Esra (39 page)

       The Elite Horses were running full speed towards the town.  As the shapes came in to view, Esra noticed that the soldiers were wearing dark metal armor with a red stripe down the front of their helmets and breastplates.  The mark of Tallen, just like the ones who had captured her in Sorley.  Esra was able to pick out the ones that appeared to be sorcerers by the lack of armor and weapons. 
Ten.
  She sent the message to Nadia, silently impressed that Zakai was so close on his guess.

The rumbling grew louder as the sound of hooves beating the dry ground came upon the town, menacing and powerful.  Just before reaching the hills, a soldier in the front lifted his arm and the charge stopped abruptly, dust clouds rising from the sudden halt.  They stood there, unmoving, as Esra’s heart beat loudly in her ears.  She wondered what it was they had stopped for.  With only a few hundred meters between the town and the Elite army, the tension in the air was thick.  Back at the barricade there were murmurs of questions floating in the air. 

       “Why did they stop?”  A farm girl asked Zakai.

        “They sense something is very wrong.  They knew the Keepers would be here, of course, but I daresay they didn’t anticipate the whole town being ready fer them.  And I don’t think they had any idea there’d be Unni with ye.” 

       “Wouldn’t they have sent a scout?”  A young townsman with a scythe asks.

       “No, not the Elites, not fer this.  They have too many sorcerers in their midst.  They would have used magick te see that the Keepers were close and wouldn’t care fer much else.  Never would have assumed that they should look fer others, that the Unni might be with them.  Arrogance is certainly their flaw.”

       Baelin was standing a few steps away from the townspeople, holding his staff firmly in between his hands, feet planted shoulder width apart.  Suddenly the Elites lurched forward, two groups of a dozen soldiers breaking off to either side of the hills, accompanied by two sorcerers.  The remaining six sorcerers lingered behind the army as the rest of the warriors pushed forward.  Baelin closed his eyes as he began to murmur the words of the removing spell.  A moment later he nodded towards Nadia and Arland to indicate that he was finished.

A few of the Horses suddenly stumbled or were yanked to the ground as their feet were caught in the snares and holes.  Some of the riders could not avoid the fallen soldiers in time and were thrown from their mounts as the Horses collided.

       Nadia came to take Baelin’s place as he went up to the front line.  Focusing her attention on the six sorcerers in the center of the field, she wondered if she should risk blocking all of them at once. 
Six is quite a lot, but here goes nothing.
  Casting the resistance spell, she stood in silent meditation as Arland looked towards the galloping onslaught of warriors.

Only a hundred meters away now.  Selecting the first one, Arland whispered the influence charm that would turn their will and swords against their own.  “
Yasir monverra pasu fehwar
.”

One of the dark armored warriors suddenly threw his Horse towards the rider next to him, knocking him to the ground.  Spear raised, he began stabbing frantically at the Elites around him, knocking another off his Horse to be trampled and stabbing another.  Suddenly realizing what was happening, an archer shot an arrow towards the rogue soldier, piercing his chest.  Arland had already chosen another rider from the other side of the hill, who felled four more Elites before being taken down by a morning star.

Nadia fell to her knees, the weight of the resistance spell growing heavy.  She was unsure if she could continue holding all six back, their combined strength was more than any other sorcerer she had encountered before.  If she could just hold them a few seconds longer…

By the time Arland had cast upon the third soldier the Elites were ready for it, killing the possessed rider before he injured anyone else.  

“Damn,” Zakai spat, raising the flail at his side.  He jumped down with abnormal ease from his menacing perch on the barricade, which did not belittle his stature in the least. “Archers, ready!”

Esra’s eyes darted around from her spot on the hill in anticipation as the flanking group rounded the curve of the hill. 
Patience
, Esra reminded herself.  It was important that she wait until the Elites were practically underfoot to start the slide or she would miss them.  If she was too early they would be able to turn right around and rejoin the middle command.  Too late and they could still flank the town.  A loud whistling sound carried through the air and Esra knew that the archers had released their first volley.  She watched as a handful of riders were pierced with the townspeople’s arrows, falling underfoot. 

“Fire at will!”  The Unni-se’s voice boomed as the archers rained a fresh wave of arrows upon the field.

The violent force that Esra had felt within when dueling the Valkor began to bubble up to the surface of her skin.  Instead of fearing the rage this time, she decided to embrace it, and gritted her teeth with the desire to harm those attacking an innocent village.  It was an emotion unlike anything she had ever felt, one ready to overwhelm her at any moment, and a flicker of panic pressed on her chest.  She ignored the sensation and refocused her attention on the grip of her hand on the rough bark.

Taking a ready stance over the heavy branch, Esra watched as the first rider approached her position.  Counting slowly to three, she leaned with all her might on the branch, struggling to start the slide.  The colossal boulder shifted slightly, causing the branch to sway violently to the left.  She watched in horrified slow motion as the wood snapped off at the base and the boulder shuddered lightly before settling back into place.

XXXIII

Oh no,
Esra panicked.  She threw herself into the boulder forcefully but it didn’t budge. 
What do I do?
  Her eyes darted around the hill top, searching frantically for another branch, something she could wedge underneath the stone.  The Elites were almost underneath her now.  Nothing.  She couldn’t see anything.  In a few moments they would pass and the chance would be gone.

She thought furiously of the words Fynn had used to move the stones earlier. If they had taught her more about magick, perhaps she could have recalled the spell.  But it was too late for that now.  Closing her eyes, she tried to picture him standing there, remember exactly what he said.

“
Yasir brey novallo
!” She screamed as the boulder lurched forward fiercely, smashing into the rocks Fynn had strategically placed ahead of it.  She watched with sickened relief as the slide gained momentum and force, gathering a hillside in its descent upon the soldiers.  A thunderous roar erupted as the rocks met with the ground, a cloud of debris and dust rising from the impact.

Crouching low, Esra scanned the valley as the dust settled, searching for survivors.  Satisfied there were none, she stayed low and ran to the side of the hill near the town, sliding down it quickly.  She was met by two of the townsfolk and Hadvi, who plucked her off the ground and half carried her back to the barricade.

“Well done!” Hadvi congratulated, slapping her on the back.  “Get ready fer more!”

Esra caught a glimpse of Nadia, who stood shakily up from where she had been sitting in her resistance spell reverie and slinked wearily towards a nearby rooftop to continue with her throwing spears.  There was a deafening crash of metal and wood as the Elite army reached the barrier.  Most of the Horses leapt easily over the wall, trampling a few of the slower townspeople.  A couple of the Warhorses stumbled and were crushed against the barricade by the fierce onslaught of soldiers.

“To arms!”  Zakai roared, swinging his flail into an Elites skull.  The chaos of battle erupted in Wilspry, the clash of weapons and armor rising above the town like a heavy fog.  Esra quickly unsheathed her sword as an Elite came towards her on foot.  Before she could react Baelin had lifted him off the ground, piercing him through the stomach with his staff.  She turned as another Elite came towards her on Horseback, his whip snapping through the air.  Rolling underneath the Horse to the other side, she came up swinging and felt her sword sink deeply into the flesh under his knee.  The soldier gripped his leg but didn’t cry out as his Horse panicked and bolted, throwing him to the ground.  He stood up, leg bent at an awkward angle, and growled fiercely as he came slowly towards her, his foot dragging lifelessly.  Esra recalled Cane telling her that the soldiers had a dulled sense of pain and heightened aggression as a side effect of Tallen’s twisted spells.  It was disturbing to see how right that was.  Not wanting the foul creature near her, Esra threw her sword towards the injured Elite and winced as it pierced his chest with a low thump.  He crumpled over stiffly and she pulled her sword quickly from his body before he fell to the ground. 

Fighting the urge to be sick, Esra looked towards a young towns girl that was dueling with an Elite, her small club deflecting feebly off his greatsword.   She appeared to be a few years younger than Esra, and the top of her tunic was already soaked with sweat as she tried frantically to defend herself.  Running up from behind, Esra cut into the soldier’s side with a mighty swing just as he stabbed the girl in the leg.  She quickly grabbed the young girl by the collar and dragged her into a darkened corner, going back to snatch a dagger from the now dead Elite.  The girl writhed in pain as she tried to tie a strip of her skirt around her leg.

“Hold on to this dagger and stay here,” Esra yelled, turning back to the fray. 

She spotted Arland and Shova fighting back to back, a circle of death for the oncoming soldiers.  Even on Horseback, the Elites were still within comfortable reach of the Unni.  Shova swung her war hammer as if it were a toothpick, the muscles in her strong arms bulging with the force.  She turned to Esra, giving her a wink as she crushed the thigh of an oncoming soldier.  “Now that’s how ye use a hammer.  Should’ve been a carpenter!”

Fynn was on a rooftop, notching and firing three arrows at a time.  Had it not been so chaotic she would have loved to stop and admire the way the arrows arched incredibly in three different directions.  It seemed an impossible task.  She supposed that was why it was a Gift from a Great Keeper, the Bow of Many.

Even with their expert fighting, the Elites continued to pour over the front of the town.  Esra watched as three of the townspeople fell, then a young boy, and another.  There was blood dripping down Baelin’s arm as he whipped his staff around deftly, surrounded by four soldiers on foot.   Most of the Elites had dismounted or been thrown from their Horses once inside the cramped quarters of the town center.  She made her way to Baelin, watching as Mox was caught in the side with a small dagger by a dark armored Elite.  Grabbing the culprit’s throat with one hand, he pulled the soldier’s helmet off with a grunt and threw it to the side.  Still clutching his throat, Mox pulled the Elite close to him and drew the dagger slowly out of his side, stabbing the Elite through the eye with a ferocious howl. 

Esra gasped in disgust at the reminder of what was underneath the red striped helmet.  The revelation of the Elite faces from her kidnapping were still fresh in her memory, but for some reason in the light of day it was much worse.  The greyish skin with no eyelids, no hair, just ears and a nose that seemed to be melting off their face.  A distorted, abnormally large mouth underneath their black, sunken eyes. 

Esra turned from the horrific face in repulsion just in time to see Hadvi spear an Elite with his horns, tossing the soldier off his Horse with a quick flick of his head.  He held his twin axes mockingly at his side, obviously a second choice to his natural weapon.  Letting out a fierce cry, he ran towards the next soldier with his head down, fueled by adrenaline and fury.  The Elite, who was busy overpowering a young farm boy, tried to lift her shield in a last moment of panicked awareness, but Hadvi was running at such speed that he pierced right through the metal and into her breastplate. 

Transfixed by the Unni warriors, Esra hardly noticed when an Elite suddenly appeared in front of her, swinging her large shield into Esra’s midsection.  She fell back onto the ground as the breath left her body in one large gust, and she clutched frantically underneath her ribs, trying to get air.  It was a terrifying moment, not being able to breathe, and Esra was momentarily unaware of where the Elite was, but knew she needed to move.  Rolling to the side, she heard a loud thump as a club came down next to her head.  Her lungs finally opening, she inhaled greedily before throwing up her shield against the next swing.  Scrambling to her feet, she swung blindly towards her attacker, landing a lucky but shallow hit on the top of her opponent’s thigh.  The Elite hissed towards Esra, throwing down her shield in a furious show of confidence, grabbing her club with both hands.

Suddenly the right side of the barricade collapsed as the flanking group reached the town.  Pouring through the opening, a fresh wave of mounted soldiers attacked as another group of townspeople quickly fell.

“Fall back!”  Zakai thundered as he wrapped his flail around a soldier’s leg.  With a quick jerk he severed the leg at the knee, then swung the barbed metal with inhuman strength into an oncoming soldier’s helm. “Regroup at the second barricade!”

Esra abandoned her injured soldier and ran back to the center of town, stumbling over the bodies layering the street.  She caught a glimpse of the young girl she had helped earlier, dead with an arrow piercing her midsection.  There were still so many Elites.  She was exhausted and there were still so many.

She passed a townsman, whose homespun sword appeared to be bouncing wildly around his Elite opponent as if it had a mind of its own.  He watched with wild eyes as he tried to tame the dancing metal in his hands.  Esra turned and watched as everyone’s weapons began to deflect off an unseen shield.  A couple of Elites were wandering around as if in a fog, no weapon or shield.  They must have been victims of Nadia’s Necklace of Stunning.  Even in their defenseless stupor, the townspeople could not fell the dumbfounded soldiers.  Esra realized with sickness that the sorcerers had recast their protective spells.  The Elites were now unstoppable, and there was nothing they could do.