Chapter 18: Hope Barely Alive

The wind has died down and the storm has lessened its attack upon the world, but snow is continuing to fall. At four feet deep, pretty soon the snow is going to force them to dismount and lead their steeds through it. It has been two days and they have not seen any signs of enemy movement. Hope may be barely alive, but it grows hourly as Allan's belief in Stephen has never faltered and never will.

"If he lives he will succeed in his most important mission."

"Yes, my queen, I am your humble servant," says Stephen, in a trance like monotone voice, and as a milky glaze is starting to cloud his eyes. The adrift and accursed ship rocks in the stormy seas.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I know we should be heading back to the first line of defense rallying point by now, but I say we stay out here and give our people as much of a chance as possible to regroup. I know it is cold. I can't even feel my right arm any more, but I am willing to sacrifice myself for just one minute longer for help to arrive. I would ask your opinions and take a poll, but we are technically disobeying orders, so I will make it a command therefore only I can get into trouble."

On the fifth day the snow stops falling, leaving behind nearly five feet of snow in most areas, and even deeper in valleys between the hills. The sky again becomes crystal blue and the sun sets to work on melting the glorious snow that has slowed up the enemy more than the Alliance of Light could have ever hoped to do.

On the sixth day after the big battle, they see the first signs that the enemy is preparing to go on the move again. Allan's cavalry sees advance patrols, of which they attack three of them throughout that sixth day.

"See that patrol winding in and out over there. Wait, you can't see them yet. They are behind the biggest hill in that clump of them there. You should be able to see them in a second when that hill arcs down and just before the little one goes up. Since everything is covered in snow, you'll see a flash of dark in a second. There, did you see?"

"Yes."

"Take two patrols and outmaneuver and ambush them. Go damn it, go!" They ride off at the speed of war.

Eventually the demon dragons come for them, and they do lose another nine riders, but the enchanted arrows and the four wizards and witches they have riding with them keep the Nightstalker Dragons at bay. Luckily, of the two witches that are riding with them, one of them is Lena who has healed Allan's arm and who continues to make sure his arm is making forward progress. Allan still can't hold anything in his hand, and is admonished severely for even trying.

It is on the seventh day that the enemy gets tired of sending out patrols for them to attack, and the demon dragons have taken it upon themselves not to attack when wizards, witches and the magical arrows are about. That is a great piece of information, because the Dragons of Light, or the Rainbow Dragons as they are also known as, would not have stopped until all was won or lost. Eventually the enemy sends their entire army out to battle Allan's cavalry.

The snow will make any fighting almost comical, but Allan allows them to get in range of their long bows and launches a volley and then pulls back. They will pull back for about an hour and then wait for the enemy to catch up, and then they will hit them with another volley. They use this tactic throughout the whole of the seventh day.

Finally it appears the dragonmen commanders and dark wizards manage to get the demon dragons back into the air, and just moments before nightfall of the seventh day a hundred demon dragons attack. They scream with fury as the allies enchanted arrows hit them and their brothers and sister are dropping out of the sky dead, but they attack nonetheless, and whole patrols of Allan's cavalry disappear in balls of acid and fire. It gets to the point where they have to dive off their horses and hide in the snow to wait them out. Even the ones the wizards and witches manage to kill do damage as they fall out of the sky landing on Allied troops. By the time they gather their horses and are mounted again Allan is furious.

Allan orders an attack on the bedded down enemy. "I am tired of this, and I will not let them have the last word of this day. We will get close enough for our standard bows to reach their front lines, and then we will launch three or four volleys, however many the enemy return fire will allow us to do, and then we will pull back all the way to the first line of defense rallying point. Any questions? Good, let's go."

In the dark and the crunching of the snow, they manage to get close enough to launch two volleys before thousands of arrows start coming their way. They lose another dozen men and horses, but Allan still feels better for showing the enemy they might defeat them on the field of battle because of their numbers and type of numbers, but they will never defeat their spirit. Little solace, Allan knows, when you have an arrow sticking out of your right leg, but he is still so damn cold that the pain hasn't reached his brain yet. Again Lena the witch takes care of his wounds, and everybody else's the best she can.

They begin their final retreat. "I hate that word." Calling something a tactical withdrawal helps a little, but ultimately the outcome is the same.

By the eighth day the sun has created small rivers as the snow begins to melt in earnest. It takes the cavalry another four days to reach the fall back rallying point.

"You are late, and I see you have lost several hundred more soldiers."

"Aye, the demon dragons have been harassing us all the way here. The worst of that is we are almost out of enchanted arrows. I know I was ordered to be here in a week, but the enemy didn't move for quite a few days, so we waited with them and slowed them up as best we could."

"At what cost?"

"I don't understand. Hasn't the twelve days, five of them extra, given you more time to prepare?"

"Yes, that is true, but I have already lost a dozen society members, and when you did not report back as ordered I feared the worse."

"A dozen you say?"

"Yes."

"Damn."

"Yes."

"Where is Thunderheart?"

"I sent him back to be with Emma. Now that our two armies have linked up and our forces are closer together, we will not need him to relay messages, and to keep him here to fight will only surely mean his death. He was furious, for he has thought of nothing else but avenging Kaleidoscope, but he follows my orders, as is necessary if we are going to survive this."

"Yes, sir, I get the message."

"Good. Now your troops must be hungry and tired. You have some time, I suggest you take it, for the end is coming one way or the other."

It is true that they have another week on top of the five days Allan kept his cavalry in the field before that lumbering enemy army can reach their new lines, but Allan does not take that time to go visit Emma. He knows he should, and he definitely wants to, more than any other thing in this world, but he needs to keep his mind in a state of war, and seeing his beloved wife will break down that barrier and he is afraid he will truly start to feel the loss of Kaleidoscope and all the others. Maybe it is mean and selfish, but it is necessary, and besides Thunderheart is with her.

The enemy draws nearer. Except for some small patches, the snow is almost completely gone. To make it worse, it has stayed cold, which means the ground will remain hard, rather than if it had become warm the ground would have become soggy, which would slow up the enemy even more than the snow had. The world has given them one great gift in the form of a massive snowstorm, so it would be unbalanced to ask for more.

It has become evident that the enemy has the ability to learn. Late into the night before the Allies expect the enemy to attack, the enemy approaches silently until they are close enough to give an all out full charge. They have no plans of an organized slow advance. From out of the dark they silently run towards the Allied front lines. Allan is asleep further back when he hears the first sounds of battle echoing through the night. He jumps up, he is already dressed so it doesn't take him long, and runs for the front lines, not bothering to mount his horse.