Sevenfold Sword: Unity

by Jonathan Moeller

  “Yes, you are right, uncle,” said Rilmeira. “Lord Ridmark…I have no right to ask this of you and your friends, not after my mother’s behavior…but will you fight alongside us? Your friends have three of the Seven Swords, even if their bearers are Swordborn. If you have overcome Justin Cyros and the Necromancer, you must be warriors of great power.”

  “I don’t think we have any other choice,” said Ridmark. “We will fight alongside you. The muridachs will make no distinction between human and gray elf if they get inside the walls.”

  “And I do not think we can leave,” said Calliande, her eyes going hazy. “There are surges of dark magic outside the walls. I think the muridachs have numbers enough to encircle the entire city.”

  “Whatever you decide, I must go,” said Rhomathar. “I am needed on the walls.”

  “Then we shall come with you,” said Ridmark.

  Rhomathar and Rilmeira hurried north, and Ridmark and the others followed them.

  He looked around the streets as they jogged towards the gates, and he saw Cathair Caedyn rousing itself for war. It was one of the stranger sights he had seen. Ridmark had been in numerous towns and castras that had come under enemy attack, and he saw many of the sights he expected to see. Warriors in golden armor rushed towards the walls, spears and swords in hand. Archers in leather armor followed, some of them equipped with soulstone-augmented bows like Kyralion’s. Women carried bundles of arrows to the walls, or prepared buckets of water to douse fires. It seemed that the women of the gray elves did not fight as soldiers, save for those who had the magical power to be dangerous in battle. Rather like Kalussa and the Order of the Arcanii.

  And all of it was done in perfect silence.

  It was uncanny. Even in a well-commanded siege, the shouting was constant, with decurions bawling orders to their men and knights shouting commands. Yet the gray elves did everything in silence, and they moved in perfect, fluid harmony. There was no stumbling, no groups of soldiers getting in each other’s way, no confusion. The gray elves moved with the harmony of a clockwork mechanism. Ridmark had to admit that the Unity would make a stupendous advantage in battle.

  Though he had seen its disadvantage in how the gray elves were unwilling to stand up to the High Augur’s rage.

  And in the black veins beneath the pale skin of the gray elves, and the drawn exhaustion he saw in their faces.

  They returned to the northern square, and Ridmark saw the gray elven warriors ascending the ramparts to line the walls. Lord Rhomathar and Rilmeira climbed to the rampart over the gates where the five Augurs stood. Seeing no reason to go elsewhere, Ridmark followed them, Calliande and the others close behind. Magatai dismounted from Northwind, spoke a few words to the struthian, and then followed them up.

  The sight from the rampart was not reassuring.

  Ridmark could see all the way to the green wall of the jungle itself, and the edges of the jungle seethed and crawled with muridach warriors. There were thousands of the creatures moving through the undergrowth beneath the huge trees. Ridmark saw the regular muridach foot soldiers in their leather and bronze ring mail, berserkers in their bronze plate, and Throne Guards in crimson armor.

  There were also hundreds of kalocrypts skittering back and forth before the jungle, muridach riders on their backs.

  “How the hell did so many of them get here so quickly?” said Tamlin.

  The High Augur shot an irritated glance in his direction and then looked away.

  “In jungle that thick,” said Krastikon, “we could be half a mile from ten thousand muridachs, and we would never see them.”

  “That could be part of it,” said Kyralion. “There are also entrances to the Deeps scattered nearby. Likely the muridach vanguard marched through the tunnels to arrive sooner than we thought.” Athadira scowled at him and then looked away. “It is well that we arrived when we did. Any later, and we might have been outside the walls when the muridachs emerged from the tunnels of the Deeps.”

  “What are they doing?” said Kalussa, her voice uneasy. “It looks like they’re just pouring from the jungle like water from a bucket.”

  “Probably they want to surround the city first,” said Tamlin. “Make sure that no one can get in or out.”

  “Does Cathair Caedyn have an entrance to the Deeps?” said Ridmark as a dark thought occurred to him. The ruins of Cathair Avamyr had an entrance to the Deeps, and the muridachs had found their way inside. “The enemy might try to get inside the city that way.”

  “It does not, Shield Knight,” said Rhomathar. “In ancient days, all our strongholds had entrances to the Deeps to guard against attacks from the dvargir, the kobolds, the muridachs, and the other kindreds of the Deeps.” He did not look away from the field as he spoke. “But too often the Sovereign’s armies forced open the gates through cunning stratagems. Cathair Caedyn has no entrances to the Deeps, and we would detect any tunneling attempt. This city contains the distilled knowledge of fifteen thousand years of Liberated siegecraft.”

  “We will likely need it,” said Ridmark.

  “Is it necessary for the outsiders to be here?” said Athadira. “The Liberated need no aid in our defense…”

  “As Lord Marshal, the defense of the city is my responsibility,” said Rhomathar. It was the first time that he had interrupted the High Augur. “We are in no position to turn away help.”

  Athadira scowled, no doubt unleashing a silent tirade at the Lord Marshal through the link of the Unity. Yet she did not protest, and her attention returned to the gathering muridachs.

  “We may not face attack for a few days yet,” said Krastikon. “It will take them time to move their siege machines into position.”

  Another dark thought occurred to Ridmark. The kalocrypts looked like giant cockroaches, and he had seen roaches in both Tarlion and Cintarra. The damned insects seemed capable of getting into anything…and several times he had observed them climbing up vertical surfaces.

  “Can kalocrypts climb up walls?” said Ridmark.

  “Yes,” said Rhomathar, his voice grim.

  “That’s what they’re doing,” said Ridmark. “You can see…yes, there, there, and there?” He pointed. “The kalocrypts are forming up for a charge. They’ll rush across the field, climb the wall, and try to open the gate.”

  “There are columns of infantry forming up behind the kalocrypts,” said Third. Her anger had vanished, and she was all cool control once more. “I am not certain, but I think they have siege ladders.”

  “They do,” said Kyralion. "I can see them as well.”

  Third nodded. “Some of the kalocrypts will try to open the northern gate. Others will attack the defenders on the walls, and while they are distracted, the muridach footmen will bring the ladders forward.”

  No sooner had she spoken the last word than the kalocrypts began moving forward in a line, nearly a hundred of the creatures. Ridmark knew the muridachs would keep their mounts at a walk until they came within arrow range of the walls, and then they would charge. And as they did, a dozen columns of muridachs would come up behind them, carrying siege ladders.

  “A lightning thrust, then,” said Kyralion. “A swift attempt to seize the city while we are off our guard.”

  “They will be disappointed, then,” said Rhomathar.

  “Lady Calliande,” said Tamara. She had been quiet so far, holding the golden staff of Lord Amruthyr with both hands. Now her mismatched eyes were narrowed as she watched the kalocrypts. “The spell we used to control the scutians?”

  “And the trisalians,” said Tamlin.

  “Aye, what about it?” said Calliande.

  “Could we use it on the kalocrypts?”

  Calliande blinked and looked at Tamara. “I hadn’t thought of that. Yes, we might. At least, we could disrupt the control of the muridach riders. I don’t think we could take command of the kalocrypts, but if the beasts break off their charge, or go entirely motionless…”

  “They would be far easier target
s for our archers,” said Kyralion.

  “Shield Knight,” said Rhomathar. “It is clear you are an experienced warrior so I will ask you and your friends to go and strike where you see fit.” Ridmark nodded. “Keeper, I will ask you, Lady Kalussa, and Tamara Earthcaller to remain here with the Augurs. They are the most powerful wielders of magic among our kindred, and you can direct your magic from here.”

  “Very well,” said Ridmark, drawing Oathshield. All five of the Augurs looked at once. Likely they felt the aura of power around the weapon. He ignored them and looked at Calliande.

  Once again, they were going into battle together.

  It was possible this was the last time they would ever see each other.

  A deep weariness went through him at the thought, and he pushed it aside. No one could see the future beyond all doubt.

  Though he feared that this would end with their deaths and Cathair Caedyn reduced to ashes.

  “I’ll see you soon,” said Calliande with a faint smile.

  Ridmark nodded, took a deep breath, and turned to the others. “Third, Tamlin, Calem, Krastikon, Kyralion, and Magatai, come with me.”

  Magatai grinned and drew his sword, lightning snarling up the blade. “It is time to teach the ratmen the folly of making war upon us.”

  “Let us hope they pay attention to the lesson,” said Ridmark, watching as the enemy drew closer to the walls.

  ###

  Tamlin stared over the battlements, watching the kalocrypts.

  The creatures had advanced at a slow, steady pace until they were at the base of the city’s hill. Then one of the muridach riders blew a long blast on a war horn, and the riders shouted and cheered, brandishing spears over their heads. An answering cheer came from the thousands of muridach infantry gathered behind them, and the kalocrypts surged forward, their legs stabbing at the grass as the bulky creatures propelled themselves at the wall with terrible speed.

  The gray elves answered at once, and they responded with terrifying skill and speed. Tamlin thought the Unity a strange and unnatural thing. He certainly did not want to share his inmost thoughts with anyone, let alone an entire city. Kyralion ought to be grateful he wasn’t part of the damned thing.

  Yet as he watched the gray elves respond to the muridach charge, Tamlin had to admit that the Unity offered deadly advantages.

  The ballistae crews moved first, aiming their weapons and releasing. The bolts hammered home into the heads of the kalocrypts, the bronze shafts plunging deep into their bodies with a spray of green slime. The crews began reloading their weapons at once.

  The archers attacked next, stepping forward and releasing. A storm of arrows hurtled towards the charging kalocrypts. The archers fired with uncanny accuracy, their shafts punching into the muridach riders and sending them tumbling to the ground. With their riders slain, the kalocrypts turned and raced off in random directions. No doubt the muridachs in the jungles would recapture the beasts.

  The barrage of ballistae bolts and arrows stopped half of the kalocrypts before they reached the city.

  The other half reached the wall, and just as Ridmark predicted, the creatures scrambled straight up the vertical surface, their serrated legs grasping the smooth white stone with ease.

  The gray elves shifted formation to deal with the new threat. The swordsmen and spearmen rushed forward, trying to kill the kalocrypts as they scrambled onto the battlements. The archers stepped back and to the side, directing their fire towards the columns of muridach infantry charging towards the city.

  “Get ready,” said Ridmark, Oathshield’s hilt in both hands. “If any of those things get on the wall, they’ll have a foothold. We’ll have the best chance of driving them back.”

  “We shall crush the kalocrypts like the insects that they are!” said Magatai.

  “Big damned insects,” muttered Krastikon.

  Swords flashed, and spears stabbed. A nearby kalocrypt died, its head pierced by the swords of the gray elves. But another kalocrypt perched upon the battlements and leaped, and it landed with a crash, scattering both a group of swordsmen and archers. The creature started thrashing, spearing gray elves upon its legs and biting them with its pincers.

  “Go!” said Ridmark.

  Tamlin charged forward as the gray elves tried to recover their formation. The kalocrypt turned towards him, stabbing with a serrated limb. Tamlin whipped the Sword of Earth before him, severing the leg. It struck the ground next to him and bounced off the rampart to the city below. The muridach rider reeled as the kalocrypt lost its balance, fighting to keep his saddle, and Kyralion loosed an arrow that punched into the rider’s throat. The muridach fell dead to the ground, and Calem leaped forward and took off the kalocrypt’s head with a sweep of the Sword of Air.

  A shout caught his attention, and Tamlin turned his head to see Ridmark and Third battling a half-dozen muridach foot soldiers. How the devil had the ratmen gotten on the wall so quickly? Tamlin saw that the muridachs had used the opening created by the kalocrypt to run their ladder to the wall, and now muridach foot soldiers were swarming up the rungs.

  A muridach leaped at Tamlin, bronze sword drawn back to strike, jaws yawning wide to drivel the chisel-like teeth forward. Tamlin dodged and swung the Sword of Earth in a two-handed swing, and the mighty blade passed through the muridach’s sword, the muridach’s arm, and the muridach’s torso without slowing in the slightest.

  That made a mess, but it did stop the ratman.

  Magatai boomed a laugh and leaped into the fray, slashing right and left with his lightning-wreathed sword. The jolts of lightning from the magical blade stunned the muridachs, and Tamlin and Calem killed the creatures before they could recover. As Ridmark and Third and Kyralion drove back the muridachs, Krastikon stepped to the battlements and began chopping with the Sword of Death. The muridachs’ siege ladder had been built from thick wood and bound with bronze bands, but the Sword of Death cut through wood and metal alike with ease.

  The siege ladder collapsed to the hill below, taking a few of the muridach soldiers with it.

  Tamlin killed another muridach and turned. All along the wall, he saw fighting, the gray elves struggling against both kalocrypts and muridach foot soldiers. The gray elves moved in eerie harmony, but there were so damned many of the muridachs.

  And many of the gray elves looked exhausted already, their stamina drained by the plague curse.

  “Let’s move,” said Ridmark, and Tamlin followed him to attack the next kalocrypt.

  ###

  Tamara knew she ought to have been terrified.

  She had been in many fights over the years at Kalimnos, but never in anything like this. The fight wasn’t a skirmish between the hoplites of Kalimnos and a roving band of raiders, but a clash between armies. Tamara had never seen so many muridachs in one place. It was like a sea of them poured out of the jungle, as if Cathair Caedyn was an island in a seething lake of muridach warriors.

  She was frightened, of course, her heart hammering against her ribs, her fingers tight against the cool metal of her staff. Yet she was not terrified as she should have been.

  Perhaps it was because she knew what the muridachs were doing.

  Tamara looked at their formations, and they were familiar. Lord Ridmark’s assessment was right. The muridachs would send the kalocrypts first and then follow with columns of infantry carrying ladders. Tamara could see that for herself with a glance, just as she could see that the gray elves were moving into the proper defensive formations to meet such an attack.

  How did she know that? She had no experience of warfare on this scale.

  Then again, no one had ever taught her how to use earth magic, but she could do that anyway. Perhaps the woman she had been, the woman who had asked Rhodruthain to split her into seven lives, had known how to use earth magic and had experience of battles like this.

  What kind of woman had she been?

  Tamara put aside the thought as the kalocrypts rushed towards the wall. She had, it
seemed, already died six times. The memories of those deaths often filled her nightmares. Tamara had no wish to add a seventh death to that collection of bloody memories.

  “Here they come,” said Calliande in a soft voice. “Tamara, you and I will focus on disrupting the kalocrypts. Kalussa, when we distract them, strike with the Staff of Blades.”

  “I shall,” said Kalussa, the crystal at the end of the dark staff shifting, her eyes as cold and hard as a blade as she gazed at their advancing enemies.

  “You can use the Sovereign’s Staff of Blades, Lady Kalussa?” said Lord Rhomathar, his voice distracted. Likely his full attention was going to directing the defenders through the Unity.

  “Yes,” said Kalussa. “Not as well as he did, but well enough.”

  “Here they come,” said Tamara.

  The surviving kalocrypts reached the wall and started to climb.

  “Now!” said Calliande.

  Tamara cast her spell, drawing on the magic of elemental earth and shaping it with her will. She reached out with her thoughts and touched the mind of the nearest kalocrypt. The huge insect’s mind was a strange, alien thing, filled with instinct and hunger. Tamara could use earth magic to control scutians and other animals, but the kalocrypt’s mind was too strange for her to influence.

  She could, however, confuse the creature, and the kalocrypt came to a sudden halt, its antennae waving in bafflement. The muridach on its back let out a curse, and then Kalussa struck. A thumb-sized sphere of crystal shot from the end of the Staff of Blades and drilled through the kalocrypt’s head in a spray of black slime.

  Calliande cast her spell, purple fire dancing along her staff. She was far stronger than Tamara, and three of the kalocrypts went motionless. The High Augur shot a startled glance in Calliande’s direction. The muridachs riding the kalocrypts lashed their reins in frustration, and Kalussa killed two of them before the final kalocrypt broke free of the spell and charged.

  The battle settled into a pattern. Whenever kalocrypts drew near to the gate, Calliande and Tamara stunned the creatures, and Kalussa killed them with the Staff of Blades. From time to time a band of muridach soldiers rushed towards the gate, and Athadira and Seruna and the other Augurs responded, unleashing blasts of elemental lightning that killed the muridachs before they could open the gate for their comrades. All along the ramparts, Tamara saw fighting as kalocrypts scaled the wall and ladders slammed against the battlements. The defenders were holding at a high cost to the muridachs.