Rise of the Horde

Khao’khen wanted to enjoy a few days of rest in the town of Irthakash but a runner from the north came to dash his plans for relaxation. The message from Sakh’arran informed him that the defending soldiers of the City of Alsenna wanted to have negotiations with them and he needed the chieftain to make the decision if they should press on with the siege or give room for the negotiation to happen.

“Finally… They knew where they stand.” Khao’khen gave out a sigh of relief as he passed the letter to Adhalia who just skimmed right through the letter. She had been swamped with the management of the town for the past months and her baggy eyes says it all that she was doing her best to make the populace of the town be familiar with the presence of her allies. The chieftain advised her to have some proper rest but she was stubborn and she wanted to show the chief where her expertise is at.

With the help of Adhalia, the locale of the town got familiarize with the presence of the creatures that they often hear who are described to be bloodthirsty and cruel but their experience living with them the past months made them realized that the orcs were not what the stories portrayed them to be, well at least with the way they are now. The Ereians witnessed and experienced the good sides of the orcs which was often ignored since their fearsome reputation on the battlefield was always the one that is prominent about them.

The residents of the town saw for themselves the kindness of the orcs which was rarely experience by others who are not of their kin. Little did they know that the orcs treated them as one of their own since they have are now part of the chieftain’s tribe and they had to treat them well less they get punished by the chief. At first the orcs didn’t know how to treat the Ereians after they were conquered and became part of the chief’s tribe since they are no orcs and they can’t treat them the same way as they treat their kin who were conquered so they just treated them the same as how they treated the first people of Adhalia.

Khao’khen then gave word that the bolstered Drakhars would soon be deployed and he sent a message to Sakh’arran requesting for Badz, Siroh, Glas and Dylan to come to Irthakash before he would head north. He planned to have Badz and Siroh managed Irthakash for the meantime while he send Dylan and Glas to aid and keep watch of Baron Husani along with the Drakhars that were at his territory.

After a week, Khao’khen now stood in front of the City of Alsenna facing the southern gate of the city with the new army standing behind him. He could make out some hazy figures moving about the southern walls of the city. Undoubtably their foes noticed their presence and were informing their higher ups about them. Khao’khen could make out the silhouettes of people arriving at the southern wall of the city and he was certain that they were alarmed of their presence.

Along the southern wall, Commander Lars along with Serkes were looking at the new army that just appeared from the south. The garrison commander of the city wasn’t sure if they were friendly or hostile but he assumed that they are probably hostile since he could make out the figures of the rowdy trolls that gave them a headache with their past few encounters with them right at the right flank of their foes and are standing with them.

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The agility of the trolls was enough to give them a lot of trouble since they could somewhat outpace their cavalry which was dwindling as the days passed by but then a group of mounted trolls appeared which decimated their morale. The battle between two cavalry units would depend on the quality and strategies of both sides to claim victory but the trolls threw all logic away in the way that they fought. They would shower them with javelins then create a distance before attacking again with another rain of javelins and if they ran out of javelins to throw that was the only time that they would engage in a melee fight but their prowess in melee combat was more fearsome than their prowess while attacking from a distance.

What thoroughly tilted Commander Lars and the troops that he led to fight the trolls was that, when the steeds of the trolls refused to move because of exhaustion, the trolls carried them away to safety. The garrison commander could still no forget about that memory of his that messed up his way of thinking for days. He hadn’t witnessed such an abnormal thing ever in his entire life, a rider carrying his steed to safety just because it refused to move before mounting it again to dash to safety.

If he wasn’t mistaken, the creatures that the trolls were using as their mounts were the Ubiris who were stubborn and aggressive animals that prowl through the desert and were known to be scavengers and are often spotted to be lurking around battlefields waiting for their next meal.