She smirked. “Let the best troll win.”
She reached to her back and unstrapped a giant bow. The weapon was as tall as Shadow’s entire body, the string as thick as his thumb. The arrows were odd, a mixture of wood, metal tips, and wind magic, the air swirling around the shafts. She notched the arrow and aimed at the charging horde.
The bow released, the arrow soaring farther than even an elven longbow. Then it splintered, the arrows separating in all directions, turning into a lethal volley that pummeled a pack of sipers. One embedded into a neck, bringing it down, others sank into flesh, but most soared right down their throats.
“A thousand to fifty,” Shadow said. “You’ve got some ground to make up.”
The horde plunged into the sea of pitfalls, falling into holes and tripping over hidden wires. Many were impaled by buried spikes. Treewalkers rose up and bashed the ranks of fiends before kraka swords cleaved their trunks apart. The charge slowed, but again the fiends continued to advance over their fallen brethren.
The fiends approached the outer wall, seemingly oblivious to their fallen dead. Quare screamed in pain, sipers fell into pits, and a pair of skorpians died in an explosion of stonesap, the fireball sending a plume of smoke across the charge. Then the skorpians formed a line and their tails snapped forward, sending black spears soaring through the air.
“Get to cover!” Queen Nelia’s voice filled the city, and everyone ducked beneath the shelters they had built.
The black spears thudded into the aquaglass walls, the smooth blue momentarily cracking, the spears sinking deep. Others clattered across the battlements while many fell into the forces behind the wall. One man made the mistake of poking his head out to watch the barrage, and a spear took his life.
In his elemental form, Shadow leaned out over the battlements and watched the city wall push the spears out, the enchantments forcing the weapons back. They clattered to the ground and the crystalline blue became smooth once again.
“Archers ready!”
Again Queen Nelia’s voice filled the city, and archers raised their weapons. Crossbowmen and ballistae behind the wall also took aim, the bolts pointed directly at the wall, and the charging fiends beyond.
The fiend charge flowed across the dead, shrieking and screaming, the sounds punctuated by the dull roar of krakas and the clacking of skorpian pincers. On all sides of the city the fiends closed the noose, sipers taking the lead, their scaly skin shimmering from black to red. A hundred feet closed to fifty, and Rynda raised her bow, bellowing an order.
The archers released their arrows, filling the first wave with a lethal volley. Sipers died by the thousands, falling to their knees and tumbling to a halt. Those that came behind snarled and charged the city walls, just as those behind the barrier fired. But they didn’t fire over the wall. They fired into the wall.
Crossbow bolts and ballistae exploded from weapons. Where they touched the aquaglass wall, the enchantment opened small holes, allowing the bolts to pass through. From just feet away, the crossbowmen unleashed a devastating volley, the barbed shafts thudding into siper and quare flesh, sinking deep and bringing the charge to its knees.
A handful of krakas made it through and the armored soldiers swung their obsidian swords, bashing the aquaglass barrier. Cracks spread across the surface, but the magic healed quickly, the cracks turning smooth. The ballistae operators turned their weapons on the krakas, the large bolts bursting through the wall and striking them in their sides.
From above the wall, dwarves ignited fuses and dropped small barrels on the remainder. The barrels exploded, covering the remaining captains in fire. Rynda raised her splinter bow and fired, the arrows bursting apart and thudding into the next wave, which was already drawing close.
“I love this wall,” Shadow breathed.
“It’s enchantments are powerful,” Rynda said, aiming with her bow and sending another splinter arrow into the leading ranks. Then she pointed to a section farther north. “But it has a cost.”
Shadow followed her direction and saw where three krakas had survived the initial charge. All three pummeled the wall, spreading cracks across its surface. A skorpian bolt had further damaged the section before the captains were slain. The cracks had begun to repair, but the wall could not finish repairing before the next assault slammed into the barrier.
“If the wall shatters, we won’t last long,” Elenyr said, turning and heading to the stairs.
“Where are you going?” Shadow called.
“To make sure I win my bet,” Elenyr said.
Shadow grinned and followed her down the stairs. Despite her banter, Shadow noticed the tension to her shoulders, and the crease to her forehead. Elenyr feared the worst, and although the battle had just been joined, both knew their chances were slim. Especially when the generals joined the fray.
They reached the north gates just as Light poked his head from above his war machine. “Done!”
“It’s beautiful,” Willow said.
“But will it work?” Shadow asked.
Shadow eyed the three circular blades placed on the outside of the machine. All three contained spikes that arced away, resembling the circular saws the dwarven iron mages favored. All three were attached to the top of the wagon by glowing chains, each link fashioned by Light.
King Dothlore and two engineers appeared from the other side of the wagon, checking the mechanisms made out of solid light. Dothlore grunted in approval and then stepped to Elenyr’s side.
“Get to cover!”
The entire group retreated to the back of the wagon, where they remained underneath the shield Light had crafted to protect his machine. Shadow couldn’t help but grin as the spears bounced off the shield.
“Are you really going to ride this out there?” he asked.
“Elenyr said we have to protect the wall,” Light said. “And I’m going to join the cavalry charge.”
He had to shout over the sound of thousands of crossbows and arrows being released, and the shrieks and cries of the dying fiends. More cracks appeared on the wall, most healing, but some remaining, the white lines a stark reminder that the city was not impervious.
Skorpian bolts thudded into the sphere protecting the castle, driving deep. The enchantments pushed them out and they fell to splash into the lake. Others thudded into the great mother tree, and the wood shuddered in pain.
“Time to go!” Light called.
Shadow grinned and turned to Elenyr. “Can I come?”
Elenyr reached for the mechanism and leapt to the top. “Could I stop you?”
Willow sighed, the sound implying she was regretting her life choices. “One day you are going to be the death of me.”
Light grinned. “Not today.”
Shadow climbed to the top and found a place where Light could sit and operate the three saws. “Don’t worry, Willow. It’s going to be fun.”
