Damned creatures, she thought and plunged her sword deep into the back of its skull. She flew forward jumping off and hitting the ground running. She tried to cut more down before they hit the fleeing front lines, but there were too many.
Among the few who were braced and ready to fight, Natalia saw Red and the warriors around him defend themselves against the giant hounds. Nadir worked his crystal’s magic to pick off the hounds as they came and Natalia ran in next to those fighting with Red. She called to him, “Red, get them back to the city!”
Red hefted his axe from a dead fairnheir and shouted, “There are more dangers that lurk in the streets!”
“There may be some dangers in the city, but there are far more out here! If we go back into the city, we can use the buildings to strengthen our wall. We can use them as barriers.”
Red groaned as he slammed his shield into a hound’s snapping jaws.
“Look around you, they’ve already been given the command,” Natalia called, trying to get him to follow the others. When he continued hacking at the fairnheir, she abandoned him to help the others.
Natalia worked to beat back the fairnheir and soon helped the retreating Rollo warriors pile into the city streets. With buildings to serve as their initial barrier before attackers reached their shields, they had a better chance of holding off the beasts. Using a window ledge and the uneven outer surface of the dried clay walls, Natalia climbed the nearest single-story house and called out for archers to join her. Natalia fired energy down at the gathering hounds and killed them in greater numbers than before. Soon she saw Red enter the city and join his entire force so that they could fortify themselves using the streets and structures of Aquina.
Seeing the other crystal bearers climbing onto buildings and defending themselves more successfully, Natalia began to think they could hold off the beasts. Yet, from the thick crowds in the streets, Natalia heard cries of horror. She spun around to see black wings rising from a hunched back as a demon devoured a Rollo Island warrior. The dangers from within the city had not gone away, but at least here, there were fewer than on the open Plains. Natalia jumped down from the building and ran to take on the creature herself.
Chapter 96
Struggling to Survive
Britt heaved her sword in an arching swing and sank it deep into a fairnheir’s skull. Another bright flash of light caught her attention as Max attempted to push back the hounds that continued to descend on them. The elves and humans fought desperately to ward off the beasts while demons, wraiths and monstrous creatures still rushed in. A strange voice had sounded in Britt’s head telling her to retreat to the city. Without question, all of the fighters around her began to obey the command while struggling to keep the attackers from breaking through their ranks.
“Max!” she shouted and rushed to where he was swinging his sword wildly. Britt hadn’t seen this level of bravery from him before. He’d always been bold, but now he stood out in front of the retreating elves taking on beasts as they came. What is he doing? He’s going to be killed, she thought, preparing to strike at the devilish hounds.
Leaping over the bodies behind Max, Britt could see Max cutting cleanly through each of the fairnheir that charged at him with a single pass of his blade. The sword in his hand appeared to be glowing as he wielded it with a two-handed grip. Britt stopped just behind him, watching him for a moment. He lacked perfect form, but his strikes were well placed and his sword was more deadly than she’d known possible. The strongest men among us could cut through a fairnheir with one pass once, maybe two times in a row, but not like this, she wondered in amazement.
A slew of arrows vaulted from elves who had collected in the streets behind them had taken down the beasts around them. After a moment, Britt regained her awareness. “Max!” she shouted, finally getting his attention. “Come back. They’ve all made it into the city.”
Max turned from the pile of bodies around him and ran toward her. Britt loped just ahead of him, reaching the elven blockade in the closest street corridor. She looked out at the field she and Max had just left. Dead elves, humans and monsters littered the gap between the charging fairnheir and the outer edge of the city. The demons and beasts who’d survived the initial attack did not follow their retreat right away, instead hanging back, waiting for the bulk of the fairnheir to join them.
Max soon reached her and they slipped through a gap the elves created for them. Britt and Max pushed into the crowded streets. Here they heard clashing and screaming from the elves who’d gone the farthest into the city.
Britt looked over the heads of the elves crowding the streets and saw a furry back moving into the group. She glanced over her shoulder. A wave of fairnheir bounded in toward the city. Her heart raced. What do I do? she thought. A brindle-furred beast stood on its hind legs towering over the elves. A dozen arrows landed in its chest causing it to topple over backward. She made her choice in that moment. She turned back to face the fairnheir.
Max stood at her side as she stepped in behind the shields blocking the street’s entrance. The elves had stepped up to create a shield barrier between the two outward-facing walls of each building along the street. The fairnheir were nearly on them now. Britt raised her sword to stab over the shields when the hounds showed up. The sea of black fur rolling in waves as the fairnheir bounded in at them struck the walls and Britt was instantly knocked onto her back. She looked up from the ground to see elves bracing behind their shields. Black muzzles snapped at the spears and swords as they stabbed.
Britt felt a hand grab her leather-armored shoulder and start dragging her back. She scooted past several rows of elves, deeper into the streets and then stood up. Max’s grip on her shoulder helped pull her to her feet. Britt wrapped her arms around him. They held each other in an embrace for several seconds. She could feel the intense beating of her heart against his as they breathed heavily. “Thank you,” she whispered. She looked at the frontline where elves and fairnheir struggled against each other in a shoving match. For the moment they were safe.
“Are you alright?” Max asked.
“Yes, but you nearly scared me to death, standing out there all alone and fighting those things by yourself. Max, you could’ve been killed,” she said.
“I didn’t realize that everyone had retreated,” he said, looking at the crystal in his hand. It’s light glowed dim and he cursed, “I’ve almost tapped this one out there. That would’ve been bad timing to run out of magic on the battlefield.”
“You got lucky,” Britt said as he replaced the dimming crystal with a fresh one from his pouch. “How did you do that out there?” she asked, wondering how he could cut through so many giant hounds.
Without explaining herself further, Max understood what she was asking. “I don’t really know what I was doing or how I was able to do it, but when I press the crystal up against the blade, it can cut through them like they are made of air.”
Relaxing her shoulders, she said, “Your form still needs work.”
“I’m getting better. Didn’t you see me cut that one’s head off?”
“I saw you nearly fall over because your footing was bad.”
“Really? I thought I was doing a pretty good job.”
Britt shook her head, “You were, much better than most.” That got a smile out of him and she continued, “Let’s get back up there. With a sword like that, you could create a wall of dead fairnheir that could provide a barrier the others would have to climb.” She started to weave her way through the streets crowded with elves. They were seven rows back from the barrier the elves had created by standing eight across shoulder-to-shoulder, working to keep the fairnheir out.
“Wait,” Max said, grabbing her by the wrist.
Britt turned expecting he would want to kiss her or something.
Max pointed to the rooftop above them. “Just like Brookside,” he said and pretended to throw something.
“These homes are made of dried mud. There aren’t bricks lying around. And I don’t think there are innocent bystanders for you to hit with them,” she joked.
Max snorted, suppressing a grin. “That was pretty good,” he said and began searching for something.
“What are you looking for,” she asked, but he’d already moved back to a dead beast in the street. She followed him back to the beast where he gathered a bow and arrows from a dead elf. Together they pulled arrows from the dead beast’s chest.
“These will be better than bricks,” Max said.
Britt nodded and also gathered as many arrows as she could find. With three quivers full and nearly a hundred or more arrows between the two of them, Britt and Max made their way to the building at the front. Its dried mud walls were cracked. Thick bulges that hadn’t been rubbed smooth provided enough to grip so they could climb to the roof, or so they thought.
Max attempted the climb first but fell. Britt watched him try three more times before she said, “Climb onto my shoulders?” She bent over and Max awkwardly crawled up onto her shoulders. Britt teetered and swayed as she stood straight. Max tried to stand as well. She could see that he was using the wall to balance. Britt grabbed his calves to try to steady his balance.
Max stretched up toward the roof. “Just a little higher and I can reach a good spot.”
Britt straightened as best she could, trying to push up onto her tiptoes. Each time she tried, he failed to grab the hold he was reaching for. Suddenly she felt a tap on her arm and heard someone say, “I can help you get up there.”
“Good idea,” Max said, and Britt crouched so Max could climb off.
Britt saw a tall, dark-skinned elf move into position and motion for Max to climb on. She watched Max use the wall to balance while the elf stood. With both of them stretched as tall as possible, Max was just able to grab hold of the window ledge he was reaching for. Getting a solid grip on it, he pulled himself up, placing his knees where his hands were and finally moving onto the flat-topped adobe roof.
Max leaned back over the edge and dropped his arm down. “Come on, Britt, you’re next.”
Britt crawled onto the elf’s back and used the wall as Max had to balance on his shoulders. Walking her hands up the wall, she steadied herself while he stood. She had to step onto the elf’s helmet to reach the window ledge. From there, she pulled, and Max helped her onto the rooftop.
Standing above the ground fighting, she could see the entire scope of the battle. The elves and Rollo Islanders had walled themselves off in the streets by stretching out in both directions. She could see where the dragons had toppled homes and piled debris. None of the fairnheir or other creatures had tried to flank them, but when Merglan’s main army arrived, she knew they would be able to find a work-around. If the rest of the humans and dwarfs hadn’t made it to Aquina by then, they would be choked off and surrounded. In the front of their fortified shield wall, the bodies of the dead had piled up. Britt instantly realized the potential for the hounds to climb the bodies, jump onto the roofs or over the shields, and into the streets.
The dragonriders still battled overhead and Merglan’s army still stood en masse across the field. To her surprise, Britt saw most of the demons and monsters that had initially attacked were now moving back toward the rest of their army. We couldn’t have scared them off? she thought, looking down the line of shields. She saw Natalia and Nadir on roofs at the other end of the ranks. Warrior archers were climbing up to join them.
Light flashed in the dim afternoon light to her left. She spotted Inama and Evans who had taken places on rooftops down the line as well. We can beat the fairnheir back, she thought, seeing the crystal bearers wreak significant damage among the tightly packed beasts below. Max shot arrows down into the beasts. Britt ran to his side thinking she’d tell him to use his crystal’s energy while they were grouped together so tightly but remembered that the fighting had only just begun, and he’d already used up one of his three crystals. The shields are holding and he’s saving his energy, she told herself.
She then took notice of Natalia and Nadir’s tactics and stepped to the edge of the roof. She leaned over, shouting for all archers to climb the buildings if they could. At first nobody looked up, but as she continued to shout down to them, more and more looked up to see her and Max. Soon the message had been spread to the rest of the elves in the streets and archers found ways to climb atop the buildings.
Britt could see the positive effect of this strategy. Soon they were pinning the fairnheir to the dirt. She looked past them and noticed dragons flying toward them. Until now, the dragons had been fighting the riders in the distance. She’d thought they’d been dealt with, but now could clearly see several dragons had broken away from the others and were headed right for them. “Max!” Britt shouted, getting his attention.
He stepped back to let an elf take his place. Britt pointed to the dragons flying lower over the plains to the north headed directly toward them. Max reacted instantly. He shouted over the fairnheir, trying to get Evans’ or Inama’s attention. The dragons would reach the north side of town first. Britt joined in his shouting.
