by Jeff Inlo
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Holli walked the wall. She nodded silently to those that offered a greeting. It was cold in the open air. Cold and dark. The light was focused on the ground. It would be easier to spot targets that way, easier to spot dwarves.
She doubted that would be the case tonight. It was long after sunset, much closer to midnight. She looked to the sky. Clouds hid the stars. She wondered if it might snow. It was early, but the dormant season was on its way. A few flurries in the dead of night would not be unheard of.
The thought of snow brought her a sense of peace. Quiet filled the land, a quiet she did not previously anticipate. In truth, she had expected an attack this night. Though neither she nor the human wizard could sense dwarves, Enin had cast a spell to sense the shifting of the ground. He said it was something like the web spell he created to catch the goblins. A powerful wizard. He detected the dwarves as they dug. They were constructing their tunnels directly beneath the center of town. When he professed that afternoon that the digging had ceased, Holli could only conclude that an attack was imminent.
With Sy's approval, she had placed the defenders on their highest alert. She brought all the archers, both human and elf, to the walls and rooftops just before twilight. That was the normal time for a dwarf attack. It gave them the whole evening before they had to deal with the rising sun and its effect on their eyes. It was at that time Holli truly believed the attack would commence.
It did not.
Time passed as Holli steadied her archers and slingers, leaping from rooftop to rooftop like a squirrel dancing among the trees.
Sy stood with his ground forces in cold silence. He let his steel nerve lift the courage of his soldiers. Enin moved about the town like a shadow of death. There was no gleam in his eye or prattling of new spells, only stark concentration on gathering every shred of magic lingering in the air.
The entire population of Burbon had waited at the ready in eerie silence. Frightened civilians, facing battle for the first time in their lives, gulped back their fear. Guards upon the ground, soldiers with the deadly task of diverting the dwarf warriors into the many crossfires, stood almost breathless. Silent prayers lingered on their lips. When someone coughed, it echoed through the streets like the death rattle of a god.
They had waited, but still nothing had happened. The sun set, the darkness grew, but still nothing. They spent the entire part of dusk and well into the darkness of evening ready to defend. Human and elf waited with growing anxiety. As all light vanished to the west, the tension increased to a point of frustration. They did not want to fight, did not want this war, but few could withstand the heavy weight of the seemingly endless vigil.
Sy had called to Holli only a short while ago, when he sensed the growing impatience of his soldiers. He asked for her council, openly wondered if the dwarves might be holding off for greater surprise.
Holli doubted it. She could not imagine dwarf commanders feeling the need for surprise to attack humans. She began to wonder herself if the attack would actually take place.
Her opinion was overheard and her words quickly spread. Relief began to replace the tension. Holli and Sy did not fight it. Half the volunteers were allowed to return to their homes for rest and food. They would return after midnight to relieve those that stayed in position.
Holli remained alert, however, even as her forces broke in half. She stayed with the defenders, she would take no rest this evening. She would wait until after sunrise before she would even consider sleep.
As for now, she welcomed the peace as she walked the length of the wall. It was surely close to midnight and hard to imagine a dwarf attack this late in the night. The dwarves had granted them a reprieve. Perhaps they would attack tomorrow. Or perhaps there would be no battle at all.
She thought of Ryson. She would hear word soon. Elf guards acting as scouts at the perimeter of Dark Spruce already informed her that Ryson had returned without the cliff behemoth. Not words she wanted to hear, but they also told her he went to Dunop anyway. He would enlighten Yave with the Sword of Decree. That brought her hope. Maybe that was the reason for the peace on this evening.
Enin broke that peace.
"Holli! They're back. They're digging again."
"Where?"
"Close. Very close to the surface."
She almost cursed, but she discarded her emotions. She became as dark as an assassin and as determined as the north wind in a snow storm. She called first to the closest tower.
"Tower guard! Light your signal fires. Alert all positions, we are under attack! Have the bell rung. Everyone is to return to their posts."
The bell rang immediately. The clang broke the peace just as the thought of battle chased away the cold. Clamoring in the streets followed. Those previously resting in their homes hurried into the streets. They looked to the towers first and read the signal fires. The message confirmed their greatest fears. Most ran to their positions, though some lost their courage, and took back to their homes.
Holli turned to those around her, to the humans that stood on the wall. Most of them never held a bow before two days ago, and except for a few professional soldiers, none had ever faced battle. She gave them a quick nudge of encouragement.
"Hold to your positions. Remember the men and women that risk their lives on the ground. For them, for your homes, pick your targets and aim with a mind to the threat this enemy represents. Distance yourself from fear, remorse or regret. Become the tool of your own survival."
She turned back to Enin who stood upon the ground below her. "How close are they to the surface?"
"They are moving up fast. The ground is in total upheaval."
Holli looked to the ladders filled with defenders. Many struggled to climb quickly. In their haste, they were creating bottlenecks. It would take time to redeploy the full complement of the archers and slingers.
Better news on the streets. Sy had the ground forces in position. The diversions would start well coordinated. Group leaders were already communicating through hand signals. All lamps burned brightly and the streets remained well lit. The nets and bulwarks waited as formidable obstacles to keep the dwarves from reaching key defense points. When the enemy surfaced, they would face considerable challenges, and a hail of arrow fire—if the archers would only reach their positions in time.
As if to crush this hope, the first dwarf burst through the ground within one block of Holli's position. After the digger broke open the surfacing point, warrior dwarves began to pour out the opening.
Holli called out her first battle commands. "Tower guard. First dwarf tunnel at southwest region, block four. Signal all posts. Archers hold your fire. Let the ground forces bring them to the ambush points."
Holli looked again to the archers struggling to reach their elevated positions. Too many of them remained stranded on the ground or fighting to climb the ladders. She scanned the streets, searching for more dwarf surfacing tunnels. To her surprise, she could not find any others.
"Only one," she mumbled to herself with slight surprise. "I would have thought they would have been better coordinated. If we could just ..."
She stopped herself in mid-sentence as she yelled a request to the wizard. "Enin?! Can you seal that tunnel? Just for a moment. We need just a little more time."
Enin answered in the form of action. His arms spread over his head. The familiar white circles found their place at his wrists. With a flash of his hands, the circles erupted into a blast of energy which cascaded across the air like the rolling wheels of a freight train. The two circles of magic power plowed into the ground atop the opening of the dwarf tunnel. A seal of white magic formed about the opening, closing the exit to hundreds of dwarves still beneath the surface.
Enin called back to Holli. "They'll dig around it, but it will take some time. The spell will fade quickly anyway. It would take too much energy to keep it in place for long. You have only a few extra moments."
"That's all we nee
d. Thank you. Make haste wizard. I fear you will be needed more this evening and you are vulnerable upon the ground."
Enin smiled. The elf not only requested his assistance, but acknowledged he would be needed again. He nodded his head before he swerved away in another direction.
Holli surveyed the current situation. All the archers were moving quickly now. A signal came from the tower across town to the east, then another from the north. Two more surfacing points appeared. She could not hope to seal those, but it no longer mattered. They appeared too late to take advantage of the momentary scramble. Her forces were now almost completely in place.
Another signal, another opening in the ground. The mass of the dwarf army would begin its swarm soon enough, but for now, she turned her attention to the first true threat.
Roughly thirty dwarves had surfaced from the first tunnel before Enin had sealed it. Their force commander was with them and had them in formation. The commander was taking his time, making observations as he waited for the remainder of his force to break through the blocked exit point. This was a seasoned warrior.
"Taking him out would certainly add to our advantage," Holli whispered.
Her hands took to her bow. An arrow found the string. With fluid movement, her deft fingers pulled back the bow string and released it in one quick motion. The arrow sizzled through the dark, the feathers whistling through time and space. The razor sharp tip plunged in to the force commander's neck, just above his armored breast plate.
The dwarf did not fall immediately. He fought against the gripping hands of death. He pulled the shaft from his body and threw it with disgust. He could not see the wound but he knew it was mortal. He glared back at the source of the strike, fiery hate raged in his eyes. He spat in Holli's direction before he crumpled to the ground.
At first, the surfaced dwarves held their formation in the face of their commander's death, but many were raw recruits of the separatist movement. Like the humans on the wall, they had never faced true battle. Without a force commander, they shuffled about their positions. They looked to the sealed tunnel. Diggers were finally breaking around Enin's force field. Hope of reinforcements held them in place. They waited impatiently for support and for guidance.
Holli pressed upon their growing uncertainty. She ordered the archers around her to send a single volley of arrows at the dwarves. There was an immediate response.
The twang of bowstrings was nearly simultaneous. Dozens of arrows cut through the night, harbingers of death for the dwarf invaders. Some of the shafts bore the carved inscription of "Dwarf". Many of the tips were coated with poison.
Holli methodically surveyed the damage. Most arrows plunged into the ground. Others slammed against dwarf armor, the shafts shattering as the tips flattened against iron chest plates or helmets. A handful, however, found their mark and five dwarves dropped with fatal or serious wounds. She was pleased.
She stroked their confidence. "Good shooting, excellent shooting."
The dwarves below began to break. They scattered with little thought to direction. Some came to the wall and Holli ordered another volley. More dwarves fell. The archers cheered.
Holli nodded in approval. Over a dozen dwarves were down. The survivors ran without formation, no longer a threat. They would be taken out by other archers on rooftops or by Sy's men.
The thought of the ground forces compelled her to consider the battle as a whole. She looked to the towers. Signals of dwarf movement were becoming more frequent. Based on this information, she calculated only seven or eight surfacing points, more good news for she expected over a dozen. At the beginning, the dwarf forces would be clustered together, easier targets for her archers. She needed to move to other areas to check on their progress. Before she left, she handed command over to the senior guard soldier.
"Keep them firing at the surface point. Try to hold them down there as long as possible. They won't stop coming up. There's probably hundreds down there. Slow them as much as you can and don't let your people get discouraged."
She yelled her final directions for all to hear.
"There is a long night ahead. Keep your fire focused on that surfacing point. Don't all fire at once. Remember your training. Shoot in groups of five, reload and wait for your turn to fire again. A constant barrage is better than intermittent larger ones, so keep the arrows flying. Pick your targets and try to make every arrow count. Don't be fooled. They'll eventually realize your position and they will come after you. If they attack the wall, break to safety and fire again. I'll be back as soon as possible."
