Apostles of Doom

She did, but she also twisted her head to see what had caused the excitement. Her eyes focused quickly on the oncoming alvaran knight; they widened slightly and then squinted. She looked forward and to her left. Her wings went into overdrive, bringing them down and around in a tight bend. Tal Gor was not quite sure why she had started to make a circular arc, as this actually allowed the knight to close the distance. He had to trust that the D’Warg knew what she was doing. She was growling, and her stomach was rumbling nonstop at this point. Tal Gor shook his head even as he worked to loosen his staff. “Ox dung!” The stupid knight was within ten feet and closing.

“Faster!” Tal Gor patted Schwarzenfürze, looking ahead again to see where they were heading.

Click. Click. Click.

Tal Gor groaned, this was not the time for his D’Warg to get nervous and play with her stupid tail spikes. What was she going to do? Whap the hippogriff in the eye with a spike and blind it? He glanced back. The knight was going to be in striking range soon. He tried to bring his staff around.

Suddenly there was a loud ripping noise.

Click. Click. Click.

Tal Gor wrinkled his nose at the putrid stench.

Click. Click… WHOOSHHHH!

Tal Gor did a double take as the pursuing knight and his mount were suddenly engulfed in a miasmic flaming cloud of gas!

“Flint and steel!” Tal Gor shouted. How could he have been so blindly stupid! That’s what the clicking was; it was flint and steel to light Schwarzenfürze’s farts! He grinned broadly and patted the D’Warg as they now pulled easily away from the still-flaming knight and hippogriff. The creature’s screams of agony was music to his ears.

“I have never been so happy to have you fart!” Tal Gor shouted.

It was, however, a momentary respite. They were now under many of the new alvaran forces, who could all clearly see him, and some were heading down! This was not good. There had to be at least sixty pairs in the new band of alvar. His tribe was moving to engage — or rather, Lob Smasher with his magic blade was; the other four orcs were hunkered down on D’Wargback as their mounts moved in for an aerial kill on various alvar and their steeds.

The shrieks of the enraged hippogriffs melded with the snarling howls of the D’Wargs as the two sides engaged. Tal Gor tore his gaze from the battle overhead to discover another alfar coming straight at him with a lance! Schwarzenfürze was heading straight at the knight and hippogriff, on what appeared to be a collision course! Not knowing what else to do, Tal Gor gripped his staff with both hands, moving it into a braced lancing position.

CRACK! Thunder rolled over his head as his sight was momentarily blinded by a flash of lightning from above. He dared not take his eyes off his oncoming enemy, but he was pretty sure the alvar had a wizard who was engaging them. He hoped the wizard would go for the most obviously dangerous targets first.

Tal Gor and the alvaran knight were heading towards each other at breakneck speed. The knight had a shield; Tal Gor’s was on his back. His staff was a polearm, not a lance; he needed to hold it with both hands to secure it. It was going to be a question of who skewered who first.

Tal Gor whispered a quick prayer to Tommus. He had no idea if Lord Tommus listened to prayers, but he was pretty sure it couldn’t hurt. Tal Gor braced for impact, gritting his teeth while trying to adjust his seating to try to deflect the lance off the side of his armor. That, however, would only work if the lance went where it currently appeared it would go. He had zero experience with this style of combat.

He felt a rumbling between his knees, and suddenly his stomach dropped out from under him and he was swept by a wave of vertigo as Schwarzenfürze made a momentum-defying ninety-degree vertical turn, plunging the two of them straight down towards the ground.

Click… click… click… WHOOSH!

The hippogriff shrieked in agony as Schwarzenfürze’s flame-enhanced cloud of malignant dyspepsia struck the hippogriff’s underbelly. Or that’s what it sounded like; Tal Gor was too close to losing his lunch to pay much attention as his D’Warg continued her dive, which was quickly turning them upside down as the D’Warg doubled back on their original trajectory.

Suddenly the D’Warg’s wings collapsed inward against him as Schwarzenfürze twisted with a massive effort, spinning herself and Tal Gor on their axis, taking them from being upside down to right side up. The D’Warg’s powerful wings unfurled once more and began pumping hard to regain altitude, heading back towards the D’Orcs.

Tal Gor twisted his head around to see Schwarzenfürze’s most recent victim dropping his smoldering wooden lance while trying to pat out the remaining flames on his hippogriff’s feathers and his own clothes. Eagle Sight revealed severe burns to both rider and steed. Tal Gor grinned and shook his head. Schwarzenfürze was truly something else.