Shades Of The Past Part 15

"Nice," he hears Jiron say from his position in the front of the group.

The catapults continue their barrage of pitch and oil. James moves to Hedry and asks, "Can one of your archers send a flaming arrow out there?"

"Not a problem," he replies. Turning to his men, he hollers, "Erik, Jorn, send them a present if you would."

Having overheard what James had asked Hedry, they remove a piece of cloth. Tearing off four strips, they tie them tightly just behind the arrowheads of four arrows. With a third person bearing a lit torch, they move forward past the line of staves to get within arrow range.

Another fireball flies from the palisade wall, this time aimed at the archers moving forward, and again Brother Willim brings it down.

The archers finally reach the appropriate distance just as another volley of barrels sails over their heads. By this time the area before the palisade is covered in pitch and oil, some of the barrels having managed to strike the walls of the palisade. The torch bearer lights their arrows and they take aim.

Loosing their arrows, two flaming lines of fire streak through the air on a trajectory to land within the flammable material. Just before they close the distance an unnatural gust of wind knocks them awry and they land a dozen yards short. A tingling sensation ran through him just before the wind materialized, indicating the warrior priest was responsible.

"d.a.m.n!" curses James. He watches as they aim and loose the last of their modified arrows. As before, when they're halfway to their target, another gust of wind skews their trajectory and they fall short. The two men and the torch bearer turn about and head back quickly to their lines. A cheer rises from the men manning the palisade.

As another volley of barrels flies overhead, the officer in charge of the catapults says to him, "That's the last of them."

"Start with the rocks then," he tells him.

Nodding, the officer begins having his men fill the catapults with large boulders.

James moves back to where Illan, Ceadric and Jiron are conferring. Jiron looks to him at his approach and asks, "Now what? Looks like we're stymied."

"No, we're not," he replies. He moves to intercept the torchbearer as he rejoins the others. Before he has a chance to extinguish the torch, James takes it from him. Turning toward the enemy, his s.h.i.+mmering s.h.i.+eld springs into being and he begins moving forward.

Brother Willim and his fellows fall into line behind him to follow. He glances back and sees them there. "Stay here with the others," he tells them.

"No, we go with you," Brother Willim replies.

Shrugging his shoulders, James continues marching toward the oil and pitch spread across the base of the palisade. A quick look to the palisade shows the warrior priest is no longer there. Where did he go? Where did he go?

As James reaches the range of the crossbowmen lining the walls, a volley of bolts flies forward only to be deflected by his s.h.i.+eld. Brother Willim and the others are using their staves to knock the bolts from the air before they can reach them. Small bursts of tingling sensations tell James it's not skill alone which is allowing the bolts to be deflected by the staves.

He comes to a stop ten feet from the edge of the oil and pitch. With all his might, he throws the torch forward. As the torch leaves his hand, the gates of the palisade open to reveal the warrior priest.

The torch hits the oil and pitch, igniting a raging inferno. The heat from the flames forces him to back away quickly. The Hand of Asran backs away as well. Suddenly from beside him, he hears Brother Willim gasp.

Returning his gaze to the inferno, he sees four creatures emerging from the flames. Half the size of a horse and looking like a large wolf, these creatures turn their red eyes on James and the priests of Asran. One raises its head and howls then all four spring forward.

Dreading another encounter with these creatures, James backs away quickly. Over the winter, he's worked on various methods to deal with them should he ever encounter them again. He reaches into a small pouch on his belt and removes one of two glowing crystals contained within. Throwing it into the path of the charging creatures, he turns and races away.

Brother Willim and his men turn as well and break into a run.

When the lead creature reaches the crystal, James cries out, "Encase!"

A flash of blue light and the creature becomes encased in a block of ice. The red eyes within begin growing dim as the ice steals the heat, and thus its life, away. The other three bound around the encased creature and continue the pursuit. James tosses down the remaining crystal in their path and a moment later, another of the creatures is immobilized in ice.

"What in G.o.d's name are those?" Ceadric cries out.

"James called them h.e.l.l hounds," replies Jiron. When Ceadric draws his sword and makes to go to his aid, Jiron stops him. "Swords won't harm them," he explains. "This is something James has to handle on his own."

Gazing at the events unfolding before him, Ceadric slams his sword back in its scabbard with a curse.

The fire continues to rage, though it is starting to subside now that the fuel sustaining it is being used up. A portion of the palisade is on fire and they can see men working to put it out before it's destroyed. Black, noxious fumes roll over the battlefield, most of it rolling back over the Empire's forces.

James turns and faces the remaining creatures, the s.h.i.+eld around him s.h.i.+mmers in the sunlight. Just as before, the creatures strike at the s.h.i.+eld causing a jump in the amount of magic required to maintain the barrier. This time, however, he uses the knowledge gained from the last time he faced these creatures and the s.h.i.+mmer of the s.h.i.+eld turns slightly blue. When one of the creatures again raises a paw to touch the barrier, it pulls it back with a yelp as the coldness of the s.h.i.+eld burns it.

The creatures pace around the s.h.i.+eld as they try to figure a way in. As they pace, the ground under them suddenly erupts as vines rise from the earth to ensnare them. Casting a look to Brother Willim, he sees the Hand standing several yards away, one of the brothers lost in concentration.

"The warrior priest!" another brother says as he points toward the now dying fire. The flames seem to roll back as a path is cleared through the fire. Making his way through the now cleared area walks the warrior priest.

"You take care of the creatures," Brother Willim tells James. "We'll deal with him!"

James nods his head just as the sun overhead is blotted out. Glancing to the sky, he sees a large dark ma.s.s approaching from the east. Then the dark ma.s.s abruptly descends from the heavens rapidly. At first afraid this may be some ploy of the warrior priest, he's soon to learn it's in fact a large flock of birds. Hundreds, thousands of birds consisting of dozens of species both large and small, dive toward the walls above the palisade and begin attacking the crossbowmen and soldiers lining the top. Pecking, scratching, tearing, they stop the hail of bolts that had begun again once the fire subsided enough for them to see.

Distracted by the sight of the birds, he fails to pay close enough attention to the circling creatures. Before he even realizes, they both simultaneously strike the s.h.i.+eld. The abrupt spike in magic required to sustain it takes his breath away. The creatures howl in pain as the cold of the s.h.i.+eld burns them, but do not relent. They begin pus.h.i.+ng their way through, the acrid smoke coming from where the s.h.i.+eld burns them fills the inner area of the s.h.i.+eld.

Starting to cough, James is finding it more and more difficult to draw a breath without inhaling the nauseating smoke. He increases still further the amount of power to his s.h.i.+eld as he drops its temperature. It drops to a certain point and then ceases to fall any further. Having two creatures of fire forcing their way through must inhibit its ability to become colder.

Each of the creatures has a foreleg inside the s.h.i.+eld, their snouts now beginning to press through. James knows he can't prevent them from coming through and when they do, he's toast. Toast Toast, he almost chuckles at the pun. he almost chuckles at the pun.

He does have one more ploy to attempt, but to do it he'll have to drop his s.h.i.+eld for the required amount of magic he'll need. The problem there is that when he drops his s.h.i.+eld, he'll have but a split second before the creatures are upon him. Realizing he has no choice, he closes his eyes and prepares.

The sound of an explosion from outside the s.h.i.+eld comes to him but he doesn't allow it to break his concentration. When he's ready, he turns to face one of the creatures, the other is behind him. As he drops his s.h.i.+eld he leaps to the side just as two more s.h.i.+elds, one around each of the creatures spring into being.

When his protective s.h.i.+eld dropped, the creatures were propelled forward by the force they were exerting to breach the barrier. Then a fraction of a second before they struck each other in the middle where James used to be, the s.h.i.+elds encasing each spring into life.

The battle between the warrior priest and the Hand of Asran wages behind him but he doesn't let that distract him from the creatures before him. Snarling, biting, scratching, the creatures try to escape their confines. Unlike the s.h.i.+eld they tried to breach that had surrounded him, these s.h.i.+elds move with them sort of like a hamster in an exercise ball. The magic used to sustain them is much less than when they were trying to breach his protective s.h.i.+eld.

Concentrating now on just one of the encased creatures, he decreases the temperature of the s.h.i.+eld, which is possible now with the heat of but one creature to contend with. Also, he begins shrinking the s.h.i.+eld in around the creature until it is barely able to move. The outer sh.e.l.l of the barrier begins to frost from the coldness within, he can feel the creature struggle mightily to escape and increases the strength and integrity of the s.h.i.+eld as he continues collapsing it.

Spots begin to dance in front of his eyes from the struggle to maintain one s.h.i.+eld while collapsing the other. His throat dries up and his breathing becomes labored. Behind him, he hears a cry as one of the brothers falls in the battle with the warrior priest, the sound of birds still fills the air.

Now down to the size of a basketball, the shrinking s.h.i.+eld finally collapses completely and disappears as the creature dies and vanishes. Turning to the remaining creature, he begins shrinking its confining s.h.i.+eld same as the other. This time, with but one s.h.i.+eld to maintain, the draw of magic isn't nearly as bad. Still, his inner reserves are all but depleted and the effects upon him are becoming more p.r.o.nounced.

Headaches and dizziness begin to plague him as the remaining s.h.i.+eld continues to implode upon itself, stealing away the life from the creature it contains. Before it disappears, James' legs give out and he drops to the ground, barely catching himself before hitting hard. Almost losing concentration, he lies there on the ground, sending forth the last bits of magic from his reserves as the s.h.i.+eld shrinks to the size of a softball and then implodes completely when the life of the creature contained within goes out.

Panting hard, he tries to get to his feet but simply hasn't the strength and pa.s.ses out.

Leaving James to deal with the creatures, Brother Willim and the rest of the Hand of Asran face off with the warrior priest. Above, the birds have answered their call and are even now diving to distract the crossbowmen on the palisade. In the coming fight with the warrior priest, they can't have their concentration divided with bolts flying at them.

As the warrior priest reaches the edge of the flames, he glances from where James is battling the two remaining creatures and then to Brother Willim and the Hand. Seeing them as the most immediate threat, he turns to face them. From the flames to his right, a veritable meteor shower of fire flies toward the brothers.

In response, the Hand throws seeds in the air and with the power of their G.o.d, causes them to grow exponentially. When the meteor shower encounters the tendrils of life, their heat is absorbed by them and few make it as far as where the brothers stand. The few that do are easily avoided.

Ash from the burnt tendrils of life float upon the breeze as vines erupt from the ground under the warrior priest's feet. Twining and twisting, they quickly bind him in a tangle of thick vegetation.

Another brother throws a dark resin which expands greatly into a three foot wide viscous ma.s.s which strikes the warrior priest and encases him from the chest up in a sticky, gooey substance.

Taking up their staves, they begin moving toward the entrapped warrior priest.

Bam!

An explosion knocks them backward as the vines and gooey substance is blasted away from him. At the same time, a black miasmic cloud forms before the warrior priest and flows toward them.

Brother Willim raises his hand and a breeze develops to blow the dark cloud away but has no effect. The brother next to him throws a batch of seeds at the black cloud. On their way, the seeds blossom into bright yellow flowers and when they encounter the black cloud, absorb the darkness into them. Turning black, the flowers drop to the ground where they wither and die.

Two brothers have closed with the warrior priest and are laying upon him with their staves. His sword is out and easily blocks their attacks. A swarm of gnats appear in summons to one of the brothers and immediately moves to the warrior priest. They cloud his face and begin working their way into his armor.

Deflecting the staves, the warrior priest seems unaffected by the insects swarming him and crawling within his armor. Suddenly the ground again sprouts vines which work to entangle his legs. Between blows to deflect the staves, his sword strikes down and cuts away the vines holding him.

"Too long has your kind walked the earth," Brother Willim says. "Death is your hallmark."

Around the warrior priest, dozens of dark spheres appear. They begin zooming in and around him as they fly toward the brothers. Each one emits a small burst of energy when they draw near his enemies causing a red welt.

Brother Willim calls out in the language of his G.o.d and b.u.t.terflies fill the air. Giant red and green b.u.t.terflies begin targeting the black spheres. As each comes into contact with one of the spheres, both the sphere and the b.u.t.terfly disappear until only a couple b.u.t.terflies are left.

"Long have we been training to take down one such as you," Brother Willim says. "Our brethren have fallen to yours for far too long. No longer!" He raises his hands to the sky and says, "Now, feel the wrath of the Hand of Asran!"

The staffers fighting him begin to glow with a greenish light as the power of their G.o.d infuses them. Striking out, the warrior priest gets inside the guard of one and runs him through, eliciting a cry as the man falls away only to be replaced by another.

Again, the ground beneath the warrior priest opens up. This time however, instead of the minor vines from before, these are likened to roots of an old oak tree. Thick, strong and ma.s.sive, these grasp him in a vice-like grip that quickly immobilizes him. Striking down with his sword, the blade does little more than knick the outer bark.

Legs encased and immobile, his defensive capability is now drastically reduced. Blows from the two staffers land upon him more frequently and with increasing force.

Bam!

An outward explosion attempts to remove the vines from him but only succeeds in loosening them for a brief moment before they tighten once more.

A bright light is suddenly among them as Miko comes with the Star of Morcyth ablaze in his hand. Kneeling down beside the fallen priest of Asran, he begins healing his wound.

Whack!

The end of a staff strikes the warrior priest in the forehead and knocks the helm from his head.

Whack!

A strike to his hand causes his sword to fly through the air.

Whack!

Blood begins to flow from his nose as a staff takes him across the face.

"Now, we finish it!" cries Brother Willim.

The staffers back away from the warrior priest as Brother Willim calls upon his G.o.d. The roots holding the warrior priest begin writhing as a cry escapes the man's throat. With a rip and a tear, the roots pull the warrior priest apart as arms and legs come away from the body. One long root wraps itself around the neck and with a quick pull, the head comes away.

As the roots drag the dismembered body of the warrior priest into the ground, a malignant presence can be felt as if some evil spirit walks the battlefield, then is gone. When the last of the warrior priest has been dragged beneath the surface, Brother Willim and the others relax. The flock of birds which had come to their aid begins to disperse as well and men are once again upon the walls.

Coming to his fallen brother, he asks Miko, "Will he live?"

Looking up at him, Miko nods. "Yes. He will need rest for a day or two but he should be alright."

"Praise Asran," one of the brothers says.

Over where James pa.s.sed out, Jiron has already appeared and is removing him to a place of safety.

A crossbow bolt strikes the ground nearby and Miko who says, "We better get out of here. The battle isn't over yet."

Just then, the gates to the palisade open and the army issues forth with a roar.

Chapter Eleven.

Miko mounts his horse and they hand the injured brother up to him. "Get back behind the line of staffs," he tells them. Turning his horse toward Lythylla, he bolts into a gallop holding tightly onto the injured brother before him.

Brother Willim and the others begin running toward where Illan and the rest are preparing to meet the onslaught of the enemy. As the Hand reaches their lines, Illan says, "Good work there." Brother Willim simply nods his head as he and the other brothers follow Miko on into Lythylla to see about their comrade.

Jiron, leading the horse bearing James, moves through the defenders as they part for him. He soon pa.s.ses the Brothers and crosses over the bridge into the city. Off to one side of the gates, a soldier waves to him and indicates a nearby guardhouse beside which Miko's horse stands tied to a post. Henri is there and takes his reins as he pulls up alongside Miko's horse.

"Is he alive?" Henri asks, referring to the unconscious James.

"Yes," replies Jiron. "He gets like this every time he does too much magic."

Henri helps him remove James from the horse and together they bring him into the guardhouse. The injured brother is already laid out upon blankets on the floor, a pack has been placed under his head for comfort.

Madoc healers are there and have already begun examining the brother. They place James on a blanket next to him. Jiron takes Miko by the arm and says, "We have to get back to the others."

"Yes, you're right," he says. Then to one of the healers he adds, "Take care of them."

"They'll be fine," the grey haired healer says. "You go do what you have to."

As Jiron and Miko leave the guardhouse, Brother Willim and the rest of the Hand arrive and pa.s.s them on their way into the guardhouse. "I think they are in good hands," says Jiron.

"Me too," agrees Miko.

They mount their horses and turn them toward the gate. Jiron pauses but a moment when Lord Pytherian catches his eye from where he's keeping watch on the battle from atop the gate. Nodding to Jiron, he then turns back to the battlefield. The courtyard is filled with every available man, as are the streets leading deeper into the city. The whole Alliance army is waiting for the word to go. It was decided to keep the bulk of their forces within the walls in the hopes of fooling the enemy into launching an attack. If they but knew how many awaited them, they would never leave the relative safety of the palisade.

Returning through the gate at a gallop, they head back to their comrades who are about to face the brunt of the Empire army. Jiron sees the soldiers of the Empire are forming ranks this side of the palisade as more and more stream through the gate. Guess they're not going to wait for us to attack. Guess they're not going to wait for us to attack.

Out in front of their force, the crossbowmen take position as they prepare to rain down a volley of death upon them. Jiron recognizes the army commander that was with the warrior priest when he and James had gone for the initial meeting before all the hostilities erupted. The man must think now would be his best chance at success seeing as how James has collapsed and one of the priests of Asran is down.