War of the First Age

I: A Ballad of Elves and Dwarves

1 Age , 936 Year

Winterhelm

"Get to those bloody battlements!" A male dwarf commanded with a heavy accent, his thick orange beard flowing in the heavy winds which had snowflakes flying at great speed through the high winds, a thick long orange mane went down his back and was pulled back at his mid back into a pony tail. His chest plate was that of silver steel, pauldrons glistened golden in the white snow, over his heavy chest plate; he wore a knee-length crimson red tabard, with the emblem of the city, a snowflake, in black trimmed with white, his eye's looking out to the sea.

"Kelouramis, what's happening?" A female Elf with the same uniform and armour, but with long flowing black hair, tied back messily, obviously tied in a hurry, in a long ponytail, spoke to the dwarf, her brown eyes looked calm, yet she had a scared voice. The dwarf turned away from staring out at the wintery harbour towards to elf who spoke to him

"We're under attack, Auril, Blackveil ships are in our harbour. Our blockade must have been broken. This is no good at all" Kelouramis said a bit more calmly to his companion, he whipped a snowflake from his eyes, then turned his eyes down and gently brushed his flowing beard.

"What would you have me do, Kelo?" Auril asked her Dwarven companion who then let go of his beard and look back at her, a hint of something she did not recognise in the dwarf's eye, she wasn't sure if it was a kind look or that it was one of panic and distress.

"Go to the Military District, no run to the Military District and rally the guard and whatever soldiers we have left, on your way, run to the Cathedral and tell them to ring the bell to signal that we're under attack and tell them to close the portcullises and the gates. Run!" Kelo commanded and Auril ran off at great speed, her long elvish legs carrying her fast across the city and her slender body breathed lightly as she took breaths with each movement of her legs. Kelouramis look back out towards the sea and began stroking her beard again, thinking, strategizing, he stared out at the black ships with black sails; he watched the sea break upon the rocks and the wooden boardwalks and jetties. Looking closely to the ships, one of the ships, the flagship, seemed to have black steel objects on the deck, manned by some of its crew, soldiers wearing light, black tunics, some of them stood around a small fire on the deck, keeping the crew warm, others shivered as they keep an eye on the city. Kelouramis figured that orders must have been yelled out as the ships moved so their port side was facing the city and their anchors fell into the crashing waves and brought the Blackveil armada to a halt, the crew ran around the deck of the ships and they notched arrows and did something Kelo could not see with the black steel objects on the deck of the flagship.

Soon many archers in similar armour to Kelo but seemed to be almost leather, each had a long bow in their right hand and a large quiver of arrows belted at their waist, panted up to the battlements and took their positions on the wall, many shivering in the freezing cold, snow sliced through the wind and past the eyes of the archers. Doubling the troops on the walls of the city to defend its harbour from the Blackveil invaders, the bell rang continuously and guardsmen jogged all over the place, swords drawn and shields raised up as if they were already blocking with the frightened tension that the invaders would take the city. As soon as the bell started ringing, the citizens of the city went in a panic, those in the Southern Trade District evacuated into the walkways and ran up to the safety of the Cathedral, and those with access were let into the Dwarven District. Soldiers ran into the Trade District and made sure that there was nobody left in the District, in case the Harbour Gate was broken through. The panic was quickly subdued by the guardsmen and women in their tunics, some still putting pieces of their plate mail on their chest and arms, and carrying large shields on their backs and their swords swayed as they ran towards the wall, some of them only had to put their tabards on. Senior Mages and Wizards ran from their Tower and gathered the Junior learners and put them into the large tower with a coned dark red roof, and into the tavern built, connected to the tower at the base, its roof was also deep red but wasn't coned. Few Wizards stayed in their District and sealed the Tower and all the buildings with powerful wards and magic. The others ran up to the battlements, the mages in black and red knee length robes, black hoods hid their face under shadow but their magic channelled throughout them and their eyes glowed smoking blue, with powerful magic, tattoos on their face glowed with the same smoky glow which made the mages look undead and almost unstable, ready to explode with the force of several Mana-bombs, a bomb that is created by several mages which had the power to destroy a part of a city and corrupt anything within its range and killing everything within a large distance. Wizards wore the same attire but didn't bother with hoods, black pointed hats sat atop their heads with a black ribbon tied around the brim and sagged at the back of the hat like a fish tail, their staves in stood high above them, crystals of different colours sat atop of their wooden base. The difference between the mages and the wizards is that the Mage's use and create their magic from mana, the magic in the air that surrounds everything and is given off by aura nodes, commonly known as trees. Trees, for some reason unknown to scholars and mages alike, don't yet know how and why they give off this magic substance, it is unseeable and is non-harmful, Mage's are able to use their hands to conjure the spells and their magic. Wizards, unlike their Mana-using brothers and sisters, use their staves to channel the magic and they use words, incarnations, to let the spells fly and hit their target, Both as formidable against a fleet of wooden ships and other enemies as each other.