Part 17
Persha arrived at the gates of the castle, which had already been withdrawn and barred for the battle; the gateman had to let Persha in through a secret entrance hidden in the support columns of the gate. Everyone inside was preparing for war already, the clang of smith's hammers on steel and anvil hung around the courtyard, the blades of the fletchers slid back on forth the shafts of arrows smoothing them out so that they would fly straight, accurate and deadly. Everybody was much too preoccupied with their task to notice Persha, except for Adella.
The Priestess saw Persha, her hands and face caked with dry blood, escorted into the castle by the gateman. She immediately ran-up and hugged the dancer tightly in her arms. Persha could do nothing but break out in tears on Adella's shoulders. Adella didn't speak, but stroked the younger woman's hair and cooed soothingly like a mother to her child. After a while, Persha managed to compel herself into speaking. "Adella, Jared, he's not…" Adella hugged her more tightly and protectively.
"Don't speak of him now," said the priestess "He fooled us all, not only you."
Persha looked into Adella's eyes feeling so helpless and confused "No Adella, Jared saved my life." Adella was fearfull for Persha, had Jared done so much to her that she would fall into delusions rather than accept the truth? Adella felt she had to bring Persha back to her senses, before all of this had happened. "Persha, cannot you see what is right in front of your face? That man used you to get to the guild; and he succeeded!"
"But he saved my life! He's not what he seems to be!" replied Persha tears welling up in her eyes.
"Then who is he truly? Do you know? Do you think the Jared that you had been with these past few months is what he actually is? The full force of Suldam will be on us by sunrise, Persha. That is no act of love!"
"But Adella I know…" Adella raised a hand and stopped her before she could finish. No more Persha," her voice was stern and expression resolute despite tears welling up in her own eyes. "I will ask Abenander not to permit you to fight during the war" The priestess's hand lowered and her tone softened "You are emotionally vulnerable now; I can't let that endanger the guild and yourself. I'm sorry Persha I have made my decision."
Persha stepped back from Adella, her tears now running down her cheeks. Adella tried to wipe them away but Persha stepped back again, avoiding the priestess's hand, her eyes, although behind tears, showed such sadness and pain. She broke into a run heading inside the castle.
Adella watched Persha go; she couldn't stop herself from crying as well, she closed her eyes and prayed that she had made the right choice.
Abenander starred at his sister and was met back with an iron clad stare of her own. "Are you sure Adella?" he asked "We will loose a large advantage if Pesha will not fight."
"Abenander," Adella began "If Jared were to fight in the war and face Persha do you think she will be able to lift a finger against him? We know that he will have no hesitation to strike her down where she stands. I believe this is safer for Persha and all of us."
Adella felt really strong about this, she also felt very guilt. She had been the one constantly pushing Jared and Persha together. She just didn't want to see Persha lonely anymore, and that desire to make Persha happy blinded her. The Guildwars had unexpectedly come and at an ill-fated time, she feared for the sake of the guild and for their lives.
The sun was yellowing the horizon Abenander stood at the highest veranda of the castle, overlooking the edge of the forest where at any time the forces of Suldam would begin pouring out into their territory like ink poured into water. Adella and Lucia stood on either side of him; his sister held a rosary in her hands and was silently praying while Lucia had another cigarette in her mouth. Rhozen and the other powerfull telepaths had finished contacting the guild members who were away and the remaining allies of Malacca. They were told to collect themselves at the guild castle of Malacca's ally Drow, then if enough strength had been gathered they would attack Suldam from the rear. The castle only had to be protected till they arrived.
The standard of Malacca was waving in the wind so furiously, the red stallion seemed to be rearing wildly, restless to charge into battle; the entire guild felt the same. Victor and Corvus were already mounted on their Pecopecos ready to lead the cavalry, most of the hunters and magic users were stationed at the walls. Everything was desperately quiet, like the sea before a storm. A storm was what they were rushing into, thought Abenander, a storm of blood and steal and he wasn't sure if they were coming out alive but he remained steadfast and strong for his guild, he had to; it was his duty.
A sound pierced the deafening silence- a battle horn, Alde Barranian by the low languid sound it gave off. A flock of ravens flew away from the trees as the horn sounded. Within seconds the first standard bearer rode out. He carried a flag with silver leash and collar of Suldam on a field of black. Lord Reginald Irutalde followed, riding on the largest Peopeco Abenander had ever seen. As he rode forward the roar of the Suldam guildsmen accompanied him before they themselves tailed their guildmaster. It was a force of millions; they shook the ground as they marched towards the castle.
The Malaccan sages had erected land protectors on the battle field during the night, so all the spell casters were rendered useless at this point of the battle. The first Arrows fired from the castle walls of Malacca and the army of Suldam. There was a moment of pitch darkness as all the arrows blotted out the sun. The arrows fell and the first wails of deaths were heard. Arrows began to volley back and forth from both guilds. Corvus and Victor trusted in the capability of their hunters not to hit their own so they lead the cavalry to charge into the fore of battle. Victor hurled his shield and immediately took out the banner man, it spun back to him and he caught it effortlessly. With the banner man gone both of them directly came to swords with Irutalde. The knight guildmaster countered Corvus and Victor's attacks with ease while his large Peopeco snapped at them with its razor sharp beak and; a well trained war-Pecopeco was just as deadly as any sword.
Paris was one of the few hunters who joined with the frontliners. Every Suldam guildsman that caught his eye fell down with an arrow to the heel, personal trademark shot. He saw Victor and Corvus fighting with Irutalde and having trouble getting any attack in. He quickly pivoted his foot and aimed at the Knight's heel. The twang of the bowstring pulsated as the arrow left Paris's fingers. The arrow was about to hit but Irutalde reared his Pecopeco to turn and caught the arrow in the air with a slash, shattering it to pieces. Victor saw an opening and attempted to thrust his sword at Irutalde but two arrows fired out of nowhere and hit him at his side. He fell from his Pecopeco dropping his weapons during the fall. Irutalde used the momentum from the spin to add power to his slash, and almost decapitated Victor if Corvus had not managed to pick up the Crusader's shield and black the attack in time.
Victor pulled out the arrows from his side then placed his hands over the wound. White light emanated from his palm and the cuts disappeared. "Can you still fight?" asked Corvus through the link as he still used Victor's shield to desperately block all of Irutalde's attacks. "I did the best I could," said Victor weakly "But only Adella and Abenander can heal the internal damage. I think we have to retreat."
When Paris saw Victor go down he followed the direction of the arrows and immediately found the one who had fired the double strafe, it was his rival Menelaus, the one he saw in the forest. Paris nocked an arrow into his bow and Menelaus did the same, they had always been so evenly matched even during their archer days. They moved without any second's difference. They lifted their bows and fired charge arrows in perfectly unrehearsed unison. The arrows left their bows at such high speed that it left a trail of smoke where it had burned the air. Both arrows collided point to point and at such high force that the resulting shockwave threw everybody within ten meters of the collision twice that distance.
Paris was quick to act and tapped into the guild link. He contacted everybody in the battle field. "Quick everybody retreat!" he ordered "Hunters! Activate all your flash traps!" The hunters did as they were told and threw all their flash traps into the air, their falcons instinctively flew to the traps and slashed at them with their talons. The flash traps imploded into themselves and released a blinding white light. Paris tweaked the link a bit so that the Malaccan guildsmen could be led by the bards using their echolocation through the light. The plan worked perfectly and everybody managed to successfully retreat into the guild castle. Paris was the last one to enter the castle and was surprised when sounds of explosions suddenly emanated from behind him. He turned around to see a bombardment of magic raining down on the Suldam force, the earth beneath their feet erupted in spikes that constantly shifted back and forth from liquid to solid, pillars of fire ignited over people completely incinerating whoever it touched, blizzards began forming everywhere and the people caught in them were frozen to their core only to be shattered into a million pieces by lightning and heated air that crashed down over them afterwards. Clearly the Malaccan sages had negated their land protectors to allow the wizards to attack. Most of the destruction was aimed around Suldam's spell caster division so it was a while before Suldam's sages could erect their own land protectors. The torrent of elemental attacks ceased once the land protectors were initiated but no time was wasted before arrows followed from the walls of Malacca. Suldam retaliated in seconds and the volley of arrows from both guilds began again.
Abenander watched the battle, with Paris's quick thinking in the field of battle, they managed to retreat safely and with Rhozen's tactical action, but much to risky for Abenander's taste, with the spell casters they managed to reduce Suldam's numbers greatly but they were still far outnumbered without the reinforcements. Showers of arrows were heading for the veranda. Abenander raised his palm then shouted "Pneuma!" A bar of green mist fired at the arrow and caused them to stop in mid-air before dropping to the ground like sacks of stones. They were contacted by Corvus through the guild link, calling either Adella or Abenander down to attend to Victor. Abenander turned to leave but Adella caught his arm. "I'll do it Abenander, you have to stay here." Abenander paused for a moment before he nodded and resumed his position on the veranda while Adella made her way inside. Lucia swung her two handed axe over her shoulder, everytime she inhaled her cigarette lessened a centimeter or so and everytime she exhaled smoke spilled from her mouth. "You think we can survive this Abenander? Who knows what Jared managed to reveal to them. What weaknesses we have that they can exploit?' Abenander didn't answer, he was afraid of the same thing. He ordered all entrances and exits to be sealed, locking them in as much as they kept Suldam out. If Jared had managed to learn weaknesses in the walls or if he had found entrances that even he didn't know off all would be lost and Malacca would be driven into the ground. The silver leashe and collar would close around the neck of the red stallion and never be opened.