by H. J. Cronin
King Persus looked at Bethegar and gave a sympathetic smile. ‘You plan to use civilian soldiers then?’ he asked, with a hint of sadness in his voice.
‘We do not have enough to defend this city – we need them. It is a hard choice but if we are to defend this city then every arm is needed. Let the children shelter in the Great Hall.’
‘Yes, King Bethegar, it will be an honour to once again fight beside you.’ They gripped arms and went straight to work.
Over the next few days every able-bodied man and woman was given brief training and a weapon of their choice; once the weapons ran out they were given slings and stones. Everyone would fight for their freedom. The northern clans’ army that had lost nearly half of its men in the Battle of Drugar’s Fields now swelled to nearly four hundred thousand. Although the majority were not trained fighters, they would still pack a punch when Count Darkool decided to attack.
They had reinforced the wall and built further walls within the city. Bethegar only had six catapults which were ready for action so he had them stationed on makeshift holds along the wall. Great big, flying boned beasts with vampires mounted on them had been seen circling over Bemon, obviously scouting the defences.
On the sixth day Bethegar stood in his armour on the gatehouse beside King Persus and Parmeus; in the distance a dark mass poured out of the Dark Wood like a tide. It took an entire two days for the dark mass to assemble in front of Bemon.
King Bethegar sucked in a deep breath and uttered only four words, ‘The darkness is coming.’
It began with a relentless barrage of catapult fire from Darkool's army. Huge boulders smashed into the reinforced walls and some smashed into the ranks of soldiers manning the wall. Other rocks flew over the wall smashing buildings and into the throng of troops guarding the gate below. King Bethegar managed to return fire with some of his own catapults which had little effect.
The next phase began as the undead horde marched slowly towards the wall. They pushed the great bone siege towers and a great battering ram. As they drew closer King Persus ordered volleys of missiles upon the exposed skeleton warriors below. Thousands of arrows, stones, spears and anything his defenders could find poured down onto the undead ranks.
Many hit home destroying many of the skeletons but more came; it was endless. They knew no retreat or fear; all they wanted to do was destroy the humans defending the city.
‘Defenders of Bemon! Prepare for melee! Siege towers!’ King Bethegar bellowed, and it was relayed along the line.
The siege towers arrived within range and the great big heavy ramp smashed against the walls. The first skeletons were instantly upon the defenders. As each tower let loose its load of attackers the defenders quickly found themselves fighting for their lives. The druids knew they would need to defend the ground once the battering ram began its work. So reluctantly King Bethegar, King Persus and Parmeus made their way downstairs and stood at the head of the huge mass of men and women prepared to defend the city with their lives.
High Count Darkool stood upon his chariot and watched the battle unfold. Smoke began to rise from the buildings from fires which had started. His horde had almost taken the walls and now the last thing was the main gate.
The new Count, Count Villiam looked at Darkool, ‘My lord, why do we not burn this city to the ground with everyone in it? It is just wood.’
‘I need subjects and slaves, Count Villiam, burning Bemon and its inhabitants will serve me no purpose. I will walk through its streets and its people will bow before me.’
‘Yes, my lord. What would you have me do?’
‘Lead my vampire soldiers in the vanguard when the gate has been smashed down, then you will have earned your title as count.’
Count Villiam smiled with excitement. ‘It will be done, my lord,’ he said with enthusiasm.
Darkool watched as Villiam barked an order and a small mass of grey-skinned vampires in dark grey armour charged towards the gate. The High Count was pleased and knew that the castle would soon be his. With the Black Widow conquering the north west and the other counts fighting a war in the south it would not be long before Wilmurin fell.
The ram drew back and the skeletons released it, causing it to fly towards the already damaged gate once more. It hit with a large bang that shook the gatehouse and the defenders standing on the opposite side. King Bethegar exhaled and looked at King Persus.
‘It is time, my friend,’ he said to King Persus.
Bethegar then grew to twice his normal size, fur began to burst from his skin, his hands and feet turned to paws, his face rounded and his nose extended. He took on his big black bear form as King Persus and Parmeus took on their black panther forms. King Bethegar gave out a loud roar that rattled the bones of the defenders, they all looked at him and then one by one they began to bang their weapons against their shields and anything else they could find. The sound of the steady beat carried throughout Bemon.
Then came another thud from the battering ram, this one far louder than the others. The gate burst into hundreds of pieces and in poured the undead horde in their corroded armour, their evil faces frowning and their weapons raised. The three druids charged first into them, destroying many at a time as they smashed into the bone warriors. They were followed by the human army who charged down into the building mass of skeleton warriors.
Armoured vampires and skeleton warriors fought side by side against the human force. Sounds of cries, metal on metal and the cutting of flesh filled the air. Many of the humans in this part of the defence were trained soldiers while the untrained waited nearby.
Bethegar ran through the bone warriors with ease. His powerful physique smashed through them like a boar through grass. The black panthers, not as powerful, but much faster attacked the armoured vampires using their razor sharp claws and teeth. Bethegar saw three greedy vampires feasting on one of his men so he charged over to them, and using his huge paws he flattened one. The other two looked up at him with blood dripping from their mouths.
He snarled at them and they roared back. They came at him with swords which Bethegar just managed to dodge. He found a gap in their defence and launched his paw at the unsuspecting vampire and took his head clean off. The vampire’s head flew across the battlefield and smashed into the wall of the gatehouse. The other vampire brought his sword down and managed to strike a blow on Bethegar’s leg, which stopped the giant bear for a moment. It wasn't long before he recovered and pounced on the helpless vampire warrior, turning it to minced meat.
King Persus fared just as well against a duo of vampires. It all changed when Count Villiam spotted him; the count had something to prove to his master so he attacked the larger than average black panther with great speed and skill. The main strength of the black panther was speed and agility, so the two were matched for speed. Count Villiam swung his sword around which would have cut the panther in half, but King Persus saw it coming. He dodged the attack, spun around and pounced onto the count sending him down.
The count had time to recover and stood back up. He slashed his sword at the black panther cutting Persus three times. But Persus was not fazed by this; using his front two paws he hit the count and with a third strike he scratched him with his sword-like claws. The count held his face and instantly retreated back into the throng of undead. King Persus did not pursue but carried on fighting instead.
King Bethegar had just finished off a half dozen skeleton warriors with his powerful paws when he heard a deafening screech. Everybody and everything heard it. It came again and Bethegar looked up, as did everybody else. Even the skeleton vampire warriors stopped and looked up. Another loud screech came and to his surprise King Bethegar saw help fly above them. The Eagle had come.
‘What is he doing here?’ High Count Darkool shouted out, pointing towards the Eagle.
The Eagle flew over the battlefield and went straight for the flying bone beasts. With a swipe of his powerful wings and a bite from his beak he immobilised three of the beasts wit
hin seconds. The Eagle then flew down among the ranks of skeletons and, using his claws and wings, he smashed them to pieces. He then flew back up into the air and gave out another loud screech.
Suddenly the earth began to shake and the trees to the right of Bemon began to shake as if the Dark Wood had come to life. Crashing out of the Dark Wood came over two dozen angry and fired up giants. Thirty-five in all, they smashed into the lines of undead killing scores at a time. They kicked, punched, bit, threw rocks and hit down with their clubs, destroying dozens of skeleton warriors at a time. The giants waded into the undead lines without stopping. Many were cut down and killed.
It was the Eagle’s turn to seek out High Count Darkool, to try and kill the dark count and end this war. He spotted Count Darkool on his chariot drawn by human slaves. The Eagle flew down towards Count Darkool and landed just in front of his chariot, pulverising a number of skeletons below him, and then took on his human form.
The old man gripped his staff, leant on it and then bellowed out to Darkool, ‘High Count Darkool! You have caused the death of too many innocent people. Come and face me so I can end your reign of terror.’
High Count Darkool laughed out loud; his evil cackle echoed, ‘You do not seriously think your small group of giants will make a difference in this battle, old man. This world is mine! And its people will kneel before me.’
‘This world belongs to the just and the free! Even if you defeat me now and destroy the northern clans victory is not yours! Johan son of Haramithir of the Night Hunters will return and destroy you!’
‘Ha! You think that pitiful boy will stop me? I grow more powerful each day. You will witness my power on this day, Eagle,’ he said, pointing a finger at the Eagle. He dismounted his chariot and made his way to the old man who was leaning on his staff. Darkool cleared a space around the two of them so the fight would be a fair one.
High Count Darkool did not expect the Eagle to strike first but he did. He pointed his staff towards the vampire and a blue and green energy bolt burst from within and shot towards the dark count. Just as quickly Darkool raised his sword up and red lightning burst from its tip and met the Eagle’s magic. The two snakes of energy collided, but after a brief struggle the antagonists realised that this magic was not going to work, so they stopped and eyed each other.
It was then that the Eagle drew his own katana and launched himself at the count. The two were now locked in a vicious melee. The Eagle had surprising lightning speed with his strikes but High Count Darkool was much stronger. Using his red lightning he once again struck the Eagle, sending the old man flying many feet away.
As the Eagle stood back up and eyed Darkool with intent, he noticed three skeletons running towards him from his left side. With minimal effort he struck his staff down into the ground and a wave of blue magic formed a small tidal wave around him. The surrounding skeletons within a half mile instantly turned to bone dust, Count Darkool was taken off of his feet and went straight down to the ground.
Now the Eagle collapsed out of exhaustion. He slowly stood back up and saw that High Count Darkool was also on his feet. The Eagle was too slow to react when a thunderous sound erupted from Count Darkool's sword and red lightning engulfed the helpless man.
As if the Eagle was attached to High Count Darkool's energy with a piece of string, the count lifted the Eagle up and with all of his might he threw the man far into the air. As the Eagle flew through the air Count Darkool took aim and shot a single bolt of energy towards him. The bolt struck the Eagle and with that he exploded into many pieces.
‘Haha!’ High Count Darkool exclaimed. ‘The Eagle is dead! I killed the Eagle!’
But Darkool was not finished. Using his magic he created a round platform of red lightning beneath his feet and rose up into the air metres above the battlefield. With his lightning bursts, one by one he killed the giants. The behemoths did not stand a chance against the deadly lightning which burnt their insides and turned them to smouldering, lifeless heaps on the ground.
He slowly flew towards Bemon and his army found a new frenzy and charged forward into the city.
The giant black bear that was Bethegar had seen the entire scene unfold from the wall he had managed momentarily to take back. The loss of the Eagle pained him but he had to carry on for his people's sake. He saw High Count Darkool flying towards him on his platform of lightning.
King Bethegar growled and jumped from the wall onto the throng of skeletons below, and rejoined the battle alongside his men.
After nearly two hours of fighting King Bethegar could see that his men were giving ground. He gave out a loud roar which signalled a retreat. Slowly his remaining men retreated through the streets and towards one of the main squares. There on one side waited his makeshift army of civilian soldiers. There were more here than were at the gate and they were prepared to fight and die for the northern clans and their home.
King Bethegar, King Persus, Parmeus and the rest of the remaining men took up position alongside the fresh troops. Into the huge square poured the undead soldiers; they formed a line facing the human soldiers. Just yards apart, both sides stared the other down. King Bethegar roared out loudly and his army took up the cry. Thousands of men and women, trained and not trained, charged throughout Bemon and crashed into the line of undead in front of them.
The battle raged on with neither side giving way. Manoeuvring around the area began to be hard due to the hundreds of corpses that were lying on the ground. The cobbled ground ran with blood from the dead. The undead horde was relentless as more just kept on coming.
Above the battle in the city High Count Darkool flew on his platform. Any missiles that came at him were turned to ash from the power of his sword. He hovered just above the battle and using quick bursts of lightning he began disposing of enemy soldiers. The bear and the panthers were not of concern to him for he knew his army would end their existence, so there he hovered and observed the battlefield, letting his minions do the work.
All it took was one man to shout out, ‘We don't stand a chance! Save yourselves!’ And that was it. King Bethegar’s army began to retreat towards the Great Hall. Like ants they fled in every direction from the line. The undead showed no mercy and charged after them. No amount of roaring from King Bethegar could stop them. So he and the Black Panthers also fled the battle towards the Great Hall.
The banging on the door shook the floor of the Great Hall. Only a handful who had survived the day's battle huddled in the hall. King Bethegar stood with King Persus and his son Parmeus; the three of them had escaped unharmed bar a few cuts. They stood in their human forms among their people and waited.
‘This is our end then,’ Bethegar said.
‘We fought bravely, King Bethegar. I am proud to die alongside you and my father,’ remarked an exhausted Parmeus.
‘It is my end but not yours,’ King Persus said, and the pair of them looked up at him.
‘What do you mean, Father?’ Parmeus asked.
King Persus looked up at his son and smiled proudly. Another bang from the door shook the floor. ‘I am proud of you, son. You have made your father proud,’ he said to Parmeus.
‘Where is this going, King Persus?’ King Bethegar asked impatiently.
‘You two must escape, head south and carry on this war,’ King Persus announced.
‘Carry on this war? How do you propose we even escape from Bemon?’ Parmeus said, looking astonished.
‘It is not happening, King Persus. I will not leave my people to a certain death,’ King Bethegar said, shaking his head.
‘You will not die here, King Bethegar, your people have fought well but their end is here. What good is their memory if you die here? And you, my son, you will carry on my line and our clan will survive.’
‘I will die gloriously here King Persus, my name will live on,’ Bethegar said.
King Persus shook his head, ‘Count Darkool will erase you from the histories, the world will fall to the dead and no one will know your
name. Once again the people of Wilmurin will be slaves to a much greater power.’
‘How would we get out? We cannot fly, we do not have magic!’ King Bethegar exclaimed.
‘You have your bear form, King Bethegar. In your bear form you can charge through the lines of skeletons and they would not stop you.’
‘Not stop me? How could I possibly survive charging through hundreds of thousands of enemy soldiers?’
‘At least try, King Bethegar, your father would not want you to die on this day. It is not your time, you must carry on the druids’ struggle and not let this world fall,’ Persus pleaded.
‘I do not like it. But … very well,’ Bethegar submitted. ‘I will carry on the war and win it. I have faith in Johan, Ardag, Garpaw and my sister who seek out the count’s death. I will make sure your name will be remembered, King Persus.’
‘Thank you, young bear. May Drugar see you to victory.’
Persus then looked at Parmeus who had tears streaming down his face. ‘Father, I cannot abandon you to die by yourself,’ he struggled to say.
‘You are now the king of the Black Panther Clan. Without you our clan will not survive. Do you understand?’
Parmeus nodded in response.
As the final blow came, the Great Hall door crashed open and the undead charged in and finished off the defenders. Then all of a sudden dozens were blown back as a giant black bear with a dark skinned man burst out through the entrance.
They charged through the courtyard. High Count Darkool could not accurately hit the fast bear with his magic as it ran through his ranks. King Bethegar left the courtyard and charged through the streets and somehow he did not suffer one bruise. He was like a giant crashing through a forest.