Demonic Knight, part 13

Elysia watched the clouds overhead, racing across the sky like a mass that twisted and undulated in a strong wind. The color of the forest had changed from a light green to a darker, more ominous hue; she seemed as if the trees, like everything else, were waiting.

She was standing on the parapet at the top of the wooden wall, and she was looking across the fields, straining to catch any sign of movement in the undergrowth. By her calculations, it was the end of the afternoon. Next to her was Frey, who was looking at his sword with disinterest. Every ten paces along the wall there was an archer, one of the woodcutters, men who could hit an ox's eye from two hundred paces, and measuring the distance between them and the line of trees, Elysia realized. realized that this was a slaughterhouse. Any attackers would get bogged down in the plowed fields and be easy targets for archers.

She tried to let that thought reassure her, but she couldn't. Night in the woods was not like night on well-lit city thoroughfares, and a man six paces away became a blur. After dark, only the moon provided any light, and the clouds kept it hidden.

Earlier in the day, the loggers had set up a line of traps at the edge of the forest: sharp branches, bent back and tied, to be shot when someone tripped over the taut wire near the ground; holes intended for ankle-deep feet of the unwary, some filled with sharp peat-covered stakes; there were also bear traps and man traps, like steel jaws that activated when stepped on, ready to snap at any intruder. If the villagers survived the attack, they would have plenty of work to disarm their own devices. Elysia thought that perhaps the thoroughness with which they had saturated the forest with traps reflected the belief that they would not survive.

She drummed her fingers on the wall, feeling the rough touch of lichen-covered wood against her fingertips. Frey hummed to himself and ignored the irritated looks the woodcutters gave him. The waiting was always the worst, as no fight the catgirl had been involved in had been more terrible than her premonitions. Once the action started, she'd be fine; she would be afraid, but the simple concern of staying alive would occupy her mind. At the moment, however, she had nothing to do but stand there and wait while she faced the specters conjured up by her imagination.

She imagined herself hurt, with a huge beastman standing over her. She imagined herself engaged with the woman in black armor and shuddered. She remembered the butcher shop in Kleinsdorf, and terror fought the brake on her self-control. To reassure herself, she tried to remember how she felt after surviving the battle with the beastmen; but the memory was dim. De Ella He tried to picture the post-battle scene with her and De Ella's Frey as the heroes who had given courage to the soldiers and driven back the beasts; however, he found her unconvincing.

"They'll be here soon, cat girl" said Frey in a tone that seemed happy.

"That's what worries me."

♦ ♦ ♦

Nightmarish shapes appeared at the edge of the forest, and despite the dim light Elysia could make out a huge, horned figure among the trees. An arrow flew from the parapet and fell before hitting its target. "Yes, there it is." More beastly shapes became visible, and something made the ground shake. It whispered like water displaced by huge hippos moving under the surface, and at that moment a gap opened in the clouds, and the moon spread its radiance as it illuminated a nightmarish scene.

"For Lord Zark!" Frey cursed. "Check it out!"

"What?"

“There, Elysia! Look! They have a siege engine! No wonder Kleinsdorf fell."

Elysia saw the black-armoured figures surrounding a large, long-nosed machine resembling a many-barreled siege cannon. Using whips, she pushed back a mob of snarling mutants, and as she watched, she saw the contorted leader climb up to settle into a seat at the back of the machine. Other Dark warriors hurried around the machine, unfolding legs designed to anchor it to the ground. Then the leader turned a huge crank, and the machine pivoted to point at the village. The barrel was shaped after the head of a dragon, and even from this distance she could hear the screeching of the mount. Other arrows flew toward the machine, but they too fell before they found their mark, and cries of derision echoed through the forest.

“What is that, Frey? What effect will it have?”

"Damn they are! It's some kind of cannon! Now we know what happened to the Kleinsdorf fortification.”

"What can we do?"

"Any! After dark they will breach the walls and charge us. Beastmen can see at night; Although you and I can see without problems, humans cannot.

"That seems too sophisticated for the beasts."

“We are not fighting just beasts, Elysia, but the Demonic Knight and her entire entourage. They are not without intelligence, believe me, I know their kind.”

Elysia tried to calculate the number of beastmen in the forest, but she couldn't. They tried to keep out of sight, knowing that not knowing how many there were would further frighten the defenders of the fortification. Fear of the unknown was another weapon in her favor. Elysia's heart sank at her feet.

"Maybe we should make a sortie and disable the cannon," suggested catgirl.

“That is precisely what they expect. That land out there would be as good for them as it is for us.”

“Do they have bows, even though… they are beasts?”

“That doesn't matter. There are too many traps out there to feel safe, and chances are someone will fall into one of them.”

"I thought you wanted to have a heroic death."

“Elysia, if I just stand still here, she'll come looking for me. Look!"

Elysia turned her gaze to where she was pointing Frey's armored finger, and she saw the black-armored Demonic Knight, who arrived on horseback and stopped right next to the huge cannon. She too saw a horde of beastly faces peer out from under the trees, and as she watched, a veritable wave of horned creatures surged out of the forest canopy and began to form units, just out of arrow range. Somewhere in the forest, a huge drum began to beat, and was answered by a horn blast and another drum somewhere to the south. A chorus of screams and bellows filled the night, and somehow, within the rhythmic cadence of the strange words, catgirl began to perceive the meaning. It was as if the understanding had been engraved in her ancestors in ancient times, and it had only taken that event for her to wake up. She shook her head to rid herself of the auditory hallucination, but she didn't help. Regardless of what she did, she seemed to return that glimmer of understanding.

The noise rose, silence reigned for a moment, and then the din began again. Elysia's nerves grated and her stomach clenched. Looking to where the enemies were, he could see that the chant served two purposes: on the one hand, it helped to undermine the morale of the beastmen's enemies, and on the other hand, it sent the followers of the evil forces into a frenzy. . She could see them banging weapons against shields, biting the edges of their scimitars and cutting themselves. They danced like madmen, lifting their legs and then slamming their feet to the ground, as if they were crushing the skulls of their enemies under their hooves.

"I wish they'd just charge up and get this over with!" Elysia exclaimed.

“You are about to see your wish come true,” Frey replied.

The Demonic Knight raised her sword, and the horde was suddenly silent. She turned to speak to them in her bestial language, and they responded with cheers and grunts. She then turned to look at the armored figures on top of the siege engine, gesturing with her sword. One of them did a caper, then lit a fuse. After five long heartbeats, the mighty war machine spoke with a voice of thunder. There was a loud hiss, and then a section of the wall exploded near Elysia, sending shards of wood, torrents of earth, and chunks of meat flying into the air. The beastmen bellowed cheers and howled like the hordes of hell released from torment.

Elysia jumped as the cannon began to spin on her mount. She realized that there was no way those wooden walls could withstand the sorcerous power of that hideous weapon. They hadn't been built to withstand anything like that kind of attack, and perhaps the best thing for her to do was simply jump off the wall and seek shelter in the depths of the village. Frey seemed to read her mind.

“Stay where you are, cat girl. The next thing they will attack is the watchtower.”

"How can you be so sure?"

“I have a friend who is a specialist in weapon engineering, including cannons and other siege weapons; I learned a lot about this type of gun, and this one is no different from any other cannon. I can tell you the trajectory of the shots they fire.”

Elysia forced herself to stay where she was, despite the chills running down her spine; she was sure she was looking directly into the barrel of the gun. The machine spoke once more, and flames and smoke shot out of its mouth. The whistle sounded again, and one of the legs of the massive watchtower disappeared as the shot tore a hole in the palisade ahead. The tower tilted back and fell, as one of the sentinels flew from his post, waving his arms at the same time before crashing to the ground. The long desperate cry, audible even over the howls of the beasts, was cut short by the impact.

Elysia felt smoke and heard the crackle of a fire behind her, and turning her head over her shoulder she saw that one of the buildings and the remains of the tower had started to burn, although she didn't know if it was the result of fire or not. The explosion. Somewhere in the distance someone started shouting at others to bring water. Then he glanced along the wall, where what seemed a pitifully few defenders waited, bows clutched in hand, and exchanged glances with the closest one, a boy of no more than sixteen, whose countenance was dark. terror white.

Elysia cast a despairing look into the darkness, wondering how long this would go on before the defenders' morale was shattered or the population reduced to ruin.