Up on the wall, the catapults kept up their long ranged assault on the larger bulk of the horde. The exploding rounds forced the horde to separate making it easier for the cavalry to pick them off, the down side was that artillery that Gruumasht brought with him, was now in range to hit the city walls, and hit they did.

One of the archers yelled, "INCOMING! BRACE FOR IMPACT!!"

The elementalist had just reached the wall as the first block hit cracking the wall. Looking skyward, she dropped a smaller version of an elder air elemental onto the enemy catapults. One was completely demolished, another broken, and another coming up to fire again.

Another series of catapult boulders slammed up against the wall in the same spot with a resounding thud. The wall began to weaken under the elementalist's feet gradually. when one of the tinker gnomes spotted the stone wall crumbling.

"Yikes! Fellas over here! Grab the tar and pour it into the cracks of the broken wall!" The lead tinker gnomes shouted orders in gnomish and the troop went to work patching up the hole as best they could while dodging enemy fire.

Prince Willow emerged upon the battlements as his units of archers took their positions both on the parapets, the battlements, the rooftops, window sills, courtyards and alleys of the Palace itself.

The Ranger quickly studied the situation, drew forth his bow and nocked an arrow.

"VAEDIA!!!" The Prince called out in a voice loud enough for all to hear.

Translation: "READY!!!"

Every last one of his subjects with a bow in their hand nocked their arrow in unison.

"EIS!!!" Willow took aim at the middle of the Orc army.

Translation: "AIM!!!"

His archers did the same.

"AITH LLE SASAER!!!" The Prince cautioned, "AITH LLE SASAER!!!"

Translation: "MARK YOUR TARGETS!!! MARK YOUR TARGETS!!!"

The archers followed suit.

"THOSI!!!" Willow cried out as he loosed his arrow in unison with his kinfolk.

Translation: "FIRE!!!"

The first thing the Orcs could hear was the collective "twang" of two thousand arrows being loosed simultaneously.

The second thing the Orcs could hear was a "wooshing" sound as the arrows flew skyward.

The first thing the enemy saw was a blanket of arrows that was so thick that it literally blot the suns out of the sky.

And the last thing the enemy saw was this deadly hailstorm of arrows mowing down the heart of their number as the concentrated center of their force bore the full brunt of this withering attack.

More screams and squeals of orcs, trolls and ogres echoed down below on the battle field felled by the hailstorm of arrows that blackened the sky long enough for Ash, Birch and the rest to press the attack.

Prince Birch cut loose with a ululating battle cry as he surged forward spinning and slashing his way through the Orcs that stood before him. The Elven Prince half-danced, half-sliced his challengers in a ballet of death.

Gruumasth had enough of the elven cavalry and infantry cutting down his horde and signaled for the giants, armored trolls and ogre mages to attack. The giants that weren't cut down by Mandur and Andaerean's cavalry unleashed a barrage of massive boulders right into the crown prince's men. Screams from the elves echoed now as they were crushed and smashed beneath their armor. The armored trolls came in swinging heavy war spiked clubs cleaving whole groups of the cavalry left and right. And lastly the ogre mages blasted the rest with waves of ice storms and dropped stinking cloud and cloudkill on the elven infantry.

As the armored trolls attacked with their heavy spiked clubs in hand, Irzen turned and flanked them. Urging Billy onward at a break-neck pace, the Drow Swordsman aimed low in a desperate move-by attack. With Evenflow in hand, Irzen's blade not only sliced through the armor of the six trolls with ease but also through their Achilles tendons! By viciously slicing through this important body part, Irzen sent six armored trolls to the ground, deprived them of their ability to stand which made them an easier target to be trampled upon by the calvary once it rallied.

Between the gagging, puking, and screams of elves and their allies, the warlord began to advance.

"STAND YOUR GROUND AND RE-FORM RANKS!!!" Prince Birch cried out between gagging fits, "STAND YOUR GROUND AND RE-FORM RANKS!!!"

*****

The Elementalist did her best with Gusts of Wind to negate the ogre mages attacks, while the Juggernaut melded with the earth and popped up directly in the middle of the horde. Orcs, wargs, and siege equipment went flying in a three hundred sixty degree radius. The elder earth elemental slammed both fists down on the ground causing the earth to quake violently, cracking the ground beneath Gruumasht's mount and his second in command.

Lazheros was spamming heals as well as summoning his own celestial champions to aid and protect the elves of Northaven.

*****

Seeing the desperate situation of their infantry, Prince Willow cried out for all to hear, "BAERN SASAER ONDRI TANDRAER!!!"

Translation: "NEW TARGET OGRE MAGES!!!

In unison, the Elven Archers not only changed their targets from the Orc infantry to the Ogre Mages but also changed their arrows from sheaf arrows to flight arrows which could reach the Ogre Mages hiding in the enemies' rear.

"VAEDIA!!!" The Prince called out in a voice loud enough for all to hear.

Translation: "READY!!!"

Every last one of his subjects with a bow in their hand once again nocked their arrow in unison.

"EIS!!!" Willow took aim at the rear of the Orc army.

Translation: "AIM!!!"

His archers did the same.

"AITH LLE SASAER!!!" The Prince cautioned, "AITH LLE SASAER!!!"

Translation: "MARK YOUR TARGETS!!! MARK YOUR TARGETS!!!"

The archers followed suit.

"THOSI!!!" Willow cried out as he loosed his arrow in unison with his kinfolk.

Translation: "FIRE!!!"

Once again a hail of arrows dark enough to blot out the very suns themselves sailed high in the air over the main portion of the battlefield and slammed into the Ogre Mages and their rearguard protectors.

The ogre mages fell under the onslaught of another rain of death from above. The double catapults now fired exploding rounds into the horde as well as massive hornet nests provided by the rangers of the southern valley. The bees ignored the elves and their allies for the most part as the swarms of stinging insects caused mass panic with elite orcs swinging wildly in a vain attempt to rid themselves of the stings.

The sappers were busy making their way down along the eastern side of the valley with the hopes of lighting up the horde from behind.

Alyson rubbed her wrists now and dove off the top of the wall narrowly missing the clashing of weapons from the ground. Her form changed into the gold dragon again and unleashed the fiery breath upon the horde. The breath attack was so hot that the center line was reduced to ash.

The warlord snarled, "ANOTHER FIRE-BREATHING DRAGON! SLAYER! YOU'RE UP!"

A humanoid figure appeared brandishing a lance tipped with a special kind of poison designed for one purpose, to fell a dragon from the sky. It glistened in full view of the gold dragon as it did a fly-by pass.

Mandur saw this and blew his horn signalling axe throwers to bombard the left flank of Gruumasht on his Behir mount. The creature roared in pain and jerked violently when a ten axes embedded themselves in two of the rear legs and crippling a third.