by Tom Burton
“We follow the orders of the lord commander. Not you.”
After a few tense seconds, Daniel and Aaron turn. They see Jaylen walking toward them.
“I don’t care if it’s a trap,” Aaron tells Jaylen, “I need to know.”
Jaylen lets out a sigh. He turns away for several moments then finally looks back to the soldiers.
“Open the gates,” he reluctantly instructs.
Aaron breathes a sigh of relief. He turns to see the soldiers cautiously removing slabs from the gate. After the soldiers remove the necessary slabs, they slowly open the gates, allowing Aaron and Daniel to walk through. The two men see Luke Snow standing ahead of the orc army, staring back at them.
As Aaron and Daniel walk out onto the open field and head over to Luke Snow, Daniel turns to look behind him. He sees the gates closing. He looks nervously to Aaron, who continues to walk toward Luke. A newfound fury fills Aaron’s eyes. As the two approach Luke, they see he is smiling at them. He then raises his arms in celebration.
“Aaron Silver…and Daniel Rane,” he says as the three of them meet. “Your names became very popular, all across Neroman. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t find you…until now.”
“And why have you been looking for us?” Daniel asks.
Luke points at them both.
“One of you is a Pioneer, and one of you is the former lord commander’s long lost son. I just had to meet you both,” Luke tells them, smiling arrogantly.
“So now that you know us, what do you want from us?” Daniel asks.
“Well first I must congratulate you on having such a high command of Dellmoor. Talk about the perks of being the lord commander’s friend. As you have so much power in Dellmoor now, tell them to give up the city and submit to Mutaro. You do this, and we promise no one will die tonight. Refuse, and we kill everyone behind you before sunrise.”
“No,” Aaron sternly responds.
Luke sniggers at him.
“You certainly are from the West. A beautiful state…not anymore though.”
Aaron draws his sword and lunges for Luke but Daniel holds him back.
“I will kill you,” Aaron warns
Luke’s arrogant smile then descends into an intimidating scowl.
Aaron storms back into Dellmoor.
Daniel then turns to Luke.
“You’ve made your choice,” Luke warns him. “When we get inside the capital, we will throw all the children over the wall, we will set the wolves on your women, every soldier fighting will be pulled limb from limb. And you and Aaron will die last, watching everything we do, and you will learn what impulsive aggression has caused your race.”
As Aaron walks back to the capital, the front gates slowly open for him; Daniel follows behind. Luke watches as the two men head to the gates. Once Aaron makes it into the city, he storms up the staircase to the wall. The guards then begin to close the gates.
“Daniel!” Luke shouts as the gates are still closing. Daniel turns around, still outside of the gates. He watches as the orcs light the tips of their arrows on fire with torches next to them. Daniel then turns and runs back into Dellmoor just as the gates are closing.
In the field in front of the gates, Luke raises his arm in the air, his fist closed. Seeing the closed fist, the first two lines of the orcs step forward and draw their bows.
Atop the wall, Laura commands the archers: “Fire at will!”
Luke drops his arm. The orcs fire their arrows. As the arrows quickly fly back and forth, hordes of orcs carrying ladders and pushing a battering ram swarm into the wall.
“Fire the trebuchets!” Jaylen orders.
Soldiers trigger the enlarged catapults; high-pitched whistling echoes behind the stone walls as the stones rise over the walls of Dellmoor then descend upon the orc army. The stones crush dozens of orcs as the boulders roll across the teeming swarm. One boulder even knocks down one of the battalions of orcs carrying ladders to the walls.
Battalions of orcs continue charging at the wall. They clamp ladders at the base, and rest them againt the Dellmoor walls, the orcs quickly climb up to the top of the wall. Jaylen sees a ladder clamped down below; he sees orcs clamping more and more ladders up and down the wall and already climbing up them. He then turns and looks down toward the Dellmoor infantry.
“Soldiers, draw swords! To the walls!” Jaylen shouts.
The soldiers of the infantry all draw their swords and rush up the stairs, joining the archers atop the walls. As the orcs clamber over the walls, the Dellmoor soldiers begin to fight them. Aaron and Jaylen draw swords and meet the orcs head-on. Laura and Daniel continue to shoot their arrows, aiming for the orcs at the base of the ladders.
Eventually, the battering ram begins to be slowly dragged by the orcs. It finally makes it to the front gates. Jaylen sees the battering ram even as he fends off the orcs around him.
“Brace the gate!” Jaylen barks.
A dozen soldiers, including Kamara, run to the gate and push against it with all the force they could muster. Once the battering ram reaches the gate, the orcs run toward the rear of it. They pull thick pieces of rope, pulling the large wooden beam back toward them. Once the orcs get the beam pulled back far enough, they release the rope. The beam rushes forward with its own momentum, smashing into the gate. The force of the first ramming pushes the Dellmoor soldiers away from the gates. They rush back to press again against the door with renewed force.
Some Dellmoor archers turn their attention to the battering ram: they rush toward the walls right above the gate. They nock their arrows and draw their bowstrings back, then fire at the ram. But they are unable to do any damage, as the wooden roof atop the ram stops the arrows from penetrating the ram. The orc archers then take aim at the Dellmoor archers attacking the battering ram, while the orcs at the battering ram continue to attempt to ram the gate down. But, they are causing no considerable damage to the front gate, yet.
Across the walls of Dellmoor, the soldiers keep fighting. For the moment, they successfully push back the orcs. After Jaylen slices his sword through two orcs, he stands for a moment and watches the fight around him. He sees Aaron fighting bravely, his short sword grasped in both his hands. He sees Daniel and Laura joined with the other archers, firing across the plains ahead of the gates.
“We can win this…,” he whispers to himself.
Orcs rush forward; he begins to cut them down. Across from him, Aaron strikes down another orc; he goes to the ladder the orc used to climb the wall and pushes it hard: the ladder moves off the wall, falling back to the ground, crushing all of the orcs who had mounted it.
Luke Snow sees the ladder falling. One of the orcs nervously approaches him.
“My lord, the walls are too high and the gates are too strong.”
Luke looks on in resolve.
“We keep pushing; this city will fall.”
“My lord…it’s too strong.”
Luke slowly unsheathes his sword and looks toward the orc.
“Not for me,” Luke Snow tells the orc.
He looks back to Dellmoor. After a few moments, he takes a few paces forward and lifts his sword, pointing the tip toward the night’s sky. He looks up, seeing the clouds unnaturally being drawn in. A shockwave rocks the air all around him, causing cracks to form on the ground below.
Atop the walls, Aaron pushes through some of the soldiers.
“Jaylen! Jaylen!”
Eventually he finds Jaylen fighting two orcs. Aaron stabs one of the orcs in the back and through the chest as Jaylen slices the other across the throat.
“The orcs are failing to push through, and there are still many of us on the walls.”
Jaylen remains reserved. “We still have to fight the others, but we are doing well so far.”
Suddenly, a huge screech from the night’s sky pierces Dellmo
or. Everyone—humans and orcs—holds their heads in their hands. The screech is long and powerful…but at last it stops. Everyone begins to pick up their weapons from where they had dropped them. They look up toward the newly formed clouds. As Daniel and Laura redraw their arrows atop the walls, they see the orcs cheering on the plains ahead of them. They look at each other uncertainly.
Sam looks up to see a shadow draw across the clouds. He can hear the thrust of wings spread across the land. He begins to run up the stairs. He quickly spots Jaylen and Aaron and runs toward them.
“It’s a dragon,” Sam tells the two.
They look at Sam, reluctant to believe his words. “Dragons have been gone for generations!” Jaylen replies.
“So was Mutaro,” Sam replies.
The three then slowly turn to look back up at the shadow in the clouds. Whatever it is, it is slowly approaching the city. The shadow then suddenly dive-bombs, bursting straight down through the clouds. The soldiers on the walls gasp in shock, as the dragon lands just outside the front gate, crushing the orcs’ battering ram with its left foot. The fully armored, silver-plated dragon lets a huge roar rent the city, once again causing the humans of Dellmoor to scream in fear. The roar stops, but as the soldiers watch in horror, the dragon begins to breathe fire at the front gate.
Jaylen and Aaron watch in horror. Several archers along the wall take aim and shoot their arrows at the dragon, but the silver-plated armor deflects the arrows.
Fire continues to burn the gate. The intense heat suddenly explodes the gate, causing soldiers to fly back, scattering them far and wide. The explosion also blasts away a section of the stone wall on either side of the gate, causing several soldiers to fall fatally to the ground.
As the force of the explosion dissipates, the dragon looks back to Luke.
Luke approaches one of the orcs.
“I have no interest in prisoners….Kill them all.”
The orc then yells, and the entire orc army draws their weapons and swarm toward Dellmoor. The dragon spreads its wings then flies upward, soaring above the city.
Aaron abandons his position atop the wall and runs down the stairs. “Soldiers, with me!” he orders. Jaylen follows, along with the soldiers..
“Hold a line!” Aaron tells them, pointing toward the open spaces where the gates of Dellmoor once stood. Soldiers charge past Aaron, using their shields to create a wall to hold back the swarming orc army.
As Jaylen rushes towards the gates, he sees Kamara on the ground, struggling to her feet.
“Kamara!” Jaylen shouts, running toward her. He grabs her arm and helps her to her feet.
“Are you hurt?”
“I can keep going!” she tells him.
She reaches for her sword then looks over to the infantry setting up by the gates. She sees Aaron and Sam coming toward her.
“We have to call for a retreat!” Aaron tells Jaylen.
Jaylen shakes his head.
“Thousands of theirs are dead; we still have a city to defend.”
Aaron points his sword past Jaylen.
Jaylen turns to see the dragon breathing fire at other parts of the city.
Just then, Daniel and Laura storm down the stairs.
“Before long we won’t have much of a city to defend,” Aaron says. “We need to get the civilians out before they fall with it.”
After a moment, Jaylen turns somberly back to Aaron and nods his head in agreement, assuming that Aaron has a plan.
“Okay,” Aaron tells the group around him, “so this is what we do. Jaylen, take Sam and go to the keep. Get as many of the children and the elderly out of the city as you can by using the secret passage to the royal forest. If we hold the line here, you should have no troubles.
“Laura, you take Kamara and Daniel and stay with the soldiers here; make sure the orcs don’t get past this line.”
Aaron then sees Jaylen has a horn on his person.
“That horn…once the civilians are safely out, you blow the horn. Then we can get the soldiers out as quickly as possible.”
“What about the king and queen?” Laura asks.
“I will get them myself, we will use the secret tunnel along with the other civilians,” Aaron replies.
“Are we all in agreement?” Aaron asks.
Jaylen and Laura nod their heads at Aaron; but Sam and Daniel do not respond at all, showing their nervous state.
Daniel and Laura then run to the frontline, still anticipating the orc army to charge. Kamara heads off to join them, but Jaylen stops her.
“If you need to run…then you run!” Jaylen says.
Kamara looks at him with disapproval.
“I will be fighting, because that’s we do.”
“Jaylen!” Sam shouts in the distance.
Jaylen pulls slowly away from Kamara and runs with Sam toward the keep.
At the broken gate, Kamara joins Laura and Daniel—and the bulk of the army. The soldiers’ shields continue to form a barricade between the walls that remain standing. They watch the orcs draw closer toward the gates from the plains outside of Dellmoor, running wildly. The orcs on top of the walls continue to battle the humans still up there.
“You are soldiers of Dellmoor, you will stay your ground and you will fight them!” Daniel orders those at the gate.
The soldiers cheer at Daniel’s words. They hold steady, even as more and more orcs are defeated atop the wall and the Dellmoor archers descend to join the infantry at the broken gate.
“Archers,” Laura orders as the orcs draw within range, “fire at will.”
The Dellmoor archers then draw back their bowstrings and release their arrows. But the orcs’ numbers are too great. They swarm the gate, clashing with the soldiers’ wall of shields. Several orcs leap over the shields, but a line of Dellmoor soldiers behind the infantry quickly kills them.
At the Dellmoor keep, Jaylen rushes to the main gate. He struggles to lift the wooden bar locking the doors. Sam comes to help him. Jaylen then opens both doors. He sees the civilians’ crowded inside, relieved to see a human at the door.
“Follow me, quickly!” Jaylen orders.
The children and the elderly then slowly get up and exit the keep, following Sam and Jaylen as they head to the secret passage. But many of the civilians flee in panic.
“No, stop!” Jaylen shouts.
But hundreds rush out and find their own way. Sam and Jaylen continue to guide the thousands who remain toward the passage.
Back at the broken gates, the Dellmoor soldiers are slowly being pushed back. Kamara eventually replaces a fallen soldier at the front. She keeps her shield hard and true against the orcs. Daniel shoots arrows at the swarming orcs, but he sees the hordes continuing to swarm the field, and he knows their numbers are building.
He rushes over to Laura.
“There are too many of them, we have to get out now!”
But Laura remains committed to the plan.
“The civilians must get out safely first; once Jaylen’s horn is blown, we will evacuate.”
Daniel disapproves, but he turns to nock another arrow, then draws his bowstring back and fires.
Arriving at the secret passage, Jaylen and Sam find a cave-like entrance, leading downward. The two then stand on either side of the entrance.
“Through here!” Sam yells.
He and Jaylen guide the civilians into the passage. All the while, they hear the screech of the dragon above them: the heat of its fire burns through a nearby street. The fire destroys the foundations of a tall building, which now begins to fall toward them. Some of the men and women scream in horror, as the tower collapses on top of them.
“We need to get everyone into the passage,” Sam tells Jaylen, “before the dragon kills more of us!”
“Hurry!” Jaylen tells the fleeing civilians a
s they rush as quickly as they can toward the entrance of the passage.
On the streets near the royal gates, Aaron rushes toward the castle, ducking between buildings and crouching under doorways to avoid the dragon soaring above the city. He watches it fly past, burning the buildings all around it. He hides momentarily under an archway, then rushes back into the street. The few remaining citizens of Dellmoor are running toward him in a blind panic.
“Wait!” Aaron tells them.
They ignore him. They continue to run down the streets, screaming as they flee.
Aaron then turns. He suddenly receives a pain in his head. He holds his head and begins to groan. But the pain fades very quickly; he shakes it off and marches toward the gates of the royal castle.
Back at the keep, almost all of the civilians have managed to make their way to the entrance to the secret passage. Jaylen takes up his horn. Sam reaches his arm out.
“Stop, wait,” Sam pleads.
Jaylen refrains from blowing his horn. He looks over to Sam.
“Look around you, this is the capital of Neroman,” Sam implores, “a city which has never fallen. Once you blow that horn, we have lost the city.”
Sam’s words seem to faze Jaylen for a moment. He looks at his horn then sets it to his lips. He closes his eyes for a moment, inhales heavily, and blows down on the horn.
The horn sounds long and loud, echoing across the whole city.
Once Jaylen finishes, he discards the horn and unsheathes his sword.
“What are you doing?” Sam asks.
“I refuse to abandon my soldiers, and I am going to kill every one of those bastards that have destroyed my city.”
He then marches toward the walls of Dellmoor.
Sam considers for a moment then hesitantly follows.
Daniel, Laura, and Kamara hear the horn sounding throughout the city.
“Retreat, fall back!” Laura orders.
The soldiers break formation then rush into the city.
As the Dellmoor soldiers run from the broken gates, the orcs swarm in: thousands and thousands of them rushing into the city, swarming every street.
Aaron holds his head tightly; the pains have resumed. He sees the front gates of the royal castle…but then he hears the horn blow. Fire spreads throughout the city; nothing but screaming can be heard in all directions. Everything becomes blurry…he’s unable to focus. However, women and children can be seen all over, lying on the ground and in the street, barely able to set foot to the street floor.