In the Shadow of Lions - Chapter 6

William lifted his foot into the stirrup and swung himself up onto the horse’s back. The bay gelding shifted nervously beneath him, picking up on his rider’s unease. There really wasn’t a reason to be nervous, yet. Unless the scouts his uncle had sent with Pembroke were less skilled than advertised, William wouldn’t see his first taste of battle for a day or more, depending on how quickly they made the ride back south after crossing the northern ford.

And yet, now that he was on his horse, wearing his armor, with a sword next to him, it felt real for the very first time. The screeching cry of a wyvern overhead made William glance up. The camp was bustling with activity as the army prepared to march. The wyvern was probably headed back to the small force left to guard their supply lines leading back to their ships, or maybe even all the way back to Starhaven with news of the upcoming battle. William took a deep breath, steadying his nerves.

A sudden, low hiss behind him to his left caused William to jerk the horse to the side, worried a snake or some other creature might have made its way underfoot. While it was unlikely that such would affect the horses, the animals were still wary of creatures and could panic and buck when startled by their appearance.

It wasn’t, however, a snake. Turning, he saw a giant war lizard. Fifteen hands tall, nearly ten feet long, with mottled green and brown scales that blended into camouflage patterns along its back and a pair of spiny protrusions running down the length of its neck. William had heard of, and even seen pictures of, war lizards, but he’d never seen one before. Most Sidorians, or even Lynesians, had never seen one. As far as he knew, they only lived on Thay, which made them their predominant mount, instead of horses, because of their hardy nature and the ability to go longer without water than a horse could … a vital adaptation in their dry, hot climate.

Eskild sat atop this giant animal, his massive size amplified by that of his mount. Seeing the giant Thayan, William turned the horse toward the lizard, so he could talk to the man without shouting, only to jerk the horse almost immediately back as the war lizard snapped its jaws, baring several rows of serrated teeth.

“Keep your distance from Ghormbaan,” Eskild warned. “He’s good during battle, but if left idle, he becomes a little unpredictable. Best give him space lest you lose a hand … or your head.”

William reined his horse back a few more steps, eyeing the war lizard warily. Its yellow, slit-pupiled eyes stared back unblinkingly. He could just imagine what those crushing jaws could do to a man.

“Just keep focused on the task at hand, and you’ll be fine,” Eskild said, repeating the mantra he’d been giving William for the last two days.

Before William could respond with the denial of nerves, as he did every time, horns blared, and men on horseback began to move.

“Here we go,” Eskild said, giving William a bright smile.

***

It was dark … so dark William couldn’t see his hand in front of him, let alone the other men around him. They were still a distance away from the river, the sounds of its waters muffled by distance and the forest. No one spoke, and even the horses seemed to be holding their breath.

And then the thundering of hooves of horses returning at speed could be heard, followed by a piercing whistle.

Everyone had been prepared for the signal. Torches were lit here and there along the column, to keep the horses from running into a tree or otherwise killing their rider, and the entire column moved out. Five minutes later, the entire column exploded from the tree line and across the ford they’d been listening to for several hours while they waited for the scouts to complete their tasks. Near a copse of trees, a handful of scouts sat on horseback, lit torches in their hands, human signposts of where to go in the moonless night.

Crossing the river, William sucked in a breath, surprised by the grim sight that greeted him. Bodies lay strewn haphazardly across the ground; limp forms sprawled in awkward angles. He could almost feel more bodies beyond the torchlight. There had been dozens of Lynesian scouts, none of whom remained alive to contest their crossing.

William paused his horse, looking down at the bodies. The glassy stares of lifeless eyes seemed to follow his progress, reflecting the torchlight. A cluster of six scouts sat mounted behind the bodies, grins on their faces telling any who saw them who was responsible for the recent dead.

These were the first dead men that William had ever seen, not counting men lying in state, like his Uncle Gavric. That had been different. Gavric, and the few others he’d seen before, had been cleaned up, made to look as if they were simply sleeping. This was different. Raw.

“Keep up, lad!” Eskild called as he rode past, stirring William out of his thoughts.

William gave the bodies, then the scouts, one last glance and urged his horse on, following the column that began its hard ride south.

***

They rode on through the night and into the following morning, not at top speed but still pushing their horses hard. Finally, from his position at the rear of the column, William could make out the defenses arrayed around the rear of the fort, protecting the sloping ground behind it. While formidably built up with wood and earth, these bulwarks lacked the height and stone strength of the fort’s own walls.

Spurring his lathered horse forward, William advanced with the others toward the defenses. Ditches and sharpened stakes offered obstacles before the ramparts, but the column poured relentlessly onward. Arrows flew from the walls, thudding into the earth around them, taking some men off their horses, injured or dead.

Following the rest of the men, William spurred his horse on as he reached the first defense, a long trench filled with sharpened stakes. The land was against the defenders. They’d tried to narrow the approaches as best they could, laying out pits and trenches, but there’s a reason forts have high walls.

William clung tightly to the reins as his horse surged forward, powerful muscles bunching beneath him as it launched itself over the ditch. He landed hard, gritting his teeth against the jarring impact. All around, men were pouring across the obstacles, some thrown as their horses were struck by arrow or spear.

Arrows and spears continued to rain down, though the walls remained tantalizingly out of reach of their weapons. William hunched low, shield raised over his head. Ahead, the first ranks were over the final trench, inside the string of defensive works around the base of the fort.

The charge carried William forward as the Sidorian knights crashed against the Lynesian defenses around the base of the fort. All around William, men and horses screamed as they were cut down by spear and arrow. But momentum was on the Sidorians’ side as their heavy horses tore through the lightly armored men guarding the supporting breastworks around the fort.

A man stood in William’s path. A Lynesian, spear in his hand, his back turned to William as he tried to impale a Sidorian knight in front of him. William slashed out with his sword, cutting the Lynesian down from behind. His blade sliced through boiled leather and bit deep into the man’s back. With a gurgling cry, the spearman collapsed to the ground.

It was the first time he’d ever drawn blood in anger. The first time he’d cut a man. The first time he’d killed. But there was no time to dwell on it as another Lynesian soldier charged at William, sword raised high.

William spurred his horse forward to meet the attack. His sword swung up to parry the overhand strike. The blades rang out as they met. William’s arm jarred from the force of the blow. Gritting his teeth, he riposted quickly, driving his foe back.

The Lynesian recovered and came at him again, hard. His sword whirred through the air, nearly slipping past William’s defenses. William gave ground, backing his horse, trying to redirect the man’s desperate, wild attacks. Suddenly, the Lynesian’s chest exploded in a spray of gore. Eskild’s war lizard had struck without warning, appearing from somewhere in William’s periphery, as if out of thin air, with its terrible jaws clamping down over the swordsman’s shoulder and upper torso.

The Lynesian’s dying screams mixed with the rending sounds of crunching bone and tearing flesh as the war lizard thrashed its prey. Blood spattered across William as he stared in horror at the carnage in front of him. Eskild, on the lizard’s back, met William’s stunned gaze and gave a fierce nod, breaking his momentary shock.

All around, the Sidorian knights were smashing through the final obstacles around the fort’s base.

The last of the palisades blocking access to the fort’s walls cleared, knights began dismounting and clambering up the rise near a low point in the wall, which the palisades had been defending. William threw himself from the saddle, landing in a crouch, and ran to join them. Above them, on the walls, Lynesian defenders threw spears and rocks to try and dissuade the attackers, but there were too few of them. His uncle’s assault on the opposite side of the fort was in full swing, and there weren’t enough defenders to repulse attacks from both sides simultaneously. Men threw hooks on the end of ropes up and over the edge of the parapet above; while others brought up the handful of ladders they’d brought with them, now assembled and ready to be climbed.

All along the barricade, grapnels flew into the air, the iron hooks of some finding purchase while others fell back down. Ladders were hauled up and leaned against the wall, held steady by a knight at the bottom. Men swarmed up the ropes, only to meet a grisly fate at the hands of the defenders. Spears impaled the first climbers, their bodies crashing lifelessly back down. Another rope party gained a brief foothold atop the wall before being slaughtered, hacked apart by axes and billhooks.

The ladders fared little better. As two men mounted the initial rungs, arrows rained down, killing the first man, sending him crashing into the men below him. The defense was still formidable, but it couldn’t hold out for long.

Finally, one of the knights on the ladder to the far right made it to the top, killing two men who stood there. It was enough for the man behind him to join him. There were just too many places for the defenders to protect, and Pembroke had his men spread out as far as they could across this section, using the rise and the very short distance they needed to ascend to their advantage.

On the left, two of the men pulling themselves up with hooks managed to get over the top, then two more near the center. The foothold grew as more knights reached the top. Teams swept left and right along the parapets, pushing back the exhausted defenders through force of sheer numbers. The Lynesians retreated, ceding control of this section of wall inch by bloody inch.

William had waited for his chance to ascend, held back by Eskild when he’d tried to rush in with the initial group. Finally, the knight at the base of the ladder in front of William stepped aside and waved him forward. William dashed forward and scrambled up the wooden rungs. He climbed as fast as he could, fully exposed on the ladder’s side.

He reached the top, relatively safe now that this section of the wall had been cleared, although arrows began to come up in ones and twos from the fort’s interior below. Bodies littered the walkway, some dressed in Lynesian colors, others in Sidorian. William drew his sword and rushed to join the attack.

The crush of Sidorian knights surged down the stone steps, pushing through the knot of Lynesian defenders trying to bar their advance. Jammed shoulder to shoulder, the knights hacked and slashed their way down. Screams echoed off the enclosing walls as men were shoved over the edge to tumble to their deaths.

The defenders thrust out with spears and swords, desperately trying to hold back the tide. Blood slicked the steps as bodies fell, only to be trampled underfoot. Still, the Sidorians kept coming, their numbers carrying them on despite the brutal toll.

Step by step, the knights forced their way down over the dead and dying. The stairway was choked with bodies in crimson-spattered steel. Exhausted from the brutal press, the defenders fell back, unable to hold against the ferocity of the Sidorian onslaught.

William rushed down behind them into the courtyard below with the last group of knights. All around him, the clashes and cries of battle echoed off the enclosing walls. He emerged into madness. The confined space was choked with men locked in desperate, bloody combat.

He’d chosen the closest set of stairs, which the Sidorians hadn’t cleared yet. At the base of the stairs, a knot of defenders barred the way, determined to halt the advance from the wall. William joined the tidal push of knights trying to force their way through. The defenders stood firm, spears and swords taking a brutal toll on the attackers. Bodies tumbled back down the stairs, only to be replaced by more.

Finally, the defenders’ line broke beneath the relentless assault. William found himself carried along into the seething melee in the courtyard. A Lynesian swordsman charged at him, eyes wide with fury. William barely got his blade up in time to parry the overhand cut. The force of the blow rang through his arms. William fell back, desperately trying to redirect and deflect the raw power behind each hacking swing. Sweat stung his eyes as he gave ground, step by step.

A sudden opening presented itself. As his foe recovered from an off-balance swing, William lunged. His sword tip pierced an opening in the side of the man’s chain shirt, sinking deep into his side. With a choked cry, the swordsman collapsed. William wrenched his blade free in a spray of crimson before the body hit the ground.

There was no time to catch his breath. A spear thrust at William’s face, forcing him to knock it aside. He riposted quickly, driving his pommel into the spearman’s face. Cartilage crunched wetly as the man’s nose shattered. Howling, the spearman clutched at his spurting nose. William silenced his cries with a quick slash across the throat.

All across the courtyard, the Sidorian knights wore their enemy down through dogged ferocity. Step by step, they pushed the defending Lynesians back, carving a path toward the inner keep.

A sudden cry of warning made William spin. A Lynesian axeman charged straight at his unguarded back, heavy blade raised high. William threw himself desperately to the side, but the dodge came too late. The axe cut the air where William’s neck had been a heartbeat before. Instead, the heavy blade slammed into William’s shoulder, denting the metal pauldron, pressing steel into his flesh, sending a shock of pain down his shoulder.

Agony exploded through William’s body. His sword dropped from suddenly numb fingers. He crashed hard against the blood-slick cobblestones. The axeman loomed above him, weapon raised for a killing blow, when a Sidorian knight barreled into the axeman from the side, sword piercing through the man’s armor and into his chest.

The Lynesian died with a bubbling gasp, his axe falling harmlessly to the ground.

“On your feet, lad!” the knight roared, already turning to rejoin the fight. “It’s not over yet!”

Gritting his teeth as he pulled the pauldron a little looser, so it no longer pressed painfully into his shoulder, William scooped up his fallen sword and rejoined the battle.

William spotted a young knight beset by two Lynesians, giving ground beneath their assault, desperately parrying their thrusts. William charged forward and slammed his blade down onto one spearman’s wrist. The hand severed, sending the spear tumbling as the maimed man screamed.

Another knight appeared at the same moment, slashing the other attacker before he could turn and react to William’s sudden appearance. Just as the man fell, a cheer rose up from the far side of the large courtyard. William turned to look just as the large main doors of the fort burst open, a tide of Sidorian troops pouring through the sundered doorway, crashing against the rear of the defenders like a hammer blow. Trapped between converging forces, the remaining Lynesian garrison stood little chance.

As the remaining Lynesians threw down their arms, William raised his, joining the cheer of the other victorious Sidorians.

He’d done it. Fought, and survived, his first battle.