approaching to seal Evelah's doom.
Slowly the marching thrum grew closer. Ethan waited among those upon the wall. He wondered when it would be the right time to shift into the spiritual realm and attack. But a horde of demons had been among those with Mordred on his ships and there was no reason to suppose they hadn't come with him now. His own tingling flesh told him it was true. They were great in number and despite the power Shaddai had given unto him, he remained only one.
Ethan whispered a prayer for the protection of these people and for personal guidance during the battle. He wanted to be led by the Lord completely. Otherwise this battle would not go well. It might end badly at any rate, but if he followed Shaddai's leadership he would come through closer to the fulfillment of the prophecy.
Ethan kept that one thought at the forefront of his mind. A prophecy had been made and a prophecy must be fulfilled. He had no idea how it might come about, only that it would, in some way, be completed as it should. That one thought comforted him now as the drumming of feet in the dark grew louder and closer.
Mordred might indeed sack Wayland's capital today. He might kill the King. He might manage, even, to take all of Wayland, but the time would come when destruction would come down upon him from on high. A smile spread across his face, until he thought about those he might lose in the process.
His friends might be killed tonight. And what about Gideon? Where was he in all of this? His mind wandered back to the night before when he had faced the man upon the palace wall. Gideon had spared him despite his threats to the contrary. Where was he at this moment and what was he doing? Had he run from the city, back to Mordred to receive new instructions, or was he lurking among Evelah's ruins waiting for another opportunity to strike at him?
There was one thing Ethan was certain of. This was no time to ponder the possibilities. A great battle lay before them all now. Whatever the future held for any of them Shaddai was still in control.
Gideon stood upon the wall surrounding Evelah. He stood anonymous among several thousand of the King's soldiers spread out along the northern portion of the great wall. It was broad enough at the top so that two wagons could drive its length side by side. Now, with so many men atop it, the wall seemed crowded and stiflingly so.
He had found a helmet, as expected, lying in the street near a fallen soldier of Wayland. It wasn't exactly a match for the uniform he'd taken from the guard outpost, but considering the cobble of uniforms he saw on the newly conscripted citizens here on the wall, he doubted that it mattered. No one was looking for him. All that anyone in Evelah cared about at the moment was the steady march of the approaching army.
Everyone remained silent as their heavy steps echoed out of the mist-shrouded darkness. The torches upon the wall could not penetrate the fog. Gideon closed his eyes to pray. The breathing of the anxious men filled his ears. They weren't saying it, but they were all scared to death. There was good reason to be. The army that Gideon had seen massing on Wayland's northern shore had been unlike any he'd ever seen assembled.
Gideon prayed.
As he opened his eyes again, he realized the steady thrum of the march had stopped. He could sense them out just beyond sight-the heavy mist shielding them from thousands of fearful, watching eyes. The trees that bordered the city may have been beautiful on a spring day, but they were a curse now. The enemy stood among them hidden.
A lone cry came up out of the darkness then. One voice calling out to King Stephen himself. Gideon immediately recognized the man. If there had been any doubt before, now he was sure. Mordred had indeed come along to lead this campaign.
'Stephen!' Mordred cried. 'I've come for you, Stephen! With an army beyond your imagination! Surrender now. Have these cowards lay down their arms and I might show you some mercy.'
From a hundred yards down the wall, Gideon heard the King's reply. 'We are no cowards, Mordred!' Stephen said. 'We will never surrender Evelah to you!'
Laughter resounded from Mordred and his army after him. When it had died down, he said, 'Dear Stephen, I was so hoping you would say that!'
Gideon heard something building then in the darkness…footsteps…giant footsteps.
Out of the fog, coming directly down the main road to the heavy iron gate of the city, came a host of the giants that Gideon had seen upon the northern shore. They ran in two long lines, each pushing one side of a massive, rolling battering ram. It appeared to have been fashioned from a huge tree and was still several hundred feet long. At the head of it a heavy, spiked iron ball, much like a mace, had been added. Along its sides, long metal spikes had been driven straight through the trunk so that nearly fifty giants could push it.
With a number of wheels bearing its weight, the full force of the giant's combined strength could be utilized in the ramming. Gideon thought about the gate. It consisted of a heavy iron meshwork which drove into metal slots in the ground. Beyond that stood two massive wooden doors reinforced with steel bands. It wouldn't hold for very long against what he saw coming.
The order sounded from the King. 'Fire!'
Archers, established along the length of the wall, fired their arrows at the approaching giants. These brutes had been outfitted with armor, but still some of the shots got through. Some of the giants faltered as they were struck repeatedly, but they did not stop.
Angry now, their pace only increased as they screamed in fury and planted the battering ram into the iron portcullis. The impact shook everyone on the wall within one hundred yards of the gate. The iron held, but had been dented significantly. 'Fire again!' King Stephen screamed.
The archers, shaken and bewildered, leaned over the wall and took aim again. Gideon didn't have a bow on him, only two swords. He leaned after the archers. Suddenly the man in front of him screamed and fell back onto Gideon. He had an arrow protruding from his sternum.
Gideon snatched the man's bow and quiver as he eased him to the ground. He nocked two arrows as return fire took down more men around him. He leaned over the edge, sighted two enemy archers hiding among the trees and shot them out of the branches. These and many more were providing the cover fire necessary for the giants to back up with their battering ram in order to give it another run.
'The trees,' Gideon cried, hoping to warn the others nearby. He fired again. Another of them fell out of the branches. Meanwhile the giants had managed to get enough space between themselves and the gate. They surged forward again with the ram. The king's archers tried to fire on them again, but the enemy provided cover fire on a grander scale.
The giants hit the gate again. It buckled and gave way. The portcullis fell under the ram as it smashed through and hit the wooden double doors. The blow had been almost fully absorbed on the portcullis and went no further. The king, realizing the imminent breach, ordered his men down from the wall. 'Hurry, before they break through! Meet them at arms!'
BREACH!
Levi grabbed the torch from the mount upon the wall and rushed for the stone staircase leading down. 'Let me through!' he shouted as he pushed through bowmen trying to reach the wall at the King's command. Levi ran down the stairs and hit the ground running. He quickly found the fuse he'd left in place.
The torch set the fuse cord alight. It hissed and bounced around like a wounded snake as the flame ran across the ground toward Levi's buried payload beyond the wall. The giants had crashed into the wall twice now and were backing up for another go. Levi could see the cracks in the wooden doors. It wouldn't last much longer.
The fire ran under the space beneath the doors and beyond the ruined portcullis. The giants retreated a full fifty yards with their battering ram intending to make this run at the gate their last. The fire ran toward them as they surged toward the gate. About thirty five yards from the ruined gate the fire met the giants and their battering ram. It ran underground just as they lumbered by.
The ground heaved upward underneath them. Fire erupted out of the ground behind the plume of earth. The great tree the giants had been using as a battering ram shattered in flame. The Anakim's bodies filled the trees around the main road. On the wall, after the initial shock, King Stephen and his men cheered.
