Rise of the Horde

“Prepare to make camp…” he instructed to his generals. Their enemies were already prepared to fight but his soldiers were not as they needed some rest after days of continuous march. His father won the right to have total command of the new army that was being raised by the king by almost depleting the treasury of their house but his father wasn’t pained by the massive loss of their wealth since it can be quickly recouped with the conquest of new lands. If the result of the conquest isn’t satisfactory, they could just dethrone the new king with the massive army that they now have under their command.

After his father was officially appointed by the king to be the commander of the new army, he was given the task of finding out what was going on with the Ereian Bloodhounds as they just suddenly halted sending reports to the throne. The king was infuriated of the possibility that his dogs decided to gobble up the riches of the territory belonging to the two barons that he had just stripped of their nobility.

The father of Ounephes, Hanbal became the first duke of Ereia who had no family ties with the royal family. Duke Hanbal passed the task that was given to him by the king to his firstborn son and his named heir along with nine thousand soldiers from the newly created army to accompany him since there might be a possibility that the supposed dogs of the king had decided to seek freedom from their master after gaining some massive wealth from the territories that they razed.

Ounephes thought that he would only make a stop at the City of Alsenna to for a few days before continuing the march to the south to confront the hounds of the king but here he is now, halted in his tracks by an army that he didn’t expect to surface. The fate that befell the House of Darkhariss was known to almost all the nobles of Ereia and no one wanted to suffer the same tragic fate as them and everyone was already certain that the house was dead but here, he is, being blocked by an army claiming to belong to it.

Khao’khen observed the movements of the enemy army for some hours and noticed that they didn’t have plans to launch an attack just yet as they began creating a camp of their own. It looks like their enemies were planning to make this a long-drawn-out fight so he turned around and headed back towards the fort to have his rest and so did most of the Drakhars only leaving behind some sentries to keep watch of their enemies less they decide to suddenly just attack.

Two days passed by without any proper confrontation between the two armies that faced each other. The only fights that occurred were between the sentries and the scouts sent by Ounephes to try and figure out what was hidden inside the camp of their enemies since his scrying was rendered useless because of the wards that were placed inside the camp. No matter what the spies sent by Ounephes tried to gain access into the mysterious enemy fort, they would always be caught right before they can even get close to the enemy camp. Those who survived the encounters against the sentries belonging to their enemies that claims to be from the House of Darkhariss told tales that they were always being watched by someone or something and no matter how they tried to hide their presence, an eye seemed to be always following them even under the cover of darkness.

The newly arrived Ereian Army began fearing what might be hidden inside the enemy camp after hearing the stories being told by the surviving spies. Ounephes was doing his best to control the falling of their morale because of the stories being told by his own men that portrays a monster hiding inside the enemy camp.

.....

The spies weren’t actually mistaken about a monster inside the camp belonging to the side of their enemies but the way they portray it was greatly different from what kind of monster it is actually in reality. Trot ‘thar’s eyes remained a valuable asset as he was easily able to find the enemy spies that were trying to get close to their camp even during the night.

“What’s your next move?” Khao’khen was speaking to himself as he stared at the sand table in front of him that resembles the battlefield outside. With Trot ‘thar’s ability to spot enemies with his vison range, their enemies found no success in trying to gain some information about their side. “Hmm… I guess some probing attacks are due for tomorrow.” He was trying to predict the possible decisions and actions of the enemy army and their commander.

Zaraki, Sakh’arran and Gur’kan who were with him stared at the chieftain in silence as they were in awe of his calculations the past two days.