Night Calls the Raven (Book 2 of The Master of the Tane) (55 page)

“Dor…”

“It’s all right,” Dor interrupted, raising his hand. Sighing, he turned his gaze back over the bulwark. “I don’t blame you for your feelings. And I sorrow for what those feelings must be like now. I know the pain you try to cover up.”

He didn’t say anything. What could he say? He wished he could have been more convincing about not liking Tam but at the same time was relieved that Dor knew what he was feeling. “Thank you,” he finally choked out.

Dor turned and smiled before his face became hard again. “It’s your Tane. I see now why you have hated it so all of your life. It has, after all, only brought you sorrow, hasn’t it.”

Thane was taken aback by Dor’s sudden animosity towards his gifts. Of everyone, he’d always been the most supportive. His Tane had forced him down paths he would not wish on anyone, yet those same paths had also refined him; made him who he was. He now realized that it was he who chose his fate, not the other way around. People would always cast him sideways looks or whisper when he passed by, but he’d finally come to realize that none of that mattered. It was what he did with his gifts, what he did with his life and how he treated others that really mattered. Bitterness had not been the answer. Hate and envy had only held him down and made him more miserable. He was the one who had the power to decide what his life would be, not anyone else. Whether anyone ever took note of his efforts or praised him for his deeds was no longer important. What
mattered the most was how he felt about himself not how others felt about him. Better to be alone the rest of his life and feel content with who he was than go against the truth just for passing moments of bliss. In the end, such a life would be hollow and worthless.

Thane shook his head at Dor’s words. “No, Dor. Yes, it has been a difficult path and for the longest time I was bitter for it having chosen me to trod its course. But now I better understand. I would not give up what or who I am. I would not wish away my Tane. It is who I am, and I have accepted it. Sure, there are moments when it causes me pain, but all suffer such things in life. I know now that it is how we react at those times that make us who we are. I can let my Tane define who I am or I can choose to define myself. I choose to steer my own destiny.”

Dor placed a hand on Thane’s arm and then slowly nodded. “You’re right. I have no right to judge malevolent with what you are forced to live just because I would be too weak to face such a challenge myself.”

Thane shook his head and smiled. “You have faced it just as much as I and have not faltered. It is, after all, why you are here with me now.”

Dor smiled back. He opened his mouth to say something more but was interrupted by the sound of a distant drum.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

An eerie hush fell over the men along the wall as they listened to the faint sounds of drums as they continued to grow closer. Thane and Dor peered against the darkness, straining their eyes to catch sight of the approaching army but even their night vision could not breach the blackness that had settled over the pass. Soon they would be put to the test to determine whether their preparations were in vain. All down the line, men were busy stringing their bows and checking to make sure their arrows were easily accessible. Captain Dainz walked the line along the top of the wall giving last minute instructions to his men as all sat in wait for their approaching fate.

Dor’s heart pounded hard in his chest keeping beat with the drums that continued to grow louder. But the certainty of approaching death suddenly rested upon him sending him into the peaceful calm to which he’d become accustomed when his life was on the edge of forfeit. Glancing at Thane he found a steeled look of determination hardened across his friend’s face that made him smile slightly. He found that he was suddenly very happy. Not that they were forced to meet such an imposing threat, but that the waiting was finally over. He wanted it finished. Whether that meant his death at the end of a troll’s pike or victory to him and his friends, he wanted the decision made and left to stand.

              Thane resisted the desire to throw his spirit into the pass to see how close they were and find out what was coming. He felt amazingly confident now about the wall and its strength but worried about the dragon and what its destructive breath might do to such a structure. He knew that he could send fire to kill the dragon but felt uneasy about using so much energy without an anchor. He knew all too well what the results would be should he try. There had to be another way to defeat it. The sudden creaking sound of the catapult being locked into place behind them brought him from his thoughts. He listened as the men strained to load the first boulder and then all was silent save for the drums coming up the pass. All was ready.

*     *     *

For an hour they waited as the drums continued to move closer, growing louder and more intense. It was as if the approaching horde could smell their quarry in the air and the drums echoed their nervous hunger to kill and destroy. The men on the wall remained fast and silent though the pounding seemed to echo in their chests. Dainz had taken up a position a few men down from Thane’s right, his bow strung and resting against the wall.

“They come,” Dor’s voice suddenly broke through the drums’ reverberations turning all heads forward to search the darkness. It was still a couple of hours before dawn so none but Thane could confirm his statement but the scrapping sound of wood rubbing leather suddenly filled the air as the men pulled arrows from their quivers and readied their bows to fire.

“On my order,” Dainz’s voice echoed down the line.

Suddenly the drums stopped. A slight wind flowed through the pass toward them carrying with it the foul stench only such a large army could produce. The men waited. Long minutes passed without the slightest sound. Finally, Dainz moved from his position coming over to stand by Thane. “What are they doing?” he whispered. “Can you see them?”

Thane nodded. “Oh yes, I can see them. They have stopped just beyond the reach of your bows.”

“What do they do?”

“It is my guess that they are trying to build the fear in your men. The longer they are made to wait, knowing the enemy is near and about to spring, the more chance there is for fear to take their hearts.”

Dainz glanced down the line on either side. Thane was right. He could see the men twitching, moving from foot to foot, ready for the fight but hating the wait.

“I’ll take care of this,” Dor offered and then nocked an arrow and pulled back on his bow. Arching it high in the air he paused for a moment, checking his target, and then let fly. The slight twang of the string echoed in the silence and many of the captain’s men also pulled back on their bows as if to fire.

“Hold!” Dainz shouted and then a sudden strangled cry echoed up the pass toward them.

Dor smiled. “Got him.”

There was a silent pause and the air itself seemed to charge with an expectant energy, coiling itself and preparing to strike. Then, with a sudden roar like thunder following lightning, they were blasted with the charging cry of the enemy. The sound hit them like a terrible wave attempting to hurl them off their perch as the enemy rushed forward.

“Hold until they are in range,” Dainz shouted above the cacophony while running back to his position. He looked back at Thane who nodded his understanding and then raised a hand for the signal. A black mass filled the narrow corridor racing toward them with a lust for blood that could almost be felt in the air.

Thane watched them, seeing the mix of goblins and orcs charging ahead and suddenly became aware of the absence of any trolls. Could they be headed for the other pass while the men fought here? Had Zadok split his army? He shook his head. He’d seen them enter the pass.
He knew they were with the group. Why then were they not in the charge? He had no time to ponder the problem as the black mass quickly covered the ground between them.

He dropped his hand and Dainz’s voice cut through the din.
“Fire!” As one the twang of a hundred bows pressed against the roar of the approaching enemy. Their arrows arched through the pass finding targets all along the line of the rushing horde but none heard the cries of the dying over their fevered shrieks of anxiety to reach the wall and the hated men that guarded it. The dead were swallowed up by the bodies of those who followed and were trampled into pulp where they had fallen.

Like a dark fog, Zadok’s army filled the pass, their gyrating forms finally closing the gap to the wall and becoming visible to the men above. “Fire at will,” Dainz shouted and then twisted to the side as an enemy’s arrow slightly grazed his cheek.

The enemy broke against the wall like water, the first two rows of fighters crushed against the rock by those pushing from behind. The sound of arrows being shot from both sides filled the early morning air like the buzz of an angry swarm of hornets. The man next to Thane suddenly fell back, an arrow protruding from the back of his neck as Dor and Thane continued to fire into the crowd below.

For an hour they exchanged bow fire, the enemy being cut down in mass while an occasional arrow found its mark with a man on the wall. And still they kept coming, piling up like fire wood at the fortification’s base.

Dor laughed as arrow after arrow found its mark in the crowd below. “It’s too easy!” he shouted, as Thane took out another goblin with a shot through the heart. Hundreds of orcs and goblins had been taken down but the horde continued to press forward, the dead bodies pushed in against the wall or crushed into the ground under the feet of those who replaced them. The once white wall was now covered in gore and blood.

Thane reached for another arrow but to his horror was greeted by an empty quiver. Looking to Dor’s he found his friend had only five. Ducking below the parapet he raced down the line checking quivers as he went. Most were in the same shape.

Racing back to Dainz, he pulled the captain down and shouted above the noise. “Captain, we are almost out of arrows.”

Glancing down the line, Dainz nodded his understanding.
“How long before our first relief arrives?”

He shook his head. “I have not had time to check. If they ride with speed, I would guess it to be sometime tomorrow.”

Dainz thought for a moment and then nodded. “Hold your fire,” he yelled. “Hold your fire!” Dor shot his last arrow, taking an orc in the eye before dropping down like everyone else and looking toward the captain. Thane shook his head at their stupidity. They’d been taken in. It had been Zadok’s plan all along. The enemy, as they were, had been no threat against the wall, yet they had emptied almost all of their arrows into them anyway.