Endless Flight

by A. C. Cobble

  “I’m just a brewer!” shouted Ben.

  Rhys shook his head. “If you were just a brewer, you’d be back in Farview now, brewing. You’re a warrior, Ben, a warrior for what you believe in.”

  “He’s right about that,” conceded Amelie. “Since we left Farview, you haven’t had to do any of this. You’ve been with me, with us, because you wanted to. Because you saw a problem you could help fix and because you thought it was the right thing to do.”

  Ben sat back, unsure of what to say.

  They all turned when Towaal’s bedroom door opened. The mage walked slowly into the common room. The bags under her eyes had receded, but she still looked worse for wear.

  “What are you talking about? I heard shouting,” she asked.

  “Rhys said you were pledging fealty to us,” replied Amelie flatly.

  Towaal looked at Rhys. “I’m not sure I’d put it exactly like that…” she mumbled. “But we will follow your lead. This world needs people like you, leaders like you. We will go wherever you take us.”

  “They’re going to stay and fight the demons,” remarked Rhys.

  “That’s a good start.” Towaal nodded. She then sat down and started devouring breakfast.

  Ben and Amelie met each other’s eyes. They had a lot to talk about.

  The rest of the day, the group recovered from their travels. Towaal went back to sleep after breakfast. Rhys suggested they practice the Ohms. They hadn’t been able to do it in the snow, so Ben felt a little rusty. Once they got into it, he quickly fell into the rhythm of the movements. Amelie didn’t know as much of the series as Ben, so she did what she could. Then she sat back and watched while Ben and Rhys continued.

  By the end, Ben felt centered and relaxed. Well, as relaxed as someone could be, knowing an army of demons was descending upon them.

  “Shall we go look at the fortifications?” suggested Rhys.

  “Sure,” replied Ben. Despite all of the time he’d spent with the guards in Whitehall, Ben had never actually been on a battlement. He was curious to find out what was up there.

  They all strapped on their weapons and left to explore.

  “Will we be assigned a post?” inquired Amelie. “I’ve never been in a battle before.”

  Rhys shook his head. “We’re not assigned to a company, so no one is going to come looking for us. The military the world over is organized in rigid bureaucracies. If we aren’t on someone’s list, we won’t be assigned.”

  “Where do we go to fight then?” asked Ben.

  “Wherever we are needed,” responded Rhys. “We can check with some of the hunters in the city and see what they are doing. They are likely serving in a flying squad or something similar. We might also see something we can help with when we are on the walls. Where the fighting is the hottest, that’s where we want to be.”

  “Where it’s hottest?” asked Amelie, nervously fingering the hilt of her rapier.

  “You wanted to fight in defense of Northport, right?” Rhys grinned.

  They were nearing the tall outer walls of Northport and Ben saw a familiar mop of red hair bobbing ahead.

  “Corinne!” he called.

  The huntress turned and waved to them. Just like on the quest to the Rift, she was dressed in tight-fitting leathers and had her bow and axes strapped on.

  She was walking with Seneschal Franklin.

  “Hello,” said the elderly courtier as they approached. “I heard you are intending to stay and fight with us. I am glad. Your swords are each worth a couple dozen of our soldiers if what Corinne tells me is true.”

  “I’m not sure about that,” muttered Amelie under her breath.

  “We’re going to look at the battlement,” added Ben.

  “That’s where we are headed,” said Corinne. “Come with us.”

  She turned and they started down the street again. “Have you been assigned a company?”

  “No,” replied Ben. “We were just talking about that. Where will you be fighting?”

  Franklin snorted.

  Corinne shot him a look. “We were just talking about that too.”

  Ben raised an eyebrow.

  “My da wants me to stay behind and help protect the keep,” she continued. “Like we will have anything left to fight for if the demons reach there.”

  “Your da?” asked Ben.

  “Remember? I told you about him when we first met,” reminded Corinne. “I told you he used to be a good shot with a bow, back in his day.”

  “Still is a good shot,” grumbled Franklin.

  “You’re her father!” exclaimed Amelie.

  The elderly seneschal shrugged. “That’s what her mom tells me.”

  Corinne gently shoved her father’s shoulder. “He doesn’t like to take ownership of me. He thinks I’m too wild. Instead of hunting demons, he wants me to settle down and have a hundred grandbabies for him to play with.”

  Franklin shook his head. “She exaggerates,” he complained. “Every father has a right to be protective of his daughter.”

  “There is protective, and there is over-protective,” challenged Corinne. “I have skills that will be useful in the fight ahead. You can’t always keep me away from danger, Da.”

  “He sent you with us, didn’t he?” asked Ben.

  Corinne looked at her father. “You’re right. He did do that.”

  “You should only fight when you need to,” remarked Franklin. “And I’ll be the first to admit, she does know how to do it, but I want her to fight for something worthwhile, instead of just fighting!”

  They walked on toward the wall.

  Franklin added with a sly twinkle in his eye, “Also, her mom keeps pestering me to find a suitable husband so she can start on those grandbabies.”

  Corinne stumbled and coughed. The rest of the group chuckled.

  For a seneschal to a powerful lord, Franklin sounded just like any father.

  “Here we are,” said Rhys, bringing them all back to business.

  They stood near the base of the outer wall. Ben looked up to see a steep stone staircase crawling to the top.

  “I’m touring the defenses for a report to Lord Rhymer,” said Franklin. “You are all welcome to come with me. Maybe along the way we can find a good spot for you.”

  Atop the wall, they found a wide walkway populated with a throng of soldiers scurrying about preparing for war. Spears and quivers full of arrows were being set at regular intervals. Rocks, massive bolts, and heavy iron balls were placed conveniently for catapults and trebuchets. Kettles of thick black liquid were stored far away from braziers of hot coals.

  Outside of the wall, brightly covered stakes were placed in the ground to help archers gauge distance. Workers were digging holes and pounding in forests of freshly sharpened stakes. Other men were digging trenches and filling them with water. Ben realized they were doing anything they could to slow the charge of the demons. Unlike traditional war, none of this would scare the creatures off, but any delay in the attack would give the ranged weapons more time to thin out the horde.

  Behind the wall, the first blocks of buildings were evacuated then boarded up. Temporary watch towers had been erected on the roofs. Ben could see they would be used as archery platforms. Narrow walkways were placed between some of the rooftops where men could retreat if the walls fell. The sound of hammering filled the air as men scrambled across the hastily erected structures, making last- minute adjustments and extending the fortifications deeper into the city.

  On the streets below, wagons, barrels, furniture, and other heavy debris was cobbled together to block off avenues. They would funnel the demons into dead ends where men from above could rain death down on them.

  It was all cleverly designed to create confusion in the simple creatures and lead them into situations where men wouldn’t have to engage hand to hand.

  Ben saw hunters with tightly packed groups of soldiers clustered around them. Discussing tactics, he surmised.

  “Demons ar
e common in the Wilds,” explained Franklin, “but most of our soldiers serve around Northport or to the south. Some have faced demons, some have not. We asked the hunters to give them any insight they can.” He shrugged. “You folks know, fighting demon isn’t like fighting a man.”

  As they walked, Franklin started to fidget nervously. They began looking at him strangely. Finally, he asked, “Will Lady Towaal fight with us? We heard she has been ill since you returned.”

  “Our quest took a lot out of her,” acknowledged Rhys. “She is resting now and has no intention of leaving before the attack. Honestly, I am not sure what she will be capable of in the next few days, if anything. If she is able, she will assist.”

  Franklin nodded, not entirely pleased with the answer, but obviously glad to have it in the open.

  Every two hundred paces, they passed an open platform holding artillery. A heavy guard stood around each of the massive weapons and a bristle of polearms leaned against the battlement, making them look like wild hedgehogs.

  Amelie peered closely at baskets of ammunition set behind the artillery.

  “Expecting intense fighting around these?” asked Rhys, gesturing to a looming catapult.

  “A human opponent would focus on these weapons as soon as they got close,” answered Franklin, “but a typical demon isn’t tactically minded. We are not sure they will understand the significance of the artillery.”

  “I think we should assume they will,” advised Rhys. “The swarms we faced had limited tactical knowledge, but it was more than I have ever witnessed. If there is an arch-demon mature enough to lead thousands of its brethren, it’s likely to be very intelligent. Plan for the worst.”

  Franklin nodded. “Based on your report of the ambush, we’ve tried to account for more than just animal instincts. If they are smart enough and a large enough number…” The seneschal left the rest unsaid. They all knew that if the demons displayed the intelligence of a human commander, Northport might not win the battle.

  Near the end of the tour, Rhys turned to Ben and Amelie. “I think we have two choices. We could join a flying company and respond to whatever threat is most urgent, or we could protect one of these artillery weapons.”

  Amelie responded, “Let’s protect the artillery.” Quietly she added, “I have some things I want to try. It will require a great deal of concentration and I want to be stationary.”

  Ben nodded. “That sounds good to me.”

  “All right then,” replied Rhys, clapping his hands together. “We’ll figure out which one is closest then wait for the bells to ring.”

  A Ringing Bell

  Ben was nervous. Two days after the tour of the wall, the preparations around Northport continued with no sign of the demons. That morning though, he learned there was also no sign of Captain Ander or the remaining soldiers from Skarston. The assumption was they didn’t make it out in time.

  “Do you think they will really attack in one large swarm?” asked Ben.

  He was doing some light sword practice with Amelie. He wanted to spend more time adjusting to the weight and feel of his mage-wrought blade, and she could use all the practice she could get with her two blades. They kept the exertion minimal to not wear themselves down. It was more about staying sharp than developing anything new.

  “I don’t know,” she answered, breathing heavily. “Each swarm we faced in the Wilds had an arch-demon, but the one at Snowmar didn’t. I don’t know what that means. Is it even possible for that many demons to work together?”

  “I don’t think they have before,” answered Ben. “But who knows.”

  “Maybe Towaal will find something out,” responded Amelie.

  “Maybe,” replied Ben doubtfully.

  Days earlier, Towaal had ensconced herself in the library. They heard she was making the Librarian’s life a hell. Supposedly, Lord Rhymer himself had to go down and instruct the man to continue assisting her. The Librarian had been outraged when they returned from the Wilds and related their story. When Towaal demanded more access to his stacks, he became apoplectic. He was rather fussy when it came to his books and seemed to take it personally they had destroyed the Rift without consulting him further.

  “Has Rhys said anything?” inquired Amelie. “He’s rather old, isn’t he? And he lived in Northport for a time. I would think that he knows something. Anything could help.”

  Ben shrugged. “He’s been closed in with Corinne. I’m not sure if they’re discussing battle plans or, uh, something else…but he hasn’t told me anything. I get the impression when he lived here, he spent most of his time carousing.”

  “Well, that doesn’t surprise me,” muttered Amelie.

  The sun fell behind the walls of Rhymer’s keep. The courtyard they were practicing in fell under a shroud of twilight. The keep was built of dark stone. As soon as the sun vanished, it turned into a rather creepy, gloomy place. Ben thought that if he lived there too long, he’d grow depressed. Maybe that was why Rhymer was such a lush. The thought of being home and sober was too much to take.

  “Deep thoughts?” asked Amelie.

  Ben smiled and shook his head. “No, just thinking that I’m ready to get out of this place.”

  “Me too,” agreed Amelie. “Come on. Let’s find something to eat.”

  The mess hall was near the center of the keep and Ben found it more pleasant than the formal dining room where most of the courtiers ate. In the mess hall, it was guards, maids, masons, blacksmiths, and other craftsmen who kept the keep running. Ben appreciated being around the people who got their hands dirty. In the courtiers’ dining room, he always felt like he was being watched. Amelie had not publicly announced herself, so speculation was running high on who they were and why they seemed to have Rhymer and Franklin’s ears.

  Ben led Amelie to the mess hall. She smiled at him but stayed silent. She was perfectly comfortable in the dining room and didn’t mind the stares. She’d grown up in that environment.

  They walked to the front of the room to collect trays, plates, a mug of ale, and an overflowing ladle of soup. Soups and stews were common in the mess. It was easy for the cooks to make a large batch and keep it going throughout the day. The dining room had finer fare that was cooked to order. Ben did miss that.

  Sitting down to eat, Ben spooned up his first bite then dropped it when an incessant clanging started.

  Amelie’s startled eyes met his and they both stood up.

  “That’s the signal,” he declared needlessly.

  All around them, guards and soldiers were getting to their feet. Other staff was quickly scooping up what remained on their plates before leaving to their stations. Chambermaids and farriers would become nurses and stretcher-bearers once the fighting started.

  Amelie grabbed a loaf of bread and Ben chugged down half a mug of ale before they scrambled to follow the soldiers out the door.

  The keep was organized chaos. Everyone had an assigned role, but the eve of a battle was still frantic. They passed several people who seemed to have lost their nerve.

  One young soldier was getting sick out a window. A maid stood beside him, encouraging him to get it together, to be brave. Young lovers, thought Ben. He hoped the man made it back to see his girl.

  Outside the keep, they rushed down the main thoroughfare, joining a host of soldiers headed in that direction. Coming the other way were townspeople who had not yet evacuated their residences. Their faces were painted with nervous panic. Many of them were carrying armfuls of valuables and supplies.

  “They should have left earlier,” remarked Amelie, observing one woman struggling to keep her two crying children with her and not drop a cloth-wrapped armful of candlesticks and food.

  Ben nodded in agreement.

  Torches flared into light ahead of them. Men rushed through the flickering flame lit streets to ignite more of them. Ben could see atop the city walls that the bonfires were burning high in the giant braziers as well. In darkness, the demons had the advantage.


  Rushing up the steep stone stairs to the top of the wall, Ben almost forgot to be nervous about the height. A shout from below drew his gaze down. He quickly leaned against the cold stones of the wall as they made it the rest of the way up.

  On top of the wall, the pace of the soldiers was slower. The men who’d made it there were in place and ready. Soldiers checked over bows strings and adjusted armor. For them, it was now a waiting game.

  “Hurry up and wait,” remarked Rhys when they found him already stationed near the catapult.

  Two dozen soldiers and half a dozen artillery men also stood on the platform. Ben walked to the battlement and looked out through a crenellation into the quickly darkening fields below. The last slivers of sunlight were falling away as the sun ducked below the city behind him.

  Huge bonfires were placed in the killing field. They lit the archer’s stakes but not much else. As far as Ben could see, there was nothing to see.

  “Are we sure the demons are coming?” he inquired.

  A man bearing the rank of a sergeant rested his forearms on the battlement beside Ben. “Aye, they’re out there.”

  “I don’t see anything,” remarked Ben.

  “Cords were placed throughout the forest,” explained the man. “Long, thin cords tied to flags at the tree line. Half a bell ago, those flags started getting pulled down, like a big force was moving out there and knocking down all of the cords.”

  Ben stared hard at the dark forest, still not seeing anything, but confident the man’s explanation was correct.

  Amelie was sitting near the back of the wall. She was cross-legged on her cloak and had her eyes closed.

  Rhys caught Ben’s look and shrugged. She was trying to do something magical, Ben guessed. Given her skill, maybe she didn’t want to over-promise. Anything would help. They still weren’t sure if Towaal was rested enough to fight. She hadn’t left the library even for food in over a day.