The Attack of Ganhai Mountain

The Attack Begins! Or at Least it Tries to.

The army marched towards Hurvun's palace.  When they got closer Leevan realized that this palace wasn't very large but then again when you randomly hollow out a rock for your palace you probably aren't picky about size.

Still, that wasn't the only oddity that Leevan noticed.  They should have seen sentries in the windows by now.  The drawbridge was up, but that was the only defense they noticed...apart from the red glow coming from the moat which was probably lava.

He had to admit, that alone was scary enough.

Still, there was something not right about this picture.  This palace didn't even have battlements on top.  It really was just a rock on the outside without proper defenses.  Even the windows weren't that thin.  One could crawl into them.  Dark Sorcerer's had a reputation for arrogance but this was borderline ridiculous.

General Hevman stopped his troops.  Everyone was dressed in battle gear.  The human soldiers of the Ciniceros Empire had their leather armor, large square shields, spears, and helmets with the headdresses on them.  The eagle men flying above had swords and bows.  The lone cyclops Normir was dressed head to toe in metal and holding a formidable looking battle mace.  The magicians wore colored cloaks with their various magic weapons, except for Leevan who had a brown cloak and a normal sword.

Even so, he was as ready for this fight as anyone else.

"What I wouldn't give, " said General Hevman, looking up at the rock palace. "For some chariots."

Most human generals seemed to prefer chariots, Leevan thought.  However, chariots wouldn't do much good on a mountain or in a palace.  Still, they were here to fight with what they had.

"Hurvun!" cried the general. "We come to seek your surrender!"

At first there was nothing, and then a circular section of the mountain, right over the drawbridge, faded away to reveal him.  Hurvun, the cyclops sorcerer.  He wore robes that seemed woven out of gold, and being a metal gifted cyclops they probably were.  A full armored cyclops stood at his right, and a slefah to his left.

The slefah was like a giant snake with cobra folds, but its head was more like an eel.  It hissed at the army menacingly, but it wasn't as scary as Hurvun.  He was scary just by looking at them.  One bolt of lightning from his eye

Leevan shuddered when he thought Hurvun looked right at him.

"Greetings!" said Hurvun with a sick grin. "My my, I've never had so many guests before!  I'm afraid I can't entertain at the moment.  It's just as well.  I have a nasty habit of incinerating my guests into oblivion, so feel free to come back at a better time."

Hurvun didn't move, but a bolt of lightning shot from his eye and struck the ground in front of the general, who was probably the only one who didn't step back.

"Here here!" cried the cyclops next to Hurvun. "You humans won't steal our secrets!"

Leevan looked at Normir, who seemed downcast.  Leevan wondered if that cyclops was really being fooled by a spell of Hurvun's to make him believe the other nations wanted their metal craft.  Normir, a cyclops himself, was probably thinking the same thing.  Leevan felt sorry for him, and wondered why this spell hadn't worked on him. It probably drove Normir mad not knowing.

Then Leevan spied Maelin in his yellow robes.  He looked worried, and confused.  He was looking at the ground as if he was trying to figure out a puzzle.  Leevan knew Maelin could see magic spells, but it wasn't always clear what they were.  Whatever it was, there was a spell there, and it was in the ground.

"I'm not impressed Hurvun," general Hevman cried back.  "If you think we are going to retreat that easily then your dark magic is clouding your judgment more than I thought."

"Clouding my judgment?" Hurvun called back. "But I've never felt more powerful!"

But, thought Leevan, that was the point wasn't it?  Dark magic was a means to force nature to do your bidding, instead of negotiating with it.  It was easier, and made you feel more powerful, but of course it didn't really give you more power.  A clever magician could do exactly the same things a dark magician could, but dark magic took over one's senses to the point where one thought he could take over the world!

After that it wasn't long before he tried it, as Hurvun was doing now.

"No matter how powerful you are," said the general. "It will not make us turn back."

"Oh I think it will," said Hurvun with a chuckle Leevan didn't like, as if he knew something they didn't.  Hurvun went on. "I really think you will.  I'll admit, you were clever to get past my traps going up, but going down is going to be...a little different."  He chuckled, and then he laughed out loud.

Leevan really didn't like this, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Maelin, looking very worried.

"Attack!" cried the general.

"Wait!" cried Maelin, but it was too late.

Hurvun reached into a hole in the wall of his palace, and suddenly a wave of light spread across the ground.  When it hit Leevan's feet he slipped.  It was as if the ground had turned to ice.  It was still dirt, but it was so slippery he felt himself sliding backwards.  Back down the mountain.  All around him the entire army had slipped and fallen, and now they were sliding down.

So they were about to go back down the mountain.  Leevan could see that even the tents they had left behind were slipping down.  The eagle men were less lucky.  What a dirty trick!  Leevan thought.  Climbing all the way up the mountain only to slip down like this?  How humiliating!

The eagle men above were less lucky.  Bolts of lightning shot them out of the sky.  Hurvun couldn't take chances since his trick wouldn't work on them.  Leevan, though he felt sorry for the eagle men, was glad he wasn't in their position, until

Far down, at the back of the army, he heard screams.  Blasts of fire were shooting out of the ground, burning the soldiers that went over them.  It was one of the traps they had passed earlier.

Leevan, lying on his back as he slid down, looked on in shock as he understood.  They were about to go through, at high speed, the very traps they had been so careful to avoid going up!  The fire traps were getting closer.  This, thought Leevan, was very, very, very bad.