Castor rode his horse through the lines of soldiers until he reached the command position. Merric and Horace looked at him with doubt. The three of them wore full battle armor with iron helmets, visors open. Castor bent his arms experimentally, getting used to the resistance of the armor. His shield was slung across his left arm with his scabbard on his left hip and his sword in his hand

"Ready?"

Merric nodded uncertainly. "As ready as I'm going to be. Do you honestly think we have a chance?"

Castor hesitated. The truth was, he was not sure. His stomach churned with the thought that he could be leading thousands of his men to their deaths. Still, a tiny flicker of hope glimmered through his doubt. He knew that they could do it. "Yes. I do actually think we could."

"Your confidence is reassuring. I was starting to have doubts." Horace admitted. Theuses and L'arch rode up next to them with a group of four Aurtha Ra. Theuses wore a white elfish breastplate. White bracers covered his arms and greaves were slapped across his legs, though he wore no helmet.

L'arch was armored similarly, though she wore a leather breastplate and had her two knives strapped to her sides. Two jeweled pins held her blond hair in place. Bows and quivers showed behind both of their right shoulders.

"You guys ready to do this?" Theuses asked.

"Oh yeah," Castor answered. "Are your men in position?"

"Yes. We are ready to hold the right side until you can break the Urki lines."

"Do you know if Ilvnag and his men are in their positions?"

"They just sent us a messenger." L'arch confirmed. "He said they are ready when we are."

~ ~ ~

At the fortress, soldiers scrambled into positions and the thousands of Urki stood in their neat rows with pikes and swords at the ready. Tarris stood on the ramparts of the walls overlooking the scene. Everything was working in perfect order. Years of planning were now going to be put to the test.

"By the time that petty squad of soldiers reaches the gates," Tarris thought, "they will be nothing more than a collection of beaten, battered men too tired to even lift their shattered spears. Huh, if they even get to the gates," He mused. An Urki commander came up behind him.

"Sir, our men are in position. We have reserved a few hundred warriors to guard the fortress. The rest are on the battlefield."

"Good. You will take control here. I'm going to the front and hold from there."

"Yes sir. But sir, where is Lord Bantu? Should he not be here?"

Tarris snorted. "Like he could actually fight," He mumbled.

"What was that sir?"

"I said he is in the chamber. He wishes to be there when the Dark Lord rises." The Urki nodded with a shudder. Strange how even after the Urki fought for Morgorath for centuries they were still scared out of their skin from him, Tarris thought. "Now, get back to your post."

~ ~ ~

Theuses leaned over to where Castor was perched in the saddle. "Encourage them."

"What?"

Theuses gestured toward the troops who were shifting their weight from one leg to another, nervously or murmuring amongst each other. "Encourage them. Give them a reason to believe they will win. Give them a reason to fight," Theuses hissed before he turned his horse around and rode toward his men. L'arch followed close behind.

Castor nodded and banged his sword-butt on his shield. The clamber caused the soldiers around them to look at him. More began to watch as the sound continued. When a significant crowd was watching Castor went silent.

"Men." His voice came out shaky and quieter than he had hoped. Willing himself be calm he continued. "On this day we fight for a greater purpose than a battle. We fight for a world! A world that otherwise would not be able to stand up for itself." A cry of agreement shouted across the battlefield. "On this day we fight to preserve all that our fathers stood for on the field of battle where our races were once bonded by shed blood on this very soil." In an exaggerated motion, Castor lifted his sword above his head. "Today we-will-conquer!" Another cry; this time louder, echoed from the army in a thunderous roar. "Forward!" The soldiers surged forward in hundreds of ranks of men.

~ ~ ~

In the other end of the pass, from the top of the ramparts, Tarris was giving his own speech to his men. Though, instead of inspiration through honor and justice, he used fear for inspiration. The threats of Morgorath's punishments were enough to get them going.

"Go and defend this pass for Morgorath! Honor will be gained, or your hides will be flayed! Go!"

~ ~ ~

As the armies surge against each-other, the sound of thousands of feet, carrying bodies loaded with armor and weapons rang across the battlefield. The acoustics of the cliffs sent the sound ringing like a steel drum. That and the jump of his warhorse sent jerks of motion through Castor's backbone, jarring his clenched jaw.

As the soldiers came against each-other it seemed for one moment that everything had gone silent and only the motion of the men beasts still existed. In a second the memories of all that had occurred over the last few weeks and all that would occur if they failed flashed through the king's mind.

Then the armies collided.

The sound was like millions of cymbals and hammers hitting each-other, all going at once. From his vantage point amount his horse, Castor could see the front lines of his soldiers colliding with the bloodthirsty Urki. With yells of defiance, the soldiers stabbed viciously with their pikes.

In most cases, the strikes were knocked aside uselessly, followed up by fatal sword blows, but in several cases the stabs landed and set the Urki tumbling to the ground. Consumed with the rage of battle, Castor spurred his horse forward.

After passing several ranks and with Merric and Horace still at his side, Castor joined the front lines of the fight. Immediately a monster charged him, sword held high. Quickly, Castor lifted his shield. The blow smashed against it like a hammer on an anvil. The blow set a jolt up his arm that shook his skull.

With a swift jab, Castor thrust his sword into the monster's face. With a gurgle, the Urki fell. Another muscled his way through and took another swipe. Castor lurched to the side, and swiped his sword into the Urki's throat.

Another Urki came, but was slain quickly by a jab with a soldier's spear. Merric pulled his horse up next to him.

"Watch your guard!" Castor turned around just as an Urki blade struck him on the shoulder. The blow glanced off his shoulder guards, but the force caused him to almost drop his shield. A soldier quickly stabbed the Urki in the arm before Castor cut its head off and retrieved his shield.

From the right side of the army, a clear note rang through the conflict. Horace turned toward him. "That's an elf war-horn! Sire, they need help!" Castor nodded as he deflected an Urki pike.

After dispatching the warrior, Castor turned his horse around and moved toward the elfish lines. Immediately, he could see trouble. A spearhead formation was smashing through the lines of armored elves. It was evident that the Empire saw the elves as more of a threat.

Arrows flew from the elf warriors and imbedded themselves in the Urki lines, but it was barely enough to slow them down. Even with the archers, the Urki pushed through the lines, cutting elves down left and right. At the front of the resistance, Theuses, without his horse, led the army with his bodyguard of Aurtha Ra. Their I'rl cut with deadly swipes, crushing through the Urki armor.

Even though, the Urki slew more and more warriors as they push the elf line back. Theuses turned and raised his sword in salute. "Nice to see you!"

Castor returned the motion. "How are you doing? Where's L'arch?"

Theuses cringed. "Not great. I've lost many warriors already and the battle's barely begun. She's on the other side of the army!" Theuses stopped to cut down an approaching Urki. He turned momentarily to call to his warriors. "Fire!" A volley of bright silver elfish arrows flew into the advancing lines of enemies. Ten or so Urki fell to the onslaught and the elves charged forward.

Theuses lagged back to ketch his breath while Castor dismounted.

"Well, we're doing pretty well."

Theuses raised an eyebrow. "Really? Wow, than your men must be doing a lot better than we are." He twisted his arm experimentally. "Man, their blows are like sledgehammers."

Castor was silently surprised. An elf had abnormal strength compared to humans. If Theuses's arm was hurting already, he must have been deflecting hundreds of blows.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud blast, followed by two more. Castor looked up in surprise. "I need to get back to my men. Can you hold up?"

Theuses nodded wordlessly.

Back at his soldiers' lines, Castor rode up next to Merric and Horace.

"What was that sir?" Merric asked. "The men are pushing back the Urki lines, but they are suddenly falling back. The Urki appear to be retreating."

"This is way too easy," Horace said. "There's something going on."

Castor mulled what they said over. Horace was defiantly right. Something was going on. Why throw themselves at the enemy and then run away? A settle whoosh noise caused Castor to look up. The sight first was puzzling, but it quickly registered.

A black cloud of arrows poured down from the jagged cliffs.

"Shields! If you value your life, shields!!" The soldiers around him hastily threw up their shields as the downpour of arrows struck into the lines. Even with their haste, hundreds of men went down with about half as many hurt.

Two heavy thuds struck his shield as two arrow heads buried themselves in it, rendering it useless.

After slipping the shield off his arm, he looked at Merric. "Have the archers fire into the cliffs. "I know we will lose more arrows then we gain," He said quickly, cutting off a protest, "but we need to at least make those monsters think twice before firing."

Merric agreed reluctantly and set one of the soldiers to relay the message.

Seconds later a volley of arrows shot from the rear ranks and flew into the cliffs. Though there weren't many, Castor saw the bodies of Argle archers fall.

They didn't have to wait long for the return fire. More soldiers fell, but not as many as before.

Horace glanced at Castor. "Sir, one of my men saw Tarris in the center of the Urki. He has given the order for Urki to move back and reform. They have gone to two-thirds of the way into the pass."

Castor shook his head. "That's a huge risk. They will just get bottled up."

"Not necessarily," Merric interjected. "If they can get their archers and whatever else they have up there to soften us up, then our front lines will get pummeled by their front ranks and we will only have a disorganized bunch of wounded units to replace them."

Castor cringed as he imagined the scene. They would be demolished.

"We could have the archers open fire on the Urki reserves. Then, if we were to break their lines, the problem would be on their hands." Horace suggested.

"We can't risk it. We need to diminish their numbers of archers."

"It will take too long. We need a separate force if we are going to destroy their archers."

From the lines of soldiers ahead of them, a cry went up. Castor turned to see what the matter was.

Two boulders flew from either side of the pass from the cliffs and went crashing into the ranks of men. A hideous crunch followed the landing of the stone as it crushed bone and metal, rolling over numerous ranks.

"They have catapults." Castor said in an exasperated voice. "Now we really need to take them out."

"Call the Night elves. They could dismantle the siege weapons." Horace suggested.

Castor shook his head. "No. We don't have the leverage we need to break the Urki and get to them."

"Sir, it may be critical that we get those weapons disarmed." Merric said. "If we don't, they can just weaken our numbers until we have nothing to attack the fortress with. We will be leading our men to the slaughter. Lord knows what other surprises they have farther back anyway."

"Just let me think for a second." He knew they could not send the Night elves in. They would follow plan, and in doing so get destroyed.

He could attempt to send a team of elves to climb the walls, but it was a long shot. Still, it was their only shot. Wordlessly, he spurred his charger toward the elf lines.

Theuses was leading his men in a desperate charge against the Urki. As the knights and warriors fought viciously, the Urki ranks began to buckle and get forced back.

"Theuses!" The elf king turned away to see who had called.

After a few moments of explaining, Theuses shook his head. "Sorry. I don't have anyone extra. Every one of my warriors are either beating back the Urki somewhere down our lines, or carrying wounded back."

"Is there any way you could spare even a few of your spell-casters?"

"No. They are too valuable keeping my men safe from unseen attacks."

"What if you broke the Urki?" Merric asked. He turned to Castor. "Sir, I could take a force of say, one hundred men, and flank the enemy. Then they would be forced to either focus on defending themselves, or give-up their right side."

Castor looked to Theuses. "Could you then?"

Theuses nodded slowly as he visualized it. "Yes. I could spare probably ten or so warriors."

"Perfect." Castor turned back to Merric. "Just as you said, take a hundred soldiers and get their attention on you. Deal as much damage as you can, but don't take any risks."

He then looked to Horace. "You will take charge here, Horace. I want you to command the soldiers. I will try to stay with you as much as possible, but if the opportunity presents itself Theuses and I will go for the gate, understand?" Horace nodded.

Then they heard another Urki horn.

One long, clear note cut through the battle. It was quickly followed up by a second blast.

Then, from somewhere behind them, the sound of scraping echoed after the horn's notes. The rough sound of wood on wood hissed through the pass. After several seconds an unearthly bang slammed the ground and shook the very rock they stood on.

A roar like only a god could make thundered through the ground. Millions of tons of water poured from an open passage in the rock.

Within seconds a river of water crossed across the mouth of the pass behind them. A sinking feeling pulled on Castor.

"They released the dam. We're trapped."

s