Tymber Dalton - Fire and Ice

The other forces arrived as expected, and were updated on the plans. Zaria had exchanged her usual garb for one of Zachary’s shirts and a pair of his trousers. When her father protested her intent to join the fray, she once again reminded him of the prophecy.

“My power comes from my men,” she said. “I will not send them and our allies out to fight a battle that is every bit my war to wage as well.” She patted a sword sheathed on her hip. “They will find me every bit as fierce as any man out there.”

The king loudly sighed, but with a proud smile. “I cannot fault your logic, daughter.”

Two scouts returned before dawn the next morning to sound the alarm. They’d spotted the approaching dark army. With no people to kill, they were making faster progress. The good news was that the warnings to evacuate had been heeded by nearly all the residents, greatly lessening the loss of life.

The king stood before the gathered forces, human and shifter alike, and raised his sword to call for silence.

“We face a great foe,” he said. “There is no guarantee any of us will be here by the time the sun sets tonight. However, regardless, we will show them how fierce we are, and how they cannot expect to take our land, or our lives, without dire consequences.”

A roar of approval went up throughout the warriors. When they quieted, the king continued.

“We have the Goddess above on our side,” he said. “We have the Goddess Zaria on our side. We have the prophecies on our side. We have right and decency on our side. We only want peace, but if our foes wish a fight, we shall bring it to them!”

Another roar of approval rippled through the forces.

“It is a shame that it has taken sorrow such as this to bring all our peoples together as a united, unstoppable force. I pledge that from this day forward, we shall all be brothers, united and living peaceably together. Be they human, or wolf, or dragon, or other peaceful shifter, we shall all be kin.

“So to all of you, I say, ‘Merry meet.’ And good luck to all of us. We shall all assemble here upon the completion of our task, upon the defeat of the evil which seeks to destroy us. Then, we shall celebrate. I cannot see how such a great assemblage of spirit and strength cannot do anything but vanquish our enemies.”

They set up their positions. The smaller, swifter shifters were sent to the north and south, to help pen in their opponents, who were marching in from the east. They would close in behind them, and upon commencement of the attack would begin taking apart forces from the rear, hopefully dividing and slowing their advance. From what they could tell from the scouting reports, the weaker humans and other beings were trailing at the back of the forces.

They would also slaughter any who decided to retreat from the battle.

There would be no quarter given, no surrender accepted.

There would be no mercy given, since they gave none in return.

They would battle to the death.

Zaria took her men by the hands. “Join hands,” she softly said.

“What are you doing?” Svarog asked.

She closed her eyes. “What I feel is right. Join hands,” she repeated.

The men complied. Zaria felt it when the brothers joined hands, like a circle completed. As the earliest traces of dawn kissed the skies to the east of the hills behind the marauders, Zaria pictured the tablet they’d created the day before, as if it hung in the air before her face.

“Goddess above, Goddess below. Goddess within, Goddess without. Cast clouds of doubt across the skies behind our foes, and cast into their minds the feeling of woe. Remove from them their spirit strong. Replace their will with our victory song.”

She raised her arms to the skies above, still holding their hands and feeling power building amongst them, circling, flowing, growing.

“Goddess of All, Goddess of Light. Take from them their power and feed well our might!”

She felt a fireball of brilliant, golden energy explode up from the center of their triad.

Around them, she heard everyone gasp, but no one fled. As she opened her eyes, she watched as the fireball arced over the countryside, falling back to earth beyond their view, behind the tree line. A glare brighter than the sun blossomed across the distant land, growing and coalescing. Before their eyes, the skies behind the hills clouded over, concealing the sun and preventing them from being blinded by the glare of sunrise over the trees.

An earth-shaking explosion made the ground tremble as a thunderous crack ricocheted back to them. A blue energy wave struck them, knocking them all to the ground.

As Zaria regained her footing, she felt stronger than she ever had in her life. In amazement, every warrior stood, stretching and smiling as their fear quickly turned to wonder and determination.

Stribog looked at her, then grabbed her and kissed her long and deeply. “It worked! I feel it! They all do!”

Svarog next grabbed and kissed her. “We shall vanquish,” he said. Then, with a loud, echoing cry, he lifted his sword and rallied their forces.

The warriors lifted their weapons in a responding cry and began their charge to the east.

Zaria held back for only a moment as she watched their forces advance. Zachary made his way to her side. “This is how it ends?”

She sadly smiled and kissed him deeply, in a way she’d always wanted to and knew she’d never have a chance to again. “Forever,” she whispered.

He smiled and nodded. “Forever.” Then he drew his sword. “Shall we, my sweet Goddess?”

She drew hers and grinned. “With pleasure.”

Together, shoulder to shoulder, they turned and followed their fellow warriors.

It didn’t take long for the first of their enemies to fall. Most humorous, as well as a huge ego boost to their forces, was the fact that when one of the lead cockatrice tried to transform, he was unable to shift into his more powerful guise.

Startled, several of his comrades fell back as the dragon forces fell upon the hapless cockatrice and quickly killed him. When other cockatrice tried to shift, they, too, were unable. As they turned to flee, they were slain.

“We have them outmatched!” Stribog yelled, rallying their forces as they waded into hand-to-hand combat.

Zaria stayed on the outskirts of the battle, slaying stragglers that tried to escape through holes in their defenses. As the morning wore on, it was obvious that while the cockatrice were fierce fighters, without their ability to shift they were no match for the dragons and other shifters.

The still-obscured sun lay high in the sky when two groups of dragon warriors shifted and took to the air, using their powers to divide sections of the cockatrice combatants and turn them toward awaiting allied troops to either side. Fires broke out as the fire dragons used their natural weapons against their prey. Smoke and the smell of roasting flesh drifted across the countryside.

It wasn’t until Zaria felt a darkness descending that she realized they had a big problem.

Cries of agony from some of their own troops reached her ears. She turned to find a dozen demons had joined forces, formed a circle, and were attempting to use their dark skills to take out shifters one at a time. Though weakened, combining their energies they still proved themselves a powerful force. Any fighter that reached the outer ring of their powers was struck down immediately. Orcs, humans, and ogres used the diversion to trap shifters between their physically greater force and the demons’ metaphysical one.

“Stribog! Svarog!” Zaria cried out. “Come here!”

Her two men finished off a huge orc they’d been battling and raced to her side. “What is it?” Stribog asked.