It had been a night that was oppressively still.
The air seemed to hold its breath, the dark weighing down as though it were a shroud.
The only things that broke the silence were the small, tinny crackle of the fire and the rhythmic breathing of the warriors who slept around the campsite.
Then, without warning, silence was shattered. Then, suddenly, bursting from behind dark shade cover from the tree line came Lucian's forces, their eyes aglow with malevolent light.
They struck hard and fast, quite out of the blue, it seemed.
Instantly, chaos erupted everywhere: scrambling warriors attempting to hold their camp, blades clashing in the dark joined occasionally by bursts of magic; snarls, yells, and the horrible thud of weapons against flesh .
The sounds of battle roared through the
