Call Your Steel

by G. D. Penman

  Kaius’ pleasure washed over her through their link and she briefly wondered if there was a way to close this connection now that it had been made without severing their bond entirely. It wasn't that she did not see the value of it or even that she did not like knowing Kaius’ thoughts, it was just that she did not know if she wanted him to know every one of hers. In the city, she heard the first cries of alarm from her people as they discovered their homes alight, but quickly the cries blended together into a roaring cheer. Somehow, they knew, they had recognised that she was here for them. A warmth spread through her body that had nothing to do with the flames licking up all around.

  Night fell over the city and the armies around it. They had not laid siege just yet, they were waiting for the final third of their number to arrive, but it was only the very brave, or desperate, farmer or trader that would run the leery gap between the armies. There had never been peace between any of the Eaters. Only that tremulous halting of hostilities that came from forces too evenly matched, and an unwillingness to expose their back to the third party's knife. As united in purpose as they wished to be now, it was only the stern discipline of the Chosen stalking the ranks that kept the soldiers from charging the other's lines.

  Lucia sent up her flames, far greater in number than any of the previous nights and it was lucky that she did. Walpurgan's Chosen riding on owl-back were out in force, swooping down into the city streets and scooping up any person foolish enough to break the new curfew. Some of the owls fell to the flames drifting in the sky like lily-pads. Others were dragged down by Chosen, House Guards, and desperate commoners, and hacked apart when they came close enough to the level of the roofs. Soon Lucia emerged from the tower again and launched lances of blue hot flame into the sky above, striking down the circling owls before they could make their assaults.

  The fires burned so bright that they left after-images in the eyes of anyone looking up, which was every person that could hear the dreaded and petrifying shriek of the owls. In desperate need of rest, it was with ceaseless complaints that the armies of Walpurgan and Vulkas rearranged themselves into ranks before morning. Vulkas' war machines formed a safe buffer between the soldiers. Cold fog rolled over the plains, giving the troops in the field a very poor night's sleep. It also masked the approach of Ochress’ army. When dawn arrived the three armies were arrayed around the city walls. Walpurgan's cackling could be heard as far away as the Glasslands

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  Chapter 16- The Turning Wheel

  Ochress army were not clad in armour except for the called steel of a few Chosen. They wore leathers and silk, things that would not drag them down, if they fell overboard. Ochress’ naval forces were the envy of the other Eaters but they could not be brought to bear here, so close to the centre of the continent. They served well as troop transports along the rivers, but even the rivers were now left behind. Water in the Ivory City was found falling from the sky or pooling deep under the earth.

  The other armies seemed quite civilised by comparison. They were trained soldiers rather than a loose assembly of raiders and pirates. No leader was visible amongst Ochress' rabble, which was just as well because neither of the other leaders seemed moved to converse. Only the Chosen and Walpurgan had senses sharp enough to make out Lucia's appearance on the balcony of her tower. She was alone once again, her Beloved probably already fleeing for the hills or trying to inject something like morale into the doomed defenders. Lucia stood for a long moment, her quaking invisible at this distance, then did as Kaius had asked. She raised both hands and unleashed a plume of flame into the sky.

  Immediately her enemies sprang into motion, just waiting for some sign that hostilities had begun. Walpurgan shrieked with delight as her soldiers began pressing forward. The whooping sound reflected back to her from the Chosen as they raced ahead of the lines and began making impossible high leaps. The owls, stirred from their daytime slumber only by the barbed coils of power that Walpurgan had snared in their minds, took flight in a flurry. They snatched the Chosen from the air and carried them up towards the battlements.

  At the top of the city walls, Lucia's own Chosen had gathered. They had not called their steel but they had armed themselves with ropes and hooks which they flung skywards now, dragging any owls foolish enough to fly too low from the sky and letting the gathered foot-soldiers butcher them. Some flew high enough, some made it past that first line of defence, only to be confronted by the incinerating wrath of Lucia in her tower. There were still flames drifting all over the airspace above the city, nearly impossible to see in the daylight. Some of the owls struck those and exploded in a shower of sparks. Others were lucky enough to avoid them only to find themselves being herded together by the drifting clouds of flame and annihilated in the great blue lashes of fire erupting from Lucia's outstretched hands. It was not complex, it was not a fraction of what any of the other Eaters could do with their power, but it was certainly direct.

  Walpurgan snorted in disgust, to see an Eater reduced to artillery was distressing. This must have been her Beloved's influence. Walpurgan was glad to be above such things. She started to walk forward alongside the tight-knit formation of Chosen around her, she would tear down the walls with her bare hands if she had to. Her magic was woven densely in the air around her, reaching out to every dying bird in the sky, to every Chosen in her retinue and to a thousand lesser workings that she could bring to life with barely a thought.

  Walpurgan's Chosen rained down into the city, scorched and maimed. No army was required to dispatch them. Lucia had won over the people of the city with a fraction of the kindness that she fully intended to give in time, and they fell upon the armoured women with butcher's cleavers, kitchen knives and pieces of furniture. It lacked elegance, but it was certainly effective.

  From her position so close to the city, Walpurgan could not see Ochress’ or Vulkas’ armies, her own men stretched out too far, and she was too intent on the creature before her. She did not realise what was happening until she heard the screams from her own flank, her connections there were severed. They had been betrayed.

  Vulkas' war-machines were wading through her ranks. Each of their four razor legs were double edged and bloody all the way up to the joint. She sent a pulse through the link to all her remaining Chosen but she could do nothing but watch in frustration as they sprinted among the other soldiers, trying to turn them from the enemy on the walls to their brutally exposed flank. Many soldiers fell under the slashing legs of the machines and those that were missed were hacked to pieces by the charging ranks of soldiers. Vulkas' Chosen were held back, only lunging into the fray when it seemed that some of Walpurgan's army was crystallising into some semblance of a defence around a particularly effective leader. Before it had even begun, the tide of war was turning against them.

  Hulia was itching to join in the fighting, she could not believe that Walpurgan had been so foolish as to take the field herself. If that giant could be brought down and bound ,it would make for the greatest offering ever laid before Vulkas. She could feel him in her mind. She could hear the grating stones of his voice reverberating through her. Bring down the witch. Bring her to me. Steal her strength. Even without the voice she was already frothing at the mouth in anticipation. She held herself back and snapped out commands in her booming voice and watched her great victory unfold.

  In the midst of her turmoil she even felt some iota of gratitude towards this Lucia and her Beloved. Without them none of this would have been possible. Hulia called her steel into the form of the great bull again and leapt up within it to get a better view of the battlefield. Her soldiers had pressed a third of the way into Walpurgan's army in a wedge. A huge arrow pointed straight at the giant woman presiding over them all.

  She was close enough that Hulia could practically taste her blood. She frowned for an instant at that odd thought then shrugged it away. The battle fury made the mind chaotic, that was why she had to keep a clear head and direct her soldier's wrath. There was an uproa
r from the rear ranks and she chortled. Men desperate for glory were screaming out for the charge. She laughed aloud, spraying the inner side of the bull's helm with saliva. Let them have their charge. Let her have blood and glory. Let her wipe the smug smile from that crusty old statue's face.

  The bull bellowed and charged, trampling through Vulkas' troops and Walpurgan's alike. The head swept low to the ground and the horn's dragged through the masses of bodies, flinging them into the air. Those not destroyed were trampled, those not trampled were fallen upon by the rest of Vulkas' army as it poured into the gap in the enemy lines. The bull charged on. Coming to almost within striking distance of Walpurgan before she casually raised a hand and the air around it solidified.

  Metal shrieked as the artificial muscles strained against the raw force of will. Hulia grit her teeth and pressed forward with all of her might and step by agonising step the bull crept closer to Walpurgan who seemed blissfully unaware. Her attention instead turned back to the city, keeping watch for the inevitable strike. The two giants drew closer still and Walpurgan finally sensed the pressure in the air. She rolled her eyes and flicked a wrist in the direction of the bull. There was thunder without lightning. A concussion lifted the bull off of its front legs and drove it staggering back into Vulkas' ranks, crushing a dozen men as it staggered. Hulia roared and the bull let out another bellow.

  The back ranks of Vulkas' army fell easily to the marauders. These were men and women who learned to attack in silence as soon as they could hold a knife, to slip from still water and slit throats in the night. They carved their way along the rear ranks evenly. Cutting down a soldier, waiting for the body to fall then moving forward a step. Five ranks were down before the uproar began, before the screams picked up and the army of Vulkas tried to fight back. It did no good, the only defence against the skirmishers would have been a solid formation, ranks lined up and shields locked together. As it was, the soldiers fell just as easily facing the enemy as with their backs turned. The front of the army, so intent on cutting down Walpurgan, and deafened by the bellowing of their Beloved, went on about their bloody business. The divided attention meant death to many in each army.

  Now that all pretence of stealth was surrendered, the Chosen of Ochress leapt deep into the ranks of Vulkas' army, dropping like falling stars and slaughtering indiscriminately. Soon a wide circle had formed around each of the Chosen. Terrified men were held back beyond the reach of their thrusting spears. Just as resistance seemed to be forming, they leapt again, plunging deeper still into the heart of Vulkas' army. The honeycombed ranks were distracted for too long and they were swept away by the charge of the rest of the marauders.

  Hulia may have lacked social graces but nobody knew how to call steel like her. Muttering the equations to herself she started thinning her armour and pouring more and more steel into the flowing liquid muscles of the bull. The outside of the bull crumpled as the pressure of the air increased until suddenly the tipping point of applied force was crossed and the bull lunged forward again. Hulia hooted and snarled as she stamped through the ruined formations of her army and Walpurgan's alike. Her eyes were fixed only on Walpurgan herself and foam flecked the corners of her mouth.

  Walpurgan was casting her head around, seeking the things that were hidden from her sight by the spider-silk thin threads of power stretching out from the city. She traced them back from the Chosen positioned on the wall to Lucia in her tower but she could make no sense of the wavering connections that stretched out all over the battlefield. She nudged aside her gathered Chosen with a bare foot and strolled casually over to where one of the threads dipped under the surface. She crouched down and brushed the top layers of dust and ash away, ignoring the clamour all around her. She dug down deeper until she uncovered a criss-crossing of ancient bones. With a twist of her wrist and a tug she pulled them out and looked at them in confusion. The mix and mash of parts reminded her most of tangled roots. She lowered her face to the hole she had made and peered inside.

  Lucia looked down on her city. The few fires that the falling owls had caused were stomped out rapidly. She cast her gaze beyond the city walls and watched as the huge armies turned around the axis of her tower. All of her dread was gone. Everything that Kaius had promised was coming to pass. She could not count all of the people dying outside her walls and she almost drowned in the empathy that Kaius had warned against over and over. War was not the time for sympathy.

  When the fighting was done, she could welcome all of the injured and afraid with open arms. She could show once and for all that she was not like the Eaters that they had known before. Kaius presence was just a tickle in the front of her brain as he used her eyes to judge the course of the battle. Apparently enough chaos had finally been created by the circle of betrayal that they had orchestrated because she heard him clearly in her mind, “Send out the signal.”

  Rolling her eyes, Lucia grasped the blackened metal bars and sent a pulse of fire across the city. For an instant a spark of flame appeared in every lantern. Her Chosen arrayed around the walls had been waiting for this sign.

  They had been waiting with the desperate energy of tethered beasts. Every one of them called their steel. The tunnels that they had been expanding frantically since the first day suddenly fulfilled their purpose. They were not high enough for a man to stand up in. They had barely been reinforced, and indeed many of them had already collapsed on their contents. As was intended. The tunnels that had not collapsed were problematic as the called armour laid to rest there had begun crawling along, seeking the Chosen that had summoned it over the past few days. They had pinned the errant armour to the ground with piles of stones and hoped for the best. With Lucia’s signal, every set of armour was a silver arrow now, darting up out of the earth and tearing through the soldiers and Chosen above on its way to its master.

  Walpurgan fell onto her backside, wailing as the armour burst from the hole that she had dug and ripped through her head. A splatter of black ichor struck the few Chosen around that had not been crushed as she fell. She turned her remaining eye up to the sky and shrieked. The sound swept the battlefield, knocking armoured men to the ground, bursting the eardrums of those too close.

  The sound struck Hulia as she charged and she roared right back. Suddenly freed of the air's hold, the bull lurched across the battlefield and one great curved horn rammed into Walpurgan's side. Baying in triumph, Hulia raised her head and dragged the giant woman off her feet.

  The effect on Walpurgan's army was instant, they broke and fled for their lives. Vulkas' army cut them down by the hundreds as they fled. Finally, they realised that Ochress’ army was sweeping over them. Finally, they turned to fight back.

  The great war machines lurched over the entire battlefield and began carving into the massed warriors. Black and oily gore rained down on Hulia, falling through the eye-holes of the bull and coating her as she roared and giggled. Walpurgan's remaining eye bulged and she flailed her arms around. No sound escaped her lips, only an explosive release of yet more blood. In her panic she severed the connections around her. All of her Chosen became powerless. Those who had been leaping to her defences fell naked from the sky onto the waiting blades of Vulkas soldiers. Others just stumbled and died beneath the bull's staggering feet. The owls, freed of her control fled the chaos of the battlefield, dragging those few Chosen still mounted on them away from their floundering master. Many of the owls even twisted their heads around to peck the irritating weight off their backs.

  The connection between Hulia and Vulkas was too strong to be severed by Walpurgan’s spells, but it was throttled to within an inch of its life. The steel of the bull became liquid and rained down onto the battlefield. Hulia nearly drowned in the flood. She rose up still clad in armour with the excess steel pouring off. She spat a mouthful of liquid metal into the face of the first of Walpurgan's soldiers, who was foolish enough to approach her. Then she cut him down with disdain.

  Walpurgan's broken body hit the ground and kno
cked the mere mortals off their feet. Hulia rocked but stayed upright, then let out a belly laugh, reshaping her hastily made sword into a thick length of chain. She whipped Walpurgan's side and roared, “Get up so I can beat you some more!”

  Over and over she struck Walpurgan's twitching hide, roaring and laughing all the way. She began to sweat. None of her officers dared to approach her, to tell her of the losses at the army's rear or to intervene. She whipped at Walpurgan's side until the bark-like flesh sloughed away and the old creature's ribs were exposed. She swung out the chain again and entangled it amongst the bones. Hulia hauled with all of her called might but while the ribs creaked, they would not break. Instead Walpurgan was dragged breathless across the ashen field. Hulia barked with laughter through her exertions. “I shall drag you back like a side of meat old witch. Vulkas shall feast on your heart!”

  The sweat was pouring off her now, many of the soldiers still milling around were falling to their knees, gasping in the heat. The battle rage abated long enough for confusion to show. Then the fire-storm exploded up from the tunnel beneath them.

  Lucia staggered back into the tower when Kaius unleashed his fire from beneath the battlefield. She had not experienced such a drain since before the sun first rose, since those awful moments when he had used her power to kill Negrath. She moved forward again to put herself directly into the sunlight. Power filled her just as quickly as Kaius drained the life from her. She had never realised how much trust she was putting in him. The fire rose higher than the city walls and carried above it the charcoal bodies of a hundred men or more. The dead fell back into the torrent of flames. Their screams covered by the roar of its burning. Vulkas' army, already reduced to a fraction of its initial strength, routed in the face of this otherworldly power and scattered across the farmlands around the city.