The Guardians of Celesk

Chapter 4: The Siege of Celesk

Evil, power and the dark way, an extension of Varasz, had given them an unnatural speed. In their time they had constructed a wall, a great wall which surrounded the sanctuary. The wall was constructed from large beams of wood and mud, bound together by a primitive mortar and a dark binding spell. The effect was obvious: on one hand Valezk's forces could attack the sanctuary and continue the siege and on the other, they could defend themselves against the reinforcements that had just arrived. Cavalry was wasted and no match against Valezk's squad of Macrimancers- dark warriors that could also channel the inner way. He set a number atop the makeshift spires that perched high on the wall. As they shifted artillery into sight – a pair of Macrimancers raised their staves in the air and sent out a shock wave that produced a tremor in the ground that enveloped a catapult.

Garywn yelled out 'Do-kena protect' before launching an energy shield from her own staff. She was able to ward off the tremors and stabilise the ground against the remaining artillery. Eondall gave the signal and a group of Guardians sent a vast barrage of flame and ice projectiles at the spires, knocking a few of their dark counterparts to the ground, killing them on impact. They were met with their own barrage in response. Garwyn and Eondall tried to project energy shields but not all were safe. They lost a number of riders and infantry. The fighting became like a deadly sport, one side sending a barrage and another responding. Sometimes the force of Er-oten met in the middle, varying in degrees of energy. At one point the way was forked and built to a fever pitch. Two walls of energy fueled by Guardians and Dark Wizards met in the middle and exploded,. sending out a shock wave that enveloped everyone. This next battle would be fought amongst mere mortals. Humans and beasts quickly ran against one another, with medics desperately trying to pull the unconscious pack of Guardians from the field, though a number of them were killed in this position. Eondall and Garwyn almost in unison recoiled from this horror. Exhausted they limped back in retreat and let the Golden Blade take charge. They were very close to either death or unconsciousness, either would offer sweet relief from this horrific event.

The Golden Blade, warriors from Mes- Celezk, were brave but not battle-hardened. They launched rams against the mighty wall of Valezk, puncturing gaping walls but failing to bring it down. Meanwhile , dark archers continued to fire arrow after arrow upon them and their strongest beasts threw down molten metal, setting fire to man and weaponry alike. The tides of war had turned and all they could do was look onward at the ash and ruin.

The people inside the Sanctuary were not faring any better. The pulse had halted most of its protectors, rendering them either unconscious or almost immobile. Bohina and Atreide gathered a number of students and brought them inside the inner temple. Artreide looked at the shrine for a long moment, he could use some guidance at this point but the communication lines had all but been extinguished. Their fate would be decided in the dirt rather than up in the skies. Other elder guardians had taken shelter here, they would all rest a moment before joining the humans again. Each were trying to focus but this proved impossible with the constant barrage surrounding them. The enemy was relentless.

Mes-Celezk had a squad of reinforcements that joined the other civilians holding up against the barrage, but they couldn't offer the same level of resistance, as wave of artillery fire continued to bombard the sanctuary walls.

Valezk was starting to look pleased though the staff vibrating nervously in his grip suggested otherwise. He'd really had enough of waiting and he knew this stalemate would not persevere. If the Guardians could regain their strength, he would be forced to call off the siege. They had to move quickly and strike the heads off the hydra while they still had their momentum. He yelled out to Slaker, "Prepare the beasts."

The bombardment from the outer wall had continued to rip holes in the sanctuary but it was the impact of Valezk's ram that had made the most damage. A nearby Macrimancer focused his energy on this particular point, as he thrust out his staff and it sent a great flaming ball of energy out that struck the door and immediately set it ablaze. It was his last gasp of action before he fainted, slipping into unconsciousness. Combined with the forceful breach of the ram, they destroyed the gate and sent the first wave of infantry through. The people of the sanctuary refused to go silently into their fate and locked shields like a tortoise shell. They kept the onslaught contained within the courtyard, but they couldn't hold on forever. Void of their magical way, Bohina and Atreide joined the other citizens and entered hand to hand combat. The way was locked until they recovered properly, yet in their fatigue they were still a physically menacing presence of speed and strength. Synchronizing with their human counterparts, the tortoise shell clash of shields defended well against the rain of blows just in time to open up and let a flurry of swords and staves explode against their dark enemy. For the time being the courtyard was still theirs.

An unholy shriek let loose from within the woods, noisy footfalls crunched down on the undergrowth as the creatures blasted their way through the clearing. These woodland monsters made cavalbeasts look like pups, in mostly size and ferocity. They smelt of sulphur and blood, and their red eyes cast a menacing glow at their intended prey. Between each snarl was a harness, and as this pack of creatures bore down on them, Celeskian warriors were standing with their mouths agape. It wasn't the Bael-wargs they were most afraid of, but the dark souls riding them. For at the forefront of this pack of dark riders was the exile himself – Valezk. He had stayed clear of the blast wave and as if to prove this, he sent out a shockwave of flame that set a group of bladesmen alight, followed by another. He brandished a flaming ebony sword; it was elongated and in its centrepiece was the eye of the blackened flame. Each of his victims seem to be hypnotised in the moment before it swung at them in a deadly arc and took their life.

Eondall looked in horror as he saw a petrified soldier, almost frozen in plain fear, be cut down by the immense flaming sword. Valezk pressed onward and Eondall with his last bout of strength ebbed out an immense wave of energy that produced a spike of ice that exploded out of the ground and pierced the torso of the Bael-warg, penetrating its heart and letting the creature fall forward in a fatal shock, sending Valezk tumbling to the ground in frustration. As Valezk raised himself from the ground, Eondall erupted:

"Enough!!!" His voice reverberating throughout the immense expanse of land. It froze Valezk's squad in their tracks, "Haven't you had enough bloodshed for today?"

Valezk smirked at the idea, "Not nearly enough, old man."

Eondall walked towards the front of the pack, each side standing still in a makeshift truce. "You have had no word, no parley, just random violence on your path here." Valezk shook his head. "There was nothing random about it."

Eondall again tried to reason with him, "We should have all just talked, this is not our Erto-en."

Valezk held his sword high. "None of you wanted to talk then. Before I could blink you banished me like I was nothing... And now I will send you to nothing."

"You know that's not true. Extinguish my life and you will find a force beyond all reckoning, and you won't be able to see it coming."

Eondall looked around him at the corpses littering the field, he felt Garwyn watching him from the treeline. He knew this must be the key to it all, to try and broker a peace before all was lost. "This is the way of the old world. Do you really want to go back to this?" He asked, almost pleading with Valezk.

"I liked the old world, before this living prison evolved." Valezk turned towards the Celeskian soldiers. "Don't you want to live free? Away from these zealots and luddites controlling every part of our existence?"

"You know what will happen. What you will return to?" At this point, Eondall was in front of the group of soldiers, with a faint strip of land between him and the exile. Each could look deeply into the other's eyes as they spoke, all the time searching for a sense of understanding.

Valezk appeared to lower his flaming sword downwards. Eondall breathed a sigh of relief. As his gaze turned toward the ground, Valezk lobbed the sword straight at him, piercing him in the chest and igniting his robes on impact. "Not if I can help it."

Valezk waved his hand as onlookers gaped in horror at what had just transpired. Garwyn clutched at her heart as tears rolled down her eyes. She could not cry out for fear of giving away their positions, as she desperately bit down on her lip to prevent the slightest gasp. There was no well in existence that could contain her grief, but she had to bury it and let an intense likeness to rage boil over for her. This inner pulse reverberating throughout her was the red light, Varasz – the bloodred precipice that balanced violence and passion. She needed to control it and clear her head. Most of the Celeskian soldiers stood, almost impaled in the earth in both grief and horror. This was with the exception of a group of brave archers who fired a volley of arrows at Valezk. He raised his arm and let out a pulse that stopped the arrows in mid-air. He smirked at the sight of this airborne failure. With a rush of strength, a focused Garwyn seized control of a core group of arrows and pushed with great speed towards Valezk's torso. The key blows struck him in the chest and stomach. In horror, he went to pull them out before Slaker screamed: "No Master, leave them in!" She hoisted him onto her beast and rode off the battlefield, declaring "Keep up the barrage! Release every man, woman and child into the void!"

At her signal, the remaining artillery continued to blast the sanctuary. There would be no dawn for the Guardians of Celezk.