Apostles of Doom

Alvaran arrows began raining down on them, bouncing trivially off the D’Orcs. Of the few in the first volley that made it through the D’Orcs, over half completely missed a target; the remainder hit the D’Wargs and failed to penetrate either their exposed hide or their armor.

With a resounding twang louder than any of the others, Lob Smasher released a giant bolt from Chest Splitter, his truly massive crossbow. The bolt sped through the air with a scream they could hear from a distance, pierced an elf’s thigh through its leather armor, and appeared to be solidly lodged.

“Hah!” Lob yelled in triumph.

“Excellent work, all! Reload!” Zargvarst shouted.

Tal Gor had finished cranking. He placed his quarrel and raised his bow, taking aim at a different elf, the first one having changed position and no longer an easy target.

Tal Gor focused his Eagle Sight on his target’s neck once more. “Steady, girl,” he told his D’Warg before he began chanting.

Thung! His crossbow fired. Tal Gor concentrated on his chanting, trying to will the bolt to strike true.

Hit! Dead on, through the neck! Tal Gor grinned widely as the elf grabbed its throat and began to keel over, its hippogriff beginning a rapid descent to get them on the ground. Tal Gor imagined that flying around with a flopping corpse tethered to one’s back was awkward. He smiled to himself at the thought, but stopped when he realized that would also be true for their D’Wargs.

“Insane!” Soo An yelled. “I never realized what a shot you were!”

“I think we were misjudging you, even before you found Lord Tommus!” Fed Tal yelled as he cranked his crossbow.

“We may need to start calling you Tal Gor Dead Eye!” Zargvarst yelled back at him with a grin.

“Getting close!” Didar Sep An shouted, finally drawing her massive great sword. The blade was a good ten feet long, the hilt another three. Tal Gor had to wonder if she’d used the same blade when mortal. It was proportional for a D’Orc, but would have been large even for an orc.

Of course, the six-foot arc of Zargvarst’s axe blade was just as impressive. All the D’Orc weaponry was impressive. Back that up with their talons, and no one in their right mind would want to stand against them. These alvar were in for some serious damage. Tal Gor shook his head.

“Let’s hold back so I can get another target,” Tal Gor told Schwarzenfürze, patting her on the back. She slowed their flight as Tal Gor worked to pull and then reload his crossbow.

It was at this point that the first wave of alvar broke against the D’Orcs.

Tal Gor stopped his efforts in order to watch. Broke was the right word. Blood was raining everywhere as the D’Orcs flew between the elves and began slashing and smashing into the nearly helpless enemy. Leather armor such as the alvar were wearing had no chance against the Abyss-forged weapons of the D’Orcs.

Schwarzenfürze was rumbling and throbbing between Tal Gor’s legs. He could feel her guts at work, apparently starving for battle. He fired off his next round, chanting as it sped towards its target, only to see a blade slice through the elf’s neck even as the bolt came within a foot.

Tal Gor shook his head and began securing his crossbow so that he could use his staff. Schwarzenfürze clearly wanted to engage in closer contact; he supposed he should let her before all the targets were gone. He secured his staff’s wrist strap in place and loosed its ties so he could swing it freely.

Lob Smasher was now moving in, heading towards alvar more on the periphery.

“Argh!” Tal Gor screamed as a searing pain shot up his left leg. “What?” He stared down at himself; an arrow had pierced the back of his leg. He had metal greaves on the front of leg, covering his shins, but only leather armor in back. How had an arrow come from behind?

He turned his head, his eyes widening in surprise. There was another squad of alvar on hippogriffs behind them, more than had been in front of them. “Behind us!” Tal Gor screamed at the top of his lungs to his band. “Backstabbing alvar are behind us!”

The orcs spun in midair and the D’Wargs started to bank to confront this new threat. Having been in the rear, and then slowing to better target, Tal Gor was considerably closer to the new threat than the others. He glanced back again only to see a very large elf with golden hair and a glowing sword approaching him and Schwarzenfürze rapidly. Rialto Alfar! Royal elf, an alvaran knight! He’d never seen one before, but there could be no mistaking what was coming for him.

“Dive!” Tal Gor shouted at Schwarzenfürze and pounded on her back and used his heels to goad her to increase her speed.