Here's the next chapter. Hope everyone likes it! Thanks to all my followers, reviewers, my beta, and my wife for all our help and support. Enjoy!
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"Preparations are complete, Damien. We'll light the oil on the slope as soon as the enemy begins to cross the bridge," Alyssa reported. Damien sat with his back against the mill looking across the lake at the castle. Everything seemed so quiet, almost peaceful if it weren't for the eerie feeling clinging to the air.
"Have the villagers gotten some rest?" Damien asked keeping his eyes on the castle.
"We told them to get as much sleep as they could. Should we wake them?" Alyssa asked.
"Wake the knights and Bann Teagan. We need to talk about the strategy. Gather everyone from our group up too," Damien said pushing himself up onto his feet.
"Where are we meeting?"
"Here. We need to keep an eye on the castle this close to dusk," Damien said adjusting his blades and pulling his scarf down to let some cooler air in.
As Alyssa left, Damien found himself feeling restless. Keeping his eyes on the castle, he started to pace trying to give himself something to do while everyone was gathering but nothing helped. His hands shook as he took a few breaths but his mind kept poring over scenarios that could render his plans useless as well as what he could do to counter them. It all boiled down to how well their preparations and defenses held up. If they managed to beat back the tide, could they risk launching an attack on the castle like Damien had told Owen. Maker knew if the smith's daughter was even alive in there.
Stop thinking so grimly. The preparations are done, the villagers now have the basic understanding of how to defend themselves, and the knights that were wounded are good enough to fight. The plan will work. Yet even with those thoughts screaming at him, Damien couldn't help doubting the solidity of their defense. If the beasts managed to cross the lake without using the bridge and attacked the docks, the only choke point that the villagers would be able to hold would be the main courtyard in front of the chantry.
"Everyone is here, Commander Damien," Bann Teagan said pulling the youth from his thoughts. Damien raised his scarf up over his nose and mouth once more and turned to face the group.
"Right, Lyna keep watch on the castle but stay in ear shot. I'll need you to hear our plan of action," Damien ordered.
The young Dalish girl nodded and perched herself on top of a stack of hay bales so she could have a higher vantage point.
"Now, the few Redcliffe knights that are with us will be stationed here at the mill. Your job is to engage and eradicate any of the enemy that makes it across the bridge and through the fire trap. Daylen, Sten, and Alyssa will support you here," Damien ordered looking at the members of his team that he had assigned. "Alyssa, you are in command of this location."
The girl looked like she was about to faint. "Wait, why me?" Alyssa asked.
"Because you can and I trust you," Damien stated sternly. He quickly turned away trying to punctuate the point that there was not arguing about it. "Alistair, you will take command of the villagers stationed here at the chantry. Bann Teagan, you will be inside the building as our last line of defense with Wynne. Neria, you will be in charge of getting the wounded into the chantry. Morrigan, you are on the defensive line with Alistair and if you see the defenses starting to falter, jump in and push the enemy back." Damien stopped and looked over at Morrigan. "By any means necessary."
Morrigan smirked and nodded that she understood. Damien knew her conventional magic was powerful, but her blood magic could beat most warriors as long as they were not trained templars. If things got bad, she would be their trump card.
"What about the rest of us?" Kallian asked.
"Kalli, Lyna, Leliana, and Brax will be with me. We're the fastest runners here. We'll be able to move between the two positions to give support. Morrigan, Daylen, if the lines start to collapse, send up red flares. I'll send help. Is everyone clear on the plan?" Damien asked looking around the group.
"If our goal is to defend the chantry, why have so much distance between the two defense lines?" Bann Teagan asked.
"Because when the enemy meets such strong resistance at the bridge, they might try a different approach and I want to be ready for it. The only other way to the village from the castle is to cross the lake. I'm sure the enemy hasn't tried it yet because they've been able to get into the village every night using the bridge, but I don't plan on letting a single one get past the mill," Damien said looking around the group. Everyone nodded their agreement as Damien took a breath. "Alistair, if the enemy does start approaching from the docks, I want Morrigan to send up that flare immediately. I don't care how many there are. I need to know if they attack on both fronts."
"Fear not Damien, we will alert you," Morrigan stated.
Damien nodded before turning to look back at the castle. Everything was riding on them surviving the night and thinning the enemy numbers enough to attack. There was no way the villagers had the strength to fight more than one or two more days, even with Damien's group helping. Turning back to everyone gathered there, he saluted placing his fist against his chest.
"Maker protect us. Wake everyone capable of bearing arms and get them to their positions. Dwyn and his mercenaries will be here at the mill. Alyssa, if he mouths off or tries to take command, just ask him if he wants his arms to stay attached and call Sten over, got it?" Damien asked smirking and glancing over at the qunari.
"I'm not sure I understand, but okay," Alyssa replied shrugging.
"Alright everyone. Let's win this fight," Damien shouted. A roar of approval echoed from the group in response as they moved to their positions. Damien whistled and Brax came bounding over to his side.
"I have never seen a mabari take to anyone other than their master that fast," Alyssa said kneeling in front of her hound. "Two timer." The dog barked and licked her face.
"I'm pretty sure that means you're still his favorite," Damien said rubbing the dog's head as the hound barked happily.
"How long until they start their advance do you think?" Kallian asked stepping to Damien's side.
"The sun's light is almost gone. My guess would be half an hour, maybe an hour if we're lucky," Damien responded.
"I am glad we are staying to help. These people would not have survived much longer without us," Leliana added as she tested her bow.
"This is not just for the people in the village. This is so we can launch an attack on the castle itself," Damien replied. "I fully intend to have control of Redcliffe castle again by tomorrow night."
"That's rather ambitious," Lyna replied from her perch.
"Really? Seemed like the most appropriate strategy to me," Damien said turning back to the cliff that overlooked the village behind the mill. Fires sparked to life through the village so the archers could see and no enemy would sneak up on them. Damien could hear all the people moving around in the streets making last minute preparations and gathering up their armor and weapons. He hoped that he was wrong about the enemy possibly approaching from the lake, but the churning of his stomach told him that he was most likely right.
The last hints of sunlight had very nearly faded leaving the starry sky behind, but what would have been a peaceful night immediately turned grim as greening fog started pouring from the castle and raced across the bridge.
"This is exactly how it starts. Their first line will be crossing the bridge!" one of the knights shouted.
"Daylen, light the oil!" Alyssa shouted. Damien drew his daggers as the mage launched a small fireball into the trap setting the entire slope ablaze.
"Lyna, Leliana, ready your arrows. As soon as you see them, probe for kill points. Target the head first, then heart," Damien ordered as the two women drew their bow strings.
The enemy appeared at the top of the hill and to Damien's surprise resembled the corpses they had fought in the Circle Tower not a week earlier. Perhaps they had the same weaknesses... and if that were true, could their origin be the same as well? Born of blood magic and demons?
Lyna loosed her arrow first burying the arrowhead deep in one of the corpses' heads and the creature immediately crumpled to the ground Leliana's arrow hit the chest where the heart would be, but the being only staggered for a moment before resuming the advance.
"Alright everyone, the only way to beat these things is to score a direct hit to the head. Cut it off if you have to but piercing the skull is working," Damien shouted. The defenders shouted their understanding almost in unison.
"Damien, I really want to get in this fight," Kallian said as her grip tightened around her daggers.
"We hold and wait. There will be plenty for us to do as the night goes on. I'm sure off it. Remember, unlike a sparring match with Soris, this fight is a marathon. Don't waste energy with unnecessary movement," Damien said thinking back to the battle at Ostagar. Most of the soldiers had rushed into the battle giving every ounce of energy they had to the initial push, but as the battle dragged on, most slowed down and were cut down because of it. That was the last thing they needed. If he could help it, they would not lose a single defender.
"Daylen, they'll break through the fire in the next few minutes. Can you enchant our swords with fire?" Alyssa shouted back at the mage.
"On it!" Daylen responded before starting to chant a spell.
Flames wrapped around every blade and weapon they had as the main force of the enemy appeared. Damien could barely see them through the flames, but they certainly reminded him of the horde of darkspawn they had faced at Ostagar.
The first few lines of enemies crumpled a few feet into the fire trap but as the enemy got closer and closer, the fire seemed to be affecting them less and less. Damien spotted exactly what was wrong. The bodies of the fallen were acting like a bridge and snuffing out the fire when they fell. Oil was simply not thick enough to light the second layer completely on fire and when the bodies slipped down the slick, flaming slope, they would drag the oil and fire with them. Even though this meant the defenses would have a wall of flaming corpses in front of the palisades, sooner or later the fire would go out. Judging from what he could see, they had an hour at most before the fire was completely out.
"Alyssa, ready the group. The fire won't stop them for much longer," Damien shouted moving forward with Kallian.
"Shields at the front. Dwyn, take out any that make it over the palisades," Alyssa shouted moving forward with the knights.
"For the time being, I think a counterattack would work to our advantage," Damien said to himself. "Daylen, extinguish the fire wall. If we let too many mass behind it the shield wall won't hold."
"I can use an ice spell and freeze the slope," Daylen replied lifting his staff.
"Alyssa, hold at the palisades. Sten, move forward with me and Kalli. Let's thin the herd," Damien ordered charging forward. He could feel Daylen's spell falling on the flames forcing the blaze to subside. Before the flames were completely out, Damien launched himself over the pile of corpses and cut the head off the closest enemy. Using the momentum of the strike, he extended both arms and spun sideways turning himself into a blade wheel. His blade cut through another enemy from the top of its head to its chin throwing it harshly to the ground.
Damien tried to not to think much about what else was going on around him. He needed to focus on eliminating the enemies one at a time as they confronted him. Block the incoming attack, counter with a head strike, and repeat over and over again. His mind filled with only one thought; kill the enemy, push them back, kill them, kill them all.
"Damien!" a shout echoed around him kick-starting his mind. Looking around, Damien found himself completely alone near the top off the hill with a trail of corpses behind him. Sten and Kallian were still near the bottom of the hill with several enemies dead in front of them. Damien realized quickly that he had not only launched a counter attack, but slaughtered anything that was in his way. Turning from the new group of enemies that had just arrived, he immediately ran for the bottom where everyone else was, leaping over the palisades.
"What in the Void were you thinking?" Lyna asked loosing another arrow.
"That's the thing... I don't think I was. All that I remember is telling myself that I couldn't let a single one of those things past. That I had to keep killing them, one after another," Damien said grabbing a canteen and taking a long drink.
"Call it what you want, that was awesome," Kallian said stepping to Damien's side as she wiped the blood form her blades.
"Glad you enjoyed the show. So, now that we have some breathing room, has there been any word from the village group?" Damien asked handing the canteen to Kallian.
"All quiet for now, but its still early," Leliana reported firing an arrow up the hill.
"Alright, we'll let Alyssa and her men take care of the defenses here for now. Call Sten back to take a breather. This is going to be a long night," Damien said.
For the next two hours, Damien and Alyssa pushed the enemy back over and over again, but the beasts would not stop coming. Three of the knights had been seriously injured along with one of Dwyn's mercenaries reducing their fighting force. Daylen had used up all his mana several times over and had nearly hit his limit on the amount of lyrium he could use. Despite being a type of fuel for magic, lyrium could cause side-effects if too much was taken. Damien could see it on the young mage's face. His hands were shaking and he had to be feeling sick to his stomach.
"Hey, Daylen, lay down for a bit and get some rest. No more magic until your mana comes back on its own," Damien ordered.
"Commander, I can still fight," Daylen protested.
"You're no good to me if you pass out from exhaustion. Rest up and jump back in the fight when you've replenished your mana," Damien snapped. The mage nodded reluctantly before sitting down against the mill and relaxing. Damien could tell that the youth would be out cold in a minute or two, if not less.
"Damien, the waves against us are still coming, but they're lightening up. I think we can hold out," Alyssa reported pointing to the slope.
She was right. The number of enemy combatants had definitely fallen, but they still seemed just as determined as ever to break through.
"Don't let your guard down. They could be massing for another large assault," Damien replied adjusting his scarf and hood.
"I'd hate to say it, but I think they might have been," Lyna said pointing back to the village. Damien turned to see large red sparks shooting up from the square near the chantry.
"Alyssa, hold the line here. If you think you can push through to the bridge, do it," Damien ordered waving for his group to follow him and slapping his thigh so that Brax would follow.
Sprinting down the hill toward the chantry, Damien could feel the enemy presence as it encroached on the defenders in the square like a thick fog. A taste on the air turned his stomach as the smell of the enemy's wet, dead soldiers grew ever stronger.
"Leliana and Lyna, head straight for the defensive line. Kalli and Brax will come with me and we'll try to delay and thin the enemy numbers as best we can," Damien ordered vaulting over a fence and drawing his daggers.
"Be careful," Leliana warned as she and Lyna split off heading for the group of scared defenders.
Damien nodded as he closed the distance on the enemies. With a cross motion of his blades, he took the first beast's head off and kicked the body backward against another behind it.
"Are you ready for this Kalli?" Damien asked as the girl buried one of her daggers into a corpse's head.
"Been ready since we left the Spoiled Princess," Kallian responded smirking back at him.
"Let's see these skills I recruited you for." Damien wiped the blood from his blades before charging a small group of corpses with Brax at his heels. He angled his body sideways as he used his momentum to spin, slicing a corpse from head to groin.
"Damien, Kallian, take cover. The archers are about to fire," Alistair shouted from the square.
"Kalli, fall back to the defensive line with Brax. Let the archers thin them out," Damien ordered as he finished off another enemy and hurled one of his throwing knives into the forehead of the last one close to him.
They made it back to the shield wall the villagers were holding as the archers loosed a volley onto the enemy forces. Damien watched the enemy's numbers decrease before a feeling in the pit of his stomach drew his attention to another road. He couldn't see them very well in the moonlight, but they definitely were there, a separate unit of corpses heading their way.
"Alistair, leave command of the shield wall to Murdock. Lyna, stay here and command the archers. Morrigan, focus your magic on the corpses coming from the left. Leliana will support you with her bow. Kalli, Alistair, and I will engage the new enemies approaching on the right. Keep those bastards back. Once we have beaten them back, we'll return to the defense line," Damien ordered. Using his magic, he vaulted over the palisades and took off at a dead sprint down the road toward the new enemies.
"Damn you, Damien. Don't just-" Lyna shouted after him, but the rest of her protest was lost as Damien let out a roar of adrenaline and rage, leaping straight into the fight. He drove the heel of his boot into the chest of one of the corpses before spinning and driving his left dagger up under an enemy's chin and through the beast's skull.
They had to hold. Only a few more hours. They just had to beat these beasts back. Maker, he had never prayed so hard for the sun to rise.