops," he ordered. "We're heading into the forest to save the dwarves."
"By the ancestors, there are a lot of them! They're like fleas, only bigger and better—armed!" Kurdran cursed as he studied the scene below. He and a full hunting party were on the wing, wheeling high above to get a better view of these new greenskins. And what he saw wasn't good.
The creatures were marching fast and were already only a day's travel from Aerie Peak itself. At first he'd only seen a score or so, but then he'd noticed another group not far away, and a third beyond that. The others had reported much the same. Though these greenskins were spread out in groups of twenty or so, there were more groupings than they could count. Wildhammer dwarves were not afraid of anything, but if those creatures were half as tough as they looked they could crush the Peak by sheer numbers alone.
Not that they'd sit by and let that happen. Kurdran glanced around, and each of his dwarves nodded in turn. "Good," he told them, raising his horn to his lips. "Wildhammers, attack!" He blew a blast on the horn and then slung it back at his side, already guiding Sky'ree into position with his knees. She responded with a fierce cry of her own, spreading her wings and rising up before folding them back in for the exhilarating dive. They plummeted down, and as they did Kurdran unlimbered his stormhammer, raising the massive weapon high.
But for the moment his targets were not the greenskins themselves. Instead he struck out, pounding the nearest tree solidly across the trunk. The impact sent leaves and berries and needles raining down, which startled the bewildered greenskins. Kurdran struck out at two more trees, and those sent cones and nuts down on the creatures, hitting hard enough to leave welts. The greenskins ducked, raising their hands to protect their eyes, but the onslaught continued as the Wildhammers struck tree after tree, dropping foliage and fruits and nuts in a veritable shower. The greenskins did not know what to make of all this, but they didn't like it, and they responded by taking the simplest solution—since the trees weren't safe, they left them behind, jogging away from the threatening foliage and out into the nearest small clearing.
Which was exactly what the Wildhammers had been waiting for.
With a loud warcry Kurdran led the way, his hammer at the ready. The first greenskin had time to glance up and half—raise a large axe before Kurdran's hurled, lightning—wreathed stormhammer caught him full across the jaw, shattering the bone with a thunderclap and sending the creature flying. "Ye're too ugly to be in me forest, ye bastard!" he shouted as the creature fell. The hammer returned and Kurdran loosed it again, the blow smashing a second greenskin, and then Sky'ree's arc drove her back up and she raised her wings to carry them back out of range before wheeling about for a second pass. The rest of his lads were striking as well, and the forest was filled with hoots and hollers, curses and insults as the gryphons darted past.
Whatever these creatures were, they were not easily frightened. As he came around again Kurdran saw that the remaining greenskins had their weapons up and ready now, and they gathered into a tighter cluster so the dwarves could not strike as easily. They had not counted on the aerial advantage, however. Kurdran whirled his hammer overhead, and let it fly. The heavy stone had struck a greenskin right in the temple, toppling it with a loud crack like an Ironforge pistol, and as the creature fell it pushed against two others, who stepped forward to avoid being entangled.
"Ha! That's taken ye down a peg!" Kurdran crowed at the fallen creatures. He was on them before they could realize their mistake, his stormhammer back in his hand, but let Sky'ree finish the fallen creatures, her powerful front claws laying one low and her sharp hooked beak tearing apart a second even as her wings stunned a third.
The skirmish was over quickly. Whatever these greenskins were, they were slow and not used to facing an airborne attack. And Kurdran and his people were experts at striking those on the ground. The creatures had managed to land a few blows, and some of his dwarves had wounds to tend, but they had lost no one and left no one unharmed behind them. Only a few of the greenskins in this particular grouping had survived, and only then by fleeing back under the trees.
"That's taught them to look up," Kurdran pointed out, and his dwarves laughed. "Back to the Peak then, lads. We'll send out another team soon to take out another o' their little clusters. Mayhap then they'll learn to give Aerie Peak a wider berth."
"Get ready," Lothar whispered. He had slowed his horse to a mere walk, since anything faster risked running into trees or being unhorsed by low branches, and now he drew his greatsword and held it before him, his shield raised on his other arm. "They should be close by."
Turalyon nodded and hefted his warhammer, riding to his commander's back left as usual. Khadgar rode beside him, the three of them forming a classic cavalry triangle, and though the mage's hands were empty Turalyon had learned to respect the magics his friend could wield in battle. Straining his eyes, Turalyon tried to pierce the gloom of the trees and see their quarry. Somewhere around here…
"There!" He pointed ahead and to the right, beyond Khadgar, and his two companions followed his gesture. After a moment Lothar nodded. It took the wizard a minute longer before he too had noticed the flicker of movement against the trees in that direction, a motion too low to be a bird and too steady to be a snake or insect or whatever else infested such forests. No, that flicker could only be from something the size of a man walking through the forest, and the fact that it kept repeating meant either the same figure was circling back repeatedly or it was a large group, The fact that it was barely visible meant the figures were the same color as their surroundings. All of which added up to one thing: orcs.
"Got them," Lothar agreed quietly. He glanced back at Khadgar. "Let the others know," he instructed, and the young—old mage nodded and backed his horse away quietly. "Meantime, we'll keep watch," the Champion told Turalyon, who nodded. "And if they look like they're getting away, well, we'll just have to make sure they've got reason to turn and come back this way again, eh?"
"Yes, sir!" Turalyon grinned and patted the haft of his warhammer. He was ready. He still got nervous going into battle, but he no longer worried about freezing up or turning tail. He'd faced the orcs once already, and he knew he could do it again.
"We've lost Tearlach," Iomhar reported. Kurdran stared at him in surprise. "Oengus as well," the Wildhammer fighter continued. "And two more are too winded to continue fighting."
"What happened?" Kurdran demanded. The other dwarf looked embarrassed for a second, then turned belligerent.
"The greenskins, tha's what!" he replied. "They were ready for us! When we dropped toward them they started throwing spears! Then they scattered so we couldn't target them amid the trees." He shook his head. "Your strike was lucky, and took them by surprise. They've learned, though, the ugly buggers, and fast."
Kurdran nodded. "Not stupid, these greenskins," he agreed. "And more o' them than we thought." He studied the map of the Hinterlands spread out before him, and the markers he'd been using to show where the greenskins were marching. The map was almost completely covered. "Well, we'll just have to hit them afore they can react. Tell the lads to come in fast and hard, and to stay beyond the greenskins' throws. They're working against gravity and we're working with it, so we've got the advantage."