Chapter 10

Quick March 

The ground shook outside of the southern town of Vedan, the last town of the kingdom before reaching the Malik High canyons. The towns people had come out of their homes to see ten thousand men wearing the colours of Ithaka marching towards the town, at the head of the marching men rode several riders and they were led by three banner bearers. The three banners could be seen clearly, their vibrant colours stood out against the dull armour of the men who carried them. The first banner held a fierce dragon held within a crown which was the seal of the royal family. The second held a splendid phoenix wrapped in a cloak of flames grasping a sword in one talon and an olive branch in the other, this banner bore the seal for the Lord of Ithaka. Emblazoned across the largest of the banners was a large shield crossed with a sword on the right and a spear on the left, this was the banner calling for the armies of the west. For all three banners to be carried by one army could only mean this army belonged to the prince and lord of the west himself, leading the armies of the west to battle. Two guards wearing chain mail covered with a purple tabard of the Vedan watch pushed their way through the crowd and then walked to the edge of town eyeing the army that had appeared outside their home. One of the men was a young man who looked barely old enough to be wearing the uniform with mousy brown hair and the other was an older man who looked like he had worn it too long, he bore a long scar down his cheek and kept his greying hair cut short. He looked around at the towns people, glancing at each of their faces and seeing mirror images in their looks, some held their ears because the sound of the men marching sounded like thunder crashing throughout the town, others pointed towards the armed men but all of the people watching shared the same look of worry and trepidation

“What do you think they're doing here chief?” they young man asked nervously, absent-mindedly rubbing a birthmark on his left hand which held his spear, an old nervous habit the boy had done since childhood.

“Only one reason…” the older man grunted back, “…Trouble in Malik High and that means you’re going to see some action Adam. Wait here.”

Chief Garret of the Vedan towns watch looked on as the call of halt shouted from the riders and the army marched into two columns and halted their advance. He adjusted his armour then walked forward purposefully as one of the riders approached him, he leaned down and spoke to Garret who grimly nodded as he listened, a couple of people came and stood next to Adam and asked if he knew anything more than they did but before he could answer Garret returned to the towns people but before he had even stopped walking they began to call out to him.

“What’s going on Garret?”

“Hey chief….”

“Why are they here?”

Garret held up his hands to silence the crowd. “This...” he said hitching a thumb over his shoulder, “... is the Army of Prince Azrael Gala of Ithaka, his orders are for the garrison of soldiers along with the towns watch to arm themselves and report to this army… And all towns people are to gather necessary possessions and will be evacuated to Ithaka!” After a few seconds of shocked silence the towns people exploded objections, some cried out they weren’t leaving their homes, other shouted there loved ones would not be joining the army. “Quiet!” Garret shouted, “Quiet!” when the crowd silenced he continued, “Did any of you hear me say in that sentence the words ‘…If it pleases you…’ No? Well thank goodness for that… I thought I was losing my mind there.”

The crowd stood silently glaring at him as he continued,

“Now… that was an official order from the second most powerful man in the kingdom and the liege lord of the west! So believe when I say, every man from the garrison and the towns watch WILL be reporting to me and be taking their place in that,” he hiked his thumb behind him at the standing army, “now as to not wanting to leave your homes, well I don’t pretend to be a real scholar or any great thinker but even to my simple mind it seems the fact the order to evacuate has been given means that something bad is going to be coming here… now if you want to stay with your properties then so be it but there will be no watch to protect you, no garrison of soldiers to come to your aid.” The towns people stated to exchange nervous glances as his words sunk in. “Adam! Run along to the garrison and relay the order and then to the watch house!” Adam nodded nervously and sprinted away into the center of town.

“Don’t you worry sire, I'll make sure your orders are followed to the letter.” Garret said turned back towards the rider, Aldur sat atop his horse chuckling to himself.

The land past Vedan was mostly flat grasslands. Animals sprang to life as the thundering of the marching men approached, rabbits darted across the ground in panic and birds glided into the air from the small forest nearby, Azrael had a scouting party searching for extra food for the journey, as he and Aldur rode at the head of the men of Ithaka, Fardale and Vedan. They had raised the Ithakan men with in two days after Azrael found Aldur in the gilded lily. Azrael fidgeted slightly in his saddle, he was wearing silver plated armour that had been polished so well it looked like a mirror, the helm he wore had a white jagged circlet embedded into the metal showing his rank as prince. There had been no time to pick a better set of armour that was less visually impressive. It had been so long since he had worn full armour he found it quiet uncomfortable unlike Aldur who had chosen his usual plainer armour and wore it with ease, Azrael glanced back at Aldur who rode in silence a little behind him, the young prince still looked like a shadow of his former self. He looked around frowning seemingly lost in the scenery. He stared ahead where he could see in the distance the canyons of Malik High, the ground there was bare of any green life, it was such a contrast to the green lands before them, the ground in and around the canyons where nothing but red dust that blew across the ground which was littered with bones bleached white from some unlucky lost animals. The men had to bring along a cart filled with barrels of water as the liquid was scarce in the canyons until you reached the only river that ran through them near the Malik High silver mine and Garrison outpost, anyone who marched through the canyons in full armour without water would be a very stupid person although he wouldn’t be stupid for long. Azrael was considering going to talk to his younger cousin when his thoughts were interrupted by one of the other riders shouting out,

“Rider ahead, Sire!” All eyes locked on an approaching rider, he rode like his life depended on it. Three riders turned to look at Azrael who nodded. They urged their steeds into a gallop as they raced to meet the rider, whom did not slow or even seem to take notice of them until one of Azraels men shouted,

“Halt there!” The rider looked up and almost fell from his horse he was so surprised to have found an army before him. He pulled on his horses reins hard forcing the creature to rear up neighing at the sudden pull. The rider wore the uniform of the Malik High garrison.

“Who commands here?” he shouted quickly,

“Prince Azrael leads the army of Ithaka, Fardale and Vedan!” One of the riders answered, the new arrivals face split into a grin,

“Thank the three Gods!” he cried, and he urged his horse forward until he reached Azrael, “My lord! The mine has fallen to the Parashien’s! The men of the garrison fight even now but they cannot hold out more than a day or two at most!”

“You were sent for aid?” Aldur asked, speaking for the first time since they had left Vedan,

“No my lord, it was thought too late for that. I was sent to bring warning.” He said, “Please help them.”

Azrael nodded and turned in his saddle to face his men and shouted, “We march at double pace for Malik High! Aldur, you take the men from Vedan and take back the mine!”

Aldur nodded and called the Vedan men to him and led the march through another section of the canyons.

“The rest of you, Kingdom men need our aid, Shall we forsake them? No of course not, we shall cascade into that canyon like an unstoppable wave of destruction!” the men slammed their spears into the ground and cried war cries in agreement. He turned back to the rider who though smiling had gone very pale, suddenly he slumped forward and collapsed out of the saddle. Two riders also dropped down to help him. They stood back up slowly,

“He has a broken arrow in his back sire. He is dead.”

“Order an accompaniment of guards to escort the body back to Vedan. This man rode with a mortal wound to save the kingdom.” Azrael order, then turning in his saddle again he shouted, “To Malik High!” The men of the west screamed their agreement and began marching at a fast pace towards the canyons in the distance.

Adam lurched forward grumpily, he had never been so tired in all his life. They had marched all the way to the canyons and now they were running to the mine, he looked around at Garret and was surprised to see the old man, as the rest of the watch called him, jogging along easily. Adam on the other hand felt like he was ready to drop, running in armour was not something he enjoyed. The armour chaffed him and was very heavy for someone who hardly wore his standard issue chain mail.

“This is too much!” Adam gasped, he heard a grunt of derision from Garret,

“Aye, you young 'un's join up without thinking through what that means.”

“I knew it could happen, I just... you know... didn’t think it would...” he finished lamely.

“Let me tell you this Adam, whether it takes weeks, months or years.. or even decades, trust me, it always happens. If you keep your head and are lucky you’ll make it home, if you are very lucky you’ll only have a few scars and all your moving parts...”

“What if I'm very very lucky? Adam said with a smile,

“You ain’t.” Garret said simply,

“How do you know?”

“Because I’m not marching by myself, your here boy so you ain't lucky. And trust me, a few scars and all your moving parts is the best we can hope for, take it from someone who knows son.”

Adam couldn’t help but look up at the side of Garrets face, the scar ran down his cheek and always made Garret look angry and fierce, of course Garret was always angry and fierce but he was a fair man, Adam felt fear start to surface in him, the thought of getting a horrible scar had seemed like the worst thing that might happen to him when he signed up for the watch now he was realising how much danger he was in.

“Um Garret how do you go about resigning from the watch?”

Garret laughed, “In war time you cant. Its called desertion and you wouldn’t make it ten feet before you were hung lad. Sorry but forward is the only option you have now.”

Adam grumbled to himself and started thinking of possible tactics that could save his life in battle but all he could focus on was how heavy his gods damned armour was.

“I wish we could stop bloody running.”

“No you don’t, because when we stop you’ll be doing something a lot worse than running.”

“You know Garret...” Adam said turning to look at the old man, “... I think its really unfair that you have this reputation of being a sour puss... I mean I think your a ray of bloody sunshine...” some of the men around them laughed slightly as they jogged, Garret turned and gave him a look and Adam became very interested in the back of the man in front of him, while Garret turned back around with a grin, which turned to a scowl as he heard the call go out that the mine was in sight. The Silver mine was located down hill in an opening between two large canyon walls they path leading into the opening was the only way to access the mine entrance which was little more than a large hole in the canyon wall. Out side of the mine were some crude sheds for workers to store their tools in and lots of crates of silver ore, and normally the odd wheel barrow littered the area as well, today many bodies also littered the ground with the wheel barrows.

Aldur called a halt just before the opening that led to the mine, and dropped from his horse and looked carefully around the wall then darted back in again.

“They have slaves with them...” He muttered in disgust, slavery had been outlawed in the kingdom for longer than Aldur had been alive and even before that it was reserved for murderers. “They have the slaves removing the bodies of the fallen from the mine, the Sam'ru are sitting idle, their force is much smaller than ours so we move in fast and end it quickly, the slaves have not to be harmed.” the men relayed his orders through out the ranks.

“get ready boy...” Garret hissed, Adam could feel a bead of sweat running down his back as he once again absent-mindedly rubbed his birthmark on his hand.

“CHARGE!”Aldur cried suddenly ,

The man behind Adam bumped into him spurring him on, Adam ran trying to hold his footing as running downhill was making him go faster than he meant to. The men cascaded into the opening like a flood, the slaves stood rooted to the spot in fear causing the men to dodge around them as they made for the startled Sam'ru warriors who were hurriedly forming ranks.

“This is it Adam this is...” Adam was muttering to himself when suddenly the man in front jumped to the side to avoid a terrified slave, Adam cried out in surprise and tried to avoid him but the man's shoulder crashed into Adams sending him off balance and he hit the ground hard, but he kept going rolling downhill unable to stop himself until with a crash he collided with something hard,

“Ouch, Damn the Gods!” he cursed as he tried to get back up but his armour was caught under a large wheel barrow laden with heavy ore. He struggled with all his might but could not get out form under it. As Adam wriggled to try to free himself he could hear the clash of steel on steel as the battle waged without him, he heard the cries of pain and the war cries of rage from the Kingdom men. It didn’t take long for the cries to fade away, with in moments the encounter was over and the Sam'ru were defeated.

“Take the slaves into custody!” He heard Aldur call, suddenly he heard a worse noise than the fighting, he struggled harder to try to quickly free himself when he heard garret,

“Adam? Adam?” then he could hear running as the old man searched for him, “Adam?!”

He struggled with all his might to get free of the cursed barrow but stopped when he heard the worst noise of his life... Garret chuckling. Adam felt the heat rise in his cheeks as his mentor laughed at the sight of his struggling feet.

“I hope you didn’t spend the entire fight hiding under that barrow...”

“I fell... now hurry up and help me!”

“Help you what?” Garret asked sounding slightly confused as he approached his fallen friend,

“My breast plate is stuck... I cant get out!” Adam grumbled as these words drew yet more laughs from Garret and some of the others by the sound of laughter he was hearing. He felt hands check his breast plate and pull him free, he got sheepishly to his feet and looked around, several of the men standing nearby were laughing at his embarrassment, while others were marching the slaves to the worker sheds, even Aldur was sitting on his steed wiping blood from his sword with a smile.

“I...um... fell over.” He said as his cheeks began to heat up again.

“I'm sure you'll get some next time.” Aldur said kindly,

“Yes sire.”

“Captain, guard those slaves with some men, the rest of you, with me!” Aldur ordered and began to move out.

“What? Again?” Adam muttered as the men formed ranks,

“Why are you complaining? At least you got a nice lie down...” Garret said with a smile,

“Very funny.” Adam grumbled back moving into formation.

Azrael led the Ithakan men through the twists and turns of the Malik high canyons, the sound of the quick marching men echoed all around him, the sound bouncing off the high canyon walls, Azrael rode with several riders at the fore of the army. Azrael suddenly called for a halt, he stood in his stirrups listening for the sound he thought he had heard,

“Sire?” one of the riders asked him, Azrael remembered the man was called Simmons,

“I thought I heard something...” Azrael muttered, “It could have just been our echo but...There!”

Simmons nodded, he had heard it too. In the distance the sound of steel clashing on steel could be heard mixed with other sounds of battle. Azrael looked ahead to a fork in the canyon path, and tried to decide which way the sound was coming from, then Simmons also stood in his stirrups and pointed,

“There, Sire!” He said pointing to the left part of the canyon as over two dozen kingdom men came running into sight from the direction of the river Kiel, the lifeblood of the canyon. Though little more than a stream Many who come through the canyon consider it a gift from the three gods as it came from an unknown source and it has never dried up from the harshness of the sun, one day long ago the water had broken through the canyon wall high above and continued to cascade down the canyon wall and eventually built up into the river Kiel and bringing the only source of life to the desolate canyons, the name of the river itself was a Parashien word for life.

“Simmons, take the riders and go and meet them.” Azrael ordered staring at the running men, the captain nodded and signaled several riders to follow him and they rode ahead as Azrael ordered the men to resume the march to reinforce the escaping men. Azraels blood ran cold as the noise in the canyon suddenly erupted like an explosion as armed men began to pour into the canyon from the direction of the river, there seemed to be thousands of them and Azrael realised in horror that he had sent Simmons to meet the men and he now faced an army with less than thirty men. The enemy warriors carried long wicked looking curved swords and ran quickly despite wearing full armour, the armour was made up of plates of metal that layered over each other and attached to a breast plate also made of smaller plates of metal and they each wore a full metal helm with a decorated face plate in different monstrous faces giving the frightful impression that monsters were charging at their enemies.

“Charge!” Azrael screamed at the top of his lungs causing the men to scream battle cries and sprint towards the enemy, Azrael drew his longsword and kicked his horse causing it to rear up and land into a gallop he passed his men quickly and still kicked his horse to go faster.

The fleeing men had faltered for a moment to find themselves between two armies when Simmons had reached them, though they soon realised the kingdom men were allies. Simmons had just reached them when the enemy, whom he recognised as Parashien Sam'ru warriors from the many clashes the Ithakan army had had with them, had appeared in the canyon.

“You there! Captain!” Simmons shouted at one of the fleeing men who had red hair who wore a captains uniform. He dropped from his horse and slapped its flank making it run away from the men, the other riders followed suit and drew weapons,“Call your men into formation! We cant out run them so we stand together!”

“Malik High! Form ranks!” the man cried once he recognised Simmons was also wearing a captains uniform.

“Name?” Simmons asked drawing his longsword as the men formed ranks to face the massive force that was bearing down on the small force of riders and runners together who only made up thirty men.

“Farron... and you?” the red headed captain replied his own sword at the ready.

“Simmons...” Simmons looked ahead at the demonic looking men that signified their deaths that sped ever closer to them, “Always an honour to fight and die at the side of kingdom men... known or not”

Farron nodded grimly the moment was upon them and he screamed in rage and made to swing his sword but he suddenly heard a loud whinny right next to his head and he instinctively dropped to the ground and looked up as a white horse flew over the top of him and landed with a thud in front of him.

“It's the Prince!” Simmons cried in surprise as Azrael kicked the horse to continue the gallop towards the enemy, the kingdom men only seconds behind him.

“That’s the Prince?” Farron asked, getting up from the ground, Simmons nodded. “Then lets get after him shall we?”

Azrael rode his horse straight at the enemy, it reared up and jumped crashing down on top of several warriors and being a battle trained horse it immediately kicked out catching one enemy in the head and he dropped to the ground as Azrael slashed and hacked down at the enemy as the kingdom men crashed into the Sam'ru at the front of the battle, still quite far from him. Azrael felt a pair of hands manage to grip under his breast plate and he was suddenly hauled from the saddle making his sword fly high into the air, as he fell Azrael implemented the mental technique he had used in the tavern brawl, the world around him seemed to slow and he was able to take in the battle around him in detail. He was falling over the man who had pulled him from the saddle by grabbing him and throwing himself towards the ground, two Sam'ru were running towards where he would land weapons over head, to the left of him a warrior carrying a spear running ahead and to his right was a warrior about to slash at Azraels horse. Suddenly the world sped up and Azrael reacted instantly, he brought his feet up onto the man who was hauling him to the ground and used him to kick off sending the man to ground quicker and Azrael further into the air. Azrael tucked his head in and landed in a roll and came up next to the surprised spear-man which allowed him to grab the spear and force it across into the side of the man who had just felled his steed making the man stiffen. The two men running towards him couldn’t stop in time to stop them running into the spear shaft and knocking them to the ground. The spear man looked at him in shock as his sword landed point down in the ground slightly to his right. Azrael used the man’s shock to be able to cast magic, he turned and cast a strong gust of wind knocking the spear-man and everyone else near to him backwards, he turned to retrieve his sword but as his hand closed around the handle a shadow loomed over him and he looked up to see a Sam'ru warrior already slashing down towards him, Azraels heart froze as he realised he didn’t have enough time to stop him. The sword was inches from his head when he was shocked by two swords suddenly appearing in his field of vision over each of his shoulders crossing each other and stopping the attacking blade with a clang.

“If you don’t mind, sire...” He heard Simmons say over his right shoulder,

“Time to get up...” he heard over his left, “this man doesn’t want to wait.”

Azrael snapped back to reality and pulled his sword straight up as the two men pushed the sword away and the hilt of Azraels weapon collided with his attackers chin which caused him to stumble back and Azrael kicked him as Simmons and Farron turned their attention to other attackers, Azrael stabbed down into his almost killer as he fell. He pulled his short sword as he moved back to back with Simmons and Farron,

“Nicely done mi lord.” Farron said,

“Found a friend Simmons?” Azrael asked as he parried an attack with his long sword and stabbing with his short.

“Aye sire,” Simmons said slashing forward, “He could be a keeper...”

“Farron, mi lord...” Farron introduced then he jumped forward and punched a Sam'ru who had lost his helm, “... and with all due respect sire I am definitely a keeper!”

“Shame it looks like we will die here and not find out...” Azrael grunted as he slashed and hacked at any who came near his side of the triangle of death the three of them had made. The Sam'ru had slowly gotten over the surprise at finding a battle ready army in the canyons and by sheer force of numbers the tide of the battle was slowly turning to favour them. The kingdom men were fighting gallantly but the nearest men were still too far away to help the trio. Suddenly a kingdom horn sounded over the sounds of the battle.

“Aldur!” Azrael laughed, slashing and blocking attacks with more vigour as they heard someone shout the order to charge and the thundering of running men, “Hold on boys! Help is on the way!”