Voll saw them running back towards his position and he cringed at his failure. He was experiencing a double defeat by turning out to be an ineffective leader and losing Aegyn to the elves in one single battle. Voll cursed, turned on his horse, and then commanded his warriors to follow him to a safe rally point out of range of the elven spider archers.
Commander Urish did not fare any better, as an even stronger force of the spider battalion hit them. As the human forces neared the wall, the elves hit them with a larger force of spiders that were launched from a catapult from behind the fortress walls. A large black ball sailed across the sky and exploded directly above his force. Instead of small spiders, the ball broke up into five smaller pieces that then floated down to the ground using webbing to slow their descent. Five separate spiders that stood slightly taller than a man glided to the ground and began to attack the humans.
A handful of humans dropped their weapons and ran back into the woods while the rest attacked the spiders as soon as they hit the ground. The spiders in return spread out and sprayed a web around the first humans that charged near them, immobilizing them with their sticky web. They fell to the ground, swords and shields in hand, squirming and trying to escape the sticky webbing. The second wave of humans hit the spiders in a rush so large that the spiders could not do anything except a futile attempt to knock down the warriors with their spindly legs or grab a warrior and bite them with their large teeth. One spider managed to grab a warrior and landed a bite into his chest, and then webbed him up and dragged his lifeless body into the woods.
The remaining four spiders did not have a chance against the massive rush of humans that attacked them. The humans attacked and hacked at the spiders long after they were dead as if they feared they would reassemble their body parts and rise again to attack.
As they were doing that, the elves sent another barrage of arrows that exploded the little black venomous spiders directly above them. Knowing what was coming, the humans did as Voll’s force did earlier, and turned and ran back into the woods. Seeing all of the humans run in fear, the elves defending the fortress cheered and sent out taunts for the humans not to return to their fortress or else experience much more of the same thing.
Voll returned from his side of the battle just in time to witness the retreat and wanted to yell at his warriors to get back into the fray. They had the numbers to overwhelm this fortress, and the elves could not produce enough magical spiders to stop this large of a force. Daegon built this force to be so large, that if they encountered a fortress such as this that they could attack and occupy it with no siege engines other than simple ladders. Yes, the casualties would be high, but Daegon was willing to accept that in exchange for speed.
Voll charged his steed into the clearing and yelled at his men to get back into the fight. As he did so, he witnessed the small spiders attacking thirty of his men as they jumped and swatted at their bodies, some were taking off their armor in a feeble attempt to rid themselves of the poisonous attackers. The elves on the battlements took advantage of the confusion and began to pick the defenseless warriors off one at a time.
Voll looked up and watched them as they laughed amongst themselves in the slaughter. They did not need to make a sport of it, the men would die from the poisonous bites soon enough. Though, he did find it a slight relief in the fact that the elves, in their sport, were inadvertently putting them out of their misery. He was beginning to fully understand the core of Daegon’s hatred for these elves.
He realized that there was nothing he could do to stop this retreat, so as the last unaffected warrior ran past him, he turned around and charged back into the woods and commanded his men to sound retreat and to fall back to their rally point. Voll grabbed one of the bows and a quiver of arrows from one of his archers and charged back into the clearing. He dropped the reigns, took aim, and knocked out three elves unawares as they were still intrigued in taking out the suffering humans. The rest of the elves realizing that they were under attack again took cover, giving Voll enough time to change his target from the elves to his own warriors. He was not going to allow the elves to take his men out of their misery; he was going to do it himself.
By the time he emptied his quiver there were only five men on the ground still alive. Their faces were turning black as they had twisted and turned in pain. Voll unsheathed his sword from his saddle, jumped off of his horse, and ran to the men stabbing each of them in the chest killing them instantly. The last man alive saw what was happening and climbed up on all fours exposing his neck to allow a swift execution. Voll shook his head, feeling the man’s pain as he raised his sword above his head and came down with a swift and powerful swing, severing the head from its body. Blood sprayed to the ground as the body fell flat in the hard dirt.
Anger filled Voll’s chest as he turned to find his steed, but noticed that the metal door of the main gate dropped with an earth-pounding thud. He turned around as he mounted his horse just in time to see the elves charging out of their fortress towards him. They had them on the run and they were planning on finishing them. Voll smiled, as this was too unreal. Why would they leave their defensive position in attempt to route their opponent? The elves had to know they were still outnumbered and did not have enough troops to overrun his force. Voll hurried to reach back to the rally point in hopes that they could still defeat this force while the gate lay on the ground exposing their castle.
* * *
“What are you doing?” Traelyn yelled at Naemyn, grabbing the back of his cloak as he looked over the battlements, watching the catapult shoot the large spiders over the wall. “Your king ordered you not to fight us.”
“What do you expect me to do, your forces are attacking us!” he barked without turning around, watching the launch above the human soldiers break up and turn into five large spiders. He smiled as the warriors closest to the spiders turned and ran like the cowards that they were, but cringed as the second wave of humans crashed into the spiders, killing them within minutes.
Now angry, Naemyn turned to Traelyn. “What would you have me do?”
“Do as your king commands and stop fighting!”
“And let these humans of yours take our southernmost outpost? We are merely defending our post from your own people. If anything, your commanders are betraying your orders. If you want the fighting to stop, you might as well go out there and tell them to stop.”
“If I do that, I will be thrown in the middle of a dogfight and killed. You would let me do this?”
“No, I would not. I see your point,” he agreed, rubbing his chin.
“Make your people stop the fighting,” she pleaded.
Naemyn looked over the battlements again and saw the spider archers let loose another barrage of the small spiders that drifted down above the hapless humans.
“I cannot make them stop,” he said, “look at them, if I told them to stop, they would rebel and ask the king for my head. I am not their leader. I am merely the spiritual advisor to the king.”
“You are trying to tell me that you have no say in matters of the state?”
“That is exactly what I am telling you. The commander of this fortress is only defending it against your people.”
“I don’t believe you Naemyn. You have been whispering in the king’s ear back when Keiyann was the king. That may have been many years ago, but that I do remember.”
Naemyn ignored her last comment and walked off of the battlement catwalk, down the stairs and onto the inner bailey where a force of seventy elves were mustering for a possible breach. He stood and watched them mingle for a few moments until he spotted the captain. He raised his hood and walked over to him.
“How does it look out there?” the captain asked as he saluted.
“Greynim’s Spider Battalion is
terrorizing them and they are now in retreat.”
The captain smiled. “What will you have us do now?”
“I want you to open the gates and attack their retreat.”
The captain’s smile disappeared and was replaced with slight fear. “Their force is so large, is that wise?”
“It is, because we are also going to retreat. We will not be able to hold this fortress for very much longer. Eventually their leaders will regroup their numbers and then they will regain their morale and attack and overrun us. Your force will go out there to give us time to escape so that they will not follow us.”
The captain saluted. “We will do as you command!”
Naemyn turned away as the captain yelled at his troops to prepare for battle. He picked up his pace, as he needed to talk to the castellan and inform him of his decision to abandon the fortress. He knew the castellan would not be happy, but he also knew that he would not dare to interfere with the decision.
* * *
The gate dropped and the elves charged out of the fortress, passing at the feet of their headless hero. Many of them noticed the statue having been beheaded and in a rage picked up the pace and charged after the humans into the forest. The humans were caught unprepared for such an impromptu defensive tactic, but Voll and Commander Urish were able to pull up their forces and turn them around for a counter attack.
The first line of defense clashed with the attacking elves to the roar of shouts from the humans, then the clang of swords and shields smashing into their foes. The elves fought valiantly for an hour, but the humans continued to come in waves. Twenty or more human soldiers would fall and twenty more would replace them. Despite their disadvantage, the elves continued to press on, even though they began to lose ground and were almost back to the fortress gate.
Only twenty elves remained by the time they were pushed back to their hero. Almost as if Eranon gave them inspiration from the grave, the elves pressed forward killing another twenty humans without losing a single elven life. Heeding the call to help their fellow elves, archers from the battlements rained down a barrage of arrows, taking out the next line of reinforcements. The elves, feeling a sense of hope, charged again, gaining back some of the ground that they had lost.
The battle continued with neither side gaining ground for another thirty minutes. The elves fought with their backs against the fortress while the archers continued to pound down every wave as they were being replaced. Then, without warning, the arrows stopped coming. The elves on the ground continued to fight, but it did not take long for the swarm of humans to overcome the remaining handful of brave elves dying for their people.
Fearing a trap, Voll sent only a handful of men into the fortress, but within minutes, they came out shaking their heads.
“They’re gone!” one of them shouted as he crossed over the gate.
“What do you mean they’re gone?” Commander Urish shouted back.
Voll spurred his mount and charged into the fortress to find out that his scout was correct: the fortress had been abandoned. All of the battlements were unmanned, all of the inner buildings were eerily silent, there wasn’t even any horses left behind in the stables. It was as if all of the people had been magically removed, for there was evidence of recent habitation, including fresh footprints in the dirt, tools, and equipment dropped in place. Then it became clear that the elven ground attack was only to give them time to abandon their keep.
“We have won!” Voll shouted when he returned.
The humans cheered, as this was their first major victory against the elves. For many years Daegon had attempted to find this fortress and attack and occupy it, but had been unsuccessful in doing so as the forested tangle inhibited them from getting anywhere close to the fortress. Voll wished Commander Daegon were here to take part in this victory, so he did the next best thing and called Traegon to come forward with his force behind him.
Traegon spurred his horse and galloped up to the smiling Voll.
“We did it! Your father would be proud,” Voll said to his commander’s son.
“We should regroup and advance farther north.” Traegon suggested.
“We will, but not you. You need to inform him of what we are doing, so I want you to go back to him. Return that cursed talisman to him and bring your father back here so that he can join us and attack the elven capital. Will you do that?”
“Yes, I will,” he answered, a bit hesitant of being sent on another mission to help someone else.
Voll then shouted to the rest of the force, raising his sword and making his horse turn a tight circle. “You have won this battle for Daegon, father of Traegon, now we will charge north to finish the battle!”
Traegon also raised his sword then kicked his mount and charged southward back to the catacombs.
“Follow me!” Voll shouted as he led his force into the fortress. He ran through the staging area and then found the elven standard as it flew above the Keep Tower. He ran to the flagpole, grabbed the rope and ran it down and then replaced it with the human standard of the Great Mother: A red flag with a black iron crown. Voll went to the inner gatehouse up the stairs and continued up to the top tower, seeing brave happy warriors in the inner bailey and he then looked outward and saw many more of his battle ready and untouched warriors.
“Fort Stone-Elf is now ours!” he yelled as loud as he could, knowing that it would be impossible for everyone to hear, but he knew the word would get out. “I now proclaim this fortress Fort Traelyn!”
Chapter 29
“Why did we leave?” Traelyn shouted at Naemyn as she rode in the back of a covered carriage as it speedily bounced along the road to the elven capital. “You were supposed to stop the fighting and make peace, not retreat!”
“You don’t know the king like I do, my lady, I have known him for the many years since you have been away, and I assure you that he is not the same person you once knew,” he said leaning back, giving her the impression that he was bored and that her view was insignificant.
Traelyn took the hint and stayed quiet for the rest of the trip. She would talk to Jaerick. She could not be confident that Naemyn was not wrong in saying that Jaerick was a different person, but she also knew that she and Jaerick were connected with this prophecy by the dreams she had. Though she was not looking to rekindle her love for the elven prince, now king, she was looking for answers to this calling.
She looked at her hands and marveled at the soft new skin she had, soft skin that had left her many years ago. She had to force herself to remember that her appearance was youthful again. She had not looked at her reflection yet, but she could tell by her skin and feel of her soft hair that she had her youth back.
Naemyn sat across from her looking out the window. She had never trusted this elf, but now she mistrusted him even more. Was she now his captive, and he was misleading her into thinking all was well? Was Jaerick also part of the plan to capture the leader of the human forces? Her mind began to spin many different possibilities, all coming to horrible conclusions. She wanted to jump out of the carriage, but the curiosity for answers kept her in place.
As hard as she tried to come to any certain conclusion, she could not. She did not understand how she could come so far in this whole affair and still not have the answers. Her memories were now completely restored, yet she still did not know how they were restored to her, and according to Jaerick, his memories of her were restored for the same unknown reason. However, she felt Naemyn knew all of the answers, yet was not going to divulge them to her.
The more she thought about it, the more she brewed in her anger towards the smug elf that sat across from her. The sun began to set upon the land, and so too did her thoughts as she drifted off to an uncomfortable sleep. When
she awoke it was morning. She had slept through the whole night in the back of the carriage. To her surprise, she found herself laying down on the bench seat with a blanket that had been placed over her by Naemyn.
“Good morning,” he said with a pleasant smile that she found oddly comforting.
She sat up grabbing the blanket and wrapped it around her as she brought her knees to her chest. “How much longer?” she asked groggily.
Naemyn looked out the window briefly. “Only a few more minutes. I see the familiar cedar trees that surround the lakeshore. We have been on the western side of Lake Aalararae for many minutes, so we should be arriving very soon. You should prepare yourself.”
“Prepare myself for what?” she asked, slightly unsure of his intent.
“We are on the cusp of a civil war,” he answered. “Look out the window.”
Traelyn unfolded her legs and leaned over to look out the window. They were now travelling down a large main road through the city. Elves were running through the street, all of them male, and in a panic as if running for cover.
“Why is this happening?” she asked.
“I have sent word ahead that you were returning. The Sor Elves do not want you here, the Val Elves trust their king, but the Agin-Sorae have threatened to severe the peace ties between the two factions of elves if you are to return.”
“Why would you tell the people of my return knowing it would cause this turmoil?”
Quarterstars Awakening Page 25
