The Song and the Serpent

A large cloud passed overhead, hiding the moon, and plunging everything into blackness. The only light in the fortress came from the the torches and braziers that sat on the walls.

Adan considered Hurst's suggestion.

If Hugo already knew we were here, he thought, and he knew what he would find when he arrived, then he already has a plan to destroy us.

Corthenu rode back up the hill as another signal horn sounded, this time on the south-eastern wall.

“Two more companies!” Kian shouted, pointing in the direction of the horn blast.

Corthenu nodded and wheeled his mount, riding back down the hill to the reserve companies.

Six more times a horn rang out along the wall and Kian sent Corthenu to order his men to aid their fellows. Torches bobbed and flickered along the walls as the Undelmans sought to scale the places where there was no barricade to stop them. Shouts and cries mingled with the clang of swords and the crash of weapons on shields.

Adan saw many torches crossing the north field and making their way back to the base of the hill.

“What is the report,” Kian asked Corthenu as he rode up the hill.

“The first of the reserve companies is returning,” Corthenu replied. “They drove the enemy off that section of wall and the fighting subdued in that place.”

Kian looked back toward the tree line. “Hugo seems to be sending them in waves, trying to wear our men down slowly, one surge at a time.”

“Every time we send the reserve companies,“ Corthenu said, “we seem able to push the enemy back with little casualties.”

“This can’t go on indefinitely,” Hurst commented. “They can do this much longer than we can.”

“We don’t have a choice otherwise,” Kian replied. “If you have any better suggestions, I’m all ears.”

The group remained silent for a moment.

“Release!” Arfon bellowed, and his men shot another stone into the air over the wall.

“That can’t be the whole of Hugo’s plan,” Adan said.

The others looked at him with questioning glances.

”Why not?” Kian asked.

“You saw Farel,” Adan replied. “Hugo decimated the place with nothing left. But now he comes to our little fortress and he has to slowly wear us down with waves of warriors? That doesn’t seem right, especially if he already knew we were here.“

“Then what is he doing?” Kian asked.

Adan’s brow furrowed and he looked around the wall, wondering how he would try to take the city if he was Hugo.

He’s distracting us from something, Adan thought. That much is obvious. Keep our men busy while he finds some other advantage.

”If I knew how Hugo destroyed Farel, then I could probably guess,” Adan said. “But we have no way of knowing how he burned the whole city. But I do know that he’s distracting us.”

Those listening continued to watch the walls, looking in all directions for inspiration.

”The barricades,” Corthenu said, gazing at the nearest part of the wall.

Kian looked at him. “What?”

”The barricades, we can’t see them,” Corthenu said, pointing to the wall. “We have archers above the barricade, but if Hugo wanted to get close to the wall without being seen, a few men could climb over the logs and brush and pick their way through the pits without being seen.”

”And if Hugo has some way of using fire against us,” Hurst cut in, “that would be the easiest way to get up against the wall.“

Kian looked around at the eight sections of crumbing wall where the barricades were erected.

“We need to find a way to illuminate between the barricades and the walls,” He said. “All of you, take torches to the sections where the walls are crumbling. Throw enough torches for the archers to see near the wall. Have the archers help you. There are eight sections. If each of you do two, then you will have it done in moments. Go!”

Hammund, Hurst, and Corthenu immediately rode down the hill toward the different sections.

“I’ll take the furthest two,”Corthenu shouted as they left.

Adan hesitated, not wanting to leave Kians side. He glanced at his friend.

Kian nodded, guessing the cause of Adan’s hesitation. “I am well protected with a Vankull Warrior nearby.” He gestured to Arfon, who was about to launch another stone.

Adan nodded and dug his heels into Havoc’s flanks.

The other three had reached the base of the hill, and Corthenu was already well on his way to the northern sections of the wall. A pile of unused torches lay on the ground near one of the reserve companies, waiting to be used by the warriors on the wall. The Othelli leader had already handed Hurst and Hammund half a dozen each.

“I’ll take the closest two sections!” Adan said, not wanting to leave Kian’s side for too long.

“And I’ll check the spots on the east wall,” Hammund said. “Hurst, you take the last two on the north side of the gate.

Hurst nodded and galloped away.

Adan took his bundle of torches and rode west, around the base of the hill, passing between the grassy knoll and the water of the small lake, opposite the Enys Islanders camp. The first section of crumbling wall sat due west of the hill, less than three-hundred paces away from where Kian sat.

The wall in that place was less than half its original height. What had once been a defensive parapet was now deteriorated and tumbled away, worn by time and the elements until a gaping valley appeared in the stone boundary, lower than the parapet, but still too high for a man to easily scale. Archers stood on either side of the gap, firing arrows over the barricade beyond. No one could stand inside the gap.

There was no way for Adan to climb to the opening, so he rode for a staircase that lay beyond. Flights of stone steps ran upward, parallel to the walls around the entire fortress, giving easy access to the top from the inside. Adan could hear the sound of battle above him as he rode to the nearest staircase and quickly ascended.

Torches illuminated the Estan warriors holding them only a dozen paces away, all gathered in one spot on the wall, fighting for their lives. Adan couldn’t see any Undelmans through the press of men, but he could hear them shouting and bellowing.

Adan pushed through the throng, trying to move around the group of men. The parapet was guarded by waist high walls of stone on either side to prevent men from falling to their deaths, but Adan still moved with care as he circumvented the fighting.

“Hold them back!” One of the Othelli captains was shouting to his men. “Get them off our walls!”

Adan fought his way through the Estans until he broke free of the crowded spot and made for the break in the wall.

Seven archers stood near the gap, firing into the coming army.

“Quick!” Adan shouted as he approached. “I need fire.”

Adan threw the torches at the archer’s feet and picked one up.

The archers gave Adan puzzled glances, but one of them, a young man with curly blond hair, jumped forward. Adan recognized the young man’s long brown robe.

“What’s going on?” Laxander asked as he dropped a bow and snatched a lit torch leaning against the parapet. He held the firebrand to Adan’s, igniting the cloth at the end.

“Lord Kian has ordered that we find some way to illuminate the space in between the wall and the barricades,” Adan explained as he lit another of the torches he had brought.

An arrow passed by Adan’s head. He felt the wind on his cheek as it missed him. He fought the instinct to dive behind the wall and hide from whoever had fired at him, instead handing the lit torches to the waiting archers.

“Once they’re fully lit, throw them or drop them near the barricade,” Adan explained, holding the first torch aloft over the wall.

Adan’s skin crawled at the thought of arrows flying toward him from the Undelman archers, but he held his ground, waiting for the torch to fully ignite before tossing it into the black space between the barricade and the wall.

The firebrand fell end over end, the flame sputtering and nearly going out, before landing inside one of the pits they had dug and vanishing from sight. The orange light flickered to life inside the pit, casting a faint glow from the bottom. The glow illuminated he dark silhouette of a man standing next to the pit. The warrior scurried out of sight, moving toward the low point in the wall.

Corthenu was right! Adan thought. They are trying to get to the low points in the wall.

“Quick!” He shouted. “Get more light down there!”

Laxander threw his torch and the other archers followed his example. Two torches went out as they sailed through the air, losing their flame and dying before they hit the ground. Two more torches fell on top of the barricade and lay among the brush and twigs piled atop the structures.

Adan held the last torch he had brought, watching as the others were wasted. He could still see nothing by the light of the three torches that had kept their fire, and he wondered where he should throw the final brand.

After a moment, he gently tossed the torch to the ground, aiming for the dark spot where the crumbling wall was lowest.

“Torch!” someone shouted outside the wall.

Before Adan’s brand could reach the ground, it was snatched out of the air.

Adan caught a glimpse of six warriors gathered against the base of the wall, before whoever had caught the torch threw it to the ground and stomped on it, extinguishing its flame. But before the light of the torch disapeared, Adan caught sight of something else, something the Undelmans clearly didn’t want him to see: Four large barrels stacked against the wall.

Adan felt his skin crawl. An image of Farel, once a proud city of Esta, transformed into a smoking crater flashed into Adan’s mind.

I knew it! Adan thought. Hugo’s trying to do the same to us!

Whatever these barrels contained it would be the end of New Esta.

“Shoot there!” Adan shouted, pointing to the spot.

The other archers immediately began firing into the blackness. Cries of pain and alarm rang out as the Undelmans were hit.

Adan cast about for another torch, but the only light left came from the one brand that Laxander had used to light the other torches.

“Give me that torch,” Adan said, gesturing to it.

Laxander handed it to him without hesitation.

Adan turned back toward the low point in the wall and hesitated.

If Adan threw that torch, the archers would have nothing to see by. Adan didn’t have time to ride all the way back to the hill and bring another bundle. Besides, what good would it do? The Undelmans below would only continued to stamp out any light that he threw down at them.

Adan lowered the torch and eyed the edge of the battlements were the wall had crumbled away. Uneven rocks and loose stones led down a steep incline, like a small valley atop the wall. Adan couldn’t see the bottom of the crumbling valley by the light of his little fire, but the short slope looked very steep.

There’s nothing else I can do, he told himself.

“Stop firing!” Adan said, holding up a hand.

The archers ceased.

“What is it?” Laxander asked, coming to Adan’s side.

Adan shook his head. “I’m going to regret this.”

Then stepped into the crumbling section of the wall and began to clamber down.

“Careful!” Laxander said when he realized what Adan was doing.

Adan climbed down into the little valley, using the light of torch to find his footing. He slipped twice, but managed to stop himself from sliding out of control.

“Quickl!” Adan heard the voice of an Undelman warrior below him shout.

Once he reached the bottom of the valley, Adan could hear the sound of the Undelman warriors grunting and groaning beneath him, not ten paces away.

At that moment, the cloud that had hidden the moon passed over them. Silver light filtered down and Adan saw the glint of metal on spike helmets beneath him.

Three warriors were straining to place a fifth barrel next to the other four. The other three warriors lay on the ground around them pierced by the archer’s arrows. Adan looked up and saw another two warriors twenty paces from the wall, hauling a sixth barrel between them and picking their way through the pits.

Adan knew immediately what he had to do.

He drew his scimitar and dropped his torch near the other warriors, who had been watching him descend the wall.

“Torch!” An Undelman shouted, and the nearest warrior reached out and caught the brand midair.

At that moment, Adan leapt off the wall, jumping over the barrels and landing on top of the warrior who had caught his torch. The man grunted as Adan crushed him to the ground. Adan rolled forward off the warrior, dispelling his momentum, and coming up in a crouched position.

The two nearest Undelmans cursed and drew their swords. They both carried two handed scimitars with thickened blades meant for hacking and slashing.

An arrow from above pierced the first man in the chest before he could step toward Adan. The second warrior rushed at him, raising his blade.

Adan stood and sidestepped the downward slash that was meant or his head. He tried to slice at the warrior’s exposed armpit, but the warrior pulled away at the last second and brought his blade up to slide slash at Adan. Adan was forced to block the blow and the force of the warrior’s swing knocked him off balance. He tumbled backwards, trying not to trip. The warrior pressed his advantage, swinging his large blade in another downward stroke.

Adan couldn’t sidestep again with his footing compromised, so he deflected the blow, angling his scimitar so that the Undelman’s blade slid down his, away from him.

The warrior responded with lightning speed, bring another side slash from Adan’s left.

This time, Adan ducked the powerful swing and lashed out at the warrior’s exposed legs, cutting into the side Undelman’s foreleg.

The man jerked back with a cry of pain, limping on his injured leg.

He eyed Adan for a half second through the slit in his face cloth, then he glanced at Adan’s torch, which lay sputtering on the ground nearby.

”For Sithril,” the man said through his mask, snatching the torch and leaping toward the barrels.