by V. M. Sang
'The groundlings had lots of bows and arrows. They fired them at us and prevented many of us from getting as far as the walls. We only lost one soldier, though. The smiths aren't very good archers, but there are quite a number of wounded, some with slashed membranes who won't be able to fly for a few weeks.'
'Did any of you get over?'
'Yes, quite a lot, actually.'
'And?'
'We don't know. They never came back.'
Queen Kelle stood, her lips compressed into a thin line and her hands clenched into fists at her sides.
'Go back and tell your colleagues that you need to do better. Somehow you need to neutralise those arrows. Without them you should be able to get in.'
Varen bowed but did not move.
'Is there something else?'
'Yes, Your Majesty. The groundlings are besieged in their towns. They won't be able to get food or more weapons. That's good, but what isn't so good is that we, too, are going to run out of food. We need more supplies.'
The Queen frowned.
'That could be a problem, you know,' she said. We have only a limited amount in the city, and the same will go for the other cities too. I suggest you try to get this battle won as quickly as you can and then food shortages won't be an issue.'
She turned and left Varen looking after her, bemused by her refusal to allow them more food.
A similar thing was happening on the other cities. All the besieging armies realised they were going to get hungry. Some of them reported failed attacks while others had been unable to figure a way of succeeding in an attack.
All the rulers of the cities had to think of their citizens. Their argument to themselves was that if they let those at home go hungry, then there might be a riot that would put them in danger.
The next day, Varen returned with the Queen's message. All the commanders were angry.
'If we don't win here,' said the Commander in Chief, 'then it's the end of the aerials. We can't live without the groundlings.'
'Does she realise that?' asked the commander of the west flank.
'She should. If she doesn't then she's got no right to be queen,' said the commander of the north flank
'Careful! That sounds like treason,' said the commander in chief.
'Well, she's an intelligent woman and so ought to see the importance of us here on the ground. We're more important than those people up there who sit around doing nothing except playing all day.'
The argument went on, but the lack of food was not resolved.
Up in the city, the Queen talked to Eloraine.
'Mother, they need food down there' said the princess. 'If they don't win, what will become of us?'
'And, Eloraine,' retorted the Queen, 'what will become of us if the people riot and depose us as reigning monarchs. That has already happened in history, you know. Our house only rules here because your great, great, great grandpa rebelled against the then Queen and put his wife on the throne.'
'If we don't send them food, mother, then they won't have the strength to win against the groundlings. There are so many more groundlings than aerials. Why not send some hunters down? They can catch food for the troops and fight the groundlings from a distance with their arrows.'
The Queen reluctantly agreed and sent out an edict rationing the food in the city. She then sent down some of the hunters with food and a good supply of arrows for the soldiers.
They were greeted with a loud cheer which made the watchers on the earthworks wonder what was happening.
Chapter 16
There was a shape in the sky. It grew bigger, then resolved itself into three shapes. As they neared, Pettic wondered what they were. At first he thought perhaps the pegasus mare was returning, but it soon became obvious that these things were not pegasi.
As they approached, the smith who was standing next to Pettic on lookout, exclaimed, 'That one in the front is a sphinx and the other two are griffins. What are they doing here?'
The creatures circled the town and landed in the square. People ran to see what was going on, including Pettic.
The sphinx folded her wings and settled down in the middle of the square.
'Where is the young man who helped the pegasus?' she demanded in a booming voice.
'I'm here,' said Pettic, panting as he ran into the square.
The sphinx looked at him. 'Hmm,' she said, and tossed her head. 'You don't look like much. Why did you help the pegasus?'
Pettic looked at the creatures. The sphinx was huge. Her body was similar to that of a lion with the head of a beautiful woman. She had wings like those of an eagle folded along her back.
The other two creatures, griffins, also appeared to be mixtures of animals. They had the forequarters of an eagle and the hindquarters of a lion. They remained standing and looking round the square at the people gathered there, as if waiting for an attack. Pettic surmised these were bodyguards for the sphinx, although why she would need them, he was unsure. She looked more than capable of defending herself.
He decided he had better tell the truth.
'I saw she was getting the worst of the fight. She was so beautiful that I didn't want her to die.'
'The wyvern, however, was fighting to get food for his offspring. You wounded him and his youngsters went hungry that day and the next two.'
Pettic hung his head. 'I'm sorry for that, but the pegasus's foal was saved. It would have died if its mother had been defeated.'
'Yes, it would, but that is the nature of things. Then in the forest you nearly prevented the birth of a new phoenix by trying to put out the fire that is essential for its birth.'
Oh dear. This was going badly. Pettic felt on trial. Perhaps he was. He looked the sphinx in the eyes.
'I did that because I thought both the mother and the chick in the egg would die in the fire. I didn't know it was essential for the chick to go through fire and the mother to die. I'm sorry I nearly prevented the birth of such a beautiful creature.'
'So, you only think about beauty? Is that your only criterion for saving something?'
Pettic stuttered. 'Well…I…I…I don't think so. I hope not. I believe all things have a right to life.' Here he paused and thought. 'I suppose that means some things dying in order that others might live. Wolves, in my world, kill deer to survive, and even humans kill other creatures to live.'
'You're getting the idea now,' the sphinx said. 'I believe you acted in innocence in both cases. Your intentions were good. I will therefore get my creatures to help you. They will carry things you need to fight these aerials. The aerials hunt the creatures here for fun and not for food alone. That is not good.'
She looked round the square and seemed to weigh up the people standing there.
'We visited them before coming to see you,' she continued. 'They shot at us and so we will not help them, although we want peace to return to Aeris.'
Pettic bowed to the huge creature before him. It was obvious that she was somehow the queen of the beasts on Aeris.
'All we want, Your Magnificence, is for the groundlings to be treated in a decent and respectful way, and not as slaves.'
As she stood, she turned back to the people and looked around again.
'Yes, the way you folk have been treated is wrong. I wish you success. With our help you may yet win. We will move all the animals that the aerials might hunt away from the areas where they are camped. That will help you as well. I think. We will now visit the other sites of siege and tell them what we have decided here.'
With that comment. she and the two griffins leaped into the air with a tremendous downbeat of their wings. It caught some people unawares and they staggered under the draught. When they recovered, the creatures were again three specks in the sky.
The very next day three wyverns flew over and dropped some packages. Natas was passing through the square and he ran and picked them up. They were parcels of food. Some meat and some vegetables. He ran to Pettic with the news.
'Well, the
y're doing as they said,' Pettic mused. 'I wonder if we can get messages to other towns this way? It would be useful to be able to send arrowheads to Arrowville and get arrows back in return. Those we have won't last if the siege goes on too long.'
'Just a thought,' Natas said, 'but we're lucky here in that we've plenty of water. After all, the moat is inside the earthworks. Some towns have wells, but there are one or two that have to go out of the town to a river or stream. They'll run out of water. Do you think we could send water to them?'
Pettic thought. The pegasus he had begun to think of as 'his' came when he whistled. He stood on the embankment, put his fingers in his mouth and a shrill sound emerged.
He waited for a while, then repeated the whistle. Cledo looked at him. Pettic patted the dog.
'I know you're there, boy,' he told the dog, 'but I'm whistling for a pegasus, not you.'
After a few minutes, a pegasus flew into the town and landed in the square. Pettic went up to it. It was not the one he had saved and ridden. It was a stallion. The creature bowed to him and waited. Pettic bowed in return and asked the creature if it would carry water to the mining community in the mountains. The stallion bowed his head in acquiescence and allowed the townspeople to load barrels of water on his back.
The pegasus took off in the direction of the mountains and Pettic looked at Natas.
'Well, we seem to have that problem sorted out,' he said to the other man as the people cheered.
Then there came a cry from the earthworks to the east. Pettic and Natas rushed to see what was happening.
When they got there, they had to duck the arrows coming towards them. The aerial commanders had got the hunters to shoot at the people manning the walls.
They commanded everyone to jump down behind the barrier. Already a few bodies lay on the top of the earthworks.
This was a new development. Up until this time, the townsfolk had the advantage of being able to shoot from a distance, but now the aerials had that too. One thing Pettic realised, though, was that they could get more arrows but the aerials could not.
Sure enough, the aerials stopped firing as soon as they could see no one to fire at.
Pettic thought. They ought to erect something they could fire through or around but that would prevent the aerials from hitting the archers who were firing. The idea was good, but how to erect something without coming under fire themselves.
Eventually, he and Natas decided they would need to erect a barrier at night. They began by collecting all the wood, boxes, large pieces of metal and anything else that could be stacked. People brought all kinds of things to the square. Being a town full of smiths, all iron was taken and melted down, then reforged into sheets. The smiths cut narrow holes in the sheets, wide enough to see to fire an arrow through. They then melted the metal they had cut out to make more sheets.
There was not quite enough to make a complete ring around the town's earthworks, but the most vulnerable places could be covered.
It took couple of days before they had all the sheets ready. Pettic and Natas organised groups of men to dig trenches in the earthworks at night. Then, others carried the sheets up and partly buried them in the ground.
Archers crouched down behind the sheets and looked through the arrow slits. They had a good view of in front, but not so good to the side. However, there were sufficient slits so that it was not a problem. They would be covered by the archers on each side.
The next day, archers sat behind the barrier waiting for the assault. At first they heard the ping of arrows bouncing off the metal sheets, but they quickly stopped as the aerials realised they could not get their arrows through the slits as easily as the defenders could shoot at them. They lost a dozen of their number before they stopped.
They managed to get a few arrows through, and two of the defending archers were injured, but apart from that, the barrier was a great success.
A couple more days passed. The aerials decided to try to glide over the defences again. This time they sent the hunters first. As they flew over, the archers of the town picked them off as before, but when they were over the barrier, they folded their membranes and as they fell they shot arrows into the men and women behind it.
Many fell, either injured or dead. Many of the attackers also fell, but a lot got into the town. There were not only hunters, but soldiers too. Fighting began in the streets again. This time, having archers with them, the aerials could also attack from afar.
One part of the town was overrun. The citizens from that area ran into the square. There was panic. More aerials flew over the barrier and it looked as if the town was going to be overrun. Pettic was distraught. What he thought to be a great defense was turning out to be the means the aerials used to get into the town.
Then he had a thought. He whistled twice and a wyvern appeared. It landed in the square. Pettic spoke to it, hoping it understood him, and asked it if it would go for help.
The creature took off and headed westwards. Fighting continued in the streets of Smithtown. Some of the smiths fought with their hammers, preferring to use a familiar implement rather than a sword, which they had not had time to become used to using, let alone become proficient in.
The battle was bloody. Night drew in. Pettic and Cledo fought two black aerials in a back street. The aerials were surprised to find someone who knew how to use a sword in this town and consequently were getting the worse of it. Cledo hung onto the sword arm of one of the soldiers and Pettic, after dispatching the one he was fighting, quickly took the sword out of her hand.
She tried to run, but Pettic grabbed the membrane and it tore. She sank to the ground and sobbed.
'Right,' said Pettic. 'Come with me.'
He took his prisoner to the town hall where he found about half a dozen other prisoners. Natas took them and locked them up in a cell.
The battle stopped with nightfall, although one section of the town was still occupied. The people from that area were accommodated in the homes of other citizens.
Pettic and Natas went to the town hall early the next morning. They entered the cell where the aerial prisoners were being kept.
'We want to talk to your commanders,' said Natas.
'Are you going to give up then?' asked one of them. 'You'll soon run out of food and arrows, then you'll have to give up or die.'
Natas laughed. 'You need food as much as we do. Where's yours coming from?'
The man smiled. 'We have our hunters. They can catch our food. You can't even leave your town to get some.'
'How much have your hunters caught in the last few days?' Pettic asked.
'Not much in the last couple of days,' replied the man, 'but that's how hunting goes, so the hunters say.'
'What if I tell you this will continue. You won't find any game in these woods. We have allies that have seen to it.'
'The beasts we've seen flying over here?' exclaimed the woman Pettic had brought in. 'They're helping you, aren't they?'
Pettic nodded.
She turned to her companion who had just been speaking. 'We must tell the commander this. It makes all the difference.'
'We'll let one of you go to speak to your commander. Tell him we want to talk,' Natas said to her.
The man who had spoken, who was obviously one of the leaders, answered.
'I'll go and tell our commander-in-chief what you want. Do I get to tell him what your demands for surrender are?'
'Who said anything about surrender?' Natas's eyes blazed. 'We have no intention of surrendering, but would be willing to come to a peaceful conclusion. We don't want any more people on either side to die.'
They agreed the prisoner should be released to go and talk to the commander in chief. Four armed smiths escorted him to the gate, the gate opened a crack and he left.
'Now we wait,' said Pettic as he sat down on the ground by the gate.
Before long, a bronze aerial walked towards them flanked by four others. Two were black ones and two were brown ones. The brown o
nes had arrows nocked to their bows.
Natas climbed to the earthworks and from behind the barrier he shouted, 'Only the commander. No soldiers or hunters. We will attack if they come any further.'
The commander said something to the four with him and they stopped. He walked slowly to the gate alone.
As it opened a crack, Pettic stood up and beckoned the commander through. Natas came down from the earthworks to meet the other two behind the gate.
'I am Natas, headman of this town. I would like to stop this bloodshed.'
'And why should we do that? You're here to serve us and you're refusing to do that. You deserve your punishment. Many of you will die unless you resume your delivery of the goods you owe us.'
'Perhaps. But how many of you will die too? There are fewer of you and most aren't soldiers. And the food supply will dry up. You're in as much a siege as we are. There's little game left in these woods and a limited supply of food in the cities.'
'The farms are left unattended. We can get food from there.'
'Can you milk cows then and turn the cream into butter? Can you cut the grain and winnow it, then grind it into flour? Can you make the bread from that flour? Can you kill and butcher an animal? And what about other things? Can you shear a sheep and spin the wool? Can you weave it into cloth and make that into clothes? Can you tan leather and…'
'All right,' snapped the commander. 'You've made your point.'
'I think you need these people more than they need you,' put in Pettic. 'If I were you I'd go back to my Queen or King and suggest you hold talks.'
'Is that it?' said the commander. 'Is that all you wanted to say?'
'Yes,' said Natas. 'That's it. I suggest you call off your attacks and your people surrounding this town and do as my friend Pettic says.'
The commander in chief whirled round and left.
'Don't think he was very impressed, do you?' Natas asked Pettic.
Pettic laughed. 'No, but when our allies arrive, perhaps he'll change his mind.'
'You're sure they'll come?'
'Pretty sure, yes.'
The battle started again the next day. The aerials had built large catapults and began flinging rocks over the barrier. Some of the barriers were hit and damaged. Several of the groundling archers were killed and a few others wounded. Those who could continue insisted on staying on the walls and fighting.
