The Magical Secret of the Crystal Kingdom

Chapter 14 - Battle Formation

Chapter 14 - Battle Formation

It wasn't long before they could see Nerrez's army in the distance. They had already come a long way and now it looked like they were destined to meet them head on instead of taking them by surprise. They were a formidable sight, twice the size of their army at least and Rose felt the early twinges of fear. Every single one of his horrible army were black, dark and dangerous. This was going to be a long battle and Rose just hoped that a miracle was going to be on their side.

There was probably only about another hour to go before they would be right on top of them and from that point on there would be no going back. George however, seemed to be completely unafraid and was flying right above her with Eldred by his side. Sunny also was completely focused and undeterred. In fact as Rose looked around at her friends, every single one of them had a look of determination that she had never seen in them before. She wished she felt as confident as all her friends looked.

They were approaching their enemy from higher ground which definitely would give them a good advantage. Directly behind them were the mountain ranges that the horse kingdom was so well protected by. To their left, much further down was a vast range of rivers and lakes that must have lead way out into the sea somewhere. To their right were more mountain ranges that led off towards the eagle kingdom and lands beyond that. Finally just in front of them lay the wasteland that led on towards the dark palace. It was a dark and twisted landscape that was scattered with burning columns of fire and sharp twisted figures made from the blackest, bleakest of stone.

They were about three quarters of the way down the mountainside when suddenly Sunny came to a halt. He turned around and shouted,

"This is as far as we go. We will wait for them to approach us and when I give the order we will attack in stages. We must try to divide them and when they come further forward we will send all of our fastest units around the back and try to surround them."

So they waited and watched and listened as the grey army in front of them grew larger and louder, every minute passing bringing them closer to their first wave of attack.

"Not long now," shouted Sunny. "Hold steady!"

"Hold steady," Eden cried.

They were metres away now and were running at them fast, heads down and snarling.

"Attack! Attack! Attack" screamed Sunny and with that they lurched forward en masse colliding with full impact into each other.

During the first wave of attack Nerrez's army were pushed back significantly. The Rhinos, elephants and Gorillas were perfect at charging forwards and knocking hordes of the dark troops out of the way with their amazing strength. The dragons were circling around above breathing streams of ice straight down onto Nerrez's troops freezing them to the spot and then the horses and zebras followed up, knocking them to one side and forcing the troops behind to gradually back off. George really loved icing the bad guys and was managing to attack more than any of the other dragons.

Sunny and Eden had managed to drive enough of their troops down and around the enemy on each side which meant they were able to attack them from three sides at once. They had also cleverly got the eagles and Falcons dropping rocks down onto the troops who had been frozen by the dragons which was also proving to be very effective, pushing Nerrez's troops further and further back.

Meanwhile across in the rivers, the allies were having a similar success rate. When it came to the water battle they had the advantage in terms of the numbers as there were far more who had remained loyal to Abner and Alva than had turned away and so they outnumbered the enemy at least three to one. They had used some of the whales to form a barrier across the river. The polar bears had lined up along the riverbanks and were reaching in, throwing the enemy back which had gradually caused them to tire out slow and down their efforts to get past them.

It took several hours but in each wave of attack Nerrez's troops grew weaker and weaker and it was easier and easier to push them back further and further until eventually Sunny and Eden had pulled all of their troops forward, down from the side of the mountain until they were all on the battlefield. Little did he know that that was what Nerrez had been waiting for as he demonstrated just how strong he had become now that he had all of the crystals in his possession.

It happened in a flash but suddenly half of Nerrez's army disappeared from in front of their eyes. Sunny looked around at Eden and Rose and called out with panic in his eyes for the first time,

"Something is wrong! Quickly, retreat back up the mountain," he shouted. But it was too late. Coming down the mountain at great speed were the troops that had just disappeared from in front of them. The tables had turned in an instant and they were now surrounded.

What happened next happened so fast that Rose barely had any time to even process it. Rose watched in horror as Nerrez appeared next to each of the children one by one and took them. Just like that. They just vanished. Then she heard Sunny shouting,

"Protect the princess, protect Rose!" as she saw him running towards her. In every direction she looked she saw animals running towards her but they were just being swept aside by some kind of invisible force. Rose looked across the battlefield and could see animals being overtaken by Nerrez's power. They were turning into monsters, they were giving into fear. She could see Maura laughing as she watched her husband outwit and outnumber them so suddenly and so easily.

She looked back around and could see Sunny getting closer and closer by the second when Nerrez appeared right next to her. She was frozen to the spot not knowing whether to run or to stand up and fight him. She heard Sunny scream,

"Run! Rose run. Now!" and she started to run. She could see beside her that those who hadn't turned evil were running too and they were running for their lives. A dragon swooped down next to her, trying to pick her up and was instantly struck by Nerrez and fell to the ground. Two more dragons swept down and managed to collect Sunny and Eden and move them from harm's way but for Rose it was not meant to be.

Nerrez used his crystal powers once more and opened up a portal right in front of Rose which she ran straight into and disappeared. Nerrez stood and yelled at the top of his voice,

"Victory!She is gone! She is banished from here!" He turned and started to gallopback towards the dark palace. "All of you follow me back to the palacenow," he screamed. "I will deal with those others later. They are onborrowed time now! Maura, follow me back. Now! We must go back and celebrate myvictory!" And with that, Nerrez, Maura and all of the dark troops marchedback to the dark palace having made the situation for Rose, Sunny, Eden and thechildren completely hopeless.