The Sorcerer's Ring: Book 05 - A Vow of Glory (29 page)

Suddenly,
there came a huge rush of water, and as Thor looked down, he saw the waters
foaming, bubbling.

He
knew something was about to attack them. Something big.

“Brace
yourself!” he screamed.

Before
them came an explosion of water, and bursting up from beneath the surface came
a massive sea monster. It was unlike anything Thor had ever lain eyes upon. It
was a huge, whale-like creature, its jaws twenty feet long, filled with rows of
razor-sharp teeth. Its red eyes protruded from the side of its head, several
feet wide, and its nose curved upward, several feet, with razors on the end of
it.

Its
open jaws came down for the boat, and Thor's reflexes kicked in. Without
thinking, he placed a stone in his sling, leaned back, and hurled it with all
he had, aiming for the monster’s nose. Thor remembered hearing that the nose
was the most sensitive place to wound a beast, and he prayed with all he had that
it was true. If not, within seconds, they would all be inside the beast’s
stomach.

It was
a perfect strike, at full force, and as the rock hit, the beast suddenly stopped,
halfway down, and leaned back and roared.

It was
an earth-shattering roar, loud enough to shake the waters and rock their boat;
Thor barely kept his footing as he reached up to grab his ears.

The
monster surfaced even higher, raising up another thirty feet, revealing rows of
claws extending along the side of its body, tapering to a point, looking like a
whale crossed with a sea snake.

All
the Legion broke into action, inspired by Thor, hurling spears at the beast,
all lodging into its body; Elden threw an axe, lodging into its head, and
O’Connor managed to fire off three arrows, all landing with precision in one
eye.

But,
to Thor’s shock, the beast remained unfazed. It simply pulled them all out as
if they were toothpicks using its various claws, then threw them into the
water.

The beast,
even angrier, threw back its head, opened its jaws twice as wide, and brought
them down again, preparing to slice them all in half.

This
time, there was nothing left to stop them.

As Gwendolyn
watched the Empire break down the gates below and pour into Silesia, she stood
there frozen. She could hardly believe it had come to this so quickly. All of
their carefully-laid plans for defense, washed away in a matter of hours.

“My
lady, we must move!” Steffen yelled beside her, frantic, tugging on her arm.

She
snapped out of it, her instincts kicking in. She saw Srog, Brom, Kolk,
Kendrick, Godfrey and the others all retreating with the soldiers down the back
steps of the parapets, and she remembered their contingency plan. She had gone
over the plan endlessly with her generals, and now it was surreal to see it put
into motion.

As the
first Empire soldiers rushed through the gates, Srog turned to his men and
screamed:

“NOW!”

Several
soldiers pulled huge levers from up above, and as they did, a trap door opened
up in the ground below, right past the gate, making all the soldiers fall,
dozens of Empire men, screaming, into a deep and dark pit. The massive hole
prevented the soldiers from getting any farther past the gates, into Silesia.
It bought Gwen and the others precious time—but Gwen knew it wouldn’t hold them
back for long, and they all continued with their controlled retreat.

The
Empire men were beginning to catch on, and they stopped racing into the city,
stopping at the gates, right before the pit. Yet they were log jammed, with
nowhere to go; unable to back up, their own men stampeded them, rushing to
enter the city, and pushed more and more men, screaming, into the pit.

When
the tide of men finally stopped, they began to turn back around, press their
way out of the gates, and look for other ways into the city.

It
bought Gwen and her people the time they needed to retreat. Gwen was pleased to
see this plan working—it had been a finishing touch that she had added to the
war plans. It allowed them time to marshal the citizens, to gather the old men
and women, the children and usher them from their homes and through the arched
gates leading down to the lower city. To save time in the descent, Gwen had had
iron poles installed up and down the walls, and dozens of citizens at a time
grabbed and slid their way down the mountain, landing on the lower levels in an
orderly fashion.

The
plan worked like clockwork, and within a matter of minutes, all of the
Silesians of the upper city were safely past the second set of city gates, and
descending down to the lower levels. Gwen stood outside the gates, waiting for
the last person to exit, making sure no one was left behind, Steffen and Kendrick
standing loyally by her side. Finally, assured everyone was gone, she passed
through, and as she did, four rows of heavy iron spiked gates came down behind
her, one after the other. It would not be easy to penetrate, especially as they
were embedded in stone walls a dozen feet thick.

Gwen
joined the soldiers on next line of defense, the upper parapets, behind the
bars, at the Canyon’s edge. She took up a position beside Steffen, Kendrick,
Godfrey, Srog and the others. Hundreds of Silesian archers knelt there, waiting
to hold this final line of defense.

Down
below, Gwen could already see the first of the Empire troops scaling the walls into
the courtyard, lowering ropes and ladders for the others to follow. Within
moments, dozens followed, already charging right for them, towards the second
set of iron gates. But only so many men could filter through at a time, given
that they could not charge through on foot, their way blocked by the huge pit
before the gates.

Kendrick
knelt beside her, holding his own bow, waiting.

“NOT
YET!" he called to his men, all awaiting his command.

The
men got closer and closer, and the air filled with tension.

"FIRE!"
Kendrick screamed, standing with his bow.

Hundreds
of Silesian soldiers stood with him, among them Godfrey, Steffen, Srog, Brom,
Kolk—and even Gwendolyn—and a hail of arrows fell from the sky, stopping dozens
of Empire soldiers in their tracks.

The
archers immediately restrung and fired again. And again.

They
managed to take out the first round of men, to keep the courtyard empty of
them, filling the ground with their bodies. The Empire had been caught off
guard, unprepared for a counterattack after they had breached the gates.

But no
matter how many they killed, the Empire soldiers kept coming. Soon, on their
heels, there arrived a discipline squad of archers, who took a knee, raised
shields in unison to block the hail of arrows, then fired back.

Gwen ducked
as the sky filled with arrows heading their way. One sailed by her head, just
missing.

Some
of the other Silesians were not as fast as she, and a few of them screamed out,
wounded, and collapsed over the stone wall, hurling down, dead.

Gwen stood
and fired again, and was surprised to see she actually hit one, in the throat. She
felt a hand pull her down as an arrow flew by her ear. It was Steffen, beside
her.

"There
are advantages to being short, my lady," he said. "You do not have
these. Follow me and stay low.”

Steffen
peaked over the edge, leaned over with his bow and fired three quick shots,
taking out three soldiers nearing the gate.

"You
do not need to be tall to kill a man," he said to her. "If there's
one thing I've learned in my life, it is this.”

The
fighting went on for round after round, arrows flying incessantly, screaming
erupting from both sides as bodies mounted. Empire bodies piled up in the
courtyard as hours passed.

Still,
more and more Empire troops scaled the walls like ants. The only saving grace
for the Silesians was that the Empire was trickling in, unable to charge over
the pit at the gate.

And
then, everything changed. Gwen watched with horror as a squadron of Empire soldiers
appeared with long wooden planks and laid them down over the pit at the
entrance. One by one they covered it up, and soon, they managed to cover it
completely, building a bridge. They didn’t try to rescue their soldiers trapped
below; instead, to save time, they smothered them, building a bridge over their
heads.

With the
makeshift bridge laid, hundreds of Empire soldiers rushed into the inner
courtyard, at a dizzying pace. They all let out a battle cry, charging for the
gates.

Gwendolyn's
heart dropped. Her men were running out of arrows, their ranks dwindling, and
she knew their time was numbered. They couldn’t continue to hold the line, to
hold back this many men for long.

The Empire
soldiers parted ways as a huge iron battering ram was wheeled forward by two
dozen men. They charged forward and slammed it into the iron gate with a crash.
The ground shook beneath Gwen as the metal bent.

These
four iron gates, which seemed indefensible, were already proving vulnerable.

"CAULDRONS!"
Kendrick screamed.

Silesian
soldiers rushed forward, and as one they poured huge cauldrons of molten tar
over the edge.

Screams
arose from below as dozens of Empire soldiers were doused in the thick liquid.

"ARCHERS!”
Kendrick screamed.

The
archers stepped forward, this time armed with flaming arrows, and fired down at
the soldiers doused in tar, setting them on fire.

Screams
filled the courtyard as the flames spread, and dozens more died. Bodies piled
high at the gates. It would have been enough to stop any other army.

But not
Andronicus.

The
Empire troops kept coming. And coming. There was no end to them.

Gwen
watched in horror as the battering ram was taken up by others, who rammed the first
gate so hard that they knocked it off its hinges. The Empire troops erupted in
a cheer. Only three gates to go.

“My
lady, we're nearly out of tar and—" Srog reported urgently.

Before
he could finish there came another crash, so strong it sent Gwendolyn stumbling
back; she peered down to see they took out the second iron gate.

"It’s
time to retreat to the lower city!" Srog said.

Gwen
realized he was right. She nodded, and without hesitation Srog called out:
"RETREAT!”

Gwen's
soldiers turned and gave up their posts, sprinting down the back staircases from
the rear wall.

Gwen
joined the others in hurrying down the stone steps, descending flight after
flight, passing dozens of soldiers standing guard on her way down, all taking
positions at every level. There came another great crash, and Gwen looked over her
shoulder, and with a pit in her stomach, watched the third iron gate give way.

As
soon as Gwen and the others cleared the lower levels, they reached up and turned
huge cranks; as they did, it raised a minefield of iron spikes, shooting
straight up into the air, covering the lower city like a shield. As the Empire
crashed through the fourth and final gate with a cheer, they raced forward
through the arched gate, expecting to attack.

But
there was nowhere for them to go. The lower city was protected from above by a
field of iron spikes. A few soldiers could not stop in time, and they kept
charging, and fell through the air, impaling themselves on the spikes, dangling
in the air, their blood dripping down.

Finally,
the Empire troops stopped, and stood at the very edge of the Canyon, looking down
at the spikes below and realizing there was no way down to the lower city
without going through them.

Gwendolyn
looked up, and saw that finally, the Empire could not proceed. Finally, they
were safe.

As
Gwen reached the lower levels of the city, she was greeted by dozens of her
generals, all anxiously awaiting her. The citizens milled about, an agitated
buzz in the air.

"We
are safe down here, my lady," Srog said. "There is no way for them to
get through.”

"Yes
but for how long?" Kendrick asked, as they all convened, surrounded by
their troops.

"As
long as we need to," he replied.

"As
long as we don’t run out of food and supplies," Brom added ominously.

"How
long can we survive done here, without provisions?" Kolk asked.

Srog
shook his head.

"It
has never been tested. Maybe a week. Maybe two.”

"And
then what?" asked Kendrick.

Slowly,
Srog shook his head.

"At
least we are safe from their reach," he said.

"But
we are not safe from hunger," Gwendolyn added.

Gwendolyn
looked up with the others, saw the faces of the Empire soldiers, looking down,
and knew that, sooner or later, they would find a way to get down here. And
now, backed into a corner, they had nowhere left to run.

Eventually,
they would have to face them—or die.