Kiræ woke feeling so energised and relaxed that even the possibility of more snow couldn’t dampen her spirits. It was then that she realised for the first time in days, she had slept without waking. She noticed the other bed was empty, so she dressed quickly and made her way back to the bar where the others were eating warm porridge.
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
Tana shrugged, “You looked peaceful, and you’ve been running yourself into the ground so I figured you could use the rest.” Kiræ shot Tom a look as he and Keolan sniggered. Kiræ had a bowl of porridge brought over by the same woman as the night before and she wolfed it down as she realised just how hungry she was.
Tom thanked the woman for her hospitality, noticing that her brother was nowhere to be seen; she beamed at them once again and wished them a safe journey. Kiræ found the stable hand grooming their horses as they arrived and they looked far happier for their own warm night of rest. Not long after they set off the sky darkened and it began to snow heavily. The group sagged as their spirits fell and they settled in for another long, day.
Chapter 33
The first Vala knew that anything was wrong was the sight of the scout hurriedly riding back towards them, only one, and the scouts were always sent out in pairs. The young man pulled up suddenly in front of Vala, breathless, pale and panicked; Vala saw he was shaking. He was one of the newer recruits, which meant there was a lot about war he hadn’t yet seen.
“What is it?” she asked, trying to sound calm, “where’s Trissa?”
“Dead,” the man said shaking his head slowly, “the Gods Vala they just tore her apart,” he stumbled over the words, dismounted and stood in front of Vala.
“What happened?” Vala asked trying to stop the tone of alarm showing in her voice.
The young man bent double, retched, wiped his mouth, straightened and apologised, “She was only a few lengths ahead of me, but we hadn’t seen or heard anything for days, I think we’d started to relax, the Gods Vala I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay Pan,” Vala said, knowing that to reprimand him wouldn’t help the situation, “just keep going.” By this time Alten and Julen had joined them, their faces mimicked Vala’s.
Pan took a deep breath, “She’d turned to look at me when we rounded some sort of large boulder formation, she was still a fair bit in front and even though I yelled, it just didn’t make a difference, I couldn’t do anything to help her. She was struck by an arrow struck, she fell and they pounced so quickly and ripped her to pieces.” He doubled over and retched again at the thought of it, “I’m so sorry Vala,” he said again.
“It’s never easy,” Julen said placing a hand on his back, Pan looked up and Julen smiled sympathetically.
“How many were there?” Alten asked, “do you think they followed you?”
Pan shook his head, “They fired arrows, but I don’t think they followed.”
“And did you see how many there were?” Vala asked, noticing the young man hadn’t answered the more important of Alten’s questions.
“I’m not sure, it all happened so quickly,” he looked at the disappointed faces, closed his eyes and concentrated. “Fifty,” he said opening his eyes, “maybe less, I’m sorry Vala, I couldn’t tell.”
“It’s okay,” she said trying to reassure the young warrior before turning to Alten and Julen, “we need to get moving, the longer we wait the more chance they have of informing the city we’re coming.”
Vala guessed it wouldn’t take them long to reach the mingual camp, since the scouts had only been gone a couple of hours. She felt uneasy and Alten must have realised something was bothering her.
“Something on your mind?” he asked.
“The mingual,” she replied and when he pressed, she elaborated, “their actions, their ferocity, their violence, it’s different.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve thought back to the encounters I’ve had with them, they’re violent, hell they’re vicious animals, but they’ve always chosen to use weapons first, I’ve only seen them resort to more animalistic behaviour when they’ve been disarmed.”
Alten shrugged, “Perhaps they were never really given the opportunity before.”
“I don’t know Alten, I feel like something has changed, something’s happened to make them more frenzied.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know,” Vala fell silent as they approached a large boulder formation and guessed they were nearing the mingual camp. She saw Pan start to shake. Before they rounded the boulders, Vala halted and held up a hand, she cocked her head and listened intensely, a puzzled expression crossed her face and she turned to Alten.
“I hear them too,” he said quietly.
“Hear what?” Julen whispered.
“Voices,” Vala replied, not bothering to keep her voice down, “human voices.”
“Friend or foe?” Julen asked and she shrugged starting forwards, she unsheathed her sword. Vala’s heart rose on seeing warriors bearing the crest of Jelicæ milling around a heavily scorched area; she sheathed her sword and slid from her horse.
“Cal!” she yelled, embracing her friend, “I’m so glad to see you.”
“Likewise,” Callaghan said as they stepped back from the hug, “we were beginning to think you’d got lost.” He laughed as Alten and Julen joined them and Vala winced.
“Good to see you Cal,” Alten said stepping forward to clap him on the back, “how have you been?”
“Surviving,” he replied smiling broadly, “we’ve been finding these camps everywhere,” he said indicating the remnants of the mingual. “I split the warriors to try and neutralise them faster, and from what I’ve heard Helian and Cora have been doing the same.”
“You’ve heard from them?” Vala asked eagerly and Callaghan nodded.
“I’ve not spoken to them directly,” he clarified before Vala could ask any more questions, “but our scouts have found one another on numerous occasions. The northern and eastern towns have all been dealt with. You’re the only ones we’ve not heard anything from, we were starting to worry.”
“You know us, we’re always looking for excitement,” she replied light-heartedly.
“You had some problems then?” he furrowed his brow.
“When don’t we have problems,” Alten interjected, “but we’re back on track now, how were the other towns?”
Callaghan shook his head, “The ones we dealt with were a mess.”
“What do you mean?” Julen asked.
“Panm was rigged,” he replied, “I lost a fair few warriors with that one.”
“Rigged?” Vala asked.
“They’d laid traps, mostly inside the buildings, warriors were killed instantly, but in Leosbur,” he looked at Vala and there was something behind his eyes, “there were creatures.”
“What kind?”
Callaghan shook his head, “I’ve no idea, I’ve never seen anything like them, they looked like the ones you’d described from your encountered in the Sortir Wood.” Vala and Julen shuddered as they recalled their encounter with the creatures, “I lost a lot of good warriors because of them, the Gods only know how long they were there without food.”
“The Gods Cal I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay, we made it through,” he smiled but it now seemed worn; he rummaged in his pocket, “I found this when we finished with the mingual.” He pulled out one of the rings worn by the Caan warriors and held it out for Vala to take, “I’m guessing it belongs to one of yours.” Vala nodded grimly and placed the ring in a pouch with some others.
“One of my scouts.”
“Are you heading to Limmi?” Vala nodded, “then we’ll travel with you,” he said smiling once again as they remounted and continued north towards the capital.
The final stretch towards Limmi was slow and tough, the weather had taken a bad turn and the warriors struggled against energetic snowstorms. When they finally reached the capital it was almost hidden beh
ind a blanket of snow, but Vala knew they had arrived as she could see the glow of what she hoped were allied campsites. They sent several scouts to investigate while the rest of the warriors caught their breath and waited. Callaghan’s scouts returned first with what appeared to be an extra warrior in tow and as they rode nearer Vala saw he wore a Jelicæ uniform. She smiled as the newcomer dismounted, realising instantly it was one of Kiræ and Tom’s friends.
“It’s good to see you again Vala,” he said clasping her hand.
“It’s good to see you too Hazime, is Gary not with you?”
Hazime shook his head of shaggy black hair, “Cal sent him round to the north to meet with Cora, I’ve been assisting Helian.”
Vala nodded and turned to Callaghan who was talking with his scouts, “Should I assume the camps are ours then?”
Callaghan nodded turning away from his scouts who moved away, “Apparently the mingual are all inside, they’ve been seen patrolling the walls but haven’t made any move to attack.”
“That makes sense, they’re probably fairly secure,” Vala noted as her own scouts drew up beside them looking pale and worried, “what is it?”
“Bælana’s here,” a young man replied.
Vala’s face fell, “What?”
“We approached one of the camps and saw a group of Eriban warriors, they told us they’ve been watching the city closely for days, and she’s been seen walking the walls.” Vala’s heart quickened and she swallowed hard as a sour taste filled her mouth. She nodded to the scouts who returned to the other warriors, then turned to Callaghan and Hazime, her face pale as Julen and Alten joined them.
“Bælana’s here,” she told them bluntly and without emotion; the whole world seemed to stop for several minutes while her words sunk in. “Do you know anything about the gates?” she asked Hazime but he shook his head.
“No one’s come or gone, so as far as we know they’re locked but they must have known we were coming, because they seem fairly well prepared.”
“We need to work out a plan,” Vala said, “they’ve obviously seen the camps, so they know a battle is inevitable.”
“It’s probably what they’re hoping for,” Julen added.
“I take it you were all waiting until we arrived to make a move?” Vala asked.
“I can’t speak for the others but we’ve been constructing a battering ram for the gates while we’ve been waiting,” Hazime explained.
“I suppose the only real thing to decide is whether we attack now or later,” Callaghan said looking at Vala who bit her lip.
“I’m not sure how much difference it will make delaying what you’ve already said is inevitable,” Alten said.
“Midnight,” she said facing the others, “I suspect Bælana and her mingual will expect us to wait until dawn, so we have light on our side, but I think it will be easier to approach the gates in the dark.”
“Hazime,” Callaghan said turning to the young warrior, “where are the others located?”
“If I remember correctly there’s a gap towards the western side of the city,” Hazime replied, understanding what Callaghan was really asking.
“Tell Helian what we’re planning and ask him to send scouts to the east, we’ll send some further north, if we can attack at the same time, then maybe we can still surprise them.” Hazime nodded, mounted his horse and was quickly lost in the failing light, Vala rallied her warriors and they began marching to the west of the city.
Vala watched as a group of warriors, including Alten and Julen, crept towards the western gate, they held a bulky tree trunk battering ram in their centre and large shields around them to act as a protective shell. Another group of warriors stood close by in the shadows, bows pointed towards the city walls.
Vala was stood with Callaghan feeling restless and agitated that she couldn’t be of more help; she flexed her left arm in annoyance. She had been building up the weight tolerance since the incident in Cronne but trying to bear the weight of the trunk had been too much, now she stood, sword at the ready for when they broke through.
The snow had eventually stopped and some of the clouds had broken apart causing the twin moons to cast a pale glow on the still snowy ground. Midnight arrived slowly and Vala heard a faint booming around the city. Their attack had begun.
The warriors rammed the trunk against the great wooden doors and the mingual appeared on the walls above. Arrows shot through the air, some finding their mark causing brief illuminations. Shouts came from within the city and black feathered arrows flew down towards them; most impacted with the protective shell but several cries of pain informed Vala that others found their target.
Vala heard a shout from the group at the gate and turned to Callaghan, “Was that the signal?” she asked in a tight voice, he nodded, tight lipped and unsheathed his sword. The clang of metal sounded from somewhere inside the city, which informed them at least one group had made it through the doors.
The warriors readied themselves and crept forwards, Vala gripped her sword and held her breath as she heard the cracking of wood as the gates finally splintered and fell away. The warriors at the front fell instantly, those behind raised their shields and charged.
Vala took a deep breath and heard Callaghan do the same, “See you on the other side,” she said swinging her sword into a high guard.
“It’s been a pleasure,” he replied as they ran towards the broken city gates and the snarling mingual.
Vala was separated from Callaghan almost instantly amongst the masses of mingual warriors who swarmed round them like bees. She saw no Limmi citizens as she swung her sword and guessed Bælana had converted those that were useful and killed those that were not. Arrows continued to rain down on them from above and Vala saw none of the warriors had made it onto the wall; she grabbed several warriors nearby and they followed as she hacked her way towards the nearest set of stone steps. She swung her shield round and held it in front of her as she began climbing, hearing the clunk of arrows hitting the surface. She sprinted the last few steps unbalancing the mingual at the top, swung her shield round to her back and aimed a strike at the first enemy warrior near her.
Their weapons clashed and she saw with relief that the other warriors had also made it onto the wall. Several mingual warriors aimed their bows at the newcomers and Vala used this to her advantage. She grabbed the mingual in front of her and swung him round as the arrows hit; he burst into flames.
She charged the group, continued to use the mingual as shields, while hacking away at any in her path. Vala quickly checked her group, saw they were coping and noticed several mingual warriors trying to surround her. She moved so her back was against the wall, swung her shield into her left hand and held her ground as one of the warriors that had followed her skidded to her side. Vala blocked an attack and saw her partner mirror her actions.
She spun to the right and ducked as she sensed another creeping up beside her, then rolled and cut away her first attackers legs. He didn’t drop as she had hoped but he appeared to be in some discomfort. Vala jumped to her feet, raised her shield to block another attack and lunged causing the mingual to move out of range. She swung hard to block an attack and hopefully throw her enemy off balance, then she swivelled to the left and made to thrust her weapon into his side.
He was quicker than she expected and managed to block her thrust before kicking her in the ribs. Vala sprawled across the snow covered wall and gasped as the wind was knocked from her. The mingual raised his sword and burst into flames. The sword clattered to the ground, just missing Vala’s head and she was pulled to her feet by her partner. She nodded her thanks to the young warrior who had saved her life, then her face fell as he slumped to the floor and a familiar face swaggered towards her.
“Ziqua,” she spat and walked cautiously towards him as she remembered their first encounter. She blocked his attack with both sword and shield and her left arm screamed in pain; he was stronger than she remembered. He pushed against her and she tried to
push back without any luck. She kicked at his legs, he stumbled and she lunged for his abdomen, he held up a hand and she felt resistance though his sword remained at his side. He swung towards her and she had to move quickly to block it; he was faster than she remembered too.
Ziqua stepped back, spun round and aimed a blow at her side, which Vala blocked easily. He held up a hand and pushed her backwards into several of her own warriors causing her to drop her weapons. She picked herself up quickly, grabbed for her sword while ignoring her shield and walked towards him, both hands now gripped her sword.
She swung viciously at him catching him off guard and managed to cut into the flesh of his shoulder, he snarled angrily and pushed against her with his sword forcing her backwards and towards the edge of the wall. Vala glanced down, noticing the raging battle beneath, the streets were littered with melted snow, scorch marks and fallen warriors.
She swivelled, kicked Ziqua in the side and used the flat of her sword to take his legs from under him. She was about to advance when she heard a familiar yell, she looked down for a split second as Alten was thrown violently against a wall by a mingual warrior she could only assume used to be Fjord. He still wore his Yutshan uniform and the medals that usually adorned it, glinted in the moonlight. Alten wasn’t moving, his armour was battered and broken and he looked in bad shape.
Vala took a deep breath and ignored the urge to help Alten; she turned back to Ziqua who grinned at her from the ground. She took a step towards him and struck but he held up his hand stopping her mid swing. He jumped to his feet, grabbed her left arm and twisted roughly until she heard something snap. She cried out in pain and dropped her sword. Ziqua continued to grin and pushed her over the edge. Vala grabbed hopelessly at the air with her one good arm and fell from the wall thudding onto the snow covered ground below.
Forgotten Magic (Elementals Book 1) Page 29