Chapter 8 [Forest's Edge—Twenty Minutes Earlier]
The thick cloying mist allowed the advancing Southron army to slip through the forest undetected. Thanks in large part to Morgana's sleeping spell, the few sentries lay dozing at their posts leagues behind it. Their torches smoldered and smoked. A few of the men stifled coughs with their hands lest they reveal their positions to those on the wall nearby. Their feet ached from the long march. Their clothes stuck damp against their skin. Mud weighed down on their boots. They carefully insured that their weapons didn't clank overly much.
Just yards shy of the walls, Helios raised his hand. He understood the conditions' gift to him in terms of tactical advantage. He squinted at the walls in a vain attempt to make out the watchmen's positions. He only could make out the torches seeming to dance like fireflies in the air. This fog is like the Devil itself to march through. Still if we can't see them, they can't see us. He turned to Morgana who rode up beside him. "It is as you said, Milady."
She surveyed the shrouded landscape. "My dear brother allows his heart to befuddle his good sense, Helios. No matter. Soon his oversight will cost him his life and avail us our due rewards." She grinned at him. Anticipation sparkled in her eyes. "The culvert is twenty yards to the right. With some stealth, you might send your men up there."
Helios motioned to the man closest to his right. "Geoffrey, are you ready?"
Geoffrey, a tall broad shouldered brute bowed to his master. His bald head glistened in the damp torchlight and the mist. "We will get that grate open, Helios."
"See that you do without alerting the fools on the wall," Helios growled. His eyes flared into those of his subordinates. He motioned sharply toward the grate in question. "You all! With him!"
Geoffrey skulked off into the fog determined to prove his worthiness.
Behind him, a hundred cloaked and hood warriors dogged his path eager to cross steel with Camelot's defenders therein.
"He'll take too long." Morgana's eyes glowed. She pointed toward the grate. Her eyes glowed yellow. "Geata fosgailte!"
Through the mist, a bright spark fizzled followed by a clanking sound.
"There. Now it's open, Helios. Much more efficient," she supposed. Suddenly she twitched. "Strange."
Helios tensed. "What is, Morgana? Are we discovered?" His hand rested on his sword's hilt.
She looked about this way and that. Despite not seeing anything, she definitely felt something off in the air around themselves. She closed her eyes and focused. She would not focus simply on the apparent. Rather, as Morgause had shown her during her training as a Priestess, she concentrated on the energies and vibrations from the air and earth. In her mind's eye, she picked through the different auras and activity. She sifted through the very essences about them….
…until she felt the residual magic from the city's wall itself….
"Well now," she realized. Surprise stiffened her. "It seems we are not the first ones to assault Camelot in this fortnight."
Helios blinked at that assessment. "The city stands. The Pendragon banner flies over its ramparts, Morgana. It cannot have fallen."
She frowned. "And yet I feel the residue of a magical attack against the ramparts, Helios." She guided her horse forward. Slowly she rode within a couple of feet from the walls. She gestured. Her eyes glowed again. "Abair briseadh draoidheachd! Fosgail e a-rithist!"
For several long heartbeats, nothing happened. Tempus seemed as lost in the mist as the army did. Then her spell touched the repaired masonry along the wall. In the very place where Malodius had broken through, the energy coalesced into a revealing square of sorts.
As some might say a millennium or so later, x marked the spot or so it seemed…..
After isolating that area, Malice's eldritch energies went to work. It burned into the still-forming mortar holding the fresh stones together. With each passing heartbeat, it absorbed and boosted its own efforts through the destructive process. In seemingly no time at all, the mortar disintegrated. The wall shook. That section came crashing down for the second time in a week.
"As I said." She smirked triumphantly. "We have our access."
Helios grinned. Fear and Admiration juxtaposed each other within him toward her. He shook his head knowing that she could indeed turn on him if she so desired. Still he also knew that their agendas still coincided where the city and the throne were concerned. She'd blown an entrance through the most supposedly impregnable fortification. He raised his sword allowing it to glint in the torches' flame. "FORWARD!" With that he rode into the city and further spoils.
Behind him, the determined Southrons rushed ahead. Enthusiasm drowned out Exhaustion. Glory overwhelmed Restraint. They flowed like an angry storm against a breached coastal wall. Within two heartbeats further, they hustled through the city's passages. Fire arrows flew from their bows setting thatch and wood ablaze. Their swords cut down both passersby and a few knights alike.
From the outer passage, Geoffrey and the hundred men spilled forth onto the cobbles. They surged through the open way reinforcing the other invaders' presence within the ramparts.
"Get to the tower! We cannot let them ring the warning bells!" she commanded. "Onto the citadel!" She galloped toward the castle.
Helios frowned. She will get us all killed.
Sure enough, the bells' peals echoed through the din alerting all to the threat now within the walls.
"YOU HEARD HER! ONTO THE CITADEL! WE WILL TAKE THE BOY KING!" Helios bellowed. He spurred his horse onward at a swift gallop through the lower town and up toward the market square. He determined to offer the defenders no chance to resist them. In short order, he'd crossed through the still open gates into the upper town. From the precious plans of the fortifications, he knew exactly where the knights would emerge to oppose them. He dismounted. "Now we'll make sure it stays open!"
Around them, Mayhem's symphony continued to play out. Plumes of smoke rose into the fog. Screams from the wounded and dying echoed to their ears. A few sounds of breaking glass and splintering wood could be heard.
Morgana rode into view from the alley to their left. She motioned toward the gate keepers' barracks to their left. "I dealt with them, Helios. They won't wake again soon." Despite not being able to see the army's handiwork, her nose and ears well discerned their handiwork. "Pray they do not destroy too much of the city. I do wish some spoils from these curs!" She sniffed. In her eyes, this destruction served as payback for those poor souls who'd suffered during the Great Purge and after. Even after I've killed you, Uther, I'll wipe away your legacy. That starts with your bastard son! She frowned. Hatred blazed in her eyes.
Resistance finally presented itself at that point. Leon and Elyan stood at the head of a crimson cloaked defensive effort. A hundred strong, the chain mail wearing men raised their swords in preparation. Their boots stood firmly on the stones underneath their soles. Their brows knitted in determination. In most cases, Confidence would prove their ally. Morale would be surging. They were the best knights in the Five Kingdoms after all….
…that would be if they weren't outnumbered at least fifteen to one….
Leon frowned. He spat at the ground in disgust. "How in blazes did they get in here?"
"You want to ask them?" Elyan retorted sharply. "Maybe if we survive this?" He slid his sword slowly from its scabbard. "Where's Arthur?"
Leon glanced back toward the castle. Just behind them, he saw Arthur emerge through the oaken doors. "ALLOW THE KING TO PASS!" Still he saw no sign of either Gawain or Percival. "I believe that is the answer to your query, Elyan?"
"Yeah remind me that Gawain owes us a round for not being up front," Elyan rebutted. Respect coaxed a nod of his head toward Arthur.
Arthur frowned at the massed Southron force entrenched between them and the lower city. His trained eye could see that the invaders had somehow breached the defenses and advanced through Camelot's lower town. Furthermore he could tell the invaders badly outnumbered them.
"Arthur of Camelot, perhaps you might consider surrender?" Helios proposed from the head of his own soldiers. "Even now my men sack your town, destroy buildings and supplies and harm your subjects. Your time has come."
Arthur's eyes narrowed. "And who might you be?"
"I am Helios of the Southrons. I have united my people against Camelot and your tyranny. Yield now and I will spare your knights," Helios put forth. His eyes met several of the followers' faces around himself holding them in check. "And we do have the proper claim."
"Proper claim? You are invaders!" Leon yelled at them. "Arthur is our King!"
"Such sentiments, Sir Leon! You should know better by now!" Morgana insisted. She rode her horse into the open. She waved her hand and allowed her eyes to glow once more.
In response, the spell flung Arthur backward smashing him into the citadel's granite wall. His head and neck jerked awkwardly to somehow miss breaking against the unforgiving surface. Still his side burned from the impact. He felt his knee throb as he staggered to his feet.
"Sire! Get back!" Leon pleaded.
Arthur braced himself against the door. He slowly shook his head. "Still…still you do this, Morgana? Why can't we live in peace?"
"Why can't you live in peace with my kind, Dear Brother?" she hissed. "I do hope you try to fight. I want you out of my misery already!"
"I…I won't give you the satisfaction." Arthur started to draw Excalibur from its scabbard. "FOR THE LOVE OF CAMELOT!" Every breath he drew seared his lungs. His legs sagged like rubber but he would not surrender to pain or anything else without a fight. "FORWARD!"
At that moment, Percival opened the door. Disgust ground in his stomach over the situation. Anger over not facing the invaders head on marred his mood. "Leon, hold them! I've got Arthur!"
"Percival, we have our duty! S…Stop! Our people…." Arthur protested weakly. He wavered on his feet.
"You won't help them if you're dead, Arthur. Come on!" Percival pointed out. He pulled the King inside of the citadel.
"We'll give you as long as we can!" Leon affirmed. He rushed forward leading a glinting charge of defenders toward the Southron flank.
"They've chosen their lot! TAKE THEM!" Helios bellowed. He charged his horse toward the approaching defenders.
The rouge colored defenders' steel met the defenders' blades.
The Battle for Camelot was on again, it seemed…..
