by Scott Toney
Silhouettes in the Dark
“That’s amazing! Thank you so much!” Lilya said to Vansir and Alinar as she admired a large saddle strapped on Alexander’s back. The two had fashioned the saddle after the ones they used with their hawks. She could see an ornate design carved in its straps and could only imagine what the seat of the saddle looked like. She had originally come to see them off as they left to join Cush’s forces and had been surprised by the gift.
“You’ll have better vision of the world as we fly,” Alexander assured her. “We will share flight like never before.”
“And there is room for another rider also,” Vansir said as he loaded bundles of arrows into a pouch on the side of his hawk’s saddle. The hawk’s taloned feet stomped up and down on the stone as it made a faint twittering noise. “Be careful with Carn. Like Alexander, I’m not sure I trust him. I realize, though, you’ll need protection in Havilah.”
“I will,” Lilya said as she came and gave Vansir and Alinar hugs. “Be careful, my friends. You’ll be heading into a dangerous fight. We’ll come to you if Thomas refuses to surrender.”
One of the hawks ruffled its feathers.
Vansir and Alinar both mounted their hawks as the early morning sunlight reflected off of their armor from the vast cave’s mouth. They wore lighter armor, and less of it, but still had the essential plates on their bodies and limbs, with bows strapped to their backs.
They look handsome, Lilya thought and found herself worrying if she would ever see them again. Anything can happen in this battle. What if they don’t return to us? What if something happens to me?
“Watch the skies,” Alexander warned them. “Just because they didn’t have men in the air before, doesn’t mean they haven’t harnessed that ability now.”
“They shouldn’t,” Alinar said. “But then we didn’t believe in your existence for a long time either. Anything could await us where we go.” The hawks extended their vast wings and cawed as they flew toward the cavern’s mouth. “Be safe, Lilya!”
“Until we meet again, princess!” Vansir waved as they flew from the cavern and passed into the sunlight and sky. They disappeared out of sight as they flew above the cavern view.
“Carn should be here by now,” Lilya said as she wrapped bundles of arrows with twine and loaded them into a leather holder she’d wear on her back. She picked up her bows and checked their strings to make sure they were stretched just right. She carried an extra bow in case something went wrong with the first one.
“I can’t tell where he is. He’s like a ghost to me.” Alexander looked to the cavern ceiling and then back to Lilya. “While you’re riding I’ll try to keep an eye on him.”
“Thank you.” Lilya drew a dagger from its sheath on her side and ran her finger across its blade. The dagger’s handle was carved out of dark stone and the blade was sharp enough to pierce armor. She’d worked for a long time sharpening it the night before after she had finished fashioning arrows.
“You are such a friend to me. I feel stronger for you than I have ever felt for a person,” she said as she re-sheathed the dagger and placed a hand on Alexander’s shoulder. Warmth pulsed through the dragon’s scales. “Just know I feel that way, no matter what happens.” Lilya felt as if she would cry, but held back the tears. This is a time to be strong, she told herself. Strength and compassion will see us through as they always do.
“I feel the same for you. We will be alright. I will make sure of it. If Thomas or his army tries to harm you I will stand in their way.”
“And what if something happens to you?” She rubbed his shoulder with her hand. “What then?”
“I will be safe,” he said and turned his head to see her better. His eyes were deep and beautiful. “I…”
Footsteps echoed from one of the passageways leading into the cavern. Carn emerged from the passageway’s opening, sword clenched in his fist and a dagger sheathed at his side.
“I was beginning to wonder if you would come!” Lilya called to him and walked his direction.
He had an unnerving grin. “Ye would doubt me?” he asked. “There was business to attend to. I be ready to leave now, though.” The man was bare-chested and his dagger’s sheath was splotched with red stains.
Lilya shuddered. The stains looked fresh. “Where did the blood come from?” She pointed to the sheath as she spoke and took a step away from him, closer to Alexander.
“A doe in the woods last night,” Carn drew the dagger with his free hand. The blade itself had been wiped clean, “and it was a fine gutting, too. I wouldn’t worry about her. She won’t be missed. Her blood was sweet.”
҉
Jonah had been standing on the deck of The Nave since sunrise, sweating under his leather armor. Their fleet of ships stretched like a snake down the river. Their sails were full and they were making good time.
He looked out at the golden fields of wheat stretching before them and onward to the woods in the distance. They hadn’t seen any enemy forces since the archers the night before, but he wondered if they hid in the woods or beneath the wheat, preparing some sort of assault.
Cypress and Juniper made their way to the center of the deck and as Cypress held his hand in the air the people turned to listen. “Men and women of Cush!” he called. “Soon we will reach Havilah’s soil! We will go ashore on the outskirts of Havilah in hopes of catching our enemies off guard! The last thing we want is to be attacked by a large force while still on the water!”
Jonah moved in closer to listen, getting shoulder to shoulder with two large men. The smell of body odor was strong and one man scratched the stubble beneath his helmet.
Cypress waited until all were paying attention to speak more. “Once ashore we will separate into several parties. Our boat’s people and those of several others will follow me, while the rest of our army will follow Juniper or Coal. We will branch off and fight alongside Assyria’s forces. By doing this we keep our eyes on all fronts and combine our people’s skills with theirs.”
“When will the hawk riders join us?” a voice called from the back of The Nave. The boat was rocking slightly in the river’s current.
Cypress seemed to find the man with his eyes and spoke directly to him. “They should be with us soon. It wouldn’t have made any sense to have them follow us the entire route. The hawks would have had to find places to rest and they move much faster than us. Alinar and Vansir assured me they would meet us this morning.”
“Will the dragon be with them?” another voice called.
The group began to talk amongst themselves and Cypress held up his hand to silence them. “Princess Lilya is going with the dragon to Castle Ah. She believes she can talk some sense into King Thomas and prevent bloodshed.”
“The dragon would prevent more bloodshed here!” another man shouted angrily. “Don’t they know what they could do to help us succeed? We could ignite Havilah’s army in flames!”
“Silence!” Cypress bellowed. “Don’t you think I’ve already discussed this with Lilya and the dragon? They will join us when they can. But the dragon has a mind of his own. He cannot be forced to join us and he follows Lilya’s wishes. We need to prepare for what is to come. That is something we can do, now. Look!”
Cypress pointed out over the plains as Jonah and the others turned to see as well. The grain swayed in the breeze and the tree line beyond was dense. But Jonah could not see anything else.
“Look closely,” Cypress said as he made his way to the deck’s rail. “There are signs.”
Jonah blocked the sunlight with his hand and tried to watch for anything. The grain swayed as sunlight radiated off of its golden stalks. Birds sang and he could hear the water lapping against the boat and the shore. What was he missing?
Then, in the distance, he saw black specks flying up from the grain. Birds, he thought. And why do birds flee in mass? Because they have been disturbed. He squinted and saw something moving between the wheat in the distance. “There!” He pointed in the
direction.
“I see them too,” a man beside him said gruffly.
“They are there,” Cypress gave his assurance. “And they will be there when we make land. Ready your weapons. Ready your minds. Soon we will need them both.”
It would be another hour, as the boats slowly made their way down the river toward Havilah, before the boats laid anchor and lowered their sails. Jonah had seen signs of the enemy amongst the grain. Once he had even seen a man on horseback in the woods.
Long gangplanks were extended over the riverbank and the armies of Cush and Assyria emptied their vessels, assembling in companies amongst the wheat.
Jonah marveled at the companies of Assyria that joined their own. These were men clearly versed in the ways of fighting. Their armor was elaborate and well put together. He looked with interest at the intricacy of the chain mail they wore between armor plates. He wished he had something like this instead of the leather armor that was strapped around him. Some knights of Assyria also rode horses they had brought aboard.
Heart will have to protect me, he thought while walking to the front of his company where Cypress and a bulky knight from Assyria faced them. The sun was breaking through the clouds above and heat radiated against Jonah’s face and body.
“I am Barbarous,” the knight from Assyria addressed them as he clutched his helmet in his armored hand. He rode high on his steed. “Cypress and I will lead you into battle. My men know me. They know my hand is firm and my sword swift. People of Cush, I will earn your trust as well. We are honored to fight by your side. Together we will show King Thomas of Havilah he can’t raid our lands and be without repercussions. Our people will not let his tyranny reign in our lands or the land of Havilah.”
Jonah cheered as a roar of approval burst up from the company. They pumped their swords in the air.
“Follow me to victory!” Barbarous bellowed as he reined his horse around and drove him forward across the field. “Onward through Havilah! There is no rest until Castle Ah!”
“Onward!” Cypress echoed and charged across the field.
It was loud as the armies charged through the swaying wheat. Men and horses trod on the land, flattening the golden stalks as they trampled over them, swords clanging against armor on their sides.
Jonah could see little at times over the taller knights around him and their pace slowed as they tried to save their energy for the enemy they knew must be close by. As Jonah huffed, his chest burned. He took a swig from a leather water flask to ease the pressure, and for just a moment he stopped to breathe.
Then, as a horse and rider clopped past him kicking up earth, he saw a man’s torso high above the wheat in the distance. He had emerged from the tree line and stood almost as high as the trees themselves.
“Look!” Jonah shouted and dug his feet into the earth to make ground. “Is that one of the mercenaries?”
The huge man lumbered in their direction. Were those men in the wheat around him? Jonah could barely make out their forms but he was certain of what he saw.
“The mercenaries are there!” he called out and pointed in the direction as he ran at the edge of their company. He saw Barbarous look back at him from the knight’s horse.
“We’ll meet them head on!” Barbarous’s bellow sang above the company’s noise.
Jonah turned with the others and ran in the direction of the huge man. Wheat stalks slapped against his body as he moved. Several times his feet would get caught in a divot in the earth and he would almost be sent tumbling down.
Then, as sweat poured down his forehead and seeped through his clothes, the clang of steel against steel rang across the field. Jonah looked up to see a man with bones protruding from his arms charging toward him with his sword drawn.
Jonah felt the sun-warmed hilt of his sword and unsheathed it, holding it firm while defending a blow from his attacker. Clang! The sound of steel rang out as others found the blades of their own weapons meeting those of the enemy around them.
Clang! Clang! Jonah beat back his foe. His arms burned with each blow and his heels dug into the earth as he braced his legs. He pivoted as the mercenary’s sword thrust for him and he thrust his own sword forward at the man. His opponent was unarmored and Jonah’s blade cut a gash in his arm then scraped off the bone protruding from his skin.
The mercenary stumbled back and rushed for him again. “You’ll pay for that with your life!”
Clang! Jonah held the first blow. Clang! Clang! He was driven back, stumbling on a stone as he tumbled to the ground. He rolled on moist ground as a sword thrust down at him, certain he would die. To his side, he saw the sword strike into the ground and then lift upward. He had lost his own sword in the fall.
“Help!” Jonah called out as he scrambled on all fours into the wheat.
“You’re mine!” the mercenary shouted and sprinted after him as Jonah found his footing and stood to run.
The man thrust his sword at Jonah as the boy put up his arms and shifted in an impulse to block the blade. Suddenly he heard a faint thumping sound and saw an arrow protruding from the mercenary’s chest, blood flying through the air, as he dropped his sword and crashed to the ground.
An archer waved to Jonah from the battle. “Take his sword!” a young voice called. “I’ll cover for you!”
Jonah’s heart beat heavily as he realized how close he had come to death. Without wasting time, he grabbed the fallen mercenary’s sword. The man made a gurgled noise as Jonah drove the steel through his chest to be sure he would die. As he withdrew the sword from the body he saw one of the Assyrian knights lose his head to a mercenary at the edge of the battle. The head swung in the air, holding on by a swatch of skin as the body thumped to the ground.
To Jonah’s horror, the mercenary ran for the archers in the back of the battle. The boy ran with all his strength. He had to help the archer who had saved his life.
Another Assyrian knight stepped out after killing his adversary and defended the archers while Jonah made his way to them. Clang! Clang! The Assyrian and the mercenary traded blows.
The mercenary clearly had more strength and with each collide of their swords the Assyrian stepped back.
Jonah reached them as their enemy bashed his sword into the Assyrian’s side armor, causing the knight to stumble as he lifted his blade to fend off another blow.
With a dash Jonah leapt for the unsuspecting mercenary and sliced his blade into the barbarian’s sword arm.
“Ahhh!” their adversary screamed in pain as the Assyrian put his shoulder into the man and drove his sword up through his ribs and out his back. The mercenary stumbled and tried to take his weapon with his left hand but Jonah sliced behind his knees with his sword.
Arrows flew above them into the battle as the mercenary rolled down into moist earth, his blood flowing from his wounds.
“Thank you…” the Assyrian breathed in exhaustion. “I don’t know how much longer… I could have held him off.” The knight pulled his sword out of the mercenary’s body and turned with Jonah toward the battle once more. “And it’s only just begun.”
Jonah inhaled heavily as he clutched the sword he had taken from the other mercenary in his hand. “I have the feeling we’ll all need the strength of others to survive this,” he said. As he charged back into the fighting he heard shouts and screams of pain coming from the front.
The giant had reached them and was tearing through men, swinging his battleaxe through the fighting with no regard even for the mercenaries he was fighting with. Blood sprayed over the battle with a hack from the axe and a man’s armored arm flew above him and thumped to the ground.
Jonah shook with fear and rage as he charged into the battle, trying to do what he could to help his comrades.
“We could use the dragon now!” a man shouted as Jonah met a mercenary’s blade with his own.
How long can I last? he thought as they traded blows. Will I ever even see Castle Ah again?
Clang! Clang! Their swords collided as J
onah parried to the side to try and find better footing. Men around them were locked in combat as well. Suddenly, as a hacking sound came from the giant’s splicing battleaxe, Jonah’s blade missed the mercenary’s and his opponent’s sword chopped into his leather chest plate, cutting it almost in half and slicing a line into his stomach. Amazingly, Jonah held his footing and dug his sword into his opponent’s side. He twisted the blade and drove the man to the ground.
“BACK! BACK!” a warrior from Cush shouted as he ran past through the battle. “The giant’s slaughtering everything in its path! Get out of the way!”
HACK! The sound swept into his ears as gore and carnage sprayed the battlefield and the giant lumbered onward. Jonah pulled the sword out of his opponent’s side and looked up to see the giant coming their way. Blood had been splattered over the huge man’s chest.
“DIE!” it roared in a deep, rough voice.
Jonah stumbled backwards in disbelief and watched as the man he had been fighting stopped the blood coming from his chest with a hand and came slowly toward him with his sword braced in his other hand.
Clang! Clang! Jonah defended against the mercenary’s blade and kept backing away from the giant. Men and women fled the giant in all directions across the bloody field but the mercenary Jonah was fighting paid the massive warrior no attention.
The giant swept his battleaxe down. HACK! Jonah leapt backward as the battleaxe cut through the mercenary’s torso and the bodies of those around him. Jonah’s eyes stung as he wiped blood from them.
“Now!” he heard Cypress’s voice calling from behind him and saw dozens of arrows pump into the giant’s body through his bloody sight. The goliath roared and stumbled backward before moving forward once more.
“Jonah! Get back now!” Cypress called to him as another wave of arrows pumped into the chest of the man.
Jonah turned and ran as arrows shot above him in a constant wave. The mercenaries that had escaped had dispersed into the field and were watching as their behemoth decimated the Assyrians and warriors of Cush.
The boy ran near the archers and turned to see Cypress signaling for them to go back further.
“Back! Retreat to the river!” his leader shouted as the survivors fled in all directions. Barbarous was nowhere to be seen. Jonah hoped he had fled on horseback and would return with reinforcements. He feared, though, the man was lying dead below the giant’s feet.
“Run!” Cypress shouted as he dashed toward the archers. Another wave of arrows was fired into the goliath and it roared as it lifted its battleaxe and brought it down into the earth, splitting Cypress’s body in half.
Jonah was stunned. He couldn’t find his feet, couldn’t move. The goliath lumbered toward him and the archers scrambled away. He was sure he was as good as dead.
The axe raised and a crazed grin was on the giant’s mouth. “Boy,” it spoke to him. “Die now.”
Suddenly a tearing sound mixed in the air with the sound of cawing birds. There, in the thick air, was a massive hawk with its rider latching its talons into the goliath’s back. Pure brown wings beat in the air behind the giant. Then another hawk with a rider dove in and dug its talons into the giant’s chest.
Jonah was in disbelief that he might be saved. It was as if he were viewing things from beyond his own body, a spectator to a world he had already lost. The hawks will tear him in half, he thought as he looked on.
“Up!” Alinar called from his hawk to Vansir. The huge birds beat their wings so hard they began lifting the colossal man above the blood-soaked wheat field. The goliath struggled against their talons, dropping his battleaxe and reaching at the birds with his hands.
The axe thudded into the ground close to Jonah, startling him back to his senses, and the boy turned to the archers. “Aim at the beast’s eyes!” he called to them. “We need to allow the hawk riders time to do what they need to do! It’s our only chance!”
The archers took aim, letting their arrows fly but missing the giant’s eyes. Instead they watched their arrows ricochet off his body.
Alinar and Vansir took aim from their perches on their hawks’ backs. They pumped arrows into the giant’s hands as the thing grasped at them. It threw the beast off guard enough for them to achieve their goal.
Higher and higher the hawks carried the goliath until he looked the size of a regular man amongst the clouds. Then the hawks withdrew their talons and the great beast fell.
The sound of crying hawks filled the air as Jonah looked up to see the great giant grow larger and larger as he careened down towards them. The giant cried out in a deep voice before pounding into the earth before the remaining warriors. The ground shook; knocking Jonah and many others down, and a great swarm of dirt filled the air.
There was silence for a moment as they stood. Only possibly a fourth of their original fighting party remained. He hoped the other parties had done better.
The hawks soared down from the sky and sunlight reflected in sheens off the birds’ wings. The silhouettes of Alinar and Vansir in the sunlight reminded Jonah of gods.
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