บท 53: Northern Fortress

Chapter 53.

01. Reskeme nervously looked from his familiar to Kellar, the Master mage was getting far too excited about his familiar. Reskeme said," the familiar will tell you if it wants to, I cant make the decision for him." Reskeme was sweating, his armour suddenly felt too warm and tight. The familiar didn't even look fazed, it simply glared at Kellar. Kellar had his giant book in hand and looked upset, Reskeme said," don't worry I'm sure when he gets comfortable with you he will show his appearance." Kellar frowned and walked away grumbling something about a conspiracy.

02. Reskeme waited and watched for any movement, in the dark foggy night he couldn't see too well, the wind made the forest really loud causing every creaking branch to put him on high alert. His familiar lay beside him pretending like it was sleeping, Reskeme didn't worry, his familiar would hear something long before he saw it. Reskeme idly drummed his foot on the ground, It wasn't long until he could see Carley get up from her bed and start walking towards his guard position. Reskeme could see his familiar-looking back and soo wasn't alarmed. Carley was startled when Reskeme stood up from his bush. He said," It's me Reskeme don't shoot me." Reskeme sighed with relief, he could see she held her bow in hand.

03. Reskeme hummed a song as he walked back to the campsite, His watch shift was over and now he would be able to sleep. The familiar had stayed behind, Reskeme had felt the malicious intent of his familiar as he was leaving. Reskeme had harshly projected for his familiar not to kill or even hurt Carley as Kellar would kill the familiar for it. The familiar had hesitantly agreed with him, As the familiar like eating food but on the other hand, liked staying alive more. Reskeme wondered at that, his familiar had agreed much too easy, he smiled, the familiar must be getting soft towards Carley.

04. Reskeme rolled out his bedspread, He climbed into his bed armour and all, All he needed to remove was his weapons case with his naginata and javelins. Yawing Reskeme closed his eyes and drifted to sleep. Reskeme and his squad woke early, None of them could sleep well. Being outside was very stressful, They continued uphill, it seemed that they only ever went uphill even though the ground wasn't very sloped. Faint howling drifted through the morning air, Reskeme thought he was hearing things at first until The rest of his group perked up looking much more alert and started glancing from side to side.

05. Through the morning the sounds of howling drew closer, Reskeme could occasionally hear rumbling in the distance. Kellar said," Sounds like a battle, We must be careful, we are going to be coming up from behind the enemy. Get ready for battle, Reskeme awkwardly pulled out his naginata, the weapon was awkward to draw. Carley and Dusty had bows in hand and arrows knocked, once reskeme was ready they moved forward along the path.

06. The horses walking was noisy in the silence of the morning, they rode along a forest trail that didn't give much visibility into the fence trees. Reskeme could see a plume of smoke in the distance rising above the trees. After a few seconds, Reskeme heard the Boom!, Reskeme was wondering what was happening, he had assumed the Darva would only attack at night, it appeared he was wrong. The horses neighed and started trying to turn around, Reskeme had to force his horse to continue towards the sound. The howling grew louder, Reskeme and his group finally came in sight of the fortress.

07. The northern fortress was huge made of stone and built against a mountain, Reskeme could see the massive bridge crossing the river, He realized why the Darva would be bothered to attack it, that bridge would be much better than swimming the river. Reskeme Could see smoke rising from the fortress, some portions of the stone wall appeared to be collapsing with horse-sized holes through it. The Group was looking from a sidehill at the valley of trees and the river flowing through the middle. The massive empty kill zone between the fortress and the tree line was on fire, Reskeme wondered what kind of mad mage would lite the whole area on fire.

08. The group watched for a few minutes, Kellar said, "It appears they have fallen back until the fire dies down, We should wait and see if the enemy falls back, attacking the enemy from behind and charging to safety could get us attacked by our own soldiers." Reskeme didn't half to wait long to watch the ongoing battle, after 15minutes the magical flames had completely died. Reskeme was could see a figure on all fours walk from the trees, followed by three more figures all in a group. Just like last time he had watched mages battle, Reskeme could see a glow surround the group.

09. Runes formed in the air, in front of the wall, the glow of the runes shone brightly in the noonday air, Reskeme was confused. A moment later a pillar of stone shot from the ground and impacted the wall. The pillar of stone punched through the wall like it wasn't there flinging stone across the fortress and sending unfortunate soldiers falling in every direction. Reskeme understood where the other holes in the wall had come from, that spell they had cast seemed extremely powerful. Three separate groups of Darva ran from the forest crossing half of the field with blinding speed, Archers on the wall fired at the agile Darva who looked like they were just taunting the humans.

10. Runes formed along another portion of the wall, A small hole on the top of the wall blew outwards, this time at least 3 soldiers landing with the rocks. Kellar looked angry, He said," where the hell is our mages, there should be at least three here." The massive stonewalls were slowly being torn down, the earth spells were taking off the tops of the walls, Reskeme wondered why they weren't attacking the base of the walls, His question was answered when a long earth spike burst from the ground causing a boom striking the base and the wall didn't even budge. The humans hiding in the fortresses were safe until the Darvan mages managed to create a big enough hole in the wall Reskeme guessed.

11. Reskeme changed his mind when a ball of fire burned a section of the wall with a whoosh, Reskeme winced, he could hear the high pitched screams from their vantage. It appeared the soldiers were only safe from the warriors, not the mages. The soldiers were not sitting there and taking the attacks, A large boulder flew from behind the wall and bounced before striking the barrier with a loud crack. The shield flickered and was just able to keep back the hail of arrows that continued to fall. Reskeme watched the Darva fall back again just in time, three more boulders had been launched, Reskeme was fascinated, how on Laurentia did they throw those rocks. A long drawn out howl echoed through the air, Kellar said," Must be the signal for the fall back" Carley passed Kellar the spotting scope, Reskeme stared at the shiny tool enviously.

12. Reskeme gripped his naginata tightly and glanced around making sure they were not being watched, The Darvan war party could be heard in the trees passing them only a few 100 steps away. The group waited in tense silence, Kellar finally had the group advance, they rode along the sides of the valley trying to stay out of the path of the retreating Darva. A Darvan warrior rounded some trees and stopped looking confused at the sight of humans, It howled a long-drawn-out sound that was different in pitch than the others they had heard. The high pitched howl sounded angry and menacing, Reskeme felt chills down his arms. Two more warriors burst from the trees to the side and charged at the group. Reskeme braced his javelin in his hand and threw it at the lead warrior, The warrior easily dodged the spear, it, unfortunately, stepped right in the path of Carley's arrow.

13. The Warrior in the front didn't slow, A series of runes formed on the ground in front of the warrior that he must not have noticed. The Darva ran right into the flaming wall that was created in front of it. Reskeme couldn't believe what happened, the Darva caught on fire and looked like a large campfire after only a few seconds, minus the flailing and high pitched whining of course. The Darva in the rear looked enraged and was running in a side to side pattern at them. Reskeme pulled out a javelin awkwardly and leaned forward in his saddle trying to aim from his swaying horse.

14. Reskeme shouted I'm going to make him jump to the right get ready, Reskeme didn't wait for an answer and threw his javelin at the left side of the Darva, He missed but only because the warrior jumped to the right. The Darva took an arrow in the leg and shoulder before crashing into a wall of flames. Reskeme winced, the high pitched screeching and barking made his ears ring. The fluffy dog at their feet hissed and barked a deep low throated sound that caused everyone to look at him. The group had gained some attention, More Darva was approaching from the rear.

15. The enemy in the distance ran at them running at a side to side pattern trying to avoid arrows. When they reached past 100 steps the two scouts pulled out javelins and threw them. Reskeme had started creating his shield the moment he has seen the scouts. The runes glowed in the air as reskeme created a wall with 4 runes wide. He rushed the shield, one spear caught on fire as it travelled through the shield Being deflected to the side and stuck right beside his stomping horse. The second spear was easily deflected by the shield of Kellar who had stretched out his hand. Kellar burned one of the trees the Darva was now hiding behind, the Darva retreated yipping but looked mostly uninjured.

16. Kellar said, " hurry those pups will be back, let's goo," the group kicked their horses to a gallop and rode down the path. The horses ran down the path and Into the clearing. Spears fell from the sky landing around the group. The Darvan soldiers were howling and running after them. Reskeme could see movement behind them, His heart was racing and his hands were hurting with how hard he held his reins.

17. Reskeme gripped his saddle tightly, The horse he was riding showed its strength, Reskeme had never felt so alive as when the horse was running full out, he felt like the wind was trying to pick him up and throw him from the saddle. Reskeme could see his familiar trailing behind, tongue sticking out of its mouth and trying to keep up with the long-legged horses. Luckily for them, the archers on the walls had spotted them and were shooting at the Persueing warriors. The gates ahead opened slightly, allowing the horses to enter, reskeme pulled hard on the reins and tried his best to stay in the saddle. The gates slammed shut after the exhausted familiar managed to just pass through. The soldiers slammed the huge gates and barred it with a large wooden beam.

18. Reskeme horse was stamping side to side and panted in long breaths. For some reason when he stopped his saddle had slid so far forward it was almost halfway up the neck of the horse. Reskeme fell out of the saddle and just caught himself on his shuffling horse. The mount had white foam on its flanks and was breathing hard. Reskeme tried to calm the animal that seemed fart to exited, he watched Carley who was rubbing her horse's nose and talking to it. Dusty was petting his horse's side and saying something. Reskeme decided that horses needed some petting and words to calm them down. He reached up and almost had his hand bitten by his stamping horse. Holding the reins reskeme said "Woah! Woah! easy, good horse good horse." The horse pulled its head roughly to the side jerking the reins away before trotting over towards a barrel by the stables.

19. Reskeme shook out his hands and grumbled," damned horse doesn't like kind words," the animal was strong, there was no way he could hold it if it didn't want him to. The horse was happily drinking water, Soo he decided that his job was finished, no need to piss off the agitated animal. He checked on his familiar, the dog was in a corner panting heavily with its long tongue out. The familiar was looking at the soldiers on the wall and occasionally hissing. Reskeme could only shake his head, they had probably almost hit his familiar, all he could do was hope they didn't sleep alone at night because he could sense the desire to kill from his familiar.