Blackrock hadn't been the site of a major battle in centuries. Orc attacks happened in the north, and the lizards never came out of the jungle onto the open plains unless to trade. A village might send a few carts, a lone guard, and maybe a priest. They traded for pickled eel from Shadowport, copper ingots, and bright cloth in colors they had no dyes to make themselves. They paid in gold and were quite welcome on their few excursions.
They weren't welcome today, and Commander Fogle didn't even know why they were here. The jungle people had been roadbuilding for the last few months, of all things. They'd come out of the jungle, and a small group had made it to Grover's Pond, where they inquired about using the teleport stone. The mage on duty had smiled at the gold they offered and assured them that if they brought goods to trade, transport could be arranged. Two months later, they began building a bigger road, wide enough for several wagons to travel side by side. Shrines to their gods were placed every seventh of a mile. Merchants began to gather in town and send messages to their trading networks that the Lizardmen were coming to trade in a big way. Fogle wished someone had asked what they wanted to trade. They built the road right up to Grover's Pond and then found out that the teleporter there wasn't working. Without much fanfare, they built the road around Grover's pond and headed to Blackrock. A priest had come forward with a lone guard, enquired if the teleporter was working, and left. The roadbuilding crew began constructing a large camp one mile away.
The merchants excitedly talked of a new trading town and embassy. Some took their goods to the camp and traded for gold trinkets, gold dust, and bars stamped with the God-Emperor's likeness. One person compared two bars, noticing that the God-Emperor looked like a fat old man on one, and a dragon on the other. No one cared; gold was gold. The merchants became more excited as the camp grew. But Fogle began to worry as more and more lizardmen arrived and the small camp began to resemble a military installation.
Yesterday, a large force had shown up in the evening, and the drums and chanting had begun, not stopping until the sun rose. He'd sent frantic messages for reinforcements, but was told the Orcs were on the march as well. Fort Higgins had only two squads of twelve men each to spare. He was assured that his urgent requests for both mana, siege supplies, and soldiers would be passed up the chain.
He'd known no one was coming. Word had come down that Winter was on the march in the north. With the Orcs attacking as well, no one would have troops to spare for a small southern town. Attack was imminent, with ranks of large lizardmen massing in their town. Worse, a Thunderbeast had come out of the jungle carrying a contingent of troops and was being readied for battle. He had no answer to a creature tall enough to lean over his walls and pluck men from behind them. That was if it didn't walk right through the walls. The simple log palisade built to protect the town from bandits and beasts wasn't going to hold up to a charge from the creature.
Resigned to losing the town and being forced to retreat, assuming he was alive, he was astounded when the junior Mage who manned the teleporter came running. "Sir! I've got a message for you. The Baron of Gadobhra is sending an expedition and requests permission to teleport his men and supplies."
"Really?"
"Well, no. It wasn't much of a request. The guy on the other end must be high up, with as much attitude as he through at me. He just demanded that we make our stone ready for mana transfer and get out of the way; they were coming through. Then he asked if we had a problem with that?"
The drums stopped. The Thunderbeast roared. The Lizardmen blew horns and started marching.
"How...how many men can they send?"
"Four hundred, sir, along with twenty cargo wagons of supplies."
Commander Fogle grabbed the young man by his shoulders and growled at him. "Do anything they ask! Clear the area. Tell them we're ready and to hurry with all haste."
The mage ran to the teleport stone. Commander Fogle watched as the enemy advanced. "Damnation. I don't know who he is, but Emperor bless the Baron of Gadobhra."
Five minutes later, the Thunderbeast swept across the front of the town, the fifty archers atop its armored shell firing poisoned arrows to clear the top of the wall. The Thunderbeast hit the wall at an angle and destroyed a thirty-foot stretch of the wooden palisade, continuing on and not entering the town where the soldiers could attack its vulnerable legs. It was just there to open the door. The ranks of troops coming behind it used that door and engaged his troops a moment later. Swords sought vital areas hidden beneath layers of hardened leather and natural armor. Obsidian axes cut through shields and armor, lopping off limbs and heads with ease.
They held through two charges, and the Lizards were massing for a third. That was when the Butcher appeared, roaring his fury and filling the air with smoke and fire as he didn't wait for the lizards to charge. He tossed a log at them like it was a twig, killing one and breaking their line. Then he charged, covering long strides as he grew bigger and bigger. Fogle barely got his people out of the way in time. The gap in the line was filled by a squad of the Baron's troops, a veteran officer getting them in place and integrating them with his own troops. Then he turned and saluted. "More on the way, sir. I hope you don't mind us getting involved in your war. My lads need seasoning, and it looks like the Butcher and the Captain want to get some exercise."
Fogle had almost missed the person charging a step behind the huge Butcher. Swords out, the woman in black was screaming like a banshee as she headed for the enemy. "Quite all right, Lieutenant. I'm flexible when someone brings unexpected reinforcements."
Lesser Priest Head-like-Rock, riding in his exalted position upon the back of the Thunderbeast, was just starting a new round of chanting to bring the favor of the gods down upon himself and those he led. It was a glorious day of conquest that would see his troops finally achieve the objective given to him by Then-God-Emperor-Unca-Varn. It mattered little to the Mazqorati which God-Emperor gave a command; they were all followed. This was a good command with a beginning and an end. Some commands lasted for centuries, continuing until an earthquake shattered the tablet they were written on, and they could be ignored. There were far too few earthquakes as far as Head-Like-Rock was concerned. Never eating Gnasher-Snails without Pinchroot sauce made sense. They were delicious together, and their poisons cancelled each other out. But he hated the edict of wearing yellow on sunny days to honor the sun. It was always sunny, and yellow made him look fat.
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But what he liked didn't matter compared to the whims of long-dead God-Emperors; their will would be obeyed. He looked forward to conquering the town and reporting the acquisition of a Teleport stone to the Empire. He would surely be promoted to full Priest for carrying out the will of Unca-Varn. And it would not be long now. The Thunderbeast had made the way clear for the Kraxmiroxtli warriors. The Pixatatilii archers had swept the walls clean of defenders with their poison arrows and darts, preventing the Thunderbeast from being damaged by arrows or thrown spears. The beasts were temperamental, and no one wanted to chance them going on a rampage from a minor wound. He needed this village and its teleporter intact.
The infantry was advancing to victory. Even though these were the least trained of the Krax and mostly sent along to move large rocks, their overwhelming power would carry the fight. It only made sense: The humans were small and frail, the Krax towering over them. They would lose. Even as he thought this, something much larger than a Krax thundered through the gap in the wall and began fighting with his troops. Somehow, the humans had a large beast hidden in that village, and they had unleashed it upon his troops. Chanting was turned over to the apprentice priests as he scrambled to give orders.
"Bring the Thunderbeast around, bring it to bear upon the oversized human fighting the Krax. We will show it who is the biggest!"
Ozzy hit the line of Krax like a loaded dump truck coming down a steep hill. He'd had a couple of hundred feet to gain speed and hadn't wasted it. Timing his first strike, he brought his Hogsplitter around in a low swing, catching the Krax Warrior in the hip, slashing through armor and bone until the blade came out the other side. As it reached the top of his swing, he took a half step and brought the weapon around in a horizontal sweep across the necks of two warriors, nearly decapitating both. They dropped, bleeding out from slashed arteries. He took a moment to check on Marcy and saw her dueling with two Krax at once. As he watched, she moved between them, then dropped into a squat as they swung their axes. One warrior got only air, the other wasn't as skilled and hit his partner in the arm, crippling him. Marcy sprang back up, a sword skewering each of them in the neck and saving them from the arguments over friendly fire and weapon arcs.
"Fire in the hole, front arc." She took a step back as Ozzy unleashed his Butcher's Breath. He was putting out more Heat than before, using Apollo's gift to enhance the power of his flaming breath and doing far more damage than normal. The Krax didn't normally mind heat, but not like this. A dozen of them staggered back as they took terrible wounds and the hafts of their weapons caught fire. The chaotic retreat gave Marcie openings, and she exploited them to the fullest. Killing three of them in as many seconds. Ozzy followed the stumbling Krax, each swing of his weapon killing or maiming one. In half a minute, he killed a dozen of them before turning back. The rest were in full retreat.
Marcie cleaned off her swords on the leader's tabard and started collecting the gold necklaces that were easy to pick off the bodies. "These go down easily. Only about Level Ten. They aren't anywhere near as skilled as the guys the Baroness has for bodyguards. Hopefully, they have some tougher ones. Better troops always have better loot, and I'm loving the gold to kill ratio on these."
Ozzy pointed at the Thunderbeast. It looked like a huge armored snapping turtle with spikes all around its shell, and a long tail with a spiked knob on the end. "Is that big enough for you? They're turning it slowly, but I think I know how it will head. Straight at us. And it's going to pick up steam and hit us like a freight train."
Ben and Rolly were suddenly next to them, Rolly mounted behind him, and Squirmie was hovering near. "Lucky for you, a clever Franklin has an awesome plan to take it out. Leave it to the Air Force to handle." Mudhead leaped into the sky, Squirmie buzzing ahead of them, racing for the Croc raiders mounted on large birds, circling the battle.
Marcie looked from the reforming Krax to the Thunderbeast. Behind them, more troops from Sedgewick were forming up in the gap, along with several workers and Varcel's Vixens. Marcie yelled at them, "Follow the Butcher's orders. I'm joining the Air Force." She transformed into an unkindness of ravens with blue-black feathers and took to the sky, in hot pursuit of Mudhead.
Ozzy jogged back to the gap in the wall. "Butcher's Brigade! Form on me! Varcel, you take your fighters around to the right. Thune, take the left. We're going to hold here until they commit, and then my group is going to slam into them and pin them in place. The flanking groups should be able to chop their way through a couple of ranks, and we'll drive them off again."
Thune grinned. "Classic double-envelopement. We're with you."
Varcel also liked the plan. "We kill from both ends and meet in the middle. Should be a great fight, there's only a hundred or so of them."
Horns sounded, and hundreds more lizards could be seen forming up in the camp, of various sizes. Ozzy grinned. "Target-rich environment. Just don't get in over your head. I'm sure there are going to be a few wild cards dealt in this battle."
The Teleport Stone glowed, and a team of large goats pulled a resplendent golden palanquin into the town, Lesser God-Emperor Unca-Varn riding atop it, his eyes beginning to glow red.