by Dean Cadman
“They will be well outside your range, Alexia,” Hershel replied, looking up at the cliff-tops high above.
“No… they won’t, trust me. Lusam has enchanted my bow so it shoots much further than a regular bow. If you can get me a little closer, I can hit them,” Alexia said confidently. She knew she only had three of the enchanted arrows left, and wished she had thought about asking Lusam to enchant the rest of the newly blessed arrows before he had left to read the Guardian book. She knew those three arrows would find their targets for sure, but given the concentrated number of Empire magi on the cliff-tops, she doubted many of the blessed arrows would miss anyway, so she decided to keep the enchanted arrows in reserve. She was also painfully aware that as soon as the first group of magi were killed, her party would immediately become their main target. There was no way they could survive such an assault, and everyone knew it, even if they didn’t say so.
As they moved closer to the cliff face, Alexia found herself thinking about the time when they were running through the large gorge, just before they entered the mist-covered valley in The Elveen Mountains. Lusam had been under intense fire from the pursuing Empire magi, and was struggling to maintain his magical shield. His solution had been to bring down a large part of the rock face to block their pursuers line of sight, so they couldn’t fire directly at them, and it had worked perfectly. She knew, of course, that any large boulders on the valley floor would be of little use to them when the Empire magi were firing on them from directly above. The fact that the Empire magi had taken the high ground, had been causing them difficulties ever since the battle begun, but now, Alexia had a plan to turn their advantage against them.
“Is this close enough?” Hershel asked, knowing that any closer and Alexia wouldn’t be able to see her targets on the cliff-tops.
“No, I want to be almost at the cliff face. If they can’t see us, they can’t attack us… well, not with any accuracy anyway,” Alexia replied. Hershel grinned at her, knowing their chances of surviving had just increased dramatically. All the undead were now moving towards the gates of Lamuria, leaving Hershel’s group free to position themselves at the base of the cliff face.
“Good luck,” Hershel said, as Alexia drew back her bow. She nodded and released the first arrow into the sky above, quickly followed by several more. The death pulses came almost immediately, as one after another of the blessed arrows rained down on the magi above. Dozens of the undead fell to the ground throughout the valley as their masters died and their tenuous links were severed. The assault on the city’s wall quickly faltered, as confusion began to mount as to where the attacks were coming from. Alexia varied the angles of her shots, making sure to cover as wide an area as possible on the cliff-tops. The Empire magi dropped fireballs blindly over the cliff edge, hoping to hit someone below, but only twice did the shield bearers have to intercept any.
After a few minutes the firing ceased, as did the death pulses from Alexia’s arrows. Everyone held their breath, wondering what their next move would be.
“What do you think they’re up to?” Alexia asked quietly.
“I’m not sure, but as long as they aren’t attacking the wall it doesn’t really matter I guess,” Hershel whispered back. After another couple of minutes, he seemed to have a change of heart.
“Give me your shield, I’ll go check what they are doing,” Hershel said to one of the paladins.
“Be careful out there, if they see you, they’ll all fire on you,” Alexia said, as if he didn’t already know. He took the shield and ran off along the base of the cliff several hundred paces, before moving slowly out into the open. He walked slowly backwards with his shield at the ready, scanning the cliff-tops for any signs of the Empire magi. They saw each other almost simultaneously, several hundred magical-missiles were launched towards him. He didn’t even consider trying to block any of them, instead he ran as fast as he could back towards the cliff face, cutting off their line of sight as fast as possible. As soon as he was within hailing distance he shouted to Alexia.
“They’ve moved back a couple of hundred paces,” he said, gesticulating towards the cliff-tops above. Alexia nodded, moved away from the base of the cliff, and sent ten arrows towards the location Hershel had just described. Six found their targets, with six powerful death pulses confirming the fact.
Alexia removed one of her three enchanted arrows and nocked it ready to fire. If she was right, the Empire would send a scout to pinpoint their location before making their next move. Putting herself in their position, she would do the same, then once their location had been determined, either collapse the cliff on top of them, or concentrate their fire on that position. Neither of which appealed to her much.
“Be ready to move,” she said, not elaborating any further. Each man nodded, but she was too busy scanning the cliff-tops to notice, then she saw him. A single Empire mage stuck his head out over the cliff edge to spot them below. She loosed her arrow as he scuttled back out of sight, but it was already too late for him. The arrow homed in on its target, killing him almost instantly.
“Oh! Nice shot,” Hershel said genuinely impressed.
“As much as I’d like to take credit for it, I can’t. That was one of Lusam’s special enchanted arrows. As long as I get them anywhere near, they will find their own target. It’s just a shame I only have two of them left now,” she said, nocking another enchanted arrow.
“Fortunately, they don’t know that,” Hershel replied grinning at her. Alexia didn’t have chance to reply before she loosed her second enchanted arrow. This time the Empire mage had remained on his feet, and at the first sight of her, turn and run a zigzag course away from the cliff edge. It didn’t help him. Another large death pulse rippled through the valley.
Alexia didn’t think they would send another scout after seeing the enchanted arrow zigzag after the last one, but just in case she nocked her final enchanted arrow.
Another twenty minutes passed before they discovered the Empire’s next move.
“Aysha have mercy on us,” Hershel whispered to himself, as he noticed every remaining undead in the valley heading their way.
Chapter Forty-Five
Renn had waited another ten minutes before leading them out through the gate. The corpses of the undead littered the ground outside, but as Renn had predicted, the immediate area around the gate had been mostly clear of any potential danger. After despatching the dozen or so undead still lurking nearby, Renn and Morgan had begun moving the corpses. Renn had put Neala on look-out duty, while they stacked the corpses into a makeshift barricade. The idea was to leave a single entry point to funnel any returning undead through, making it easier to despatch them. Even if they chose to climb over the barricade, they should be slowed down enough to be dealt with more easily, or at least that was the hope.
Most of the fighting was obscured to them now by the city walls, but from what little Neala could see, the paladins were making decent enough headway against the large number of undead. It soon became apparent, however, that the few paladins she could see, didn’t seem to be attracting the attention of the Empire magi as they had hoped. The relentless bombardment of the city’s shield continued without pause, making Neala wonder just how much longer it could possibly survive. Thankfully it didn’t appear that all of the Empire magi were attacking the city’s shield. She suspected that maybe the paladins closer to the front line—where she couldn’t see— were being more effective at drawing their fire away from the shield, after all.
After three hours Neala had still to make her first kill. Every undead that came close enough was quickly despatched by Renn or Morgan, and added to their ever growing barricade. Renn and Morgan had even resorted to whistling loudly to try and attract more undead their way. On four occasions during that time injured men had been brought back to the gate, and each time a handful of undead had followed them, providing yet more building materials for Renn and Morgan.
Neala was beginning to become more than a little r
estless. She had been given a set of blessed knives, and therefore a job to do by Aysha herself, but here she was, doing nothing more than reporting the movements of the undead to two men who could spot them perfectly well themselves. Part of her yearned to be out there, doing her part against the enemy forces, but another part of her secretly feared what would happen if she tried. She had never been a particularly religious person, and even though she had now come face to face with Aysha, she still found it difficult to resolve her own issues regarding her faith. She knew that most people went through their entire lives without ever seeing or hearing from Aysha, yet they were still able to hold firm to their faith somehow, something Neala envied greatly about them.
Neala removed two of her knives from her belt and inspected them. Neither of them glowed like Renn’s or Morgan’s sword. She tried to reassure herself that it was because she was slightly further away from the undead than they were, but deep down she knew that wasn’t really the case. She offered a prayer to Aysha, asking for her help in using the blessed weapons, but it changed nothing; the knives still remained the same. She replaced the knives in her belt, and tried to convince herself that she would have enough faith to use them, if she really needed to.
Over the next hour, the bombardment of the city’s shield increased steadily. Fewer and fewer of the undead had come within range of them, and only one other injured man had been carried to the safety of the city gates. Neala hoped that was because of fewer injuries, rather than higher fatalities on the battlefield. They could no longer see any signs of either the paladins, or undead on the battlefield. Everything that was unfolding now, was taking place further south along the valley floor, where they could no longer see due to the city’s wall.
Neala was about to ask if she could go see what was happening on the battlefield, when it finally happened: the city’s shield collapsed.
Neala ducked her head involuntarily as an enormous explosion came from within the city walls. A massive plume of fire and smoke, almost as tall as the High Temple, mushroomed into the sky above the city. For a moment after the initial explosion all seemed still, and she swore she could hear the cheers of the Empire magi coming from the far end of the valley.
Then all seven-hells seemed to break loose.
Thousands upon thousands of missiles arced through the sky towards Lamuria. She thought she heard Renn say something to himself, but she was far too stunned at the sight to ask him what he’d said. Dozens of buildings exploded within the city, sending debris and flames high into the sky. She watched helplessly as hundreds of magical-missiles headed straight for the walls of the High Temple. She expected the High Temple to be utterly devastated, but amazingly the magical-missiles simply winked out of existence as they made contact with its walls. It was then she remembered what had happened in Stelgad at The Sanctum of Light, when Lusam had rescued her and Alexia from the Hawks’ guild, and they had been chased by the Empire agents there. Hershel had explained to them that the walls were blessed by Aysha, and therefore impervious to magic. She thanked Aysha in a silent prayer for the blessed walls protecting Lusam, and asked once more for help in using her blessed weapons, so she too could help protect him.
Everything within range of the Empire magi was completely destroyed within a few short minutes, only the High Temple remained untouched. Thick black smoke filled the sky above the city, and the acrid smell of burning hung thick in the air. Shortly afterwards the bombardment of the city ceased abruptly, and was replaced by what appeared to be a more focused attack on southern side of the city a few moments later. Neala watched as Renn scrambled up his makeshift barricade to get a better vantage point.
“Oh Gods! They’re trying to break through the south wall,” Renn said, watching helplessly as huge chunks of the city’s wall were blown away by the Empire magi. He knew if they managed to breach the wall, the city would fall within a matter of minutes. Renn’s orders were to protect the city gates, but it seemed pointless doing that when the enemy seemed intent on entering the city elsewhere. He knew if they were to gain Lusam the time he needed to finish reading the Guardian book, they must stop the undead from entering the city. Renn felt sure the Empire magi would have already moved their undead army away from the city wall before attacking it. If they hadn’t, they would be destroying their own army as well as the wall.
Although Renn couldn’t see what was happening on the battlefield, it made tactical sense to him that the paladins would now be regrouping by the wall, to try and stop the undead from entering the city—at any cost. Both he and Morgan had blessed shields and could be of use there, but Neala on the other hand would stand little chance against the Empire magi attacks.
“Neala, we have to go and help protect the south wall. I know you’re not going to like it, but I can’t take you with us. It will be safer if you stay inside the city, and—” Renn said, but was cut off by Neala’s snort of laughter.
“If you think I’m going to hide behind the city walls and do nothing, while you all risk your lives for Lusam, you’re crazy,” she said, moving towards the break in the barricade. “Let’s go!”
“I can’t let you go out there, Neala,” Renn said, stepping in front of her. Neala stopped mid-stride and took a deep steadying breath, before looking into his eyes.
“Renn, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but nothing you can say or do will stop me from going out there and doing my part to help Lusam. And if you think you’re capable of stopping me, I’d think again. I would hate it if you forced me to do something I’ll regret later,” Neala said in a calm voice.
Morgan whistled at her words. “She’s a feisty one,” he said smirking at Renn.
Neala gave him a threatening look: one that said she was about to show him just how feisty she was if he said another word.
“Enough!” Renn boomed out. “We’re not here to fight each other. The fight is out there,” he said lifting an arm towards the battlefield. “If you insist on coming with us, just make sure you stay close enough so we can protect you with our shields.”
“Fair enough,” Neala said, still looking at Morgan menacingly. Her look must have made him feel a little uncomfortable, because he was the first one to head off towards the battlefield without another word. They all broke into a jog, but Morgan seemed keener than the others to join the fight, as he was a good fifty paces in front by the time he reached the end of the wall.
“Don’t go running off Morgan,” Renn shouted after him. Morgan turned his head and gave Renn a mischievous grin as he disappeared around the corner of the wall. He had barely vanished from sight before he reappeared again, but this time he was flying backwards through the air, and landed hard on the ground with a loud thud. Renn and Neala sprinted towards him, but even before they reached his location the first undead appeared around the corner of the wall. Neala’s mouth fell open at the sight before them: thousands upon thousands of undead were moving towards them. Renn had already drawn his glowing sword and was cutting down the first group of undead to come within his range.
“Morgan, get up man!” Renn shouted desperately, but he didn’t stir. Renn even nudged him with his boot between sword swings, but he seemed to be out cold. Whatever had hit him, had hit him hard. Neala stepped in front of Renn and began killing the undead.
“Get him back to the barricade,” she shouted, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to lift him and run at the same time. Renn didn’t hesitate, he picked Morgan up and threw him over his shoulder, then started back towards the barricade. Neala’s first set of knives were saturated with magic almost immediately, and she narrowly avoided being injured by one of the undead. Switching to a second set of knives, she began to retreat towards the scant safety of the barricade, praying that her blessed knives would start glowing. She pleaded silently with Aysha to allow her to wield her weapons, but they remained unchanged.
Renn dropped Morgan at the gate and rushed back to aid Neala. She had almost made it back to the barricade by the time he reached her.
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br /> “Whatever happens we must hold them here! If they get past us, they’ll break through the gate and into the city,” Renn said desperately, as he swung his glowing sword in a large arc, cutting down more than a dozen undead in one swing. Neala stood by his side with her final set of enchanted knives, praying as hard as she could that they would start to glow like Renn’s sword. Neala knew if she failed to wield her blessed weapons, the undead would break through the city gates and it would all be over. The High Temple’s walls may well be protected against magical attacks, but its doors would soon be destroyed by the strength of the undead. Twice before she had witnessed how vulnerable Lusam was at the moment he was released by the Guardian book’s magic, and had no doubt he would be killed at that point if she failed now. She screamed in frustration as her final set of knives became saturated with magic. An image of Lusam flashed before her eyes, just as the undead-minion struck her across the face and sent her sprawling to the ground well inside the barricade.
“Neala!” Renn called out, but he was unable to come to her aid. He moved to his right to better block the barricade entrance, but not before two undead had got past his guard. There was no way he could leave his defensive position to help Neala now, or the undead would flood in behind the barricade.
“Neala, get up!” Renn yelled desperately.
Neala heard his voice, but it seemed so far away. She watched as two sets of feet slowly shuffled towards her, her mind unable to make any sense of it. Then she seemed to suddenly become aware of her surroundings again. Realisation of what was about to happen to her sharpened her reactions. She sprang to her feet as adrenaline flooded through her body, and watched helplessly as the two undead closed in on her. She was forced to back up further and further until her back was against the grisly barricade. She had nowhere else to go. Even if she climbed over the barricade, there would be thousands of undead waiting for her at the other side. Her time was up. This was where she would finally die, having failed the only person she had ever loved in her entire life. And that hurt far more than anything these two undead could ever do to her. She closed her eyes and prayed. Not for herself, but for Lusam, Renn and everyone else she was about to leave behind. For all the people who would die and suffer because she had failed to have enough faith to wield her blessed weapons.
