The Paladins of Naretia

Chapter 6

"Get a move on, you pathetic shower of miscreants," Aria shouted.

The ogres marched nosily in rows of four and kept time with her pace up the mountain. Their perfectly timed footfalls rang out amongst the thick trees and scattered whatever was nesting inside the forest. A handful of dead ogres dotted the path behind them, dead from exhaustion. Still they marched through the woodland, driven by an unnatural desire to obey Aria.

"Your Highness," Edwel whispered as he trudged along beside her. "This is not an ogre's preferred environment. They cannot keep up with this pace. The cold is too much for them and they need to rest, you need to rest."

"I will not rest until I reach him and one of us is dead," Aria spat at the golem. "They are only ogres, Edwel. Honestly, do you care so much for all living things that you're actually bothered by what happens to these filthy beasts?"

Edwel pondered the question leisurely. He tapped his finger against his stone jaw and turned the opening of his mouth downward, as much as was possible. Aria didn't wait for his reply. The desperate desire to catch her prey filled her heart and wouldn't allow her to find a reason to delay. She could feel how close she was to the winged man now, and was determined that nothing was going to stop her relentless pursuit. Not even the welfare of the army which unwittingly followed her.

"I suppose I do care that they are being mistreated, but not for the reasons you might think," Edwel finally answered. "While I am aware of the ground we have gained over your nemesis, I fear that when you finally reach him your army will be too exhausted to be of any use. Not only that, but when you are done with these ogres, do you expect that they will just forget what you have done to them?"

Aria stopped and stared at the golem, her army came to an abrupt halt behind her too. If she could only keep marching, keep trudging through the bitter cold nights and eat only when weakness tugged at her muscles, then she was sure to catch up to the monster who had killed her parents. But even with the fire of her defiance fuelling her body, her chest grew tired of breathing so heavily for so long. She wondered if Edwel was right, would she be able to fight Dantet's son in such a weakened state?

"I don't intend to let the ogres live once they have gone beyond their usefulness," she seethed. "But we can rest, if you think prolonging the inevitable is kinder." Aria turned to her army. "We stop and make camp here," she ordered.

With a collective sigh the ogres broke rank, some of them even collapsed to their knees, but Aria wouldn't let them rest for long. She clutched the golden pendent around her neck and ordered them to collect firewood and food. The night was slowly losing its battle with the sun and Aria knew that she wouldn't sleep once it did. 'A few moments of rest,' she thought, 'just a few.' Sitting down next to a large, fallen tree, Aria leaned against it and closed her eyes, allowing herself to be overcome by the darkness that lay behind them.

It was an ungodly chorus of snarls and howls which wrestled her from the darkness. Daylight burst through her eyelids as they opened, forcing her to shield her eyes. 'How long did I sleep?' Aria didn't have time to think on it much before the sight of her ogre army in utter chaos, snapped her back to reality.

Deep amongst the army of large, green bodies, were the even larger, hairy forms of worgen. A natural adversary of the ogres, the worgen stood tall on their hind quarters, whilst powerful, clawed hands sliced and jabbed into the mass of monsters surrounding them. Long, hairy muzzles curled around deadly white teeth as they flashed in the morning sunshine. Like a meadow of poppies amongst the weeds, a sea of ferocious red eyes faced off against the deadly swarm of green and black. They wore no armour, they didn't appear to need it as wave after wave of stupid ogres fell at the point of their talons.