Zachania (62 page)

“And remember,
whatever comes over them hills, do not let your mind put fear into
you, that fear will credit the enemy with almost certainly more
credit than they are due.” added Ganasis.

Talon smiled
and nodded as he knew what Ganasis was saying was true, even now
without seeing the Empire Talon had to concentrate hard to rid his
mind of doubt.

After a couple
of hours of painstaking waiting they heard the cry they had all
been waiting for.

“THE ENEMY
APPROACHES!” was shouted from the lookouts on the hills.

“HERE THEY
COME!” another captain closer to Talon shouted telling the warriors
to prepare.

Talon reached
down by his side and grabbed the butt of his sword, he squeezed it
hard, trying to tense himself into an aggressive state, he could
hear his heart beating, in the distance he could hear the commands
of his Zachanian warriors telling the men to prepare and be ready.
Then he began to hear something that sounding like thunder in the
distance, he noticed that next to him he saw the branch of a tree
begin to shake, Ganasis reached out and tugged at Talon’s arm as if
to reassure him to steady his nerves.

The tension on
the battlefield was almost unbearable as all they could hear was
the sound of thousands of footsteps coming towards them.

“DAMN IT! Show
yourself.” King Arun seethed knowing full well the Empire were
behind the hills.

Talon then
stiffened as he began to hear the sound of horns, then starting
with the tips of their flags he saw the Empire come into view,
again Talon stiffened as row after row for as far as the eye could
see was now coming into view.

“By the gods.”
King Arun sighed as he swallowed hardly and gave a long sigh as he
tried to take in the might of the army that was coming towards
them.

“Breath
deep!…breath deep” Ganasis uttered as he saw Talon and King Arun
froze to their spots totally absorbed.

Talon rapidly
snapped out of his thoughts as he heard Ganasis next to him, he
looked around at his fellow Zachanian’s and saw how mesmerized they
were, he pulled his sword from its sheath and stepped forward.

“ALRIGHT THEN
YOU BRAVE ZACHANIANS!” he shouted proudly which had the chosen
effect of snapping the men in earshot from their thoughts.

“Let these
blaswards come to us!” he added gritting his teeth now looking full
of determination and then spitting on the ground.

Talon then saw
from the corner of his eye Lord Heikan approaching.

“Sire look!”
Heikan said to the King as he pointed to someone from the Empire
riding forward alone and stopping about one hundred paces from the
Zachanian lines.

“He has the
flag of truce” Ganasis added as he squinted his eyes and then
recognised that it was Grarlin the wizard Grand.

“What is he
doing?” Heikan said as he waved to some men who immediately aimed
their arrows at the wizard.

“NO!” Ganasis
snapped to Heikan seeing what he was doing with the archers.

“He wants me.”
added Ganasis as he then walked towards a horse.

“You’re not
going to meet him are you.” King Arun said surprised and worried as
he saw what Ganasis was doing.

“He cannot
attack me; he is bound by wizard law.”

“Then take
someone with you.”

“No I must do
this alone.” added Ganasis as he got on his horse and rode off to
meet him.

The Zachanian’s
quickly placed some wooden planks over the ditch for Ganasis to
ride across and then moments later Ganasis rode out to meet Grarlin
face to face.

“You have aged
old man.” Grarlin greeted Ganasis.

“After all
these years you still lack the art of manners Grarlin.”

“SSSSS” Grarlin
replied.

“I had hoped
you were dead.” added Grarlin.

“By the end of
that day that hope will be a dream.”

“Ha ha ha…still
the same old Ganasis, you still speak with the tongue of a serpent,
open your eyes old man, can you not see what I have brought for
you.”

“What do you
want Grarlin? I grow tired of this conversation.”

Grarlin then
smiled as he looked Ganasis over.

“I just wanted
to see my old master one last time; I wanted to see the look in
your eye as I deliver your beloved Zachanian’s their doom.”

“So you still
call me your master, so you have not forgot Grarlin, you was my
student.”

“I was never
your student, I learned what I needed to learn from you then I left
you in my wake.”

“You have
always been a disappointment Grarlin, I showed you everything and
you betrayed me.”

“YOU SHOWED ME
NOTHING OLD MAN!…………you asked me to help people, these vermin you
so love, conjure tricks is all that you showed me, the power I
possess now is beyond your imagination, I kill with the blink of an
eye.”

“The Emperor
has perverted you Grarlin.”

“My Emperor has
given me more than you ever did, he has made me strong, he has made
me formidable.”

Ganasis then
began to snigger at Grarlin.

“You are a
fool, and like all fools you give yourself more merit than you
deserve.” Ganasis told him

“But before I
leave you I want you to deliver your Emperor a message for me……tell
him Zachania WILL be free……tell him from me I will drive him from
his Palace lands, and there is nothing that can stop this.” added
Ganasis before giving Grarlin a cold look and then turning his
horse.

“You, are the
fool old man!” Grarlin shouted as Ganasis rode off.

Grarlin then
burst into an ear shattering laugh that magically grew louder and
louder until it spread across the whole of the battlefield, when
Ganasis reached his Zachanian lines he could see that Grarlin’s
sinister laugh was now so loud it was hurting the Zachanian’s ears.
Ganasis gave himself a smile as he thought of an idea. Ganasis
mumbled a few wizard words and clicked his fingers, moments later
Grarlin’s laugh turned into a deafening sound of a horse, the sight
of Grarlin sounding like a horse made the Zachanian’s burst into
laughter where they began to taunt the evil Imperial wizard,
Grarlin flew into rage which made the horse sound grow louder,
amusing the Zachanian’s more. The Imperial wizard had to say a
spell to get his voice back before he glared at the Zachanian’s,
embarrassed and furious Grarlin rode back towards the Empire.

Bursting with
rage Grarlin immediately ordered his Generals to attack.

“KILL THEM
ALL!” he screamed still outraged.

Moments later
thousands of Imperial guard soldiers began to advance towards the
Zachanian’s. Lord Heikan raised his arm signalling his archers to
prepare; they waited until the Empire was within range then
unleashed thousands of poison tipped arrows on them. The
Zachanian’s on the front line began to cheer as the Empires
soldiers began to fall, arrow after arrow was fired at them as more
Imperial soldiers fell.

General Kanyan
then approached Talon and the King and told them that there were
Imperial archers up on the hill moving into position.

“They are too
far away; they cannot reach us from there.”Lord Heikan added.

Just as Lord
Heikan finished his comment a blanket of Imperial arrows dropped
down onto the Zachanian front line, three guards quickly shielded
the King as all around them Zachanian’s fell.

“TALON!”
Ganasis shouted pulling him into cover.

“HOW ARE THOSE
ARROWS REACHING US?” Lord Heikan shouted.

“I do not know,
it must be a new kind of bow.” Talon shouted as another blanket of
arrows crashed down amongst them.

“Get some men
over there; we must take out those archers.” The King shouted at
General Kanyan as he pointed to the position where he wanted the
men to go.

“Sire you must
leave the battlefield.” Lord Heikan shouted as he ran from his
cover to the King.

“I am staying
here!” Arun shouted back.

“Arun, one
stray arrow and Zachania is without a King.” added Ganasis.

Resentfully
King Arun agreed and moments later he was escorted away back
towards Fort Arun.

Talon then ran
to Ganasis and pulled him behind a tree.

“Ganasis our
men are falling like flies.”

“So are theirs”
Heikan replied hearing what Talon said and pointing out that the
Zachanian’s were still causing devastating casualties with their
own archers.

“Heikan we
cannot trade man for man, the Empire outnumber us.” Talon
replied.

“We must hold
this line no matter what; if we retreat back then we will be over
run in a matter of hours.”

“Then we must
drive their archers back out of range.”

“What do you
suggest?” asked Ganasis.

“We must drive
them from that hill.”

“It is
dangerous Lord Talon; if we put men on that hill they will be
isolated.”

“Damn it what
choice do we have.” replied Talon.

“Do it!”
Ganasis snapped back as another blanket of arrows crashed into them
causing them all to jump for cover.

Talon grabbed
hold of Heikan.

“I want four
legions, bring them to that hill Heikan, I will meet you over
there.”

Lord Heikan
immediately did as Talon asked and ordered Kinlan to bring forward
four legions which totalled twenty four thousand men to assemble
themselves where Talon wanted them.

Talon then
turned to Ganasis and smiled.

“Wish me luck.”
he said as began to arm himself.

“Be careful
Talon.”

“I want our
archers to cover us; if they break right then we could be up
against the archers and that column of men there.”

“Don’t worry we
will keep you covered.”

Talon nodded
and ran towards Heikan who was preparing the men.

“Are you
coming” Talon said as he saw Lord Heikan tucking a second sword
into his waistband.

“Try stopping
me!” Heikan replied smiling and tapping Talon hard on the arm just
before they both started to run towards the front of the legions.
Talon raised his sword when he heard the men began to cheer him and
Heikan.

‘Zararhakzar’
they shouted.

Seeing the
legions advance some of the front line Zachanian soldiers quickly
began to place wooden planks over the ditch so that Talon and his
men could cross, another cheer went up as the front line soldiers
saw Talon and Heikan leading the men onto the hills at the left
hand side of the valley.

Talon bit his
lip as he led the charge, there was no tactics here, it was just
plain attack, Talon swished his sword in a circular fashion just
before he reached the Imperial archers. Then followed by Heikan and
the four legions they ran into the legions of Imperial archers who
were now quickly putting down their bows and reaching for their
swords.

Talon swiftly
cut down four soldiers before rolling onto the ground just before a
spear hit him, jumping to his feet Talon could see a soldier
frantically fumbling with an arrow. Talon gritted his teeth and ran
at the man luckily reaching him just before he fired, Talon struck
the man in the chest and then turned as he heard the sound of his
men cheering, they was cheering because the Imperial archers had
broken rank and were now running for their lives. Talon picked up a
bow from a dead soldier on the ground and began to use the Empire
weapon against them, other soldiers followed what Talon was doing
and before long hundreds of arrows were flying at the retreating
Empire soldiers.

Once the hill
was clear Talon ordered his men to collect the bows and arrows from
the dead Imperial soldiers and fall back but to remain on the hill,
down in the valley the advancing Imperial soldiers had also began
to retreat, Talon cheered and held up his sword as he saw what was
happening. ‘the Empire have retreated first’, it was a tremendous
moral boost for the Zachanian’s, then the Empire disappeared back
over the hill leaving the valley silent except for the cheers of
the Zachanian’s and the thousands of dead bodies that littered the
field.

“COWARDS!”
Heikan shouted as he stood next to Talon.

“They will be
back.” replied Talon coldly.

“Then they will
get the samedose of Zachanian medicine” Heikan replied as wiped
away blood from his face.

“Come let us
get back to Ganasis.” Talon said grabbing Heikan by the arm.

When Talon and
Heikan returned to Ganasis, the wizard greeted them fondly.

“Well done
Talon, well done.” he said warmly to them.

“They had no
stomach to fight Ganasis.” Heikan added.

“By the gods
Ganasis, how many have we killed.” Talon suddenly sighed as he
looked onto the valley.

“Thousands,
eighty thousand at least.” Ganasis guessed just as he noticed that
Talon was carrying one of the Imperial bows.

“What is
that?”

He asked
reaching out for the bow which was taller than him when he held it
upright

“You tell me,
with this bow they reached us with from those hills.”

Ganasis
examined it closely, it was twice the size of the Zachanian bows
and twice as hard to pull the string, Talon noticed that the bow
deeply impressed his wizard friend.

“We could do
with these Ganasis.”

“I will send it
to our weapon makers immediately.”

Talon then
removed some of his armour and grabbed some water from a nearby
soldier, he put his hands into the bucket and started to wash away
some of the blood that was stained on his hands arms and face.

“Evening will
soon be on us.” Ganasis said as he saw the sun low on the
horizon.

“Do you think
they will attack us again today?” Heikan added.

“No, the rules
of chivalry should prevent it.” added Talon speaking of the
unwritten law where enemies would not attack each other at night so
they could both rest and attend to their wounded.