The grotesque creature moved north on it’s two, powerful, bird like legs. It’s talons clicking on the worn cobblestones of the southern road from Uromistasis. It appeared to be a combination of bird and reptile, as it craned its neck back and forth, surveying the land scape ahead. Using it’s long, whip like tail and small, obviously flightless wings for balance, it sniffed the air, it sensed danger. Riding it was Corach Bonecrusher, king of the allied canibal clans, behind it was a thousand blood thirsty canibal dwarves, adorned in the bone armor, common among the desert clans, making them appear to be an army of un-ruly skeletons.

Corma Fangblade watched from her vantage point, in the wooded foothills of the Redrock mts, which overlooked the southern road. Behind her, and all about her, melting into the landscape were thirty of her order, the Cobra’s. Trained assassins and warriors, versed in the art of stealth and poison. They milked their namesakes venom, concentrated it , then magicaly enhanced it so that one small drop in the blood stream would be fatal to even the strongest warrior.

As the horde marched up the road, Corma slowly passed her open hand in front of her face, as her hand passed Corach and his personal bodyguard, the air rippled and sparked, revealing the protective spell surrounding him and his vanguard, at that moment, one of the kings bodyguard ventured to close to the bird creature and recieved a nasty bite on his shoulder from its cruely curved beak. The guard cried out in pain and fell through the protective spell, causing it to shimmer violently under Corma’s detection spell, he did not return within the circle, indicating to the trained eye, that one could exit the spell, but not enter, ruling out assasination by poisoned crossbow quarrel
A hundred yards south of Corma and her cobra’s positions, Karn Slickblade and ninety snake clan warriors also watched the army march by . They patiently waited for Corma’s cobra’s to strike. They would wait ten heart beats after the assassins initial attack, then they would sneak up on the distracted column under the cover of darkness, hit them and retreat back to the tree line. The snake clan could not hope to defeat Corach’s horde, but they could definatly hinder them, possably divide them, then pick them off in groups, giving the lion clans allies time to arrive in Tebla-A-Khoro, time to shore up their defenses.

Corma raised her closed fist above her head, flicked her fingers in fast, concise signs, silently telling her cobras to aim their crosbows at the dwarves directly behind Corach’s body guards. She dropped her fist and thirty crosbows thwacked in unison, then thirty crossbow quarrels found their marks. Some dwarves fell right away, poisoned darts in their eyes and throats, others merely recieved scratches or punctures in fleshy areas, through chinks in their bone armor, thinking the arrows to be mere annoyances. But within seconds their wounds started to burn and throb as the venom worked its way into the blood stream, attacking their nervous systems, they lost control of their muscles as they fell to the ground convulsing, hemmoraging, blood began to pour from their ears, noses, mouths and other bodily orafices.
Corach’s hellish steed bucked as the king turned it to the east to face this new threat, he un-slung his mace from his back and pointed up the hill, shouting orders over the confused din as his soldiers closed in around him, in an effort to protect their king.

Meanwhile, a hundred yards south, Karn and his soldiers moved out of the tree line and silently advanced in the phalanx formation, Karn at point position. He quickly let two knives fly, both finding their marks and taking down two cannibals, he then unsheathed his sword and razor sharp hatchet as his ninety warriors slammed into the hordes right flank . The distracted dwarves didnt know what hit them as the snake clan warriors waded into the canibal ranks. Daggers found chinks in bone armor, axes cleaved skulls and chests and swords severed limbs as Karns warriors cut a path through the army.

Corma and her cobra’s watched the un-ruly, disorganized canibal soldiers scramble up the hill, where, just a minute prior, her thirty assassin warriors had been positioned, shouting their anger and rage, making them easy targets. As she heard the commotion to the south, she grinned, Karn Slickblade was creating his own havoc. From their new positions, Corma once again raised her right fist above her head, and let it fall. Once again thirty crosbow quarells flew in unison, and once again her expert marksman found their marks, they then silently retreated into the shadows of the wooded foothills, to re-position again.
Karn parried a hurredly aimed axe with his up-raised sword, swept the axe to his right and followed with his hatchet, slamming it into the canbals ugly face in a spray of blood and teeth. Making sure that all his warriors had fought their way to the other side, he quickly whistled the retreat, and they ran up the rocky hillside to the woods on the west side of the road. As they reached the treeline, they spread out, and awaited pursuit, they were not disapointed. The snake clan warriors un-slung throwing hammers, axes and knives from their backs and belts, and hurled them into the advancing canibals, dropping many of them in their tracks. Many of Corach’s soldiers would run headlong into the woods, never to return. Karns soldiers would seperate them, kill them, then regroup and start over. For now Karn stealthily slid north, hoping to get a chance to get at Corach Bonecrusher himself, to avenge his friend, Khirgar Battlclaw , killed by the canibal kings own hand, during the seige of Daxnar.

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