Sebastian Darke: Prince of Explorers (13 page)

Rain
. It was starting to rain! He remembered Max's doleful expression when he'd asked the question:
What happens if it rains?

Cornelius seemed not to have noticed. 'Wait for it . . .' Sebastian heard him say. 'Wait for it . . .' And then, at a volume that seemed to shatter Sebastian's eardrums, he screamed, 'ARCHERS!'

The archers needed no second bidding. As one they plunged the heads of their first arrows into the flaming brands, took aim and fired. Sebastian was only dimly aware of plumes of smoke whizzing up into the rain-streaked air behind him and curving down to land behind the ranks of advancing warriors. In fact, so puny did the first volley appear that many of the Gograth stopped in their tracks to point at the passing arrows, laughing derisively at what they assumed was a miserable attempt to hit them.

The arrows trailed down out of sight, and for the longest time nothing happened. Sebastian felt an awful sinking feeling in his stomach. 'Cornelius,' he said, 'I don't think—'

And then the world seemed to explode in a great burst of orange flame, the ring of fire leaping up like something alive and clawing at the sky. Sebastian lowered his shield a fraction and felt the intense heat on his face. He saw that the Gograth were turning round in panic, unable to deal with this sudden explosion of the thing they feared most in the world.

'DOWN!' shouted Cornelius. Sebastian and the others in the front rank dropped onto one knee.

'ARCHERS!' screamed Cornelius again, and the ring of bowmen unleashed a second volley; this time they used ordinary arrows and their aim was deadly. The Gograth fell like wheat before a deadly scythe as the arrows thudded into their unprotected backs. Bewildered, they turned to face the enemy and were hit by a third volley, which dropped scores more. Now there was confusion among their ranks. Some shambled forward, others turned back towards the flames. In the chaos, a fourth volley hit them and now they were sprawling one on the other, screaming in panic, wanting to flee but unable to brave the wall of fire that hemmed them in.

'ARCHERS . . . STAND DOWN!' yelled Cornelius. 'WARRIORS . . . FORWARD!'

The front rank of warriors jumped back to their feet and surged forward to strike the Gograth in their moment of disarray. Sebastian ran at the closest man and cleaved him across the shoulders with his sword. The man fell aside, arms flailing, revealing another warrior who was turning back to the fight; Sebastian ran him through, the razor-sharp blade crunching through his breastplate and dropping him where he stood.

Sebastian caught a glimpse of Keera, her sword felling Gograth warriors at every stroke, and then he moved forward again, stepping on the bodies of the fallen, blind to anything but the need to swing his sword at anyone who opposed him.

'FALL BACK!' Cornelius's voice cut through the noise of battle and he reacted automatically, dropping back with the others, raising the heavy shield as he did so: Cornelius had warned him that once the Gograth had recovered from their surprise, they would regroup, taking heart from their superior numbers. Through the smoke and haze of the still blazing fire, Sebastian saw Cornelius's grime-streaked face winking at him.

'MAX!' he roared.

Sebastian lifted his head and saw the huge mound of straw where Max was concealed suddenly burst apart as the buffalope sprang forward, dragging the heavy war chariot behind him. He moved slowly at first but rapidly increased his speed; now Sebastian could see the Jilith's best archers standing in the back of the wagon, their bows ready to fire. Max lowered his head and thundered towards the nearest ranks of Gograth. His horns made contact with armour and the warriors were flung aside like broken dolls. For a moment it was like a great tidal wave passing through the press of bodies; the Gograth could do nothing but try and scramble out of the way. Many were flung into the air, to come crashing down onto the heads of their comrades. Those who avoided the horns were felled by the archers as the wagon moved on.

'Go on, flee, you scum!' Max was bellowing. 'You tried to kill my master, you hairy brutes! Now see how you like it.'

Arrows thudded into the buffalope's padded flanks but he paid them no heed. He just kept galloping onwards, an unstoppable force.

Cornelius was laughing delightedly. 'What did I tell you?' he yelled. 'It worked in Keladon and it's working here.' He waited until the war chariot had gone past and then lifted his sword and signalled to those behind him. 'Come on!' he cried. 'Let's finish them.'

As if to punctuate his cry, there was a sudden brilliant flash of lightning; and in that instant the heavens opened and the rain came down. Sebastian hesitated for a second, shocked by the ferocity of the downpour. It was a deluge – he could feel the rods of rain bouncing off his head and shoulders, and thought how disastrous it would have been if it had come down like this a few moments earlier; but he could not allow himself to be distracted. He put his head down and ran after Cornelius.

Everybody surged forward and went to work on the Gograth who were left, but by now they were demoralized: many were simply looking for a way out through the flames.

Max came round the circle a second time, smashing down any Gograth who dared to oppose him.

'Behold the power of Max the Mighty!' Sebastian heard him bellow; followed by a rather less majestic, 'Ouch! Who left that there?' But then the war chariot thundered by, its wheels flinging up two fountains of water in its wake.

Sebastian ran forward to deal with those few warriors who were still left standing. He squared up to one mighty creature, ducked beneath a savage sword blow and was offered an open shot at the Gograth's head.

But something stopped him from making the killing blow – he could see blind terror in the Gograth's eyes. As he stood back, the once-proud warrior dropped his weapons and turned to run towards the flames, which were now dying down beneath the falling rain. Grey smoke billowed across the clearing and in a moment the fleeing creature was lost to sight.

Sebastian stayed where he was and lowered his shield. He suddenly felt very weary. He lifted the headdress off and tilted back his head to let the chill rain wash the blood and sweat from his face. Max came thundering round for a third time, but already there were fewer targets for him to chase and he was having to weave from side to side in order to make contact with them.

Then Sebastian saw a figure cut off from the rest, a huge, imposing warrior dressed in more sophisticated armour than his companions. He was standing on a heap of fallen bodies and fighting with all his might. His shoulder pads carried the insignia of a leader and his helmet sported a purple plume. This, Sebastian knew, had to be General Darvon.

He was surrounded by Jilith warriors, each of them eager to be the one to claim his life, but none of them reckless enough to attack him face to face. The huge two-handed sword he brandished lashed left and right, keeping them at a

distance. The general was staring through the pouring rain, wide-eyed with shock, unable to believe that his mighty army had been so thoroughly vanquished in what seemed like a matter of moments. As he stood there, the last of his warriors threw down their weapons and ran; he was alone. He glanced towards the ring of fire, now little more than a circle of smoke.

Then Sebastian saw Cornelius running towards the general, slipping and sliding on earth that was rapidly turning into a quagmire, clambering across the ranks of the fallen in his haste to reach his enemy. Sebastian dropped his shield and sword and ran after him, his long legs covering the distance faster than Cornelius ever could. He caught up with the little warrior a short distance from his quarry, grabbed him around the shoulders and wrestled him to the ground.

'What are you doing?' bellowed the Golmiran. 'Let me go, you fool, he'll escape!'

'Cornelius, it's over,' Sebastian shouted back. 'He's finished, let him go!'

The general took one last despairing look across a battlefield littered with dead and dying Gograth. He gave a final roar of defiance, then turned and fled towards the smoke.

Cornelius struggled to free himself from Sebastian's grasp, but the elfling hung on tight and they both watched as General Darvon flung himself through the wall of smoke and disappeared from sight.

'You bloody fool!' roared Cornelius. 'You've let him escape. We could have finished him!'

But Sebastian shook his head. He released his friend and gestured around him. 'He
is
finished,' he said. 'Look.'

Cornelius gazed around at the devastation: the piles of sprawled bodies, the pools of blood thinning in the rain, the lifeless eyes staring towards the dark-grey sky. He opened his mouth to say something, but words seemed to fail him. His eyes widened and a look of profound shock came over his features, as if he were seeing the scene for the first time.

'Shadlog's teeth,' he whispered at last. He got to his feet and continued to stare at the battlefield.

The dead must have numbered into the hundreds. Here and there, Jilith warriors were moving through the fallen men, finishing off those who were still breathing. As far as Sebastian could tell, the Jilith had lost fewer than a dozen men. He saw Keera walking across the battlefield. Her face was bloody but she seemed unharmed. She lifted a hand and waved to him.

'You did it, Cornelius,' he said quietly. 'You destroyed them, just as you said you would. Perhaps you truly are a general.'

But Cornelius was still staring around at the carnage. Sebastian saw, with a stab of shock, that the little warrior's eyes were filling with tears.

'Cornelius?' he said. 'Is something wrong?'

Cornelius shook his head. 'It's the smoke from the fire,' he said; and he turned and walked away through the falling rain, picking his way carefully through the lifeless bodies.

Sebastian stared after him, then turned at the sound of a familiar voice. Max was approaching, pulling the heavy war wagon behind him. His rusa-hide armour was literally bristling with arrows, making him look like an oversized hedgehog.

'So it doesn't blooming rain here . . .' said Max. He shook his head, flinging droplets of water in all directions. 'That's a good one. What does he call this then – light refreshment?' He glanced around. 'What's up with little britches, anyway? I saw him walking off as though he'd found five croats and lost ten. He should be celebrating his great victory.'

Sebastian shrugged his shoulders. 'I think he got a bit of a shock when he saw how many we'd killed.'

'What did he think we were doing with them, reading 'em bedtime stories?' Max was clearly overexcited by his recent experiences. 'How did you do, young master? I did pretty well myself. I
had
meant to keep count, but it got a bit confusing out there and I stopped after thirty or so.'

Sebastian turned to Max and rubbed him fondly on the head. 'Thirty, eh? I didn't get anything like as many as that. You're not injured then?'

'In about twenty places, but I don't like to make a fuss. This armour isn't as tough as Cornelius said it would be. Typical. But then, they never tell you the truth, these generals. That's how they get people like me to follow them.' He licked his lips. 'I could do with a drink though.'