Chapter One Hundred
Better a devil in the Free North than a princess in your Dominion!
-Meg the Valkyrie
High, in the Black Mountains, the rebels halted their advance. The Holy City spread across the valley, its spires and cramped alleyways sprawling for miles and miles. The Xenway itself crossed the mountainside and speared through the wilderness, ending in the Great Gate of Xen.
'We're here.' Ullon whispered to his companion. 'Holy Mother Callisto, we are here!'
There were no speeches, no ovations before the great battle. One by one, the Uruks of the Immortal descended into the Valley of Death. They had shed their winter furs in favor of light armor. They had painted their skins dark, in order to blend into the night.
They were raiders, each and every one of them accustomed with fighting in the dark. As such, they preferred it.
Spartacus himself waited on a hill, surrounded by his most trusted advisors and bodyguards. Among them was Gaeru the Chosen and by his side, stood Ullon the Unworthy.
'This is it, isn't it?' the weakling asked. 'Our last battle. We will die here, won't we?'
Gaeru the Chosen remained silent, as was his way.
'If we die, we die serving the true Alpha!' Gorun the Grim growled in their vicinity.
The other Gans snarled their approval. Ullon watched them closely. They were ready to die, every last one of them.
But I'm not ready, he admitted. I still have much to do. Wine to drink, women to see.
He wondered if anyone would notice his absence if he happened to disappear before the final assault. Who needs me anymore?
There came a cry in the night. A loyalist sentinel spotted the rebels:
'Night raid!'
The Arctic Uruks all started to run, through the poppy fields, through the bush and into the defensive ditch surrounding the capital of the Uruk Dominion. No one rained fire on them as they began to climb the stone wall.
'No archers and no priests, thank Callisto!' Gorun grinned.
'Immortals!' Spartacus roared. 'With me!'
As was tradition, the Uruk general had to be the first uruk into the city. Even if it meant his life.
He can't die, he's immortal, Ullon remembered as he watched the great best dashing into the fray. All his Gans went with him, Gaeru included.
Ullon went the other way.
*
Oddus had brought Ly Kan crossbows to the iron gates, hellbent on burning the priests inside when a messenger brought the ill news.
'Under attack?!' the Usurper bared his fangs in disbelief. 'By whom?'
For a moment, the Uruk soldier was stricken by fear.
'Speak up, you worthless glob!' Oddus grabbed him by the throat. 'Who's attacking us?! Who? The Faustians?! We took their last city! The Teutons?! We burned their last castle! The Hispanics?! They're nothing but slaves! The Paynáli?!! We ate them all! Speak, you fool!'
Finally, the Uruk scout uttered a few words, each more terrible than the other.
'Uruks... We're attacked by Uruks. The Great Company is here!'
Oddus threw the scout from the Tower of Justice. He turned to his Ly Kans.
'What are you waiting for?! Go! Go out and bring me the head of Spartacus!'
*
The Arctic Uruks were inside the city, marching in the streets. There wasn't any resistance. All fresh recruits, the sentinels opened the gates by themselves. The young Uruks were all too eager to catch a glimpse of the mighty Spartacus. When he arrived, the city itself exploded. Old veterans and freshlings alike, all welcomed him, as the returning hero. Even the Sons of Toke.
'Do you see that? How proud he walks!' the wenches whispered among themselves.
'He is back! He is back to save us all!' the veterans whispered among themselves.
'Look at those arms! He's slained a thousand enemies!' the recruits among themselves.
The High Priest of Demos, second only to the decesased High Shaman, came up to Spartacus and presented him with a gift.
'Here is the key to the city.' the old warlock bowed before the beast. 'Welcome back, my lord!'
To all of this, the Immortal had one thing to say:
'Where's the Usurper?'
*
Oddus was alone in the Tower of Justice. All his Bodyguards were gone. All his Ly Kan Rocketeers as well. They all deserted him.
He could see them all down there, with him.
'Blast you, old fiend! Blast you all to hell and back again...' the Usurper grounded his teeth, watching the majestic figure of his rival.
There is no point in fighting anymore, a voice whispered inside his head. Surrender, Oddus! Give yourself up! Spare the lives of your Uruks!
'Never!' the general roared in the shadows. 'Never! I am Claudius Oddus and I will die standing!'
Very well, the voice said.
The Tower of Justice exploded once more.
*
This time, a giant rose from the ashes. Huge horns dorned his brow. Enormous wings spread out, eclipsing the moon. Lighting fell, feeding into him and blinding the onlookers. There was silence and thunder boomed in the distance.
No one spoke except the creature. His voice was ground-shaking.
'WOE TO YOU, WHO BRING ONLY DEATH AND SHAME TO ALL BEINGS! YOU, WHO BUILD NO TEMPLES BUT DESTROY ALL PLACES OF WORSHIP! YOU, WHO USE ONLY SLAVES TO MAKE YOUR ROADS, YOUR BRIDGES AND YOUR FORTRESSES! YOU, WHO HAVE NO SHAME OR FEAR OF ANYTHING ELSE BUT YOURSELVES! WOE TO YOU, URUKS, WHO SO FOOLISHLY THINK YOU ARE MASTERS OF THIS WORLD!'
So spoke Hundur the Destroyer, the Overfiend, the Eater of Worlds. Known as the God of Silence to the Priests of Silence.
These were the last words that Gaeru the Chosen, Gorun the Grim, Spartacus the Immortal, his Arctics Uruks, the Dominion Guard, the Ly Kans, the wenches, the fishermen, the boatsmen, the beggars of the capital heard.
Demos itself perished in a sea of light.
EPILOGUE:
With Demos gone, the Uruk Dominion crumbled slowly but surely. All throughout the empire, riots exploded. The people of the Enclave spilled out of Arandorf and took back the surrounding countryside, leaving all Uruk garrisons stranded in a sea of rebellion. All this happened under the leadership of Karl Gustav, the Faustian spy and Primeiro Menendus, last King of the Hispanics.
In Mesocala, the Great Conflagration brought together all surviving Uruks from all corners of the world and the Great Paynal was killed. But the entire campaign died, in a sea of blood, when news of the Fall of Demos reached the continent.
In Lenapa, the few Uruks who stayed behind were hunted down and skinned alive by Sycorax raiders. New Demos was burned to the ground.
Only Hope's End, a forgotten island in the West Sea, remains under Dominion control. Rumors talk of a new legendary Uruk leader who will rise to guide his people to new glory.
In Hadea, Sundak Hades was killed by his generals. So dies the Great Line of Hades!
And above all the destruction and the ruin, a tattered flag still flaps in the wind. On it, a symbol whose meaning new Uruks will never know and humans will bury deep into the annals of history.
The glorious Crimson Talon of the First Alpha
Slavos Hades.
Founder of the once mighty Uruk Dominion.
-The End-