The beginning of the end

His forces had been up early. By 5.30am, his whole fortress was a buzz of activity, everyone readying themselves for the final deciding battle. Even as the strike of the clock told him it was 8 already, the commander wasn't exactly ready yet though. But at least he felt confident as he descended the steps to the backyard of the fortress. There, in front of his eyes, were a large number of the finest horses of his kingdom. He had been way too kind for his favorite beasts in the past battles. He had deployed footmen after footmen, with archers to cover for them from the top of the fortress walls. His enemies were used to his tactics. It's time for a surprise. It's time for a much more brutal strategy.

His archers and him were already at the top of the fortress walls as the enemies marched up to it, stopping and forming ranks before the fortress just out of his archers' range. A light breeze blew coolly. The large number of units alighned in front of the fortress did not intimidate the commander. In contrast, he was as cool as the breeze which was lightly blowing now.

8.15 came and went. Yet, the vast army assembled in front of the fortress showed no sign of movement. 8.19 came, and as suddenly as the breeze came, it died down.

A large roar came from within the enemies' ranks at this instance, and the army charged. His archers showed no mercy, firing at their own accord. Ranks of the enemies fell. Yet, the pouring numbers of them showed no signs of weakening. Just at this moment, the commander noticed a slight disturbance within the trees flanking the fortress. Knowing that enemies were trying to sneak past the nearly impregnable defense of his archers, he ordered his archers to focus fire on the trees. Within seconds, the whole sneak force had been decimated.

However, this distraction had allowed the enemy archers to get within range to retaliate against his archers. A volley of arrows flying up the fortress walls confirmed this. Even as his archers fell, more of the enemy archers swarmed forward.

A horn blew from deep within the fortress. So deafening and loud was this horn blast that it felt to the enemies that an invisble hand had swept over the battlefield to write the word victory on it. And this hand turned itself into reality as the fortress gates opened and a large swarm of cavalry poured out. The finest cavalry in the land. Sweeping across the land. The land that belonged to them. The land where they grew up in. The land where generations of them had trained it. The land where they were about to win on.

Even as the enemies beat a hasty retreat, his cavalry's stride was not broken.They hunted and chased with their great speed, even as the invisble hand swept over the battle field and blue blood was splattered over it. Area after area of the battlefield was being covered with blue blood. By the end of the battle, the battlefield was nearly completely filled, save for a few areas. Even though there had been casualties, he knew this had been a somewhat good victory. Compared to the other battles in the past week at least.

A smile broke out on the commander's face, and he took a deep breath. The smile was not one of happiness, nor of triumph, but rather of relief. He had won this battle, but not the war on the whole. And the result of this war was nothing to cheer about. Future wars must provide better results than this one. And seeing his performance in this one, he had a hell lot to work on.

Even as shockwaves rippled through the earth and sound waves manifest into large eardrum breaking waves that ripple across the land, a draenei was blending into the wind, and the moonlight was shining brightly on the earth. All this combined for 46 hero kills with only 14 deaths. Yet, at the end of the day, they all knew they would have to take a rest. A rest so the fortresses can be fortified. Fortified for the upcoming wars.

For the final ultimate war at the end of the year.

Only then will the moonlight shine on the guilty again. or akasha scratching her enemies' eyes out. or gondar trying as fast as he can. or raigor bringing his axes into war again.