22. Engeria in Action

He was there, right in the great hall. He could hear the cheerings from the crowd, “Marco! Marco! Marco!...”, he was sitting on Blabber who said, “Congrats Marco! You’re the king now!”

Marco beamed and looked over his shoulder. There stood Zimon gleaming in bright white robes, shining like a shooting star. His staff flashed with a great intensity. Zimon was smiling as he admired the crowd. He turned to Marco who was wearing the crown of Legendia.

“How do you feel Marco?”, Zimon asked, “Burning isn’t it?”

“Sorry?”, Marco said, his voice echoing across the hall.

“Yeah it’s burning... burning all over.”, Zimon said smiling gracefully.

“IT’S BURNING!! Wake up Marco!”, Peter jumped over Marco and pulled him straight up. Marco shouted, “What? Where?”

“We’ve been attacked by flamed arrows! The tents are burning.”, Peter shouted as he grabbed his sword from beneath the mat. “They are also using catapults to throw huge fire balls.”

Marco snatched his belongings and sprinted out of the tent. Two worried looking soldiers were guarding for Marco. “I don’t need any protection! Save this battle, not me!”

“But sire... Lord Zimon asked us �"

“It’s an order...”, Marco cut off, his voice rising to compensate the noises around. The two soldiers disappeared.

It was almost dawn. The Legendians were running hither and thither. Marco spotted the burning tents that were camped closer to the foot hills than the rest. A number of huge fire balls were being released from the nearest hilltops. They camped right in between the shores of River Tuks and the hillside, with no place to escape. The archers tried to shoot arrows into the hillocks but in vain. The foes were at a great height to be hit by arrows. Zimon approached riding on his horse, “Retreat everybody! RETREAT from your defending positions! We cannot hold the attack any longer!”

The Engerians slowly crowded the hilltop in large numbers, like a long unending line of sheep grazing on top of the hill. Marco galloped on his horse right behind Zimon and shouted, “Where do we retreat? They are charging on us and we stand in no man’s land.”

“TOWARDS THE RIVER! RUN TO THE RIVER BANK! NOW!”, Zimon ordered.

“Everyone... TO THE RIVER!”, growled Marvelo, who was undoubtedly fuming under pressure.

Marco looked back. The Engerian army were clearly visible now. They seemed to multiply in number as each of them started to descend down the hills towards the shore. A new line of army appeared continuously as the previous line descended.

“Blimey hell! They are huge in numbers!”, Albert gasped.

The lot of roughly thousand helpless warriors lined up in the river; water levelled up to their knees.

“HOW DO WE CROSS IT?”, Marco shouted.

“It’s darn deep and long!”, Peter exclaimed.

The Engerians were descending slow as the downhill was too steep. Marco estimated their number roughly between three and a half to four thousand. They had no magic weapons to match the opposition. Everyone simply stared at their foe charging down the hill. Zimon turned towards the river and jumped down his horse splashing the cold water. He dipped his staff into the water touching the rocky surface of the river bed. Zimon closed his eyes.

“Don’t tell me...”, Peter remarked. Marco raised his hands to quiet him and whispered, “I sensed this was coming.”

The tip of the staff began to glow blue and Zimon shouted out aloud, “Samore taboshin au’zale Tuks! Nibin, Nibin’ ana... Rabune Gosheen Nibin’ana.

RABUNE GOSHEEN NIBIN’ANA FASAILE DUMSHAA!”

The lasts words came out in a monstrous roar by Zimon. The tip of the staff flickered dim and bright. The warriors began to tremble as the land beneath the water began to rumble. The huge waves splashed at them in great speed soaking all of them completely wet. The water suddenly started to swirl at multiple locations and to their astonishment the level of water seemed to decrease in no time. The water kept on descending into the land and the river bed came into appearance; a plain rocky land where just a moment ago a whole River Tuks was flowing. Zimon was still under the spell of magic, his eyes grey and hideous. Without a word, they began to cross the land in full speed. During this scenario, the Engerians halted right at their positions; horrified and amazed at what they had just witnessed. When they realized that Legendians were getting out of their reach, they commenced their pursuit. Zimon jumped up his horse and rode along with others towards the other side of the riverbed; his eyes still grey. When the Legendians covered halfway through, Zimon halted and turned.

“RELLIASEE!!”, Zimon said in a cold low pitched voice.

Marco felt a chill run down his spine as the ground grumbled like in an earth quake. The first line on men had just reached the foot of the hills when the hill exploded open into pieces and water came gushing up from within. The impact of the explosion was so huge and massive that the water rose high up into the sky. The whole River Tuks erupted from inside the hills, swallowing all the men on the hills. A complete channel of river was now flowing in the place of hill lines, drowning all the Engerians into the river. The ones who managed to reach the foot hills were hit by the pieces of the hills itself. The ground stopped trembling. The fresh aroma of the river struck the area around the land. A new cool breeze swept across the reigns of its land. The river ferociously splashed up and down in the uneven river bed cut out of the hills. Legendians stared in a state of complete shock. Zimon knelt down on the ground panting hard; his eyes back to normal and his staff not glowing anymore. For a moment everyone stared at the king. And all of a sudden Zimon blacked out; landing straight on his face on the ground.