Take the Darkness...: Epic Fantasy Series (24 page)

Chapter 54

Josette been promoted again; from mercenary, to assassin, now serving as a bodyguard for the Duchess herself. She wanted to be on the front line of the battle, with the troops and captain Stellos, but now she lurched at the back of the troop with Elizebetha. She was dressed for battle in fine noble looking armour, but Josette knew the Duchess didn’t intend to fight. It was more for the spirits of the men. They marched down the line and soon the Cold Death were arranged like a small wedge on the field, with the Duchess’ men only meters away. The fighting had started as soon as they began to march, and she was proud they had held formation under the deluge. She was going crazy as she heard the yells, the clangs of swords and firing of bows from the middle of the wedge. She knew they were drawing the body of the force to them and soon all but their backs would be surrounded.

She looked at Elizebetha and saw deep concern on her face, but almost didn’t care. The Duchess looked at her, ‘I’m helping you,’ she said.

‘I don’t want to be protected! I want to fight,’ she said with a little too much anger in her voice.

‘You’re much like Grimm,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘I need you to protect me.’ She was surrounded by at least twenty or so men of the Black Rock who were loyal only to her. She was conflicted. Grimm had told her that she’d tried to strip his power and Minsetta was protecting him. Her blood boiled that right now her people were fighting while she stood talking. Then she heard it. Grimm. She heard him yell a war cry, the clanging of armour and axe. She imagined him on the front line, surrounded.

Josette drew her bow off her back and started to walk, through the reserve force and to the archers in the middle, firing rapidly over the heads of their shield wall.

Elizebetha looked furious. ‘You need to stay, Minsetta will come for me, Grimm will come for me.’ She said, and looked so scared and weak. Josette turned and yelled at her, Duchess or not. ‘They are both fighting, killing, and ready to die for you. You might be happy to let that happen but I’m not!’

She ran into the pack before she could be pulled back, and realised they were doing a lot worse than she’d thought. The entire shield wall was being pressed hard. They were deeply outnumbered and the archers were almost useless as the body they were firing at was too close for the up and over of the shield wall.

She’d never been great at sword fighting, but that was before the cellar, before she’d taken in all that skill and practise. She quickly strapped her bow over her back and ran to the front, dagger drawn. The shield wall was slowly being pushed back, and a man next to her fell with a lucky arrow in the neck; she said ‘sorry’ and took his sword from his hand. She pushed to the shield wall and saw the method. One row of shields and people standing behind them would lean over to cut. She leapt over the wall with her arm raised and stabbed again and again. The pike men of the Duchess’ force were too close, and now clanged with short swords on the shields. They were being pushed back and back, and then she heard it. Words that she’d never thought would have now filled her with hope. ‘Red Bastards’ was being yelled and she saw a glimpse of fighting breaking out at the back of the men fighting her.

The men fighting them lost momentum as many turned. There were still at least ten men deep to the other side, but at least someone was on the other side. She felt the man in front of her dropping his shield and she yelled. ‘That’s them, boys, they’re coming, we just need to push!’ She dropped her shoulder and shoved it hard into the shield he was holding. Suddenly, Grimm was next to her with a pike in hand and Minsetta next to him, and he grinned at her with blood on his face from a light cut on his forehead.

‘I reckon you know what you’re doing girl, so fucking do it, all I’m good at is axe work.’

She didn’t know where it came from, but she just let it rise and she yelled again. ‘Get over, pikes, in behind this line. Pikes now.’ Within moments, there was a line of pikes behind the shields. ‘Pikes, over the top. Strike!’ She yelled and a line of twenty pikes thrust over the top of the shields, sending the attackers staggering back. Josette yelled again. ‘Now one step, push!’ They all pushed one step into the stunned and injured front line. She had it now. ‘Strike!’ She yelled and they struck. ‘Push,’ and they shoved forward. Strike, push, strike, push. Her voice started to go and Grimm took up the chant. Soon they were clearing the field and the bodies they were stepping over had the red and black uniforms she wanted to see.

Goldie saw the gate of the Keep open and the force of the Cold Death come marching out. It looked like a tiny wedge of people, and Farirkar turned to him and laughed. ‘Is that it? We’re going to have to do everything.’

‘Don’t count them out, my man Grimm is in there and Josette as well.’

The troops of the Duchess were much more polite than he would have been and let them get all the way out of the gate and form up before they attacked. Still, the wedge of men was exposed at all sides and he saw it starting to make slow progress against the facing wall. He hated shield fighting. One line of shields against the other and sneaking pikes over and swords through. The Duchess’ men closest to them had started running, and soon there was a line of them twenty deep. All pushing at the little wedge. There were so many of them that all they could do was push.

The Bastards started their march until they were just a few meters away from a line of fifty exposed backs.

‘Well, that’s a tempting site.’ Said Farirkar as he turned to his men behind him and yelled. ‘Let's stick these swords up their fucking arses!’ Goldie laughed out loud, stirring stuff. Farirkar was the first to break rank, and Goldie next. They ran the short distance to the exposed Twin Plains men and, with true mercenary spirit, started to cut them down. He stabbed his sword deep into the back of the first and then the second before they even started to turn. This is what he wanted, a proper melee, no technique, just slash, slash, slash. Their force of eight hundred was smarter than the Duke’s and soon was spilling out on all sides, and hacking at anything they could. Farirkar yelled ‘Red Bastards’ at the top of his lungs and that made them turn. Soon Goldie was facing men facing him. He fought hard, cutting left and right. No shields, just swords against swords, or better a pike that was too long to be of use. He looked at Farirkar, who was still beside him, and the man was actually laughing. ‘I’m up to ten, hope you’re good for it!’ He yelled as he cut down another one. A shocked looking black sash that’d gotten a huge axe in his chest, that split his armour like it was nothing.

‘I’m at eight, but who’s going to pay me?’ He yelled back. Through the thick, he thought he could see the banner of Black Rock and shouted again. ‘Bastards!’ He heard ‘Cold Death’ in reply, and they were getting close. The Bastards had lived up to their name and had taken a lot of the Twin Plains men in the back, but now the battle slowed as they fought people who faced them. ‘Time, I’d say,’ yelled Goldie to Farirkar.

He winked back. ‘Scatter, men!’ He yelled, and within a second they had turned their backs and were running; a few of them got a sword in the back, but most were clear. He heard a cheer go up from the Duke’s army, and they broke rank and ran after the fleeing men.

Grimm saw them run from the Duchess’ army as the Bastards broke and ran. The pressure their wall was feeling dropped and suddenly all but the front line of them had turned and were chasing the fleeing force. He knew they would be mad as hell and wanted payback. Grimm knew Goldie would never retreat, though. He yelled before his men could lose heart. ‘This is it, boys, one push and then swords!’ They pushed once more, pike then force, and broke through the shield wall that had no support. ‘Swords!’ He yelled and their own shield wall fell away, and he was running next at the front of his men.

He could see the force of the Duchess was in tatters; there were only four hundred or so left but they thought they were winning. He ran hard and was soon at the backs of the men, trying to catch the fleeing force. The Cold Death came down on them like a hammer and were soon hacking and slashing them as they went. Suddenly, the men before them stopped running and the Cold Death had them. He fought like a maniac. Hacking one then the other, it was dark work but he knew he needed to do it. They tried to turn, but they had people on each side. The Bastards had turned back after long enough to make them break rank. Now the Duchess’ force was the smaller one between the two, and with no formation. It was just sword on sword. He saw a few of them starting to run from the sides and then that was it. Whatever was left of the Twin Plains army broke and ran. It wasn’t an ordered retreat, it was just soldiers running for their lives. A huge cheer went up from both armies still on the field. Grimm stopped and let them run.

He looked across the field, and only meters away, he saw the red faces of their strange allies; he turned to see Minsetta and Josette who were behind him. The woman Minsetta had been useless in the shield wall, but when they’d gone to swords, she was like a fiend. He’d never seen someone move with such speed and grace. Her entire face was covered in blood, which she just wiped with fingers and licked.

He turned to the sound of a horse and saw Elizebetha ride up and dismount next to him.

‘Let's go meet our friends,’ Grimm said.

Goldie laughed out loud, it was like the idiots didn’t even have commanders. They ran after the Bastards with such anger, and completely broke rank. They were more than surprised when they disappeared behind the opened wall of the second line and those boys were running the other way. From there it was short work. He got a few cuts here and there, and killed two more before he saw them break and run from the field. A huge cry went up from the Bastards and then it was mayhem. They ran towards their camp, but the mercenaries gave chase. He looked across the now empty field and saw the Cold Death force not more than a short walk away. He saw Farirkar was off as well, with his men, chasing down the stragglers, poor boys. But they were worth a gold each. He also saw the rest of them starting to loot the dead and grab every sword, bow, and pike they could.

He saw Grimm and laughed out loud. Goldie began to run across the bloody field, jumping the dead bodies and fallen. Soon he was in front of them. Elizebetha rode up on a tall pale horse and stepped down as he approached. Grimm saw him and grinned; they embraced hard and laughed.

‘Nice acting, I’m told, brother,’ Grimm said.

‘Thanks for believing me,’ he said back.

He looked at the group and saw Josette wiping blood from a sword onto her pants. ‘So you made it, then? Good work, little sister,’ he said and grabbed her up, hugging her. He jumped up and down with her, feeling so relieved. ‘Seth would be fucking proud of you.’ Of all the things he could have said to her, he knew that sent a real thrill of pride through her body. Goldie looked at the two women. Elizebetha stood next to a stunning woman with brown hair. Goldie knelt in the bloody field and took Minsetta’s hand. ‘Milady, I am Goldie: pleased to be of service,’ he kissed her hand. While she giggled, he then turned to Elizebetha and simply said, ‘Hi, Liz, nice battle, eh?’

‘Is it over?’ She asked in a sad voice.

‘The battle is.’ He looked at the Cold Death in the short distance and they were still a good size. He counted them in an instant.

‘You’ve still got a hundred and sixty two people, and well, I can’t count us because we are a bit busy,’ he said, grinning at Minsetta. Where had he heard that name?

Elizebetha looked at the mercenaries looting and running after the survivors to cut them down. ‘Can you make them stop?’ She asked.

‘Why? The only good enemy is a dead one, and they are having fun.’

‘Now, if you’ll all be so kind, I think we should retire to Duchess Dierdra’s tent and I’ll introduce you to my good friend Farirkar, and we’ll see if he was lucky enough to get her alive.’

‘And fetch Dagosh and anyone else you need; we’ve got a lot to discuss,’ he said with a grin.

Seraphina saw the sun rise into the sky and sight filled her with joy. Already the snow was beginning to melt and the sky was pure blue without a single cloud. It had risen like an arrow into the sky and moved into place. But as she followed the Wolvern, she was filled with fear. Even from the distance of the battle, she had heard Seth’s screams; she hadn’t heard anything like it before, and not even in her darkest imaginings had she made him suffer as he seemingly had now.

She ran over the rise to the sea and stopped. It was so beautiful. The sunlight glistened off the waves and, instead of an empty ocean, it was filled with scores of small wooden boats. As far as she could see, there were hundreds of them. The Wolvern stood on the shore and yellow sand was starting to appear through the melting snow. He stood next to something that was charred and black, and he howled a long sad howl.

A deep feeling of horror came upon her as she approached, and she started to cry. Tears were streaming down her pale face when she kneeled in the snowy mulch next to him. Seth was barely breathing and his entire body was burned black. His skin was charred and blistered, and all she could see was his eyes looking back at the Wolvern. She knew they were communing via mind, but didn’t know if he could even speak. He shouldn’t even be alive. His body was ruined, hair gone and singed, his skin was like cooked meat. She was almost sick.

‘What happened?’ She asked. ‘Why didn’t he run?’ She asked with tears on her face. What was this? Why did she feel like this? She hated this man, but she didn’t want him to die. He was like a mountain: it was just something that would always be there, no matter what happened, and she’d come to think of him as unbreakable.

‘
I’ll let you speak with him.’
The Wolvern said in her mind, and then she felt the connection with him. She staggered back as the pain hit her. Even just a fragment of it hurt her so much. What had he lived through? He showed her why he’d stayed, that he’d had to raise the sun. That he had burned again and again as the Wolvern tried to save him.

She looked at the Wolvern. ‘Do it again, take more of them now the sun’s gone he won’t burn again,’ she cried.

‘I can’t, look at his hand
,’ the Wolvern said.

She looked at his hand and the sun symbol was almost gone.

‘He says if I heal him again, the symbol will disappear and he can’t send you home.’

‘What? He’s letting you keep him like this?’ She cried.

‘Of course, there are tens more on that field. I can heal him in an instant, but he tells me not to.’
The Wolvern said.

Suddenly Silver was with them. She walked slowly over to them and knelt down next to them. She was finally wearing some clothes, and looked down at Seth’s broken body.’Oh, champion, so stupid and brave.’

‘Why haven’t you healed him?’ She asked the Wolvern.

‘Look at his hand.’ They did, and the sun symbol was almost faded to nothing. ‘He says that if I heal him again, it will disappear. Every time the skin regrows, the magic is less.’

‘What about my blood?’ She asked. ‘It could be different?’

No.
Seth said weakly in their minds. ‘
I can feel it, the power is fading and I have only now to do it. I need to send Seraphina home and then I will be done.’
He looked at her with his ruined face. ‘
I wish we had more time, you’re funny’,
and then he closed his eyes.

Seraphina started crying as she saw the rift start to appear. He’d used the last of his strength to build it and build it. She could feel through the connection that it was killing him. His ruined body had almost nothing left and he was using it to send her back home. She looked at him and then at Silver. She wasn’t going to let him die for her; they’d find another way.

‘Heal him, Silver.’ Silver looked at her for a long moment and then nodded her head. Seth was past the point of control, and as the rift appeared, Seraphina looked though and could see Pelloss, the streets, the buildings, the people, her home. All she had to do was walk through. He was barely holding it and she knew if she went in the extra push to get her home would kill him. She wasn’t going to do that. ‘Heal him!’ She yelled at Silver. ‘You owe us that much!’

Silver just nodded and, cutting her wrist with a sharp nail, let the blood slowly drip into Seth’s open mouth as she watched the rift to Pellosi close, leaving her looking at the empty sea.