Sons of Ironstorm - Book 1: Griffon's Rise

An Army of Mist

The commander of the guard detachment manning the western gates felt his guts tighten in cold fear as he watched the horizon darken from side to side with an army of the like he had never seen. Thousands of foot soldiers, hundreds of mounted knights, siege engines, catapults, ballista, trebuchet, ... it was a force with an obvious purpose. This army was here to crush Tal Morun.

"Commander?" Jerald hissed as he leapt the last handful of stairs and stepped onto the platform high on one of the guard towers that stood on either side of the massive western gates to the city. Behind him came his brother, Prince Jorge, Lords Cadmon and Bethane, Generals Tenne and Kent and the two powerful Quada, Tromn and his aide, Vodun.

The view of the vast army stretching across the western plain, however, was answer enough.

"Shards and bloody stones," Jorge breathed beside his brother, Jerald having fallen silent in stunned shock.

"There's no conceivable way the rebels could've gathered such a force," Kent hissed with open disbelief. "The entire rebel conclave doesn't command that many sworn men and women."

"Yet there this army stands," Tromn rumbled, his gauntleted hands flexing. He could feel the cold evil emanating from them as he stared hard at soldiers that followed the human who attempted to hunt his people into extinction. These were the humans the Maker had sent he and his command here to fight.

"I, for one, will not, can not yield to such devotees of evil. I must return to my command, and direct them march on this army and give them battle!"

"Nor will we, commander," Jerald, stirred into motion by Tromn's intense words, flatly growled. "General Kent, sound the general alarm. All troops to full alert, garrison and guard stations to their battle positions. Prepare to defend the walls!"

As commands to prepare sent ripples through the soldiers close about the knot of lords, generals and nobles, Jerald grabbed his brother's arm.

"You need to get Jeorgina and the children out of the city, my brother. Now!" he tautly whispered into his darker brother's ear.

"Consider it done, my king," Jorge quickly assured his brother. Then he was gone, pushing through rushing soldiers to disappear near the doorway leading downward.

It was less than a full turn of the glass majora later that saw the eastern gates open just long enough for a convoy of wagons and mounted soldiers to exit and make their way at best speed past rank after rank of marching Quada, repositioning around the city to face the rebel army. The heavy wagons, drawn by oxen-like tunda from the northern marches of the Aramas, were well armed against the elements by thick and broad oiled canvas tarps that covered both box and rider. Hopefully such tarps would be proof against any additional storms the approaching army's sorcerers may hurl at Tal Morun, at least until the caravan had passed well beyond the ability of such spells to touch them.

And hopefully their destination would prove as powerful in keeping the royal family safe. Strong the Keep of Storms truly was. A massive huddle of stone carved from the living rock of the Giant's Teeth by the ancient magic of the First Alliance, it sat on top a slight knoll. There it overlooked the final few lengths to the Gates of the Horn, the Alliance-made portals that warded the greatest pass through the Teeth and onto the Hammer. The fortress was also the eastern most point of the First Alliance's Diamond of Stone, built during the War of the Shadow, and knowing defeat only once and never to mortal hands.

It was in that strength Jerald now entrusted the safety of his family, and the legacy of House Ironstorm in Talemon. Protected by no less than a full company of the Queen's Own, her personal bodyguard, the Queen and her children were now on their way to the venerable fortress. Only Lawrence stayed with his father in the city, a long standing Kevan tradition as well as a standing order, keeping the king's eldest at his side in this time of trial. As it had been with the Silvermane keeping Jerald at his side, during the greatest of his battles to keep their Kevan homeland safe.