Guardians of Magessa (The Birthright Chronicles Book 1) (17 page)

“I’m counting on the fact that the dwarves
will be unnerved by their recent massacre,” Lemin explained. “If that is the
case, we will have a decent chance at penetrating their ranks.”

He took off running, drawing his sword.
Senndra slid her arrow back into her quiver and flung her bow away in disgust.
She took off after Lemin at a dead sprint, reaching over her shoulder as she
ran to draw her sword. She gripped the handle with both hands and let out a
battle cry. The dwarves were startled by the sound and swung around to find its
source. By the time they recognized the diminutive size of the attacking force,
Lemin had already led his small group into the museum. The building, however, was
devoid of friendly faces.

Lemin ran toward a door, flung it open,
and dashed inside. The other three soldiers followed, taking cover just as a
barrage of dwarf crossbow bolts whistled past the door and dug into its frame.
Lemin led the way into the interior of the museum, always following the noise
made by Josiah’s soldiers. He finally burst into the room that contained the
armor of Jothnial. It was a dead end. Lemin prayed for safety as he motioned
for the others to hide. With a wall in front of them and a horde of angry
dwarves behind, they would need it.

 In the next room, the dwarves were
searching for their prey. They were slowly making their way toward where Lemin
and the others were hiding. As the dwarves got closer, they sensed that their
query was near and began to run. Senndra, following Lemin’s lead, readied
herself for an attack. Suddenly Lemin’s favorite phrase jumped into her head:
“Always
attack first.”
Just as the foremost dwarf was about to enter the armor
room, she jumped from her hiding place and slammed her weapon up to the hilt in
the dwarf’s chest. She tried to yank it free, but as she braced herself, a hand
grabbed the back of her shirt and flung her backwards just as the ceiling of
the adjoining room collapsed on the dwarf and her sword.

“What the heck was that?” Lemin said from
the ground where he dove just as the ceiling collapsed

“I don’t know,” Vladimir said with a
sideways glance at Timothy, “but whatever it was, it weakened the supports for
this ceiling. If we don’t get out of here fast, we’re going to be in trouble.”

“Over here,” Timothy called from the back
of the room. He was using the blade of his knife to pry at the floor, and
before long, a trapdoor opened. Without a second thought, Lemin and Senndra
hurried to the trapdoor.

Vladimir followed Timothy through the
hole, and Senndra was about to when Lemin stopped her. “You’ll need weapons,
Senndra,” he yelled. Senndra turned to see that he was holding the sword and
bow from Jothnial’s armor. She gratefully took the weapons from his hand to
replace her lost ones. She turned back to the trapdoor but felt Lemin's hand on
her shoulder.

“You’ll want this as well,” he said,
handing her a pendant. The cross of Elohim hung from a thin golden chain. At
its center was a stylized figure of a dragon. The pendant was made entirely of
silver except for the dragon's single visible eye which was a small ruby chip.

Senndra draped the chain around her neck
and tucked the dragon figure into her shirt. She quickly slid through the
trapdoor, her boots landing on a hard-packed dirt path. Although it was dark,
she quickly moved further into the tunnel. She heard Lemin land behind her, and
the trapdoor above him thudded into place just in time.

The sound was absorbed by the dirt walls
of the tunnel, so the only way Senndra knew that the building above had
collapsed was by the way it shook the ground. Dirt rained from the walls and
ceiling of the tunnel, and for a second, Senndra thought it would cave in and
kill them. By some miracle, it did not.

“Let’s move,” Lemin ordered. “I don’t know
how long this tunnel is going to hold up, but I don’t want to be in it when it
decides to fall down.”

The cadets followed their instructor down
the tunnel. There was no light, so they had to each keep their hand on the person
in front of them. They traveled for no more than a minute before their progress
stopped.

“This tunnel is a dead end,” Lemin said
after a few seconds. “It feels like it caved in when the building collapsed.
There doesn’t appear to be any way through… no, wait. There is some sort of
stone pipe here that might run through the collapsed section of tunnel. At
least, I can feel a breeze coming through it. It’s going to be a little tight,
but I think we can manage.”

By this time, Senndra’s eyes had adjusted
to the gloom of the tunnel and she saw a bit of light from where Lemin felt the
breeze. Either that or she was just imagining it. In either case, she watched
as Lemin disappeared into the hole in the wall. His head vanished first, but
was quickly followed by his waist and his feet. As he disappeared completely
into the hole, some dirt slid to the floor. The integrity of the tunnel didn’t
seem to have been damaged, so Vladimir entered next. He quickly slid through
the hole, and all too soon it was Senndra’s turn. She was terrified by the
prospect of crawling into a small hole that ended in an unknown place. She had
always been a bit claustrophobic, but had learned to control it. Now that fear
came flooding back with such force that she physically shuddered at the thought
of entering the hole.

“Hurry up, Senndra,” Timothy urged. “We
can't stay here; we have to keep moving.” He looked at her, saw that she was
shivering, and realized what was plaguing her. “It’s going to be fine,” he told
her, taking one of her hands. “Lemin and Vladimir went in front of you, and
I’ll be directly behind you. Besides that, Elohim is looking out for us.
Nothing is going to happen to you.”

“You really think that Elohim has time to
look out for me?” Senndra asked. “There’s a battle going on up there. No doubt
there are plenty of other people more important than me that He’s looking out
for. He probably doesn’t have time for me.”

“You know that isn’t true,” Timothy said.
“Elohim is interested in the well-being of all His people no matter where they
are or what they are doing.”

Senndra nodded and turned toward the hole.
She took a deep breath and plunged in. She pulled herself through the stone
pipe by the tips of her fingers for several minutes. Many times she felt
herself begin to panic, but the thought of Elohim looking out for her comforted
her and enabled her to keep the emotion under control. Suddenly the tunnel
ended and she fell through another wall of dirt and hit the floor. Instantly
Lemin and Vladimir were at her side, helping her to stand.

“How far behind you is Timothy?” Lemin
asked.

“He said he was going to be directly
behind me," Senndra answered.

A body fell through the hole in the wall
and landed with a crash. Lemin and Senndra hurried to lift him to his feet. A
spark flashed behind them, and they spun around, their weapons already out of
their sheaths.

“Whoa! It's just some flint and steel,”
Vladimir’s voice said from the darkness. “I never go anywhere without it. We
should be able to use this to light something. It will burn out fairly quickly,
but if we move fast, we can cover a lot of distance in that time.”

“Well, let’s get moving then,” Lemin said
and shoved his sword back into its sheath. “Vladimir, you’ll be in front with
your torch. I’ll come directly after, followed by Senndra and then Timothy.”

“With your permission, sir,” Timothy spoke
up, “I’ll collapse the tunnel so that no one can come up behind us.”

“Can you do that?” Lemin asked.

“Yes sir, I believe I can,” Timothy
answered.

“Then do so and catch up with us when
you're finished,” Lemin ordered. Then, to Vladimir, he said, “Okay, let’s move
out.”

There was the sound of flint striking
steel, but this time the light didn’t fade. A cloak that Vladimir had wrapped
around a splintered plank from the surrounding rubble was now burning. The
tunnel was bathed with light, and Vladimir immediately took off running. Lemin
was close behind him, and Senndra sprinted in order to keep up with them.
Behind them she could feel more than hear the sound of the tunnel caving in,
and she forced herself to run faster. Finally the light died and flickered out.
But even as it did, she could tell that Lemin and Vladimir were still running.
She heard them say something about light up ahead and then there was the sound
of them drawing their weapons. She reached for the sword on her back and did
the same. Enough light filtered through the end of the tunnel so that she was
able to see where the stairs began. Panting slightly, she took them two at a
time and burst into the open. Behind her she could hear the noise of running
and turned around to see Timothy appear out of the tunnel.

“What’s going on?” he gasped when he
reached her. He turned and glanced over the field of battle. The dwarves had
just broken through the barrier that was directly to the north of the stream
that ran through the middle of the city, and the defenders were fleeing across
the stream on planks laid across its width. Senndra had heard from Lemin that
pitch had been poured into the stream, and she expected someone to light it,
but nothing happened.

“Something’s wrong,” she told Timothy in a
worried tone. “Nobody has lit the stream.”

“What do you mean?” Timothy asked. He
looked up and surveyed the battle field in front of him.

“Before the attack, our people poured
pitch into the stream,” Senndra explained. “They planned on lighting it when
the dwarves crossed. But now that they’re crossing, nothing's happening.”

“There’s always the possibility that
they’re waiting for a few more dwarves to enter the stream,” Timothy said. “But
judging by how many have already crossed, I would say that is not the case.
Follow me.”

Timothy took off at a fast run to where
Lemin stood behind the sixth barrier, preparing for an attack from the dwarves.
The defenders had expected someone to light the pitch and had not retreated to
the next barrier immediately. Now they realized that there was a problem and
were running as quickly as possible to the relative safety of the sixth
barrier.

Timothy reached Lemin and slid to a
sitting position with his back to the barrier. Senndra was close behind him and
was seated beside him only seconds later. Lemin dropped to one knee, and while
keeping his bow ready and one eye on the approaching enemy, he turned his
attention to Timothy.

“Commander,” Timothy yelled above the
ruckus, “wasn’t the pitch in the stream supposed to be lighted when the dwarves
started to cross?”

“Something's wrong!" Lemin shouted
back. “The archer that was supposed to do it was stationed in that tower over
there.” Lemin pointed to a rickety wooden platform a couple hundred yards east.
The platform was almost on the bank of the stream and had an ideal vantage
point. But it had very few defensive structures incorporated into it. Even from
where she stood, Senndra could see that there were several dead soldiers in it.

“The dwarves are butchering our men out
there,” Timothy shouted.

“And what can we do about that?” Lemin
asked as he loosed an arrow into the enemy.

“I have an idea,” Timothy said. “Do you
have any oil?”

“No,” Lemin responded and loosed another
arrow, “but I see a torch to the west; and wherever there is a torch, there is
fuel.”

Timothy rose to his feet and sprinted down
the wall, avoiding the soldiers that were pouring over it and taking defensive
positions. Senndra followed behind him, sprinting as fast as possible, but she
was left behind. As she ran, she could see Timothy searching for a torch that
was not lit. She dropped to a safe position when she reached him, and he carried
a torch to where she sat. With a quick motion, he reached under his shirt and
tore off the sleeve. He rubbed the piece of cloth vigorously against the end of
the torch until it was coated in pitch and then wrapped it around the tip of an
arrow, which he handed to Senndra.

“You’re a much better marksman than me,”
he said. “It’s at least a hundred yards to the stream, and I can’t arc an arrow
to hit the water, but I know you can.”

Senndra took the arrow and weighed it
carefully in her hand. She wanted to argue that she couldn’t make the shot
either, but she knew that would be a lie. She laid the arrow on the ground and
reached back for her bow. Instead she touched the bow of her father, Jothnial.
She strung it quickly and laid the arrow on the string. Legend said that the
bow had magical powers that would enable the user to hit any mark at any
distance. Senndra hoped it was true. She would need all the help she could get.
She peeked over the barrier and gauged the distance to the stream. Already, the
expanse between it and the barrier was swarming with dwarves, making estimation
difficult. She figured that it couldn’t be more than two hundred yards or less
than one hundred. She looked down and inhaled deeply, trying to let the tension
out of her body.

“God,”
she prayed silently as she crouched.
“I know that I
can make this shot, but it’s going to be difficult with only an estimated
distance and with people shooting at me. Please be with me as I fire. Guide my
arrow and help it fly true to its target.”