A Paladin's War Ch. 06

With the Troll out of action for the moment, she dashed toward the other and buried Shatter into its chest, folding it in half around the force of her swing. Hurriedly, she left Shatter embedded in the Troll as it fell and drew her dagger to remove its head before it could begin healing. Noah dismounted and raced up the hill to do the other one. Edda watched in horror at the butchery, but when Noah explained, she nodded, though her expression did not lessen much.

"Scouting party," Noah said between breaths. He was wincing as he panted; removing a Troll's head was not easy work, and he was injured, to boot. "There will be more."

"We will try to avoid them," Elaina replied as she kicked her Troll's head free to roll down the hill. It was always best to separate the severed heads from the bodies, just in case. Willow snorted as it came to rest by her hooves. The horse shot Elaina an almost annoyed look, tossing her white head irritably. "If we can."

"I would not mind killing a few more," he grunted in response as he kicked the other head free, along the hill rather than down it, probably to spare his sister any more discomfort.

"I am sure you will get your chance," Elaina told him. "We should be moving on. Night will fall, soon, and we still have a way to go." Suiting her own words, she pulled Shatter free and shook the bloody flesh from the spikes. She would give the weapon a more thorough cleaning later. "Are you well, Edda?" she asked the girl as she swung into the saddle. Dancer appeared to be under control again, though her eyes were still rolling, her nostrils flaring wildly, probably at the scent of Troll and Goblin.

"I am alright," Edda replied in a shaky voice. She got off Dancer briefly to retrieve her bow, shuddering when she looked at the Troll's head. The way it had landed, it appeared to be looking at her, its mouth frozen in a pained howl. "I'm sorry I couldn't help. I just... froze."

"It happens, the first few times," Elaina said gently. "Never mind it. We'll watch over you." The girl hardly seemed mollified by those words, but she nodded nonetheless, as if she understood. "Noah? Are you ready?" With a tight nod, Noah took the lead once again, taking them west and south.

*

Burin paced back and forth in his large tent, half of which was his private quarters, the other half the command room, where the big round table stood covered in maps and markers and figurines. He knew anger showed openly on his face, but he did not care. His general and three captains - all armoured but for the helmets tucked beneath their arms - stood on the opposite side of the table from him, watching him warily. His temper was famous, or perhaps infamous, among his people, and he was using that fact to full effect, today.

Except for the full-faced helmet that hung on the armour rack nearby, Burin was also fully armoured, prepared to ride out at any moment. That moment was coming soon, he was sure. "Where in the Hells is she?" He bellowed for the tenth time since the others had arrived. He knew the question would get him nothing more than blank faces and stammered claims that they were working on finding the Paladin and the hunter, but he asked again, regardless. Maddeningly, Elaina had still not yet returned from the Hills of Gaela, leaving an army of ninety-thousand Dwarves sitting on their hands just south of Vesovar.

"She said she would be here, Highness," Finya said firmly, but respectfully. "And she will. I would not believe she would abandon us." The only one to offer any sort of response this time, Finya was displaying more stones than her fellow male captains and her general. Through his frustration, Burin made a note of that, but rising opinion of the woman or no, he still wanted to snap her nose off.

"We do not need her, Highness," Fathvir said again, sticking to his position like a stout line of drengr pikes before a downhill charge. "My scouts say we have them outnumbered ten to one. We may take some losses, but we will have the day." He was a good captain, Fathvir, loyal and brave and well-versed in tactics, but he could not be called creative. He also possessed an exuberance for battle that bordered on zeal. Even now, an eager light shone in his blue eyes, and his sandstone-coloured beard - a rare shade, for a Dwarf - almost bristled with his excitement. A good captain, though, when he was kept in line.

Baelin shifted his feet, and the twist to his mouth told Burin the general wanted to say something. Of them all, Burin trusted Baelin the most. His beard was mostly white and his face lined with age, but his grey eyes were sharp, his back straight. Baelin had served Burin's father, and his grandfather before. He had seen more war than perhaps any Dwarf should in one lifetime, even for a soldier.

When Burin prompted Baelin to speak, he did so carefully. Not a man to err in haste, Baelin. "Highness," he began in a voice somewhat less robust than it once was - his long years had thinned the timbre somewhat, but Burin had still heard him tear strips off his captains with it - "I believe the Paladin intended the best, but we must consider the possibility that she has fallen, or other matters have taken her attention away from us."

Burin grimaced. It was the simple truth, but he hadn't wanted to hear it. Elaina was magnificent; strong, brave and beautiful. Everything the stories said - the real stories, not the ones the Heralds put about - but it was now nightfall of the day she said she would come, and she was not to be seen anywhere, not even by the farthest scouts. He hoped she had not fallen; that would truly be a tragedy.

Eyeing Baelin, Burin found himself nodding reluctantly. "You are right, my old friend," he said softly. "As usual. I have a duty to my people, do I not?" It was not a question.

"I would not ask you to break your word, Highness," Baelin added. "So I will not suggest we circle Vesovar and chase the main force north." Clever, that. Giving Burin the window to do exactly that without asking him directly. He would not take it, but he found himself wanting to smile. Baelin was no less crafty here than he was on the battlefield. "Which leaves us with clearing the city as you promised as quickly as we can before giving chase. I will give the orders at once, with your leave, Highness."

Burin took a deep breath and opened his mouth to give his assent.

*

Elaina sat Willow's saddle at the edge of the last real stand of trees between herself and Vesovar, blinking the rain out of her eyes. The intermittent showers had become steady, driving rain some time ago, and showed no sign of abating. Beside her, Noah sat atop his grey like a stone, unmoving, giving the impression he was his namesake; Stoneman. Together, they peered south toward the city, the high walls lost in the night and the rain. There were no fires lit in the towers, but that was no surprise.

The day had not gone as hoped; three more bands of darkspawn had hampered their journey, costing precious time and energy to dispatch. Elaina would not have believed there were so many left roaming the countryside had she not seen them herself. She fingered a tear in her rain-soaked shirt beneath her cloak, along her ribs. A Goblin arrow had grazed her, there. A few inches up and to the right, and it would have been a killing shot, even for an arohim.

They had left Edda in a small hollow a few hundred paces back with instructions to make for the road and head south as soon as she felt the signal. It was dangerous but bringing her with them on this last part would be much more so.

This was the part where she was supposed to fulfil her role in the plan made with Burin; draw the darkspawn out of the city and into the open where the Dwarves would charge them and destroy them all, but by now, Burin would be certain she was not coming, or at least close to making that conclusion. She was certain Burin would attack whether Elaina played her part or not. At least this way, she could try to mitigate some casualties if it wasn't too late. Please, Aros, let it be not too late.

Noah's voice averted her attention for a moment. "What are we waiting for?" He sounded croaky, and through the melda he felt exhausted. His body was a mass of hurts; he had not come through the fighting today unscathed. She was amazed he was still in his saddle.

Elaina was not sure how to answer his question. When she'd suggested she draw out the enemy, she had not envisioned doing it in the dark, in pouring rain, while watching over an injured meldin who still seemed bent on throwing himself in front of the first spear cast at him. Four times today, she had tried making him see sense, and each time he had told her what she wanted to hear, but she had felt no change in his feelings. As far as Noah bloody Stoneman was concerned, if he died tonight, so be it.

I will find a way to make you see sense, you idiot of a man. There was no heat in the thought - not really - just a determination to see him survive.

For the first time tonight, lightning flashed in the sky, the bolt lost in the thick clouds. The sudden, momentary brightness set her into motion. "Are you ready to ride, meldin?"

In answer, Noah dug his heels into the grey's ribs, the horse leaping forward. Bloody man! Elaina cursed silently as she raced after him. They covered distance quickly, charging at the walls, the horses' hooves throwing up chunks of sod. Not yet, she told herself, laying low on Willow's neck. Soon... All too quickly, the walls of Vesovar loomed high above her, made all the more sudden by the way they appeared so quickly in the darkness.

Now. Turning Willow west after Noah, she opened her vala as far as it would go, gasping as hot light filled her and her mind was open to every detail of the area around her, out to about a mile. Oh, Gods! Her heart ached to feel the city so. Buildings collapsed where they'd burned before the rain, corpses by the thousands piled high in the streets. A gaping hole in the south wall. They must have come in, there. Darkspawn in numbers that chilled her spine still occupied the city, as one turning to face her direction as they felt her light. She thought she could hear their screams, even over the rain and the horses. "Come and get me!" She roared aloud. "If you dare!"

Further away to the south, the Dwarves were poised, ready to march on the city. Not yet, Burin. I'm coming! On she rode, Willow matching Noah's grey stride for stride.

The hole in the ground was so small she didn't sense it until Noah was riding over it. His horse's front leg snapped audibly as it caught in the hole, and the poor creature's scream turned her stomach. She cried out as Noah was launched over the horse's head. He landed heavily, tumbling over and over until he came to rest in the mud, face-down.

"Noah!" She called frantically as she threw herself from the saddle and ran to kneel beside him. She turned him over quickly to get his face out of the mud. His eyes were closed, but she could feel his heart beating, and his neck was intact, thankfully unbroken from the fall. He had knocked his head on something, though. "You bloody fool!" She spat, picking up his head and putting it in her lap. "You could have killed yourself!"

Her vala was still blazing, she knew, a beacon for the darkspawn, but she didn't care. If this was how it ended, then so be it. "Looks like you're getting your wish, after all," she told her meldin as she wiped mud off his face. She could feel the monsters coming, flowing through the streets on the other side of the wall like a dark tide, spilling out of the nearest gates. They would be here in moments. Had she a little more time, she might have been able to carry Noah away to safety, but even she couldn't move that fast, not with a two-hundred-pound burden on her back.

The screams of Noah's horse made her grimace. The poor creature was suffering. Willow watched the mare nervously, her fine hooves dancing in the mud. Setting Noah's head down gently, she moved quickly, darting to Willow and pulling Shatter free before slapping her on the rump and sending her racing off into the night. There was no place for her in what was coming. With luck, she would outrun the razorbacks.

One quick, merciful strike to Noah's mare ended her screams, and her pain. Strangely, the night now sounded too quiet despite the drumming rain and the distant hooting and roaring of the darkspawn, growing ever closer. She couldn't explain the sudden sense of peace that overcame her as she gently picked up Noah and carried him to the city wall, laying him to rest against it before she turned her back on him and planted her feet, ready to defend him until she could no longer.

He mumbled something intelligible but failed to rouse himself from unconsciousness. Rest now, my meldin. I will take it from here. As the first creatures approached, monstrous shapes ranging from waist-high to twice as tall as she, she realised she was laughing. I did my best, Aran, but it was not enough. It was all she could do not to laugh until she cried.

*

Sitting his saddle on a rocky outcrop that looked down on Vesovar - not that you could see the city from this far away, even if you discounted the rain - Burin stared north, the direction he had just sent twenty thousand drengr. Almost a quarter of his force, and more poised to join as soon as word came back of conditions. Long ranks of Dwarves waited in columns stretching along beside the outcrop, facing the city. Rain pinged off pauldrons and helms and breastplates, the metallic ringing filling the air.

Burin prayed to the Stonelord that he had made the right decision. Fighting was messy all the time, but in the dark and the rain, it was much worse.

The only consolation was that Elaina's... Well, he wasn't sure what to call it, but her power had appeared not half an hour gone, pulling every eye in the army to the city, and hopefully pulling every eye in the city to herself. Shortly after, Burin had ordered the first charge. He waited impatiently, for Elaina had still not returned, so far as he was aware.

"Sire!"

Burin looked down from his horse to see Lombi standing by his stirrup, helmet tucked under an arm, blinking up at him through the rain that had only seemed to get heavier as the night wore on. By the look on the fellow's face, he had something urgent to say.

"Yes, Lombi? Speak."

"The Paladin Elaina is at Vesovar! She is pinned outside the western wall of the city and cannot get free!"

Cursing, Burin shouted orders to the captain below, who happened to be Finya, telling her off to take another quarter of the force to the western wall. She did so at once, bellowing at the ranks of drengr who quickly and efficiently began splitting into smaller groups. Gathering his reins, he wheeled his black around and off the outcrop, his guard following.

When Finya eyed him, he simply said, "I will be attending this matter personally." She nodded in understanding and rode off at the head of a column of mounted lances, leading them down the gentle slope.

His guard around him, Burin booted his horse forward to match their pace, which picked up to a trot, then a gallop, as if all riders and horses were of a single mind.

Hold fast, Paladin, he urged silently. We come.

*

Elaina roared defiance as she fought, swinging Shatter and destroying whatever the spiked mace hit. Bodies lay strewn in an arc before her, mangled and twisted where they lay. Some of them looked like empty bags of skin in the mud, as if their bones had simply turned to dust, which wasn't far from the truth in some cases. Shatter was earning her name this night.

The weapon hummed sharply in her hand, vibrating as she sought the next target. Elaina kept her back to Noah, darting and leaping this way and that, letting no darkspawn come within two paces of him. If this was the night she left this plane, she would bloody well make them work for it!

Her shirt was torn and bloodied, though her wounds were not serious. The few scratches she'd received thus far had mingled with sweat and rain, however, and quickly turned the white shirt red. It was hanging open down the back where a Troll had briefly caught her with a clumsy grab, but so far it was not hampering her movements.

A Gnoll stepped forward and attacked with a nasty spear thrust aimed for her belly. She slid around the spear and crushed a knee, striking the dog-faced beast in the throat with folded knuckles as it fell, smashing its windpipe. A razorback barrelled forward, then, no doubt to avenge its master. Elaina was still turning to meet it when a Goblin leaped off the shoulders of another and clung to her back. Another hurtled out of the darkness and latched onto the arm holding Shatter, leaving her only enough time to grab a tusk with one hand as the giant pig tossed its head down and forward, trying to gore her.

She pushed away from the pig as she held its tusk fast, her boots sliding in the mud as she was forced back. The Goblin was tearing at her shirt as it tried to pull her to the ground. It was not strong enough on its own, but she sensed others charging in, ready to pounce on her. Enough of them together would be able to get her down, and then she would be in trouble.

With a cry of rage, she pulled on her vala and pushed the razorback's head to the side before pivoting forward, still holding the tusk. The beast snapped and roared as it was forced away, and then back toward her. Her back now facing its head, she let go the tusk and threw herself backwards, impaling the Goblin on her back on the tusk. Twisting her body away, she grabbed the Goblin on her arm, grimacing at the feel of its slimy skin as she squeezed it at the base of the neck until she felt the snap.

Her shirt now ruined, she shrugged it off as the next foes came on, staring them all down grimly.

The bodies piled higher around her, and yet they kept coming.

*

Burin galloped at the head of the column, his horse level with captain Finya's as they streaked through the night across trampled fields of corn and wheat and barley. The occasional lightning flash lit the sky in a purple-white hue that jarred the eye. In those flashes, the walls of Vesovar loomed high in the night to their right as they circled the city in their search for Elaina. He could sense her power in the strange way that happened around arohim; a warmth and comfort, a strength and certainty that grew stronger as they drew closer. He almost thought he could point right to her.

"Watch out!" Finya called as they came upon a small band of Goblins, maybe a dozen of them coming from the city and heading right for the column. They halted, wide eyed as they saw the riders coming, but Burin only spurred his stallion on, riding over the top of them. It would take more than a few Goblins to slow him down, this night.

I'm coming, Elaina. I will see my debt repaid. Another hundred paces or so brought Burin to his quarry; darkspawn by the thousands milling about the city wall, unorganised and frantic as they pressed inward. Elaina would be in there, somewhere, between them and the wall.

Finya eyed him, and he gave a quick nod. In one quick, practised motion, Finya raised her hand and flung it forward, signalling her drengr to charge. They did so, twenty-thousand Dwarves roaring as they swept over the fields and into the darkspawn, causing the arc the foul creatures formed to bulge outward and shatter.

Burin rode with his men, screaming as his axe rose and fell, the blade each time coming away wet and darkly red before descending again.