Chapter Fifteen

“Come on,” Elain’e said.

Anne glanced around, then followed after the girl as she started up the stairs. “Where are we going?” Anne asked.

“To the top of that tower. It has narrow stairs, it’s tough, and it will give us a good vantage. It’s likely the safest place to be while remaining close to the battle,” Elain’e said. “And I have a few spells I was saving for a rainy day that I can use from up there.”

“Oh, alright,” Anne said.

They climbed up the wall one step at a time, Anne being careful because they were a little slippery, what with the rain and all.

They reached the top, and Anne couldn’t help but pause to touch some of the Jakes they crossed. Her little boy, in all of his variations here, was putting up a brave face, but she was his mom, and she could tell that he was nervous under all that bluster.

“Anne!” Elain’e called out from next to the tower.

Anne picked up her skirts and ran to catch up to the girl.

The inside of the tower had little rooms on separate floors, with arrowslit windows looking out on either end of the wall. They climbed up and up, Anne’s breathing becoming a little ragged. She wasn’t sure if she was wet because of all the rain, or if it was sweat clinging to her.

She missed warm showers and freshly laundered clothes.

The top of the tower was a wide platform with waist-high walls around it and peaked roof above, held in place by carefully crafted arched pillars.

The view was spectacular. Though it was still dark, they could see for quite a ways. The forest stretched out, thousands of trees swaying in the rain-swept wind, the city behind them, an array of flickering lights and glowing windows.

The Dark Lord’s army was arrayed out ahead of them. Groups of men at least a hundred strong in long, rectangular boxes. Anne counted half a dozen such formations, and a few smaller ones at the rear, with men in different gear. “How many?” Anne asked.

“That seems like one arm of the Dark Lord’s forces,” Elain’e said. “At least a thousand in all. I imagine they can fit about a hundred men in each one of their airships then.”

“That’s a lot of people,” Anne said.

“Well, the good news is that while we might not be able to match them man-for-man, it’ll cost them a lot to take the city. Eventually it’ll cost them too much. Even the Dark Lord’s army will break after sufficient losses. We just need to inflict those as quickly as we can.”

Anne swallowed. That was a lot of death. She gazed down at the army, standing in their neat rows, then she waited... and waited. “Why aren’t they doing anything?” she asked.

Elain’e snorted. “Of, they’re doing something. See those runners moving across the backline?” She pointed and Anne finally spotted a few smaller soldiers darting around. “They’re going in and out of the woods. The Dark Lord’s forces have card-throwers. These little devices that can fling a card out twenty or thirty metres like a bolt. They’re picking up stones and trunks and whatever else they can grab that’s heavy.”

“Why?” Anne asked.

“To hit the wall once they’re close. This wall looks sturdy enough, but it’ll crumble eventually, with enough stones crashing into it fast enough. Few things can endure a constant bombardment like that.”

“Oh,” Anne said. “Should we do the same?”

“We... probably should, yes. I didn’t consider it before. Stay here, Anne, I’ll go inform the commissar. There’s not much time to be wasted picking up rocks out of the field, but even just some cast stones is better than none.”

Anne watched Elain’e go, then held onto the edge of the wall. Her hands became wet, and chilly, but for the moment the cold was something of a comfort.

“This is... not what I was hoping for,” she muttered.

Anne chuckled. The little dears were having some fun, at least. That was nice to see.

The sound of something like air hissing out of a hose had Anne turning just in time to see something zip through the sky, slow down, then twist into the tower. It was Newt, the girl landed just before her, robotic legs folding in on themselves to hide the thrusters within. “Salutations!” Newt said. “My mission has been a mild success.”

Anne stared at arrow currently lodged in Newt’s chest. “You were shot!”

“It’s just a scratch,” Newt said.

“It’s a hole in your chest!” Anne said, louder this time.

“Merely a flesh wound!”

“Newt!” Anne said. She rushed over to the girl and touched the arrow. It was stuck fast in Newt’s clothes, the arrowhead jammed between two metallic plates on the robot-girl’s ribs. “You’re not bleeding,” Anne said.

“I have no blood to bleed with,” Newt replied. She reached up, grabbed the arrow, then yanked it out. “See, all is well.”

“Who shot you?” Anne asked.

“The captain of the guard did. You will be pleased to learn that our allies have great aim with their shortbows. I suspect that they trained by hunting flying creatures. The captain has been informed about the oncoming invasion. I suspect that he is rallying troops now. The south gate has been opened as well.”

“Oh,” Anne said. “The necromancers?”

“Were entering as I flew back here. They still need to travel along the length of the wall to reach our current position. By my estimates, that will take approximately thirty-five minutes.”

Anne chewed on her lower lip. That wasn’t too long, but it was still a long time to wait for much-needed reinforcements. “That’s good,” she decided. “If we can just hold out for that long.”

A horn sounded.

Anne turned, then winced as she saw the Dark Lord’s army starting to move. They weren’t approaching at anything resembling a charge. Just a slow but careful walk, their formations staying nice and neat as they moved in closer.

Commissar Jake below bellowed out some orders, and a single Jake, with a rickety-looking bow, fired a shot out across the gap between the wall and the oncoming army.

The arrow wobbled through the air and a long parabolic arc, then, near it zenith, something poofed and a large stone appeared. The arc changed a little with the new weight, and the rock thumped into the ground far ahead of the army.

More Jakes picked up bows and arrayed themselves along the wall.

Anne moved closer to the edge of the tower. She felt like her breathing was coming in a little too fast, and yet not pulling enough air.

The army moved closer and closer, then paused about ten metres past where the stone had landed.

A few soldiers ran ahead, then they summoned large, boxy devices with wheels at their base, and large fan-like tops. Soldiers ran up and behind those, then started pushing them forwards. “What are those?” Anne asked.

“I presume that they’re siege devices to shield the soldiers pushing them from projectiles,” Newt said.

The army started to move once more, slow steps, all in time so that there was a loud ‘whump, whump’ with ever calculated step.

“Hold!” the commissar called from below.

Bow strings went taunt. They only had twenty or so bows between them all.

“Hold!”

The army walked past the stone.

“Fire!”

Twenty bows loosed, three immediately went wild and one of them snapped, the Jake holding it cursing as the bow broke in his hands.

The remaining arrows wiggled through way through the air, then came rushing back down. The cards tied to them turned to stone at different heights, and that pulled them down at different rates.

Only two large stones hit the army.

It was enough to make bile rise in Anne’s throat as boulders the size of a man came crashing down. One atop one of the siege engines, crushing it entirely, another in a formation that wasn’t entirely covered.

The screams started below.

“Fire!” the commissar called again, and a second volley took to the air.

The battle had truly begun.

***

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