"Hey, Master Pilk, I can't stop. Gotta get more bandages urgently. Cressy's over there," he said pointing to a distant corner as he scurried off. Master Pilk was a little surprised by Vik's familiarity of his sister so quickly by using her shortened name, but shook it off and headed in the direction he had pointed.
"Push down harder, Trent," he heard his sister say as he came across her. "We have to stop that bleeding or we'll lose another soldier."
Master Pilk looked at Trent and noticed blood all up his arms, some dried higher up, but most still fresh. He looked absolutely exhausted and defeated, but complied with Cressida's request without comment. Cressida was mixing up some herbs with mortar and pestle and didn't even notice Pilk until he was standing right in front of her.
"Have you seen Vik?" asked Cressida of Pilk without greeting. She too looked a mess and her bloodshot eyes betrayed her attempts at appearing energetic and controlled. The table in front of her, full of small bowls and flasks of different potions and balms, also told Pilk that she was attempting to heal about six or seven soldiers simultaneously.
"He ran by me on my way here," replied Master Pilk.
"We are out of bandages, so I sent him to fetch some more. He should have been back by now. This man will bleed to death if he doesn't return soon," said Cressida in an exasperated tone.
It was obvious to Pilk, who was knowledgeable in magic, that the clerics were all too exhausted to use magic healing and have now had to resort to more conventional means. Cressida's ripped robes told the wizard that she had already used as much material as she could from her own clothing for bandages. Looking at the unconscious soldier on the bed before him, he knew that he would need an abundance of bandage material anyway to stop the bleeding.
"Is there anything I can do?" asked Master Pilk, knowing full well that there was nothing he could do.
"Unless you can conjure up some bandages for me, then no," snapped Cressida.
"Have you had any rest, Cressy?" asked Master Pilk.
"I'll rest when the wounded stop coming in," she almost shouted back at him.
With a sympathetic nod at Trent, Master Pilk turned to leave. On his way back out of the room, he saw Vik from a distance with his arms full of bandages and couldn't help but feel for the two young boys. He had also noticed Jaz not too far from where her mother was working but didn't want to interrupt the girl's healing efforts. He knew full well that the injured would continue to flow in over the next few hours. Cressida, Jazz and the two boys would be working well into the night, and tomorrow it would all begin again. Could they possibly continue to hold back this orc assault?
* * *
"Just over two hundred confirmed dead and a similar number too wounded to fight, my lord duke," replied General Kehar to the duke's question regarding casualties. "Perhaps 8 times that number of the enemy out of the battle. Numerically speaking, that means the odds have slightly moved to our favour. But we will tire before they do."
"Except that we have destroyed those towers of theirs, so they may find gaining the wall a bit harder next time they come," Duke Angus responded while rubbing his chin in thought.
"They are building more as we speak, my lord duke. Our defensive catapults will eventually run out of ammunition of sufficient size to destroy them. They have access to ample timber for rebuilding them. I fear that we may very well lose this city in the coming days, my lord, if we receive no more help."
"No more help will be sent to us, general. King Cassien will not pull any soldiers from the north as things in Raziya become more unstable. Yulon and the surrounding towns have sent what they can already. We have to hold with what we have." The last was said with force.
"I will do what I can, my lord duke," replied General Kehar with a slight bow of his head.
"I know you will, general. Let us hope it is enough. Perhaps a chat with Master Pilk before he turns in for the night, general. He has a knack for unusual battle solutions."
"I will go find him right now, my lord duke," said the general with another bow as he turned for the door. As he reached the doorway he turned back to the duke. "And may I suggest you be ready to leave the city with a moment's notice, my lord."
"I will take your suggestion on board," replied the duke with an ex-pression that suggested he'd be ready but reluctant to abandon the city to an army of orcs. Knowing it was pointless arguing with the duke, General Kehar turned and left, closing the door behind him.
* * *
Opening the door in a night robe stood a very sleepy looking wizard. General Kehar, not waiting for an invitation, pushed by Master Pilk and entered his small apartment.
"I hope I did not wake you, Master Pilk," said the general with a grin.
"A wizard needs his sleep, general, if he is to be of use in a large bat-tle." Master Pilk closed his apartment door.
The general sat down at a small table on the far side of the room and waited for Master Pilk to come and sit too before replying. "The reason for my visit is to discuss the use you can be. The city's defence does not go well, as you no doubt realise. Do you have any suggestions, no matter how ludicrous they may be, Master Pilk, that may be able to turn this battle around?"
"What are your main concerns, general?"
"I am concerned that they still outnumber us to in excess of six to one. Even though we killed about 8 to one this day, our soldiers will tire quicker than theirs as we don't have the luxury of resting ours. Our options of destroying those moveable towers will decrease as we run out of ammunition. The more orcs gaining our walls, the quicker we will tire. We need a way of destroying, or, at the least, stopping those towers from reaching our walls."
"Yes, they are indeed a concern." Master Pilk rubbed his chin in thought. "They are quite resistant to fire, aren't they?" he asked rhetorically, "and aren't that easy to topple either, certainly not from a distance." He fell silent in thought for a moment.
"Some of my men tell me about a great wind you created today to get rid of some dangerous insects. Can you create a wind strong enough to blow them over?" asked the general.
"Unfortunately not," said Master Pilk coming out of his thoughts. "Although I did not think that I could create a wind strong enough to lift a man neither."
"By all reports, Master Pilk, your wind lifted a number of orcs and dropped them to their deaths."
"Yes, I did, didn't I? Quite shocked I was with that."
One of General Kehar's eyebrows lifted slightly at that comment, but he remained silent, waiting for the wizard to expand.
Master Pilk, however, fell silent once more and did not elaborate. As General Kehar started to make a comment, Master Pilk broke the silence with a loud "Aha".
"I think I may have a solution to the towers, general. We can freeze them," said Master Pilk with a satisfied grin.
"Freeze? As in stop their movement? How long would you be able to prevent them moving?" asked the general, firing off the questions in quick succession.
"You misunderstand, general. I mean freeze as in turning them to ice," said Master Pilk as he sat back in his chair and folded his arms before him.
A moment's silence passed before General Kehar said, "I fail to see how this will help."
With an exasperated humph, Master Pilk jumped up from his chair and went and grabbed an old wooden staff standing in the corner of the room and handed it to the general who was now standing.
"Let me demonstrate," began Master Pilk. "Hold the staff out vertically beside you, general, hard against the floor, gripping it as high up as you can."
The general did as he was instructed while Master Pilk took a few steps back. Muttering a few words the general didn't recognise, Master Pilk pointed his finger at the bottom of the staff, and a finger of ice instantly left his hand. As the ice hit the bottom of the staff, it quickly began to freeze the entire staff, as well as a small patch on the floor. Master Pilk quickly grabbed the already frozen middle of the staff and instructed the general to let go before it reached his hand. O
nce the entire staff was frozen, Master Pilk picked it up from one end, took it over to the table they had been sitting at moments before, and whacked it down on the tables edge. The staff shattered into thousands of tiny pieces as General Kehar shielded himself from the flying shards.
As realisation struck the general, a grin found its way to his face. "You can freeze an entire tower? Can the other wizards do the same?"
"No, I cannot freeze an entire tower, but a big enough section that, should it be shattered, will bring the tower down and at least three of the other wizards can cast the finger of frost spell, that I am aware of. I will have to ask our visiting wizards if they are able to cast it or not."
"This brings us some hope, master wizard. How many times could you cast that spell?" General Kehar rubbed his hands together in front of his nose and mouth and huffed out his breath to make them warm.
"I can cast it many times, as can the other wizards no doubt, as it is only a simple spell. But, being a simple spell, it is also easily blocked. Our best chance would be to let the towers get well within archer range, simultaneously freeze as many towers as we are able, while archers shoot the frozen sections of each tower, before any of their shamans are able to counter our magic."
"I see," said the general. "Still, this will make a huge difference in the coming battle. Taking out those towers will make it a lot harder for them to gain the wall."
Master Pilk noticed a renewed hope in the general's eye that he had not seen since the army came into sight of the wall.
"One more thing, Master Pilk," said General Kehar. "Can you, or any of the other wizards, cast a spell that opens the ground like what was done to the dwarves?"
Master Pilk hesitated briefly before stuttering. "Ah...Um, no. No, I am afraid I cannot, neither do I think the others can. That is a very powerful spell."
"That is unfortunate. A spell of that power could really turn the tide for us." General Kehar turned and walked to the door letting himself out.
* * *
Master Pilk, flanked by the other wizards capable of casting the finger of frost spell, showed himself on the wall before the sun had shown itself over the eastern horizon. Only one of the visiting wizards could cast the spell, the other specialised in illusion spells, making a total of five knowing the spell. He had briefed them all on the plan to bring down the towers. He had once again sent two wizards to help defend the northern wall, only one of which was capable of the finger of frost spell.
"I will base myself in the centre of the wall and signal when I wish to enact the plan. For the signal, I will enchant an arrow to flare pink and have an archer fire it into the sky, so watch out for it. Pick your target and instruct all archers nearby to take aim on it as soon as it freezes. Act expeditiously and destroy as many towers as you can," instructed Master Pilk to the wizards as he sent them off to scatter along the length of the wall.
A short time later he came across General Kehar.
"You're up nice and early this fine morning," said the general as he approached.
"A sound sleep, general. The morning would be much finer if all those orcs turned their backs to us and walk away," replied Pilk, pointing at the busy orcish army to the west.
"They attempted a sneak attack earlier this morning," began the gen-eral. Pilk raised an eyebrow but remained silent to allow the general to continue. "A group of some one hundred orcs silently made their way around to the southern wall. They were discovered only when twenty grappling hooks were thrown over the parapet. Twenty orcs were on the wall before a company of soldiers got there. We lost twenty of our own in the ensuing battle."
"How were they able to reach the wall undetected?" asked Pilk.
"No one seems to know. The soldier that raised the alarm was only some twenty paces from the appearing grappling hooks, but noticed no orcs on the ground or approaching the wall. We suspect some magic was at play."
"Hmm, yes indeed. That would be my guess. A bit clever for orcs isn't it?" said Master Pilk as more of a thoughtful statement than a question.
"From our observations, this army seems to be led by a group of ten or so orcs. My best guess is that these are leaders of their own tribes, joining together for a common cause."
"More than ten tribes are on the fields below, general," stated Master Pilk.
"Then the leaders of the largest tribes, but obviously at least one of them is quite intelligent for an orc," General Kehar corrected.
Master Pilk didn't disagree, but changed the topic and told the general of his signal. "I'll have all the archers told of this so that they can be ready," said the general. "May Zulma be with us," he continued as he walked off.
"Zulma and Shardae both," said Pilk to the departing general. Pilk thought it would take the combined efforts of the god of war and goddess of luck to save Arthea from this threat.
"Don't ye be forgettin' Vala," said a gruff voice from behind him.
"I'll accept the help from any deity, General Ludko," said Pilk, turning to face the dwarven general.
"Did ya like our squish ramps, wizard?" asked General Ludko.
"Effective — if a little crude," Master Pilk tilted his head to one side.
"Crude? Ha! They be engineering brilliance. Squished us a lotta orcs with them, we did." General Ludko smashed his balled right hand into his left.
"Credit, where credit is due," replied Pilk. "But would you like them to be even more effective?"
"Don't see how they could be, wizard. We had to move 'em just to find more targets."
"So would they not be more effective if you didn't have to move them?" asked Master Pilk.
"Quit bein' so cryptic, and get to the point, wizard," barked General Ludko.
"Indeed, cryptic speech for a dwarf is anything not involving killing orcs, drinking ale and making weapons, I forgot myself, general," quipped Master Pilk. General Ludko shot him a dangerous glance, but remained silent and allowed him to continue. "Watching your contraptions yesterday I found myself wishing that Arthea was built on top of a hill, instead of the relatively flat land that it is. Your rocks, once dropped from the wall, roll a few paces at most before they are still and useless. The ones landing on top of other rocks were sometimes propelled along a little further. If the land sloped away from the city walls, those rocks, I believe would roll for some time, 'squishing' all in their path and gaining momentum as they went."
"But the land does not slope away from the walls as you said, so what's the point in wishin' that it did?" interrupted the dwarven general.
Master Pilk sighed loudly before continuing. "To the point then, shall I?"
"It's what I been askin' for all along, wizard," said General Ludko, sounding a little annoyed.
"Very well. Thinking of the boulders last night, I came up with an enchantment that I can place on them that would make them behave in the way they would if rolled down a steep slope."
Master Pilk's comment was rewarded with an excited expression on the dwarven general's face, before he composed himself again and asked, "You can be doin' that?"
"I can," said Pilk smugly. "I will put on them a release word, so that your soldiers can put their hands on the loaded boulder and utter the release word before the enchantment will take effect."
"Well what are we waiting for?" said the General loudly. "Let's get to enchantin'." As they both began walking towards the squish ramps, General Ludko said to Pilk, "Can we make it a release phrase?" Master Pilk looked at him, "I would think a word would be quicker to utter than a phrase, but yes, if you wish it."
"I do wish it. Let's make it 'Go squish some orcs'."
Master Pilk shook his head in disbelief as he continued to walk, but he couldn't help but smile.
* * *
Decker awoke nice and early to prepare for another day of fighting. After visiting the armoury to replenish his quivers, and a quick view from the wall to see what the orcs were up to, he found himself heading for the infirmary. Being a ranger he had some healing knowledge and even po
ssessed some basic healing magic, so he figured he may be of some use there. But he also found himself thinking about a secondary reason for the visit. He couldn't get the cleric who had treated him a couple of days earlier out of his head. He had no idea why. He found her determination to treat him, despite his protests, annoying, and yet her skilful arts were alluring; that and her exceptional beauty. He had only been in the infirmary for a short time with her, but overall he had enjoyed the experience.
He laughed at himself as he approached the infirmary door. He didn't even know her name or where she was from or even if she were available. He knew nothing of this woman, but as he caught sight of her again busily working away, his heart skipped a beat and he realised he would certainly like to get to know her. She actually looked a mess, obviously had very little sleep, and had been working very hard, but he still found himself attracted to her. He started walking in her direction but was cut off by a cleric he did know.
"Decker, are you hurt? Has the fighting started again already?" asked Koren.
"No, I'm not hurt, and the fighting hasn't yet begun this day. I just thought I'd see if I could be any help in here," replied Decker.
"Good, very good. You can give me a hand with this soldier here," said Koren as he grabbed Decker's arm and dragged him over to the table with an injured soldier lying atop. He had a deep stab wound in his right leg, and looked to be in a lot of pain.
"His leg is the only injury?" asked Decker
"That, and a few scrapes and bruises," replied Koren
"Is your healing magic exhausted already this day, Koren?"
"No. We have been instructed to save our magic for life threatening cases. This soldier has had to wait all night for treatment as more serious injuries were tended."
"Wouldn't it be better to fully heal him so that he can fight again to-day?" asked Decker.
"Then let a soldier die later today because we have no magic left?" replied Koren. "No, we have been instructed to save as many as we can. This soldier's wound will be bandaged with soothe balm for the pain and will no doubt fight again today or tomorrow."
"Then allow me to heal this one, as I will be back out on the wall a little later," said Decker as he pushed Koren to the side and walked closer to the table.
The Gate - A New Breed of Orc (The Gate Series Book 1) Page 27
