Through The Storm

-1-

“We need a faster way to move the injured from the battlefront,” Gina, the head of the healers, and councilwoman of the purples stated in front of the war council of both nations.

“They either die on the way or hinder the soldiers carrying them, leading to both their deaths,” she insisted.

“This is actually something worth our time.” The head councilman of the purples eyed another councilman with blame. “And we should put our engineers to devise a way as soon as they finish demolishing the bridges.”

“We can use air cushions to pull them out of the fighting zone,” suggested a purple councilman.

“Can an orange drive this cushion out of the fighting zone?” an orange councilman asked.

“No, a purple has to move it with their rod,” the purple councilman answered.

“Then it won’t do, we need all the purples on the battlefront,” the head councilman of the oranges said and looked at another councilwoman. “Didn’t your people suggested something pulled by trained dogs to stock supplies?”

“Yes, we did, we started with twenty dogs, they will be ready within a fortnight,” the councilwoman said.

“Can’t you train them to pull injured men and women then?” he asked her.

“I guess we can, we will just need to increase the number of dogs pulling the flatbed cart out,” she said.

“Why not use horses?” Gina asked.

“We need all of them to face the rider units of the reds, and before you ask, oxen are too slow.”

-2-

“So, this way, we can fill our water without having to stop.” The young orange soldier showed his contraption to his commander.

“Interesting, it would save us time, and might be good as we run from a lost battle.” The commander pulled on the series of reeds and tubes connected to the water skin at the end. “But don’t you think it is too much to carry around?”

“It is made of reeds to be easy to assemble and disassemble, plus the whole thing weighs less than a pound.”

“If we were in peacetime, you would have made a handsome living from selling this contraption.” The commander laughed. “Still, I will show it to high command when we reach the camp.”

-3-

“This is a new type of arrow, I invented it to battle wyverns,” Morris said to Peytr.

“What exactly it does?”

“Well, we have first to shoot the eyes of a wyvern then seal it with earth, right?”

“Right.”

“These are magic tinted arrows, just like your sword is tinted, only they will draw power from each other to dig inside the skull of a wyvern, and knock the brain diamond from its place, immediately killing the wyvern.”

“Did you test this?”

“Well, yes, on a manticore, but the principle is the same.”

“Can it be mass-produced?”

“I am not sure, but we will have to retire at least a third of the purples to mass-produce it.”

“If it does what you say it does, then it is worth it.”

“You made my day, commander.”

“As you did mine, most humble and courageous of all purples.”

-4-

“Council members, I have a way to end the war,” Yohana, the head of the purple council, declared to the gathered war council.

The hubbub was instant, almost everybody spoke at once.

She waited till they all quieted down, then said, “One of our scholars was studying long-forgotten spells from lore, and a few months ago she happened on the most powerful spell ever cast.” She paused. “The scholar, Bridgette, found the spell that took out the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.”

“But that was an act of godly power, and it is not within human reach,” an orange councilwoman shouted.

“It might have been, but this was not the final aim of our scholar, she didn’t want to be remembered as the woman who killed two races.” Yohana signaled the excited council members to calm. “She worked for the last three months on modifying the spell, from one of lethal power to one of banishment.”

“And did she succeed?” the same orange councilwoman asked.

“Yes, in theory, she even tested it on one platoon of reds last week.” Yohana paused for effect. “And it worked perfectly.”

“Where did they get banished?” another councilman asked.

“We are not sure, but she has three theories. The first is that the people affected get suspended in a single moment, thus disappear from every passing moment after that.” She took a deep breath. “The next of her theories is that they get sent back in time, but how far she is not sure.” She swallowed hard. “The last theory is that they get thrown into the primordial hell, Tartarus.”

“That’s a myth,” shouted another councilwoman.

“As I said, it works, but we don’t know where they end up.” She sighed. “Does it really matter if it ends the war and spares thousands of lives?”

“It does to the ones banished, but again, it is the lesser of all evils, and we can work on bringing the banished back once peace returns,” the head of the orange council said

“This is all good, but who will be banished, the reds, the yellows, or the blues?” asked the same councilwoman from before.

“We have decided on the yellows and blues, as they are costing us the heaviest losses, even more than the magical beasts,” Yohana said.

“When can we do this?” the head of the orange council asked.

“First, we need to retrieve every single purple from the battlefield,” Yohana said, and the hubbub returned ten folds.

“Please allow me to explain.” She raised her rod to make her voice resonate higher. “It took Bridgette and another group of ten scholars to banish the thirty reds, so, we need all the purples out of the battlefield, and hope it is enough.”

“For how long?” The head of the oranges asked.

“A week, maybe ten days.” Yohana bowed her head, waiting for the coming attack of protests, but none came.

“We can stand the war front for ten days without purple support, just name your time to start.” The head of the oranges said to the nodding of approval from his entire council.

For ten days, the oranges fought alone against the joint power of the Order of Purification, the number of casualties was terrific. One-third of their number fell in these ten days, and their army had to retreat all the way to the gates of Meg Mell.

The city prepared for a long siege and the army withdrew to the walls of the city, hoping that what happened to the greens would not happen to them as well.

And on the night of the tenth day, as all oranges stayed waiting for the inevitable, a dark cloud raced all over Agartha. Then it was followed by a very bright light coming from everywhere at once. When that was gone, so was every single member of the yellow and blue nations.

Only the reds were left.

-5-

Rowida, I have to leave you. The dragon’s thought felt detached, erratic even.

What? Why? Rowida felt panicked.

Our Queen was bonded to the ruler of the blues when they got banished. The dragon felt distant. And we have to find her and bring her back, or all of our kind will perish.

But will you come back to me after that? Rowida was already feeling the pain of separation from her long-time friend, soul, and advisor.

“I will try.” The dragon stood in front of Rowida in full form, then he beat his wings hard, pushing all the tents in this part of the camp of the ground, then it flew towards the sun.

In a second, he disappeared completely, leaving Rowida crying on the ruins of her tent.

In the next month, the reds were pushed all the way to their home city, Akakor, suffering immense losses on their way. The beasts abandoned Rowida the moment the dragon left her and started to attack her soldiers as they charged out of the battlefield.

The Grand Wizard visited Rowida one last time, telling her he had to go on a quest for the most powerful Arcanos in lore and that he lost the Peace Granter when the blues and yellows were banished.

By the end of that month, the reds raised the white flag and demanded to negotiate their surrender. Rowida was left with a company of only fifty men, and she took them into hiding, in Mount Drake till the dust after the war settled.

The war was over.

Part 3- The World After the war