by Peter Last
“Very good work,” Josiah said, “now adjourn to the north wall. We’re expecting an attack any time now, and we’re not going to give up the city without one heck of a fight.”
The soldiers scattered and quickly made their way to the north wall. All of the stairs to the wall had been demolished, making it necessary for the cadets to go through the gatehouse in order to gain the top of the wall. Josiah sighed and followed his men. He knew that their training had been extensive and that they were, for the most part, ready for the coming battle. Even though they had been deprived of their needed sleep, he knew that the dwarf army had also been up for a long time and had not gotten sufficient sleep either. All said, the coming battle would be a tough one, and no matter which way it ended, there would be a lot of bloodshed.
Josiah reached the gatehouse and waited as scores of soldiers used the same building to get onto the wall. Finally his turn came, and he entered the side door of the stone building. He quickly ascended a spiral staircase that passed several doors before coming out on the top of the wall. To his left, his men had gathered into their squads of roughly two hundred men apiece, and when he came out of the gatehouse, his captains approached.
“Commander Pondran,” Terza addressed him, and all five captains saluted. Josiah returned the salute and waited for his captain to continue. After several seconds, Josiah realized that his captain didn’t have anything to say, so he took over.
“Do we have any orders from higher up yet?” he asked as he walked down the wall toward his men. Even from this far away he could see that they were aligned in straight lines of military precision and were at attention.
“There were orders, sir,” Terza answered. “They were simply that your men were to defend the area of the wall they now cover.”
“Good,” Josiah said as he cast his eyes over his troops again. “In that case, I can set things up like I want. You have a good order, but you need to pull the men closer together, shoulder to shoulder. Have half of the archers in front and a row of pike men behind them. Then I want the other half of the archers on the ground back there,” Josiah said and pointed to the ground just inside the city wall.
“Already done, sir,” Terza responded. Josiah looked and saw that there were three hundred of his soldiers on the ground behind him. They were split into two groups and were surrounded by a thin line of swordsmen for protection in case the enemy breached the walls.
“Very good,” Josiah said after he had again surveyed the entire setup. “I guess there’s not much else we can do. Except,” he added hurriedly when he saw a look of reproof from Cirro, “we still have yet to pray and ask Elohim for protection and victory.” Josiah heard a snort from somewhere among his soldiers, but a glare silenced the offender. After his men had become silent, he bowed his head and began.
“Dear Almighty God, thank you for your protection today in all of the activities we have participated in so far. Thank you that no one was physically hurt as they constructed barriers throughout the city. Thank you that we heard about the enemy in enough time to be able to send for reinforcements.
“Now, dear God, please protect us as we battle the dwarves that are at this moment en route to our city. Lord, you know that they have turned from you and are now following the evil lord Molkekk. We know that it is because we follow you that we are now being attacked, and we ask that you be with us in the upcoming battle. Help us to overcome the enemy, that Magessa may remain a free nation, and that we might worship you in peace. Amen.”
******
Senndra gripped her bow in her left hand and an arrow in her right. The sun was just starting to rise off to her right, and as if on cue, the dwarf army appeared out of a fog that lingered on the plain outside the city. Senndra could see no siege equipment amongst the ranks of dwarves, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there. She averted her eyes and looked down the wall of the city. Archers stood shoulder to shoulder for as far as Senndra could see. As she looked at those about her, she could see fear in their eyes. Almost none of them had ever been in a battle before, and they were just as worried as she was.
Senndra took a deep breath and tried to settle her nerves. “Just do what you’re supposed to do and leave the rest to Elohim,” she told herself. Turning her gaze back to the dwarves just outside of bow range, she saw that they were changing position, and catapults were coming out of the fog. The engineers who were running them set them up well out of range of the defenders' weapons and began to prepare them for their first salvo. Out of the corner of her eye, Senndra could see an officer make a motion with his sword. Almost half a minute passed before he made a motion that Senndra recognized as the command to prepare to fire. She turned her attention to Lemin, but he was motionless, his sword at his side. Senndra turned and saw that the commander who was motioning with his sword was facing someone behind the wall. Her gaze drifted backward until it came to rest on six trebuchets.
A loud report from over the wall brought her gaze back around to the dwarf army. The catapults had fired, and their missiles were headed for the wall. As the boulders approached the wall, their targets became obvious, and the soldiers in those areas began to scatter. But it was to no avail. Two of the shots dug into the ground before they reached the wall and bounced harmlessly off its base, but the other ten boulders reached their targets. Five of them hit about halfway up the wall; four of those did little damage; the last one, however, knocked loose a part of the wall. The wall creaked but did not fall. A few of the catapult shots hit the gatehouse and bounced harmlessly off. The most damaging shots hit, with precision, a tower to Senndra’s left. The boulders punched through the relatively thin wall of the tower, and the whole structure collapsed. Thankfully, it fell in such a way that left no breach in the wall.
An audible command was heard from down the wall, and the trebuchets fired a return salvo. Most of the missiles landed in front of the army and rolled into it, killing the soldiers in their paths. Two of the shots hit the catapults they were aimed at. Debris flew in all directions as the boulders hit, but the other catapults were already preparing for their next attack. The trebuchets were ready first, and another salvo was fired. This one destroyed another catapult, which in turn fired its shot haywire into the army behind it. The remaining catapults, however, fired with deadly accuracy and punched a hole in another tower. Again there was no breach, but Senndra knew that it was only a matter of time before one was opened. Several of the other shots hit the wall where it had been previously damaged, and although it gave a tremendous groan, it still did not collapse. There was another burst from behind the wall, but no more catapults were destroyed.
“Griffins!”
Senndra immediately turned to see a flock of the magical creatures that she had only heard about in stories approaching her position from the west. The origin of the first griffins was unknown, but many people suggested that they had been created by Molkekk in his early attempts to create a race of warriors for himself. They were a fusion of a lion and an eagle. The front half of the beast was that of an eagle, complete with wings, talons, and a beak, while the rear half had the back legs and tail of a lion. The legendary ferocity of these beasts, along with their ability to fly, made them a living nightmare for soldiers. Though they could not individually meet a dragon in battle, in flocks they could certainly hunt them. And now, at least a hundred of these terrifying creatures were closing in on the trebuchets from the west behind the wall.
“Fire at will,” Lemin commanded in a stone-cold voice. Senndra immediately turned, nocked her arrow, and targeted an incoming griffin. She released her arrow, and it sped straight and true, slamming into the griffin’s neck. Senndra immediately nocked another arrow and took aim again. Just as she was about to fire, a shot from one of the catapults hit the wall off to her right, and chips of stone rained down on her. Her shot went wild but still managed to pierce the wing of a griffin. By the time the griffins reached the trebuchets, their numbers had been cut in half. Nevertheless, they were able to de
stroy four of the siege machines before retreating. Senndra glanced over her shoulder and saw that only three of the enemy catapults remained. The dwarves were charging now, with several hundred ladders leading the army.
“Front line, about face,” Lemin called. Senndra spun and faced the oncoming dwarves.
“Prepare to fire,” Lemin called. His voice was still calm and controlled. Senndra drew an arrow and nocked it.
“Fire,” Lemin commanded, and Senndra released her arrow. Even as she drew another arrow and placed it on the string, she watched her first as it sped toward the army. She lost sight of it before it hit and turned her attention to her next arrow. Another command to fire was given, and again a wall of arrows flew out to meet the enemy. Senndra saw several hundred of their number fall, but they were hardly noticeable as the other soldiers trampled them beneath their feet.
By now the dwarves had reached the wall and were leaning their ladders up against it. One was directly in front of Senndra and others were close on either side.
“First and second lines, draw swords,” Lemin called. Senndra slung her bow over her quiver and grabbed her sword from its scabbard. All around her, her comrades were following suit. Lemin's short sword was still fastened to his back along with his bow, and in his hands he held a massive two-handed sword from Saddun's armory. “Don’t let them take the wall,” he commanded and brought his weapon down on the top rung of the ladder near him. Just before the blade contacted, a hand reached up to grab the rung. Lemin’s sword cut the fingers off the hand and rang as it bounced off the top rung of the metal ladder. The hand disappeared, but was instantly replaced by a dwarf body. Lemin ran the attacker through with his sword, but even as he shoved the deceased dwarf off the ladder, another rose to take its place. Senndra swung her sword and took the head off of the first dwarf that ascended the ladder that was in front of her. Seconds later, a pike man used his weapon to shove the ladder away from the wall. As he retracted his weapon, he convulsed and turned just enough for Senndra to see the black feathers of a crossbow bolt protruding from his plate mail. He fell from the wall, and Senndra ducked below the crenellations just in time to avoid a barrage of deadly crossbow fire. Dozens of archers dropped, some dead and some fatally wounded. The remaining archers immediately began to return fire. Senndra sheathed her sword, grabbed her bow, and stood up. She placed an arrow on the string and targeted an enemy archer. She let the arrow fly and in seconds had another arrow on the string. More arrows flew upward at the defenders, and more archers perished. Senndra continued to let the arrows fly from her string even as archers all around her fell. Immediately to her right, Timothy fired on the enemy below, but his arrows seemed to do little against the enemy horde. Up and down the wall, the remaining pike men scurried around trying to shove off as many ladders as possible. But as soon as they dispatched one, several more rose to take its place.
“Retreat to the first barrier!”
Senndra looked toward Lemin and saw that he was already rallying together the remaining cadets from the academy of Belvárd. She fired one last shot and hurried to join her friends. She glanced behind the wall and saw that the trebuchets had turned to fire on the walls to either side of the area where the ladders had been raised. They were cutting the enemy off from the rest of the wall. Senndra reached Lemin and looked around. Of the one hundred and six soldiers from Belvárd, only fifty-three remained. Senndra tried to find Rita and Timothy in the throng, but couldn't locate either. Everyone looked the same, dressed as they were in battle attire.
“Retreat to the gatehouse,” Lemin ordered. “Anyone who volunteers will stay with me and cover the retreat.”
Without another word, Lemin turned and stood on the wall, facing away from the gatehouse. One of the other instructors led the cadets in an orderly retreat down the wall, but Senndra didn’t follow. She slowly turned and looked down the wall to where the enemy was chasing an army of cadets toward her.
“Senndra, what are you waiting for? Let’s go,” a voice called from behind her. She ignored it and took her place beside Lemin. He glanced over at her with a look of appreciation. He turned back to the charging enemy and raised his sword.
Senndra glanced sideways and saw that Timothy had come up beside her. His sword was still in its sheath, but he had his bow out, and an arrow was on the string. The arrow flew down the wall, past the retreating cadets, and into the dwarf army, felling one of the soldiers. Within seconds he fired again, and another enemy fell. He exhausted the remaining arrows in his quiver, slung his bow over his shoulder, and drew his sword.
“Let the cadets pass, but do not permit the enemy to get through,” Lemin ordered.
Senndra watched as the cadets reached her and streamed around either side as she stood her ground. All too soon they had passed, and there was nothing between her and the enemy. A glance to either side showed that Lemin was doing his best to loosen up, while Timothy seemed to be concentrating on something. Senndra turned her attention back to the enemy, who by now were no more than twenty yards away. Suddenly, with an incredible groan, a section of the wall in the middle of the dwarf ranks gave way and collapsed. Dwarf bodies and chunks of stone dropped out of sight; perhaps a hundred enemy soldiers had been destroyed, but more important was the fact that most of the survivors were on the other side of the hole. Only about thirty soldiers were left for the defenders to face.
They closed the distance quickly, and in seconds, Senndra was bringing her sword up to block the blow of an ax. A blur shot past her through the air, and the head tumbled off a dwarf. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Josiah had returned with a handful of soldiers and was now staging a defense on the wall.
The soldier that had saved Senndra spun on his heels and engaged three enemies at once. His skill with a blade was quite evident, but Senndra could see that he was outnumbered. Running forward two steps, she thrust her sword into the heart of one of the dwarves. Another was approaching her from the side, so she spun and slashed at his torso. Her blade scraped off his armor, and she found herself wide open to his attack. Air whistled past her ear, and a dagger buried itself in the dwarf’s neck.
As quickly as the fighting had begun, it ended with complete annihilation of the enemy force. Timothy stepped past Senndra and retrieved his knife from the body of the dwarf that he had killed. With a quick move, he wiped the blade on the tunic of the dead enemy and returned it to its sheath. Then, by unspoken agreement, all of the defenders sprinted down the wall toward the gatehouse.
A barrage of crossbow bolts whistled over their heads, coming from the front of the wall, but they were too high to do any damage. They reached the gatehouse and descended its now empty stairwell. To the west, dwarves were pouring into the city through the hole that had saved the defenders on the wall. Already, a clear route to the first barrier was blocked off, so Josiah led the small group to the east. They headed for the interior of the city and a section that had not been overrun with enemies. Josiah led them between the buildings, through a maze of alleys that only a native of the city would be able to navigate. Taking a roundabout path to avoid the enemy troops, they slowly made their way south and east until they finally came in sight of the first barrier. Suddenly Josiah stopped and motioned for the others to do so as well.
“What’s up, Commander?” Cirro asked Josiah.
“Take a look for yourself, Cirro,” Josiah said, motioning toward the open area between them and the barrier. Cirro looked out and swore under his breath. Only a hundred yards to the west, a group that contained at least several hundred dwarves was parked just under the cover of the buildings. Every so often, they would send out an attack party that would be driven back by archers from the other side of the barrier.
“We can’t cross to the barrier yet,” Josiah said. “Those dwarves are just too close for us to be able to do it safely. That’s without even mentioning what our friends on the other side of the barrier might do to us. After all, they could very easily mistake us for dwarves. I gue
ss all we can do is wait it out. Once we get to the other side of the barrier, I know of a way to get behind our lines. But not from where we are now.”
Cirro started to swear again, but stopped himself.
“So you’re saying that we should just sit here and wait? Do you have any idea what you’re saying? We’ll be sitting ducks. We won’t have any cover and not even an ideal spot to defend in a hand-to-hand fight.”
“I know that, Cirro,” Josiah answered, “but we don’t have much of a…”
Josiah was interrupted by a shout from the back of the group. He and Cirro spun around and saw that dwarves were entering their alley from the north. The cadets drew themselves up into a battle formation, but it was doubtful that they would be able to hold out against the dwarves. Two arrows whistled from out of the group of cadets and dropped two dwarves, but then they were too close for another shot. The first line of cadets was engaged, and the sounds of battle filled the alley. The dwarves cut through the first line but were held back as more cadets came to fill in their fallen comrades’ places.
“Josiah, over there!”
Josiah turned to see Senndra looking at him and pointing to the south end of the alley. Dwarves flooded in this end as well, preparing to attack the undefended flank of the cadets. Quickly Josiah drew his sword, and Cirro came up alongside him. They were joined by Senndra, Timothy, and Lemin. All held their swords in various stances, but the same look of determination was on all of their faces.
Josiah seemed to enter a dream world as the dwarves drew nearer. He felt as though this was not real, but he knew that it was. The closest dwarves came into focus when they were only a few yards away, and yet they seemed to take an eternity to cover the distance. The sound of metal shod boots striking the ground pounded in Josiah’s brain, and his sword dropped a fraction of an inch. The faces of the enemy, many showing expressions of fear and anguish, came into focus. Josiah knew they must be feeling many of the same things that he was.