A sudden break in the trees to the east made me pull Smoke to a stop who nickered in protest.
It was the path through the forest. The one that lead to Grax.
I looked at my Battle Points counter. 1,200. The exact amount required to hire him into my service.
A smile spread across my face.
Leaving Smoke at the edge of the trees, I ran through the forest along the path, my heart pounding with excitement.
When I arrived at the little clearing, Grax was waiting expectantly.
“You are here to free me?” the ogre rumbled.
“I free you, and you help me, agreed?” I asked.
He regarded me for several long, agonizing moments, then nodded his huge head. “If you can afford the price, I am yours to command.”
Inwardly, I sighed with relief. When I pulled up his information screen it asked if I wished to hire this champion for 1,200 Battle points.
“Heck, yeah!” I said and selected Yes.
Champion Unit hired.
My Battle points counter dropped to zero. The manacles around Grax’s wrists unlocked and fell heavily to the ground.
The ogre grinned and slowly stood. By the Gaming Gods, he was huge! Easily two stories tall and nearly as wide as my Keep.
Grax stretched his thick arms which resembled massive oaks. “It will be good to fight again. Who shall I crush for you first?”
Four Minute Warning!
“Funny you should ask that,” I said. “Let’s get to the central platform, quickly.”
“And then?” he asked.
“Crush everything there.”
The ogre’s grin grew wider. “That is a good plan, Commander.”
We moved down the pathway, Grax’s colossal frame bumping into trees, snapping them or felling them over.
Emerging from the tree line, I was startled to see my new cavalry unit running toward me.
The unit leader raised a hand in greeting, but I pointed northward.
“To the platform!” I shouted. He nodded and thundered past.
As I leapt onto Smoke, Grax practically exploded out of the forest, sending branches and trees flying everywhere. In his hands was a large log, a makeshift club. Placing one end on his shoulder, he turned and ran north, heavy footfalls shaking the ground.
Wow, I thought, kicking Smoke into a gallop to catch up with the sprinting ogre. The champion’s size and speed was terrifying. I was just thankful he was on my side.
We rushed northward, and I made sure that the cavalry did not get too far ahead. As fast as Grax was, he wasn’t faster than a horse at full charge.
With no clue what we were about to face, we rounded the final bend. The anticipation was high.
The grassy plains widened and the river with the platform came into view.
Enemy units were assembled there.
Two grunt units stood side by side on the southern edge of the platform, in square formation. They practically bristled with spears.
On the north side of the platform were two units of archers spread out in a double line.
And at the altar on the platform was my red banner, clutched by a skeletal hand. Beside it, sitting on her horse, was Amara.
Oh, boy, I thought taking in the army before me. Could this get any worse?
Enemy Spotted!
Confused, I looked to my map.
The Lookout at the Keep had spotted enemy units incoming from the northeast. It was the grunts and archers which had stopped me from chasing Amara. Now they were marching on my base.
With a quick check at my gold levels I assigned both a footmen unit and archer unit to training. Hopefully, they would pop out in time to save the base.
Three Minute Warning!
And speaking of time.
All three of us, me, Grax, and my lone cavalry unit, continued our suicidal charge at the platform. There was nothing else I could do now.
Ownership of the banner would be decided in the next few moments. All or nothing, here we go.
As we closed the distance to the waiting grunt units, I pointed my sword forward and screamed the one word which would now decide me fate.
“Attack!”
CHAPTER TEN
A horrific volley of arrows rained upon us, but did not affect our speed. I did not have time to check everyone’s damage, but neither I nor Smoke were hit.
Just short of the bristling spear line, I stopped, letting Grax and the cavalry charge past. Switching to my bow I fired wildly into the assembled grunts. No point getting speared to death before the fight even started. Let the heavy units take them on.
And take them on, they did.
The cavalry charged headlong into the first grunt unit, horses stomping over bodies, spears snapping with the impact. The riders were screaming with rage and swinging their swords.
Grax ran straight into the other unit of grunts. But before he got within spear range, he heaved his log with both hands over one shoulder and swung it across like a bat in a wide arc.
Grunts and spears flew everywhere. One grunt even pinwheeled over the platform to bounce into the archers.
Figuring Grax had the advantage for the moment, I concentrated my arrow fire on the grunts engaged with the cavalry.
I risked a glance at Amara. Bow in hand, she hadn’t moved, nor made any indication she was going to join in just yet. Plastered across her face was a smug smile.
She knew she had this.
Getting angry, I aimed my bow in her direction. But the archers fired again.
Since they couldn’t aim at the enemy tangling with their own units, they settled on the easier target.
Me.
The sky darkened with a swarm of descending arrows.
Crap! I yanked on Smoke’s reins and moved us out of the way just in time.
Two dozen arrows sprouted from the ground I’d just vacated.
In response, I fired back at the archers, hitting three in quick succession. But it wouldn’t be enough. If left alone, those archers would eventually kill us all.
Taking a tremendous risk, I shouted a command at the cavalry leader.
“Ignore the grunts! Kill the archers!”
The cavalry leader reacted instantly. His riders immediately disengaged from the grunts, and trampling over some of them, charged across the platform.
Before the grunts could turn to follow, I took Smoke into their ranks, switching to my sword and swinging like a lunatic.
To my right, Grax was stomping on grunts with his huge feet, and batting others into the air with log swings. But the survivors kept fighting, jabbing with their spears into his legs.
Focusing on my own fight, I smacked away spear thrusts while using Smoke’s size to push through the grunts. One decapitation followed another.
At the periphery, my cavalry unit, already severally depleted having started short several men, was slaughtering one of the archer units, who had now routed.
The other archer unit fired at my cavalry with impunity while keeping their distance.
I cursed myself for not telling the cavalry to split themselves across both archer units. Now one archer unit served as bait while the other worked on finishing their attackers off.
But I had no time to deal with this screw up. Smoke took a hard hit with a spear into his rear left leg and stumbled. The horse had received too much damage previously, and racing headlong into this fight without time to heal had taken its toll.
Smoke teetered over to his right side, then collapsed. Feeling this about to occur, I barely leapt from the saddle over probing spear blades, and tumbled to the ground.
Your Mount has been slain.
Up on my feet again, Grax’s shadow passed over me. He’d crushed and stomped the entire grunt unit on his own.
“More battle,” he said as he strode into the remaining grunts. “More blood.”