The wise men would do anything they could to find out what other magic it could do. During these final days, many more wooden towers had been built that would be able to withstand much damage until they fall. It was now one day before the new advancing army would reach them and soon would have the newly grown forest before them. The reports of how far the Redonian army was in detail was not possible until they were sighted from those hiding in the forest. Kemi made the last preparations and any digging to stabilise the canons had been done finally. There was calm around the land but everyone was feeling the tension in the air.
Jay sat on his horse and looked at the forest that had grown to a mighty one and cut the kingdom off the outside with the help of the new mountains. He couldn’t help but be amazed that new mountains, even if they were not as tall, had been created. With the sun slowly going down, it made for a truly beautiful sight. Kemi had been busy and ordered any entrance to the kingdom to be temporarily blocked by earth that had been raised thanks to the magic stone. Smaller forests around the kingdom had had traps set in them in case of anyone trying to enter through them. The chance of anyone entering through them were small but she would not take any chances.
Kemi wanted the enemy that was marching towards her to only have one entry point which was through the new forest recently raised. The situation became real for many and many hearts of those on the battlefield began to pump faster. A message from a runner that came out from the forest, said the advancing army was now visible from a distance. It could be seen that there were many wagons being seen that were covered with cloths. He said some of the wagons were big while others were wide and Kemi believed they would be upon them within the dawn of the next day.
Night-time came and the fires lit the sky inside of the camp. The soldiers had waited for the assault for days then knowing many people might die and the advancing army would soon be there. At the martial arts school, Gon and the others had hardly been able to sleep. They had all got the information and many stood looking over to the assembled defending army. Even if they were far away, the allied army could still be seen due to the fires that burn. They could see how the fires lit up the darkness that was getting less. Gon knew he was not alone thinking that he wished the sun would take longer to rise. It was not long now; he knew because he could see the sun coming up behind them. Jay, as many others, started to hear a sound coming over the forest and listened carefully to it. He heard the man in the tower, that directed the information to the army, said that the Darcolian army had been sighted and was close to the forest. The wise men and high priests had had trouble to do anything else with the shadow stone than making metal burn dark and strong.
There was only one of the high priests that so far had been able to make the shadow stone react a little more. But without knowledge about what to do with it, they stood uncertain. The Alumrylite might be similar to the earth stone but did not behave as such. The Grasoll lands allied army was now getting the order to stand in formation and ready the swords from those leading. A few men also then carried arrows that had been improved by adding the same metal the shadow stone reacted to. The arrows burned strong as they touched the magic stone and would be used against anything bigger than a man that came out from the forest. There had been an improvement in the metal components and many soldiers also carried stronger swords.
In such pressured time, several breakthroughs had been made. The new material used in the swords was keeping the flame from touching the shadow stone stay much longer and ended after half a day. Some of the arrows were dipped in the improved liquid that had been made. They would make a small explosion on impact that would injure or kill a well-protected soldier. The army ignited as many swords as they could possibly manage and got in position. From the tower, it was told that the attacking army had stopped and were standing in a row. It meant they were ready to advance, knew Kemi.
It was the break of dawn now and the sun had lit up the landscape. The lookout in the tower could see them far away and let those on the ground know the enemy was less in numbers than those protecting the land of Grasoll. A good news that brought great spirits to those ready to fight. The army coming from Darcolia then entered the forest and several rows of soldiers headed in. Many traps had been laid in the forest by Hun and his people and after a while several sounds of them went off. ‘The traps either killed or injured whoever was in the way,’ Hun let Kemi knew.
The tower said the first wave was closing through movement of the forest and there were sightings on them through the trees. The high commander, Hillmer, told his many men to aim their arrows towards the edge of the forest. The soldiers were all behind temporary built walls dug up from the ground to protect them. The first wave of soldiers emerged but they did not get a chance to assemble in formation and instead got hit with arrows that rained down on them. Many of them got hit and some died from the many arrows. But most of them could retreat back to the trees with the help of their shields. When the arrows seized to rain down over the targets, the boulders started to fall towards the edge of the forest.
Kemi intended to show strength and would keep unleashing whatever she had to hold them off. The attacking army had to pull back to not get hit by the boulders that began to rain down. Around forty soldiers lay dead or were wounded while the others would have to head back through the forest. ‘Such a foolish attempt to attack,’ said one of the advisors to Kemi who saw the energy rise in her troops. The soldiers cheered and Jay told them to get ready for the next attack. The soldiers got word from the tower that the attackers had been building up a ramp of some sort and had put something on it, but they could not make out what it was. He said other machines had been revealed and were being armed. Then all of a sudden, the man on top of the tower told everyone to brace for impact. The next thing that happened was a big boulder going through the air and hitting the tower so hard, it passed right through bringing one person out with it.
The large stone landed without hitting anyone and those in the tower looked out through the hole. The people in the tower quickly filled the hole with other wood but it was a temporary solution at best. One of the men at the top yelled to evacuate the tower and it became his last words as the tower got hit by several big boulders that hit its mark. The top of the tower fell with the people inside it towards the ground and got crushed by the impact. Sounds of people still alive made the soldiers rush in to help. Half of the tower still stood but was now abandoned. One of the men coming out on the ground told the officers that there were birds on the big ramps. Confusion was among the army and Jay looked at sky wondering what he meant.
‘There had been reports about these birds before,’ said Hillmer who kept his eyes fixed at the sky. The army soon realised what was meant by the birds when they then saw one in the sky. It was not a real bird and had people inside it but it was understandable why it would be mistaken for one. It had big wings of fabric and wood with a smaller body where they attached to it. It was a strange sight to see since no man had ever left the ground in the lands before. Many stood amazed by seeing something like that but woke up to the reality again very soon. The airborne vessel released a round drum and a bang was heard when the drum hit the ground where the soldiers had scattered. Those not fast enough away from the blast either got seriously hurt or died immediately.
The arrows then started to fly against the bird that turned back over the forest after dropping the drum. Some other gliding birds came past and got shot with the arrows but the exploding tip did only minimal damage to them. They released another drum from the bottom of the flying vessel. More soldiers died and the birds that had released the drum returned to the forest to reload. The next wave of birds did the same and the soldiers spread out to try to avoid getting hit by the bird’s load. The archers were so busy with releasing their arrows at the birds, that they did not realise they were about to get attacked from somewhere else.
The soldiers soon got attacked from the forest again by Redonian archers that tried to hit the a
llied army as they avoided the blasts. For a few seconds, there was some disruption but the archers in the forest soon took cover from the retaliation. Jay ordered the best archers to climb the broken tower and take down those moving the wooden bird in the sky. The archers climbed up and took aim while the new arrow machine that fired bigger arrows was aimed towards the sky as well. One of the birds went down further away when it got hit by the larger arrows. Its driver lost control after being hit by the heavy arrow that made the bird dive. He hit down on the side of the army and those inside were killed by several arrows when they tried to escape.
There were a total of ten different birds at the start and they all released their load at the front of the army to return right back after. With nine left, those flying the birds became careful to not come too close to the broken tower. The archers inside of the forest then got bombarded with boulders which made them retreat and seize their activity. From the tower, one of the archers had noticed a big movement in the forest and saw the trees swing. He signalled to Jay who looked at the point of the movement and heard a mechanical sound. He suddenly saw the big moving machine that looked like an animal. It came out of the forest and made a mechanical noise as it moved on four legs. Steam was coming out from several places.
Kemi wondered how it was possible to bring such life into a machine and also be able to create flying wooden birds. Hillmer believed they might have greatly underestimated the enemy and saw the machine move towards the army. Many arrows hit it but made no impact whatsoever while also moving away from any boulder coming. It opened the front and suddenly, fired a smaller canon through it that hits several soldiers. Jay knew he would have to act fast and saw the rest of the army coming from behind the mechanical beast then. He ordered the archers to continue to bring down the birds and the canons to start fire against the threat coming. The many arrows the soldiers fired, hit one of the birds on the wing and with the extra weight at the wing, it began to spin to eventually crash.
Lucky for the soldier inside, it was close enough to the forest and he just nearly could get away. The log shooter that had been waiting to be used went off and hits the machine on four legs on the side causing heavy damage but not enough since it could continue forward. It did, however, open up the side somewhat to expose little of what was inside. One of the birds went further in and dropped a drum over one of the log canons being loaded and it destroyed it completely. The bird had to glide further in and then would be unable to return all the way back over the forest. It landed at the edge where the two people inside quickly abandoned it to head inside the forest. The machine attacking got company by five more beasts looking machines that had come out. They were then attacking head on the army that was in the front. The soldiers had a hard time damaging the monster even with their swords and many got seriously injured when they got trampled or when the canon fired in to the crowd.
The mechanical beasts only stayed in the front and pulled back but kept the focus on them. With a sound of a horn, the allied soldiers looked towards the forest where now hundreds of soldiers wearing the Darcolian armour rushed out holding their shields in front of them. They were all large men, some looking to be twice the size of a soldier in the allied forces. The fight had truly begun and many more soldiers came out from the forest standing in a line. Some of the shields got hit with arrows having an exploded tip that broke the shields they hit. None of the officers in charge intended to wait until the attacking soldiers had assembled and ordered their soldiers to engage those that had emerged.
The sound of swords hitting could be heard and Jay was on his horse hitting anyone he could. He brought with him fifty of his men all on horses while Hillmer circled around with his division to make more impact. They ran straight into the attacking army that continue to fill up from behind and started to fight. The canons went off and the arrow canons aimed for the tree exit that hit many people but was still not making enough damage to the attacking soldiers when strong shields were used. Then it was clear that the exploding tip they were hoping would bring more damage had failed in its intended form.
The substance would then only be used on the bigger arrows that shot against the machines. Hillmer came back and told Kemi they waited too long before shooting them and Kemi felt a mistake like that was devastating at this point. Despite the arrows’ failure, they kept unloading waves of arrows towards the forest that took out some of the advancing soldiers. They kept pressing on but Kemi had spent long time preparing the defence and then the big logs came flying that made a bigger impact on the soldiers coming. They held them off from advancing too quickly and Jay had control over the fight. Despite the men wearing the Darcolian armour attacked some, they seem almost to just hold the allied army where it was. But not the mechanical beasts that continued to attack head on.
The beasts got chopped many times over the body and legs and eventually one was finely brought down by the soldiers. A lucky strike that injured the steam machine inside destroyed it completely. The beast caused much destruction when it exploded after the steam hits the ammunition inside. Much injury was inflicted upon the soldiers who happened to be around it. Jay saw another bird went down to hit the ground but with the drum still in the bird it would cause some damage. It began to roll towards one of the wooden towers that had archers in them. With no one able to reach it in time, it blew a hole on the side, making it fall to the side.
A noise from the forest was heard and as Jay looked to the tower, he saw the archers point to the whole forest and he then knew why when six more beasts came out from the forest followed by a lot of army men that fill up from the back. They had different armour and were from Redonia, Jay could easily see. He looked at his men he commanded and saw them doubt themselves because even if they outnumbered the advancing soldiers, they all knew how well the attackers were in war. Having the birds and beasts to watch out for also helped to brought worry to them. Jay knew he must bring the morale up again and told one of the soldiers to bring the jars of exploding material to him immediately onto the battlefield. The soldier brought others and the fight continued with the loss of men on both sides. The Redonian and Darcolian army pushed forward with great skill and brought down those careless enough to face them.
With both armies fighting, it was too dangerous to fire canons as it might injure some on the same side. The soldier Jay sent away for the jars had returned to give one of them to him. He rode towards one of the beasts that had none around him as the soldiers tried to stay away from them. Jay threw the jar on the beast that was about to fire its canon. When the jar hit the beast, it gave away a big blast. It was intense enough that it made Jay fall off his horse when the beast exploded. Others followed the same tactic by taking down two additional beasts. Those handling the machine had seen what happened and tried to take out one of the soldiers coming at them.
A direct hit caused the rider as well as the horse to die instantly while also killing four soldiers that were unfortunate to be in the way. Kemi handled the defence of Grasoll land like a true soldier with many years of tactics under her. She was quick to move the soldiers so they were not in the way and ordered projectiles to be shot continuously where ever they could. Her efforts got rewarded as the advancing army then had to watch out for the heavy rain of various things coming at them.
The Grasoll army moved forward and forced the attacking army back by the will of victory. A cloud of arrows, boulders, logs and blasts from the contents of the jars, helped to bring much damage to them. A horn was heard and suddenly, the attacking army began to retreat. However, one more of the beasts went down before it was able to head back. This was a situation that could not be neglected and everyone pushed harder. The attacking force was backing off to the forest that was still growing thick. The Darcolian soldiers with their massive shields were able to hold back the allied forces, so that everyone still able to fight had a chance to escape. Some were pulled away while others had to be left. What was making the retreat possible was the narrow passage that was cr
eated by the earth stone in the first place.
The earth stone’s power made the forest hard to escape through. Especially, those soldiers that carried powerful shields but also for the Grasoll army to advance in. The attacking army had many archers shooting at the forces defending their land that had to hold back to not sustain more damage. Another bird went down over the forest after a lucky hit by a log hitting it on the back as it was turning back. It would be the last for a while and the archers in the broken tower could not see anything else coming at them. The army cheered and felt they might have caused enough damage to the attackers.
Kemi was relieved that they were able to stand against an attack like that. She got several cheers herself for the way she had made sure Grasoll land remained under her control. Jay heard from the archers from the tower that the enemy was retreating back through the forest with the archers inside it also drawing back. The army assembled once again and any wounded were carried back to the healers. The dead were brought back to the castle and the dead soldiers from the other side were left for then. Some angry soldiers killed anyone from the attacking side that was still alive but the officers tried to make sure those incapable of defending themselves were left alone. Gon and everyone else had, from the lookout point at his house, seen what had been happening far away. He was using a looking glass and found relief in what he had seen. They were happy for the win and hoped the battle was over.
Great Power
The large tower was rebuilt quickly again and then looked over the forest once more. For hours, the army on the other side could be seen working on something they couldn’t see. Kemi would not become surprised again by the birds or beast and made sure her machines were placed in position so they could take down both what came from the sky as well as the ground. Then that the enemy had presented some of their weapons, she felt she could draw a plan to defeat them better if they came again. Jay, together with Hillmer, as well as other officers placed their soldiers in their right spots again. There had been some loss but with the sheer number of soldiers inside the Grasoll land from both Domoro and Kemi’s own soldiers, it was not noticeable.
World of Taroo Page 46