phase or defeat, not even hunger or thirst. Suddenly he noticed some greenery, a sight he no seen for days, all he and his men saw in this forbidding desert were a few snakes and lonely pockets of cacti. But what he saw underbrush in the distance and so could his men. Another good sign, a small group of camels emerged from that area and headed west of it. Elis was convinced that there was water source was in his path, however this could also be a bad thing, if there is a water source, the Trolls could already be there. If the Trolls knew about this water source, surely, they would be moving towards it. But fortunately, this wasn’t entirely possible as they had passed the exit of the canyon, finding no signs of the Trolls, this points to the Trolls taking another route so as not to run into Elis and his army. Even if the Troll army had successfully out-manoeuvred Elis they would still have to find a place for water and this could be it and in out manoeuvring Elis they would have to cover more distances, taking more time and therefore be behind Elis. This made Elis quite relieved and hopeful that this truly was a water source or better still an oasis.
The Troll army was in an even more dire state than the Human army, having had come straight from the ravaged Troll lands, they brought few supplies and had left the majority of these supplies in the gorge which Elis and his archers ambushed them in, causing them to lose men and abandon most of their supplies to save themselves. The Trolls need water badly; they are on route to the oasis but it would take them possibly half a day to get from where they were to the oasis. The soldiers were dreadfully hopeful that it truly was a source of fresh water. They were all were talking to one another, it would truly relieve them of much pain and put them in better position if they had at last found an oasis. Then Elis put his arm in the sky signalling the army to slow down, he knew that if the Trolls were here they would have set up an ambush themselves, wanting to make sure he does not run straight into an ambush, he slows his army down. “Run up there, check if it’s clear” said Elis to one of his companions who wasted no time in running forward, up the sand barge and towards the greenery. It shouldn’t have taken more than a few minutes to return at the speed he was running at. However, he had not come back yet, Elis was now sure that the Trolls were there and probably killed them, in his mind it must have been a small force considering he had seen any signs of the Trolls anywhere, which would be easy to spot as the desert was almost entirely flat. Elis suddenly felt a weird itch on right arm, looking down at it he realised it was a fly, a smile came upon his face as he swatted It away, there was water however this also means there could be Trolls in the midst. Confident it would be a small force he was bound to face, he ordered a charge forward by bringing his sword up into the air and then lowering it to beside his head. All the soldiers rushed towards the oasis up the barge they went before descending into the oasis. Sure, enough it was an oasis but and they realised that there were no Trolls here. Elis dismounted and scoured the oasis with his eyes and he saw his companion drinking away. He was so engrossed in moisturising his skin and wetting his throat that he had failed to recognise Elis was present. Elis was furious and walked over to his companion, there his was, beneath him crouching forward to give himself a shorter reach into the water. In anger, Elis propelled his leg into the side of this companion of his, the force of the kick made his companion fall sideways onto his back. “No-one drinks yet!” shouted Elis. “I’m sorry boss I couldn’t help it” said the companion. “Your task was to report back to me and yet I find you here enjoying this god sent watering hole” said Elis. “All right but you didn’t have to kick me” said the companion sluggishly. “Yes I did, you have pledged allegiance to me, you have called me king, do not make me your enemy for I will make you regret it, do not defy me and follow all my orders or I swear I will not hesitate to kill, companion or not” whispered Elis as he bent down for a drink of his own before shouting “what are you waiting for? The camels to come home? Drink and wash hardily for there is worse to come!” shouted Elis.
All the soldiers then descended into the oasis, some sat down under the shade of plants and palm trees, while the majority ran to get a drink and wash up. The water was sparkling, there were birds flying about, fish in the water, shade, and date fruits. “We must not celebrate” said Elis to that companion who had drank before the others. “Aye, must set up an ambush” said the companion. “Expect the heathen to come sometime in the night, no sooner and no later, we will have the element of surprise on our side” said Elis. “So how will we do this then?” asked the companion. “This sand is soft, I think I have it, they would obviously see us from a distance even in the dark of the night, so we must dig moats and hide our archers and infantry, to surprise them, we cannot use cavalry against the Troll but keep them in standby as Trolls hate the smell of horses” said Elis. “What of the injured men in battle?” asked the companion. “What of them? Night battles are bloody and there is no point in the rescue those who are fatally wounded, we are in the desert only the strongest and luckiest will survive, we begin in an hour, in the meantime all are to rest, go and tell the men” said Elis sternly with a touch of arrogance. No response from his companion, just a nod followed by quickly proceeding to tell the men of Elis’s plan. Now alone, Elis walked along the shore of the oasis with one arm in his pocket and another arm gripping the handle of his sword. Once he was more or less secluded from his men, he sat down on the shore and rested his arms on his knees, he took a deep breath and whispered to himself “finally my own army to command, I’m not second in command to my brother, my father, or any advisor, I’m my own man, a leader and I love this feeling more than anything or anyone else in my life. If someone takes it away from me, I would, I don’t know what I’d do”.
An hour later his instructions for his army were clear and moats were being dug and filled with spikes made from weapons and sharpened wood. The plan was to use moats with spikes in front of moats which contained archers and in the middle of these moats were to be crouching infantrymen to mount a sudden, swift, and deadly assault onto the Trolls. This was to be the case for the entire perimeter of the oasis. Elis wasted no time in doing some of the digging himself. He then exclaimed “I don’t want to see anyone digging slower than me”. Elis was working his men to death and this made him tremendously unpopular amongst his men, but they knew enough to keep their mouths shut for they knew Elis was not the one to defy. His men, all with shovels in hand, pushed on through the heat spurred on by their ruthless commander, Elis. By sunset, everything was set for the ambush and it was getting eerily dark. Elis went to the shore once again and sat down to clear his mind and get some peace. That companion that he had punished came up to him and sat to his side. “Everything is ready, they are all where they need to be and some of the men are quite impressed with this idea of yours” said the companion. “You have disturbed my short time of peace. Nevertheless, that’s is good to hear. I also have a task for you” said Elis. “A task? What sort of task?” asked the advisor. “One that I am sure you will agree with” said Elis as he chuckled. His companion swallowed a ball of air and asked “well, what is it?” “It’s quite simple really, go out there on foot, as fast as you can to try and see if you can hear or see the Trolls, come back here and report their proximity to our position” said Elis with a sarcastic calm about him. “Okay sir, I’ll do that, do I do it now?” asked his fearful companion. “Of course, fool, oh and make sure they don’t see you, there is still some light so I’m not taking the risk of a torch in your procession” said Elis as he dismissed his companion. His companion left the oasis, just as Elis had told him and he went straight out into the desert. He ran, with very light equipment for fast, silent and swift travel. Suddenly as he travelled he could hear undecipherable noises.
“It’s those Trolls, I wonder how big a force, should check it out before reporting back” said the companion to himself. He ran forward towards the sound of the Trolls, fear was consuming him but Elis’s strict orders bounded him to the task at hand. He perched himself behind a group of cacti to observe this
army of Trolls. From his observation, the Trolls seemed incredibly desperate and at this point they truly were in no condition to fight, disorientated, hungry, and thirsty, many Trolls were on the verge of death. The force was large and because of the numbers it was formidable, other than that this was no proper army. The companion smiled for a second and said “I’d better go and report my findings, Elis will be pleased with this news”. He whisked off excitedly to head back to the oasis to be the bearer of good news to Elis. He ran again back in discrete and arrived at the oasis. Every soldier’s eyes were fixed on this companion upon his entrance into the Hetheilian joint Unodos positions to speak to Elis. “Good news sire, the Trolls, they are coming right this way, a massive force, however they are not in the state they need to be in to fight us, the two armies are now heaped together in one massive yet weak force, this is a great opportunity” said the companion as he came up to Elis, interrupting his conversation with his