CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Richard led the way through the forest. His comrades were close behind, moving as fast as they could without tiring themselves out. But the long run was beginning to take its toll.
Thomas fell against a tree, vomiting and bringing the group to a halt.
“Are you okay there?” Jacob asked, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
“I'll be fine,” Thomas answered. “I just need a minute.”
Arthur sat on a broken log. “We could probably walk from here. Richard, how far do we have to go?”
The broken log and two oddly misshapen trees gave Richard a clue where they were. “Two or three minutes, but I don't think it's a good idea to stop or walk. The Pelasgians are probably not far behind.”
“Not far behind?” Thomas said in disbelief. “We've been running ahead of them the whole time.”
“If they have a fast moving forward element they could be a half hour away, less even.” Richard said.
Jacob sat next to Arthur. “Do you think William made it back?”
“He better have,” said Arthur. “It's the only way New Haven will be ready.”
Richard took a deep breath. “That smell keeps getting worse. We should move. It's not much further.”
Knowing New Haven wasn't much further made it easier for the men to carry on. When the city finally came into view they got a second wind.
The gate began to open with William on his way out and spotting his incoming friends. “Oh, this can't be good.”
“Thomas,” Arthur called. “You and Jacob report to the Marshal. Stock up and regroup. Richard and I will handle things here.”
“What happened?” William asked.
“Pelasgians are on their way,” Richard said as he ran by. “You may want to brace the gate.”
Inside the city, Thomas and Jacob borrowed a couple of horses from the soldiers and quickly rode off.
“Sound the alarm!” Arthur ordered, as he and Richard jogged down the street.
As several flares were fired off in succession throughout New Haven, thousands of soldiers rushed to defend the wall or prepare siege weapons.
Arthur and Richard entered a pub that had been converted into a makeshift command post. They found some soldiers going over maps of the area with several of his Captains.
One of them, an older man with a scar running down the left side of his face, looked up. “Back so soon?”
Arthur went over to the table. “General Ward, bad news. The Pelasgians are heading this way as we speak.”
“How far,” Ward asked.
Richard came forward. “Half hour, maybe less,” he said.
Ward went back to his map for a moment before addressing his men. “It looks like the fight is coming to us. You all know what to do. Carry on.”
“General, my men and I can help,” Arthur said.
Ward motioned for Arthur and Richard to sit. “Everyone knows you guys know how to fight. Heck, I don't think anyone will argue that pound-for-pound you're the best. But armies fight wars. So, I'd prefer to keep your men in a support capacity.”
Richard wasn’t thrilled with the idea of taking a backseat in the fight. “With all due respect, General, there may not be many of us, but we're much more mobile.”
“I'll keep that in mind,” Ward said, rifling through some papers until finding several sketches of Pelasgians. “Is there anything you can tell me about these guys the Rheans haven't? Anything at all?”
“No,” Arthur answered. “We did locate the main camp and I can assure you that those drawings don't do justice to the actual thing.”
Ward studied the sketches. “I can believe that an invading army threatens our interests here in Rhea, but I have a hard time believing where that army comes from.”
Arthur began to feel precious time ticking by. “We've verified the Shadow Realm does exist. I can’t vouch enough for the person who-”
“Yes, I read Sara's report,” Ward said. “But do you trust the Rheans? Are we sure they are telling us the whole story?”
“Sara thinks so,” Richard answered. “She's spent some time with them, especially the Vesuvians.”
“We can trust them,” said Arthur. “The Rheans have been very forthcoming with requests for information regarding the size and location of their armies, a few of which were already known to us or have been able to verify.”
Ward reclined in his chair, mumbling. “It's a good thing you feel that way.”
Arthur wasn’t sure how to take that. “General?”
Leaning forward, Ward picked up another sketch and studied it. “In Gaia, we received the Consular's letter. Do you know what that letter said?”
“No,” Arthur replied.
Ward laughed. “Neither do I, but whatever it was, it wasn't nearly enough to convey the magnitude of the situation. Had I known! I would have requisitioned...oh, I don't know... maybe forty percent more men and materiel. Then again, I could've dragged every man, woman, and child from Gaia over and it still wouldn't have been enough.”
Arthur knew better than to try and allay Ward.
Richard didn't. “Um...General, I know the situation may seem dire.”
“Do you know the situation?” Ward asked calmly.
Arthur grabbed Richard by the wrist underneath the table, telling him to stop before he could speak anymore.
Ward tossed the sketch and sat back. “A short time ago, a Vesuvian courier arrived. She told me that almost every city in Rhea was under threat of attack. Do you know how massive an army would have to be in order to do that?”
Even Richard had nothing to say.
“As it stands,” Ward continued, “our best hope is that the enemy is spread thin. Otherwise, I'm willing to bet whoever is in charge of the Pelasgians has the muscle to back these numbers up.”
Arthur and Richard waited until they were dismissed by the General to join William at the main gate. As they waited, Thomas and Jacob soon returned and an army rumbled closer.
General Ward was busy barking orders at his men.
Everyone could hear the footsteps of the terrosaurs, and the breaking of the trees they knocked over.
“Get your bows ready,” Arthur said. “Concentrate your fire on any airborne mounts.”
The Pelasgians emerged from the woods, marching at a steady pace. As they came within a hundred yards of New Haven, Erinyes and Corinthian's on their griffins circling above swooped down on the humans defending the wall.
Several dozen soldiers were killed in the initial exchange.
One Corinthian was thrown from his injured griffin to his death on the other side of the wall, and an Eriny was brave enough to try taking on a cadre of soldiers.
Arthur and his men managed to quickly kill three Corinthians and two of their griffins, with the third griffin landing inside the city and going after some soldiers.
Richard jumped down and landed on the griffin, killing it with his talons to the back of its head.
Archers and catapults stood ready to shoot as the terrosaurs came closer.
“Fire,” Ward cried.
At once, thousands of arrows and dozens of boulders went hurtling through the air. Many Pelasgians were able to protect themselves with their shields, though quite a few were injured or killed.
Most of the boulders crashed through the rank and file, decimating columns of infantry. Only a few of the terrosaurs were hit, with the worst only being staggered a bit before continuing on.
The humans on the wall fought desperately to hold their position. If it wasn't the size and weight of the griffins, it was the Erinyes’ long reach and speed overpowering them.
Arthur and Jacob barely managed to avoid an incoming Eriny that landed between them. As the Pelasgian tried to take off, both men jumped on to hold him down.
The Eriny was strong enough that it began to carry the men with him, until Thomas leaped on as well, causing the creature to spiral and crash.
The surrounding soldiers immediately jumped in and ki
lled the Eriny.
William checked on the soldiers from the wall. “You guys okay?”
“Look out!” Richard cried, shoving William just in time to avoid the end of a terrosaur's tail that came crashing through the wall vertically.
Now on opposite ends of the ruined wall, Richard and William scrambled to get clear of the next hit.
William ran into a tower, as Richard took a shortcut by jumping down into a pile of hay.
The terrosaur took another swing at the wall, knocking down a sizable section.
Arthur and his men regrouped with a company of soldiers falling back to the next street. After the wall took a third hit, the humans found that there was now little between them and the enemy.