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In
the meantime Ulrich and Raal had been motioned to the rear as Captain Benwe and
his archers took up position at the end of the track. The forest on either side of them stretched around the manor
and its property and Benwe made sure that they had it all covered. Ulrich
had a nagging feeling that he was missing something, Raal had already slipped
off among the trees, one of the soldiers moved to get him, but a man by his side
pulled him back from the road. Ulrich
was still watching Benwe, his unease increasing. Every couple of minutes Benwe would adjust his helm again.
Suddenly it dawned on him – he was… The
roar of a man and the crashing of glass wrenched Ulrich’s attention around to
the manor. He saw Biryn smash
through the window, roll down the steps and lie in the gravel of the driveway.
Suddenly the front doors were thrown open and Ulrich spotted the giant
from Tharp with two men at his heels. Biryn
dragged himself into the bushes that lined the driveway and suddenly the giant
looked this way, and Ulrich saw Benwe’s helmet flash in the sunlight.
The giant instantly dropped to the ground and even as Ulrich drew his
sword and, with a furious roar charged towards Benwe, the archers bowstrings
tightened and loosed their deadly volley straight at Biryn. “Ware
treachery!” he shouted as he slashed his blade across into Benwe’s
double-crossing back. Well aware of
the odds, Ulrich turned and ran even as Benwe was falling to the ground.
He shouted and screamed the Benwe was a traitor to the Norinth and maybe
some of the men listened to him, maybe they were all a little slow, but somehow
he escaped the outstretched swords. Asheren
was prepping the spell even as he rounded the corner into the hallway.
He heard the crossbowmen clatter down the stairs in Olgir’s wake and he
stepped out, casting darkness onto the driveway at the front of the house.
As the black cloud roiled from his fingers he saw Olgir drop to the
ground and then his view was obscured as they plunged into an impenetrable
darkness. From
Raal’s perspective the front of the house was a mass of confusion.
He saw Biryn hobble along the low bushes, heard Ulrich’s cry of
treachery and saw the arrows fly toward Biryn’s hiding spot.
There were too many of Benwe’s men to deal with now, but at least he
could take a piece out of that big bastard Olgir.
He sprinted across the clearing trying to keep the bushes between him and
Benwe, reaching Biryn who huddled against a bush, dragging the bolt from his
leg. A black cloud filled the area
in front of the house. Raal just
hoped it was old Asheren lending them a hand.
He took a chance and fired at the spot where Olgir had fallen to the
ground and was rewarded with a bellow of pain.
Helping Biryn to his feet, he swung him around trying to orient him
toward the house. Only when the
wind gusted could he see anything at all, even with his elven vision. The
wind parted the thick and cloying cloud for a moment and Biryn caught sight of
Olgir trying to stand. The blood on
his face had caked across it and made him look almost ghoulish.
He heard another twang as Raal let fly with another arrow, this one
punctured the big man through the eye and he screamed in pain and toppled to the
ground. Then the darkness descended
again. “Let’s
get out of here!” shouted Biryn. “We
don’t have a chance!” Raal
nodded and they both sprinted for the nearest cover, away from the house and
Benwe’s men. Both of them knew
that if they didn’t move soon, the sheer number of enemy would overwhelm them
and in their weakened, almost weaponless state they were done for. Reaching the bush they scrambled down behind it.
The cloud was beginning to thin and they both saw Sira hobble from the
house – towards Benwe and his men. Raal
slapped his forehead in frustration. “Don’t
worry, we’ll get him back. We
haven’t come this far to give lose our friends now.
One by one their friends left the house under cover of the cloud.
Olgir’s men were dragging his corpse back into house, trying to stay
low. As they watched, Benwe and his
men began to fan out into the clearing. “Quick,
let’s make the tree line!” Soon
they all met among the trees. “Where
is Sira?” asked Lysar. “Didn’t
he make it? I saw him leave the
house.” Biryn
pointed through the trees to a bush on the other side of the house.
They could all make out his white clothes standing in the branches of the
bushes. “What about Ferox?”
No-one had seen him since they left the house. “Well
we’ve got to help Sira, Benwe’s men are going to be upon him in a couple of
minutes. They could see that the
only thing holding up Benwe’s men was bandaging their leader.
He sat on the ground, cursing while they bound his torso. Out
of the corner of his eye Raal saw shapes moving through the trees, forty or
fifty feet away. They seemed to
detach themselves from the trees, move and then merge again.
Eventually they reached the tree line and they calmly stepped into the
clearing. Ulrich
ran like a man possessed. Adrenalin
coursed through his body and every sense strained to pick up the sounds of
pursuit. As he reached the
river’s edge he saw the horses on the bank.
Collapsing he leaned against a rock for a moment to catch his breath and
glanced back up the trail. He could
reach Norek in a couple of hours, riding full tilt, but by then his friends
could be captured again – or worse. As
he looked around searching for inspiration, one of the horses nickered and moved
towards better grazing. Three of
its fellows followed it and an idea came into Ulrich’s head.
It was a chance in a million, he thought, but it just might work. As
the four brown clad figures stepped into the clearing, Raal marvelled at their
grace as they raised their bows and fired at the soldiers, and in the same
motion reloaded and fired again, and again.
Six men were down within seconds and Raal could see Benwe ordering his
men back into the more defensible mouth of the road. Raal saw another man that Benwe was dragging backwards take
an arrow in the chest and Benwe continued to hold the man, using him as a shield
from the deadly rain of arrows. He
nocked an arrow himself and stepped from the trees; breathing deeply he sighted
along the arrow. He could see Benwe
clearly from here, but it was quite a distance. He exhaled and loosed his arrow and watched as the arrow hit
Benwe high in the shoulder. He
dropped the man and turned to look at Raal.
Even across the clearing Raal felt his eyes on him.
Raal gave him the finger and Benwe returned a mock salute.
He turned and ran for cover. Biryn
was also amazed at the assistance from the mysterious bowmen, but was mightily
glad of it. More soldiers were
falling and the rest had taken cover. Some
of the soldiers with their own bows began to return fire and now Biryn could see
more men emerging from the house. It
seemed the tide was about to turn against them again.
He glanced towards the bush where he had last seen Sira and noticed with
a sigh of relief that he was gone. He
just hoped that he would make it alright. As
he moved through the trees Sira had already passed out from the pain twice,
smacking his head against a root the first time and landing in a brackish puddle
the second. Somehow he kept moving,
gathering all his self control he decided to head towards Ulrich at the river.
A rumble penetrated the fog of pain and Sira thought there must be an
army coming up the trail. Suddenly
there were horses everywhere! They
stampeded up the path with Ulrich whooping and laughing at their rear, his sword
clattering against his shield. Sira
staggered from the trees and was almost trampled by Ulrich’s horse but at the
last moment Ulrich spotted him, swerved and pulled him up onto the horse, Sira
was grateful but the tidal wave of pain that this motion caused sent him into
merciful and unconscious oblivion. As
the horses crashed into the tightly packed group all could hear their screams as
the panicked beasts rode over and through the bewildered soldiers.
Some men died and some men simply fell, but no-one escaped injury.
Soon the horses calmed and Ulrich rode through the chaos with Sira slung
like a sack of potatoes across the saddle.
He thrust his sword in the air as he saw Biryn, Lysar and Asheren across
the clearing, but then his face turned grim as he spotted the six men outside
the house still with weapons drawn. The
men were still stunned by what had happened and as they saw this warrior ride
through the chaos they let their swords slip from unwilling fingers and raised
their arms above their heads. Ulrich
clattered his shield across the head of one of the soldier who tried to rise and
dismounted, pulling Sira with him.
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