You could hear them long before those in the castle ever saw them. Thousands of fires from the camp on the other side of the ridge illuminated the night skyline and was easily seen from the castle walls. Long before daylight there was cheering and shouting as the soldiers built their confidence for the attack. The neighing of Zylners being saddled or hitched to siege engines, the clanging of metal as 200,000 men put on their armor and prepared their weapons for battle, the rumble of giant wheels rolling across the hard ground and the heavy footfall of marching infantrymen and the hooves of thousands of cavalry, could all be heard echoing through the still of the night. As the morning sky crept slowly over the horizon you could make out the silhouette of an army coming through the wide pass in the ridge. By the time it was barely dawn those on the wall could see movement in the shadows of the ridge as thousands of men on foot and on Zylners fanned out to the left and the right to encircle the area surrounding the castle. As thousands more flowed in behind them, they pushed forward, closing the gap between the ridge and the castle wall. Soon the Trebuchets, capable of hurling a 200 pound stone 300 yards, and Mangonel catapults and 50 foot-tall siege towers began to climb above the horizon and fill the field below. By the time the sun had risen the castle was surrounded by the entire army. It didn’t look as if any were held back in reserve.
Initially they maintained their distance, knowing the range of the longbows used by their enemy. But they had no fear of a longbow with their body armor. They knew that a longbow could barely penetrate their steel armor at under 100 yards, by then the Darsai would be well in range of the much more deadly crossbows. The Dark Knight had commanded everyone to hold their fire until the Niccaros were almost to the razor-wire, 200 yards out. Then in order to build the enemy’s confidence he wanted the archers to release several volleys of arrows into the surrounding troops. They knew there would be few casualties, but it would probably motivate them to rush forward and attack. Then when they hit the first of the Bouncing Betty’s and started to trip the mines attached to the razor-wire, Hunter expected a state of confusion to erupt, it was then that they would be allowed to open fire on the front lines, while the mortars and automatic grenade launchers began to concentrate on the center of the force, the ridge-side gun emplacements would follow by attacking the rear of the encircling army. The RPGs were to focus on the siege engines before they could launch anything their way.
Hunter and King Darsai positioned themselves above the castle doors with their 12.7mm sniper rifles. They had preset their scopes with a rangefinder for 1500 yards. Hunter intended to follow King Verron’s advice. He knew that King Ronar and probably his commanding general would observe the battle and command the charge from somewhere along the ridge. He had actually wanted Vlad to assist him in this long-range shot, but they both knew it would do more to boost the image of King Darsai if he took out his enemy’s leader. Hunter decided that if they made their shot before he actually commanded them to begin, it would take a moment before the Captains and Lieutenants could regain control of the situation. Hopefully they would be so utterly overwhelmed by the destruction around them they would never get things organized. Hunter did one more distance reading and wind reading. He looked through his scope at the small piece of cloth he had tied to a bare tree limb at the leading edge of the pass; it was then that he saw two men on Zylners coming through the pass surrounded by a hundred spear carrying foot soldiers. The one on the left did not have on his helmet. His bright and shining armor appeared to be gold plated; probably King Ronar. The other man was in bronze colored armor and wore a breastplate like the ancient Romans that accentuated his muscular body, making him look like he had six-pack abs and a solid, square chest with broad shoulders. He was a big man. Hopefully he would make an easier target for King Darsai. Hunter informed the King to set-up his shot and to wait until the big man was even with the boulder they had intentionally placed at 1500 yards. When the two leaders were a few feet from the marker, Hunter whispered, “Go for the heart. Try to fire as close to my shot as possible. You don’t want to give him time to move.”
The King and General stopped at the crest of the hill to take a final look at their troop positions. There is nothing more confident than a King behind his army; little did he know that this would truly be his last look at his army before the battle began. When the soldiers spread out across the fields saw their King and his General they began to clank their swords against their shields in recognition of his presence. His head turned to the left and the right and his right hand released the bridle of his Zylner, as he raised his clenched fist above his head. As loud as a 12.7 x 108mm round is, it was almost completely muffled by the 200,000 shouting soldiers clanging on their shields. Hunter made a perfect head shot into King Ronar’s unshielded head. It exploded in a spray of bones, brain tissue, flesh and blood that sprayed the foot soldiers protecting him. Almost before the spray had stop flying, a huge hole appeared in the center of the chest plate of the big General. As they fell to the ground, the clanging stopped and the cheers silenced, their spear-bearing guards scattered. In a few moments the rear commanders of each division quickly regained control of their men and had the trumpets sound the charge. They were a well-disciplined army; Hunter was counting on it.
The snipers had been ordered to seek-out anyone who appeared to be in command, beginning in the rear, where the highest ranking officers would be then seek out commanders throughout the ranks. The Niccaros made the job a bit easier; their Captains had a red plume running in the middle of their helmets, Lieutenants had a green one; both were on armored Zylners. The ground commanders were a bit more difficult to spot. The bugler who sounded the attack and the Captain in the rear who gave the order were quickly dispensed with by Vlad and one of the Marines. The other snipers focused on those who appeared to be leaders in the front and middle ranks. Systematically shooting the officers did not sway the charge. As a group, 200,000 men began to press forward. The soldiers on the wall and on the ridge continued to hold their fire as the 5000 archers nocked their first arrow. The Bouncing Bettys began at the three hundred yard range and were placed intermittently for a 100 yards until they reached the razor wire and the MON-50 and MON-100 anti-personnel mines. It didn’t take long for someone to step on the first one. There was such a large concentration of soldiers in the field that those closest died and dozens were wounded. Everyone else continued forward, followed by the dozens of siege engines. One by one the Bouncing Bettys went off, opening holes in the advancing formation. Others quickly closed in to fill the space, leaving the dead and wounded on the ground behind them.
The wave of soldiers paused a few yards back from the strange looking wire with strings and square objects every fifty to one hundred feet. In order to refocus their attention, it was then that the command was given to release the arrows. Five thousand arrows came streaming from the castle walls, followed a dozen more volleys. A few actually found vital flesh and killed the intended targets, most bounced off the hard steel and fell harmlessly to the ground. This inability to inflict casualties by their enemy bolstered the Niccaros courage and the wall of soldiers surged forward. All along the razor-wire perimeter unsuspecting men in armor kicked aside or pulled aside the strands of wire in their path. Tens of thousands fell as hundreds of thousands of metal bearings were projected into their path at 4000 feet per second. The entire front line was instantly blown away then the real chaos began. Five thousand men with rifles opened fire as the men on the ground began to unleash crossbow bolts and continued to charge ahead, with many dying in the minefield before them. It all but halted their forward motion, but did not slow them from firing as many bolts as they could. Lives were being lost on both sides as some of the bolts found a target on the castle wall.
There was wide spread panic throughout the Niccaros ranks as machine gun fire from in front, as well as beside and behind them began to take the lives of the reinforcements in the rear. Adding to the mayhem, 82mm Mortars were dropping throughout the ranks and grenade
launchers were focusing on those bold enough to make it through the mine fields. A few of the siege engines did manage to release 200 pound boulders that crashed into the buildings inside the castle. A few hit the castle walls but the injuries were limited as the top of the wall crumbled. One mortar team was killed by falling debris. That ended as one-by-one the R.P.G.s found their targets and heavy machineguns tore what was left to shreds.
While the battle raged in the field approaching the castle, a surprise attack occurred in the river behind. Two of the enemy ships had rowing crews aboard, and while the main army marched cross-land to the fortress, one thousand men came up river in an armored boat, with a steel covered canopy over the deck, they were well-protected from arrows, spears and even boiling oil if any were used. They were not, however, much use against an R.P.G firing Thermoberic and fragmentation rounds, nor 12.7mm Heavy machine gun fire. A thousand men never even reached the shore as they were either shot, burned or drowned.
Hunter was amazed that men could be either so full of hate or so devoted to their god that they continued to regroup and reform their attack in spite of the unrelenting barrage of weapons fire. During this obscene massacre, no one had paid much attention to the small group of people coming through the pass in the ridge. They wore no armor and they carried no weapons. Those in front of them quickly moved out of their way. The six people in the center of the group seemed unconcerned about those dying around them or the possibility that it could happen to them. From about 600 yards away there erupted a huge solid mass of fire that flew low across the heads of the struggling army and struck the front gates of the castle, blowing it to shreds in an instant. A hundred men lost their lives as the stones and burning timbers covered them.
Hunter, fortunately, was no longer above the gate. He and the King had gone their separate ways and were assisting others on the wall by shooting enemy commanders in their sector. When the gate blew apart he raced to the damaged wall above the gate opening to see what could have possibly caused so much damage. When he saw the six unarmed people, three men and three women, walking through the battlefield preparing to hurl another ball of destruction, he knew that the nature of the battle had just changed. He then recalled King Verron’s encounter on Klelta and Zimuel talking about people who had The Power being scattered in other parts of the Universe, he knew what he was up against. Vlad was soon beside him looking at the sudden turn of events. Hunter looked at Vlad and simply said, “Well, I must admit, with all our planning, I never saw this coming.”
In the minute or two that revealed the vulnerable hole in the Darsai defenses, two of the quick thinking Russians fired up one of the T-72 Battle Tanks and drove it into the opening in the wall. As suspected, the invading army was preparing to charge the opening. They were soon discouraged by a few rounds from the 125mm cannon and 12.7x108mm Heavy Machinegun. There was no way anyone was going to get by that monster.
Up till now Hunter had tried as much as possible to avoid what he was about to do. Already dressed in his body armor, the Dark Knight was about to go face-to-face with the sorcerers from Niccaros. Another ball of fire came hurling towards the T-72 Tank, it exploded into a million shattered sparks as Hunter made it blow apart. Turning to Vlad, he said, “No matter what happens, do not let the men stop shooting. Nothing coming from this castle is going to hurt me and you know that. You handle the soldiers; I’ll take care of those six.” With that, he leaped off the wall, landing directly between the T-72 Tank and the front line of charging lunatics with swords and crossbows. The six people, who he later confirmed to be priests of Nicci, continued to move through the battlefield as they came ever closer to the front lines. Hunter could tell that they were shielded, not a single round of rifle fire or mortar shrapnel came near them.
He stood alone as he faced thousands of staring soldiers, wondering just what this Dark Knight might do next. His reputation had spread and there was more fear from the frontline as they faced the man in the dark armor than there was when they faced the strange and powerful weapons. They began to cheer as their priests and priestesses drew closer, confident that the great servants of the Goddess Nicci would destroy this Dark Knight. Hunter stepped forward and in a wave of his arm, thousands of men were thrown and blown to the left and right, falling on their fellow shoulders as they flew through the air and came crashing back down. Those on the wall almost ceased firing as they saw a path cleared for 200 yards, directly to the six priests of Nicci. When they suddenly had an unobstructed view through the mass of bodies in front of them, the sorcerers took pause as they saw for the first time a tall man in dark body armor standing fearlessly before them. From the six sorcerers, a bolt of lightning, followed by another and another came flying directly at Hunter; he had no concern. He allowed the lightning to strike him full force.
The fact that their best had no effect on the man in front of them was not lost on the six priests. They immediately followed with a barrage of fireballs and flying debris from the battle field; dead and wounded bodies and weapons of every kind flew through the air at tremendous speeds directly for the Dark Knight. It all fell harmlessly to the ground and was quickly hurled back at them with an even greater speed; one priest and one priestess were impaled by flying swords and spears. The others managed to maintain their shields; Hunter knew they were wearing down.
The remaining four threw another one of their high speed fireballs at him, and to their total shock and disbelief, it halted in mid-air halfway to the target. It suddenly grew in intensity and exploded, killing hundreds of on-looking Niccaros, amazed that this man was defeating the representatives of their god. Hunter knew that he had them. The remaining four were losing their power and their confidence as they saw the dark man draw closer. They didn’t know whether to fight or flee, but knew there was no hope for them either way. They teamed up their strength for one last attempt to kill this man. The lightning bolt was all but useless and killed a dozen more of their own soldiers as it ricocheted off Hunter. They looked at a small bright ball formed in front of the Dark Knight; it grew brighter and slightly larger as it slowly moved in their direction. Their expression was one of puzzlement rather than fear as they continued to study the head sized ball as it stopped a few feet in front of them. When Hunter unleashed the plasma ball, it totally incinerated everything for 400 yards. After the blinding flash disappeared, everyone on the wall had a perfect view of the naked circle eight hundred yards across. Not a single piece of debris, bodies, siege engines or a blade of grass remained, except for the Dark Knight standing in the middle. He turned and looked around him at the carnage as far as the eye could see.
The few remaining Niccaros stubbornly continued to fight and die. They refused to surrender and died for that pride; those wounded and too weak to fight, took their own life. As Hunter looked on, men were intentionally falling on their swords rather than surrender or be taken captive. By the time Hunter slowly walked back to the blown-up castle gate, the war was over. The hush that suddenly swept over the battlefield as the guns went silent was almost deafening. He was glad it was over and pleased that Darsai had won the victory with so few casualties, but as he walked back to the castle and the cheering men on the walls above, be began to sing the words of Edwin Starr, “War – what is it good for – absolutely nothing.” He thought to himself, “War Sucks.”
His first order of business, before he could take time to relax, was to send soldiers out to the Niccaros camp over the ridge to liberate the captives from the coastal towns and see if any of the camp followers wanted to surrender. He also requested that King Ronar’s and the General’s sword be removed and brought to him. By the time a thousand men formed up to cross the battlefield and marched the distance of a little over a mile to the encampment, there was not a single person left alive. It was obvious that zealots for Nicci had killed all the captives and camp followers then ended their own lives. They collected the Zylners and brought them back to the castle along with the two requested swords. Before too much attention could
be bestowed on him, Hunter humbly surrendered the two swords to King Darsai, signifying his loyalty to the King. Those present inside the castle keep began to cheer and chant their King’s name in celebration of a great victory. Hunter did not feel very much like celebrating. As he walked back to his room in the palace, Princess Tiffanis met him in the hallway leading to his room. She gave him an adoring look and said, “I still don’t know why you do the things you do, or how you do them. You could easily be King of this world and yet you choose to help my brother maintain his throne and win another, for that I thank you and will forever be in your debt. If not for you and your friends everyone in this castle would be dead.” She gave him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek and hurried to her brother’s side.
When he entered his room Vlad and Boris Abarnikov were both waiting for him. Vlad smiled at his young Prince and friend, while Boris studied him with an expression of wonder. Vlad broke the ice, saying, “I knew that King Paul and the Dragon Guard could do things normal people could not do, but I never thought you could do something like that.” Hunter laughed and replied, “Don’t feel bad, neither did I. I mean, I practice with the Guard all the time and do some pretty incredible stuff, but I never did a plasma bomb like that before. A few plasma balls and exploding boulders and stopping hearts, you know the usual, but never have I done anything so destructive.” Boris shook his head, commenting, “If this is usual I don’t want to see strange.” Vlad quickly changed the subject, saying, “I know you’re tired and with all the celebrating going on, now would not be a good time to say anything to the King, but from what I’ve seen, we need to make a trip to Niccaros and finish this, or when we leave, they will be back. Hunter thought a moment and replied, “I’ll talk to the King tomorrow. We still need to clear the coastal towns of Niccaros so our people can go home, and figure out something to do with 200,000 bodies; we can’t just leave them out there.”
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