The Ravens of Carrid Tower

by David c Black

  "I'll deal with that" He said pointing to the horde who were closing fast.

  "Go." Canno said to the man taking the vials before Locke leapt over the side and down onto a small balcony, then swung down to the ground. He picked up the ladders and ran to position them on the house adjacent to the Pike's shield wall.

  "The second those two get out of view from the rest of the Knights, kill them." Canno said to the closest two archers beside him. Both crouched over to the edge to watch their ambling and oblivious prey through the small gaps between the bricks lining the roof’s edge.

  Rill and the men with him reached the shield wall and flew through. The Pikes’s shields locked together the very instant the last man had passed and banks of pikes waved back above them in full formation. Rill forced himself to focus, taking stock of the situation before ordering the citizens to use the ladder Locke had placed to get above the fray. They had become well practiced ripping out the house's tiles and flinging them down into the packed streets, learning to use their swords and knives to carve through plaster and clay, prying bricks loose from walls and chimneys.

  Rill's Swords started forming up behind the line of Pikes and Canno whistled to him, signalling with his hand to send half to their flank. Before Rill could pass the order on, arrows flew over his head and he turned to watch half of the front line of attackers fall, tripping many behind them, making the mass of fanatics bow at the sides as it surged forward still. More arrows were loosed and Rill told half the swords to run towards the road filled with Knights.

  Canno, ever so slightly anxiously, threw his first grenade. It smashed just above the point where the building's wall met the cobbled street and exploded out into the side of the oncoming Knights. A body was flown into the air while others disappeared in a flash of fire. Canno threw the second one a little behind the first towards the opposite building. Fire filled the street and the Raven couldn't see anything beyond the red inferno. It hungered for air so ferociously that he could see sand on the cobbles being sucked towards it.

  That must be a Raven battle record. At least five hundred caught in that. Rill will say two fifty but still a record.

  He had one more in his hand and reluctantly gave it to an archer.

  Don't want to lose my record. But then... he ain't a Raven.

  "If that fire starts to die and they come through, throw another. It's just like a rock."

  "Yes, sir."

  Canno copied the mage and much less gracefully found his way to the ground, jogging toward his friend. "You brought a party."

  "Came out of nowhere."

  "I think we might have some fault in that. Got spotted looking for you and Harlon"

  Both scouts watched Locke stand on the edge of a tall house and with both hands throw two grenades into the front of the rushing horde. It enveloped everyone in the front line and they could no longer see anything behind, until charred black figures slowly walked out of the flames. Senseless, their bodies burning, arms limply waving around their hips as fires rose up their backs.

  Locke threw another grenade behind the first two, but Canno couldn't hear a blast this time.

  Gas.

  "This could be our moment."

  "To run?"

  "Yeah."

  "Where?"

  "What's back there?"

  "Five hundred knights. But I killed them." Canno said and Rill instantly raised his eyebrows. "Anyway, it's the wrong way. Kellick sent me to get Harlon. He's got bombs."

  "He was by the wall when we left. And only three hundred Pikes. Canno, he could be dead by now."

  "Aye. And we can't get there. Get one of your citizens to tell us the best way back"

  Rill agreed and shouted up to someone that Canno realised his friend had come to know. The man pointed over the rooftop that led from the house they were already on.

  "Let's go."

  The two Raven's coordinated the withdrawals up the ladders and onto the roof. Canno climbed up before Rill and joined the mage. "Take the ladder when everyone's up." Canno called back to Rill.

  "Aye."

  "We're going back to the market" Canno said when he reached the monk who was about to throw another bomb.

  "What about my brother?"

  "Mage, do you think we can find him?"

  The man looked around seeing again the road still full of the enemy who had escaped the flames. His firebombs had barely scratched the surface. Men and women were swarming everywhere in sight, they had spotted them and screamed wildly as they fought each other to get closer. The fanatics climbed up onto anything they could while others ran down alleys to get around the blazing street and attack their rear.

  "Okay."

  "Kill as many as you can." Rill said, who had made it up and was pulling the bone ladders over the ledge. "Along the whole road. Throw as you run." Then he roared as loud as he could. "Let's go!! Back to the market!"

  They ran over the buildings, Locke trailing slightly behind reaching into his bag on the run, throwing one bomb after another into the figures chasing them below. The street beneath them had erupted into a toxic mix of fire and poisonous gas. The fanatics who had made it up onto the houses in front of them were struck down by the running soldiers and were pushed off to fall back into the road. The horde’s assault had been checked, now they ran in panic away from the explosions and heat that the mage cast towards them. Each detonation taking hundreds of them in its searing grip. They kept running occasionally having to drop down into a garden or side street to gain the heights again on another stretch of tenements. Those that followed them did so in fear now, not pursuit. Pushed forward by the plumes of black smoke threatening to overtake and suffocate them. The archers slowed their pace a little and began adding their own missiles to the chaos. They had dodged certain death and all seemed determined now to kill as many of the Shaa's men trapped beyond the flames as possible. The few that escaped being struck, ran straight into a Carridean shield wall guarding the market’s entrance. The Pikes, seeing the trapped fanatic’s fear in the fading light of day, broke formation to engage them individually. They had reached the market.

  "I'm retiring after this Rill."

  “You say that after every battle.”

  “I mean it this time.”

  Kellick stayed in place around the market watching night fall over the city as he received messengers from the blockaded streets around him. Scouts had returned with unsettling news. The Shaa had pulled back from his assaults into the east and west of the city and consolidated their hold on the south. They had broken through enough buildings to push around the market. The next attack would come from three sides.

  After that they will be behind us too.

  The Shaa's men lit torches without care of having their positions revealed. Kellick watched the fires start and spread wider around the city. Everywhere he looked fires burned, moving without pause. The air filled with the same noise as the nights before. Madness. Only now it was amplified within the walls and the shrieks of laughter and screams of pain pierced the darkness once more. Kellick had been given numerous reports of the defenders being dragged back into the horde still alive. He knew they were now being subjected to unimaginable cruelty. He had ordered every spare man, woman and child to help repair the barricades, resupply each building with ammunition and secure any breaches from the day’s violence. Men ran around him in the market below, avoiding the centre which all knew to be rigged to explode.

  The men are tired, but we need all the time we can get.

  "Organise rest in shifts." Kellick said to the sergeant helping to lift up barrels to the roof with a makeshift crane.

  "How long, sir?"

  "A bell. Six sets for six bells"

  "Yes, sir." The sergeant said before calling over another soldier to take over loading the rooftop with barrels of refined oil. They came two bells later as Kellick had expected from three sides. The roads to Main Street filled with torchlight, dancing in the air like a flaming serpent snaking toward them. T
hen lights appeared on the city’s skyline spreading until all Kellick could see was an arc of fire. Concentrating around his position like a tightening noose.

  They are not thinking.

  "Tell the men to extinguish their torches, everywhere. We fight in darkness and fire at the lights."

  When the enemy came into range, the Ravens and Army archers opened fire hidden under the cover of night. Swords ambushed the fanatics on buildings as the horde spread out, disappearing again into the night, before striking again. Arrows filled the sky hitting unseen targets, flames in the air falling down to the ground.

  Either they're putting those torches out or they're dying quickly.

  "Send Pikes into the market. Skirt the edge and hold the roads."

  Arrow fire continued to slam into the oncoming men before the Pikes reached the roads and reinforced the waiting shield walls. They couldn't see a single arrow fly over them, only the impact on front ranks of charging figures visible intermittently under flickering firelight. As each volley struck the closest ragged line of torches appeared to drop out of the air.

  Darkness fell deeper and the fire kept coming. Buildings had set alight and orange hued smoke filled the city above the blazing structures. Hand to hand fighting took place around the market as the defenders desperately tried to hold the horde back. Ja Deist’s citizens, who had become brutalised by the savage street fighting, used anything they could find to kill the invaders. Houses across the line became savage battlegrounds with every room being contested. Kellick had designated buildings for the defenders to lure the fanatics in, before bolting the doors and igniting fire oil. Thousands of the Shaa's flock perished before fleeing back to the south.

  Another day. Kellick thought to himself holding the ledge and watching the galaxy of tiny fires fall away.

  "Sergeant!" The captain shouted.

  "Yes, sir?"

  "Ammo report."

  CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

  Carrid

  The emergency session of the house was the first time this cycle that the Assembly had been even close to full. Adjourned three times and now, four days later, found itself still locked in a bitter stalemate. News of Jaro’s betrayal, his suicide, the fall of Drorea and the siege of Ja Deist had rocked the tower. Adderock had disappeared leaving a bewildered senior officer corps as ignorant to the military and geo-political situation as the rest of the Senators and tower officials. Aldo was perhaps the closest to unravelling the web of treason that had brought the state to the brink of disaster, but found himself unable and unwilling to trust the extent of his knowledge to anyone other than Annick. There was, he was convinced, far more involved than a greedy Consul and his minions playing games in the desert. The concurrence of events across the continent and Carrid’s essential powerlessness to act was too unfortunate to be natural. A hidden master had his hands on unseen strings and it drove the aged spy master mad with a mix of paranoia and something coming close to reluctant respect.

  It could be any of these men. He thought, staring out into the packed Assembly from the public gallery.

  The speaker of the house had tried his best, the spy considered, to keep order but tempers were running high again today. Both of the major parties felt betrayed. Annick argued that in light of Jaro’s crimes and the clearly pressing need for massive executive action, interim Consulship with emergency powers should be granted to him immediately. Jaro’s reeling party, embarrassment notwithstanding, fiercely contested the notion.

  See, we’re fucked…

  “Enough!” Annick finally boomed as he rose, silencing the Assembly. “This house should be ashamed of itself. You won’t countenance my leadership, that much is plain. I am forced therefore to withdraw my claim.” He paused and disquiet gripped the house. “While we fight here, our men die in Ja Deist. Our ally perishes in Drorea. And yet none of you can think further than yourselves.”

  Annick? Aldo thought, looking at Varius who’s perplexed expression seemed to mirror his own surprise.

  “Choose who you will as interim Consul.” The young Senator continued. “Neither I, nor my party will contest your candidate.”

  “The hell we…” Someone shouted from behind him.

  “Quiet!” Annick shouted back quickly, silencing the dissent in his own minority party. The Senators opposite him seemed speechless. “You…” He waved his hands at the men allied to Jaro. “…Are a disgrace. But you leave me no choice. I won’t fight you anymore. Send them the damned monks! Save Ja Deist. Then we… You… Whoever! Can deal with Galtus and the mess in Dror. I withdraw myself from politics until the election, when the people have a chance to decide who they want in that damned chair!” He stabbed with his finger at Jaro’s empty seat facing the curved banks of benches.

  The Assembly was silent, all eyes looked at Annick who seemed to have grown twice his height. Red faced and with fiery eyes he scanned the room as if looking for a challenge. None came. “Mr Speaker!” he eventually boomed.

  “Yes, Senator?” The man blurted out nervously.

  “We will vote now and then I will stand down as leader of the party.”

  “Vote on… What exactly?”

  “Sending the monks to save Ja Deist!

  And like that, Annick had achieved what had never before occurred in over half a millennium of Carridean history. Unanimity. Every Senator in the room rose their hand in favour of the motion.

  Gods… He shamed them.

  He had.

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

  Ja Deist

  The sound of the crickets began to fade and the grey-blue light of dawn Withd the blackness as an unseen sun rose behind the city walls. For the second night in a row, Kellick had not slept. Reports had come to him without pause about the Shaa’s force’s disposition. The Shaa had lost well over half of his army, nevertheless the defenders were still hopelessly outnumbered.

  Today’s the day. Mak’s too far away from us to help still.

  “Captain.” Kellick heard a tired, gruff voice behind him.

  Turning around to see Chiros he replied respectfully, “yes, sir.”

  “Any news of my men and the youngen?”

  “I’m sorry, sir. Nothing. They are still out there I believe.”

  The man said nothing, instead staring out to the smoking city with pursed lips and a brow furrowed with worry.

  “You should go back to the barracks, sir. I’m expecting another assault within the bell.”

  Ignoring what was essentially an order from the Captain, Chiros said, “I should have commanded them to stay with me.”

  “They were Ravens. I don’t think you could have kept them back here even if you had.”

  “I could have forced Bo to stay…”

  “They were the best you know, sir. I’m sure the boy is fine.”

  Chiros grunted to himself then walked towards a ladder resting against the tiled roof that lead to a higher section Kellick had been using as an observation point. “I’ll stay here if you don’t mind.”

  “As you wish, sir.”

  “I’ll wait for my men.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I don’t think they are coming back, Chiros. I’m sorry. The Captain thought to himself. Then he considered the other men he knew he would probably never see again. Most of my Ravens. That mage, Locke…

  Just as the Captain was about to chastise himself again for messing up this battle and killing everyone in the city, the Shaa’s bone horns shrieked confirming to Kellick that they were indeed surrounded. He nodded to the lieutenant waiting patiently a few feet away who in turn motioned for another soldier to sound his giant cornu horn.

  Hearing the competing tenors of bone and brass horns Canno turned to Rill and the pair regarded each other knowingly. They knew this morning would be their final stand.

  “Let’s do this.” Rill said.

  “Aye.” He said softly before shouting to the rest of his makeshift company. “Form a shield wall!” Canno could barely tell the difference now betw
een the surviving Ja Deist citizens and the republican swords. The defenders had lost so many men that they had a surplus of shields and blades and the townfolk had been strapping on new pieces of armour and weapons with each body they encountered. They stood in line with a ferocity in their eyes that came only from facing death time after time and now being forced to look down the spectre once again. Hope and fear had long since departed, Withd simply by the urge to do as much damage to their foe as possible before they were dragged down to hell themselves. They weren’t scared. They were tired and angry.

  Very dangerous men now. Canno considered.

  Looking around him, the Raven saw the same look in the archers and citizens eyes on roofs above. Murderous. Behind him in the square he saw more reserves of men forming up to offer relief when their lines had been overwhelmed.

  The ground began to rumble as the horns died off. From every direction around the barricaded market the fanatic charged towards them. Arrows flew once more overhead as the first figures came into view. The defender’s shields locked together supported by shoulders and the balls of their feet dug into the ground.

  “Steady!” Canno called watching the front line of fanatics jump over a barricade of bodies en-masse. Then with a quick look at Rill, who nodded, suddenly did the unexpected…

  “Charge!”

  The defenders broke formation and ran as fast as they could through the street at the oncoming men. They shouted and screamed at the top of their voices as they smashed into the Shaa’s lines, striking at them with shield and sword.

  “What in gods name are they doing?” Kellick said mostly to himself watching one of his shield walls in the far left alley suddenly break and charge the enemy.

  “Going out in style, Captain.” Chiros said watching the brutal street fighting with admiration. Suddenly a figure appeared next to him on the roof making both Kellick and Chiros flinch.

  “Who…” It’s a damned monk.

  “Captain Kellick?”

  “Yes?”

  “The Assembly sent us.”