“Get on with it! The turret must be at the wall at all costs!”

From below, a muffled roar of soldiers came. The barely moving siege tower jerked and began to roll faster with a creak. They were already near the walls.

“Cark it!” cursed a knight on his right, who could emulate mythical giants in the width of his shoulders and height. “Catapults!”

Eoden looked at the turret that drew closer. The enemies on the wall began to fuss. The soldiers gave way, and three small catapults were rolled onto their bases.

“Faster! Faster!” Eoden shouted at the top of his voice to the soldiers underneath. “We can make it!”

The first catapult shot — and a large stone flew in an arc towards the fortress.

“Hold on tight!” Eoden dropped to one knee, ducking.

The shell passed by and fell behind with a loud chomping. Heart-rending cries of pain and agony were heard. Eoden stood up and looked back. The stone hit one of the infantry detachments moving behind the siege towers to make an assault. The blood stained the ground, and the rest of the squad tried to aid those still alive.

“Cark it! I’ll kill you! Kill every scum on that wall!” unable to restrain his emotions, the broad-shouldered knight swore furiously.

“Our swords will drink their blood, Trivon. I promise you”. Eoden watched another stone slowly fly across the sky.

A scream came from a nearby siege tower, and a moment later, a stone crashed into its wooden structure base. The turret began to tilt with a loud crackling, and the soldiers who pushed it ran for their lives. The structure continued to lean and eventually collapsed, entombing many people under it.

“Shields!” Eoden commanded, turning around to the fortress walls.

This time, arrows hit not head-on but from above. A knight on his right grabbed his throat, pierced by an arrow, and fell on his back. Another one screamed and fell on his side, holding his wounded thigh. They were now almost at the wall: catapults could no longer reach them and shot at the infantry behind them. Eoden saw the faces of the soldiers on the wall, full of fear and determination. “The most dangerous combination — they’ll fight to the last drop of their blood”, Eoden assessed.

“Get ready to storm!” Eoden threw away his shield and took a two-handed sword. Trivon stood beside him with a giant halberd, almost equalling his height.

The siege tower stopped, and soldiers built a bridge. It fell against the battlements, opening the way for assaulters.

“Follow me, warriors!” Eoden was the first to rush into battle, cutting off the head of a lingering enemy. Just behind him, roaring like a forest bear, Trivon fought, smashing opponents with his halberd.

In the distance, screams and the clanging of swords were heard — one more of the three turrets took a position at the wall. The infantry below began setting up escalades.

“Let’s press them, boys!” Eoden made his way deeper into the wall and spun, stabbing and slashing the enemies. They forced back the defenders and cleared a part of the wall. Reinforcements were already ascending the turret, and archers shot non-stop, pouring deadly rain on the attackers’ heads.

Trivon fought behind Eoden, making his way to the northern part of the wall where a watchtower with a catapult stood. Eoden and most of the knights moved in the other direction to two small towers above the castle gate. The second strike team came to meet them. The plan was simple: to seize the lifting mechanism and open the gate. Until now, everything has been going well. “Hah! Rowan was wrong: this assault will end quickly”, Eoden laughed at heart. He struck down another enemy, who was trying to throw back the ladder and helped a soldier climb up.

“Forward, boys! Honour and blood!” shouted out Eoden, and his soldiers roared in unison:

“Honour and blood!!!”

Eoden was already right under the gate tower. They crushed the enemy left and right.

“These militias cannot compare with the elite knights! The last stronghold of King Braken will fall very soon”, Eoden triumphed, smashing the peasants armed with barely usable weapons. All the guards, as well as the elite infantry and the king’s knights, lie in mounds at the Veera fortress. These are worthless remains of Braken’s army”.

“Where is he? Braken!!! Come out, you cowardly slug!” Eoden laughed in the heat of battle.

He chopped up a boy with a rusty spear from shoulder to thigh and stopped, breathing deeply and looking out for new opponents. But the wall had already fallen — Trivon and the knights forced the defenders back to the remote watchtower, and the second strike team was already approaching the gate.

“Did you have fun there?” Eoden clapped a knight on the shoulder, who came up to him wearing old frayed armour heavily dyed with fresh blood. Eoden had already taken off his horned helmet and was wiping down the blood-stained eye-slits.

“The wall is ours, Eoden”. Rowan had his helmet on, and it was unclear what emotions he was experiencing. “They were too few here; there was no point in defending the walls with such forces, but they held on to the last soldier. It does not make any sense …”

“Come on, you always ruin the moment”, growled Eoden, putting his helmet back on and wiping his sword on the nearest enemy’s body. “All that remains is to drive Braken out of the castle, and it’ll be over”.

Rowan did not say anything and left, giving terse orders to soldiers along the way. They had already started breaking into the towers. The gate will open soon. The remaining defenders fled to the centre building of the castle — apparently, to prepare for the last battle, or maybe they just chickened out.

“Commander! They destroyed the lifting mechanisms!” A heavily-built man with totally white hair approached Eoden. A fresh, bleeding scar ran all the way to his ear, but he did not seem to care.

“Then fix them!” Eoden got angry. “Lift the damn grille, Captain!”

“We can’t because of the barrels”, the white-haired man replied. “Both towers are packed with them; we’ve already begun to roll them out …”

“Wait! What, may Allfather curse you, barrels?!”

“The barrels, all full and heavy. Kind of black sand inside, Commander; it smells strange”, the captain shrugged.

“Black sand?” Eoden began to realise how bad things were and shouted out for everyone on the wall to hear: “Get out right now! All off the wall! All down!”

“But it’s just sand!?” the captain wondered, scratching the back of his head.

“It’s dwarven coal, you idiot! It can …”

Eoden did not have time to finish his speech: a terrible bang sounded, and he was thrown away, hitting his side hard against the wall battlements. Everything was shrouded in black smoke, and the sound grew louder. Large cracks appeared on the wall. Coughing and spitting blood, Eoden crawled to the wall edge and flew down onto an outbuilding. Although the altitude was low, his whole body responded with acute pain. He rolled over and raised himself, leaning on his arm. Before Eoden’s eyes, there was a picture of destruction — no gate, a part of the wall missing. Acrid black smoke swirled everywhere, and wounded soldiers and knights coughed, walking away from the wall. Eoden began to rise to his feet and grasped an outstretched hand in a plate glove.

“It was a trap”, Rowan’s colourless voice sounded muffled from under his sooty helmet. “It’s a stupid move — tearing down your walls to kill a handful of enemy soldiers”.

“Cowardly worm”, croaked Eoden, standing up and looking around. The wounded from the walls flocked to the empty courtyard of the castle, and the rest of the troops began to clear the rubble on the other side.

“How many have we lost?”

“It’s hard to say for now. A lot were buried under the rubble. Perhaps, a half or maybe more”, Rowan replied.

“Damn! Where’s Trivon?”

“The tower he had been in remained standing. I think we’ll hear from the captain soon”.

“Commander, General”. The white-haired captain limped over to them. Both of his legs were covered in blood, a splinter stuck out of his thigh, and black soot was all over his body. “General Varus’s soldiers began to clear the rubble. Will you give the order to prepare for the assault?”

“Go to the doctor, Gedwig. We’ll deal with it ourselves”, Rowan replied.

“But I still can fight, General!”

“This is the order. You need a healer’s help”.

“As you command, sir”. Hedwig would, most likely, continue arguing but detected threatening notes in Rowan’s tone and went to the courtyard corner where the dead and wounded were brought.

“You and I will discuss your subordinates later, Rowan”, grumbled Eoden. “Let’s go — we should make a place too hot for the old rat”.

“You’d better see a doctor yourself”.

“Never mind — just scratches”. Eoden headed for the castle, limping on his left leg. Falling from a height did make itself felt.

***

“One more time!”

A wooden battering ram with a bronze knob at the front crashed into the castle door — splinters spread in all directions. Four soldiers took the weapon and hit again. The door creaked and came off its hinges, falling into the opening passage.

“Forward, boys! Honour and blood!” Eoden was the first to rush into the passage.

“Honour and blood!!!” The soldiers responded and followed their commander.

The corridor was empty; the rare torches fumed, giving little light. Eoden saw a spiral staircase ahead and hurried to it.

“Trivon, take three dozen and go upstairs. Rowan and the rest — follow me downwards”, Eoden gave the orders and began to descend the stairs.

Trivon led a detachment of knights upstairs, thereby halving their squad.

“Such a move is foolhardy, Eoden”, Rowan said, striding behind him. “We’re in the enemy’s lair — it’s dangerous to split up”.

“You and I are strong enough to clear the castle together. Save your objections for later”.

Rowan did not reply, and they continued their descent. The stairs led to another corridor, at the end of which the door leaves were seen.

“Duck!” Eoden shouted, noticing the danger, and at that very moment, a crossbow bolt whizzed past his head. The knight behind him grabbed his stomach — the bolt pierced his breastplate.

“Shields!”

Three knights came forward and raised their shields in front of them.

“Forward!”

The squad moved to the sound of crossbow bolts and the clatter of armour. The four crossbowmen made one more shot each and disappeared behind the door.

“He’s certainly here, I’m sure”, Eoden snarled, getting ahead of the others and examining the locked door.

“It could be a trick”, Rowan warned him again.

“You two! Kick down the door!” Eoden pointed to two knights with halberds, and they immediately leaned into the new barrier, breaking up the oak door.

A crossbow bolt flew out of the opening and bounced off the pauldron of the knight with a halberd.

“Give me your shield”. An instant later, Eoden already held a large round shield. “Give way!”

Eoden took hold of the shield more comfortably and cannoned against the door that came off and crushed someone who had been behind it. Nine bolts immediately hit the shield, but Eoden did not stop and ran on until he crashed into the first of the crossbowmen frantically trying to reload. Eoden smashed the crossbowman’s face with his plate glove and, throwing down his shield, drew his sword. The knights were already running into the open passage. Rowan entered the fight with three enemies at once and quickly defeated them, dodging inept blows.

“Kill them all!” Eoden cut and chopped in all directions, forcing the defenders to the far wall.

Soon, it was all over. The large storeroom was bloodstained, but Braken was not there.

Eoden crouched beside a dying crossbowman. The poor fellow’s stomach was torn open, and all the giblets fell out. His eyes, with inflamed pupils, spun wildly — agony approached.

“If you tell me where Braken is, I’ll grant you a quick death, I promise”, Eoden uttered through gritted teeth.

“The king isn’t here”, the dying man croaked. “He deceived you like puppies ...”

“Say it again”.

“He left before the assault; our task was to lead you away …” the crossbowman coughed, spitting out blood clots. “And we did our duty. The king gave us his blessing to ...”

He did not finish speaking: Eoden cut off the crossbowman’s head with one blow and, in a fit of anger, went on stabbing the already dead body until Rowan stopped him.

“We’ll find him, Eoden. Braken couldn’t have gone far away”, he promised.

“Get ready for a march”. Eoden turned away from Rowan and walked towards the exit. “And burn it all down”.