The Invincible Army

Well since the site's back up I thought I might as well post here, my favourite section :P
Oh, and it's a Warcraft short story too

This is a short story taking place after the final cinematic of The Frozen Throne. It was for a contest at another site (it won).

Enjoy.

The Invincible Army

It was a foolish plan really. Created and endorsed by a foolish man. But it could have some benefits. Reconnaissance was one. But really, it was worth it just to get rid of him. His men were just as dumb as he was, so what was to be lost?

The plan was created by General Gerard. He was an older general, but not at all wiser. He always had the idea that a frontal assault was best. This is why he formed a plan to attack Northrend with a legion of men. He wanted to put up a camp, and from there attack Northrend. When the camp was completed, he would then send a messenger on a boat for reinforcements.

And so, on a rather nice evening, not at all like it should have been, the ships cast off. There should have been a storm, because something terrible was about to happen. Perhaps it was the calm before the storm. However, there wasn’t any storm all the way there. Maybe everything’s not like the books say they are supposed to be. In any case, the army eventually arrived at Ashenvale Forest. From there, they boarded their ships to Northrend.

The journey there was not very treacherous. The weather was good, for the most part, and no storms passed their way. The journey gave the soldiers a false sense of security.

It was at this time that General Gerard was planning his tactics from landing on. Setting up the camp wouldn’t be that hard, they had brought a few workers to help with that. Afterward General Gerard wanted to start moving his force toward Arthas’ stronghold, the Icecrown Glacier. This would be where General Gerard would meet and defeat Arthas himself. He believed that Arthas was just another warrior, that he could be defeated by the best, General Gerard of course.

Food on the ship was of course rationed, most of the soldiers weren’t soldiers anyways so they weren’t doing much, and thus didn’t need as much food. At least, that’s how General Gerard saw it. In reality most of his soldiers weren’t doing much of anything back home, and so they’d gained a little weight from eating normally and were not used to it. The rations weren’t taken very well.

Eventually the ships landed on the coast of Northrend. The landing site was quite nice, mostly flat, and it was almost completely surrounded by a forest. The weather upon arrival wasn’t too bad, a bit chilly but no snow was falling at the time. The workers began to map out what would go where and how to build it while the soldiers started chopping wood. Currently the soldiers weren’t good for anything but chopping wood.

In a few days enough land was cleared and enough wood was chopped for the building process to begin. Most of the soldiers were sent to build, while a few continued to chop down trees to clear a path out of the forest.

This entire process wasn’t going unnoticed. The undead forces that were in the area were already scouting and preparing for an attack. They were just waiting for the opportune moment.

The base was half set up, and so General Gerard decided to send the messenger back earlier than planned. He was feeling confident that the base would be completed and that the messenger should just go back anyways. Nothing could possibly happen to his new base.

The messenger was sent in the morning, and by nightfall, the base was attacked. General Gerard was woken up with the sounds of screams coming from every direction. They were screams of dying men.

General Gerard jumped out of bed, fully dressed. He went outside and there one of his captains, Captain Bernard Fitch, was waiting for him.

“The base is being attacked! What are your orders?” he asked.

“Get every soldier awake if they aren’t already and form a defensive circle!” shouted General Gerard. He didn’t think that a circle would be formed, but some men just needed orders before they fought.

General Gerard went back into his tent to get his sword and shield. He would have to fight as well if they wanted to win. In reality, he had expected this, but no amount of planning could have prepared them for it, in his mind.

The General rushed into the heat of battle. There must have been two hundred ghouls in this small part of the base that he was in. He started to hack away at them, as soon as they rushed him. He’d slice off a limb or two and then decapitate them to make sure they didn’t get up.

This went on for hours, and the fight was a fight like any other. There were acts of friendship and bravery and also of cowardice, but in the end, the entire army was victorious.

“Captain Fitch! Captain Fitch! Where are you?” shouted General Gerard.

“Here General!” shouted back Captain Fitch as he ran towards the General.

“How many casualties?” asked General Gerard.

“Approximately four hundred were killed that never fought, and another six hundred that did.”

“Half of our army is gone?!?”

“Yes sir.”

“Damn them!” Suddenly there was noise heard not too far from them. It was another scream.

“What the hell was that?” asked General Gerard.

“They’ve raised him! They’ve raised him, he’s undead!” came a shout from afar.

“What’s going on?” said General Gerard.

A soldier ran up to the General. “They’ve raised him, my brother. My brother is undead!”

“What? How is this possible?”

“General! Necromancers spotted on the hill to the north!” exclaimed a scout.

“Damn them all to hell and back again! Captain, ready the forces once again. The battle is not yet won!”

The necromancers were advancing from a hill, raising the newly dead and long dead alike. Ghouls and dead soldiers marched side by side to fight against the living.

This time General Gerard tried to give orders for tactics. He knew in order to win this battle the necromancers would have to be killed. But there were a hundred or more of them! And it was simply impossible to get near them when there was an army in front of them.

By the time the General was done giving orders, the battle could have been called lost. Any attempts to attack the undead army were failing; it was a constant march of rotting flesh that would not be held back. As soon as a soldier fell, he was raised up to fight for the other side. Already only five hundred of his men remained alive. General Gerard tried to shout encouragement to them, but by the time he got into the fray, it was over.

General Gerard was taken prisoner. For what reason, he did not know. But he was held captive for days, as he was forced to march in the direction the undead pointed to. Eventually he reached something he had hoped to see, but with an army at his side. It was the Frozen Throne.

Arthas himself came to meet the General. He stood tall, with his armour from the Lich King on and Frostmourne in his hand.

“General. Do you know why you’ve been brought here?” asked Arthas.

“No, I don’t. Care to explain?”

“It’s quite simple really. I can read your mind. You longed to see this place and crush me. Now you must realize that you can’t possible accomplish your goal. Instead, you will serve me.”

“I’ll do nothing of the sort!”

“Oh, maybe alive you’d have the choice. But dead, ha! When you’re dead, you’re mine.”

“By the Light I’ll–“ were the last words that General Gerard ever said.

“You will serve. For what you failed to understand is that my army is invincible. It is constantly being refuelled just by being in battle. War increases the ranks of my army, not decreases. And for that very reason, I am unstoppable. It is only a matter of time before I control the world.”