Tuesday, April 1, 2008

The Battle of the Great Ice Sheet

A few days ago I was inspired and wrote this. I figured since I mentoned my stories before I might as well include a few bits and piece here and there. So here you go. I would be greatly appreciated for any feedback.

The day had come. The Crimson Forces had set up camp on the shores of the Great ice Sheet. They had prepared for battle when a cried was heard from the tower. A figure had been spotted on the glacier top. It appeared to be a woman clad in black. The soldiers were confused, and the captains disregarded it, but Freya was stricken with fear as she ran to the captain’s pavilion.

“It’s the one called Skulde, Queen of the Ice Elves. We must prepare all troops immediately or we will all die!”

All soldiers were prepared, the Fyre Ghouls had their potions stocked and armed all their amulets. The healers prepared the crystal pendant and cast the protective shield on the entire camp. Then the captains gathered all the regiments and the cannon tanks and stepped outside the barrier and lined up in the cold snow, still not sure what to expect. They looked skeptically at Freya, and then up at the figure which now moved.

She was dressed in black velvet robes, with a black gossamer cape over her dress and long elbow length gloves. Her face remained expressionless as she gazed at the landing army. Her fierce blue eyes cut through the air and her long silky black hair waved behind her in the wind as she raised her hand in front of her.

The air grew tense, and the wind stopped as her long thin finger pointed forward. From the ice underneath her, a crack appeared. It traced out the figure of a soldier, and the broke as a soldier stepped out from behind it. He was dressed in full armor and his ears gave him away as an Ice Elf. Suddenly, cracks appeared all across the base of the iceberg. Soldiers stepped out all around the base to form a straight line. The line stepped forward to reveal another row behind them, and so on and so forth until an army had stepped forward.

While this was happening, the wind seemed to kick up the snow in spirals in front of the ice soldiers. With the flick of her wrist Skuld caused these to transform into Snow wolves, at least a dozen that quickly shortened the distance between them and the Crimson forces. As the wolves were upon them swords were taken out and magic spells cast. Soon the early morning sky was lit up with magical blazes shooting forth and light gleaming off weapons as the battle raged. The creatures were very fast and much larger than normal ice wolves. The forces had a hard time keeping them off, but eventually the last one was stuck down and the wounds quickly healed by the healers from behind the barrier.

The wind blew the gossamer cloak out behind Skuld at least five times her body length as it picked up. She turned her raised hand palm up hand open, and then clenched her dark hand in a fist. A sound like glass or ice shattering echoed in the recesses of the glacier and rebounded across the planes. In an instant the wolves that were dead a moment ago were all alive again.

The forces had to retreat behind the barrier because they weren’t prepared for this at all. The wolves scratched and bit at the barrier and some even tried jumping on it. Soon they were just circling waiting for anyone who would dare to make a move. The mechanist had a plan. They used the rod of Aconite to great a portal behind the wolves and end it at the other side of the glacier. Then all the troops surged forward causing the wolves to back up into the portal.

Instantaneously they were gone. From far away, they suddenly heard the beating of a drum and saw the ice elves begin to march forth slowly but deliberately. The witch must have thought that it wasn’t enough because she had hired some mercenary thieves to fight with her. They were standing on top of the iceberg with her watching for now.

“Osmund, you know the deal. Do what you must.” She said coolly.

“Er. I dunno. Wit no wolves its not gonna work.” He replied cautiously.

“The wolves shall return shortly. But if you feel you need more help that can be arranged.” She said glaring then raised both hands.
Cracks appeared similar to the soldier’s ones but this time they grew up all the way to the top of the ice berg. She gave a grunt as she lowered her hands suddenly, and the ice broke off revealing twelve gigantic ice giants. They towered over the battle field and had large thick heavy ice clubs and spears.

The captains gasped as they saw the creatures emerge from the mountain. The hordes had started jogging instead of marching and the giants were coming six on a side. The wolves were also back again running ahead of the troops. They were at the middle of the battle field before the captains gave the order. The tanks sent forward a blast of fire balls, which knocked down half a row of soldiers, but missed the wolves altogether.

The giants weren’t even scratched by the next volley which hit them directly. The wolves were almost at the three quarters mark and still nothing was working. The allies knew what they had to do, and knew it would also drain their energy and lower the barrier. All the Ghouls gathered around the crystal and began chanting together as their hands and pendants glowed. Meanwhile all the tanks were loaded to full capacity, which was so powerful that it would almost certainly destroy the firing mechanism afterward. The barrier slowly retracted back into the crystal which was glowing red now too.

The forces had reached the three quarter mark and the wolves were nearly on them when the signal came. The soldiers ran forward killing the wolves, before they reached the casters. The tanks sent their volleys at the same time as the crystal reached max power. The pillar of red fire blasted forth accompanied by the 30 shots fired by the cannons. It hit the entire ice army, engulfing it in a massive fire ball.

Everywhere ash fell in small flakes on the battle field. The giants were completely gone, the army obliterated and the wolves had been whipped out by the flames. A tattered flag blew over the desolate scene, was whipped up by the wind and carried up to the top of the berg. There it landed at the feat of Osmund.

“So this was your plan?” He asked with a snear.

“Watch.” Was all she said and then turned her attention to the fallen army. Raising both hands above her head, she closed her eyes and began to move her hands as if they had minds of their own, as if they were ravens circling one another as they descended. The air grew colder, the wind picked up spead. The air was sharp like glass, the silence like fresh ice. Then the sound. The same as before. The shattering sound. And all the troops stood back up. Every last one.

The crimson captains stared in disbelief. They were in trouble.


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So a few quick notes:

The crimson army is good, they are actually distarcting this witch while a small force is sneaking into the Tower of the Silver Witch to drain all the witches of their power for good.

The Fyre Ghouls are like small people the size of 10 year olds but with very freckled skin, crimson red hair, pinkish to hazel eyes, and they have slightly pointed ears (think elves from LoTR movies) oh and they can use a little fire based magic.

In my little world, elves are taller than humans, skinnier, and have very long very pointed ears. There are two kinds, good forest elves and bad ice elves. They split a long time ago for many diffrent reasons.

Oh and Vreya/Freya is a prophetess (more about her later). Basically when she says something, the Boat Peoples (her people) listen, while others are usually more skeptical. She is somehow mysteriously connected with the Witches... oooh mystery! love mystery! Anyway I might put up some more later. Until then.

Cheers from the South African.