by Brad Clark
It was then he realized that the city was truly lost and the queen needed to be taken to safety. His sword would offer no help in defense. It might delay the inevitable for a few minutes, but his death would only serve to help Tarcious in his plans. But the only way to save the kingdom was to save the queen. Tarcious could have the city, but they could still defend the kingdom.
As he started towards her, she knelt down to a knight who was lying on the ground, shivering from both cold and fear. His chainmail shirt had been discarded so that he could better hold his wounded belly together. His hands and legs were covered in his own blood. He had little time to live.
She helped him to his feet and slowly led the knight away, towards a nearby inn. Conner did not want to interrupt, so he followed her. But he did not follow her into the inn. He stood in the doorway, watching her tenderly care for the dying man.
A large fire blazed in the inn’s central fireplace, warming the room enough that blankets were not necessary. But she put one over his shoulders as she helped him to an empty spot among other of the seriously wounded. Carefully, she held his hands as he lowered himself to the ground and then onto his back. With the tenderness of a mother, she touched his face, smiling at him, whispering into his ear. He closed his eyes, a smile on his face. The blanket that had been placed over him was already stained around his midsection. He was losing too much blood and would soon be dead.
The stench of death filled the room and he could no longer look at it. He squeezed his eyes shut, not seeing dying knights, but seeing dying centurions. The ones that he had killed. For the first time since he had killed those kidnappers back in Darkenwood, he felt guilt. Even then he had known they were not innocent, as they had just kidnapped Elissa, but he had felt guilt at being a part of their deaths. And now, even though he knew that the centurions had to die, the aftermath was overwhelming and he felt guilt.
“Conner.”
He opened his eyes at the sound of her voice. She looked up at him with eyes wide with something. Surprise? Shock? Fear? Her clothes were bloody. Dirty streaks ran down her cheeks, showing off the crying that she had been doing.
He smiled, expecting to see excitement or joy on her face, but instead he only saw pain. “Hi, Elissa,” he said.
“You’re dead,” she said, her voice cold and distant. “You were supposed to be dead.”
“No, I’m still here.”
“I saw you out there,” she said. “I saw the battle. The whole battle. I saw you fight, how you killed.”
“I think we won that one,” he said. His smile faded as the look on her face soured.
Turning back to the dying soldiers and knights behind her, she said, “From here, I can’t tell. There are so many of them. Dead and dying.”
“I came back,” he said.
With a deep sigh, she walked through the doorway out onto the street. A step away from him, with her back to him, she asked, “What is it that you want? I have much to do.”
Her reaction completely stunned him. He did not expect anger and indifference. With an army marching on her city and two large creatures pounding at the city walls, he could have understood if she were frightened, overwhelmed, or any other emotion. But the look on her face as he passed by him was full of anger, and it seemed to be directed towards him.
“The stone ogres are going to break down the walls any time,” he replied. “We need to get out of the city. You need to get out of the city.”
Elissa turned around and asked, “The stone what?”
“That’s what they are. The creatures. They are called stone ogres. And when they break through the walls, they won’t stop. And then the Taran army will come in and they won’t stop, either. There is still time to get away.”
“I’m staying here. This is my city. These are my people that are dying and I am not going to leave them.”
“Elissa,” he pleaded.
Her eyes narrowed and she snapped back at him, “It’s Queen Elissa, to you! There are hundreds of wounded to attend to and I am not going to leave them to die alone.”
There were many others like Elissa that were helping them. Some were bandaging the wounded while others were helping them walk to one of the warm buildings.
“There are many others who are helping,” he replied. “You do not have to do this.”
“I must!” she said with a raised voice. “I’m the one that sent them out there. And if I can’t stand with them when they die on the field, I can sit with them when they die in there.”
“The stone ogres are going to break through the walls any minute now and they are going to head straight for the castle, but they’ll kill anything in their way.”
“Okay, so we all leave the city. Isn’t there an army out there, just waiting for us? And it’s the middle of winter. Where would you like the entire city to go to?”
“Elissa, I’m not talking about the entire city. I’m talking about you. If you can escape the city, we can preserve the kingdom. We let them have the city, but you can get away before it’s too late?”
She shook her head. “I cannot just let them have the city. These are my people and I will not leave them.”
“The city is lost. Tarcious is going to take it because he wants the Ark that is hidden, was hidden, underneath the castle. He will not stop until he has it. There is no stopping him, so we have to get you out of here.”
The anger on her face passed away. “The what?”
“The Ark of Life. Emperor Tarcious wants the Ark of Life that is hidden in the city. I mean was hidden in the city.”
“The Ark of what? And if it was hidden, why is he coming after it?”
“Ark of Life. I already took it, but he doesn’t know it.”
Queen Elissa blinked her eyes, trying to process the words that were being told to her, but clearly there were too many gaps in the story for her to understand. “What?” she asked again.
“Glaerion and myself snuck into the castle and took the Ark. Now we have it, but Tarcious doesn’t know it. He will not chase us, because he wants the Ark. So we will be able to get away, and we will be far away when he realizes that the Ark is no longer here.”
“Who is Glaerion?”
“He’s an elf. I mean, he’s elven.”
“Elf? What?” Her anger had been completely replaced with confusion.
A shout from down the street caught their attention. They looked over to see Lord Martin racing towards them.
“Your Majesty!” he shouted, nearly out of breath. “You must come. The walls are about to fall. We must get you out of the city.”
“See?” Conner said. “Even he thinks you should get out of the city!”
As soon as he approached them, Lord Martin gave Conner a double take and said, “I thought you were dead?”
Elissa looked at both of them with her anger returned. “I am not leaving this city. I will stand alongside the last defender of this city!”
An exasperated look fell across Lord Martin’s face. “There are not enough defenders. Too many are dead or are leaving!”
“Then I will go and stand in their place!” Without another word, she began running towards the city gate. Conner immediately took off running after her.
Lord Martin let out a heavy sigh as he realized he was going to have to chase after her as well.
***
Marik was near the main gate where the catapults had been set up. A large crowd of soldiers was set up in a semi-circle around the machine. A team of ten soldiers were loading large rocks on a flat plate at the rear of the catapult. Normally they would be loading the stones into a large bucket that could hold many more stones, but since they wanted to start firing the stones as quickly they could, they did not install the bucket. King Toknon was standing next to him, shouting and pointing as the stones were being loaded.
The queen pushed her way through the crowd. As soon as the soldiers and knights recognized who was trying to get through the crowd, they parted for her. The heads of the sto
ne ogres were clearly visible in the opening in the wall that they had smashed down. With each strike, their faces grimaced, exposing long, sharp teeth. Elissa let out a gasp and subconsciously grabbed Conner’s hand, who was standing right next to him. Conner squeezed her hand, and she squeezed it back.
For the first time in many weeks, he felt whole again. Despite death and chaos all around him, he knew this is how things were supposed to be. He was supposed to be with Elissa, and he vowed to never let her out of his sight ever again.
Marik trotted through the soldiers up to Toknon. He glanced at Elissa and Conner and smiled briefly at the way they were holding hands. A soldier standing next to him gave him a long handled axe.
“Ready?” Marik asked.
“Loaded and ready,” Toknon replied.
Marik hefted the axe over his head and then with a grunt, brought the blade directly down on the thick rope that held the catapult arm in place. With a loud twang, the arm shot forward, sending the rocks in a high arc towards the wall. The entire crowd froze in anticipation as rocks arced towards the stone ogres. And then they let out a collective sigh as they missed. The arc had been too high and the stones sailed right over the heads of the stone ogres. The creatures had not noticed and continued knocking at the wall. Almost ten feet of the wall in front of them was now down and piled in rubble at their feet. Another ten feet, and they could just step over the wall.
“Two feet longer!” Marik shouted. “And be quick about it!”
Twenty soldiers grabbed the rope that was tied to the end of the arm and began pulling it back down, slowly bowing the long arm. As they struggled, Conner reluctantly released his grasp of Elissa’s hand and rushed over to help pull it down. The trigger rope was quickly measured and tied from the end of the arm to the base of the catapult. The more bow in the arm, the farther the rocks would fly. Since they needed the rocks to fly a shorter distance, they would need less force.
Once the trigger rope was tied down and the arm was secure, Toknon shouted to the soldiers standing near a pile of rocks and yelled, “Loaders!”
Other soldiers stepped in and started man-handling large rocks onto the flat plate attached to the arm.
Once a sufficient number of rocks were loaded, Toknon called out, “Stand back! Release!”
Marik again took his axe and drove it down onto the rope that held the arm in place. The load of rocks sprang forward, but clearly not as high as the last load. With amazing precision, the load of rocks struck one of the stone ogres across the head and upper body. While its partner continued to smash at the wall, the stone ogre stumbled backwards, letting out an ear-curdling cry. It shook its head and then stepped forward to continue smashing at the wall.
“Reset!” Marik cried out. “Same distance.”
As quickly as the last time, the catapult was reset and reloaded.
The third shot struck even better than the second. Three of the largest rocks struck the head of the same wounded stone ogre at the same time. It let out a high pitched screech before staggering back and disappearing from the view of the onlookers. Cheers rose up from crowd.
Toknon turned back to look at the queen, letting out a long sigh and smiled. “One down!” he said. He turned back to the soldiers manning the catapult and watched as it was reloaded.
Conner stepped back away from the catapult so that he was standing right next to Elissa.
“See?” she said. “We can kill them. We will win this day and then we will win this war. I can feel it!”
The cheering was slowly replaced by shouting and then quickly mass confusion and panic took over. The crowd was moving away from the walls as the head of the wounded ogre appeared above the wall. It turned its head and looked directly down the street at the crowd that was running away. When it caught sight of the catapult, a low rumble escaped his lips. And then a moment later, it took in a deep breath and let out a tremendous cry of anger.
Those who hadn’t been panicked now were. The crowd, which had been slowly retreating, suddenly turned into a mass race for safety.
The solders and knights who had been manning the catapult stood their ground. Many others did as well. Those with bows began shooting all they had at the exposed face of the ogre. Those with swords drew them.
While its companion continued to bash the wall next to him, the wounded ogre reached over the opening of the wall and began crawling over it. Amazingly enough, the wall held its weight and was not crushed as the ogre fell over the wall and into the city.
Soldiers who had stood their ground now felt panic overwhelm them. Many of them joined the flow of masses running into the city.
Most of those who remained had been warriors who took the oath of knighthood and deemed it their honor to die for their kingdom. To a man, they accepted the fate that this might truly be their last stand. It was one thing to go up against a man or machine, but another to go against a beast far beyond their wildest dreams. With Marik marching forward to their front, the remaining Knights of Karmon drew their weapons and prepared to defend their city.
From the front of the formation, Marik called out, “Stand fast! We attack as one!”
Toknon turned to the queen and said, “You must run!”
“This is my city,” she said, eyes on the ogre that was picking itself up from the ground.
“The city will soon be lost,” Toknon said. “I can protect you in Thell. We can win back your kingdom in time, but until we can do so, we must get you to a safe place!”
She shook her head. “No! These are my people. I will not leave them!”
Toknon looked over at Conner, and walked up to him. In a sharp whisper, he said, “You must convince her to come with me. It is the only way to save the kingdom.”
“I have tried,” Conner replied. “This is her city and she does not want to leave it. Trust me, I have tried to get her to go.” Then he realized the words that Toknon had used. “What do you mean, the only way to save the kingdom? And who are you, anyway?”
Toknon glanced back at Elissa, ensuring she was out of earshot of his whisper. “I am King Toknon of Thell. Please trust me when I say that Taran will not attack Thell. The Taran army will stay to the south. All they want is Karmon. If she comes with me, then we can get her to safety where they won’t come after her. Even if she goes to Tyre, they will still come after her.”
“I am not letting her out of my sight.”
“You must be the Conner I have heard about. I thought you were dead.”
Conner did not like the man who stood in front of him. Even if he hadn’t been Thellian, he knew he would not have liked him. But being Thellian, it made it that much easier to hate him.
“I know how much you care for the queen,” Toknon continued. “If you care for her even half as much as I think you do, then you will convince her to come with me. It is the only way for her to survive this day.”
Marik, sword in hand, interrupted them. “Whatever you two are whispering about, forget about it. The creature comes.”
Conner drew his swords and followed Marik, who pushed his way once again to the front rank of knights.
Toknon turned away from them and walked up to the queen, grabbing her by the arm and pulled her out from the middle of the street.
The ogre started walking towards them at first, but after a handful of steps, it started running directly at the knights. Bowmen who still manned the top of the walls fired arrows at the stone ogres, even though they knew by now the arrows had little effect. As the stone ogre approached, all the knights braced themselves for whatever was to come next.
Using its two giant arms as weapons, the stone ogre swept them back and forth through the ranks of knights. Some were able to dodge, while others were not so lucky. Those that did not were catapulted far across the street and landed hard. Many of those did not get up at all. Those that survived tried to stand and rejoin the fight, but their bodies had been broken in many places and no longer worked.
While dodging the tree trunk arms, M
arik and the knights tried to attack the legs. But their weapons simply bounced off the creature’s thick skin. After many vain attempts to bring the creature down, Marik called for the knights to spread wide. The stone ogre swiped at the knights, but the big arms were slow enough that they were easily avoided.
Conner ran in between the stone ogre’s legs and tried his swords. It was like striking at stone. There was no mark or scratch to indicate that he even touched the creature’s leg. He continued running past, out of range of the wild, swinging arms.
Some of the knights took up long halberds, but they were of no use, either. The stone ogre just grabbed them out of the knight’s hands and crushed them into pieces.
With the knights dancing just outside its range, it ignored those that were trying to attack it and it went after the machine that hurt it. It jumped up onto the center of the catapult, crushing the wooden frame. Then it began ripping it apart, piece by piece.
Conner ran up to Marik, who was standing behind it. Its wide back was exposed directly to them, but there was nothing that they could do. Their weapons were ineffective against it and it knew it.
“How do we kill it?” Conner asked.
“A few more hits in the head, and it might go down,” Marik replied. “But unless you know someone who can toss large rocks, I don’t know what else to do.”
“What about its eyes? The eyes don’t look armored. Maybe an arrow through it might kill it”
Marik watched the stone ogre for a moment as it finished tossing the pieces of the catapult around. The knights had completely backed off, giving it plenty of room. There was no reason to continue to attack it, as they could not even hurt it, much less kill it.
“It would be a miracle shot,” Marik said as he watched it jump around. “We can try.”
He turned to the bowmen that had been crouching in hiding along the wall and yelled, “The eyes! Aim for the eyes!”
A moment later, arrows filled the air. Each and every one bounced off the skin just as before. One actually was on target for an eye, but right before it struck, the stone ogre closed its eye and it just bounced off the eye lid.
