The War Begins

As the three companions were completing the task of concealing their presence, Sack's hearing, enhanced by the armour of Bramandin, picked up a susurration of sound from further up the valley. It grew rapidly louder, and began to be mingled with the sounds of battle.

Warning his companions, Sack went swiftly Invisible and scaled the wall, heading down the pass to investigate. The others followed, and a couple of turns later, discovered the cause.

The sight that met their eyes was one they'd seen in the past, but usually from a slightly different persepective. A large orc warband - at least three hundred strong - was bearing down on them along the pass. Just visible beyond, through the haze of battle, was a rather larger - maybe twice as large - force of Shadowkami. The orcs were clearly perfoming that most difficult of battlefield manoeuvres, a fighting withdrawal, with the shadow elves in hot pursuit.

For an orc force this was a significant achievement; normally, orcs in battle were either on the attack in a berserk fashion or running away. This sort of structured retreat was usually quite beyond them.

From Sack's vantage, he could see a banner above the Orc ranks; it was a Kishsul one, with extra markings he was unfamiliar with, presumably identifying the warlord leading the band. Beyond, four smaller pennants marked out the leaders of the Shadowkami force, each held by the rider of a long, thick-legged lizard. The officers of the force were each mounted behind the bannermen.

Where the two hordes met, there was carnage, a constant running fight, with savage combat leaving a trail of orc and shadow elf bodies behind as far up the valley as Sack could see. Peculiarly, he could see the Shadowkami archers were firing into the edges of the valley rather than at their targets; looking closer, he saw that the arrows seemed to disappear as they struck the shadows, and reappear at other points - always from the shadows - to strike their targets from unexpected angles.

Descending, he ushered his comrades into his Bag of Holding and Teleported to a ledge, behind and above the two struggling armies. Surya made his way down, to approach the Shadowkami force from behind, while Hildraft unleashed a spell.

He'd used Firestorm to good effect in the past, but the practice of the five years since had only honed his ability. A tsunami of roiling flames washed out across the shadow elves, enveloping nearly all of them in a blazing furnace of heat.

Most died instantly.

A few at the leading edge escaped, as Hildraft had shaped the magic to avoid affecting the orcs as well. One of the four leaders was quick enough to spur his lizard forwards, out of the flames and into the front line.

For a moment the orcs too wavered; the catastrophe that had engulfed their foes seemed to impersonal, too much a force of nature, to be anything they could take encouragement from. Then the voice of the Hand of Kord rang down from the ledge above, calling on the Shadowkami in their own tongue to surrender. Weapons began to go down, and the orcs took heart again. Blood-mad, they forged forwards, and most of the surviving shadow elves went down under a torrent of foes. Some few managed to escape to the edges, and vanished into the shadows with the same strange power the companions had seen them use before. The surviving leader swiftly drew all the troops he could into a circle, clearly preparing to make a last stand.

Surya stalked through the smoking carnage of the shadow elf army like the grim reaper, twin swords drawn, and no survivors escaped past him back through the pass.

For a moment, the ring of survivors held back the orc assault, but then the orc general - mounted on a warg - reached the scene, and began to organize things, and the shieldwall began to crumple. Hildraft placed a Daylight spell straight above the battle, reducing almost to nothing the shadows available to the Shadowkami. It looked as if the last of the enemy would soon be massacred; if a prisoner was wanted, they'd have to be quick!

Sack used his last Teleport of the day to take himself down into the action. Landing astride the giant lizard, behind the last Shadowkami officer, he snaked an arm around the elf's neck and laid Bloodfang against his throat. After a moment's reflection, the officer's sword dropped from his upraised hand. The bannerman in front made as if to turn around and attack Sack, and Surya dropped him out of the saddle with a single arrow.

The orcs showed no sign of halting their onslaught, however, and Surya began to lose patience. He reloaded his bow, and made ready to shoot the warlord's warg out from below him.

As he did this, both he and Sack realized that they recognized the orc leader. He was Hoshk - the orc whom Sack had inadvertently promoted to patrol leader when they first visited Garkaur in Dun Tolk. Clearly, his fortunes had continued to improve, as he appeared now to have reached the rank of General. He was oblivious, however, to their attempts to stop him slaying the officer, and Surya loosed a shot at the general's wolf mount. By blind chance, the beast stumbled at just that moment, and the arrow slammed into the ground between its' paws. This startled Hoshk, and he looked around, finally noticing Sack up on the lizard. He bellowed orders, and his warriors grudgingly stopped slaying and started taking prisoners instead. Sack delivered a terrifying headbutt to the back of the officer's head, stunning him instantly and pitching him to the ground, and climbed off the riding lizard.

With the battle over, Surya secured the officer and began supervising the taking of prisoners. Sack, after a brief reunion with Hoskh, borrowed half-a-dozen trackers from him and set off up the valley, trying to locate and despatch all the Shadowkami that had escaped by stepping into the shadows. They caught many, but couldn't be sure that they had them all.

Surya asked Hoshk if he might try his new mount. He'd never seen orcs mounted on wargs before, and it transpired that the training of them, common in the old days of the orc-holds, had only just been rediscovered by the orc beastmaster Krūkmat. Hoshk clearly expected the Tellaran to fall off immediately, and was very impressed when Surya managed to ride the beast. "I fell off the first time," he said, "and the second time. Then he bit me," he showed his left forearm which was laced with scars, "and I did that," he ruffled the warg's left ear, which was flattened and disfigured.

The orcs made camp for the night, treating their wounded in the usual brutal but effective orc fashion, and Surya settled in for the night to interrogate the prisoners, using Tongues and itimidation in roughly equal proportions. The officer, whose name was Tohi Mitsutoru, told him a great deal more about the Shadowkami society; that it was made up of around three-quarters commonality and one-quarter nobility - proportions echoed in the structure of the army readied to invade known Alair, although around 5% of the army were described as "elite". The news that there were elves - other elves - in the west, as well as "slave races" (he meant humans) and "vermin" (orcs) was clearly a shock to the Shadowkami.

He also revealed that the land of the Shadowkami - Sasutora - was separated from the more southerly of the Eastlands - Rokugan - by something he referred to as "the Shadowlands". The subtleties of the language were considerable, and he'd need the Ta'nara to be sure, but Surya was pretty convinced that there was a wealth of difference in the way Mitsutoru said the word "shadow" as in Shadowkami, and "shadow" as in Shadowlands. The latter held a trace of fear...

Hildraft, meanwhile, was spreading the warning. He'd contacted Elverandil first of all, and was rather surprised to see the Mastersmith's shock at his news. Clearly the existence of the Shadowkami, unlike that of the Fae Mhor, was genuinely unknown to the elves of Alair. He discussed the issue with the Lord of the House of Swords for a while, and then Elverandil went off to notify High King Doronond, while Hildraft turned his attention elsewhere.

His next contact was Emperor Crixus, who was likewise surprised by the news of a hostile force eastwards. He made no secret of the fact that he had dealings with some of the Rokugani clans, and that those alliances technically made others his enemies, but denied any overt military adventures to the east that could have triggered this sort of a reaction. Hildraft asked him bluntly if he could count on Crixus' troops. Crixus chuckled. "I think the question should be: Will you and your allies march with us?" he replied. "There is one thing I will need," he continued, "will you arrange safe passage through the southern Ereans for us? I don't want to be at war with the dwarves as well!" Hildraft said he would, and Crixus strode from the room, calling for his Field Marshals.

Swinging the eyes of Kord northwards, to the Engeror Mountains, Hildraft's magic touched the Dark Tower next, and Skufruss Lord of Dragons. The Kin was grateful for the warning, and pressed Hildraft for details, numbers, progress. Hildraft couldn't be sure, but there was just a touch less surprise in Skufruss' reaction to the news than Crixus' and Elverandil's.

Finally, he contacted the Suryan Council in New Tellare, to warn Surya's people of the emerging threat.

Beloril Pass, Erean Mountains, 6th October 1607

The next morning, Hildraft and Sack Wind Walked to Kobur, to deliver the news to the dwarf's home personally. Surya remained in the valley, alone but for Mitsutoru; Hoskh had led his orcs away towards Kishshul, taking the surviving Shadowkami prisoners. Unbeknownst to Mitsutoru, Sack had had a quiet word with Hoskh, and the prisoners met a terrible fate as the battered warband retreated down the pass, their remains left to decorate the cliffs as a warning to the next invaders.

The battlefield had been altered, with the scorched and slaughtered dead heaped into a pyre, forming the impression that the orcs themselves had won the battle and then burned the dead. The hope was to conceal the part played by the Wyrmslayers, to enhance their shock value in future encounters.

Once alone, Surya used one of his increasing list of spells to invite the dragon Ruthric to visit him. Ruthric came, grinning as only a dragon can at the aftermath with the comment that Surya appeared to have been having fun. Mitsutoru shrank back in terror at the sight of the winged, fanged, armoured monster.

The King of New Tellare narrated recent events to the dragon, and asked whether allies would be available - "the lich-queen owes us a few favours". Ruthric rumbled. "With all those dwarves rescued," he said, "I think the honours are even. What's in it for the Githyanki, if they fight these shadow people?"

Surya was a bit perplexed to answer that one, but suggested that the dragons might find the idea of a battle appealing. Ruthric said he would pass on the word; some dragons might come, if they were not otherwise busy.

Kobur, Erean Mountains, 6th October 1607

Arriving in Kobur, Hildraft spoke briefly with Cardinal Axeedge, before arranging an audience with the King. His request was phrased with diplomatic skill; Berrin Ironfist only kept him waiting for three hours this time.

Standing before the King in his thronehall, watched by his courtiers (including Ivhold Crusher) Hildraft calmly but firmly explained that all other problems were now secondary to this threat. The reason for the Goldeneye's warning to Gloiran - and that realm's sealing away - was revealed. War was upon the dwarves; upon the whole of Alair.

There was silence. Watching the King of Kobur, Sack and Hildraft suddenly realized what was passing through his mind. The dwarfking was thinking, if I do nothing, these invaders will wipe out the orcs from my doorstep. Back before the death of Garkaur, this would have been no surprise, but now, after all the progress that'd been made towards peace, it was a dismaying sign of backsliding. Sack's hand tightened on his hilt. But he didn't say it. Quite.

Instead he asked Hildraft why he thought Kobur shouldn't just fort up, as Gloiran had done, and as both had done in the Troubled Years, and let the danger just roll overhead, to be gone in five, ten, a hundred years? Hildraft stressed firmly that this was different, not just orcs passing through, but an invasion on a massive scale. Sack spoke mentally to the King, adding his comment, that didn't help Nisur to Hildraft's case.

"The oracle has never been wrong," he pointed out. "The oracle may have warned correctly of danger," rejoined Hildraft, "but the response to that warning was decided by mortal dwarves and they can be wrong."

He took that moment to deliver Crixus' request for passage through the mountains. Berrin glared at him, an expression summing up the slow decay of relations between King and Hero. "You need to re-examine your priorities, priest," he growled. "You run too many errands for the tall folk. You are a dwarf; look to your own people first. If this human wants to ask me this, let him ask it."