Prince... No, a princess??

8. The Glorious Return?

Inside the tent, plans seemed to fly back and forth. They always landed on deaf ears. It seemed fairly hopeless. There was not a lot of us and we would not only have to beat the humans, but convince the other tiefling soldiers to fight along side us as well.

Everyone here was willing to fight. Even without a strong strategy we were going to do everything in our power to restore the kingdom.

Maliss frustratedly pounded his fists on the table and cursed as the hundredth useless plan was suggested. He needed a break. I asked him to go for a walk with me.

We didn't talk for a bit. His mind needed some time to process the situation. There was a lot of pressure for him. He was a new king, who after entering the tent found out both his parents were dead, had a pathetically small army (if it could even be called one), and couldn't think of a way to actually be successful.

I grabbed his hand and smiled comfortingly. He sighed and pulled me in close to his body. He was trembling slightly, but I could tell he was trying to hide it.

I wanted to help, but I wasn't a strategist, plus I knew barely nothing about their species. The only place for me to start was to learn more. I questioned him about his species.

Most of tieflings' powers were more physical advantages than inherently magical. Tieflings were stronger, faster, better sighted, and contained more stamina than any other species. Their skin was thicker and when in battle it would become as hard as a shield.

What the humans lacked in physical ability, they gained in numbers and weapon advancements. They could create gases that would poison the tiefling fighters, while leaving the humans unaffected. Humans had mechanisms that could destroy walls in seconds and blast away full platoons of tiefling soldiers. They even had a contraption that soared through the air like a dragon.

The biggest issue currently was the quantity of the human soldiers. Back at the castle, the tiefling army was outnumbered twenty to one. With only their pure abilities they might be able win with half those odds, but sixty-some extra soldiers would be like throwing leaves on a fire. It might spark up, but will fizzle out adding no substantial difference.

I had a better understanding of what we were facing with this information, but I still didn't know how to help. I told him that it sounded like the humans create so many extra devices out of fear of the tieflings.

Maliss nodded and admitted that humans' fear was the root of the rivalry. Well their fear, and the pride of the tiefling species. Both would be extremely stupid and thought that they had to prove dominance.

For humans they wanted to beat one of the strongest species before they were wiped out, and for tieflings they wanted to prove that they were the superior species. The treaty was supposed to bring both sides to equality. Maliss still wanted peace and equality in Zarish, but that would be impossible if the humans were victorious.

I stated that it was too bad that we couldn't make the illusion that there were more of us. Maliss' eyes lit up and taking my hand, raced back to the tent.

Once inside the tent he asked Pennenda and Filyort if it were possible to make the small army appear a lot larger to the humans.

Filyort answered that it was possible, but they would need the whole council of wizards to pull it off.

Pennenda reminded us that the council doesn't get involved in politics.

Maliss acknowledged her diplomatic understanding, but proposed a motive for the councils interference. He mentioned that if the humans won than the balance of power would shift, then the elves would most likely try to wipe out the humans.

With their numbers depleted, the humans would inevitably lose against the elves. Then the elves would claim the whole magical order. The balance of the species was the only thing keeping the unity of magical order.

The wizards and elves were rivals because they differed on the laws and nature of magic. The wizards never had a formal army and would accept clients of all different species in exchange for the protection of magical law from the elves. With the elves in control and no clients to pair with, the wizards would be forced to give up their magical control and the elves could release magical chaos.

Filyort pondered this motive and decided that it was worth discussing with the council. His tone however was nothing close to hopeful. He stated that the council would need to come to a unanimous decision for them to agree to help the tieflings. He cautioned that their interference would be unlikely.

Pennenda, had a slightly more optimistic view of Maliss' logic, but even she knew that it would be a difficult task to convince the whole council. However this was the best and only reasonable plan that the group could come up with. The wizards agreed to meet with the council. 

Filyort began reciting a spell: Latrop rof sdraziw ot eht licnuoc, then a portal appeared in front of the two wizards. They both stepped inside and the portal closed up behind them.

Maliss held hope that the council would show up and decided that the small army would head back to the castle. Then the wizards could meet them at the battle with or without the council. He had to lead them into battle even without help.

While the troupe prepared their gear and weapons, packed up, and were assigned orders, I took this time to rest. I hadn't slept for almost 32 hours and I was exhausted.

The soldiers would take a decent amount of time to get ready before we would get moving, so I had at least a few hours of sleep. Maliss let me sleep as he focused on everything that they needed to do. Fortunately the anxiety of the coming battle didn't keep me from sleeping, and I only tossed and turned for a few minutes before drifting off.

Nimos slept right on my chest. His little body rose and fell as he took deep breaths in his sleep. He would shiver every once in a while in his dreaming state, which would wake me, but after petting him he would purr and settle back down.

My eyes opened after a few hours and I groggily got up and cupped a handful of water from a nearby stream. Nimos repositioned himself to my shoulder, but then surprisingly fell back asleep. Once refreshed I walked over to Maliss.

He was finishing up mapping out their plan, when I stood beside him. He called the soldiers over into an assembly and made sure everyone knew what the course of action was. When everyone was properly prepared we made our way towards the castle.

***

The sky was an ashy black, as smoke rose over the trees and into the sky coming from the direction of the castle. By this point the humans must be on the verge of conquering the whole tiefling army back at the kingdom. Even with the tiefling resilience and strength, the humans had a larger force than could be fended off.

We came up over a hill across from the castle and scanned the fiery destruction commencing. When in full view of the castle we could see the whole battle clearly, which in return meant that everyone in the war could see us. The mass number of humans who weren't able to make it to the front line of battle turned and charged toward the hill.

We stood our ground. Maliss lifted his sword above his head as he yelled loudly. The rest of the tiefling soldiers echoed his yell. The sound was muffled by the pounding of the charging humans.

I formed a magical wall to shield us from some incoming arrows. Then converged the magic to my lattice, so I could shoot energy bolts as they approached.

We were all ready for the fight, the mass of people didn't scare us. Even though the council was nowhere in sight our confident adrenaline synced our heartbeats as one. We were going to battle to the death!