Delia lets the oil bomb fly and watches as it flies into the opening of one of the bridges, striking the interior. As the bomb shatters, oil is splayed all over the sides and the floor. Before the first bomb shatters, the second is already in her sling.
Next to her, Terrance has loosed his first bomb and out of the corner of her eye, she sees it strike the bridge next to the one she’s working on. A satisfied, “Yes!” is heard and she grins.
The first couple of bombs strike the bridges before the enemy even realizes something is amiss. Hedry watches as one soldier who stands near a bridge under attack turns as the second bomb strikes. The man calls out to another soldier nearby as he moves closer just as the third bomb strikes.
When the bomb shatters right before him, he staggers backward in shock, oil splattering his armor. Just then, an arrow from one of Hedry’s archers flies from the dark and takes him through the chest. The soldier stumbles backward and collapses. Several enemy soldiers see him fall and the arrow sticking out of his chest.
A cry erupts and at that, arrows start flying out of the dark as Hedry’s archers begin taking out the enemy soldiers quickly. Their cry raises the alarm and soon the entire rear flank turns from where they’ve been watching the area near the palisade and rushes to the defense of their siege equipment.
“Now, Errin!” Delia cries.
Behind her, Errin and Aleya each take up one of the specially treated arrows and dip the tip in the fire behind the shields. Each arrow has an oil soaked rag tied just behind the arrowhead which ignites quickly. Taking but a moment to aim, they fire at the oil coated bridges.
Two arcs of fire soar through the air, each striking adjacent bridges. When the flaming arrows sink into the oil soaked wood, the oil bursts into flames. Using one arrow per bridge, they soon have all the bridges aflame and begin on the catapults.
Delia has moved onto her first catapult by the time the first bridge erupts in flame. The slingers continue peppering the remainder of the catapults as bridge after bridge begins to burn.
The enemy soldiers at first didn’t see from which direction the attack had originated. But when the flaming arrows began to appear, one soldier gives out with a cry and they surge forward.
Arrows fly from Hedry’s archers as the soldiers race past the fires to close with them. Some stop and attempt to put out the fires, those that do are the first to be targeted by the archers. The bridges must burn.
Ceadric draws his sword and says to the men mounted behind him, “For Madoc and Black Hawk!”
With battle cries filling the night, the horsemen charge forward and close with the enemy foot soldiers before they have a chance to reach Delia and her group. Riding them down, the battle hardened men lay about them with their swords, felling men left and right.
More soldiers stream into the area, racing to put out the fires consuming the siege equipment, but arrows continuously knock them backward.
Before the last few catapults have been struck by the bombs, a not so distant horn sounds from out of the darkness to the right and another answers from the left. It’s a trap!
Chapter Eight
On the far side of the palisade, James and Jiron are led across an open area toward a large tent bearing the Empire’s flag. Now on the other side, they can see just what awaits them in the coming battle, should battle there be. A sea of tents fan out for over a mile. Men are virtually everywhere but most are congregating in the area just behind the palisade, armed and ready for battle. The camp is immense.
The rear of the palisade has a walkway near the top to afford crossbowmen a place to stand while they rain bolts down upon anyone foolish enough to attack. Numerous wagons, horses and the usual accompaniment for an army in the field are present as well.
Around them, the soldiers stand in hushed silence as he’s led through their ranks. Jiron’s right hand stays on the hilt of his knife where it still rests in its scabbard. Walking beside James, he tries to take in as much information about the layout and makeup of this army as he can. Such information could be useful when they return to Lythylla.
As they near what has to be the command tent, two guards stationed at either side of the entrance come to attention as the man leading them passes through. The tingling sensation of magic grows as James makes to enter. Not so much that another is increasing what they are already doing, rather that he’s coming into closer proximity to it.
“There’s magic inside, stay close,” he says in a whisper to Jiron before entering.
A table has been erected within the tent, large enough to accommodate a dozen men. More guards are stationed within the room as well as two crossbowmen. What he sees seated at the table stops him in his tracks. At the head of the table sits a warrior priest of Dmon-Li. To his right is an officer and to his left a man in robes, obviously a mage. He can hear Jiron’s slight intake of surprise when he, too, comes to realize what they are facing.
Stiffening his backbone, James takes another three steps into the tent before coming to a stop.
The warrior priest looks him up and down, sizing him up. Completely encased in armor except for his helm which sits on a stand behind him, the man makes an imposing sight. Shoulder length black hair with dark, piercing eyes that seem to bore to James’ very soul gives him a foreboding feel.
“We’ve met before,” the warrior priest replies.
Surprised, James says, “I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure.” This man doesn’t look like Abula-Mazki, but who knows when you’re dealing with the gods.
“Almost had you outside of Kern, but was balked by the commander of Cardri’s forces,” the warrior priest replies. “Almost came to war, but we decided upon discretion at that time.” After Saragon when he and Jiron were coming through Mountainside, they were set upon by a warrior priest that hounded them all the way into Cardri. This must be him.
The warrior priest’s intense gaze continues to bore into James as he says, “You wished this meeting. Why?”
His confidence is somewhat dampened by the knowledge of facing off against a warrior priest and he hesitates. Suddenly what he came here to say sounds weak and stupid. “I came here to tell you the time of the Empire’s occupation of Madoc is at an end. Your forces must return back behind the original border.”
The officer beside the warrior priest barks out in cruel laughter. “Madoc is all but ours now,” he says. “We are not about to simply hand it back.”
James glances to each of the three behind the table as he considers how to get the heck out of there. He hadn’t planned on a warrior priest, a mage maybe, but not one of those. “You have until the sun rises to make up your minds,” he says, stalling for time. He knows what they’ll say, he just needs this to last until Delia and the others make it across the river.
Coming to his feet, the warrior priest says, “You needn’t wait until the morning for our reply.” A sudden spike in the tingling sensation and a blast of energy strikes the shield as the warrior priest gives his reply.
The force of the blast bowls them over and they’re flung from the tent. Still encased within the protective shield, James and Jiron get to their feet as the warrior priest and the mage emerge from the tent.
“Brace yourself,” James says as the tingling spikes yet again.
A ball of flame flies toward them and strikes the shield. Rather than being deflected, it settles upon the shield and begins eating it away. The temperature inside is increasing rapidly, James and Jiron begin perspiring. Nothing but flame can be seen all around them. Whatever is transpiring on the other side of the shield remains unknown.