“Of course, that monster’s willing to kill!” Orten said. “It stretches out its arms and seizes our men on the walls. They die a horrible death.”
Lasgol was petrified. If the Specter could reach the battlements, that meant that either it had grown enormously, or else that its arms now stretched much further.
“I’ll need to do some preparation with the Ice Magi,” said Eicewald.
“Well, do it fast,” Thoran snapped back. “We don’t know how much longer we’ll be able to hold out.”
“This very moment, your Majesty,” Eicewald said, and turned to leave. He gestured to Lasgol to follow him.
“Sven, have the soldiers get ready,” the king ordered the Commander.
“Yes, your Majesty,” Sven replied. “The men are ready.”
“And so are the Rangers,” Gatik added
“Don’t fail me!” Thoran yelled as they all left the throne hall. He was not in the least convinced that they would manage to defeat the Specter and the enemy forces.
Chapter 35
At dawn the horns rang out in warning throughout the besieged city, and were heard as far as the Royal Castle. From the Tower of the Magi, came Eicewald with his Ice Magi, who waited in front of the Rangers’ Tower for Lasgol and his companions. They nodded to one another, looking serious and troubled, then made their way to the north wall, where the attack was under way.
Sven and Gatik were already on the battlements, giving orders to soldiers and Rangers who were trying to repel the attack.
“Release against the enemy!” Sven shouted. “Show them what a Norghanian’s worth!”
“Don’t let them get as far as the gate!” Gatik yelled to his Rangers at the top of his voice.
The defenders launched arrows against the attackers. The enormous Wild Ones of the Ice, with the aid of the Tundra Dwellers, were trying to take the walls. The Arcanes of the Glaciers could not come close because the Rangers, whose bows had a longer range than the magic of the Arcanes, had orders to shoot at them first.
Lasgol and his companions went to stand beside the Rangers on the battlements, to the right of the gate, and began releasing against the enemy lines, which were advancing like a white tide. The soldiers were shooting from the left-hand side of the wall and above the gate, where they were also preparing a large cauldron of boiling oil to pour over the assailants.
The Wild Ones of the Ice were attacking the gate, which was very damaged by now and was not likely to hold up much longer, in spite of the enormous barricade Sven’s men had built behind it. The Peoples of the Frozen Continent had no siege weapons, which until now had saved the defenders. However, they had their own more primitive methods of attacking the wall, and in particular the city gates, which were the weakest point in the Norghanian defense.
A group of a dozen Wild Ones approached at a run. Between them they were carrying a huge tree with one end like an arrowhead.
“Battering ram!” Sven shouted in warning.
“Don’t let them reach the gate!” Gatik ordered.
The Rangers’ arrows killed them all a hundred paces from the gate. The tree they had been carrying as a ram was left lying on the ground among the corpses.
Viggo smiled. “This is too easy. It’s like shooting ducks in a pond.”
“Well, I don’t know … you need a dozen arrows to bring down a single one of those mammoths,” Gerd said. His grimace suggested that it did not seem quite as easy to him.
Nilsa did her best to reassure him. “You’re as big as they are, so you’ve got nothing to worry about.”
“Stay focused,” Ingrid said. “If the gate falls, we’re finished.”
At that moment two Rangers came up to them.
“I thought I’d seen some new faces, but not ones I know,” said Luca.
“Ones I know very well,” the second Ranger said with a smile. It was Molak.
“Luca!” Nilsa cried happily.
“And Captain Fantastic,” said Viggo, sounding deeply disappointed.
“I’m glad to see you too,” Molak replied acidly. But he was smiling.
“It’s great to see you both here!” said Gerd happily, and gave them each a bear-hug.
“Gondabar has called all available Rangers to defend the capital,” Molak explained. “We’re spread out along the wall and at a few strategic points, such as the gates.”
“I see you’re keeping well,” Ingrid said icily.
“So are you,” he replied, sounding calm and friendly. “You’ve got a good color, you’ve obviously been in the sun. Your last adventure must have agreed with you all, because you look very healthy. Everyone okay?”
“Everyone’s fine,” she said.
“Lasgol?” Molak asked, not seeing him with them.
“Further back, with the Magi,” said Ingrid. She did not smile or hug him, and Molak did not attempt to hug her either.
“I’m glad to see you well, I really am,” he said, and smiled sweetly at her.
Ingrid nodded. She too was glad to see him, even though things were not the same between them anymore. “So am I,” she said, and her tone of voice and expression were a little gentler.
“What’s up with these two?” Viggo whispered into Nilsa’s ear with great interest.
“You know I can’t tell you.”
“Well, I’ll get it out of you somehow, and it’ll be worse for you because you’ll have to put up with my interrogation.”
Nilsa breathed out heavily, looking troubled. “All I can tell you is that they’ve drifted apart rather … because of the distance between them … and because she’s a Snow Panther …”
“And because she hasn’t told him about all the trouble we’ve gotten ourselves into?”
“If you already know, why are you asking me?”
“I didn’t know, but I suspected. You can’t keep secrets and love at the same time. That destroys a relationship.”
“Said the
