The winds screamed across the
Verdigris Plains as if the sky lamented past horrors witnessed on the ferrous
dunes. The Dead had come back. A column of the soulless, returned upon the whim
of the Dark Heart that led them. The shifting sands churning as the debris of
the past stirred at the presence of such malevolence and the Dead came back.
A brilliance burst over the scene.
Pure light from above. Not sunlight piercing the brown clouds of dust but light
spilling forth from heaven. A hated light that caused anger to rise within the
Dark Heart.
With the eye-aching rays gleaming
from spear tips, scale and totems, the Seraphon stepped upon the plains with claws
biting deep into the particulate remains of whatever doomed past had been
ground down to form the rolling dry vista between the two forces. Given the isolation
of the place, it was clear that the appearance of the Saurus was no coincidence
and neither side paused to ready themselves for what was to come.
Moving at speed the long legs of the
Lizards drove into the metallic dust that whipped around them as the wind
gusted and rolled clouds of stinging brown filings into the air hiding the
enemy from sight but they ploughed forward with intent.
Bursting through the ferrous curtain,
the dead hooves of fleshless horses carried their riders into the lines of the
advancing Seraphon. Skulking at the front of the lizard lines was the low
barbed shaped of a spiny Razordon which bristled in defence and braced itself
to meet the charge but it was not enough as lances splintered against scale and
the lizard joined the dead of the dunes trampled under the impact of the Dark
Heart’s cavalry.
In the confusion caused by the
swirling cloak of dark cinders the battle lines started to merge with hulking
Kroxigor smashing into the all but blinded skeletal archers holding the Undead’s
right flank. Mighty overhead strikes shattered skulls and long-bones alike
before the largest of the mighty lizards swept his heavy-headed club through
the front ranks flinging fragments of their opponents across the filthy battlefield.
But the Dead came back
Gaining traction on the sliding ash
and wastes, both sides surged into a swirling melee. The spears and claws of
the Seraphon met the hoof and lance of the Undead knights as the Seraphon tried
to dispatch the riders before skeletal reinforcements could arrive. But the
Dead came back.
The Dark Heart sensed he had the
measure of what he faced and set his standard in the ground confident in the
forces under his thrall. The unholy banner radiated its necromantic power
quickening the pace of the massed reanimated dead. His mark made, the dark
armoured form swept from the dune tops to support the beleaguered archers and
to taste the life essence so evident in the Kroxigor. Streaking from cover a
previously unseen Salamander sprang towards the Dark Heart as if driven by some
unseen will. Its distended maw open as it charged disgorging venom and acid
bile over the material form of the Dark Heart. Staggered and reeling the Necromancer
had no defence against the Salamander as it leapt upon him shredding the still dissolving
form with its claws and pulping it into the dunes.
In the grand melee the silence of the
dead was lost under the roars of the Saurans as lines of infantry ground
together, each struggling for footing on the never-still drifts they fought
over. Hoping to break the wall of un-living bone, the Seraphon pushed forward
with the thrust being dominated by the juggernaut form of a Bastiladon shooting
searing beams of etheric light which obliterated the skeletons. But the dead
came back.
As the Undead reformed they managed to
slowly surround the increasingly outnumbered lizards. With the archers and Dark
Heart now gone the Kroxigor and Salamander struck the horde that was clubbing
and stabbing at the mighty dinosaur.
Despite their arrival, the enormous
shell of the Bastiladon was not enough to shield it and the massive form
slumped to the ground with the skinks riding aloft soon meeting their end as
they were dragged from their perches and dispatched.
The enraged Kroxigor waded through
the remaining skeletons roaring is defiance. At last, thinking his work done,
his guard dropped. The howling wind and driving ash had blinded him to the last
of his quarry until they lurched once more from the obscuring clouds of dust.
The dead had come back.
Hollow eyes betrayed no emotion as
the lances of the corpse riders pierced the armoured flank of the mighty
lizard. His death rattle was lost to the storm, whipped away leaving no way on
knowing if the mysterious forces that had sent them had achieved their goals or
not.
With the surrounding tempest still
unabated, the dead came back.
