by Seth Ring
“Keep charging! We can break into the city when they open the gate!”
No one knew who yelled it first, but the cry was soon taken up by the rest of the pursuing force and the group plunged onward toward the wall. If the gate was opened to let Thorn enter it would never close fast enough to keep them from fighting their way in. And even if the gate was not opened, they would be able to cut Thorn down as he tried to climb the wall. Drawing their weapons they rushed forward with abandon.
Thorn started slowing down as he approached the wall. Moving as fast as he was, he thought that he could probably jump and reach the top of the wall if he kicked off it, but he was not about to take the chance. Who knew if his foot would go right into the wall at this speed? By the time he had managed to curb his speed the enemy army was almost right on top of him.
“Mina!”
“On it! [Ice Wall!]”
Rising from the ground directly next to the citadel’s wall, a thick wall of ice shot upwards. Timing it so he stepped onto its rising top, Thorn launched himself upwards, grabbing onto the edge of the battlement. Below him the ice wall shattered, unable to bear his colossal weight. Hanging by a few fingers, Thorn grit his teeth. Lifted in his other hand, Velin was able to scramble up over the parapets and onto the wall.
Thorn groaned with the effort, but by swinging himself to the side he was able to get another hand on the wall and then pull himself up, all the while being pelted by arrows and spells. Three Dawn Walkers took over healing him from Velin, who had been healing him the entire chase. As he ducked down, below the edge of the wall, Thorn lifted his hand.
“Cut them down.”
Freemen, Dusk Walkers, and hunters alike stood from where they had crouched below the edge of the wall, lifting their bows. Arrows tipped with rags covered in pitch were raised and set aflame, bathing the wall in a blaze of light. Crying out in shock, many of the Crimson Snake soldiers started to retreat only to see the flaming arrows arching over their heads. As the flame illuminated the pass the retreating players and soldiers were startled to see that the ground was still dark.
“Pitch! There is pitch on the ground!”
“Run!”
Pandemonium ensued as the arrows landed, igniting the ground that had been soaked in pitch. The fire spread quickly, helped by the low piles of brush that had been scattered across the entrance to the pass. As the flames grew they rapidly spread across the entrance, creating a solid wall of flame blocking the Crimson Snakes from their camp. Tendrils of flame reached out to caress anyone who tried to get near and thick black smoke filled the air. Soon the flames started following the ground, approaching the high wall of the citadel.
“Fire at will!” Captain Del’har’s voice rang out over the field, followed by the hiss of arrows cutting through the air. Screams of pain rose as the enemy soldiers tried their best to defend, but with fire approaching from one side and a rain of arrows from the other, they had few options. Gazing down on the chaotic field, Thorn was surprised to see that several players had formed small groups and were reacting well to the situation.
A few players guarded against arrows from the wall while the rest dug into the ground, trying to create a space free from pitch. Narrowing his eyes, Thorn drew his arbalest and focused, aiming carefully at one of the players who was guarding the others.
“Mina, I’m going to crack that group. Do you have range?”
“Yes, yes I do.” The short Witch was currently standing on a box to help her see over the wall.
Waiting until Mina’s chant was almost complete, Thorn took his shot. The bolt flashed through the air, smashing squarely into the shield held by the Crimson Snake player, nearly taking his arm off. Tumbling backward, he smashed into three other players who were digging as fast as they could, knocking the whole group down in a heap.
“[Blizzard!]”
Razor sharp icicles and snowflakes swirled into existence over the group of players, slowing them and cutting into their exposed skin. Taking advantage of their disarray, countless arrows showered the group, turning them into pincushions.
“Excellent, let’s do that again. Captain, organize a squad to come with me and Mina and another one to help Velin. Velin, will that laser spell you have crack their defenses?” Seeing her nod, Thorn grinned. “How many can you shoot?”
“I can do five before I run out of mana.”
“That should be good enough. Try to knock out healers and any other casters. Mina, we’re going to be moving up and down the wall, so jump up.”
“Whoohoo!” Excited, Mina clambered up onto Thorn’s broad shoulder, holding on as he made his way down the wall toward the next group of players. Between the attacks of the Night Walker groups on the siege equipment while he was talking to Ouroboros and the trap that they had set here, he was hoping to slow Ragnarok down for another day. Yet, despite how well both plans had gone, Thorn could not shake the feeling that tomorrow would be a bloody day.
“Let’s focus on one thing at a time.” As if sensing his distraction, Mina patted Thorn on his head, bringing him back to the present. “We need to cut down as many of the players as possible before they realize that they can retreat through the wall of flame.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Giving a sloppy salute, Thorn raised his arbalest as Mina’s chanting filled his ears.
CHAPTER FOURTY-SEVEN
Dawn rose over Moon Wolf Citadel, the clouds painted a bloody red. The night had been long and the light revealed how much damage had truly been done. His face impassive, Thorn stared out over the scorched field that lay in front of the citadel wall. According to the scouts, the Crimson Snake camp was in shambles after the night time raid. Between the trap in front of the citadel wall and the chaos caused by the Night Walkers, the enemy had been reduced from 1700 down to 1100, with over 600 enemy soldiers falling.
The trap had taken down over four hundred and fifty soldiers who had died to arrows and spells. But the truly surprising thing had been the devastation caused by the Night Walkers who had claimed a full one hundred and fifty enemies through assassination during the chaos. Confused about how they had been so effective, Thorn had talked to Elder Havva who had showed him the poisoned dagger that all the Night Walkers used.
A simple cut was enough to drop a player, especially when left untreated, and ingesting the poison only made it work faster. The Night Walkers had slipped through the crowds, ambushing players they found alone and wounding as many as they could. By the time that they were discovered, it was too late to save most of their victims and they slipped away into the darkness.
While the night had gone as well as Thorn could have hoped, he was still concerned. He had a nagging feeling that something was going to happen today. The Crimson Snake camp was still there, and the ringing of axes floating from the forest sounded the preamble to a bloody day of fighting. The sound had not stopped since the night before and siege towers were starting to rise at the edge of the pass.
“I guess we know what Ouroboros’ answer is.” Thorn remarked, to no one in particular.
“Was that ever in any question?”
Hearing Velin’s voice, Thorn glanced at her before turning back to watch the Crimson Snakes hurrying around.
“No, I don’t think it was. He made it clear where his priorities lie. And they are not with us.”
“They are not with Ragnarok either. Which is why he stood by while Angdrin lost. This is the curse of power. Once you have it, you must keep it. And to keep it, you have to get more of it.” Velin sighed, pushing a wisp of hair out of her face. “He was not always like this, you know.”
“No?”
“No. He used to be quite gentle. But between the pressure from his family and a few key disappointments, he grew cold. Hard. He raised walls around his heart and learned to manipulate others into doing what he wants.” Velin shivered, remembering Ouroboros’ magnetic voice from the night before. “It seems like his class has added to his abilities. Be careful of him, Thorn. He gives me a really
dangerous feeling.”
“Yeah, me too. And it is highly likely that we have used up any possible goodwill that he had toward us last night.” With a shrug, Thorn straightened up and stretched. “Time to eat some breakfast. I have a feeling we’ll need quite a lot of energy today.”
It was almost ten in the morning by the time the remnants of the Crimson Snake army marched on the pass again, this time with Ouroboros at their head. He had not bothered with a helmet this time and had replaced the Crimson Snake flags with his own Blood Guard flags. Of the remaining 1100 soldiers, two hundred of them were members of the Blood Guard, forming the most elite group in the army.
Dragging four hastily constructed siege towers with them, they stopped outside of arrow range. On the wall, Thorn, Mina and Velin stood with Captain Del’har, Elder Havva, and Horvir, the leader of the Freemen.
“This is going to be tough.” Thorn pointed toward the siege towers. “The last attack was anger driven, without thought or plan. In fact, it is highly likely Ouroboros instigated it in order to get rid of Angdrin. Our raid last night went well, but we’ve only cleared the chaff. The true elite core of the enemy force is still there. Our advantages remain what they were previously, but those siege towers will be a problem.
“Thankfully, they were put together pretty quickly so they should not be that sturdy. Let’s focus our attention on destroying them as fast as possible. Captain, we need four teams to target on the towers. Please organize those. You’ll be leading one and Mina, Velin, and I will each lead another. Elder Havva, we will be committing our whole force to this battle. Please organize the remaining disciples that have not yet participated in two groups. I’d like to deploy them in the towers on the front wall to provide help clearing the wall should the enemy make it up.
“Our strategy will be fairly simple. We will do our best to ensure that the enemy does not get a solid foothold on the wall to try and delay them as long as possible. I don’t have any illusion that we will be able to win a direct fight against their forces, so we should avoid direct combat as much as possible. However, if we can delay until this afternoon, we should be able to pull out the victory.”
“We have reinforcements coming!” Mina’s brow had been furrowed, showing how much effort she was putting into thinking about Thorn’s words. As realization dawned, her face lit up with a smile and she shouted, as if she had discovered the greatest secret in the world. Seeing her so pleased with herself, the rest of the group burst into laughter.
“Correct, Oberlin is on his way.” When the laughter had subsided, Thorn continued. “Alright, everyone has their orders. Let's take our positions. Horvir, please stay, I have a couple things I want to talk to you about.”
“Yes, my lord.” The leader of the Freemen saluted as the others split up to take their positions on the wall.
After a hushed conversation with Horvir, Thorn took his place on the wall with the others. Like the day before, the Freemen were spread along the wall in teams of four with hunters standing by to help. Today the disciples of the Temple of the Moon had also been deployed, hiding behind the large wooden shields.
“Steady!” Captain Del’har’s voice rang out across the wall as the siege towers began to rumble forward. Unlike the mad rush of the last attack, the enemy army moved slowly forward. The first two rows of the army held shields in front of them, trying to provide the army with some cover against the waves of arrows that were sure to come. Behind them, the siege towers were being pushed toward the wall.
Due to their hurried construction, the towers were simply frames with three sides covered, leaving the back completely open. Each stood at thirty-five feet tall, ten feet higher than the wall and contained a drawbridge opening on the top. Built almost entirely of wood, the towers were effectively a one-use item, but should the attack succeed in breaching the wall, that would be enough.
“Steady!” Still, the captain did not give the order to fire, his eyes locked on the advancing troops. While the enemy had entered the maximum range of the Freemen longbows, the arrows would be spent by the time they had traveled that far and would deal little damage to the shield wielding soldiers.
Time seemed to slow and crawl by at an agonizingly slow rate. Despite the day being cool, Thorn felt a bead of sweat roll down his cheek. Unblinkingly he kept his eyes on Ouroboros’ dark-armored figure at the back of the enemy force.
Across the field, Ouroboros frowned. He had been hoping to waste some of his opponent’s arrows by baiting them into attacking his shield warriors but they had not fallen for it. The mysterious Lord Greymane had a competent military commander.
“Tell the vanguard to advance at normal speed. Our goal is to breach the wall as soon as possible, so hold nothing back.”
“About time.” The leader of the Blood Guard, a heavily scarred half-orc nodded, bloodlust rising in his eyes. “Advance! For Ragnarok!”
“For Ragnarok!” The shout echoed out over the pass and the whole army accelerated abruptly, sweeping across the field.
“Steady! Steady… Fire!” At the captain’s command, hundreds of arrows arced over the battlefield. Immediately after the first arrow the archers reached down, taking a second arrow and sending it flying at the enemy. Sacrificing accuracy for volume, the defenders rained arrows down on the battlefield as fast as possible.
Thorn watched the enemy streaming toward the wall, a slight smile curling the corner of his lips. The arrows were not dealing much damage to the advancing soldiers, but really, that was not what they were there for. Thorn’s slight smile blossomed into a grin.
The soldiers at the front of the charging army lifted their shields to ward off the falling arrows as they sprinted forward. In the real world, charging like this in full armor was a death sentence as they would be too tired at the end of the charge to fight, but in Nova Terra, their armor weighed almost nothing, enabling them to rapidly cover long distances and still operate at full fighting capacity.
Running forward at full speed, the first few soldiers felt something strange under their feet but were moving too quickly to shout a warning. With an echoing crack, a long trench, jaggedly cut, appeared underneath their feet, sending them plunging down into the earth. The soldiers behind them tried to stop as well, or if they couldn’t, tried to jump over the pit, throwing their lines into disarray.
“Focus on the shields!” Captain Del’har shouted, directing the archers to target the shield warriors trying to cross the wide pits. Thorn had spent much of last night after the army’s retreat quietly digging out a trench that spanned the width of the battlefield. Due to his strength and endless stamina, Thorn could move earth better than an army of diggers and it had only taken him six hours to litter the battlefield with traps.
The Dusk Walkers and hunters from Greymane Village had showed him how to stretch thin cloth over the trenches and scatter dirt and ash over them to make them blend in to the burnt ground. As soon as any significant weight was applied to them, the cloth would collapse, sending the person who stepped on them tumbling into the pit.
If he had the time, Thorn wanted to add spikes or something dangerous like that, but he had barely been able to finish before the plain began to grow light so he had to put that part of the plan aside. Still, he felt quite proud when he saw the enemy army falling into the deep trench. Six feet wide and eight feet deep, the trench zig-zagged this way and that, making it quite hard to determine where it began and where it ended.
The Crimson Snake army slowed to a crawl, the momentum of their charge stopped by the deep trench. While many of the soldiers who fell into the pit lost a good amount of health, few died in the trap, and soon a ragged line of shields formed on the far side of the trench, trying to block the arrows streaking in from the wall. With the added layer of protection, more and more soldiers climbed their way over the pit.
Almost one hundred shield warriors had fallen to arrows as they tried to climb out of the trench, but once the shield wall was re-established, the number of casualties
began to fall. On the wall, Mina glowered. The trench had been her idea and she had hoped that it would take more enemies out.
“It was well worth it.” Thorn was all smiles. “The first trench will slow them down, the second will slow them down even more. Both were great ideas. Remember, our goal is not to kill them all, we need to slow them down.”
“Killing them all would slow them down.” Mina glared at the enemy army, her voice heavy.
Thorn looked at Velin, slightly concerned. The elf, catching his gaze, nodded and stepped forward, putting her arm around Mina’s shoulders. Giving her a squeeze, Velin pulled her away.
“Let’s get ready for the fight. They will be here sooner than you think.”
On the battlefield, the shield warriors had begun to push ahead again to make room for the rest of the army. Walking instead of running, they tested the ground for more traps, making detours around them when they were discovered. The large siege towers stopped before they reached the trench, pausing while soldiers began to collapse the sides of the trench to create a large bridge for the towers to be pushed over.