by Gunhus, Jeff
I felt that someone had taken a sledgehammer to my stomach. I looked at the devastation all around me. This was all my fault. I should never have come to the Academy. I’d put everyone at risk. Especially Will and T-Rex, who, without me, would still be safe in Sunnyvale.
A cry went up behind me. I spun around and saw a second dragon, this one even larger than the first. It ejected a searing stream of flame across the camp and ended its pass across the field by kicking down the burning mess hall. The structure crumbled into itself with a burst of flame and sparks. As I watched it fall, I felt my fear and guilt transform into anger. I gripped my sword in my right hand and decided there was time to feel bad later. Right now, I had some dragons to take care of. It was time for this hunter to fight back.
I sprinted across the field toward the main wall. I needed height in order to reach the dragons. Halfway across, I suddenly felt a stiff wind behind me. Without turning, I threw myself to the ground just as one of the dragons streaked over me, its powerful wings kicking up clods of dirt. As I scrambled back to my feet, I spotted Eva running toward the Templar Tree.
“Eva! Wait!” I yelled.
But there was no way she was going to hear me over the noise of the battle. She reached the tree, now just a raging fire, and climbed up onto one of its lower branches, picking her way through the fire to get higher. Even as I worried about her, I couldn’t help but smile at her audacity. That was one crazy girl.
Another blast of fire on the far side of the training ground erupted over by the stables. Seconds later, I saw Bacho’s unmistakable silhouette framed against the raging fire. He swung open a pasture gate and dozens of horses ran free into the training grounds, escaping the burning fencing. Saladin led the other horses to safety. But the great white horse must have seen me as he banked hard and ran straight in my direction. I readied myself as he galloped closer. I reached up for his neck as he ran by and swung up onto his back.
“Good boy!” I yelled. “To the walls!”
A shriek split the air over my head. A dragon arced low over the field and came up behind us.
“Run, Saladin!” I cried.
But Saladin needed no urging. He ran hard, dodging the ing hunters as he did. Still, the dragon bore down and I heard a great inhalation of breath. It was about to spit fire.
Sensing the same, Saladin planted his hooves in the snow, sliding for a second before changing course ninety degrees to the right.
The change was so sudden that I lurched to the left and only stopped myself from falling off by grabbing handfuls of Saladin’s mane.
Behind us, I felt the wall of fire blaze, incinerating the ground where we had been seconds before. The dragon flew past us and circled up in the sky, looking for other targets.
I patted Saladin’s neck. “Good boy,” I said. “Now, to the wall. Hurry!”
Saladin ran to the wall. The buildings that lined its base and served as bulwarks were all ablaze. I jumped off Saladin and was about to climb the stone stairs that led up to the watchtower next to the gate itself, when I heard a familiar voice behind me.
“C’mon you dirty lizards, I’ll run you through!” Will yelled at the flying dragons, a crossbow in his hands.
“Will!” I called out, running to him.
He spun toward me, his eyes wild. It took him a second to process what he was seeing, then he grabbed me in a bear hug. “You made it!” he cried.
“Looks like things really fell apart while I was gone,” I said, trying to sound braver than I felt. “Where’s T-Rex?”
Something smashed into me from behind, nearly knocking me over. I thought one of the dragons had me for sure. Then I felt arms squeezing me on both sides and T-Rex’s voice. “Oh man, oh man, I can’t believe it,” he stammered.
Once he let me go, the three of us had a split second where we stood in a small circle, grinning at one another. No one said anything. No one had to. We were just happy to be together again.
A blast of fire right over our heads ended our little moment and put us into action.
“Will, you and T-Rex go to the armory and see if you can still get in. Hand out as many crossbows as you can.”
“Who should I give them to?” he asked.
“Everybody,” I said.
“What about them?” Will asked, pointing at a group of Ratlings just behind T-Rex.
It was a motley collection, some rail thin and scrawny, others pudgy and soft. Half of them had some kind of permanent injury, like a missing limb, or a patch over a missing eye. All of them looked terrified, but I could tell by their faces that they weren’t about to run away. They stood bravely and awaited instructions.
“Where’s Bacho?” I asked.
“Freeing the horses and livestock,” T-Rex said. “He left me in charge of these guys.” He grabbed my arm, determined. “We Ratlings can fight, Jack. It’s our Academy too.”
I grinned at T-Rex, welling up with pride at his courage. It seemed the nose-picking young boy was long gone. “Right you are,” I agreed, turning to the Ratlings. “And glad to have you. We need everyone’s help. All of you, go with Will and get the weapons. Hurry!”
“What are you going to do?” T-Rex asked.
I nodded to the watchtower behind us. “I’m going up there.”
“And then what?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I haven’t gotten that far.”
Will grinned. “Then you better get going so you can figure it out. Come on, you guys. Let’s go.”
I watched them disappear into the smoke-filled field. For the second time in as many days, I was left wondering if I would ever see my friends again.
I mounted the stairs and bounded up them two at a time. When I reached the top I had a view of the entire Academy. For the first time, I saw a band of hunters putting up a defense. In the center of them was a familiar figure, Daniel. Recovered from his poisoning, he stood his ground with a bandage wrapped around his head covering his nose. He fired a crossbow repeatedly at the dragon swooping over the field. Despite our differences, I couldn’t have been happier to see him.
In between firing crossbow shots, he barked instructions at those around him, organizing a retreat through the Citadel gates. Most of the instructors fought by him even as they corralled as many hunters as possible toward the caves. I spotted Aquinas among them, helping two injured hunters off the battlefield.
I turned my back to the fighting and looked out into the calm of the dark forest beyond the main walls. It seemed like a different world from the chaos behind me. I didn’t know if what I was going to do would work, but I had to try.
I shouted as loud as I could, “Tiberon! If you can hear me, we need your help!” I listened and, even with the screaming and crackle of fire behind me, I heard my voice echo through the forest. I raised my hand with the ring over my head. “Tiberon, brother of the Black Guard! The bearer of the Templar Ring asks that you come to the aid of your Order.” My voice drifted through the valley, lost among the snow-covered pines. Then silence. I shouted again. “TIBERON! In the name of your sworn oath, it is time for you to do your duty!”
An explosion from behind spun me around. Overheated sap must have finally blown out one of the main branches in the tree because with the explosion the fire blazed even brighter. I searched the few areas where the fire hadn’t reached yet, desperately looking for Eva.
Just when I had about given up hope that she had survived, I saw her climb out on a limb nearly thirty feet off the ground. She had a sword in one hand and what looked like a grappling hook screwed into her other arm.
One of the dragons swerved down for a pass over the field, fire pouring from its mouth. Everything moved in slow motion as the dragon banked side-to-side, searching the faces of the fleeing hunters. With a beat of its wings, it veered to its left, cutting close to the tree. Taking a running start, Eva jumped from her perch and fired the grappling hook from her hand The hook shot out over the dragon’s neck, wrapping Xavier’s super-strong wire aro
und it. With a jolt, the slack in the wire was taken up and Eva soared through the air, swinging under the dragon.
Using the momentum from one of the dragon’s turns, Eva managed to reach the leading edge of a wing. In a blink of an eye, she had crawled along the wing and onto the dragon’s back. By now the beast had realized it had a passenger. It started rolling and thrashing in the air, reaching back to bite at Eva. But she was just out of reach. She plunged her sword into the dragon’s back, no more than a splinter for a monster that size. Still, nobody likes splinters. Roaring in anger, the dragon beat its wings and soared up higher into the night sky.
“Eva!” I cried out as the dragon disappeared up over the mountain.
But it was no use. She was gone.
A noise rose from the forest behind me. I spun around and looked outside the Academy walls, hoping with all my strength that it was Tiberon and his army of wolves.
Instead, emerging from the tree line along the entire length of the wall was an army of goblins.
Chapter Seventeen
The remaining dragon swept above the goblin army, spewing fire across the treetops. Suddenly, the area below the wall was bathed in light. My knees nearly gave way at the sight of it.
There were hundreds of them—snarling, drooling monsters, with hooked noses and protruding mouthfuls of decaying teeth. All were in heavy armor covered with nasty barbs and spikes. They carried long spears and matching heavy shields.
This was no rag-tag group. Someone had organized and outfitted them and prepared them for battle. And now they had arrived at just the right time to overrun the battlements. Spaced every few yards was a detail of goblins holding sturdy ladders. I suspected they would be exactly long enough to crest the walls.
I ran to the bell on the watchtower and pulled the cord as hard as I could. The peal of the alarm bell rang out over the Academy, louder than I expected. I pulled it again and again, trying to invest the sound with every bit of urgency I could.
Heads all around the field turned toward my direction. The dragon was far overhead, circling for another pass, so I had an opening where my voice could be heard.
“To the walls!” I cried. “We are under attack!”
No one moved. Hunters looked to each other, not sure what to think of this pronouncement of the obvious.
“There is an army of goblins at our walls! Hunters, defend the Academy!” I yelled.
A few hunters started to jog my direction. Back by the Citadel, I saw Aquinas and Daniel step forward from their defensive position as if straining to hear what I was saying. A few of the instructors moved a bit closer to hear. I could see people pointing in my direction and I realized they still might not be able to hear me. I tore off my helmet.
“I am Jack Templar, Monster Hunter, Keeper of the Templar Ring of Jacques de Molay, Member of the Black Guard, and the Sworn Enemy of the Dark Lord, Ren Lucre.” I raised my sword over my head and roared as loudly as I could. “Brothers and sisters! It is time to do our duty, come what may! It is time for us to hunt!”
Every hunter within the sound of my voice yelled as one and broke out in a sprint toward the wall. Even the injured pushed themselves from the ground and hobbled toward the fight. I saw Aquinas and Daniel leading the charge of instructors.
Will and T-Rex appeared below me with a group of hunters carrying armloads of crossbows and swords. Xavier was with them carrying his own stack of weapons.
“Will, hand them out!” I yelled. “As fast as you can!”
Hunters grabbed weapons and streamed onto the walls just as the first ladders slammed into the battlements.
I ran to the nearest one and heaved it backward with all my might. I looked down and saw it was filled with goblins who screeched as they fell away from the wall.
“Push the ladders!” I cried. “Don’t let them up.”
Up and down the line, hunters pushed back against ladders as soon as they thumped against the stone wall. The cries from the goblins filled the air. A heavy ladder made from rough-cut wood slammed onto the wall beside me. I leaned into it and pushed it backward, but it was too heavy. Suddenly, there were two old, gnarled hands next to mine. It was Aquinas.
“Well, come on,” she said. “We have a battle to win.”
We pushed together. The old woman was stronger than she looked and before long we had the ladder tipping backward until it fell away from the wall, sending four goblins crashing to the ground.
Aquinas and I shared a grin from our small victory together, but it didn’t last long. A roar went up from the horde below. We looked down and saw dozens of ladder-carrying goblins march out of the forest.
“There are so many,” Aquinas said. “I should have seen this coming.”
“Can we hold them?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but we have to if we’re to survive,” Aquinas said. “If we retreat to the Citadel now the goblins will breach the walls before we get there and run us down. Over half of us will be killed for certain.”
“Then we must defend the wall,” I said.
“In retreat, half would die, but half would live,” Aquinas said. “If we fail here at the wall, everyone will be killed. These are the decisions that leaders must make.”
I heard a call further down the wall and saw Daniel not too far away from me. He was high-fiving Bacho and a group of Ratlings that had just sent a handful of goblins flying through the air on their ladder. Daniel looked up and we made eye contact. He saluted me with his sword and I returned the gesture.
I was about to ask Aquinas how it would ever be possible to decide who would live and who would die when a black cloud rose from outside the walls and hovered above us. Aquinas realized what was happening before I did.
“Shields!” Aquinas called. “Everyone, shields!”
Instinctively, the hunters raised their shields or crouched under any cover they could find. Aquinas grabbed a shield from the floor and threw it to me. I grabbed it and held it over my head. A split second later, black arrows rained down on us in a deadly barrage. Three arrows slammed into my shield, sticking out like porcupine quills. I ran to Aquinas to try to cover her, but I was too late. A long, wicked-looking arrow struck her in the upper chest and dropped her to the ground.
“Master Aquinas!” I shouted.
I reached her quickly and held her up. She groaned from being moved. When I pulled back my hand it was covered with her blood. I heard cries of pain all around me as hunters were hit in whatever small part of their body was left exposed. A foot here. A shoulder there. Screams of the injured rang out up and down the wall.
“Somebody help!” I yelled.
“You see?” Aquinas said, her voice trembling. “Sacrifices must sometimes be made. I suspect it will prove to be worthwhile.”
Then Bacho was next to me, lifting Aquinas into his arms.
“Now look what they’ve done to you,” he muttered, tears in his eyes. “Get you off this wall, that’s what we’ve got to do.”
Aquinas grabbed me. “You must decide,” she whispered, fighting to remain conscious. “You must lead.”
Bacho couldn’t wait any longer. He stomped off and carried Aquinas down the stairs to safety.
I felt the responsibility fall onto my shoulders as they left. But I didn’t have long to reflect on what I should do next. While we had taken cover, the goblins had used the opportunity to raise their ladders back in place and climb up.
“The walls!” I cried when I saw the first goblin jump over the battlement. I ran to it and engaged the creature. I’d fought goblins before and hadn’t found them very hard to defeat, but it was immediately clear these guys were different. The goblin crouched down in a defensive posture, using its large shield for cover and poking at me with its spear. With its longer reach, it was able to keep me away. I realized it was trying to hold me off long enough so the goblins behind it could hurry up the ladder. This was good training and even better discipline. Neither of those two things were good news. Someone had prepared th
is army well. We were in trouble.
“Jack!” Xavier called out. “Try this!”
I looked up just in time to see a spear flying through the air at me. I had to dodge it to avoid being impaled.
“Oops, sorry,” called Xavier.
I grabbed the spear and felt a button on the handle. Another one of Xavier’s inventions. I pressed the button and the spear extended to twice its length. Using the full length of spear to get inside the goblin’s defenses, I quickly had him on the run.
Tiring of the goblin, I rushed straight at him, sliding on the ground at the last second with my shield lying on top of me. I slid under him and got him with my spear in the side. With a cry, I kicked him in the midsection and sent him flying over the edge.
“Show-off,” Daniel said with a smile. The bandage wrapped around his face was flecked with blood and it gave him a wild look. He had two goblins trapped in a headlock. He ran forward and smashed both of their heads into the wall. They sank to the floor in a heap.
“Not too bad yourself,” I said.
Further down the line I saw Will and T-Rex fighting side-by-side, firing crossbows into the goblins. We were holding our own. Even outnumbered, we held the defensive high ground. We actually had a chance of stopping them.