The Battle of Ebulon (24 page)

“Are you here to save
us?”

“Are you are all that’s
left?” Al-Aaron asked.

The boy nodded, then
nodded to another, his hair more gray than pale. “I’m Gaydyn, our
commander is Samuel, of the watch.”

Samuel nodded back then
stared at the gate. “I’ve armed them, more for their courage then
for the steel,” he murmured. “Steel won’t stop what’s coming to
them.”

The ten others cradled
their weapons nervously. Three boys with crossbows bigger than they
were, their windlass already cocked for them, because they were too
small to have done it for themselves. The other three boys clutched
their spears to their breasts. The four men leaned against their
own like crutches.

Al-Aaron felt a chill. The
ghost of Malius whispered in his ear, “They are but lambs for the
slaughter. A pity they would be without you here to save
them.”

“Why do they attack you?”
Al-Aaron asked.

“Because they’re Orcs,”
Samuel replied.

“I do not know
them.”

Samuel said nothing, his
expression one of disbelief, then understanding. “Do you know evil
then?”

The ghost of Malius smiled
at him.

“
I do,”
Al-Aaron replied.

“Then that’s all that you
need to know.”

“If not men, then what are
these Orcs?”

“Beasts perhaps. But not.
For even a beast will cower. Even a beast will stop when it knows
it’s going to die. Not even a beast will kill until there is
nothing left to kill.”

“No. Only men do
that.”

“Until only we, the young
and the dying, are left to defend ourselves.”

A shudder wracked the
postern gate.

Mortar fell from the
stones above.

“
They’re
coming,” Gaydyn whispered. The bravery in his face fled.

Al-Aaron came beside
him.

“
Then I shall
stand beside you.”

Shards of splintered wood
flew from the gate. Ax and spike and spear rammed through. But it
was the sound that was the most terrifying. Beneath the breaking
wood and bending steel, beneath the cry of death beyond it, was the
absence of these things. It was a tired sound of
silence.

The first Orc through
died before hitting the ground with Samuel’s spear through his
neck.

One bolt of the three
found its home in the skull of the second Orc. A cruel wrought helm
flung from her head as her death squeal fled, a crooked fist
clutched to her breast.

Another, larger by two,
broke through.

He was an ogre if ever
there was such one. One eye gone, his rage blinding, his hammer
crumpled Samuel’s chest and sent his corpse across the
room.

Gaydyn fumbled with his
spear.

Al-Aaron drove baeryth
beneath the beast’s plated chest. The beast staggered back,
bringing his hammer down in a clumsy fell.

In two strokes, Baeryth
severed it from him and then opened his neck up as well.

Black blood like pitch
soaked the shredded gossamer that remained upon Baeryth’s
steel.

Then the cry of children
came.

One of the crossbow boys
staggered back, a spear through his frail chest. The small Orc who
released it, still bellowing, clearly had never seen death before.
He didn’t recognize it when it came for him as three of the men’s
spears went through him.

Two more Orcs, children
too, leapt forward through the breach.

Gaydyn, now moving,
screamed as he thrust into the flesh of the first of
them.

Then the cry of men
came.

Booted feet descended
amidst the clash of steel, the cry of war, and the weeping of the
dying.

Al-Aaron fell to his knees
upon the black and red blood splattered stones.

The men arriving barred
the gate with shield and spear as barricades were called
for.

Providence perhaps. But
too late for the dead, and the dying.

Gaydyn wept. He clutched
his blood soaked abdomen, where one of the young Orcs, now dead,
had marked him. It wasn’t a lot of blood, but it was enough,
perhaps. Sometimes death can be fickle. Sometimes providence even
more so.

Al-Aaron slumped next to
him.

The ghost of Malius
watched, waiting, smiling from the shadows.

The eyes of the defenders
swept past them with no solace but the truth to give them. War and
death never lie.

One of the men kicked the
corpse of the Orc matron.

Her vestige hand
opened.

The small wood carving of
an Orc child, a doll, fell away. Something precious, something to
defend.

Gaydyn stared at
it.

Doernyth drew
near.

“
They’ve
fallen back. For now. How did we fair here?”

“We held, my lord.” Gaydyn
answered.

“Strange that something
called them back.”

“They’re the only ones
left.”

Al-Aaron took Gaydyn in
his arms.

Gaydyns eyes fixed their
stare as he did. His breath ended.

He closed Gaydyn’s eyes,
and wiped away the blood and tears from his face. Then he wiped
them from his own.

Doernyth picked up the
doll. He stared at it as well.

“
Because the
ones who defended them are already dead,” he whispered.

Al-Aaron closed his eyes.
He listened to the more distant cries of war, and waited for the
angels to take him home.

This Entry Point features
a character or characters from:

Veil of the
Dragon by Tom Barczak

Now
available

Facebook:
 
    
https://www.facebook.com/thomas.barczak?ref=tn_tnmn

                     
https://www.facebook.com/thomas.barczak?ref=tn_tnmn#!/ProphecyOfTheEvarun

Twitter:          
https://twitter.com/barczaktom

Goodreads:    
http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4469839-tom-barczak

Website:        
http://www.tombarczak.com/

Blog:               
www.tombarczak.com/blog

Entry Point
11- by SKN Hammerstone

Ebulon; the once proud
city ruled by its loving King Yadi, was falling to the armies of
Orcs that trampled through it, destroying every life that they
passed. I had never reaped a soul before. It was my first time as
angel of death. Joshua was temporarily removed from his station in
Hell to go with me and teach me how to fulfill my
duties.

My guardian angel, Jesse,
had come as well to protect me from both the surviving Orcs as well
as Joshua. About a month ago some things happened between myself
and Joshua that ended in me being forced to kill him. I hadn’t
wanted to, but when I was forced to decide between him and Jesse;
the choice had been evident.

I wasn’t exactly sure how
we had gotten to Ebulon. I didn’t have wings to transport myself
between worlds yet. One minute I had been standing in front of
Gabriel, archangel of Heaven, and in the blink of an eye I was
underneath the softly falling snow in a city on the brink of
destruction.

“You need to be careful.”
Jesse came up from behind me, resting a hand on my shoulder. “Not
all of these people or creatures are dead. Many of them are still
alive.” I struggled to listen to him with all of the voices crying
and screaming in my head. Death surrounded me, invading my mind.
When someone dies, their soul is given a direct line into the head
of the closest angel of death.

They continue screaming
and crying out inside this angel’s head until they are reaped and
taken to their final resting place. With thousands dead all around
me, I couldn’t sort one voice from the next. They were speaking in
numerous languages and dialects, trying to gain my attention to
free them from their bodies.

“Yes, it’s a dangerous
job.” Joshua rolled his eyes as he walked by us. “Baby the little
queen to the point of you doing her job for her. Isn’t that how it
has always worked?”

“I don’t baby her,” Jesse
stated. “Rachael is new to this job. I am making sure she stays
safe.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Joshua
stopped in front of the body of what I believed to be an Orc,
kicking it onto its back so he didn’t have to touch it. “That one’s
dead. Come over here.”

I reluctantly walked over
to him, Jesse following closely behind me. Somehow I had once again
found myself trapped between the two of them. I stopped within a
safe distance. The Orc was covered in grayish, scaly hide that had
numerous lesions and stab marks all over it. Its face was deformed
and hideous and the entire body smelled putrid.

“Good god!” Jesse turned
his head. “How long has that thing been dead?”

“Not very long.” Joshua
picked up a discarded sword and prodded the body with it, letting
loose a new flow of greenish blood. “You’re up,
princess.”

“I don’t want to touch
that,” I told him. “I would much rather start on a
human.”

“Of course you would.” He
turned to me. “But you don’t have that choice. You have to reap
everything that has a soul, no matter how dark and twisted. You
think this is bad? Try reaping a demon. Now get on your knees and
reap that… thing.”

I wanted to just turn
around and run, but he was right; I didn’t have a choice. I had to
do this. There was no one else out there to help these creatures.
Taking a deep breath; I rested an unwilling hand on the Orc’s
forehead. I found his voice among the numerous ones in my head,
following it straight into his mind.

“Who are you?” He was
hostile and angry, trying to figure out what was happening to
him.

“My name is Rachael,” I
told him. “I’m here to help you.”

“Help me what?” he wanted
to know. “I want out of wherever you have taken me!”

“I can’t.” I had found
myself inside his head. It was dark and desolate, filled with
disturbing images and self-loathing. “We are inside of your mind. I
am here to take you to your intended resting place.”

“What is that supposed to
mean?” he demanded.

“You’re dead.” I didn’t
know how else to put it. It was true.

“I’m dead?” he asked.
“Thank you.”

“I’m sorry?” I had
expected anger and rage. Instead he was thanking me.

“You have no idea how long
I have waited for this moment,” he stated. “Take me to where I can
finally rest.” I nodded and started to draw his soul out of his
body. I opened my eyes to the snow inside Ebulon again, a glowing
sphere hovering above my hand.

“Now what?” I asked. This
was all the farther I knew how to get.

“Where is he supposed to
go?” Joshua prompted me.

“Hell.” I winced. “He’s
supposed to go to Hell.”

“And how do you get him
there?” he continued.

“The soul finds its own
way once it is released from the cage of the body,” I
answered.

“Exactly,” he agreed. “So
let it go.” I took a deep breath and pushed the glowing soul
towards the grey sky. It started to flicker briefly before it
disappeared. “Now was that so very hard to do?”

“I just killed him.”
Realization hit me.

“No.” Jesse helped me
stand with a gentle hand on my waist. “He was already dead. You
helped him be at peace.”

“Well, if we are done
here, I am going to let myself be returned to Hell to live out my
sentence of eternal torture.” Joshua’s voice interrupted my
guilt.

“You can’t just leave!” I
told him. “I can’t reap this entire city of its inhabitance on my
own!”

“I did it on my own for a
thousand years,” he answered. “And you act like I care.”

“You’re not allowed to
leave until this is finished,” Jesse informed him.

“Who might you be to tell
me what I can and cannot do?” Joshua turned his anger on
Jesse.

“I am the angel appointed
to keep you from escaping and to keep you in line,” he
stated.

“So, the babysitter?” The
two of them had never gotten along, even before I was in the
picture. Now they really didn’t get along.

“No.” Jesse’s grip on my
waist involuntarily tightened and I winced slightly. “I’m the man
who is going to kill you if you do not do what you are supposed to
do.”

“I’m already dead,” Joshua
hissed.

“I can make it worse.”
Jesse stared him down until Joshua eventually turned
away.

“Whatever.” He moved over
to another body, starting to reap the soul of the fallen human. I
reluctantly walked over to another Orc, lying in a sticky pool of
his grayish-green blood.