Horizon (In the Absence of Kings Book 3)

by Lee LaCroix

  Each Malquian touched the resting Kal’reth as they panted on the back line, waiting for breath or for death. The Crown Aegis trudged through the fallen bodies, both Vandari and not, and kept a flat foot to the stone that was becoming slippery with blood. From the battlefield, there was no end to the enemy force in sight; only the endless domes of rounded helmets and the imposing arms of the siege weapons. There was not a single shred of sandy cloth on the armour of the Kal’reth that was not stained with blood. At the sight of three Malquian tabards appear beside him, the Kal’resh commander Dontas finally turned to face his allies.

  “It’s about goddamn time. Were you waiting for an invitation!” Dontas yelled.

  Garreth smirked and strode past him. Dontas watched as the Malquian paced towards three Vandari with their shields and swords raised. Garreth held Darkbringer in front of him and stepped forward. Garreth feigned to kick at the first shield, and the soldiers lunged at him. He switched to his other foot, driving Darkbreaker down onto their swords. As the adversaries connected, a bright flash pushed outwards, and the Vandari recoiled in shock, losing their balance. Seeing her chance, Ilsa pushed her way towards the left soldier, brought a dagger into the wrist of his sword hand, and spun towards him, landing her back against his chest. With a jab of her elbow, she twirled away from him while piercing his neck, sending the Vandarian to the ground.

  The next time, Garreth did not fake his kick. As the Vandarian’s shield was pushed away from his body, Garreth stepped inwards and sliced downwards across the collar. By the time Garreth had brought his sword up again, the final Vandarian peeked over the edge of his shield in order to weather another stunning glare. Garreth’s opponent had been so preoccupied with watching the Malquian and the glimmering blade that he did not see the shadow appear at his flank. After she leapt off the shield of another, Ilsa drove her daggers into the Vandarian’s neck before swinging around in front of Garreth. Afterward, she rolled to her feet and took her place beside the Malquian, flourishing the blood from her blades onto the ground.

  The Vandari formed their wall of shields in a circle around the two but waited outside the distance of Garreth’s sword. They saw the flashes of light. They knew the man that stood before him. But, they also knew how to overpower him. Like a shark through a school of fish, a Varnwa axeman glided through the wake of his allies towards the front lines. The great steel axehead was a serrated disk of death, and Ilsa and Garreth could see it rise and fall above the heads of their foes. Soon, the wall of shields divided, and the great warrior appeared. Thick plates of dark iron covered the front of his legs, chest, and arms. The Varnwa wore a crumpled mask of metal that hid an even more tortured face. He wrapped his blood-stained hands around the haft of the axe, which was as thick as a man’s neck, and the brute lifted it high above him. The two Malquians felt the ground shake as the axe soared down and planted in the earth before him. As the Varnwa warrior yelled and raised a fist to the air, a second axeman appeared behind him and bellowed at the Malquians as well.

  As the sun descended into redness, so did the peninsula into bloodiness. Behn and Eyrn had proceeded farther across the peninsula than any of their allies had fought the entire day. Catching a breath before another wall of Vandarian shieldbearers, they found themselves before the first line of trebuchets. The shield wall tried their best to pen Behn within its circle, but he was not amused with their efforts. Their iron bulwarks were nothing to the strength of his strike. As he smashed his sword into the tops of their shields, Behn drove them into the stone floor and crumpled their structure. With those vertical strikes, Eyrn dodged from side to side of his ally, performing precise parries around his friend, and exacted punishing counterattacks of his own as well.

  Eyrn did not need to defend Behn throughout the entirety, and he took off out of the giant reach of the claymore to fight beside him. With his keen awareness and ambidextrous strength, it was near impossible for Eyrn to be flanked or surprised. Having neither flashy swords nor brute force to aid him, Eyrn approached two Vandari and challenged them both with a stare and the flourish of his blades. As they hesitated, he struck, lashing out with slice against the flat of a shield. Eyrn watched his left as the other Vandarian lunged towards him, so Eyrn drove the Vandarian’s sword towards the ground. Before the soldier could slam his shield to his chest, Eyrn wedged his right sword in the opening before he stabbed with the left, piercing the lowest layer of chest plate. With a leap and a kick from both feet, Eyrn bounded off the injured Vandari as the sword of the first veered down towards him. After tumbling off his back onto his feet, he sprang up and deflected the Vandarian blade with his left blade while stabbing with his right. After Eyrn touched the ground, he tucked into a roll and felt the rushing of wind whoosh by his head as he ducked under a slashing blade. Soon, he was on his feet, staring down another group of Vandari.

  “Eyrn!” a voice yelled from nearby, and Eyrn looked about to see Behn.

  The steel-plated Malquian held his sword aloft between two giant axe-bearing warriors who had been summoned to the front to defend the weakening siege emplacement. As Eyrn rushed back to his ally, he did not blink.

  Screaming high and loud, a Vandarian soldier was set aflame by a fiery sword, ran without abandon, and then dropped off the side of the peninsula. Although he thirsted for the cooling quench of the Dykos River below, he found himself shattered and sinking after. The weapons Dawnbringer and Blazeheart both blinded and burned their way across the length of the peninsula. Novas’ sword radiated a pulsing light, and Kayten’s blade held a rippling flame along its edge, pushing away the darkness of the coming night. The two Malquians stood hip-to-hip and back-to-back, making their way through wall after wall of enemy shieldbearers. With their formidable armour and swords, Kayten and Novas had neither Ilsa’s speed nor Behn’s fearsome strength but relied on their teamwork and training to see them through the mass of their enemy.

  Formed up in their wide half-circles, the Vandari held their shields high to Novas’ advance, keeping their glare hidden behind their steel bulwarks. Locked shoulder to shoulder, the Vandari hardly needed to look beyond to hold their defense, only set their grip strong to weather the strikes of arms and arrows. Again and again, Novas struck out at them with little effect. Tired of the passive strategy, Kayten ran Blazeheart against the edge of her shield. With a fire on the edge of the sword behind her, she paced beside Novas. As Novas struck out again, the Vandari raised their shields off the ground to block the glare. Then, Kayten kneeled and swung her sword in front of her, forcing the flames off the blade towards the ground. By the time the Vandari slammed their shields against the stone, the wave of fire had passed under their shields, and they spurred it at their feet to climb faster. In that moment of distraction, Kayten and Novas led the charge. Kayten entered with a shield slam, Novas with a kick, and the rest of the Malquians charged into the final lines before the line of trebuchets.

  While the Vandarian tower shield excelled in coordination with other shields, it lacked the mobility needed for an agile defense. As the Malquians broke through the defensive line, some Vandari threw their shields down, opting to defend themselves with a single sword, while others hid behind their singular wall of steel but were flanked and divided. Kayten’s heart leapt as she spied the bloodfire barrels through the chaos of the bodies in front of her, and she made a beeline straight towards them. Novas lost her for a second but soon ran to save her from her haste.

  “Kayten!” Novas yelled as he leapt.

  As she turned, he went flying past her, tossed through the air. Novas had thrown himself in the course of the axe swing from the newly arrived Varnwa. He had tried to parry with his sword, but the axe had struck him too direct, and he felt a breath-taking crunch against his chest. She hurried beside him and kneeled down, raising a shield to the behemoth soldiers who now stalked towards her through the opening in the melee.

  “Novas! Get up! Get up!” She screamed.

  The row of Vandari shieldbearers opened for
a brief time, letting their hulking allies through their defense and then reformed, setting the stage like an arena of bloodshed that both sides had come to watch. Garreth held his blade aloft and watched the two Varnwa size him up as he did the same. Although he did not blame them, he knew that none of his allies would dare to meet these foes, for even one mistake in this battle would mean death. Garreth slashed and smote the head of the axe, sending the Varnwa into frenzy like flames to a bloodfire keg.

  Like windmill blades in a storm, the vicious axe heads spun around the Varnwa, who grappled and gripped their weapons with a deadly and practiced showmanship that made Garreth nervous to interfere with. As their spinning masses lurched closer, the Malquian had no choice but to intercept them, reaching out to deflect one of the axes as it spun around. As if by complete reaction, the axes fell towards Garreth, and the Varnwa on the right dropped his axe from on high. Preferring not to have broken wrists, Garreth rolled to the side and only had a split second before the darkness came over him again. He rolled in the opposite direction as the second axe came down, and Garreth found his shoulder against the cool flat of the steel axe head.

  Before he could stand, he felt a hand on his back. As he looked up, Ilsa had stepped next onto the handle of the axe, running up towards the Varnwa. She leapt off the wood, dodging the heavy fist that fell towards her, and landed a foot directly on its neck. She could hear a loud crack as she brought both feet down hard against the Varnwa and then leapt off high into the air. She landed on the flat of the second’s broad shoulders and brought a dagger down into the giant palm which reached up to grab her. The Varnwa roared and brought his axe off the ground, careening the blade around his head. Ilsa leapt over axe as it whooshed by and landed with both daggers into his back, tightening her grip as she dragged the blades down towards his hips. Enraged, the Varnwa reached around at her with his wounded hand but could not reach, so he whirled around and tossed Ilsa away, knocking her into Garreth.

  They could hear the cracking of bones and joints as the first Varnwa rolled his head back into place and roared as if unharmed. Garreth and Ilsa scrambled to their feet as both of their opponents raised their axes and stalked towards them. Garreth paced towards them again, twisting his blade around for another strike. Chips and dust of stone rose around them as the axe cut into the rocky peninsula, and Garreth sidestepped out of the course of the first axe and leapt away from the second. Before the first axe could be raised again, Garreth leapt forward and spun, slicing at the hand of its bearer. The Varnwa roared and recoiled, keeping a grip on the axe while the another hand, now missing several digits, flailed in pain. The axe buckled as Garreth pressed his weight upon it and leapt off of its length. Darkbreaker rose and fell in an angled arc, and Garreth gripped the sword tight as he fell towards the other Varnwa’s neck. Garreth could feel the shaking in his arms as the sword grinded past the meat and bone in the axeman’s neck.

  The Varnwa’s head and Garreth’s feet hit the ground at the same time. By the time Garreth had turned, a shadow had rushed by him again. Ilsa left one dagger left in the meat of the remaining Varnwa’s neck and hugged her legs around it. Unwilling to drop his axe, the Varnwa reached at her with the wounded hand that Ilsa stabbed at like a viper’s bite. When the giant finally began to spin, Ilsa gripped the monster’s chin and reached for the far side of his neck, planting the dagger in deep. As the axeman flailed around, Ilsa pulled the dagger across his throat. Soon, hot blood poured out over her hand. Cutting from one end to the other, Ilsa let herself tumble off his back and rolled to her feet. The blood was soon beginning to pool around their feet as the two dead Varnwa lay around them. The two Malquians stared at the line of Vandarian shieldbearers again and gasped as the ranks opened up again, welcoming new foes.

  Eyrn dodged left and then right, slipping his sword into the flesh just above the hip of a Vandarian soldier. Without looking back, he withdrew the sword and headed towards the thunderous collisions of steel brought about by Behn’s struggle with the two Varnwa warriors. The mighty Malquian swordsman had no time to wind up one of his punishing strikes. Instead, Behn was forced around by the brutal barrage of sweeping axe slashes that he could only just deflect. His giant sword was forced behind him by a bone-shaking blow, and Behn caught a glint of his comrade in the corner of his eye before pulling the blade back towards him. Eyrn planted his feet on the flat of the claymore as Behn pulled the blade over top of him, and the dual-wielding warrior went soaring through the air.

  Like the sliding shears of the sharp scissor, Eyrn folded his swords together and grinded their edges together from length to point. The Varnwa roared in protest as its dismembered hand fell from its arm, and Behn saw his chance as its grip on its axe faltered. As the fallen axe sped into the rocky earth and spewed up stony chips around them, Behn only had to raise and drop his sword before crumpling the Varnwa entirely. Behn and Eyrn sized up the second Varnwa, grit their teeth as the sea of soldiers divided once again, and could just make out the silhouette of more giant axes in front of the fires from afar.

  “Do it, now!” Novas yelled before he was taken by a hoarse coughing and outstretched his hand towards the Vandarian siege line.

  Torn between defending the man she swore to protect and striking a critical advantage in the battle, Kayten faltered.

  “Kayten! Now!” Novas called out, rolling to his knees.

  Kayten set her face and looked him in the eyes.

  “Everyone back!” Kayten screamed and waved her sword aloft as its flames licked the sky.

  With her shield in front of her, she charged through a narrow gap in the shield line, knocking the soldiers aside. As she broke into the clearing in front of the siege weaponry, the siege engineers shouted and pointed. Over the heavy machinations of the trebuchet, she could feel the Varnwa shaking the earth around her. Kayten began to flourish her sword, sending out waves of flames towards the stockpile of ammunition. Rounded barrels of dark lumber soon smouldered and caught flame, and she did not have to stick around to find out what happened next. The siege engineers fled as fast as Kayten did, and she sprinted through the frontline where Novas was holding off the Vandari with a flashy display. She heard the deafening roar first, and had just enough time to drop to her knees and turn around. The metal on her legplates shot up sparks as she slid into place in front of Novas and threw up her shield. The explosion nearly took her shield and her arm away, but she forced the tip to the ground and held on with all her might. The two grit their teeth as the waves of fire passed over them again and again with unrelenting force and heat. By the time Kayten had opened her eyes, she was the only one standing around her, and Novas breathed hard at her feet.

  The explosion started from the north end of the peninsula and tore its way to the southern edge in a climatic chain of blossoming infernos. The Vandari with their backs to the flame soon caught fire, ran off the side of the cliff, or were thrown into enemy forces if they were not bowled over by the exploding debris. A soaring wall of fire now divided the battlefield, leaving the trebuchets in ruin and a score of Vandarian soldiers on the wrong side of the battle. As soon as the Malquian and Kal’reth soldiers had cleared their side of the peninsula, fewer than four hundred soldiers rallied beside Dontas and Garreth.

  “You there. Run back to the wall and ask Ayden to begin repairs on the siege there. With their long-range siege destroyed, we have a chance of funneling them here and now,” Garreth ordered, pointing at one of the men who looked less bloodied and more alive.

  The man nodded and sprinted off the battlefield back to Andalvia.

  “Get the injured back to the city. If you can still fire a bow, get to the back lines. Everyone else, rest now. As long as the fire lives, we do too,” Dontas commanded as he bent to his knee.

  Behn and Eyrn found Garreth, Ilsa, and Kayten where Novas lay.

  “Try not to move yet. Just rest. Get to the backline. We need your skill with a bow,” Garreth hushed as he tussled his son’s hair.

  “I’m
fine, really,” Novas spoke, coughing up spit laced with blood.

  Kayten pouted as she wiped it away. They had not been resting long before they were surprised by a wave of sparks, coals, and cinders as boulders rolled past the line of flame and came to a rest around them.

  “The Vandari are using their catapults. They probably couldn’t use them before without endangering their trebuchets. If we try to hold the line here or push any further, it’s likely that we’ll be crushed,” Behn explained.

  “I agree. This does not look good. We have already lost too many souls. It may be best to fall back into the city and use the remaining siege weaponry to hold the gate,” Garreth explained.

  There was a chorus of nods, and Behn and Eyrn helped Novas to their feet.

  “We’re falling back into the city. There will be no victory here with that bombardment,” Garreth explained to Dontas as they ventured near.

  “This is not how we defend Andalvia. We will lose the city!” Dontas yelled.

  “If we lose all the soldiers here, who will be left to defend it?” Garreth stated before walking on with the remaining Malquians forming up behind him.

  Dontas seethed through his teeth and threw down his sword. Without the Malquian’s help, he knew the rest of his soldiers would perish. He looked back and forth at his allies in retreat and to the wall of flame and the weighty boulders before reaching down for his blade and dragging it home.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  All the timber used as barricades for the houses of Andalvia was torn away and affixed in a haphazard structure to the city gate using nails of iron. While some families had already fled their houses, demolished in an explosive blaze by trebuchets and bloodfire, any remaining denizens were urged to leave their homes for the safety of the fortress now that the army knew they could not defend the streets. The courtyard of the tower was a tent city where nobody slept, for they were chilled by the midnight air and the terror that boomed from outside the city walls. By the time all the fires in the city had been extinguished, the remaining soldiers had rallied in full at the dismantled market to hear the next plan of defense.