Dragon Age Origins: The Tale of Solana

Chapter 25: Battle Begin!

In the presence of the whole ruins of Ostagar stood Ferelden's last hope. King Cailan rode up beside the Wardens before dismounting. "Everyone in positions!"

As they did so, Cailan was happy to see Duncan join him at his side. The battle was to be a magnificent show of power against the darkspawn tonight, along with the Wardens beside him. Tonight would mark him a hero among heroes! He would win this battle as the ones before it with wit and skill. Cailan only hoped that Anora, his wife, was able to see his glorious standing amongst the heroes of legend.

Lightening ripped the sky in high volts of spontaneous show of power over head. The heavens opened up, and the flood waters began. Many of the men's torches went out due to the down pour. Serveral hundred men gathered underneath the gorge of Ostagar: Men and Grey Wardens, Ash warriors and mages. All had come to the call of the king of Ferelden. There was a sudden clap of thunder before a gust of wind began to pick up.

The archers lay ready with their bows. Some had theirs coated in oil as to light when the signal was given for them. The armed forces, long swords with shields and great swords for power, all stood ready to charge at their opportune time. The others readied with their quick like axes and daggers, and some held poison specifically made for the darkspawn. The ash warriors stood more than ready with their hounds beside them. The Mabari growled and barked as they, out of any of them beside the Grey Wardens, felt what was coming. The mages, a far off, stood ready with Templar men guarding them. They too were ready to do battle for their country.

A sudden flash of lightening and the ever so present thunder rumbled overhead. The rain was cold, and began to soak the ground into mud. One could clearly smell the marshy shrub land of the Wilds with the wind coming from that direction. Many of the men had to shield their eyes from the rain that pelleted them.

A priest, although soaked, continue to walk amongst the lines with incense burning. She prayed to the Maker to keep these brave men's and women's souls close to him.

Cailan accompanied Duncan to the front lines. Duncan had sensed the oncoming horde for some time and was glad that the younger Wardens could not sense what he could. Some of these men would not make it through the first few minutes, he was sure of it. The thought dampened his spirit, no pun intended. He raised his eyes to the foreboding sky that he knew was not nature at work. Something was allowing such a storm to happen, and it was not the Earth doing so.

"The plan will work, your Majesty," he said more for himself than for the king.

King Cailan scoffed and arrogantly raised his eyes to the battlements above. "Of course it will. The Bilight ends here."

After only moments, I, Duncan, began to see those same fires brewing closer and closer to us. The very sight of them was breathtaking. It was like an early morning sunrise, yet dark and mind numbing. This was to be no normal battle as the ones before. This would be one history would be sacred to remember for ages to come. I knew this was a Blight, and I prayed to the Maker that an archdemon did not come upon us this night.

Black smoke began to rise amongst the trees and white smoke began to filter out of the forest ahead. With it was the screams of dying animals and the horrible stench of the darkspawn. The first ones to show their faces was the horrific Hurlocks with their jagged swords and half rotted appearance.

This was normal for Darkspawn battles, the Hurlocks and Hurlock Aphas were their tanks. They rushed ahead with the rest of the group to plow through any and all defenses.

Mixed in, I could see the shorter Genlocks. Their small axes and daggers reminded me again of the dwarfs. I still could never get over how tough and dangerous those smaller darkspawn were compared to the taller Hurlocks. Not only that, but more agile as well. With breath held, I hoped the king's men were ready for them. There had to be at least two hundred standing before us, and we all knew that was not all of them.

The darkspawn began to hit their shields in rage. Their screams would echo over the men in an attempt to scare the soldiers. It worked on some, as I saw all around me, men and women, shift uneasily from foot to foot. One solider to my left, second line, began to back up only to be stopped and encouraged by a taller fellow from behind. I gave a great heavy sigh at his lack of courage.

I watched as Cailan's expression changed. He even looked uneasy. It was soon replaced as one darkspawn Alpha signaled for his demons to attack. They came pouring out of the forest like ants swarming out to devour a much larger prey. My blood ran cold as we all witnessed two or more Ogres come slowly marching out towards us.

The large twelve foot monsters had horns that stretch out way to the side and their purple skin was rock hard. For some reason unknown to the Wardens, the Ogres did not rot in the same fashion as the other darkspawn. This made them one of the most difficult things to kill on the battle fields, even more so than the Genlocks.

King Cailan turned quickly, "Archers!"

All the archers lit their arrows and prepared to fire. The commander over them raised his hand, and waited. Once the darkspawn horde drew half a quarter way closer, his hand fell with all gravity. Hundreds of flaming arrows shot into the night sky above. They rained down over the darkspawn, killing some instantly.

"Hounds," Cailan demanded.

The Ash Warriors released their faithful hounds to the fight the horde ahead of them. Beast against beast, they clashed with power. The fifty or more hounds sprang on some, others fell to an instant sword wound. The scene was grizzly as the poor sounds of dying dogs could be heard whimpering all around. It tore even at this old man's heart strings and I had to turn away for a moment before looking back.

King Cailan, too glad to glance away for a moment before raising his sword high above his head. "For Ferelden!" The soldiers ran ahead to meet their enemies head on. The battlements above began to shoot cascading fire over our heads toward the horde. I fought my old bones screaming as I ran with the king and his men towards the darkspawn.

Tonight would put us all into legends a new.