It was midday. The great walls of Tpha stood yet. Tpha: The Citadel of the Delta, richest of Finnitian realms. Therefore, it was Adrian's next target. The city of Tpha was no ordinary city, though. It was an immensely important city to the Finnitians of the South, its walls were great and it supported a massive garrison of men. As well as being a great bastion of defense to the western flanks of the Finnitian empire, the great citadel also guarded some of the richest delta soil on the continent. Siege analysts suggested that the resulting collapse in food economy would severely damage morale. Three more cities would be abandoned due to starvation.

Adrian had taken a fortress across the river Antarr to be his base of operations, a day's march from Tpha. All Finnitian forces had gathered within their mighty walls, preparing for siege, and therefore surrendering the river to their foes.
It was the sixth day of Nerrallian occupation.

Zephell and Tagra sat perched on the great wall, gazing intently on the plain below. It was comforting to call such a place as Tpha home, to see great mountains to the East, a great ocean to the West. Cradled by nature, Tpha was surely a great city, but the Nerrallian invasion shadowed mountains and sea alike. A darkness crept over their minds.

It was a month since news of the pillage of Siph reached them; a victory so complete that all forces were withdrawn. Rumor flooded the peasants, of a great phalanx of armored elephants crushing the once great fortress of Siph under foot, and of the great juggernaut, the immortal Adrian Neral, who smote great champions to the dust. It would be a battle hard-fought, but the two watchmen had faith in Adrik, their great champion-general.

Thus they sat in their thoughts, parallel to the thoughts of the city's inhabitants.

The battle horn sounded.

Zephell pulled the spyglass from his bag, looking north across the plain. Tagra stood for a moment, gazing toward the blast, then ran down the steps of the wall, sounding the alarm. Warriors streamed from the barracks, ready for the call of war. Adrik gathered his company and saddled his horse. He looked back at his men, knowing they were ready, and nodded to them. Wheeling his horse about, he hastened to the portcullis. As he neared the gate, he saw ten thousand archers gathering on the wall. They bore no armor, and wielded but small bows, but hatred guides arrows to the mark!

Eighteen thousand infantry, armed with the scimitar and great pikes, readied themselves inside the outer wall. Fifteen thousand knights donned their armor and hefted their great axes. Cavalry unnumbered prepared to fight. Adrik's company of desert assassins numbered fifty.

This is surely enough to repel them, he thought, In the name of Kaiid, I will repel them!

'Open the gates,'� he commanded, 'let us see our great foe.'�

Clink, chink, chink, clink. The great iron wall slowly rose, hefted by a hundred slaves. Adrik rode slowly out as the Nerallians came into view. A long line could be seen approaching slowly, broken by tall war elephants marching at the head of the ranks. Snatching up a spyglass from his attendant, he looked closer at the Northerners. Twenty elephants he saw, iron clad beasts with great tusks of ivory-ore, a selected mutation among the northern elephants. Each elephant was more than fifteen feet high from foot to back. And not an inch of leathery skin showed beneath that steel.

The great host approached ponderously for another hour, then halted.

'They are constructing catapults,'� alerted Zephell, eye to the spyglass.

'Then greet them with the mountain worm,'� cried Adrik, 'Andel! Command Elessel to release her pet!'�


'Halt!'� commanded Adrian from atop his elephant, 'The catapults are in range.'�

Ten thousand paladins of Nerallia slowed to a stop. Elephant riders, called Edraa, reigned in their mounts. Great siege carts halted and siege engineers scrambled from cart to cart at their sergeants command to construct towering trebuchets. Adrian rode his elephant on several paces before the army, then turned about to address them.

'Paladins of Nerallia,'� he cried, 'ready your swords for blood! Edraas! Ready your mounts, for they will crush stone today! Siph we have already crushed by our might. In the same way shall Tpha meet its doom! Too long has Kaiid ravaged Felneath with hatred and enslavement. Too many of our sons and daughters have they kidnapped! May the walls of Tpha crumble this day!'�

'We will crush them,'� roared the mighty men of the North.
Adrian, having finished his address, rode back to the lines.

A tremor shook the earth.

'What in the name of the gods'�'�

The shaking increased, and in seconds the earth was riven. A great worm burst from the earth, ins immense mouth swallowing siege equipment and men in a single thrust of its mighty head. The mountain-worm of Finnith rose high above the earth, and then dove once more, swallowing a second trebuchet.

'Pull back the paladins,'� thundered Adrian, 'Edraas! Advance!'�

Adrian spurred his mount forward, preparing to spear the monstrous creature with the war elephant's mighty tusks. Men streamed the other way, away from the elephants as the Edraas followed Adrian.

The worm disappeared into the ground where a trebuchet once was, leaving a massive hole behind. The earth shook once more as it emerged again, its attention wholly focused on the third and last trebuchet. It ignored the mighty thunder of the war elephants until they came within bowshot. It was then that the monster rotated its vast eyeless face towards them. It seemed that the face was made only of a single great mouth, filled with thousands of teeth, lined in hundreds of rows, each of which rotated in a different direction. The body of the worm was plated in chitinous shells of a dark blue color.
The creature turned back to the catapult and engulfed it. Siege engineers fled screaming like madmen. Adrian continued to advance as the worm disappeared into the ground. The thunder faded, then went silent. The screaming ceased, men stopped fleeing and looked back to the war elephants.
Adrian slowed his mount as it neared the hole, and all the Edraas slowed as well.
'It must have escaped'�'� said Adrian, gazing into the chasm. His voice trailed at the end in wonder, 'Its damage done, it has escaped,'� he finished.
But the earth rumbled again, and in the midst of the elephants it emerged once more. The mighty teeth sunk into the flesh of an elephant, elevating it high into the air and flinging its rider to the dust. The teeth of the worm wrenched the armor apart and shredded the elephant's flank before dropping it to the earth on top of another Edraa.

'Now he is surrounded,'� Adrian commanded, 'kill it now!'�

The mighty tusks of Adrian's mount sunk into chitinous exoskeleton, rending its flesh. A great unearthly scream bellowed out of the giant. It twisted and leapt, hurling the elephant aside. More tusks dug into its bloodless flesh.


Adrik saw the mountain worm's plight through his spyglass, an old woman stood at his side.

'Elessel. The war elephants appear to be too much for our beast,'� Adrik said calmly, 'call him back.'�

'Yes, Adrik,'� responded Elessel, the old woman, 'I will summon its return.
Its job is done, thought Adrik, the catapults are destroyed.


The sun had set, the tall towers of Tpha cast long shadows across the level farmland before the city. Adrian sat with Nezal by a fire. Quite a large fellow, Nezal was not one fit for battle, but laid down brilliant maneuvers and strategies. Nezal was Adrian's chief advisor, and after the worm's raid, he needed advice now most of all.

'Well, I can say for sure that the monster was a mountain worm,'� said Nezal in his low scratchy voice, 'sea worms, desert worms, hill worms'� they're all weak and soft, difficult to control. But the mountain worm is ferocious, able to kill anything. If you ask me though, they sent their creature merely to destroy our siege equipment.'�

'This cripples us quite severely,'� replied Adrian.

'Not exactly. The tusks of the elephants may be just as effective as the trebuchets. The plain slopes slightly as one approaches Tpha, which would give the elephants a great speed, and, if they manage to reach the walls, will shatter them severely.'�

'This has not been done before. Will not the impact destroy an elephant's tusks?'�
'The walls of Tpha are stone, nothing more. Ivory-ore will withstand it, or so the Edraas say.'�

'Well then! This is good news indeed. Will Tpha bee humbled by war elephants? We shall see! Ha ha,'� Adrian exclaimed, 'But Nezal, my friend, our beasts of war must first reach the wall. Of course, the horses of Finnith cannot stand before them, but pikemen will be a great danger. Shall the elephants advance first, and hope to sweep away the pikemen?'�

'Surely the pikemen will be at front ranks, for the Finnitians have seen our elephants by now. Mount archers on the beasts, and order them to send the soldiers into disarray with large volleys. Then the elephants can charge the citadel with few casualties.'�

'Then it shall be done. We will flank them with mounted knights, and sweep what is left with paladins. It sounds so easy!'�

Both men chuckled as they rose.

'I will explain our plan to the Edraas and my sergeants,'� said Nezal, 'We bring Tpha to its knees tomorrow!'�


'They are advancing,'� cried Zephell, sounding the alarm for the second time.

Adrik hastened out of his tent, his silver armor reflecting the sunrise.

'Arafa! Azek! Tezir! Arm your divisions,'� he cried to his sergeants as they emerged from the tent, 'Form up pikemen! The Nerallians are advancing!'� So doom approached his great city: with thundering hoof beats and stomping metal feet. The enemy was far outnumbered! His worms, his beasts, his men could bring them down. And if all else failed, the enemy would at least fail to crush the walls, for they are very great.

The portcullis rose slowly. Adrik strode out, followed by desert-garbed assassins. He held a scimitar at his side, a bow on his back as he challenged the Northerners with his gaze.

Tpha had never been taken.

Thousands of pikemen swarmed out of the gates, their tall weapons held high and their desert shrouds blowing in the wind as they rushed into position. About a bowshot from the walls they stopped. Ten sergeants, after the pikemen had amassed into formation, strode to the front of the files.

'Plant halberds,'� they bellowed as they drew their swords.

Each soldier planted their spear into the grassy soil at an angle, pointed them forward. Each spear measured eight feet in length, enough to spear a war elephant in the face.


The elephants were lumbering once again, each marching abreast of the other. Their great armored backs swayed to the left and right with each step.

Twenty of the great iron-clad beasts approached Tpha. In the tradition of Nerrallian warfare, each was covered entirely by shining steel armor. Only flesh at the joints and eyes emerged from metal.

Atop each monstrous beast rode the Edraa, along with five Nerrallian crossbowman, who bore the Kazak-dra, the Nerrallian repeating crossbow.


'Send them a volley,'� ordered Adrik to the archers atop the walls.

Fifteen thousand arrows took flight from the mighty walls, a cloud surging to the Nerallians. Arrows were bent and mangled on the armor of the paladins; few brought death. Commands of the Nerrallian sergeants echoed faintly across the plain as shields were raised and swords were unsheathed. The elephant riders leveled their Kazak-dra.

The elephants charged first, their thunderous hooves beating the green grass to the ground.

Another volley of arrows soared toward the besiegers.


'Prepare to fire,'� ordered Jex, an Edraa, to his crossbowmen. The archers tensed, searching the veiled Finnitian faces for a target.

'Fire!'�

Darts spewed like angry hornets, sinking into flesh. Blood sprayed as projectiles speared vulnerable necks. The first row of pikes clattered to the red grass.

'Reload, and give them hell!'�


The tide of elephants was all but unstoppable. Few were brought down that day, as the defending ranks were slaughtered by stomping feet and screaming darts. Adrik lead the assault, his mighty elephant crushing foes beneath his feet as his great spear picked off men as he charged. No horse or man or beast could withstand Aranok, his mighty elephant.


At last the invasion begins. Victory shall ensue. The captive ones shall be released from the mountain. Doom will be averted before the great black ones come and bring darkness. Kaiid must not stall me!

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