The Red Dawn

Goghror stood atop the balcony staring out into the murky darkness of the night, his face twisted in a scowl. Taldrod had been at his side increasingly infrequently the past months and now it appeared he had been kidnaped. Though he valued his uncle's council, he would have to be punished for whatever insolence had risked the peace his tribe had forged all those years ago. Suddenly an explosion illuminated the fields in the distance. The warlord dug his nails into the banister, splitting the red stained wood.

The smoke could still be seen in the distance silhouetted by the red sky of dawn. When Vortiga came to check on her Warlord. He stood with his back turned to her, studying the banner of the Blacktooth clan that was draped across the room's walls. The Direwolf, Bloodfang sat in the corner, gnawing on the bones of an ox.
“What news from the riders?”, he asked bluntly without turning.
“None have returned my lord.”
“I see,” he paused, taking the corner of the banner in his hands, feeling the course fabric between his fingers. “Gather your Iron Shadows, I wish for those responsible to be found. I shall ride out to see what has become of our comrades for myself.”
His words took Vortiga by surprise. “At once my lord.”

Tensions were high when they came across the grisly scene. The collapsed frame of a burnt out barn, the corpses of worgs and hobgoblins blown to pieces, while others lay dismembered and butchered, and the charred remains of his trusted Captain. As Goghror surveyed the carnage his eyes were drawn to a familiar gloved arm. He stooped to pick up the hand of Taldrod.
“Your orders my lord?”
“Bury the dead,” he said flatly, “Send emissaries to the Mountain Clans upon our return. I invoke the Rite of Maglubiyet.”
The words sent shivers through his entourage.
“The Rite of Maglubiyet! My lord, it has not been done in over 200 years!”
Goghror studied the ground carefully, he noticed the still fresh tracks of an Axebeak and a wagon heading towards the now slowly waking City of Cartea,
“If the humans wish to have war, then war they shall have.”