“The men are getting tired,” sighed the lieutenant. “We can not hold them off much longer.”
“I agree,” Alex nodded sadly. “I want you to arrange an evacuation of your troops.”
“Evacuation?” echoed the lieutenant. “To where?”
“I want five hundred men sent to the roof,” explained Alex. “They must be among your best. After that, I want all of your women and children sent up. After that, the rest of the men need to be fed up to the roof systematically.”
“I am not sure that the roof will hold everyone,” frowned Lieutenant Montbalm. “Are you planning mass suicides?”
“No,” smiled Alex, “we are going to abandon this castle. As you send men up, you may need to concede levels to the enemy. I know that will be hard for you to do, but it must be done. I want you to picture a bridge from the roof to some place safe. Only so many people can cross it at a time, which means that others must fall back and defend while some cross. Can you do it?”
“I will do it,” nodded the lieutenant. “I just hope that you know what you are doing.”
“I know more than you think I do, Prince,” grinned Alex.
“How did you know?” asked the lieutenant.
“The king gave it away,” smiled Alex. “I suspected when a lieutenant held so much authority, but he called you son up on the roof. It is also why you knelt alongside your father. You acted instinctively to the role of a monarch. Make this evacuation orderly and safe. I will see that your father is kept safe.”
Alex rushed back up to the roof. He waved his arms to gather all of the defenders around the king and himself. Jenneva and Tanya crowded in to hear what was going on.
“You men are to secure this roof against the enemy,” he said loudly. “You are the last line of defense. In the meantime, some of your people are going to be coming up here. I need you to help me organize things and make this evacuation go smoothly.”
“Evacuation?” asked more than one voice in unison.
“Let me finish,” Alex said. “There is little time to waste if we are to maximize survivors. Soldiers will be the first to arrive and the first to depart. After five hundred of them have left, the women and children will start coming. Your help will be needed most at this point. They will be frightened and confused. Reassure them and help them. The rest of the men cannot start leaving until the women and children are safe, so speed is essential. You men will be the last to leave, so every minute you save by getting the others out of here safely and quickly, means a better chance at survival. Do you understand?”
“I understand everything that you said,” spoke one of the soldiers, “except the method of our escape. How are we getting off this roof?”
Alex turned and scanned the skies. Silent seconds dragged on as Alex peered into the dark brown cloud drifting over the pass.
“There,” shouted Tanya as she pointed towards the mountain peaks east of the pass. “Kaz brought others with him.”
The soldiers turned and stared at the moving rainbow. It appeared as a moving wave, thousands of sparkling colors shifting and merging together. As the rainbow moved swiftly closer, individual unicorns became visible.
“There are thousands of them,” shouted one of the soldiers as other soldiers started pouring onto the roof from the levels below.
“Clear a wide berth for the unicorns,” instructed Alex. “People get on as they enter the rooftop. Nobody needs to try to steer the unicorns. They already know where they are taking you. Just get the people on them quickly and proceed to the next.”
“Should children be strapped on?” asked one of the soldiers.
“No,” replied Alex. “The unicorns are intelligent creatures. They will adjust if the children start to slide or fall. Just load them on.”
Cheers roared from the soldiers as the first of the unicorns touched down on the rooftop. The first five hundred men mounted swiftly, if apprehensively. Hundreds of unicorns circled the Castle of Man as they waited their turns to land and carry humans away. Alex watched the initial loading and then turned to smile at Jenneva.
“Where are they going?” asked King Devon. “And will there be enough of them for all of the people?”
“There are not enough of them,” answered Alex, “but everyone will be evacuated. Some of the unicorns will come back for a second rider. The only way to make this happen was to let the unicorns choose what appeared to be a safe place to drop off their human cargo. That is why I sent five hundred warriors first. They will need to secure the area while the women and children are being transported. It may be a rough time for a while, but I think we can get to Tice unmolested.”
“And the Castle of Man?” asked the king. “What will become of it?”
“When we are all gone,” explained Alex, “Sarac’s men will no longer have a need to destroy the Castle of Man. Hopefully, your people can come back here some day and rebuild your lives. I need to go down and help your son.”
“I am going with you,” declared Tanya as a teary-eyed king hugged Alex.
Chapter 17
Abandoned Home
The bloody boulder bounded out of the narrow twisting stairwell and rolled across the floor until it struck several other boulders. Pieces of fur and flesh fell to the floor as the boulder bounced away. The yaki had been waiting for it to emerge and dashed into the stairwell. Several goblins charged after the yaki, but the large fox-like creature swiftly outpaced them. The yaki heard the shouts of the defenders as they struggled to move the next boulder to the top of the stairwell. Its tongue drooped between its sharp pointed teeth as its legs powered up the stone steps. The yaki’s eyes narrowed and its nostrils flared as it caught the strong scent of the humans. Its paws pushed off the wall as the stairwell bent around a corner. An involuntary yelp escaped from between its teeth as it heard a new boulder bouncing its way down the stairwell.
The yaki rounded another bend in the stairwell and saw the humans at the top. It also saw a boulder bouncing down the steps of the stairwell towards it. The yaki hesitated in mid-stride as it adjusted its gait to leap over the swiftly descending boulder. The yaki leaped high in the air over the path of the approaching rock. Its mouth opened in a broad toothy grin as it saw the stairs beyond the boulder. Suddenly, the boulder bounced off a step, its path altered higher. The yaki howled in pain as the rock slammed into its belly, carrying it backward. The yaki’s narrow eyes stared at the humans just a few paces away as the boulder carried it downward. As the yaki’s body was carried under the rolling stone, it heard the humans shouting.
“They are getting closer,” shouted one of the defenders of the Castle of Man. “We have to feed the stones quicker, or one of them is going to make it up here.”
“We have few stones left,” Lieutenant Montbalm replied. “We must prepare to abandon this level. When you release the last boulder, retreat immediately. I am going to notify the men at the next level to be prepared to defend their level. Last man up the stairs is to announce that he is the last so the first boulder can be released as soon as he exits the stairwell.”
The men grunted in acknowledgement as Lieutenant Montbalm raced up the next set of stairs. As he emerged from the stairwell, he shouted orders to the defenders. He gazed at the level marking on the floor and realized that he was on a battlement level, which occurred every five levels. He turned and ran along the corridor to the battlement, fatigue making his movements somewhat erratic. He promised himself that he would take a break soon before his fatigue caused him to make a serious error. As he stepped out onto the battlement, the lieutenant noticed that the sky was beginning to lighten. Dawn was fast approaching, and Lieutenant Montbalm realized why he was feeling tired. He had had no rest in over a day.
Lieutenant Montbalm halted when he reached the battlement. His eyes scanned the parapet and noted the men dislodging hooks from the crenels that had been thrown up from the lower battlement by ogres. Archers stood away from the wall ready to shoot any goblins that succeeded in climbing u
p. The Lieutenant frowned as he saw that his men appeared to be as tired as he felt. He sighed and shook his head as he spotted the Alceans repelling goblin climbers. He hurried over to them.
“We are evacuating the level below this one,” he said to the Alceans. “It won’t be long before you need to move up to the next battlement.”
“The next battlement is the roof,” advised Alexander Tork. “We are at the end of this siege.”
A surprised look fell over the lieutenant’s face. He shook his head and sighed again.
“I have been doing this too long,” he said. “When I cannot keep track of the levels in my own castle, you know that I am not functioning well.”
“You have been through a rough day and a harder night,” Alex smiled compassionately. “You take too much onto your own shoulders. You have good men under you. You must learn to rely on them from time to time.”
“There is no reason that you cannot go to the roof and prepare the last batch of men to evacuate,” suggested Tanya. “We know the drill of evacuating a level by now.”
“After this level falls,” nodded the lieutenant. “Battlement levels are the trickiest to evacuate. The outside men and the inside men must coordinate closely, or there will be many deaths. If either group leaves too soon, they doom the other group.”
“Not this time,” retorted Alex. “This is the last battlement before the roof. It is time to use the fire glue on the stairwells. The smoke will rise quickly, so we need to make sure that everyone not needed is already off on a unicorn.”
“I will see that the roof is cleared of defenders,” replied Lieutenant Montbalm. “Let Bantam come with me, and I will send her down when we are ready.”
Alex nodded and Bantam leaped onto the lieutenant’s shoulder. Alex raised his bow and shot a goblin that had reached the battlement just as Lieutenant Montbalm was leaving.
“Spread the word,” Alex said to Tanya. “Let everyone know what is going to happen. I fear for the last of us to get off the roof. It is going to be a close call.”
Tanya nodded and took off running. Alex looked along the broad expanse of the battlement and frowned. The men were all tired. Even though the men had been rotated from battlement to battlement, the day and night had been long. Few had slept, as the danger was ever present. Again he raised his bow to kill a goblin that had made the climb from below. More goblins were reaching the battlement, as the men removing the hooks took longer to respond. Alex would be glad when the battle for the Castle of Man was over. Tanya completed the circuit of the battlement just as Bantam returned.
“The rooftop is secure and ready,” Bantam reported.
“So are the men of the battlement,” added Tanya. “Jami, Bart, and Stan will use fire glue on their areas of the battlement to buy us some more time. This doorway will be the only one accessible.”
“Very well,” nodded Alex. “Light the stairwell up, and get the inside defenders heading upstairs. Tell them to depart immediately. I will send Bantam to the Rangers in a count of five hundred.”
“I’m gone,” called Tanya as she ran into the castle, numbers ticking down inside her mind.
She slid to a halt at the top of the stairwell as four men were pushing a large boulder into the mouth of the stairwell. A score of others were in varying stages of rolling boulders towards the stairwell from a pile at the end of a dead corridor. Tanya reached into her pack and pulled out two glass jars of fire glue. She held one in each hand. The soldiers looked at her questioningly as the howl of a yaki echoed up the narrow stairwell.
“It is time to go to the roof,” she shouted over the sickening howl.
Before the men could release the next boulder, Tanya hurled one of the jars down the stairwell. The bloodstained steps burst into a fiery oven. She looked at the men and nodded toward the stairwell going up to the roof. The soldiers needed no further hints. The men ran up the stairs as Tanya heard the approach of another howling yaki. She placed the second jar of fire glue on the floor and moved behind the boulder that was abandoned at the top of the stairwell. Tanya put her back to the boulder and shoved with all her might. She felt the boulder slip away as it dropped onto the first step going down. She bent down and picked up the jar of fire glue as the boulder bounded down the stairwell. She turned and threw the second jar as far as she could down the stairwell. The howls of the yaki had ceased. Tanya ran back along the corridor to the battlement just as Alex directed Bantam to leave.
“Will the fire hold them?” asked Alex.
“A yaki was trying to charge through it,” sighed Tanya. “I sent a boulder and a second jar down. That is the best we can do.”
Alex merely nodded as men came running around the corner of the battlement. Stan Fargo was leading them. Alex pointed upward as Stan led his men toward the doorway to the corridor. Stan nodded and led his men into the castle. Before the last of his men had gone through the doorway, men rounded each of the corners of the battlement. Bart Larmin led the group on one side and Jami Witzak the other. Alex could see smoke emanating from both ends of the battlement.
“This is it, men,” shouted Alex as he pointed upward for the running men. “We are the only side of the battlement not on fire. As soon as the groups running pass you by, fall in behind them and get yourself up to the roof.”
Alex handed a jar of fire glue to Tanya and nodded to the right. Tanya ran towards the far end of the battlement. Alex took another jar and ran to the left. As he neared the end of the battlement, he could hear screaming goblins. He could picture the inferno in his mind that must have existed around the corner. Making sure that the defenders were leaving their stations, Alex tossed his jar of fire glue to the floor. It immediately erupted in a great ball of flame. He retreated at a run and met Tanya back in the center of the battlement.
“Do you have any jars left?” he asked.
“Just one,” answered Tanya. “Do you want it here?”
Alex turned and gazed into the castle corridor and nodded.
“Do it,” he said. “Let’s get ourselves out of here.”
Tanya tossed the jar of fire glue straight up into the air. She turned with Alex and ran inside the castle. Smoke was already filling the inside of the castle, and the air was heavy with the smell of burning flesh. The two Knights of Alcea bolted for the stairwell and ran up the five flights of stairs to emerge on the roof.
Fifty men stood standing as they waited for unicorns to land so they could mount. Lieutenant Montbalm and the three Rangers stood facing the stairwell with bows ready.
“We are the last,” shouted Alex as he emerged from the stairwell. “Lieutenant, get your men, and get off this roof.”
“There were more men than unicorns,” Lieutenant Montbalm replied. “The roof will be cleared soon. I got the king and Jenneva off moments ago.”
Alex and Tanya grabbed their bows and joined the Rangers in a semicircle facing the stairwell. Alex kept turning his head and checking on the number of men still waiting for a unicorn. He never saw the grappling hook that snared the edge of the roof behind him where the lift passed through to bring supplies up. When he saw that only a few men were left, he gave the order to retreat. The Knights and the Rangers turned as one and saw the goblins pouring out of the lift hole. Five arrows flew into the massing group of goblins.
“Get off the roof now!” shouted Alex as he saw Lieutenant Montbalm and a handful of defenders turn to attack the goblins. “Double up if you have to. Just leave.”
Lieutenant Montbalm hesitated, but soon followed Alex’s orders. The goblins were quick to unleash their own bows. Two of the defenders went down with arrows in their backs. The rest managed to leap on top of unicorns and flee the roof. Kaz and Frea raced over to stand alongside the knights while they waited for three more unicorns to transport the Rangers. Arrows flew back and forth as the five remaining humans in the Castle of Man battled the small knot of goblins.
Alex dropped his bow and reached into his pack. He pulled out his last jar of fire glue.
With an arm-wrenching throw, he hurled the jar into the hole in the roof where the lift was. Seconds later, screams drifted skyward, followed closely by small tendrils of smoke. A goblin arrow thudded into Bart Larmin’s chest and he fell to the rooftop. An approaching unicorn screamed and spiraled out of sight with a goblin arrow piercing its neck. The two other unicorns landed behind the Rangers.
“Jami, Stan, mount up and get out of here. One of you take Bart with you,” Alex shouted as he picked up his bow and nocked an arrow.
The Rangers dutifully complied with the order while Alex fired an arrow into the remaining goblins. Suddenly, a huge gust of wind tore across the rooftop and slammed into the goblins. The ghoulish bodies were swept up in the wind, which carried them across the roof and over the edge.
“Mount up,” sighed Alex as he turned and leaped on top of Kaz.
Tanya was already atop her unicorn, and Kaz and Frea lifted off the roof in unison. Alex stowed his bow as they flew over the Boulder Mountains. He turned and looked at the smoking remains of the Castle of Man as it disappeared behind them. Bantam darted down from the sky and landed on Tanya’s shoulder. Tanya smiled at the small fairy and opened her breast pocket.
* * *
Pog was a small city, or a large town, depending on your perspective. It was nestled in the far northwestern corner of Lanoir where the Southern Mountains met the Targa Sea, and blocked the Great Sordoan Desert from infringing upon Lanoirian territory. Over the ages, it had been a trading port, gateway to the desert, and military outpost. Since the Collapse, it had fallen to little more than a fishing village.
The wagon of Master Khatama carried Boris, Mustar, and Podil as it pulled into town. Niki and Fredrik rode close behind. Master Khatama halted the wagon at the end of the dirt road where it met the thin beach of shells. The old merchant hopped down off the seat and walked to the rear of the wagon. He opened the flap and immediately spread a blanket on the ground.
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