A short flight later, they were approaching the portal, which was positioned in the middle of a deep trench, an impressive monument made of dark marble, with a black vortex of magical energy within.
And all around it, the troops of the Horde were waiting.
"Looks like there are more Orcs than your scouts have reported," Lina said to Kurdran.
"You're right," the dwarf called back. "It seems to me like there are at least two hundred Orc warriors down there, with a sizeable amount of Troll Berserkers and Ogres alongside them."
"We still have no choice but to attack now. If we don't do it, who knows how many more warriors will have appeared by then."
Kurdran nodded and gave his troops the sign to attack.
"For Khaz Modan! For Azeroth! For victory! ATTACK!"
The thirty gryphons swooped down onto the unsuspecting Orc troops. Lina just felt a massive crash when Sky'Ree landed on the rocky ground, and at the same time, a blue shimmer was surrounding them. It was just as Amelia had said: The mages' spell which had turned them invisible has worn off.
But Lina had no time to think about that right now. The force of the gryphon's impact almost made her fall, but she skillfully kept her balance and jumped to the ground. She could see how next to her, Zelgadis was also jumping out of the saddle, just like Gourry and the knights that had arrived with the other gryphons.
Only Amelia slipped and fell down headfirst. Lina sweatdropped. "Figures..." she muttered and jumped next to her friend.
Sky'Ree had just time to start again, when the first Orcs attacked. They were certainly not prepared for the sudden appearance of the Alliance's troops right in their middle, but Lina had to admit that they weren't caught by surprise as much as she had anticipated.
She drew her sword to parry the blow of an Orc Grunt's massive axe, while she kicked another one in the stomach. Her blade left a shimmering trail as she spun around and attacked the surrounding Horde troops.
"FIREBALL!" After she shouted the name of her spell, a fiery ball of destruction shot out of her hand's palm and left a path of destruction among the Orcs and Trolls. For a short instance, she was able to help Amelia to her feet.
"Are you all right?" she asked her younger friend. The princess of Azeroth nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine..." she muttered. "Quick, we have to find their warlocks..."
A shrill scream made them gasp in surprise. They looked up and saw that the gryphons were once again in the air to assist the ground troops from above. But all of a sudden, a glimmering, floating net of flaring energy had appeared above them in the air. Whenever a gryphon wing touched that net, bright sparks bursted forth and scorched the majestic creatures' feathers. The dwarves had trouble to keep their mounts under control.
And then the first dragons appeared above the magical net.
A loud roar echoed over the battlefield as one of the dragons opened his mouth and spat a plume of flame down at the trapped gryphons. And now Lina could see: While the gryphons and their riders were trapped underneath that net, the dragons were able to move freely.
"Look up there!" Amelia suddenly shouted.
Lina turned around and followed her gesture, after defending herself against the attack of a muscular Berserker Troll.
Then she could see the robed figure standing on a hilltop. She could feel the aura of power which surrounded the old, bearded Orc and she grimaced.
"Gul'dan..." she muttered. "So this net is his handiwork..."
"It's a trap..." Amelia gasped. "L-look, Miss Lina... the portal... IT IS ALREADY OPEN!"
Lina looked over to the enormous construction and saw that Amelia was right: The dark energies in its middle had turned into a twirling gateway through which a seemingly endless number of Orcs and Ogres was coming.
"This is it..." Amelia whimpered. "We're all gonna die out here..."
"Get a hold of yourself, Amelia!" Lina shouted and stabbed her sword through the chest of a hulking Ogre. "As long as we're still standing, we can win. We just have to kill Gul'dan and his Ogre Magi, and the portal will close again. C'mon, let's go!"
She was acting much more confident than she felt right now. After some time, she saw how the first gryphon plummeted down from the sky, killed by a dragon's sharp claws.
Over the loud shouts and cries of the fighting humans, Orcs and Trolls, she was able to hear Gourry's command: "Come to me! All knights, assemble!"
Lina decided to follow Gourry's order as well. Even if he was slightly dimwitted and scatterbrained at times, the war managed to turn him into a skilled commander.
"Looks like Lothar was right after all," Zelgadis muttered after they met in the middle of the battle.
"This was a trap," Gourry realized. "I wonder how Gul'dan knew that we were coming..."
"Stop thinking or you'll hurt your head!" Lina grumbled. But she was actually asking herself the very same question.
"Do you... do you think there might be a traitor among us?" Amelia murmured.
"Let's not start with that," Lina shouted. "If we can't trust each other anymore, the Horde has already won."
Gourry struck down two Orcs at once with his blade and looked over to a circle of dark figures that was standing near the portal, with raised arms.
"Lina, are those...?"
"Yes, this must be them," the young sorceress nodded. "Gul'dan's Ogre Magi!"
"I can feel their power..." Zelgadis grumbled. "Gourry, we have to attack them, it's now or never!"
Gourry raised his sword and pointed at the circle of two-headed creatures. "The Ogres, over there!"
His men understood right away and started to clear a path for their commander and his companions. With cries of "Fireball!", "Freeze Arrow!" and "Mono Volt!", Lina and Zelgadis were helping as much as they could.
While they were approaching the portal, Lina realized that the dark swirl in its middle had grown smaller, and the current of appearing monsters had decreased visibly. Obviously, the Ogre Magi couldn't keep the portal open for a longer time span.
And if luck was on their side, it would even cost them much of their power to keep the spell stable.
The closer they got, the more chaotic the battlefield became, and Lina lost her friend more than once while she had to fight Orcs, Trolls, Ogres and Death Knights.
And if that wasn't bad enough, the dragons started to intervene with the battle on the ground. The dwarven Gryphon Riders tried to intercept them by throwing their lightning hammers, but every once in a while, one of the winged reptiles blew his fire breath down at the fighting troops, scorching Orcs and humans alike, or managed to grab a hapless knight, pull him up into the air and tear him apart.
Finally, they arrived at the base of the portal.
By now, only a few troops were coming out of the swirling vortex, and the Magi's movements were becoming more and more hasty.
A few knights tried to attack the magic-using Ogres right away, but they unfortunately stepped right into a trap of magical runes the Magi had put around them, which exploded under the feet of the armored protectors of Azeroth.
Then Lina reached the Magi and threw a powerful fireball at them. A few of them managed to shield themselves with protective auras, but at least three of them died with horrible screams.
Lina was almost ready to cheer when she heard a yell of terror behind her. She turned around... and saw how Amelia fell down to the ground, her clothes red with blood which was flowing from a nasty wound... a wound that was caused by a Troll's throwing axe.
Lina screamed in anguish and ran away from the Ogre Magi, towards the place where Amelia had collapsed. She could see how one of the repulsive Forest Trolls was leaning over her twitching body, his long tusks were emphasizing his horrible grin as he leaned down to pull his weapon out of Amelia's body.
But before he was able to react though, Lina reached him and beheaded him with one strike. She knelt down next to her friend, while some knights were forming a protective ring around them.
"Amelia!" she shouted and hugged her friend's bloody form. "Amelia, hang on... you won't die!"
The princess of Azeroth coughed up some blood, before looking at her friend with sad eyes. "Miss Lina..." she murmured. "Please... don't let them... don't let them destroy my country..."
She uttered a short gasp, and then her eyelids were slowly closing.
"Amelia?" Lina gasped. "AMELIAAAA!!!"
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(Posted Sat, 16 Jun 2007 16:56)
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