several whooshing sounds as objects flew past his head. Before he could turn around, he had been struck twice in the back with arrows from the hidden archers on the mountainside. His effort to conserve energy had left him open to this surprise attack.
He dropped to his knees and reached back to remove the arrows that were lodged in his lower back. Amazingly, each hit had missed anything vital, so he was able to remove the arrows without doing further damage. Raged burned through him as he stood erect and saw that his plans had been foiled. His eyes literally burned red like fire, and he quickly began to use his mind-controlling ability to turn the home guard on one another. He directed his silent assault on the archers stationed on the mountainside first. He had them attack the high elves protecting the wall. He continued to survey the battle around him and was shocked to see many of his men were dead or dying. This only fueled his thirst for revenge. His break in focus allowed the bowmen to come back to their senses and redirect their assault at Yukio's men.
He whistled for his stallion to come to him and then made a different noise that called his faithful war hawk. His horse appeared suddenly from behind the castle and ran at top speed to aid his master. Yukio did a running jump to get on his steed without the beast breaking stride. Shortly after mounting his horse, the hawk appeared out of the clear sky. The bird landed roughly on the general's outstretched arm. Yukio quickly spoke to his hawk words of command, and the bird took off immediately. The fowl flew west out over the wall where there was no fighting and then turned north. Yukio had sent his messenger to report to Queen Daria of what had transpired. He knew that the high elves would unify under Queen Kishi and that they would want revenge for what they would perceive to be an unwarranted attack. He needed help as soon as possible. He knew that he would win this day, but he did not know how he would survive an attack from Queen Kishi.
The battle continued to rage on around him, but the tide was steadily shifting in the general's favor. Yukio returned his attention to the archers on the mountainside. They had thinned out the numbers on the wall enough to allow for the army outside the wall to finally gain the edge they needed to capture the inner wall. The general focused his power on them again and forced them to face one another. Many of the archers resisted his commands to shoot one. After several moments of mental conflict, which drained the general of a significant amount of energy, the archers let fly their arrows. Within minutes all the archers lay dead or dying at one another's hands. Now he had the advantage, and his battle cry inspired his men to finish the bloody conflict.
As the men under Commander Favian swept across the courtyard, Master Aiden was cleaning the walls off by himself. His blade, Keahi, flashed in the light of the noonday sun as he tore through the heavily armored high elves. The blade burned red and sent massive fireballs into crowds of guards. He cleared the entire wall alone while his men stood there and watched the finest swordsmen in the world annihilate at least fifty soldiers.
Within minutes, the remaining high elves had been killed and the battle came to abrupt end. A third of Yukio's men had fallen in the confrontation, but they had won the day. As the general stood panting from the physical and mental exertion, it dawned on him that Mistress Kana had not kept her end of the bargain. He had the feeling that the other guardians were involved somehow and they were fighting against her and her allies. He was overwhelmed with feelings of betrayal and loss. He did not think this day would cost so much in blood. He walked slowly to the wall to speak with his men and his faithful commander. Everyone had gathered together at the wall to discuss what had happened and were trying to figure out what went wrong. They all came to attention when they saw the general approaching.
'Men, we have won this day, but the cost of our victory was too high,' Yukio said solemnly. 'There is one among us who saved us all. Master Aiden, I thank you.' General Yukio bowed to recognize the true hero of the battle for Alanderas. Aiden had single-handedly saved the army of Yukio, and the general was not too proud to recognize such greatness. IfAiden had not been here, we would have been destroyed.
'Thank you, General Yukio,' replied Master Aiden. The rest of the army had bowed like their general. Aiden motioned for everyone to rise. They all did as he asked and looked on him as if he were more than just a man.
'Men, we need to prepare for retaliation from Queen Kishi. Several of the council members escaped along with a third of the host of the high elves. My warrior hawk told me this when I had summoned him from hiding. I have sent him on to deliver a message to Queen Daria explaining the situation. I believe the army of the high elves will not strike us, but they will attack the Nairi Canyons,' he said confidently. 'We must be ready to head them off or cut off their retreat.' He was beginning to regain his composure and put on a look of defiance in order to inspire his men.
The men shouted their approval and quickly divided up into small groups to clean up the bloody battlefield. The troops would spend the remainder of the day cleaning, and by the next morning, they would be on the move to head off the high elves. They would not leave anyone behind in the city because of the importance of stopping the high elves before they reached the canyons. It was also imperative to not leave any clues behind that would reveal what had happened and where the entire host of Yukio's army was heading. They needed secrecy now more than ever to catch the high elves off guard. The men were tense while they finished their cleaning because of the task that lay ahead of them. They did not fully understand how they had been found out. They would make the remaining high elves pay for the deaths of their comrades.
CHAPTER 12
Lord Diikker watched as a massive body of high elves approach the city's outer wall. They were coming from Alanderas in quite a hurry, which led him to believe that something had gone terribly wrong. Queen Kishi had received a message from one of General Yukio's messengers about the suspicious nature of Kira's death and the chairman of the High Council just days before this event. The funeral was not for a few more days, so the sorcerer thought that this appearance of so many of their brethren was not a good sign. He decided to make for the outer wall to command the guards to give the people admittance into the city. He felt sure that once the people were inside that this mystery would be quickly solved.
As he approached the front gate, the clear star-filled sky overhead clouded up immediately with black clouds. A loud echoing boom was heard after a brilliant flash of lightning that lit the darkened sky. In an instant, everyone and everything was soaked through as the heavens dumped heaps of rain on them. Furious winds howled down the mountainside sending everyone not on guard running to their homes or barracks. Diikker had to get much closer to the guards in order to be heard over the tumultuous noises of the sudden storm.
'Captain, you must allow those high elves in when they reach the gate. I sense that something has gone horribly wrong in Alanderas, which means that these people will need our assistance,' he said with great intensity.
'Yes, my lord,' replied the captain. He turned about and began to bellow out orders to his men. The gate began to open, and archers scurried up the stairs to the tops of the wall to give covering fire if need be to the refugees.
Dukker called a guard over to him that was not positioned on the wall. He instructed him to go and tell Commander Tenanden to prepare the defenses of the city right away. Then he was to take a different message to General Thrarias. He was to inform the general of what was happening and to prepare the army for departure at a moment's notice. Finally the messenger was to go to Queen Kishi, Chairman Rinelyn, and the druid Krysanal. He was to inform them of what was happening at the gate, what Commander Harley was doing, what General Jaali was preparing for, and what they must do. Lord Dukker knew that an emergency session of the High Council was needed in order to act swiftly.
A knock came on the door of the council chamber's front door. Kishi looked at Elgin and Nita with a look of surprise. Who knew that we were here? She stood up slowly from the table where they had been discussing plans for unifying the high elves by force. She walked slowly to the door, bewildered at this sudden disruption. A ball of fire burst into life in her hand as she prepared to defend against what lay behind the doors. She used her other hand to open the door magically. At the sight of the soaked messenger, she extinguished the fire in her hand and rushed to usher the ragged-looking guard into the hall. She directed him to the fire that was lit in the middle of the council room. The fire was burning bright blue and had obviously been created by magic.
