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| The Battle Begins By LLErix |
| Looking to the skies, Erix quickly realized that the sudden break in the rain had just been the calm before the storm. Deep dark clouds rolled in from the northwest with lightning and thunder issuing forth much more often than Erix would have liked. The storm would be on them any minute. Toul and Drax trotted beside Erix atop their mounts with the Bloodclaws under their command behind them. At first Toul had been as reluctant as Drax had been about leading men into battle, but unlike Drax, Toul had been in a great number of campaigns both as a soldier and as an officer. Toul knew sense when he heard it, but he didn’t like the fact that Erix would be leading the charge down the center. In fact, Erix himself knew that the person that led the center army would probably take the most casualties, but Erix could not see the Bloodclaws following anyone else but himself into such a potentially dangerous situation. “All ready, Erix.” Toul’s voice was the very image of calm. He truly was a great man. Drax echoed Toul’s words exactly, his face was as if chiseled from ice, but his eyes kept drifting to the lizard-like creature on horseback across the field. Drax’s face was cold ice, but his eyes betrayed…uneasiness? Drax had only mentioned fighting one of these creatures and barely winning the fight, but that was all he did was mention it, nothing more. This lack of detail worried Erix to no end; Drax was not one to leave out such important details to him. Despite all his friends’ outward calm, Erix felt anything but. Outwardly, his jade eyes glared at the enemy while his face held a look of unimpressed consideration. Inside though, his heart felt as though it would leap from his chest and the lump in his stomach seemed to swell in size. These were the emotions that any soldier felt at seeing the enemy for the first time; fear, excitement, anticipation, courage, and panic, all held back by a thread. This was nowhere near Erix’s first battle, yet every time he led men into battle, he still had those emotions. Men were going to die and no amount of planning or preparation could prevent that. Nothing would prevent men from following him to death. It had only been moments since he had first seen the enemy, yet he and his men were prepared to march into the grinder. All Erix could do was slide his helmet upon his head and pull his sword from the scabbard at his side. Tornado stomped a foot impatiently almost as if knowing what Erix was planning. With one motion, he and the Bloodclaws began to forward. Quickly stifled murmurs from the men behind him as the topped the hill only fed the uneasiness in the air. These men were all veterans in wars and they all knew what the odds were. Thousands against a couple hundred, not good odds at all, yet they marched. This was what made Erix’s back straight with pride. It was the men that followed that gave Erix the strength to lead. Their faith was his and it was not until this moment that he truly understood that simple fact, so complex in its simplicity. It was usually the simple things like this that baffled even the most educated of minds. Low rumbling thunder of horse hooves echoed down into the dip that the enemy’s army waited in as Emani’s most elite cavalry rode forward. Thousands of infantry and only the daemon on horseback, the Bloodclaws would ride into them and would carve an extremely large hole into the army before they were finally halted. Thousands of soldiers, but it was the daemon that Erix was again looking at with a degree of uncertainty. Even from this distance the smile on the creature’s wide mouth could be seen. What could the thing be smiling at? Could it be that happy at the number of the Bloodclaws? Or was it smiling at some unseen plan falling into place, an unseen trap perhaps? Or even that Erix had come at all? Another question tugged at Erix’s mind and worried him most of all. How did they even know about him? The nearer to the enemy that the Lycans drew, the more Erix pushed from his mind until only the battle loomed in his mind. Pulling his faceplate down on his helmet and slinging his shield into place, Erix let out a roar and the Bloodclaws charged. Rolling thunder of mounted death rode toward the daemon’s army letting out roars of rage and defiance as they heeled their mounts for even more speed. Standing in its saddle, the daemon extended it hand toward the Bloodclaws. Erix was only vaguely aware of Toul and Drax breaking off from him with their soldiers, because moments later thin red lightning bolts arched toward him in a blinding flash and screams filled the air. By LLErix |