Jack Templar and the Monster Hunter Academy: The Templar Chronicles: Book 2 (27 page)

I shouted as loud as I could, “Tiberon! If you can hear me, we need your help!” I listened and, even with the screaming and crackle of fire behind me, I heard my voice echo through the forest. I raised my hand with the ring over my head. “Tiberon, brother of the Black Guard! The bearer of the Templar Ring asks that you come to the aid of your Order.” My voice drifted through the valley, lost among the snow-covered pines. Then silence. I shouted again. “TIBERON! In the name of your sworn oath, it is time for you to do your duty!”

An explosion from behind spun me around. Overheated sap must have finally blown out one of the main branches in the tree because with the explosion the fire blazed even brighter. I searched the few areas where the fire hadn’t reached yet, desperately looking for Eva.

Just when I had about given up hope that she had survived, I saw her climb out on a limb nearly thirty feet off the ground. She had a sword in one hand and what looked like a grappling hook screwed into her other arm.

One of the dragons swerved down for a pass over the field, fire pouring from its mouth. Everything moved in slow motion as the dragon banked side-to-side, searching the faces of the fleeing hunters. With a beat of its wings, it veered to its left, cutting close to the tree. Taking a running start, Eva jumped from her perch and fired the grappling hook from her hand The hook shot out over the dragon’s neck, wrapping Xavier’s super-strong wire around it. With a jolt, the slack in the wire was taken up and Eva soared through the air, swinging under the dragon.

Using the momentum from one of the dragon’s turns, Eva managed to reach the leading edge of a wing. In a blink of an eye, she had crawled along the wing and onto the dragon’s back. By now the beast had realized it had a passenger. It started rolling and thrashing in the air, reaching back to bite at Eva. But she was just out of reach. She plunged her sword into the dragon’s back, no more than a splinter for a monster that size. Still, nobody likes splinters. Roaring in anger, the dragon beat its wings and soared up higher into the night sky.

“Eva!” I cried out as the dragon disappeared up over the mountain.

But it was no use. She was gone.

A noise rose from the forest behind me. I spun around and looked outside the Academy walls, hoping with all my strength that it was Tiberon and his army of wolves.

Instead, emerging from the tree line along the entire length of the wall was an army of goblins.

Chapter Seventeen

T
he remaining dragon swept above the goblin army, spewing fire across the treetops. Suddenly, the area below the wall was bathed in light. My knees nearly gave way at the sight of it.

There were hundreds of them—snarling, drooling monsters, with hooked noses and protruding mouthfuls of decaying teeth. All were in heavy armor covered with nasty barbs and spikes. They carried long spears and matching heavy shields.

This was no rag-tag group. Someone had organized and outfitted them and prepared them for battle. And now they had arrived at just the right time to overrun the battlements. Spaced every few yards was a detail of goblins holding sturdy ladders. I suspected they would be exactly long enough to crest the walls.

I ran to the bell on the watchtower and pulled the cord as hard as I could. The peal of the alarm bell rang out over the Academy, louder than I expected. I pulled it again and again, trying to invest the sound with every bit of urgency I could.

Heads all around the field turned toward my direction. The dragon was far overhead, circling for another pass, so I had an opening where my voice could be heard.

“To the walls!” I cried. “We are under attack!”

No one moved. Hunters looked to each other, not sure what to think of this pronouncement of the obvious.

“There is an army of goblins at our walls! Hunters, defend the Academy!” I yelled.

A few hunters started to jog my direction. Back by the Citadel, I saw Aquinas and Daniel step forward from their defensive position as if straining to hear what I was saying. A few of the instructors moved a bit closer to hear. I could see people pointing in my direction and I realized they still might not be able to hear me. I tore off my helmet.

“I am Jack Templar, Monster Hunter, Keeper of the Templar Ring of Jacques de Molay, Member of the Black Guard, and the Sworn Enemy of the Dark Lord, Ren Lucre.” I raised my sword over my head and roared as loudly as I could. “Brothers and sisters! It is time to do our duty, come what may! It is time for us to hunt!”

Every hunter within the sound of my voice yelled as one and broke out in a sprint toward the wall. Even the injured pushed themselves from the ground and hobbled toward the fight. I saw Aquinas and Daniel leading the charge of instructors.

Will and T-Rex appeared below me with a group of hunters carrying armloads of crossbows and swords. Xavier was with them carrying his own stack of weapons.

“Will, hand them out!” I yelled. “As fast as you can!”

Hunters grabbed weapons and streamed onto the walls just as the first ladders slammed into the battlements.

I ran to the nearest one and heaved it backward with all my might. I looked down and saw it was filled with goblins who screeched as they fell away from the wall.

“Push the ladders!” I cried. “Don’t let them up.”

Up and down the line, hunters pushed back against ladders as soon as they thumped against the stone wall. The cries from the goblins filled the air. A heavy ladder made from rough-cut wood slammed onto the wall beside me. I leaned into it and pushed it backward, but it was too heavy. Suddenly, there were two old, gnarled hands next to mine. It was Aquinas.

“Well, come on,” she said. “We have a battle to win.”

We pushed together. The old woman was stronger than she looked and before long we had the ladder tipping backward until it fell away from the wall, sending four goblins crashing to the ground.

Aquinas and I shared a grin from our small victory together, but it didn’t last long. A roar went up from the horde below. We looked down and saw dozens of ladder-carrying goblins march out of the forest.

“There are so many,” Aquinas said. “I should have seen this coming.”

“Can we hold them?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but we have to if we’re to survive,” Aquinas said. “If we retreat to the Citadel now the goblins will breach the walls before we get there and run us down. Over half of us will be killed for certain.”

“Then we must defend the wall,” I said.

“In retreat, half would die, but half would live,” Aquinas said. “If we fail here at the wall, everyone will be killed. These are the decisions that leaders must make.”

I heard a call further down the wall and saw Daniel not too far away from me. He was high-fiving Bacho and a group of Ratlings that had just sent a handful of goblins flying through the air on their ladder. Daniel looked up and we made eye contact. He saluted me with his sword and I returned the gesture.

I was about to ask Aquinas how it would ever be possible to decide who would live and who would die when a black cloud rose from outside the walls and hovered above us. Aquinas realized what was happening before I did.

“Shields!” Aquinas called. “Everyone, shields!”

Instinctively, the hunters raised their shields or crouched under any cover they could find. Aquinas grabbed a shield from the floor and threw it to me. I grabbed it and held it over my head. A split second later, black arrows rained down on us in a deadly barrage. Three arrows slammed into my shield, sticking out like porcupine quills. I ran to Aquinas to try to cover her, but I was too late. A long, wicked-looking arrow struck her in the upper chest and dropped her to the ground.

“Master Aquinas!” I shouted.

I reached her quickly and held her up. She groaned from being moved. When I pulled back my hand it was covered with her blood. I heard cries of pain all around me as hunters were hit in whatever small part of their body was left exposed. A foot here. A shoulder there. Screams of the injured rang out up and down the wall.

“Somebody help!” I yelled.

“You see?” Aquinas said, her voice trembling. “Sacrifices must sometimes be made. I suspect it will prove to be worthwhile.”

Then Bacho was next to me, lifting Aquinas into his arms.

“Now look what they’ve done to you,” he muttered, tears in his eyes. “Get you off this wall, that’s what we’ve got to do.”

Aquinas grabbed me. “You must decide,” she whispered, fighting to remain conscious. “You must lead.”

Bacho couldn’t wait any longer. He stomped off and carried Aquinas down the stairs to safety.

I felt the responsibility fall onto my shoulders as they left. But I didn’t have long to reflect on what I should do next. While we had taken cover, the goblins had used the opportunity to raise their ladders back in place and climb up.

“The walls!” I cried when I saw the first goblin jump over the battlement. I ran to it and engaged the creature. I’d fought goblins before and hadn’t found them  very hard to defeat, but it was immediately clear these guys were different. The goblin crouched down in a defensive posture, using its large shield for cover and poking at me with its spear. With its longer reach, it was able to keep me away. I realized it was trying to hold me off long enough so the goblins behind it could hurry up the ladder. This was good training and even better discipline. Neither of those two things were good news. Someone had prepared this army well. We were in trouble.

“Jack!” Xavier called out. “Try this!”

I looked up just in time to see a spear flying through the air at me. I had to dodge it to avoid being impaled.

“Oops, sorry,” called Xavier.

I grabbed the spear and felt a button on the handle. Another one of Xavier’s inventions. I pressed the button and the spear extended to twice its length. Using the full length of spear to get inside the goblin’s defenses, I quickly had him on the run. 

Tiring of the goblin, I rushed straight at him, sliding on the ground at the last second with my shield lying on top of me. I slid under him and got him with my spear in the side. With a cry, I kicked him in the midsection and sent him flying over the edge.

“Show-off,” Daniel said with a smile. The bandage wrapped around his face was flecked with blood and it gave him a wild look. He had two goblins trapped in a headlock. He ran forward and smashed both of their heads into the wall. They sank to the floor in a heap.

“Not too bad yourself,” I said.

Further down the line I saw Will and T-Rex fighting side-by-side, firing crossbows into the goblins. We were holding our own. Even outnumbered, we held the defensive high ground. We actually had a chance of stopping them.

I turned my attention back to the goblins coming over the wall and charged at the nearest one, swinging my sword right next to Daniel.

I don’t know how long we battled, but dead goblins piled up around our feet. Soon, my arms ached and I cried out with every swing of my sword. All the hunters fought valiantly, chopping down the enemy by the dozens. But still they kept coming. After dispatching a particularly ugly-looking goblin, there was a lull in the action. We all remained in our fighting stance, waiting for the next wave, but none came.

I allowed myself to hope that we had turned them away, that we had won somehow. I stole a look over the wall and my heart sank. The army below had doubled, maybe even tripled, in size. We hadn’t won. The goblins were simply organizing themselves for a final push to finish us off.

I felt a hand on my back. It was Daniel. He glanced over the wall and by the look in his eyes I knew we both had reached the same conclusion. There were too many of them. There was no way we were going to survive this fight.  I stood up on a rock so that the hunters on the wall could see me.

“We have to get as many of you as we can back to the Citadel,” I shouted. “I’ll stay here with anyone willing to make a stand to cover the retreat.”

The hunters turned to face me. Many had ripped clothing stained with blood, both goblin and their own. Their eyes were alive and on fire, ready for action. T-Rex and Will made their way to the front and Xavier slid over and joined them. A group of Ratlings stood with T-Rex and stared me down with grim determination.

“You’ve got to hurry,” I said. “I don’t know how long we can hold them.”

No one moved.

“Don’t you understand?” I said. “We have to retreat now.”

Still, they are stared at me.

“Why isn’t anyone moving,” I shouted. “What’s wrong?”

Daniel walked up to me, a grin on his face. “There’s nothing wrong, Jack. Only, I don’t think anyone is in the mood to retreat.”

“It’s pretty comfortable up on this wall,” Will said loudly, milking it to the crowd. “I kind of like it up here.”

“Yeah,” T-Rex chimed in, “and it’s a long walk to the Citadel.”

The hunters and Ratlings laughed softly, the quiet camaraderie of soldiers about to face their fate.

“See?” Daniel said. “They’ll fight with you until the end. As will I. And I’ll be proud to do it as your friend.” He reached out and shook my hand. “It’s been an honor, Jack Templar.”

It was the first time Daniel had called me Templar instead of Smith. I nodded in acknowledgement. I looked over the assembled group, blinking back tears as their show of courage overwhelmed me. “The honor has been mine,” was all I could manage.

Heads nodded in agreement and the hunters and Ratlings murmured the words to one another over and over again.

A hunter turned to his injured friend.

The honor has been mine.

Two young hunters, barely ten years old, solemnly shook hands.

The honor has been mine.

A hunter instructor bowed to a Ratling.

The honor has been mine.

All right,” I managed to say after clearing my throat. “Man your stations and get ready for the attack. This is our Academy and we’re not going to let one goblin step foot in it!”

The hunters and Ratlings cheered and went back to their positions on the wall. Daniel, T-Rex, Will and Xavier walked up. They stood quietly together, no one sure what to say. Finally, Daniel broke the silence.