Guardians of Magessa (The Birthright Chronicles Book 1) (13 page)

By the time they got there, the rest of
the cadets from Belvárd were there, and Lemin was standing on the porch. He
gestured for the throng to quiet down, and they eventually did.

“Intelligence of the grand admiral of this
academy has reported that a large army of dwarves is headed this way.
Reinforcements have been sent for, but they will not arrive until midday while
the attacking army will arrive around sunrise. If they gain the city, they will
have the upper hand when our reinforcements come; therefore, we need to hold this
city until our help arrives. As soldiers of the country of Magessa, it is your
duty
to fight the enemies of the country and prevent invasion or die trying. We will
swell the ranks of the cadets of this academy and fight beside them, giving our
lives if necessary to maintain the freedom of Magessa.

“This group of soldiers is so small that I
will be the only one in command. We do not fall under Saddun's chain of
command, so you will take your orders from me and the other instructors. With
that said, we will dismiss to the north wall of the city. The enemy will be
here in about an hour, so prepare for the coming battle.”

The group of cadets scattered and headed
for the northern wall. Some were silent as they walked, while others talked
among themselves. They all shared one thing in common—this was their first
battle and they were scared spitless. Senndra heard metal rasping on metal and
turned to see Timothy draw his sword. He tested the edge on his finger and then
slid it back into the scabbard on his back. Senndra started to ask Timothy
something, but thought better of it. Instead, she drew her own sword and tested
its edge. She had sharpened it right before she had left the academy of
Belvárd, and the blade was quite sharp. She slid the weapon back into its
scabbard and headed toward the north wall. Timothy followed, and in fifteen
minutes they had reached their destination.

“Do you see Rita?” Senndra asked Timothy
as she craned her neck and looked around.

“Over there,” Timothy said and pointed.
“She’s on top of that wall, just at the top of the stairs.”

Senndra looked and spotted her friend
before going to meet her. She pushed her way through the crowd of cadets from
both academies until she had reached the stairs that led to the top of the
wall. She dashed up the stairs and greeted her friend. They had hardly started
to talk, when an officer approached them.

“Clear the area,” he ordered. Another
officer was doing the same at the bottom of the stairs, so Senndra, Rita, and
Timothy headed down the wall to a tower that appeared vacant except for a few
sentries. Senndra noticed that officers were clearing the areas around the
other stairs to the walls of the city and wondered what was happening. As she
watched, a group of cadets approached the stairs that she had just ascended and
began to tear them apart with picks. Within ten minutes, they had rendered the
stairs useless.

“Brilliant,” Timothy said to himself, but
loud enough that Senndra was able to hear. “They’re taking out the stairs so
that if the enemy gains the city, they will not be able to get onto the wall.”

“That may be brilliant,” Rita said as she
entered the tower, “but it also shows that the powers that be think there is a
pretty good chance that we will lose the city.”

“That is always a possibility,” Timothy
countered.

“And yet, the stairs to a city wall are
rarely removed before a battle. We have a less than average chance of
surviving,” Rita answered.

“Do you think we even have a chance of
holding the city, much less preventing the enemy from breaching it?” Timothy
asked. “You’re right that we have a less than average chance of surviving. If
what I have heard is correct, it isn’t a matter of whether or not the dwarves
have as many soldiers as us. The question is what the odds are going to be. Will
we be outnumbered five to one or will it be more like ten or twenty to one? One
thing is for sure, they’ll outnumber us badly. If we do not use some impeccable
tactics, we’ll be crushed before our reinforcements are halfway here.”

“You’re so cheery,” Senndra muttered. “You
don’t have to be so depressing.”

“It’s only depressing because you know
it’s the truth,” Timothy answered. “I myself am not worried about how badly we
are outnumbered. We have a strong city, and we are fighting for our homes and
country, while they are fighting for nothing but more land. Most important of
all, they are not fighting for Elohim, and we are. He will not let His people
fall.”

“Do you ever doubt Elohim?” Rita asked
suddenly. “If He is going to protect us, why did He even allow us to fall into
this situation?”

“To answer your first question,” Timothy
answered, “I have doubted Elohim for most of my past. It was not until recently
that I began to follow Him, but He has always proven Himself faithful. The
answer to your second question, I think, is that the people of Magessa have
failed to garrison an army in this city as they have done in the past. This may
not be against the orders of Elohim, but the action has consequences. I think
there is a more important reason, however. My opinion is that the dwarves are
acting under orders of Molkekk. I have nothing to back that idea up with, but
that is my opinion. We, as the people of Elohim, stand in Molkekk’s way, and he
will stop at nothing to crush us. Such is the way of life for a follower of
Elohim. There is always someone trying to make life hard for you, even to the
extent of exterminating you.

“But even in the face of this opposition,
we still have the upper hand. Elohim will not abandon us, especially to His
enemies, and He has the power to save us. To Him, the dwarf army outside of the
city is no more than a bothersome fly that He could squish between His thumb
and forefinger.”

“Then why doesn’t He do that?” Rita asked.
She was close to tears.

“You know He doesn’t work like that,” Timothy
answered. “He prefers to have His followers fight the battles for Him. He will
enable us to complete the tasks that He sets before us, but He wants us to do
them so that we might show our love for Him.”

“There is another not so pleasant reason
that we’re in this position,” Senndra spoke up. She had been silent for the
entire conversation, but she felt that it was necessary to say what she had in
mind. “You said that Elohim’s enemies will always attack us since we are His
people. I agree with that, but you also said that He will never allow us to
fall into their hands. By saying this, you are forgetting the story of Benjamin
when he led the Derekites from the land of Volexa Temp. In the end, they were
victorious. But before that, they were in captivity by the enemies of Elohim. I
believe that if Magessa turns away from Elohim, He might let our enemies
capture us so that we turn back to Him. Besides that, I think the country is
about ripe for such a punishment. You have to admit that the people of the country
have been slowly turning away from Elohim. Sure, the superficial worship of Him
still goes on, but the majority of the country has been turning from Him.”

“You are right, of course,” Timothy said
with a sigh. “I know that such a judgment may hit us, but I haven’t wanted to
believe that. Now that we are faced with this, I think it may be the judgment
that has been a long time in the making.”

******

Josiah surveyed the work that his soldiers
had done. He ran his eyes down the entire length of the barrier and nodded his
consent. This was the last barrier that he was going to examine, and it was by
far the best. It consisted first of a shallow trench that had pointed wooden
stakes driven into the bottom. Next, the dirt from the trench had been piled up
into a three foot wall that had more pointed stakes on top. Another trench had
been dug into the ground directly after the dirt wall, and the bottom of this
trench was covered with shards of pottery and other sharp objects. Finally,
there was a wall built on the far side of the second trench. This wall was
composed partially of dirt but had plenty of bricks, rocks, wood, and other
things mixed into it.

The men had done a good job and had even
had time to collect weapons from the armory. These were not the dull practice
weapons that they had trained with, but sharp ones, deadly in their purpose and
ability. Looking around, Josiah could see that there was a variety of weapons
present, each man having retrieved one that he was experienced with. Swords
were by far the most common, but spears were also a popular choice. Pikes were
also scattered through the company of soldiers, but they were few and far
between.

“It looks good, men,” Josiah said after
thoroughly examining the barrier. He had tried as hard as he could to come up
with reasons why the barrier wouldn’t hold up, but had not been able to find
any. Again he cast his gaze across the barrier and nodded in assent. It would
work quite well. Josiah looked east and saw that the sun was just beginning to
push above the horizon.

“Very good work,” Josiah said, “now
adjourn to the north wall. We’re expecting an attack any time now, and we’re
not going to give up the city without one heck of a fight.”

The soldiers scattered and quickly made
their way to the north wall. All of the stairs to the wall had been demolished,
making it necessary for the cadets to go through the gatehouse in order to gain
the top of the wall. Josiah sighed and followed his men. He knew that their
training had been extensive and that they were, for the most part, ready for
the coming battle. Even though they had been deprived of their needed sleep, he
knew that the dwarf army had also been up for a long time and had not gotten
sufficient sleep either. All said, the coming battle would be a tough one, and
no matter which way it ended, there would be a lot of bloodshed.

Josiah reached the gatehouse and waited as
scores of soldiers used the same building to get onto the wall. Finally his
turn came, and he entered the side door of the stone building. He quickly
ascended a spiral staircase that passed several doors before coming out on the
top of the wall. To his left, his men had gathered into their squads of roughly
two hundred men apiece, and when he came out of the gatehouse, his captains
approached.

“Commander Pondran,” Terza addressed him,
and all five captains saluted. Josiah returned the salute and waited for his
captain to continue. After several seconds, Josiah realized that his captain
didn’t have anything to say, so he took over.

“Do we have any orders from higher up
yet?” he asked as he walked down the wall toward his men. Even from this far
away he could see that they were aligned in straight lines of military
precision and were at attention.

“There were orders, sir,” Terza answered.
“They were simply that your men were to defend the area of the wall they now
cover.”

“Good,” Josiah said as he cast his eyes
over his troops again. “In that case, I can set things up like I want. You have
a good order, but you need to pull the men closer together, shoulder to
shoulder. Have half of the archers in front and a row of pike men behind them.
Then I want the other half of the archers on the ground back there,” Josiah
said and pointed to the ground just inside the city wall.

“Already done, sir,” Terza responded.
Josiah looked and saw that there were three hundred of his soldiers on the
ground behind him. They were split into two groups and were surrounded by a
thin line of swordsmen for protection in case the enemy breached the walls.

“Very good,” Josiah said after he had
again surveyed the entire setup. “I guess there’s not much else we can do.
Except,” he added hurriedly when he saw a look of reproof from Cirro, “we still
have yet to pray and ask Elohim for protection and victory.” Josiah heard a snort
from somewhere among his soldiers, but a glare silenced the offender. After his
men had become silent, he bowed his head and began.

“Dear Almighty God, thank you for your
protection today in all of the activities we have participated in so far. Thank
you that no one was physically hurt as they constructed barriers throughout the
city. Thank you that we heard about the enemy in enough time to be able to send
for reinforcements.

“Now, dear God, please protect us as we
battle the dwarves that are at this moment en route to our city. Lord, you know
that they have turned from you and are now following the evil lord Molkekk. We
know that it is because we follow you that we are now being attacked, and we
ask that you be with us in the upcoming battle. Help us to overcome the enemy,
that Magessa may remain a free nation, and that we might worship you in peace.
Amen.”

******

Senndra gripped her bow in her left hand
and an arrow in her right. The sun was just starting to rise off to her right,
and as if on cue, the dwarf army appeared out of a fog that lingered on the
plain outside the city. Senndra could see no siege equipment amongst the ranks
of dwarves, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there. She averted her eyes and
looked down the wall of the city. Archers stood shoulder to shoulder for as far
as Senndra could see. As she looked at those about her, she could see fear in
their eyes. Almost none of them had ever been in a battle before, and they were
just as worried as she was.

Senndra took a deep breath and tried to
settle her nerves.
“Just do what you’re supposed to do and leave the rest to
Elohim,”
she told herself. Turning her gaze back to the dwarves just
outside of bow range, she saw that they were changing position, and catapults
were coming out of the fog. The engineers who were running them set them up
well out of range of the defenders' weapons and began to prepare them for their
first salvo. Out of the corner of her eye, Senndra could see an officer make a
motion with his sword. Almost half a minute passed before he made a motion that
Senndra recognized as the command to prepare to fire. She turned her attention
to Lemin, but he was motionless, his sword at his side. Senndra turned and saw
that the commander who was motioning with his sword was facing someone behind
the wall. Her gaze drifted backward until it came to rest on six trebuchets.