the subdued appearances of the Durpari provided an extreme contrast. The Maquar looked ready to take the battlefield while the Durpari looked ready to skulk through city streets at night. The pride and joy of Estagund beside the best Durpar could offer.
Jhoqo stopped his pacing and raised his arms. 'Brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters, let us take this moment to share in our joy of being given this awesome task. The One, the All, has come together and presented us with an opportunity to add our balance to the world. We will do just that!'
The Maquar slapped their gloves on the boiled leather of their bracers in response, though their demeanor never changed, their disciplined stance never wavered. Startled by the sound, several of the Durpari moved their hands instinctively to the hilts of their weapons, only to release them when they realized the source of the sounds. Taennen offered a reassuring smile to Adeenya, who had also started at the ritual applause.
Jhoqo continued. 'We are in the most dangerous of the southern lands, my friends. It doesn't take much of a fool to make a mistake in Veldorn that costs someone's life.'
The Maquar again pounded their appreciative rhythm but stopped short when the sound of further pounding came from the Durpari ranks. Each Durpari soldier was slapping the shoulder of the nearest comrade. A moment of silence passed when the pounding stopped, and Jhoqo walked to stand before the Durpari, looking Adeenya in the eyes.
'You honor us, our Durpari brethren,' Jhoqo said, clapping Adeenya on the shoulder.
Adeenya bowed her head in thanks to the man.
'And you, my loyal Maquar. I would enter battle beside no one else!' Jhoqo said, turning from her.
The Maquar roared in return, a brief, violent burst chorus. Taennen felt a burr in his throat, but that only made him shout all the more.
Jhoqo continued, 'We all know what awaits us in Veldorn. We will be in the land of beasts, my friends. We must defend ourselves. We may even have to kill!'
The pounding of fists and chests rattled in Taennen's ears, the syncopation of solidarity. He hit himself harder, adding his own effort to the clatter. The troops of both countries seemed to pound all the harder, attempting to outdo one another in friendly competition. Taennen was proud to see the Maquar allowing the Durpari mercenaries to stand with them as though they were equals in a sign of solidarity.
'Let us do so together, as family, as a whole within the Adama,' Jhoqo said. 'Let us defend one another against the monstrous hordes should they be fool enough to come against us!'
The reactionary noise hit a new level, and a few affirmative shouts joined the chorus. Jhoqo beamed as he paced before the gathering, his colors fluttering and chin held high.
'Come!' Jhoqo said. 'We begin our journey together!'
Taennen saluted and turned to give orders for his troops to form up just as a loud horn sounded in the distance. The durir drew his weapon at the sound. Adeenya's eyes widened and the Durpari leaped to their feet. Adeenya shouted a string of commands to her people.
Taennen's eyes found his commander, who nodded once in permission of Taennen's unspoken request. He scanned the area and spotted what he needed-all twelve hundred pounds of it. Taennen sprinted toward an unburdened brown and white pack horse and vaulted atop the creature with a shout. His heels dug into his mount's side, and the horse dashed away. Usually loaded down with goods, the horse rarely had the opportunity to sprint, but unburdened now, the horse covered the ground quickly.
From the east, a Durpari soldier waving an unfamiliar signal flag sped toward him at an arrow's pace. Though the man's face was indistinguishable, Taennen felt the terror pouring off the runner, even from so far away. He looked over his shoulder, shouting.
'Threat to the east!' Another Maquar took up the call, carrying the news further into the ranks until all present had received the information.
Taennen kicked the horse into a gallop toward the fleeing soldier.
The thundering hooves became a war drum to his ears. No anger, hate, or violence bubbled in his mind, but rather adventure and opportunity. His father had always said that young men should fight every so often just to remind themselves that they could. Jhoqo disapproved of such philosophy. Taennen grinned a little and kicked ahead, his pulse pounding.
Fifteen paces from the fleeing soldier, Taennen could clearly see wounds on the man's arms and neck, thin oozing cuts. The horn-blower rasped and wheezed, his lungs strained from running, but one word was clear: 'Monsters.'
Taennen reined his mount to a stop next to the young soldier. The runner sucked hard for breath, collapsing against Taennen's horse. Taennen looked back to see the rest of the Maquar and Durpari. They marched toward him but were still several long bowshots away.
'What's the danger, soldier?' Taennen said.
The soldier tried to speak, but still Taennen could only make out that one word. Taennen reached down and turned the man's face toward him. His eyes were glossy and distant, his pallid face streaked with blood. Taennen released him. Whatever had stricken so much fear into this man would not drive Taennen to the same state. He was Maquar.
The Durpari man pushed away from the horse and ran to the rest of the troops. The Durpari mercenaries had fallen in with the Maquar, both forces approaching but still some distance away. Taennen pulled his steed s reins and turned the horse to take his place among his men. He froze in place when his ears began to vibrate with an unfamiliar sound. It felt like dozens of flies buzzed in unison inside his head. There was no pain, but the sound was discomfiting.
He stared toward the east, still unable to see what might be causing the sound. Taennen slid off' the horse. Something was close. He jogged forward, coming to the top of a small hillock, and looked over its edge into the valley below. He nearly cried out. Behind him he heard the horse scream and take off towards the Maquar and Durpari. He shook his head to clear it, and glanced back at the fast approaching army.
'Sirs,' he said as Jhoqo and Adeenya reached him. 'We have a problem.'
Below the gathered troops, at the bottom of the gently sloping hill and charging toward them, was an army of creatures. Taennen's practiced eyes scanned the mobbing beasts. 'Approximately fifty individuals,' he reported. 'Maybe ten bugbears, another dozen goblins, a score of kobolds, more than a dozen humans and… by the One! A pair of girallons and a half-giant.' Jhoqo nodded, his brow furrowed, his mind already working on a strategy, Taennen was certain.
Goblins, bugbears and kobolds together, Taennen could accept, but never had he seen so many humans alongside the black-hearted creatures.
But that was not their greatest concern. What Taennen, and no doubt the others near him, found so amazing were the creatures behind that gathered mass.
Ranging in sizes that matched everything from a dog to a horse stood another twenty or so creatures, looking like twisted and mutilated centaurs crossed with insects. Taennen was reminded of desert ants, only these creatures were less graceful in appearance and many thousands of times larger. Their reddish brown flesh shimmered in the midday sun. They stood on four legs that bent at multiple joints. Two arms attached to shoulders topped by wicked, bony protrusions. Bulbous sacks erupted where their legs and backs met and carried short barbs on some of the creatures. There could be no doubt that they were pressing the other creatures, human and goblinoid alike, up the hill toward the waiting soldiers.
'What in all the order of the Adama are those?' someone from the ranks exclaimed.
Taennen had seen a wemic once, a leonine creature similar to the centaur-like ants below. The wemic had been beautiful and frightening at the same time, elegant death in motion. The same could not be said of these creatures. They moved with twitches and jerks, their gait uneven. Thin to the point of emaciation with hairs covering their legs, they clattered along with their stomping cohorts. They could not be creatures of this world. Where they came from was a mystery, but they did not belong in Veldorn, that much he knew.
'Something is terribly wrong,' Adeenya said.
'We should continue to the citadel,' Khatib advised. There was no fear in his voice, only practicality.
'I doubt they'll let us just stroll by, wizard,' Marlke said.
'Soldiers!' Jhoqo shouted, drawing his broad falchion from its scabbard with a scrape. It shone bright with magic in the midday sun, a bright star against the dull plains of Veldorn.
'We are brothers and sisters in battle! Surely together there is no force to stop us on the face of Faerun!'
