The Prophesy: Book 3 - The Hammer of Atlantis

 

Everyone was on anxious as the fatidic day broke. The weather was atrocious, with gale-force winds howling in the mountains encircling the kingdom, a terrible snowstorm limiting visibility to a few feet and preventing any safe low altitude flying.

"Have we finished setting the mines?" asked Harold as everyone woke up, shivering in the draffy castle.

"Yes dad, just in time. The last mines were put in place in the glaciers at lauds by the team led by Typhoon. He should be joining us shortly for breakfeast."

"That is good, Sitar. Is there anything else we need to plan for?"

"I don't see anything. Thorsten?"

"I did all I could to give us as much firepower as we can given our technology. We have several thousands of tons of high power explosives, distributed to our air force. The low-level explosives have been distributed to our forward units. Paschal?"

"The maps are set. The spiders are in numbers. Yamato has been getting seven hundred new Spiders a day. Yamato?"

"I have been training Spider operators. They sit inside a command Spider and have a control over ten autonomous Spiders. A Centurion has one hundred and eleven Spiders under his command. We now we have six armies, from Decurion to Legate ranks. I decided this was best rather then do a direct control of all Spiders. I changed the seat's design Paschal, it now has shock absorbers and the entire cabin has inertia dampeners. I tried one of the original cabins before, and when it jumped, I thought my balls were gone."

"That's all right with me. How about air?"

"I installed a Carbon Dioxide filter. Now, the Carbon Dioxide is expelled as Carbon Monoxide, and the oxygen is recovered. When the Spiders have solar energy available, the Spider can extract oxygen from other gases, including Sulphur Dioxide, Nitrogen Dioxide, and Hydrogen Dioxide."

"Well, it seems I'm not the only one with engineering talents! It's a relief!"

"What about repairs and such?"

"Dad, Spiders do not need repairs. But if they do, I have a centurie ready to move out and repair any. By the way Yamato, I've included a recovery mechanism for the Spiders. Come to the laboratory and I'll give your Decurions and other officers the proper recovery port key to the portable tessaracts. I do not plan on leaving anything Atlantean behind, not even a Spider."

"That's fine. I'll follow you to the laboratory after breakfeast."

"Where is mom?" asked Ian as he looked around the table.

"She took off early this morning to join her unit. Everyone needs to do the same. Today is the day. Hurry up and move out. Harp, before you leave, can you fine-tune the time?"

"Let me try."

After a few minutes, Harp relaxed and looked at his dad.

"The sun will be down, but I can not tell when with more precision; the stars are invisible from the surface. The fact that I cannot see above the clouds indicates we have no one above cloud cover when things start. That gives a window of eight hours, since the sun is down an hour after nones."

"Ok. That's good enough. Inform everyone by telepathy. I'll be heading to my own battle station shortly. Ian, you have command of Thebes as of now. What is the weather?"

"It's continuing to deteriorate, and the barometer is dropping like a stone. Flying in these conditions will be difficult," Iridia replied.

"Do what you can, but stay safe."

"Ground displacement for everyone will also be very difficult. The snow layer is about eight feet of powder, and the orcs will have a terrible time progressing the moment they exit the tunnels. Our own troops have received standard issue snow shoes and skis, which gives us a distinct advantage in these conditions, but I would not count on that to save our skin. We are still outnumbered one hundred to one."

"You are so encouraging, Enron!"

"I don't like rosy when it means bloody. I also issued blinds. Everyone will be wearing white and hide behind blinds to stay invisible in the blizzard. The orcs should stand out as dark moving targets. Everyone also has eye goggles that will polarize light, improving their eyesight and protecting their eyes from the wind, the snow and ice blown off by the gale, and from snow blindness. I had these added to your packsacks overnight. Also in the packsack are energy bars. Water will be supplied by snow. Remember to use the wind to our advantage."

"Ok, Enron. Tactical, last minute recommendations: dig in with your units. The snow thickness is to our advantage once we have a defendable position. Use it. Port back once you have the impression your position is going to be overrun. No holding grounds for stupid reasons. Just make sure they pay the price for occupying your position by booby trapping it to the hilt," added Sitar. "Once they have engaged deep enough we will begin assaulting their supply lines and when the tunnels blow up, we will cut them off completely. The idea is to cut their mobility, their supply, and their resources. There is one last thing. Try to invite them on the iced-up river. That should be easy, given it is now a lot easier to move on them then on the ground. Once they are on them, Dad and Iridia will do low-pass aerial bombing, breaking the ice cover. Water and orcs don't add up. The moment you see a wing coming, get off the ice! By the way, I added ice skates to your packs this morning. They are good on ice, giving you a distinct advantage both in speed and mobility on the orcs. Use them wisely to attack and retreat. They are double bladed because most of us have no experience with single-blade skates and it is not the time to learn. One last thing: these blades are extremely sharp because the ice is very hard. That is an added advantage because they constitute powerful weapons. Greywolf, your Canines need to keep away from ice; their claws prevent them from running effectively on it. I tried to resolve the issue, but so far, I've not found a way. Silver Moon, your units are carrying snowshoes; they only need slip their hoofs in them for the snowshoes to clip in place. Removal is a bit trickier, but I'm sure they will understand the principle. Front shoes are removed by using the rear snowshoe to hold the tail while pulling the front hoof off; the rear snowshoe is removed by using the front paw to hold the shoe in place while pulling the rear hoof out. Let me do a quick demonstration."

Sitar quickly converted to a magnificent black stallion; the four snow shoes appeared beside him, the front shoes showed a pattern of sinews tied in X while the rear ones showed sinews tied in a + form. He quickly inserted his hoofs in the shoes and demonstrated how to walk with them, and then he quickly removed the snowshoes that vanished the moment the last one was removed.

"Notice that the snowshoes disappear and appear magically. They are in your packs and you only need think snowshoes for them to appear. Once you remove them they return to the pack on their own. I had thought of making them appear underfoot by themselves, but that would have required acting on each horse individually. We simply do not have the time for that. By the way, Greywolf, your units are also equipped with this. The principle is similar, but the snowshoes are much smaller. In case of emergency recall, the snowshoes automatically vanish during the port and are transferred to your packs. I suspect Enron did the same with his little additions as well."

"Yes, I was going to mention this. I also added a black light. I found that in one of the book of the Ancients. It's a coherent beam of ultraviolet light, totally invisible except to someone wearing polarised glasses," completed Enron. "Use them to signal your position to both air and ground units. I do not want friendly fire casualties."

"One last thing. We have next to no dams left. However, those that still stand have been laced with explosives. Your troops can move freely on them but be sure to be out of the flooding area when orcs overrun them," commented Harp. "The progress of orcs will be easily traceable given the number of magically triggered defences we have installed over the years. Just make sure you are behind the lines not in front! Rocks do not have brains!"

"Is there anything else?" asked Harold.

No one spoke.

"Then this working breakfeast is done. Report to your units! Dismissed!"

The royals left the dining room and quickly dispersed, some to get last minute equipments, others directly to port to their units. The castle became silent as most members of the staff left to take their station with advanced units. The only one left behind was Ian and his brother Alexander. Alexander was moved within one of the Pyramidal tessaracts for his safety, along with a wolf pack for his protection. Once this was done, Ian sat down at the giant cartographic room and command centre that was his war station, as he eyed the last movements of the Atlantean troops taking their respective position.

On the far wall, he eyed the meteorological map, which showed isobarometric lines twisting and changing in real time, along with the passage of storm fronts and wind gusts, some of which reached one hundred miles per hour along the narrow valleys in the mountains. Isothermic lines also indicated that the temperatures in the mountains kept below minus fifty, which, given windshield factors, represented feelings of minus seventy.

On another wall, the progress of the Spiders under the sea was still being reported automatically. A big red dot indicated where two Spiders had been lost, clearly marking for Ian the location of the ultimate mystery. What could have happened to these almost indestructible instruments? On another wall appeared graphics of different productions: Spiders, explosives, and weapons of all sorts. The inventory under Thebes was being updated on a continuous basis.

On another wall were reports of births and deaths per species, the respective age pyramids, and the situation of maternity wards. On the opposite wall were the feedbacks from Ark and Eden, as each new species were added, counted, and births and deaths were tallied. There were so many species, numbering several billions, that the wall only gave a selective sample of the vast work. Ian could ask for any species, or for a rundown by family or even by status, from near extinct to endangered to safe.

Another wall contained access to archives, both those contained in the Pyramids to those being currently reorganized and indexed by the army of librarians in the tessaracts. Had he been interested, he could have looked at an alphabetical list and see things get added in real time to the catalogue. Archaeological finds reported by the Spiders and cleansed up on the moon were also added to the proper catalogue, as well as the inventory of mineral resources the lunar mineral processing Spiders were producing. Basic reserves of all atomic forms were stored in force fields, and, had he wanted to notice, he would have seen several tons of each isotope appear day in day out.

Ian sat at the table, bored. He decided to play his violin, a gift from Harp for his fourth birthday. He knew this violin was a treasure in itself, being a Stradivari; however, he had not verified Harp's assertion that it was the famed Molitor³⁶³⁶ ("Molitor: a violin produced by Antonio Stradivari, 1644 - 1737."), owned by Napoleon Bonaparte. For Ian, what mattered was the enjoyment he gained from playing classical pieces and exploring the sonority of the magnificent instrument. Harp had explored the history of the instrument from the present to its inception and created a whole, thick book detailing who had owned it and under which conditions it had been used and stored. One day, Ian vowed to himself, he would read his big brother's work, when he had nothing else to do. The original sat, unopened, in his personal library, while a magic copy was held in store in the Royal library and another in the public library in one of the tessaracts.

Ian left the map room to roam the empty castle, his delicate steps resounding like drumsticks on a tight deerskin. The silence was overwhelming and depressing the moment he stopped walking, except for an occasional crack of a door slamming against its frame due to a draft. He decided since he had nothing else to do to hunt down these pesky drafts and reduce their omnipresence in the castle. Anyway, if anyone walked into the map room, he would be immediately alerted and port there to see who was paying him a visit. The day then passed quickly for Ian, as he caulked by magic badly seated window frames, closed down chimney air traps with compression sealants that would be released by a lever, and placed similar compression stoppers at the bottom of guillotine windows and on door frames. By sext, he had done three hundred rooms and still had at least that much left to do. He could feel the change in the dynamics of the castle, as it gradually warmed up, losing less heat to the outside. Triple glazing all the windows had also considerably reduced the feeling of cold felt while standing near a glass pane. He ported back to the kitchen to pick up some quick lunch and, less then ten minutes after, began working anew on his pet project. If he could finish that before things heated up, he would feel he had not lost his day.

***

Meanwhile the other royals had completed their preparations and positioned their units, using to their best abilities their in-depth knowledge of the terrain, the weather, and their magic. Between the kingdom's border and their advanced lines lay millions upon millions of booby traps of all sorts, from precariously set trees to rocks held in place by tripping stones and ropes to well-hidden pits laced with long spikes. Everything was made so that the orcs would follow a specific path without being able to disperse themselves. The entire buffer zone, to a depth of fifty miles, would be a death trap. High in the mountains, avalanche corridors were mined, just in case the movement of the orcs did not suffice to trigger the natural phenomenon. Rivers were polished like mirrors to attract the orcs on them like highways. Great snow banks were set on lakes to force the orcs to follow paths that would lead them to hot spots covered with very thin ice if not squarely to open water. Iced-over falls were trapped to fall on unsuspecting orcs below.

The lines of volcanoes that circled the kingdom were readied for use, except the one containing the trapped soul-eater. Deep below their snow-covered tops, the lava chambers had been carefully studied so careful explosions would induce lahars, and Sulphur Dioxide was injected into the lava at very high pressure to insure the most explosive eruptions possible and the production of pyroclastic flows. High-power explosives were inserted along cracks to trigger the eruptions at the best opportune time.

The Royals returned to their respective headquarters as the sun set on the western horizon, bloodying the glaciers as that foreshadowed the upcoming battle. A quick telepathic conference with all concerned updated everyone on the readiness status of the Atlanteans. Nothing else could be done but wait on the Orcs. Everyone took a hot meal, well aware that the night would be very long and sleep very short.

***

Vespers came and went, and still no sign of orcs. The sun had left two hours earlier, and the temperature, already well below minus forty degrees, was plummeting, heading toward the predicted minus sixty that seemed to be the norm with the onset of the ice age. The wind hollered in the tree tops, as wood cracked from being whipped around and burst into shrapnel from freezing. Magic was used profusely to keep the soldiers warm and their weapons functional. Harold had noticed the iron blades became brittle when they were too cold so he had asked all that could to keep their swords or other tools of the trade at a reasonable minus twenty and no lower. Hot tea was produced by the gallon; feet and hands kept warm with chemical reactants inserted in the boots and gloves. Everyone wore a wool mask that protected the face and nose. It did not prevent ice from condensing at their mouth and nose holes. This gave the soldiers' face the appearance of walking stalactites.

Hours passed slowly, and compline neared. High in the mountains, the wind had picked up and its frustration at the resistance of rocks to its passage could be heard even in the valleys below. At ten past compline the first report came from an overflying dragon.

«Breach! Breach! Breach! There is a column of orcs running down the Kwai River!»

Suddenly the number of orc column reports exploded over the telepathic waves. They were everywhere! The kingdom was being invaded from all sides simultaneously.

«Let them believe they are undetected! We have fifty miles of hell for them once they trigger the traps,» ordered Sitar. «What is their progress speed?»

«The initial report had them running down the river at ten miles per hour, but they are slowing down. I think they did not expect the weather to be that bad,» replied Typhoon.

«Keep an eye on their progress. The fact that they are slowing down is to our advantage. We may have a good night's sleep after all. Dig in below the snow banks and wait for the order to get out of the shelters! Everyone take his or her thermal sleeping bags and sleep! Tomorrow is another day! Wake up at prime! Keep your swords and other weapons inside the sleeping bag with you!»

«One thing bugs me son.»

«What is it dad?»

«How could the orcs coordinate such a powerful attack? From the initial breach on the Kwai to the all out breaching of our borders, no more then ten minutes elapsed. It takes a lot of careful planning to achieve that level of precision in a battle.»

«I admit that this has crossed my mind and has me worried. If they have found a way to communicate over vast distances, our belief that each unit will operate separately, unknowing of the fate of others, is in serious jeopardy.»

«Let us assume they have such a means. What countermeasures can we implement?»

«Our first countermeasure is to coordinate our defences even more tightly. The second measure is finding and jamming their means of communication. And we must be weary that if they use one similar to ours, they can listen on us and plan countermeasures of their own. We must also be ready to use our fallback long-distance communication methods.»

«Are you telling me you believe the orcs have developed telepathy? That would be a disaster.»

«If we can, so can they. They are herds. The assumption that only Atlanteans can do something is dangerous and preposterous. We have seen their progress over the last years, and to be honest, I have been thinking that their military capabilities have grown ten-fold.»

«And there are other long-distance communication methods,» commented Paschal. «The radio waves are one such thing. If the orcs can build these invisible doors along the mountain cliffs, they have the dexterity to build, or at least copy, the Ancients' radio-telecommunication technology. I have been working on a similar project, and I found there were patterns that seemed a bit too artificial for my taste. Given the weakness of the signals, I thought they might be far away, but it may be that their transmitters are weak.»

«That would mean they have portable transmitters! Paschal, you are to return immediately to Thebes! I want a way to pinpoint these transmitters before they reach our first units! Spend the night on it! Brinsop! You have command of Paschal's legion until he comes back from Thebes!»

«At your command, Primus Legatus!» replied both individuals.

***

Ian met Paschal in his laboratory as he popped in from his advanced station.

"Why aren't you in bed?" asked Paschal as he materialised in the research laboratory.

"Do you think I could sleep with the upcoming events? I kept quiet and in the background but I did not sleep any more then you did. I have pulled out of the library all information about localising radio signals. The Ancients used signal intensity and triangulation to do it. All we need is to develop a means of measuring the power of a radio signal. The other issue is the need to find out what frequencies the orcs are using. Let's split the workload. You do the electromagnetic measurement tool, I'll develop a radiofrequency scanner."

"I wonder if we should try to jam their signals?"

"Paschal, that would require a transmitter of superior power and able to match their frequencies of choice. It is a lot easier to just kill the radio operator with pinpoint bombing. And jamming their transmissions would reveal that we know of their communication methods. A dead radio operator can't think!"

The two boys began their work, each at a workbench. By matins Ian had his radio scanner ready for testing, while Paschal was still working on his measurement tool. Leaving Paschal to his design troubles, Ian took a walk to the roof and installed his scanner. Listening in on the radio waves, he was astounded to find quite a few artificial signals, clearly recognizable by their repeated bursts. He noted the most occupied of the radio frequencies, and returned below to the laboratory.

"I have the most occupied frequencies for your design, Paschal. Apparently, the orcs found the Morse code and have been using it themselves. Their range of frequencies is from 580 KHz to 1580 KHz, with a bandwidth of 10 KHz between channels."

"Should we listen on their transmissions?"

"We could, but I do not think their writing is similar to ours."

"I've just finished the radiogognometer. It is very sensitive and can pinpoint to one hundredth of a degree."

"How is it used?"

"That's simple. You select a frequency, and the needle indicates the direction of the strongest signal of that frequency. The power level of the signal gives you a measure of proximity, but that is less precise because of attenuation. Using two or more of these instruments, you can pinpoint a source to within a few feet."

"How is that?"

"You know your position, you draw a line on a map following the direction reported by the radiogognometer; someone, preferably several miles away at an angle to you, reports another reading. You know his position, and you draw another line from that position according to that reading. The radio source is where the two lines cross. Add a third, a fourth or even a fifth reading, and you have a very precise point."

"I'll finally have something to do. Let's distribute copies of these radiogognometer to all units. I have the auto-update maps with our units and orcs units in the map room. Adding these intersecting lines to pinpoint their radio sources will be a piece of cake."

The rest of the night was spent making copies of the radiogognometer by the thousand and distributing them to all Atlantean units. By prime, every centurie had received one, and at least five legionnaires per centurie understood its principle of use. Paschal returned to his unit to rest for a couple of hours.

***

«The orcs are still three hours away from the triggering points,» Sitar informed everyone. «Their current speed is four miles per hour, and steady. The second wave is not yet engaged in the tunnels, as the weather outside the kingdom is as dismal as it is inside our borders. They have not yet finished leaving their invasion tunnels, but overflight to do magical surveillance shows they should be done in an hour. Thirty minutes after they have left, I will trigger the melting of the doors so they are no longer operational, and set the mines to detonate half an hour after the second wave has reached the exit points. By then the second wave should have congregated massively in the tunnels.»

«That's fine, Sitar. We have time for a good hot meal.»

«And I am ready for more sleep. I feel tired,» added Paschal.

Time passed slowly, and everyone watched the orcs' progress on their maps. Half an hour before tierce, reports from advanced units began to flow in. Orcs were smelled, their wet fur giving them away to the canines downwind. Visibility was terrible, snow creating a whitewash that hid anything more then a few feet ahead of the Atlanteans.

«Ten minutes to trigger point!» informed Ian, as he kept track of the orc's progress. «Pegasuses! Take to the air! You have your targets!»

The winged horses took off from their advanced deployment area and began flying in the storm, climbing up along the valleys and rivers the orcs were following.

«Tunnels exits are sealed! The second wave is engaging in the tunnels!» reported Harp. "It should be a couple of hours before they reach the other ends."

«The wind is dropping on the western range, Yamato. You should be the first to see the orcs if the snow stops falling,» commented Ian.

«Triggering in five minutes!» noted Sitar. «They should all reach the trigger point within ten minutes of each other.»

«Secondary traps set! Fire lines ready!» noted Enron.

The last few minutes seemed to take hours to pass but suddenly, far on the southern border, a cascade of explosions resonated in a valley and entire cliff faces, rock piles and tree rows fell on the advancing orcs. The noise resonated along the valley, but was muffled by the hollering wind of the still ongoing snowstorm, and the dampening effects on sound produced by falling snow. In adjacent valleys, the earth shook telling the other orc columns something had happened but not what it was. Since no report came from the advanced radio operators, nothing transpired of the losses or its causes. The orc generals assumed there had been a minor earthquake and that radio communications was being interrupted by weather.

Successive columns were decimated, as one after the other each column reached its point of no return. But it did not stop the rest of the columns from progressing forward. Finding the passes blocked, they began trying to find other paths, only to fall into traps. Each foot gained cost them several hundred of their numbers. Slowly, very slowly, the orcs made their way further inside the kingdom.

«They have taken to the rivers! Finally!» said Paschal as he watched an advancing column on one of the upper lakes.

«Wait until they are all on it to trigger the underwater charges!» ordered Sitar.

«The number of orcs on the river is considerable. I just hope they don't start walking in cadence or the ice will break!»

«How considerable, Paschal?»

«We cleared the river a mile wide to funnel them on the ice and it's occupied to its full width, and the column's end is yet to be seen. I would say about a million. It's nuts.»

«Well, if it starts cracking, you are authorised to trigger the depth charges.»

«Radio transmission is picking up. First bomber wing, target: 42 17 33.02 N 76 50 26.32 W. Second bomber wing, target: 42 18 31.32 N 76 49 34.43 W ...» began Ian, as he kept a constant string of assignment on the telepathic frequencies.

As each signal died or survived a bomb raid he recalled for more and more bombing. The sound of supersonic precision bombers was heard in the mountains, triggering avalanches that swept across orc columns and making their progress along the upper valleys even more treacherous.

«Triggering depth charges!» declared Enron, as a huge mass of orcs walked slowly in the middle of a windblown lake. The sudden eruption of the lake's six-foot thick ice dumped the orcs into the icy water, before crushing them from its fallout. The lake became a thick, icy snow and ice soup that cut any chance of survival for that particular group of orcs.

«An Orc column walking below the first ice fall of the Danube. They tripped the charges. The ice face is falling on them. The Danube River is splitting open. They will have to walk a mile or so to find ice solid enough to support their weight.»

«Thank you for the report, Archduke Volant.»

«The first orcs of the second wave have reached the exit points of the invasion tunnels. Thirty minutes to activation!» commented Harp.

«Reporting a column of orcs following the crest of the hills separating York and Sophia. Carpet bombing requested!» demanded Duke Poudaropoulos, as he kept the orcs on the exposed mountains by showering them with arrows.

«Manasa, your wing is closest! Start! Knucker, Kalseru, Dunbar, Williams and Ladon, you are to follow Manasa! Manasa, set heading to ... forty-two magnetic, ETA to Poudaropoulos' position at two minutes at current ground speed! Climb to sixteen thousand feet AGL³⁷³⁷ ("AGL: Above Ground Level.").»

«At your command, my lord.»

As Ian watched Manasa's wing turn and take the indicated heading, he informed the other wings as to their approach to the orc column. He had each wing fly parallel courses, as he expected the orcs to disperse after the first drop, and he wanted to offer Poudaropoulos enough air cover to pull back before the orcs reached his lines. Thirty seconds before Manasa's wing dropped their load he gave the pullback order.

«Poudaropoulos, pull back a mile! Fifteenth Pegasus wing get ready to pin down the orc radio transmitter. Insert yourselves between Manasa and Kalseru's wings on my mark.»

The first pass caught the orcs by surprise and they quickly split in two groups, one on each side of the rise. As the orc radio operator began transmitting, Ian quickly received readings from five units of dragons flying overhead and pinpointed the emitter.

«Fifteenth Pegasus wing, dive bomb at 43 04 33.23 N 75 57 47.3 W. Mark!»

Ian could see the unit of Pegasuses dive from sixty thousand feet, at well above the speed of sound, and then pull up. A few seconds later the radio emitter went silent as it got rained out of existence by the precision bombing of the Pegasuses.

«Fifteenth Pegasus wing, the bombing was a success.»

«Returning to base! We are out of ordinance.»

«Acknowledged! Notifying the land crew!»

«The carpet-bombing had the expected effect! The column is disorganized. We are taking their units one after the other as quickly as we can,» Poudaropoulos informed the royal heir.

«Be careful not to engage them too deep. They will realize the air is free shortly and you might find yourself encircled! You have sixteen orc centuries on your left rear. Deal with them first!»

«Acknowledged.»

«Detonating tunnels!» Harp informed everyone on a broadband telepathic transmission.

A few minutes later came another broadband transmission from Harp.

«All units! Climb out of valleys. The glacier fronts have collapsed in ninety percent of cases, creating giant wave travelling along the rivers! They should reach our front lines in two hours!»

«That's what I meant when I said to expect the unexpected,» piped up Sitar. «Do not forget to booby trap your current positions when you evacuate them. Follow the secondary evacuation paths!»

The secondary evacuation paths had been planned to be above the highest flood plains of each river, while the primary evacuation paths were designed to follow the riverbed.

«Dragon units! Interdiction bombing behind our retreating units! Activate per wing plan B!» ordered Ian, as he saw the orcs try to follow the Atlanteans on the upper ground.

Immediately, the bombers began dispersing by group of five, bombing across the path of the advancing orcs, trying to give the retreating Atlanteans enough distance to reorganize themselves in higher ground defensive positions.

«Pegasuses wings! Visual bombing at low altitude, immediately after the Dragons are done! Keep them disorganized!» ordered Ian. «Troll units five to twenty, back away from the cliff, orcs are climbing on the slope behind you! Iridia, I need your Fairies to attack the orcs on the western flank of hill nine three nine. They will corner the Trolls otherwise!»

«Acknowledged!» came from Iridia and Bjorn.

«Wolf centurie one two eight five, move west on the ridge to hill nine three nine and take the orcs by the flank! Wolf centurie five two five, move east on the ridge to hill nine three nine to squeeze the orcs in a pincher movement. Coordinate move with centurie one two eight five!»

«Acknowledged!» came from the wolf centurion.

«Unicorn units two and five, move to help Paschal's legion disengage from the orc units assailing its rear! Teleport behind orc lines!»

«Acknowledged. Porting! In place! Engaging! The orcs are rotating to engage us.»

«I see that. Let them do a full about face then port between them and Paschal's legions!»

Things continued like that for hours on end. The legions lost many, but most could be ported to stasis chambers for quick healing, while the heaviest cases were put into cryogenic chambers in suspended animation. Twenty-four hours after the first engagement, the orcs had progressed one hundred miles inside the kingdom. Their numbers had diminished but they seem as motivated as before. Orcs came down on the Atlantean units like tidal waves, breaking on their defences like waves on rocks. Mages sent offensive spells by the millions, ionizing the atmosphere with magic, arrows flew, dense enough to walk on them, dragons bombed, fired, or even simply dropped like rocks on the advancing orcs, whose regular pace thundered like an unending leitmotiv in the background. Elves, legions, cavalry, synchronized attack after attack, as the canines charged from all sides, throwing themselves on the orcs from any overhang, fangs bared and howling in defiance. Mitsuko shone like a red dwarf in the middle of the storm, making it impossible to differentiate between blood and snow, while Excalibur sang a call to battle that resonated across the entire kingdom, drowning even the sound of the storm. The Hammer of Atlantis shattered through the tightly packed lines of orcs, while the Shield of Thor shone with a bright bloody glow, its skull literally biting at the orcs as they assaulted Harold. The Trident of Atlantis spewed three uninterrupted beams of intense blue light, slicing and cutting through orc and rocks, while Harp's Bata shone like a rising sun on the battlefield, breaking mountains, shattering forests, cutting through orcs like a burning knife through butter. The Axe of the Dwarfs, handled by Thorsten, spun at match five, cutting down orcs like a combine gone mad in a hay field. The Hammer of the Dwarfs was also busy, smashing heads like nuts. The battles involved titanic forces, as orcs charged magic defences, only to explode on contact; but nothing seemed to be able to enter their brains: they were fanaticized beyond any reason. Magic was used liberally, creating all sorts of adverse conditions for the orcs, from firewalls to earthquakes to lightening. The battle raged on, as the Atlanteans ceded ground, making the orcs pay every inch they gained with a thick carpet of their troops.

«How far are we from the first volcanic line?» asked Sitar.

«Our closest unit is fifty-six miles away from the Mirapi. Our average distance is seventy-two miles.»

«Paschal, would triggering the volcanoes be safe?»

«Yes Sitar: The furthest a lahar has travelled in history is one hundred miles, and it is unlikely this will be the case here. As for pyroclastic flows, they travel fast but a lot shorter distance.»

«So be it. Alea jacta est!³⁸³⁸ ("Alea jacta est: Latin, meaning the die has been cast.")»

A few minutes later, giant, deafening explosions were heard in the far reaches of the mountain range that encircled the kingdom, while the Atlanteans suddenly pulled back from the orcs by several miles. Volcanoes erupted violently, melting their thick ice caps, and throwing down their flanks huge mud flows and incandescent ashes that travelled at three to five times the speed of sound. The orcs, still within range of the volcanic magma, cinders, toxic gases and water vapour died burned to a crisp by the powerful pyrotechnics of nature. Unfortunately, not all orc legions were annihilated, as Ian noticed from his map. However, the impact was such he could reallocate most of the kingdom's resources in finishing off the leftover orcs.

«Force them to regroup! No quarters!» ordered Harold as he was himself engaging his legion against one of the few orc centuries left.

***

Figure 12: An Ogre in a Lava Field

As the day broke, the weather cleared, and revealed vast swipes of the kingdom blackened by ash. Rivers carried cinders, floating trees, corpses, and tons of residues, that tended to pile up in eddies and calm pools. An occasional group of orcs was still spotted and immediately attacked without mercy. The king's directives were followed to the letter.

Deep south, a group of wolves patrolling along a new lava field was suddenly confronted with something they had never seen. Rather then risk useless loss of lives, they backed away and kept watch. The strange animal was howling in pain, complaining, as it seemed, at every step it took. None of the wolves could understand the language, which seemed to be a combination of barks, whistles, and other sounds. The wolves kept a safe distance and then noticed that the strange animal was headed toward similar, if even stranger individuals. Amongst the new arrivals were orcs, who seemed to be demoralized and lost.

As the wolves observed the interaction between the strange animals and the orcs, they noticed that the orcs seemed to push their wounded toward the giant animal, which grabbed them and tore them to pieces before putting the chunks of meat on the top of their head and dropping them inside. The smell of sulphuric acid and digestive fluids was omnipresent and the wind's direction told the wolves what was happening as well as their eyes and ears: the orcs were feeding their wounded to these animals!

«Prince Harp, we are in need of assistance!» asked the wolf Decurion, as she kept a weary eye on the orcs from behind a pile of boulders.

Harp silently popped amongst the wolves and crawled on his belly to inspect what had so troubled an experienced wolf. What he saw sent chills down his spine.

«I'll call in Paschal and Enron. I've never seen that before!»

A quick call from Harp brought Paschal and Enron to the patrol's location and they watched the carnage.

«What is that?» asked Harp, as everyone watched yet another orc get butchered.

«It is a carnivorous plant!» exclaimed Enron.

«But it moves!» replied the she-wolf. «Plants do not move!»

«Nonetheless, I maintain it is a plant! Look at the number of legs. There are dozens of them, spread around a trunk. And look at the arms: they too are organized around a trunk like tree branches. I think the top is the plant's stomach, which digests meat, from the foul smell we get from the wind drifts.»

«I have to concur with Paschal on this," replied Harp. That is a giant Venus fly trap, that eats orcs.»

«You know, when I labelled them cockroaches, I did not know I was so close to the truth!»

«Apart from the bad pun, Harp, have you noticed it seems to communicate with the orcs?»

«That's communication, Enron? I thought it was the wind blowing through the top hole!»

«That might be the method, but it modulates the whistles and other noises.»

«If it can communicate, we might be able to gain an understanding of what it says?» commented Paschal. «I have noticed that new members of these strange things seem to all begin their first contact with a repeating howl... As if it was saying I am hungry! Feed me!»

«Let me try something,» asked Harp. «From what I understand of life and telepathy, there is a relation between frequency and degree of evolution. The lower the life form, the lower the telepathic frequency. I'll push this reasoning to its limits and see if I can eavesdrop on them.»

Harp relaxed deeply and gradually lowered his biorhythm to the point he was taking a breath every fifteen seconds. After an hour, he gradually came back to full rhythm and brought his body temperature to normal wolf body heat.

«I was right. That big one in the centre is called Qnos. He is complaining about his roots being cut raw by glass in the ground and that the soil is too acid for his taste. Given he is standing on lava, it makes sense. Another one complains about losing too many of their family for the benefit gained. I dared not ask what was the benefit! A third one, Qbos, from what Qnos called him, said he would not dig any more caves for any reason whatsoever. The leader admits that they had not expected to be eaten back by rocks. I gather they were caught in the lava flows. They all want to go back home, a place called Ogre, which seems to be rather far from here. From what I understand, they were brought by the orcs to dig the tunnels under promises of an easy meal, namely us. I suggest we call these things Ogres, in accordance to their own nomenclature.»

«I am inclined to oblige their request.»

«Enron! Are you nuts? You want to be food?» exclaimed Paschal.

«You misunderstand me. I mean to move them back to where they come from. Magic can be used for that, and the Orcs would be left without an ally.»

«Should we move them in one of the tessaracts?»

«There, I put my foot down, Paschal! I formally veto the idea! Those things are way off the rescue list! They could endanger the very structure of a tessaract if they can eat through rock like a hot knife though butter!» exclaimed Harp.

«Before we discuss how to move them, we need to know how many there are and where they are. Paschal, get measurements of their biofrequencies, and I will tune part of the array to detect them!» asked Ian.

Paschal, Harp and Enron each took individual measurements of the twenty or so Ogres they had on hand, and established a range and an average for different biomarkers. They came to the conclusion that the Ogres were well below normal animal biorange, much closer to plants then to animals, yet their measures were above the highest frequency range normally attributed to the plant kingdom.

«I wonder if we aren't seeing the work of the orcs themselves in these carnivorous plants. I know Ancients were fascinated with them, and had been working on genetically modified plants for food, but nowhere is there a reference to giving plants mobility, much less to carnivorous ones! That is why I was so taken by surprise!» said Enron, as they analysed their data.

«Hey, look!» said one of the wolves. «That Orc is running away!»

The others looked out and they saw an Orc running off. Suddenly, one of the Ogres began moving at a remarkable speed, trying to intercept the Orc. The Ogre was much faster then the Orc, but turned with more difficulty.

«Who would have thought these Ogres hunted their preys?»

«Why not, Paschal? What worries me is it can outrun any of us. Wolves, I am porting you back to your base. The area is unsafe for you,» decided Harp, as he watched the desperate Orc change constantly direction in an attempt to escape its fate. A few seconds later, as the wolves vanished, the Ogre caught its prey and quickly disposed of the still hollering Orc.

«I noticed something strange. Did you notice it totally ignored the immobile Orc in its path? It's like it needs a live prey to be interested. I suspect if that Orc had played dead, it would still be alive!» commented Enron.

«That may be true, but it would take balls to stay put while that thing runs right over you. In fact you would need to be dead for that to work!» said Harp.

«Guys, I got the information for you. There are thousands of these things around the kingdom, all in periphery. None has yet gone further then the Orcs themselves. I would have thought so anyway, if the Orcs used them to dig their tunnels.»

«Are you talking about these strange walking trees?» asked Yamato.

«Yes.»

«Well, I can tell you they are tough cookies. The Spiders have disposed of the Orcs as if they were cotton candy, but I have had to pair Spiders to get these things down. They are harder then diamond! You cut a root, and it grows right back. You cut a branch and it does the same.»

«Can you port one Decade here? I would like to see this,» asked Paschal.

«Sure. Give me half an hour to disengage the seventh decade of the fifth Spider centurie, they are almost done with the group of three they are dealing with!»

«Are you serious? You need half an hour? For three Ogres?»

«Prince Sitar, if you think you can do better be my guest!»

«I'll get to your position immediately, Paschal. I want to see things myself as well!»

«Ok. We are expecting you, Sitar. Will you be coming, Yamato?»

«No. I have enough trouble as it is! I can't disengage now.»

«What do you mean?»

«I'm encircled, that's what. I got rid of the orcs, but these things are tenacious.»

«From what I understand they are sensitive to lava. Bring them on a lava flow!»

«And get roasted in my shell? No thank you!»

«He's got a point, Paschal. We placed heating systems in there, not AC units!» said Ian.

«What I don't understand is why Yamato isn't porting the damn Ogres into the lava?» asked Sitar.

«Try it when you meet one! I've tried, and I can't get a grip! I've been running for the past hour trying to escape these creepy creatures. I've thrown rocks, even boulders at them, and they just throw them right back at me!»

«Climb a cliff?» suggested Ian.

«Been there, done that. They dig in the cliff below and it collapsed on them without any apparent harm. I have to jump to get off the cliff and the moment I touch down they turn and run for my landing position!»

«They are using the ground vibrations to pinpoint you. Stay put, without moving. They should lose track of your position!» suggested Paschal.

«It's worth a try! I'll tell you if it works shortly.»

After fifteen minutes, Yamato came back on the telepathic waves.

«It works. Mind you they first collided with the Spider, but since I had put the legs in locked-down position, nothing transpired more then the standard vibration produced by colliding with a rock face. They tried climbing over me, but failed. At least, orichalque is able to resist their roots. But I'm immobilised. The moment I move, they will charge!»

«Do they pursue everything that moves?» asked Harp.

«Not rolling rocks or windblown stuff, from what I've seen.»

«Ok. I have a suggestion. Try asynchronous movement. Move one leg at a time: slide it on the surface like you were a windblown rock. Stop moving, the move another leg, using the same process. If you do things right you could probably move without them detecting your displacements.»

«How so?»

«They will believe you are windblown rocks. By the way, follow the normal path of windblown rocks. No going upwind!»

«Ok, I'll have the Spider units disengage according to that method. I'll tell you shortly if it works!»

An hour later, Yamato came back on the network.

«It works. However you need to be at least fifteen miles away before resuming normal gait, or they detect you and converge on your position. I've begun using this to lure them toward the lava flow of the Gardner. It's flowing liberally, and by placing an empty Spider on an ash cone drumming like crazy, its like it's calling them to a feast, but they quickly learn that a few inches of solidified lava doesn't support their body weight. The moment they fall in, their upper trunk fills in with molten lava an they sink.»

«That's a good tactic, Yamato. However, lava flows are still rare, even if the kingdom is sitting on a ring of fire. We need another method,» commented Sitar.

«Have you finished disengaging the promised Spiders?»

«Yes. I will port them shortly right across the lava field you are located. Do not move. The Spiders are pretty frantic and seem inclined to attack anything mobile.»

«We understand.»

Shortly, eleven Spiders materialized several miles away from the position occupied by the princes. They came charging straight at the orcs in a V formation, and quickly disposed of them. Then began the battle Sitar and the others had wanted to watch.

The Ogres seemed to be highly disorganised in their hunting. Each one charged the nearest Spider, which generally led to three Ogres attacking one Spider. There were exceptions: one case had a Spider left totally alone, while two Ogres tried to deal with a Spider and five tried to down another.

«Lesson one: Ogres do not coordinate their attacks. Note that they head for the closest Spider.»

«Let's try porting the Ogres,» suggested Harp.

After many failures, the princes had to admit defeat and that Yamato had been right.

«I'll have to tell Yamato I'm sorry for doubting his word,» commented Sitar.

«Does anyone have a suggestion?» Paschal asked as they watched the ongoing battle.

«I do,» said the Decurion in the lead Spider.

«Shoot, at this point I have nothing to offer!» said Sitar.

«Can you port the Spiders?»

«Well, yes, as you have witnessed yourself.»

«Watch! I'll climb on the Ogre in front of me and grip its branches. Try porting me over the Mirapi, at sixty thousand feet. I'll release the Ogre. If I'm lucky it will not be able to hold. Even if it does, port me back here as soon as I say I've dropped the Ogre. It will have nothing to grip to and it will fall directly into the caldera.»

«That's a plan, Decurion. Go ahead!»

A Spider, that had been immobile until now, suddenly took to a run and jumped directly into the branches of the Ogre. It then solidly gripped as many branches as it could.

«Ready for the port!»

Harp concentrated, and the Spider vanished. Unfortunately, the damn Ogre stayed behind. Noticing this Harp immediately ported back the Spider, offset relative to the now very frustrated Ogre.

«Well, it was worth a try. Any more suggestions?» asked Sitar, pitiful.

The princes looked at each other, not knowing what to suggest.

«Let's see if Dragon Breath can harm them. Convert to Sparrow and gain altitude. Then we convert to Dragon and try to torch them!»

That too failed miserably.

«Our breath is not hot enough! These things are asbestos-based! We can convert carbon to charcoal but it's like trying to melt... I do not know what. It's possible locally but not at their scale! All we manage to do is give them second-degree burns!» complained Harp.

«Well, let's get back to Yamato's method. I was hoping to keep the second volcano ring for later, but I think we have no choice. I suggest we attract them between the two mountain chains, and trigger the second volcano ring. To speed things up let's port all Spiders near the Ogres and begin herding them in the planned lava flows of the second ring. Ian, can you give us the coordinates?»

«I'm transferring them to all Spiders. Yamato is distributing the load, Sitar.»

«We will stay in dragon form to watch from above,» said Harp.

An hour later, the Spiders began attracting the Ogres in the expected lava paths. It took them the rest of the day and a good part of the night to bring every Ogre where they wanted them. By lauds, all was in place.

«Port all Spiders to base camp! I repeat! Port all Spiders to base camp! Eruption in five minutes! Eruption in five minutes!» rang out over the telepathic waves.

Suddenly the Ogres found themselves with no more targets to hunt.

«Port all allies to shelters! Port all allies to shelters! Pegasuses! Evacuate the sky! Three minutes to eruptions! Three minutes to Eruptions!»

«All Spiders reported secure and deactivated!» Yamato informed the Royals.

«All Canines in Thebes,» reported Greywolf.

«All Unicorns in their tessaract,» reported Golden Horn.

«All Equines in Thebes,» added Silver Moon.

«All Pegasuses and their Fairies in the Tessaract!» noted Iridia. A few seconds later she came back with the all clear for all Fairies.

«All Trolls safe and in tessaract!» reported Timor.

«All Elves in!» added Samson.

«All Dragons in!» Typhoon reported.

«All Dwarfs in!» transmitted Diamondcutter.

«One minute to Eruptions! One minute to Eruptions! Dad? I'm waiting for your report!»

«Thirty seconds to all clear, Ian! Twenty! Ten! All clear. Porting!»

«To all observers! Gain altitude! Twenty seconds to southern border Eruptions! Ten! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Eruptions starting! Clear the western border! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Eruptions starting! Clear the Eastern border! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Eruptions starting! Clear the northern border! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Eruptions starting! Observers! Report!»

As the reports flowed in, it became apparent that not only were the Ogres decimated, but also many unknown tunnels filled with orcs were also getting flooded with lava. Forest fires spread around and wiped the conifers in the mountains before spreading in the deciduous forests found in the lower valleys. Great chunks of ice fell off advancing glaciers, destabilized by the heat of the lava and the rising thermals from the fires below. The power of the eruptions was such they lasted several weeks, in effect blocking and filling the inter-range valleys completely and blackening the landscape for thousands of miles around the Kingdom. The consequences on climate were contradictory: as the soot rose in the atmosphere, it stopped the sun from reaching the surface, creating a substantial cooling effect; however, the presence of Sulphur Dioxide in the higher atmosphere trapped the solar radiation and prevented it from leaving the planet, thus partially neutralising the primary consequence. The presence of soot on the thick ice layer also changed the planet's albedo locally, creating a temporary heat sink that lasted for as long as the snow remained black.

Thebes itself was severely affected, as several feet of very corrosive ash fell on the city. The Royals spent days trying to divert it somewhere else, but whatever they did, they always collected ash from all directions. Finally, they resorted to porting the ash as it settled down on the city to the ocean. Everyone was ordered to stay inside, as the ash was like breathing glass. Given that Thebes was a deeply integrated city with the possibility of reaching every area by an extensive network of tunnels, it did not prevent any activity. The tessaracts were used by the most claustrophobic to relax and things settled into a modicum of normalcy. Outside parks had already been domed by magic. The only issue was that the domes stopped being transparent, taking on a greyish appearance as dust settled on the force fields. This protected the plants, but the royals had to supplement the lighting, which Ian did rather elegantly.