The nomads that had been galloping behind them couldn't jump over the barrier and ended up stuck in the general heap. Hadjar and Nero used the piled up bodies to once again jump up. Nero mounted a horse and began cutting his way through. Hadjar, however...
As if he weighed less than a feather, he kept jumping from one horse to the next. The riders were all clustered tightly together, making it easier for him. With every leap, Hadjar brought his sword down on someone's neck, head, or torso.
The spurts of blood and the cries of the dying followed him. But Hadjar had gotten used to them. On the contrary, he now welcomed them. They were the harbingers of the ghost of a victory that might be snatched from this hell full of scarlet and orange. An inferno of blood and fire.
At some point, after forcefully pushing off from yet another rider, Hadjar landed behind Nero, who was swinging his heavy blade around like a child would a toy. Each of his blows found a new target.
Nero spurred the horse on and it jumped over another hill of bodies. On the other side of the mass of corpses, the battle with the monster and the savages was already underway. The infantry and horsemen were all trying to overwhelm the creature and bring it down. But it only growled as one ‘bug’ after another tried to penetrate its armor.
The monster was no less than twenty feet tall and crushed its enemies like ants. Its water attacks only made the situation worse.
“You're on top, I'm on the bottom!” Nero shouted.
“You're nasty,” Hadjar smiled and pushed off the horse.
He soared into the air, aiming for the monster's muzzle. Hadjar, swinging his blade through the air, used the first stance of the ‘Light Breeze’ Technique while still airborne. A whirlwind consisting of cutting wind and blades was launched from the sword and crashed into the creature's paws.
The wind shredded the armor, and the blades destroyed its scales and spilled its blue blood on the ground.
The monster growled in pain, but the attack hadn't been enough to bring him down. Thankfully, Nero was already standing at the beast’s feet. He swung his sword and a gigantic palm with knives instead of fingers grabbed hold of the creature’s right leg. When the fist opened, the leg was gone.
The monster fell and Hadjar landed on his chest. He took a single, floating step and thrust his blade into the monster’s throat.
“Lidish,” Hadjar heard a low, menacing voice with a strong accent.
A giant, worthy of doing battle with Dogar, stepped forward out of the infantry ranks of the savages. Six and a half feet tall, two feet at the shoulders, holding a huge hammer in his hands.
“Cover me,” Hadjar asked his friend and jumped down.
The soldiers of both armies formed a circle around them. Sometimes, someone too hotheaded would break the temporary ‘truce’ during this separate phase of the battle.
The would-be troublemaker was soothed by Nero's sword right away. The young warrior had Hadjar’s back and would not allow anyone to interfere in the fierce battle.
The giant was circling Hadjar and displaying his tan muscles, which were covered only by the skins of various animals. He wore no armor. At all. Only skins, leather pants, and boots. Apparently, a single hammer was enough for him. Somebody’s remains dripped down from it, but Hadjar believed that it would also be quite easy to break through the walls with such a weapon.
The savages greeted their illustrious warrior general with shouts of joy. He walked in circles, shaking his gigantic hammer. He growled like a wild beast and his red hair, tied into braids, sparkled, decorated both with beads and the teeth of his defeated enemies.
He was strong and powerful and saw only a little man with a pitiful sword in front of him. What could a sword do against his omnipotent hammer! He’d squashed dozens of swordsmen with his weapon, he’d forced hundreds of people to cry in terror and beg for their mothers. He was one of the most ferocious generals in the savages’ army. He’d won his way to fame and fortune. He was powerful and strong. He would be the master of this battle!
Snarling like a mountain lion, he rushed in with a surprisingly fast jump. Bringing the hammer up over his head, he brought it down with such force that the ground around Hadjar sank slightly. But none of the warriors could understand what happened next.
The red-robed swordsman assumed a light, smooth stance. He slightly moved his blade and the hammer capable of crushing town walls didn't touch a hair on his head. It, as if directed by an invisible stream of wind, had twisted around Hadjar and hit the ground a yard from him. Many soldiers felt their bodies shaking from the strike and almost lost their balance, and in the place where the hammer had struck, a hole nearly three feet in diameter had formed.
The barbarian general was unable to raise his mighty weapon once more. He didn’t even get a chance to growl one final time or comprehend his own death.
Steel whistled, the blade flashed, and his head rolled off his shoulders.
The savages howled with rage and rushed in to attack, but immediately ran into the infantry and cavalry of Lidus that had come to the rescue.
Suddenly, two lightning bolts flashed in the sky above the Fort, and then a rain of white lightning dragons struck the ground.
“The signal!” The officers of Lidus shouted and sent their troops toward the Fort to reinforce it.
To a casual observer, it might’ve looked like the army of General Leen had faltered and began to retreat. The savages roared in anticipation of a quick victory and charged in to pursue the Lidus army.
Hadjar and Nero ran to the Fort as well. But they chose a difficult path. Instead of running toward the gate that had been broken by the ram, they rushed in the direction of one of the savages’ siege towers.
It was the fourth hour of the battle.
Chapter 69
Nero and Hadjar cut their way through to the siege tower. It was a huge construction made up of logs and covered with sheets of iron and shields from the outside. Inside, hundreds of savages were climbing the stairs. They would walk up in a continuous line until they were at the bridge.
Said bridge was a kind of ‘tongue’ that came out of the siege tower. It was positioned above and behind the battlements on the wall and had been fastened there with several hooks that were so heavy that they could not be easily removed.
Hadjar and Nero climbed the logs which had been drenched in blood. Arrows sometimes found a gap in the outer wall of the tower and then found the bodies of the besiegers. Any corpses were dropped straight down, and that is why there was no wall or any other kind of barrier on the back of the tower. Otherwise, within ten minutes of the attack, the stairs would’ve been clogged with dead bodies.
Slaughtering their enemy from behind, Hadjar and Nero kept climbing higher and higher. After they’d gotten past the first flight of stairs, someone had noticed that they were being pushed not by their allies, but by two warriors with bloodied faces and blades. Their eyes burned like the gems of the abyss, and not a single part of their bodies or armor was clean.
The battle inside the tower began. But despite the fact that Hadjar and Nero had already started breathing heavily, and were wielding their blades slower with each passing second as fatigue caught up to them, the savages still didn’t have a chance. They were killed by the dozen, and their bodies were thrown down, filling the entrance to the tower, hindering the infantrymen hurrying to their comrades’ rescue.
Hadjar swung his blade and then snatched an enemy’s sword from his cut off hands. He nailed one of the savages to the wall with that sword, and, quickly turning around, kicked the falling body of the first enemy down the stairs. Waving his bleeding stumps, the savage fell on his back and rolled down, knocking over the fighters that had been able to get past the barrier of corpses.
The barbarian that had been nailed to a log with a sword croaked something, but Nero jabbed his pommel in the guy’s face as he was passing by. The savage’s skull crumpled like a cardboard box and he quieted down.
Nero's sword was too long for c
lose quarters fighting, so he walked behind and slightly to the right of Hadjar. That way, he could cover Hadjar’s side and prevent particularly zealous opponents from getting a hit on him with a saber or even a short spear.
Hadjar cut off a tall man’s leg and threw him down. He screamed, and then a gentle thud was heard. It wasn't far to the ground, after all.
A woman with a saber stepped forward, but she didn't manage to reach Hadjar's right side, as she was impaled on Nero's long sword as soon as she tried. Her body tumbled down as well, following the previous one.
Setting a fast pace and carving a path through their foes, Hadjar and Nero quickly reached the bridge. There, covered by shields, the archers were on their knees. They were launching arrows at the parapet so that the defenders could not get to the hooks and get rid of them.
Nero and Hadjar finished off the archers with just two slashes and threw the shields at the savages running toward them.
Jumping onto the wall, they, without saying a single word to each other, immediately ran to opposite sides of the bridge. The hooks had been fastened with special chisels, and when they pried them out, the defenders of the Fort came just in time to push the bridge down.
Someone also brought a canvas bag and then threw it into the open ‘mouth’ of the tower. An archer, after dipping an arrow into some flammable liquid, shot at the bag. The bowstring sang and a powerful explosion rang out. Burning logs fell on the savages rushing in to attack and they screamed as they burned and died.
The arrows flew into the sky from down below and Hadjar and Nero, like the other defenders, immediately crouched, hiding behind the protection of the wall.
“Officers,” one of the defenders crawled over to Nero. “Thank you. We’ve been fighting to get rid of this tower for half an hour.”
“What’s the situation, soldier?” Hadjar asked.
He looked out over the wall. Endless streams of enemies were flocking to the Fort. On horseback, on foot, some were even on monsters, and all of them were hurrying to trample and slaughter the last of the Lidus army.
“The gate was blown up about an hour and a half ago. There’s fighting in the streets,” the soldier spoke hurriedly, sometimes pausing in order to hide from the next cloud of arrows.
“Where’s the senior officer in charge of this section of the wall?”
“He's dead,” the soldier reported immediately. “As well as the mid-level officer. I’ve been commanding this sector for nearly three hours already.”
It turned out he’d been in charge almost since the beginning of the battle...
“You’ve held on well, soldier. Keep up the-”
An arrow whistled and the man with whom Hadjar had just been talking fell onto his side. The arrow had pierced his helmet and then his head. It had flown through his right temple and the tip had exited from the left one.
The soldier’s eyes rolled back and he began to fall on Hadjar, who immediately pushed the body aside, throwing it off the wall. The savages already had ladders up against the walls.
“We need to get out of here, Hadj,” Nero said. “We’ll have to exit the Fort on the other side.”
“Let's go along the wall,” Hadjar suggested after orienting himself.
But, unfortunately, there was an explosion and the neighboring section of the wall was blown to pieces like a demolished house of cards. The stones fell on the savages and the defenders found themselves plummeting. Screaming in terror, they tried to grab on to something but failed. They fell and met their death.
“You might want to stop talking,” Nero suggested.
They turned in the other direction and saw that the bridge of a new siege tower had already been attached to the battlements on the wall. Dozens of savages were already rushing to the parapet.
“What was that you said about me not speaking?”
“Jump!”
Hadjar didn't have time to understand why Nero had dragged him down. They tumbled from the wall. Hadjar fell with his face turned up, so he didn’t see where they landed. The only thing that he’d felt before landing was a terrible stench.
They found themselves in a seat that resembled a huge saddle for at least five people. Actually, Nero had already killed those five people by the time Hadjar had come to his senses and gotten back up.
“Go!” Nero yelled and cracked the reins.
A gigantic beast, resembling both an armadillo and an elephant simultaneously, went through the gap that had formed in the enemy ranks. There were usually five savages riding these monsters. Four archers and one ‘driver’.
Nero and Hadjar, sticking to the tried and true methods, had once again captured an enemy transport.
“Hold the reins!” Nero threw two leather ropes to Hadjar.
He caught them on the fly and immediately stood on the edge of the seat. He directed the monster further into the fort, trampling and crushing the savages that had flooded the streets.
Nero, taking advantage of his long blade, was attacking the nomads who were trying to get on the monster and throw off the invaders. Every slash of his sword cut off arms or heads.
“Go south!”
“I know!” Hadjar snapped.
He pulled the reins to the side, guiding the beast out from under the rubble of a collapsing building. The monster wasn’t very fast, but it ran with the weight and inevitability of a steamroller. Hadjar looked around. Rivers of blood were flowing through the channels along the streets. Hundreds, no, thousands of corpses had piled up all around them. Broken barricades and the cries of the dying helped paint a grim picture. Lots of fellow soldiers tried to get to Hadjar and Nero.
Many of them were killed by spears or arrows along the way. Some of them managed to reach the monster, but Nero and Hadjar couldn’t take them ‘aboard’. They would only turn away from them, continuing on their way, deep into the city.
As soon as they slowed down, even for a second, in order to take on a passenger, they would’ve immediately been riddled with arrows.
“Damn it!” Hadjar cried out, spotting something gravely dangerous.
This time, it was his turn to grab Nero and jump down. A painted savage, covered in small bags with burning wicks, had run out of a half-ruined building.
Roaring madly, the savage ran at the beast, and then there was an explosion.
A wave of hot air threw Nero and Hadjar aside and launched them about a dozen yards down the street.
Getting back up and shaking off the fetid entrails of the monster, they found themselves in the middle of a wide avenue. A horde of enemies was running toward them from the direction of the blown up gate, and a barricade of bales and carts piled up in a mass was blocking the street to the south.
“Over here! Quickly!” The people behind the barricade shouted.
“Gods,” Nero wiped his face and tore off some blood that had gotten crusty on his eyelids. He almost tore out all of his eyelashes as well. “Will this day ever end?”
And so they ran to the barricade, deflecting arrows as they did.
Chapter 70
“Where's that damn second signal?!” the officer behind the barricade shouted.
Nero and Hadjar took the bows of the dead Fort defenders. In total, there were about forty people behind the barricade. Each soldier fired at the attackers as best they could. Huge waves of nomads flooded the streets and rooftops.
Whether they were on their monsters and horses or on foot, they were rushing toward the city. Some immediately started looting while others attacked the barricades or got bogged down in battles on the streets.
Hadjar pulled back the bowstring and fired. The arrow flew forward and then went almost a yard over the enemy’s heads.
“Give that to me!” Nero roared, taking the quiver away from his friend. “You’ll only waste arrows!”
Nero fired three arrows in quick succession. Each of them sent a savage to the next world.
“Where-”
The officer didn’t have time to finish his question b
efore pillars of white light struck the battlefield once more. The lightning bolts descended like angry dragons from the black skies to tear through everything and everyone.
“Pull back!” the soldiers screamed immediately.
Discarding their bows, arrows, and even part of their ammunition, the defenders jumped off the barricades and rushed toward the southern gate. They ran so fast that the steel soles of their shoes produced sparks when striking the stone of the streets.
Passing by the flashes of explosions and dodging buzzing arrows, they rushed to get to the southern gate. All the defenders and the army of General Leen were already gathered there.
They merged into a single, dense stream, trying to push through the narrow gate. The people shouted, pushing others aside. Someone fell and was immediately trampled underfoot, which turned the paving stones into a bloody mess.
Steel was creaking, the people were shouting and arguing, and the savages were riding their monsters, getting closer by the second.
“Not even a tenth of our people have left the Fort yet,” Nero said.
He was breathing heavily, streams of sweat that mixed with blood and dust flowing down his red face.
“How much time do we have?”
Hadjar didn't look any better. He licked his dry lips from time to time and always spit it out right away – he’d tasted stone chips and someone else’s blood. He had long since gotten accustomed to the taste of his own blood, but, surprisingly, the blood of a stranger had a different flavor.
“About ten minutes.”
Hadjar looked at the horde charging toward them and then at the mass of soldiers rendered useless by fear. After all, they weren’t even thinking about using all the space they had available or organizing in order to escape more quickly.
A frightened crowd behaved in much the same way a frightened beast would - always rushing forward, driven by their horror, ignoring all common sense.
“Again?” Nero sighed, realizing what was about to happen.
Taking a firm hold of his blade, he stood shoulder to shoulder with Hadjar.
Stone Will Page 43