Archer used firepower to burn away the enemy cannons but slumped to the ground, totally spent. Somehow, he pulled out a bottle of energy serum and gulped it down. He was at once flooded with more energy. Daniel, Matt and James too were doing the same. All the children were thanking the herbologists profusely in their minds for this boon.
Meanwhile, the Demons started chanting spells. A blanket of darkness started covering the Castle Dome and, suddenly, it broke apart. The Sorcerers dropped unconscious, and this time the Scavenger knew they wouldn’t get up again anytime soon.
As the darkness started to come nearer to the Castle, the Scavenger turned to the Gods. “Your show.”
As the Gods started chanting spells, the darkness started to wane. But as the Gods’ attention was taken up by the Demons, the enemy warriors started to gain more ground. They reached the Castle gate and suddenly the Castle gate shook as giant logs of wood crashed against it. But the magic-induced Castle gate held on.
Suddenly, Archer looked up and, to his horror, he saw the flying creatures carrying animals in their claws. Archer knew that they would drop the animals off behind the walls.
Meanwhile, the Castle gate was getting weaker, so the archers couldn’t focus on striking off the flying creatures. They had to attack the enemy warriors on the ground, or else the gate would break.
The flying creatures were too many in number. Despite the best efforts of the children and the Scavenger, they covered the sky above the Castle and started dropping off wild animals. Further, the flying creatures, after dropping the animals, swooped down and snatched a warrior each and threw them into the enemy army.
The Scavenger yelled to the falling warriors, “Use your armours!”
The tactic worked and, as the warriors fell into the enemy army, they activated their in-built boosters and flew back to the Castle.
The Scavenger looked around at the chaos that was unfolding owing to the ferocious animals dropped in the Castle. Meanwhile, a swarm of flying creatures holding animals was again approaching the Castle.
The Scavenger shouted in rage, “This has gone on long enough.”
The Scavenger pulled out his Lightning Sword and with a yell, brought it to the air. Lightning crackled and then hit the flying creatures. It zapped from bird to bird, turning them to ashes.
Then all of a sudden, the Scavenger fell to the ground and the lightning stopped. A medic rushed to him at once.
“Is he all right?” Archer asked him.
The medic turned to him. “He’s just unconscious. The effort proved too much for him. But don’t worry, two bottles of energy serum will get him up in no time.”
Archer looked to the skies and grinned. “He blew up most of those annoying flying monsters.”
The Castle gate jerked again and now, there was a crack in the gate. Lynx, seeing that the Scavenger was unconscious, took charge. “Cover that up! Quick!”
Warriors rushed to the gate. The enemy was frantically striking the gate with logs.
“We can’t hold this long enough,” Archer said to Lynx. “We need to think of something, fast.”
The Gods finished their spell and a strong shockwave rippled through the enemy army. The Demons fell like dry leaves.
“That was a death spell.” Paragon smiled at the children. “It is one of the greatest spells. We will not be able to do such a spell in a hundred years.” With that, Paragon, along with the other Gods, started to concentrate their efforts on the approaching warriors at the Castle gate.
But they were too late. The Castle gate shook as a giant ran towards it and kicked at it. It crumbled. The enemy rushed in.
“SWITCH TO CLOSE COMBAT!” Lynx shouted.
At this time, since two bottles of energy serum had been poured into the Scavenger’s mouth, the Scavenger woke up with a grunt.
“The enemy has breached!” Matt shouted to him.
The Scavenger stood up at once and led the charge. “DRIVE THE ENEMY BACK!” he yelled.
Everyone was trying hard, but the animals dropped by the flying creatures were proving to be an annoying distraction. The Scavenger realized that they were losing ground.
“RETREAT!” the Scavenger yelled. “We need to re-plan, and quick.”
They started to fall back towards the moat.
Everyone activated the blasters in their armour. The children felt disappointed as they rose in the air and flew towards the moat. The moat was well fortified and kept as a last resort. If the enemy reached the moat, the Castle would be considered lost.
The Scavenger’s army successfully retreated to the moat.
Archer looked around and saw scared faces. He gulped. “Is this how we will die?”
“Don’t think like that. We will fight to the last man. Very few of us are now left. I am a man of faith. We stand by the side of truth!” The Scavenger raised his hands and made a silent prayer for help. In his heart of hearts, he realized the futility of a prayer and lowered his hands to summon lightning bolts again.
A horn blew.
The Scavenger grinned.
His prayer had been heard.
Archer was confused on hearing the horn. What was that? He used his blasters to rise to the air.
And saw the most beautiful sight ever.
The sky was full with large griffins. Big falcons and eagles followed, and more flying creatures started to appear. They held sea creatures in their claws, who spewed powerful bursts of water into the army.
The Scavenger had almost lost hope that his request to call for the griffins, sea creatures, falcons and eagles to join the war would be responded to by them.
Another horn blew.
The children looked to the
