Borne of Fire

Chapter 48

As they reached the Western Tower they began to hear the first sounds of the army gathered outside. Barked orders, the clanging of metal, horses whinnying, feet pounding the hard ground, all these sounds washed over Braxter as he ran into the tower following Randyl, up the winding stairs, trying not to think about what was going on outside the walls.

What was coming.

In through your nose, out through your mouth he thought to himself, remembering what Ja'aris had said to him and wondering how angry the watcher would be making himself right then as he stood at the front line in the Vanguard. In and out, in and out. Up and up.

Until eventually they reached the top.

They emerged into sunlight so bright that it made Braxter squint. A blue sky blanketed them, broken only very occasionally by white clouds which sat unmoving, as if gathered by the gods themselves to bear witness to what was happening below.

It was colder this far up and Braxter drew his leathers about him against the chill. What he saw when his eyes adjusted however, chilled him in a way that his clothing could do nothing to stop. His breath caught in his chest and his mouth ran dry. He tried to swallow but it felt as though his throat was coated with sand and his tongue had suddenly swollen to twice it's normal size.

The site which greeted him, sprawling across the plains outside Boreham wasn't a surprise as such, but picturing it in his mind and seeing it in the flesh were two completely different things.

Boreham's makeshift army was gathered in rank and file, well ordered and standing to attention in their companies. Captains ran the lines, presumably giving orders and commands if not last minute words of encouragement to those they were responsible for but at this height it was impossible to make out individual voices. All that reached Braxters ears was a general thrum of noise from the thousands gathered below.

And from the Ulrogg - not a sound.

But they were there. Where the plains ended and gently became the hills which Braxter had so recently crossed with Randyl, L'non and Ja'aris after leaving Heldaro, the Ulrogg had gathered. They too stood in what Braxter presumed were their own monstrously distorted version of battle lines but at this distance it was too difficult to make out individuals.They stood in the shadows of the trees which lined the plains, or maybe they were the shadows and all Braxter could make out were the darker shapes of bodies, many bodies, as they moved and writhed, wild but restrained as if hungry for the coming battle but held in check at the point of that restraint being broken.

All that he could be certain of was that they were many - perhaps not as many as the army standing directly below him but enough to scare him through to the marrow. He wondered how close they would need to be before the men below could make out the beasts and whether they would have the nerve to stand their ground when they did.

"Aaaa..." Braxter tried to say a prayer that they would be able to do just that and failed at his first attempt. He coughed and swallowed thickly fairing little better on the second attempt as his voice came out little more than a croak.

"All hells! They're really here!" he managed at last.

"Yesss, yesss!" Randyl growled with a fierce smile spreading over his face. "This is the day we take our revenge." He put his arm round Braxters shoulders, pulling his friend close.

"Can you feel it my friend? The sense of battle? The blood in the air? Victory and justice wait for us." Randyl breathed deeply and when he exhaled Braxter couldn't be sure if the breath he could see was because of the cold air or was actual smoke from Axis-y-Garrasdanne. "The pending defeat of the enemy?" He winked at Braxter who immediately felt a little colder.