Arlhenwe handed the shield back to Serna, "Come. Let us hurry to the upper walls!"

"Okay, lead the way," The Shield Maiden declared as she slipped her shield onto her arm, "This way, everybody, we're going to safety. Caliaphy, are you coming with us?"

Caliaphy was already buzzing around from the front to the middle to back, "Yup!"

"Great!" Serna smiled, "We've got a lot of people to protect. So let's get to it."

As they approached the inner high wall of the city, storm clouds formed in the sky. The temperature dropped from the air pressure. Flashes of lightning flickered through the night sky followed closely by the booms of thunder. Caliaphy shuddered, "Brrr! The Bronze Man and Alyson are summoning the storm, oh boy! Uh, we should be okay here but it could get reaaaaaaaaaaaally windy, so hang onto something!"

"Everyone! Hang on to something!" Serna found a piece of rope, tied one end of it to a metal loophole drilled into the wall itself and another end around her waist, "It's going to get REALLY windy REALLY fast! So HOLD ON!"

The Ents and Treants created a branched barrier on the sides and front of the Serna and company to help keep them from being knocked down by the increasing winds.

"NEAT!" The Shield Maiden exclaimed as the Ents and Treants protected them, "THIS IS SO COOL!"

The kurori gasped suddenly as she saw the F-5 come straight for them. Sensing the true danger of everyone close to her especially Serna, Caliaphy's form started to glow, and the light engulfed all of them with warmth and love as Caliaphy's true form came forth. What once was a child like kurori, now was a beautiful Sidhe, Standing nearly six and half feet tall, flowing silvery hair with bright blue eyes and the fair skin, her robes pure white enshrouded within a celestial light.

"I will protect you, Serna, my sweet human child," Caliaphy said wrapping her feathery wings around the shield maiden.

"NO WAY!" The Shield Maiden gasped, "YOU GREW UP?! HOW IN THE REALM DID YOU DO THAT?!"

******

The Bronze Man scanned the surface thoughts of the ranger, he saw his intentions were to merely level the battle field but there was a hint of fear. He brought his hands together and spoke a prayer in draconic, blessing the entire party. "I will assist Alyson by summoning the Storm but this is your homeland, why would you see it razed to the ground? Did spending too much time elsewhere in the Realm facing Venger, harden your love for your kin?"

"I neither wish to see my homeland destroyed nor occupied by Orcs. And my battles against the Dark Lord and his minions did not harden my heart towards my kin!" Willow shot back, "But I am quickly running out of options--Wait a minute! I just had another idea. Lazheros, can you summon Caliaphy here? I would like the two of you to summon a swarm of bees large enough to blot out the sun and have them descend upon the horde after Alyson's tornado is through with them. Would you and Caliaphy be willing to do that?"

"It will be done when Alyson has done her part, Prince Willow." Lazheros wrapped his arms around the elementalist.

"Fair enough," The Prince responded evenly.

The princess looked right at the ranger, "Willow, your young friend is with the mages and loremasters of Westfall. Those children are our next generation of magic wielders and they are quite good, and lastly, some are Acolytes of Fenmarel Mestarine, to aid in healing."

"I understand. Serna can remain with the rest of the children. But if you need Caliaphy's aid, do not fail to call upon her, Lazheros. She is quite adept at summoning animals to her aid," Willow concluded, "I will be joining Irzen on the rampart to get a full assessment of the odds we face. Lili, once you have donned your armor, please join us there."

"And what would you like me to do, Prince Willow?" Lady Harlotta batted her eyelashes as she looked up from her tome and the words she was writing.

"Be yourself, War Scribe," The Prince declared, "The time for fun and games is over. Your disguise is no longer necessary."

"Oh! Alright!" In a brief flash of light, the green-clad beautiful She-Elf Bard from Macul became the smoking-hot Drowling Chronicler of Validor donned in tight black leather breeches, bodice and tunic, War Scribe declared in a huff, "Better now?!"

"Much!" The Ranger disappeared from view leaving War Scribe along with the Elementalist, the Cleric, the Princess and her Guards.

"Hey, Scribe we could use your help observing the enemy, say from the back of the horde where the big, bad orc and his elites are, and maybe give us a lead on where they're holding Prince Yew?" Alyson said before she and Lazheros teleported to the highest parapet tower on the wall facing the horde.

"Oh great! They just had to go! Excuse me, your Highness" War Scribe teleported next to The Elementalist and The Cleric on the parapet tower, "You left before I could give you an answer, Alyson. Remember, I am a Chronicler of Validor! I cannot interfere in events that are about to unfold. I can give you access to information about the past and information about the present but I cannot give you access to information about the future because it has not yet been written. And I can only aid you if you ask me a direct question pertaining to a particular topic. Beyond that, I am forbidden to interfere with the history of the Realm. Do you understand?"

*****

Collecting her words carefully in a calm but deadly tone, "Teleport, ease drop on the horde, report back. Can you do that? Let Willow or Irzen know because I will be busy with the F-5."

"F-5?" The Drowling scratched her head in utter confusion, "What in The Realm is an F-5?"

She reached into a pouch and handed a piece of parchment to the chronicler, "Give this to Willow, it will point out what tactics that would benefit him. Melee, ranged, magic, healers. Not all spread out, or clustered together."

"Oh great!" War Scribe rolled her eyes as she took the parchment, "First, you want me to be a spy. Next, you want me to be a scout. Now, you want me to be your messenger girl. YAY!"

While the elementalist argued with the chronicler, the Bronze Man cleansed the area. Alyson stepped back from War Scribe and joined Lazheros calling the four watchtowers followed by the summoning of Thunderstorm.

"I'll leave you two to do the voodoo that you do OH so well!" The Drowlig cooed before she teleported away, "MUWHA! HA! HA! HA!"

The clouds darkened the sky and became thick with the sounds of thunder and streaks of lightning. Hail began to descend now pelting the advancing horde but not enough to deter them from advancing. Then the funnel dropped from beneath the cloud line, descending down, down, down to the ground, spinning violently as it hit the horde with the force of ten locomotives at once. The diameter of the funnel increased another seventy-five feet. The screams, and squeals of the horde of those who got sucked up into it high up into the sky only to be dropped into a dead fall from several hundred feet. Death was instantaneous for the fist wave. A second funnel descended in between the main tornado that sucked up the elementalist abruptly leaving the bronze man behind. The massive twister merged with three more funnel clouds becoming a multiple-vortesy tornado, known as an F-5.

*****
Irzen made it to the top rampart, pulled out his trusty pair of binoculars and studied the scene unfolding beyond the walls of Westfall.

******

The first wave of the horde marched down into the fields about one mile out. Their heavy armor and weapons clanged back and forth as they chanted their battle cry. Behind them was a phalanx of six ogres each accompanied with a giant. The line of orcs on worgs rode behind them occasionally riding outwards to the right and left flanks looking for stragglers who hadn't made it to safety. The line consisted of the elite orcs, fiercely loyal and deadly to Gruumasht himself.

The first wave was gone completely consumed by the raw power of an Elder Air Elemental summoned by the combined powers of the elementalist and the bronze man. As it moved down through the fields it left a path of smashed wagons, broken bodies of orcs, ogres, and the livestock the horde used to pull their wagons. One giant met an end by being impaled by a tree that the F-5 had ripped up from the ground, and the other sent flying backwards like a rag doll taking out half of the worgs and their riders.

One of the funnels split from the main twister off to the left flank scattering the riderless worgs from the battle field, clearing a path for the hill dwarves to unload a barrage of their own into the horde.

The funnel also let the wargoats and their riders to come down and free the elves from the cages including Prince Yew, who was badly wounded. The twister swung around in a circular path just as the wargoats sped back to their tunnels out of sight to safety.

The elite orcs under Gruumasht's commander could not withstand the sheer might of an Elder Air Elemental on this scale but one of them did notice the elementalist within the funnel. Realizing that the elemental had been summoned to halt their progress, the elite ordered all ballistas to open fire into the main twister. If any one of the spears hit, it would cause the elemental to dissipate. All twelve ballistas sped skyward towards the sorcerer within the twister, most of them went high and wide completely missing her altogether but two hit their mark. The elementalist was knocked back by the first, and spun violently around. Her concentration was shaken and the massive F-5 twister began to lurch back towards the city of Westfall.

On the tower parapet, the bronze man held up his warhammer high above him just as he brought it down onto his shield. A Great Thunderclap ***SCRACKKK-BADA-BA-BOOOOM!!*** reverberated into the Elder Air Elemental reminding it that it was summoned by two not one. A pair of yellowish-blue eyes appeared not revealing itself to all on the walls of the city itself. It rotated back towards the horde once again to finish what it started. Alyson snapped out of her daze and regained her concentration of the air elemental sweeping aside the rest of horde that remained. The elite orcs, a hand full of ogres and giants retreated back down to where they came from.

*******

Willow made it up the rampart and to Irzen's side as he peered out on the horizon to see their enemy marching towards them, "Irzen, what do you see?"

"There's too many of them and too few of us!" The Swordsman replied without taking his eyes off of the army, "If we can't stop them or slow down their advance before they reach these gates, then we're going to catch nothing but pure unmitigated hell."

"Or not!" War Scribe appeared between the two Elves. Turning to The Prince, the Drowling shoved the parchment into his hands, "Here! A gift from your ex. Read it now if you want to live."

Willow quickly began to read the text as War Scribe turned towards Irzen, "So, ask me any question about the horde."

"What?"

"Go ahead," War Scribe encouraged Irzen, "Ask me any question about the horde and I will answer it--direct questions please."

"How many oxen do the Horde have?"

"Two thousand oxen," The Drowling flatly responded, "All of them are used to pull wagons and weapons from one battlefield to the next."

"Oh, my God!" Irzen gasped, "I forgot about your geas. You are compelled to tell the truth about a past or a present event."

War Scribe huffed half to herself, "And to think Alyson wanted me to ease drop on the Horde and their commanders by teleporting in and around their encampment. Which I don't need to do--"

"Because you know all present and past actions as they are or have happened," Irzen surmised with a smile, "All I have to do is ask for that information."

"Precisely!" War Scribe replied in exasperation, "Finally, somebody gets it! Why should I sneak around when all you have to do is ask? There! Was that so hard to figure out?"

Liliandra remained inside due to the sheer wind force of the elemental Alyson and Lazheros had summoned. She was in awe by how well Alyson was able to control such an elemental, and had to wait until she could managed even walking up to Willow, and his allies without being blown away.

"You don't see THAT every day!" War Scribe pointed up to the heavens where Alyson was high above the storm she and the Bronze Man unleashed.

Clinging to the rampart wall; Irzen looked up, saw Alyson, saw the massive F-5 tornado decimate the ranks of Gruumasht's army and breathlessly exclaimed, "DEAR GOD!"

After about twenty minutes of watching the massive F-5, it began to dissipate giving everyone a full and clear view of the path of destruction of the horde. The main force was crushed and swept aside leaving only the elite forces left to deal with. As it funnel ascended back up into the storm clouds, the form of the elementalist changed in plain view of both sides into the Elder Gold dragon, Perthonexio again. The dragon exhaled a fireball right at the ballistas destroying most of them with one explosive hit.

The Bronze Man thanked the elemental for its aid and closed the corners. The ritual was complete but he remained there on the parapet keeping an eye on Alyson.

Liliandra finally made her way to the wall where Willow and Irzen was. She remained guarded flanked by her handmaidens, "The city remains untouched, Willow for now but this horde is not one to give up so easily. I hope and pray that she had found Prince Yew."

"Agreed!" Willow looked towards the tower where The Bronze Man was positioned, "Lazheros, send in the swarm!"

"Why don't you ask me where he is, Princess, and I can tell you right now?" War Scribe haunched her shoulders, "I am compelled to tell the truth when someone asks me a question."

The Prince turned his attention back to The Swordsman, "Irzen, go and tell Captain Andaeran to make ready his calvary for a direct assault against Grummasht's remaining forces. Once the swarm has passed, I will lead our Archers in laying down a withering covering fire that will keep them on the defensive while protecting your advance until you can smash into them and break their ranks. We're only going to get one chance to break the back of his army. And now is that chance. GO!"

Irzen ran down the parapet and towards the main courtyard where Andaeran, Mermidon, Dragolem and Billy were waiting. The Swordsman conveyed The Prince's orders to Captain Andaeran after he mounted the war goat. "Any questions? Or anything that is not clear? Or anything that you want me to repeat?"