Chapter 10 – Endgame part 2
The scout scanned the horizon in all directions for about the hundredth time. He had been waiting all day for any sight of the terrorist army and was having doubts on whether they had attacked by a different route, or if they were even attacking at all.
Then he saw something. Movement on the horizon. Casting an Invisibility spell the scout ran towards the source of the movement. He ran over a small hill, and saw something that made his blood run cold.
There must have been three hundred men at least, all terrorists dressed in worn armour and their signature black helmets. At the edge of the army, archers weaved in and out of the rocks, bringing down attacking Cliff Racers with arrows.
The scout was prepared for this. In a flash of white light, he disappeared. Divine Intervention, straight back to Torch.
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General Daurus was waiting for the scout outside the chapel.
"They're coming!" the scout said as soon as the spell transported him to the chapel. "They're south of Tel Uvrith, three hundred strong, moving quickly, we've got an hour, if that!"
"Good work" Daurus said. "Arm yourself and get on the battlements"
Forty-five minutes later
Word quickly passed around Torch that the attack was imminent. Lando was part of a group of soldiers protecting the drawbridge. Alaina was supposed to be on the battlements with her crossbow, but had snuck across the drawbridge to be with Lando.
"Three hundred…" Alaina said. "How many do we have?"
"Around two hundred. We're outnumbered but better prepared" Lando replied.
"I hope you're right…"
"Contact!" Someone shouted. The soldier pointed east.
The entire Meric Liberation Front army was running towards Torch!
"Open fire!"
Everyone carrying any form of ranged weapon fired it at the terrorists. The Altmer battlemages in the group launched a wave of fireballs and bolts of lightning.
Many of the terrorists were taken out, but they acted quickly. An enormous volley of arrows soared towards Torch, pummelling both the soldiers on the battlements and those defending the drawbridge.
"Drawbridge guard! Engage at will!" General Daurus bellowed from the battlements.
"Swordsmen, move forwards!" an officer in Lando's team shouted. "Archers, covering fire!"
The drawbridge guards responded with their own volley of fire, staggering their attacks so a constant wave of arrows was being fired at the terrorists. The soldiers on the battlements did the same, but the terrorists were quick to respond. Arrows, fireballs and bolts of lightning flew towards Torch, slamming into the walls. Chunks of rock fell into the moat from where the magic had blasted them off. The marksmen on the battlements ducked in cover, firing their own ranged weapons back at the terrorists.
Meanwhile, Lando and around twenty other soldiers equipped with a variety of swords, axes and maces ran towards the terrorists, their shields in front of them to defend themselves from arrows.
"Watch out for mages!" an officer shouted.
The group collided with the terrorists, swinging their weapons with all their might. The entire terrorist army seemed to briefly reel in shock from the ferocity of the attack.
"Lando!" he heard Alaina shouting from a short distance behind him. "Watch out!"
In a burst of bright blue light, a towering Frost Atronach materialised in front of Lando and immediately swung at him with an enormous icy fist. Lando blocked the blow with his shield but no sooner had he done so when the Atronach's other arm delivered a crushing blow to the side of Lando's head. A tremendous pain shot through the entire upper half of his body and his vision exploded into a field of colour and stars. He felt himself falling to the ground.
"Take that mage out!" he shouted weakly. An Imperial soldier near him sighted the terrorist wizard and skilfully brought him down with his bow. Lando leapt to his feet as the Atronach simply vanished into thin air.
"Fall back! There's too many of them!" somebody shouted. Lando looked around and saw that everyone was retreating towards the drawbridge – he began to do the same, back-pedalling and parrying attacks with his shield.
On the battlements, Daurus continued to direct volleys of arrow fire and ranged spells into the terrorist army, all the time keeping his eye out for anyone who could possibly be the Warlock.
Suddenly, there was a bright purple glow which seemed to come from everywhere. "What's that?" Daurus shouted. "On guard!"
Daurus looked over the battlements at the moat, the source of the glow, and his blood ran cold.
The entire moat had suddenly frozen into solid ice.
Warlock.
"They've frozen the moat!" Lando shouted. "Fall back into the city!"
The fall-back then became a full-scale retreat as everyone ran towards the drawbridge, across it and into the relative safety of Torch. As the last Imperial soldier crossed the bridge, it was quickly raised and the portcullis slammed shut.
Lando had no sooner got into the city gates when Daurus ran down from the battlements towards him.
"He's here, Lando! It must have been him who froze the lake…"
He stopped and looked at the wall with a look of dread on his face.
The same purple glow was now emanating from the wall.
"Get off the battlements!" Daurus yelled. "Run for your lives! Now!"
What happened next was truly incredible. The wall seemed to just turn into water. An enormous wall of water, surrounding the entirety of Torch. It hung in mid-air for a fraction of a second before it cascaded to the ground with a roar louder than the most ferocious thunderstorms – bringing everyone still left on the battlements to the ground with it.
"Attack! Attack!" Daurus yelled at the infantry stationed within the city walls. "Hold them off!"
At that point, every soldier in Torch ran towards the terrorist army. This was truly the last stand.
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"Alaina! Where are you?" Lando shouted amongst the chaos. She quickly appeared at his side.
"What is it?" she said.
"Warlock! He's here!"
Alaina looked at Lando. A look of pain suddenly appeared on his face.
"What is it?"
"I think he's seen me…"
Lando could feel a tremendous pain inside his chest – it literally felt like a fire was burning inside him. He pulled one of the phials of Alaina's potion and drank its contents.
Nothing.
He drank another.
Still nothing.
"It's not working!" Lando began to run west, away from the terrorists, hoping to get out of Warlock's field of vision. The pain in his chest grew by the second. He ran around the side of a building and collapsed on the ground. The pain didn't subside. How could he still have been in Warlock's field of vision?
"Up there!" Alaina shouted, pointing at the sky.
Lando looked up and saw an amazing sight. An elderly Dunmer in a black robe was literally flying through the sky – all the time his eyesight fixed on Lando.
"Get inside!" Alaina said, dragging Lando towards the door of the nearby building.
"Can't… all the doors have been locked…" Lando was now struggling to speak. He shakily got to his feet. He had to kill Warlock. But how?
Alaina watched Warlock's flight path. He seemed to be travelling in an arc – he was now heading back towards the ground. It suddenly became clear.
"He's using a spell to let himself jump higher!" Alaina said. "The only way you'll be able to kill him is when he's near the ground so you'll have to work out where he's going to land!"
Warlock landed on a rooftop and leapt again, soaring up into the sky. Lando looked around, saw the battle going on by what was left of the moat. The Imperial army were all over the terrorists. Now the fight had been taken to open ground, the Imperials' superior weapons and the help from the Altmer were simply too much for the terrorists to be able to take.
He tried to run in the same direction that Warlock was gliding but the pain became too great. He passed out and fell to the floor.
"No! Lando!" Alaina had to do something. She wrenched Lando's sword from his hands and ran as fast as she could, following Warlock's flight, all the time trying to gauge where he would land.
She saw the necromancer about to land, maybe 5 yards in front of him.
Come on…
Suddenly, she tripped, stumbled forwards and fell to the ground.
No!
Thinking quickly, she closed her eyes, rolled over onto her back and held Lando's sword towards the sky…
She felt a tremendous weight slam into the sword, and blood pour down her arms. But it wasn't her own blood.
"Alaina!"
Lando ran towards her and fell down by her side, throwing Warlock's dead body off her.
"You did it!" He bent down and kissed Alaina on the lips, then fell to the ground, exhausted.
"They're retreating!" he heard General Daurus shout. "We did it! We won!"
Alaina sat up and handed Lando's sword back to him. The pair embraced then both stood up.
"Fancy a pint?" Alaina asked.
Lando took her hand in his. "Though you'd never ask!"