Knights Without Kings

by J. M. Topp

  Elymiah took a seat by the fire as Robyn poured the contents of the pot into a wooden bowl. She grabbed the bowl and dipped her bread into it. The warmth of the soupy bread was a welcome comfort amidst the cold weather. Ryvrund slurped his soup noisily. Robyn glanced at Elymiah and began to consume his meal. The three soldiers ate in silence, listening to the icy winds howling outside.

  ‘Knight-Captain, if I may…’ Ryvrund wiped his lips with his hairy arm. ‘Once we reach Aivaterra, what will we do with the Weserithian refugees?’

  ‘Ryvrund has his own theories about what we will do,’ interjected Robyn. He stared at Ryvrund and smiled. ‘It is an interesting question.’

  Elymiah paused for a moment as she chewed a chunk of meat. She then swallowed and turned to Ryvrund.

  ‘The queen has decreed that protection will be awarded to the refugees. Once we pass Eyevetmere crossing, the Yorveth seems like a perfect place for them to settle.’

  ‘Our lands? Why would we give them our hallowed ground? Meaning no disrespect, Knight-Captain.’ Robyn tore a piece of bread and dipped it into his soup. ‘You mean the fishing village? You might as well be talking about Flodden.’

  ‘It hasn’t been confirmed yet, but seeing as Yorveth will probably not have them, there is no real other place to keep them, save for Troseaway Canyon. Even then, Weserithians are not used to the heat of the desert and would surely die,’ said Elymiah, furrowing her brow at the thoughts. ‘Perhaps the Red Vale.’

  ‘With the loss of the Red Vale keep and the perpetual sandstorms in the area, we would be sending them to their deaths as well,’ mumbled Robyn. The legends surrounding Elymiah’s father had made their rounds amongst the men, especially when she had been chosen as Knight-Captain of the Holy Silver Angels Platoon. Everyone knew of Knight-Captain Artus’ disappearance. Ryvrund spit out a small twig that he had found in his soup and looked to Elymiah, genuinely curious. ‘Why do we care that these peasants die?’

  Elymiah stared at Ryvrund. There was no love lost between the Aivaterrans and Weserithians. Yet, Elymiah could not share that feeling anymore. Weserith was no longer the enemy. The horned beast and its armies had shattered any thought of sanity or security within Eldervale and Khahadran.

  ‘They are no longer our adversary, Ryvrund. I cannot say what the queen plans to do with the refugees from Weserith. But they must join our ranks if we are to defeat the Dark. We have to unite under one banner.’

  Suddenly, bells began to ring throughout the kingdom. The three soldiers stood up at once and listened, not entirely sure what it meant. Elymiah was the first to speak.

  ‘It’s the Dark. They are attacking.’

  Elymiah unclasped her halberd from her back and turned to Robyn.

  ‘Alert our unit. Get everyone to the main gates. We will regroup there. Ryvrund, I suggest you assemble with your unit.’

  Ryvrund nodded and turned to the end of his bed. His armour lay in a pile, and he began putting it on. Elymiah rushed out the door with Robyn in tow. Icy winds beat at their cheeks, and bells rung furiously from the East.

  ‘Go, raise our platoon. I will meet you at the main gate.’

  ‘Aye!’ Robyn nodded and leapt into the night.

  ELYMIAH RAN THROUGH the snowy streets, careful not to slip on the ice. Snow was falling in droves into her face and all around her. Elymiah gripped the handle of her halberd as she charged to the gates. When she finally arrived at the District of Coin gates, the wooden barricade shook and splintered. They have a battering ram, thought Elymiah in horror. The Aivaterran guards were doing their best to make a defense. Guards atop the gate would shoot their crossbow bolts below. A guard poked his head over the top for too long. An arrow from below pierced his head like a melon, and he fell onto the snowy ground below in front of Elymiah. She gasped as she watched his lifeblood escape him.

  ‘Where is the guard commander?’ Elymiah said forcing her eyes away from the corpse before her.

  ‘Here.’

  The commander was piling wood to reinforce the barricade. He wiped sweat from his forehead and stared at Elymiah.

  ‘What do you want?’

  Elymiah ignored the lack of decorum and pointed at the gate.

  ‘How did they get so close without us knowing?’

  ‘They simply appeared before the gate while we were on lookout. It’s like someone pulled a veil over it. They were just there.’

  THUMM

  The battering ram crashed against the gate, making the commander jump slightly. He looked nervously at the cracking gate. ‘This fucking gate won’t last much longer.’

  The gate was almost as tall as the one-hundred and twenty-five metre wall. It was a two-meter-thick gate enclosed in compacted rock, making it nearly impenetrable, yet the battering ram was breaking it to pieces. Elymiah turned at the crunching of snow beneath armoured footsteps. The commander glanced with relief. Elymiah’s soldiers were in file before her, with Robyn in the vanguard. Their winged spears and large shields glistened in the dark. The Estia Skirmish had killed twenty of her men. It was clear that they had not fully recuperated from the attack mere days ago. Yet Elymiah felt the urge of a fight within her. Despite the sin she now had marring her soul, Oredmere would forgive her through glorious combat. He had to. Elymiah raised her halberd above her head and shouted as loudly as she could.

  ‘The Fog seeks to destroy us. You hear it now, pounding at these very gates. This isn’t our land. This isn’t our kingdom, yet we have been given the gift of war.’ Elymiah’s words filled her with pride and rage. Her men nodded and began to stamp their rectangle shields into the snowy ground. ‘We are the pride and joy of our god, Oredmere. Follow me as we share this gift with the enemy.’

  The men almost at once raised their shields and bashed their spears against them. Elymiah turned and began walking to the main gates. Screams came from the other side of the gate, and a constant crashing of a battering ram resounded through Weserith. From her right, the Holy Bronze Viper Platoon fell in line beside them. To her left, the banner of the Holy Purple Rhino Platoon marched. The only three Holy Platoons in Weserith were then backed up by a thousand regulars lined up behind them. They had assembled quickly and efficiently. Elymiah felt pride as she looked around them. The Fog would not find it very easy to penetrate this city. The gates had been reinforced with steel, but she could already see the bent and broken parts.

  THUMM

  The battering ram crashed against the gate, sending splintered timber against the defenders. Roars and screams pierced the dark from the other side of the gate. There must have been dozens of creatures beyond. Their screams and howls sent fear through the Aivaterrans. Some of the guards began to cower in fear.

  ‘Stand your ground, men!’ the commander shouted, but a few turned tail and ran. ‘You sons of bitches.’ He aimed his crossbow at one of the men, but Elymiah stepped in the way.

  ‘We need to focus, commander. We will deal with them later.’

  ‘Knight-Captain Farnesse!’

  Elymiah turned to Robyn, who stood in full armour and enclosed helm. He was pointing to a group of civilians led by a huge man wearing a thick bear pelt. The Weserithians were attacking them. Instantly, the platoons trained their weapons on the leader, prepared to strike. Dozens of Weserithians stood behind him with staves and swords. They looked on angrily at the Aivaterrans as if they didn’t know about the evil beasts outside their very gates.

  The big man raised his hands and spit. ‘You fuckers!’ Korhas shouted. ‘This ends here!’

  The commander pointed his crossbow at the Lord of the Greenwood. Elymiah realized that some of the Weserithians behind him were members of the White Dagger guild. It was said that an elf was the leader, but only a fool would believe such nonsense. The men behind Korhas, however, were wanted criminals just like him.

  ‘Korhas Leadcloak, what dark hole have you been hiding in?’ asked the commander.

  ‘Your mum’s, you insufferable cunt.’

  ‘Wait!’ Elym
iah screamed and stamped her halberd in the ground as hard as she could. The commander cast a sideways look at her.

  ‘The enemy is at our gates, and you two idiots want to fight? The queen has been searching for you, Leadcloak, but right now if we fight each other, we lessen the numbers for the defense of this city.’

  ‘What city? The Harlot Queen has destroyed everything!’ shouted a man behind Korhas. The Leadcloak nodded, and his men grumbled amongst themselves.

  ‘You still have your lives!’ Elymiah shouted at them in frustration.

  ‘Your queen burned and hanged my son. He was my life, and you killed him. He was only sixteen.’ A bald, thin man with hardly any teeth stepped from the crowd, scowling.

  THUMM

  ‘You hear that?’ Elymiah pointed her weapon at the gates. ‘They’re coming for you, too.’

  Some of the Weserithians took a step back hesitantly. Korhas glanced at the gate as if suddenly noticing a hole developing in the center.

  Elymiah stared hard at the Weserithians. ‘You weren’t at Estia, Korhas. You don’t know what these things are capable of. You just might find out.’

  THUMMcrk

  Elymiah turned in horror as the head of the battering ram poked through the fortified gate. She turned her back on Korhas. ‘If you want to fight, then attack us. But you will be striking at our backs, like cowards.’

  Korhas eyebrows shot up in anger, but then he spat on the ground again.

  ‘Alright, lads, these bastards will help us and actually make themselves fockin useful. Let’s see if these stories of the return of the Fog are just that.’ Korhas turned to the gate and walked a few yards before it. Korhas prepared for the attack along with his terrorists. Soldiers held their silence behind her. Elymiah stared at the gates. It was only a matter of time before they would spill through. The men atop the gate loosed arrows as fast as they could, and Elymiah prayed silently for courage and strength to beat back these creatures. If Oredmere was on their side, how could these creatures ever win?

  Elymiah remembered saying that at Khoryl Castle only a few months ago. She also remembered Bertrand's lifeless body lying in the mud. She had returned from the castle—but her mentor hadn’t. Elymiah’s head whipped up as she heard the flapping of wings. It sounded like a bird in flight. She searched the skies and gasped, pointing her lance at the creatures descending from the dark clouds. Dozens of vulture-like monsters shrieked as they flew over the gates and descended upon the defenders. Their claws tore at shields and armour. Soldiers screamed in terror as they tried to swat the creatures away. Elymiah ducked as gigantic claws of a dark creature narrowly missed her. Its screams sent shivers up her spine.

  ‘Raise your shields!’ Elymiah screamed. ‘Do not run. Strike when they get near enough.’

  Much to her relief, The Holy Silver Angels Platoon remained in place, but the same could not be said of the Holy Bronze Vipers Platoon. Some of the men turned tail to run, only to be killed or carried off into the dark by the daemon birds, screaming. One of the winged creatures grabbed a running soldier and flew high into the air, only to drop the flailing man to his death on the concrete below. The men stared in horror as the winged creature pounced on him, stabbing him with its claws. Regulars behind her began to turn tail and run. Elymiah glanced at the Weserithian terrorists and saw Korhas cleaving through the attacking daemons. His sword glowed with the colour of daemon blood. Elymiah raised her shield above her and struck at a monster’s claw, cleaving it from its body. The creature screamed and flapped its wings furiously.

  Elymiah smiled, but only for a moment, as she turned to the moaning of the falling gates.

  CRACK.

  The black gates crashed into the black mud. Dozens of Thamnon poured through the broken gates. This time, small goblin-like ones zipped through their legs with axes and knives raised. Elymiah held her halberd to her waist and screamed as she charged the enemy. Quickly, her unit followed suit. They cleaved into the dark creatures, cutting into flesh and blood. Elymiah’s halberd spun above her head and landed a strike onto a Thamnon, cleaving its head from its body. A winged creature dived over them and clawed into Elymiah’s shoulder. It began flapping its wings, dragging her into the skies. Elymiah dropped her shield and, with both hands, rammed the end of her halberd into the winged creature’s torso. The creature screamed and fell to the ground on top of Elymiah. It struggled and flapped its wings above her as it craned its neck and stared into her eye, screaming. Elymiah screamed back, drawing a dagger from her waist belt and driving it into the eye of the daemonic bird. The creature screamed pitifully as it died. Elymiah threw the corpse to the mud, but its claw and leg were wedged into her shoulder. She cut the leg from its body using the blade from her halberd. Elymiah picked herself from the ground. The claws were stuck too tight into the shoulder plate. It would have to be seen by a healer later. Her halberd was too heavy to be wielded with one hand and a damaged shoulder. She dropped it and picked up a broadsword that was laying in the mud. She looked around for her shield, but she couldn’t find it. Then, two small creatures lunged at her. Elymiah cut through one and kicked the other against the city wall, bashing its brain matter all over the burned and broken stone.

  Elymiah turned around and absorbed her surroundings. The Weserithians were fighting, but they were losing ground. Her own unit had begun to fight defensively, shrinking away from the Thamnons’ long claws and the Soulihrs’ jagged blades. Though they wore old and rusted armour, there were too many of them. She heard her name but wasn’t able to look to see who was calling her.

  ‘Ely! Snap out of it.’

  Gruff hands gripped her shoulders, and she turned to look directly into Robyn’s face. He had black blood over his face, and he looked just as scared as she was.

  Suddenly, a roar echoed through the gates. Elymiah and Robyn both looked up in horror, knowing what it meant. The Holy Silver Angels Platoon did as well.

  ‘Retreat! We go back!’

  Korhas ran up to her.

  ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ he bellowed.

  ‘The District of Coin is lost. We must close this district and retreat to the Royal Square.’

  ‘Go, you cunt stains. I knew you Aivaterrans were cowards. I…’

  But the scream shook the very gates.

  ‘Be my guest, Korhas. Holy Silver Angels Platoon! Retreat!’ Elymiah said as they rounded back to the Royal Quarters. The creatures of the dark snapped at their heels, but they lost fewer men in retreating than they had in the actual defense. Every few yards, Elymiah had to turn and fend off the occasional flying creature that would claw at her or slice away at a Soulihr that got too close. Elymiah breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the gates to the Royal Square. Her platoon entered first, with regulars and the other platoons in tow. A rain of arrows and bolts shot over Elymiah and her men’s heads, piercing the flesh of the daemons chasing them. They screamed as they fell, and Elymiah mouthed a prayer as her men poured through. The gates closed behind them with a crash, and dozens of Royal Guard helped place the reinforcements back onto the gates.

  Elymiah’s eyes scanned the new defense. She noticed that a few men were on their knees with ropes around their necks. A makeshift gallows towered behind them with the ropes tied to a cart. They were the deserters who had turned tail and run. Each of them looked up at Elymiah with quick and shamed glances. The commander of the Aivaterran guard walked up beside Elymiah and spit at the deserters.

  ‘What will we do with them, Knight-Captain?’

  A wave of anger rushed over Elymiah. It may have been the blood-soaked mud she had been wallowing in for the last hour or seeing her own platoon be decimated by dark creatures. She didn’t know, but she bared her teeth at them.

  ‘I want none of them alive to see morning,’ Elymiah spat in the same way the commander did and turned her backs on them. She almost ran into Ryvrund.

  ‘Knight-Captain, you can’t execute them. That’s my half-brother, Lewell,’ he said, pointing to a man in armour. M
an wasn’t the correct term, however. He seemed much younger than the men around him. Elymiah hesitated but then closed her eyes. ‘They chose their fate when they abandoned their post. The consequence of their actions rests with them.’

  ‘That’s not your call to make.’ The knight-captain of the Holy Purple Rhinos stepped from behind Elymiah. Knight-Captain Trystrem walked up to her and turned to Ryvrund.

  ‘Even then, Knight-Captain Elymiah is right. Do it.’ Trystrem nodded to the guard commander, who gave the signal to two guards that pulled the cart, swinging the deserters into the air.

  Without another word, Ryvrund walked past Elymiah and stood, watching the struggling and dying bodies of the deserters, crestfallen.

  ‘We have bigger problems, Knight-Captain,’ said Trystrem grimly. Elymiah turned to the Insolvent City gates being closed as people rushed through them. The citizens were not slowed by the gates coming close together. They forced themselves through, pushing and pulling each other.

  ‘No, stop!’ one of the guards screamed, but it was too late. A woman screamed as her ankle was caught in the heavy doors, but the doors continued to close. The woman wailed as the thick doors closed, crushing her body bone by bone. Her ankle burst and then her lower leg. She twisted as her pelvis was crushed, followed by her chest. Her screams were drowned out by the cranking doors that overtook her. She held her hand out for aid, but no one moved. Finally, the doors closed together, leaving only a pool of blood below the doors. No one said a thing.

  Elymiah stared in disbelief. Her eyes were brown.

  ‘We lost the Insolvent District too.’ Trystrem sighed, as if he didn’t see the woman be crushed. ‘We need a new plan.’

  Elymiah craned her neck as screams began to ring on the other side. People began to crowd on the other side of the Royal Square, begging to be let in. ‘Knight-Captain, we can’t leave them there.’ But before Trystrem could respond, three pillars of smoke cracked through the skies and crashed on the other side. A few more screams and the sounds of sword against sword rang in the icy air. And then there was nothing. Not a sound came from the other side.