Test The Awakened: Book Two, page 10
After a few minutes of walking, she came to the secluded place where the soldiers had retired for the evening. An eerie feeling crept over her as she saw that all of the men were still lying down. She hoped that they were just tired from their trip across the channel, but the smell of vomit confirmed her worst fears.
“They’re all dead,” she heard herself say. Their lifeless skin looked pale in the morning light, as though bleached by the sun. She was at once overcome with grief for these men, who had suffered an evening of agony, and fear for herself and the others that remained. Thaddius was likely dead and that meant that they were lost, stranded in the middle of nowhere, hiding from an empire that would kill all of them for their rebellion. It was too much. There was no one to impress and no way to be positive about the situation. The tears began to flow and she couldn’t stop them. Her cry turned into a wail and she collapsed on the sand.
Why did Adair leave me? Why can’t I go back to the only happy time in my life? He was everything. Since he left, all I’ve managed to do is survive. And now even that prospect has changed.
Long moments of silence passed before Maeryn finally rose to her feet. Her face was dry and she felt relieved somehow. She had tried for so long to be brave and had lived through her fear. And now she had come to the realization that she could die at any moment. There was no way to go back to the life she had with her first husband. That was past and though it saddened her, she also felt a sense of satisfaction at having experienced those happy times. Adair, Kael, and Bastul were gone, as well as Thaddius and all of his soldiers. All she had now was Aelia, her new friends, and a renewed sense of purpose. She couldn’t change the past, but she was willing to die to change the future. She would make sure that these free people would survive, and if it was possible, she would be happy again. But first, there was much work to do.
* * * *
After almost a week in the beautiful city of Leoran, Kael was starting to feel at home. However, the sense of belonging quickly faded with the first signs of bad news. Refugees from the northwest coastal cities began arriving in scattered groups. As these displaced citizens of the Empire brought their necessities with them, they also carried stories of the blonde barbarians who had ransacked their homes and destroyed their towns. With each passing day, Kael’s understanding of the scope of this crisis deepened. There were several groups of barbarians moving throughout the southwest region, not just the group from Bastul.
In the absence of the General, Dacien commanded the remaining soldiers of the city and placed them in support of the efforts to house the travelers and to heal the wounded. Eventually, the arrivals slowed and stopped altogether and as soon as the city closed its gates Dacien sought Kael’s council.
Kael waited at the southern wall, overlooking Lake Leoran and the reflected light from the evening activity along the shoreline.
“These are strange times, my friend.”
Kael nodded silently.
“Never did I think that I would see the day an enemy dared to attack the Empire.” Dacien let out an exhausted sigh. “I’ve seen my share of skirmishes, but they’ve been minor by comparison. This…this is something else.”
Kael didn’t respond. It wasn’t that he was trying to keep silent; he just didn’t know what to say.
Dacien seemed to understand and continued to talk anyway. He had a way of putting people at ease when he wanted to. After a few minutes of one-sided conversation, they were interrupted by one of Dacien’s soldiers.
“Excuse me, Sir!”
Dacien nodded for the man to continue.
“Sir, you should come with me and hear for yourself. We have just received urgent news from Ampur.”
Dacien followed at a brisk pace with Kael close behind. As they walked, Kael’s mind was racing. He had noted a few days prior a pattern to the arrival of refugees. The first groups came from the north, and each successive group from cities and towns farther to the northwest. Ampur was situated almost directly west of Leoran and Kael guessed that the barbarians were moving southwest and sacking every town they crossed, thereby displacing the citizens and sending them to the capital city of the southern region for shelter.
The walk took only minutes before they reached the town hall. A small group of soldiers was gathered around a man who had clearly ridden hard to deliver his message. His face and clothes were speckled with mud and his eyes were red around the edges.
Dacien stepped into the circle and introduced himself as the ranking officer in charge. “I understand you bring news from Ampur?” Before the man could speak, Dacien called for some wine and then turned his attention back to the stranger.
“Ampur was sacked four days ago by an army of barbarians. We think they are Syvak.”
“Yes. We’ve been housing refugees from cities to your north and east. How large was the army?”
The exhausted man took the cup of wine offered by an attendant, but appeared too distraught to drink it. “…perhaps eight hundred.”
This response met with whistles and exasperations throughout the crowd, but the man continued talking.
“But they haven’t stopped. After Ampur, they turned east. I only managed to survive because I had a mount. They’re moving on foot and I believe they are heading for this city.”
Dacien was already nodding in confirmation, anticipating the man’s message of impending doom. “Thank you for your warning and your courage. We will see to it that you are taken care of. Is there any other information?”
“No, Sir.”
“Then we will leave you to get some rest.”
“Thank you, Sir,” the man replied with relief.
“Guards,” Dacien shouted. “Make preparations for additional housing. In the morning, I want you to bring all Leoran citizens inside the city gates and make them as comfortable as possible. Lieutenants, we will meet in the war room in half an hour.”
The group immediately dispersed at Dacien’s orders and went to their various tasks.
The war room was an essential fixture in every major city within the Orud Empire. It was a gathering place for strategic military planning. Though the surroundings varied, every war room contained, as its focal point, a map of the surrounding terrain on a raised platform in the center of the room. The map was the result of years of tedious observation and documentation of the city, the lake and the nearby forests and mountain ranges. And it was around this map that Dacien, Kael, and the Lieutenants were gathered.
“We were notified that perhaps eight hundred barbarians are approaching afoot from the west. Given that Ampur was attacked only four days ago, I would estimate that they will reach the shores of Leoran in less than a week. We have also confirmed that a smaller army of two to three hundred is approaching from the south. But given their distance, we must first make preparations to address the army from the west without the help of the General. Secondly, we must also be prepared if the army from the south is not stopped. Altogether, we might need to withstand an attack of one thousand or more. If this is a coordinated attack, we may not have the option of dealing with these two groups separate from each other. These are the scenarios that I see. Does anyone have anything else to add?”
Without any arguments or other input, Dacien launched into planning for the first scenario. Immediately, Kael was struck with a sense of familiarity. How many years did he plan and strategize warfare in this manner. And just as when he was young, he held back his opinions as this was not his strength. He marveled at how Dacien commanded authority and moved from one preparation to the next in a logical fashion. He began with an assessment of Leoran’s resources from cavalry and foot soldiers, to the possible uses of the small naval fleet that could control the massive expanse of water surrounding the city. There were only a few instances of disagreement between the Lieutenants, which Dacien diffused in seconds, quickly finding a solution that met everyone’s needs. After two hours of planning, the soldiers agreed to the strategy and retired for the evening.
Kael went back to his quarters and lay awake for the majority of the night. Even though he knew to leave these large scale matters to others more equipped than himself, his mind continued to work on the problem at hand. It was like chewing a tough piece of meat, lots of work with no progress.
He wasn’t sure how long he had been asleep, but when he was awakened to the sound of alarm, he felt as though it couldn’t have been more than an hour. An attendant led him back to the war room where he found a smaller group of men than the night before, as well as a few new faces. At first glance it was obvious who these men were. There were six in all, four of them with minor wounds. When Kael came within earshot of the group he picked up on the conversation.
“…no. It happened so fast! We were moving up a mountain pass through a dense forest. They came out of nowhere and attacked at our rear. They stole our supply train and rode the wagons back down the pass. We tried to pursue but they cut the legs of our horses out from under us.”
Sounds of disapproval rose from the group at the mention of such treachery. The Empire took great pride in their horses, as they were one of the main distinctions between it and other nations’ military forces. Their cavalry gave them a distinct advantage over foot soldiers. However, Kael understood the lack of respect on the part of the Syvaku. Their pride was their navy. Being a seagoing people, they had no use for horses.
“After that, we were trapped. Our only weapons were our spears, which were too long in such a tight space. They picked us off one by one until we left the cover of the forest.”
“And what of the General?” Dacien asked.
The man hung his head in shame. “Our archers were at the front of the column when the attack started. The first volley wasn’t well organized and someone hit the General by accident; he didn’t even have the chance to fight.”
Dacien looked shocked. And in that instant, their worst case scenario became a reality. After a few seconds of stunned silence, Dacien turned to make eye contact with Kael. Slowly, his questioning look was replaced by determination.
In that same instant, Kael realized another result of these events. The capital cities didn’t have Colonels. And with the General’s death, and that of his Captains, Dacien became the highest ranking officer in the southern region by default. It wasn’t just that these soldiers were looking to him as an experienced officer, but now they were obligated to follow his command under Orud law. Now, with this quick twist of fate, Dacien inherited the position of General and all the responsibilities and problems associated with it. Despite the weight of the consequences, Dacien seemed unfazed, concerned only with how to handle the current situation.
* * * *
When the Syvak warlord arrived at the southeastern shores of Leoran with the remnants of his army, he found that his other forces from the west had already arrived. They were eight hundred strong, much larger than the ranks that he had been traveling with. But that was to be expected. He anticipated Bastul to be much more difficult than the other coastal cities. So far, everything was going as planned.
Following the example of the forces already in place along the north shore, the warlord instructed his men to raid and set fire to every wooden structure along the outskirts of the city. Once this was accomplished, the remainder of the day was filled with the felling of trees, erecting temporary shelters and other such activities to support a long-term siege.
While the Syvaku soldiers worked to secure the eastern entrance to the city, the warlord rode north to make contact with his other army already in position for the attack. As he rode his massive steed, he noted that the Leoran army was making no attempts to defend the city. The soldiers simply stood atop the city walls and watched from the safety and separation of miles of water. Perhaps they were confident that their location would protect them. Indeed, the only way to reach the city was via the two roads extending from the north and southwest walls of the city, each stretching more than a mile. But soon, everything would be in place and the city’s unique location wouldn’t matter.
With the following morning came the unusual sight of three Syvak warships anchored near the northern entrance. This would have given the barbarian warlord more confidence, if not for the fact that the number should have been twenty. Apparently, the Leoran soldiers had anticipated this avenue of invasion and had sunk large, sharpened timbers in various spots along the river that fed into the north end of the lake. And though the Syvak were experts at navigating nature’s obstructions, man-made traps were altogether different. This angered the warlord as he hadn’t anticipated his enemy’s ability to prepare for the same attack that he had used on another city, hundreds of miles to the south.
By midday, the Syvak armies were in motion. They had gained confidence with the arrival of their warships. The foot soldiers marched past the entrances to the north and southeast and proceeded along their respective courses. The larger northern army was escorted by two of their vessels, one on either side of the raised road. The third warship escorted the smaller army. Not surprisingly, the Leoran guard didn’t confront them until they neared the city walls. Just as they came within range, the Leoran began volleys of arrows. Because of the elevation difference, the Syvaku had to get closer to the walls before they could return fire. And though they were not protected by city walls, as were the Leorans, they were well protected by animal skin shields supported on wooden frames held over their heads.
In the ensuing hours of conflict, it became apparent that they couldn’t match the strength and accuracy of the Leoran archers. After losing one hundred and fifty men to the first attack, the Syvak General pulled his men back from the gates to regroup. A few hours later, he ordered the second attack, this time with makeshift siege ladders, courtesy of the nearby forests. The warships stayed just out of arrow range and supported the new efforts of the foot soldiers by using small catapults to launch boulders over the tops of the walls. This ingenious use of the war-machines originally intended for land combat soon proved its worth as it began to take its toll on the Leoran guard.
By midday, the larger northern army managed to get their siege ladder raised against the city walls and looked to be on the verge of breaching the gate. But suddenly, one of the warships burst into flames and the foot soldiers lost their confidence. It seemed that the Leoran soldiers also had catapults and were adept at the use of flaming pitch. And as all the attention was diverted to this flaming mass atop the water, the General almost failed to notice another of his warships sinking into the lake.
The flaming ship also served as a diversion to the start of another of Leoran’s defenses. Unused during the earlier skirmish, massive trebuchets mounted atop the city walls began launching iron spears out into the lake. The Syvak General saw the momentum of the battle starting to turn in favor of the Leoran soldiers and quickly ordered his men to retreat. As the sun began to set, the warlord called his Captains to his large tent along the northern shore and planned their next attack. The meeting lasted several hours and after it was concluded, the two Syvak camps grew silent with exhaustion. After a difficult and fruitless day, the invaders slept soundly, vowing to take up their struggle with the light of the next day.
The General was awakened to the sounds of screaming. The massive soldier rose from his bed and stood a full seven feet tall. His blonde hair was braided in a thick knot that ran down to the middle of his muscled back. It took only seconds to don his uniform, consisting mainly of animal skins and a chain-mail shirt. He grabbed his double-bladed battle-axe and ran from his tent.
Immediately, his ears were assaulted by a deafening hum that came and went in waves. He did his best to ignore the sound and tried to get an understanding of the status of his army. As he glanced around, he could see dozens of his men struggling on the ground pierced by arrows. Looking toward the city, he was surprised to see the sails of small ships filling the lake. The Leoran navy had sailed within bow range while his army slept and were raining arrows down upon his forces. At once he cursed himself for this oversight and the Leoran for their creativity.
He barked orders to his men to raise their shields and regroup out of the range of the boats. The sky was growing light to the east before the northern army managed to pull back from their temporary dwellings and rally to their leader. But something didn’t seem right. His soldiers continued to fall, pierced with arrows. It was as if the Leoran archers had doubled their range. And how were their arrows finding their marks now that his men had their shields?
In that instant, the rising sun crested the mountains to the east, throwing morning light across the landscape. Suddenly, the Syvak warlord noticed hundreds of points of light glinting across the lake on the eastern shore—the cavalry of Leoran riding around the lake in his direction. And then it dawned on him! He turned around and gazed into the forest to the north and finally understood what had been troubling him. A second group of Leoran archers were hidden in the woods. His forces were being assaulted from two directions. And just behind the archers, another unit of mounted soldiers!
* * * *
Kael lowered his spear and yelled. “Charge!”
Suddenly, the entire cavalry jumped into action, as if they were one being. The perfection of it was awe-inspiring. They broke from between the ranks of archers and exited the forest with spears lowered. Within seconds they overtook the barbarians, running them to the ground. Kael left his spear in the first barbarian and continued forward, slashing and stabbing with his sword. Its short and broad construction was designed for stabbing in close quarters combat, but was also highly effective in this situation where the enemy was packed in tight groups. The Syvak didn’t have any time to prepare a defense and fell quickly to the cavalry.
Without seeing, Kael sensed movement to his right and instantly dropped his head. The whistle of a passing axe blade sounded in his ear, immediately followed by a jolt, as something rammed into his horse. He struggled to keep his grip and managed a glance behind after regaining his seating. In the midst of the confrontation, the retreating Syvak warlord plowed through the Leoran cavalry. He was almost standing in the saddle of his enormous steed, cutting a path through the soldiers with a long, double-bladed battle axe. He swung the weapon with a two handed stroke from side to side. One after another, the Leoran riders fell before this monster, while his massive horse charged forward without any direction from the reigns. Two of the warlord’s Captains followed in the wake of their General and the three burst out of the fray and into the open land, veering northeast to avoid the Leoran archers in the forest.
