“Hey!” yells the other guard, startled by his friend’s sudden action, but then he realizes that an intruder has just arrived, so he aims and fires, also.
Watching the arrow as though it’s moving in slow motion, Nova simply moves out of its way as she swipes downward with her paw and pins it to the ground. She closes her eyes, twitches her tail and concentrates, and then opens her eyes. Looking left and right, she sees that her magic has worked. Both men are suspended in the air with their swords drawn to attack. Though both guards are still conscious, they can’t move, as if frozen by some unseen force.
Nova speaks. “I’m sorry, my friends. I mean you no harm.”
“Then let us go!” screams one of the guards doing his best to move without success.
Ignoring the man’s plea, Nova continues. “A call was sent to me. I’m here to answer it.”
One of the guards relaxes, which instantly releases him from the magic. He kneels before her, bending his head to the ground. “Our apologies. You must be one of the heroes our King has beckoned.”
“Hero? I’m no such thing. I’m Nova, VioletLight of the PureLight Lineage, counselor and sage of the Sihu Tribe.” She looks over her shoulder, again seeing the ominous army still far off in the distance and marching toward them. “Who are the negative Beings approaching?”
Finally realizing that Nova is of no harm to him, the other guard is released by Nova’s energy grip. He kneels as well, saying, “They are not men. They are filth, excrement of the vilest creatures ever created. Those are Orcs you see coming. They invade us to end the reign of man. We’re the last resistance, the last of our kind.”
Nova nods. “I see.” She searches the landscape below, now seeing even more armies approaching from several other directions, and knows that if they pick up speed they could arrive by sundown.
One guard looks at the other. “Notify King Yadi that Nova has arrived.”
The guard runs off, his armor clanging loudly as he makes his way down a stone staircase. At first glance, it’s difficult for Nova to determine whether or not the guards are wearing armor. It’s covered with the fur of some unfortunate animals and Nova considers that given the circumstances, if she weren’t a VioletLight she could be a piece of fur keeping another soldier warm. It is a disturbing thought, but she also remembers a time when control of her own body temperature wasn’t as easy as it is now.
Setting that aside, Nova looks around and sees walkways on the top every wall, with only a few soldiers stationed on each one. These soldiers are being used as lookouts, but Nova knows that when the Orcs arrive the walls will be crowded with defenders. They have to be if Ebulon expects to survive. She observes a city well fortified, but it has many entry points. She is standing near one of them and it seems to be a side entrance to the city. Its gate is large, dark and metallic and currently open. Barbicans stand outside of the gate, housing several soldiers in each tower. They have slits big enough for a crossbow to shoot through, but not much else.
Scanning the courtyard, Nova sees waiting soldiers everywhere being coated by falling snow and taking orders from several commanders. They’re waiting for a battle they don’t want, and hoping they won’t catch an arrow in their chest to end up clinging to their final breath of life.
If these are the last representatives of their kind, like the guard had said, these are desperate people. They’ll have to fight not only to save themselves, but to save their race, making sure to take ten lives to each of their one. The Orcs might find these humans not so easily defeated.
Nonetheless, she can feel fear penetrating the entire city, readying it for the explosion of battle. Here, nothing is safe, not even the King deep in his hall or tucked away in a turret or hiding under the trap doors of his oubliette dungeon. Even the mountains that stand bleak and cumbersome aren’t safe.
“They bring Mangonels and Belfries!” shouts the guard.
Pulling Nova out of her thoughts, she sees the guard’s face now stricken with horrific fear. She takes a step toward him to look in the direction he’s pointing.
Indeed, large wooden siege towers on wheels are being pushed and pulled by the Orcs. Slinging machines follow behind, pulled by thick ropes harnessed to large animals that Nova has never seen before. They have the area mass of a rhinoceros, huge horns and bull like faces with sharp fangs jutting out of their mouths. They’re covered with long, shaggy hair and there looks to be about a hundred of them moving through the main army of Orcs.
Nova points with her tail. “What are those terrible looking things pulling the Mangonels?”
The guard squints his eyes to see what she is talking about and finally grasps for something at his side, but then sighs in annoyance. He flicks his head toward the staircase. “Palin has my telescope.” Nova understood that Palin must be the guard sent to notify the King. The guard she was conversing with ambles to the edge of the walkway and whistles to a large group of soldiers in the courtyard below. “I need a telescope and I need one now.” He lowers his arm readying for a catch. A soldier flicks one up to him, which he catches effortlessly.
Impressed, Nova gives a smile, though it’s hidden from the soldier. A simple show of accurate hand-eye coordination and the ease at which the exchange took place gives her more confidence in this crew that works well together, and who are probably very advanced in their form of fighting.
The guard places the telescope to his eye and extends the tube. He gasps in terror, taking the telescope away from his face as the seeing device slips from his grip, hitting the ground. He slowly shakes his head, looking as if all hope was gone. “Those are Fangols. They’re trained to destroy humans, and are very successful in doing so. A quick arrow at the hump behind their head kills them instantly, but it’s a small hump. Otherwise, it takes several of us to get in close enough to hack away at it, over and over again, in order to kill it. Most don’t survive a Fangol attack. They’re quick, aggressive and savage until the very last drop of blood has been spilled.”
As the guard alerts the others down the stairwell of this latest development, Nova observes the Fangols more closely, noticing that they must be trained only by the group of Orcs heading toward the wall they stood upon, because she doesn’t see any Fangols with the other Orc troops heading toward a different section of the castle.
Nova stood confidently, staring into the guard’s eyes. “Tell the king to bring me a hundred of his sharpest shooters. If we want a quick strike and a strong defense, we’ll have to take the Fangols out as quickly as possible.”
Outright killing is against Nova’s nature, but when defending your own life from inevitable death, along with the extermination of a race you’re helping to defend, matters must be put into perspective. And unless the Orcs experience a sudden change in consciousness, killing seems unavoidable.
The guard bows his head, and then races down the stairs.
“Where’s my brother running off to?” Palin was at the base of the staircase asking the soldiers standing around. Those who heard him shrugged, and then went on with their business quietly but nervously, and murmuring amongst themselves.
As Palin ran up the stairs, snow bounced off his coat of fur and Nova, having noted the kinship, replies, “Your brother is gathering your sharpest shooters.”