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Introduction

Runne, a realm approaching destruction. Once so prosperous now it stands on the brink of complete annihilation. One month ago one came into the realm who went by the name of the Lord of Blood. Little did the inhabitants realize the true meaning of his entry. When the demons came to serve him, people fled in terror. They spared not anyone, man, woman, child, nor the elderly. Their thirst for blood and flesh was too great. However, the capital of Valoria realized the need for help. Armored knights walked the battlements day and night. No demons would be allowed to enter their castle. However, something had to be done. The king could not simply let the Lord of Blood destroy the land and all it's people. A counterattack would be necessary.

However Valoria already has problems of it's own. This was not what they needed now. With a revolt in full fire to the west, they must also somehow fix this. The rebels, either do not know of the demons to the south, or they are not afraid of them because they have not yet made a move to defend themselves. In their stubborn arrogance they will most likely try to attack Valoria in their moment of pain and weakness.

The Lord of Blood will not be denied his chance of eternity. The realm of R nne must fall before him.

Thus, the story begins in the south in one of the smaller towns. The demons had arrived days before and now the small town of farmers and merchants must hold off the attack until help can arrive from Valoria. Welcome to the realm of R nne . . .

First Chapter . . .

The town of Greyfulk, safe since the earlier wars in which humans fought the minotaurs for control of the island. This town got off rather well. Now it faced the ultimate horror of battle. The previous night the town watch had spotted a mysterious group of travelers coming across the lake. Immediately he informed the magistrate, however, the enemy was upon them before they could defend. It was only by courage and wit that the town was not completely destroyed. A simple archer had managed to shoot down many of the demonic warriors. They being unused to fighting weapons other than hand to hand combat became disoriented in battle. When the town militia came roaring down the pastures into the main battle, the demons thinking them to be mighty warriors quickly hauled its troops away from the town. They left with the promise that they would return. Immediately a messenger had been sent to Valoria via horseback but it was a three-day ride and then perhaps some. No help would be coming for a week, or longer if the revolt interfered. They must defend the town.

A lookout walked back and forth across the small tower searching into the darkness to see the enemy. The harbor was still on this breathless night and with the wind died down to nothing every sound could be heard from a mile around. The scout was a relatively young man. Only around the age of 19. He wore a simple leather vest that was supposed to protect him in battle and was armed with only a long knife. He was the son of a wealthy merchant but even the rich would not escape from this war.

Many of the people earlier in the day had come up with the idea that they would leave town and head for the north where they would be safe within the stone walls of the nation's capital. And so they had left despite the warnings that they would be easy targets for any band of demons that walked that way. And even if the demons didn't get them there were wolves, snakes, and some even believe that there are wyverns that remain in the land even though the king claims that they were all exterminated. That left even fewer people to defend the homes that they had spent their entire lives creating. And now in a simple gesture these spawns of hell were capable of destroying it all.

The scout turned quickly as he heard a sound below the tower. Knife in hand he crouched back into the corner to avoid detection. He knew of course if anyone had bothered looking up at the tower first that they would surely know that he was here.

The figure stepped up the stairs and the raised his head to see a knife pointing at his forehead. "Hold up! It's me, Halej." The man raised his arms in surrender until the scout realized who he was.

"Sorry Halej, it's just that I am rather paranoid tonight. You do know that there is no chance that we can hold them off until the knights arrive. This is the first night and we already have one third of our fighters gone and the enemy hasn't even attacked us yet. What's the point?" The young scout lowered his blade and then sat on the wooden floor of the tower.

"The point is that we will defend everything that we have worked for, our fathers have worked for. And what our father's fathers have worked for. If we die tonight than it will be defending the land that we love. Now you go on home and get some sleep. We won't start the battle without you. If there is to be a fight tonight than you should be rested for it." Halej smiled through his beard and then helped the younger man to his feet.

The scout looked at Halej one more time and then he began to climb down the ladder. He had been watching this outpost for almost four hours and he had not had rest. He would need it for the upcoming battle.

Halej looked out over the water. It was still clear and peaceful. Halej was an older man, however, no younger man no matter how strong would mess with him. He used to be a knight in Valoria's army until he met a woman, fell in love, and moved back south to his hometown to pick up where he left off. And what a woman indeed. She was much the same as Halej. In fact it had taken all of his energy just from keeping her in the house while he went to replace the scout. It would have taken a woman like that to draw him away from the knighthood. But he never did forget his code of honor. Not that most knights listened to it these days anyway. But if only one knight went by the code of honor, it was he. Halej still wore his old sword at his side, and under his ragged cloak it could be assured that he wore gleaming steel that would not be pierced by any blade. Many had fallen by his hand. And if he had things his way tonight many more were yet to fall. He was not extremely old. Perhaps nearing 45. However, most of the men in this village were young and ambitious. The elder was by far the oldest man but he had left earlier in the day with the other deserters. From then Halej had been decided without dispute to be the town's leader. They believed in him.

It wasn't until two hours later when the first sign of action could be seen in the water. Halej saw them first, and then quickly alerted the second scout on the other side of town to keep an eye on them. Halej quickly ran toward the make shift barracks which had been built today (not having any need for one in the past) out of the bakery.

The two sentries on guard at the bakery briskly opened the doors and allowed Halej to enter. Inside scattered about on the floor wrapped in furs were about twenty men that were sleeping restlessly not knowing when they would be awakened for the battle.

Halej called in, and as fast as a non-trained militia can go, they got up and began to equip themselves for a fight. Left and right old swords and axes were hefted up and slung over many an inexperienced shoulder. The weapons were keepsakes. Nothing more than mementoes of the great war of the Minotaurs that raged during their ancestors times. None of them knew how to wield a weapon or even hold one correctly.

This time however Halej knew what would have to be done. Any man who had ever shot a bow (and could successfully make the arrow go further than their toe) was taken up and hidden in the trees, on a rooftop, or any other conceivable place. The demons had no experience fighting archers obviously. It would prove to be their loss once they reached Valoria. Or if they entered the elven lands. The elves were renowned for their skill in archery. But the elves had been lost long before. No elf had been seen in ages. No one alive can even recall the last time an elf was seen.

The water on the opposite shore began to swirl with the might of many. The battle was lost as the waters churned and an unending stream of troops seemed to pour forth into the waters. Boats were placed in the water as fast as they could move the previous one out of the way. The shoreline was covered. The screeches of the malevolent invaders were deafening even at the distance they were.

Halej turned away. He could not bare to look any more. He was experienced enough to know that with that number of boats that size they were most likely facing an army of over two hundred attackers. There would be no hope. Unless somehow they could see to it that the boats never reached the shore. But they had no way to do that.

The small band of attackers slowly became less and less confident. Even when they thought that they were to fight and equal-army they were afraid. The size of the army that was mounted against them now created an air of uselessness. They would die. There was nothing more to it.

"We will not perish! Come my friends, the time has come to prove to our ancestors that we are just as determined as they were during the Minotaur war. We will fight these blasted demons and we will kill them!" Halej roared into full fury. He remembered in his mind what he used to put himself through when he went into battles for the king. But that was not like this. Before he had fought armies perhaps twice his size, but they were only untrained peasants. And not only that, but they were unarmed or if they did have a weapon it was simply a farm tool. Now he was on the other side. He was not fighting some disorganized revolt. He was about to take on a well-versed army. That had not only power, but numbers as well. "Archers! Change of plans! Take up positions next to the shore. Wait until they are in range and then fire everything you have! As many boats as you can, see to it that they do not reach the shore. I need someone strong, perhaps two. You two there." Halej pointed at two young fellows who sat in the corner. Brothers that had spent all of their lives working on a farm and hauling supplies for overweight merchants.

"Us sir?" the oldest boy replied. "What can we help you do?"

"Come with me, I have a plan. The rest of you wait at the entry way to town with weapons in hand. Try and stay in a tight formation and await the enemy. Under no circumstances are you to go to the shore. Not even if you hear us all scream our death cries. Wait here for us."

Halej tugged on the scouts shoulder that he had been speaking to earlier, hauling him over, "On a personal note. Please see to it that my wife stays away from the battle. Please don't let her get any foolish ideas of helping me into her head. Can you do that for me?"

The young man nodded his head, "Yes sir."

Halej smiled and turned to face the group of men once more, "Now then, let's show those bastards what we're made of!"

There was a cheer from the men and then they went to carry out their tasks. Halej and the two brothers began heading out to the shore at a quick pace.

"All right boys listen up. This is what we are going to do. The farm closest to the river, you know the place right?" Halej continued his course toward the shore.

The youngest answered first, "Yeah that would be one of the elder's lands."

"That's right. When we get there, I want you to go to the first fence you see and start ripping out poles. When you get about ten, meet me at the lake." Halej nodded and then he ran off toward the lakeside to check on the archers. In the distance he could see the ripples becoming gradually closer. They would be here within the half hour. The cries of hate could still be heard now even louder than before. The lake seemed to be aglow with all of the evil contained on its surface. But then again that is what the ogres, and minotaurs thought when the humans had first arrived on the island. The humans had wiped out city after city. The minotaurs were forced to leave the island, the ogres simply moved into the elven lands killing all the elves and taking their cities. Never had a race entering the island affected so many, so harshly.

Upon reaching the lake Halej found that the archers were experiencing some trouble because there were few trees and the ones that were there offered very little disguise.

"They will have to do. The enemy will be here soon. If what I have in mind works than they shouldn't reach the trees in the first place." With that he went on his way and the archers began to climb the pathetic trees.

At last, the brothers came across the field each carrying ten fence poles. Halej looked at them with satisfaction. That would work perfectly.

Upon their arrival Halej explained the plan. "What we will do is wait until one of the boats reaches the shore. Hopefully the archers can hold off a few of the boats. As soon as one of the boats reaches shore what we will do is launch five of these poles at a time and destroy the boats while taking out the demons with them. Once they have fallen in the water, the archers should not have any trouble at all in killing them. We must be consistent though. For if one of those ships reaches shore the archers lives are at stake. The demons have probably been informed about the arrows, so they will be expecting them. We can prepare now. It is safe to say that they will be within the archers range at any moment." Halej knew that if these men were trained Valorian knights and archers the demons would have been in range sometime ago. However, probably at this moment the great warriors of Valoria were probably somewhere destroying some village folk. Killing their own people when a war raged on.

"Ready . . . ready . . . and . . . FIRE!" Halej swung his hand down in an arc and in the same motion archers fired a half a dozen arrows. The steel tipped weapons were actually better quality than what the huntsmen were used to and they were surprised by the distance and accuracy of them. They were salvaged from a merchant's goods that were left behind when he fled town.

The volley struck home. Screeches of hate turned into screeches of pain as the arrows punctured their corrupted yet living flesh. The first boat held roughly five soldiers. Their flesh was yellowish in color and they had small tusks that protruded from their jaws. They were armed with no weapon but wore some type of armor that appeared to be leather. The skin of the leather was most likely not of this realm, or if it was, it was not nice to think about. The first boat suffered casualties. Only two of the arrows hit their mark. One hit a demon in the chest causing him to flail about which inevitably led to him knocking another of his kind into the murky waters. A second arrow struck directly in another creature's eye. He slumped to the bottom of the boat, lifeless. They were just as mortal as any human.

A second volley of arrows at the same boat proved to be its end as the remaining two fighters were dropped to the floor of their boat. The boat was not made for such shifts in weight and it swung over to it's left and then tipped, dumping the bodies into the lake.

Still continuing were many more vessels of doom. However, now it would be a continuous struggle to drop the boat's inhabitants. As two boats quickly approached the shore, the archers prepared to send another lethal shot of steel. As the arrows whirred through the air the demons could do nothing but wait and see who would fall next. The demons in behind were reluctant to go forward which caused a delay. This was to the archers' benefit as even more of the invaders fell.

That was when the voice was heard, "Press to the shore! Their blood will be ours! Tonight we dine on their flesh, and I feed on their souls!" Standing on a large boat that was twice as big as the others stood a figure. In height it was roughly seven feet tall. It wore armor that was red and black. Its helmet was the visage was a face screaming in pain with the mouth open for the wearer's air and the eyes of the face rested just above the eye sockets on the helmet. In his hand rested a sword that must have come from hell itself. The blade was just as tall as the figure and it seemed to absorb all light. The sheer darkness of the sword struck fear into the humans' hearts. "Continue! Some of us will die, but the others will relish the victory! There is no way we can lose. Victory!"

Halej watched in horror. He had heard stories of this one. Survivors from Mejark had brought tales of horror about the man or beast whatever he was, called the Lord of Blood. They say that he has incredible strength and that he controls the dark majiks. "Shoot him!" Halej knew that for this mission to be a success the Lord of Blood would have to die. If he reached shore, they would not stop him.

The archers let loose another volley of arrows that pierced the enemy line. The boats were failing in their course and the defenders had not yet even resorted to the posts.

However now that the Lord of Blood had rallied the troops, the boats pressed on harder. The archers shot in vain as the boats pressed on all at once. It was at this point that the first boat reached shore. The troops in this boat were different from the ones in the earlier vessels. They held weapons of steel and as well as their tusks, had horns that went a foot into the air.

The brothers and Halej rolled the first of their payload into the lake. The unsuspecting demons thinking that they were now safely on shore were swept off their feet by the poles. As the poles connected the hull of the boat crumbled and fell back into the water. A second boat met the same fate. The archers were experiencing trouble. The ammo was beginning to run low and there were so many targets that nothing could be done. As two more vessels met their fate from the poles, another boat pulled in.

"Pullback! Archers, pullback!" Halej yelled to the men in the trees about 20 meters from the shoreline. He turned to face the brothers, "Run to town. Tell them that the enemy is on it's way. I will be there in a second. I am going to see if I can help some of those archers."

"Sir let us help to." The older boy stepped forward and looked to his brother for conformation.

"No. You must go to town and warn them. The enemy will be there in minutes. Now go!" Halej turned his back on the brothers and started to run to the shore. The archers were jumping out of the trees and the little good it did them as the demons arrived at the trees. Halej reached the trees and tried to drive off some of the demons. His sword quickly put two to their death beds. A third strike knocked down a second. But there were many more coming. Halej turned about and began running to the town. There was no hope for the archers.

Behind him were the screams of dying agony as limbs were ripped off and eaten on the spot. The flesh of the archers only served to further drive the beasts into a frenzy. One man tried to stay in the tree and avoid the lethal strikes of the walking terrors. Demons howled and screeched at him, each demon wanting to feast on his blood. The archer cringed away and screamed. At this point the demons began to shake on the tree. At long last the archer lost his grip and fell down to the ground where the beasts began to feed off of his still living flesh. The demons were very powerful. Much more powerful than any man. And perhaps even more powerful than an ogre. All of the archers quickly met their doom. And that was when the Lord of Blood reached shore.

When Halej arrived in town, everyone was up and ready. Not only were the men ready but their wives stood valiantly by their sides. And one woman in particular caught his eye. His wife stood there with a small sword in her hand. She had come, and with her she had most likely rallied all the other women. She always was ambitious. Most armed with only pitchforks they were willing to die on this night. Sadly, it was most likely that they would. "They are coming. They were right on my heels." He waited a few seconds to regain his breath. In his prime age he could have run much farther than that but now the effects of his age was starting to catch up with him. "I couldn't help any of them. The demons are ravenous. They will destroy us. But we must take down a few before we go. Their casualties are much higher than ours, but they have the advantage now."

A scream sounded just a few meters from where Halej stood. A great demon wielding a massive axe and a helmet of stone stood before them. The creature stood six feet tall and it was all muscle. It had no need for armor as its skin was nothing but hard scales. He swung the axe imposingly. And that was when the truth was realized. During that time a group of demons had sneaked up on their side.

As the demons rushed, the militia fell like flies. The demons sank their cold weapons into the soft human flesh and then went on to take out another. The demon with the axe rushed forward and ripped a man in half with the force of the blow. The torso flew backwards creating a gut wrenching fear for all who remained.

Halej went forward into the fray. His sword was stained red with blood and his face was splattered as well. The demons screeched as they could now smell blood all around them. Much like a shark they were driven to insanity with the scent of blood. Halej continued to mow them down but he also realized that the villagers were failing. "Run! Get away while you still can. Just try to get away." He called to his wife hoping that she would listen to him. But she did not. She continued to battle it out with the demons. A second wave of demons running toward the fight proved to be the end. With them ran a figure that sent a pain of fear into Halej's heart.

The Lord of Blood tore forward and grabbed of all people, the wife of Halej by the throat. His hand slowly closed around her neck. She flailed about trying t release the grip of steel. Halej knew not what to do. He was already surrounded by the flesh craving beasts. The Lord of Blood laughed and then he began to crush her throat. Her eyes rolled up and then she went slack as blood poured freely from her mouth. The Lord of Blood slit her stomach wide creating a waterfall of the thick red substance. Then he went on to swing the limp body about spraying the blood in all directions. Then he threw the body to the ground with such force that the ribs made a sickening crunch.

Halej looked at him with eyes open. How could he go on now? His wife was the world to him. Now, she had been taken away from him. How was he to avenge? How could you beat a foe such as this? This battle could be won from this one man alone. He continued to slash down the demons but knew in his heart that it was all in vain. The Lord of Blood was tearing down all the survivors. His sword punctured yet another target as the young scout who had feared this battle so much received his peace as the long sword pierced his chest with a hiss of smoke. The young man's mouth opened in a silent scream. The blade burned away the flesh of the wound and then went on to burn off the rest of the skin creating a small mass of blood and bones on the ground. Never had Halej seen such torment or cruelty. Not even from some of his commanders in the knight hood who killed villagers just to make an example for the rest of them to see. This man was too much.

As the last villager fell Halej realized that he was truly alone. Surrounded and out of options, he held his weapon up defiantly refusing to accept death. There was something wrong. The demons hadn't fallen upon him yet. By now his flesh should be scattered and ripped from him in a fury of pain. Strangely the demons seemed to back off.

"Foolish human! Do you really think that if we wanted you dead you would still be standing here? I have something else in mind for you. You are to take the best horse that this town has and you are to go to Valoria. There you are to tell the king the events that have transpired on this eve. And you are to tell him that the Lord of Blood will destroy Valoria and drink the blood of its nobles. Tell him this and let him know what we do to people who oppose us. You could have all died easily, but you had to defend this pathetic little hovel. And for what. Now it is gone." The Lord of Blood let loose a laugh that echoed back from the lake. "The same as you hunt a deer and eat its meat we will hunt you and devour yours. Go now pathetic human. And remember that just because we feed off of your flesh does not mean that we do not have hearts, lives, and souls. You will not stand in our way. This land will belong to us."

Halej took one last look at the gruesome display of his fellow compatriots and then he walked over to the nearby stables. He took the largest horse that he was certain could make the trip and then he set off. Behind him the flames rose high into the air as the houses were burned to the ground. The livestock were ripped to shreds just as the defenders were. Halej held his head down in shame. They had taken from him everything. His wife, his home, his memories, and in a way, they had taken his soul. As he rode out of sight the last thing he could hear was the laughter of the Lord of Blood as the bakery fell to the ground. He would make them regret this. The Lord of Blood would pay for this. And seeing how this beast seems to believe he has a soul, he would pay with not only his life, but his soul as well.