Legends of Marithia: Book 2 - Darkness Rising (30 page)

“
Archers, take aim!”
growled Tusdar.

A handful of vampires assembled in
front of each cell, pointing their drawn arrows at the prisoner’s
hearts. Walking from cell to cell, he studied their faces closely,
ignoring their cries and pleas, looking for the face of the demon.
“If you don’t want to die an immediate death, then all of you are
to stand in front of your cell immediately.”

The prisoners approached as ordered
and after every cell had been checked, Lord Aryun arrived with
Mestal in the dungeons.

“
Greenhaven is secured?”
asked Tusdar.

Lord Aryun nodded, holding his own
scroll with the demon’s image. “We are preparing our defences and
have not sighted the demon anywhere. Kassina wanted a special death
for this one… she will be most displeased if we cannot locate
her.”

They walked the cells
together and asked the prisoners to take various standing positions
to compare against the drawings. “If any of you know the
whereabouts of this
demon
, I urge you to speak up now.
Anyone who helps us find her will be allowed to walk out of
Greenhaven unharmed.”

One woman pointed to her right and
said, “I heard that cell being opened before you came. She fled
down here and went in there, I am sure of it.”

The prisoner to her right
pointed to her right. “No, that is not true. The demon
did
come down here… like
she always does to feed. But it was not my cell she entered, it
was
hers
!”

All of the women began to cry out
accusations toward each other and room was filled with
incomprehensible yelling.

Mestal drew her sword and smashed its
blade against the iron of the cell doors. “Silence! All of
you!”

Aryun was staring at a vampire that
now stood at the bottom of the stairs and was holding what looked
to be an empty shell of a woman that was oozing blood.

“
My lord, we found this
discarded at the grounds below the cell windows along with a
skinless body that appears to have been strangled.”

Aryun paced beside the
cells. “Wumvarn… we
know
that you are hiding amongst the prisoners. Show
some courage and identify yourself.”

Again, all of the women erupted with
accusations and all claimed that they were not Wumvarn.

“
There is only one way we
can handle this situation… which is to kill them all…” began Aryun,
pausing in his steps and staring at the window. “What in Shindar’s
name is that?”

Wumvarn heard the familiar sound and
vibrations under her feet of an army approaching. The sound of a
horn escaped Greenhaven and they heard the gate pound into the
ground along with the rattling of the bridge being
raised.

A vampire that carried the horn
arrived quickly at the bottom of the stairs.

“
Report!” snapped
Aryun.

“
My Lord, it’s the elves!
Their forces are assembled across the river, we recognise their
flags.”

Aryun grimaced as he relayed his
orders. “This is going to have to wait. We must prepare to defend
Greenhaven against a siege. Tusdar, Mestal… follow me.”

He led the charge up the stairs and
they marched past vampires pulling the giant crossbows up to the
castle walls with heavy ropes.

“
Heave! Heave!” they
cried.

The army cupped their hands to drink
the rain of blood and regain their strength before manning the
castle’s battlements.

“
Tusdar, you are in charge
of finding Greenhaven’s armoury and assisting our men with the
preparation of oil to defend the castle walls.”

Tusdar nodded and smiled. “That will
not be a problem; I know where they store Greenhaven’s defences.
Will Kassina be joining us?”

Aryun shook his head. “I cannot be
sure if she will accompany us in this battle as the choice is not
for either of us to make. Her presence would certainly boost the
morale of our men, but we need to work with what we’ve
got.”

Kassina’s voice filled
their minds.
The great lord has allowed me
to join you when the blood red moon is at its highest. The brighter
the moon, the closer the Underworld is to merging with Marithia.
Until I arrive, fight with valour and without mercy.

Tusdar looked as if he was
about to speak when Aryun cut off his words. “I already know. What…
did you not expect that
I
have also been blessed? Now, follow my
orders,
quickly
.”

Aryun ascended to the battlements and
looked over the lands surrounding Greenhaven with Mestal close by
his side. The forest edge was close to the cliff face opposite the
river separating them from the elven army. Fires were lit deep
inside the forest and they could only see the three giant poles
with their flags attached, flapping in the wind.

Stretching out a looking glass from
his coat, he took a closer look at the flags. One was representing
humans and was white with a red border and cross. The second
represented the elves and was solid green with a brown tree in its
centre. The last flag represented the dragons and was white with a
blue border and blue stylised icon of a dragon.

He shifted his gaze further and
watched as trees were lopped and fell hard to the ground. He saw
the faint outlines of men and elves chopping off branches and
dragging the tree trunks further into the forest.

“
It is not the elven army
we face; we are defending against the entire Marithian army,
including the dragons. They are already working on building a
bridge.” said Aryun, his face grown pale.

The skies began to dissipate and rain
ceased falling.

“
Can we fire at them from
here?” asked Mestal.

“
Our crossbows could make
the distance, but would unlikely be of any use while they are
inside that forest. If we had catapults…”

“
My word… Do you think that
they knew that
this
was what they were sending us into? What will we do if the
blood rain ceases to fall?” asked Mestal.

So, they have all come out
to meet us at Greenhaven? So be it! I have told you all countless
times that Shindar
will
provide! Have faith in your lord and remember
that every soul you send to the underworld brings us closer to
victory. Take no chances with those dragons. I have faced them once
before and they should never be underestimated,
said Kassina.

Aryun turned to his crossbow crews and
shouted, “Arm the crossbows and keep your eyes on the skies! There
are dragons about. If I see any of you resting, I will kill you
myself!”

He was about to turn away from the
battlement when the flames caught his eye. The starry night was
filled with a wall of fiery dots that quickly enlarged and crossed
over the gorge, reflecting off the water.

“
Take cover!” yelled
Aryun.

They scurried to whatever shelter they
could find as the rain of flaming rocks descended upon them. Many
of them hammered loudly into Greenhaven’s walls and resulting in
minimal damage, but many made it inside the castle walls. Some
vampires were crushed under the giant oiled rocks and turned to
dust beneath them, while the rest of the rocks set buildings and
structures alight.

“
Put out those fires!”
ordered Aryun.

Mestal stared at her father with deep
concern. “How long will it be until the blood red moon is at its
highest?”

Aryun sighed and growled, “Too long,
we need to buy some time.”

Tusdar waved from below and a long
line of heavy cauldrons full of oil were carried into the open. “We
have oil and I found the carpenter tools. We can cut down houses to
make more bolts. By the gods, are we under attack
already?”

Lord Aryun’s voice boomed over
Greenhaven, “Move the cauldrons to the crossbow crews. Take aim at
their positions and use the oil to light the bolts!”

Aryun smiled at Tusdar and shouted,
“Nice work! I knew there must have been a good reason that Mestal
took a liking to you. Let’s show them the same courtesy they have
shown us.”

The crews dipped the bolts in oil and
worked to turn the crossbows, turning the wheels on their sides to
take aim. They lit up the bolts with torches and the bolts burst
into flames.

They watched as the next group of
projectiles were launched from the forest and headed directly
toward the castle.

“
Fire!” shouted Aryun,
watching their heavy enflamed bolts launch into the sky. The river
reflected the spectacle of war as their projectiles crossed paths
high above Marithia, a few bolts sending some catapulted rocks to
plummet into the water below.

Chapter 25 : The Art Of
War

“
I want to spread my wings
and fulfil my long awaited purpose; to save them all.

The secret of my location remains safe
and I long for our destiny to become one.”

(Talonsphere – Weapon of the
ancients)

The fiery bolts crashed into the
forest, turning them into giant wicks. The flames began to spread
quickly to the forest floor and cries of panic were heard all
around them. The roaring fire’s intense heat forced the allies to
retreat further into the forest.

Dryden marched along the
long line of siege catapults deep within the forest, where a large
area of trees had been cleared for the building of a makeshift
bridge. His voice became hoarse with the relentless relaying of
orders. “Continue firing our catapults on Greenhaven and do
not
stop. Aim
over
the walls and for
the windows. Those walls were built to withstand a
siege!”

“
We need to put out the
fires or risk moving out into the open. The bridge will take days
to build! Is there anything the dragons can do?” shouted
Vartan.

Karven, hearing Vartan’s plea, walked
away from the catapults, where many dragons were busy setting the
rocks alight. He carefully lowered his head. “Young prince, as you
know… we dragons breathe fire, not water. If there was a way for us
to retrieve the water and bring it up from the river below or the
ocean past Greenhaven, we would do that but there is no other water
source on our side of the gorge.”

Vartan’s face turned
serious and as he ran toward the wall of fire, he screamed out,
“Karven, you
are
a genius!”

Andrielle paced angrily in
the battle tent before pounding her fist into the table between
them. “We need a plan, and we need one
fast
!”

The queen had gathered the greatest
minds at her disposal in a tent behind their line of catapults,
within a thick area of the forest that had a singular path cut out
of the forest to allow them, including dragons, to approach. Two
Knights of Veldrenn guarded the entrance.

She chose Makya and Karven for their
strategic knowledge and experience in battle, and naturally Helenia
sat in to gain experience in battle planning. Vartan was in charge
of protecting their armies and providing leadership to their
people.