“You can come in General Chad” Lord Adair said with some satisfaction.
“Thank you for your timely assistance my lord” replied the general as he entered the room. The entire interaction with the guardian had been in the king’s mind. He did actually disappear…he had been sent to a prison in the guardian’s homeland for the duration of the war.
“I hate to admit that that gave me a small measure of pleasure, however, he is truly delusional” Lord Adair said with a smirk.
“Do you know the status of the underground army?” queried the general. He was all about business now that the king was truly out of the way.
“Well, the drugars are much closer than they should be. They are definitely being aided by underworld powers which is giving them speed they do not naturally have. We have to assume that from this moment forward that the keeper has cast his lot in this grab for power.” There was a resounding boom that shook the entire room. All the finery clinked and clanked as the shaking continued for a few moments then nothing.
“What the ruddy hell was that?” The dwarven general was only stymied for a moment. He immediately rushed to the balcony that overlooked the mountain city. His eye sight was great; however, he could not see what was happening off in the distance.
“It looks like the drugars have arrived and they are not alone. They came up under the outlying villages and have already begun their attack. A wide variety of demons have joined their ranks.”
“What made that noise?” asked one of the guards who had entered the room.
“It matters little at this point, everyone to battle stations!” bellowed the general. He ran from the room barking orders left and right. With a loud crack, the guardian disappeared. A silvery mist hung in the air for several moments before vanishing.
***
The village of DuWarven had just received the news that King Edric had been deposed. There was no small amount of celebration had at this news. The king’s popularity had waned over the last several years. The decline was more like a free fall once news had reached them about their cousins in the south; the people had decided that the time was right for change. How could they sit by and not help their brethren? Many had started covert supply runs to the south. King Edric had not known of the extensive tunnels that connected all the dwarven kingdoms in Tuwa which allowed for this secret support to go unnoticed.
Along with the news that Edric was no longer in charge, it was made clear that the military was taking charge. This was not disturbing news to the people…the dwarves believed in strong leadership and was huge supporters of the military. Most people of Ennis did not care for Edric’s isolationist ideals. The people were firmly behind General Chad and were ready for action. Or so they thought.
Boom! The ground shook violently in the fields between the village and the western edge of the lake. It looked like a burning rock from the sky had hit the ground. That was the source of the boom; however the shaking was from the drugars appearing from below the ground. The hairy beasts shrieked loudly and rushed the stunned dwarves. Rising into the air above the hordes was Kana. She looked to be weaving spells or something. Many dwarves did not hear what she was summoning from the underworld.
As Kana looked to the dwarves, who had recovered and were preparing for the furry hordes of drugars, she did not see the danger she was in. A bolt of blue lightning hit her square in the chest and sent her flying into the field below. She hit the ground with a thud and did not move for a few moments. There was a blue web pinning her to the ground which she was struggling with as the guardian appeared next to her.
“What are you doing here? I thought this kind of fight was beneath the almighty guardian” spat Kana. She wrenched herself free and stood tall to face Adair.
“You do not know what you have started Kana…I will tell you this now so it is not a surprise to you later. You started this and I am going to finish this. There is no banishment, no way out…you have made your choice and the consequences of those choices will demand more than you are capable of.” Adair’s eyes turned an icy blue color as he stared her down.
Kana summoned demonic dogs to distract Adair and she positioned herself for her next move. The massive beasts rushed the guardian who simply vanished and reappeared behind them. He lassoed the five beasts and pulled tight on the blue rope. Each head popped off unceremoniously and they fell to the ground. Kana felt she had the advantage now and used her underworld powers to open a portal to the keeper. A massive black hand reached from the depths toward Lord Adair.
“Zege” bellowed the guardian. The opening snapped shut and the hand disappeared. He turned to look at Kana once more. He had used the sacred language of the elements to close off the portal to the underworld. Kana still underestimated his abilities.
“You think you have won? You have done nothing…” chided Kana briefly before she was blasted far off into the distance. Adair had used all the elements to send her back to her new home in Nairi to the west.
As the guardian turned to the battle at hand, it was clear that his distraction had been costly. The drugars had overrun the village and the dwarves were in full retreat to the capital. Adair quickly identified the most troublesome demons and decided to deal with them. He rose into the air in a silvery mist. The demons below were drawn to his appearance overhead and started for him. Before they got too far, the guardian lashed out with considerable force. A wide variety of lightning lashed out at the various demons…some hit so hard that they were incinerated while others were stunned. Each hit sent out a shock wave that killed hundreds of drugars.
***
The commander of the outer wall watched as a magical battle was fought at the rear of the advancing drugar hordes. The dwarf was not distracted overly long as he waited for the dwarves in retreat to reach the safety of the walls. While he watched the battlefield unfold before him he heard the shrieks of the giant eagles. They cast ominous shadows over drugars who immediately started running every direction at once. The first series of boulders smashed into the beasts below with great effect. The second assault was more up close and personal. Eagles were seen diving in and out of the hordes. The golden feathers turned a dark red color as they continued to attack.
The eagles made their way to the back and the edges of the aggressors. There would be no escape. While the drugars were initially unsettled, the remaining demons were quick to regain control. The dwarven commander did not want to lose the advantage he had gained, so he ordered the trebuchets to unleash hell on their ancient nemesis. The massive boulders were smooth and completely round. When they hit the ground they did so at an angle. This allowed the bulky projectile to continue its destruction by using its remaining kinetic energy to roll over even more furry beasts.
In retaliation, the larger demons grabbed drugars and hurled them at the wall. They were still out of range and many beasts were needlessly crushed to death. The drugars stopped advancing as they were now being assailed by dwarves who were springing up out of the ground. The dwarves who were in retreat did not actually make it to the wall; they went into tunnels and back tracked to surprise the furry beasts. The tide of the battle turned toward the dwarves of Ennis and the demons knew it.
As soon as it was clear to the demons that this assault was a lost cause they started to vanish into thin air. After hours of battle only the drugars and dwarves remained. General Chad had made it to the battle finally and had taken command of the situation. He ordered the troops to completely surround the vile perpetrators of unneeded death. There was only one order he gave after that. “Kill every last one of them…we end their threat now!”
The battle for Mount Ennis was over in matter of days. When dwarven soldiers became too weary to lift an axe or heft a hammer, another would take their place. They rotated thusly until the threat of the drugars was over. It was sad to end such creatures as they were the last of their kind and were from an age long forgotten. In wartime such considerations went by the way side. Survival instincts take over and the only consideration is how to save your own kind. It was still a loss to Tuwa and there would be time later to mourn their extinction.