Dark Alliances (standard:fantasy, 3036 words)
Author: Knightmare	Added: Jun 06 2005	Views/Reads: 2826/1983	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Darkren is King of the Vanid and is hoping to finally end a four year war that has taken him and his people far from their homes. His last enemy though does not plan to make it an easy victory.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

close to two thousand Bladedancers moving quickly towards the enemy 
camp, but the enemy sentries saw and heard nothing before they died. 

Darkren lead a group of fifty Bladedancers past the outside defenses and
into the enemies' main camp.  There they saw hundreds of camp fires and 
torches burning.  They had learned early in the war what the 
Bladedancers could do to them at night and tried almost every thing to 
keep them out.  Several of the Bladedancers moved to the edge of the 
light and raised their hands.  Soon, all of the Bladedancers could feel 
these men putting the fires out with the Call, the Vanid magic. 

As the shadows spread the dancers moved forward deeper into the camp
killing the sleeping men while others went to secure the enemy 
supplies.  There were few silver Bladedancers because they were 
considered by some to be no better than murderers themselves.  The 
Bladedancers knew what had to be done though so they went about their 
work with ease and caution.  Darkren and his group though had taken the 
most dangerous task. 

Darkren and his fifty men moved not to kill the sleeping enemy or to
take their food, but to deal with the enemy commander.  The Nightlords 
were men to be feared because they reached their rank by being the 
deadliest nobles and priests in their land.  Darkren had already killed 
the other two Nightlords who had attacked the Vinir, but this one was a 
skilled warrior and general.  The other two had been nothing more than 
ambitious madmen. 

As they neared the center of the enemy camp the number of guards
increased, but so far they had avoided detection.  Darkren could see 
his men silently dealing with the guards and doing their best to stay 
to the shadows.  They worked their way to just fifty feet from the 
command tent when they stopped. 

There was a clear square area around the tent where the guards had
placed four large fires that made the area as bright as day.  There 
were twenty guards at each fire and five more standing at each corner 
of the tent, eighty in all.  They all wore the white uniforms of the 
Hadec army, but instead of the golden eye worn by the regular army; 
these men though had the eye closed and in black.  Darkren knew that 
these were the last of the elite guards that the Nightlords had brought 
with them.  They were almost the equal of the Bladedancers in their use 
of the sword, but other than that they were nothing but mindless 
killers. 

Signaling to his right Darkren's lieutenant ran over to where Darkren
hid.  Obsidian was a huge man, nearly six foot six, but was still quiet 
and able to move around like someone half his size.  His dark 
complexion blended in well with the night and to most people Obsidian 
would have seemed to come out of nowhere. 

“What is it Captain?” he asked in a low voice that sounded more like a
rumbling bear. 

“I need you and the others to deal with these guards while I take care
of the Nightlord.  Hold them back or kill them I don't care, just keep 
them out of the tent.  Send two of the others to get more of our men 
while you are at it.  I don't want anymore of these madmen getting 
away, they are just as responsible for their actions in this war as 
their leaders.” 

“As you wish Captain.” Obsidian said before disappearing again. 

“I hope that someday he will stop calling me that.” Darkren mumbled. 

Waiting for his men to make their attack did not take much time because
before Obsidian could send for more men the sound of an alarm cut 
though the night.  Looking back over his shoulder Darkren could hear 
the sounds of battle echoing throughout the night as the Hadecians 
tried to fight the Bladedancers.  The guards on the tent came alert and 
Darkren cursed his luck.  Reaching into his coat he pulled out a 
throwing knife and stood throwing the knife into the throat of the 
guard nearest to him.  His men quickly did the same and in seconds the 
guards were being pushed back to the tent by the Bladedancers. 

Darkren ran foreword and drew his sword and quickly dispatched the two
guards standing next to the tents opening.  Inside the Nightlord was 
sitting before a table looking over maps and reports before he looked 
up at Darkren.  The Nightlord was a middle aged man with gray hair 
closely trimmed, but his blue eyes were alert and showed no surprise at 
seeing him there.  Standing up he moved around to the front of his desk 
and looked Darkren up and down. 

“I was waiting for you.  It took you longer than I thought it would but
I knew that you would come.” he said with a half smile. 

“How did you know that I was coming?  No one knew about.....”  Darkren
trailed off trying to think how this man could know of the raid before 
hand.  Or that Darkren would lead it himself. 

“You were not betrayed savage king.  I am sure you of all people know of
the power given to my people by the great goddess of Fate, Fala.  I 
chose to see my death.” 

Darkren had known that the people of Hadec would pray to Fala to gain
the knowledge of the future in order to gain an upper hand in the 
world.  He had never thought that they would go so far as to want to 
see their own deaths. 

The Nightlord reached down next to his desk and drew his scimitar and
attacked with blinding speed, but Darkren was just as fast.  After a 
few attacks the Nightlord back away and prepared to attack again.  Not 
in the mood to wait, Darkren took control and attacked the Nightlord 
who quickly countered his attack and tried to reverse the blade to cut 
his throat.  Darkren moved out of the way and countered with his own 
attack that left a cut just below the Nightlords right eye.  They again 
moved away from each other. 

“I always liked weapons like my scimitar and your katana, savage.  I
think that is one of the reasons that I so wanted to lead the invasion 
of the Vinir.” 

“You people were just greedy and wanted things that belonged to others. 
What I want to know is why you were so willing to come here if you knew 
you were going to die?”  Darkren asked. 

“Because, I think that the future can be changed.  The only way that I
could prove that was to come here and have my war with your people 
savage.  I think that my fellows figured out my plan though.  They have 
abandoned me here to my fate.  So let us see who is right, me or them.” 


The Nightlord launched an attack so quickly that Darkren barely got out
of the way in time.  The two continued to trade attacks until they both 
had several wounds and were bleeding from cuts all over their arms and 
the Nightlord had gained a cut over his left eye.  Using the last of 
his energy the Nightlord launched his final attack which Darkren 
sidestepped and stabbed foreword taking the Nightlord in the chest.  
His sword went deep enough to come out the Nightlords back. 

“I guess that I was wrong.” he said in a whisper before he died. 

Darkren let the body fall to the ground and wiped the blood off the
blade before it occurred to him that the sounds of battle had stopped.  
His attention was attracted to the desk and walked over to see what the 
Nightlord had been reading when he came in.  As his eyes went over the 
script he felt fear for the first time in years.  He then looked down 
on the map and saw where the Nightlord had recorded the notes message 
of troop movements on the Southern part of Hadec.  He looked up when 
someone else walked into the tent and saw that it was Thyra. 

“What are you doing here?” he asked surprised. 

“When the camp began to go crazy we knew that your people had been found
out.  I convinced the other commanders to attack and your men let us 
through their outer defenses.  This battle is over, but there are still 
groups of resistance in a few places.”  She walked over to stand next 
to Darkren and kissed him.  “What have you found in here, other than a 
Nightlord that is?” 

Darkren handed her the notes and her eyes went wide. 

“They couldn't have done this. They have to be mad to make a deal with
the Empire of Heart.” She said with horror. 

“We have to call a meeting of our commanders and let them know what we
have found out.  That the Nightlords have made a pact with the demons 
own." 

They quickly gathered up all of the papers they could find and called
out to some of their men nearby to help them carry the papers and 
journals back to camp. *                      *                * 

Darkren looked at the men and women gathered around the fire outside of
his tent.  Among these people were Vanid chieftains and the Bladedancer 
Captains that Darkren had called for.  Thyra had called for her 
remaining generals and nobles from all over Vinir.  These were the most 
powerful people of two nations and their rulers would not make the next 
move without their counsel and wisdom. 

“The Lady Thyra and I discovered in the Nightlords tent something that
we think all of you should know.  We went through all of the messages 
that he had received from Skymyth and discovered that the Nightlords 
did not mean this to be a petty invasion.  They apparently committed 
almost all of their troops to the taking of the Vinir lands.” 

“So this means that they have no one to defend them if we launched a
counter invasion?” one of the Vinir asked. 

“Under normal circumstances that would be true.”  Thyra said stepping
foreword.  “The last few messages that the Nightlord had received were 
to tell him that with the death of two Nightlords two months ago 
allowed three of the others in Skymyth to make an alliance not only 
with the Red Cities, but also with the Empire of Heart.” 

There was complete silence as what she had just said struck home.  The
Empire was the most powerful country in the southern continent, maybe 
even the world. 

“How many soldiers are they sending?” asked Obsidian. 

“Between six and ten legions,” Darkren answered. 

“That is between twenty four and forty thousand soldiers.  Do you know
who is leading them?” a Vinir asked 

“According to the information that we found in the Nightlords journals
and notes Donnovan himself might be leading the army, but we do know 
that the general of the Silver legions is with them.  We also know that 
close to twenty thousand mercenaries from the Red Cities have signed on 
to join the Hadecian army.  Besides these forces the only remaining 
Hadecian soldiers number only about fourteen thousand men.” 

“How are we sure that this information is good?” asked a Chieftain 

“We read in the Nightlords journals that he did not agree with the
actions of the others.  That was the reason that he would not let his 
men retreat and did not receive more reinforcements like earlier in the 
war.  He did not want to help the Nightlords that betrayed their own 
people and they did not feel in the mood to save their political enemy. 
 We had planned to return our people to their homes after this battle 
was over.  We can still do that, but I don't think that this army is 
going to just sit still, they will try to finish what the others 
started.” 

“What should we do?” Obsidian asked. 

Thyra looked at the crowd and frowned before she answered. 

“We can go home and respond if and when they attack again and have to
fight this same war all over again.  We could also sit on the boarder 
and wait for the attack and keep them out of Vinir.  Our last option is 
to invade Hadec and try to get the armies before they are able to 
combine their forces.  Darkren and I have decided to let you voice your 
opinions on this matter before we invade.” 

They were silent for a moment before the oldest of the Chieftains stood
and looked at the other people around the fire.  He pushed his gray 
hair out of his eyes and had his hand on his Bladedancers shoulder so 
that he could stay standing. 

“I am an old man Darkren, but I have followed you for close to a decade
and think that if we just went home the last three years would have 
been for nothing.  But we can't just sit here and let them decide when 
to attack us while the Emperor gathers the other powers around him.  So 
we have only one option left, to invade.  I hate to give more lives to 
this war, but we do not have a choice.” 

The other leaders voiced their agreement and Darkren raised his hand for
silence.  Once they quieted down he pulled Thyra back for some privacy. 
“He is right, we have no other choice.” 

“We already knew that my love.” She said patting his cheek. 

Turning back to the assembly Darkren spoke so that all could hear him. 

“We will wait a week and then marshal our forces and head south against
the alliance.  I just hope that this will finally be the end of this 
war.” 


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