Sam Bowring - Soul's Reckoning

Arrows pelted down, bouncing off the creature as it clawed its way upward. What manner of beast is it , he thought, that cannot be harmed by magic or steel?

Looking at the distance between the creature and the dreamer, he guessed that once the dreamer made it to the base of the fort, the creature would reach the top of the walls. They needed to halt the dreamer.

‘All bows on the dreamer!’ he shouted, frustrated with himself that he kept changing targets. ‘All lightfists!’

The air grew thick with projectiles, fireballs setting arrows aflame, light orbs bouncing off each other. The ground around the dreamer’s ward was instantly peppered with smoking shafts, and tracks in the dust left by streams of lava turned aside. Another shadow mage fell, and Galfin saw the dreamer himself raise his hands to strengthen the ward, turning back the tide of flashing metal and light. Silently the creature crawled higher up the wall, and Galfin felt his stomach sink. It had started so promisingly, but what could he do against such fell magic?

With his lightfists distracted, enemy stones were beginning to make the fort quake. Some hit the walls while others made it over, and he heard soldiers shouting and things smashing. All at once, the rest of the shadow army began to charge. Galfin felt overwhelmed – had they ever really had a chance? All he’d needed to do was hold back the shadow for a day, maybe two …and they weren’t even going to last the night.

Get yourself together, man. At the very least we can make them pay for what they take.

‘Bows!’ he shouted. ‘Ignore the damn dreamer! Take aim at their front lines!’

The cascade of arrows turned outwards in all directions. As the shadow swarmed up the hill, their soldiers began to fall. However, with the bows’ attentions elsewhere, the dreamer made better progress, arriving quickly at the base of the fort. As he did, the creature clambered up the last stretch of wall, over the side …and was amongst them.

‘Fall back!’ screamed Galfin, but it was too late.

The creature seized a man in its jaws and shook him violently. Others around it drew their swords, and one gallant bow screamed furiously as she swung with all her might at the creature’s hind leg. Her blade ricocheted as if meeting the hardest iron, with enough force that it almost flew from her hands. The creature dropped the limp body, and turned its empty eyes almost casually over its shoulder to look at her. Then it raised the leg she had tried to sever, and kicked her away, over the side.

Other bows backed away, frantically notching arrows and sending them whistling uselessly at the creature. Lightfists also shot forth spells, though each crackled just as impotently against the creature as the last. Its head turned this way and that, as if deciding what to attack next. Spoilt for choice , Galfin thought grimly.

Suddenly it surged away from him, moving in the opposite direction along the wall, its tail swinging wildly behind it. The narrow width of the space meant it hardly even needed to bite or claw – rushing along was enough to send soldiers flying over the edge, or squash them against stone or grind them underfoot. Cries of pain and terror filled the night as bodies tumbled over the walls, and the flood of arrows fired at the approaching horde quickly dried up.

‘Into the fort!’ yelled Galfin, but he heard no taskmasters take up the call. He spun to the soldiers immediately around him, who were staring at him wide-eyed. ‘You heard me! In!’

He pushed a young bow towards the stairs and the man stumbled, then fled. Others followed.

‘Sir,’ said Kalda, a tremor in her voice. Galfin followed her eyes.

The creature had reached the far end of the wall, and was now turning around. Between them, where moments ago hundreds of soldiers had stood, the stone was slick with blood and pulp. Galfin could barely comprehend that so many had been lost in such a short time. It was appalling, and it made his heart hot in his chest. Snarling, he reached for his sword, but felt Kalda’s hand on his own.

‘Sir, we have seen that does no good.’

‘That thing must pay.’

‘The fort needs you, sir,’ she said. ‘Please, retreat, as you bid the others.’

Beneath his fury, Galfin knew she was right. Without other targets, the creature was now thundering towards them at breakneck speed – quite literally, for he could hear bones snapping beneath its claws.

‘Back,’ he muttered, although he needn’t have bothered – Kalda was already gone. Quickly he moved after her onto the long flight of stairs that went all the way down to ground level. As he took the first step, he felt a sudden rush of air by his ear and twisted around.

Galfin found himself staring into the creature’s eyes. Its claw was raised as if to strike again, and he tensed, expecting to be knocked from the stairs. Maybe he’d be dead before he hit the ground.

The creature brought its claw towards him, then stopped, as if it met with resistance. Elsewhere on the walls came the whimper of someone still alive, and its head snapped around before it darted away. Galfin watched it with confusion – why had it spared him? There was a brief gasp as another of his soldiers was snuffed out for good, and a moment later the creature was back, seeming to leer at him, but not taking the first step onto the stairs.

Galfin heard an explosion below and turned to look down into the fort. Beside the gate rocks were falling, and he knew the dreamer was blasting his way in.

Something clicked. In coming up the walls, the creature must have reached its limit; it could not take the final steps into the fort proper. But tethered as it was to the dreamer somehow, if he managed to make his way inside, so could it.

‘Defend the breach!’ Galfin heard himself bellow as he pounded down the stairs. If they could hold back the dreamer from entering, they could keep his monster from descending. Taskmasters and cerepans took up the cry, and soldiers converged on the opening. Lightfists poured spells through it, but Galfin could see flickers of shadow snaking in despite the force of the flow. The fort shook in other places as the enemy tried to create more breaches, and without anyone on the walls, there was little to be done to stop that. A hole opened and Black Goblins leaped through, but they were immediately cut down by the wealth of waiting blades.

Galfin was about halfway down the stairs when the dreamer’s opening blasted even wider. Shadow mages rushed in, many screaming as they fell to arrows, spells and blades, but others came fast on their heels. They spread out, pushing the fighting back into the centre of the fort. As they did, the dreamer entered, still under his heavy protective ward, still with that goblin by his side.

Galfin’s heart sank as he saw two reptilian feet edging over the wall above. Suddenly the creature was climbing downwards inside the fort. After a moment it simply let go, dropping to land amongst the troops, and the carnage began again. Multitudes fell in seconds, powerless before the attacking lizard, as simultaneously the dreamer forced his way forwards, and more holes appeared in the walls. Watching the creature carve its way through swathes of soldiers in the blink of an eye, Galfin felt at a loss as to what to do. Nothing in his experience had prepared him for this. He thought of Corlas Corinas, and the difficult decision the man had had to make. Corlas had looked at what was going on around him, weighed everything up, and made the right choice. A difficult choice indeed, but the right one.

Now it was Galfin’s turn.

He reached the bottom of the stairs and grabbed a cerepan who was running past, jerking him to a stop.

‘What?’ said the man angrily, then saw who it was. ‘Sir! What shall we do?’