Arrows and lightning were unleashed at the chest of the Lassitus, and Sayana appeared next to Aiden, her arms raised as she added her own power to the assault, sending a bolt of crackling green energy flying towards it. Spartan, sensing an opportunity to strike, leaped down from the wall and dove straight at the towering construct, hitting it with enough force to stop it in its tracks.
Pummelled with everything they could muster, the ancient war machine stopped moving in mid-stride and ever so slowly began to fall forwards. The cheers of the defenders were deafening as the battered Lassitus crashed into the ground with a thunderous boom, its head just short of the drawbridge itself.
“That was bloody brilliant,” Pacian chortled, watching the scene from the safety of the remains of the gate tower, clutching on to Nellise’s discarded crossbow. Aiden pumped a triumphant fist at Spartan as the dragon soared overhead, a shining symbol of defiance against seemingly impossible odds.
“That was easier than I thought,” Robert muttered once the noise had subsided. Sure enough, in the distance, the remains of the Iron Legion could be seen stomping inexorably towards the gate once more. “Reset your catapults, Sarge,” Robert advised as he took in the scene.
“Aye commander, but we’ve a bigger problem’n that,” the engineer warned.
“What are they going to do, fly over the moat?” Pacian asked.
“Nay, lad, that looks like a pretty serviceable bridge to me,” Gordon remarked, looking down at the gigantic fallen construct. Aiden peered over the wall and realized he was correct. The Lassitus spanned the entire moat, and was easily wide enough to accommodate its smaller cousins.
“They’re going to walk right up to the gate and smash their way through this time,” Aiden said grimly. He looked out at the dozen legionnaires heading their way, and saw the Ironlord was moving along with them, its massive sword held ready and a mask of inhuman resolve on its ancient metal helm.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Hit ‘em with everything you’ve got!” Robert Black bellowed hoarsely as the Iron Legion closed in on their makeshift bridge. Armour-piercing arrows rained down upon the advancing constructs, accompanied by bolts of lightning and showers of acid from the elven wizards.
Sergeant MacTavish ordered another volley of explosive barrels loaded, and before the first legionnaire set foot upon the charred bulk of the Lassitus, the thunderous report of nearly half a dozen direct hits echoed over the picturesque mountain landscape.
When the smoke cleared from the scene, the mangled remains of one construct was sliding down into the murky depths of the moat, leaving an even dozen to deal with. Sayana, nestled in amongst the elven wizards to hide her presence, began lifting up the boulders the legion had hurled at them earlier using only her mind, sending them hurtling down at the enemy. Although she had lost her staff in the ruins of Trinity, her innate talents were nothing short of formidable.
The solid impacts from the massive chunks of stone left great dents in the chests and arms of the war golems, for Sayana ensured that each boulder hit exactly where she wanted it to. When the first legionnaire was halfway across the makeshift bridge, a solid hit from one side sent it plummeting into the sodden ground below.
At the rear of the advancing column came the Ironlord itself, directing its iron soldiers with silent orders.
“I don’t care what history says,” Robert confided to Aiden over the din. “If that thing was truly immortal, it wouldn’t bother sending in its disposable minions first. Sarge! Can you send a present to our uninvited guest?”
“Happy to oblige, Commander,” Gordon replied before shouting co-ordinates down to his teams.
“Why don’t you see if you can hit it as well, Sy,” Aiden called to the sorceress. He wasn’t certain she could hear him, for she simply stood there, staring out over the battlefield at their nemesis. Aiden snapped his gaze to the Ironlord, and saw it staring impassively back at her.
“Something’s wrong,” Aiden muttered to himself, unsure what to make of this. He felt a tinge of relief as she snapped out of her trance, and darkened the area around her as she drew in energy from the atmosphere itself. Whatever she was planning to do, it was going to be big, Aiden thought with satisfaction.
When the darkness lifted, she was glowing with power. Expecting her to unleash something impressive at the Ironlord, she instead pivoted around and sent a massive ball of fire hurtling towards the nearest catapult. The fireball erupted with catastrophic force, sending the charred bodies of siege engineers in all directions, and obliterating the engine itself.
But more than that, the flames from her sudden attack enveloped the remaining barrels of ammunition, which exploded with concussive force, sending a pillar of flame two hundred feet into the sky. Dozens of people died in the attack, but Sayana wasn’t finished.
Before those around her could react, she sent a bolt of lightning through the acadian wizards, killing more than half of them in one stroke and leaving the rest smouldering on the parapet, trying to regain control of their limbs.
“What the hell are you doing?” Robert roared, unable to grasp what had just happened. The defence of the fort faltered as the defenders were thrown into chaos. Some of them stood still, unsure if they should fight her, while others ran for their lives as she sent a wave of fire over the wall. The Royal Rangers were caught in the blast, but Mona saw the flames coming and on instinct, grabbed Colt around the waist and tumbled into the courtyard below.
The eastern half of the wall had been completely cleared, and Sayana turned towards the other half, only to find the five inquisitors rushing up the stairs towards her. Robert stood there staring at her, still unable to grasp her betrayal. Sayana’s actions were blatantly hostile, but her eyes were devoid of any emotion, as if her mind was no longer her own. Aiden had a flash of intuition and suddenly knew what was going on. He cried out in frustration at his own short-sightedness and grabbed onto Robert, shaking him out of his stupor.
“The Iron Lord,” he shouted. “It got the name because it controls other constructs!”
“So? Sayana isn’t a bloody golem!” Robert shouted back.
“Her tattoos, they were made by the same people that made the damned golems in the first place! It’s controlling her like it’s controlling them! All the warnings we’ve heard over the past few weeks have proven true, and I let her out of the bloody cell!”
Both men turned to stare out at the column of constructs, now marching over the ruined Lassitus unimpeded towards the gate. The Ironlord stood on the ground at the lip of the moat, and raised its empty hand up towards the wall, palm first.
A brilliant beam of yellow light sizzled through the air, well above the heads of the advancing column and blasting the massive wooden gate to pieces. Aiden and Robert recoiled from the shock of the explosion as pieces of stone, metal and charred wood flew through the air.
As the first of the constructs climbed into the gatehouse, Spartan flew past at speed, clipping the top of the legionnaire’s head, sending it over the edge into the pit below. The dragon pivoted in the air, flying low over the wall where it had been breached earlier, avoiding any chance for the Ironlord to use its devastating weapon against him.
A blast of fire from nearby caught Aiden’s attention, as the battle between Sayana and the inquisitors played out only a dozen yards away. True to their nature, they were well versed in battling rogue wizards. Sayana sent a bolt of crackling green energy at Archon White, but it was deflected harmlessly into the sky as he stalked ominously towards her with Solas Aingeal in hand.
“There’s nothing we can do here,” Robert growled, watching as the inquisitors traded blows with the woman he had only just come to know, and possibly even love. “The wall is lost, defend the gate!” he shouted to the remaining defenders, drawing his elven-crafted blade and directing the battle from above. Aiden was caught between trying to do something for Sayana and fending off the horde of constructs about to burst into the fort, but ultimately, there was li
ttle choice in the matter.
Leaving his former lover to her fate, Aiden pulled out the few scrolls he had left and quickly rifled through them. He vividly recalled the last time he’d failed to interpret the obscure language of magic, and his hands were shaking as he selected a scroll and began to recite it aloud.
Aiden shut out the sounds of the fighting and the cries of the wounded, focusing only upon the words before him. When the scroll disintegrated in his hands, he felt a surge of power run through him like never before, and knew he had succeeded.
Two golems had already passed through the entrance to the fort, and the roar of the defenders moving to hold it in the bailey was deafening. The column of constructs seemed vulnerable, so Aiden formulated a plan and raised his arms.
Power surged through his veins and rushed out to the rock faces that formed the east and west walls of the fort. Highmarch had literally been carved into the mountain, and Aiden was going to borrow some of that ancient earth to defend it. With a gesture, he ripped a piece of stone five square yards in size from the rock face, and sent it soaring into the air above, leaving a trail of fragments cascading to the ground below.
When it was two hundred feet above the ground, he enacted the second part of the mighty incantation and sent a charge of power at the stone, shattering it and igniting the pieces with blue flames. With a final gesture, Aiden pointed at the Ironlord and watched as the slabs of molten rock plummeted through the air with immense speed.
A brief flicker of satisfaction crossed Aiden’s features as the Ironlord looked up at the oncoming storm of rock just before it hit. The first deafening impact shook the earth like an avalanche, closely followed by other smaller impacts as the fragments struck the ground in quick succession. The Ironlord disappeared amongst the debris along with two of its closest minions, buried under tons of rock.
Even though Aiden had been anticipating the impact, he instinctively flinched and covered his face as a cloud of dirt and snow loomed over the battlefield. Robert stood beside him, speechless at the display of power, before both men turned their eyes to the mound of rock in the slim hope their enemy had been destroyed.
The Iron Legion kept fighting, and Sayana was still battling the inquisition, leaving Aiden with the hollow feeling his incantation had been for naught. Sure enough, long moments after the rocks had settled to the earth, the largest pile exploded outwards as the immortal construct within shattered it with stupendous power, striding forward onto the Lassitus Bridge with cold fury.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Robert growled in frustration, smashing his gauntlet into the wall. Sayana, holding whips made of fire, lashed at the inquisitors as they struggled to contain her.
Below, the Akorans led by Morik Far-Eagle faced off against two legionnaires, slamming their great two-handed hammers and axes into their metal hides while the balled fists of the constructs swept the brave warrior women aside as if they were kindling. More and more of the legionnaires broke through the line, stomping into the courtyard and tossing aside anyone that stood in their way.
“We’re getting overrun,” Robert growled.
“I’ll buy us some more time,” Aiden said.
“Time for what?” Robert snapped. Aiden ignored him as he pulled out another scroll. The incantation wasn’t nearly as complicated as the last one, and he felt confident he could manage. He grabbed the mercenary by the arm and pulled him away from the gate tower, then read from the scroll.
The wall shook as the parchment ignited and crumbled away, and suddenly the stonework around the bailey exploded, caving in on several constructs and blocking the entrance. As the dust cleared, Aiden could see six legionnaires were in the courtyard, meeting the full might of the combined defenders head-on.
“I think I got three with that one,” Aiden calculated quickly. “They’ll dig themselves out soon enough, but it’s three less we—”
Before he could finish, the brilliant yellow lance formed once again, blasting through the collapsed rock and three of the Ironlord’s minions in the process. Their metal bodies were simultaneously melted and blasted apart, coating the pathway with molten metal. It formed an entrance for their leader, and the Ironlord stomped unimpeded through the opening into the fort, its titanic sword held ready in one hand.
A nearby scream of pain drew Aiden’s attention away from the advancing host, and he saw that Sayana had killed two of the inquisitors. She didn’t appear to be harmed at all, despite the ferocity of their attacks. Her protective magics deflected or absorbed most of what they could dish out, and the ferocity of her return attacks was terrifying to behold. Aiden had never seen her kill with such emotionless detachment, as if her enemies were merely obstacles.
The battle came to an abrupt end when she raised her arms and sent the three inquisitors flying into the air, only to plummet back down to the wall with a sickening impact. She stepped over their bloodied remains and was heading in Aiden’s direction when her protective layer of blue flame suddenly vanished.
Behind her, one of the robed acadian wizards stood and pulled back her hood, revealing the Archmage Gwynne, charred but otherwise still alive. Her eyes were narrowed with terrible focus on the sorceress, and when she raised her arms once more another layer of magic was stripped from Sayana’s form. She responded with a casual flick of her wrist, sending a bolt of lightning towards the arch mage, but it reflected off a protective shield surrounding the wizard and struck Sayana instead.
She screamed in pain as the electricity crackled over her body, the first sound or expression of emotion she had made since the Ironlord had taken control of her. Gwynne didn’t wait for her to recover, invoking a giant magical hand the same size as her, which grabbed hold of Sayana and started to crush the life out of her. Sayana couldn’t move, but she managed to resist the pressure upon her and lifted a finger, pointing at the elven wizard.
A bolt of crackling green energy shot out, blasting away the wizard’s defensive sphere and knocking her to the ground. The crushing fist vanished, and Sayana paused for a moment to catch her breath. Smoke rose from Gwynne’s body as she struggled back to her feet, and before Sayana could prepare a response, the wizard raised her hand and with an invisible force, lashed out at the sorceress.
Sayana flew through the air, soaring over the battlefield and landed heavily amidst the wreckage of the catapults she’d already destroyed, disappearing into the flames. Aiden wasn’t sure if he should be pleased that his friend had been taken out of the fight, or worried for her safety, but he couldn’t expend any more thought on her plight.
Below, the battle raged on as the combined might of the Akorans and the soldiers of Trinity clashed with the five remaining legionnaires. It was hard to judge who was winning the fight, but both sides were taking a beating. The fort’s defenders were flesh and blood, and each blow from a clenched metal fist had devastating results, yet the men and women fighting for their lives landed blow after blow on the constructs, slowly grinding them down.
Gwynne recovered from her fight and invoked another incantation, forming a tall, humanoid shape from the pieces of stone that lay strewn around the courtyard. The stone elemental was nearly the same size as the legionnaires, and it began to smash at them with its rocky body.
“Rally around that rock monster!” Robert bellowed to the defenders, who quickly formed up on its ranks as it smashed into the golems with both fists. Gwynne summoned more of her energies and held her open palm towards the Ironlord itself, knocking it into the wall.
Aiden grinned mirthlessly at the sight, feeling renewed hope that it could indeed be damaged, until it pivoted around and sent a lance of brilliant energy at the Acadian wizard. She was vaporised instantly, and the beam melted stone where it struck the remains of the wall. The elemental crumbled apart as her life was snuffed out, and the defence of the fort once more hung in the balance.
“We’ve got to neutralize that thing or we’re going to lose this fight,” Robert growled.
“I’m w
aiting for the right moment to take my shot,” Aiden assured him, fighting the urge to summon Salinder’s last energies and attack the damned thing. “All of my remaining power will only last a few minutes, so if I miss my chance, it’s all over.” He glanced around for signs of the black wizard’s return, but of Terinus, there was no sign.
Sergeant MacTavish had joined up with one of the remaining ballista crews and repositioned the weapon to point inwards. Once they had it loaded, they began sending spear-sized projectiles down at point-blank range, right into the backs of the Iron Legion.
Though they were massive and heavily armoured, the legionnaires could only take so much punishment. A group of Akoran women, led by Chief Morik and armed with great sledgehammers, combined their efforts and felled several golems with a repeated succession of crushing blows.
Spartan appeared out of nowhere and leaped upon one of the more heavily damaged golems, sending them both tumbling into one of the ruined buildings nearby. The fight was hard to follow, obscured by the smoke and wreckage as it was, but the crackle of lightning, accompanied by the sound of claws on metal, emerged from the ruins as the dragon tore the heavily damaged war machine apart.
Hundreds of defenders had fallen in the battle, bashed to death by the fists of the golems, or simply crushed underfoot as they ploughed through the defensive lines. Through it all, Robert Black called down orders, keeping the defence organized and pointing out weak spots in the golems. Without his commanding influence, the front line would have faltered long ago and the fight would already be over.
A streak of fire emerged from the ruins of the siege engines as Sayana soared into the sky once more. The brief surge of relief Aiden felt disappeared as he realized she was undoubtedly still under the influence of the Ironlord. She hovered over the battlefield, ignoring the occasional arrow that bounced off her protective spells, before unleashing a torrent of fire upon the defenders.
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