Rise of the Citadel (The Search for the Brights Book 2) (43 page)

Kilen coughed as
smoke filled the air from the burning trees. He was searching for anyone he
could help escape. He made certain that all the men had risen from the ground.
He picked up a battle axe that he had seen one of the Crimson wielding and saw
Atmos with fury on his face, standing on the small hill still holding the limp
and broken King Rekkan in his grip.

Kilen thought if
he could fight him, maybe he would at least drop the unconscious king and allow
Joahna or Max collect him. He started to walk back up the hill to face Atmos.
The all too familiar concussion of another spirit entering his mind caused him
to drop to his knees. The trees wavered in the smoke and Kilen’s vision went
into a haze. No voice, no cries followed the concussion, only the feeling of
someone unfamiliar and very, very angry inside his head.

A hand touched
his shoulder. When his eyes followed what seemed to be a wavering arm he saw
Mary attached the other end.

“Kilen, do not
lose control of the magic or we will all die. Fight their wielder’s attempts
and I will get us out of here. The rest of the Fire Realm is running,” Mary
said as she pulled him to his feet.

He closed his
burning eyes and let Mary lead him through the smoke filled forest. He used
each of the elemental magics to view the area in colorful waves. A red streak
passed overhead directed at no one. It disappeared far into the sky and he
wondered who had unleashed that fury. At least it was not directed at him.

  The flies were
probably the most annoying thing about waiting for war to start. Bowie wondered
if the insects knew that war was close; the persistent creatures biting in
anticipation of the impending feast. Bowie supposed their biting could be
intended to speed along the death so they could reap the benefits from
thousands of dead men to gnaw upon. He could hear the muffled curses of men
down the line fighting their own personal war against the bugs.

  Bowie managed
to crush one by slapping his hand to his other forearm. He looked up to see
Borgen turn his head slightly at the sound. The man seemed unbothered by the torture
the flies issued. He had one solitary mission, or at least what Bowie surmised
his mission was: to stare continuously at the sky.

  He wondered if
Borgen had ever been in a real battle before. He knew that Borgen certainly
looked like he could have been old enough to fight in the last battle of the
Water and Earth Realms. Bowie looked for any scars but the man had none. Still,
Borgen stared at the sky only stopping to check with his second in command to
make sure the line was being held.

  The former
sergeant began to think about the battles he had been in. He laughed at the
thought of the short fight in the woods when Auburn saved him as being a
battle. It was grossly outnumbered in Bowie’s favor, but a skirmish it had
been. He hoped that his men, or formally his men, would do as well today as
they did then.

  A red ball of
fire streaked through the sky, blazing a trail of smoke behind it. The flames
must have been what Borgen was waiting for because he slowly stood where he was
and gave the command to advance. He made no attempt to disguise his footing as
he trampled the leaves and sticks below his armored feet. It wasn’t a wonder
that alarm horns were sounding in the Fire Realm’s camp to alert their men;
they were being attacked.

  Bowie’s heart
felt like it was going to beat out of his chest. He tried to listen for the
sounds of war but could only hear the beating of his heart. It drowned out all
other sounds, even the verbal command to stop the advance could not be heard.
He was lucky that he had John teach him the signals.

  The entire
line stopped merely five paces behind the treeline, looking at a massive wood
wall. It was made of upright logs carved at a point near the top. There were
gaps wide enough for men to pass through the standing wooden panels. Bowie
looked, but saw no signs of life on his side of the wooden walls. Kilen had
warned them of the defenses, but he couldn’t imagine this. It would have taken
the men of Humbridge years to construct the walls the Fire Realm and Earth
Realm had done in a couple months.

  Borgen pointed
his sword to the sky and shouted, “First column!”

The first column
of men drew their bows, pointing at the same angle that Borgen held his blade.
Slowly, he drew the flat of the blade along his chest as if he were wielding a
bow himself.

He waited for a
moment. He drew a breath and thrusted the sword point back into the sky,
“Release!”

  The twang of
hundreds of bows being released at once sent birds scrambling into the sky.
Bowie watched as the cloud of arrows disappeared over the wall and was answered
by the screams of agony on the other side. Borgen did not wait for the screams
to die down before he launched into more commands.

“Second column,
at the ready. Aim at the gaps between the walls. Fire at will,” the aged
Lieutenant commanded.

  Bowie took a
step forward and planted his feet; he was in the second column. Drawing one of
his arrows, he knocked an arrow and aimed at the farthest gap his bow could
hit. He waited and watched as some of the Fire Realm’s men rounded the corner
with spears in hand. They were quickly hewn down by a multitude of arrows, some
falling backwards behind the panel to alert the others of what was on the other
side. None came from the gap to which Bowie had aimed so he held his bow until
another was command given.

  “Third
column!” He thrust his sword point into the sky and pulled the flat of the
blade back like a bow again.

A second volley
of arrows dotted the sky and disappeared behind the wall. More screams came out
from behind the panels.

“Covering
advance!” Borgen shouted and ran ten paces forward. He started yelling out
commands to each column.

They moved
forward ten paces in front of the other column, moving ever closer to the
panels. It reminded Bowie of a child’s game he played of jumping over each
others backs.

  Each time he
passed, Auburn would be sure to make eye contact with Bowie. He did the same
with her. He still thought that she had no right to be in a battle; it was a
thing of men. They neared the panel and soldiers from the Fire Realm jumped
through every so often and were quickly taken down. A streak of heat went
overhead and Bowie turned to see a ball of fire pelt the trees from where they
had just come.

Borgen stood up
straight and looked at his knights, “No turning back now. Our only escape is
through the enemy!”

  Bowie doubted
that would be a very good escape, but he was not in command.

A spear launched
out from behind one of the panels and struck one of the knights in the
shoulder. He was immediately pulled back and the spear was yanked from his arm.
The second knight that pulled him back put his hand over the wound, and the
once wounded rose after the healing as if he had never been injured. Bowie was
suddenly very glad they were on his side.

  Knights moved
up to the wall and slammed their bodies against it, aiming their shield’s face
at the gaps. They motioned the others forward. At a simple wave by Borgen, all
the archers and knights rushed for the protection the walls provided. Another
hand signal was given.

The knight Bowie
stood behind turned his head. “Ten of you with me. Kill anything that moves
without hesitating or we will all die.” He stopped when he saw Bowie and
Auburn, “You two are wielders?”

  They both
nodded their heads in response and Auburn dispatched a man that had exited the
gap behind the knight. He cleared his throat, glancing back and forth between
the knights and commanders spread out along the face of the wall.

“You’d better
start using your talents before you lose your abilities all together. We need
to wreck their defenses if we are to win this battle.”

They nodded
their heads.

  Auburn caught
Bowie by the shoulder, “I didn’t learn to fight like this. Kilen only threw
rocks at me while I was jumping from tree to tree.”

  Bowie licked
his lips in anticipation as more fireballs streaked over the wooden spikes.
“Well, I don’t see any trees around here. You better try and figure out how to
use your magic. I myself only learned how to make the wind blow and how to make
it stop.” He thought for a moment, “That’s it!” He patted the knight on the
shoulder, “I will make a shield of wind to block the flames for you as you
round the corner. It should stop any non strengthened spears, throws, and some
magic.”

  He nodded,
“I’ll take it.”

  When Bowie
turned back around he saw Auburn taking a step back with her arm fully extended
and palm against the wall. She was looking at the wall fiercely, as if she
would attack the tree-thick pillars.

She knocked an
arrow and gave Bowie a glance, “I will give you a moment to make your attack.”

Bowie shrugged
at the knight as he didn’t understand her meaning.

  They
approached the gap in the wall, all they had to do now was move around it and
survive whatever was on the other side. The knight did not look back, but
yelled over his shoulder, “Woman! If you are going to do anything,
now
is the time!”

  Without further
notice Auburn jumped to the top of the wall panel. She hooked her leg over the
top of the wall between sharpened points and pulled herself up. Her strength
allowed her to hold that position as she drew back the string on her bow. The
release of one arrow caused a commotion on the other side of the wall and the
knight Bowie followed turned a corner around the walls edge.

Bowie was now in
the fray of battle. Spears were being thrown and now he could make out the dark
parts of the men’s eyes as they ran at him with axes. Bowie had no time to feel
remorse for what he was about to do. He thrust forward a shield of wind holding
it just as Kilen had taught him. A couple of enemy arrows glanced off the
invisible barrier shaped like a half sphere of dust in front of him. It was a
strange thing to watch, but it only caused him to be scared enough he make it
stronger.

He then began to
return fire. Arrow after arrow launched from his bow over the top edge of his
windshield caused me to fall. Eight other archers that followed him caused men
to fall in waves as they launched volley after volley of Crescent arrows. Any
man that managed to come to close met the deadly end of the knight’s sword.
Bowie thought it was almost too easy to kill these men with no armor.

Once the first
area was clear, Bowie got a better view of what lay beyond. More panels made of
trees stood in his way. The second row was slightly offset so attackers would
not be able to run straight into the defenses. These defenses allowed for
multiple choke points that his men would have to fight through.

As they neared a
second gap, the Fire Realm’s men moved like lightning to attack. A sharpened
spear cut Bowie’s flesh on its journey to the ground. It sliced through his
leather pants and sent him to his stomach. His own trainees stepped over him to
launch arrows as quickly as they could. His concentration on magic faltered and
his men lost their shield of wind. The knight’s metal shield was met with a
hail of enemy arrows and spears as he did his best to protect the archers
behind him.

Bowie laid there
trying to stop the blood seeping from his thigh and caught a glimpse of a
spearman who noticed where Auburn was still launching arrows. The short man
disappeared behind one of the walls with his spear only to return with a man
crackling of sparks and wearing two golden cuffs at his wrists. A simple flick
of the fingers launched a fireball before the wielder was struck down by
arrows.

A loud squeal
from the wall gave Bowie the mental fortitude to overcome his pain and stand up
to search for Auburn. He hobbled his way back to the wall that Auburn had
latched onto and welcomed her with a hug as she rounded the corner.

The wall behind
them now burned where Auburn had perched and would soon trap them from behind.
Auburn lent her shoulders to Bowie as they limped their way forward to another
wall his comrades were now hiding behind. Bowie looked back and saw more
archers and knights pushing through the gaps to join his men in the attack. He
realized his small group caused the death of most of the men he just stepped
over. A few hundred men killed in the matter of moments. The only injury
sustained by his men was the one draining him of his lifeblood.

The knight
pulled one of the gold cuffs from the wielder’s body and tucked it into a sack
hanging behind him. Bowie took a mental note about where the knights keep their
captured imbuements. The knight quickly waved the others forward to take his
place at the front.

He then
approached Bowie, “Smart lot you have here, Archer. Let me see if I can fix you
up a bit.”

The knight put
his hand over Bowie’s wound and an ice-cold tendril worked its way up his
spine. When the he removed his hand the wound was closed and fresh pink skin
formed over the cut. As long as Bowie did not push himself too hard, the wound
would stay closed.

“Thank you.”
Bowie responded as he was helped up by the knight.

“My name is
Vincent,” he said as he walked away towards the others on the wall. He looked
them up and down, checking for injuries.

“Thank you,
Vincent,” Bowie responded as he gingerly made his way to join the others.

Vincent smiled,
“That’s not what I meant, Archer; we’re a team now. We’ll move forward as soon
as the others have had their turn to make an advance. If they fail, we’ll have
a turn to do what they could not, It’ll be easier if you know my name.” He eyed
the archers as he spoke. “I know this is your former leader. I am asking you to
follow me. I will protect you, if you protect me.”

They all nodded
after Bowie did, as if they were still awaiting his orders.

The next group
of archers and knights went around the panel from both sides simultaneously.
The sounds of battle erupted and were quickly quelled. An archer waved the rest
of the awaiting men forward. When Bowie’s team’s turn came up for their second
assault, Vincent gave the signal to stop. Slowly, Vincent backed away from the
panel’s edge. He kept his eye at the edge as he spoke over his shoulder while
fishing his hand into the canvas bag at his waist. He pulled out a small
dagger.

“There are no
more walls. We have reached the true battle. On the other side their army is
awaiting us. One of the their wielders had this; you are a wind wielder, are
you not?” Vincent held out the dagger that contained the elemental mark of
wind.

“I am,” Bowie
replied.

Vincent thrust
the sheathed blade to his chest. “Use it then.”

Vincent returned
to the panel’s edge and held his sword tip at his shield’s edge. He kept his
elbow held high and even with his shoulder. The blood of his last victim still
drying on the blade. “We advance on your orders, Archer.”

Bowie wanted to
adjust his hat, but when he reached up he found only his braided hair. He
scratched his head and looked at the archers with him. “Even out your arrows.”

The men shared
their arrows as the magic weilding knights watched the gaps in the walls.