The Wizard's Tower 02

by Peter Last

  Three

  Senndra sat astride Feddir high in the sky above Belmoth. The sun had set almost an hour before, and the darkness provided perfect cover for the movements of troops. During the day, siege engines had been disassembled and moved into the mountains. This gave them better range as well as better protection, and was in and of itself nothing to attract the attention of the enemy. The movement of these engines was completed just as the sun was setting, and the activity in the city turned to moving troops. The moon was just beginning to rise, and the confusing shadows it cast provided the cover needed for the plan to succeed. As the infantry, archers, and cavalry moved into position, they were only able to see just well enough to stay in rank. Five hundred horsemen, two hundred foot soldiers, and three hundred archers were gathered just inside the gate of the city, and as many archers as could be spared were stationed on the wall on either side of the gate. Senndra couldn’t see any of this from her position high in the sky. In fact she couldn’t see anything except the dragons immediately on either side of her, but Timothy had explained the finalized battle plan to her, and it was engraved in her memory. Everyone should be in position and simply waiting for the enemy to make their move which would signal the beginning of the attack.

  Several minutes passed without incident. Senndra began to worry that the enemy would mess the plan up by not acting as they had in the past, but just as she was thinking this, she saw something far below her. A pinprick of light started in the enemy lines and flashed across no-man’s-land toward the city wall. This light was followed by a dozen others. More continued to appear until in only a few seconds hundreds of them were present in a blinding barrage of flaming projectiles.

  Senndra smiled to herself. The enemy had congregated its siege engines in front of the city gate, hoping to open a hole there. That was the signal for the troops of Magessa to spring into action. The soldiers behind the city gate would burst through and split, with half of the archers and infantry going along the wall one way and the other half going the other way. The cavalry would continue forward until they were just out of range of the enemy and finally split into two companies. Each company would circle around to hit the concentration of enemy siege equipment from the side, riding toward each other. When they met in the middle, they would rejoin forces and ride back toward the city, hopefully drawing out some of the enemy soldiers.

  Five minutes passed and still the siege equipment pounded the city wall. From her height, Senndra could not hear anything, but she had stood on the wall of a city as it was pounded by catapults and could well imagine what the archers on the wall were feeling. She looked down and thought she could see movement. She squinted, and the movement began to shift all over the place. It was just her imagination playing tricks on her. She shifted her eyes back to the enemy siege equipment just as a pinprick of light, a flaming projectile, flew backward into the enemy ranks. Suddenly shapes could be seen flooding down the line of siege engines. No noise could be heard from below, but dark masses could be seen flowing down the line of siege engines from either end. As they came to each piece of equipment, it was apparently rendered useless and did not fire again. In less than a minute the cavalry had joined up and turned back toward the city.

  ******

  Timothy stood at the base of the wall of Belmoth, an enormous recurve bow in his hands. He had received the weapon from Lemin earlier that day. The weapon was massive, five and a half feet long, even though it was a recurve bow. A quiver of arrows with thick shafts accompanied the bow; some of the arrows were bodkins, and some of them were equipped with broad heads. Timothy selected one of the bodkin arrows and nocked it on his string. He glanced to his left and saw Vladimir standing there. Vladimir also had a bow, but it was significantly smaller than Timothy’s. His quiver contained arrows that were standard for an archer and, like Timothy’s arrows, half were bodkins and the other half were broad heads. He too selected an arrow, nocked it on his bow string, and waited.

  The siege equipment had ceased firing which meant the cavalry had done its job and disabled the engines. It also meant that soon the horsemen would arrive back at the city gate, and, if all went according to plan, they would have a crowd of enemies close behind them. Timothy cocked his head to allow his ears the best vantage point for listening and focused on the vibrations of the ground. A faint thrumming in the earth slowly grew in intensity, and was accompanied by the sounds of yelling and jangling tack. He kept his eyes pointed into the darkness, searching for any sign of activity. Fifty feet in front of him he saw horses appear, seemingly out of thin air, and he tensed for combat. Suddenly the darkness was broken as a hail of flaming arrows arched over the battlefield, showering sparks onto the earth. The rain of sparks was surprisingly bright and showed the archers of Magessa exactly how far away the enemy soldiers were.

  Timothy drew his bow back and held the string next to his cheek. At the command of fire, he released the string, smoothly drew another arrow, and nocked it on the string. The cavalry had reached the wall by this time and had split again, each half following the wall in opposite directions. The command to aim was given again, then the command to fire. Cries of pain could be heard above the sound of horses’ hooves, but Timothy ignored them and nocked another arrow. The enemy appeared out of the darkness, and the commands to draw and fire were given very quickly.

  The front row of enemies was cut down, but more enemies flooded out of the darkness. The command of fire at will was shouted down the line, and Timothy shot three arrows in quick succession. The enemy was getting dangerously close; the infantry protecting the archers took a step forward and slid closer to each other, pressing shoulder to shoulder. Arrows whizzed from both the top and the base of the wall until the archers were no longer able to safely fire. Seconds later, the enemy hit the shields of the infantry with a tremendous crash. The fight was bloody, and soldiers fell everywhere, opening holes in the defenders’ line. The archers drew short swords and fell back toward the gate. Their weapons were no match for the swords and shields of the enemy foot soldiers.

  Timothy whipped his sword from his back scabbard and stepped toward the first enemy to approach him. This was the first time Timothy had ever seen a goblin, and he shuddered at the sight of it. Taught, green-tinted skin stretched across bones that appeared too large for the creature. The creature’s muscles, though not incredibly large, were well toned. It wore a torn and tattered uniform, and its only armor was a shield.

  In the instant Timothy took in its appearance, the goblin swung its sword in a short, powerful arc aimed at his head, but Timothy caught the blade of the weapon on his own sword, letting it slide off to the side. The blow had been glancing, but the force of it staggered Timothy. He recovered and slashed at the goblin’s side, but his blow was stopped by the creature’s shield. The goblin slashed at Timothy again, but the cadet ducked underneath the blade and spun, slashing at the creature’s left leg. The force of the blow was so powerful that the blade sliced cleanly through the goblin’s ankle. The goblin pitched sideways and as he extended his shield hand to catch himself, Timothy slashed upward, catching it under the chin. One more slash separated the shield from the goblin.

  Timothy snatched up the shield, fastening it to his left arm as best he could. Almost instantly, he was under attack from three more enemies, and he danced sideways to escape their jabs and slashes. He raised his shield and used it to catch the blades of two of his adversaries. He didn’t see the sword of the third goblin until it was under his shield. As he leapt backwards, the tip of the third sword sliced through his uniform, barely drawing blood from his stomach. The goblin had overextended himself on his blow, and Timothy brought his sword up, cutting through the creature’s wrist. The goblin stumbled backward, giving a scream of pain that made Timothy want to cover his ears. Instead, he spun to face the other two enemies, blocking their blades again. He stepped back and was able to get his first good look at them. Both of them were orcs, and were not of large build. One was left-handed, and Tim
othy immediately started watching him closely. The right-handed orc jumped forward and attacked with an over-handed hack at Timothy’s left side. Timothy lifted his shield and caught the blade on it, but realized too late that had left himself open to an attack from the left-handed orc. Already the creature was aiming a swipe at Timothy’s side, and Timothy was barely able to raise his sword and intercept the blade.

  The goblin’s sword slammed into his own with such force that he was not able to keep his wrist straight. His hand snapped backward and the blade of his sword dug into his leg. The orc tried to press his advantage by swinging at Timothy’s now exposed side. Timothy punched his shield forward into the right-handed orc and threw him backwards, then yanked his sword out of his leg and swung it upward, batting the blade of the left-handed orc aside. He brought his blade around in a tight arc, slashing at the orc’s chest. The orc was not prepared for the swift attack and was unable to get his shield up in time to defend himself.

  Timothy stepped back as the orc fell in half and turned his attention to his other adversary. The orc hesitated in approaching him, but a dwarf jumped past him and swung his battle axe in a heavy over-handed attack at Timothy. Timothy knew that the axe had the edge and force to cut through armor, so he swung his shield to meet it, smashing it sideways. The dwarf staggered forward and impaled himself on Timothy’s waiting blade.

  Timothy stepped backwards to allow the dwarf to slip off of his blade and continued backward as the enemy started to close in around him. The first several enemies he was able to dispatch due to his superior swordsmanship, but for every one he killed, several stepped into his place. These soldiers did not have swords, which he could easily defend against; clubs and battle axes were more common and a much greater threat. These new, heavier weapons began to hammer away at him, and he was forced to rely on his shield even more than he had before. His sword was rendered almost useless except for the few odd stabs he was able to deal out with it. The new brand of warrior quickly drove him back until he had joined up with the remaining archers and infantry, frantically trying to hold their own against the press of enemies.

  For a few more desperate minutes, the defenders stubbornly held their ground until the sound of their salvation met their ears. The ground shook with the pounding of horses’ hooves, and a cry came from five hundred mouths. The cavalry had returned from their circular route and came in behind the enemy soldiers. The enemy faltered momentarily, giving the defenders enough time to form a line; then the horses hit. The enemy soldiers were cut down and trampled under the horses hooves; suddenly what had been a threat only moments before was now a scared horde running away. The archers and infantry pulled back to the gate in order to stay out of the way as the horsemen did their work. The riders crisscrossed the battle field, killing the soldiers that had survived the initial attack.

  Just as it seemed that the soldiers of Magessa were victorious, a roar sounded from the north. Out of the darkness burst a dragon followed by two more, then a dozen more. In the blink of an eye, dragons were everywhere, torching the ground and killing the soldiers of Magessa in every way possible. The ballistae mounted on the wall immediately began firing at the dragons, but many of them were too slow to get off any shots at all and were crushed by dragons. The gates of the city groaned and began to swing open, as the seemingly endless force began to rush through them.

  Timothy stood on the field outside the gates. The horses and soldiers were panicking as they rushed in vain to get away from the dragons. Once again Timothy found Vladimir at his back, and he was thankful for it as he drew his bow. He selected a broad headed arrow and nocked it on the bow string. He located a dragon and, keeping his eyes on it, drew the string of his bow back to full draw. The dragon was closing in on him rapidly, so he quickly released the arrow. It sped toward the dragon, hitting just in front of where the beast’s leg joined his body. The sharp tip of the arrow smashed through the relatively weak scales and sank up to its black feathers. The dragon began to zigzag as it tried to stay aloft, and Timothy knew instantly that his arrow had penetrated the creature’s heart. The dragon continued to drop as it flapped its wings twice more before it slammed into the ground, sliding through the soldiers that remained outside the city. A handful of horsemen and infantry were crushed before the gigantic carcass slid to a stop.

  Timothy nocked another arrow and looked at the fallen dragon. It gave one more feeble beat of its wings and fell still. Timothy looked again to the sky and saw a dragon flying straight toward him. Already its mouth was open as it prepared to rain a torrent of fire on the human that had just brought down one of its brothers.

  “Vladimir, do something fast!” Timothy shouted as he released his arrow.

  Vladimir spun around and a sparkling bubble flared up around the two friends as well as several nearby soldiers. The dragon fire hit the bubble and spattered across its surface before extinguishing. Timothy’s arrow flew through the bubble with no trouble and slammed into the dragon’s still-open mouth. The dragon gave a gurgled scream as it dropped like a rock and hit the earth just a few yards in front of the bubble. The bubble had vanished as suddenly as it had come. The dragon plowed a deep furrow through the dirt and spun to a stop mere feet from Timothy. The beast’s tail swung around, and Timothy grabbed Vladimir and jerked him down to avoid contact.

  Timothy wasted no time getting back to his feet, nocking another arrow, and targeting another dragon. He drew his bow back, but as he released the string he was startled as a group of ten dragons burst over the city wall. His arrow veered right and bounced off the targeted dragon’s chest scales, but the dragon was saved only momentarily. The dragons from the city were reinforced by forty more, and in the blink of an eye the battle changed again. Now dragons battled dragons above the city wall, allowing the remaining soldiers to rush through the gates. Timothy reluctantly turned as well and fled with the other men through the gates and into the city. Ignoring the pain that flared in his wounded leg, he raced to the top of the wall and took his place among the rest of the archers. Vladimir was only a few steps behind him, and he took a place beside him.

  “That was amazing, what you did out there,” Timothy said to Vladimir. “How did you pull it off? I didn’t think you were powerful enough to create a shield that large that was still able to stand up to dragon fire.”

  “I didn’t do it,” Vladimir said simply.

  “But if you didn’t, then who?” Timothy asked with a puzzled look.

  Vladimir shrugged his shoulders, but his eyes pointed up toward the sky.

  ******

  Senndra hung tight to Feddir’s saddle as he shot through the air, an enemy dragon hot on his tail. The plan for baiting the enemy dragons had worked perfectly. The dragons of Magessa had attacked and appeared to momentarily gain the upper hand. Then they allowed the enemy dragons to break their formation and drive them toward the east. Already they were over the mountains and quickly covering the distance to the ballistae that were hidden among the rocks. In the dark it was impossible to see anything, and Senndra only knew that they had passed over the siege weapons when she heard the hiss of them discharging their missiles directly into the dragons overhead. Silhouetted against the moonlit sky, the dragons were easy targets for the siege equipment, and many were hit with the projectiles. Several dropped immediately while scores more sustained injuries and fell back as Feddir and his compatriots turned to head back toward the city. The enemy dragons stubbornly continued to follow, though it was with considerably less vigor than before.

  The dragons pulled within range of the siege equipment mounted on the city wall, and Senndra felt Feddir laugh across their mental link. Moments later, hundreds of arrows of all sizes launched from the wall and arched through the air on an intercept course with the enemy dragons. Too late the dragons saw them, and the arrows cut into their ranks, injuring at least half their number. In a flash the dragons of Magessa banked in sharp turns and flew into the enemy, slashing with their talons and teeth.

&nbs
p; The archers on the wall could no longer fire for fear of hitting their own dragons, but that was of no consequence. The weakened enemy was no match for the fresh dragons of Magessa that burst from the city and joined the others in an all-out attack. Fire flashed across the sky, and dragons screamed as they were torn apart and forced into the ground. Beasts from both sides rained from the sky into the city and onto the field outside of it. The fighting was bitter, and Senndra was forced to hold on with all her strength as Feddir rolled and banked through the mindless melee, striking at every enemy within his reach. The enemy ranks seemed to have swelled, and Senndra figured they must have been reinforced; even so the battle seemed to be in favor of the army of Belmoth. And still the enemy dragons attacked.

  At a signal, all of Belmoth’s dragons burst upward, leaving the enemies behind and within easy range of the archers and ballistae on the wall. A flock of arrows flew up and slammed into the enemy dragons, killing several and wounding many more. They were struggling to recover when the defending dragons dropped back down on top of them.

  The enemy dragons finally seemed to realize what a dire situation they were in and tried to flee, but there was no escape for them now. They were systematically hunted down one by one and overwhelmed. Still they held on and even rallied themselves together for one more attack, but this attempt was easily repelled. Then they fled in earnest, heading for their lines, but there was no sanctuary there. As they approached the lines of Molkekk’s army, no missiles came from the enemy siege equipment. Perhaps the soldiers thought that all of the dragons were their own, returning victorious from the fight. Perhaps they did not want to risk hitting their own dragons with the missiles. Whatever its cause, one thing was certain: the hesitation was deadly. The dragons of Magessa dropped down on the enemy siege engines and tore through them with their claws and tails. With the siege engines gone, they were able to return their attention to the enemy dragons.