reminded him of that early fantasy video game. The one in which the player amasses
an army of mythological creatures like those marching in the Gap. But rendered pixels
had nothing on the reality before his eyes. He kept looking at the formations, trying to
decide on a course of action.
Habrok draped the tarp over him and covered it with branches and other foliage. The
food and water were placed beside him. He had a good position behind some boulders.
As Habrok left to check the ledge defenses, something odd struck Tyler. The man has
not said anything to jinx us so far! That’s good! Unless… he’s a walking jinx. Oh God, I
hope not! I have enough on my plate. Though he had to admit, it has gone well so far.
But despite his preparations and instructions to his companions, he still hasn't resolved
himself to what he was going to do. The move against the host may easily lead to their
deaths in this isolated clearing. But before anything else, he had to settle the conflict
between what he had to do and what his conscience recoiled from. But the images of a
ravaged and burning Scarburg, with its dead piled in heaps, and the human heads
on jotnar and dokkalfr spears, strengthened his resolve. Finally, the thought of a frozen
Skaney with its humanity slaughtered or enslaved decided the matter in his mind. He
didn’t doubt that would be the ghastly fruit of a jotnar victory. That genocide he was
sure he didn't want on his conscience.
The enemy was now fast approaching the edge of the field of obstacles. After a short
while, he could see the rocks and flaming debris from Scarburg’s catapults flying
through the air. As they burst and impacted among the enemy, with beasts either
squashed or burning, he saw the first group start their assault. Some of the ice drakes
accompanied them.
Looking over the result of the first catapult attack, he was disappointed that casualties
were few. But he saw an opportunity. He hoped the catapults of Scarburg can continue
their bombardment as long as they could. He would have to time the use of his fireballs
with the impact of their projectiles. But considering the distance, he would have to test
how many fireballs he can ignite simultaneously. He was not worried about the first attackers, they were intended to soak up damage from the obstacle field.
Roughly estimating that thirty seconds had elapsed from the first volley, he counted the
time up to the second volley, trying to determine the rate of fire of the defenders.
Seeing the volley in the air, two shots a minute was his approximation.
The dokkalfr were now coming up and he noticed that they have loosened the gaps
between their ranks.
Quickly evaluating the impact points of the catapult projectiles, he considered that
exploding fireballs a bit further up the ranks of the dark elves wouldn’t raise any
suspicions. He focused on five points of the incoming ranks, prioritizing mages
whenever he spotted them. When the missiles landed, he also ignited the fireballs. His
fiery explosions did some damage but their area of effect was more like grenades
instead of the blasts he expected. Casualties appeared to be limited to a radius of six
feet, with only those in the blast zone immediately affected. Unfortunately, even some
of those looked able to withstand the blasts, standing up again after some time. Damn,
must be magical barriers or magical armor.
He resolved to focus on three fireballs instead, hoping the damage will be greater but
decided to try for a fast second volley. He did have to admire the dokkalfr. They
continued moving in disciplined ranks, still at marching speed. The third volley was
launched and crashed among the dokkalfr, infantry and archers alike. He timed his first
trio of fireballs to just before the catapult projectiles hit and the second trio a few
seconds after. The results were definitely better.
The fiery blossoms had a wider area of effect and exploded with a lot more force,
spewing magical fire all over dokkalfr some distance away. It looked as if magical
shields and magically protected armor were not enough to protect against his new
concoction. Bodies were savagely torn apart. In some instances, disintegrated with no
humanoid debris raining on their fellows. But blood was spraying everywhere. It was a
dreadful sight to see remains raining over the area, with a bloody mist here and there.
It looked like a charnel house on overdrive.
This is the part which war movies back home do not show, thought the shocked Tyler.
It was a morbidly fascinating scene. Horrific yet riveting.
He then realized he was parched. He took a drink from the waterskin and stuffed some
food into his mouth. He couldn’t even taste what he was eating. It was a reflex
movement on his part. The enormous stress of the situation had absorbed his attention
on what they were doing. Their lives were on the line and he felt deeply responsible for
the lives of Jorund and Habrok. Those men had entrusted their lives to them. With their
oath, even their souls.
Unfortunately, his enhanced eyesight gave him horrible glimpses of the blood and gore the fireballs gave birth to. Whole companies were laid low by the detonations and
though some dokkalfr did get back up, a lot more didn’t. Those who didn’t die
immediately were crawling away from the blast site. Some of ice giants and trolls were
already casualties. The ice giants and the trolls proved particularly vulnerable to the
fireballs. For some reason, the magical flames stuck to them. Those who were burning
went mad, running over dokkalfr or striking out against them. In some parts of the
chaos, dokkalfr were fighting them. Burning fascines and wrecked mantlets were
everywhere. It was not yet Hell but nearly there.
Yet most of the dokkalfr marched on, disregarding the damage inflicted on them. He
knew the fourth volley would be his last opportunity to coincide his attack on
the dokkalfr with that of the catapults. It was obvious that the catapults were operating
at a fixed range, a determined area beyond the obstacle field being its killing zone.
None of his other spells will long escape detection if he starts using them so
