Shane Porteous - The Battle of Ebulon - A Shared Anthology

Kastion flew above the horde piercing their ears with his laugh and occasionally swooping down to pick off the weaker Orcs for his next meal. His laugh proved too much for some of the Orcs who just dropped to the ground and drew their last breathe. Maliki was a superior warrior that always kept one eye on Teardon in battle. The smaller faceless Orcs used this to their advantage. A large group of them leapt into the air at him and several managed to run him through, he raised his sword into the air and a pale blue light whirled above it sucking the souls from the fallen Orcs towards him and then into him. This caused the faceless Orcs swords and axes to be pushed from Maliki’s body sending them into the air and landing against trees and the ground with that much force that they exploded when they hit the ground.

Teardon who had not yet joined the fray watched as The Raygon took its true form of a large dragon, letting fire explode from its mouth and setting several groups of Orcs alight. Teardon drew her sword and leapt from the cliff landing a few feet from the king Orc who had lead the horned warriors against Wynter’s undead. The King’s weapon was drawn and pointed towards her. She stood up and pointed her weapon back at him he charged towards her and she blocked his first blow successfully. Teardon managed to connect with his armour on more than one occasion and cracks were starting to form weakening his armour. The King who was not without skill barely connected with her armour leaving only scratches and small dents before he backed off and let out an almighty roar.

Teardon looked past him to see what was left of the army and not distracted by other party members charging in her direction. She held her claymore in front of her ready to defend herself. The party had managed to defeat about half of the horde now and only about fifty warriors of all different kinds of Orcs were coming towards her. The Raygon flew down and landed in the middle of the charging army crushing some under her feet. The Raygon started picking off surrounding Orcs throwing them into the air and catching them in her mouth. The remaining Orcs had reached Teardon and her blade now. Her skill was unmatched by these creatures and she slayed many of them as she forced her way through the Orc army and towards the King.

The King had retreated well into the middle of the horde now narrowly dodging The Raygon. Aylen and Wynter were now working together, Aylen would clear the Orcs that tried to surround Wynter as she completed her necromancy. Kastion had entered the battle full force now and he barely left the ground as he ripped and tore at surrounding Orcs. Maliki was now at Teardon’s side and was cutting down the Orcs that managed to miss her claymore. Maliki stayed behind her and devoured souls as quickly as they became available. Teardon had reached the king Orc now and had forced him to engage her in battle.

The army was falling fast as Aylen, Wynter and Kastion were getting closer and closer to Teardon, Maliki and The King. The Raygon had taken to the sky again and was raining down fire onto the battlefield. Teardon and the King were still locked in combat when the stragglers, the Orcs who were lucky enough to have survived and that were either missing limbs or holding fatal wounds started to retreat into the mountains.

The King brought down his sword with enough power to send Teardon sliding a few meters backwards still with her claymore in the defence position. The King looked to his heavily damaged armour and back up to Teardon who was already charging towards him again. He raised his sword to fight back but she moved so quickly now that he could not keep up his defences. Teardon then moved her sword in front of her connecting with the King’s armour again and again until she managed to hit him with enough force that she cracked his armour and found the flesh of his belly. He looked towards the sky dropping his sword and letting out an almighty howl of pain she lifted her sword above her head and threw the king causing him to land hard on the ground meters behind her.

“That’s thirty-two battles we have won now,” Aylen said happily clapping her dainty hands and landing on Teardon’s shoulder.

Maliki Placed his hand on Teardon’s other shoulder and she looked up at him and said, “No I am not hurt my love,” Maliki bowed and removed his hand from her shoulder.

Wynter and Kastion had rejoined the party now and they all watched as The Raygon turned to shadow once more and inhabited the cold air behind them.

“Does the voice ask more of us?” Wynter asked.

“The voice asked for aid no more and no less,” Teardon answered.

“Where will we go now? What shall we do now?” Kastion asked eagerly.

The sound of war drums started up again and they all looked towards the sound to see the dull light of torches moving towards them. They looked at each other and started towards the light, The Raygon took to the sky in front of them and Aylen clapped and started singing “Thirty-Three!”

The Ebulonite sergeant gawked at the blue-green whirlpool that had formed above the battlements. He quickly sent a recruit running to find a superior officer. A few moments later a senior captain huffed his way up the stairs. He stopped, and stared bright eyed at the apparition.

“What,” he started to ask when a dark skinned, short, heavily muscled man dressed in a white silk toga trimmed with red stripes, burst from the centre of the whirlpool, grabbed him by the front of his armor, and lifted him one handed into the air.

The sergeant shocked, hesitated, and was lost. A shapely leg appeared, followed by a blue eyed red haired head, wearing a rather thin green silk dress, with her left breast bare. The nipple that winked at him mesmerized him. “Men,” she commented sadly. “Husband, put him down. Now. Before you embarrass us.”

The short, heavily muscled man did so, with ease. The captain guessed that he was no more than five feet tall, but must weigh close to one hundred and eighty pounds, looking more like a dark skinned, black haired, heroic statue than a real person. In fact with his tanned leather colored skin he was darker skinned than most of the Orcs…

No. No Orc was that handsome, scars or not. And the man had scars. He couldn’t be all that old, maybe twenty at the outside, but you could see where he’d been wounded a few times. Minor wounds, but wounds.

Another leg appeared, followed by another blue eyed red haired head. Identical woman, identical dress except yellow, identical nipple. The sergeant shuddered, and drew his gaze up to her eyes. They were cool, amused. She reached behind, and helped through a third woman, this one no taller than the man, wearing the same style of dress in red, but as dark skinned, and black haired as he was.

Another delightful nipple to avoid looking at, this one purple from pregnancy. Just great. Staring at the woman he almost missed seeing the tawny head, with dark tipped ears, till a snarl drew his eyes down to about her waist, where a large cat like creature strode. Cat like. Large blue-green eyes stared up at him, a thick tawny, dark tipped tail lashed in impatience.

The red head in green continued, “You called for help. The Goddess asked us to come. We are here. You should be honored that she was willing to spare her Beloved,” and bowed to the short man she’d indicated as her husband, her uncovered breast bobbing hypnotically. “And where the Beloved of the Goddess goes, so go his wives, the priestesses of the Goddess.”