Michael Chatfield
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Four Horsemen: Chapter 11 Part 2 of 2
🕑 Added 2023-10-17 11:00:02 +0000 UTCPetor grabbed the stones remaining in the box and threw them over the wall
Another ladder reached the top of the wall. Petor threw the box over the wall and drew his spear, using the butt to push the ladder back and over.
The enemy had made it to the walls, giving the stone and shadow golems a wide berth. A siege tower was hit with a catapult’s payload, raining wood on those around it.
“They’re making it forward.”
“Push the ladders free!” Valter yelled.
Petor ran down the wall, two men struggled to push a ladder away, a fighter ran up burying his axe in one defender’s head. Petor stabbed him in the chest sending him tumbling back over the wall.
Petor turned his spear, and shoved the ladder with the butt of his weapon, his muscles strained as another fighter ran up the top of the ladder.
Petor let out a yell, the man’s eyes went wide as he let got of his sword and scrambled to hold onto the wall only to find thin open air as the ladder was thrown backwards under him.
Mya’s pistol barked taking down two fighters that made it to the top of the wall. Guards around the ladders did their best to fight them off, but they were getting pushed back, allowing more up to the wall.
Enemy fighters reached the top of the wall, further from Petor, swinging their axes and swords. Gritting his teeth Petor charged forward, he slammed one up against the wall with the side of his spear, drawing the sharpened head over his neck. Mana flowed as Petor stabbed forward, thrusting his spear through another’s armor and chest, tearing it free and turning with a yell. The flat of his spear crumpled armor and sent two climbing up the wall screaming backwards into open air.
He jumped up on the wall, stomping on a helmeted head running up the ladder.
They fell with a scream, pulling another off the ladder. Petor kicked the ladder off the wall, those lower down yelling as it went backwards.
He dropped down, turning his spear in his hands, using it as a bat to throw another attacker back over the wall.
He shoved the butt of his spear against the top of a ladder and the length against the wall and heaved.
The ladder shifted backwards as a head appeared, his axe ringing off of Petor’s spear.
Petor’s spine tingled, his hair tickling as the axe-wielder held Desari’s arrow sticking through his throat and tilted backwards.
“Agggh!” Petor shoved the ladder free and pulled back his spear, checking his sides.
Three more arrows caught people climbing over the walls.
A thunderous crack levelled two attackers on the wall.
“Stone golem!” Desari yelled. “Aim for its core!” Her arrow took off a chunk of its side.
Mya’s shots blasted its arms off.
Desari’s arrow slid through its side, stabbing into its core. It started dissolving, shadows draining away.
Petor let out a yell as the creature stumbled, driving his spear into its core. Essence, much stronger than what he’d leached from the enemy fighters flowed through him.
His wounds recovered, he felt as if he had just woken up as his fatigue was washed away.
His core leaving the color red behind and becoming completely orange. His mana and strength surged.
“Down Petor!”
He dropped to his knee, Valter’s bolts slammed home into several enemy fighters climbing the walls.
“Clear!”
Petor rose to his feet.
A group made it to the wall as one. Petor grabbed a broken section of stone as big as him and hurled it.
The three men yet out a yell as the rock smashed them over the wall.
He grabbed his spear and shoved the butt where the ladders met the wall, pushing the attackers back with short quick shoves. So much easier than before.
“Help out at that broken section over there,” Desari pointed.
“Yeah, on it.” He’d seen it too, the defenders locked in combat instead of pushing ladders back.
He jogged forward, spear stabbing through an opening to kill an attacker. He circulated the mana and drove it into the spear. The essence didn’t fill him up nearly as much as it did before.
That would have been a tenth of my total essence, now its less than a twentieth.
He touched his hand to a wounded defender, he stiffened and let out a hiss as he gripped his shield tighter.
“Thanks healer!” He stepped forward.
Petor thrust at any enemy openings he saw and mana’d up anyone wounded, stiffening the defense.
The wall shook.
“What was that?” Petor asked.
“They have a rock golem hitting the gates,” Desari grabbed another arrow.
“We’re good here, get that bastard,” One of the defenders at the broken section yelled.
The others raised their voices in agreement even as they cut down another climber.
Petor ran for his group.
“Cover me,” Desari leaned over the wall, a thread of mana running down her arrow. “Let me know when you get another charge Petor.”
She released.
Petor glanced through the openings in the wall, Desari’s Arrow hit the rock golem in the trap, burning through it.
It’s head, shoulder and half its torso exploded outwards, raining on the other attackers.
Through the dust it staggered backwards, stone started to shift and more was pulled from the rubble of the wall, turning the golem off-color.
“Mine.” Valter’s Arbalest twanged, a red bolt struck the exposed core.
Its core detonated, killing everything in ten meters and flattening everything in twenty.
A section of barely repaired wall shuddered and half-collapsed into a hill of stone rubble.
“Win some lose some,” Valter muttered, drawing a shield.
“Petor hold the breach!” Desari said.
“Got another one of those?” Petor pointed at Valter’s shield.
“Here.” Valter pulled out a second identical one and held it out.
Petor grabbed it, relieved to find straps inside, he pulled them skin-pinching tight. “The inscription will let out a blast of super heated air.” Valter made sure he had his attention, looking him in the eyes. “Make sure your feet are planted. Hits you as hard as it hits them.”
“Joy.”
“Also it holds a charge, somewhere for you to dump that mana.”
Valter grinned and dropped off the edge of the wall to land on the mud behind.
Petor used his shield hand to lower himself and drop after him.
He hit the ground, a lifetime of training to fall with a spear stopped him from stabbing himself, the ground and others. He picked himself up, with a new layer of mud as yells filled the breach.
Attackers crossed the opening, two at a time, slowing as they had to pick their way down through the rubble.
One tripped and fell with a clatter of armor.
Petor stabbed them before they could get up. His ears popped, recovering from the blast.
The dust settling into the mud from the day’s rains, stone finished dropping as fighters ran through the breach. Petor charged them, his feet dancing between the rubble as the enemy tripped on it, climbing over the small hill.
Petor’s spear was like a snake alive. His blows landed with the power to gouge stone and dent armor, mixing in spear with kicks and punches.
Fighters died under his spear, their essence turned into his power, their mana healing his injuries, recovering his fatigue. His worries and fears melted away.
Valter slammed his shield into a man, sending him back up the rubble hill into his fellows, breaking any organization.
Petor lashed out at them, reaping lives.
“Form on me!” Valter’s voice rang out. Fighters and guards gathered. “Dress ranks! Three rows! Semi circle around the opening. Shields in the front, spear wielders second rank!”
A siege tower’s ramp dropped, smashing onto the wall.
Petor glanced over, the attackers pushed back through the breach.
“Morning sweetheart!” She cackled, facing the tower’s opening with a blunder buss, braced against the back of the wall.
She fired as the back end of the tower came apart in a spray of debris and blood. Mya breathed in, her eyes glowing.
“Now that feels better.” Her voice gained a deeper commanding timber. She tossed a black object into the tower almost casually and kicked the ramp so hard it lodged back into the tower.
She walked away, reloading and gave Petor a wink.
The siege tower exploded, the top section going several meters into the air before it collapsed.
Wood and parts rained down.
Mya’s grin chilled him, and then grew into one on his own face, a laugh nearly bubbling out of him. With maniacs like this, who would be stupid enough to mess with us?
The yells in the breach turned confused as Petor readied his spear.
They’re taking their time.
“Shadow behind you!” Mya yelled.
It grew out of the wall to Petor’s left, growing into its humanoid form.
Desari jumped off of the wall, and released her arrow, the air twisting around her to Petor’s eyes.
The arrow blasted away shadows in a flash of light. Petor drove mana into his eyes and muscles, recovering his vision as he heaved up his spear and hurled it with all his strength. It went through the shadow golem, nailing its core to the wall.
It guttered and drifted away on the wind.
Valter whistled and threw Petor another spear.
Petor caught it, setting himself to the sound of stone falling behind him.
He turned, two men were thrown back by Mya’s shots.
Petor breathed in, stabbed the butt of the new spear into the ground, bracing his legs and feet, angling his shield up the rubble hill, forcing mana through the shield’s inscription.
It connected, the inscription went live.
Let it never be said that Valter was anything short of a destructive genius. The runes super heated the surrounding air and water so rapidly that they evaporated and superheated, detonating like a meteor crashing through a planet’s air.
Attackers were thrown from their feet, dust was cleared from the area infront of Petor. His joints creaked with the pressure as he was forced back into the ground.
“Fuck a donkey’s uncle,” Petor said through gritted teeth as he lowered his arm circulating mana through it.
It felt like he’d stopped the charge of a rhino, feeling slowly returning. Wouldn’t do to wince and scream at the pain now.
He stalked over to a downed attacker. Come here you bastard.
A small hiss came from his nose as the man’s life mana repaired his limbs.
“Forward!” Valter pulled his dozen or so fighters into the fight, waiting at the base of the breach, clearing out the remaining attackers.
Desari walked up to Petor, Mya was yelling at people up on the wall.
“What do you think?” She asked.
“We can hold this section for now, but we’ve lost several others. It will turn to fighting in the city unless something drastic changes it,” Petor said.
“Then its about time we found a place to hole up as the attackers complete their advance.” Desari studied the area.
“What about the people in the city?” Petor asked.
“Petor, right now we have to care about ourselves. The people of this city. We can’t worry about them,” Desari said.
Petor’s mind and stomach churned.
“Just ain’t right.”
“This world cares little about who is right.”
He sensed she didn’t like the state of things either, but getting her to admit that? It would not be something to happen today. Her logic was sound, even if it was cold.
Valter coordinated his group with vicious effectiveness.
“Mya!,” Desari’s voice rose in alarm. “Might want to get off that wall now!”
Petor followed her gaze up into the clouds.
“Is he flying?”
Lighting flashed through the sky as a man threw his hand towards the wall.
“Shiiiit!” Mya jumped from the wall as others tumbled down the stairs.
Strikes hit the wall where the enemy were thickest, jumping between armor, people and puddles. Cracking off into the distance and moving further away.
Burned lines like vines ran down the wall, fires had started in some of the arrow baskets.
“That was not fucking fun.” Mya grumbled as she got to her feet, waving Petor back just as he set forward.
Golden light appeared over the battlefield.
“Lord Jorai is with us!” A man cried on his knees, bowing his head in prayer.
Spears of ice dropped from the skies, crashing through siege towers. Frost spread from the walls, slowing some, turning others to ice that shattered when hit.
Horns called across the battlefield.
Valter’s defenders rested against their weapons where they stood.
Petor worked his way through them and up to Valter standing in the breach.
The enemy ran towards their camps, spells shot back and forth between them and the figure in the sky now standing on the wall.
Smoke rose up from the ground, covering the retreat as the fighting died down.
“Grab the wounded we’ll take them to the priests,” Desari yelled.
“Well I guess Jorai had a few tricks up his sleeve,” Petor muttered, stepping over the bodies and down the rubble hill, careful to not lose his footing.
“I don’t think that was Lord Jorai,” Valter said.
Priests came out of where they’d been holed up, administering to the wounded. Cranes on the wall were employed to take wounded down and bring ammunition back up.
Petor and Valter helped move the wounded.
***
The day had crossed from morning into late afternoon across Sorelli.
Petor wiped his face, doing little than moving the dirt around.
He drank from his canteen, surveying the aftermath.
The fires from the homes behind the walls sputtered out. A carriage had arrived after the second load, dead were piled up against the interior wall, those with only light wounds carrying those who couldn’t walk.
Mya handed Petor the first spear Valter had leant him.
“Thanks,” he said before storing it away.
She clicked her tongue and winked at him.
“Who’s incharge of this gate?” A man marched up the stairs onto the wall guards flanking him on either side and a priest behind him.
Some looked at Petor’s group.
“Dunno, the guard captain was hit early on,” Mya shrugged.
The captain worked his jaw.
“Adventurers head back to your guild before you’re released.” He stepped forward, ignoring Mya and the other adventurers, looking at the damage on the wall.
Desari led the way, they were all covered in dirt and stains of black and blood as they trudged up the hill towards the cathedral.
“Look,” Desari pointed down a street.
Petor squinted, a man wearing fine armor, untouched by battle stepped onto a carriage of the church. The doors barely shut, and the carriage surged up the hill.
“Gotta be the champion, guy on the horse,” Petor said.
“Weird how he can call on Jorai’s power but the priests are down to using alchemy and bandages, didn’t see them performing one healing,” Mya said.
“The fuck is going on?” Petor asked.
“Not sure, don’t like it though. Just want to get out of here and get our mounts,” Valter said.
“World rarely does what we want it to.” Desari looked up. “At least its not raining, for now.”
