Trials (8 page)

The sky above the pass turned black as two thousand arrows flew towards the white attackers.

Immediately, as if they made up a single organism, the ten thousand Invincibles of the Ice lifted their round shields to protect themselves.

The Rogdonian arrows carried death to the invaders, but most of them hit the shields. As they advanced toward the wall in an orderly manner without breaking formation, the defenders went on launching volley after volley against the enemy. Success was scant, though, as the arrows bounced off the sea of shields.

The enemy reached the wall, and as on all previous occasions, ladders and hooks appeared on the damaged battlements. The first Norghanians began to climb the wall while the defenders kept firing on them as they climbed, with shields covering their heads. Ropes were cut and ladders overthrown, but almost immediately they were replaced by new ones and the Invincibles of the Ice climbing them were impervious to the fierce Rogdonian defense. When the first of them reached the top of the wall, the fight turned fiercer. Bows were replaced by swords and the fight turned brutal, with complete desperation.

It made Lomar cringe to see how formidable those soldiers were. Their fame was certainly well-deserved, their ferocity and swordsmanship superb. Everyone who managed to set his foot on the wall easily killed several Rogdonians before falling pierced through, outnumbered. One of them came to stand in front of Lomar a couple of steps away, an Invincible of the Ice… He was not as big and strong as the others they had been fighting against lately. This one was smaller and looked nimbler. But what really worried Lomar was that self-assured look: resolute and lethal.

Lomar stepped forward to confront him. The Norghanian half-closed his eyes and glanced at him with cool confidence. Lomar thrust quickly, and the Invincible deflected it with a skill that left him feeling seriously worried. He attacked again, but the warrior blocked his attack and countered like lightning. In a desperate attempt to evade the enemy’s sword Lomar tripped and fell. This man was a master swordsman whose movements were agile, balanced and fast: nothing to do with the huge brutal warriors with axes they had been fighting so far.

The Norghanian was stepping forward to finish the kill when two Rogdonian comrades in arms intercepted him, Lomar took advantage of this move to get back on his feet and joined in the fray. The first soldier fell with his neck severed by a single stroke. The second was blocked by the Invincible and stabbed through the heart with a master-thrust. Lomar took advantage of this and delivered a lightning stroke that went through his enemy’s stomach. The soldier freed the sword and shook his head at Lomar, showing his reproach for that treacherous move. Lomar was ready to finish him when he saw another Invincible reaching the wall. Without thinking, he delivered a savage kick which made the man fall on to the attacking wave of soldiers. Then he went back to the wounded Norghanian, who withstood three more attacks before falling dead.

These Invincibles are unique fighters. The rumors were true, they’re going to cut us to pieces
.

Feeling his heart sink at this horrible prospect, he went to help his comrades.

The fight above the walls became fiercer amid cries and the sound of metal on metal.

The Invincibles of the Ice were easily managing to kill the Rogdonian soldiers in single combat, so the defenders grouped together in threes to confront them. Each Norghanian who reached the top of the wall was set on by three defenders who threw themselves on him and brought him down with savage thrusts and strokes. Lomar was fighting above the gate beside the veteran Jonas on his right and Elis the archer on his left. A new enemy appeared near the great cauldron and the three lunged on him with no time to think or react. Even so, the invader wounded Jonas in the left shoulder before he died.

A massive impact told Lomar a battering ram had reached the gate. Looking down, he was able to confirm the fact.

“The cauldron! Swing the cauldron!” he yelled at his two comrades.

The three hurried to the enormous container filled with boiling oil, and Lomar pushed the lever to topple it.

The oil rained down over the ram, burning all the men around it.

“Incendiary arrows!” Lomar cried to the men waiting by the cauldron.

At once twenty archers raised their heads above the gate and a volley of burning arrows flew against the ram. The siege machine began to burn, with the men around it going up in flames as they screamed in desperation. The Invincibles of the Ice, as cold as their name, killed their own burning comrades to spare them the horrible suffering.

Lomar watched the scene and his spirits rose. Soon the whole battering ram would have gone up in smoke and the gate would hold. He had done his duty.

Suddenly something completely unexpected happened.

The men at the back of the ram parted to create a path in the center of the swarm of warriors. At the end of this corridor, about two hundred paces away, Lomar could make out two giant rectangular shields, apparently metallic, which completely hid the bearers. This caught his attention immediately. What on earth was this?

The two shields parted two hand-spans, and to Lomar’s overwhelming surprise a white bolt shot along the open corridor towards the burning ram.

What the…?

The bolt reached the ram and covered it with a layer of frost, putting out the flames which were consuming the robust wooden structure as it did so. The battering ram was soon covered with ice and the fire totally extinguished.

Damn!

That could only mean one thing: the Norghanians had brought their famed Ice Mages.

“Archers, shoot at the shields! Shoot!” he ordered with the hope of hitting the Mage who was hidden beneath them.

The defenders’ arrows struck the enormous shields. These parted and the bolt was seen again, this time aimed at them, the archers above the gate.

“Look out!” Lomar cried when he realized what was happening.

But it was already too late.

The bolt hit the first archers, who were still shooting, and on contact with the ice they were frozen alive on the spot. The bolt swept the battlements around the cauldron, freezing everything it came in contact with: human, metal or granite. The unwary archers died without a word, their bodies frozen as though the coldest winter ever seen had come upon them without warning.

The bolt reached Lomar, who jumped backwards, dragging Jonas and Elis with him as he fell. Lying there on the floor they avoided the bolt, seeing it pass over their heads not a hand’s-breadth above them.

“This is getting nasty!” Lomar cried. “Really nasty…”

Count Longor was defending the eastern section of the wall like the master swordsman he was. He dispatched the Invincible he was fighting against and went for the next, who was climbing one of the ladders. Those soldiers were very skilled with the sword, almost as good as he was, but not quite. He grinned and blocked his enemy, who had tried to surprise him with a back-stroke, but Longor saw it, deflected it and stabbed him in the heart. The sword went through the white breast-plate and the scaled armor like butter.

He looked around; he was losing men at tremendous speed, his soldiers were not half as skilled as those Norghanians. But if that was worrisome, the giant siege tower coming closer at a steady pace was even more so. It would soon be on top of their position; it was less than twenty paces away. For some reason the upper level of the structure remained closed, and there were no archers to be seen there.

“Bring me some jars of oil, quick!” he ordered his men, and ran to cut the rope of a hook which had just dug itself into the wall.

Three jars of oil were placed on the eastern wall, where the siege machine was heading.

“Come closer, precious, come to papa’s loving arms, I’ll show you what excitement means,” he said coaxingly. “I’ll burn you with my ardent love until there’s not a splinter of you left that isn’t burnt to a crisp.”

Another Invincible of the Ice reached the top and the Count ordered:

“Four of you! Attack, at once!”

The men obeyed as one and the Norghanian fell, outnumbered, but immediately two new enemies climbed the battlements and the four brave defenders died, widely outclassed by their enemy’s skill. In their heroic defense they killed one of the Norghanians and wounded the other. Longor sighed. The poor men: courage aplenty, but little dexterity. Today many men of Rogdon would die. He walked to the Invincible and with two strokes of his decorated sword, the first a feint and the second lethal, he cut his throat cleanly.

Fortunately, he did have the dexterity required and would defend the eastern section to the last man.

Prince Gerart shouted orders left and right above the western section. His men were being decimated and the screams and thunder of the battle were deafening. With the help of two of his men, Gerart managed to finish off an Invincible who had killed four Rogdonian defenders.

They’re tearing us apart. I’m an excellent swordsman, not far short of a master in the art of the sword, trained since I was three with the best instructors in the whole continent, and yet I can barely manage these devilish soldiers. Their fame is well-earned. Now I see this, I’m not surprised they’ve never been beaten by any opponent. I have no idea how we’re going to be able to defeat them
!

“Reinforcements! More reinforcements up here!” he ordered, noticing that the defending line above the wall was about to collapse.

The last reinforcements the Rogdonians could count on ran up the stairs and helped contain the assault of the Invincibles of the Ice by sheer numbers, courage and desperate fury. But Gerart knew it would not be enough. At the foot of the wall he could see the icy white sea of Invincibles waiting to climb, and in front of it the massive tower, less than ten paces from where he stood.

I can’t fail my father. I have to stop them, I can’t let them take the fortress. Never
!

He saw his men fighting with what little faith and courage they had left as they felt the foul breath of death on their faces. They were fighting for Rogdon, for their families, for their land.

Never! Death before dishonor! We’ll hold fast, or else I’ll die on this wall! For my nation!

He looked at the great siege tower which was already upon them and shouted:

“Archers! Flaming arrows!”

Several archers who had just joined the fray prepared to fire and launched a volley of flaming arrows at the great assault tower.

But it did not burn; the structure was covered with wet skins.

Gerart looked down at the enormous wheels of the structure. They had not protected them, and he wondered why. Had not they learned their lesson with the loss of the other two towers? He shook his head in disbelief. Building one of those monstrous structures took months of hard work. Were they prepared to sacrifice them? It made no sense. But given this opportunity he would not hesitate. He would use the same strategy: jars of oil.

“The jars, quick! We must throw them at it!” he yelled to his men as to the horror of the defenders, the tower touched the wall.

At that moment the top of the structure was drawn back, revealing an extraordinary figure.

An Ice Mage!

Gerart stared at him in astonishment. The Mage appeared, escorted by several Invincibles. He wore a long, thick tunic of white and over it a white bearskin. In his right hand he held a long staff carved out of white wood and crowned with a translucent glass jewel. Round his neck he wore a crystalline medallion. Gerart stared at him in stupefaction. The man looked like a God out of the kingdom of the ice itself.

Before Gerart could react, the Mage intoned several arcane words of power. Pointing with his staff at the men carrying the jars, he launched a huge missile of pure ice at them.

“Look out!” Gerart cried in warning when he saw the huge ball of crystal and ice approaching them with terrible speed.

The missile hit them squarely, with an icy explosion. Thousands of knife-edged splinters flew in all directions, destroying both soldiers and jars. Men and fired clay burst into a thousand pieces and the oil flooded on to the ground beneath the wall, mixing with the blood of the defenders. Several fragments hit Gerart: one in the chest, which his armor was able to repel, and another above the temple, which gave him a painful cut. He put his hand on the wound and saw he was bleeding.

The Ice Mage conjured another spell, a longer one this time.

“Archers, kill the Mage!” Gerart shouted.

Several arrows flew towards the Mage as he finished his spell. The arrows hit a magical defensive sphere around him which protected him from physical attacks. Shards of ice flew out with the impact. Gerart cursed to himself. He had to break that defensive sphere of hard frost or they would all die.

“Keep firing!” he ordered his archers, fully aware of how dangerous it was.

And the frozen spell came to life. A huge winter blizzard formed around the archers and spread out as if winter itself had descended from the sky to engulf the whole western section of the wall, freezing anyone on top of it. Savagely cold winds enveloped the brave defenders. The temperature was dropping rapidly, with snow and hail whirling around the soldiers. The strong winds made it impossible for the men to stay on their feet, several were borne away with terrified screams and fell from the wall. Gerart held on to a ruined support to stop himself being dragged away.