Morgan Rice - Night of the Bold

A few moments later Duncan fund himself bursting out of the tunnel, into the other side of the cliffs, back to the northern side of the Gulch. He was overjoyed to see dozens of his men eagerly awaiting him, to hear their shouts of triumph, to be reunited with them all. He kept riding, and behind him, all his men burst through, too, one at a time. He could hear their shouts of joy and relief as he did.

When his last man rode through, Duncan immediately dismounted and rushed for the opening. He knew the Pandesians would be on their heels, and there was little time. He was joined by his men as he put his shoulder into a boulder, and they shoved the huge rock with all they had. Duncan, sweating, grunting with the other men, finally managed to roll the ton of rock, sealing off the tunnel’s opening.

As soon as it fell into place, there came a boom from the other side; it was the sound, Duncan knew, of the first Pandesian riding into it. Duncan listened as dozens more came, all the Pandesians who had followed them inside, trampling each other to death.

The passageway sealed, Duncan took his first deep breath. He and his men had done it. They had lured the Pandesians to the other side and had returned. His men let out a great cheer as they all realized, and reunited with the men, they all embraced them.

Duncan, as thrilled as he was, knew they had little time. The Pandesians were surely turning back even now, trying to make it back through the Gulch. They had but minutes to seal it off completely before all they had accomplished was undone.

Duncan immediately jumped into action, ignoring the pain and leading his men as he climbed the ropes alongside the cliffs. Each step took them higher and higher, until they finally reached the very heights of the Gulch.

They all stood on the broad plateau up top, Duncan knocked off balance by the driving gale up here, coming off the ocean on the far side of the Gulch. The view from up here was commanding. He looked out and saw the limitless ocean, then he looked down and saw, to the South, Ra’s one hundred thousand men, all slowly turning around and heading back for the Gulch. Duncan could see Ra and his golden chariot from here, in the center of it all, gleaming, racing back and realizing finally he had been duped. Duncan saw the gaping passageway of the Gulch, still wide open, and he knew that if he didn’t seal it, within minutes the Pandesian army would return to this side of Escalon.

“POSITIONS!” Duncan yelled.

His men all lined up at the edge of the cliff, awaiting his command, and he finally raised one fist and gave the signal. Duncan rushed forward and put his shoulder into the first of the dozens of huge boulders lined up along the cliff’s edge, while all around him his men did the same.

Duncan pushed the first huge boulder off the edge, and beside him, dozens more rained down. There followed a tremendous crashing noise, as a great avalanche was set in motion below.

Duncan leaned over the edge and watched. Explosion followed explosion, so strong that the ground shook even up here. The narrow pass of the Devil’s Gulch became clogged, one at a time, with massive boulders, all smashing down in a huge cloud of dust and rock. One at a time, higher and higher, they landed atop each other, filling up the Gulch. Soon, it was a wall of rock from here to the sea.

Impassable.

The first vanguard of the Pandesian army, riding too fast to slow down, charged right into the wall of rock. They smashed into it, and with the Gulch sealed up and nowhere to go, they were stampeded from behind, and crushed to death in a great pile of men and horses.

Duncan’s men, all watching, let out a great cheer all around him. They had finally sealed the gulch, had finally shut out the great invader.

Duncan felt elated, a great sense of joy. Yet as he looked down, something troubled him. He spotted a small opening in the wall of rock, a spot where one of the boulders had gotten lodged too high above the other. It allowed for a ten-foot tunnel through which Pandesians could slip through the Gulch. Indeed, he saw the Pandesians spot it, too, and make for it. Duncan knew there was no time: the Gulch had to be sealed off completely or else the entire dam would break.

As Duncan studied it, he could tell there was no way to fix it not from up here, not with the rock lodged the way it was. The only way, he knew, was to get down there himself and do it by hand.

Duncan’s heart pounded as he felt a sudden thrill. It was the thrill of destiny. The thrill of battle. The thrill of the bold. He knew what he had to do, and he knew there would be no way out. It would mean his death – and yet also the salvation of his nation.

“Commander. Lead these men in my absence,” Duncan commanded.

Volen, standing beside him, stared back at Duncan with fear, realizing what he intended to do. He gripped his arm.

“You must not go. It will mean your death.”

Duncan could see his old friend had read his mind. And Duncan knew he was right. There would be no way back.

“If I do not,” Duncan replied, “then what am I? What is Escalon?”

Duncan gently shook Volen’s hand off, turned to the cliffs, and immediately climbed down the rock face, his palms sweaty, his heart pounding in his chest, knowing this would be his final descent.

As he climbed down, faster and faster, scraping elbows and knees and not caring, Duncan felt a great sense of destiny, of clarity, rise up within him. His vision became blurry as he thought of nothing else but that rock below, of sealing off the Gulch for good. Of saving his people. This was what he had been born to do. He was not afraid. He was only grateful that he had been given such a moment, such an opportunity, to die with honor.

Suddenly, Duncan spotted motion out of the corner of his eye and he turned, halfway down the cliff, to see, with horror, a massive boulder sailing through the air. He realized, too late, that the Pandesians were firing catapults, the boulders sailing like weapons toward his men, high up on the plateau, unsuspecting.

There came an awful crash high above as the cliffs shook – and Duncan’s heart dropped to hear his men, high above, shrieking. Several of them suddenly fell right past him, their bodies whooshing down toward the Gulch. He looked down and, heart breaking, watched them land, dead.

Duncan saw more catapults being rolled forward, and he did not hesitate. He climbed all the way down the cliffs, right into the center of the gulch. He jumped down to the ground and found, waiting for him, a dozen Pandesian soldiers. Before he could reach the lodged boulder, he had to fight his way past these men.

Rising above his pain, Duncan took a deep breath and threw himself into battle, raising his sword, slashing a charging soldier across the chest, then sidestepping, ducking a blow, and stabbing another in the gut. Duncan ducked a swing of a mace, then spun, raising his sword and blocking a soldier’s halberd. He stepped up and elbowed him in the nose, dropping him to the ground.

Duncan fought like a man possessed, cutting through these soldiers like a whirlwind, needing to fight his way across the Gulch. He was completely immersed in the enemy, and he fought like it. He fought like a man who knew he was going to die and had nothing to lose. It brought back the old days, the days when he was but a soldier, free to be reckless, to fight as he wished.

By the time he was done, Duncan, in a mad blur, had felled a dozen soldiers single-handedly. He managed to fight his way all the way to the lodged boulder, then leapt up onto it and climbed his way to the top. A soldier lunged for his leg, and he turned and raised his boot and kicked him in the face right before the soldier could slash it.

Duncan reached down, grabbed a long spear from the hand of a dead Pandesian soldier, raised it high, and plunged it into the crack beside the rock, wedging it deeper and deeper, groaning, with all his might. If he could just pry it enough, this boulder would collapse, would plug the hole and seal the Gulch. He cried out to the heavens, his face turning red from effort, every vein in his body about to pop. It moved, but would not roll.