Battle for the realms.
CHAPTER ONE
Warrior had been sent to the world known as Leif to speak
with the gods. He appeared outside a
large palace and the gates opened to allow him in. The heralds took him to the main hall were
all the gods were seated, Warrior bowed as he came to a halt in front of the
Chief God or rather Goddess.
“My Lady
Victoria, the Creators have sent me on your request to alleviate a problem
here. As for all the gods in the
universe, my sword arm is an extension of your own arm, and your enemies are my
enemies.”
“Warrior, I thank you for coming. We, the gods, have a serious problem on the
surface of this world. Perhaps it is the
result of our own mismanagement of the situation, but I feel that much of what
has happened has been beyond our control.
“There are two land masses on the surface,” she continued,
and she pointed to the hologram floating in the centre of the hall. “The large one on the left is called Tarn,
and the one on the right is Metros.
Their Lords and Kings have been changing throughout the years, and there
have been the wars and upheavals that we were told to expect when we were sent
here by the Creators.
“A short time ago, the colours on the hologram changed to
red overnight. We have no idea why this
happened. As soon as we informed the
Creators, they told us that for our own safety we should not go to the
surface. We have had a lot of warriors
sent to the big hall for the war at the End of the World, and they all say the
same thing. There are two Kings down
there, calling themselves Lord Cyber and Lord Flax, and the stories of
atrocities they have committed are horrendous.
We need to know, Warrior, what really is going on down on the
surface. There is talk of evil magic and
dead souls walking and fighting with these Lords’ armies. Monsters and the like are running free, with
nothing to stop them killing and maiming the population. The only explanation we gods can put on it is
that the world is not developing as it should because of these two warring
Lords. In our estimation, this world is
about a thousand years behind time. I
know what you are thinking, but we informed the Creators of this over a
thousand years ago. Their answer was to
keep persevering, and that it would get better and its development would start
to move faster, but they have given us no idea of the timescale and we cannot
wait forever doing nothing.”
“I will go to the surface, my Lady, and see what this is all
about. With your permission, my Lady,”
and Warrior bowed and faded.
He appeared on the surface, which he knew to be Tarn. Before him there was a battle taking place,
with four thousand soldiers fighting what seemed an endless supply of the
opposing army. There was no way the
soldiers could win, and when fireballs began to rain down on them from out of
nowhere they took the only reasonable action in the circumstances. A horn sounded, and both mounted and foot
soldiers ran back towards the hills.
Then Warrior heard the words he dreaded to hear, spoken by a man on the
hill. The voice was loud, possibly too
loud for a mortal.
“Forward! We must
find the Stepping Stones to the Gods.”
Warrior faded from the scene, and reappeared on Metros,
although he was invisible to everyone around him. He entered a large tent where one man,
clearly in charge, was addressing the generals.
The man looked up, his eyes narrowed as if he were looking for someone,
but he could not see Warrior.
The man looked back at the generals, and shouted at them,
“You are letting me down. You should
have found the Stepping Stones by now.
It is my right by conquest to get to them first, but your incompetence
may lead to another g… another Lord finding them before me. Now get back out there and scour the churches
and sacred houses. I want the key.”
Warrior had heard enough.
He returned to the hall of the gods.
“My Lady, the situation is worse than I ever thought it
could be. I will have to go and report
to the Creators.”
He saw the goddess’s head drop in resignation. “My Lady, if it is any consolation, it is not
your fault. What is happening on the
surface of this world is outside the control of the gods and far beyond
anything you or any of the gods could have anticipated. Have faith in the power of the Creators and
their warriors. With your permission, I
must go and give my report, my Lady.”
“Yes, go, Warrior, and the gods hope that you have better
news on your return. You will return,
Warrior?”
“Yes, my Lady.”
* * *
* *
Warrior met the Creators in the Mists of Time and informed
them of all he had seen and heard.
“This is gross incompetence on the part of the gods,
Warrior, and they and the world should be punished.”
“My Lords, with respect, they informed the Creators of these
problems over a thousand years ago. In
fact, it may have been going on since before the Council of Gods for this world
was appointed. These two gods on the
surface of this world, for there is no doubt in my mind that they are gods,
have used various guises over the centuries when they proclaimed themselves
Lords or Kings. All the time, they have
been building up their powers and their strength.
“The Council of Gods here has only been doing what the
Creators told them to do, and that was to persevere with the problem. They had no idea what was really going on,
and they certainly could not have anticipated the exceptionally high level of
evil that we can now sense. They only
had some clue as to the severity of the problem when the hologram changed from
green to red a short time ago, and that was when I was called. Over half the people of this world are good
and God-fearing, and that on its own is more than enough to mean that they
deserve help. However, the evil of those
two gods is far too powerful for me to handle alone. I watched a rain of fireballs directed at an
opposing force, and I believe this is only a small measure of the power that
must be dealt with here. There are good
people trying their best to fight, and yet they have little knowledge of what
they are up against.”
“We will see to things.
You may go to Asgard and rest, Warrior.
We will seek the advice of the other creators.”
* * *
* *
Marina and Brandon appeared on Leif, with the usual three
Valkron accompanying them. There was a
village not far away, and they headed towards it, but just outside of the
perimeter Brandon stopped and looked around them.
“There is something not right about this village,
Marina. I am unsure what it is, but I
have a strong feeling that there is danger here.”
“Yes I sense this danger too, Brandon. I sense that it is now on the move and
heading towards us.”
At that moment, twenty mounted soldiers rode out of the
village towards them at a trot. On
seeing the small group, five of the mounted soldiers stopped. Each had a young girl lying across the front
of his saddle, and all the girls were screaming for the riders to let them go.
“Well, look at this: a bonus four more to take to our
camp. Four women look far too many for
you, boy. I think you ought to pass them
to us to look after for you.”
“No, I don’t think so,” replied Brandon. “I think it is you and your army that has far
too many women for you to handle. I
believe that if you release them and put them down, Marina will be lenient with
your punishment.”
“You are obviously having trouble with your eyesight,
boy. There are twenty of us and five of
you. Now, what do you say to that?”
“Look, it’s far too late to tell me that. If you wanted to go and get reinforcements,
you should have thought of it before you challenged us. Now, do as I say before I get upset. Put the girls down, and you’ll live.”
“We are going to set the girls down and then we will kill
you, boy. We’ll have your horses too.”
Brandon watched the soldiers put the girls on the ground
telling them that they had better not move.
“You eight,” the leader said to eight of the riders on his left, “Go and
rip that woman off her horse. I want her
two swords.”
“Pull back, Brandon.
The man wants my swords,” said Marina.
Brandon smiled as he pulled his horse back well behind
Marina.
“Send your men over here, big mouth, and I send them back
without their heads.”
“Get her now.” The
eight charged at Marina, and as they came close her swords were out and back in
before the leader had any idea what was happening. The heads of the soldiers were rolling about
on the ground.
“Well, big mouth? Are
you going to come and claim your prize?”
“Lord Flax is not going to like what you have done,” the
leader told Marina, showing no inclination of moving any closer to her. “He will destroy you with his powerful
magic. Get the girls and we will go back
to the castle.”
“If you wish to remain alive you will leave the girls where
they are,” Marina retorted. “Now toddle
off to Lord Flax, and tell him that Marina is here to kick his miserable body
off the surface of Leif. You can also
tell him that his days of plundering the countryside are over. My army will be here shortly, and then I will
show him what magic is all about.”
“If I had time I would cut you down, witch. We burn witches unless they are fighting for
Lord Flax.”
“Drusilla,” Marina said to one of the Valkron. “Do something with that cape the big mouth is
wearing. It will get caught on something
if it goes on blowing about like that.”
Drusilla pointed her finger, and the cape caught fire.
They watched as the soldier screamed and ripped it off his
back. “I will make you pay tenfold for
that, witch.” He rode away with the
other soldiers at a blinding pace.
The girls were bowing, and one said, “Thank you, my Lady.”
“I am not your Lady.
I am Marina. Your Lady is the
Goddess Victoria. It is she that you
should be thanking, because it is on her request that I am here. If this is your village, then I think you
ought to go home as soon as possible.”
Marina watched the girls as they ran off, and once they were
out of sight, she and the four others faded to reappear near the Palace of the
Gods. The gates opened, and they were
taken to the Meeting Hall of the Gods.
A goddess was standing near a lectern.
“My Lady, I am Marina.”
Marina heard the whispers round the room.
“I have been sent here by the Creators to sort out this ugly
mess. First though, I would like to say
that my god, the Goddess Omecihuatl, sends her greeting to the gods of Leif.”
“Thank you, Marina.
Your name carries a lot of weight, as does your god. I welcome you to our world, but as you say,
it is in a mess. This must be Brandon,
your General and second in command. Your
name precedes you in the Pages of Time.
Star, Drusilla and Topaz, I welcome you all on behalf of the gods in
their entirety.”
“I have seen the chaos on the surface, my Lady. I have shown my intent to Lord Flax, as he is
called.”
“How do you mean, ‘as he is called’? Who is he, Marina?”
“He is not a lord but a god.”
There was another murmur passing around the seat of the
gods.
“I will tire him out before I imprison him,” Marina told
them. “He is an evil god who should not
be on the surface but in the underworld.
I could feel his immense power as soon as I appeared on the surface of
Leif. Once he has been neutralised, I
will do the same with Lord Cyber, because he too is an evil god.”
“Do you need an army, Marina? There is one on the surface, but it is
disorganised. I am not sure how you will
go about getting them to follow you, but I have been informed by the heralds
that there are at least five thousand of them.
The only problem is that Lord Flax has ten times that amount of
soldiers, and he can summon them by magic with no more than a word.”
“So, he uses Magic to transport his army. The sort of army that I place in front of him
will soon put him in the right frame of mind.
The soldier we ran into on the surface said something about going back
to the castle. Do you know where this
castle is?”
“There are over twenty castles dotted all over the
countryside. Lord Flax has been building
them for several years as he took more territory. He uses the prisoners he captures to do the
building, treating them no better than slaves.”
“Where does he keep the prisoners? In the castles?”
“He built a prison that usually holds about three thousand
of them. It is not very well protected,
but no one has the nerve to attack it so not many guards are needed to defend
it. It’s empty at the moment, because he
is using the prisoners to build a new castle.”
“In that case, my Lady, the new building will be the place I
free first, making the prisoners a large part of my army.”
“It is there that you will find the army that is loyal to
me, Marina, but they are without a real commander.”
“With your permission, my Lady, I will speak with my Creator
and then place my army on the surface.”
“Yes of course, Marina, and the blessings of the gods are
with you.”
They all faded, and Marina and Brandon met Marina’s Creator
in the mists of time.
“These two gods, Marina, cannot go on with what they doing
now. They are breaking all the universal
laws and it has to stop. They are making
a mockery of everything good, and they cannot be allowed to go on seeking the
key to the Realms. Certainly they have a
big task ahead of them if they persist in that direction. After the problems we had with Earth, all the
lower Stepping Stones on every world were destroyed.
“You have all the powers, and you may use whatever you need,
but I very much doubt that you will have to go too far in that direction. You fight magic with magic, and the way you
do it makes you the most powerful in the universe. I will never leave you wanting as you go
about your task of cleaning up this mess, Marina. My blessing and those of the Creators in
their entirety go with you.”
* * *
* *
Marina and the entire army of Valkron appeared on the
surface, where the new partially built castle could be seen in the
distance. In the other direction was the
army that remained loyal to the Council of Gods.
“We will go and see if the army is willing to make war with
this Lord Flax.”
They rode in the direction of the army. As they came closer, they could see that the
lookouts had spotted them and the army was on the alert. A detachment was sent towards them, but on
seeing Marina’s force of Valkron, they rode back to the main army at speed, and
there was sudden movement in the ranks of soldiers. Archers fanned out in front of the army, and
Marina could see that they were frightened but ready to do battle if
necessary. There was nothing she could
do about the way they were reacting, because she understood their reasons.
“Deacon, we will need the barrier, but at no time do I want
to look aggressive. I need this army to
trust me.”
Marina was within a hundred paces of the archers, and she
continued riding slowly forward. At
fifty paces, she stopped.
“Who is in charge here?” she demanded, but this was met by
silence. “Now, don’t be silly. I want to know who your leader is.”
A voice from within the crowd answered, “I am the leader,
but for how long I have no idea.” As he
answered, he walked out in front of the archers. “Who are you, and what do you want?”
“I am Marina, and I am here to free your world and give you
your land back.” There was a lot of
muttering, and then the archers lowered their bows.
“You are the one the priests have been talking about. They say you have a direct link to the
gods. You can see that we are in fear
and disorganised. We are all that is
left of an army totalling thirty thousand.
Do not mistake my words, Marina, we might be in fear but we will still
fight to the death.”
“Then I am in time, because I have every intention of
leading this army to victory, as depleted as it is. Who are you?”
“I am Bandore, and it was I that started the army and the
fight back against Flax. I call him only
‘Flax’ because he is no Lord of mine.”
Marina said, “I want a true count of your spear men, archers
and riders. I want them in ranks and
each type of soldier in his own group.
Tomorrow we are going to war and the first thing to do is to take our
captured soldiers back from their slavery.
We are going to destroy the new castle and all opposing forces in it.”
“Marina, we are five thousand men and no more. By the time we get near the castle there will
be three times that number waiting for us.”
“What did your priest say about me, Bandore?”
“He said you would amass armies that have never before been
seen on Leif, and that you will fight fire with fire.”
“Then trust me to do just that.”
“What about the walking dead he pulls from the grave,
Marina? How are you going to fight
them?”
“I will destroy them the same way as I would do if they were
alive, but faster. Now do as I ask,
because we go to war at first light.”
* * *
* *
The morning came and the army was now looking more like an
army. The Valkron had organised them,
with Brandon placing a Valkron at the front of every fifty soldiers.
Marina and Brandon were at the front, and Bandore was just
to her left and rear, in line with Brandon.
“Order your men forward, Bandore. They are still your army to lead. Brandon is my General, and you must do
whatever he says without question.”
They had been marching a short while there was an apparition
in front of them. Marina halted the
Army.
“Where do you think you are going, witch, with that paltry
little army? You are going the wrong
way, woman. You should be running the
other way. I am in no doubt that you
will be doing just that when you see my army charging towards you.”
Marina made no answer.
She just looked ahead, and then she turned to Bandore, still ignoring
Lord Flax.
“I believe that is the new castle belonging to that
disgusting creep Flax. Well, it won’t be
long before he will have to get another one.”
“Don’t you ignore me, witch.
I am the most powerful man on this world.”
Marina still took no notice, as she nudged her horse forward
through the apparition.
They were a thousand paces from the castle when they saw the
army appear out of thin air. The army
behind Marina started to talk all at once as they came to a halt. Brandon turned his horse to face them.
“Now listen to me and forget about the army ahead, because
they are about to be destroyed. Marina
didn’t come all this way to see you defeated and die, so have a little bit of
faith in Marina and the Goddess Victoria that sent her.”
The army was once again quiet, and Brandon turned and rode
closer to Marina. “That army, Marina,
consists of fifteen thousand foot soldiers.
I see no mounted troops anywhere.
I have also noticed a drop in Lord Flax’s power as those soldiers
arrived, but there is no mistaking that they are real.”
You are correct, Brandon, and I felt the same as you. He is using a lot of energy transporting
those soldiers across the country. What
do you see in the army?”
“There are a thousand archers, five thousand spearmen, and
the rest are swordsmen only. Only the
spearmen have shields and they are not big enough to cover their bodies.”
“The battlefield is yours, Brandon.”
The apparition appeared once more, and Lord Flax shouted,
“How dare you ignore me, witch? I will
enjoy burning you when we capture you in a short while. I will see that it is a slow burn, just to
hear you screaming in pain.”
Marina did not even look at the apparition. She just looked ahead with her knowing smile.
“Look at my army, you foolish witch. I am going to take pleasure in wiping your
army off the surface of Leif. Are you
deaf, witch? I am talking to you. Surrender now, and I will let you all live as
slaves. Can you hear me?” he shouted
once more, but Marina just ignored him.
“Then your fate is sealed,” and the apparition disappeared.
The army started to march forward. They were ten deep, spread over a thousand
paces. The army behind Marina watched
nervously, and at that moment Brandon thought ‘Roman Legion with a thousand
archers’. When they appeared in front of
the army, there was a hubbub of conversation but now there was much less
nervousness.
As soon as Lord Flax’ army saw the Roman Legion appear, it
almost came to a halt and would have done just that if the officers had not
pushed them forward.
Brandon shouted, “March forward two hundred paces and form
checkerboard.”
The army behind Marina watched in awe as this took
place. When the Romans stopped in
formation, Brandon gave more orders: “Archers prepare to shoot. On my command, a full quiver of arrows.”
The army heading towards Marina was now moving forward much
more slowly. They had never been up
against anything like this before. At a
hundred and fifty paces away, they stopped and it was then Brandon shouted,
“Archers to the front, pilum protect the archers for seventy five paces and
then archers fire.”
Several blocks ran forward, and as they came closer the
opposing army fired their arrows. It was
too early, and the arrows fell to the ground.
The second wave of arrows was better, but the shield went up and only
one percent was killed. The Romans
stopped, and the archers fired a full quiver before turning and running back
before the last arrow had met its target.
The opposing army tried to do the same with their shields as the Romans
had done, but they had had no practice in forming an effective interlocking
defence with their shields, and over a third of them were killed. Their screams were horrific, but Marina was
unconcerned. They had chosen to fight
for the evil gods, and this was the consequence of their decision.
Finally, the opposing army reorganised and started to march
forward again.
“Pilum forward,” Brandon shouted. The first block of soldiers ran forward,
meeting no effective opposition. Each
soldier threw his spear and then retreated, and then the second block ran out
and did the same. By the time they had
all returned, there were only about three thousand of the opposing army left to
do battle.
Brandon shouted, “Every other Cohort, charge into the
attack. Let no one live.”
The battle was quickly over, and the Romans returned to
their formation with minimal losses.
“Forward, to the Castle,” commanded Brandon, and the entire
army marched forward. They saw the few
guards that had been looking after the prisoners riding out as fast as they
could, and when they got to the castle the prisoners were walking out.
Marina clicked her fingers and the Roman Legion disappeared,
and the remainder of Marina’s army marched up to the castle. She looked around at the dead from the
opposing army and the few that her army had lost, and she clicked her fingers
again. The dead disappeared from the
battlefield, leaving behind their weapons and only a few horses to show they
had ever been there.
“Bandore, have some of the army collect the weapons and give
them to the soldiers we’ve freed, and then get them food. They look half starved.”
Brandon was still sitting on his horse, looking as if he was
concentrating on something. A few
seconds later, he relaxed and dismounted.
He walked over to Marina and stood at her side.
“Is something wrong, Brandon?”
“I am not sure, Marina.
I keep getting a feeling that dead souls are here on the surface.”
“You are almost right, Brandon. There are dead souls, but right now they are
still in the underworld, being organised and prepared to be drawn out. You are feeling this now and not in the
battle because we are not in the Outer World but on the surface. My Creator is pleased with the battle today.”
“Marina, in the final part of that battle, I told the Romans
to let no one live. Was I correct in
doing so?”
“These soldiers we are fighting made their mind up a long
time ago to fight for evil gods, and to do that they too had to be evil. If it had been a wrong order, my Creator
would have said so. The heralds have
informed the gods of what happened, but they might wish to ask questions. I need rest, Brandon. Would you offer my apologies to the gods and
answer anything they ask.”
Marina then walked over to the castle wall and sat down on a
cubed stone with her back to the wall.
Her eyes closed and she slept.
