Wanting to take advantage of their enemies’ ignorance to
their presence, the captain issued his commands in low whispers and
gestures. They dismounted, spread out
along the road, and readied to scale the rock-strewn slope. They then worked their way up the slope. Pender set the pace so they stayed
together. The Rangers’ attack had been
devastatingly effective and the ground was littered with dead and mortally
wounded fighters. All others had left
their positions to help the Valkea. The
Guardsmen worked their way around the bodies and continued up the slope to the
rocky ledge.
“Surrender or die!” Pender bellowed when he and his men
reached striking distance.
It was as if the Valkea’s men were linked mentally, for they
all seemed to turn as one. “Kill them,”
the tallest man screamed madly.
All the Valkea’s followers had been filled with impotent
rage at their inability to help her.
Their pent up anger flowed forth and they charged into Pender’s men with
insane recklessness. They had a certain
advantage for they were uphill from the Guardsmen, but they were outmatched in
numbers, for the Rangers had decimated their ranks so a scant twenty men
remained.
The tall man ran straight for Pender and raised a short
sword over his head to rain down a killing blow. Having no experience in swordsmanship, he
didn’t realize he was leaving his torso completely exposed – a fact Pender took
advantage of by delivering a quick thrust into his midsection. The tall man responded as if he felt no pain
and walked deeper into the blade to get close enough to strike at the
captain. Pender deflected the blow with
his shield, extracted his sword, and beheaded him.
All of the Valkea’s fighters seemed to be entirely devoid of
fear and oblivious to pain as they fought.
The fight was reduced to a brutal business of hacking the Valkea’s men
to death. It was a sickening sight but a
familiar one to the few men present, such as Lieutenant Cherok, who had fought
with the howling mob at the altar the day before.
It was soon over and Pender’s men were alone on the
slope. The blazing light still radiated
forth so intensely it created it’s own shadows.
The men stood with their eyes averted to protect their vision. They were surprised that the column of light
gave off no heat.
“An awesome display of power,” Pender remarked. “Small wonder it’s reported the King and
Queen collapse after fighting with their crystals.”
Cherok nodded his head in agreement. “Praise the Spirit Their Majesties are
capable of such a mighty assault. I felt
the Valkea’s anger when she attacked Lady Carra’s train. Let’s pray they didn’t suffer too much before
the Champions began their battle.”
“Agreed.” Pender
glanced back to the road. “The decoy
wagon took some good hits. I wonder how
many men were lost or wounded.”
“Let’s hope not many.”
“What mindless maniacs.
They didn’t seem to care that they were dying in such a hopeless fight.”
“Just like yesterday.”
“And just like yesterday, more will surely come. I’m sure all of the Valkea’s people are aware
of her peril.” He pointed his sword
towards the tunnel. “Do you hear that
noise, Cherok?”
He listened carefully.
“It almost sounds like a distant drum beat.”
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