The Elderkin Prophet

Chapter 12

The dawn of battle approaches. An eerie silence filled the air. The Murakan horde crossed the Kharaki River during the night and was now standing in ranks not far outside the Feredian walls. Feregar stood vigilant as ever, picking up every movement on the fields beyond the wall. The murakan warlords and chiefs looked onto Feregar from a distant cliff with their large brown banners swaying behind them. They watched as their armies took their places on the battlefield. Tension rose amongst everyone.

Ino is standing ready and geared up next to his father and siblings. Magnar assembled the court one last time before the battle begun. He desperately needed to raise the people’s spirits.

The court listened eagerly.

“Today, we are on the brink of battle; another senseless bloodshed with follow on both sides. We must unite together to defeat the invaders outside our walls. The Murakan lords desire to siege the walls with an unimaginable force. There is little hope for victory against such a force but we can hold those walls long enough for many to escape. Those who cannot fight, woman, child and the old and sick; you will be escorted through the old passageways underneath the city that lead to the docks. There you will be put on ships that will keep you safe from the siege. The rest, who are strong and able, will fight alongside me on the battle. Protect the ones you love, protect the kingdom you live in. Our walls are strong but our might is even stronger. None shall pass our guard today.”

After speaking, Magnar initiates the evacuation procedure. He gestured to a group of guards standing next to his large throne. Magnar walks up to his throne and pauses in front of it. He takes of his crown and plucks out a large blue gemstone that was placed in its centre. He took the gemstone and pressed it against an imprint near the base of the throne; it fit perfectly. With a light twist the sound of several large locks opening were heard. The guards began to push the throne and with a heavy heave it moved back. A dark passageway was revealed underneath the throne. Immediately the same band of guards ran into the darkness along with long lit torches and disappeared shortly.

The sky was still turning to light as the evacuation began. A long line of townsfolk waited at the base of the large steps before the throne. Magnar turns to Jayyed and issues him a command.

“Jayyed, leave quickly through the tunnels and reach the dockyard. Prepare the ships and secure the harbour. There is a large army of one thousand soldiers waiting for you to command there.”

“I shall leave at once my king. The harbours will be secured and protected.”

Jayyed bows down to pay respect before he too disappeared into the now dimly lit tunnels. A band of royal guards followed closely behind him.

A squire walked out from the halls behind the throne. In his arms were the kings armour and his long two handed sword. He helped the king suit into his armour. Magnars chest plate was made from pieces of adamantine, the rarest and strongest of metals. Straps ran up and down from the front and wrapped around his back. Another piece of metal plate protected his back. His shoulder pauldrons were made of tough leather. They were long and extended slightly beyond his shoulders with metal chains that hung from its edges as decoration. He preferred to wear a light helmet and overall wore mixed pieces of heavy and light armour so he could manoeuvre quickly around his opponents.

Magnar takes his leave from the court along with a vast force of knights equipped to the teeth behind him. They looked tall and intimidating in their gleaming armour.

Ino and Nita were left behind in the court which was now chaotic from the absence of the king. Most of the people who stood in the line were scared. Some richer folk were angry and created a commotion. They cried about how all their hard earned properties and belongings were being left behind. A few guards try to calm down the situation but it only triggered further nobles to complain. Nita loses her nerves and snaps at the bickering folk.

“You worry more about your belongings than your life fools! Your fat and lazy arses are being escorted is big enough for your foolishness. You crib about your belongings when you are too snout and weak to even stand and fight for them.”

The noblemen stood standing speechless. Nita stands before the long line and continues her speech.

“If I hear another word of someone complaining about their belongings, I will myself throw them out of this hall and into their little hovel they much so care about! I repeat myself only once more. Each person is only allowed to carry themselves one single sack or crate with whatever they want. The ships have been stocked with fresh food and other necessary supplies. I want woman and child first; the old and sick next; finally, the rest.”

Nita issues the command to begin. Several guards stood near the mouth of the passageway and assisted the people through. She began to oversee everything. She was still really upset that she could not fight on the frontlines alongside her father.

Ino was standing there as well. He helped to distribute little food packages to the people. Eventually all the women, children and sick were through and the rest of the people began to make their way through the passage. Ino noticed a familiar face far off in the crowd. He saw Deolan who was talking to a few other people in the crowd. It brought Ino to smile even through such a tough and tragic time.

Magnar and his troop joined into the front lines. Every knight took their respective places as was planned the night before. Magnar climbs up a short watch tower and is handed a telescope. He looked through it and saw an endless wave of soldiers waiting in unison outside the walls. He is shocked and overwhelmed because he could see several of his own kingdoms soldiers amongst the enemy ranks. He saw troops belonging to almost all the lords who had sworn to send aid to Feregar pitted against him instead. He spotted another rank of soldiers off to the left, they wore a green outfit. He recognized it immediately and chills ran down his spine. He saw lord Eudich commandeering his forces as his banner men carried out his orders. All the odds were against Feregar. Magnar could now only hope that he would buy the people enough time to escape.

A few more minutes pass and the silence in the air is broken by a loud sound. A battle horn echoed from a distance. Once the horn was sounded, the ground began to quake. The horde of soldiers began to march down at the walls. Trebuchets and ballistas began to fire their shots at the walls. Some of the shots flew overshot the walls and crashed into the city behind.

Magnar takes this moment to look around at his soldiers. He only could see fear and confusion in their spirit. He rips out a battle cry so loud that even the farthest defenders perched up on the towers heard him.

“What do we do to visitors who come to our walls unarmed?”

He asked out loud.

“We take them in and give them a cup our finest mead.” He continues.

“What do we do to visitors who come to our walls poking their wee sticks at it?”

“WE GIVE THEM A FACEFULL OF STEEL!”

He continues to raise the spirits of his warriors. He succeeds in doing so. The entire Feredian army is riled up and ready.

“You have the love of a good woman and lovely children to call your own. Those bastards outside our walls come to steal that treasure away from each one of you. What do we say to that?” Magnar asked to every soldier around him.

Almost all the soldiers cheered on in unison.

“MEN! To your posts.”

Quickly all the soldiers move and take positions. A long line of soldiers armed with crossbows positioned themselves at the battlements. After every fifty meters there was a scaffold where a ballista was built and manned. Archers lined the hidden pockets inside the mountain while an entire battalion of knights and soldiers gathered outside the doors. The wall was designed to allow multiple enemies into a closed area where the gatehouse was situated. Once the army entered, the gates behind them were sealed shut and hot oil was thrown onto them from the machicolations and murder holes above. The city had a line of curtain walls overlapping its inner taller walls. There were high fortified towers with slanted slopes making it harder for the enemies to hook onto it.

The Murakan armies began to claw towards the gates, there was chaos everywhere.

“Make every shot count!” yelled the captain.

Magnar placed himself on the walls where he discussed further strategy with his captains.

“We will hold them hear once they cross this line.” He points towards the gates.

“I want archers and crossbowmen to shift focus onto this location once the gate is lifted and position themselves on the fortified towers next to the gates.”

“Form ranks with pike men at the mouth of this siege point.”

He issued the commands and the captains each set out to carry them. There was bloodshed on both ends. The crossbowmen performed well against the first wave of attackers as they shot their steel bolts high up from the walls. Although they suffered from opposing archers who began to pick them off one by one. The artillery was an effective answer against the enemy’s trebuchets as two bolts were all that was needed to damage the mechanism enough to deem them useless.

Soon the heavy boulders of the opposing forces broke through sections of the first carpet wall. Many tall ladders and hooked ropes were thrown at these weakened spots. It was there where the Murakans started to climb up. Magnar was quick enough to react to this and easy dispatched his forces to take care of the matter. As he oversaw everything, it was all going according to plan so far. Though there was a lot of Feredian blood being spilt, there were a lot more casualties on the enemies end. Everything worked in their favour and the Feredians quickly crushed through the first wave of attackers. A horn was blown in the distance which caused a few stragglers to retreat back but that was when Magnar opened the gates and charged onwards. They achieved a great victory against the retreating foes. Once the first wave was dealt with, Magnar called all of his forces back to the gates and sealed them. He returned to one of the fortified towers to see what the enemy was planning next.

He could see the entire army split into two halves. One half was focusing on Feregar while the other half was headed towards the harbour. It would take them at least a few more minutes of marching before they reached the harbour since the winding path leading to it was not suitable for large armies. Shortly another horn sounded the second attack. This time the Murakans sent an even bigger force along with their spiders. The spiders quickly scaled the walls and began to poke through the defences and gave the enemy enough space to plant their ladders and begin climbing. There was little Magnar could do about this because his soldiers were afraid of the grotesque looking spiders. He decided to protect the walls himself along with his band of knights.

As he was moving past the lines, four large spiders broke through the weakened battlements alongside the wall and climbed onto the ramparts; taking out each archer that was unfortunate enough to be nearby. Magnar drew his sword and charged at the spider. He felt no fear against the vicious beasts. He was very agile with his movement and dodged the first pounce of the spider. He counter attacked quickly and slashed his sword sideways. The spider’s limbs were severed in half and with a final blow he drove his sword through the spider’s skull. He quickly lifted his sword once more and struck it towards another spider. His knights managed to defeat the remaining spiders with relative ease aswell. They moved on and reached the area which was being broken through.

The walls were infested with spiders and were taking out almost every soldier who tried to take a swing at them. Magnar let out a battle roar and charged into them. There were a few Murakan warriors who climbed the walls from ladders. A battle followed and Magnar quickly defeated all the forces. He and his knights pushed out the ladders back onto the forces below. There were several areas where the wall was being breached and he could not reach them all in time.

Suddenly a barrage of arrows shot past Magnar. It killed a few of his knights. One arrow managed to lodge itself in his shoulder but it did not penetrate too deep. Magnar broke the arrow and removed it. He looked angry as he grunted in pain.

“Are you okay my king?” A knight asked.

“I’m alright; it’s just a tiny scratch.”

“It is not safe for you up here. Let us return back to a safety.”

Magnar agreed with much convincing and they returned back towards the keep. He issued a command to retreat to the second blockade situated at the main wall. He issued the command to set off the traps in the first layer of curtain walls. It bought them enough time to regroup.

Soon Magnar returns back to the keep and regroups with Ino and Nita. They were almost done escorting most of the townsfolk through the passageway.

Nita rushes to her father and asks him about what happened.

Magnar begins to explain the situation.

“Things look grim. We have held them off for now but they have passed through the first lining of our walls. They released those damn spiders; A nasty lot of them.”

“I can still fight. Please father, let me command the royal guard. We can easily defeat anything that stands in our path; we’ve trained hard for this.”

Magnar nods in disapproval.

“No my child, even if you can defeat every single foe out there. I still never will risk you over something like this. What marches outside our gates is a s*******r. They outnumber us greatly. Lord Eudich and a few other trusted lords are against us. Our own men fear to take arms against them even when they are ready to make us bleed. I need you to leave with Ino.”

“You’re not coming, are you?” Nita asked in haste.

 Magnar remains silent. Nita looks on in disgust and fear.

Suddenly, a huge explosion shook the world; the ground still trembled from the aftermath. A soldier ran into the keep and with a hesitant voice, spoke.

“They have breached the main gate my lord! The whole wall has collapsed at one side.”

“What? How? Sound the horn quickly; call back every single soldier to the Foye. We will hold them there.”

“Yes my lord, at once.” The soldier takes his leave to carry out the command.

Magnar quickly urges Nita and Ino to leave.

“Go now! At once. I will hold them for as long as I can.”

“Why can’t you come along with us father?” Ino asked in despair.

Magnar kneels down in front of Ino. He embraces him.

“I cannot leave when my people are still fighting. I cannot and will not leave anyone to their death. They spilt their blood so others could live.”

Ino breaks down into tears.

Nita looked on at the two from a short distance. Tears had swollen up in her eyes as well but she did not even flinch. She stood her ground and looked at her father with anger in her eyes. Magnar looks at her and realises why she was angry. He felt ashamed but he knew that there was no other option than to secure their survival. He knew that Cardem’nac was coming solely for him and he did not wish for his family to get stuck in the crossfire.

“Go now, quickly. I secured the entrance to the passageway with gunpowder so that once you make it through, I will set them off and seal the passage behind you.”

He hugs his children tightly once more. He then picks up his sword and turns towards the large doors. He looked back one more time as Nita and Ino begin to be escorted through the passageway. Most of the royal guard followed closely behind them.

Magnar returns to the balcony to keep an eye on the tide of battle as well as to commandeer his forces. He was shocked to see an inferno blazing in the distance where the wall once was. There was ash and smoke everywhere. A small chunk of the city was in ruins because of the explosion while many other dwellings were destroyed because of the trebuchets. The sky was struggling to stay bright as the large ash clouds began to block out the sun. All he could see was a merciless s*******r of his forces as the Murakan horse riders plagued through the city. Any soldier who was unfortunate enough to be caught on their retreat was as good as dead. Slowly major chunks of the army marched past the rift in the city walls. Their Soon the enemy assault pushed through all the way to the Foye, the final barrier. It was here where the scattered Feredian soldiers made their last stand. They did so for what only lasted a few more minutes. The fierce power the Murakan forces were unparalleled and nothing like that was ever seen from them before. Soon even the Foye was overrun and some of the remaining survivors fled back into the keep to save themselves.

Magnar awaited and prepared himself to stop whatever would walk through that door as he and a few remaining scraps of knights and gaurds took a defensive position.

The door was bashed open and the Murakan soldiers filled the halls like a swarm. They began to pick off the gaurds one by one before reaching the king; surrounding him. Magnar’s body tensed up when he saw several recognizable faces walk through the door and present themselves in front of him. Lord Eudich was poised against him paired up with the up risen Murakan king Cardem’nac. He could not believe that a loyal man like Eudich who once had saved his life in battle as well was a close friend to the family would turn against him so mysteriously. Especially to side with the Murakan, he hated their guts till no end. Now only a handful of knights were left standing to protect the king. Magnar could sense fear and doom. All he could now do was to hope that the Feredian people would live on.