Making a plan, even a desperate and crazy one, was one thing. Setting everything into motion was another. I had great confidence in my mercenaries. They knew what to do and I was certain that Tortho would have talked me out of it, if he saw no way to succeed. Still it took them a little while to get properly into position. The effect our presence had on the enemy became evident even before they had finished moving though. Part of the contingent of heavy infantry that had been moving onto my king's position swiveled around to face us instead. They were soon joined by more soldiers from the camp. I couldn't spot more than a few handful of light cavalry though. They might just be still keeping what they had left in reserve.

So far everything went according to plan and that quite possibly scared me more than the giant wyvern still looming on the enemy's command hill. We had drawn about half of the forces of this camp away from the king's war host so far. Maybe even more, if you counted the cavalry contingent they had sent north to chase us. Those still worried me as well. Sure, positioned at the foot of the hill, at the edge of the treeline, one flank protected by the dry creek and the other by two of Yath'zur's trolls with especially heavy shields my soldiers didn't exactly make for an easy target for a charge by heavy cavalry but they could still ruin my day anyway. A knight might be more fearsome atop his warhorse but he still posed a threat on foot as well after all.

So far we were only facing two or maybe three thousand men mostly armed with pikes and similar pole arms or crossbows. My stomach fluttered a little at the thought alone. They outnumbered us ten to one and my men and women weren't exactly well rested either. If my gamble with Kaele's weather manipulation didn't pay off we were in for a long bloody day, making a slow fighting retreat in between the trees and up the hillside, at best. If the wyverns didn't get us first. The fact that the enemy pretty much controlled the skies was one of my greatest worries. The only thing I worried about any more was the possibility that the enemy might realize too soon that I was about to do something about their air superiority.

The winds had picked up speed and large towering clouds were already building out above the gap. Some of the wyverns were already falling back towards the east. A few were moving further south as well but the majority still claimed the skies above. Even as I watched the clouds spread ever further, piling up higher and higher with every moment that passed. And finally I could spot the telltale movement within the clouds that reaffirmed my hopes that everything might just work out in our favor. The clouds started moving in a counterclockwise direction, picking up more and more speed as I watched. And as I watched I finally realized just how damn big the funnel that was forming was and instead of breaking into a grin I swallowed hard. A cold shiver ran down my back.

I could still feel my sister draw in more Mana to feed and guide the brewing storm. I wasn't sure she herself knew what kind of terror she was about to unleash. As a matter of fact she might have not been aware of much at all judging by the faraway look on her face. My heartbeat quickened even more and my eyes widened slightly as I tore my gaze away from her again to look at the funnel of twisting clouds reaching out towards the ground. It had to be three hundred paces wide if not more. And just as it touched down, tearing tents, banners and the very earth away, darkening rapidly as it did so, I noticed something else that chilled me even more. The giant wyvern was looking right at us and so was the thing in the saddle at the base of its neck. It was as if I could feel their ice cold gaze boring into my very soul.

Even as the magical whirlwind was tearing apart the camp on the far side of the command hill, obliterating any reserves the enemy might have still held there, the giant wyvern started sprinting down the hill in the opposite direction, away from the tornado. It picked up speed quickly and launched itself into the air with a roar that could match the raging storm behind it. I broke into cold sweat. Before the flying beast could get far though the winds got a hold of its wings though. A glimmer of hope rose from the deep dark abyss of the despair that had quickly built within my heart, as the wyvern was torn away from us, towards the raging darkness behind it but then the monster managed to right itself.

Worse, it stopped resisting the storm, folding its wings close, picking up speed as it dove into the flurry of flying debris surrounding the heart of the storm. Anything else probably would have been pummeled to death within moments. This monster though? Not so much. For the briefest of moments it disappeared behind the storm only to reappear on the other side. The force of the storm alone was enough to launch the monstrous, flying lizard free but in the end it sped up even more with a few beats of its wings. Sure those looked a little worse for wear but apparently it was determined not to let a few tears in the membranes of its wings slow it down. Again it roared and I could see some nervous movement among my men and women at the foot of the hill.

There was only one thing I could do and thus I didn't hesitate despite the fear that continued to build within me. I gathered Mana, much more than necessary, and built the spell matrix for the Lion's Roar spell. I moved into the open and spread my arms wide, raising my wyvern stinger glaive as I did so, to answer its challenge with one of my own. “See me! See me wear the scales of your kin! See me wield its stinger! See me! See the bane of your existence! See your doom!” The beast adjusted its course slightly, closing in on me at a terrifying speed. I didn't take my eyes of it, not even for one moment as I addressed Tortho who was still lurking in the nearby treeline. “Get Kaele! Get her away from here! Knock her out of you have too!”

He moved like a blur and yet I was afraid that he might not be in time. He simply tackled my sister from the spot where she was standing, still in a trance. He didn't knock her to the ground though. Instead he kept going, dragging her along, one arm wrapped around her midsection. I in turn gathered Mana again, reaching out to the storm at the same time as I formed the spell matrix within my mind. I could feel the power contained within the raging force of nature. I could taste lightning. It was terrifying! It was exhilarating! I grasped as much of this power as I could, a bare fraction of it, and connected the storm to the wyvern looming ahead of me, drawing ever closer.

A blindingly bright lightning bolt jumped from the roiling clouds to one of the tattered wings of the beast and from the tip of its other wing towards the ground, hitting and splitting a mighty tree as it did so. Then the world turned into mess of uprooted and shredded trees, some of them burning, flying rocks and dirt as well as blackened wyvern scales, as the monstrous beast crashed into the hilltop with a pained shriek. That had hurt it. There was no doubt about it. I had other worries though as it slid towards me, pushing a hip high wall of rock and dirt ahead of it. I had to move! I moved! I didn't run away though. Instead I charged straight ahead, with both hands on the shaft of my weapon, directly towards the head of the monster.