Amethyst of the Gods Page 13

  "Where are they all coming from?" asked King Arik.

  "The new Tagaret tunnels," grinned Prince Darok. "They have been working on the tunnels for many a day now. There are three spurs complete, one for each of the walls we must defend. If anyone had noticed the Boulder River running a little muddy lately, they could have guessed that we were having a wee problem with disposing of all of the fill taken from the tunnels. Luckily the change in weather due to the end of the Darkness has hidden our problem well."

  "How far out do the tunnels go?" asked Alex.

  "A league in each direction," smiled the dwarf prince. "We can make them go farther if you need it."

  General Gregor whistled appreciatively. "Is there any chance the enemy can use the tunnels to our disadvantage?" he asked.

  "I truly doubt it," Prince Darok shook his head. "We have traps laid and fortified positions to ambush any sappers. Woe to any goblin who dares to enter a dwarven tunnel. That decision would be his last."

  "The question is," mused King Arik as he watched the dwarves continue to file into the city, "how do we make good use of these tunnels?"

  "If we can use them for raids to disable their siege engines," brightened Alex, "we could stall the attack for days. Each time they rebuild their engines, we could go out and destroy them."

  "You may get away with that once or twice," frowned Tanya, "but not forever. Eventually they would search for the tunnels and lay an ambush."

  "There is truth to that," agreed General Gregor.

  "I can keep teams of miners in the tunnels," offered Prince Darok. "We could constantly be changing the tunnels to emerge in different areas."

  "Plus," added Alex, "if we made it look like our sappers were coming from beyond the enemy, they would not look for tunnels, but rather an imaginary force behind them."

  "That just might work if they do not see dwarves attacking the siege engines," nodded King Arik. "I imagine the sight of dwarves would make them think in terms of tunnels. We shall try it out tonight with Alcea Rangers performing the attack."

  Prince Darok frowned with disappointment, but nodded as he realized the king was correct and logical in his thinking.

  "Are there mages among your warriors?" Fredrik asked Prince Darok. "We could use them along the wall for shields."

  "We have a few mages with us," nodded the dwarf prince. "Not as many as the elves," he added in a whisper, "but I think it will be just enough to fill the voids."

  Fredrik smiled as the dwarf winked at him. Prince Darok shouted orders and they were relayed back through the tunnels. As the singing dwarves exited the tunnels, occasionally one would come to stand before Fredrik and Prince Darok. Fredrik would assign the dwarf mage to an area of the wall to maintain a magical shield. By the time all of the dwarves had entered the city, the sun hung low on the horizon.

  * * *

  Alex stood on the defensive wall on the western side of the city. He moved his scope slowly over the encampment of the enemy, pausing every now and then to watch the progress of the ogres as they built the siege engines. The moon was waning, but it still provided enough light to see the enemy clearly. The large bonfires added to the illumination. He watched as ogres tore once mighty trees from the ground. Other ogres split the logs while goblins fashioned the finer parts of the siege engines.

  "How many of those engines are they making?' frowned Captain Mitar Vidson. "They have been at it most of the night."

  "Too many," Alex shook his head as he gazed skyward. "I do not think that we can destroy them all. It is the same on the north and south sides of the city. The moon helps me watch their progress, but I would prefer darkness when it comes time for us to strike. We may lose a few men this night."

  "We will lose more than a few before this is over," frowned Mitar. "There is some cloud cover. Pray that it thickens."

  "To which god would you prefer I pray?" sighed Alex. "Do you know of one who even cares what happens to us?"

  "It was just an expression," shrugged the Ranger leader. "Not many believe in the gods any more."

  "With good reason," Alex said. "We have been left alone to fashion our own destiny. Assemble your men, Mitar. It will soon be time to undo what the ogres have spent the night building."

  "Can I count on you to lead one of the groups?" asked Mitar.

  "You have plenty of men in the rangers that can lead the groups," grinned Alex, "but I would not mind joining the Rangers one more time."

  "We have plenty of men capable of leading," agreed Mitar, "but you are still idolized. You have a wonderful effect on their morale. Which group do you want?"

  "I will take the western branch," decided Alex. "I can see that the ogres have stopped felling trees. I suspect that by the time we traverse the tunnels, they will be done with their work."

  "Let's go then," nodded Mitar as his fingers sent a signal to the Rangers nearest him.

  The signal spread through the ranks of the black-clad Rangers, and the men began to form into three separate groups. Captain David Jaynes issued orders to his Red Swords before joining Alex and Mitar. The Red Swords began waking the defenders and filing up onto the wall. The elves and dwarves also awoke and took their places. Everyone readied for what might be the outbreak of the battle.

  "You can have either north or south," Mitar said to David. "Alex has already claimed the west."

  "I will take the north," shrugged David.

  "Then I shall take the south," nodded Mitar. "Each of you send a man back to the intersection of tunnels when you are set to emerge from the tunnels. I want all three attacks synchronized. Do not attack until your man rejoins your group."

  Alex and David nodded in agreement. Alex led his group into the tunnel first. He marveled at the work the dwarves had been able to accomplish in a short period of time. A short distance into the tunnel, it branched in three directions. Alex kept going straight. His fifty men followed silently behind him.

  The dwarves had lanterns hung at regular intervals through the tunnel. There were also dwarves posted at several locations along the way. Alex examined the tunnel carefully each time a dwarf came into view. He noticed various traps and smiled to himself when he realized that the dwarves were stationed to allow the Rangers to pass by the traps. Several times during the trip, Alex noticed slits in the tunnel wall. The slits always appeared between two distant lanterns and were obviously positioned to be in darkness. Still, Alex detected motion through the slits and knew that they were ambush sites. He looked carefully to find the entrance to those defensive positions, but he could find no break in the tunnel wall. He vowed to ask Prince Darok about the defenses when he returned to the city.

  Before he knew it, Alex reached the end of the tunnel. The end was slightly widened and six dwarves were gathered there. He nodded to the dwarves and waited until his men were still before sending one back to the intersection of tunnels.

  "We will not be going out until that man returns," Alex said softly to the dwarves.

  One of the dwarves nodded his approval. "This trap door opens in a heavily wooded area," stated the dwarf as he tapped lightly on the wooden panel at the top of a short flight of steps. "There is a stump on top of the door. Make sure that you remember your way back to it. I have two dwarves topside right now. They will remain there until you and your men return. Try not to drag any of the enemy back with you."

  The trap door slid aside and a dwarf stuck his head down into the tunnel. "Better to wait a few minutes," announced the dwarf. "Clouds will soon obscure the moon."

  "We must wait for a man to return before we can leave the tunnel," nodded Alex. "How far are we from the siege engines?"

  "A few minutes walk to the closest," replied the outside dwarf. "They stopped working on them not long ago."

  Alex nodded silently and waited until the Ranger returned from the intersection of tunnels.

  "We leave now," Alex announced as he started tapping his finger against his leg.

  Alex climbed the stairs and stepped into the
dense forest. He immediately scanned the entire area as his men began to file out of the dwarven tunnel. One of the outside dwarves pointed towards the direction of the siege engines and Alex nodded. Silently, he led his men through the forest, noting the path he took so he could find his way back. Within minutes, the Rangers saw the first of the siege engines. He held up his hand to halt his men.

  "Place the jars of fire glue on the most distant ones first," he instructed. "Back away until you are at the range of a certain bowshot and then wait for the countdown to fall into place. When the numbers drop to zero, fire away and return to the tunnel immediately."

  "What if we miss the shot?" asked one of the Rangers.

  "You get one arrow for each jar you place," warned Alex. "There will be no time for second shots. I will cover the retreat, the rest of you race for the tunnel entrance. Keeping the tunnel concealed is more important than making sure each and every engine is destroyed. Go cause the enemy some heartache."

  Alex watched as his Rangers spread out in both directions. He smiled inwardly as the clouds moved in front of the moon. The timing could not have been better, he thought to himself as his finger continued tapping his leg. His eyes scanned the edge of the cleared area that was the enemy encampment. He searched for patrols and saw none. He knew that the next time they used the tunnels, the enemy would have patrols in place.

  As the numbers reached zero, flames began erupting throughout the enemy encampment. He stopped tapping and nocked an arrow to his bow. Howls roared through the enemy as the flames were noticed. The Rangers began running past Alex towards the dwarven tunnel. He counted them as they passed. The last man was being chased by a lone yaki. Alex smoothly aimed and let his arrow fly. The yaki yelped and slammed headfirst into a tree as Alex's arrow pierced its neck. Alex turned and ran after his men.

  * * *

  Four dark shadows crouched at the base of the new wall. They gazed across the open area and saw the defenders of Tagaret lined up along the defensive wall watching the flames roaring through the encampment of Sarac's forces.

  "Now," one of the figures whispered as he gazed skyward at the clouds obscuring the moon. "Be quick about it, the moon will shine again not too long from now."

  Two of the figures went to the right, and two went to the left. Each pair of dark figures halted at the base of a newly built mage tower. They placed a long black cloth along the ground at the base of the towers. They drew their knives and began attacking the mortar between the stones of the towers. As they chiseled away at the mortar, their feet spread the debris across the black cloth. They worked feverishly as they carved out the mortar between two rows of stones clear across the back of the towers and part way along the two adjacent sides. When they were done, one man from each team rolled up the black cloth while the other used a small brush to remove any signs of their tampering.

  Within minutes, each group was done with their task, and the sappers carried the black cloths away. They retreated to the darkness of the new wall where they discarded the rolled up cloths amongst the leavings of construction material. One of the dark figures smiled inwardly as he saw the first of the Rangers emerge from the dwarven tunnel.

  "Just in time," he whispered to the others. "Back to the nest quickly."

  The four dark figures merged with the night and disappeared.

  Chapter 11

  Enemy Within

  Alexander Tork stood on the western wall as the predawn sky lightened. Missing were the songs of the morning birds, the air instead was filled with the rumble of a foreign army preparing to attack.

  "There are only a handful of catapults left," remarked Fredrik as he and Niki stepped alongside Alex. "Your men accomplished much last night."

  "The Alcea Rangers are brave men," replied Alex, "but that can be said of anyone here today. All will have the chance to show their mettle today."

  "You think the enemy will attack without their siege engines?" Fredrik asked skeptically.

  "They will," nodded Alex.

  "But that is foolish," protested Fredrik. "Surely they will wait another day and repair what you destroyed."

  "I had hoped they would," frowned Alex as he saw General Gregor approaching, "but Sarac has little use for his creatures other than to destroy Tagaret. The enemy will attack soon."

  "That is what I am reading, too," nodded the general as he stood alongside Alex. "I have sent a man to sound the alarm. I figure that we have about an hour before they charge."

  "Maybe less," mused Alex. "The creatures will not sit idly having their morning meal before attacking us. In fact, some of them will consider us as their morning meal."

  "Is that what they think?" questioned Niki. "Do they see us as only food?"

  "The yaki will eat almost anything," nodded Alex. "I suspect that the goblins have a hard time keeping their food from the yaki. It is a loose alliance that is standing before our walls. Each group owes allegiance to Sarac, but they do not care much for each other. They are likely to turn on each other after Tagaret is destroyed."

  "Too bad we can't accelerate those feelings," mused General Gregor as the sound of the alarm echoed through Tagaret.

  "Their obedience to Sarac is based upon fear," frowned Alex as men rushed to their posts along the wall. "They fear him more than they fear us. I suspect that is the reason for the Black Devils being part of the group attacking us rather than them being stationed at Mount Kalas to protect Sarac. They will use their magic to punish anyone who fails in their devotion to Sarac."

  "There must be a way to turn their loose alliance to our benefit," Fredrik murmured out loud.

  "Here they come," shouted a dwarf not far away from Alex.

  The small group turned and watched as thousands of goblins riding on the backs of yaki surged forward. Far to the rear, ogres pushed the few remaining siege engines forward. Alex nocked an arrow to his bow and stepped to the nearest crenel. An elven archer nodded to him and moved slightly to one side to make room for the human. Fredrik and Niki hurried to their assigned crenel. Fredrik erected a shield over the defenders in the immediate vicinity. Probing fireballs flew from the rear of the enemy's encampment as the Black Devils searched for any signs of weakness along the defensive wall of Tagaret.

  The swiftness of the yaki was impressive, even with goblins riding on their backs. Mere moments after the sounding of the alarm, the yaki were within bowshot range. Thousands of arrows flew from the defensive wall as elf, dwarf, and man aimed at the charging creatures. Fredrik's eyes scanned the length of the western defensive wall. Everywhere he looked, fireballs struck magical shields. He nodded with grim satisfaction even as he wondered how long the defenders would be able to hold the shields. His eyes landed on Niki standing beside him. Her eyes were rolled up in her head and her lips were moving frantically, but no sounds came forth from his wife.

  "What are you talking about?" asked Fredrik. "I cannot hear a word that you are saying."

  Niki did not appear to notice Fredrik as her eyes remained rolled back, but words started to pass through her moving lips.

  "Hungry," Niki said in a strange monotone voice. "Very hungry. Don't want to die. Want to eat. Hungry. Man kill yaki before we can eat. Hungry. Goblins are tasty. Goblins are close. Goblins don't kill us. Hungry. Eat goblins now. No need to die. Eat goblins now."

  Fredrik stared with concern as Niki continued to repeat the same words over and over. Finally, shouts broke out among the defenders, and Fredrik gazed out over the battlefield. A large percentage of charging yaki had halted their charge. The yaki jumped and squirmed as the goblins tried to hang onto their precarious perches. Goblins were thrown from the backs of yaki, and the fox-like creatures turned and sank their teeth into the goblins. Fredrik grinned appreciatively as Niki continued to vocalize her instructions to the yaki.

  Several strong fireballs made Fredrik's shields shudder. He noticed that the rebellious yaki were only in the vicinity of Niki. The Black Devils must have noticed it too because they began to concentra
te on Fredrik's portion of the wall. The constant bombardment of Fredrik's shield sent tremors through his body. He turned around to face the city as he sought out Jenneva and Tanya. He knew that once they reached the mage towers, their magic would divert attention away from Niki. Fredrik saw Jenneva and Tanya arrive on their unicorns and breathed a sigh of relief as the two mages dismounted and spoke to each other briefly before entering the towers. He realized that the pounding on his shields would end soon.

  Ogres lumbered forward carrying long scaling ladders. They marched through the fighting yaki and goblins, kicking aside any of the yaki who decided to feast on ogres. The defending archers immediately aimed for the ogres instead of the smaller creatures. While the ogres were much easier to hit, a single arrow was seldom sufficient to halt their approach. Scaling ladders eventually reached the wall. The ogres held the ladders while goblins raced up them.

  Movement caught Fredrik's eye. He turned in time to see Niki swoon from her magical duties. He swiftly reached out and caught her, easing her limp body to the ground. As he rose, he noticed that the yaki had stopped attacking the goblins. Several small fights continued, but Fredrik knew that the enchantment was done with. Still, he was impressed with Niki's abilities.

  When Niki's enchantment died, so did the massive number of fireballs directed towards his shields. Fredrik sighed with relief as the pounding eased. Shouting from the next crenel caught his attention. Fredrik looked over and saw two elves trying to push a scaling ladder away from the wall. The goblins continued to climb the ladder as an ogre held the base firmly. A group of archers quickly formed behind the elves to kill the goblins as they reached the top of the ladder.

  "Forget the ladder," shouted a dwarf. "Use your bows to kill the goblins."

  The elves immediately let go of the ladder and moved aside. They angled their shots downward and started killing the goblins that were trying to ascend the ladder. Fredrik recognized the dwarf, Zemo, as he let out a battle cry and charged the scaling ladder. Zemo's hands gripped the top of the ladder. His powerful legs pushed off the crenel, driving the ladder and the dwarf away from the wall. The ogre at the bottom of the ladder tried to hold it fast, but the momentum of the dwarf was too overpowering. Goblins fell from the ladder, some of them crashing on top of the ogre at the base of the ladder. As the ogre's grip failed, Zemo and the ladder crashed into the assembled goblins below.