by Scott Toney
By Force, Will and Fate
Juniper held his sword high as battle raged about him. He had slain one of the mercenary leaders and the man lay at his feet, bleeding from his slit neck. This was a hard-fought day and there was much fighting left to do.
“Watch my back,” he instructed Jonah, who had been fighting behind him since joining their company. Jonah had informed him of Cypress’s death and the slaughter they had endured. Thankfully the boy had brought the remains of his company, Alinar and Vansir with him. The hawk riders helped defend against new waves of mercenaries as they continuously attacked Juniper’s men.
Heat seared what little exposed flesh Juniper had and sweat poured down his back. He was stricken by the loss of Cypress but had to hold strong until this war was done.
Suddenly a man burst through the fighting toward him. “Look alive!” Juniper called out to Jonah as he rained his sword down on the mercenary, bashing the attacker’s sword to the side. Juniper’s size had served him well this day.
“I have one at your back,” he heard Jonah as the clanging of the boy’s sword against another rang out behind him.
With a sidestep Juniper caused his attacker’s blade to clash off his leg armor as he cut through the man’s legs, sending him to the ground before plunging his sword through the man’s chest. The attacker lay before him, choking on his own blood.
“Move!” Juniper shouted and stepped over his slain adversary. “We’re in the center of Havilah now! We won’t stop until we reach Ah!” The hawks cried out above them as they moved, forcing their way through their attackers.
Juniper’s blade clashed with another man’s and their blades were held by force before them. The attacker’s animal-like hide was eerie in the sunlight. Juniper’s muscles burned but he forced the mercenary’s blade back, causing the attacker to step back into the fighting of two other men. The sword of one of Juniper’s allies plunged into his side and Juniper struck his sword through the mercenary’s neck as he cried out in anguish. The man fell and writhed on the ground.
Suddenly an arrow struck in the forehead of the mercenary that his ally was fighting and the man thrust backwards. Vansir let more arrows fly from above. Arrows from the hawk riders and the company’s archers rained down on their enemies as Juniper and his men beat the mercenaries back across Havilah.
Hours passed in the heat and more of his men fell to the enemy’s blades before their adversary’s forces seemed to be depleted. The sun hung low in the sky as Juniper hacked through a man with his sword, sending blood in a spray across his view of the sky. There weren’t many mercenaries left now to fight and he was mere miles away from Castle Ah. Its form rose into the sky before them. It was past the river in the distance.
Then, as he took on an opponent with scaled skin, he saw a force approaching them through the nearby woods. A giant with a battleaxe clutched in its fist was with the group. Juniper saw his destiny. He dispatched the scale skinned man’s sword and sliced into his hand, sending the mercenary fleeing in pain. “We fight them head on!” he bellowed out and charged for the new enemy.
The grass below him blurred in the sunlight as he ran across the pitted terrain of the field. His men had fought well this day, losing minimal casualties when Cypress’s forces had been decimated and Coal’s forces seemed to have disappeared. Was he all that was left?
The hilt of his heavy sword cut off the circulation in his hand as he clutched it and ran, leaping over bodies that littered the field. Their enemy seemed to brace for his company’s attack.
“Leave this land!” Juniper bellowed as he leapt with his sword and collided down, clashing swords with a well armored mercenary and trading him blow for blow. Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! The sound of steel against steel rang through the field.
The mercenary’s red eyes peered through the slits of his helmet as he thrust his sword toward Juniper once more. Clang! “You will die at our hands. We cannot be defeated!” Clang! The mercenary’s blade struck again.
Juniper felt soreness as his leg cramped, causing him to stumble. He swept his sword up to block another blow. Clang! This man had strength. “Retreat to Vane while you still have life!” he called out as he straightened himself and slammed his sword into the man’s own. Clang!
“Need some assistance?” Jonah shouted to him as he watched the boy charging with his sword through the fighting. He leapt over a mercenary as the man plunged to the earth with an arrow in his head.
Juniper didn’t respond, in hopes that the mercenary he was fighting hadn’t heard the boy and would be caught off guard. Clang! Clang! They traded blows and then Juniper missed the mercenary’s blade and felt his opponent’s sword hammer into his chest plate. It was enough to knock the wind out of him but not enough to knock him off his feet. He held up his sword, just in time to block another blow. Clang!
Suddenly Jonah was at the mercenary and slamming his sword into the man’s armor covered back. The mercenary whirled, hailing his sword down at Jonah as the boy blocked the blow.
Juniper had been worried about the boy ever since he had joined their company. He was extremely headstrong but was not well protected. “Leave… Him… Be…!” Juniper roared as he clubbed his sword into the mercenary’s kneecaps, denting the man’s armor and causing him to turn with a limp.
Jonah struck him from behind and the mercenary caved to the ground. All it took was a strike from Jonah’s blade to the neck and the red in the mercenary’s eyes turned to darkness. Blood seeped out of his helmet.
“We need… to retreat...” Jonah said as he breathed heavily. “A giant slaughtered our company. Alinar and Vansir will win this for us, but we need to get out of their way.”
“Thank you,” Juniper said as he looked to the field where the giant was lumbering toward them, “but he’s mine. Retreat!” he bellowed out and watched as his men and allies fled the field around him.
“You commit yourself to death,” Jonah pled with him. “Run while you can.”
There was desperation in the boy’s eyes. Juniper glanced at the hawks above. “They killed Cypress. This one’s mine. Help me with the giant!” he shouted up to Alinar and Vansir as Jonah stood his ground beside him. The boy was trembling. I can only imagine what he has seen, Juniper thought.
“Then I will fight beside you, and die if it is to be so.” Jonah took a step back as the goliath lumbered forward. It hacked a mercenary in half with his battleaxe as the man ran.
“He kills his own?” Juniper asked in surprise as he held his position and his sword firm in his hand. “I will not flee you!” he shouted to the towering man. The giant only grinned and pummeled its battleaxe down. Clang! The battleaxe slammed into Juniper’s sword as he was almost knocked to the ground. It took all his strength to hold off the attack and he felt as if his shoulder blades would rip from his body at any moment. With all the strength in his body he fought the giant’s force, willing the hulking man’s weapon upward and then thrashing it away from himself and into the ground.
The giant hefted it up from the earth and chunks of grass and soil fell from the blade as the behemoth lifted it to the sky once more. Again the giant struck it down, this time with more force as Juniper met it with his sword. CLANG! The noise reverberated across the field as men stared in awe from the distance. The archers rained arrows down on the giant as battle raged in pockets of the terrain.
Juniper could barely hold off the battleaxe that pressed down above him. He sunk lower and lower to the ground. This will be my end, he thought as he closed his eyes and prepared for his arms to give and the giant axe to splice through his body. He would almost welcome the release. Suddenly the pressure from the axe eased. It was still there but something was clearly distracting the giant. Juniper opened his eyes to see Alinar and Vansir circling with their hawks above his adversary. “Praise the gods,” Juniper said as he thrust the battleaxe away from him with his sword and watched the giant lift it to fend off the birds. The giant roared in anger.
&n
bsp; Juniper looked over the beast from head to toe. It was covered in armor. “Is there no weakness?” he shouted to Jonah as the boy slowly neared him.
“There is a hole in his armor on the back of his neck!” Jonah shouted as he neared.
“Then we must reach it! Distract the beast while I try to scale him! Can you do that?” Juniper ran around the distracted giant’s legs as he heard a hawk’s screech in the air. The giant had hit it with his fist, sending Vansir and his bird down toward the earth. The hawk landed on its feet but clearly was wounded and unable to be air bound.
Jonah raised his sword above him. “Do I have a choice?”
“None of us do!” Juniper replied as Vansir launched arrows from the ground. Juniper sheathed his sword. With quickness he sprinted toward the giant and leapt against the back of its legs, clinging to the plates of armor lining the thing’s body. The giant’s legs lifted and he almost lost his grip as he climbed up farther. Steam rose from the giant’s armor in the daylight. A horrible stench of body odor wafted over him. Juniper cringed from the stench as his arms burned. “Is there no release from this beast?”
Suddenly the goliath crushed its axe down from above, slamming it into the earth as Jonah rolled away just in time.
Alinar’s hawk clawed at the giant’s shoulder armor while Juniper climbed higher up its back.
The beast shook, reaching back with one arm for the hawk just as the bird released him and flew off into the sky.
“Return to the woods!” Jonah screamed from below as he hacked at one of the giant’s armored hands with his sword. The giant grappled for the boy with his fist and got a handful of earth as Jonah rolled away.
Juniper barely clung to the giant’s back armor as the beast moved after the boy. “Run, Jonah!” he shouted as Jonah dashed with all his might away from the giant. Seconds stretched into eternity as Juniper leapt from the goliath’s back to its shoulders, clinging to the hot steel at the top of its back plating. There was a small open area between the back armor and the helmet.
The giant barely had time to thrust its arms upward as Juniper unsheathed his sword and thrust it into the beast’s neck and spine. Bone crushed with the thrust and the giant roared once more as it quaked in pain and crashed to the ground, shaking the earth as his chest was split by his own battleaxe that was half submerged in the ground below.
Juniper was thrown by the impact and flew from the giant’s back to the earth near Vansir’s bird, his armor filling with soil as he slid to a stop and lay face down.
The world turned to black as Juniper’s head pounded. He had to rise, had to find strength to stand before a sword found his back or an arrow found its way through his skull. His muscles burned as he pushed himself off the ground and rose to find a thin mercenary charging toward him, sword drawn. Juniper suddenly realized he had no weapon. “Help!” he shouted to Vansir as the man shot arrows into the battle. He ran in Vansir’s direction.
An arrow suddenly burst through the mercenary’s heart as he tumbled to the ground.
“Thank you!” Juniper shouted to Vansir as he ran to him. He assessed the field as he finally found a moment to breathe. His men had almost defeated this wave of the enemy.
As he reached Vansir the man let another arrow fly. “I’m running low on arrows,” the tall archer told him. “And Alinar has not many more, himself. We need to replenish supplies. I do have a sword for you, though.” Vansir unsheathed a sword from his belt and handed it to Juniper. It was a large blade, much like Juniper’s own.
Juniper sheathed his new weapon. “You are right, we need to replenish our supplies and feed our warriors.” He looked across the river in the distance, to Castle Ah beyond it. “The castle appears to be barren. We have not seen any mercenaries coming from that direction since the battle began. I would be surprised if even Thomas were there. Assuming there is no trap awaiting us, we could re-supply there and hold our own within the castle walls.”
“I can think of no other way,” Vansir said before wiping sweat from his forehead and letting another arrow fly.
“Then help me signal our men.”
“Wait,” Vansir told him and reached into a pack at his hawk’s side, withdrawing a horn from it. The hawk lay limply on the ground but still looked lively, with eyes wide open. “We can use this.”
Juniper took the smooth horn, watching sunlight reflect off of it as he pressed it to his lips. “To the castle!” he shouted as his voice was carried clear across the field. “Watch your backs but make haste!”
His company roared with approval and he saw them fleeing the battle toward him. Jonah led the charge.
“Alinar will peal the mercenaries off their backs,” Vansir assured him.
“The hardest part will be swimming across the river,” Juniper said and then looked to Vansir’s hawk. “Can your bird move?”
Vansir made a series of clicking sounds to the hawk and the bird rose with strong legs. Juniper could see where the giant had gotten a hold of one of its wings, tearing feathers and skin at its tip. Droplets of blood collected where it had been wounded.
“He is a strong bird.” Vansir ran his hand over the hawk’s back and then mounted it. “He should be able to at least get us over the river. Come with us. He will be alright.”
“Are you sure he can hold me, too?” Juniper looked worriedly at the hawk.
“There is not much time.”
With a deep breath Juniper ran to the bird and mounted it like a horse behind Vansir. The bird moved beneath them and ruffled its feathers before charging over the land between them and the river. Its talons dug up the earth as it ran, flinging chunks of soil and grass into the air. It cawed and ruffled its wings as it moved. Juniper was amazed at how fast they moved.
Soon they approached the river and Juniper felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. Will it be able to fly over the water? he wondered, more worried for the hawk than himself.
He felt a jolt as the hawk thrust its wings and pumped them up into the air, gliding in the winds as it soared above the river. He watched as the water currents rushed by below. “Flight never ceases to amaze me,” he said as he thought of Alexander. A sudden fear came over him. Where are Lilya and Alexander? They should have joined us by now.
The hawk came down hard on the bank of the river and continued its charge for Ah, jostling them as it moved. With a quick glance behind, Juniper saw his company running toward the river on the opposite bank. Some men had already reached the bank, removing their armor and running for the water, while others searched for a bridge. They would find one a distance down the bank.
“Do we continue to the castle without them?” Vansir asked as they moved.
Wind whipped over their faces as Juniper noticed one of the castle doors half open. He had an eerie feeling. What is beyond those doors? he thought. “This city is barren.” The words came off his tongue as he realized the market and city beyond had been burned to the ground. The sight of people left to rot on pikes in the sun’s heat made his stomach wrench. “We enter now. I must see what has happened to my home.”
As they neared the castle the hawk slowed and then came to a stop, ruffling its wings and then lying down on the ground. It was good to step from the bird. Juniper was not used to riding a thing that flew. Vansir dismounted as well.
“We should keep our weapons at the ready,” Juniper said as he unsheathed his sword and held it before him while approaching the castle doors. The odor of rotting flesh rolled over him. Is what this land has become even worth saving? he thought. Yes. If there is even one child here that we can rescue from Havilah’s madness then we will achieve something great.
As he approached Ah’s entrance he noticed thick blood seeping through the open door and staining the ground. He took another step as his heart raced, and then another step, placing his hand on the open door and moving inside.
To his horror, Juniper saw bodies littering the hall in a bath of blood, so much blood that he could not think where it had come from.
There was a massive hole in the hall’s ceiling. The ruby floor below the hole was destroyed and coated with blood. Thomas was nowhere to be seen. “What have you done, Thomas?” Juniper spoke under his breath. “How could this be?”
“I see no-one living,” Vansir said behind him with an arrow cocked in his bow.
Then suddenly Juniper lost his breath, his words, as he recognized Lilya’s body almost covered by a pool of the blood. He ran to her as blood splashed up from his footsteps, feeling her neck for a pulse. He could find none and felt himself shudder as he wanted to cry.
There was no time to mourn, not now. Her body needs to be taken out of this place, he thought. The massive man dug his hands beneath her limp form and hefted her up into his arms, soaking him with blood as it drained off of her clothes and down his own. Placing one foot in front of the other, Juniper carried Lilya from the tomb of a hall, laying her body on the ground in the sunlight outside.
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