1 Prologue

MoooOOOOOOOooooohhhh

Gobi bawled. His eyes bulged as he ducked another pebble-sized fire bomb coming from above. His thick blue-green hide was mostly impervious to the damages of the fire itself, but the impact of the bombs stung.

Around him were a group of ten men who shielded him (or more precisely, his cargo) with their blue auras as they led him traipsing away from where the fire bombs were dropping.

Gobi was not happy.

He could ambulate with the best of the bogbeasts, but at the very moment, he could barely move at the speed of fleas on a horny bull, because on his back was a heavy load--a serious dead weight that had been tied to him since early this morning.

Gobi snorted--snot flying from his nostrils. If he could just buck and throw off this useless bag of bones, he could pick up serious speed and get away from the fire bombs, not to mention the pack of demon bogwargs up ahead...

But the wizard Zander would never allow such insubordination.

"Keep moving Gobi! This way!" The blue-haired wizard shouted, directing him with yet another shock charge from his fingertip.

Gobi moved.

"Your Highness! Twenty Bogwargs approaching to our right." One of the dwarven warriors yelled as he threw a blue shield, holding back another round of fire bombs.

"How many Vultores?" Zander shouted back as he continued leading Gobi away from the mob fight.

"I counted a dozen, Your Highness!" The man swung his flatsword at a bogwarg as it launched itself at him.

THUD! Splash. The bogwarg fell back into the bog, minus its head.

The man turned towards another bogwarg and swung again. He missed its head, but whacked off half the bogwarg's face.

Howling in pain, it spasmed a few times and fell to the mucky bog, still twitching.

They were moving through the marshy muck, with mud and water up to their knees. It was difficult to walk in the sticky mud, but it was even more arduous because they were also defending themselves from bogwargs and chiros, in all directions.

Bogwargs had lost their humanity thousands of years ago. Hulking shaggy forms that were half-wolf half-were, they followed their instinctive blood lust and hunted in packs.

The chiros were even worse. They were small, bat-like, but still retained their human forms and rational thoughts. This made them more intelligent, more cunning, and far more deadly. They rode their dark Vultores in combat formation and carried out their attacks from above.

Individually, they were mere pests. Banded into an attack mob, they were deadly.

The men faced an almost impossible situation. The sun had sunk below the craigy mountains to the west, leaving a pinkish glow in the sky. There was, at best, another ten minutes of light left. Once the darkness came, they would lose whatever advantage they had left.

This was because the bogwargs and chiros were both creatures of the night. Their eyesight was optimum when darkness fell.

The men would be sitting ducks.

"Chiros are rounding back for another volley. Get ready!"

"Wargs on your right! Protect the Princes!"

"Three advancing from the left! They're surrounding us!"

The wizard Zander hastily threw up a dome of protection surrounding the men and then yelled out an order. "Daran! Get Erick off Gobi and haul him with you. Stay close to me!"

"Yes Master!" Daran yelled above the foray.

Zander closed his eyes. "The rest of you, keep those beasts off me, whatever it takes. Give me one solid minute!" He began to move his hands in the ancient motions that would call forth a portal.

A blue glow began to surround his body. This galvanized the bogwargs and the chiros into frenzied attacks on the men fighting around the periphery.

Metal cracked dense bone. Teeth crunched heavy armor. Screams of men melded with howls of bogwargs. The stench of entrail and blood and charred flesh was gagging. Chiros screeched, as vultores squawked, death-spiraling into the bog with loud splashes and thuds.

MoooOOOOOOOooooohhhh.

Gobi joined in the slaughter, kicking and biting down on the heads of nearby bogwargs.

With his back against Gobi, as his last line of defense, Zander blocked out the sounds of men being slaughtered all around him and concentrated on the patterns of waves that were calling out to him.

His mind was blank--his vision white.

The world gradually muted...

It was so quiet, he could hear his own heartbeat.

THU-THUMP. THU-THUMP. THU-THUMP.

Listening. Hoping. Waiting.

There it was.

Faint at first, but getting stronger. He could sense the faintest SightSoundScent. It was soft as a petal, white as milk, and faintly fluttered. The reverberations of that faint softness began matching with his own vibrations.

He reached out to touch it.

ZZZZAP!!! A powerful current tore through his body.

Aaarrrfff!!! Aaarrrfff!!! Aaarrrfff!!! Aaarrrfff!!! Aaarrrfff!!!

He opened his eyes. A tiny furry dog ran towards him and jumped, landing into his arms. He looked up. A girl was in front of him screaming at one of the chiros. It had flown through the portal and was now dive bombing her.

Zander flung his hand out, knocking the chiro to one side and reached out to catch the falling girl. He could hear Daran following him closely behind, hauling the Crown Prince on his wide shoulders.

Zander turned to see Daran falling onto the soft green grass, heaving the large frame of Erick onto the ground beside him. They were cleared.

WHOOSHHH!

He locked the portal with a single flick of his finger.

Silence ensued...