Thousands of icicles suddenly descended on the detachment of barbarians that was inconveniencing us, and in just a few seconds the men were transformed into a bloody pulp. Immediately a huge flower of flame blossomed above the city walls. The enemy’s shamans hadn’t wasted any time in striking back. The two sides were systematically annihilating each other’s infantry. If it kept on like this, soon there wouldn’t be anybody but magicians and shamans left. The commanding officers of both sides were apparently of the same opinion. Horns sounded, drums started pounding, and the dark masses shuddered and started moving toward each other.
“Right, it’s time!”
“Hang on, will you, Mumr!” said Hallas, still lying on the snow and surveying the battlefield. “Let them start fighting first!”
“Harold, you used to live in the city,” Egrassa said to me. “Is there any other way to get into Avendoom apart from the city gates?”
“There is,” I replied after a moment’s thought. “But it’s no help to us.”
“Why?”
“They probably won’t let us climb up the walls on a rope. And anyway, we don’t have a rope that long.”
“Is that the only way?”
“Well, we could try going through the municipal drains, but that—”
I was forced to break off when a fiery meteorite went crashing into the next copse and incinerated a detachment of the enemy’s cavalry.
“—But that’s all closed off with metal grilles. And we’d still have to get to the walls somehow. But I do have one little idea. The city walls run into the Cold Sea. I expect the fishermen who live in the villages nearby have all run off ages ago or moved into the city. We could try to find a boat.”
“That won’t get you anywhere! There are gnomes with cannons in the Bastion that defend the entrance to the harbor. They’ll smash any boat to splinters! And we’ll end up as fish food!”
“No they won’t, Hallas!” Kli-Kli reassured the gnome. “We’ll stand you in the boat so they can see you from the Bastion and they won’t fire!”
“Me? Get in a boat? I won’t do it!”
“Oh, yes you will! If you want the Nameless One to go back home, you’ll get in a boat! And you’ll yell loud and clear in that language of yours, so your kinsmen can hear you,” said Egrassa, completely ignoring the gnome’s whinging. “Here, take your mattock and smash this.”
The elf handed the gnome a crystal.
“What is it?” Kli-Kli asked.
“Markauz gave it to me in Zagraba. He got it from Artsivus. He said as soon as we got close, we should smash it—and the Order would know we were here.”
“Well, just how much closer could we be?” Hallas muttered, swinging his mattock.
It took the gnome two attempts to break the crystal. The stone smashed like any ordinary piece of glass and … and nothing happened.
“Now what?” I asked obtusely.
“How should I know?” asked Egrassa, already in the saddle. “I was told to smash it when the time came. We’ve done that, now it’s up to the Order. Is it far from here to the Cold Sea, Harold?”
“A fair distance. We have to cross the field and go through that wood over there, then it’s about fifteen hundred yards to the shoreline.”
“We’ll get through! Everybody stick together and don’t fall back! If anyone loses their horse or just falls, yell!”
The elf was right there, the battle was raging and thundering all around, and anyone who was at the back might very easily not be heard.
We went flying out of the copse and headed toward the dark wood. Sagot save us! It looked so far away!
The space ahead of us was empty, but that wouldn’t last long. I dug my heels into the sides of my horse and concentrated on trying not to fall off. We rushed up a hill and down again, and found ourselves in the (relatively) empty camp of the Nameless One’s army. The Crayfish seemed very surprised to see us there. But only one of them tried to block our way. Eel ran the brave man down with his horse and we went flying out like a whirlwind into the rear of the enemy’s pikemen.
The lads didn’t notice us, they were too busy trying to dodge the emerald-green sparks showering down on them from out of the sky. When they hit the ground, the sparks turned into massive great serpents that spat green spheres. We had to veer to the left, and we’d almost reached the city walls when Hallas’s horse caught an arrow in the crupper. At full gallop, Mumr grabbed the gnome off the animal that was going insane with the pain (how did he manage to do that?) and dumped him across his own horse.
“Our own side’s firing at us! Out into the field,” Eel shouted to the elf.
To the right of us a battalion smashed into the tattered ranks of the barbarians and northern tribesmen. We had to rein in our horses again and go dashing back in the opposite direction. Eventually we reached the wood, but that didn’t bring us any relief. We immediately found ourselves surrounded by horsemen. At first I was afraid they were the Nameless One’s lads, but then I noticed they were wearing the gray and blue uniform of the royal guard.
“Who are you?” one of the horsemen barked.
The other soldiers sensibly kept their hands on their spears.
“We’re on your side!” Hallas panted, climbing down off Eel’s horse.
Naturally, they didn’t believe us. But, fortunately, they weren’t in any great hurry to kill us, either. The presence of an elf and a gnome in this bunch of deserters or vagabonds or spies of the Nameless One prevented them from jumping to any hasty conclusions. Without making any fuss, Egrassa took out the paper with the royal seal, which was badly crumpled after our long journey. At least that produced some effect.
“What are you doing here?” the guardsman asked.
“We need to get into the city, milord. Can you help us?”
“I doubt it. Only the gates in the northern wall can be opened. All the others are blocked off. And fighting your way right across the battlefield to the other side of the city is far too difficult.”
“Look!” someone gasped.
There was certainly something to look at. Two immense purple spheres were flying slowly above the men engaged in furious battle, heading toward the city. These spheres were much larger than the one that Lafresa had thrown at our ferry when we were crossing the Iselina. The first one touched the wall and exploded with a tremendous rumbling blast that almost knocked me off my feet. Flames, smoke, stones, and men were sent flying up to the heavens, and a breach about fifty yards across appeared in the wall. Then a little cloud of blue light appeared beside the second sphere and lashed out at the Nameless One’s creation. The purple sphere went flying back in the direction it had come from and exploded when it crashed into a crowd of giants.
“Those magic-mongers can do it when they want to,” the gnome chuckled in delight, rubbing his hands together.
“Bugler! It’s time! Sound the attack!” the commander of the guards shouted. “I don’t know who you are, gentlemen, but I wish you luck.”
“One question, milord! Are there any boats on the seashore?”
“I don’t know, elf!”
The hundred-strong unit of horsemen went tearing out of the wood and into battle to the sound of the bugle.
The wood—which wasn’t really a wood, just a big copse—was quiet. We didn’t run into any more surprises. But when we came out of the wood and were almost at the sea (I could already smell the salt in the air), we had the absolutely outrageous bad luck to run into two giants. Darkness only knew what these blue-skinned brutes were doing so far away from the battle, but when they saw us, they grabbed their clubs and started moving in our direction at a brisk trot.
“Get back!” Eel barked. “We can’t handle them! Into the trees! Into the trees!”
I swear by Sagot that the lads who were running at us were a good eight yards tall. Their blue, hairy skin did nothing to render these wonders of nature any more charming. And a glance at their clubs was enough to dispel even the slightest desire to make these creatures’ acquaintance. So our group promptly swung its horses round and
