The Battle for Liferné

by Caleb Monroe

  It seems like everything is passing in slow motion as our warriors charge the wall. I feel like I am waiting forever, and then I see the first group of fighters get ten yards from the wall.

  Now.

  I take my fingers and place them to my mouth whistling as loudly as I possibly can. I keep my eyes on the sky knowing that Shadow will come through.

  Our army is about to collide with the impending four sealed doors around the wall, which is exactly when the griffins come to our aid. They tear through the clouds with mighty and fierce roars. They fly in a single formation, but then break apart into four groups that head for each of the doors surrounding the fourth ring. Each group ranges from seven to eight griffins.

  Shadow leads the group that comes to our squadron’s aid. They head in my direction, and as they fly over, I run for the edge of the roof leaping into the air. “Break those doors down!”

  I pull out my Sica, and I feel a bit like a knight riding in to battle as I sit high atop Shadow and we skim over the ground. The griffins from each group unleash a fury of cries that knock down all the doors keeping us out of the fourth ring. You can hear a cheer from the soldiers on our side as they begin to charge into the royal ring, readying for the battle that awaits us on the self-proclaimed “Holy Land.”

  We fly over the fighters as they pour through the opening Shadow and his team just created. The moment we get through the gate, Shadow must take evasive actions, causing all the griffins to scatter as blue elemental bombs fly through the air at our invading forces.

  “Take cover!” My warning comes too late and a few of our fighters are caught in the release of the icy wrath brought with the blue pearl. A few of them have their legs frozen to the ground and one unfortunate woman becomes completely encased in a thick layer of ice.

  I hear Tayus, who was able to get behind a house before the explosion, shout, “We have to disable their defenses if we want to make it to the castle!”

  Our fighters are now stuck outside the wall as they try to avoid getting taken out by the catapult, which is now launching a yellow bomb at the wall.

  “Don’t touch the wall! Everyone back away from the wall!” Shadow flies us over the wall, and I shout again, “Move away from the wall!!!”

  Most of our squadron dives to safety, but a few did not understand my cautionary order. When the yellow elemental bomb hits the inside of the wall it sends a massive shock wave through to the other side that electrocutes a few of our people who are still using it for cover. I hear them scream and see them shake violently as a deadly current courses through their bodies.

  I pull on Shadow’s mane to turn him around. I have had enough of this.

  “We have to take out that catapult or we will never get our soldiers inside the ring.” Shadow lets out a small roar and two griffins come to our side. “Get me close. I will take out the guards; you three take care of the rest once it’s clear.”

  Shadow does a fly by, allowing me to jump off his back just before he passes the catapult. I only have a few seconds until they come back, so I quickly get to work dispatching the guards.

  I hit the ground running, and as I get to the first soldier guarding the catapult, I slide under his thrusting spear and take out his legs with a sweeping motion of my legs. I hit him with the hilt of my blade as he lands on the ground, making sure that he is unconscious, but also that he will live. I get back to my feet, but now the other soldiers are making their way to me. The bad news is that I am outnumbered, but the good news is that there is no one left to fire the bombs at our men.

  I go on defense so that I can stall long enough for Shadow to make it back around. I have to parry both of their attacks as I back up, leading them further away from the catapult. I block an axe high, and then block a bladed spear that is aimed at my right side. I spin out of that block landing a kick to the face of the soldier carrying the spear.

  He drops the spear, but before I can take him out, I am forced to block the other soldier’s axe before it cleaves my head off. The soldier is stronger than I am, and I am struggling to keep his axe away from my neck.

  I catch him off guard by dropping to my knees and using my momentum to allow the curved tip of my blade to pull his heavy axe downward with me, making him lose his grip, which provides me the opportunity to sweep his legs out bringing him to the ground. I scurry to get to my feet because the soldier with the spear is charging at me again.

  I see my support coming as Shadow and his two griffins approach. Shadow leaves the catapult to other griffins while he comes to my aid. Shadow grabs the soldier with the spear and tosses him into a wall to our left.

  He then uses his wings to sling the soldier I just took down all the way to the other side of the street. I look over his shoulder and watch the other griffins descend on the catapult, using their powerful talons to rip it apart.

  I jump back on Shadow saying, “Get me in the air.” Tayus can see that the path is clear and now he is breaking his squadron into smaller groups. His plan was to have us spread out, taking out as many defenses as we can but trying to keep them in one piece. I guess I messed that part up a minute ago. Our army will regroup at the hundred-foot wall of the castle, and then together, we will storm the courtyard.

  “Call your team.” Shadow roars and his team of griffins come to our side as we fly over the royal ring. “Spread out. Find any catapults you can and take out the soldiers guarding them. If you can, try and keep them in one piece.” The griffins fly off to do as I ask. “Find Tayus,” I tell Shadow.

  Shadow flies back toward the main squadron and hovers twenty feet above Tayus.

  “Thanks for taking that catapult out.”

  “Did all our men get inside?”

  “Everyone is in now, and I have the smaller squadrons dispersing through the ring attempting to seize control of any defensive measures they can find.” Tayus’ attention is pulled away from me as the frozen woman who did not get away from the first attack stands only a few feet from him.

  “We knew that not everyone would get out of this alive.”

  Tayus turns to look up at me. “Go do your part. I will stay with my squadron, and we will meet you at the castle walls.”

  Tayus runs back to lead his group of soldiers while Shadow takes us high into the air. “Our men are starting to converge on the castle walls.” I can see from up here that the griffin parties are about fifty yards in front of our troops and are beginning to deal with the soldiers and some of the defenses set up by Pontis as they clear a path for our soldiers. “I think we should… Whoa!”

  Shadow pulls his wings in to let us drop, just narrowly avoiding a large arrow shot at us. While we are falling, I see that four large crossbows have been set up about a hundred yards from the castle walls.

  “Those crossbows are going to get our friends hurt if we don’t take care of them. Drop me at the nearest one, and you go take care of the second one.”

  Shadow launches us through the sky towards the crossbow that is almost directly below us. I pull a yellow elemental pearl out of my pocket saying, “This will do. Come get me when you’re done.”

  I jump off Shadow’s back with one hand holding my Sica and the other holding the pearl. I throw the pearl, and it hits the ground right next to the soldiers manning the crossbow.

  The lightning bolts emerging from the pearl take down both guards that are working this crossbow. I use my blade to cut the thick wire that is used to launch the oversized arrows, disabling this menace.

  With this crossbow taken care of here, I take off for the third one, trusting that Shadow will catch up when he is done dispatching his target. I get about two hundred yards around the ring when I notice a large mansion; as I make my way around it, I find myself face-to-face with a group of enemy soldiers.

  I pull my Sica up to the side of my face asking, “Any way we could pretend you never saw me?” One of them charges at me with his spear. I move to the right and push the spear past me with my blade, and use the curved end to p
ull the spear out of the soldier’s hands.

  I only have a second to relax because right behind the first soldier come two more. They yell as they charge me holding their broadswords out in front of them. I cannot afford to wait for them to close the gap between us, so I take off charging directly at them.

  When we meet, I slide to the right, letting my sword clash with another soldier’s sword, but a second later I have to disengage to block an attack that comes from the other soldier who had circled back around.

  “You guys are good. I bet Tayus trained you, but I bet you’ve never seen a move like this.” I take a step back and hurl myself into the air spinning as fast as I can while leaving my sword extended out from my body. I turn myself into a bladed tornado flying through the sky, and the soldiers do not know what to do. They hold their swords up to block my attack, but the speed and force of my spinning blows knock them over.

  “That’s what you call a barrel roll.” I hear flapping from above, and I smile while saying, “And this is what you call a cry!” Shadow launches three cries that send the soldiers flying as the sound collides with the ground around them. He comes in hot using a barrel roll to get rid of the last five soldiers who were standing behind me. “Mine was still better,” I say while running to jump onto his back.

  As we come upon the third crossbow, I see that this one is being guarded by another large group of soldiers. I take another yellow pearl out saying, “Want to disable this one together?” Shadow gives a small roar, and I smile as we get ready to attack.

  I am going to miss him so much.

  I push that gut-wrenching thought aside as I yell, “I’ll take the left group, while you take the right.” I hop off Shadow’s back and kick the closest soldier in the chest, knocking him over. Shadow comes in fast using his wings to toss two soldiers ten feet away into the brick wall of a house as he lands in the middle of the soldiers.

  I run over toward Shadow saying, “Give me a boost.” I put one foot on his left wing, and he hurls me high into the air. I come down feet first taking out two more soldiers while Shadow spins around using his tail like a whip to knock a shield out of a charging soldier’s hands before using his talons to knock the soldier hard into the ground.

  I see three soldiers charging Shadow, so I shout, “Incoming!” He sees me running at him, and as I do a flip, he cradles my back with his wings and throws me back into the air toward the charging soldiers. I collide with the men like a cannonball, taking all of them to the ground, and it only takes a few quick hits before they are out cold.

  Shadow leaps into the air, and I see the last five soldiers running in our direction. “Ricochet attack.” I throw the elemental pearl as hard as I can at Shadow so he can use his wing to redirect the yellow pearl at the charging soldiers. He breaks the pearl on contact with his wings, causing a lightning storm to fly at the soldiers. They are hit hard and go down fast. Shadow flies over to the crossbow and easily snaps the wire with his beak.

  “One more to go, buddy.” Shadow and I take to the air again, but when we get there I see that a pair of griffins has already taken care of the last crossbow.

  “Let’s go find Tayus.” Shadow heads back to the side of the ring where Tayus should be by now. “Good. All of our soldiers have nearly reached the wall. Watch out!” Another arrow comes flying at us, and it is quickly followed by another, and then another.

  “Get down to the ground, Shadow.” I search the sky, realizing that we have gotten too close to the castle wall, and we are now in range of the multitude of crossbows and catapults Pontis has lined up across the top of the wall. I can see the griffins we brought with us for this fight taking cover by diving for the safety of the houses lining the innermost portion of the royal ring.

  “Down here, Jacob!” We see Tayus waving at us and Shadow makes his way low to the ground.

  Boom!!!!

  While we soar close to the ground, an elemental pearl bomb goes off not too far in front of us, forcing Shadow to land behind a house near Tayus.

  “Jacob, we must do something or my father’s army will close in on us while we are penned down.” Another explosion going off causes the entire street to violently shake and sends debris from the nearby houses raining down on us. “The griffins can’t get into the air long enough to do any damage to the wall defenses. There are too many crossbows up there for them to stay in the air. Is it time for that surprise you and Captain have been working on?”

  I hop off Shadow’s back, and we get close to the large brick house protecting us from the incoming arrows and bombs. I yell to Tayus, “Captain still needs more time, but I do have one other trick that might turn the tide in our favor!” I nod at Shadow and he rears his head back to unleash a mighty roar that causes all the soldiers around us to cover their ears.

  Tayus pulls his hands down asking, “And what do you intend to come from that?”

  “Wait for it.” I listen for confirmation that this is going to work, but my feet are the first to get the answer as I feel the ground below me begin to shake. “Here comes your answer.”

  Tayus looks all around him saying, “A green elemental bomb?”

  “Nope. This is the cavalry.” From all directions, thirty more griffins begin to roar as they charge the castle walls. “Everyone, attack now!”

  “Where did they come from?!” Tayus yells while charging with his broadsword held in front of him.

  “I always hid a few griffins in the lower rings every time we came for a meeting over the last few months. I knew that flying this many griffins in would get them killed by the crossbows, so I used this as a way to get them on the ground without being seen.” I ride Shadow like a horse and we are quickly joined in our charge by the extra griffins.

  “Well played, Jacob!” Tayus shouts.

  The griffins now far outnumber anything the wall defenses can stand up against. They begin to launch cries from all directions at the castle wall, forcing the soldiers to fall back away from their weapons from fear of being knocked off the tall wall.

  “Take to the air and claim the wall!” Half of the griffins land on top of the wall and effectively stop any more weapons from being fired down on our soldiers. “Shadow, open the doors!”

  Shadow and four other griffins stand in front of the main doors to the castle courtyard. They attack simultaneously and the tremendous force of their cries knocks the doors back. The doors fly back at such a high velocity that they knock the ten guards who were positioned as the last line of defense back, slamming them into the inner side of the wall and creating a resounding gong-like sound.

  “We end this, now!” Tayus yells as he leads five squadrons into the courtyard.

  Chapter 15

  “Tayus!” I shout while Shadow flies us inside the castle walls. “Get control of the courtyard while we go free the caged griffins.”

  Tayus blocks a swinging sword yelling, “We will have it secured before your return.” He is unaware of the three soldiers approaching from his blind side as he yells at me. A griffin comes flying in using a cry to take out the unseen guards and then lands to protect Tayus’ undefended side.

  Tayus’ squadrons should have enough fighters to take out the two squadrons Pontis put in the courtyard, and there should be more reinforcement of both men and griffins coming that will guarantee our victory.

  “Call two friends, and let’s go set the caged griffins free.” Shadow chirps a few times and two griffins launch cries to clear a path for us to the building holding the caged griffins. They take to the air to join us as we pass.

  When we get about twenty feet from the doors to the abhorrent bird cage Pontis uses to house what he calls his “tools of war,” Shadow pulls his head back and slings a cry directly at the door.

  He pulls up from his flight path, allowing the other two griffins to enter the room first. Before we can even get inside, I hear the soldiers that Pontis left guarding the griffins shout to get the shockers.

  “Get in there!”

  Shad
ow flies in and I jump off his back, sprinting to get to the soldiers before they can hurt any of the captured griffins. I count five soldiers and all of them are wielding swords and yellow elemental pearls.

  “Don’t let them use the pearls.” I tackle one of the soldiers causing him to drop his pearl, but the blue griffin who came with us catches the pearl softly in his wings before it can break against the ground. “Thanks.” I hop up, take the pearl, and use it to take out two more soldiers that are heading our way. Shadow tosses the remaining two soldiers into the cages that are keeping the griffins trapped in this room.

  “I will restrain these guys. You two,” I point to the two griffins with us, “get those cages open, and Shadow,” I turn to face the doors holding the Gatekeepers, “open that door.” I tie up the soldiers with whips I find among various other torture devices.

  The other two griffins use their talons and beaks to break the locks on the cage, and once the doors are open, the caged griffins slowly begin to make their way out of their cells. My attention deviates when I hear a loud crash, and I turn to find Shadow has gotten inside the room to the Gatekeepers.

  “Let me go in first.” I get to Shadow’s side, but he ignores my order to stay back. We stay side-by-side, and as we enter the dark room, the first thing to catch my attention is the sound of chirping and sad cries coming from all around the room. Shadow’s ears start darting in every direction as we are bombarded by cries for help. I run my hand over Shadow’s back, and I can feel the hairs on his body standing erect.

  “We are going to get them out of here.” I hear wings coming our way and we are now joined by at least twenty more griffins who have made it out of the cages.

  The cries from the chained-up, mutilated griffins cause every griffin in the room to become very still and silent. Shadow makes his way to the front of the pack of griffins and roars in anger. I decide it will be best if I let him handle this situation, so I quietly step to the back of the group. The griffins spread out, making sure to free the fifteen trapped griffins before using their claws and cries to annihilate every Gatekeeper in the room.