The Exodus Sagas: Book IV - Of Moons and Myth (88 page)

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James
waited until the first soldier of the two thousand Armondi men touched the bridge. Then, he charged.
His friends charged with him, the bridge just wide enough for ten soldiers to cross abreast. Halfway across, he stopped and ducked, as did the others, and the arrows flew. Hundreds of flights from Aariss and the Riverbows whistled past and drew first blood, as Armondi soldiers fell to the ground full of flights.

“
Arah!
” Yelled the elves, and the forces charged into one another.
Blades clashed into shields, halberds were cut, and men fell from both sides of the bridge into the trench thirty feet below. Saberrak swung his axes wildly, cleaving through weapons and men, tossing their soldiers off the bridge. James blocked speartips with his shield and slashed men down from left to right.
Shinayne danced with her two elven longblades, right next to Lavress, the two of them laying waste to dozens with lightning cuts. Azenairk smashed heads in silent rage, his armor protecting him from many a blow as he pummeled the knees and faces of Armondi men. Arylius Diravas and his priests dove in, their two handed blades cutting away with divine precision. Golden minotaurs cleaved and threw soldiers to their deaths, while hiroon wolf lords and Ihros the kithian tripped and slashed with their scimitars. The north bridge was a blood covered blockade where just a few, held an entire
two
legion
s
dead in their march.

Moments after the battle had begun, the second legion took to the trench, and Cristoff saw it.
“North bridge forces, to the trenches, stop their advance!”
His voice commanded over the chaos of steel on steel, and inspired attention and awe with his words.

He pointed to Sir Leonard, Lio
gan Andellis and Kaya to go right
with half their forces. Then to Sir Karai, for him to follow
as he took the rest to the left
side of the bridge. Armies clashed again, both on downhill runs, right below the bridge.

Cristoff slashed with his longblade through an enemy soldier, then another, Karai on his right doing the same with his rapier. They spread ou
t wide, meeting the forces of thr
ice their number head on. Soon, the trench was filled with battle and bloodshed.

Bodies fell from above, screaming until they hit bottom, and Kaya kept her momentum. She lunged ahead, blocking a halberd with her shield and then gutting the soldier holding it. Liogan was to her left, blocking swords and spears with his Chazzrynn shield, then cutting men down like any knight twice his age. Sir Leonard waded into the thick of battle, killing quick with his rapier, bringing the fight closer and backing the Armondi against the trench wall.

The elves were targeted by a charge of infantry, Arylius saw it coming.
“Make it dance my queen,
say its name
and let it go
!”
Arylius saw Shinayne fallin
g back, too many men pushed in
on her side
of the bridge
.

Shinayne ducked a scimitar, parried two more, then slashed her blades across and away, dropping two soldiers screaming. She
held the blade out, and spoke, ten more soldiers charging her. “
Loestiri!”

Before her very eyes, the blade hovered out of her hand, then spun, and then it began to fight. She drew Elicras in her off hand. “Now
that
is an elven sword fit for a queen!”

Loestiri flashed a crosscut and then parried a scimitar. Shinayne stepped over the falling soldier and finished the one that was
held by her dancing blade with a stab from E
licras, cut down another with Carice, and parried fast with both as more men charged her. The dancing blade cut across three men in one sweeping slash, then Shinayne plunged her longblade t
o the right, a downward slice with
the left, and another horizontal attack with both on the men in the middle. She looked up to the blade, then to the ground, over ten dead soldiers in mer
e
seconds. Shinayne smiled, and she and her dancing sword waded into
the neverending Armondi forces, all elves behind her.

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Tannek was in the thick of it, on the bridge, deflecting scimitars and cleav
ing his battle axe into chainmai
led soldiers. His crossbowmen were picking off the stragglers, his men held the trench, and his brother was right behind him. Dalliunn leapt from the bridge into a mass of halberdiers in the trench,
knocking them senseless with his Thalanaxe warhammer. The Armondi were organized here, lead by
a man that looked like a priest of Alden
, and they had been pushing the dwarves on the bridge back with timed attacks.

“Drodunn, take em’ around, down the trench, surround!” Tannek bellowed as three soldiers tried to overpower him and get past.

“Aye brother!” Drodunn with
drew his few hundred dwarves and they followed him in a downhill charge to get around the legion of human men.

Crossbow fire covered their movements, axes and hammers from red bearded warriors clashed and thundered on the west bridge, and Tannek stood his ground. His axe swept low, taking an ankle, then he slammed his shield into a young soldier’s face, and then slashed up with his edge and
split a man wide open. He looked up, still too many to count, and he had only a hundred or so here. He looked down, his men holding the trench some thirty feet below with Dalliunn. The former marshall saw his brother reach the open ground, beside the main force of the third Armondi legion, and he hoped they would fight hard.

“Push em into the trenches men! Let’s make it nice and m
essy then!” He roared as he lean
ed on his shield and forced two soldiers off the bridge.

“
Aye!”
Four hundred dwarves shouted in unison, and began a shield march, forcing the Armondi into a disorganized rabble in
to
the trench.

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Jardayne had fallen back after the initial charge, his cavalry had met twice their number, head on. While stronger men and larger steeds were on his side, his men were swarmed in melee against fast swords now. The trench filled with horsemen riding into the city, and the Knight General of Evermont circled around to meet them once more.

“Codaius, take the bridge!” He yelled his orders, rallied his men,
and dove into a gallop with Symond’s
greatsword brandished high.

“I have it, general!” The Bear of Evermont was on foot now, his horse had been killed with a lance. Codaius of Norninne stood, cleaving left and right, his men holding fast beside him as charging cavalry flodded in every direction.

Jardayne swung high, then cut down fast through the lance and the man holding it, spraying blood all over the ground as the horse pulled down. A lance went into his thigh, yet he countered and took the soldier’s head as he passed. He looked onto the field, seeing Prince Rohne safely behind the cavalry next to the reserve infantry legion. Suddenly, as the forces were now mixed in close, he saw the Prince of Armondeen ride east, the reserves following fast.

“Codaius, the caravan, he heads---“

“Then go! I have the field, take the first and second brigades, go!” Sir Codaius knew that Julia and her two hundred mercenaries would not be able to defend against an entire Armondi legion.
The refugees would be slaughtered.

Jardayne knew it as well, he raised his blade in anger, despising the cheap attack on commoners that Prince Rohne was threatenting. His leg was bleeding heavy, yet two brigades followed as he gave chase to the fifth legion of Armondeen, headed for the caravan of defensless people.

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Lord Amirak Harron plunged his scimitar deep into a Harlian man’s chest, blocked an arrow from an elven archer with his shield, and cut across the neck of a two legged wolf man from behind, severing it clean off. He was in the trenches, his main force pushed to breach the city and encircle the allied forces, and they were nearing the other side of the dirt wall.
He knew that his two thousand here would easily take the north bridge and then the city. He had the cavalry outmatched, and the dwarves. Should anything look as a possible concern, he had another thousand in reserve with his son, the Prince.

The smiling knight was covered in blood, yet again he slashed his curved steel across a soldier from Harlaheim. The scream invigorated him, the crimson in the air quickened his steps, and he parried a rapier with his small shield. Two more enemy soldiers dove for him in the trench, he backed up, then lunged and spun, one cut taking half the face off his foe, and the other slicing through the eyes and skull of another. His soldiers advanced, cutting away and driving the foreigners back.

Prince Rohne Viorius of Armondeen charged half a mile toward the caravan, he looked, and saw Jardayne in pursuit to head him off. He smiled, and turned around with half the reserve legion, as he had planned.
Though his mother would disapprove, and his father had planned the attack as Lord Amirak, Rohne was the prince, and therefore he had rights and command despite his sixteen years of age. Rohne knew enough of war to take the reserves and lead an attack, whether his father agreed or no.
He drew his blade of curved golden steel, and headed back to the bridge toward Codaius as five hundred rested infantry continued toward the ordered attack on the refugees.
He would make Evermont pay for their disrespects, make them choose between their men and the caravan, and divide them. Then, he would show his parents his right to rule.

His men fell to the trench, screaming as they landed ontop of one another, yet Bishop Thohne fought on. He pushed, knowing that his superior numbers would avail regardless. His longblade dove intot he chest of a dwarven soldier, then cleaved off a beard of another. He felt a shield hit him in the legs from behind, and spun fast with a slashing counter. The head, one of his own men, fell to the ground in surprise. Thohne realized they were too close, his men were compacted tight, and the dwarves had the advantage.

“Fall back, spread out, take them on the open field!” He ordered them out of the trenches, yet more battle sounded behind him. He looked up and saw another mass of red beards in black armor, holding them inside the ditch from his side of the field. Thohne
was trapped in low ground, fighting a force that knew no fear.

“To the south, pull south and around!” He changed his orders, his men getting desperate as they fell like trees in a lumber grove.

As they charged back into the trench, and turned south, crossbow fire rained on them from dwarven sharpshhoters. A lewirja roared and dove into the
ir front lines with fifty bearded warriors
beside it. The battle had nowhere to run, and the
third
Armondi
legion
began to panic on the west side of Mooncrest.

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Kaya sliced another soldier down with a quick cut to the exposed neck, then another, she was now back to back with Liogan Andellis. She did not know how he was here from Southwind, and she had not the time to ask. They were surrounded by soldiers of Armondeen, fighting hard as their forces fell in the trench.

Liogan slashed with his broadsword, then parried a blow meant for Kaya’s head. He knew her reputation, knew who she was, yet he fought hard beside her against innumerable foes. She was wanted, by her own twin brother and his kingdom, but that mattered not here and now. His blade was red from battle, he was cut twice and bleeding, and it looked like defeat all over again. Still, not one enemy had reached the other side into the city.

Leonard parried with his rapier, crosscut at the man with the painted eyes, then their blades locked. He knew this man was the general of the Armondi forces, and he had shown him Harlian style swordsmanship for many an exchange. He pushed back, feinted to lunge low, slashed high, and it was parried by Harron’s halfshield.
Harron’s hand grabbed his wrist, held his arm high, and stepped fast.
Then Sir Leonard felt the cold of steel through his chest, his air gave out, and he fell to the mud and blood soaked ground.
His eyes
dimmed as his enemy withdrew the
blade, and continued ahead into the battle.

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“
Roaaarrrhhh
!” Saberrak leapt from the bridge.

His body crushed three Armondi men in the trenches, right next to Kaya. He had seen them fall back, maybe fifty left against five hundred now, and he jumped.

His left hand cleaved up, sending a soldier into two pieces through the air. His right hand swung low, taking three legs off from enemy forces. Saberrak Agrannar lunged forward, his horns slamming deep into an armored chest, then the hurling body scattered ten more men as it flew from the mortal impact. The gray gladiator slashed left, swung his greataxe behind him, killing everything within reach. Arms flew off, heads shot into the air, and blood splattered the ground and his steel scale armor.

“
Ra ruh!”
Two golden minotaurs huffed at him, having just landed to his right and left, and their curved
two handed
blades clashed into the soldiers with their larger gray cousin.