Never saw them coming

Within the fog, Devrim waited with what was left of the human forces. The imperial abominations had all been deployed and the Emperor had every faith that they were quietly subduing as many of the enemy as they could.

If they did their job well enough, the battle would be half-won before it had begun.

As for the human forces, they had grown considerably in number. The fort had heeded the second call for help and sent as many troops as they could spare.

Those who did not have full armor received some of the elven supplies which the fairy Bolemir had been contacted to help transport. Because of the elven generosity, the imperial army was well stocked with weapons and methods of protection.

The humans had not traveled by portal from the land of magic. In exchange for a more lenient sentence, Polymedes had once again summoned the eagles to transport the Empress and her group back to her troops. That was how Taran had never seen them coming.

Now, within the dense fog, Devrim strained his hearing to gain any bit of information that he could. The humans had crept dangerously close through the fog which Renat had made, and they crouched near to the ground waiting for a signal with bated breath.

The signal was either a glowing red message ball released by Brinn or any cry for help from Aurora and her group, though the latter was less reliable. The bright red light cut through the fog with considerable ease, and Brinn's sensitive hearing would pick up what was happening to react accordingly.

At the front of the army, Devrim wasn't far from Aurora and the others in her group—about an arrow shot or so away. He would have liked to have been closer, but there was far too much risk of being discovered. Taran's forces might not be able to smell or see them, but their sense of hearing would be extra keen to listen to what was around them.

So the Emperor had strategically placed his troops so that they could charge in at the proper moment, but also stay hidden and preserve the element of surprise. As such, Devrim could not hear his wife's conversation with Nurlan and the others.

All that the Emperor could hear was the measured breathing of the man beside him and those in the camp packing their things. If he really strained, he could almost swear he could hear the water in the cauldrons boiling way far off to his right. But that was likely just his imagination.

"One of you come help over here," a voice called roughly.

Even in its husky form, Devrim recognized it as one of his soldiers in disguise. The people of the camp were not terribly polite, so the request was actually one of the nicest ways it could have been asked without drawing suspicion.

It seemed no one came at first until the voice called again. "One of you idiots better get over here or I'll tell the boss you are slacking off!"

There was some grumbling, but at least one of the creatures plodded off never to return to his task again.

'I wonder how many of them are tied up or knocked out by now?' Devrim couldn't be sure, but the fact that no one had raised an alarm yet meant that the imperial forces were being very careful.

"Hurry up and be on your guard!" A voice boomed, making the Emperor jump suddenly. Thankfully he was low enough to the ground that the fog around him was only minimally disturbed.

Whoever it was kept moving, giving commands to everyone until he reached the party to his left. After loudly accusing the Empress of trespassing, the conversation became too quiet to hear. Devrim had never felt more helpless in his life. There was literally nothing he could do right now but wait.

When Aurora had made the decision to try to trap Taran herself, Devrim had really wanted to go with his wife, but logic was not with him. Having two royals in the same spot was asking for trouble if anything went wrong, so they had wisely decided to stay separated at first.

Though if something did not go as planned, there was nothing that was going to stop Devrim from protecting his wife. Ever. He waited patiently to come to her aid.

Taking cleansing breaths, he counted the precious moments which passed. It was almost too much.

Then all of a sudden, a blaring red light took to the sky as a cacophony of yelling began nearby.

Devrim leapt to his feet. "Go!"

The thunder of thousands of feet grew quickly and filled the air as the camp went from hastily packing to being under attack. With an unnatural wind, the fog began to clear and the humans got their first look at what they were up against.

It did not look good.

The swarm of abominations was caught off guard, but only for a moment. Without the need to search for armor or weapons, only a few of Taran's army were brought down before the enemy was able to mount a defense.

They dropped their supplies or threw them at the soldiers. Devrim barely missed being impaled by a massive tent pole as he ran forward.

A shadow passed overhead. Confused, Devrim took his eyes from the battlefield and looked upward. "We are under attack!" Taran called from above.

'He's flying! How is that even possible?' Devrim did not have any more time to think before a large object came crashing towards him.

He dove out of the way only to have a white furry creature careen past him and dig a trench into the ground with his body.

"Junayd!" Devrim heard his own voice release a guttural scream. Teeth of a gaping furry maw clamped around the Emperor's helmet and dragged him swiftly backwards, trying to get beneath his armor.

Flailing, he managed to hit the monster in the sensitive part of his wet nose and roll away to safety. Two more creatures came running at the emperor while he scrambled to his feet only to be rammed out of the way by a large wolf with a scarf around his face.

Nodding to the imperial abomination, Devrim raised his sword toward the first set of teeth that had attacked him. The lizard jeered at him, any hope of humanity quickly draining from his eyes.

His movements were smooth yet swift, and Devrim barely had a chance to block the creature's talons as they swiped at him from the side. The hit was still devastating, causing Devrim's armored boots to slide as he tried to maintain his balance.

'Arg that hurt! Much more of that and I'll be broken to bits.' Devrim had been healed in the land of magic, but new bruises were quickly replacing the ones that had been cured.

Steadying his breath, the Emperor ran forward. The lizard focused on the sword and used both claws to push it to one side. His eyes opened wide as he felt a dagger slide in between his ribs. It was made of magical elven metal, which easily cut through the tough leathery hide.

The knife belonged to Ithel himself, and the relic was known to have never met something it could not cut through. If only it were a sword instead of a small blade…

The creature's heart stopped beating a moment later, falling to the ground.

Devrim pulled out the bloodied knife and raced toward the white wolf. Miraculously, he was still breathing--for now. "Get him out of here!" The Emperor ordered two of the human soldiers.

Then he began his fight in earnest. The work was difficult and back breaking, but the Emperor did all he could to create a wedge for his army.

Then Devrim turned west, away from the boiling pots perched on fires and moved east toward his wife. He hoped she would already be gone, but he needed to be sure.

Ferociously fighting his way through the chaos, Devrim was met with trouble from all sides. The number of abominations in the sky was steadily increasing, swooping down to attack against a hail of arrows. Wolves and lizards tore at him as he alternated from gripping his sword with both hands to flashing the dagger in and out of its sheath.

At last he cut his way close enough to reach Nurlan. "Where is she?"

"Alvar took her away. She should be on the shore." The general answered as a lizard struck at his elven armor. The claws raked across the man's chest but did not pierce the weave.

Nurlan's helmet was noticeably missing, lying on the ground like a pumpkin ready to be plucked. The general's forehead was scratched, but it did not seem to be festering with the concerning spidery veins.

Devrim stepped between the General and his opponent to take over the fight. Racing towards the discarded piece of armor, Nurlan scooped up his helmet and placed it on his head.

He sped back toward his leader when a piercing scream rang out from the trees.

"Mairwen!" Devrim looked just long enough to see Lady Livie lifting a slender figure high into the air.

And there was nothing he could do about it.