The Eternal Darkness (34 page)

“You do not have to ride further, Sir Alleon,” Moshanna replied.  “Be welcome to the Keep.  We have much to discuss.”

“I will send the others back to fetch Prince Marcus,” Alleon said.  “He is in command of our forces.”

“We look forward to welcoming the prince to the Keep,” Moshanna said warmly, feeling as if a great weight was lifted from his shoulders.

C
HAPTER NINETEEN

Shifting his shoulders to adjust his breastplate, Norlan walked the city wall under the faint light of the crescent moon, his maul in his hand.  The clouds had moved on, leaving a crisp and cool, almost cold, evening.  Even when he stopped to speak to some of the men, he kept his eyes out on the darkened land beyond the wall, looking for shadows of movement.  The demons and half-men could attempt another breach at any time.

The attacks had started the night following his confrontation with the demon. 
So much for the two days
, he thought dismissively.  The enemy began to probe their defenses, trying to find weaknesses.  The attacks were small at first, easily repelled.  The demons had held back in the beginning, sending the half-men forward alone.  That made them easy targets for the clerics.

However, as the days had worn on, the demons began to move forward with the half-men in ever-increasing numbers.  The half-men carried tall wooden ladders to scale the walls and the demons began to attack the defenders to clear a way for them to get close.  The clerics, already few in number, were hard-pressed to respond to the attacks.  They had lost several clerics to the demons and the half-men had gained the wall on several occasions, only to be beaten back by the City Watch.

Norlan was concerned that the demons now had a good idea of their capabilities and would launch an all-out assault.  If the demons came at them all at once along the walls, he was not sure they could push them back.

“Commander,” a voice called out.  Norlan turned and saw Jansen climbing the stairs behind him. 
The man never seems to sleep
.

“What are you doing here?” Norlan asked good-naturedly.  “You had duty during the day.”

“I am old and my wife has been gone for years,” the man said with a shrug.  “There is not much to occupy my time, so I do what I know.”

Jansen fell into step with Norlan.  “I am concerned that we are not adequately prepared if the demons come at us in force, striking multiple areas,” Norlan told him.  “What do you think?”

“It would be a roll of the dice, for sure,” Jansen replied.  “Honestly, I am surprised that they haven’t done it yet.  We cannot move our limited number of clerics around without weakening some other area.  We can only pray that the archers and men can hold the enemy back until the clerics are able to finish them.”

“I know that it will come soon.  What is your opinion on how we should prepare for it?”  Norlan asked.

“I think that we need to consider calling up all of the men in the city, including the younger boys,” Jansen said.  “The boys can run messages and deliver supplies.  That would free up more men to defend the walls.”

Shaking his head, Norlan did not want to consider using the boys.  “I will speak to the queen about conscripting the men into the Watch, but I don’t believe that we are at the point yet that we need to use the boys.”

“As you say, Commander,” Jansen replied.

As they walked along the wall, heading towards the West Gate, horns sounded in the distance, signaling an assault.  Flashes of light and rolling sounds of exploding magic appeared ahead of them.  More horns sounded ahead and along the walls.

“Let’s go,” Norlan said as he started to run.  Jansen stayed with him, sword in hand.  As they ran, they saw a group of men from the Watch and several clerics ahead of them, fighting against half-men and demons.  Norlan saw the tops of wooden ladders lying against the wall.

With Jansen at his side, Norlan charged into the fighting, swinging his maul with all of his strength.

…

Lieutenant Jeffreys stood on the battlement above the East Gate, looking out in the direction of the Gray Ridges.  He had heard the horns sounding across the city, signaling that attacks were underway.

Because of his lost eye, he had remained in the city while the rest of the army had marched north.  He initially had been despondent that his men left with the army while he remained here, but as he got to know the men of the Watch, he found that he was as proud to lead them as he was leading his soldiers.

The enemy lay to the east.  The demons and half-men had blocked the road, but remained out of the range of the archers.  They had made a couple of probes on the gate and nearby walls, but since they only numbered a couple of hundred men and maybe a dozen demons, they seemed reluctant to press their attacks.

In the distance, along the road, he heard the half-men begin to argue over something.  Raised voices carried the sound of their argument to the wall, but it was not distinct enough to make out what they were saying.  There was a sudden terrible scream and then he heard the icy voices of the demons shouting.  Abruptly, it went quiet. 
Too quiet
, he thought.

“Archers, prepare to loose on my signal,” he said quietly.  The men passed the order in whispers as he strained to see in the low light, watching for any movement.  Shadowy figures began to move in the dark, silhouetted by the dim moonlight.  He gestured to his three clerics to move forward.

A shadowy bolt of demon fire streaked past him, sizzling the air.  The clerics responded with blasts of golden energy.  The demons came in force, turning aside the clerics’ attacks.  The clerics were forced back, unable to match the demons’ might.

“Loose!” he shouted and the archers began to fire.  Arrows rained down on the half-men and demons as they ran forward.  While some fell, crying out, Jeffreys could hear the sound of the arrows hitting wooden shields.  The archers would not stop this attack.

He spun around and called to Watch members in the courtyard below.  “Take positions on the wall to repel attackers!” he shouted.  The men grabbed their weapons and raced towards the stairs.

Shouts and screams rang out as the demons began to attack the archers.  The clerics tried to assist, but were beaten back again.  When he saw the ends of ladders begin to land against the walls, Jeffreys drew his sword. 
Time to show them how a one-eyed man fights
.

Even as he started forward, one of the archers shouted, “Look!”  He paused at looked out towards the road and froze, dumbstruck.  Behind the demons’ forces were dozens of people on horses, glowing with golden auras.

The newcomers began to strike at the demons, quickly overpowering them and reducing them to ash.  The half-men, seeing their masters destroyed and facing dozens of clerics, turned and ran towards the south.  Even as they started, more riders came sweeping out of the dark, wielding spears and bows, and attacked the half-men.  The demons now destroyed, the clerics directed their fire into the roiling mass of half-men.  Between these two forces, the half-men were quickly destroyed.

One of the clerics rode forward towards the gate.  When one of Jeffrey’s clerics looked down, she exclaimed, “It’s Brother Losan!”  Jeffreys looked over the wall and saw a dark-haired young man in brown robes sitting on a horse.

The cleric raised a hand in greeting.  “If you will open the gates, I have brought friends to help,” he said, gesturing behind him.  In the light of the clerics’ auras, Jeffreys saw the dark faces of Aletonian clerics and soldiers.

Still not quite believing what he was seeing, he ordered the men to go below and open the gates.  Grabbing a young man, he sent him running to the palace.

…

His arms tired and wounds burning, Norlan let his maul drop and leaned back against the stones of the city wall as the attack ended.  All around him were dead half-men.  Some men of the Watch were also nearby, stifling cries of pain and panting from their exertions.  Norlan saw that the clerics were dead, some killed by the demons and others by half-men weapons.

Turning towards to where the main attack had occurred, he shook his head sadly as he saw Jansen lying on the stone floor, blood pooled underneath him.  His sword was just inches from his hand.  A semi-circle of half-men corpses surrounded his body. 
He was one of the bravest men I knew and he gave his all in the end
, Norlan thought sorrowfully.

Wiping away sudden tears, he hefted his maul and stood. 
Jansen would have scolded me for looking tired in front of the men
.  He began to move down towards the men when he heard the clacking sound of another ladder hitting the stones of the wall.  Spinning, he saw several more ladders replace the ones they had destroyed.

“On me!” he cried to the others, moving towards the ladders.  In the courtyard, he heard a horn sound the notes warning of an attack.  He dropped his maul for a moment and pushed against the first ladder.  With a surge of strength, he pushed it away from the wall.  With the weight of the half-man on it, the ladder tipped backwards and fell to the ground with a clatter and the curses of injured men.

He snatched up his maul as he charged past Jansen’s body, swinging it and striking the half-man that had reached the top of the ladder.  The man flew back and tumbled to the ground.  More half-men began to gain the wall, pulling weapons.

With a wordless cry, Norlan charged into them, swinging his maul.  The half-men fell back from his frenzied attack, gaining some distance.  They spread out and came towards him.  He caught a sword blow on the haft of his maul, but missed a spear thrust.  There was a metallic squeal as the spear point scraped across his breastplate, but his armor held.  He stepped back to avoid a blow, but his feet got tangled with a body and he fell backwards.  Scrambling away for the half-men, he tried to get some distance so he could regain his footing.

A sudden chill descended over him as an Imp reached the top of a ladder near him.  The demon smiled and brought up an arm surrounded in demon fire.  Before Norlan could even attempt to react, a golden burst of clerics’ fire slammed into the demon, which exploded into ash.  Stunned, he just watched as more streaks of golden fire destroyed the half-men on the wall.  Armored men, wielding spears and swords ran past him, taking up positions along the wall.  He felt hands reach down and grab him, lifting him to his feet.

He found himself facing a dark-skinned woman in blue robes, glowing with power.  “Be at ease, brother,” she said gently, “we have come to help.”  She reached out and touched his face, sending healing into him.

“Thank you, Sister,” Norlan told her when she finished.  “Where did you come from?”

“You should address that with Commander Farrious,” she replied, pointing towards a large man in armor in the courtyard.  “We will hold this place against the demons and their followers.”

Grabbing his maul, he went down the stairs and over to the armored man.  He was shocked to see Keria there, surrounded by her personal guard and several clerics.  Doubly surprising was that she held the leash to Maxis, who was sitting next to her.

“Majesty, you should not be here, it is not safe,” he said urgently.  “Please return to the palace at once.”

“I will not be long, Commander,” she replied.  “I only came to introduce you to Commander Farrious, commander of the Queen’s Guard in Aletonia.”

Norlan turned to the large man.  He saw that he wore heavy armor and wielded a large warhammer.  He also saw the appraisal in the man’s eyes as he studied Norlan.

“Commander,” Norlan said with a nod.

“Commander,” the man said in reply.  “From what I have seen, you have done an excellent job in protecting your city.”

“Thank you,” Norlan responded.  “What are you doing here?”

“Direct, I like that,” Farrious said with a deep laugh.  “As to why we are here, as I told Her Majesty, we had reports of your army’s departure to the north to confront a demon-led army, leaving the city lightly defended.  Despite our own losses, my queen decided that we must repay the honorable service that Lord Dominic recently gave to the throne.  Also, Brother Jonas had sent a dozen of his clerics to assist us after the attack on our capital.  It was not right that we should keep your clerics from their duties here.  To show our gratitude, we have sent forty of our clerics and five hundred soldiers to assist in any way we could.  We felt that was large enough to help, but not be seen as attempting to exploit the situation.  It took some time to assemble and pull clerics from the other villages and towns, so we have only just arrived.”  He gestured towards the walls.  “Just in time, it appears.”

“Will you accompany me back to the palace, Commander Norlan?” Keria asked.  “Commander Farrious has offered to stand watch tonight. Assign one of your section leaders to assist him for the night and you can get some sleep.”  She looked around.  “Is Captain Jansen nearby?”

“I am sorry to report that Captain Jansen was killed defending the wall, Your Majesty,” Norlan replied stiffly, feeling the ache of the loss.

Keria nodded gravely.  “We will honor him, as we will all those who gave their lives to keep us safe,” she said gently.  She gestured towards the men of the Watch.  “Please select your liaison for Commander Farrious.”

Norlan nodded.  He went over and selected once of the surviving section leaders to act as liaison.  After he had introduced them, Norlan started to go to Keria, but Farrious stopped him.  “Do you know Lord Dominic?” he whispered.

“I do,” Norlan whispered back.  “He is a friend.”

“Then know this, Commander Norlan,” Farrious said quietly.  “I have fought alongside Lord Dominic.  He fought for my queen, maybe even saving her life, even though he had no obligation to do so.  He demonstrated himself to be a man of great honor and a friend of Aletonia.  I say this so you know that I hope you will regard me as such a man when this is over.  Go get some rest and do not fear for your city.  I will keep it safe, in Lord Dominic’s name.”

“Thank you, Commander,” Norlan said gratefully.  “We will have to speak more tomorrow, to get to know one another.”