Iron Champion (Legend of the Iron Flower Book 5)

by Billy Wong

  Chapter 3

  The battle started as soon as the Fanteian force clanked into view, Terlonian arrows raining down on the well-armored infantry who shone in the bright sun. It discouraged Rose a bit to see the effectiveness of their shields and cuirasses against her allies' shafts, but at least the enemy would not be able to take much advantage of their far greater numbers in the cramped pass. Despite the missile bombardment from both sides, soon Regis' front line reached that of the Terlonians, and the real battle was on.

  There was no room for fancy maneuvers and the Terlonian army fought shoulder to shoulder, those up front protecting each other with shields while the other footmen waited behind to take the place of fallen or tired comrades. Rose found Sean a competent fighter who needed little looking after, though he did step back once in a while to be replaced by a fresher soldier—unlike Rose and Danica who stayed in place all day, killing all the while. For the Fanteians' part, they eschewed the tactic of switching out troops in favor of pounding over and over at the Terlonians' line with their strongest men, but could not break through. Rose felt admiration for her stout allies, which they returned with looks of awe at how many she alone slaughtered. Like her, Danica killed scores with her long-handled axe—really a small halberd, with a compact head which did nothing to fool Rose into thinking her weak. The light weight did not serve to compensate for a lack of strength, but allow its wielder to move it with incredible speed.

  Every so often, Rose spared a glance for Emperor Regis. Roughly handsome in his brilliant jeweled armor, he held his thick pike upright so it towered menacingly above the ranks of his men. She noticed his huge, rippling arms were left bare by his cuirass, and imagined exploiting the vulnerability begotten by his vanity. As he remained one of the few on horseback, idle behind the front lines, Rose wondered why he didn't fight. She figured she had her answer late in the afternoon when he dismounted to join the charge and headed straight for the surely tired Princess Danica, who did not hesitate to meet him.

  Rose moved slowly through the crowd of her allies towards Danica's side, thinking to help if she should prove unable to handle the emperor. Before she could get there, the two royals clashed at the center of the melee. Rose was glad to see Danica hold her own, though she worked hard to survive by parrying and dodging at the moment, her halberd's reach no match for that of his pike. As well, while Danica had great strength for a woman, she was almost surely weaker than Regis, and Rose grew disappointed to see her trying to overpower him by bashing away at his guard, a tactic which didn't seem likely to gain her victory over her much larger opponent.

  Though she knew Danica would be angered by the interruption, Rose figured it in the Terlonians' interest to defeat the enemy leader with maximum haste, and prepared to join the princess in attacking him. She reconsidered her plan when she saw Regis begin to back away, his attacks slowing while Danica continued to pressure him. The emperor, Rose thought, might not be all he was cracked up to be after all.

  But perhaps he only baited his opponent, and as he must've hoped, Danica left the line of her allies to pursue him. Her attention focused on her great foe, she did not see the spear coming which streaked from the enemy ranks to puncture her right shoulder. Scowling furiously, the princess managed to fend off Regis' pike; but she was hampered in the use of her halberd, and forced to retreat from the smiling man. He attacked with greater and greater zest, and each stab of the giant metal spear came closer to biting into her vitals. Suddenly she fought back harder, somehow ignoring the wound though blood poured down her arm and chest. Again she and Regis fought on even terms, though it appeared doubtful how long she could maintain it with her injury.

  Then Rose was there, using her shield to intercept the pike with such force it sent Regis staggering back a step. "What the hell are you doing?" Danica demanded as Rose grabbed the panting royal by the collar and jerked her forcefully back out of harm's way.

  "Saving you, Your Highness," she said more tersely than expected when she caught the princess glaring at her. "And you're welcome."

  "How dare you?!" Regis bellowed, his eyes full of offended fury. "I had her! Who are you to interrupt me? Get out of the way, peon!"

  Well, being stuck between these two was understandably aggravating. "My name isn't Peon. It's Rose. You might have heard of me as the Iron Flower."

  Regis thrust at her with his full strength. Rose didn't try to dodge, but took it squarely on the center of her shield. The point skidded off and to the side. She hadn't taken a single step back, though her arm ached slightly from the blow. The emperor smiled. "You are strong for a mere woman. I think I have heard your name in tales from afar. But, mighty champion though you might be, you're still nothing I haven't faced and killed dozens of times before. And soon you'll join the others, as a ghost."

  She slashed at him with Thorn, and parrying the massive sword brought a frown to his face. "And I could say the same about your kind, oh great conqueror."

  "You're an ugly woman. Too ugly to ever be worthy of defeating me."

  That struck a nerve, for Rose was somewhat self-conscious of the many scars adorning her visage though few dared to comment on them to her face. "And you're one vain man." Her retort proved less than effective; he only proudly tossed his hair.

  He swung his shaft low in a wide arc, trying to sweep her legs out from under her. She jumped over it and nearly shaved off his scalp with a backhanded cut. He advanced spinning the huge pike above his head, probably in an attempt to unnerve her. But she'd hardly be intimidated by flashy prancing, and when she stood her ground the attack that came out of it was a merely a simple downward swat easily warded by her shield. He stormed forward leaning into swings of his pike. She let him back her up for a bit, deflecting his strikes while waiting for his assault to slow the slightest tad. When it did, she launched into a retaliatory barrage which concluded with her knocking his pike downward with her shield and trying to cleave horizontally through his chest. He skipped back just far enough, her heavy blade carving a deep gouge across his armor, and grinned at the challenge she presented.

  They continued to exchange blows. While Regis held the longer weapon, Rose knew how to get within a polearm's reach and did so repeatedly, though her canny opponent quickly repositioned himself each time before any real harm could be done. Yet they both soon recognized that Rose was faster and at least as strong as her six and a half foot tall foe, while being better equipped defensively with her nigh impenetrable shield always ready to deflect blows and allowing her to attack constantly with her sword. Though Rose had been fighting much longer than him, it was he who first began to show signs of fatigue, and finally fled back into the mass of his troops.

  "Good!" he roared from outside of easy reach. "I finally have a new goal to surpass!"

  "He wasn't so tough," Rose mused as she took to hacking down the men who came forward to engage her in their departed emperor's stead. Regis had given her a decent workout, but was not quite the best she'd faced, and also had the sense to know when he was overmatched. Turning to the nearest allied soldier, she asked, "Hey, how's Danica doing?"

  "She's alive thanks to you," the exhausted-looking man said. Cecil, a generous fellow who'd shared a piece of fish with her on the way. Rose figured he should probably let someone relieve him soon, but before she could suggest it, he continued, "Her wound's pretty bad. She'll probably be out of it for a while. Of course she insists she's fine, but I doubt the doctors will have it."

  "Maybe you sh-" Rose began, but before she could finish, a spearshaft sprouted in Cecil's chest and he fell onto his back. She didn't need to look twice to see he was dead, and with a cry of anger turned back to the fight. She battered her way through the enemy lines until she reached Cecil's killer and hewed him in two, the blades of his allies which surrounded her mostly bouncing off her extra-thick armor. Laying about her a while longer, she drove the enemy front into disarray and allowed the Terlonians to take bloody advantage. When night came and both sides retreated to th
eir camps to wait for morning, she walked back with grim satisfaction. She had taken some minor wounds, but at least during her lonely foray into the thick of the opposition, she hadn't had to bear seeing any more of her allies die up close.

  #

  Rose trudged back towards where Sean stayed only to find herself face to face with Danica, who stared her in the eyes with anger which annoyed and disappointed her. "I could've taken him," the proud woman insisted. Her pallor and the way she favored her injured shoulder suggested otherwise.

  Of course, Rose had often looked worse in the past and still won the fight. She shrugged and said, "Maybe you could have. We'll never know, but I beat him back today and I'd appreciate it if you tried a little harder to tolerate me. I intend to help you a lot, the least you can do is not give me a million dirty looks while I try to do so. Otherwise, I might not miss you much while you're sitting out the battle."

  "You are an incredible fighter. I suppose I should give you more respect for your abilities. But you won't have to worry about missing me. I'll be right there by your side tomorrow. Why would I let you steal all my glory?"

  "I thought your doctors wouldn't let you go?"

  Danica smirked. "Nothing they can do to stop me."

  "How bad is your wound?" It certainly wouldn't be good if she got killed pushing herself too hard. Losing a strong warrior aside, it would also devastate morale.

  "Nothing to worry about. Deep gash, lost a good deal of blood, but it didn't even break the bone. I can handle it."

  "I have salve that can take away some of the pain," Rose offered. "Want some?"

  "No, don't you think I'd have my own? Good luck tomorrow."

  "You too." Watching the princess walk slowly away, she smiled. It was a start.

  #

  Meeting Sean at his campfire, Rose was glad to see he hadn't been injured in the day's battle. "How's the neck?"

  "Same old itch. I even noticed it at points during the fight, annoying thing. You gave a good show against Regis."

  With a smile, she shrugged. "What else did you expect? I've fought way too many polearms to be fooled by his fancy tricks. They're great against less savvy foes, but one on one with an old hand like me? Probably too slow and unwieldy no matter how skilled you are."

  He laughed. "You're one to talk. Who else could handle a sword like yours?"

  "My husband, and a few others I've met. Prince Wilner stole my old sword, which was just as big as this one, and wielded it and a great axe against my friends... not that I couldn't do the same. I just like my shield."

  "You use it well. It's like a weapon in your hand."

  "It is a weapon. I've broken more than my share of bones with it." She looked with concern at him. "So, are you feeling all right? This bloody work is hard even on me, and I've killed thousands before. It must be much worse for someone who's not used to it. Certainly was for me, when I first started."

  Sean was quiet for a while. "Yeah, of course it's hard. But I had a few drinks already, so I feel a little better. I'll be fine. We all hold up one way or another, or we die."

  Rose nodded somberly, then grinned. "Better not drink too much. It's important you're at the best you can be, and besides, you'll run out much too fast if you overdo it."

  "We shouldn't be here very long."

  "I sure hope you're right."

  He frowned. "What, you think something's going to happen?"

  "I don't really know, but it's just that the Fanteians seemed so urgent in their attack today—why? They've got all the time in the world to chip away at us, and shouldn't be so desperate to break through just to chase the refugees. Yes, the king's with them, but I doubt Regis is that desperate to catch him considering the Fanteians didn't even pursue right away after their last victory. So I think it's one of three possibilities. Either they have some problem, they've suddenly become impatient for our defeat, or—and this is the one I fear—they're doing it to distract us from something else."

  "What?"

  "I don't know. I know next to nothing about this region. But I'm going to warn Danica to be extra careful from now on, and keep a close eye on any possible enemy activity besides the obvious attack here. Do you have any ideas?"

  Sean thought about it for a while. "Maybe Regis wants to perform some sort of flanking maneuver? But it's impossible, this pass is the only way through the mountains for more than a hundred miles. It would take a long time for a force to go around to attack us from the other side."

  Remembering the long wait for the Fanteian army, Rose replied, "Unless he sent that force long before the battle ever started. Damn, if that's the case, he wouldn't have started attacking until it was almost time, would he? I hope it's not too late to save us some major trouble with being surrounded!" She stood right away and hurried to tell Danica of her theory. There was little hope in her, though, that they could fully avoid the trap Regis had set for them.

  The scouts expanded their patrol, and soon indeed reported the arrival of a force of Fanteians behind the mountain range, which must have circled around as Rose predicted. But to her surprise, they did not advance. Why didn't they attack? It would have been a perfect trap, for even if the Terlonians escaped the pass before they could be boxed in, they would at least be forced to leave a favorable position. Had Regis decided to put his pride over the interests of his army, more concerned with personally defeating Rose than doing the most tactically sound thing?

  The Terlonian army maintained their position, though their scouts watched for any sign of movement from the force behind them in preparation to alert everyone else. The next few days of battle went similarly to the first, but Regis did not join the attack himself, though Rose saw him observing her with great interest. Huge, powerful men wielding polearms who must have been hand-picked by the emperor came against her again and again. She killed them all, exchanging fierce stares with Regis during lulls in the fighting. Finally, a week after their first confrontation, the ruler of Fanteia entered combat again and sought out Rose without delay.

  "I've been studying you," he told her, smiling.

  "And?"

  He pointed his weapon at her. "I've learned." He launched into a furious onslaught of continuous stabs broken up by short swipes of the pike's tip, and she realized his words to be true. He had indeed grown more used to her style, and better at combating it by limiting the breadth of his attacks to increase efficiency of motion. Still, she wasn't daunted, and they fought back and forth in the midst of the armies. This time Regis drew first blood, grazing and slicing the top of Rose's shoulder when she ducked a stab at her heart. With a smirk he followed his pike in and kicked her in the stomach, driving her a few steps back.

  But she retaliated seconds later with quick blows which opened deep gashes over his ribs and left bicep, and he growled in pain. The arm injury noticeably affected the steadiness with which he wielded his pike, and though he screamed his defiance and pushed forward, it became clear he would falter sooner or later. He finally gave the opening she was looking for, and she batted his pike aside. Stepping in, she clove through his pauldron, cutting deeply into the shoulder. He was lucky his armor was so thick, for the chop would have otherwise traveled fatally deep into his torso. As it was, blood sprayed when Rose wrenched her sword free, and Regis stumbled away wide-eyed in shock, desperate to break off the fight.

  She tried to follow him and deliver the deathblow, but was stopped by men who rushed to relieve their lord, though they paid quickly in blood for denying her goal. Her heart settled somewhat now that he had gone, and she returned to her methodical work of cutting away at the seemingly endless mass before her. Before long, she realized that every new opponent she faced was far tougher than the ones she'd become used to. Regis was really trying to kill her now, regardless if he did it himself.

  Even so, she stood fast, piling the bodies of Fanteia's best before her. Rose thanked the emperor for saving her the trouble of seeking out his champions by thus feeding them to her. They wounded her agai
n and again with their heavy weapons, but she kept going. She was used to getting hurt. Her foes grew weaker, and she wondered if she began to deplete the Fanteian elite. Then, she heard shouts of alarm rising from among her allies. The force behind them was coming.

  The Terlonians began an immediate retreat, narrowly escaping the pass as the force attempting to cut them off came at them from the side. But they were more prepared than they would have been if the Fanteians attacked at the first chance, and Rose smiling inwardly while she defended their flank. The great conqueror's well-conceived plan had gone to waste for her! Things were as they'd always been; love her or hate her, people rarely failed to respond strongly to her.

  They weren't out of the woods yet. The Fanteians who'd come through the eastern pass still had their horses, and out of the mountains and back on flat land, returned to acting as cavalry. Ill-armed to meet a mounted charge, Terlonians fell in droves before their thunderous rush. Though some including Sean tried to reequip their comrades with spears and form a defensive wall, too many were dying and soon the army began to disintegrate, panicked soldiers attempting to flee in any direction they could.

  Finding herself surrounded by chaos, Rose ran from skirmish to skirmish, trying to help and rally her allies as best she could. Though she beat most she fought without great difficulty and refused to be slowed by the wounds accumulating on her body, she was one woman trying to hold off an army, and found herself inadequate to the task.

  The flustered Rose saw Danica attempting the same kind of support with equal lack of success, and called, "Danica! How about the two of us give the enemy morale problems of their own, together?"