The Clash of Land and Sea.

Chapter 26

Shane stood beside Cass at the edge of the forest in the early morning light, watching the enemy camp as they began to stir.

The camp seemed to be bleeding out troops in massive hoards as their ground troops began to assemble in giant columns.

Shane had known they were going to be out numbered but he had been hoping that it wasn't going to be so obvious that they had only half the troops that the Metallic Nation had.

"Do you still think they will send out their cavalry and ground troops first?" Shane asked, just trying to make ideal conversation more than anything.

"They will." Cass said without taking her eyes off the troops massing together on the other side of the field.

After what had seemed like hours Shane and Cass finally stood looking at the full force of the Metallic Nation. Thousands of men stood side by side across the field, stretching well beyond the sides of the camp. Their troops were all clad in matching steal armor and most of the men carried long tower shields with the golden sun, silver clouds and copper lightning bolts painted on the front.

The army was impressive and massive, two things Shane had not been hoping to see.

The elves had remained hidden inside the forest, away from the eyes of the Metallic Nation. Cass had wanted to keep them out of site in hopes that the opposing army would foolishly charge head first into the forest to find the elves.

After watching the enemy stand perfectly still for over an hour Cass was forced to give up that hope.

"They aren't attacking us." Shane stated.

"I noticed." Cass said angrily. "We have no choice now, assemble the troops." Cass shouted.

All along the tree line, in both directions, Cass and Shane heard her command echoed by the elves. Once the call died down the eves began trickling out from amongst the trees.

Shane's heart immediately fell when he saw their elves walk onto the battle field wearing mixed matched armor that had been thrown together at the last minute. They were carrying whatever weapons the blacksmiths could produce as quickly as they could.

The worst part was their numbers; there were just too few elves and too many enemy troops.

Once their own ground troops had made it to the field, all standing around in no organized way, Shane and Cass heard horns blown from the enemy camp.

Shane kept looking up into the sky for any sign that the dragons were coming to attack. Cass was sure that they would not send the dragons out first but Shane was unwilling to take any chances.

Cass and Shane could stay and help fight on the ground until the dragons were up in the air. Not only were they outnumbered on the ground but up in the air it was even worse.

Cass put on her helmet and Shane did the same. Once his helmet was strapped on, Shane picked up his shield that he had laid up against a tree and joined the elves on the field.

Cass grabbed her own shield and golden halberd and followed quickly behind Shane. Their presence on the field was met by cheers from the elves and another horn blow from the enemy.

This time when the echo of the horn blast died away, the enemy army began to move. Shane watched as the entire enemy force began marching as one, he could hear their steps as their armor clinked together.