Last Stand

Mytal Alari was burning, the Emerald city turned to gray and Glanduil watched as the towers that once defied the sky crumbled and turned to ash. Elves and Nathair alike screamed as the Bullks ripped apart their torsos and decorated the well kept roads with their guts. "Glanduil! Glanduil the escort is ready! We need to get out of here!" Vexus shouted shaking the Emperor. Glanduil joined the armored escort and ran. As the fled for the southern gate the Emperor watched the sea of grey flood his home. The blood of his people flew so high that it blocked the sun's light from his eyes. Everything his grandfather built and his father grew was gone, engulfed in the grey sea.
They reached the southern gate, but faced resistance 30 or more Bullks blocked the path. Armored to the teeth they only grinned and shrieked, waving their crude blades around. Their teeth were yellow and sharp. Revalor stepped forward and drew his sword from his side,
"You there with me!" He yelled and pointed at some of the Elven and Nathairian soldiers. They stepped in front of the escort and Revalor stood first in line. "Go father, The Vale needs to be warned!"
Glanduil did not speak, how could he?
Revalor raised his sword to his shoulder, turned his head to the soldiers, "For Tir Orail, For the Desert, For Ire!" He charged the beasts and they all locked in combat. Revalor managed to draw them away from the gate and the escort escaped. As they fled out the gate Glanduil turned, and watched as the sea swallowed his son. Glanduil, Emperor, most powerful of Elves, the cold, the calculated could only weep now. ********************************************************************************************************************************** Titus ll rose sharply as Vexus and Glanduil burst into the throne room. "The defense?!" he blurted out
Vexus lowered his head. "Its gone, the defense, the warriors, the Golden Land."
"My son." Glanduil stated coldly.
Titus ll fell down into his throne, his eyes widened and he said nothing.
"How much food does Xares have stored?" Vexus asked putting his hand to his forehead
Glanduil threw his hands up, "It doesn't matter! Elf and snake together couldn't even dent them!"
"Our warriors killed many! Don't become a coward now elf!" Vexus hissed
"Oh yes, we killed many, thousands, they have hundreds of thousands. Elven mages, Nathairian blades, nothing stopped them, nothing can stop them!"
Titus ll ran his hand through his thick brown hair. He fought to hold back his tears. "What would you two have me do then! One of you says give up and the other says to fight! They just took a fucking, country, of which had the soldiers of two!" Titus ll threw himself back and slumped down. We could barely hold them off at Dragon Coast. Glanduil is right, it's over.
The three kings' silence filled the empty and hollow throne room. The whole castle was quiet. They all listened to the city around them buzz frantically.
Vexus's sharp yellow eyes darted to the window. "The Vanquisher." he said quietly
"He is dead, Vexus, has been for years." Titus ll mumbled.
"His kin, where are they?
"One is dead, the other went back to the Southern Isles."
"Than he is dead too." Glanduil grumbled. "Even if the dragon spawn was alive, there is nothing he could do. The Bullks are a plague, a sickness that comes in the night and carries people into the cold earth. They are the tornado that rips homes from their foundation and pulls trees out from the roots, the headsman's axe, God's swift justice. The Golden land has turned to grey and the greens of The Vale will turn to black. The Desert shall be consumed by the grey sea that is the Bullks. Eldre shall be torn down to the ocean, The continent and all of Ire shall be brought to heel, Dragons will fall from the sky and the Ents will wither, God's justice, God's wrath."
"No." Vexus said clenching up.
"Speak up Vexus." Titus ll said
"They aren't God's wrath, we are. The Nathair, first holders of the Dark Ring. The Elves, who cheat death and ride dragons. Humans, mortal, yet unkillable, father of the Vanquisher. The Nathair hordes, the Elven wizards, the Human fyrds have seen more death than any Bullk, they are death."
"You are wrong" Glanduil said, the tone in his voice finally gone.
"If I am wrong, then let me die for it."
Titus ll now rose from his throne and looked down at the snake and the elf, his hands shaking. "One." he said. "One decisive battle. Every soldier our countries have, and some more."
"Where?" Glanduil asked exasperated
"Outside of Xares, Just beyond the walls. Everyone, not just soldiers will fight."
"That's asinine!" the elf roared
"This isn't a battle between lords, this is not a battle for countries, this is a battle for Ire, for all people! If we lose it will not be our castles and royal names that die, it will be everyone, every people." ************************************************************************************************************************************ The three kings stood atop the balcony and stared down at the city. Everyone of all races had been called to listen. The nobles, the cobblers, everyone. The bell tower began to ring. They rammed and squished each other, the audience could not hold another person. The three kings stood shoulder to shoulder
Titus ll spoke, "Death, it marches to the city, even now! The entire Bullk army will be at our walls in merely a few hours now! When they arrive no one will be spared! No matter your title, no matter your beliefs! No matter how rich you are or how young you are, they will kill every one of us! I will stand outside the city walls. If death is certain for me then I will die fighting, fighting for my home!
Vexus stepped forward. "This is our home, all of ours! Xares, may be for the humans but Kerne is ours, Ire is ours! It belongs to the snake, to the human, to the elf and to the dwarf! It belongs to the sinner, to the priest, to the farmer, to the smith. It is our land, our earth, our sky! Our mountains, our sand! Our homes and our churches. Our families and our friends! We are all one under this blue sky!"
Glanduil pushed back his shoulders and grabbed the balcony railing. "I have cheated death from the day I was created, but now as I finally see it, I feel no fear. For there is nothing to fear. Because if I am to die today then I die defending my home, I die beside each and everyone of you, my brothers and sisters! Let us meet death together and look upon its face!"
The people below went nuts. They began drumming on anything they could find, their hands, their legs, stone, anything. "OURS!" they all began chanting. "OURS! OURS! OURS! OURS!" ************************************************************************************************************************************* The air was still, not even the slightest breeze passed by. Even the sun felt cold. Titus ll rode back and forth, readying the front line. Glanduil finished painting his face, the purple paint began to glow and his eyes turned to a milky white. Vexus gripped his sheathed dao and beheld. The horizon turned grey, they were here. Titus ll readied his steed and looked to the joined army. He raise his spear into the air, "OURS!" he roared.
"OURS!" the warriors roared.
Titus ll met the other kings in the front and looked upon the grey storm, growing ever closer. He looked to his fellow kings. "Ours."
They both nodded, "Ours."
The Bullks screeched and trampled forward to the city. They huffed and panted with excitement and bliss. They were running over each other just to get closer to their prey. Their Ridgeback elephants followed, the sound of their feet was that of thunder in a canyon. They collided with the joined army and the largest single battle ever began. Peasants and knights fought side by side, elf and nathair, side by side. The Bullk army began engulfing the joined army. They circled around and closed them in.
A symphony of horns boomed across the field. Vexus wiped his head around and smiled. "DWARVES!" he cheered!" It was true. The eight dwarven clans rode down from the Eldre mountains and out of Shiver pass. The thundering of hooves echoed through the pass as the ran in. Miles of dirt were ripped up as the Dwarven cavalry charged into the fray. The mountain men trampled and squashed hordes of the Bullks. For the first time in history all the races on Kerne were one. The four kingdoms fought back to back, killing every grey skin they could. The Dwarves's entranced did not scare the Bullks, only exited them more.
The ground shook and the armored lungers ripped out of the dirt, carrying more Bullks. Their army was replenished and now they had more muscle, but even as the last lunger surfaced the ground still shook. The quaking grew stronger and stronger. The Desert myth, the largest snake in the world, the Devourer blew out of the ground and grabbed a lunger in its mouth. The Devourer had been awoken, and it was hungry. It picked up Ridgebacks and ate them hole, it crushed lungers beneath its behemoth tail.
The Joined army cheered, and cowered slightly. Yet the four armies were not the only ones to cheer. A roar so loud it deafened the sounds of the battlefield swept through the air. The people looked to the sky and stood in reverence. Valinor the Strong-First Born of Ire, Dorthal the Wise-Far seer lead an army of their own into the mix. The single flap of Valinor's crimson red wings threw everyone back. On the ground running in with the dragons was a blue, wingless dragon, and its rider. Five armies against one, the Bullks almost felt fear, almost. Piles of corpses began to grow, The great sea of grey began to drop like flys. They were many but their enemy was one.
Dwarven iron, Elven magic, Nathairian cunning, Human heart, Dragon fire and one very large snake cleansed the field, turning it to green once more. For the first time in Bullk history, they ran. Some made it back to their ships but most were taken, and killed. ************************************************************************************************************************************* As the battlefield died down Valinor and Dorthal led their kind away, that was the last time either of the Great Dragons was seen.
Some people cheered, the others mourned and wept.
Glanduil rode to speak with the Dwarven Chieftains. Vexus rested upon a rock and cleaned his blade, taking a breath. Titus ll walked past the fallen to speak with the Dragon Rider.
"I admit your reputation goes ahead of you Veli Riderson, but you just proved that it does not do you justice. You were exiled." the king said
"I was." Veli agreed. "But if death is certain for me than I will die fighting, fighting for my home."
"I never met him, but you looked just as the stories depict your father."
Veli rubbed his brow and said nothing.
"The dragons, I suppose we have you to thank for that?"
"Actually, no. I had no idea. I saw Kuthu first, then I knew."
"Even still," Titus ll exclaimed. "Thank you. Whatever problem there was between you and my father, consider it done. I Titus ll son of Titus, King of The Vale and of Men revoke your banishment. Veli son of Filavandrel, you are once again a citizen of The Vale and a hero of the realm like your father before you.