The pouches at his waist are nearly empty. He actually hasn’t used much of his own power as yet. Like he told Jiron back when they first met, if he has time to prepare, he doesn’t get tired. And he’s had all winter to prepare.
They make a break for the gate in the palisade, bolts rain down upon them but each is protected in their own protective shield. Jiron only has another eight minutes or so and then he’ll be at their mercy. Before they reach the leading edge of soldiers, James removes one of the two remaining crystals and throws it ahead of him toward the approaching troops.
“Down!” he yells to Jiron.
Jiron sees him fall to the ground and drops as well.
The crystal flies through the air and hits the ground just in front of the troops. Suddenly, a dozen soldiers drop to the ground as the crystal leeches a hundredfold. A fraction of a second later, six red beams like lasers shoot out from the crystal, at an upward angle reminiscent of search lights. They slice through whatever it touches and then the beams rotate forty-five degrees. A cry erupts all over the field of battle as men are cut in two, literally sliced apart by the beams. Then after the beams come to rest, they blink out.
Boom!
The crystal explodes in a deafening roar, leaving a four foot crater where it had lain.
“Come on!” cries James as he gets to his feet. The number of soldiers between them and the gate has been reduced by almost two thirds, the rest are fleeing for their lives after witnessing the devastating attack.
“James, the gate is closed,” hollers Jiron.
Looking toward the palisade, he sees the gate standing closed. “See if you can open it,” he says as the tingling sensation again comes to him. Glancing back, he sees the warrior priest coming fast, whatever damage the massive explosion earlier had done to him is no longer apparent.
Turning to face the warrior priest, he lets loose the magic…
Crumph! Crumph! Crumph!
…but it doesn’t even faze the man. As the ground erupts around him he continues moving quickly toward him, seemingly unaffected by the blasts. When he spies James there before him and the sea of dead behind, a hellish grin comes to him. Raising his hands over his head, he speaks words which are painful to hear.
Each word seems to go through him like a knife. Standing there before the warrior priest, James instinctively covers his ears as the words continue to set his mind and nerves afire.
Then from around him, among the dead a black mist begins to arise, the sight of which brings a horror which nigh on paralyses him. As the warrior priest continues speaking the words, the mist coalesces in many different areas among the dead.
Through strength of will alone, he manages to get his feet once more moving toward the palisade. Ahead of him he sees that Jiron is still some distance from it as he, too is overcome by what is transpiring around him.
Step by step, he progresses toward the gate in the palisade. Not very far from him is one of the points where the black mist is coalescing. It starts to take on a distinct shape of a bipedal humanoid roughly three foot in height. When the warrior priest utters the last word, the form solidifies and a pair of red eyes stare out from the black, demonic head.
To James’ horror, the head turns in his direction and the mouth twists into a malignant grin. The lips pull back to reveal a row of jagged pointed teeth. A quick glance reveals numerous of these creatures are upon the battlefield, each point where the black mist coalesced now contains one. Then suddenly they’re in motion.
James lashes out with the power at the one closest to him and has the satisfaction of seeing it lifted off its feet and thrown backward a dozen yards. The lethargy he experienced while the warrior priest was casting his spell ends and he’s able to once again race toward the gate where Jiron is attempting to lift the bar keeping it closed.
A cry that sends a shiver down his spine pierces the night from behind and he glances over his shoulder to see another of the hell spawn running awkwardly to catch him. Again he lashes out with the power and the creature is thrown backward.
Turning his attention to the gate in the palisade, he sees Jiron with his back to it, knives flying as he battles two of the creatures. The shimmering of the shield surrounding him has disappeared, the power within the crystal having been depleted. Behind Jiron, he sees the bar keeping the gate secured has been removed.
More of those creatures race toward him and Jiron. Each time one gets close to him, he blasts it back with magic. Jiron is now facing three and is at least holding his own, the creatures shy away from the touch of the cold iron of his blades.
Cries from the creatures sound throughout the battlefield. James casts a glance around him and sees dozens of the creatures closing rapidly. He’s not going to make the gate before he’ll be swarmed by them. Not too far ahead of him, Jiron has his back to the gate and is holding off five now, his knives moving so fast they’re but a blur.
The last hundred feet between them is quickly filling with more of the creatures. He blasts out with his magic and ten are flung away only to have the space immediately filled by others. Unable to hold them at bay any longer, he throws up a protective barrier just as one creature leaps over the heads of his fellows and smashes into it. The contact of the creature causes an immediate increase in the amount of power required to keep the barrier in effect, just as the touch of those creatures back in the pass on the way to Ironhold had.
Must be similar in nature, though there’s nothing of fire about these creatures. Within the barrier, James concentrates to maintain the barrier against the onslaught. His forward motion stopped as more and more of the creatures bar his way. They’re packed in so tightly around him that some are beginning to stand on the shoulders of their fellows, creating a wall of creatures on the outer side of the barrier.
The magic of the warrior priest has been absent since the appearance of these creatures which has James worried. Of course it could be that the summoning of these creatures took all he had. He fervently hopes so.
Jiron can no longer be seen through the press of creatures, they have worked themselves three high around his barrier and their combined effect is draining the magic from him in growing quantities. He’s not sure just how much longer he’ll be able to hold it.
Miko is among those upon the battlements keeping an eye on the enemy camp. James has been inside now for some time. He had laughed along with the others when the enemy soldiers were scattered by those small spheres that flashed and zapped. Though now he’s begun to worry. It’s been many minutes since they were escorted in through the palisade to meet with the commander.
He glances down to the courtyard below where Illan and the rest of his men sit on their horses awaiting the signal to come to James’ aid should the need arise. When Illan looks up at him, he shrugs. Turning to look back at the enemy camp, he prays they’re alright.
Then from the heart of the enemy camp, a flash of red and then a moment later a massive explosion rips through the night. Fire seems to be thrown in every direction.
“What happened?” Illan hollers up at him.
Miko turns his head to face him and says, “A large explosion in the camp. Looks like James is giving them what for.”
Schtk! Boom!
A massive white light accompanies an intense explosion from the same area as the earlier one. The concussion of the blast is such that those on the battlements can feel it roll past them. Miko strains to see what’s going on but the whole area is one mass of moving bodies and can’t make out where James and Jiron are.
When beams of red light shoot out into the night, he turns and descends the steps three at a time to the courtyard below. When he hits the bottom, he races to Illan. “We need to go, now!” he hollers as he gets into the saddle.
“The catapults are on fire!” they hear the cry from someone on the wall.
“Good,” Miko hears Illan grunt beside him.
From atop the wall, Henri’s voice hollers, “Open the gate!”
From behind them, they hear one of Illan’s men say, “Black Hawk flies again!”
When the gates open, the cry goes up, “For Madoc and Black Hawk!”
Illan kicks his horse and they race forward across the bridge toward the palisade. The area between the bridge and the palisade is devoid of enemies. Riding hard, they close the distance quickly.
Intent on the gate before him, Miko is suddenly struck with a feeling of unease. Exactly what the cause is
