Chapter 76 – Chaos

The camp was in chaos.

Men ran back and forth, sleeping bags and travel rations forgotten in their wake. Orders from squad sergeants carried through the madness, desperation clear in the voices.

“Form ranks! Form ranks!”

“First line, to the south! First line—to the south!”

“All lines, dammit. Bring them all!”

Footmen of various Valdren kingdoms shouted in confusion, their training not enough to account for the horror unfolding before them.

They’d trained for war against men. They’d trained to march in order, follow commands, and brave battlefields.

But this was not a battlefield. And their enemy today was most certainly not men.

Like a siren in the night, a gut wrenching howl blared. It made hearing their officers’ instructions more than difficult, and actually abiding by them even more so.

“They’re just mindless beasts! Bring yourselves to order and let them come to us!” roared a lieutenant. He finished fastening on his leather armor, sheathing his short sword. Once done, he found a perch atop a large boulder near the south side of the camp, gazing out over the chaos.

Some of the lower ranking officers cried out replies, but hearing them was still difficult. The primal howls made sure of that.

Painfully, and far slower than they’d trained for, a ragged line began to form. Despite the late hour, the mixed sets of armor and gear worn by the militia men were clearly visible in the light of the camp. Perimeter torches and fires had been kept since they’d made camp, pushing the evening’s darkness away.

In minutes, the line grew from one to three men thick along the south side. All the while, more and more tried to speak, to ask what was going on, but none could reply. Not properly. Only the barks and shouted orders still carried.

The bestial howling hadn’t stopped, but grew. In fact, a chorus of what sounded like dozens more had joined it, their song of primal bloodlust bringing cold sweat to the bustling soldiers.

“Where the fuck are the paladins?!” snapped a line officer.

“Coming! We just need to hold until they can make it to… to…” began another, only to trail off into a choke of pure terror. For when he turned to try and identify the paladin camp that should only be a few minutes to their north, he saw not the gold and white Solari tents lit by the stars and moon, but darkness. Total darkness.

More and more of the soldiers began to realize it. As they peered out, their Valdren camp quickly became a bastion. Like a curtain had been drawn around it.

“What?”

“It’s everywhere!”

“What the hell?!”

Slowly, that bastion began to feel more and more like a prison.

The night wasn’t still. It was growing. The howls seemed to carry it with them, inky darkness spilling around the edges of the camp.

At first, it seemed as if the darkness would halt at the edges. That the firelight could yet hold its ranks. A prison it might be, but a safe one.

Unfortunately, that was not so.

One moment, a wall of black clouded the vision a dozen paces out in all directions from the ranks of soldiers and their camp. The next, that same darkness reeled upwards, before crashing down like a mighty tsunami.

The night had only just begun.

“Fuck!!! Fuck this!” came a scream.

“What in the five hells?!” shouted the lieutenant.

“Find the paladins! Find the fucking paladins! Look for the golden light!”

But there was no golden light. And there were no paladins within sight. Just the night.

Panic spread like wildfire. In seconds, even the squad leaders gave in.

Atop his rock in the midst of the ranks, the lieutenant hardened his will. He was responsible for each of these soldiers. He had to do something. “We aren’t perishing here, men! The paladins will stand with us. We are going to move to their location before these beasts cut us off!” Unsheathing his blade, he stabbed it in the direction away from the howls. “This way! Form up!”

The soldiers shouldered their spears and began to make for the opposite direction in double time.

“This way! This way!” echoed the squad leaders.

Darkness tumbling around them in foggy waves, the men did their best. Together, a group of nearly two hundred piled out of the crude camp and into the hellscape. Each hoping to see the golden forms of their paladin guard.

***

“Where are they going?!” roared Lord Paladin Brexin. He stomped to the edge of the Solari encampment, gaping at what he saw.

He could just make out the orange glow of the Valdren camp, a few hundred meters away. When the beasts had begun their howling, he expected Valdren’s troops to form ranks and retreat to their location.

They were retreating alright. But the only issue was it wasn’t towards the paladins. It was the entirely wrong direction. Hundreds of Valdren soldiers were all but fleeing right towards the middle of the blasted wasteland. “They are going deeper? We discussed this! We would assault the depths of the darkness at dawn! Should the beasts show themselves, they were to fall back to our encampment.” His golden fists clenched, metal scraping together under his anger.

“Lord Paladin! It’s the darkness! Some kind of wicked power. It’s tainting their vision! Look!” Arnold pointed his gloved finger at the sight. “Use your will!”

His second’s eyes had a golden glow to them, evidence of the power he was pulling from his reserves.

Copying him, Brexin did the same. His vision shifted, and all became clear. The night was still just as dark. But within it, a haze appeared. Like oil on a canvas.

He could now make out pools of some kind of darkness that curled and lashed at the camp. He could just make it out around the torches the men carried. But it was odd. Like he and his paladins could see in, but the men inside couldn’t see out.

The more that he really focused, the more obvious the evil became. A wicked blackness that seemed to writhe and bubble. Where it flowed, waves of the stuff thickened and oozed. It was like watching the night itself come alive and sink its fangs into the thick of the Valdren camp.

He was just deciding what they should do when he saw the source of the damned howling. In the heart of it, a dozen glowing sets of eyes not a hundred paces south of the fleeing footmen. He couldn’t make out the forms that carried them, but he didn’t need to.

Obviously it was the beasts, come to assault.

“They’re not attacking them?” asked Brexin.

“No sir,” said Arnold. “They’re herding them.”

Brexin saw he was right. The footmen were being directed to the east of their location.

“You’re right! Arnold! They’re pulling the mundane into their clutches. Their minds are not made for battling the wicked. They’ve fallen prey to some kind of barbaric hunt!”

“I know, Lord Paladin, I know. What are your orders? We need to do something and do it fast.”

Gauging the distance, Brexin did some quick calculations. Calling upon the will from this distance was too far. They needed to bridge the gap, and fast.

He glanced upwards. At the moon that was just peeking, and the sun that wasn’t there. He turned around, and noted the short distance back to the pass. Frigid, but up.

“By The Five…” He took one more moment to contemplate what he should do. What his father would have him do.

“Our reserves of The Five’s will should hold,” advised Arnold. “If we need them.”

Brexin glanced at the dimly glowing golden signet that hung around the neck of his second. Each paladin had one. Many weren’t quite as bright as Arnold’s, and not nearly as bright as his own, but they had them.

Until morning, their ability to call upon the Five would be limited. But, they were always present. Even when distant.

Brexin clasped the signet around his neck. It pulsed, giving him a tiny instinct as to where the sun currently was. He stared backwards, at where he knew it was wrapping around the realm.

If they needed more, they could call upon it. It wouldn’t answer as quickly in the night, but the Five’s light was always there. It would come, if slowly.

For now, he and his paladins were full of power. More than enough for simple beasts of the dark.

Taking a deep breath, he made up his mind. “Where there is darkness that is not of the night, only The Five can light the path. We follow! Tell the men! We use the will on our feet. There’s no other way to catch them.”

***

Kairon watched in glee from his view in Sovereign Eye. Boney and The Red Claws had been a sight to behold.

Giving orders to the partially altered imps under his newest demon’s command was a strange feeling. There was a fuzzy disruption to any instructions he gave. He could still do it, but not as clearly as with the other warriors or brood imps.

Biting his lip, he pushed out his newest sets of instructions the best he could will them. “Keep pushing! We have a ways to go to get them to demarcation A… I will let you know when close!”

He couldn’t tell, but he was pretty sure the orders were relayed from the Red Claws to Boney, and then to the rest of the pack.

In the citadel, Shiny peered over his master’s shoulder. He didn’t say anything, but observed curiously. He’d been doing that more and more often lately.

“Shake!” barked Kairon. “Move the foot soldiers here and… yes, yes they are following. Move the paladins right… here!” he commanded, pointing. “Half the Red Claws are above, and half below. Boney’s herding them just as we instructed.”

“Yes master!”

On the warboard, the pieces all began to close.

On the left, the Wardens sat next to dummy camp six. To their side was located Demarcation point A with a great red X. And, to their right, the paladins and their footmen. Steadily eating up the distance.

As he returned to his overhead view, watching the inky darkness pool around the torch lit forces of men, two hundred being hounded by but a dozen, he couldn’t help but smirk.

His glee grew even more so when he saw what was behind them.

A hundred paladins.

To him, it wasn’t a hundred soldiers of The Solari. It was a hundred neatly packed boxes of source energy, with some very expensive looking swords, shields, and armor to boot.

“Master—why smile?” asked Shiny. “Seem… Scary. Lots of enemy.” The brood supervisor motioned with his claw at all the different colors on the war board.

“Enemies for now. But tomorrow, something else entirely,” he replied.

***

Rosk was just stirring in his sleep when the howls began. It took him but a moment to fully wake. He leapt up, massive glaive already grasped in one muscled palm. “Where are they?!” he barked.

“Elder! Elder!” A clan warrior was already trotting past the tents and sleeping arrangements, pushing his way through the waking bodies to him. “Perimeter scouts just returned! They… Well they wanted to warn us of that.”

He pointed at the blob of inky darkness that was but a smudged glow in the distance. With a yawn, Rosk tried to peer over the camp and out into the void of dusk. The moonlight and stars left little revealed, but he thought he could just make out a blob of color moving towards them. A murky glow.

Around, the stirring warriors had begun to talk. Sleep was quickly forgotten for the clans. They roused themselves, climbing to their feet and pointing towards that glow. Whispers turned to chatter, and chatter slowly became shouts.

“Quiet!” Rosk roared. “I can’t hear a damn thing besides that wicked howling!”

Slowly, as the camp nearest him obeyed and quieted, he listened. It took him a moment, but once he really focused, it hit him.

“Those aren’t just howls. Those are screams. Men’s screams. And that smell… Metal. I smell metal!”

No one corrected what that metal scent might have actually been, nor did they say they’d been smelling it since they entered the tainted domain.

He turned to the scout next to him. “Clans man! Spread the word! Men are coming! I mean to be ready!” Then, spinning around, he gestured wildly. “Horns! Sound the horns!”

“Yes elder!”

***

“I told you those were clan torches!” said Issie.

Chen waved back. “Issie. We couldn’t be sure. Not in the middle of the damn night.”

“But those horns! Those are ours!”

She was right. Deep, somber horns filled the night. The battle cry of the clans, signalling to prepare for blood.

“Is that… howls?”

Issie nodded. “Something’s out there, Chen. And it ain’t human.”

Denson pointed a finger. Just over the lip of the horizon, shapes were moving. Metal shapes. They had torches too, and they were marching towards the clans. “Are those… Valdren?”

“Valdren,” confirmed Issie.

“And they’ve come in numbers.” Chen wasn’t sure what to do. They were quite the distance away. It was hard to be certain just how far but… Maybe, just maybe they could make it in time.

As if she read his thoughts, Issie let out a low growl. “What are we waiting for? Those Valdren soldiers are here. The ones murdering our people. Let’s go!”

The scouting group tightened their straps and took off as fast as their weary legs would carry them.

***

As the forces moved closer and closer together, Kairon’s anticipation rose with them. He could feel the upcoming battle in his blood. Not as a warrior, but an orchestrator.

The sensation was… exhilarating. From his overhead view, he studied the three groups.

“Almost time… Shiny! We need Hush! Is he ready?”

“Yes master. I made sure. The void imps outside.”

Grabbing his staff, Kairon exited the tower. At the bottom of the steps, Hush and three cloaked void imps waited.

Before the named void imp could speak, the other three widened their glimmering eyes at their master’s appearance.

“Master!” cried the first.

“Ohh? Voioddd!” cooed the second.

“We call?” begged the third.

“No! Quiet! Important job!” snapped Shiny. He’d trailed behind Kairon, arms crossed around his chest.

“Shiny is right. Do you remember what I asked of you?”

This time, Hush held up a claw. “To call.” Then, after a pause… “Twice!”

Around, the other three void imps squealed in excitement. They began running in little circles, heads tilted back and ragged cowls ruffling.

“Yes—remember. The first calling is brief. I need you to have enough energy to call a second time. Do you still think you can do it?”

“Just two. Then two. Each call two.” Hush turned, studying the three others of the void. “I believe. Yes. We callllll. Master desire.”

The other voidlings chittered in excitement.

“Call!!!”

“Ohhh!!! We call!!”

Hush shooed the others back to silence. “Sh! Shh!” Then, facing his master, he beckoned. “What first desire? Tell!”

The city lord pondered his plans one last time. Pulling up Sovereign Eye, he viewed the two forces facing each other, with the paladins just about to arrive to the rear.

He considered all the anger the clans had been building up. All the fury and pointing they surely had at Valdren.

As things stood, the void imps might not be needed. But… with the paladins involved, he wasn’t certain.

And Kairon did not enjoy uncertainty.

So he decided to change events in his favor. Solidify the game, so to speak.

What he needed was something the void imps could enact from this distance, and to convince the paladins that they too needed to join the clash.

“I desire a calling of pact.” Pact represented pride, superiority, and binding of rule.

The four void imps took in a collective breath. “Ohhh my…”

“Yes….”

“We do this…”

Hush raised both arms. “You two! Only you two! Me and you wait.”

The other void imp looked disappointed, but the selected two were positively ecstatic.

Kairon drew his gaze upwards. To the massive glowing purple eye that crowned the citadel of his domain.

Speaking very carefully, the city lord chose his desire. “I desire… To be seen above the clans. To let our pride be above their own. To show the trespassers in our domain the eye which watches over its lands.”

The quartet of voidlings too joined their master in staring at the great eye. Then, without hesitation, the selected duo of the four began their calling.