The Exodus Sagas: Book IV - Of Moons and Myth (89 page)

Saberrak hacked into the charging soldiers, getting cuts and lacerations galore in his march, but he did not care. His greataxe chopped into the back of a standard bearer, his enchanted axe took a man in two down the middle, and then he was next to Kaya and the young knight of Southwind. She nodded to Saberrak, as did Liogan and the golden skinned horned warriors, and they stood in a line in front of the advancing forces of Harron.

Suddenly a wave of arrows descended into the Armondi forces, then another, as Aariss Diravas stood on the edge of the trench above with his archers.
Their last flights were gone, they drew their curved elven blades, and charged the trench.
It gave Saberrak and the remaining Harlians just enough time to form up and charge
with them
.

James Andellis would not slow, his griffon blade was glowing with blue flames from his hand
as it dove and cut
, and he had killed over twenty soldiers on the bridge next to Azenairk.
Their forces on the bridge were few against so many, yet he had heard the pounding of Zen’s hammeraxe to the stone,
had
seen the glowing golden light, and felt the power of the dwarven God healing many around them.
It was not enough to hold the bridge though, and he quickly found himself fighting a losing battle.

Memories of Arouland flashed through his mind as he cut down another enemy. Visions of Arlinne T’Vellon dying in his arms sparked into his eyes as James plunged and withdrew his sword again. He backed up, and looked down to his right, he saw Harron ordering soldiers into the city.
The north of the ruins was flooding with enemy troops, the battle looked desperate, and they had no more men to call upon.
The knight of Chazzrynn looked to Zen, and his dwarven friend nodded. They agreed, without a word,
that James should charge the Armondi general.

“
Alden have mercy
.” He whispered to Zen, and then he turned.
James fought past three soldiers, slicing and defending with his shield as he marched. Then, he leapt off the bridge of stone, and floated with his enchanted shield, landing behind Lord Amirak Harron.

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Azenairk ran back, hundreds of soldiers in chase behind him, and he was suddenly surrounded by robed elven men. He looked to his right, Shinayne and Lavress were unleashing fury and steel, side by side on the bridge. He saw the hundreds closing in, but he had a rising
hope, enough to stand and try something
.

“
Arah!
” The forty remaining elven priests with Arylius slashed ahead, filling in where the minotaurs and James Andellis had been standing off. They cut down quick, with timed simultaneous strikes and shouts, and held the north bridge with their queen
and her beloved hunter.

Azenairk waved them back, prayed in whisper, and slammed his hammeraxe to the bridge he had created. He looked up in time to see the golden glow flash, the spikes of stone erupted, and the northern half of the bridge fell to dust, two hundred Armondi soldiers screaming as they fell to the trench below.

Shinayne had no enemies before her, and no bridge to march across, so she looked left to the trench. She saw the battle raging, Cristoff withdrawing as he fought with Sir Karai who was slashing wildly, only a handful of Harlians remaining below. Over three hundred Armondi began their pursuit up into the city.

“To Lord Cristoff the Third,
charge!
” She yelled it and lead the forty elves with her to the edge, hoping to hold seven times their number. She glanced, Lavress was right there, as was Zen.

Lavress slashed with his falcata, parried with the kukri, and dove both into the chest of an Armondi soldier. He ducked, a halberd, parried a scimitar with his curved blade, then two fast cuts to human throats with his dagger opened up room for him to reach the trench with his beloved.

Loestiri cut down three soldiers cleanly, then parried two halberds, flipping their axeheads up and back. Shinayne ran in, cut with Carice across their exposed chests, plunged Elicras into a flagbearing sergeant’s neck, and then spun low. She rose, as her dancing blade mimicked her actions, and slashed wide into the advancing Armondi men. Ten wicked cuts of enchanted steel from three flashing blades, and the Queen of Tintasarn stood over
her dead enemies.

She pointed to Sir Yaelsh, the smiling knight with the scar, and sheathed Elicras. In a flash, Loestiri was in her left hand, and Shinayne began her approach.

“Let us see how brave you are now that I am unchained, shall we!”

“I accept, I could always use another set of ears in my collection!” Sir Yaelsh accepted her challenge as his forces tried to reach the summit and make way into the ruins.

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Jardayne finished his pass as three more Armondi soldiers met their ends from his greatsword. He turned his tired stallion around, seeing his fifty remaining men line up beside him. Julia’s forces were half, less than o
ne hundred, yet the
Armondi soldiers were in retreat. Not one soldier reached the vulnerable caravan of refugees, and they had turned and run after their forces were cut to less than a third.

He looked to the eastern battle in the distance, seeing few of their men remaining, and Sir Codaius standing alone on the bridge. He was cutting down soldiers from their horses, slamming his weight into steeds, sending them tumbling into the trench below. Jardayne saw three lances through the Bear of Evermont, and saw Prince Rohne charging him with a massive force.
Rohne had double backed, increasing his forces to one and a half legions, angainst Codaius and three hundred cavalry.
He treid not to think, just act, and he yelled as loud as he could.

“
Cavarly, charge!”

Not only the cavalry, but the mercenaries of Julia Whiteblade as well, charged to the desperate battle.
Behind them, farmers
with rural tools
, old men
with canes
, young men
with sticks
, all inspired from the caravan and most without a
real
weapon to wield, charged behind them
,
by the thousands.

Codaius slashed another rider from his horse, broke off the lance through his
own
ribs, and heard the thundering from the east. He smiled, blood dripping out the corners of his mouth, and another Armondi lance drove through him. He fell to a knee, looking up at Prince Rohne, and then lunged with his greatsword high at the noble’s horse. Three scimitar cuts went into his flesh, then five, then another spear through his chest, yet he startled the royal steed and it reared up. He marched back to where Rohne had fallen, intent on taking the Prince of Armondeen with him to the afterlife, but another enemy spear through his plate armor stopped him in his tr
acks.
He swung wildly, cleaving infantry as they passed him into the city. Three, five, seven, then ten men felt his massive
greatblade take their lives as the blood covered bear of a man defended his bridge.

His stallion charged faster, as did the horses behind him. The people and mercenaries on foot were coming, yelling for Codaius of Norninne, yet Jardayne knew it was not going to be in time.
The last thing Sir Jardayne
saw was the flash of Rohne’s scimitar
, as it took the head of
his closest friend and ally,
Sir Codaius. The cavalry of Evermont raced into the city, charging an angry war cry of vengeance, mercenaries and refugees running behind them.
They met the legions of Prince Rohne, and fought with a fury none could deny.

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“Lef
t side stand hard, let them come to us
!” Cristoff planted his boot on an enemy neck and planted his longsword through the chest of the man at his feet. “R
ight side withdraw to the city!”

His blade slashed high, off an enemy shield, then low into the ribs and up, spraying the blood across his own men as the soldier fell. “Sir Karai, right flank, now!” Cristoff placed two hands on the hilt, parried high, then low, then lunged ahead and speared a halberdier through the chest.

“Queen Shinayne, get out!” She had twenty elves with her, the
wood elf
hunter, and a cyclops, but she was surrounded by two hundred men as she crossed blades with their commanding noble. Cristoff could n
ot reach her, he was pinned against the trench wall and outnumbered.

Two of his men fell beside him, then a third was speared through the stomach and screamed an ear piercing wail, and then Sir Karai took a scimi
tar cut across his shoulder. The knight of Harlaheim
stepped ahead, regardless, and slashed a man down with a flash of his steel rapier. He turned left and dove its point through the ribs of another. Karai spun low, dodging enemy weapons, then rose and slashed two men across their necks.

“I have them, m’lord!” Karai yelled, driving with his few remaining men, and keeping the Armondi bottlenecked near the rubble of broken bodies from the north bridge.
They had but fifty men left, facing a neverending wave of Armoondi forces, but the Harlians kept fighting.

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Lavress cut left with his kukri, right with his forward edged blade, then blood showered him from behind. He glanced, killing Armondi soldiers as fast as they came, and saw Ihros Seeing-owl fall to the ground covered in crimson. Arylius killed the soldiers responsible, Lavress was back to back with the elven priests of Siril, and they had nowhere to move as hundreds whittled them slowly. Armondi soldiers charged, met elven blades, and died quickly. Yet, their numbers were endless.

Shinayne parried the scimitar with Carice, Loestiri met the shield of Sir Yaelsh, and they pushed off one another again. Her feet danced in circles around him, and he stalked to match. The Smiling Knight slashed high, blocked, low, parried, then dove ahead with a lunge. Shinayne sidestepped, double cut, and met his shield again with her blades. She continued to spin her shoulders, weaving arcing vertical cuts, up and down, backing him up.

Yaelsh blocked, parried, faster and faster, then kicked his boot into her stomach. She took the blow, yet sliced his thigh wide open with her left, parried high with her right, and blocked his savage chop toward her head. He struck out with his shield, she spun under it, double parried the scimitar again, and then her blades slashed across his chest in a riposte too fast for human eyes.

Just as the scarred knight looked down, Shinayne dove both blades through his chest, out the other side, and came up close to his shocked face. “
For all the elves you have killed.”
She whispered. Then she pulled Carice and Loestiri free, spun, and took his smiling head clean off.

“
Arah!
” Yelled the few elves left. They saw their queen toss the sacred blade to the air, it danced a deadly weave as she drew her shortblade, and rejoined her kin
in their desperate battle
.

“
Vuumber!”

The elves with Shinayne and Lavress turned to their right, as did Cristoff and Karai, seeing over two hundred dwarves with Tannek Anduvann
,
charging to their aid.
The glanced up to the west bridge, the Armondi banners had fallen, and the dwarves of Marlennak still had much fight left in them. Their commander, Bishop Thohne, was hog-tied on the west bridge, and his remaining forces had surrendered. Drodunn kept a foot on his neck, axe tapping the stone next to his face.

“To Lord Cristoff and Queen Shinayne! Show em’ how it be done, boys! And let these Armondeen bastards know we ain’t done yet!
By Vundren we ain’t!”
Crossbows fired into Armondi forces, Dalliunn smashed the enemy flags down, and red bearded dwarves crashed into the mass of men in the trench
with Tannek
. Their shields were high, axes low, and their spirit was unstoppable.

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Jardayne passed again, breaking the lines of poorly formed soldiers, as Julia led her mercenary brigade and the refugees into the legion under Prince Rohne. Men were pulled from horses, infantry were smothered with untrained men, and the blood and mess of it all was terrible indeed. The knight general slashed another bannerman down, then another, and set his eyes on the Prince of Armondeen.

Rohne cleaved from his stallion, wildy, killing commoners left and right. His horse trampled more, he tried to charge and was held by old men and his horse stalled and reared. He cut with his scimitar
, broke free, and went to flee as his field was mobbed and his men were falling fast on the east bridge. His horse collided with something, his shield sparked, and he fell to the ground hard.

The knight of Evermont dismounted, marched for the Prince, and raised his blade. Rohne stood and slashed with his scimitar, blocked a cut with his halfshield, and was knocked back from the force of Jardayne. Again he attacked, his blade parried hard, and the Shanadorian man hammered his shield with his greatsword. His shield snapped from the blow. Rohne feinted a lunge, turned, and ran. He knew he was outmatched in battle here. Before he got three steps, he was tackled from behind by a mob of peasants. Then, a greatblade stabbed the ground, an inch from his eye.