74th chapter
the unending horde

Surrounded by squawking vultures, soaring eagles and chirping songbirds they flew.
The flew over the ancient lands of the night elves which seemed to have taken a life on its own and started moving on its own,.
They were quiet in their awe as the saw that they were far from being the only ones traveling north.
Mizra and sira’dreth automatically increased their speed leaving Ankthar having to urge the tired gryphon forward.
Behind them the world was puzzled as so many animals had left their homes for felwood. In front of them was a long lost friend, the revelation of their journey and the endless scourge.


At first they had been few and far between, isolated spies and recons.
Then there had been rumors of a dark fleet, so large and powerful that when the last ship had set sails from Northrend the first ones had already landed in darkshore.
And the flood began as small drops when the camp was awoken to a horrible sight of a hundred skeleton dragons filling the sky.
Gargoyles and destroyers followed suit without attacking, their aim to scare the living daylights out of the druids and their beasts.
And it worked.
The next day they heard a great rumbling. The ground shook, the air became heavier
And the stench of death filled and eventually overcame the demonic smell of acid and corruption.
And then they came.
They were foot soldiers, cannon fodder. Just thousands upon thousands of Arthas’s endless thousands.
Some not even armored, all of them charging aimlessly down the hills of the furbolg tribes, killing them with sheer numbers.
They had no plan, no formation, no practical way of disposing their targets, in all likelihood the former owners of the bodies hoped for a quick and merciful death at the hands of the druids.
And so it would have been but the druids were unprepared, the animals scattered, and their numbers shaking in fear of the seemingly endless wave of undead.
Manvalas looked around.
Birds flying in every direction, ancients bellowing at the tide, bears charging and cats spinning around.
He hit the nearby tree in fury. It bloomed and sprouted new leafs and branches. Some kind of order, he need at least the smallest kind of order.
He took a deep breath, focused his energies, felt the way the ground was mixed, where there were roots and stones.
He focused those energies into his fist and punched the ground. As soon as his fist touched the ground, the energies left him, streamed from his body into the ground, from the ground towards the unrelenting tide. The roots lying all around the valley suddenly turned violent and struck out.
Like thousands of spears they punched through the ground and through each an every zombie.

The tide was stopped, the enemies now falling apart at the tip of a spear. And the entire valley seemed to have grown silent.
Manvalas felt the lack of energy bite him, he had put too much power into that stunt, he could hardly stand up.
He grabbed the nearby tree and hauled himself up, then turned to face his army.
“I NEED SOME BLASTED ORDER HERE. BIRDS TAKE TO THE SKIES FIGHT OFF YOUR FOES, BEARS AND OWLBEARS MAKE UP THAT DAMNED BATTLE LINE,CATS AND ANCIENTS, GET YOUR SLOW SHIT ASSES TO YOU POSITION.”
He looked at the druid-in-command and said: “and druids, GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER.”
He turned away and looked at the mountain pass where a march of thousands could be heard through the howling wind.
“We have a war to win.”
A tauren druid which he knew by the name of brokenhorns approached him and said:
“Lord you have our thanks, the attack surprised us, but I ask you, can you do this again, can we beat the scourge through these means?”
“No we can´t” he said as he fell down, “I must rest for now.”
“But how can we win gianst those odds? Those were but a small contingent sent to soften and try out our defenses.”
“Reinforcements are coming” Manvalas said as he let his head rest against the tree.
“What reinforcements? Even if the horde and the alliance sees reason, they will not come here in time.”
The ring has emptied its resources, the golden flight is filling in their spaces,the green is barely holding out in the dream and well we know how alexstraza and malygos are acting”.
“Trust me on this reinforcements are coming, reinforcements you couldn’t believe.”
The tauren looked at his wry smile, then looked at the field of spears where the force of nature had just destroyed an army.
“You mean they? They are coming? The new…”
“Sush “Manvalas said.” lets keep that information our ace in the hole , shall we.
No help me get of my stinking ass so we can organize the rest of our forces, the centaurs are in place I hope?””
“Yes standing by in position awaiting your signal.”
“The furbolgs and the yetis? “
“The same.”
“Good, let them come. we are as ready as we will ever be.”
A terrifying screech filled the valley. The marching sound of a thousand upon thousands of warriors finally overcame the chirping sound of birds and growls of ancients.
At the mouth of the pass the first abomination came in sight, holding.flags made of skulls, pounding away on a drum.
Then there came another one, and another.
It wasn’t long until they had filled the void the zombies had left, breaking the roots down like they were little sticks standing in their way.
Long dead dragons filled the sky , gargoyles following suit screeching at the host of nature.
The air had just gotten alot colder.
Arthas had arrived in felwood.