Morgan Rice - Night of the Bold

Suddenly, Duncan heard a commotion and he turned to see another catapult rolled forward, aimed right for him. He watched the soldiers raise their swords, preparing to hack the rope, and he knew it was too late. He had nowhere to run, no way to escape the missile that would come his way.

The Pandesians, after all, would kill him.

Aidan sprinted through the tunnel, Motley running and heaving before him, Cassandra and White behind him, all running single file in the tight confines beneath the Devil’s Gulch. As Motley ran, struggling, heaving great gasps of air, Aidan knew that if they didn’t reach their destination soon, Motley wouldn’t make it. He had drunk one too many pints of ale in his lifetime, and he was in no shape for this.

“There!” Motley finally gasped. “Up ahead!”

Aidan shielded his eyes as harsh desert sunlight shone through – and then, there was chaos.

They all burst out of the tunnel, and the world was filled with the deafening noise of a hundred thousand soldiers, the largest gathering of warriors Aidan had ever seen, all thundering by. The Pandesian army raced by but feet in front of him, and Aidan and the others immediately retreated into the shadows, against the rock. Aidan’s heart pounded, praying they were undetected, yet he soon realized they had nothing to fear; it was such chaos before him that not a soul noticed. It was like a river of humanity gushing by.

Of course, no one would be looking for them anyway, here, on the other side of the Devil’s Gulch, cut off from the rest of Escalon. Aidan was beginning to realize just how reckless and foolhardy this plan was, yet he did not care. He could not let his father come here alone, and he would do anything to help his father’s cause.

As Aidan watched them rumble by, like an endless herd of buffalo, he stood against the wall, choking on the cloud of dust, and saw Motley watching them carefully, as if looking for something.

“There!” Motley finally called out, pointing.

Aidan followed his gaze to see a group of Pandesian soldiers stumbling, falling over each as they were stampeded by the hordes behind them. They rolled to the ground, stomped to death by men and then by horses, no one noticing them in the great chaos. Finally, their bodies bounced out of the way of the rest of the army.

Motley turned to Aidan and gave him a knowing look.

“The cruelty of the Pandesian army,” he said. “That is the difference between us and them. We look after our own, while they desert them if they fall. With a million men passing through this tiny gulch, some were bound to fall. It is the way of life, my friend. And one man’s loss can be another’s opportunity.”

Motley looked down.

“Can your dog help us?” he asked.

Aidan, realizing what Motley was after, looked down at White, stroking his head.

“Those three soldiers,” Aidan instructed White. “Drag them here!”

White was bounding off before Aidan could even finish his words. White bit the first by the shirt and dragged him back to Aidan, then bounded off and dragged the other two, one at a time, all into the safety of the recesses of the cliffs. Aidan stroked his head proudly, as White licked his hand.

Motley, Aidan, and Cassandra quickly stripped the dead soldiers of their armor. Motley undressed, and as he took off his shirt, his big belly was hanging out in the glaring sun, slick with sweat. He squeezed into the largest soldier’s shirt and chainmail; it barely fit, but with a great effort he made it work. Aidan and Cassandra stripped the armor off the smaller soldiers, one a boy hardly older than Aidan, the other an older, frail man, who was short; both of their armor fit, although it was a bit large on them both. As Aidan donned the helmet, the face visor kept slipping down.

He looked over at Cassandra and smiled.

“You look like a man,” he said to her.

She smiled back before closing her visor.

“And you, a Pandesian boy,” she retorted. “In too-large armor.”

Aidan turned and looked at Motley and was startled to find him fully dressed in Pandesian armor, looking like a Pandesian soldier. For a moment Aidan, forgetting, gasped in fear.

“Convincing,” Aidan said.

“Let’s go,” Motley said.

“Where now?” Aidan asked, running beside Motley, trying to catch up as he bounded off away from the safety of the cliffs and right into the thick of the Pandesian army.

“To see,” Motley replied, “what damage we can do.”

Aidan felt a rush of adrenaline as he found himself in the midst of the chaos and confusion of the Pandesian army, running beside Motley, Cassandra, and White right into the eye of the storm. As they ran, suddenly the tide of soldiers stopped, and the Pandesian army turned back the other way. Aidan, confused, joined them.

“What is happening?” he called out to Motley. “Why are they turning back around for the Gulch?”

“Your father,” Motley called back. “He has circled back. They are sealing off the Gulch. His plan is working!”

Aidan felt a swell of pride for his father as he turned and ran with the army, all the Pandesians now realizing they had been duped by his father. Aidan looked up to the cliffs, and sure enough, he spotted his father. There he was, Duncan and all his brave men, risking their lives as they shoved down huge boulders. There came one crash after the next, and Aidan was overjoyed to see the Gulch sealed for good. His father had outsmarted them all.

Aidan heard the cheering of his father’s men, their jubilant horns booming throughout the cliffs, and he felt a rush of victory. He saw his father push the final boulder over, and he knew they had done it.

Yet there suddenly came the awful sound of Pandesian horns, one after the next. He watched as the Pandesian army fell into organized lines as they turned back for the gulch. Aidan could see that the Pandesians had found a small opening, and under their commander’s whips, they were now all marching for it. Within moments, Aidan realized with dread, they would break through and retake the north.

Worse, there came a sudden sharp creaking and groaning noise, and Aidan turned and was shocked to see a long catapult being rolled forward, holding a massive boulder.

“FIRE!” a commander yelled.

The rope was cut, and the catapults snapped, shooting its boulder high into the air. Aidan watched with dread as it smashed into the cliffs and sent several of his father’s men shrieking down to their deaths.

The catapults were quickly reloaded, more boulders rolled forward and mounted on them, and their great ropes yanked back.

Aidan suddenly caught motion out of the corner of his eye, and he turned, startled, to see his father was climbing down the cliffs, alone, into the Gulch, into the heart of the enemy. Aidan realized he was trying to pry loose the wedged boulder and seal off the Gulch for good. Aidan’s heart leapt with pride at his father’s courage – yet also fear for his safety. He did not see how his father could survive this.

“FATHER!” Aidan cried out, not even thinking.

Motley turned and gave him a warning look.

“Are you mad!?” he hissed, looking about at the enemy. Aidan looked, too, and realized that luckily no one had heard his cry in the commotion.

Aidan knew he had to help him. If he did not do something immediately, his father would surely die here, crushed to death by the sailing boulders.

The next boulder in place, the Pandesian commander shouted orders, and Aidan could see the group of soldiers positioning the catapult, aiming it right for his father.

“NO!” Aidan shrieked.

He could not let it happen. Without thinking, he charged for the catapult.

White ran by his side, and as they reached the catapult, White leapt up and sank his fangs into the lead Pandesian soldier’s throat, just before he could slice the rope. Aidan, meanwhile, raised a salvaged spear and let out a fierce battle cry as he rushed into the heart of the enemy, exposing himself, he knew, to death. He did not care. His father’s life was at stake, and that was all that mattered.