Chapter 8: The Necromancer

Goregrine the Mauler roared as he swung his club, sending crusaders and knights flying all over the place. The Tanelician archers unleashed volleys after volleys of arrows, lodging them into the ogre's body. To their surprise, the arrows did nothing to weaken the monster but it only enraged him. Goregrine roared even louder as he sent more warriors to their death. Seeing that a frontal assault was to no avail, Johann shouted an order.

'Archers, continued unleashing your arrows on that abomination. Knights and Crusaders, fall back! The Archmage and I will handle him!'

Slowly, the knights and crusaders fall back behind the archers as Johann and Lia faced off Goregrine. Johann yelled and slashed his sword onto Goregrine's wrist, leaving a cut on the ogre's wrist. Goregrine only scoffed as the wound healed, raising her arm and bringing his club down on Johann. Johann dodged as the club slammed into where he last stood while Lia opened her palm, sending lightning bolts towards Goregrine. Her eyes widened as the lightning bolts were absorbed into the ogre, making him grow larger. Goregrine grinned at Lia.

'Thanks little girly.' He grinned nastily. 'Magic makes Goregrine stronger!'

The ogre roared and swung his club in a downward arc, aiming for Lia. Lia quickly muttered a spell, a blue shield protecting her. Johann yelled and slammed his shield into Goregrine's knee, trying to shatter his kneecap. Goregrine chucked and kicked Johann in the shield, sending him flying backwards. Lia screamed and fired normal bolts, aiming for the eyes. The bolts pierced the eyes but Goregrine only stumbled backwards, pulling the bolts from his eyes.

'Bitch!' Goregrine growled as his eyes regenerated. 'You will pay for that!'

As the fight raged on, Argus Ward had carried Kara Cavalier away from the conflict. He had leaned her against a rock where two healers were looking after her, healing her ribs.

'Kara!' Argus gently shook her, his voice shaky. 'Kara! Stay with us damn it!'

To his relief, Kara's eyes fluttered. She moaned as she opened her eyes fully, wincing at her ribs. 'Argus… Goregrine…'

'Don't worry about it.' Argus reassured her. 'Johann and Lia are taking care of him.' He turned back to see his two friends struggling against the ogre. 'I think…'

Goregrine roared and swung his arm sideway, almost taking off Lia's head. As the archmage fell flat onto her stomach, Johann roared and charged towards the ogre: raising her his sword. Goregrine only grunted and swung his arm, slamming it into Johann. Johann grunted as he fell back onto the ground, his sword and shield flying from his arm.

Before Goregrine could make his way to the defenceless Johann, Lia brought her hand down. Ice shards materialised from the air and plunged into Goregrine. Goregrine chuckled as the ice absorbed into him, making him bigger and larger. The veins became more visible on his skin as his features became more monstrous. Even his club looked more menacing.

'YES!' He roared. 'I WANT MORE POWER!'

Lia frowned. Goregrine was right. The more magic she fired at him, the larger and powerful he become. Her magic was useless against him. Unless…

Knowing that this was a big gamble, Lia furrowed her brows and focus all her magical energy into her hands. When she collected enough energy, she fired it onto Goregrine. Goregrine gave a roar of triumph as he felt Lia's magic coursing through his body, making him grow bigger.

'YES! YES! I… AM… POWERFUL!'

Still on the ground, Johann looked at Lia in horror. 'Lia! What're you doing? You're only making that abomination more stronger!'

Lia grunted. 'Exactly! If he wants magic, then he can have all the magic he want!'

Lia continued to pour more magic into Goregrine, everyone watching him grow larger in horror. Than suddenly, Goregrine's scream of triumph turned into agony as he writhed his massive body; beyond his normal size. He flailed his bulky arms wildly as he tried to reach for the archmage.

'WAIT! NO… TOO MUCH… MAGIC! BODY… CAN'T HANDLE! STOP… PLEASE…'

Lia ignored the ogre's begging and continued to insert more magic into Goregrine's already colossal body, the ogre looked like he was going to explode. Goregrine continued to scream and plead until it stopped, an explosion taking it place. A blue light blinded everyone temporarily, forcing everyone to shield his or her eyes. The blue light faded, only to be replaced by raining blood and innards: no doubt belongs to the late Goregrine the Mauler.

The soldiers lifted their shields over their heads to avoid being bathe in the ogre's blood, two of the crusaders shielding their Grand Crusader. One she was certain that Goregrine was truly dead, Lia lowered her hands and fell onto her knees: getting the worse of the bloodbath. She panted heavily at the heavy usage of magic. Johann crawled towards her, kneeling next to her.

'Lia! Are you all right? Can you stand?'

Lia looked at him weakly. 'Water… Food…'

Johann turned to the nearby soldiers who were covering from the raining blood. 'Someone get the archmage something to eat!'

One of the soldiers braved the blood rain and hurried towards them, pulling out a water-skin and some bread. Thanking the soldier, Johann took the bread and water-skin from him. He handed the bread first to Lia who hungrily tore at it and held the water-skin for her. Once she was done eating, she grabbed the water-skin and downed the cooling liquid down her throat: quenching her thirst. It was not much but it was enough for Lia.

She smiled as passed the water-skin back to the soldier. 'Thank you… Sorry if I finished everything.'

The soldier nodded and stepped back to make way for Argus and Kara, the Grand Crusader was being supported by Argus. 'That was brilliant Lia.' Kara grunted, her ribs still hurting.

'Stupidly lucky you mean.' Lia said, trying to stand up but fell back to her knee. Johann held her by the arm and pulled her up onto her feet. 'Thank the light that necromancer didn't put a limit on Goregrine otherwise that wouldn't work.'

Kara nodded and tapped on Argus' hand, telling him he can let her go. He did and Kara surveyed the ground, painted red with blood and gore. Along with parts of Goregrine, there were many corpses of their own men as well. 'How many did we lose?'

A lieutenant who was following behind them answered her. 'Out of the five hundred men we brought, only two hundred remained.'

Kara paled at the number of death. 'Three hundred dead… By the light…'

Argus tried to comfort. 'Hey, it's not your fault. We didn't expect these new soldiers or even Goregrine to become some sort of giant.'

'But…' Kara looked at Argus, anguish in her eyes. 'As Grand Crusader, I should have prevented so much death…'

'Argus is right.' Johann joined in. 'As Battle commander, I should had done more. What is done is done. We have to stop that necromancer.'

Kara nodded and turned to Lia, looking serious. 'Lia, what is this necromancer? Is he some kind of warlock?'

Lia shook her head. 'No… He is far worse.' Lia took some breath before she continued. 'Necromancers are more powerful than warlocks, mastering corrupted elements as well as arcane magic. Furthermore, they're powerful enough to raise the dead. Those Legionnaires of the Damned must be his doing.'

'He was that bastard who killed Matthias!' Johann growled. 'I recognised that black cross anywhere!'

They all stood there, silently digesting the facts. Kara was the first one to break the silence, turning to the remaining soldiers. 'Do you hear that? This… Monster has killed and raised our fallen comrades into the mindless undead to serve at his whim! Now he is desecrating our sacred site! Are we going to let him and those who follow him get away with these crimes?'

'NO!' they all chorussed, Argus, Johann and Lia being the loudest.

Kara unsheathed her sword from her scabbard, everyone doing the same. 'Brave men and women of Tanelic, follow me and we will destroy this creature that treat people as his toys! Break down that gate!'

The White Crusaders and the Tanelician soldiers roared and chanted. 'Down with the undead! For Canaleodon! For Tanelic!'

Six of the strongest soldiers found a fallen log and lifted it onto their shoulders, making their way towards the cemetery's gate. After counting to three, the soldiers slammed the log into the gate. The gate burst opened, the gate flying off the hinges. Kara, Argus, Johann and Lia led the way in, weapons raised. They entered the cemetery's ground, passing through tombstones and statues of angels, and then stopped in their track.

Under normal times, the cemetery was a place where it was tranquil and peaceful; housing the souls of the dead. To their horror, the cemetery was turned upside down as every grave was dug up; coffins broken opened and emptied. In the middle of upset earth and broken tombstones were wagons, piled with corpses dug from the graves. They were being pulled into a portal that gave out dark purple energy and showing the dark abyss, surrounded by the Legionnaires of the Damned. Standing at the last wagon with an old man in black robe was the necromancer, talking with what was Solomon Winterspring, Avencus' right-hand man.

'Halt monster!' Kara cried, approaching him. 'You shall not get away with this!'

The necromancer stopped talking with the old man and slowly turned to face Kara and her allies. Despite being covered in black armour, Lia could tell that the creature sounded bored when it spoke.

'So… That useless Goregrine could not stop you. Looks like I've to deal with you myself…'

Lia could not help but shivered at the creature's tone but she stepped next to Kara, looking defiant. 'We will stop you monster! Who do you think you are? Disrespecting the peaceful dead just for your own amusement?'

The necromancer threw back his armoured head and laughed, a hoarse and grating laugh. He lowered his head, a mocking tone added to his chuckles. 'How rude of me… Please forgive my lack of etiquette. I am known as Kor'Dalhar, adopted son of Avencus and the first necromancer. I see you met my new Legion of the Damned…' He added proudly.

'So you're in league with Avencus?' Johann joined in, gritting his teeth. 'You bastard! You killed Matthias!'

Kor'Dalhar cocked his head to Johann mockingly. 'As in Matthias Alston? Ah… Yes I did… I wanted to turn him into my first commander but I thought that I give him back to you… Useless trash like him do not deserve to be in my grand Legion…'

Johann screamed in anger, charging towards Kor'Dalhar with a raised sword. He leaped into the air and pointed his blade towards the necromancer. His plan to pierce the necromancer through the head failed as his sword made a metallic clang, rebounding Johann back. In front of him stood the same black crucifix that hung Matthias. It sunk back into the ground slowly, revealing the unfazed Kor'Dalhar.

'So little human…' He drawled as a black shroud hid his right armoured hand. When it dissipated, it revealed a black sword shaped like a crescent moon, black as night and deadly sharp. 'You want to play? Fine… I shall indulge you… Bloodmoon hungers…'

Quick as lightning, Kor'Dalhar lashed his blade at Johann who managed to duck before it could take his head off. Johann pushed Bloodmoon upwards with his shield and thrust Sword of Heaven at the necromancer, only to realise he was gone. Working on instinct, Johann turned around and raised his shield in time to block a downward swing by Kor'Dalhar who materialised behind him.

The necromancer placed a foot into Johann's abdomen and pushed him away, sending him onto his back. Johann grunted and looked up, seeing Kor'Dalhar's left armoured hand glowing with green flame. Kor'Dalhar threw a fireball at Johann's shield, making a burnt mark on it. Johann quickly rolled away as the second and third fireball missed him by an inch. Before Kor'Dalhar could go after Johann, he sensed another presence behind him and stepped to the side: Argus' axe slamming right in front of him.

Argus cursed and pulled his axe from the ground, swinging it towards the necromancer. 'Die you fiend!'

Kor'Dalhar grunted and blocked the axe's blade with Bloodmoon, pushing it away as he lashed out at Argus. Argus backed away and used the shaft of his axe to push the blade aside, swinging his axe down towards Kor'Dalhar. The necromancer opened his left palm and a dark shield deflected the axe as he counter-attacked with sword thrust. Argus grunted as Bloodmoon made a cut on his left arm, forcing him to back away as Johann charged in.

Kor'Dalhar spun to avoid Johann's charge and swung Bloodmoon, hoping to cut off the battle commander's head but only to block a bolt infused with lightning. Kor'Dalhar jumped backward as Lia joined in the fray, aiming her mounted crossbow at him. Argus was on her right as Johann stood on her left. They slowly closed in on the necromancer.

'We're taking you down now!' Lia said, the bolt on her crossbow lighting up again.

Kor'Dalhar growled and turned his head over his shoulder, looking at the old man. 'Solomon, continue with our plan! Those bodies must reach Blackrock Spire! I will deal with these pests!'

Solomon Winterspring nodded. 'Yes my lord. Quickly men, get those wagons through the portal!'

The legionnaires doubled their efforts, more and more wagons disappearing through the dark swirling vortex. Kara pointed her sword at them.

'White Crusaders, Tanelician, do not let them get away! Forward!'

Kara and the other soldiers charged, aiming to stop any more wagons into the portal. Winterspring raised both his hands, glowing with green magic, as he muttered.

'Wahdesyz, lezy ofk kybyfk uail tozsyl!'

Every corpse in the last wagon rose and drop onto the ground, dark shroud covering them. When the black shroud dissipated, they were armoured and armed like the Legionnaires of the Damned but with major differences. Their armours were silver and their helms had a blue horse-crest on it. Instead of the square black shield, they carried oval-shaped silver shield with a small gap at the right edge. Poking out from that gap was a long halberd.

'Hoplites!' Winterspring commanded as he pointed his staff at the advancing crusaders and knights. 'Charge! Defend the wagons!'

The hoplites gave a deadly growl and marched forward, passing Winterspring with their halberds lowered at the advancing crusaders. The halberds immediately impaling those who were only armed with short weapons. The hoplites who could not pull their halberds out from their victims' bodies released the long weapons and pulled out their swords from their scabbards, stabbing and slashing at any incoming enemy.

The long halberds of these new undead soldiers hindered the White Crusaders and the Tanelician soldiers. Despite being armed with only a sword, Kara knocked the halberds aside and closed in: kicking into the shields. She managed to create a small gap in the hoplites' formation, wedging between them.

Shouting her battle cry, Kara swung her sword and decapitated two of the hoplites before engaging another one. Now in close combat, the hoplites had to abandon their long halberds and switched to their swords. The air was once again filled with clashes of steel and the screams of death, from the living and the dead.

Johann and Argus roared and charged towards Kor'Dalhar: attacking him at the sides. The necromancer checked Johann's attack and a black crucifix rose from the ground, blocking Argus' axe swing. Chains erupted from the base of the crucifix and shot towards Argus, wrapping around his axe. Argus roared and swung his axe into an incoming chain, shattering the chains and freeing his axe. More chains shot out from the earth, forcing Argus to defend himself.

Johann and Kor'Dalhar traded blows, trying to get around each other defences. Kor'Dalhar deflected an attack from Johann before circling his sword in a circle, flinging Sword of Heaven from Johann's hand. Johann gasped as his sword flung from his hand and landed onto the ground, leaving him defenceless. Before Kor'Dalhar could stab Johann, his dark shield went up as a fireball slammed into it.

Flames dying away from her hand, Lia brought up her other palm. She muttered a spell and lightning bolts shot out from them, flying towards Kor'Dalhar. Kor'Dalhar brought up his left hand and muttered darkly, black lightning sparkling out from his palm. Black and blue met in a collision of electricity, the ball of electricity moving back and forth. Lia furrowed her brows and poured more of her energy into the assault, sweating from the effort.

Kor'Dalhar, on the other hand, just stood there unfazed. The black lightning was slowly pushing Lia's lightning back, overpowering the archmage's attack. Lia frowned and poured more magic into her attack, to no avail. She screamed as the ball of lightning slammed into her, causing an explosion and sent her flying onto her back. The dust settled and showed Lia on her back, electricity crackling off her body.

'Lia!' Johann shouted at her still body. He looked at Kor'Dalhar, eyes blazing with anger. 'Damn you! You will pay for that!'

Roaring and forsaking his weapon, Johann charged towards the necromancer in a rage. Kor'Dalhar only lowered to one knee and slammed his left palm onto Johann's stomach, lifting him into the air. Effortlessly, Kor'Dalhar threw Johann over the crucifix.

Johann yelled in disbelief as he flew over the black crucifix, crashing into Argus and ending up in a pile. Groaning, Argus and Johann tried to disentangle themselves as the black crucifix sunk into the ground. Once the crucifix disappeared from sight, Argus and Johann looked up to see the black armoured Kor'Dalhar standing in front of them: reassembling death. The necromancer lifted his sword and Argus and Johann lifted their hands, in a poor attempt to defend themselves. Before Kor'Dalhar could deliver the killing blow, a voice interrupted him.

'Master Kor'Dalhar!' Winterspring's voice carried through the fighting. 'All of the wagons have successfully entered the portal!'

During the chaos, all of the wagons carrying the corpses had disappeared into the portal. All that were left were Winterspring, the hoplites and Kor'Dalhar.

Kor'Dalhar nodded and lowered his arm, Bloodmoon disappearing from his hand. 'Excellent… Well done Solomon… We're falling back now. Hoplites, to me!'

The remaining hoplites, slowly broke away from the engagement and backed away towards the portal: forming a protective circle in front of Winterspring. Their shields, dented and smudged, were raised with their recovered halberds in the gaps. Kor'Dalhar joined them and turned back to where Argus and Johann still laid.

'I shall let you live for now but next time you won't be so lucky. Until we meet again!'

The necromancer turned his back on them and walked into the portal, disappearing into the dark vortex. With their master safe, Winterspring entered the portal followed by the remaining hoplites. The portal closed after the last undead warrior entered it, fading away into nothingness.

The surviving crusaders and knights stood there dazed, wondering whether it was over or not. Most of them were bone-tired from the hard fighting and the new horror they witnessed today. Their armour were covered in smudge and blood, their breathing rasped. Some of them even collapsed into the ground, trying to recuperate.

Kara, covered in the worst of gore and smudge, sheathed her sword and raised her voice. 'The enemy has retreated. See to the injured.'

The White Crusaders obeyed and search for the wounded among the lying bodies, patching up any survivors they find. Johann scrambled onto his feet and rushed towards Lia, sliding down to his knees. He raised Lia up as Kara and Argus joined him, concerned for their friend. The archmage's eyes were closed and she was breathing irregularly, her robes and body blackened by the lightning attack.

'Lia! Lia!' Johann shook her, trying to keep fright out from his voice. 'Please, wake up! Please, wake up!'

'Johann…'

Johann almost cried with relief as he heard Lia's moan. Lia's eyes slowly opened as her breathing became more regular, looking dazed.

'Lia!' Johann cried, Argus and Kara smiling with relief. 'Thank the light you're still alright!'

'The battle…' Lia gasped. 'How… Did it… Go…'

The smile on Kara's face fell at Lia's question. 'They managed to get all of the wagons through the portal and are now out of our reach. We lost another fifty men and nothing to show for it. We… Have lost…'

Lia closed her eyes, sounding tired. 'I see… Please forgive me… If only… I was… Strong enough… To stop… Him…'

'Don't think about it.' Johann soothed her. 'You did your best. Rest now.'

At Johann's urging, Lia closed her eyes and drifted into sleep. As she slumbered into Johann's arms, Johann lifted her as he turned to Argus and Kara. All of them were haggard and looking worse for wear, black lines below their eyes and weariness written on their faces.

'Now what do we do?' Johann asked his two friends.

Kara shook her head as she surveyed the remainder of their troops. 'We returned back to Canaleodon. We report to the king about Avencus' new undead army and his new powerful son.' Then her spirit returned to her. 'And we will plan our counter-attack!'

________________________________________________________________________________

King Arald Tendenhaul looked more tired and wearied at Kara's report, his apparent age showing on his visage. They were in the war room with the map of Northern Tanelic and Morte Mountain. Hearing Johann, Argus and Kara's report were Owen, Gavarin and Mora. Standing next to the king were Chamberlain Kelvin Talbot and the Princess Charlotte, listening attentively at the report. The story of an undead army and the rise of the necromancer sent shivers to all who listened, trying to dismiss it as myths but were unable to. Once Kara was finished with her report, Commander Owen shook violently. Not out of fear but from righteous fury.

'The monsters!' He said, trying to control his anger. 'Not only are they raising an unholy army but they're turning our warriors into mindless slaves! This cannot continue!'

'I agree!' Gavarin said. 'We cannot allow Avencus and his ilk to continue with such monstrous acts! Grand Crusader, we must attack now!'

'And lose more men to this new army?' Argus argued. 'Sir Owen, Sir Gavarin, I agree with you that we should attack Avencus but without a plan, we're only expanding this new army!'

'And if we do nothing, the revered dead will never rest in peace!' Owen argued, the paladin losing his composure.

'Peace!' Arald, although shaken, calmly said. 'We shall wait for Archmage Lia to join us before discussing some plan.' Arald turned to his daughter who was shaking terribly. 'Child, this is not for you.' He said gently. 'You should retire to your room.'

Charlotte shook her head, being brave. 'No, as your daughter and heir to your throne, I should stay here and do what I can to help you.'

Arald nodded, pleased with his daughter's reply, and turned back to his commanders. 'For the moment, informed the soldiers of this new enemy and what to expect in the coming battle. That way they will be mentally prepared the next time we fight.'

The gathered commanders nodded agreement, still troubled of the prospect of fighting an undead army and the destruction of their sacred resting place for the deceased. The only comfort they had was that the grave of the former Grand Crusader, Davin Cavalier, remained untouched. For some reason.

Mora opened her mouth. 'But what I want to know is that since this Kor'Dalhar is so powerful, why didn't he raise the undead at Heroes' Light Chapel but have to bring the corpses back to Blackrock Spire?'

'Because he isn't powerful… Yet.'

Everybody turned to see Lia entered the room, being supported by Robin Bostel. Argus and Kara made room as Robin let her go, letting her leaned against the table. She looked better but she was still paled and slightly shaky, still recovering from the electrical blast. Arald addressed her.

'What do you mean he is not powerful yet?'

Lia took in a deep breath before speaking. 'When he cast a magic absorption spell and enlargement spell on Goregrine, he did not cast a restraining spell on him. And the fact that he had to speak his spells aloud means that his mastery of spells is not completed. Furthermore, even though I was blasted by his lightning attack, it didn't kill me or corrupt me. Avencus must have just discovered this man and only trained him hastily. That is why he could not raise more of those Legionnaires, he needs the assistance of Avencus or other necromancers to help him.'

'Or an area with a powerful pool of arcane magic.' Robin added. 'If our calculations are correct, Blackrock Spire is the perfect location. That is why Avencus chose that area as his attack base.'

'Meaning that by now, they would have thousands of those monsters armed to the teeth and ready to march against us at any moment.' Gavarin commented.

'We might have some time.' Lia told them. 'Necromancers are very hard to train and it should take years for them to master their dark arts. Also, when we were fighting the Legion, I didn't detect any of Avencus' magic on them. Kor'Dalhar maybe a natural but they would only be a few necromancers to help him. Including Solomon Winterspring.'

'So how much time do we have before they raised this new army?' Arald asked.

'Easily three or four days.' Lia replied.

Mora frowned and pulled her raven hair back. 'So we have three days to prepare for our defence.' She lowered her hand and spread the map, indicating each stronghold at the frontier. 'If I were the enemy, which fort would I attack?'

'Knowing Avencus, he would attack the weakest of our fort.' Johann replied. 'We have doubled our defences on each fort.'

'And we have re-cast new spells that will prevent anyone from teleporting through our defences.' Robin spoke out. 'That way, we can't be taken by surprise.'

'That's not going to make it easier to predict Avencus' next move.' Gavarin added. 'For all we know, he could simply use the same trick like last time and lured one of us to our death.'

'Then we must pick our own battlefield before he does.' Kara finally spoke up, making everyone heads turned to her. She pointed on the map, her finger between the frontier and Blackrock Spire. 'This is my plan. We will amass our army on the Field of Torelain and it is where we will clash with the Legion of the Damned. Vice-Battle Commander Mora, Commander Gavarin, Commander Argus and myself will lead our forces.'

'Behind us is a valley, very narrowed and with very high walls. Before the battle begins, the valley will be doused with oil and exploding powder and anything else flammable. Two detachments of heavy infantry will hide at the entrance of the valley and archers will be posted on top of the cliffs. Once we engaged the enemy, our forces will slowly fall back into the valley. With any luck, the enemy will follow after us for the kill.'

'That means you're planning to give the enemy a false sense of confidence and lead them into a fire attack?' Charlotte asked excitedly.

Kara gave the princess a nod and smile. 'Exactly your highness. These undead maybe impervious to pain but they can be burnt to a cinder. When they're in position, we will light the valley on fire and burn them until not a single one remain standing. The two detachments, led by Brigadier General Rowan and Commander Barrick, will closed the valley. They're to prevent anyone from escaping. Once the Legion is obliterated, mages will extinguish the fire and we will continue our assault on Blackrock Spire.'

Everybody nodded in agreement. 'That's a good plan Grand Crusader Kara.' Arald complimented. 'You've shown the same ingenuity as your grandfather and brother.'

Kara blushed at the praise. Johann looked at her, aware that he; Lia and Commander Owen were omitted in her plan. 'What about me, Lia and Owen?'

Kara looked troubled. 'I have a more important and dangerous plan for you but you might not like it.' Johann raised an eyebrow but gestured, encouraging her to continue. 'You, Lia and Commander Owen will be stationed at the Narrow Path with five hundred men along with Owen's paladins. Once the battle begins, you will launch a surprise attack on Blackrock Spire. Not only will you prevent any reinforcement from coming out but also you will be able to stop the necromancers and maybe even put an end to Avencus. This way we will be able to put an end to this war.'

She looked at her threw friends in the eyes. 'If you think that this plan is too risky, then I understand and you can…'

'Are you kidding?' Lia interrupted excitedly. 'Being the arrogant scums they are, Avencus and Kor'Dalhar won't expect an attack when they think the main army is engaged with the Legion of the Damned. This plan is brilliant Kara. I'm in!'

Johann looked at Lia in surprise, not used to Lia being so excited, before grinning at Kara. 'I knew you had some use for us. If this will end Avencus then I'm in too.'

Owen cleared his throat. He too was having difficulty in controlling his excitement. 'My paladins and I are honoured to be given such a mission. Rest assured Grand Crusader, we, the paladins, will serve as a shield for the Battle Commander and the Archmage. We will end Avencus' tyranny and this war.'

Kara smiled appreciatively to her friends. 'Thank you my friends. Thank you for your support.'

Arald stood up from his chair, making everyone stand in attention. 'Very well! We shall follow Grand Crusader Kara's stratagem. Commanders, we have three days to prepare before the enemy have the chance to attack. We shall march out tomorrow and we shall fight a decisive battle with Avencus and his minions. This battle will determine the fate of our kingdom and our land. We shall win this fight or die with honour! Loyal commanders, to victory!'

'To victory!'