Chapter Nine - Attack
Marly quickly came to the window in response to the frantic banging, flinging it open and staring at the panic stricken girl standing below her. 'Kiri, what is it? What's wrong?'
Kiri sobbed, 'There's things, they came over the wall, they killed the guards, all of them!' She glanced back towards the courtyard, her eyes wide with fear.
'Things?' Marly reached down and hauled Kiri up and into the room. 'What kind of things?'
They're...' Kiri was shaking. 'They're all dark, and shadowy. And their eyes glow red!'
Marly's face hardened. 'Sounds like some sort of undead. Though they could be just assassins under scary illusions.'
Kiri started to shake her head, then froze, like a rabbit beneath a hawk.
Marly had been turning for the door. 'What is it?' she demanded urgently, 'Kiri?' Then she, too, could hear it. A deep thrumm, as something huge beat the air above them. Then came a CRACK! and a loud, low rumble, like a building collapsing. The whole hall seemed to vibrate with it.
'Shut the window!' Marly yelled, then ran for the corridor, where she bellowed with surprising volume, 'UP AND ARM! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!'
She shot back into the room, and started snatching up her armour, strapping on her helm and then shaking on the chainmail as if it were a linen shirt. 'There should be alarms, but if all the guards are dead... Kiri, can you see anything?'
Kiri turned from where she stood at the closed window. 'No, there's just...' She stopped, wincing, as a loud wailing suddenly echoed through the room.
'There's the alarm!' Marly shouted over the noise. 'Someone's still alive out there!' She belted on her swords, and reached for her shield.
Kiri flinched back from the window as a sudden explosion of fire flared somewhere outside for a brief moment. The alarms ceased abruptly.
Marly froze. 'Crap,' she swore softly, then spun for the door. 'Stay here!' she shouted over her shoulder, 'Barricade the door!'
'But,' Kiri said weakly, as Marly disappeared into the corridor, 'I can fight.' But, truthfully, she didn't feel much like a warrior.
More doors crashed open, as the men-at-arms stumbled sleepily from their rooms. 'What's going on?' one man asked, yawning.
'Probably just a drill,' another soldier replied, buckling his sword belt.
Their demeanour changed rapidly, as Marly's yell came from further down the hall, 'Undead in the courtyard!' The men swore, and ran.
Kiri turned back to the window, but she could see very little. Something was burning, she could tell that much. Smoke was rising into the air, lit red by flames somewhere below, out of sight. Suddenly, something reared up in front of the window and Kiri lurched backwards, letting out a tiny squeak of fright. This thing was not shadowy, but more human, except with brown, leprous skin, and a mouth full of pointed teeth.
It slammed a large clawed hand against the window, and Kiri jumped back further. The window was not made of glass, though, but something much stronger, and it didn't break. The creature tried five more times, even hurling its whole body at the window, before it gave up and sloped off into the darkness.
Kiri stared after it, her heart thumping. Marly was out there, fighting those things. She couldn't stay safe in here, while Marly was in danger. What had all her sword training been for, if she just cowered at the sight of monsters? She turned, and headed for the door.
She stopped as she saw the training swords, still lying on the table. Well, they'd be better than nothing. They didn't have sharp edges, but Kiri knew from experience that they could deliver a brutal thump.
She pulled up her tunic so that she could stick both the short swords into her belt, then picked up one of the long swords. She was better with the short swords, but the long sword would give her more reach. She wanted to keep those things as far away as possible.
When she got to the men-at-arms' dining hall, Kiri could hear shouts, screams, and strange eerie shrieks, but she could see nothing. The light from the lanterns that lit the hall reflected off the windows, preventing her from seeing what was happening outside.
Her heart beat painfully, but she wouldn't let fear stop her. She pulled open the door, wincing a little as the noise abruptly became much louder. She stepped outside, and stopped, staring in shock at the scene lit by burning buildings.
The gatehouses at each end of the courtyard had collapsed, their lights extinguished. A vast horde of monstrous creatures poured over the rubble of the main gate to flow around, and over, the struggling groups of soldiers. There was no sign of Marly in that brawling mass. More creatures poured into the inner courtyard, and, overhead, a gigantic dark shape circled.
A blast of fire shot from the flying creature's mouth, to strike somewhere in the inner courtyards. In the wash of light, Kiri could identify the monster. A dragon! But skeletal, with tattered flesh hanging from its bones. It was huge, with a wingspan over one hundred and twenty feet, though how could it fly with so many holes in its wings? Its whipping tail stretched one hundred feet from the skull, where fire burned in its eyes.
Poised upon its back, a human figure pointed a sword. A pale blue beam sprang from the blade, hitting a building with a resounding crack. A moment later, there was another rumble of falling stone.
Kiri's mouth hung open as she stared. Nothing in her training had prepared her for this, the reality of warfare. All the sparring, and the patterns she had learned, now seemed like a child's pastime, frivolous and futile.
But somewhere out in that mass Marly was battling for her life. Kiri looked around desperately for something - anything! - she could do to help.
Her eye fell on a soldier's body, fallen not three feet from the door. His lower jaw had been torn off and his chainmail was shredded. But Kiri was looking at his long sword, lying a few inches from his hand. That would be better than a wooden sword!
She dropped the training sword and reached for the steel weapon. Then she looked at the dead man-at-arms. A steel short sword would be good, too. Careful not to look at his ruined face, Kiri unbuckled the soldier's sword belt and put it on. It was uncomfortable over the training swords stuck in her belt, but their hilts were all that held it up. The belt was much too big for her.
She was trying to settle the sword belt more comfortably, when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something leap towards her. She grabbed for the long sword, swinging it up even as she scrabbled backwards.
A creature like the one that had tried to break through the window landed in front of her, and swung its long clawed arm at her face. Kiri automatically blocked, slashing the monster's arm, then counter attacked, her blow almost severing its head.
Kiri stared in amazement as the undead creature fell. That had been just like the moves from one of the patterns she had learned! Her training wasn't as useless as she had thought. But her relief was short-lived, as more monsters left the main battle and swarmed toward her, at least a dozen of them.
She couldn't hope to fight so many. She turned and ran, but there was nowhere to go. If she went down the side of the men-at-arms' hall she would be cornered against the wall with no way out. Nor could she get into the inner courtyard, for the rubble of its gatehouse was crowded with undead. Even as she watched, a knight dressed in a cuirass was dragged down and torn to pieces as he tried to break through. His glowing sword flew from his grasp and clattered down the rubble.
Glowing? A magic sword! Kiri ran forward and, dropping the other sword, picked up the magical blade from where it lay.
But now what? Even with a magic sword she couldn't fight her way through this mass. She was trapped! But she seemed to recall something Marly had told her in training... Just tonight, in fact, only an hour ago, as unbelievable as that seemed.
"Y'know what you should have done? You should have jumped up on the bed." She had to get up higher!
The ruin of the gatehouse was already occupied by the enemy, but its fall had torn down a chunk of the wall alongside it, leaving a long slide of debris. If she could get up that...
Quickly sheathing the magic sword, Kiri leaped for the broken wall and swung herself up. The undead below hissed and shrieked, but chunks of stone tumbling down from Kiri's rush up the rock slide drove them back, and she gained the top of the wall unhindered.
There she stopped, looking out over the nightmare below her. One wing of the knights' hall had fallen and there were flames in the ruins. A small group of knights battled in front of the broken gatehouse, trying to break through to the protection of the Great Tower. Piles of enemy bodies lay around them, but whenever they tried to climb over the rubble, they were driven back by blasts of dragonfire and blue beams of light.
As the skeletal dragon swept around for another run, its wing tip scraped the Great Tower. A blinding flash of pure white light erupted from the tower, and Kiri stumbled back, blinking furiously.
As she rubbed her eyes, trying to get her sight back, and trying to work out what had just happened, she felt sharp claws rake across her thigh. The undead had used her distraction to follow her up the slope and three of them were climbing onto the wall.
Kiri drew her sword, but it stuck. She tugged at it, swearing. Drawing a sword in battle was something her lessons hadn't covered. She finally got it free and swung at one of the monsters, gouging it deeply in the shoulder. It fell back down the slope, but the other two were already up, and more were coming over the edge. Kiri realised she had lost the advantage of the high ground. She turned and ran.
The door to the watch tower stood open in front of her, a rectangle of greater darkness. If she could get in there she could... No, that would be just another trap. She ran straight past the door, heading along the wall towards the main gate.
As she passed the tower door, a shadow leaped at her out of the gloom. She slashed at it without stopping, but she didn't hit anything, and the blow swung her off balance. She bounced off the battlements, pushed herself back upright and kept on running.
Halfway along the wall, she tripped over something, the body of one of the sentries. She fell heavily, the sword slipping from her grip and clashing on the stone. She quickly scrabbled after it, but just as her fingers closed on the hilt, she felt the shadow tear at her leg.
She screamed, not just at the pain of the wound, but from the deathly cold that the creature's touch sent deep into her bones.
She twisted, striking out at the shadow creature. It was bending over her, and leaped back to avoid the blow - right off the edge of the wall. It plummeted to the courtyard below. Kiri pushed herself back up, wincing at the pain in her leg, and started off again. The cold soon dissipated, and she was able to run almost normally, though she was starting to feel a growing weakness and nausea from her wounds.
She looked back over her shoulder to see where the other undead were. They had fallen a long way behind, apparently distracted by something in the inner courtyard, but now they were after her again.
She reached the ruin of the gatehouse and paused for a moment, looking back over the fortress. The dragon was nowhere in sight. She couldn't see if any knights still fought in the inner courtyard, but below her only undead still moved. The smithy and the servants' hall were burning, and the creatures avoided the flames, but they swarmed in and out of the other buildings like ants on a carcass.
Could Marly still be alive? Could she have escaped somehow? Escaped... and gone for help. That's what I have to do, she thought.
She looked down. The road below her was clear, and the monsters were all in the courtyard. She might be able to get down and away unseen - but no, there were the ones behind her on the wall.
Keeping the magic sword in her hand, Kiri quickly scrambled down the pile of rubble. But in her haste she failed to see a sudden drop. She landed awkwardly, her left arm under her, twisting it painfully. She picked herself up, sword still in hand, but even as she slid down to the road, one of the undead came down from the wall, its great leaping bounds bringing it right down next to her.
She swung at it, chopping into its side. But even as her stroke landed, the creature's long arm shot out and ripped into her face. The blow spun her around and she didn't stay to continue the fight.
The road lay open before her, and she ran.
Chapter Ten - Healing
'Kiri, Kiri, what's happened? Who did this to you?'
Kiri stared blankly at her father where he stood silhouetted in the doorway of his shop. She must have run all the way to Silverdale, though she couldn't remember it. Her face ached, and her legs seemed to be numb.
The sword was still in her hand, and the door was gouged where she must have pounded it with the pommel, but she didn't remember doing that either.
A man stomped up to the circle of light spilling from the doorway. A militia man, one of the town guard of Silverdale, probably a retired man-at-arms from the Order. 'What's going on? I saw her come running into town, but she didn't stop, and I couldn't catch up,' the man complained, puffing for breath.
'I don't know,' Kiri's father told him, 'Kiri, what happened to you?' His voice was low, worried.
Kiri swayed on her feet and her father reached out a hand to steady her. 'Th' fortress... undead attacked... killed...' Her voice was slurred and she suddenly toppled, unable to keep herself up. Her father caught her as she fell, and lowered her to the ground.
'Undead!' The militia man exclaimed, 'What undead?'
'Kiri.' Her father held her on his lap. 'What about undead? Where did they come from?' Kiri opened her mouth, but couldn't find the strength to form the words.
Her father shook her gently by the shoulder, trying to rouse her, then lifted his hand and stared at it. It was covered in blood. He looked up at the militia man. 'It looks like she's lost a lot of blood. She needs a healer!'
'Right. I'll get a priest.' The man turned, then stopped, muttering, 'Undead. Don't like the sound of that.' He pulled a silver whistle from his tunic, and gave a series of blasts. He waited until he heard whistles replying from around the town, then ran off up the street.
'Come on, Kiri, let's get you inside.' Markham lifted her with a grunt, and shuffled inside. Her sword hand hung down, the blade scraping along the ground. Marly wouldn't like that, she thought distantly. Marly had given her a great deal of instruction on the proper care of swords, and dragging the blade along the ground was definitely forbidden. But her arm wouldn't obey the message to lift it up.
She felt her father sit her down on something soft, then he tugged gently at the sword. 'Kiri, you can let go now.' But her hand only tightened.
She came awake some time later at the touch of a wet cloth against her cheek. She was lying on the bed in her room, her father carefully sponging the blood from her cheek. She blinked at him, wondering how he could be so gentle that she didn't feel any pain from the wound. He noticed her movement, and leaned over her. 'Kiri?' he said softly.
Kiri opened her mouth to reply, then gasped as something tore at her leg. She realised that she still held her sword, and she thrust it at the creature attacking her.
'Ow!' the man cried as the sheathed blade struck him on the shoulder. He frowned at her. 'I do apologise for hurting you, young lady, but...' He turned to look at her father, 'I think I would feel safer if the sword were somewhere else.'
Markham grimaced in apology, and turned back to his daughter. 'You don't need the sword any more,' he said soothingly, as if calming a wild animal.
'Who's he?' she demanded, frowning suspiciously at the strange man.
'That's Reverend Torreyns, from the temple of Monasheth. He's here to heal your wounds.'
Oh. The man's bearded face did look familiar, and he was clearly wearing priestly robes in green and yellow, with the holy symbol of Monasheth hanging from a chain at his throat. Feeling somewhat foolish, Kiri didn't resist as her father pried the sword from her hand and placed it leaning against the bed.
'Well, try to heal her wounds,' the priest said, frowning at Kiri's legs, 'There's something about this wound I don't like, some kind of taint.'
Kiri noticed that her clothes had been cut off, tunic and trousers both, leaving her in just her undergarments. That should disturb her, being so nearly naked in front of an unfamiliar man. But fatigue was washing over her once more, and she couldn't raise the energy to object, or to cover herself.
Her father seemed to notice her discomfort, or perhaps he just thought she was getting cold. He picked up a blanket and placed it over her, tucking it behind her shoulders, leaving only her legs uncovered for the priest to work on.
'Ho, Markham!' A man's bellow came from somewhere outside.
Kiri's father jumped up and crossed to the door. 'In here, Captain,' he called, and a moment later a tall dark-bearded man, in chainmail with a long grey cloak, strode into the room.
'What's going on, Markham? One of my men comes to me with a story about undead. He tells me you know all about it.' He glanced at Kiri, then his eyes flicked to the priest.
'My daughter brought the news, though she didn't say much. She was badly wounded.' Markham turned to Kiri. 'You remember Captain Hannil, of the town militia?'
She did indeed, though her memories were not pleasant ones. He had been one of the first to start harassing her, grabbing at her buttocks as she walked down the street, and laughing uproariously at her alarm. Once, he had tried to get her alone in the alley behind the baker's shop.
Now, however, he showed none of that ugly nature, just saying brusquely, 'Well, girl, tell me what's up.'
Maybe the change in his behaviour was due to him being here on official business, or perhaps it was the presence of her father and the priest. Or was it that the wound on her face was so hideous? He seemed to be looking to one side of her face, not straight at her.
She closed her eyes, from tiredness, but also so that she didn't have to look at him. She didn't really want to talk, to him especially, but she had to tell what had happened at the fortress.
'Shadows came over the wall. They killed the sentries, then the guards on the gates. There was a dragon, but it was a skeleton, and it had a man on its back. They broke the gates and lots more monsters came in. The soldiers tried to fight, but...' Her voice drifted off as she remembered the last sight she had of the fortress, the crawling masses of undead, and no people left alive.
'What about the knights? What did they do?' The captain sounded dubious, as if he thought she was lying, or a foolish child who had mistaken what she had seen, but she didn't open her eyes to see his expression.
'They died. The man on the dragon broke their hall, and the dragon burned them. They tried to get to the Great Tower, but the dragon stopped them.'
Captain Hannil snorted. 'Are you trying to tell me that the fortress has been wiped out? By a bunch of... undead? And a dragon?' He plainly didn't believe her, but she couldn't be bothered arguing. It all seemed far away, and she felt herself slowly drifting towards sleep once more.
The priest spoke up. 'Her wounds do appear to be caused by claws, such as those of the undead.'
'Or an animal?' the captain suggested, tartly, 'Which is much more likely.'
'No,' the priest said, 'This wound was not made by any natural creature. Her story sounds all too true to me.' He spoke with all the authority of his office, and the captain fell silent.
Eventually, Captain Hannil spoke again. 'Well, I'd better get to work. Find out what happened.' He was plainly unconvinced as he tramped out the door.
Markham was quiet for a long moment after the captain left. He finally turned his attention back to his daughter, and the priest who tended her. 'How is she? You said there was something wrong?'
'Yes,' Reverend Torreyns told him, 'Some evil power has entered through this wound, and caused some damage to her spirit.' Kiri wondered what he was talking about. The only damage to her spirit came from the horror she had experienced, and her worry over Marly. What had happened to her?
'Well, can you fix it?' Markham asked anxiously.
'I believe so. There is something I can try, but if that doesn't work she'll have to be moved to the temple for a further attempt.'
'Well, do what you can.'
Kiri distantly felt the priest place his hands on her leg, and he started to intone some words, strange words, which she couldn't make out. An unpleasant sensation started to spread through her leg, cutting through the fog of sleep. She opened her mouth to protest.
Before she could speak, an explosion of ice cold pain shot up her leg to drive away her consciousness.
