When Darkness Triumphs: The prologue

A war between two anicient armies...

PROLOGUE

Aelvok sat atop his dire wolf, watching as the Calabran Clan swarmed over the hill, their weapons and mail glowing orange in the rising sun. Beside him stood his son, Ishkul, a cold expression on his face as he watched the enemy approach. His dire wolf growled low in his throat, and Ishkul absently patted his head, calming him slightly.
         "There are too many of them father," Ishkul said. "They can easily overpower us."
         Aelvok watched as the enemy ground to a halt, each of them on a huge bear, and he felt his wolf crouch low at the sight of them. He turned to his trusted man, Kharun. "How many do we have?"
         Kharun turned to look at their ranks, and Aelvok watched as a giantess from the Calabran Clan’s front line, stepped forward. The bear she rode pulled its mouth back in a snarl, and Aelvok’s wolf began to growl.
         "We have around one to two thousand, Lord," Kharun said after a moment.
         "And them?"
         "Around three thousand, Lord."
         Aelvok nodded, and watched as the giantess moved further away from her ranks, and he realized it was Queen Arzuna. He patted the head of his wolf, then moved toward the waiting queen. She was pretty, with long black hair that cascaded down her back, contrasting perfectly with her pale skin. If not for the black veins that spread through her body, and her red eyes, she could be mistaken for a human.
         Her lips curled up at the corners into a small smile. "Evening, Lord Aelvok," she said.
         She held a spear in one hand, the leaf-like head glowing orange in the sunlight. She wore her armour, made up of leather and mail, with three golden rings decorating her left arm.
         "You need to leave, Arzuna," Aelvok said. "Go back to the Sedna and stay there."
         "You don’t give me orders," she spat.
         "On my lands, I do. Leave here and never return."
         The queen glared at him. "Listen Lord of the Umbral," she said. "You have made a great enemy, and for your foolishness, you shall pay a price." She smiled coldly. "In cold blood." She turned and rode back to her clan, and Aelvok grimaced, turning back to his own people.
         "Father?" Ishkul said as Aelvok reached them. But he ignored his son, staring at all the faces that watched him. Their expressions were unreadable as they stared, waiting, and he sighed.
         "Today, we ride to war and kill those bastards who try to evict us from our homes and lands!" he shouted. "Today we fight for the lives of our family, or die in the trying, where we will then go to feast with the gods above while they feast with the dead below! We shall be victorious this very day!"
         There was a loud cheer, and Aelvok turned his wolf so that he was facing the opposing clan. He raised his battleaxe into the air. "We kill them all!" he shouted and charged, his people following behind.
         Both clans crashed together, and the war began as giants slashed at one another, bringing blood and gore. Aelvok smashed his axe into the head of a bear, and it fell to the ground, as he pulled his axe out of the beast’s skull. The giant sitting atop it screamed incoherently, and tried to attack Aelvok, but his wolf cut the giant down and began to tear at him as he screamed. The joy of battle overwhelmed Aelvok, and he laughed, removing the head of a giantess, and he watched it roll onto the ground in a spray of blood, before turning to another giant. He swung his axe around in a deadly arc, and the giant blinked, before his head went flying. The bear he had been on roared in anger and tried to attack, but Aelvok brought his axe down onto its head, silencing it. The bear fell to the ground with a thump.
         Another giant attacked, slashing at Aelvok with his great sword, but the attack was blocked, sending the other giant’s sword flying in the air. Then Aelvok smashed his axe into the thick neck of his attacker, and the body fell to the ground with a huge thump.
         He laughed as he continued to slash at the enemy, when someone shouted his name. He looked to see Kharun ringed by three giants from the Calabran Clan, his wolf snapping at the bears as it was backed into a tree. Aelvok gritted his teeth and charged through the mass of warriors, hacking as he went, until he was behind the three giants who continued to advance on Kharun. He slashed at one of them, his blade biting deep into the unprotected spine of the enemy, and she roared in pain, before her head was taken, falling to the ground along with her body. The other two paused and looked at him, then charged, weapons raised high.
         He watched as Kharun pursued the bears, raising his spear. Then. He let it fly, and it hit one of the giants in the back, sending him flying from his animal. He crumpled to the ground, and did not get back up, the spear protruding from below the shoulder blade. Aelvok nodded to his guard then killed the giantess, who was staring at the body of her companion lying still on the ground. The bears attacked, but they too died, and as Aelvok was pulling his axe from the head of one of them, Kharun called to him.
         "Thank you Lord," he said.
         "Have you seen my son?" Aelvok asked.
         "No, Lord,"
         Aelvok grunted and looked about the battlefield. Then he saw his son, locked in combat with a giantess, her black hair tied up in a warrior braid down her back. She jabbed at Ishkul with her spear, driving him back a few paces. His wolf snapped at Queen Arzuna, and Aelvok watched the fear slowly creep into her face and she took a step back before thrusting her spear at Ishkul’s beast. It hit the wolf in the chest, and it howled in pain, moving backwards, its blood spilling over the shaft of the spear. Ishkul jumped from the saddle, and the wolf lay down on its side. Then Ishkul did the unthinkable, running at Arzuna with his battleaxe raised high in the air.
         "ISHKUL!" Aelvok shouted and charged through the mass of warriors fighting, scattering friends and foe. But he was already too late.
         Arzuna’s bear swiped at Ishkul, and he stumbled back, his axe falling from his hand before the queen drove her spear through his chest.
         "ISHKUL!"
         The giant looked up as Aelvok rode toward him, and a small smile touched his lips before he fell to his knees, the queen drawing her spear from his body. Then Ishkul fell to the ground with a thump, and Aelvok screamed as he swung his axe at Arzuna’s head, but it fell from his hand, and his vision began to fade as pain coursed through him. The last thing he saw was Queen Arzuna turning away from him as he fell from his saddle, then there was nothing more.

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