Part 49 (1/2)

The beast was still tracking Litania and didn't notice Daken until the white-eye braced himself and threw his whole weight behind his axe. The weapon bit deep into the minotaur's knee, crunching into bone and causing it to howl with agony. It swiped one enormous fist towards Daken, but he'd already thrown himself clear and as it took a step forward the injured leg buckled.

Daken rolled to his feet and charged on, trusting the infantry to deal with the fallen one. He could hear Litania's high, girlish laugh as she danced in the air before the face of the second minotaur. The beast tried to grab at her, its clumsy fingers grasping wildly, and failed. Litania laughed and darted back, rising high above the minotaur's head, and it lurched forward, trying to follow - - until it was suddenly jerked back by the head, almost losing its footing entirely. The minotaur had somehow managed to hook one of its curling horns on a low branch, and while Litania giggled in malicious delight, Daken stabbed the beast through the armpit. The spike went all the way in, driving towards the creature's lung, but he didn't hang around to see if the blow was mortal; he tugged out the weapon and chopped at its ribs, gas.h.i.+ng through the minotaur's thick flank.

The monster reeled from the impact, wrenching its head violently enough to splinter the thick branch, but still unable to disentangle itself. Blood poured from its wounds; Daken realised they were both grave, but the beast was not yet dead. One spearman got too close, and it smashed him in the back so hard his spine crumpled.

Daken moved further around the minotaur, glancing over his shoulder to check there were no Chetse waiting to do the same to him, then raised his axe high above his head and stabbed the spike into the beast's neck. It grunted and squealed in pain, ripping the branch from the tree trunk, but as it turned on him it got three spears almost simultaneously in the back.

Daken hoisted his axe again and hacked furiously at the minotaur's face, cleaving it open. The beast arched its back and as it began to fall, Daken threw himself bodily at the toppling beast and delivered another enormous blow to its face before its shoulders. .h.i.t the ground.

He looked up to discover he was standing on the minotaur's shuddering stomach, now slick with blood, while the beast heaved its last breath and his soldiers watched in horror.

'What's wrong with you lot?' he rasped, throat tight as the bloodl.u.s.t coursed through his body. 'Not enjoying yerselves yet?'

Doranei punched forward with his s.h.i.+eld, not even seeing what he caught, and swung his black broadsword blindly. He felt it part armour and continue through flesh, followed by a cry of pain as he yanked the sword back and felt the attacker fall away. He paused to gulp air, while the Land seemed to recede from around him. Coc.o.o.ned by screams and the clash of metal, Doranei found his eyes drawn to the neat arcs of spattered blood on the inside of his s.h.i.+eld, each one curving around his closed fist but leaving his glove unstained.

The King's Man was still staring at his fist when something smashed into the side of his head and black stars burst before his eyes. Doranei crashed sideways and collided with someone's legs, bringing them down too. He flailed drunkenly at the figure lying across him, unable to see through the blur in his eyes. He dropped his sword, got one arm underneath the man and pushed up. His vision cleared as the weight was lifted from his chest and he recognised, Daratin, a young Brother, who'd fallen on him.

Daratin had barely got to his feet when a Menin spear slammed into his chest, straight through his armour, and Doranei watched in horror as his mouth fell open as he was driven back. The scream was cut short as Daratin's knees gave way and he collapsed. Still holding the spear, the Menin soldier heaved his way into view, s.h.i.+eld raised high to ward off a blow from Veil. Doranei scrabbled on the ground for his sword, but Coran was already leaping to his rescue.

The big white-eye charged past Veil, roaring like an enraged lion, and smashed his mace down onto the Menin's s.h.i.+eld. The man crumpled under the terrific impact, his arm and shoulder shattered, and fell at Coran's feet. The white-eye stamped down on his spine and Doranei heard a wet crunch as he struggled up, pus.h.i.+ng himself forward to protect Coran's side as the white-eye raised his mace once again.

Completely indefatigable, Coran hammered his mace onto another Menin head and Doranei saw the neck snap under the force of the blow, but such was the white-eye's speed he struck the next Menin barely a second later, and felled him too.

Doranei looked over the rampart. It was a chaotic mess beyond their lines, the Menin and Chetse enemy advancing steadily behind their large s.h.i.+elds, through a rain of arrows and blows. He chanced a second pause to check on the king, and saw his monarch was striking and dodging with the deftness of a duellist, red sparks bursting from the impact whenever his enchanted axe met steel. On his other side was Suzerain Derenin, the burly lord of Moorview Castle, and the veterans in his service, all fighting furiously for the families who'd refused to be sent away and now waited to tend the injured.

As Coran backed off to return to his place in King Emin's lee, Doranei punched at a Chetse with his s.h.i.+eld, catching the man a glancing blow on his shoulder and knocking him off-balance. A second Chetse saw the opportunity and jumped up, one foot on his comrade's back and the other against the gouged earth rampart. Doranei swung at the man but missed and had to turn his sword horizontal to take the impact of the man's axe. The magical weapon met force with force, cutting into the axe-head and absorbing most of the blow.

Doranei didn't waste time being surprised, he wrenched the sword back and tugged the axe from the Chetse's hands; his second strike across the man's face cut bronze helm, flesh and bone with equal ease.

From overhead a pair of steel grapples dropped down right in front of him, catching on the logs supporting the rampart; he cut through the rope of one quickly enough, but before he could get to the other, one end of the log was dislodged in an explosion of earth and tugged towards the Menin lines.

He watched a small trail of soil patter down onto his boots, and it momentarily increased as the ground shook beneath him. Doranei sensed everyone hesitate, and for a half-second silence fell as a heavy reverberation ran forward across the moor. On both sides the men of the Brotherhood recovered quickest and ran through their opponents, but most eyes were on the tremor shuddering through the Menin ranks. A great tearing sound rang out as a circle of ground thirty yards across dropped suddenly away beneath a tightly packed Menin legion, taking a hundred or more men with it.

Doranei blinked. A great cloud of dust had been thrown up, and in the middle, a sudden blazing light erupted and through the swirl he saw a tall figure in brightly coloured robes, standing with arms outstretched where there was no ground to stand on. Spinning bands of light raced from each hand to the air underneath him and with a flourish the mage started moving backwards. He staggered slightly as he reached firm ground again, but he was otherwise unharmed.

'That fat b.a.s.t.a.r.d better step up the pace!' Coran growled as he smashed through yet another s.h.i.+eld.

Doranei didn't waste time agreeing. The battle hadn't been raging for long, barely a quarter of an hour, he'd guess, but that was only Coran's second attempt, and they were badly outnumbered here. Whatever their advantages of position, their losses weren't so easily replaced on the line.

The sudden heavy beat of drums from the back of the Menin line sparked a flicker of hope in his heart. At first nothing happened, but then the call was taken up and the attackers edged backwards, away from the reach of the Narkang weapons. Once disengaged, they wasted little time in turning and heading for the gaps between the men of the second rank.

'Hold the line,' King Emin shouted hoa.r.s.ely, Suzerain Derenin repeated it more loudly, and immediately the order was shouted from all sides. Doranei looked at the men standing with him as someone dragged dead Brother Daratin out of the way. No one showed much inclination to pursue the enemy; the sight of Narkang bolts taking them down as they fled was enough for most. The battle was far from won, but they all knew a pursuit could mean it lost soon enough.

'Enjoy it, brothers!' King Emin shouted after a mouthful of water. 'Enjoy the sight. They're not used to this! You're the first to drive them back - and that won't be the last lesson we teach Lord Styrax today!'

Despite himself Doranei raised his sword and cheered with the rest of them. There'd be little enough to cheer come the end of the day. But as he shouted with the others, he found his body didn't want to stop. Tired though he was, that sudden rush, feeling alive as he yelled himself hoa.r.s.e, was hard to let go of. Then Veil tossed him a flask of brandy and he felt something better.

Standing with one foot on the artillery's marker stone, Lord Styrax watched his first wave fall back without comment. He started to turn to his right, and stopped when he realised no one was there. Under his enclosed black helm his expression darkened: he still expected to find Kohrad in his lee. The young white-eye had been slow to learn restraint, so he'd kept him close, to teach him the skills he'd need when he inherited his father's empire.

Styrax's hand tightened into a fist. There would be no inheritance now. He could nominate a successor - a man he respected, and trusted with the future of his empire - but there would be no swelling of the heart as he watched his son find his own path to greatness. Kohrad's mother, Selar, had poisoned her own womb when she saw how he wors.h.i.+pped his father; Kohrad's betrayal had broken her heart.

'Captain Hain,' he called brusquely. 'What is the state of the cavalry?'

The officer hurried up and saluted. What was left of his troops had been temporarily rea.s.signed, and Hain attached to Styrax's own command staff. 'It's good, my Lord. General Gaur continues to shadow the enemy, to ensure they cannot outflank us, so their hors.e.m.e.n are effectively negated.'

'I am glad to hear it,' Styrax said, still staring towards the fort. 'What are the casualties from that first tunnelling spell?'

'Severe: at least a regiment incapacitated, probably the best part of two. We must a.s.sume the second strike has had the same effect.'

The huge white-eye was silent for a moment. 'Tell me, Captain Hain,' he said eventually, 'if you were King Emin, how would you approach this battle?'

'I - Ah, I'd expect it to be my last, sir. A lord's importance to his army is immense, especially when inexperienced troops make up the majority.'

The white-eye nodded. 'So you would expect me to kill you as swiftly as I can. Why then would you place yourself in a crucial position?'

'Because my presence would inspire them to fight hardest. If the position falls, then my life is likely lost, no matter where I am. Casualties in the first wave look heavy; it'll cost thousands to take for sure.'

Styrax raised a hand to stop him. 'Or you could place yourself there as a lure, to keep me occupied while the weapon you hope will win the battle does just that.'

Hain shrugged and tugged the strap holding his axe in place. 'Didn't hear what we did at Tor Salan, then. It's a desperate thing to trust your whole nation to.'

'But if you fear there is no other option?'

'Then I'd defend that weapon with everything I have. Make sure no one gets through, no matter the cost, and aye, risk my own life to drawn the attack away.'

Lord Styrax turned and looked back at the cavalry. It was hard to make much out as they were spread out to prevent enemy incursions. There had been dozens of small engagements, testing the enemy and probing for weaknesses but Gaur would see they remained inconclusive. The enemy had the advantage of numbers, but the beastman had two heavy infantry legions to hold his centre. If the Narkang cavalry tried to pin Gaur down or swamp him, they'd find themselves blunted on his s.h.i.+eld wall, then butchered.

He looked further, to the seven legions of the reserve, three of which were Menin heavy infantry. They remained in formation directly behind Styrax, ready to exploit any opening.

'Send the second wave to attack the fort and a rider to inform General Gaur I'm committing the reserve. I want the Bloodsworn, Reavers and remaining minotaurs on the right flank of the fort with the Menin reserve, and Lord Larim to take the other flank with the rest, together with Gaur's infantry. Gaur is to keep tight to the first wave of troops once they've reformed and use them as he seems fit.'

'Like pulling the head off a sentinel lizard,' Captain Hain commented as he saluted to acknowledge the orders.

'Exactly - I'll deal with this weapon myself and leave King Emin stranded. He'll learn the hard way that no defence is absolute.' Styrax stared at the fort, where the king was commanding its defence. 'But of course, full honours to any man taking the king's head before they surrender, Menin or otherwise. Ensure the men know.'

The fighting along the tree-line was growing increasingly desperate. Daken prowled behind the lines of troops like a hunting lion, all the while bellowing orders and cursing. Osh watched him, blood-stained and battered after the desperate fight with the Chetse but as unrelenting as winter. Intentionally or not, Daken was performing exactly the role King Emin had intended for him: the raging, indefatigable white-eye hero. He was egomaniacal by nature and blood-crazed in battle; it was impossible not to take heart from the Mad Axe's presence. Daken's legend was mixed, but Osh could see Daken's past crimes meant little here.

Large numbers of Chetse had got lost in the tangled forest, trying to skirt the troops stationed there, making little headway as they'd attacked piecemeal. Now the men were gathering up the several hundred Menin dead and piling them up as makes.h.i.+ft barricades - they wouldn't stop anyone attacking, but it channelled the remaining forays to ground of Osh's choosing as well as keeping the troops busy.