by James Somers
Ethan had wondered about Stephen's change in attitude before. By now he felt sure that the demonic oppression which had settled upon the monarch for so long had finally given way to his better nature. Stephen was outfitted in gleaming silver armor, a silver diadem and his sword. He would fight alongside his men for as long as possible.
Of what little he knew about the King of Wayland, this happened to be one of his greater qualities and one for which the people had loved him for so long. As rumors went, this one happened to be true. Just as he had fought so hard at Emmanuel City a year ago, tonight he would fight again.
When they had realized where the King wanted him and Levi to be stationed, they had sent back word to the Temple, hoping to persuade Seth to remain there with Isaiah while the other priests from the Nodian Order came to fight. Seth had decided the frontline was his place and stood nearby, trying to echolocate through the dense fog lying at the perimeter of the forest.
Many of the soldiers upon the wall, civilians only inducted into the service this day, shook visibly with fright as their king called out across the wall for them to show no fear in the face of the enemy. Already they had been privy to the drumming cadence of the enemy's march. Out in the foggy night, it sounded like thousands approaching to seal Evelah's doom.
Slowly the marching thrum grew closer. Ethan waited among those upon the wall. He wondered when it would be the right time to shift into the spiritual realm and attack. But a horde of demons had been among those with Mordred on his ships and there was no reason to suppose they hadn't come with him now. His own tingling flesh told him it was true. They were great in number and despite the power Shaddai had given unto him, he remained only one.
Ethan whispered a prayer for the protection of these people and for personal guidance during the battle. He wanted to be led by the Lord completely. Otherwise this battle would not go well. It might end badly at any rate, but if he followed Shaddai's leadership he would come through closer to the fulfillment of the prophecy.
Ethan kept that one thought at the forefront of his mind. A prophecy had been made and a prophecy must be fulfilled. He had no idea how it might come about, only that it would, in some way, be completed as it should. That one thought comforted him now as the drumming of feet in the dark grew louder and closer.
Mordred might indeed sack Wayland's capital today. He might kill the King. He might manage, even, to take all of Wayland, but the time would come when destruction would come down upon him from on high. A smile spread across his face, until he thought about those he might lose in the process.
His friends might be killed tonight. And what about Gideon? Where was he in all of this? His mind wandered back to the night before when he had faced the man upon the palace wall. Gideon had spared him despite his threats to the contrary. Where was he at this moment and what was he doing? Had he run from the city, back to Mordred to receive new instructions, or was he lurking among Evelah's ruins waiting for another opportunity to strike at him?
There was one thing Ethan was certain of. This was no time to ponder the possibilities. A great battle lay before them all now. Whatever the future held for any of them Shaddai was still in control.
Gideon stood upon the wall surrounding Evelah. He stood anonymous among several thousand of the King's soldiers spread out along the northern portion of the great wall. It was broad enough at the top so that two wagons could drive its length side by side. Now, with so many men atop it, the wall seemed crowded and stiflingly so.
He had found a helmet, as expected, lying in the street near a fallen soldier of Wayland. It wasn't exactly a match for the uniform he'd taken from the guard outpost, but considering the cobble of uniforms he saw on the newly conscripted citizens here on the wall, he doubted that it mattered. No one was looking for him. All that anyone in Evelah cared about at the moment was the steady march of the approaching army.
Everyone remained silent as their heavy steps echoed out of the mist-shrouded darkness. The torches upon the wall could not penetrate the fog. Gideon closed his eyes to pray. The breathing of the anxious men filled his ears. They weren't saying it, but they were all scared to death. There was good reason to be. The army that Gideon had seen massing on Wayland's northern shore had been unlike any he'd ever seen assembled.
Gideon prayed.
As he opened his eyes again, he realized the steady thrum of the march had stopped. He could sense them out just beyond sight-the heavy mist shielding them from thousands of fearful, watching eyes. The trees that bordered the city may have been beautiful on a spring day, but they were a curse now. The enemy stood among them hidden.
A lone cry came up out of the darkness then. One voice calling out to King Stephen himself. Gideon immediately recognized the man. If there had been any doubt before, now he was sure. Mordred had indeed come along to lead this campaign.
"Stephen!" Mordred cried. "I've come for you, Stephen! With an army beyond your imagination! Surrender now. Have these cowards lay down their arms and I might show you some mercy."
From a hundred yards down the wall, Gideon heard the King's reply. "We are no cowards, Mordred!" Stephen said. "We will never surrender Evelah to you!"
Laughter resounded from Mordred and his army after him. When it had died down, he said, "Dear Stephen, I was so hoping you would say that!"
Gideon heard something building then in the darkness…footsteps…giant footsteps.
Out of the fog, coming directly down the main road to the heavy iron gate of the city, came a host of the giants that Gideon had seen upon the northern shore. They ran in two long lines, each pushing one side of a massive, rolling battering ram. It appeared to have been fashioned from a huge tree and was still several hundred feet long. At the head of it a heavy, spiked iron ball, much like a mace, had been added. Along its sides, long metal spikes had been driven straight through the trunk so that nearly fifty giants could push it.
With a number of wheels bearing its weight, the full force of the giant's combined strength could be utilized in the ramming. Gideon thought about the gate. It consisted of a heavy iron meshwork which drove into metal slots in the ground. Beyond that stood two massive wooden doors reinforced with steel bands. It wouldn't hold for very long against what he saw coming.
The order sounded from the King. "Fire!"
Archers, established along the length of the wall, fired their arrows at the approaching giants. These brutes had been outfitted with armor, but still some of the shots got through. Some of the giants faltered as they were struck repeatedly, but they did not stop.
Angry now, their pace only increased as they screamed in fury and planted the battering ram into the iron portcullis. The impact shook everyone on the wall within one hundred yards of the gate. The iron held, but had been dented significantly. "Fire again!" King Stephen screamed.
The archers, shaken and bewildered, leaned over the wall and took aim again. Gideon didn't have a bow on him, only two swords. He leaned after the archers. Suddenly the man in front of him screamed and fell back onto Gideon. He had an arrow protruding from his sternum.
Gideon snatched the man's bow and quiver as he eased him to the ground. He nocked two arrows as return fire took down more men around him. He leaned over the edge, sighted two enemy archers hiding among the trees and shot them out of the branches. These and many more were providing the cover fire necessary for the giants to back up with their battering ram in order to give it another run.
"The trees," Gideon cried, hoping to warn the others nearby. He fired again. Another of them fell out of the branches. Meanwhile the giants had managed to get enough space between themselves and the gate. They surged forward again with the ram. The king's archers tried to fire on them again, but the enemy provided cover fire on a grander scale.
The giants hit the gate again. It buckled and gave way. The portcullis fell under the ram as it smashed through and hit the wooden double doors. The blow had been almost fully absorbed on the portcullis and went no further. The king,
realizing the imminent breach, ordered his men down from the wall. "Hurry, before they break through! Meet them at arms!"
BREACH!
Levi grabbed the torch from the mount upon the wall and rushed for the stone staircase leading down. "Let me through!" he shouted as he pushed through bowmen trying to reach the wall at the King's command. Levi ran down the stairs and hit the ground running. He quickly found the fuse he'd left in place.
The torch set the fuse cord alight. It hissed and bounced around like a wounded snake as the flame ran across the ground toward Levi's buried payload beyond the wall. The giants had crashed into the wall twice now and were backing up for another go. Levi could see the cracks in the wooden doors. It wouldn't last much longer.
The fire ran under the space beneath the doors and beyond the ruined portcullis. The giants retreated a full fifty yards with their battering ram intending to make this run at the gate their last. The fire ran toward them as they surged toward the gate. About thirty five yards from the ruined gate the fire met the giants and their battering ram. It ran underground just as they lumbered by.
The ground heaved upward underneath them. Fire erupted out of the ground behind the plume of earth. The great tree the giants had been using as a battering ram shattered in flame. The Anakim's bodies filled the trees around the main road. On the wall, after the initial shock, King Stephen and his men cheered.
Gideon had barely noticed the fire bouncing down the road before the explosion. His ears were still ringing. He didn't know who had rigged the charge until he looked down on their side of the gate and saw Levi Bonifast whooping and cheering at his triumph.
Gideon stood up to the wall again. He was covered in dust and ash from the blast. Nearly everyone on the wall had been bathed in dry earth. Gideon surveyed the damage. Stephen's soldiers returned to their posts only to be cut down as a massive hail of arrows arced from the trees to the wall.
Bodies fell around him. Gideon nocked arrows as fast as he could, firing on everything that moved in the darkness. More giants swarmed out of the darkness with hybrids following. They came down the main road as their archers increased their cover fire.
Two of the giants pulled the smashed portcullis out of the way as the rest heaved smaller ten man battering rams of iron into the door. The King's soldiers swarmed down from the wall with their swords drawn. Gideon drew his swords and ran down the wall toward the main gate. So many bodies lay on the wall. The way had been all but cleared by those abandoning their posts here for lower ground and the fight coming through the gate any moment.
Gideon noticed the King already down from the wall by now. His personal guard were ushering him back toward the palace. The giants burst through the doors, smashing them to the side on their ruined hinges.
Immediately the Anakims surged through the breach and began to cut down men three at a time with great broadswords made for their size. Gideon leaped away from the wall. He landed on the shoulders of one of the giants using his momentum to ram both of his swords through the man's clavicles. The giant lurched, stumbled, and fell.
Gideon leaped into the fray with the other giants as the king's soldiers tried desperately to keep them at bay. Somewhere in the battle he heard Levi Bonifast, but he couldn't be sure where. The streets inside the wall had turned to pure chaos now.
Hybrids and giants swarmed through the streets. Behind them, Gideon saw Wraith Riders charging through on horseback, making their way for the palace in the distance. By now he'd been swept far from where he had entered the battle. It was difficult to tell where Mordred might be among the horsemen and Gideon had no way to reach him now.
He slashed at every enemy he could take on. His twin swords dripped with gore as he found his next victim. The giants weren't so difficult for him. Avoiding their powerful strikes was the real danger. They could knock even a guarded man off his feet with one blow.
Gideon found another Anakim, dodged his strike-the giant's heavy blade smashing into the cobble stone street. In close, Gideon slammed his sword through the giant's ribs, through his right lung and into his heart. He rolled out just as the Anakim faltered and fell over where Gideon had been crouched.
He turned on the next foe, a hybrid, decapitated the beast and went on. Another hybrid jumped him from behind as the other fell. Gideon shot out his foot to the rear, smashed the creature under the chin in the trachea and then whirled with his blade to slice across its belly. As its life spilled out, the priest moved on to the next and the next.
So it went for what seemed like an eternity. There seemed to be no end to the enemy's numbers. Gideon's arms burned and ached with fatigue. How many had he killed so far? He'd lost count after fifty. Already the horses and their riders had passed beyond his hearing. Could they possibly have reached the palace yet?
The king would certainly be Mordred's priority target. Once he had Stephen in custody, the battle would end quickly. The King's army would be ordered to stand down. If Stephen refused to issue the order, he would be killed and Mordred would declare himself King in Wayland even before Stephen's men stopped fighting.
With the King in such danger, Gideon realized he had to get to the palace as quickly as possible. What happened down here wouldn't make any difference anyway. He killed one last hybrid and rushed off through the streets. As each new assailant presented before him, Gideon tore through them and moved on.
He only hoped he could reach the palace in time. The irony of Gideon's actions didn't escape him. The night before he had very nearly assassinated King Stephen. Here he was now trying to save the very man, he'd agreed to kill.
Ethan found that he could not stay in the spiritual realm for more than an instant. On his first and second attempts to realm shift, he had become aware of huge numbers of demons operating on the ethereal plane around him. His shifting made him immediately noticeable to them all-the brightest light in the city.
Instead he managed to jump in and out so that his foes in the physical and spiritual realms remained confused. He disappeared from before a giant Anakim and then immediately, at least as the giant perceived, appeared behind him. Ethan cut him down with a lethal blow to vital organs.
The Anakims may have been huge men, but they still had the same vulnerabilities as normal people. All that mattered was knowing where to hit them and the priests of Shaddai had all been well trained. In fact, as Ethan surveyed the battle unfolding in Evelah's streets, he noticed that it was indeed the priests of Shaddai who faired the best in this melee.
King Stephen had retreated, with the priests from the Nodian Order providing escort, to the palace. He had to be kept safe and Mordred's army had breached the walls quicker than had been expected. Hopefully the priests could get him there safely.
The streets had filled with the bodies of the wounded and the fallen. The metallic odor of blood filled the air in Evelah. It was nauseating.
Ethan heard the thunder of hooves coming down the streets behind him. He turned and shifted out of the physical just in time to escape the sword of one of the riders. He reappeared ten feet off the street before the demons in the area could attack.
Wraith Riders galloped hard down the main thoroughfare, heading for the palace. Ethan was sure Mordred would be among them, but they all looked the same. There was no stopping them at this pace without shifting and there were too many demons around for that.
Ethan suddenly realized why the demons were even present. They didn't seem to be doing much in the way of fighting in this battle and yet they were everywhere among the combatants. Could it be that Mordred, or even Jericho, had figured out a way to keep him from utilizing his power in this fight? Were they all busy looking for him?
A hybrid soldier tried to dispatch him from behind, but Ethan beat him to it. As the creature fell, Ethan ran to intercept the last of the Wraith Riders.
The rider swept down with his broadsword as he approached. But instead of ducking the blow, Ethan leaped over the blade in a split second realm shift that knocked the rider fr
om his saddle. Ethan took his place seizing the reins and goading the black horse on even faster.
Ethan raced through the streets, trying to catch the other riders. A group of Anakims lunged toward him from up ahead, forcing him to change course. The Wraith Riders disappeared around a bend on the main road where a group of buildings were still smoldering from the earlier bombing.
The horse obeyed his commands smoothly and Ethan avoided the giants easily. But now he wasn't sure how he might catch the black riders. He took several side streets in succession and noticed the fighting had largely remained on the main road. Most of Mordred's army was either headed toward the palace or making sure his Wraith Riders got there unhindered.
A winding lane opened up before him. A group of houses lay crushed beneath one of the fallen airships, spilling its debris into the street. Ethan and his mount leaped over some of the wreckage and dodged around the rest, making their way steadily toward the palace now visible in the distance.
RETREAT
Levi and Seth remained among the priests of the Wayland Order as they and King Stephen's soldiers escorted him back to the palace. No sooner had the King and his entourage managed to escape being pinned on the wall than Mordred's giants and hybrids flooded through the breach in the main gate. They were on the run, trying to get their sovereign to safety, if there even was such a thing in Evelah now.
Levi and Seth lagged behind with some of the other priests, like Kline and Devon, taking down giants that had managed to keep up with them as well as the much faster hybrids. Some of these abominable soldiers had taken on wolf-like characteristics, maintaining a fast pace, even traveling at times on all fours with their swords upon their backs.
Seth dodged one attack, countering with a sword to the hybrid's belly. His clean, effortless attacks made Levi a little envious of the blind man's prowess. He reminded him of a calmer Gideon. Despite multiple enemies and various kinds of attacks, Seth never grimaced or cried out. As far as Levi could tell, the man hadn't even broken a sweat yet.