69 Chapter 69 (1/2)
Aerwyn's mind began to race as the charging true orcs blew another horn as if to let their embattled troops know of their arrival. It wasn't out of the question for the true orcs to have simply responded to the horn blowing when the lesser orcs realized another force had appeared but it felt like he had been strung along on a leash. That wasn't to say he believed the orcs planned an elaborate trap for the sole purpose of rooting him out but it appeared they had at least planned a strategy just in case of Aerwyn's arrival.
If that turned out to be true then he had been played like a fiddle and that irked him to no end. He didn't have any training or upbringing that taught him any sort of strategy or tactics. At least none that he could remember anymore, but he believed that he was doing a well enough job so far with leading his army of undead. He wondered if Earl Abery could've detected whether or not the orcs movements pointed to a trap if Aerwyn had told him about the events within Setrhyn prior to their arrival.
There was no point in thinking about it with the gift of hindsight but perhaps he should begin to include some of his undead in his decision making from now on. Snapping from his thoughts he turned back to the battle and was once again surprised by what he saw. The orcs were showing a ferocity unseen before now as they pushed forward to close the gap created by Aerwyn's initial charge.
”Don't let them close the gap! Push through to the square!” Aerwyn cried out, sending his undead into a frenzy that matched the orcs.
Aerwyn glanced back at the true orcs charging down the avenue, his only solace was that they were traveling at a pace that their non-mounted troops could keep up with. It gave him little time but it was more than nothing. Looking back towards the battle, his undead weren't making much headway and it didn't appear like they would break through in time.
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”Is there anything you can do to slow them down?” Aerwyn asked Pontus.
”Not much, the avenue is too large. I can slow them but only for a few moments, my lord.” Pontus respectfully responded without any hint of urgency.
”That's fine do it.” Aerwyn commanded as he turned his attention back to the battle.
”All elves of Lyr fall back to me! NOW!” Aerwyn roared.
Pontus finished casting his magic as the elves of Lyr began to surround him. The avenue thirty meters away from Aerwyn appeared to disintegrate into a patch of sand that was a few meters wide and stretched across the road. Pontus wasn't lying when he said he couldn't do much, that superb culmination of earth magic would be about as effective at slowing them down as a strong breeze and the elves were taking too damn long to get out of combat.
He couldn't waste any more time waiting and could only hope the elves would be lucky enough to avoid his attacks. Aerwyn began firing flame lances as quickly as he could into the orcs blocking their path. Above the heads of his undead, scalding hot purple projectiles flew out in rapid succession. It may not be able to kill them in one or two blows but the unending explosions would disrupt their lines enough for his undead to exploit.
The true orc's force reached the sand pit Pontus had created as Aerwyn's bombardment knocked the orcs around as if they were merely made of straw.
”Let's go! PUSH THROUGH!” Aerwyn cried out as the zin beetle he was riding began to move. The elves of Lyr and Aerwyn's defenders charged beside him, all the while he continued to shoot out more flame lances. Sweat dripped from Aerwyn's forehead as he felt the air surrounding the battle beginning to heat up from the purple flames exploding out in front of him.
It was getting difficult for him to breathe so he couldn't begin to imagine how the orcs would be faring considering the circumstances. His purple flames didn't harm his undead in the slightest, however explosions were still explosions and a few undead were unfortunately hit by friendly fire. If they ended up in the way of a flame lance, the explosion wouldn't kill them but they would be sent tumbling no different from the orcs. Aerwyn paid them little mind as he continued to pave his way through the enemy lines.
The orcs didn't sit idly by as Aerwyn rode through, they fought desperately to reach him but his undead were quick to fill any gap his flame lance's created. While orcs were resistant to magic, much like how Aerwyn was using the explosions created by his flame lances to knock them down, Pontus was creating pillars of earth to do the same to any orc that grew too close.