seen on the opposite side of the river. Then, a shimmering ‘bridge’ forms between the two sides, ten feet wide and reminiscent of the shields she has seen James use to protect himself from arrows.
“Let’s hurry,” she says as she kicks her horse into motion. She begins silently counting, one…two…three… as her horse steps upon the shimmering surface. Worried that her horse’s hoof might sink through, she braces herself. But her horse steps upon the bridge and quickly passes across to the other side.
Thirteen…fourteen…fifteen… she sits there as the others hurry across, two at a time. As the last one reaches the far shore, she reaches forty-five and says the word to cancel the spell to save its power for their return crossing, “Earthquake.” When James had told her the words of command she commented about how they didn’t relate to a bridge at all. He had chuckled and said they referred to a city back home, San Francisco. That a famous bridge there was called the Golden Gate and the place was prone to earthquakes which destroy bridges.
With the utterance of ‘Earthquake’, the shimmering bridge disappears and the crystals grow dark. Getting down from her horse, she removes another crystal from one of the pouches and places it in roughly the spot where the bridge crystal lies on this side of the river. This crystal will light the way when the word ‘Beacon’ is uttered in its vicinity. Without it, they would be hard pressed to find the exact spot where the bridge lies in the dark.
Mounting back onto her horse, she turns to Ceadric and says, “Now for the catapults.”
He gives her a nod and they quietly make their way to the lights of the enemy camp in the distance. The rear of the encampment is a couple miles away and they ride quickly toward it in silence.
As they near, they’re able to see the makeup of the enemy’s forces as well as the layout of the camp. Behind the palisade is a large open area, currently crammed with soldiers, most likely congregating there because of James. Delia worries for him but sees that his plan is working.
The massive light explosion in the sky earlier has drawn most of the forces away from the rear of the encampment where the siege engines lie. There is still a presence there, but they should be able to handle them.
Twenty catapults and ten long bridges sit at the rear of the encampment. Each of the bridges has a protective covering built over them that will shield the attackers from any arrows fired from the walls by the defenders. The top of the covering is reinforced with leather that looks as if it may have been treated to withstand fire.
When they’ve ridden as close as they dare, Delia and the slingers dismount from their horses as well as Errin and Aleya. Ten of Ceadric’s men, those who had brought bows, dismount as well. Ceadric and the rest wait there with the horses. Should problems arise, they’ll come quickly to the rescue.
Campfires dot the area around the catapults, giving Delia and her group ample light for targeting. From behind her, she hears Moyil quip, “Nice to light the area for us.”
“You know it,” answers Terrance.
“Quiet! Both of you!” she whispers firmly.
If it was broad daylight there would be no way in which they could possibly get away with this. No cover with which to speak of, all of the trees in the area have been cut down either for the palisade wall or the soldier’s campfires. They feel rather exposed there in the moonlight, and if the soldier’s attention wasn’t riveted on the events transpiring by the main encampment, they most likely would have already been discovered.
They make their way quickly and quietly toward the siege equipment, stepping lightly to remain unheard. As shadows in the night, they close the distance until they are within range of their slings. Delia brings them to a halt and gathers them in a close huddle as she talks to them. Ceadric’s archers keep watch around them.
She takes out one of the glass spheres contained within her pack and holds it up before them. “These are filled with oil,” she explains. “Hit each of the catapults with three.” Then glancing to Aleya and Errin she says, “Once they’re covered in oil, light those arrows James gave you and set the oil afire.”
They nod their heads in understanding.
“Start with the bridges,” she says. “Just as we practiced, space yourselves and begin with the one at the far right and work to the left. Be quick, we won’t have much time.” When she sees they understand her, she says, “Get in position.” Then she moves to Hedry, the man in charge of the archers. “You ready?” she asks.
In the moonlight, she can see him give her a grin as he says, “Whenever you are.”
Turning back to her slingers, she sees they’ve already moved into position with a gap of five feet between them. Each slinger’s sack containing the glass oil bombs as James calls them sits before them on the ground. Coming up behind Terrance, she lays her hand on his shoulder and says, “Take your time and aim for the center. They’re big, so if you’re off a little, you should still be able to hit it.”
Terrance glances over his shoulder and says, “I hope so.”
Behind them, three of Hedry’s men place their shields together upright on the ground to form a small wall. Behind that wall, one of Hedry’s men gets a fire going. Next to it, Aleya and Errin remove the specially prepared arrows and place them on the ground next to them. After a moment, a small glow can be seen coming from behind the shields, the majority of the light is being blocked.
Seeing that all is in readiness, she whispers, “Ready!” Taking an oil bomb out of the sack before her, she sets it into the cup of her sling. “Fire at will,” she says and then begins to twirl her sling over her head. Beside her up and down the line, the others take an oil bomb and set it in their sling.
Hedry’s men take position behind the slingers, alert for any enemy soldier that may be in the area. When Hedry was told what they planned to do, he thought it was madness. Surely the catapults and bridges would have guards and scouts in the area in case Madoc’s forces tried just this sort of maneuver. Illan had told him the likelihood of there being enemy sentries behind their lines would be remote. The part of the stream they crossed is impassable except by boat so the chances were good they would be able to sneak right up to them before any knew they were there. And so far, he’d been right.
Delia lets the oil bomb fly and watches as it flies into the opening of one of the bridges, striking the interior. As the bomb shatters, oil is splayed all over the sides and the floor. Before the first bomb shatters, the second is already in her sling.
Next to her, Terrance has loosed his first bomb and out of the corner of her eye, she sees it strike the bridge next to the one she’s working on. A satisfied, “Yes!” is heard and she grins.
The first couple of bombs strike the bridges before the enemy even realizes something is amiss. Hedry watches as one soldier who stands near a bridge under attack turns as the second bomb strikes. The man calls out to another soldier nearby as he moves closer just as the third bomb strikes.
When the bomb shatters right before him, he staggers backward in shock, oil splattering his armor. Just then, an arrow from one of Hedry’s archers flies from the dark and takes him through the chest. The soldier stumbles backward and collapses. Several enemy soldiers see him fall and the arrow sticking out of his chest.
A cry erupts and at that, arrows start flying out of the dark as Hedry’s archers begin taking out the enemy soldiers quickly. Their cry raises the alarm and soon the entire rear flank turns from where they’ve been watching the area near the palisade and rushes to the defense of their siege equipment.
“Now, Errin!” Delia cries.
Behind her, Errin and Aleya each take up one of the specially treated arrows and dip the tip in the fire behind the shields. Each arrow has an oil soaked rag tied just behind the arrowhead which ignites quickly. Taking but a moment to aim, they fire at the oil coated bridges.
Two arcs of fire soar through the air, each striking adjacent bridges. When the flaming arrows sink into the oil soaked wood, the oil bursts into flames. Using one arrow per bridge, they soon have all the bridges aflame and begin on the catapults.
Delia has moved onto her first catapult by the time the first bridge erupts in flame. The slingers continue peppering the remainder of the catapults as bridge after bridge begins to burn.
The enemy soldiers at first didn’t see from which direction the attack had originated. But when the flaming arrows began to appear, one soldier gives out with a cry and they surge forward.
Arrows fly from Hedry’s archers as the soldiers race past the fires to close with them. Some stop and attempt to put out the fires, those that do are the first to be targeted by the archers. The bridges must burn.
Ceadric draws his sword and says to the men mounted behind him, “For Madoc and Black Hawk!”
With battle cries filling the night, the horsemen charge forward and close with the enemy foot soldiers before they have a chance to reach Delia and her group. Riding them down, the battle hardened men lay about them with their swords, felling men left and right.
More soldiers stream into the area, racing to put out the fires consuming the siege equipment, but arrows
