said succinctly.
'We will be ready,' replied General Yuki. She bowed to one knee this time. The host of goblins that had gathered together outside the gate bowed like their general.
Kana smiled warmly at their acceptance as she rose steadily into the night air. She began to glow crimson red as she turned into a ball of fire again. When she was nothing more than a red dot in the sky, she bolted in a northeastern direction toward the home of the rock trolls. The goblins went into a frenzy of work after her departure. They were excited and scared all at once. They were afraid of the dwarves and their brutish ally from the north, but they felt a new level of confidence after their meeting with the powerful Elemental. They had never seen one before and were in awe that she would choose to reveal herself to them in person.
As the land below Kana changed from mountains to open and desolate plains, she began to think about the task that lied before her. The rock trolls did not revere the guardians as gods and would have to be persuaded in a different manner altogether. They would not be willing to accept her as their leader simply because of who she was. They would not be impressed by her magic, and she could not use it on them. Their tough hides made them impervious to her powerful offensive magic. The only exception to this rule was her ability to control minds. The only problem with this is that they can break a mind-controlling spell after only a few minutes. They did not use the same mental defense mechanisms that Kana was used to. She did not fully understand how they ejected mental intrusions. She would have to persuade the brutes to do her bidding without resorting to coercive measures. She would have to appeal to their destructive and distrusting nature.
She had another problem to address first, and that was finding the rock trolls. They did not have camps or homes that were visible to the naked eye. Their dwellings were hidden within the rocky and forbidding terrain of the Land of Nodin. Even if a person could navigate the windy and unrelenting landscaped of the brutes' homeland, you would not be able to actually find them. Their rough skin had the ability to mimic their surroundings so perfectly that sometimes they cannot even see one another. Kana would have to use her mental powers to track them down.
As she continued to fly high in the night's sky, she began to be buffeted by the winds of Nodin. She immediately changed into her ethereal form so that she could fly with greater ease and also to disguise her approach. She could already sense the presence of a large number of rock trolls directly below her. She did not think she would find them so quickly. It was her understanding that there were not that many of them and that they lived deep within their barren land. Why are there so many of them and why are they so close to their southern border?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a massive boulder narrowly missing her ethereal head. She quickly changed back into her human form and threw up firewalls in the air to protect her from the numerous projectiles heading toward her. How did they see me? She was stunned for several seconds by this surprise attack. She had gotten careless in her approach and had waited too long to disguise herself. Her task had become even more difficult than she had anticipated. She would have to make examples of some of her attackers to gain control of the situation.
She concentrated on the minds of three of the closest brutes. She immediately turned them on one another. One of the rock trolls in her control grabbed the head of one of the attackers and pulled with all of his might. The ensuing brawl filled the air with dust as debris flew in every direction as it escalated. The sun began to crest over the eastern horizon and helped to illuminate the fight in progress. Kana extinguished her flaming walls and descended rapidly toward the center of the action. She turned into a mix of flames and fierce wind as she approached her target. Some of the projectiles became trapped in her vortex and followed her speedy descent.
A sickening thud was heard as she hit the ground bodily. The purpose of this tactic was immediately apparent. A massive shock wave went out in all directions. The brawling rock trolls were reduced to pebbles within seconds. The earth continued to shake and rumble for minutes afterwards. She had landed in the very center of the entire nation. Her attack had woken every single one of them, and the quaking was the sound of their approach. She did not fear them because they could not kill her. However, they could beat her incessantly, which would rob her of valuable time. She would have to kill every single antagonizer if this situation escalated into an all out battle. Their loss would be significant to her. She would have to try diplomacy.
'Lord Trahern, I must speak with you,' she said in the most commanding voice she could muster. As she said this, the ground shook violently. A massive figure landed directly in front of her and began to laugh mirthlessly.
'Little witch! Why you trespass here?' bellowed Lord Trahern. His red and yellow eyes narrowed in dislike as he looked down at her. He did not believe the guardians were gods; rather, he believed them to be devils or demons. He fixed her with a deadly gaze that would have killed a lesser being.
'Lord Trahern, I am here to enlist your help,' she began coolly. She stared fixedly back at the massive leader who was twice her height. 'I believe that the races of men, dwarves, elves, and giants have made a pack to conquer the lands of Tuwa. I learned of their treachery firsthand when the men of Nairi attack a separatist group of elves without provocation. These elves, which now go by the name of high elves, have allied with me and have struck back at the people of Nairi. They have also joined forces with the ores in the south. Together they will attack the elves of the Black Forest by week's end.'
'Why should care?' he bellowed back. Rock trolls did not speak much, which was why the races of Tuwa believed that they were mute. Kana knew this was untrue and that they could definitely communicate when the need arose.
'I need you to help the goblins in their assault on your neighbor to the south. You do remember them?' she asked slyly. King Jarvis regularly attacked the rock trolls to try and thin out their numbers. The king's trade routes were constantly under attack by the brutes even though they carried nothing of value that the mindless oafs would want.
'I kill little beards?' asked Lord Trahern. It was clear that he did not speak much because his actions did the speaking for him. Kana knew better than to be deceived by his broken speech. He was very intelligent in spite of his verbal handicap.
'Yes, Lord Trahern. You will kill the dwarves. You will also kill men, elves, and giants as well. Does this please you?' she asked.
'Me happy,' replied the massive leader. He had a grim, satisfied look on his face as he looked at Kana.
'Good; then we are agreed. The goblins are organizing as we speak for the assault on Mount Carrick. After you have gathered your people together, head to the western end of the Sheldon Mountains. General Yuki Togok will be expecting you. She will lead the combined army, but your commanders will lead the siege battalions,' she explained with an air of command.
'Me agreed,' he said sanctimoniously. He then began to laugh raucously as Kana shot up into the air. She felt reassured in her plans now that she had sorted out the finer points of her plan. Now she had one more visit to make before returning to the ores. She must visit her captive friend, Lord Keb.
CHAPTER 17
General Yuki continued to bark out orders at her newly formed army of goblins as they made preparations for their attack against their bearded neighbors. The main body of this new military group had congregated in the largest cavern underneath the Sheldon Mountain range to make their final preparations. The air was filled with smoke from the numerous torches lighting the stone hall. There was so much noise that is was impossible for the general to hear her own thoughts. She was beginning to lose her cool and was just about to lay into her boisterous soldiers when the cavern walls began to shake. It felt as though the mountainside was being pulverized by boulders. Then the shaking stopped just as abruptly as it had begun. Silence enveloped the room as they all waited for something else to happen.
The massive crowd of goblins was looking around the vast cavern with fear and trepidation. They were mainly looking up at the ceiling because that was where the rumblings had come from, and they worried that a second round of shaking would bring down the roof. Screams of sheer terror filled the silence as several of the goblins on the south end of the gathering place caught sight of the rock trolls who had been standing there since
