The familiar screeches of chains fill the air as the iron gate begins to rise, behind them the heavy wooden doors creak open. I tense, the time is close, there will be no signal other than the few men in front of me abandoning their positions. There will be no horn, no war cry, we will swarm the gate silently, they will have no warning.
The carts continue forwards as the spikes emerge from the ground. It wasn’t so long ago that we were crawling out from beneath them in desperation, now I hide in the shadows waiting to charge back in. The metal gate disappears into the ceiling and eventually comes to a stop. Through the entrance I can make out a large group of guards clustering inside the courtyard.
The carts move beneath the gate, as expected the first of the soldiers are already rushing out to take Orrian captive. The villagers on top of the carts force their wagons to come to a stop, directly beneath the spikes above.
The man in front of me rises and runs out into the open, the first line of villagers is heading for the open gate. I join the charge, an arrow flies overhead so close to my shoulder that it must surely have come from Robyn. I am not worried. She won’t hit me. Her arrows continue to fly above, joining the whistling waves that cut through the air from the other dozens of archers hidden in the treetops.
The first of the arrows have thudded into their targets by the time we are noticed, by which time, we’re unmissable. The first of us are only a couple of steps from the soldiers who had left the colony to admit Orrian. Villagers sprint around me on all sides, Randall manages to keep stride off to my right. Now we scream, our battle cries echo through the mob. We are an unstoppable herd, a horde of the wronged coming to deliver their justice.
The outermost soldiers turn to face our army as more of us continue to emerge from the trees. Orrian leaps down from the cart, easily shrugging off the slip knots. His group of villagers reveal their hidden knives as they launch themselves at the party waiting to greet us.
Orrian himself holds a forearm length hunting knife in each hand, as I run, I watch him spinning and twisting through the soldiers. They fall to the ground in his path, I watch as he lunges inside one of the soldier’s grips and uses the throwing manoeuvre he taught me. The man flies over his shoulder and is at his mercy as one of Orrian’s blades finds the crevice in his neck.
Thoren comes thundering out of nowhere, easily overtaking me as we travel the last few steps to the wall. His bellows join our cries as he charges into a group of three soldiers, sending them sprawling to the ground as he swings his sword over his head. I follow with Randall in the path that he’s cleared, my eyes widening as the giant’s bare fist hooks around the side of a soldier’s helmet. The fist wins and the man crumples to the ground.
Jaq leads a group of spearmen who follow him in strict formation. Bruce and Manuel both stand among his ranks, aggressively urging the others to continue forwards. Their poisoned edges bristle as they march, forming an unstoppable wedge as the guards are driven backwards away from the gatehouse.
Once through the gate I immediately throw myself sideways and away from the conflict. Orrian is already disposing of colony men as he waits for us. After checking that our entire group has made it, we take off running down the nearest exit from the courtyard. Soon the whole fountain will be surrounded by fighting, we need to be out of here by the time that happens.
Something whistles through the air.
CRASH!
They’ve managed to drop the iron gate, it doesn’t matter, it’s too late now. The spikes fall upon the carts with shocking force but they carry on no further. A couple of villagers fall to the ground screaming as they are caught on the shoulders, but the gap is still large enough to allow for our fighters that continue to rush in.
We duck behind a long row of houses, letting Damion direct us now. He leads us down a small alley that hugs the inside of the outer wall. Something crashes behind us, a guard lays crumpled on the ground. His arms are twisted and his helmet caved in, an arrow pierces his chainmail.
We continue sprinting down the narrow path, taking hairpin turns as Damion weaves us through the maze-like fabric of the city. The collisions grow fainter in the distance. Around us, families, children, and tradespeople stick their heads out of their doors and their windows and gawp at us as we pass.
We continue our sprint for several more minutes, Damion is quick but I know we’re all holding Orrian back. Randall breathes heavily next to me but he doesn’t fall behind. We are going around the side of the main entrance, blindly following Damion towards the hidden entrance that he promises.
Finally, we reach the moat, a building juts out from the side of the wall, forming an overhang into the water below. Without hesitation, Damion slides down the steep bank and begins swimming.
“What-?” Horas starts from behind us, there is no clear way over the wall opposite.
“Just follow,” Orrian orders. We must trust the former slave, he’s our way in.
Damion waits for us by the opposite bank, a lot of the grass here has yellowed in death. He instructs Orrian to give him a leg up and he is thrust towards the edge of the wall. We form a similar ladder to the one we used to
