by Mark Mulle
“Stay back!”
I heard some laughs, but none of them took a step further.
“Calm down, men,” William sighed. “I needed that.”
“Look, William, you giant fool,” Rengerd hissed furiously, “Do you think we, the people of Ironheim, cannot face the enemy without our King?! Let him rest, but find a way for us to get in so that we can find someone else to lead our armies against the enemy…Otherwise; our people will perish in the thousands!”
Captain William nodded and shrugged.
“It’s your funeral, Ren. Good luck.” He turned away. “All of you; stand aside.”
The guards parted to allow us to pass, and I caught a few ugly looks that were thrown at me.
We were about to demand help from a King, one that was acting strangely and could throw us into a dungeon…or worse. It couldn’t get crazier than this.
No, wait, I thought.
It would definitely get crazier before this was over.
Chapter Six
The city was no massive and modern urban miracle — it was simply a typical Ironheim village that had grown way too much. There was certain order to it, and taller buildings with stronger worlds than any in a normal town, but the city of Sunforge still had the ‘small town’ feel to it.Even if it was twenty times the size of our village, with thousands living within its walls. I hadn’t been here since I was a boy, coming with my father during one of his work trips. He’d bought some construction materials and we’d returned, but not after he took me to see the most interesting parts of the city.
“You look like you’re remembering something,” Rengerd said with a smile as we hurried our way through the city streets towards the castle. The fortress itself was an imposing giant of rock and iron, its doors barred and guarded. Frightened citizens watched us from windows and shadows as we passed, and I noticed that not many merchants were out on the streets offering their produce.
“I came here once with my dad. We saw the King; he had just come back from a raid on the Zombies. He carried trophies and treasure. I’ll never forget that day.”
“That’s a nice memory to hold dear. I’ve never seen the King as anything other than a legendary warrior either, so this is a great shock. We have to find a way to actually talk to him.”
The guards took a moment to step aside as we arrived, a sharp whistle coming from behind us seeming to be the only notice they needed to know that we weren’t enemies.
“You may pass. Keep your weapons sheathed at all times,” A tough looking guard said, “Or else.”
The insides of the castle were impressive. They definitely didn’t have any of the warm, homey feelings of the city. Instead, it was like walking into a fortress of legend. There were imposing statues guarding the passages that led to the throne room, their forms capturing the most glorious moments of the people they represented. Scenes of epic battles were painted on the walls and the guards with the ornate armor only served to make the place even more incredible.
“Wow,” I breathed.
Rengerd nodded with a smile.
“That was my first word on entering as well.”
Suddenly, someone stepped out onto the corridor and cut our progress short.
“Why are you here?”
“I am Rengerd of the scouts. I wish—”
“I don’t care,” the middle-aged man said rudely. He had thick eyebrows and a scarred face. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
“Who are you?” I asked, feeling angry that we’d been treated so well until this stranger appeared.
“I am the King’s brother. He isn’t available, and you shouldn’t be here. In fact, I think I’ll escort you out right n—”
“Brother.” A figure stood in a doorway behind the rude man. He was slightly older, but not by much. It was clear that he was the powerful warrior that I had seen once, so long ago. Rengerd and I bowed our heads immediately in reverence. “Leave them be. They have come a long way, and for a good reason. Forgive my brother, we haven’t been having the best of times around here lately and now the enemy has entered our territories.”
We were led away to the throne room by the King himself, and my excitement grew.
“I want to say it simply, Your Majesty —we need soldiers. A level of manpower that can defend our borders and keep those enemies out. We don’t know what they’re capable of, but their Demon King has sent them down to destroy us all. Help us, please. We are within the first villages in their path. Our people aren’t ready for such a massive invasion.”
The King shifted uneasily in his throne. Something passed over him and he grimaced.
“Are you okay, Your Majesty?” I asked, lifting myself from my chair to help him out. He lifted a hand and nodded.
“I have been assaulted by visions for a while now; terrible visions that have helped me foresee many of the events happening now in our world. I was aware of the Demon King’s arrival before it actually took place, and I have seen what occurs if we send all of our armies at him.”
Rengerd swallowed awkwardly.
“What will happen?”
“They will all perish.” The King looked away and sighed softly. It was as if his heart was begging him to fight but his mind ordered him not to. It wasn’t the best sight to see from our leader, but he was simply human as well.
“We can change that,” I said.
“No. We cannot.” The man seemed to have made his decision.
“Will we simply sit by and allow our world to be consumed by them instead?” Rengerd asked, and I knew he was going too far talking to the King like that.
“No, Rengerd. We sit back and defend, and then we find a way for there to be peace. I have seen our final moments if we fight the enemy. They are terrible and full of pain.”
Rengerd cursed softly and stood.
“Very well, sire. Thank you. I will return to my village.”
“I’m sorry, but we must find a way.”
As we walked out of the castle, I felt devastated. We had come to Sunforge feeling so confident — now it was as if we had been slapped in the face. I looked at Rengerd as we walked out of the city gates and past the guards.
“I told you,” Captain William said to Rengerd as we walked away. The scout didn’t even turn back.
As we mounted our horses, I asked the inevitable question.
“What now? Are we really going back home with our tail between our legs like this? The people at the village will be devastated if we return without help…”
“No.”
“No?” My heart filled with hope.
“Good men died when that rock crashed, others when the tower emerged and started spreading. More men and women are surely suffering right now with the arrival of the demon army. Do we sit back and allow the monsters to tear us apart? No. I will not allow it. We fight. Will you follow me in my quest to find reinforcements wherever we can and raise an army?”
Of course, I thought.
“Yes, yes I shall. I shall be there at your side!”
Finally, there was a chance. I decided at that moment, that as soon as we had fought the army back, it would be time to climb the tower. Once I was there, I would remove the Demon King’s head from his shoulders.
And when that happened, I would become the greatest warrior.
Chapter Seven
The villagers awaited us with hopeful eyes. I saw my parents and the families of the scouts that had followed us, and all of them were smiling eagerly as they watched us approach.
Many smiles began to fade as they saw our faces, but some still thought we carried good news.
One of the well-known elders of our village, an old nurse who had seen many of us born, approached with a look of desperation.
“Lucas! Rengerd! Please, tell us how the King is going to help us!”
Rengerd took a deep breath and said the words.
“The King will not be helping us.”
The previously happy crowd turned furious and frightened a
t once. Many tried to have their voices heard by shouting; others pushed their way towards us.
“Where are my sons?!”
“Is the King insane?”
“Who was that speaking a few hours ago? I heard a horrible voice from far away!”
“Rengerd, what can we do?!”
The scout lifted his hands.
“I have left some of our men behind to defend the villages at the borders…the rest were slain.” His words seemed like a second shockwave that rocked the village again.
It was going to be a long night.
Finally, I was able to lie down on my own bed. My parents sat nearby, asking about the journey. I told them everything.
“Rengerd and I will set out tomorrow,” I ended. Mother nodded sadly and Father put an arm around her. They knew it was necessary.
“I am sure that you will accomplish your mission. I will stay and protect your mother. Be sure to take as many men and women from the village. The enemy must be crushed. The Demon King, eh? He’ll soon learn from his mistakes: nobody attacks the Ironheim people and lives to tell the tale,” Father said with a grin.
I fell asleep then, and dreamed of fighting my way to the top of the tower.
When I heard the noise outside, I knew the moment had come.
My things were already in place, the axe and shield that I had received on my thirteenth birthday and the leather armor which Rengerd had given me when we set out. It was a big moment, and my parents bid me farewell for the second time in a few days.
The chieftain was already armed and ready to leave.
“Lucas! You’re one of the last of the soldiers to arrive. Get into formation; we leave in a few minutes.”
“You’re coming with us, sir?” I was shocked. While our younger King was sitting back at his castle, our chieftain — who could have been his father — would be fighting a war.
“Yes, why wouldn’t I?”
I smiled and got onto my horse with a feeling of purpose running through me. Around eighty brave men and women turned to the chieftain as he raised his hand into the cold air.
“Now let’s go out and tear that tower down!” His hand dropped and we all roared as one, the sound of charging horses echoing around the village as we ran towards the battle that would be written into the legends themselves.
Our rush through the surrounding villages was one of pure passion. We roared as we went, calling for help from those young warriors in other towns that could help us. Our chieftain’s presence helped to convince them to add their numbers to ours.
There were so many warriors coming to join our forces that we had to stop and turn kids and old men away. Many came on foot, those too poor to afford horses. Others pulled out their donkeys and joined in. The biggest army that Ironheim had ever seen was forming, and our enemy was going to receive a massive shock.
It was a few hours later when we finally entered our border territory. The final villages were up ahead, but we couldn’t see them due to the hills.
“How do we approach this?” Rengerd asked the chieftain over the noise of the army.
“We climb it as a single force. We can’t know what to expect on the other side, so dividing our force could be dangerous!”
I got anxious. There were a dozen or more villages on the other side of the hills. Have they been hit, or did we arrive on time? Did the King basically condemn his own people to destruction? There was hope in our hearts and we began to climb. The slippery ice and thick snow were an issue, but we put our backs into it. Polar bears watched curiously as we pushed our way up the hill, helping those who couldn’t do it by themselves and lifting each other’s spirits as we fought to reach the top.
I pounded ahead of the rest with my horse, powering forward among the younger and hungrier warriors. It was clear that the first to reach the summit would be remembered for eternity, perhaps even making his or her place in the paintings and songs that would follow. Only another young man kept up with my pace as I galloped ahead, and soon we were pushing and shoving each other around with laughter as we hit the last few yards toward the top.
Finally, I pushed him away hard enough and led my horse up the final few feet.
“Yes!” I cried as I climbed and looked over the tallest point to the fields below— “Oh, no…”
I felt my body go cold and my face pale. Many of the warriors below and behind were calling up at me so that I could tell them what I could see. I was unable to talk.
The other lad reached the peak a moment later and began to say something, but it was cut short when he looked down and saw what I had seen.
“I can’t believe it,” he breathed.
I fell to my knees and felt tears welling in my eyes. I had not been prepared to see this — it had always been a possibility, but I had not thought that it would come to pass…
The villages had been torn apart, utterly destroyed by the advancing horde. I saw them: warriors of all sizes with monstrous faces and mutated features, tall swords and axes in their grips and dark ink all over their bodies. Fires and smoke dotted the lands and I knew that our people were gone forever.
But that was not all.
The demon horde was all heading outward from the tower. It stretched across the horizon, ahead of the tower closest to us. They were advancing…
…and they were coming straight towards us and our people.
Chapter Eight
I was slapped back to reality by the fact that we were going to fight at any minute.
“Everyone get to the top now! The demon host is only a couple of miles away!”
Chaos ensued as the army fought to get into formation. Not everyone was healthy or fit enough to recover from the climb, and we would need to wait for those slowest to reach us. The best tactic would be to wait for the demons to reach the base of the hills before charging down to meet them, our horses trampling the lines of warriors before we were forced to fight up close. Nevertheless, there were just so many of them, numbers that could easily be used to surround our forces and cut us all down.
The demon army seemed to have no commander in sight, but it was moving in a very purposeful manner towards the hill as if it sensed us. The chieftain was roaring for our archers to come forward and I regretted not having brought a bow and arrow with me.
“Notch!” he cried, “Draw!” Hundreds of arrows were pulled back and aimed at the army that was moments away from reaching the hill. “Loose!”
The projectiles flew forth, showering down onto our enemies like a rain of death. The demons were resistant, but they weren’t invincible; many of them fell to the arrows and were trampled on by the soldiers behind them. Others were quicker to react and lifted their shields. Our archers loosed again and again, their shots getting more desperate as the enemy army approached. Those warriors who had been hit but hadn’t fallen were angered by the attacks and broke into a faster run than the rest.
“They’re coming,” I breathed, “they’re coming!”
I looked forward past the army one last time and saw the tower. I needed to get to it, no matter what. Turning away, I spotted the chieftain thundering forward on his horse as the battle began for real. Rengerd looked at me and nodded. He knows where we must go, just like I do.
“Chaaaarge!”
The order was given, and we roared a powerful battle cry as our forces swept down the hills in a crushing advance. The demons on the front lines were trampled and crushed as we charged through them like a scythe cutting wheat in a field. We angled our charge so that we could return to the hill and charge again, but some of our soldiers were cut or pulled down from their horses.
My first enemy arrived as our charge reached its end — a tall armored beast with red eyes and gray skin. It wore spiked shoulder armor and a closed black helmet. It hammered my shield with its sword and I heard my horse cry out in pain.
“I…will..end…you…” it hissed at me, and I cried out when its sword slammed into my helmet.
“End this!” I roa
red back, bringing my axe down with all of my strength. The demon’s helmet cracked and he fell to the ground, dead. That was close, I realized.
More of them were beginning to surround us, and I saw more of our soldiers being dragged down to the ground. We are going to lose this battle very soon if something doesn’t happen.
And then something did.
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooo…
The sound of the war horn echoed around the snowy plains, making everyone stop and lift their heads. I turned on my horse and spotted something on the hills to one side of us, and then to the other. There were more in the distance.
“The other races have sent their forces!” Rengerd yelled over the noise. As I looked to one side of us where the Skeletons charged down toward the enemies with their Wither Skeleton allies, I spotted him: the Skeleton from before. He fought fiercely, firing arrow after arrow and taking out an elegant and deadly dagger once he was close enough to fight with a blade.
The chieftain roared as we prepared for the next charge.
The war had begun.
Every race was here for a reason. They all wanted glory of their own.
In the final moments before our line of horsemen hit the enemy I looked at the tower one last time.
I’m coming for you, Demon King.
Epilogue
Far, far above the battlefield, the origin of all of this evil remained silent and observant.
Dark storm clouds surrounded the tower, but its top floor was above even them.
The architect of this disaster sat, his eyes closed as he studied the battle through the eyes of one of his demons. The other races had joined, surely looking for a way into the tower and a chance at defeating him. The humans, as always, had been the first and bravest…but there would be others.
The Demon King paid special attention to those that seemed to desire a final battle with him even more so than their companions. He saw a Skeleton who fought like one of his best soldiers, the creature’s dagger seeming to be something of ancient power; he spotted a villager girl that didn’t miss a single shot from her bow and was too agile for his demon soldiers; the son of a Zombie Emperor caught his eye as the young undead mob flashed a curved blade around and slayed dozens of demons in minutes…