Battle begins

As the lines close in, you order a halt. Accepting a charge is probably risky, but you need their army to be in a position that your plans will work. All around you the troops brace themselves, some taking a last drink from waterskins or checking armor straps.

Halid leads from the front as well, but as you watch he drops back into the lines as he orders a charge. His army comes on regardless, sunlight glinting off spear tips and sword points as they charge, maybe 200 feet out. You raise your shield, and the front line mirrors you.

You feel like you’re staring down every blade in the charge. Time seems to slow as the lines collide, and the first person hits your shield. You shove the sword high, and your answering thrust plunges easily through his leather breastplate. The mans eyes go wide, and he clutches the wound as he falls. Beside you you hear Maya snarl as she shreds the first enemy to reach her, claws throwing gore. On your other side someone mistakenly thinks the unarmed and unarmored Kali is easy pickings, but she catches his spear thrust, snaps the head off and rams it into the throat of the stunned spearman. Meanwhile, whenever someone nearby takes a wound, Anna leeches some of Kali’s healing powers to mend them quickly.

The scene repeats in a blur until the enemy give you up as a bad job, and soon a bubble of calm forms around you. You take the chance to glance around at the state of the battle. You hear cackling laughter from the right and see a body go flying, armor horrifically mangled. Uzume has things handled, it seems. You glance left and see a mass of fighting, so you raise your hand and hurl fire into the sky.

Your signal sent, you hear battle cries as the mass of orcs charge from the forest, slamming into the **** rear of the enemy lines. The carnage is incredible, even from where you are. The opposing army begins to crumble on the flank.

You can see Sadie floating above, hurling lightning across at lone figures behind the lines. She also guides Ruka in entangling knots of resistance in vines.

Things seem to be going well. On the left the line begins to push forward, and you feel panic start to ripple through the opposition. It will only take a small push to turn the wavering into a rout. You wade forward yourself, leading a wedge into the center in an attempt to break the battle open. Suddenly a path clears ahead of you, and you see Halid, but something is different.

He looks at you with an insane grin, and black, oily tendrils begin to crawl over his armor. He shudders, and suddenly blackness engulfs his eyes. He lifts his sword and points it, not at you but above, and the blade flares with inky darkness.

You hear a scream, and look up to see Sadie falling from the sky, black flames trailing along her path. You look back down to see Halid laughing in a voice that isn’t his own. He throws his arms wide, and booms out a challenge as even his own side cringes away from the rapidly corrupting former king.