FARHAYVEN: VENGEANCE (34 page)

     Thorn looks around. There are no more foes for him to face. The Serpentian raiders are all dead. 15 villagers lay lifeless on the ground and a great number of villagers begin to cry and mourn their losses. Caramel walks up to Thorn and shows him two fingers, telling him that she has killed two Serpentians. He acknowledges the gesture with a false smile and a nod. The ‘farm girl’ turns around snappily and marches back to her post.

     Thorn realises that Caramel is significantly different from her brother, Salmon. Salmon joined the Provincial Guards because he thought it would be an adventure, Caramel chose to fight because she thought she had something to prove. Or maybe she just felt that she had to live up to the memory of her brother, to fight just as fiercely or to save as many people as he did. Thorn wishes that his ‘brother’ is still alive to fight beside him. But Salmon is dead
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And Thorn must make sure that Caramel is safe
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He owes this to Salmon. He must fulfil his pledge
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But the woman is stubborn
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And uncooperative
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     Thorn shakes his head and forces himself to return to the matter at hand. He orders for the dead bodies to be cleared, all the traps to be reset and any damage to the barricades to be repaired. Swords, knives and armour of the dead Serpentians find new owners in the form of the surviving villagers.

     At Fort Eastguard, the two ponds of Diversionary Force form side by side, 600 paces from the Serpentian columns. Each pond has a river of swordsmen at the front and a river of swordsmen at the corresponding flanks. The archers form behind the swordsmen who are at the front. The cavalries form 400 paces behind the archers, well out of the Serpentian archers’ range. Behind the cavalries are the Light Catapults. The Fallsians stand in their formation steadily. Their faces tense up with anger and aggression.

     The commanders of the Serpentian archers at the front columns asses the situation and shout out their commands. The Serpentian front columns’ archers release their arrows to fly gracefully in an arc through the sky to rain down on Diversionary Force. Yet the Fallsians move not a single pace backwards as the rain of arrows come piercing from the sky. Instead, each Fallsian soldier moves slightly forward to take refuge behind their Shield Platforms. Hundreds of arrows fall on the gigantic shields, creating loud thuds, but not a single arrow penetrates to make contact with human flesh.

     Minvian Eggle gives the command for the Light Catapults to attack. Large rocks and jars of Black Fire fly through the air and smash into the Serpentian columns, causing great injury and death. The minvian then commands his swordsmen and archers to advance. Fallsian archers let loose their arrows from behind their Shield Platforms while their comrades push these wooden structures forward.

     Another volley of Serpentian arrows rain down on the Fallsians. This time, some of the archers and swordsmen are hit as they failed to properly stay behind their Shield Platforms when they slowly crept forward. The return volley by the Fallsian archers repays the ill favour. Shouts of pain come from the Serpentian columns. Archers from both sides exchange several volleys with minimum damage to the Fallsians but with massive damage to the Serpentians. The ground on which the Serpentians are standing on begin to take a crimson appearance.

     Battlelord Constrictor, upon seeing the severe disadvantage of maintaining this strategy, commands several Grand Catapults to target the Shield Platforms. Large boulders soar through the air and smash into Diversionary Force, destroying Shield Platforms and killing Fallsian swordsmen and archers alike. Serpentian archers intensify their shooting rate to take advantage of the situation. The Fallsian archers try to match the intensity of their Serpentian counterparts, in an effort to make them break and run for cover. But the Serpentian archers stand their ground. The Light Catapult crews begin targeting the Serpentian archers to exert pressure on them. The Serpentians respond by targeting the Light Catapults with their Grand Catapults. The Serpentian swordsmen charge towards the Fallsians. Minvian Eggle gives the same command to the Fallsian swordsmen. All hell breaks loose
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There is chaos everywhere
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At this point, there is no more strategy, just simple, plain, bloody violence
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     Minvian Eggle shouts out another command and the Fallsian cavalries charge forth from the rear into the thick of battle. The sharp and heavy halberds of these horsemen cut and slash their way through the mass of battling Serpentian swordsmen to reach their goal, the Serpentian archers. The Fallsian archers cease their attacks, so as not to hit their advancing comrades. The Fallsian cavalries cut through the ranks of the Serpentian archers like a hot knife through butter
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And then the Fallsian cavalries reverse direction and ride through the ranks of the Serpentian archers again, killing as many as they can. Then the cavalries reverse direction yet again, and this time the Serpentian archers break
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They run like ants to the rear, joining their comrades at the rear column, and thus, infuriating Battlelord Constrictor. The Fallsian horsemen give chase and cut down as many as they can.

     Seeing the Serpentian archers breaking ranks and fleeing, Minvian Eggle commands his archers to move forward to engage the Serpentian’s rear column archers. He also commands the Light Catapults to move forward in a north-easterly direction to begin targeting the Serpentian Grand Catapults at the northern flank. Meanwhile, Fallsian cavalries create an imaginary barrier right where the Serpentian archers used to stand, to cut off the Serpentian swordsmen who are engaged against their Fallsian counterpart.

     Battlelord Constrictor recognises that his Grand Catapults are in jeopardy. As it is, about 30 of his Grand Catapults are either in flames or are burnt down. This leaves ten serviceable catapults on each flank. Without these catapults, Fort Eastguard can never be breached. In desperation, he commands all of his rear columns to attack Diversionary Force. He intends for his swordsmen to cut through the Fallsian cavalries, run past the Fallsian swordsmen and eliminate the Fallsian archers and the Light Catapult crews. Nearly 2000 Serpentian swordsmen charge forward.

     The Fallsian cavalries, numbering about 70 horsemen from their original number of 110, are overwhelmed by the charge of the Serpentian swordsmen. Seeing this, Minvian Eggle has no choice but to command his Light Catapult to engage the charging Serpentians. The Fallsian archers also divert their attention to this ‘stampede’ of Serpentians. Meanwhile, in the middle of the battlefield, Fallsian swordsmen are still engaged against the swordsmen of the Serpentian front columns.

     Suddenly, the ground shakes with a low-pitched, drum-like tremor. Serpentian swordsmen and archers guarding the Grand Catapults at the southern flank look at each other in confusion. The ones who are in the front portion of the columns are too engrossed in battle to notice this. Suddenly, from behind a small ridge to the south, approximately 280 Fallsian horsemen of 5
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Pond charge at the Serpentian southern flank. 100 cavalry archers lead the charge, shooting off arrows after arrows as they go. Scores of Serpentians, caught unaware, fall victim to the Fallsian shafts.

     As they reach the halfway point, the cavalry archers begin to slow down; so that 160 of their comrades, armed with halberds, can take the charge and cut into the Serpentian ranks. They also stay back to guard the 10 horse-drawn carts, manned by two soldiers each, that are laden with jars of Black Fire. Convian Genox leads the charge as she cuts and slashes her way towards the first of the Grand Catapults. As she and her subordinates ride past within 10 paces of it, they swing pairs of clay jars, which are tied together with rope; and release them, sending them crashing onto the catapult’s wooden structure and splashing their black viscous liquid content. A flaming arrow from one of the cavalry archers set the catapult alight.

     Convian Genox leads her subordinates on to attack the next Grand Catapult. The cavalry archers harass the soldiers of the first Grand Catapult to protect their comrades’ rear. Moments later, the second Grand Catapult is set ablaze. Then the third. Then the fourth. And then the fifth. Then she leads her subordinates to double back to replenish their supply of clay jars, all the while under the cover of her cavalry archers.

     At first, 5
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Pond’s attack seems unstoppable as swordsmen are no match for galloping horses and archers dare not let loose their arrows for fear of hitting their comrades. A total of seven Grand Catapults have been splashed with ‘Black Fire’ liquid before Battlelord Constrictor realises that the main attack is being executed against his southern flank. He orders his archers to step away from the path of the Fallsian cavalry, thereby forming a wall of archers on either side of the path; and release their arrows whilst kneeling. Hundreds of arrows fly through the air and converge onto the charging horsemen. Convian Genox screams in agony as an arrow pierces her left arm. Yet still she continues to attack the eighth Grand Catapult. Her subordinates do so likewise with numbers nine and ten. By the time Convian Genox and her charge element turn back to replenish, all ten of the Grand Catapults at the southern flank are in flames.

     Now 5
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Pond gallops far around the rear of the Serpentian columns to the northern flank. Battlelord Constrictor is fuming with rage as he realises that he has been tricked. Now he is caught between a rock and a hard place, so to speak. If he does nothing, 5
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Pond will eventually destroy the remaining 10 Grand Catapults. But if he pulls back his swordsmen, then Diversionary Force will attack these catapults with their Light Catapults. Either decision he makes, his Grand Catapults will still be in jeopardy. Finally, he decides to move all of his rear columns to the northern flank and pull back a third of his swordsmen from the charge at the front. He only hopes his swordsmen can reverse direction and get back in time.

     As 5
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Pond reaches the northern flank and begins their assault, Serpentian arrows rain on them. Fallsian cavalry archers shoot off volleys of their own, putting pressure on the Serpentian archers. One by one the Fallsian horsemen fall to the ground lifeless. Convian Genox, although injured, is still leading the charge.

     Convian Genox and her subordinates cut through the ranks of Serpentian swordsmen to smash pairs of Black Fire jars on the first Grand Catapult. Then they reach the second Grand Catapult. Their numbers are now down by half. An arrow pierces Convian Genox’s left thigh as she smashes a pair of jars at the catapult. She screams out in pain, and then charges towards a Serpentian swordsman and cuts him across the chest with her halberd. Then she charges onto the third Grand Catapult. And the fourth. And the fifth.

     Convian Genox circles back to replenish her supply of Black Fire jars. Her charge element is now down to a quarter of its original size. Verallvian Sayson rides up to her as she loads several pairs of jars onto her saddle.

     “Madam, you are wounded. We have sustained heavy casualties. I think we need to retreat
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” he recommends.

     “No, we cannot
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We must take out those five catapults
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” insisted Convian Genox as she charges off to attack again.

     As Convian Genox charges towards the sixth Grand Catapult, she feels a sharp pain in her right shoulder. A cry of agony precedes the loud thumping crash of her body onto the ground. First she lays motionless, shocked by the pain of the piercing of the pair of arrows that struck her almost at the same time, and also by the fall to the ground. Her eyes are shut tight and she slowly calms her mind to accept that death is upon her door-step. A gentle smile cuts across her lips as she accepts her heroic end, knowing that she has done her very best. She has personally helped to set six Grand Catapults alight and supported the attack on another nine. She has cut down dozens of enemy swordsmen and archers and most importantly, she has served her country as well as anybody could ever expect of her. It is time to let go, to surrender and move beyond. The sun shines brightly. Her eyes sting from the ray of the sun but her heart is at peace.

     A Serpentian commander orders several swordsmen to retrieve Convian Genox. A convian of the Provincial Guards would make a good source of intelligence for them, revealing the strength and capabilities of their enemies within the border fort and also of the nearby town garrisons. To the Serpentians she is far more valuable alive than dead. The Serpentian swordsmen walk out at a brisk pace.

     Verallvian Sayson, upon seeing that Convian Genox is still alive, sets out to rescue her. The Serpentian swordsmen break into a run, racing to get to the injured convian before the verallvian does. They reach within 50 paces of Convian Genox when Verallvian Sayson jumps off his horse and lifts his semi-conscious commander and places her on it. He then slaps the back of the horse and sends it galloping back towards 5
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Pond’s cavalry archers and supply carts. He hardly has enough time to turn around when the first Serpentian blade slices down on him. He sidesteps to the right, simultaneously draws his sword with his right hand and stabs the Serpentian in return. Another Serpentian arrives and executes a Right Horizontal Cut towards him, which he manages to block hard with his sword; then follows up with a Left Diagonal Downwards Cut of his own and sends this Serpentian to his doom. Verallvian Sayson turns and runs towards 5
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Pond’s location while simultaneously removing his shield from his back and placing it firmly in his left hand.