Metal and Flesh (The Rohvim, Book 1)

7.1 Plunge

   

"... weep not, my fair one, but if thou weep, weep with me. Cry not, my dear one, but if thou cry, cry against thine enemies, and on the shoulders of thy friends ..."

-Consolations, 1:3

  

AEDEN STOPPED RUNNING. He turned, watching as the men on the wall frantically cut ropes to stop the oncoming horde of men and women climbing the wall, but their efforts were overwhelmed by the sheer number of attackers. Hundreds surged onto the wall, slicing through the defenders and hurling them off into the crowd below. The invaders then directed their attention to the men and women guarding the gate itself, hurling rocks and the scalding oil at the terrified defenders. Over one hundred jumped down and busied themselves trying to open the gate from the inside, or defend those who did. Aeden ran back. "If they get through that gate, we're all dead anyway ..." he told himself. As he watched, the invaders working on the gate found success and the large metal doors swung open with the horde pouring in like the ocean through a pierced dike. Aeden rushed forward, joining a company of the city guard, yelling ferociously as he plunged in.

   It was like the tournament, only far more intense, bloody, and deadly. He hacked his way through a group of enemy soldiers, and his stomach turned at the sight of the blood belching out of the wounds he inflicted. He noticed that the enemy soldiers were not particularly skilled, and wondered at that in the back of his mind, seeing the look of almost unconcern on their faces. Stone-faced, as Priam's parents had said.

   He plunged his sword into one man and then pulled it out to block the blow of another, spinning around and slashing at the woman's stomach. She doubled over, wretching up blood. As the bodies piled up around them, for the first time Aeden began to have a little hope. But the incoming masses pressed on, their numbers almost incomprehensible as he looked over their heads, out the gate, and saw a massive sea of stone faces.

   Through the gate now came more men and women, different from the others. These had fearsome faces, and yelled battle cries as they approached. They mixed themselves in with the regular soldiers, and wherever they assisted, the resistance seemed to melt away. Every time they struck with their swords, the force must have been tremendous since showers of sparks shot out from the defenders' swords, and they dropped the blades, clutching their hands in pain before being cut down.

   The gruesome bloodbath continued for some minutes, the wall of enemy soldiers slowly pressing the city guard and the nobles' men back across the great courtyard in front of the gate. The cries and screams of the defenders pierced Aeden's ears, but he continued his work of death, slashing, piercing, cutting, hacking, skewering, and bashing all who found their way in front of his sword.

   Suddenly he found himself face to face with one of the more skilled soldiers. The man charged him and swung, and Aeden quickly ducked and booted the man, making him stumble from the momentum that carried him forward. Aeden though, distracted by this more capable threat, felt pressure in his shoulder. He looked down and saw a blade extending out of it, red with his own blood. He gasped, and as the stone-faced soldier withdrew the sword, readying a killing blow, Aeden spun around and with his own sword, the one awarded him by the lord of the city, found the woman's neck. He collapsed, looking back up to the warrior he had sent stumbling, who by now had recovered and charged toward him again. Aeden weakly held his sword up, then watched in amazed relief as the man's head flew off with a spurt of blood. The body collapsed, lifeless, revealing behind him Swordmaster Arino, whom Aeden recognized from the tournament, and who was to begin instructing him the next day.

   "Run!" the man yelled. "Run now!"