Livior Origins

Chapter 18

A New Battle And A New Kingdom

A month before his third child was to be born Livior received word that the orcs had launched a full scale assault on Cereba and the forest elves were in need of their assistance. Livior assembled half his army and half of the mages asking the leaders to remain in Livioria in case this was a distraction. Livior insisted his parents stay in Livioria but allowed Vahlt to accompany him so they and Minnett felt more secure knowing he at least had Vahlt with him to watch his back. Once the troops were assembled a portal was opened and they stepped through after Livior kissed Minnett and his children as did Vahlt with Mivia and their son.

As they stepped out of the portal into Cereba the city was in rough shape. It looked run down and soldiers were running in every direction as were ordinary citizens trying to put out fires. Queen Joy now strode up to him saying "We fear they will overwhelm the city in a matter of hours. There are so many of them, I've never seen so many. It's like every orc from the ring of fire has come out at once."

Livior asked "Do you have an estimate of how many there are?"

Joy said "We believe there are around five thousand but I cannot be sure."

Livior then asked "How many men do you have left?"

Joy said "Only around a thousand at last count. How many did you bring with you?"

Livior replied "I brought around one thousand soldiers and two hundred mages. It may not seem like much but my mages and I alone should be able to take out half of their forces on our own. That just leaves another twenty five hundred for your men and my soldiers to finish but we have to be smart in every choice we make."

Joy said "I know how you saved Fortuna and I see no options here at present but to retreat so I will place my men under your command. Please Livior save my people, OUR people."

Livior swore "We will stop these orcs once and for all."

They went to a nearby building where most of the forest elf soldiers were waiting for orders. Livior asked Joy "Show me every piece of intelligence your scouts have gathered."

Joy responded "The orcs have small camps all along the perimeter of the city below. They are constantly trying to set fire to the support trees but we have so far been able to put them out as fast as they start them. One at the exact center of the northern edge of the perimeter, two east and two west. They have another camp in the meadow near the stream with many casters gathered trying to corrupt the forest. There is another camp to the east around your parents old house and I had a scout report seeing another small force of maybe twenty orcs about three miles east of that."

Livior looked at the map and knew it would take too long to go after the small force to the east of his parents old house so he would have to send a smaller secondary force after that camp and have them swing back around and meet back up with the main force at the meadow. Then they would move through from camp to camp until the forest was cleared. Once he had his plan engrained in his mind and thought about all the possible outcomes he was ready to begin issuing orders.

Livior finally said "Ok, here's the plan. Vahlt will lead a small expeditionary force to take out the camp to the east with twenty mages and fifty soldiers. While he does that I will lead the main force first to the entrance of the ring and seal it thoroughly with a twenty foot thick wall of vines to keep any reinforcements from arriving before we finish with the orcs already in the forest. After the wall is in place my group will hit the encampment at my parents old house. Once we finish there we will head for the meadow, where we will meet up with Vahlts group again. After we clear the meadow and restore the forest they corrupted we will move to the center encampment at the center of the city perimeter. The forest elf soldiers MUST keep them busy at all of the perimeter engagements while we take out the camps or else they will figure out what we are up to and converge on us ending our campaign in one swipe. Do we know why the orcs have not attempted to surround the city?"