The Rangers of Aleera

Chapter 15

The villagers were fighting exhaustion. They had been defending the wall for four days. One of the older women brought up the idea of using scalding water against their attackers. It worked for a time until the Wolf Brothers started throwing their spears at everyone who dared to climb the wall. Every archer was now sporting a bandage and many had taken up positions on the Temple's roof. Jelina was the only one daring to mount the wall, despite Ainnileas' protests. She would rapidly fire arrows before hopping down again.

"I wish you would stop that!" he cried. "You may be hard to kill but let's not push it!"

"Pushing it is what I do," she answered with a weary smile.

Ainnileas shook his head. "Elohim, help us!"

Jelina didn't know how much longer they could keep this up. Everyone, herself included, was exhausted not to mention the pain in her wounded side. Tearmann was a two days ride south. Tristan running at full speed and non-stop could perhaps make the journey in a day and a half. Wolfhounds were known, and feared, for their speed, thanks to their long legs. They were intelligent and resilient, not to mention fiercely loyal. While she had no doubt about Tristan completing his mission, it was the mustering of the Rangers she was concerned with. Once they received her message requesting aid against the Wolf Brothers, she had no doubt they would come. What she doubted was their speed in doing so. She didn't know how many would come or how long it would take to collect themselves. Jelina prayed they would come quickly. They wouldn't be able to hold forever. She and Ainnileas knew this. Their stores were low, their weapons even fewer. Eventually, the braces they had against the gates would fail and the Wolf Brothers would overrun them. Jelina checked her quiver. She was dangerously low on arrows with no time to make more. And any spares would have been claimed and used by now. She couldn't even begin to speculate on the other archers' quivers.

Elohim, aid us!

~~~

The gates were miraculously holding although Ainnileas had no idea how with the amount of ramming the Wolf Brothers were doing. They had added benches from the Temple to the bracing and were now also using their bodies and Maitru, having run out of arrows, had joined the fighters in bracing the gate with his body. Jelina had gathered the spears the Wolf Brothers had thrown at her and the other archers and had been randomly leaping upward and throwing the spears back at them. Judging by the amount of painful screams, she was hitting her marks. She kept them guessing by continuously switching between her bow and the spears until she ran out of spears. Then she used only her bow. She dropped down next to Ainnileas after a firing stint. He had no idea how she was staying upright. They'd been defending the wall and bracing the gates since the siege began. None of the fighters and archers had any rest. Jelina looked like she would drop at any moment. He was sure he looked as exhausted.

"I'm out," she said.

Ainnileas glanced at her empty quiver. She had been their most prominent Wolf Brother terror. Now she had nothing but her swords and daggers. She was looking a bit on the pale side and he hoped she hadn't reopened the wound on her side, but was guessing she had by the pain in her eyes. She put her now useless bow back in its place and pressed her body against the gate to help brace it.

"What do we do now?" Ainnileas asked. This fight, if you could call it that, had turned unbearably hopeless. The Wolf Brothers were still ramming the gates and Ainnileas could feel them shudder. They wouldn't last much longer. "They've had us under siege for four days. We're out of arrows and there's no word that the Rangers are coming." The gates shuddered again. His thoughts turned to his children. "There's a way for the women and children to escape. If we evacuate them now maybe they'll have a chance."

Jelina shook her head. "They'll never be able to outrun the Wolf Brothers." She rubbed her forehead. "We'll have to kill —" A long howl sounded, causing her to stop mid-sentence.

"Oh, Elohim!" Ainnileas looked over at Jelina. Oddly, she had a look of relief and a small, tired smile on her face.

"That wasn't a Wolf Brother."

The first howl was joined by others. Jelina darted back to the crates and jumped back on top of the wall, dodging spears. She gave a cry that sounded like a hawk. It was answered by another hawk call. Ainnileas could have laughed out loud and danced for joy at the same time. For the first time since Tristan's departure, he had hope. The howl had been from a Wolfhound. The Rangers had arrived.

~~~

Dante reigned in his horse. Wolf Brothers were ferociously attacking the gates of a Temple of Elohim. He had mustered as many as he could in a short amount of time upon reading the message that Tristan had brought to him from Jelina. They were twenty-five strong, including himself; all he could muster in the small amount of time that he had, eerily mirroring the same battle where the former Commander and Dante's close friend had been killed. They had ridden hard and Dante prayed they weren't too late. He was relieved when a figure appeared on the wall after the Wolfhounds' howls and gave a clear call.

He answered the call and turned his horse towards the men gathered behind him. "Three of our own are defending this village. Let us give them the aid they require!" He turned his horse back towards the village and drew his sword. "Let us give them hell!" The Rangers charged forward, hooves and paws thundering, as Dante gave a loud battle cry.