274 Disturbance in the Force! (1/2)
Great Ocean Plains
It spat out a mouthful of bone dust and earth as it slithered back away from the relentless advance of the undead. It hissed in displeasure at the tasteless souls it had consumed and narrowed its flint eyes at the undead surrounding it.
”ISH THE LORD OF CHAOSSS!” The embroilment of Apep hissed loudly. ”ISH THE DEVOURER OF SOULSS!! OBEEY MEE!”
The undead heedless of its commands pressed on against the Great Serpent swinging their rusty and broken swords and axes against the body of the snake. Normally such attacks barely dealt any damage to it but due to its wounds cost by the hellfire, the little pricks done by the undead slowly chipped away its reserves of power.
Earlier in the day, it had found the connection to the most despicable power in the far distance suddenly disappear from its senses and now when it was about to go hunt down the Oerkins that had run away from him, it encountered these tasteless souls!
It decided to vent its frustration and anger on these tasteless souls since it could not explain why it lost its connection to the thing it wanted the most!
----
Shard River
Wisps of smoke and cries of the wounded and dying echoed down the river. Titanna, commander of the Imperial River Flotilla sat on the edge of her bed while holding a hand on to a wound on her shoulder. One of the healers bent over her wound and carefully cleaned her wound before casting a healing spell to regenerate her flesh.
She gritted her teeth as her flesh, nerves and shattered bones knitted back together painfully and blinked back tears of pain and humiliation. The air attacks and the sudden ambush of a strange force, followed by the loss of the red dragon made her feeling angry and stupid.
She had come to the conclusion that the strange flying creatures, the dragons and even the ambush of the unknown force must be linked! They must be from the unknown force that attacked Orwell's Point!
Her fighting strength of over thirty ships, ten thousand sailors, soldiers, and twenty dragons were wilted down to a mere eighteen ships and six thousand men!
And of that eighteen ships, half were beached against both sides of the river banks to prevent being sunk and blocking the river. Already four of her ships had sunk to the bottom of the river and causing a hazard to any passing ships!
She waved the healer away from fussing over her bandaged wound and stood up, her two personnel attendants quickly dressed her and helped her into her plate mail.
Accepting a cup of numb leaf tea, she quickly drained it and ignored the sharp piercing pain till the extract of numb leaves worked their magic. Feeling the pain fading away, she strolled out of her cabin to access her situation.
As she exited, a cluster of senior officers and commanders quickly bowed before her and started to give their reports one by one. She already knew the losses but she did not know if any of the attackers were still in the vicinity.
”Lady Titanna, our scouts on both sides of the river did not find any of the attackers but we found their traces,” One of the commanders reported and he stretched both hands out, offering several shiny objects. ”Our men found these left behind in holes that the attackers hid in.”
”Clearly, the ambush here was to save the red dragon we caught,” Another commander spoke up, ”They chosen this spot with care, as the river here is the narrowest!”
Titanna took one of the shiny golden cylindrical objects and frowned as she observed it closely. ”Gold? No... too light...”
”It is not gold, but some other kind of metal...” The commander replied. ”We found many of these litterings around both sides of the river banks.”
”We have no idea what kind of spells those attackers used but...” The elderly healer said and the officers and commanders parted away from a body covered by a blue cloak soaked with blood. ”We suspect that those shiny objects must have something to do with their attack spells!”
The Healer pulled back the cloak, showing a half naked body with a couple of holes on his chest. The body had already turned slightly grey and the flesh around the finger sized holes had turned purple and blackish.
”They used some sort of spell that is able to penetrate through our plate mails easily and please be warned, what I am about to show you might be too...” The Healer nervously stammered.
”Just get on with it!” Titanna growled.
The Healer nodded and he turned the body over showing two large grisly holes on the back where the starking white bones could even be seen from the fist sized holes.
Some of the more weak willed officers coughed and stepped away from the sight. Titanna covered her nose and gestured the Healer to turn the body back. ”What kind of spell can cause such horrific damage?”
The Healer shrugged and handed over a cloudy glass bottle in which a few pieces of mangled metal. Titanna took it and rattled it, ”And this is?”
”We found these in the bodies of the dead and wounded,” The Healer continued. ”Bits of metal or some material... Like a bolt or arrowhead...”
The commanders and officers looked at each other in worry. ”So you are saying that those attackers used some kind of magic that can send these bolt or arrow heads faster than our crossbow and bows?”
”I... It's just a guess, my Lady,” The Healer quickly answered while bowing.
Titanna snorted and turned to her chief Mage, ”What do you think?”
The hooded Mage took the glass bottle and peered inside it carefully before answering, ”It might be possible, after all, magical knowledge is ever growing and there is still much unknown magic out there! Not to mention we do not even hold a fraction of the knowledge of magic our ancestors in our ancestral lands have!”
”I see...” Titanna frowned. ”What is everyone thoughts on our next actions?”
”My Lady, the flying enemy might come anytime again,” One of the commanders commented nervously. ”And we do not know where their ground forces ran to...”
”Erm, my lady,” A senior commander stepped up, ”I think we should call for more reinforcements.”
”We should make camp and not advance till we have more troops to support us!” Another commander stepped up forward. ”We need more air cover and better air protection! Those flying creatures can hit us while we can't do anything to them!”
The rest of the commanders muttered their agreement. Titanna bit her lips into a thin line before nodding, ”We setup camp here! Send word back to my father that we need more men and dragons!”
”Yes, my Lady!” The commanders bowed as one.