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.The leader of the dark elves took a deep breath and strode forward.His chosen army followed.The other heads of the Dark Magic Society looked at one another nervously before following suit.Inferno took one last look behind him and hoped his instructions were carried out.Then he, too, stepped through and disappeared from sight.There was silence for several minutes.Then a couple of rats materialized out of the darkness.Their outlines on the ground seemed to be out of proportion to their real size due to the bright moonlight.“Do you think we can get in?” asked the first rat.“Only magic users can get in,” said the second one.“We should be fine.”“I hope you’re right, Lyrr.”“There’s only one way to find out,” said the second rat.He sprang through the dark opening and vanished.Not wanting to be left behind, Lynch followed.Before long, a large figure lumbered into view.It was the hydra.“I don’t know about this,” murmured Frag.“It’ll be fun!” said Garf jovially.“Uncle Graf is finally letting us do something important.He said we were magic resistant! The mages won’t be able to hurt us! We’re going to be heroes!”“He said there would be plenty of food,” added Gif.“Let’s hurry!”“Alright, alright!” snapped Frag.“I’m going as fast as I can!”The hydra lumbered as fast as it could through the entryway.Then it, too, disappeared from view.* * * * *The battlefield was a sea of blood and body parts.One could barely walk without stepping on bodily remains.Clerics wandered through the gory scene searching for signs of life.There were a few people they might still be able to save.When they came across a survivor, soldiers who followed with stretchers were ordered to bring them back to the tower for healing.The grisly task of cleaning up had begun.In the courtyard, Kazin, Della, Rubin, Vera, Rebecca, Alric, Tyris, Sherman, and General Larsen were together talking.Kazin had just finished explaining his rescue by Frosty and the druids.Alric immediately recognized Della and tried to keep a low profile.He avoided eye contact with her as she curiously regarded him with interest.When she asked about his reason for being there, he simply answered that he was an explorer who enjoyed an occasional quest.General Larsen was shaking Sherman’s hand.“Thanks once again for your timely assistance! Without you we would have fallen.”“Think nothing of it,” said Sherman.“I’m just glad we came in time to help.”General looked at everyone assembled.“Thank you all.I’m grateful for everything each of you has done.” Then he turned and wearily went back to work.As he walked away, his limp was even more noticeable than in the past.“He’s a real fighter,” said Sherman when the general was out of earshot.“Yes,” said Kazin.“Do you remember when he tried recruiting you way back when?”“Yeah,” said Sherman.“I’ve learned a lot since those days.”“Incidentally,” said Kazin, “how did you get here so fast? I thought for sure it would take a few days for you to arrive all the way from the mountains, let alone from your home city.”“We rode on the treemen,” explained Sherman.“We selected the tallest trees with the longest roots from the fringes of the Black Forest, and they were able to move faster than any horse.Don’t get me wrong; they moved slowly, but each step they took covered considerable ground in a short time.Also, their massive branches allowed them to carry up to, and in some cases more than, fifty soldiers and a spell caster.It was a bouncy ride, and we had to hold on tightly so as not to fall off.That’s why we didn’t have any cavalry.The treemen were a better substitute.We had more than enough young spell casters available from Queen Milena’s mage schools to activate them.Once we got here, we climbed down and attacked, fully refreshed and ready to fight.”“But how did you know to assemble your army? Did Queen Milena order it?”Sherman shook his head.“No.You did.”“What?!”Sherman smiled [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]