Shades of the Past: The Morcyth Saga Book Six (19 page)

He takes the package and unrolls it on the
ground. Within are three six foot staves, each are sharpened on one
end. Attached by a leather thong to the other end is a crystal,
glowing a deep crimson. One of the staves has a red chord tied to
it just beneath the crystal.

Handing Devin and Moyil each a staff, he
takes the one with the red chord and moves to center himself before
his men. Raising it high, he plunges it into the ground. When he
has it secured and not likely to fall over, he says to the other
two, “Do the same with yours, ten yards in either direction.

They nod their heads as Devin moves to the
right and Moyil moves to the left. Once they reach approximately
the specified distance, they turn back and glance to James. When
they receive his nod, they drive their staves into the ground.
After they’re securely within the ground, he and the boys return to
where the others are waiting. Some look at him questioningly about
the staves but he gives no explanation.

By this time the catapults are in position, a
wagon of large stones stands ready by each. He has Jiron and the
fighters from The Ranch station themselves just behind the line of
staves. Delia and her slingers are placed just behind them. Brother
Willim with his brethren move to stand near James. The Black Hawk
banner bearer moves to the fore and stands just past the line of
staves. At that a cheer erupts from the Black Hawk Raiders who are
arrayed to either side at the rear.

James glances back to the walls of Lythylla.
The gate stands open and he knows Lord Pytherian has riders and
fighters ready to come to their aid should he require it.

“Cowards!” he hears Stig exclaim when the
enemy remains behind their palisade.

“It’s not cowardice to remain behind a
fortification,” Illan says loudly. “Why should they meet us in
battle when they can defend from a point of strength? It’s obvious
we’re going to attack.”

All of the strategies James worked on had one
element in common, the enemy was to attack. He’s not sure if what
he plans will be as effective going up against a foe that is
entrenched behind a protective wall.

An idea comes to him and he has Devin ride
back into Lythylla. When Illan raises an eyebrow in question he
just grins and shrugs. Shortly after he enters the gates, Devin
reappears again followed by several wagons full of barrels.

The wagons roll forward and come to a stop by
the catapults. “Oil and pitch,” James finally says to Illan.

“Going to burn the palisade down?” he
asks.

“Doubt if it will do that,” he says. “But it
will annoy them and give us a smoke screen.” He moves to the
officer in charge of the catapults and asks, “Can you hit the wall
with the barrels?”

The officer turns and gauges the distance to
the palisade and replies, “Might. Not sure how they’ll fly once
released.”

“If you can at least get close it will be
worthwhile,” he tells him.

“Close for sure,” he says and then has his
men begin loading one barrel at a time into each catapult’s
cup.

“Fire when you’re ready,” James tells
him.

Once all the catapults have a barrel in their
cup, the officer yells, “Loose!”

The lever on each is pulled and the arm
launches the barrels toward the palisade. Four fall short while one
containing tar manages to hit the wall near the gate. A cheer goes
up from the men as the arms of the catapults are once again pulled
back in place. Another barrel is placed within the cup and let
loose.

James watches the second volley fly overhead
when all of a sudden he feels the familiar tingling of magic. Atop
the palisade, he spies the warrior priest with arms upraised. When
the tingling spikes, a fireball materializes as it flies toward the
catapults. About to cast a counter spell, he feels another tingle,
this one closer.

Brother Willim throws a small, green object
into the air and says a few unintelligible words. The object begins
to grow as it races toward the oncoming fireball. It grows at an
astounding rate and when it encounters the fireball, engulfs it and
drags it to the ground.

“Nice,” he hears Jiron say from his position
in the front of the group.

The catapults continue their barrage of pitch
and oil. James moves to Hedry and asks, “Can one of your archers
send a flaming arrow out there?”

“Not a problem,” he replies. Turning to his
men, he hollers, “Erik, Jorn, send them a present if you
would.”

Having overheard what James had asked Hedry,
they remove a piece of cloth. Tearing off four strips, they tie
them tightly just behind the arrowheads of four arrows. With a
third person bearing a lit torch, they move forward past the line
of staves to get within arrow range.

Another fireball flies from the palisade
wall, this time aimed at the archers moving forward, and again
Brother Willim brings it down.

The archers finally reach the appropriate
distance just as another volley of barrels sails over their heads.
By this time the area before the palisade is covered in pitch and
oil, some of the barrels having managed to strike the walls of the
palisade. The torch bearer lights their arrows and they take
aim.

Loosing their arrows, two flaming lines of
fire streak through the air on a trajectory to land within the
flammable material. Just before they close the distance an
unnatural gust of wind knocks them awry and they land a dozen yards
short. A tingling sensation ran through him just before the wind
materialized, indicating the warrior priest was responsible.

“Damn!” curses James. He watches as they aim
and loose the last of their modified arrows. As before, when
they’re halfway to their target, another gust of wind skews their
trajectory and they fall short. The two men and the torch bearer
turn about and head back quickly to their lines. A cheer rises from
the men manning the palisade.

As another volley of barrels flies overhead,
the officer in charge of the catapults says to him, “That’s the
last of them.”

“Start with the rocks then,” he tells
him.

Nodding, the officer begins having his men
fill the catapults with large boulders.

James moves back to where Illan, Ceadric and
Jiron are conferring. Jiron looks to him at his approach and asks,
“Now what? Looks like we’re stymied.”

“No, we’re not,” he replies. He moves to
intercept the torchbearer as he rejoins the others. Before he has a
chance to extinguish the torch, James takes it from him. Turning
toward the enemy, his shimmering shield springs into being and he
begins moving forward.

Brother Willim and his fellows fall into line
behind him to follow. He glances back and sees them there. “Stay
here with the others,” he tells them.

“No, we go with you,” Brother Willim
replies.

Shrugging his shoulders, James continues
marching toward the oil and pitch spread across the base of the
palisade. A quick look to the palisade shows the warrior priest is
no longer there.
Where did he go?

As James reaches the range of the crossbowmen
lining the walls, a volley of bolts flies forward only to be
deflected by his shield. Brother Willim and the others are using
their staves to knock the bolts from the air before they can reach
them. Small bursts of tingling sensations tell James it’s not skill
alone which is allowing the bolts to be deflected by the
staves.

He comes to a stop ten feet from the edge of
the oil and pitch. With all his might, he throws the torch forward.
As the torch leaves his hand, the gates of the palisade open to
reveal the warrior priest.

The torch hits the oil and pitch, igniting a
raging inferno. The heat from the flames forces him to back away
quickly. The Hand of Asran backs away as well. Suddenly from beside
him, he hears Brother Willim gasp.

Returning his gaze to the inferno, he sees
four creatures emerging from the flames. Half the size of a horse
and looking like a large wolf, these creatures turn their red eyes
on James and the priests of Asran. One raises its head and howls
then all four spring forward.

Dreading another encounter with these
creatures, James backs away quickly. Over the winter, he’s worked
on various methods to deal with them should he ever encounter them
again. He reaches into a small pouch on his belt and removes one of
two glowing crystals contained within. Throwing it into the path of
the charging creatures, he turns and races away.

Brother Willim and his men turn as well and
break into a run.

When the lead creature reaches the crystal,
James cries out, “Encase!”

A flash of blue light and the creature
becomes encased in a block of ice. The red eyes within begin
growing dim as the ice steals the heat, and thus its life, away.
The other three bound around the encased creature and continue the
pursuit. James tosses down the remaining crystal in their path and
a moment later, another of the creatures is immobilized in ice.

“What in god’s name are those?” Ceadric cries
out.

“James called them hell hounds,” replies
Jiron. When Ceadric draws his sword and makes to go to his aid,
Jiron stops him. “Swords won’t harm them,” he explains. “This is
something James has to handle on his own.”

Gazing at the events unfolding before him,
Ceadric slams his sword back in its scabbard with a curse.

The fire continues to rage, though it is
starting to subside now that the fuel sustaining it is being used
up. A portion of the palisade is on fire and they can see men
working to put it out before it’s destroyed. Black, noxious fumes
roll over the battlefield, most of it rolling back over the
Empire’s forces.

James turns and faces the remaining
creatures, the shield around him shimmers in the sunlight. Just as
before, the creatures strike at the shield causing a jump in the
amount of magic required to maintain the barrier. This time,
however, he uses the knowledge gained from the last time he faced
these creatures and the shimmer of the shield turns slightly blue.
When one of the creatures again raises a paw to touch the barrier,
it pulls it back with a yelp as the coldness of the shield burns
it.

The creatures pace around the shield as they
try to figure a way in. As they pace, the ground under them
suddenly erupts as vines rise from the earth to ensnare them.
Casting a look to Brother Willim, he sees the Hand standing several
yards away, one of the brothers lost in concentration.

“The warrior priest!” another brother says as
he points toward the now dying fire. The flames seem to roll back
as a path is cleared through the fire. Making his way through the
now cleared area walks the warrior priest.

“You take care of the creatures,” Brother
Willim tells James. “We’ll deal with him!”

James nods his head just as the sun overhead
is blotted out. Glancing to the sky, he sees a large dark mass
approaching from the east. Then the dark mass abruptly descends
from the heavens rapidly. At first afraid this may be some ploy of
the warrior priest, he’s soon to learn it’s in fact a large flock
of birds. Hundreds, thousands of birds consisting of dozens of
species both large and small, dive toward the walls above the
palisade and begin attacking the crossbowmen and soldiers lining
the top. Pecking, scratching, tearing, they stop the hail of bolts
that had begun again once the fire subsided enough for them to
see.

Distracted by the sight of the birds, he
fails to pay close enough attention to the circling creatures.
Before he even realizes, they both simultaneously strike the
shield. The abrupt spike in magic required to sustain it takes his
breath away. The creatures howl in pain as the cold of the shield
burns them, but do not relent. They begin pushing their way
through, the acrid smoke coming from where the shield burns them
fills the inner area of the shield.

Starting to cough, James is finding it more
and more difficult to draw a breath without inhaling the nauseating
smoke. He increases still further the amount of power to his shield
as he drops its temperature. It drops to a certain point and then
ceases to fall any further. Having two creatures of fire forcing
their way through must inhibit its ability to become colder.

Each of the creatures has a foreleg inside
the shield, their snouts now beginning to press through. James
knows he can’t prevent them from coming through and when they do,
he’s toast.
Toast
,
he almost chuckles at
the pun.

He does have one more ploy to attempt, but to
do it he’ll have to drop his shield for the required amount of
magic he’ll need. The problem there is that when he drops his
shield, he’ll have but a split second before the creatures are upon
him. Realizing he has no choice, he closes his eyes and
prepares.

The sound of an explosion from outside the
shield comes to him but he doesn’t allow it to break his
concentration. When he’s ready, he turns to face one of the
creatures, the other is behind him. As he drops his shield he leaps
to the side just as two more shields, one around each of the
creatures spring into being.

When his protective shield dropped, the
creatures were propelled forward by the force they were exerting to
breach the barrier. Then a fraction of a second before they struck
each other in the middle where James used to be, the shields
encasing each spring into life.

The battle between the warrior priest and the
Hand of Asran wages behind him but he doesn’t let that distract him
from the creatures before him. Snarling, biting, scratching, the
creatures try to escape their confines. Unlike the shield they
tried to breach that had surrounded him, these shields move with
them sort of like a hamster in an exercise ball. The magic used to
sustain them is much less than when they were trying to breach his
protective shield.