by Willan Ellis
Jacob tried to push the man who had fallen on top of him off, but his dead weight was difficult to move, when he finally managed to move him away, he scrambled to his feet, and ducking quickly just avoided the end of a water whip. He ran toward a group of men who were surrounded by Mesi soldiers. Rushing them from behind he managed to catch them off guard and push a few to the ground, slamming a fist hard against the side of a Mesi soldiers face the man fell to the ground unconscious. Jacob pulled his sword free and thrust it deep into another soldier to his left.
Regrouping, his men started to herd the remaining Mesi soldiers towards the ditch. Chev and the Sisters had kept the ditched lit throughout the battles. Jacob had ordered his men to herd the invading soldiers toward it – it was working, but he felt dejected. Every time they managed to force a gap in the attack, another wave of Mesi soldiers replaced them. They were slowly becoming outnumbered, Jacob prayed for a miracle.
A lick from a whip fell across his chest and shoulder and he screamed as the water burned his flesh. Falling to his knee, he cut with his sword at another as it crossed ahead of him. A bolt of fire came close to the side of his face and engulfed the approaching soldier. He turned to see Chev duck under a long trail of water narrowly missing her head. Jacob looked toward the pass. No more soldiers were coming. He hoped that Iszalie and Sarah had managed to stop that advance. He hoped Iszalie was safe.
Pulling himself to his feet, Jacob tucked his right arm into the belt of his trousers and steadied himself with his sword. Looking around he was disheartened to see the bodies sprawled out across the plains. They numbered in the thousands. He needed to regroup his men and start picking at the outside of the mass of soldiers moving toward the middle.
Looking up he saw fire bolts flash across the dawning sky. He was lost in thought when a blade suddenly cut across his vision, cutting through a water whip. He turned to see Daon standing next to him, nodding they both raced toward another group – he needed to create a partition, it was their only hope, he ran toward Mark,
‘We need to separate them into small groups then push them toward the fires’ Mark nodded and shouted orders to the surrounding men. Jacob couldn’t see if anyone heard the orders, all he could hear was the sounds of clashing steel, fire, and screams.
‘Behind you!’ Jacob turned to Doan’s yell in time to run his sword through the middle of an approaching soldier. Pushing him off the end of his sword, Jacob turned quickly to an approaching land-walker. Simon jumped off and ran to him,
‘They have archers, heading in from each side’ Jacob sighed and ordered Simon to try and split them into small groups and follow through with pushing them toward the ditches. Yelling at Daon to tell his men to get ready for the approaching onslaught Jacob grabbed Simon’s land-walker and jumped up into the saddle. For a quick moment, he thought about his land-walker, and hoped she was well. Jacob galloped toward a group of Aelian soldiers, jumping from the land-walker he ran and told them to head toward Daon. Jacob finally took a long breath, and pulled his arm from his belt and pulled off his chain mail. The metal had stuck to his skin. He flinched at the welt forming on his back. Throwing the chain mail aside Jacob turned toward the major area of fighting; his stomach sank as he saw men torn in two by the water whips, he flinched as he saw an arm of a sister tear from her body.
An eerie haze was starting to cover the plains. The men moving through looked like ghosts. Jacob didn’t see the Mesi soldier approach from his left until the ash of his remains blew into his face. His heart soared as he saw Iszalie walk toward him. She had blood coming from her mouth and nose, and was holding her side and was limping slightly. Her black uniform glistened in the early light. Jacob realised the shining was remnants of blood. He smiled softly at her, and yelled at him to drop, he felt the wet remains of another soldier dampen the back of his clothes.
Leaping up Jacob ran toward Iszalie, and back to back they fought an ever-increasing circle of Mesi soldiers. The mist of ash that was created by what Iszalie was doing was covering them both, Jacob found himself constantly spitting out what he could only guess. He jumped as he heard Iszalie scream, and turned to see a whip mark down the right side of her face. He pushed her under his arm and backed away from the Mesi.
‘I’ve got her.’ Jacob looked at Chev who grabbed Iszalie and ran toward a safer spot. Daon ran to Jacobs’s side, looking at his sister he turned back to the approaching soldiers. Without hesitation he ran straight toward the middle. Jacob followed. Within minutes they were again in the thick of the battle.
Mesi from every side rushed in, they were here to kill the traitors. Jacob knew this and the way Daon was fighting he did too. Jacob pulled a cloak of calmness over him; he couldn’t panic now he needed to focus. A flash of Teanne’s face filled his mind. He relaxed instantly.
Fixing his mind on her face, Jacob suddenly felt invigorated. He sidestepped incoming whips, and ducked aside as a blade came down toward him. Great he thought to himself, they are now using swords. He looked at the soldiers rushing in with swords; these did not look like the other soldiers. A new wave of troops was approaching.
Jacob slipped between these men as they swung their swords high, thrusting them in the back as they moved past. Jacob used the hilt of his sword to smash in the face of another Mesi. He sidestepped another incoming whip, and heard Daon yell in pain when the edge of a whip nicked his leg. Jacob pushed a Mesi soldier onto an approaching pike watching as the weapon tore through his chest. He threw Daon over his shoulder and moved him back toward some of his men. Dropping Daon, Jacob turned and yelled a battle cry. Teanne’s face firmly fixed in his mind; he raced back toward the centre of the fight.
The ferocity of his yell and the number of men following him stunned the Mesi for a moment. Jacob ordered his men to form a single line behind him. He wanted to create a strong arrow that was going to separate these men once and for all. All the soldiers followed suit and moved in directly behind him, these were his men they obviously had read his meaning well. The tight formation created a solid battering ram, Jacob at the front took the brunt of the forceful collision, but he couldn’t feel any pain; perhaps his body was now beyond feeling. When he had endured enough the man behind him pushed him behind. The tactic was working. Mesi soldiers directly in their path went flying. They were being separated. Jacob looked to his left as he lowered his head and shoulder into the man in front pushing with all his might. He smiled to himself as he saw another strong line surging through, Daon screaming at the front. Satisfied they had split enough, his men turned directly to face the Mesi. Jacob thrust his sword deep into a Mesi soldier, and pulled the sword from his body, he then turned noticing a Mesi soldier shouting orders, his dress was a little different to the other men around him, he had a distinct black sash around his body, and the whip bearers were following his commands.
Jacob wiped the blade of his sword across his sleeve, twirling the sword in his fingers he moved quickly toward the man, cutting down any approaching soldier, not even flinching when another whip seared him across his back. He quickened his pace and ran straight for the man. Caught by surprise the man looked at Jacob as he thrust his sword through him. The man’s weight fell against Jacob, not taking his eyes from him, Jacob twisted his sword. The bubble of blood that came from his mouth sprayed Jacob in his face. Four whip bearers in the immediate vicinity suddenly evaporated into a pool of water. Jacob still holding the man looked at the remaining puddles.
‘Water Bearers’ Elder Lin’s voice screamed in his mind.
Throwing the man off him he yelled at Daon, ‘The men with the white sash’s, kill them!’ Daon looked at Jacob confused. Jacob pointed to the man at his feet then the surrounding puddles. Daon looked around, spotting another dressed similar to the man Jacob had just killed. He raced toward him, and ran the man through with his sword, instantly another four whip bearers evaporated. Jacob signalled Mark to do the same.
‘INCOMING!’
Jacob looked up to the sky. In the dawning sunlight and the
remaining light from the two moons he could clearly make out the approaching arrows. They were transparent, and made from water turned to ice. The noise as the arrows crossed overhead whistled loudly, and the sound they made when they hit the men behind him made his stomach turn. Jacob looked back as he heard another low whistling sound; these arrows were heading right for them. He yelled for his men to move closer to the middle.
The sound of the arrows hitting flesh made Jacob feel sick, he turned as he heard Mark scream in pain, an arrow was poking out from his upper thigh, and then in an instant it dissolved leaving nothing but an open wound. Before he could reach Mark, Jacob turned as he heard a low horn blow and then the sound of thousands of footfalls thundering toward them.
Another wave was starting. Was this ever going to end? Jacob waved his men to form a line. He looked down each length. They were tired, they were torn; many were barely standing. Jacob raised his sword in the air, the large cry from the remaining men who could summon the strength filled the air. He slowly moved forward. Jacob looked to the sky; another group of arrows had just been released.
‘GET TO COVER!’
The men all scrambled to duck away from the incoming arrows. Jacob covered his head knowing this time they would reach them.
A loud thud, that shook the ground where they were, echoed loudly throughout the plains. Jacob had to block his ears from the screeching sound. He slowly lifted his head, and saw the black ash like steam fall to the ground. The arrows had been evaporated. The sisters had arrived, just in time.
Jacob yelled a battle cry and quickly climbed over fallen bodies to attack the approaching men. He halted when everything around him burst into flames. A wall of flame suddenly appeared in front of all his men, it curtained them against the approaching Mesi soldiers. The familiar sound of incoming arrows whistled through the air and his men dove for cover. Jacob stood transfixed on the wall of fire in front of him. He could feel the intense heat radiating from it.
The wall soared higher, and the arrows crashed into the wall and evaporated. He watched as the wall of fire began moving away from him; he watched as it began to encircle the plain. Jacob saw the confused look on all the men around him. He couldn’t understand how the sisters were able to create this. It was more powerful than anything he had ever seen before. Jacob realised that the firewall had turned him and his men around so they now had their backs against the wall of Aelia. It had created a barricade between them and the approaching force of Mesi.
‘What the hell is going on?’ Daon yelled at Jacob who could only shrug his shoulders. Both stood with mouths open and watched as the wall began pushing the Mesi troops back. A shiver ran up Jacobs’s spine. He looked behind him, and through the ashen mist thought he could make out three figures standing at the entrance to the walls of Aelia. Two had their arms outstretched.
The screams behind the firewall were so loud that Jacob looked back. The wall was pushing them further away; the stench coming back was foul. Jacob blocked his nose, it was not only pushing the Mesi back; it was burning anyone who remained in its path. The earth below him began shaking again, he fell to his knees as a strong force came from behind and knocked everyone to the ground. The vibrating noise seemed to suck all the oxygen from the air. Jacob grasped at his throat trying to breath, and then a loud noise beyond anything he had ever heard flooded every space available. Jacob slowly started to lose consciousness, he looked at the wall of fire; it was gone. The last thing he saw was a mushroom cloud rising above the plains. Everything went dark.
Aelia – Dawn
‘Keep still, you haven’t fully recovered yet’ she looked up at the woman as she removed the damp cloth from her forehead, ‘I thought you promised you would stop collapsing on me.’
The woman’s cheeky grin made her smile widely, ‘I’m sorry I’ll try and stop. Did we help?’ The woman looked down at her friend and smiled. Exasperated she nodded her head,
‘Oh yes, we helped.’