Even Gods Must Fall - Christian Warren Freed Page 0,53
volley soared back towards the fortress, followed by ragged strings of successive shots. Order devolved into chaos as the battle intensified. Piper strapped his helmet on and joined his infantry in their charge. Smoke choked him. Coughing and sputtering, Piper forced his way through the advancing ranks to take his rightful place at the head of the column.
The smoke forced him to squint. Patches of tar and residue clung to his face and uniform. The heat from the flames nearly pushed him back. His nerves threatened to break. Piper Joach dug deeply, forcing aside his weakness and personal fears in order to inspire his soldiers. Or so he hoped. The thought of roasting alive shook him to the core. No one would label him a coward if he chose to retreat. But such lack of values wasn’t in his character. He tucked his arms into his body, dipped his head, and closed his eyes the moment before running through the flames.
Intense heat seared his body. Steam rose from his plate armor, threatening to boil him like a coastal crab. What felt like a lifetime lasted but a few seconds. The smell of cooked hair and charred flesh sickened him, though he’d been around such too many times in the past. Piper kept charging, lifting his head as he closed the final few meters to the base of the wall. His enemy had established a poorly designed kill zone for their crossbows. Only a handful of Piper’s disoriented soldiers fell under the deadly shafts before reaching the walls.
“Ropes!” Piper shouted above the roar of the fires.
Soldiers darted forward to throw their blackened grappling hooks over the top of the nine-foot walls. A fully armored Wolfsreik assault soldier was capable of scaling the distance in a matter of seconds, providing he remained in top physical shape. Piper counted on the harshness of winter and their trek across the mountains to fuel his assault. A dozen ropes went up. The first crashed back down before the soldier managed to grab hold. Soldiers scrambled up the others, barred steel in mouths. Short daggers were best for close fighting. Each soldier in the assault was specially trained for breaching defensive structures, having trained for months on designs exactly like the one they assaulted. Piper considered it payment for the lives he had lost in the initial attack.
One of infantry toppled over the wall. Blood ran in sheets down his armor. He was dead before hitting the ground. More soldiers climbed. The sounds of pitched battle atop the wall soon contended with the flames for dominance. Piper took his place in line and climbed. Muscles ached. He was more exhausted than he thought but couldn’t stop. There’d be time enough for rest once the battle was won. His initial doubts of winning or losing were swept aside the moment he pulled his body over the wall.
His infantry was already surging towards the front gates, killing all in their path. Soldiers continued to swarm over the walls on all four sides of the beleaguered fortress. Bodies littered the area, reminding him of a slaughterhouse he’d visited as a child. This was war at its grimiest. Defenders fought with claws and teeth to stave off their imminent deaths. Desperation took hold on those few defenders still capable of acting. Many launched what amounted to a suicide charge into the armored ranks of the Wolfsreik heavy infantry. They died horribly, but at least with a small measure of honor.
Others were herded together and placed on their knees with hands over their heads. Abject failure lingered in their hollow eyes. Piper had seen it already and still failed to understand what could drive anyone to perform such against their own kinsmen. The Wolfsreik commander didn’t have time to stay locked in deep thought, however. A pair of defenders charged him. Only one bore a sword. The other relied on fanaticism and paid for his arrogance.
Blood splashed across Piper’s chest as his blade ripped a terrible score through his unarmed foe. The body collapsed even as the dying man struggled to register what had just happened. Piper took a half step back and brought his blade up diagonally to block a blow from the second attacker. The impact jarred his bones. Gritting his teeth, Piper pushed back and used the sudden separation to swing upward.
The blow was well placed but blocked immediately. Clearly this man was a skilled swordsman. Piper didn’t have time to enjoy a bout. He needed to end