Champion of the Gods
Copyright© 2025 by QM
Chapter 36
A clean and refreshed Darras sat with Erren under the pergola, waiting for their visitors to arrive. Because of Erren’s ability to slow time in her demesne, Darras had even had the time to enjoy a whole night’s sleep. Both Colanthus and Serulon appeared simultaneously on the lawn; Colanthus looked enraged, while Serulon appeared resigned.
“Once again, you murdered a champion of mine!” Colanthus spat out once he was close enough.
“Should make them stick to the laws of war,” Erren shrugged indifferently.
“You were the one breaking them!”
“I just had Darras follow their rules,” Erren thinly smiled. “Innocents were avenged and their souls have been judged and found wanting by the Allfather.”
“This is so,” Serulon confirmed. “You were warned of this, brother.”
“War is my remit; how my champions choose to fight it is not the business of Erren!” Colanthus spluttered.
“I am the goddess of life,” Erren countered. “Take a life and there are consequences, immediately, or in the future, always.”
“And what of your creature?”
“His soul remains pure, unlike your champions; he follows the rules,” Erren countered. “Now, why are you really here? I’m sure Serulon told you all this.”
“I did, he insisted,” Serulon shrugged.
“You’re planning something in Gresh,” Colanthus grated out. “Is it your intention to deny me my place?”
“No, though I doubt any there on both sides are suited to being a champion of yours,” Erren replied with a slight smile. “And if there were, Darras here will deal with any excesses on their part.”
Colanthus said nothing, simply fading away to wherever he kept his avatar, Darras presumed.
“What a fool he is,” Serulon stated, accepting a glass of wine from Erren as she sat beside the pair.
“He has his remit, and no doubt he will attempt to interfere, rather than observe,” Erren replied.
“Almost certainly, I just wish he’d stick to imbuing warriors with courage, not fomenting atrocities.”
“Is that what his remit is?” Darras asked.
“Yes, though he always took it too far and inevitably chose psychopaths to champion,” Serulon replied.
“He’s never been more than a nuisance since the ending of the First Ones,” Erren shrugged.
“Yes, they fitted his psyche perfectly,” Serulon smiled. “He was their god and they followed his path into oblivion.”
“Only there were no survivors,” Erren added. “As mum took a hand.”
“Yes,” Serulon chuckled. “He actually had the nerve to bitch to me about that, wanted me to get the Allfather to permit their reintroduction as a species.”
“Their time was over, fifty thousand years of rule as the apex predators of the planet, they wiped out hundreds of species in their rise to the top, developed magics that eventually destroyed the world and most of the life on it.”
“Which is why our mother acted to clean up the planet, whilst we have never spoken, I got the feeling she would have strenuously objected to any introduction of a potential race who would do as the First Ones did.”
“You once mentioned they ascended, Erren,” Darras interjected. “Where did they go?”
“A higher plane of existence,” Serulon replied. “They are still there, though are unable to dominate the other ... denizens there.”
“Probably why they are still alive,” Erren chuckled. “If they did become dominant, they’d go down exactly the same path.”
“True, now thank you for the wine, but I have to go,” Serulon replied.
“You are always welcome here, sister,” Erren replied, both she and Darras rising as Serulon did.
“It’s a place to vent,” Serulon smiled, before fading away.
“So, where now?” Darras asked Erren as they made their way back to the house.
“Gresh, you’ll be part of the invasion, mostly to deal with any shadows that attempt to interfere,” Erren replied.
“No problem,” Darras nodded as the pair began to prepare a simple supper for themselves.
“I suspect it will not be easy, though I anticipate the invasion will succeed in reaching this necropolis and exterminate the armies of my brother,” Erren replied.
“The Chickrith are out of time and place,” Darras nodded. “I expect there are others.”
“Yes, Menuliths, Keroush and several Ubaids too,” Erren added. “Probably others, though I’m unsure if they are intelligent or not.”
“No repercussions if we do wipe them out?”
“They will pass on to their fate with Dad,” Erren replied thoughtfully. “I don’t know what he’ll do with them, but they don’t belong here.”
“And then Casal, and the dragon.”
“Yes, though don’t expect Casal to be as easy as Challis was,” Erren replied.
“If possible, I’ll take him out at a distance, though we do have the Klea option, too.”
“Yes, and Demala, as Casal will be accomplished in all kinds of magic, some of it very dangerous.”
“I suspect he’ll run first,” Darras nodded. “Though he’s running out of places to hide and creatures to control.”
“He is,” Erren agreed.
Darras stepped through the gateway in Asulnarath, finding that a newly built road had been constructed from the gateway and out of the woods to three large encampments. He was informed by the observing Woodnymph that a command area had been set up and that he should report there.
“No incidents between the troops or the forest folk?” Darras asked.
“None, whilst I am not comfortable with such numbers, they respect the woods and swiftly move away from them to their encampments,” the nymph replied.
“That is good to hear,” Darras nodded. “May Lomarris continue to bless you.”
Darras was permitted entry to the command area by an Elven guard and escorted to a large tent in the centre where the three commanders were meeting. He was then allowed entry when his name was given and greeted the three commanders, Linota. Temlis and Keltranas.
“Glad you’re here, Darras,” Linota said after the greetings. “I take it you’re here to deal with any of these shadows?”
“I am,” Darras nodded. “I’ll also pass on any information we have from the independent scouting group out there.”
“Firios’s people?” Keltranas asked.
“Yes, they have been assisting with a certain task Erren wishes completed,” Darras replied, though he did not mention the involvement of Klea.
“We expect to be attacked the moment we crest the valley and descend into Gresh,” Temlis said.
“You will, the Chickrith are incapable of doing anything else,” Darras informed him. “These will only be small groups, however.”
“Our scouts report they have around five thousand of the creatures, though they were unable to penetrate the necropolis,” Keltranas added.
“It’s likely to be more,” Darras replied. “Nor will you have seen their warrior types.”
“Warrior types?” Linota asked.
“Think of an ant colony, there will be Chickrith bred for combat.”
“Ah, indeed,” Linota rumbled.
“The one good thing is they will come to you as they have nowhere else to go,” Darras added.
“Best my people lead the way then,” Linota nodded. “They’ll cope best in an initial assault.”
“Agreed,” Keltranas nodded. “We will support them with our bows.”
“My men will also use bows, unless we are attacked in an open area,” Temlis added thoughtfully. “If there, we’ll break out the pikes.”
“There aren’t that many,” Keltranas admitted. “Not until we reach the necropolis.”
“Then that’s where we’ll show off our contribution,” Temlis chuckled.
“Aye, we Dwarves would be interested in this new tactic,” Linota nodded. “Your drills have caused much speculation amongst my people.”
“As would we Elves,” Keltranas admitted. “My people rarely emerge from the woods to fight.”
“Lord Jertin came up with the tactics to give an attacking infantry force an edge when confronting horsemen and other infantry. Usually, it’s used with our mounted archers supporting the formation, though in this case, we’ll have the Elves to aid us,” Temlis explained.
“Indeed, we shall do so,” Keltranas agreed. “Along with supporting our Dwarven friends.”
“Our forward unit reports much activity in the valley beyond Gresh,” a Chickrith leader chittered to Casal.
“Numbers?” Casal hissed.
“Unknown, any attempts to penetrate the valley are foiled by Elven scouts,” the Chickrith replied. “We suspect Humans and Dwarves in numbers, though.”
“Follow the plan, draw them into the deep growths and attack them where their numbers and abilities will not be able to help them,” Casal commanded.
“That I fear will only delay them, not extirpate them,” the Chickrith replied.
“Likely so, but every delay enables us to reinforce our fighters at the necropolis by improving the fortifications and extending the tunnels beneath it,” Casal hissed.
“All is going to plan,” the Chickrith acknowledged. “We shall pin them here and infiltrate from their rear.”
“Do so,” Casal commanded, using the throne of command to reinforce his orders.
Horns sounded as the Dwarven regiment assembled and then advanced up the valley towards Gresh and what both Darras and Erren hoped would be the beginning of the end for the Dark Lord’s forces. Behind them in support came rank upon rank of Elven archers and finally the Human contingent, also carrying bows, but escorting the baggage train containing supplies and their pikes.
As soon as the Dwarves crested the summit of the valley, a hundred Chickrith broke cover and raced up from the treeline to attack the Dwarves, led by a much larger Chickrith that had massive pincerlike jaws. These were immediately hit by an arrow storm from the following Elves, guided by their scouts in the two fortresses. Chickrith natural armour proved to be tough; nor were the Elves as yet using their mithril-tipped arrows, and so only a few fell, the majority hitting the Dwarven line piecemeal, as they appeared somewhat indisciplined.
“Indisciplined or not, the Chickrith were strong and were aided by magic to survive in an environment that under normal circumstances would have been as if fighting at the top of a mountain range. And so the Dwarves were rocked back, several being knocked to the side and savaged by the Chickrith stragglers. This, however, had brought the Chickrith into optimal range for the Elven bows, and a mass volley came through the Dwarven lines to accurately slam into the Chickrith, felling many of them and enabling the Dwarven line to stabilise.
This enabled Elven snipers to use mithril-tipped arrows to take down those Chickrith attacking the separated Dwarves, allowing some to rise and rejoin their ranks. The Dwarves were then able to concentrate on taking down the larger Chickrith, finally smashing it to the ground and killing it. However, this did not stop the few surviving Chickrith from carrying on with their attacks, forcing the Dwarves to kill them all.
“Casualty report?” Linota ordered the march once the treeline was reached and the entry to the First One road was cleared, allowing the march to the necropolis.
“We lost five,” Doorf replied. “Our healers should enable our wounded to recover soon enough.”
“Nasty surprise, these Chickrith are both fast and strong,” Linota grimaced.
“We were warned,” Doorf added. “Our forces will be far less surprised now.”
“Aye, we were,” Linota accepted the reply. “Now we know.”
Elven scouts had now moved into the surrounding fungi forest and were scouting the route to the Chickrith base. The Dwarves, Elves and Humans lined up in marching order to progress down the overgrown road, occasionally stopping to remove any significant obstacles to their progress, either physically or, occasionally, magically. The Dwarves, in particular, had brought along several powerful fire magicians, knowing they did not have to worry about upsetting the forest folk while in Gresh.
“The invasion has begun,” a Chickrith leader informed Casal.
“You know the plan,” Casal hissed. “I will inform the Dark Lord.”
“No pitched battles, delay only until they reach the necropolis,” the Chickrith confirmed.
“Good, we want them far from aid, surrounded, and facing defences they cannot overcome,” Casal nodded.
“It shall be as you command.”
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