Chapter 19 - Retreat
Annette stared into Felix's eyes. She saw the storm raging behind them. The hate at himself for being caught unaware, the fury at the assassin holding a knife to her throat, the desperation to save her. He gripped his sword in his hand, the blade trembling. This wasn't fair. They only just reunited and now this? Annette wanted to scream and set the whole bridge ablaze. She had half a mind to stomp on her captor's foot, backhand him, do something, even if it meant her death.
There wasn't any clear way out of this. All the rebels around them watched the pair for the slightest movement. Any hint that they didn't comply and it was all over.
They were watching Felix and Annette.
But they forgot the third person.
Dimitri realized this too and without warning, he slammed his shoulder into a rebel's chest and grabbed the foe's spear. The loose bonds quickly fell away and Dimitri swung the rebel at the end of the spear off the bridge, and the man plummeted to the bottom. Immediately, the king spun the spear around and slashed a second enemy in an arc, then stabbed a third through the stomach. In the blink of an eye, half of the congregated group was down.
Chilon lumbered around in his heavy armor to the commotion like an ancient statue come to life for battle and Dolofonos twitched, enough that his grip loosened. Felix and Annette both noticed it and she elbowed his groin. Dolofonos grunted and stepped back. Annette rushed forward to Felix's side as he swung his sword at Dolofonos' shoulder, forcing him to drop the knife.
"That's for threatening my brother," Felix said and ran his blade through the assassin's chest. Dolofonos gasped, his voice croaking, and his fingers gripped at Felix's hand, clawing uselessly at the hilt of the sword. "And that's for threatening the woman I love." He ripped his sword out of Dolofonos, who collapsed to his knees and sank onto the bridge.
Annette stared at the body, stunned by the sudden change. Moments ago, she'd been in his grip and now, he laid dead at her feet.
"Felix! Annette!" Dimitri shouted.
She shook her head. This was no time to lose her composure. She turned around, an ice spell at the ready, and took stock of the situation. Three enemies left, including Chilon, bearing down on Dimitri. He caught their weapons on the spear's haft and they pressed him down. His knees wobbled as he pushed against them.
The rebel army stormed the far side of the bridge now that their upper hand had crumbled. They intended to recapture Dimitri and slaughter the rest.
Annette concentrated her spell and blasted the feet of Chilon and the two rebels closest to her. Immediately, they lost their balance, flailing in the frozen chunks of ice creeping up to their knees. Dimitri pushed back against them with a roar, bringing the blunt end of his spear up and clipping one of the rebels in the jaw.
Chilon twisted around, spotted Annette, and glowered through the slits in his helmet. He stood taller than she realized and she suddenly felt like a small squirrel who'd angered a bear. His ax blade was larger than her head and he raised it high, prepared to slice her in two.
Felix leapt between them and attacked Chilon, chopping the handle of his ax. The golden knight fumbled with his ax and managed to block the blow, but Felix hammered repeatedly on it. He didn't give the larger man a chance to change his stance, digging out chunks of wood until the weapon snapped in two.
Chilon looked at his useless ax, then swung the bladed half at Felix. He jumped backwards into Annette and Dimitri joined them. "Damn you!" Chilon screamed and swept the blade at the ice, cutting through it carelessly. "Damn you! I'll kill you yet!"
"We have to get back to the castle," Dimitri said. "Move it!"
They sprinted for the safe end of the bridge, the rebel army hot on their heels. In the arrow slits, Annette saw their allies and she waved her arms frantically. Please shoot! Please shoot! she begged.
Answering her prayers, a small light grew in the dark slit and suddenly whizzed overhead, striking the bridge's ropes. Followed by several others. Felix laughed beside her, pumping his fist as the fire snaked up the ropes.
The rebels saw it too and faltered. They stopped before the middle of the bridge, some of them already retreating.
"They need to keep coming," Felix said. "We'll lose them otherwise."
"You're right." Dimitri stopped running and stood his ground, his arms spread wide. "Come then!" he taunted the army. "Come claim my head! Or is this an army of cowards?"
"Get him!" Chilon said, one leg already free. "Go on, you'll get there in time!"
He sounded so confident for a man caught in the middle of a trap. Then Annette noticed the fire spread slowly. Too slowly. They didn't have enough oil. It inched along the ropes leisurely, failing to burn through the tense cords as fast as last time. Sure enough, the rebels realized that too, and they resumed their advance, running toward them.
"Alright, you've got them coming," Felix said, grabbing Dimitri's elbow and tugging him along. "Now we need to figure out how to stop them before they invade the castle."
Dimitri checked the bridge, the ropes, and the approaching forces, his brow furrowed in thought. Then he pointed at the chains. "We break those."
Annette wasn't sure she heard him right. "How?"
"If you freeze them, could we break them?"
She shrugged. "Yes, we should be able to. But we're still on the bridge!"
"Do you have a better idea? We'll be fine," he said, lacking the assuredness in his voice that usually came with his crazy plans. "Quick, freeze them!" Standing still, Annette shot ice at each chain near them, encasing a section in a block of ice. "Felix, you take one side. Annette, the other. Whoever gets through their ice first, get to the other side quickly."
Felix muttered under his breath, yet went along with the plan, racing toward the side and climbing up the chain to reach the ice block. He hacked at the chains with his sword, chopping at the frozen section. Tiny ice chips flew out with every swing.
The rebels quickly caught on and sprinted, yelling and screaming as though that would propel them forward faster. Annette held up her hands and blasted the other ice block with a fireball. Although melted chunks broke off and scattered to the wind, it held firm. She cursed overdoing her magic and how firm the ice held.
The first of the rebels beared down on them and dashed for Annette. Dimitri quickly caught the rebel's sword with his spear and threw him aside with a shout. "C'mon then! You'll have to do better than that!"
Another rebel went for Felix, swinging an ax wildly in an arc. Felix swept his sword down onto the chains, tucked his chin into his chest, and jumped off, rolling aside. The ax bit into the bridge, tearing out a piece of wood. Felix stood and cut the rebel down easily and kicked him aside. "This isn't going to work!" he said, climbing back up the chain again.
"It will, trust me!" Dimitri said. He dodged a swing from one rebel, shouldered him off the side of the bridge, and jumped at another. Arrows flew past Annette, catching a few would-be attackers in the chest and they fell over themselves into a pile.
In the second wave, Annette saw the golden head of Chilon rising among the rabble. He carried both halves of his great ax with purpose and deadly intent. He swept his hidden face back and forth between Felix and Annette, considering who to slay first.
Annette poured her all into her magic, searing the ice block with all she had. Please break! she begged. Please break, please break! Do it!
Suddenly, a loud cracking like a small glacier collapsing resounded overhead, drowning out Dimitri clashing spears with a couple of rebels. The ice block had melted a great deal and splintering lines raced through it, carving up inconsistent pieces throughout. Annette marveled at it for a moment, overjoyed that her magic worked. Yes, thank the goddess!
Then the bridge shifted beneath her feet, leaning to the side and pivoting her forward. She flailed her arms in circles and remembered the rest of Dimitri's plan. Get to the other side. She stumbled away as the ice continued to crackle and stepped over dead bodies behind her.
Felix and Dimitri noticed the shifting too. The king zipped to Felix's side while the swordsman grabbed the chains for support, wildly swinging at it again and again.
As Annette reached the pair, her block snapped apart and, as she expected, so did the chains. The lower half swept across the bridge, narrowly missing the trio, and collided with the line of rebels approaching them, knocking them over.
The bridge tilted and most of the rebels toppled down, screaming, rolling, and clawing at the bridge. It was no use and they fell off into the waiting maw of the empty moat. Felix, Annette, and Dimitri all held onto the sturdy chain, easily walking right onto the thin narrow side of the bridge.
The rebels closest to the edge with enough sense to realize what to do clung to the side. Including Chilon. He hammered his ax into the wood, using it as a handhold for his weight, and pulled himself up and onto the side of the bridge. Other rebels joined him, taking a moment to gain their bearings, and carefully stepped forward.
"Go," Felix said, hacking at the ice block. "Get to the castle. I'll be right behind you."
Annette didn't have a chance to argue. Dimitri shoved her along, ordering her to move, and she realized just how narrow the strip of wood beneath her was. She had to put one foot in front of the other carefully and Dimitri said too late, "Don't look down."
"Kind of hard not to," she said timidly, glancing at the jagged rocks of the deep pit below. The empty moat surrounded her on all sides and insisted she look at it, lest it snatch her feet and yank her off the bridge. The rocks and dead bodies below started to zoom away from her, then rush back in, and she closed her eyes, her stomach rocking with the swinging bridge.
"Here." Immediately, she felt herself lifted in the air and she feared she had fallen without realizing it. She scrabbled for something to latch onto and tore at Dimitri's hair. "Agh, wait, wait! It's fine, just hold it!" A few seconds later, she was on solid enough ground again, only now behind Dimitri. "Take my hand and let's go."
Together, they shuffled along the bridge as Felix chopped at the ice block. Chilon and his men were almost on him. The golden knight grabbed the chain, jerking it, and Felix held on. He saw the enemy beneath him and climbed higher above the ice block.
"Hurry," Dimitri said. "We're almost there."
The king stepped onto solid ground with Annette right behind him. She checked on Felix and her heart leapt into her throat. Chilon was right below him, his ax raised high. A few of the braver rebels climbed the chain, gripping their weapons and heading right for Felix. He didn't have any way out. They were going to corner him and kill him.
"Annette!" Dimitri's call fell on deaf ears. She raced back across the bridge, hardly paying attention to the gorge below. She conjured a spell, keeping her eyes on the enemies ahead. She needed to save Felix. Almost there! Almost!
The next few seconds passed in a blur. Chilon flung the bladed half of his ax at Felix, who dropped his body low, gripping the chain in one hand and dodging the projectile. Annette shot a wind spell at the rebels, the great gust blasting a couple backwards off the bridge to the deaths. The rest clung tight to the remaining chain or the bridge itself, refusing to budge an inch.
Felix swung at the ice block one final time and cleaved it in two. The chain snapped apart and the rebels on the lower end screamed as they flew away. Both ends of the bridge tilted downwards and Chilon toppled headlong into the empty moat, followed by the rest of his men.
Annette quickly realized the bridge was falling beneath her too. She turned to run, but the sudden shifting and jolting wood threw her forward. She clung to the bridge, staring into the abyss of rocks below, and her whole life flashed before her eyes. This was how it all ended. There wasn't any way out.
"Annette!" A heavy body collided into her and she screamed, anticipating a terrible fall and instant darkness. Instead, she flew up at an arc, propelled by something solid beneath her. She looked up at Felix's ghostly white face and the chain he held firm in his fist.
At the top of the arc, he let go and they collapsed onto solid ground. Immediately, Felix sat up, coughing, groaning, and hovered above her, anxious eyes scanning everywhere. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine, I think," she said. He helped her up carefully and she glanced back. The bridge collapsed into the gorge below and the half of the chain they'd swung on dangled from the castle, tapping gently against the stone. "Thanks."
"I should be saying that," he said and embraced her. "I almost lost you. Don't ever do something so dangerous again."
She kissed him and he faltered. "Then don't put yourself in a tight spot like that." She jabbed his forehead and he grabbed her finger, smirking and feathering it with kisses of his own.
"You're both at fault," Dimitri said, approaching them. "Both of you are reckless fools."
Felix snorted, picking a piece of ice out of Annette's hair and flicking it at him. "You're in no position to lecture about that." Annette nodded in agreement.
Seeing he was outnumbered, he gave up and bid them follow him. "Let's get inside. We have to regroup."
Across the gulf between the castle and the opposite end, a few lines of rebels remained, shouting threats and curses. Annette tuned them out and hurried inside with Felix. As they passed through the gates, Gustave seemed taken aback by her. Had he watched the whole thing? How much did he see?
Her father's gaze passed to Felix and seemed a mixture of emotions. Extreme gratefulness and fatherly suspicion, which answered her question. He'd seen enough.
The remaining soldiers with their group closed the heavy doors and Dimitri ordered a few to bring Ingrid, Dorothea, Bernadetta, and the other archers downstairs to meet at the front gate. As he finished his instructions, another soldier ran up to them frantically yelling, "Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"
Dimitri turned, waving off those he'd given orders to. "What is it?"
The soldiers slammed to a halt in front of him, doubled over and trying to get his message out as fast as possible between wheezing breaths. "East gate. Fallen. Another force! Rebels!"
Dimitri gripped the man by the shoulders and stood him up straight, staring him in the face. "The rebels have broken through the east gate?" The soldier nodded and hunched over again, panting and wiping his brow. Dimitri lifted his spear to the rest of the soldiers around him. "To me! Hurry to the east gate!"
They reunited with Dorothea, Ingrid, and Bernadetta on the way and the soldier quickly explained the situation. Anaximandros had sent countless soldiers up to the ramparts of the castle using grappling hooks, ropes, mages to propel suicidal rebels using wind magic, whatever means necessary. The archers and soldiers had tried to fend him off, but the sheer numbers eventually overwhelmed them. They took the ramparts and lowered the drawbridge and the rest fell to pieces.
When they reached the central hallway where the kingdom's forces had fallen back to, Felix took stock of the battle. It was worse than he imagined. Bodies from both sides laid fallen in the corridor leading to the east gate, forming a morbid barrier. It didn't stop the endless hoard of rebels climbing over the pile, attacking the soldiers with unending ferocity.
Felix regained himself and jumped into the fray, catching the sword of one rebel. He jerked the man's arm up, spun around, and sliced across his midsection. The rebel fell, only to be replaced by two more.
Arrows whizzed through the air, striking a line of enemies, and Annette and Dorothea conjured all sorts of spells at their disposal, filling the corridor with chilling blasts of ice and sweltering fireballs.
Dimitri speared headlong beside Felix, tearing through the enemies and striking fear into them for a moment. When the rebels realized who he was, they re-doubled their efforts and targeted him.
Felix cut through a swath of rebels and stood in front of Dimitri, threatening a new batch with his sword. "We can't hold them here!"
"I know." Dimitri eyed his forces and stepped backwards. "We'll head for the throne room and bottleneck them there."
"We'll be cornered," Felix said, swiping at a nimble rebel. The woman jumped aside, only to be caught in the chest by an arrow. She spun and slammed into the wall, slumping down it.
A few enemies circled around the main fighting, trying to flank them. "Better than being surrounded," Dimitri said, facing the enemies at their side. "Retreat to the throne room!" he ordered.
The soldiers formed up in a protective group, keeping the rebels at bay as they retreated. Dimitri reluctantly joined them. Annette looked to Felix, waiting, and he nodded, assuring her that he was right behind her. He took one last look at the corridor, frowned at the tide of foes closing in, and turned to leave.
Then he did a double-take. Among the crowd, rising high in his black armor, Anaximandros directed the rebels' efforts. At either side were Bias and Pittacus, aiding with their own dark magic and throwing spells about.
Anaximandros saw him and raised a lance, pointing directly at Felix and Dimitri with a very clear message. He swiftly disappeared amongst a line of rebels, swinging a mixture of axes and swords.
Felix parried one blow and shoved one rebel into a few others, bowling them over. Then he hurried after the retreating knights and soldiers, Anaximandros' meaning crystal clear in his mind:
The rebel leader would ground their forces beneath his heel. And he meant to kill Felix and Dimitri personally.