Finuvir heard an agonising shriek and, glancing over his shoulder, he saw a blooded and wound striken eagle bank away from the battlefield in panic. At least the beast had diverted fire away from himself and Gwindar.
As Finuvir turned back to face the enemy, to his horror, he was greeted by the site of an organ gun being swivelled in his direction, simultaneously being primed to fire . Finuvir was staring death in the face !
As his life and past victories flashed before him a deafening boom, like a crack of thunder shattered his memories as screaming hot lead whistled towards him. Having the presence of mind and utter loyalty to his master Gwindar had reared up anticipating the danger to his master. Luckily, only 2 shots thudded into Gwindar, he was dangerously wounded but not mortally. Finuvir thanked his gods and prayed that he should survive this day to nurture his faithful mount back to full health.
Elsewhere on the battlefield the remaining Dwarf artillery was having just as little luck as the organ gun. The engineers had been directing their fire on the White Lion chariot that was moving along the Elf lines to improve their position prior to their advance.
The quarellers and Elven archers on the north flank began a shooting duel that was to last the remainder of the battle and see the destruction of one of them.
The Elves advance had been slowed with the loss of the Dragon Princes and an eagle but not been overly impeded yet. The hammerers positioned themselves on the southern flank to meet the impending Elven Eagle charge and to counter the threat of a large White Lion unit attempting to outflank them. The Hammerer's repositioning allowed the bolt thrower one final attempt at Finuvir before he clashed into the Dwarf lines but the bolt flew wildly.
The remaining brave Dragon Prince clashed into the hammerers in a suicidal bid to hold them up while Finuvir takled the organ gun crew. The organ gun had only managed to fire twice and had been grossly unlucky not to inflict more casualties. The dumbfounded organ gun crew grumbled and frowned at one another and were cut to pieces in the space of a blink as sharpened talons and Finuvir's long blade flashed in the sunlight.
The second eagle bore down on the next artillery piece, the bolt thrower that had all but wiped out the Dragon Princes.
On the north flank the Elves continued their advance and the Phoenix Guard smashed into a unit of Dwarf clansmen only to be routed within a few seconds of crazed combat.
The artilllery crews continued to fire grudge stones and cannons at the chariot that was lining itself up for a charge. The Dwarfs cannot have been praying hard enough because Grimnir the Dwarf God did nothing to help direct their fire and, miraculously, the chariot suffered only minor damage.
The battle had now truly begun. The clash of Elven steel on solid Dwarven armour and shield resounded across the battle field.
To be continued in the battle's ending...
