Like a slowly advancing tide did Jormag's troops march towards Hoelbrak while the Champion Drakkar stood at the back of their line and with a slow nod signal for the troops to hold position while the huge being made its way over towards the front of the army.
Once he arrived there he observed the Norn up on the wall for a few moments and couldn't help but admit that their spirit was shining brightly, even though they knew they would die.
"Children of the north! My master, Jormag, offers you the choice to join his side! He has no wish for needless bloodshed! You, just like all the other Norn, are his children! After all, was it not the north that provided you with a home to shelter and food to nurture you? All that has kept you alive all these years WAS Jormag! Thus, it is only right and just for you to repay his kindness and generousness for all these years! Come, join us in our ranks and you will not be amiss of anything!" Drakkar spoke in a loud and clear voice as he had been tasked by his master in the hopes to sway some of the Norn still.
At first only silence was his answer but soon the silence turned into laughter. Mocking laughter to be exact, originating from one man that stood at the front of the defenders causing rage to bubble inside of Drakkar's mind at the disrespect shown towards his lord and master!
"HA! He provided us? Did your 'master' cause your brain to rot to such a degree that you actually believe the shit that comes out of your mouth? Jormag gave us nothing! Instead he took and took without ever getting satisfied! Our homes, our hunting grounds, our sacred lands, our PEOPLE did he take! And you expect us to be grateful to that giant cunt in the form of a dragon? Go return to your 'master' and tell him to come himself so I can personally cave his skull in!" The voice spoke, growing louder and louder while clear anger was prominent in it at the end of the man's words after which Drakkar grit his teeth and simply turned around without another word.
'So be it! You'll regret your words soon enough little Norn! I'll make sure of that…' Drakkar thought all the while and once he passed by one of the leaders of his master's army nodded shortly which caused the crystalized Norn to yell a few orders to his subordinates.
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After Sjorn had let out some of his anger he swiftly turned around to his subordinates that were in charge of the different divisions and nodded shortly which caused them to return the nod and swiftly rushed of to carry out the first part of their defence strategy.
"SIEGE WEAPONS!" Sjorn roared into the cold winter night, all the while observing how the enemy's army formed itself into different divisions.
The divisions consisted of one main army, which was most certainly meant to attack them head on. The other divisions though were very small and after some time left into different directions, causing Sjorn to hum in thought, contemplating what they may be up to.
Calling over one small group of hunters Sjorn shortly gave them the order to split up and follow these small groups that had left the main battlefield to make sure they wouldn't do something that would breach a hole in their defence too fast. With determined nods the men and women left in a hurry after which Sjorn turned around to observed the progress of his siege weapons and soon discovered that most were loaded already.
Grinning to himself with excitement Sjorn turned back around towards the enemy as he was really looking forwards to see the new siege weapons in action in his last great battle that he commandeered.
Below Sjorn, inside the by now frozen Valley, partly hidden behind the howling veil of the snow storm that was raging through the freezing night sky, the enemy had finally begun their march towards Hoelbrak, each step under the hundreds of feet sounding dull and foreboding in the darkness of the night.
"Siege weapons ready sir!" The commander of the engineers called over which interrupted Sjorn's contemplation abruptly but instead of annoyance only felt glee. It was a good night to die!
"ARCHERS! ON YOUR MARKS! SIEGE WEAPONS! FIRE ONCE THE ENEMY IS IN REACH!" Sjorn roared into the rising volume the howling wind and the metallic feet on icy ground provided and soon received the repeated sounds of his men and women passing on his orders all over the wall, thus telling him that all knew what to do.
"MAGES! DOUBLE AND HARDEN!" Sjorn roared another order once again and after the troops at his back had heard his words began to shift around their formations.
Now at the front stood the mages while right behind them stood the archers. Warriors and Guardians had retreated to the back of the wall for now as they would be needed soon enough once the enemy broke through their defences.
A few seconds only filled with the dull sound of metal on ice and howling winds passed by until it was finally time. With deep sounding horns the enemy received their signal and began their attack in full.
Under war cries the enemy soldiers rushed towards the walls of Hoelbrak, shields in the air while the mages of their troops began to shimmer light blue like ice in the darkness, their mana illuminating their positions.
Once Sjorn had seen their position a vicious grin formed on his face. These morons did exactly what he had wanted!
"Oumund! You got their position! Now take these fuckers out! Afterwards focus on the foot soldiers!" Sjorn called over to the man walking up and down the archer regiment as he was their commander and with a grim nod began to relay the instructions to his troops to shoot down their prey.
"Nock your arrows! Bows four fingers into the air! Lose!" The commander yelled and with one whistle a black wall of arrows pierced through the night. Though before they were very far away the mages had finished their incantations and caused the arrows to glow ominously in the night sky while their numbers seemed to have increased somehow.
Like a rain of death the arrows descended upon the enemy casters who only now realised their doom. Some groups had just finished their incantations and had let loose mighty frozen hailstorms that battered troops and wall alike on the defender's side but exactly those were the ones that had no time to dodge and were thus skewered into undecipherability.
The ones in the middle of their incantations though managed to stop their doings and promptly dove into security or hid behind beings made of hard ice that would protect them from a few arrows.
Turning away from the archers that had let loose another volley of arrows Sjorn switched over to the siege weapons that had begun their fire as well and soon let burning rocks or grenades filled with metal projectiles rain down upon the enemy who took heavy casualties from the defenders attacks.
Unfortunately, their numbers were too huge to cause a turn in the battle but Sjorn let his engineers continue to fire as the damage they caused satisfied him enough.
After handing over the command of archers, engineers and mages to Oumund, Sjorn let his hands roam over his axes while stalking down the stairs that lead to the main gate where his troops had already taken position in rows spiked with spears and shields, all pointing towards the gate where the enemy could already be heard as they tried to breach them.
Joining his comrades in arms, Sjorn prepared himself while a savage grin took place under his helmet. Now they only needed to wait a little longer and it would be time…
Yo fellas! Sorry for not uploading anything yesterday. Signed the final contract for my new job and the prospect to work in that field killed any motivation I may have had to write for that particular day...
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter and I may write another one tonight in the hopes to finally finish the volume soon and start with the next one^^
After receiving their new orders from Sjorn the troop of hunters had swiftly split up and each group chased after the lone contingencies of casters. Their chase was fast and it didn't take long until the hunters came upon something that confused them.
The thing that confused them was nothing special, at least in their opinion, but since Hoelbrak was currently under attack they were wary of whatever it was they had discovered. Right there before their eyes was something carved into the mountains that made up the basis for Hoelbrak, something that hadn't been there before.
The further they progressed the more often they came upon these strange symbols. None of the hunters was proficient in the arcane or new what these symbols may represent. Thus, they agreed in their small units to try and disrupt the symbols by carving a few more lines through the symbol, hopefully preventing its use.
Sadly the runes were protected from mana and even while trying to infuse their axes or arrows with mana didn't do any damage to them. Thus, they returned to their hunt but promised themselves that they would report their findings to Sjorn once they returned. Unfortunately, that would never happen as they soon after their first few finds were ambushed by the casters and decimated, not leaving a single one of the hunters alive.
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With dull thumping sounds the enemy troops kept attacking their gates, this time not only consisting of Norn but also of corrupted creatures made of ice that had come to life by Jormag's mana.
While the troops upon the wall reigned down metal and fire upon the enemy Sjorn knew it would now only be a matter of time until they would breach the gates and he was right.
With a crashing sound the huge wooden gates of Hoelbrak splintered and burst open while the enemy troops flooded inside under outcries of victory or bloodlust.
"BRACE!" Sjorn roared and like one being the warriors at his side lifted their shields and spears like a wall and marched forwards steadily. The enemy meanwhile had seemingly lost every rationality in their craving for war and rushed like madmen into the shield wall, which sadly gave in at some points when Norn were met by ice creatures for example, getting skewered in the process until the shield wall had no choice but to give in completely, simply because of the weight the number of dead enemies laid down upon the shields.
"OPEN! FORM UNITS! LEAVE NONE ALIVE!" Sjorn roared and his orders were met with roars as answer while his subordinates did as he had said.
Sjorn himself clothed himself in a faint protective barrier made of mana, unfortunately only protecting him from glancing blows at best, and rushed into the enemy lines like a beast.
Swinging his axes without regard for his own safety Sjorn for the first time in his life completely ignored what may happen to him and soon was covered from head to toe in splashes of blue blood or shards of splintered ice, pertaining to some unfortunate ice creatures.
Pulling a son of Jormag towards him with the inner part of his axe Sjorn used his other axe to slide down the handle of his holding axe and caved in the held head from the man he had pulled over. Turning around he unceremoniously gripped his one axe on the lower part of the handle and with a mighty throw embedded said axe in the skull of another one. Rushing over to his axe he picked it up and continued his onslaught, like a whirlwind of death that split skulls and rendered men useless left and right, none who came close enough to do any damage surviving long enough to do so.
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His breath running ragged under his helmet Sjorn did not know how much time had passed since he had entered the battle, the adrenaline slowly leaving his body and brought with it the fatigue and burning of his muscles.
While he faintly registered how his smoke like breath rose into the air he was more focused on his surroundings and knew that his time would soon come as barely any of his troops remained.
His soldiers continued to fight but in the end they were outnumbered without a doubt. Taking in another ragged breath Sjorn rushed into the battle lines of the enemy once again, his fallen comrades paving his way with swords, spears or arrows sticking in their bodies and told the tale of how these brave men and women had met their end.
'I'm right behind you brothers and sisters. Soon I will join you all and journey together with you towards the resting place of our ancestors where we will recount our adventures and rejoice at the legends we all created. And what legends we created! Truly, there couldn't be a better end to our lives than to die with heads held high on the battlefield!' Sjorn thought and let a grin form on his face while a sound half battle cry, half laughter broke through his lips until he disappeared behind the enemy lines exactly the way he had lived: With axes swinging an a smile on his face…
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Drakkar knew the battle had finally come to an end and his master's enemies had been eradicated to the last man. But his mission was not yet done and thus made his way over to the grand city Hoelbrak, ordering his troops to retreat all the while.
Marching through gates, breaking them down in the process, the beast soon arrived in the middle of the city and could feel all the symbols his subordinates had carved into the surrounding mountains come together exactly where they were supposed to.
Thus, with a growl Drakkar awakened the mana of his master that slumbered inside of him and had made him into what he was today. The mana began to swirl around his huge body and grew from a small whirlwind into a tornado that soon encompassed the whole of Hoelbrak, hiding it behind its blue spinning might until he began to incantate the words his master had whispered to him at his last visit with the order to only do so once the battle was concluded and who was he to deny his master's orders!
Under his instructions and his master's incantation the mana soon pierced everything inside of Hoelbrak. The walls, the houses, the trees, the animals and yes, even the dead that laid at the entrance into Hoelbrak.
Under roaring laughter Drakkar observed as the translucent spirits of the Norn were pulled back from the mists and slowly took form besides their former bodies, confusion clear in their eyes. With viciousness glinting in his eyes Drakkar began the second incantation his master had given him and with satisfaction watched how the horrified faces of his enemies soon morphed into blank iciness and took over newly risen bodies made of blue ice until said golems came to life themselves, now fuelled by the enemy until his master had found another purpose for those that had defied him.
'Truly, revenge is sweet if you knew how to go about executing it…' Drakkar thought while his vicious grin transformed back into his usual face, only a small smile remaining on his face. Turning around he marched over to the great hall and soon fell asleep inside of it, Hoelbrak all the while turning into a necropolis of cursed ice, guarded by those that once lived there with the one who killed them as jailor and master for all eternity if Drakkar had anything to say about it…
There you go guys! Hope you enjoyed it^^
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