Reality returned in a rush as I saw the men fighting for their lives outside. The army of Gododdin was pressing inward like a great wave against a rock. Most of their forces were clustered against the outside of the curtain wall as they sought to force their way past the defenders holding the breach in it. My eyes focused on the knot of men clustered atop the rubble there, where the fighting was most intense.
Sunlight glinting from shining silver armor showed me Dorian among them. Like a lion among lambs he slaughtered any who came near, his sword sweeping heads and limbs away as easily as a scythe cuts grass. Among the men who had fallen beside him I thought I could see Marc’s brightly colored surcoat. If it was him he wasn’t moving.
Penny stood beside me now, shrugging her way back into her torn and bloodied armor. She held her head proudly but I could see her limbs shaking as she struggled to get dressed again. “You’re not going back out there,” I said. “Your body is in no condition. It will be weeks before you get your strength back.”
With a sigh of frustration she finished pulling the byrnie over her head before her exhaustion forced her to sit down on the divan. I winced inwardly. The blood on her armor would ruin it. She caught my look and glared at me. “Don’t say it,” she warned.
Instead I drew out the pouch of glass stones that were keyed to the trap I had placed around Castle Cameron. There was no more time for delays. My father’s hammer was back in his smithy and there was nothing suitable close at hand, so I focused my will and with a word I formed a tight, hard shield around the small bag. Clenching my teeth and mind at the same time I used it to crush the glass within and the ground lurched beneath my feet.
The world beyond the walls of Cameron Castle exploded. Soil and stone were thrown hundreds of feet into the air while flames engulfed everything. Thousands perished in an instant, some burned to a cinder while those further from the explosive centers were tossed broken and mangled into the air. Dorian and those fighting in the broken gap of the wall were thrown back and tumbled to the ground, along with the men they had been striving against.
I headed for the door and Penny shouted at my back, “Wait, I’m coming too.” She stood up but I could see her swaying on her feet.
“No you’re not,” I said and went back to her, lifting her from the ground. With the armor she was almost more than I could handle, but I managed anyway, carrying her to the bed. She struggled to rise but I gently pushed her back and reached down to pull her enchanted pendant from her neck. A sharp tug and the chain broke. “Shibal,” I said and left her sleeping.
As I ran down the stairs my own fatigue threatened to send me stumbling, so I reached out with my mind, calling to the earth once more. I could feel a power there beyond anything I had ever imagined and I drew upon a small portion of it, filling my body with strength and vitality again. I was fairly sure the effect would be short lived, but I didn’t have time for proper rest.
When I reached the yard the men there were still recovering from the shock and violence of the explosions. “Get up!” I shouted at them. “There’s no time for wasting!” Long minutes passed as I rallied the remaining defenders. All told they numbered little more than two hundred men. More had died holding the breach than I had realized. Dorian and Marcus were not among them but I had no time to search for them.
Driving them by pure force of personality I took them out through the ruined wall. The devastation there was daunting. Great holes had been torn in the earth were the stones had been hidden under the ground. Nothing remained of the buildings and shelters we had built there, nothing but charred wood and broken timbers. I kept them moving and we went beyond the shattered remains of the palisade to find what might be left of the enemy.
For a hundred yards out the earth was covered in bodies and rubble. In the distance the few who had escaped the destruction stood uncertainly. At a glance there appeared to be almost a thousand men left, but their spirits had been shaken and I didn’t intend to give them time to recover the will to fight.
The men gathered around me and I remembered Dorian’s speech, and the one word that had possibly killed more men than ‘should’. “Now’s the time! Let’s show these whoresons what the men of Lothion are made of!” I shouted. “For Lothion!”
“For Lothion!” they responded.
“For Cameron!” I screamed.
The cry came back again and I could feel their hearts pounding in time with my own. I opened my mouth and roared with everything I had, “Charge!” Like one great beast we began moving forward at a run, our pace eating up the ground between us and the enemy.
For a moment one of the enemy captains tried to rally them. Standing in his stirrups he tried to organize them to receive our charge. “Lyet Bierek!” I shouted as I ran and light blossomed over his head. A great cracking boom sounded and his horse reared, throwing him to the ground. Those nearest him were blinded and began running in confusion. In seconds the morale of the rest fell apart and the army of Gododdin was routed.
From that point our charge turned into a long chase. Neither we nor the men we pursued could run for long and soon we were walking after them. Some stumbled and fell, and those we caught died quickly. Those among
