“That’s not comforting.”
Alaric and Kahji descended into the courtyard. As much as Alaric would have liked to be with the soldiers, he knew he had other duties; that were just as vital to the castle’s survival as what those troops were now doing. The wall had been fully repaired and reinforced, but there was much more to do.
Beyond the harassment attacks, the castle had to be prepared for a Frost Fiend assault. The wall was only a small part of that. The artificers had to be instructed on how the defense would be carried out, so they could prepare the most effective artifacts and tools. Food and water had to be brought in. Lines of escape for the commoners had to be planned. This was no normal siege; the commoners would be safer elsewhere once the Frost Fiends arrived.
With one last look at the horizon, Alaric began his tasks. As anxious as he was to meet the Silverbacks in battle, he planned to be prepared for them.
CHAPTER 38
“Riders! Riders approach from the east!”
Before the sentry had finished the sentence, Alaric and Kahji made the top of the wall. They stared out in the direction indicated. Just on the horizon Alaric could see the dust from what had to be hooves.
Alaric breathed a sigh of relief. The infantry had returned that morning;, they had suffered no losses, and their only injuries were the kind that any infantry force would incur in a forced march. Now that the riders were returning, Alaric could at least be certain that his plan had not been a complete disaster.
He knew from Sergeant Jehan that the ambush had worked about as well as could have been hoped. The infantry had probably killed some thousand or more of the Frost Fiends. Even that was a drop in the bucket. Alaric could only hope that the Fire Flies and the Fire Swamp had taken at least as much of a toll. Jehan estimated the enemy force at nearly twenty thousand when they sprung the trap. The difference between twenty thousand and seventeen thousand wasn’t much, but every dead Frost Fiend helped.
Also adding to Alaric’s growing sense of calm was the arrival of the Duke at the head of two hundred knights and infantry. The infantry could help man the wall, and the knights would make a good secondary strike force. Now they would have all of the Igni and about fifty knights in God’s Palm, and about fifty more knights a little further off in the desert. They had left this morning with wagons full of rations, grain, and water. They carried a Coin so they could be called when needed.
Currently the plan was to do that as soon as the knights at the Palm had engaged. With luck, that would allow them to pull back from the fighting before they were completely exhausted. If things did not go well there, both forces could be lost. But Alaric knew that if things did not go well with that exchange, the knights and Igni would be the least of the castle’s worries.
“That’s it,” Alaric said as he hurried back down into the courtyard. “If we’re right about how fast they move, the Frost Fiends may be as close as an hour behind the cavalry and no further than about four hours. It’s time to get in place.”
While he could not be part of the ambush mission, everyone knew that if the castle fell, they would all die. That meant that even his duties as next in line of succession did not prevent him from joining in the battle this time. Since there were no humans who had proven themselves against Frost Fiends like Alaric, ignoring his proven prowess in other matters, it had been decided that he would lead the knights joining with the Igni. There was also the fact of the friendship between Kahji and Alaric, of course.
As they reached the ground of the courtyard, Alaric and Kahji were slammed with the cacophony of the hurried preparations. The plans had been laid, and the physical defenses had been put in place as much as possible, but there were still plenty of things to do. Various sergeants and knights barked orders to their various subordinates. Soldiers yelled out at each other as they moved items into position or settled the great pots that would hold boiling pitch or oil into position. Engineering crews were setting the trebuchet and ensuring they were in good repair. The ploy had kept the Frost Fiends away for five days. Those five days had been used as efficiently as the castle defenders could manage.
On top of the mundane defenses, the human artificers had been laboring around the clock to contribute to the defense. Fully half of the arquebusiers had been refitted with storm guns. Every fifth pikeman had been given a rune-inscribed pike; on command, the blade would erupt into flames. More of the exploding stones had been created.
Alaric carried the most powerful item they had created. The lance he wielded was stronger than steel, and much, much lighter. Where most knights would be able to use their lance once, and then drop the broken shards to the ground, Alaric’s would not break. It was given the same enchantments as the fire-pikes. When he charged into the Frost Fiends, he would be wielding a lance dancing with flames.
Those preparations all done, there was still much to do. The commoners had left with the duke’s knights. Before they rode into position, those knights would see to it that the commoners had enough of a head start that they should be able to make it to safety. That meant soldiers not used to such tasks were being required to move bracing beams into position, or heat oil and pitch, or roll bandages and prepare a battlefield hospital.
Alaric moved quickly to where his armor was sitting. His new squire, formerly his brother’s, moved to assist him into his armor. Though capable of donning the protective metal, Alaric had to admit having a squire’s assistance made the whole process easier. As the squire worked fitting pieces and tightening straps, Alaric took in the last-minute preparations.
As he watched, he noticed something. There was a tension in the air that made him uncomfortable. Even the first two times the Frost Fiends had attacked, the castle had not been this tense. There had been fear, but this was something else. It was deeper.
“Tamrain,” he said to his squire, “are you scared?”
The adolescent paused in his duties for a moment to consider, “Yes, my lord.”
“And are you more scared now than you were when the Frost Fiends last attacked?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Why?”
“My lord, everyone is talking about how vast the army coming against us is. Everyone is afraid.”
“They are. I believe it may be time to do something about that.”
With the last of his straps buckled and tucked away, Alaric moved purposefully to the wall. He climbed a ladder and made his way to the area over the main gate. He paused for a moment to view the men going about their duties and to collect his thoughts.
“Men of the Firemarch!” he called above the din, “Men of the Firemarch!”
Slowly everyone stopped what they were doing to look up at him. His gleaming armor caught the sun and shone like a beacon. He stood tall and straight. Everyone in the courtyard felt as though he was looking them directly in the eyes.
“Men of the Firemarch, the enemy approaches! They will come against these walls like a flood. But, like a flood, they will recede, and this rock, this fortress, will be left standing.
“The storm will come. It will howl and beat against these walls. Yet at the end these walls and those inside will be left standing. You are the only men in all the realms who could weather this storm, and it is my glory and honor to stand with you.
“Let him who fears for his life more than that of his brother depart we do not need him. And as he departs let him know this. We will stand victorious when this day is through. And when he is old, and thinks of those men he abandoned, will he think of his long rich life? No! He will be willing to give everything he has gained, wife, children, riches, for a chance to stand before those men, his brothers, who fall here today and beg their forgiveness.
“But those who stay, they will stand at the graves of their brothers and share with them the honor, and the glory of this day. They will sing and be sung. They will glory and be glorified. And in the end, they and their fallen brothers will be remembered as heroes. They will be remembered as the great rock against whi
ch the sea beat, and was forced to retreat. They will stand forever in tale and song.
“Men of the Firemarch, I stand with you. My honor is to stand with you. My glory is to fight with you. I would take no other group of men into battle. Trust in yourselves, in your brothers, and in our God.
“Let them come! The enemy approaches; let them come and be done. For our families, for our kingdom, and for our God!”
The cheers were muted, but most of the tension had left the castle. As men bent back to their tasks, they did so with more purpose, more urgency. Gone was the frantic and fearful movement of earlier. It had been replaced by directed effort and energy. The men still felt fear, but they had pushed it aside. It would have to do.
CHAPTER 39
Across the landscape the Frost Fiends swarmed. Their shades of blue made it seem as though the Firemarch had become an ocean. The castle defenders stood mute while watching that seemingly endless mass moving in its chaotic fashion. Everything was as ready as the defenders could make it; now that the time had come, most were relieved.
The time for fear and worry were past. Every man knew that his heart and mind had to be fully engaged in the battle, or he and those he loved might die. Hands gripped weapons, and eyes became hard as they prepared for the coming battle.
This time, they did not wait until they were engaged. As soon as the front line of Frost Fiends was in range, the trebuchet inside the castle walls began hurling their missiles. Clouds of stones the size of melons arced through the sky and tore into the ranks of the advancing monsters. In addition, every so often a large pot filled with gunpowder, shards of iron and steel, and a fire token would be thrown at the monsters. The giant bombs would explode on impact, hurling shrapnel in all directions. Before the Frost Fiends had even reached the wall, over a hundred had been killed.
It didn’t seem to matter. The mass of their bodies was too chaotic for a count, but there were easily ten thousand of them. They could absorb losses like those handed out so far for quite a while before they became terribly concerned.
Fortunately for the defenders, it seemed the giant war machines had not made the journey. The great beasts still marched with the army, but the massive catapults were nowhere to be seen. It wasn’t much, but the human and Igni soldiers would take every advantage they could get.
As the vast horde approached the wall, arquebus and fusil tempête loosed their deadly fire into the mass. They were able to prevent any of the Frost Fiends from getting to the wall for the eternity of two minutes. Then the swarm hit the wall and began scaling it like it was a ladder.
Razor sharp claws dug into the stone of the wall. Massive shoulders strained as they pulled themselves hand-over-hand up the vertical surface. Then the first of them met one of the new surprises. Before it could register surprise, it and those around it were blasted off the wall by an explosion of flame. Among the things the artificers had done was to set the walls with explosive runes. Any Frost Fiend which touched one of those runes would trigger an explosion.
In the next half-hour, the human defenders had slain over three thousand of the Frost Fiends, and they were still coming. Any human or Igni force would have pulled back long ago. Not so with the Frost Fiends; they simply continued swarming forward trying to overwhelm the defenders with sheer numbers.
Alaric, from his vantage at God’s Palm, was pleased with the defenders’ performance. They were doing their precise job. Everyone knew it would not be the men on the walls who ultimately won the day; their job was to lock the Frost Fiends in place. It certainly helped that the Frost Fiends were so willing to be locked.
Alaric continually scanned the battle. He could not spot the Silverbacks, and they were the key. Eventually that massive throng would gain the wall. Once that happened, if the Silverbacks had not been located and defeated, the castle would be doomed. His view of the battle was not as good as it would have been from the wall, however. He had to wait for the signal from the walls.
They had worked out the signals quite precisely. Depending on the flag flown and trumpet call, he would know approximately where to attack the Frost Fiend formation for the best chance to attack the Silverbacks.
“We could simply fall on them from behind, my lord,” one of the knights said.
Alaric did not recognize him immediately; his arms showed he was the son of one of his father’s vassals. The young man’s voice betrayed a mixture of anxiety and impatience.
Alaric knew exactly how he felt but shook his head. “No, we would not put a dent in their numbers, and then we would be out of position for when my father spots the Silverbacks. If it looks like the Fiends are likely to gain the wall and we still haven’t received the signal, we will attack. Hopefully it won’t come to that.”
They waited anxiously as the battle wore on. Half an hour turned into an hour, then into two. Slowly the Frost Fiends made headway. Finally, Alaric had seen enough; if they did not go now, the Frost Fiends would take the wall and all would be lost anyway.
Even as he raised his fist to signal the charge, the flag started waiving and the trumpet sounding. The Silverbacks had been located. From the signal, they were right in the center of the formation.
“Very well,” Alaric stated, “fall on them from behind it is. We’ll make for their center with all haste. That’s where we will find our quarry,” he informed the knights and Igni. With a last look to be sure everyone was ready, he dropped his fist and yelled, “Charge!”
Fifty great warhorses and over a hundred Igni surged out of the protective caves of God’s Palm. Alaric held the horse to a canter for most of their maneuver. They could not simply charge into the foe; they had to loop around and then back in to hit them from behind. When they were finally in position, and only about two hundred yards out, he spurred his horse into the full galloping charge and yelled again, “Charge!”
As he lowered his lance, he uttered the word which would ignite its tip. White-hot flame erupted around the sharp tip of the lance. Only a moment later they plunged into the rear of the Frost Fiend formation. Before they could even react, over two hundred of the monsters had been slain. Kahji’s Igni clove into their ranks like an axe into a melon. Fifty lances, one of them enchanted, blasted into the backs of the Frost Fiends before them. The surprise was near total.
As had been expected, most of the knights dropped their lances after only the first strike. Alaric’s lance did not shatter. He slammed it into another Frost Fiend, causing it to burst into shards of ice. The rest of the knights fell back to their swords. Knight and horse and Igni tore into the Frost Fiends.
As they became aware of the attack, the monsters’ resistance began to become more firm. Fewer of them were taken by surprise. Almost every Frost Fiend killed now required a battle. In the cases of Alaric and the Igni, these were often short and brutal affairs. For the other knights, a battle could take many long seconds. Alaric could almost feel their momentum slipping away.
He cast around in desperation to find the Silverbacks. He had to reach them before their momentum stalled completely. Taking an incredible risk, he tore his attention away from his immediate surroundings and stood as tall as he could in the saddle. As he swiveled his head, he defended himself mostly on instinct and trusted his allies to keep him relatively safe in those next long moments.
Finally he caught sight of the castle wall. There, waving vigorously, was the flag. Next to the standard bearer stood his father, gesturing wildly. It took Alaric a few seconds to realize Boores was pointing him in the direction of the Silverbacks. He turned his head in the direction indicated and finally spotted them. Too far away.
“Kahji, can your men drill a hole?” he called out over the din. Seeing the massive War Leader’s acknowledgment, he called back to his men, “Disengage as much as possible. Follow the Igni in!”
Fighting only enough to keep moving, the knights followed the roaring Igni. With momentum back on their side, they were able to make another hundred yards before being slowed by the mass of Fr
ost Fiends once more.
Alaric wanted to scream in frustration. The Silverbacks were not more than one hundred yards in front of him, but he and his men would be overwhelmed before they reached their target. They were already fighting desperately as it was. Then he realized how clear the area around him was. The Frost Fiends were avoiding that flaming lance as much as they could. Alaric saw his chance.
“Knights, begin your fall-back! Kahji, send your men with them then follow me!”
Alaric nudged his horse and it leaped forward. Wielding the flaming lance like a giant sword, he swept the Frost Fiends out from in front of him. Everywhere that burning steel touched a Frost Fiend, the beast exploded in the now expected shards of ice. Without his men to worry about, Alaric and Kahji plunged into the melee.
Lance, claw, and even hoof lashed out to strike any Frost Fiend that came close enough. Between Alaric’s lance and Kahji’s controlled bursts of flame, the fiends began avoiding them. Slowly a circle cleared around them. As they advanced ever closer to the Silverbacks, the mass of bodies seemed to melt away before them.
Before Alaric was ready, the path cleared. One moment he was staring at a mass of Frost Fiends ebbing and flowing about him. The next moment the area was clear except for three Silverbacks. For a moment, the scene froze in a perfect tableau. Alaric and Kahji stared at the Silverbacks. The Silverbacks stared back. Even the other Frost Fiends seemed to freeze in place.
With a roar, the smallest of the silverbacks broke the spell. It charged. Alaric spurred his horse and met it head on. He thrust with his flaming lance, hoping for a quick kill to even the odds. The Silverback brought its hand up to catch the lance. Alaric felt the heat leach out of the air around him as the Silverback flexed its arm. The air seemed to freeze, and the magical flame went out. Like an adult taking a stick from a child, the Silverback yanked the lance from Alaric’s hand and threw it far into the body of Frost Fiends.
Fire and Frost (Seven Realms Book 1) Page 24
