Our horses hooves were beating against the worn path towards the borderlands and our black armor was a stain on the setting sun. My soldiers, the Devil’s Horde, were the best soldiers in the land and we would die for the Ascorned flag. A peasant had run back to the Devil’s Castle and told a guard that many Calamity warriors were ransacking a village to the south of the castle and the nearest village to the Calamity border. The guard had run to our barracks and told me. He had a look of fear in his eyes and I told all my knights to mount up. I didn’t take the entire force the Horde because they would take to long to get there. We smelled the village burning before we saw it. The smell of burning flesh and wood would stain the Earth for years to come. When the village came into view we could see the leader of those scumbags prancing around in the front of the village.

“Lord Barbatos how do you like what we did with this village. Thought it would remind you of home,” taunted the enemy commander.

“Funny you should say that. This was once Calamity territory before I took it. We got rid of the weakling smell though but it seems you have returned it by choosing the border. By the way how did you get passed the border?”

“Ha your border! We have been passing through for weeks. You guys thing that your border is the best but it’s no more than one soldier and a mud wall.”

    The Calamity leader was taking the bait. We weakened our walls to trick the Calamity into invading so we could declare war and wipe them from the face of the Earth. Then in the back of the crowd I saw three strange animals. I read many history books and from the descriptions it seemed that the Calamity had brought warriors from the desert.

“So the Calamity isn’t strong enough to war with the Ascorned so you bring those sand eaters to the land of the 4 kingdoms. Are you as small minded and ignorant as they are!”

“That will be enough from you horn helmet!” A man wrapped in scarves with a bent sword on his hip emerged from the crowd. He had the mark of the Camel Riders, a group of warriors that control The Ravine and The Oasis. Behind him came out a a massive scorpion with a man clad in brown armor. Obviously he was a soldier from the Tribe of the Scorpion. A group of fanatics that ride the massive scorpions as they were horse. There home base was the Scorpion Temple hidden in the Dunes of Time. Lastly a man covered in fur with daggers strapped everywhere on his chest stepped out. In his hand was a chain that had 3 snarling hyenas. He came from the last part of explored desert and from the Hyena Tribe. They live in a cave so deep many think it reaches the core of the Earth.

“Our leaders have chosen to help the Calamity against the Ascorned and whoever stands with you when we conquer. We will be back,” the Camel Rider yelled so smugly. I looked at the Hyena Warrior and he had his hidden blade out. My other soldiers saw it to and we charged them. The Hyena Warrior let go of the 3 Hyenas he had chained but they were intercepted by 5 of our Hell Hounds. I had my second in command Trigon brought them. They were breed in the deepest and hottest fire in Hell and were as black as night. They were as strong as a bull but as big as a wolf. They grabbed one of the hyenas by the throat and they chased the other ones. Everyone but the Hyena Warrior was taken by surprise and we cut them down. I turned my attention to the Camel Rider and the Calamity Commander. They were leaving the battle and the Calamity Commander called for a retreat. Most of the soldiers he had brought would not go back and the ones that did were given enough scars to remind them that no one threatens the Ascorned. We chased them to the border of our lands then watched as they left beaten and ashamed.

“Trigon tell the builders to strengthen the borders again and tell them to do it fast. There’s a war coming and we will have to be ready.”

Trigon didn’t say anything but spurred his horse and rode off to the Builder’s Cave.

“The rest of you head back to the castle and clean up. Tell the infantry to rest to. I have to go see our king and will be back tomorrow. Jericho you're in charge till Trigon gets back. Ward and Rex your coming with me,” I shouted to my men.

    I turned away from the border and watched my soldiers leave. Their horses breath visible in the crisp air. Then I turned to Ward and Rex.

“We are heading to the King’s Castle. He needs to be told what will happen and he needs to get in touch with the leaders of the Raiders and Dragonites.”

    Rex and Ward didn’t say anything but I could tell they were nervous. We haven’t had a war since the Devil himself was leading the Horde. Sure we had little battles here and there but never enough to create a war.

“This is all the Calamity’s fault right Barbatos,” questioned Rex.

“Of course it is. If they didn’t bring the desert warriors we wouldn’t be having this war,” I responded

“Rex don’t start freaking out when we get to the King’s Castle or the capital. I know you never like big cities village boy,” teased Ward. We all laughed at that but then rode silent for the rest of the night. Our black armor glinting in the moonlight. We rode the entire night with no breaks so we could reach the castle at noon.

    When we reached the capital we ran straight through the gates and through the city. It was massive and every building was a skyscraper. They were marvelous but also they were so many of them you could barely see the sky. The castle was on a hill in the middle of the city. It was made of gold and silver. It touched the clouds. We rode to the door and knocked. The guards came and opened the massive oak door. There armor was a shiny silver without a scratch on it. Compared to our black armor they had much nicer armor but they had never seen conflict. The 5 legions that protected the capital have never seen a battle because of what the Horde and all the other legions down south do. We have never let a single enemy get past the Sterile River. The Horde and I control the middle south while General Zhuv and his legions protect our Southwestern border with the Raiders and Dragonites. General Yakros’ legions protected the entire Eastern border from Calamity and the Blazers. The middle North was protected by the most legions and was the weakest because they never saw battle. King Akkiz himself controlled the North but his prowess in battle has faded with his age. I shook myself from those thoughts as we entered the King's chamber. King Akkiz was eating a massive feast and it reminded the lion in my stomach how hungry it was. The lion roared with anger but I wouldn’t start eating without an order from the king. Rex looked terrified and shocked about how much food the king could fit in his mouth while Ward was stifling a laugh from watching Rex.

“Welcome General Barbatos why have you left the Devil’s castle to come here?” The king asked.

“My lord The Calamity is getting ready for war. They have brought the desert people to help them invade us. We are getting ready down south but you need to tell General Zhuv and General Yakros to prepare for war also. You must get the leaders of the Raiders and Dragonites to help us. We may be strong but not strong enough to take on the combined power of the Calamity, Blazers and the Desert People.”

“General Barbatos how do you know this?”

“My lord those scumbags raided the southern village. They brought 3 of the desert warriors to go and brag. They said they will meet us at our border when the moon is at its highest point. That is 4 days from now and we don’t have enough manpower down south!”

“General we will not run and seem like cowards to the Dragonites and especially not the Raiders. If you need more manpower you can have the five legions here or if you need more we can take the hundreds of legions in our shadow lands.”

“The legions here up north have never seen another warrior except for the emissaries from the Dragonites and the Raiders. They can barely catch criminals and when they can’t catch a criminal they call US! And you want the shadow land warriors to come they wouldn’t be here till low moon. The closes legion is behind the Dikin Mt. and you would know this if you actually took care of your kingdom instead of your Generals down south. I pretty much control this entire kingdom so if you don’t call the leaders of the Raiders and Dragonites I will!”

“General Barbatos you will not address your king this way in MY COURT!”

“You are not my king and you have never been my king. My only allegiance is to the Horde and the Ascorned flag. Now good day!”

   I turned around and stormed away. I didn’t look back till I got outside and mounted my horse. Rex and Ward were right behind me and when they mounted their horses they just looked at me and Ward said “You control this kingdom not some old king that used to be great in battle. Everyone knows it and we would all die for you. Even the shadow lands know that you really lead them that is why they send their concerns to you not to Akkiz. Me and Rex were talking and we are going to go ask the Raiders and Dragonites ourselves. I was going to go to the Raiders and Rex was going to go to the Dragonites.”

“Ya and after that I was going to ride to where General Zhuv was stationed so he could help us. Ward was going to go General Yakros and tell him.”

“Thank you Ward and Rex. When you return we will have a hero’s feast and then we will ride to war.”

    And with that they both rode to their destinations and I turned to the rising sun and rode off to see that our castle was prepared for war...