Sauragia

Chapter 28

A new morning shone on the Kingdom of Cardolin. The previous day’s rainfall glistened on the grass as King Edward stepped out of his tent. He took a deep draught of the fresh woodland air and let it out with a satisfied grunt. Today was going to be a good day. Today he was going to parade into Saurahall past the corpses of his enemies. His new plan was ready, and there was no need to wait any longer.

He walked over to inspect his new weapons. The Saltrak bowed to their chieftain as he looked over their work.

“The ladders are ready as requested, lord,” said one captain.

“How many have we got now?” asked Edward.

“Oh, well over two score, I should think, my king.”

“Very good,” said the barbarian king. “We shall storm the ramparts of Saurahall this day, my warriors. Before the sun sets, I shall be firmly seated on the throne of Cardolin and you will have all the treasure, food, and slaves you could ever desire. And all by the claw of your benevolent ruler. For am I not your lord? Am I not King Edward the Slayer?”

A raucous cheer arose from the wild dinosaurs all around him as their bloodlust came to the surface. They had been humiliated once by the Saurahallers. Now they would make the arrogant Alvarosaurs pay. Edward ordered an officer to “Assemble the horde!” then went off to make his own preparations. On the way he passed the captive guards’ tent and decided to step inside for a moment.

Captain Torilis looked up. “Off to give our lot some more target practice?”

Edward stopped and looked at him, saying very calmly, “I’m off to show your lot the wrath of the Saltrak. It will make me wonder why I even bothered keeping you alive.”

“I’m still waiting for that blade to find my throat one of these nights when your mood turns sour,” replied Richard.

“Oh, don’t worry, by the end of the day, you may just get your wish. But not before I’ve had you all dragged through the streets of your beloved capital while we ravage your homes and s*******r your precious families.”

“Your threats don’t worry us, Edward,” said Lieutenant Rorke. “I’ll bet you used the same ones on your mother. You must have been quite a little devil when you were young, eh?”

Edward was flustered by the officers’ careless comments, but attempted to maintain his dignity by retorting that “You will regret those words ere the day is out, Lieutenant!” and striding off. Richard and Quintilius swapped mischievous smirks. The rest of the captives felt their spirits lighten a little after the exchange too, and also managed to smile. But deep inside, each of them knew that Edward’s threats were far from idle, and they silently cursed the fact that their home was in dreadful danger while they were powerless to do anything about it.

Captain Torilis, however, had no such fear. As soon as he was certain Edward was gone, he leaned in and spoke:

“Not to worry, friends. We won’t be here long enough for that.”

“What?” exclaimed Elaine, one of two females among the captives. “You mean you’ve got a way out, sir?”

“Quiet down, young missy! But yes. Now listen up, and we’ll just see who regrets what ere this day is out!”

Astron’s constant vigil from the tower top paid off that day, as he was the first to notice movement from the enemy’s ranks. He watched for some time to confirm their intentions, then went down to rally the city’s defences. Now he stood with Rob atop the main gate, observing as Edward’s army assembled for its new attack. The defenders had been eagerly awaiting another encounter with the invaders since their first victory some weeks earlier. When word had reached them of the fiends’ attempt to sneak into Saurahall at night, they had become more incensed, and were now spoiling for a fight. This was good, Astron figured, as it would give them extra courage for this battle.

Captain Humphreys joined them and surveyed the foes from afar. He nodded approvingly.

“Looks like they’re up for another run,” said he. “I suppose we’ll have to show them up again, Astron.”

“We’ll certainly try, sir. After their last attempt, I’m sure they feel they have a score to settle with us. Best be ready for their worst.”

“Agreed,” spoke the Defence Force leader. “I’ll have a couple patrols sent around the rear walls just in case they try to pull some trickery while our attention is to the front.”

“An excellent idea, old boy,” spoke Sergeant Browne, who stood by watching it all. “I was just about to suggest the same thing.”

“Then by all means, dear sergeant, let’s get to it! I take it you and Rob can manage things here for the moment, Astron?”

Astron nodded, and the two senior officers went off to see to their task. Rob, meanwhile, used his keen eyes to search the enemy ranks. He turned to Astron with some concern.

“I think we may have some trouble this time,” he said. “They’ve got ladders with ‘em, old lad.”

“How many?”

“Lots, to put it bluntly. Enough to line our front wall, anyway.”

“We’ll hold, Rob, don’t worry. And we’ll make those scoundrels pay dearly before they set one claw on these battlements.”

“Righto, Astron. That’s the spirit. Give ‘em a good what-for, eh!”

Soon Edward’s forces were assembled and ready for the attack. This time he would strike from just two directions. While his main force struck the front, he would send another unit around back to scale the wall where no one was looking. He regarded his commanders with his sharpest gaze.

“Is everything in place?” he asked.

“Yes, lord,” replied Ulric.

“Then move out, and do not fail me,” said the barbarian king, looking directly at Carl.

“We won’t, my king,” replied Carl as he, Yarwig, Godwyn, and Ulric turned to join their troops for the attack. Chieftains Yoric and Edwin would be held in reserve with the king. After a short while he would send them around to make his secondary thrust. When they were in position, he gave a nod and the attack began. This time it would not go wrong, he could just feel it.

“Watch closely, my son,” he said to little Obsidian, whom he had brought along to witness his victory, “and you will see how a city burns.”

The young dinosaur rubbed his claws together and looked on eagerly, a malicious grin on his face. He had seen his father in action many times, and had seen many things burn, but never a whole city. This was going to be exciting!

The defenders readied their bows to meet the onslaught. Astron waited until the right moment, then gave the command to “Release arrows!” A volley of shafts flew downward at the aggressors, felling some immediately. Like before, it was a short time before Edward’s archers were up and shooting back. Thus ensued the inevitable exchange of missiles between invaders and defenders, during which casualties on both sides piled up. Astron and Rob held steady their line, along with Captain Humphreys and Alfred, and kept the fight going strong. Then came the siege ladders.

“Shoot the bearers!” ordered Humphreys. “Don’t let them get the ladders up!”

The walltop archers tried to direct their shots as he instructed, but had to shoot back at enemy archers as well, splitting their attention between the two. Thus, the ladders moved steadily nearer until they were right next to the wall. Astron drew his sword as one came up to lodge on the battlement right beside him.

“Prepare to repel the invaders!” he called above the noise.

Several more ladders then leaned their tops against the wall and the Saltrak warriors began to climb up. The Saurahallers did their best to keep them down with arrows and rocks, but it was not long before Edward’s raiders at last reached the walltop. Many were still bitter over the loss of friends and their humiliating defeat with the battering rams during the first battle. Now it was their turn, and no thoughts of mercy crossed their spiteful minds.

The first enemy onto the ramparts laid low a couple of Saurahallers before Rob’s skilled thrust put an end to him. Another was unfortunate enough to rear his ugly head up right beside Astron, who sent him back to the ground the hard way with a sturdy whack. More soon appeared on the wall, however, and a flurry of claw-to-claw combat broke out between the two sides. At some points the defence was thinner and more desperate. It was to spots like these that the more skilled fighters like Captain Humphreys and Alfred rushed to lend their skill.

Rob spotted a middle-aged Alvarosaur struggling to ward off a bulky Gorvosaurus with his stave. The young warrior leapt in to help. The Gorvosaur had the defender pressed hard when a jab in the shoulder and a shove over the wall’s edge ended his fight. Rob watched him fall to the ground and winced.

“That was a right big un. Nice going, old timer!” he said, turning to the Alvarosaur. He then jolted back in surprise. “Dad?”

“We’re all in this together, sonny,” said Mister Winstone, proceeding to smack an enemy head as it popped up over the battlement. “Couldn’t let you have all the fun, could I?”

“I suppose not, you old rascal.”

“Then come on, young chap. Let’s kick these rotters out of our kingdom, shall we?”

Father and son then joined together in giving a nearby ladder a good heave. They pushed it so hard that it teetered a bit, then began to fall straight backward away from them. The Saltrak still climbing tightened their grip in fear and braced themselves as the ground came rapidly nearer. A tumult of wild cries went up as the ladder landed, crushing those unfortunate enough to be on or below it.

Catching on to the idea, Alfred cut down an opposing dinosaur who got in the way and, with help from the Captain Humphreys, managed to heave another down. It landed with similar impact, and soon Saurahallers all along the wall were pushing ladders down from the battlements. From afar, Edward and his son watched with due concern.

“Are they supposed to do that, father?” asked Obsidian in mock innocence.

But the Slayer was too infuriated to answer, and turned to one of his subordinates. “Send in the reserves. Then get over there and tell them to quit playing with those Saurahallers. Put those ladders back up and overtake that wall. Hurry up!”

The lackey went without further bidding, glad to get away from his irate master. Edward, meanwhile, watched with increasing dissatisfaction as his orders went out and the ladders went back up.

From atop the north wall, Sergeant Browne watched the furious fighting going on all across the south wall and wished fervently that he could join in. Many of his troops felt the same way. There had not been a flicker of movement around this side nor even at the secondary gates since the fighting had started, and they were getting restless. The sergeant glanced once more at the quiet calm of the Elderwood Forest to the north and sighed. Still nothing.

One of his subordinates approached the sergeant and spoke to him.

“I don’t think they’re coming, sir,” he said. “It’s quite evident that the Saltrak are throwing their full force against the south wall. Mayhap we could go over and assist them now?” There was a note of hopefulness in his voice.

The sergeant again sighed and nodded in agreement.

“Righto, Melbury,” he spoke glancing one more time at the foliage beneath the wall. “We’d best get …Down! Now!”

The sergeant tackled his subordinate to the ground just in time to dodge a hail of missiles flying up from the trees. Several others did not react in time and lost their lives to the lethal arrowheads. Sergeant Browne rose and watched a wave of Saltrak rushing toward the wall with ladders held between them.

“They’re making their move, lads! Hold the ramparts and let’s throw this uncivilized lot back to the forest floor, shall we? Loose arrows!”

Several of the Allington Watch were armed with bows, and hastily loosed their missiles upon the aggressors. As the exchange continued, several more of the Watch soldiers struggled to send down the ladders that were thrown up in front of them.

The sergeant ran over to assist one of his troops with this task, dispatching a quick-climbing Gorvosaur in the process. As he pushed on one side of the ladder, a passing arrow nicked his neck and he gasped. Grasping one claw to the wound, he continued shoving.

“You okay there, sir?” asked the concerned soldier.

“Right as rain, young un,” replied the gallant officer, smiling through gritted teeth. “Takes more than that to stop your sergeant. Now heave!”

The two gave the ladder one good push and managed to free the wall of its presence, much to the horror of the barbaric Alvarosaur who was three quarters of the way up.

More Saltrak ascended the south wall, and almost succeeded with the help of Yoric and Edwin’s troops attacking the rear. But the Saurahallers rallied together and shoved them back down. It was utter chaos in the ranks of the invaders on the ground as many arrows and the bodies of their own fallen brethren rained down upon them. Even with their own arrows flying back at the defenders they could not make progress. Carl could see that this plan was failing and turned to his own second.

“Tell King Edward that it cannot be done this way,” said he. “The Saurahallers are too strong, and we’re only losing dinosaurs.” Seeing the messenger hesitate—as any sensible dino would—he gave him a shove. “Hurry up, you i***t!” The runner came with all speed back to the Slayer and bowed.

“Well, what is it?” asked an irritated Edward.

“M-Message from Chieftain Carl, sire,” stammered the runner.

“And?”

“He says we need to retreat, sire. He says the Saurahallers are too strong.”

“Too strong, are they?” barked the king. “My soldiers are too weak, more like! We have the numbers and the means, so you tell him to get on that wall. I don’t care how many lives it takes, just do it. Not one step backwards!”

The runner left in a hurry and made it back to Carl. He then conveyed the king’s furious message. Carl shook his head in frustration, but did not argue with his king’s orders. In a bold move, he hoisted a ladder back up and urged his troops on. They climbed and many reached the top where they wreaked havoc among the defenders. Inspired by his example, more did the same. It even began to look as though it might work. But soon a counter rally by Astron and Captain Humphreys once again moved the attackers off the wall. Yelling at his troops to get them moving up, Carl then took an arrow through the shoulder. Still he kept at it, determined that he would fight to the end.

Edward seethed as he saw the many attempts fail one after the other. Obsidian looked to him then and asked rather cheekily, “Is that what a burning city looks like?”

“Shut up, you little whelp!” shouted Edward, smacking his son across the face. He then looked to a servant and ordered him to “Get them out of there!” The servant nodded and waved the Slayer’s banner from side to side in a signal to retreat. The chieftains got the message and stirred their dinosaurs to begin the withdrawal. Edward blew a frustrated sigh and shook his head as he turned and walked back into the shade of the trees, his son still rubbing his sore cheek as he followed. The chieftains had failed again. Someone was going to pay.