and his Gerada appeared to be arguing. His view cleared a little as the Guard soldiers began to disperse on the edge of the ridge. He found himself now looking directly at King Vantrax, across a relatively short distance.
This was the chance he’d been waiting for! Years and years of hurt and suffering came flooding back into his mind as he immediately and silently summoned his five companions. The soldiers responded quickly. All three archers took up positions on the embankment, drew back their bows and took aim, all of them firing at the same target on Sebron’s orders - King Vantrax!
Sebron wanted to take no chances. He wanted to ensure that the King would die. He let his own arrow fly as soon as he was able, anxious not to miss the opportunity that had presented itself. A split second later, it was joined by the arrows of the other two archers as it sped straight and true, through the morning air, and towards the evil King.
Vantrax was standing next to Strymos with his hand still firmly grasping the Lichtus, he was just about to place it back around his neck. But sudly, it began to glow, warning the King that he was in imminent danger of attack!
The wizard spotted the light and reacted quickly. He turned sharply around and shouted out loudly as the lead arrow neared him.
“Zsabrutt!”
A great shield of bright light shone out of the Lichtus and covered Vantrax from head to toe. Sebron’s arrow hit the wall of light almost immediately and shattered into several pieces, as if it had hit a brick-built wall. It was followed closely by the second and third arrows, which suffered the same fate, both of them smashing against the light and dropping into broken pieces on the ground.
The immediate danger to Vantrax had passed. The stone suddenly stopped shining, the shield of light vanished and Vantrax and Strymos immediately began searching the area with their eyes, trying frantically to identify the point of origin for the attack.
Suddenly, their gaze and attention was drawn to several soldiers moving rapidly from a position on the fields below the ridge. They turned slightly to see the six rebels running toward them at speed, with swords in their hands and ferocious looks upon their faces, screaming out fiercely as they charged towards their intended victims with pure hatred in their eyes.
The soldiers of the Personal Guard who were close enough to the King began to respond to the threat as they saw it. It was clear that they’d easily intercept the slowest rebels, but the lead three, led by Sebron himself, were already too close to the King to be stopped. Strymos reached for his sword as they approached. Vantrax still held the Lichtus in his left hand, he raised it quickly and pointed the stone and his right hand at the first three attackers, shouting out angrily.
“Delak Tostederud!”
Three bright bolts of lightning shot out of the ends of the fingers on his right hand. They hit the three soldiers in turn, instantly vaporising them and turning them into piles of smoking ash, which fell to the ground where they were hit. The last three rebels were caught and hacked to death violently and enthusiastically by soldiers of the Guard.
The attacker’s ashes were blowing away gently in the breeze. The wizard King fell to the floor in a heap. Strymos did his best to help his stricken master stand up. Vantrax had survived the attempt on his life. But, he was now severely weakened from the effects of having to unexpectedly use the Lichtus once again. For the moment at least, he was powerless to prevent the retreating rebels escaping from Erriard forest!
He couldn’t use the Lichtus as he had hoped and planned to do. He was exhausted and utterly drained.
* * *
Artrex and Ben followed the last of their horsemen out of Erriard forest. They had narrowly escaped from the very real threat of encirclement and they were just in the nick of time!
The rebel ‘corridor’ of defenders succumbed to the enemy onslaught almost immediatelynd the Northern Army soldiers broke through on both sides. The remnants of the Rebel Army were now cut off and surrounded, still fighting bravely in several isolated pockets of resistance, but they now knew for sure that they faced certain annihilation.
Knesh and his group of rebels were locked in a bitter hand to hand fight against the ferocious Thargws and Falorians who now overwhelmed their position. The