The fire breath did not spread out in a wide cone, but remained focused, like a giant burning lance aid right towards the fortress gates. Curved, glowing patterns lit up across the gate and the surroundings walls as the fire approached, creating a layer of mana across the wood and stone. The fire breath slamd into the gates, but the mana pulled at it, causing it to spread out over the walls, making it seem like the entire gatehouse was afla. The patterns blinked.
Back in Belissar’s Tower, Wardmaster Varilold frowned and crossed her arms.
“Those wards won’t last for long, we should withdraw.”
Duke Turuhave blinked.
“Wardmaster, you want the Silver Host to retreat without even releasing a single arrow? Your wards were designed to handle a true dragon, were they not? Surely they can handle this?”
Even as Duke Turuhave spoke, the silver elves in the fortress began to retaliate. Mana filled the bows and their arms of the archers on the walls, letting them shoot arrows with far greater range and accuracy than should have been possible. And yet, though their aim was true, their arrows failed to pierce the spell-dragon surrounding their attacker.
Wardmaster Varilold shook her head.
“I could spend years building a ward network capable of repelling a true dragon. I only had days for these, I only intended them to buy ti. That mortal is hitting them with mana on par with a true dragon…and he still has one of those in the wings too. If we wait for him to break the wards, we will take casualties.”
The tal fittings on the fortress gates began to glow and the smoke rose from the wooden doors. The ward patterns over the gates started flickering. The silver elves on the walls shouted down at those in the courtyard, who responded by commanding the golems by the wooden contraptions. The golems pulled levers and the contraptions began launching warded boulders up over the walls. Likewise, the silver elves on the walls had wooden contraptions that looked like giant bows to Belissar which now launched arrows larger than spears.
Duke Turuhave frowned.
“Then…we could take the field ourselves? Maybe bring the sword saint and so of the signatories or the Circle masters? It could be a chance to defeat the enemy leader!”
Wardmaster Varilold didn’t budge.
“If this were an assault on the Tower, perhaps. But this battle isn’t important to us. We were supposed to inflict casualties, not take them, and we will if we try to confront the enemy with his full strength available to him. Now move, lest you lose warriors you cannot replace.”
Duke Turuhave frowned…but he gave the order.
In the anti, the boulders rained down…but they were weapons designed to target armies, not individuals. And since Tower Guards were hanging further back, most of them struck empty ground. The boulders then exploded, throwing dirt and wheat and rock fragnts up into the sky…but with nothing nearby, they did no harm. One managed to land near Starami, but his spell-dragon deflected the rock fragnts that flew in his direction. The big arrows from the large bow contraptions were much more precise and struck into the spell dragon…but did not penetrate through to the man inside, and the spell dragon had no blood to shed. Starami narrowed his eyes, but kept up his breath attack, even as more big arrows struck into his spell dragon.
Thanks to communer bees and communication spells, the silver elves received the order right away. Many of them frowned, but they began withdrawing in good order, the archers marching down from the walls as the foot soldiers pulled away from the gate. The golems remained until the elves had reached the external shortcut Belissar has placed in the heart of the fortress, then they, too, were ordered to withdraw.
As the golems began to pull away, the wards over the gate sputtered and failed. Without their protection, the gates resisted only a mont before they were set ablaze and blown off their hinges. The fire breath pierced into the fortress and through one of the retreating golems.
Wardmaster Varilold and Duke Turuhave watched this with a frown. The duke let out a sigh.
“You were correct, Wardmaster…but I must express that this is not good for the troops. For them to have prepared to fight and then to have retreated imdiately…it will harm their morale. An army that always flees before the enemy will soon cease to be an army at all.”
Wardmaster Varilold just nodded along.
“Yes…but it could not be helped this ti, we can’t afford to lose them in a skirmish. I didn’t think the Tower Lord would take the field personally, not before sending in his rank and file first. We miscalculated…but at the very least, now we know what the Tower Lord is personally capable of and that he may join future battles from the start. We will have to prepare to face him next ti.”
This tale has been pilfered from . If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Belissar had remained silent for the most part, but at this point he decided to speak up.
“Do you have a plan to deal with him? I…would rather not send the bee army against that…”
So of the clairvoyance wards had failed when the gate was broken, but there was still one observing the gate from inside the courtyard. The wooden doors had burnt to ash, the stone of the gatehouse that used to surround them was now glowing bright from the heat, the ground itself was scorched and smoking. The stone golem that had been caught was now just a pile of partially lted rocks lying motionless on the ground.
Wardmaster Varilold gave him a reassuring smile.
“Yes, I have so ideas. Do not fear, Tower Keeper. We retreated now because the fort was aningless to us and not worth risking lives. But should he assault your Tower personally…we will unveil the strength we withheld today.”
Starami blinked for a mont as he stared at the fortress in the distance, its gates now gone. He…had not expected things to go this well, if he was honest.
He had chosen to assault the fortress personally both for his army and for himself. He had not missed that his Tower Guards’ morale was dropping due to the failed assaults and the increasing intervention of the gods, they were due for a demonstration of his might. The God of Dragons had not fully withdrawn his blessing despite the atonent mission, so Starami also intended to persuade the troops that their patron was still behind them…or, at least, not directly opposing them like the other gods were. And that was the other key reason…Starami could not withdraw unless he was beaten power for power. The pride of a dragon demanded as much, neither his god nor his guard would respect him if he fled without fighting personally.
So, he would unleash his full might and remind his subordinates why they served him, why even a true dragon obeyed him. And, if the fey warded off even his own might as he feared…then he would have no choice but accept that he had been defeated. He would have to face the consequences of his failures when he returned, but at least he could bring warning of the might of the fey. Perhaps he could even bla their intervention for his failure to contain General Rippotis…in fact, maybe High Councilors Konilias and Stadvolous could even use that intervention to accuse General Rippotis of being entranced by the fey!
If that happened, he would have handed his superiors another weapon to convince the rest of the Conclave of the necessity of their actions and a justification to remove General Rippotis from power. Then they could rally the rest of the Conclave behind them for a war against the fey, securing their authority in the na of the greater good. And as for Lord Starami…having been the one to discover the truth and sound the alarm, he could not then be punished. He would, at the very least, retain his present position and his Tower…though the gods’ anger would still need to be resolved.
Starami thus went into this battle with a glimr of hope. All he had to do was unleash his might and then survive the fey’s retaliation!
Instead, his attack broke through the fey’s magic and the fortress gates. The fey did not retaliate, instead only resisting for a few monts before fleeing.
“My lord?”
Starami snapped out of his surprise. He turned, but did not address the Tower Guard who had spoken. Instead, he looked up at his dragon, the great symbol of his might.
“Burn it to the ground.”
The true dragon roared and then flew over the castle and unleashed its fire down upon it. It…was flying at a sowhat leisurely pace, Starami thought, but the fey did not retaliate against it so he let it be. He gave orders to the Tower Guard to keep an eye out for fey and then to dismantle what was left of the fortress, then returned to his thoughts as Ground mages gathered to set up a destruction ritual.
The fey…had not defeated his power. Instead, he had broken their magic and they fled from the field, as they had when his true dragon flew overhead.
Starami reevaluated the recent events in light of this. After the defeat of his elites, he had begun to wonder if the fey outmatched him all along and were rely toying with him. But after today…was that truly the case? Or was there hope that they truly did fear him? That they refused to give battle because his army was powerful and that they relied on harassnt because they were scared to face his forces openly? That they needed the defenses of their Tower to stop him and that his elites may have co closer than it appeared to breaking through?
Were the fey still holding back for so reason…or was this truly the extent of their strength? The real battle was in the Tower so perhaps the fey didn’t intend to commit much here…but then, why did they build and garrison a fort in the first place? The forces deployed on the walls, the arrows and enchanted boulders they retaliated with…it sure seed like the fey had intended to fight…up until he attacked.
What was the truth, Starami could not say…but one thing was clear. If the fey either couldn’t or wouldn’t face him out here, then he could continue the siege. He had to continue the siege. He had not been defeated power for power yet, the fey had not proven powerful enough to have swayed General Rippotis yet.
And…there might yet be hope for victory over them. His Tower Guard once again looked at him with respect and fear…and perhaps the fey did as well.
But for now, Starami would have to rest. He had spent a good portion of his mana on his attack as well as blocking the fey’s arrows, it would take him a long ti to recover this far away from his Tower. He may not have used so much had he known the fey were not going to seriously resist him, much less defeat him. Once again, he found himself craving the ad from that village where this all started. It even had traces of mana in it, so would have been perfect after such an exertion. But alas, it was all gone now, never to be found again. Though…with all the bees involved with this Tower, perhaps the fey had ad makers of their own…if he could capture them…
Starami decided he would put a bit more thought into how he might break this Tower’s defenses…
User Comments
0 comments from readers