A piercing screech sliced the air. A giant firedrake was coming toward them. Smoke came from its nostrils. More fire was sure to come.
“I think we have a problem here,” said Atalsa.
Her eyes widened more as the massive animal came closer to them.
“We won’t for long,” said Tanel.
He grabbed an arrow from its quiver.
The small band of archers followed suit and fired their arrows at the flying beast. Several arrowheads went deep into its scaly body. It roared angrily and breathed fire at them.
Everyone hit the ground. The flames had missed them. This time.
They each grabbed another arrow and shot at the dragon until it thundered to the ground.
That still left nine more of Malinor’s beasts.
Tanel cringed as several swordsmen nearby were flung into the air like mice by an extremely large, long-necked monster. It ate their
horses
whole before stalking toward another section of Sanctus’ knights.
“We have to stop that one next,” Tanel said
, pointing at it
.
With his heart pounding violently in his chest, he jogged, with the others following, to the raging animal. They formed a line and then fired a round of arrows at it. It hastily yanked out several arrows with its flexible forelegs, darting its angry eyes in their direction.
It stormed over, shaking the ground under its great weight.
Tanel and the others continued to shoot at it, but that didn’t stop the crazed animal. Its skin was much thicker than the giant dragon’s.
“Retreat!” shouted Wenyn.
Everyone turned and broke into a sprint, but Tanel knew that it was only a matter of moments before the powerful creature caught up to them.
Chapter Seventeen
Deep within the magician’s lair of the castle, the warlocks chanted in unison. Their deep, solemn voices echoed throughout the cave. The cloaked forms stood close to one another around a growing plume of smoke, swaying uniformly.
“Stop!” shouted Uittan.
Immediately, the chanting ceased. The mist dissolved and all of the magicians turned their hooded heads to face their intruder.
“How dare you interrupt us?” growled one of them.
He removed his hood, revealing angry blue eyes.
“What is your name?” asked Uittan.
“My name is Mote. State your business or die.”
“Mote, I dare to interrupt you because the God who is far more powerful than your wicked lord sent me!”
“Kill him,” said Mote.
The warlocks began to chant one of their spells, but Uittan held up his hand.
“Stop. You have no power over me. The blood of my Savior will protect me against any weapon that the devil throws. Jesus sent me here so that you might know the same truth.”
“Fool!” cried one of them.
A deep rumble resounded throughout the cave as the ground quaked beneath their feet. The magicians ceased
their
chanting, looking around nervously.
“Why have you stopped?” shouted Mote.
The magicians scattered, except for their leader.
“Aterun will have you thrown out of the brotherhood – or worse – when he hears about this!”
One of them stepped forward, eyes wide.
“But the power has gone out of us! When we chant, nothing happens.”
“You are giving in to the cheap trickery of their God!”
A near deafening explosion came from the cauldron room. All was quiet for a few moments. Then, all of the warlocks bounded out of the gathering room. They stopped once they saw the complete destruction of their scrolls, books, and cauldrons. The statue of their lord had been shattered to pieces. God had destroyed every imaginable thing to do with magic in their lair.
Uittan’s pulse raced.
Some of the magicians wept. Mote walked up to the broken statue and touched a piece of it. He faced Uittan with moist, reddened eyes.
“It can’t be,” he said. “This statue was crafted by the prince himself to be indestructible, but… it’s… it’s ruined! This is impossible.”
“Of course it is not impossible to destroy something created by someone that turned his back on his Creator,” said Uittan gently.
The lead warlock tore at the collar of his robe and sank to his knees.
*****
Tanel’s leg muscles burned as he ran down a hill with all of his might. The great monster was gaining on them. He imagined its great fangs sinking into him at any minute, severing him in two or tossing him high into the air like a rag doll.
“Die, beast!” shouted a loud, deep voice.
Tanel stopped and looked back.
The giants!
Six of the large men accosted the enormous creature with their long, powerful spears. It fought back with fervency, but Saclam managed to spear it right through its long neck, and it fell at once.
“Thank you!” called Tanel.
The giant
nodded and
continued on to the next monster.
Tanel remembered the catapults then. He glanced at Atalsa and Wenyn, who were still catching their breaths
nearby
.
“That was close,” said Wenyn.
“Too close,” said Atalsa.
“We should make our way down to the catapults. We will eliminate yet another one of Ittonifer’s advantages,” said Tanel.
Atalsa and Wenyn nodded.
“God has protected us this far. I believe that He will see us through this as well,” said Tanel.
The archers charged with a renewed vigor toward Ittonifer’s castle.
*****
Ittonifer trembled with rage as his nephew blocked another swing. Jalarn glared at him. He had chosen that girl over everything that Ittonifer had given to him. What a fool.
“You dare to go against me in my own castle after all that I have done for you? Now you will
both
die!”
A sharp pain seared though Ittonifer’s left shoulder. The little wench had stabbed him. He spun around. Talya backed away, holding her sword out in front of her.
Ittonifer slashed her right shoulder
and s
he stumbled backward. The beatings and the spell had taken their toll on her as it was. She wouldn’t last long now with the fresh, gaping wound.
Ittonifer blocked a swing from Jalarn that was aimed at his neck. The former general stared, wide-eyed, at Talya.
“Get out of here, Talya. You’re too weak to fight,” said Jalarn.
“I can’t leave you here alone.”
Sickening whelps!
Ittonifer took a run at Talya, who had just managed to get back on her feet. She steadied herself against the wall, clearly delirious. He jabbed her in the thigh before quickly spinning around to block Jalarn’s next attack.
Talya’s legs gave out and she fell onto her backside. She would bleed to death in no time.
“You have to leave now!” said Jalarn.
Ittonifer could not believe what had unfolded. After so many years of hard work and dedication, Jalarn had thrown it all away – for General Edandir’s daughter, no less. He would have killed her a week ago.
*****
Chrissa pressed on through the fighting crowd. Her sword collided with another enemy’s. At least she now had full assurance of where she would go when she died. She had never known such peace as she had when she had accepted the Savior into her torn heart the night before. He had mended it like she never could have imagined. It was an honor to fight for the country that upheld the respect and freedom of all people.
The giants were working on bringing down another great beast, which made it easier for her and the other knights to make their way into the heat of the battle. Only seven of her father’s vicious animals remained now.
Two Malinorian knights charged at her. Chrissa dodged a jab from one and stabbed the other one in the stomach. He fell to the ground with a grunt. Her father had trained her well. Now she could use her skill for the right cause.
Chrissa regained her balance as another warrior came at her. They slammed their swords together. Her arms ached from the impact, but that would not stop her from conquering him. She feigned a jab at his torso and then brought her sword through his chest.
She moved a few more paces before running into another brute. He charged at her, his broad sword high above his head. She ducked under his swing and tripped him, sending the large Malinorian into the ground.
He stood again and looked at her.
“What is it going to take for you to be mine?” he asked.
“Naeshi?”
She recognized his striking eyes and the scorpion emblem on his breastplate then.
“I never would have dreamed that I would find you out here,” he said.
“You never did know anything about me,” said Chrissa.
A roar came from behind Chrissa and she turned around, blocking a Malinorian knight’s swing just in time. She slashed at his throat before he could attack her again.
Then, she remembered that Naeshi was still right behind her.
Too late.
Naeshi wrapped one of his arms around her and brought his sword to her throat with the other.
“If you struggle this time, I will kill you,” he said.
*****
Tanel and the other archers had nearly reached the thick of the battle. It appeared that the catapults had run out of ammunition for the time being. The flaming boulders had ceased falling.
He glanced over his shoulder. The unnatural creatures were still lashing out their demoniac fury on his fellow soldiers and knights. The ten giants were working hard at taking down a serpent with long, razor-sharp fangs.
The beasts were not as difficult to defeat as Ittonifer had counted on.
Tanel returned his attention to the task at hand – to take out the catapult operators before they started firing again.
A scream only a few paces away distracted him. It was Chrissa. A Malinorian warrior had thrown her over his shoulder, carrying her into the heart of the battle. It must have been that same bull-headed man who’d come to their camp and attacked the general.
Anger surged through Tanel. He fired an arrow into the man’s leg. Naeshi yelped and dropped Chrissa as he tried to remove the arrow. He looked
up
and saw Tanel.
“You again!” he shouted.
In one fluid motion, Chrissa yanked the sword out of his sheath and held the point of its blade to his neck. She looked over at Tanel and nodded her gratitude.
The willowy girl could hold
her own
.
Like Talya.
Relieved, Tanel followed the other archers into the thick of the fighting. Wenyn and Atalsa used their short-range archery skills, while Tanel unsheathed his sword, fighting only those who attacked him. He just wanted to get to the shooters
quickly
.
*****
General Edandir stared up at Ittonifer’s tall castle. He caught sight of the men that were releasing the catapults at his army.
First thing’s first.
The first pair of soldiers had been so focused on firing their artillery that they did not even notice Edandir approaching them. They were not wearing masks like the others.
A stupid decision.
Edandir jumped off of his dragon and drove his blade through the first one’s back. His partner gaped and clumsily reached for his sword. Edandir pointed his blade at the youthful Malinorian.
“I suggest that you get out of here. Now,” said Edandir.
Wide-eyed, the lad stumbled away from the catapult.
Edandir glanced at the fireball projector to his left. The two soldiers that operated it were already running toward him. Then, they were both on the ground, each with an arrow sticking out of his chest.
Tanel, Wenyn, and several other archers had infiltrated the area.
“We’ll take it from here, General,” said Tanel.
Edandir was relieved that Talya’s friend still stood.
I am going to make that boy a commander.
Edandir sheathed his sword, grabbed hold of a crevice in the castle’s
stone wall
, and started to climb.
*****
Chrissa held her sword at Naeshi’s thick neck. Now was her chance to end the life of the man that had been hunting her down for the past year, but it took more courage than she realized. She didn’t want him to die.
The other men that Chrissa had slain that day were faceless enemies, but she had known Naeshi for most of her life. Although he had turned her life into a living hell recently, she couldn’t bring herself to kill him.
Naeshi laughed.
“You want to fight like a man, but you’re too squeamish to kill me!”