The Sorcerer's Ring: Book 05 - A Vow of Glory (25 page)

Gwendolyn
shook her head.

"I
cannot wait within the safety of our walls while he risks his life out there.”

"But
my lady, your people need you. They look to you.”

"They
also look to me as an example,” she said, “of fearlessness. In war, that has
merit, too.”

“Well
then if you won’t go back inside, neither will I,” he said.

Steffen
fell silent, and the two of them continued to stand and watch.

Gwendolyn
knew he was right, knew it was only a matter of time until she would have to
order the outer gates sealed. Her heart was breaking inside.

She
began to detect a distant rumbling, and her heart pounded as she looked up to
see the entire horizon covered in black. More troops than she had ever seen in
her life were stretched out before her, thousands and thousands of them, seeming
to stretch across the entire world. In their center rode two dozen flag-bearers,
waving the Empire colors high above their heads, and hundreds of trumpets
sounded.

"My
lady, we are out of time!" shouted Srog, riding up beside her with a dozen
troops. “We must seal the gates!”

Gwen
looked over her shoulder and saw her men, hundreds of them, anxiously
preparing, taking up positions, spread out along the parapets. She then turned
and looked back at the horizon. Reality was sinking in: here, at last, was
Andronicus. And yet, still, there was no sign of Kendrick and Atme. Her heart
fell. Had he been killed? She had never known him to be unsuccessful. How could
it be? she wondered. Kendrick was their finest knight. If he had been killed,
then what hope was there for any of them?

Gwen
cursed herself for allowing him to go. She should have ordered him to stay put.
She loved that he lived by his vow of honor—but in this case, chivalry had led
to his death.

"My
lady, you cannot stand here anymore!" Steffen yelled, and she could hear
the agitation in his voice.

Gwendolyn
knew the time had come. The army was getting closer, and in moments there would
be no chance for her to enter her own city walls. But she just could not bring
herself to. Not until she knew for sure that her brother did not make it.

“My
lady!” Brom urged, standing beside Srog. “If we wait any longer, our men will
die!”

Suddenly,
a small cloud of dust caught Gwendolyn’s eye, off to the side; she turned, and
on a small side road there, her heart was elated to see, rode Kendrick and Atme,
carrying the two girls on their horses. They galloped towards them, outpacing
the army, faster, and closer. They had a good hundred yards lead on them, and
Gwen's heart soared to see them alive again.

They had
made it. She could hardly believe it. They had made it!

Gwendolyn
felt a huge weight lifted off her heart as she turned, mounted her horse, and
began riding back for the open gates of Silesia, Steffen, Srog, Brom and dozens
of soldiers accompanying her. As they went, more and more troops, waiting
patiently for her, filled in behind them, and together they all raced back
through the outer gates. As they did, dozens of men, waiting, began to close
the massive iron gates from both sides.

They
raced through just in time, the gate only left opened a few feet for them, and
after they did, Kendrick and Atme, just feet behind her, raced through, too.
The second they did, the heavy metal slammed behind them.

They
continued riding, through the inner gates, and as they did, a second spiked
iron gate slammed behind them.

As Gwendolyn
rushed into the inner court, all around her, thousands of troops were rushing
into position, chaos everywhere, the energy in the air frantic, the
anticipation palpable.

"SOUND
THE ALARMS!" she screamed, and as soon as she did, a chorus of horns
erupted all around her.

Citizens
ran to their homes and barred windows and doors, the courtyard emptying. Once
inside, most rushed to their upper windows, leaving them open just a crack, to look
out over the square, and to hold bows and arrows at the ready. Every last Silesian
man, woman and child, Gwen knew, was prepared to join in and fight to the death
here.

Her
heart flooded with relief as Kendrick rode up beside her, he and Atme handing
the sick girls to their mother, who embraced them with tears of joy, sobbing.
She grabbed Kendrick's leg.

"Thank
you," she said. "I will never be able to repay you.”

Gwendolyn
and Kendrick dismounted and embraced.

“You’re
alive,” she said over his shoulder, so happy, and wishing for Thor to have the
same fate, too. “And you saved their lives.”

Kendrick
smiled.

"There
are many more to save,” he replied.

Gwen
had no time to respond, because suddenly, there came a horrific slamming
against the outer gate, so fierce, it shook the entire city.

Kendrick
took up his position with the rest of the Silver, while Gwendolyn ran, Steffen
at her side, up the winding stone steps to the top of the inner parapet,
wanting to get the best view.

As Gwen
looked down there came another tremendous crash, and she was shocked by what
she saw: Andronicus' army swarmed outside the city, and dozens of soldiers, in
a coordinated charge, rammed their shields into the outer gate, putting their
shoulders into it.

That
was all just the prelude: these men stepped aside, and there came rolling
forward a long, thick iron battering ram, on wheels, manned by two dozen men.
They rushed forward, gained traction, and as Gwendolyn watched in horror, they
rammed the outer gate, denting it, shaking the walls, and making some of the stone
around her crumble.

"Awaiting
your command!" Srog said, standing beside her.

"NOW!"
she said.

"ARCHERS!"
screamed Srog.

Up and
down the parapets, archers pulled back on their bows, and found slots through
every nook and cranny in the stone walls, taking aim below.

“FIRE!”

The
sky turned black with the rain of arrows, thousands of them sailing through the
air, finding targets below in the exposed Empire soldiers.

Screams
rose up, as dozens of Empire troops keeled over on the ground, dead.

But
Andronicus’ army was well-disciplined: hundreds of soldiers took a knee, lined
up in perfect rows, and fired right back up at the walls.

Gwendolyn
stood there, amazed, her first time in the midst of a real battle, and she didn't
even think to react. She felt a strong hand grab her shirt and yank her down,
slamming her against the stone. She felt the breeze of an arrow as it sailed
through the air, just missing her head, and looked over to see Steffen lying on
the ground beside her. She lay there, her heart pounding, realizing how stupid
she had been not to get down sooner, as all the other men around her had done. Steffen,
once again, had saved her life.

Not
everyone had been so fortunate. A boy, hardly older than Thor, stood a few feet
away from her, staring down at the men, as if in shock, an arrow through his
throat. He stood a second more, then toppled over the edge of the parapet and
fell down onto the heap of bodies, fifty feet below.

"ARCHERS!"
Srog screamed again.

Again,
the Silesians took up their bows, re-strung, and fired down at the Empire.

More screams
rang up, and more Empire troops fell.

But
there came another volley, right back.

The
battle intensified, and arrows sailed through the air in every direction, the
Empire taking heavier casualties as most of the Silesians were spared, able to
take cover behind the thick stone walls. But as the battle continued, more and
more Silesians got killed as they fired. There were perhaps a dozen Silesian
soldiers dead, compared to the hundreds of Empire—but the Silesians had fewer
men to spare.

It was
all happening so quickly, Gwen could barely process it. It had gone from absolutely
nothing, from days of calm, of endless waiting, to a sudden, ferocious battle.

The
Empire rolled the battering ram towards the gate once again, denting it further
and shaking the ground as they struck it with a crash.

Kendrick
stepped forward, rallying the Silver.

"CAULDRONS!”
he screamed.

Kendrick
rushed forward, Atme by his side, along with a dozen Silver, and together they
hoisted a huge iron cauldron over the edge of the wall. Moments later, boiling
tar came gushing over the edge, pouring down on the soldiers manning the
battering ram. In perfect unison, a dozen Silver leaned over with their bows, arrows
aflame, and fired.

Screaming
erupted as the soldiers caught fire—stopping them just before they had time to
ram the gate again.

But
within moments, dozens more troops simply pushed the flaming soldiers out of
the way and took up the battering rams themselves.

Gwen
was struck with a hopeless feeling. The number of Empire troops seemed
limitless, and no matter how many they killed, it seemed futile. For every
hundred that died, two hundred more appeared. All the while, the horizon just
continued to flood with them, as far as the eye could see, row after row,
division after division, cramming together like a million worker ants. The
death of several hundred Empire didn’t even put a dent in their forces.

Yet on
the Silesian side, every single death had an impact. By any measure they were
fighting tremendously well, holding off a huge army with a fraction of the
men—yet still, they felt every loss—and Gwen saw their ranks beginning to thin,
their munitions beginning to dwindle.

It was
obvious that Andronicus had no regard for life, that he would just keep sending
men to their deaths without another thought. It even seemed as if that were his
strategy—to just keep offering up as many of his own men as he could, until the
Silesians ran out of arrows, tar, spears. Eventually, they would. Fighting
against any other commander would have given the Silesians a chance; but
against Andronicus, against a man who didn’t even care about his own people,
what chance was there? Gwen wondered. Was he that merciless to sacrifice so
many thousands of his own people without a second thought?

As Gwen
watched soldier after soldier fall to their deaths below, she realized that he
was.

Before
she could finish the thought, she caught a glimpse of something sailing at her
out of the corner of her eye, and this time, she ducked in time. Inches over
her head their sailed a huge, flaming boulder. It soared through the air, over
the parapets, and landed inside the city. It landed deep in the ground, like a
flaming comet, and impacted with such force that it shook the ground. After it
landed it continued to roll, stopping only when it smashed into a stone wall in
a burst of fire and flame.

Dozens
of these flaming boulders suddenly soared through the air, one shattering the
stone wall close to her head. Gwen, on her hands and knees, peaked through a
slit to see that a row of catapults had been rolled forward, and dozens of soldiers
were arming them with boulders, setting them aflame with some sort of liquid, cranking
back the ropes until taught, then slicing to let it go.

The
ground and walls shook all around her as these boulders flew through the air
like arrows; scream rose up, and dozens of her men died.

"FIRE
ON THE CATAPULTS!" Gwen shouted. “Aim for the men manning them!”

Her
orders were shouted and repeated up and down the ranks, all along the parapets,
and all the archers turned their attention from the troops manning the battering
rams to those manning the catapults. A hail of arrows shifted towards them, wounding
and killing most of the soldiers.

But
the move must have been anticipated by Andronicus’s men, because as soon as
Gwen’s archers stood and fired, exposed, they were fired upon themselves,
dozens of spears hurling through the air and impaling them, Gwen was horrified
to see. Their screams rose up, and their bodies toppled over the edge, crashing
down below.

"I
want to join!" yelled a voice. "I want to join the fighting!”

Gwendolyn
turned and was shocked to see her brother Godfrey approaching, breathing hard, slightly
overweight, huffing and puffing in his cloth armor, his face red from exertion,
his eyes wide with fear.

"Get
down!" she screamed, and Steffen yanked him down just in time, as a spear
soared over his head.

"I
want to fight!” he cried. "Please! Give me a position!”

Gwendolyn
looked at Kendrick, who nodded back.

"You
can join my men," Kendrick said. "Have you ever fired a bow?”

"Of
course!” Godfrey said. “Father had us all take lessons.”

“But
do you remember?” Kendrick pressed.

Godfrey
stared back, wide-eyed, trembling.

“I
think so,” he said.

"Take
this," Kendrick said, reaching over and handing him a spare bow and
quiver. "And take up a position along this wall, with the archers. Stay
low and don’t expose yourself. Await my command!”