46

As the guards of Utopia watched the enemy forces moving inexorably closer, Felicia ordered a crack team to be dispatched outside the walls to the battlefield, in order to slow their progress in any way possible.

If the enemy wished to breach the walls of the fortress, they had no option other than to cross this area and to face whatever was waiting for them. The Centaurs sent up so many flaming arrows, they created a solid waterfall of fire in front of the Tartarus forces, while the Amazons let their arrows fly and pierce the hearts of anyone who had the courage and speed to make it through those fiery walls to the other side.

The sheer numbers of the forces of Evil, however, meant that they could afford to lose many thousands of fighters and still have more to send into battle, wearing down the resources of strength and arms held by the forces of Good. The only hope of victory was to remain completely determined and to fight with a ferocity that never let up.

Inevitably, the troops of Utopia had to retreat in the face of such overwhelming odds and hundreds of exhausted and injured warriors withdrew back within the walls, pursued by demons who obviously no longer intended to show any respect for the ancient rules of battle.

Having taken possession of the Utopian plain, the demons built fires that stretched for miles in all directions like endless lines of beacons flaming in the dark, thus issuing a terrible warning of their intent to strike the forces of Good in the heart, as soon as they felt ready, as cruel as a cat teasing a trapped mouse.

The warriors who stood on the walls could calculate the extent of the enemy’s numbers from the number of visible fires and they constantly sent warnings down to their leaders.

“Our defences are doomed to be crushed!” they predicted.

“The enemy is about to bring the war inside the Fortress!” they warned.

As the enemy grew more prepared, a low rumble of chanting rose from their ranks, amplifying in volume into a deafening roar designed to raise the morale of their own troops while striking fear into the hearts of those waiting within the walls.

As the roar of aggression reached a crescendo and the attack was about to unfold, a team of the bravest and most experienced Orizon warriors galloped out of the main gate in one last attempt to intercept the attack with the element of surprise.

They battled bravely and skilfully, killing huge numbers of enemy forces, but no matter how many they killed, thousands more would rise up to take their places - all of them made ferociously strong by their anger at having their attack plans interrupted by such a small, and apparently impudent, force. The courageous Orizons were eventually forced by sheer weight of numbers to retreat once more behind the gates, suffering great losses as they went.

The furious, bloodthirsty warriors of Evil streamed after them towards Utopia’s fortress. As soon as they reached the gate, they mounted a ferocious joint effort to enter the fortress before the gates could be slammed shut once more.

Confronted by the oncoming horde, the warriors within formed a solid wall of defence - every one of them more than willing to give up their lives in order to retain possession of the Flame. They showed no sign of concern at the potential cost to themselves, as long as the Flame was not taken from them.

The forces of Evil were shocked to hear their enemies joking and making fun of their own imminent deaths as though such a thing held no fear for them. It was almost as if they were looking forward to attending their own funerals - as if that would be the answer to their most heartfelt prayers. Taken by surprise by the force with which they were rebuffed, the forces of Evil hesitated just long enough for the gates to be slammed shut in their faces.

For all of their immortal lives, the Orizons had been taught that it was their duty to protect the Flame so, of course, its loss was too terrible for them to even contemplate. This train of thought seemed absolutely normal to them as they struggled bravely on against the odds. War had run in their veins from the day they were born and had taken root in their minds from the moment they acquired consciousness.

As the army of Utopia massed under the main gate, behind the walls, they waited for their Princess’s orders. To the sound of the trumpet that blasted out from deep inside the fortress, Felicia commanded the counterattack they had all been waiting for. The gate swung open once more and hundreds of warriors poured out, spurred on by rage and yelling at the top of their voices.

The forces of Good hit the oncoming enemy like a tornado. The Princess was an inspiring vision, flying everywhere, urging her warriors on to ever greater feats of bravery and fighting skill. She, too, fought, thrashing every opponent who dared come near her.

The powers of Darkness were alarmed to see such a small force wreaking such devastation and a temporary panic overwhelmed them. They were cowardly creatures when not in a position of protected power and they scurried back and forth in several directions at once, as they tried to muster their courage. Against all odds, the army of Utopia was smashing the enemy and exulting in the task. The defenders had turned into the attackers by sheer strength of will and the retreat of the Orizons was transformed into a ferocious counterstrike like nothing anyone had ever seen before. As the hours passed, they continued to fight without a break and the great plain became covered with the corpses of demons, the air thick with the stench of their blood and spilled guts.

Although she could see that the enemy was being pushed back for the time being, Felicia knew that it wouldn’t be long before new forces emerged from the darkness of Domus. Eventually, she ordered a retreat so that her warriors could rest in preparation for greater battles to come. They also needed a chance to tally their losses, redeploy the army and generally weigh up the whole situation in order to come up with a new strategic plan.

As they re-entered through the gate, a loud cheer rose from the crowd gathered inside. Despite their victory, however, they had also suffered many losses and the air of celebration was tinged with grief.

Even though Utopia had undoubtedly won this battle, in reality it was still besieged and surrounded by an enemy who was preparing to strike again with a force large enough to destroy everyone within the fortress many times over.

“We don’t know how long it will be before Turgoth manages to gather an army to support us,” Leiko told Felicia as they stared out at the dark line of the forest. “But the demons have spread throughout Domus and blocked all access points towards the fortress. So, even if the forces of Beast are already on their way, it will still be difficult for them to break through the enemy lines in order to reach us.”

***

The night passed slowly for the guards on the walls as they listened to the sounds of the enemy shouting to one another and singing at the top of their lungs as they regained their power and mustered their numbers. In the darkness, it was impossible to gauge exactly how large these numbers were and the noise they made was deliberately designed to intimidate any listeners.

As the crack of dawn allowed a low light to spread across the plain, it revealed a scene of growing horror. Under the cover of darkness, the forces of Evil had crept forward from the forest like an unstoppable tide in a terrible black ocean, filling the plain which had been the scene of such carnage the day before with a seething, insect-like mass of forces preparing to attack. Evil sprang up all round the besieged fortress like the seeds of a terrible plague.

As the light grew stronger, it became possible to see the demons preparing their war machines for the next wave of attacks. Giant catapults rose up from the ground and began hurling a continual barrage of rocks against the walls.

For a while, the forces of Good watched these efforts with amusement, knowing that the Great Walls of Utopia were built to withstand anything being thrown at them. The enemy, however, soon realised the futility of their efforts and re-set the angle of the catapults so that the missiles would fly above the walls and rain down on the castle’s courtyard beyond them.

Once they had gotten their aim right, they started to shoot flaming rocks which burned with an intense heat as they flew through the air and hit the buildings inside like exploding thunderbolts. Within minutes, fires were raging inside the fortress and everyone was distracted from their battle plans as they ran in circles attempting to smother the flames before they could spread too far. No sooner had they put out one fire, however, and three more would break out.

Exhausted by their seemingly hopeless efforts, the confidence of many within the fortress started to crumble and an air of panic overwhelmed Utopia for the first time in history.

Just when their spirits were at their lowest, they heard the hate-filled screams of approaching flying demons as they joined in the battle. The battalions of demons flew in great black circles above the castle like flocks of vultures awaiting the chance to swoop down and feast on the bodies of their enemies. They flew so high that they were beyond the range of the Amazons’ arrows. Their war cries ripped the wind in two and as they swirled round and round over the castle, they mercilessly showered down arrows on the crowds below as they ran around fighting an ever-increasing number of fires. Even the bravest hearts in Utopia were now fearful of how the day would end, but still none gave up their determination to protect the Flame and to be victorious or their will to resist and fight till the end.

“We are in grave danger,” Felicia heard someone say and, within a matter of minutes, she could hear the phrase repeated everywhere. She realised that this was a crucial moment. She had to raise the confidence of her troops before she could hope to defend the fortress.

She strode along the walls, declaiming her message to all who laboured to save Utopia, both on the walls and inside them.

“I am aware of your worries,” she assured them, “but we must turn these worries into plans if we do not want to be forced to grieve more losses. We need to unite and fight as one - shoulder to shoulder - as fierce as any victorious army has to be. Reinforcements will arrive soon enough for us to overwhelm and vanquish the enemy forever. Together, we are bound to triumph because we have no alternative. Defeat is impossible for us. We have faced far worse fights than this and we have always won. The enemy knows that and this is why they are scared!”

Seeing that their Princess was able to conquer her own fears so completely, the Orizons felt their hope spring back to life in their hearts. A huge cheer rose in their throats, echoing round the fortress and carrying over the walls to the assembled enemy outside, making their heads turn and their lips curl and sneer.

As Felicia strode through the last defences of the fortress, the cheering followed her and for a while she, too, forgot the seriousness of the siege they were facing and imagined the victory that must inevitably come to them. Tirelessly, she moved around from one wing to another, from inside the fortress to the courtyards, from the courtyards to the gate, then to the walls, with Bull and Leiko striding beside her.

As the day went by and night approached once more, however, their spirits began to sink again. Everyone knew that demons fought better during the night and the sound of the rabble preparing itself outside the walls was growing louder and more frightening.

Fires sprang to life again across the plain under the nervous eyes of the guards on the fortress walls.

It was General Hunter who ran to Felicia with the first bad news of the night.

“Princess,” he said, “the west wing is burning and we do not know how long it will be before it totally collapses. Our western troops were forced to retreat and the wall is unprotected. If they manage to break through and enter the fortress from there, it will be hard to stop them.”

“Nothing can defeat us,” Felicia said with deliberate calmness, “as long as the enemy is kept outside the walls. Send reinforcement and try to extinguish the fire. Also, send the Amazons.”

Once Hunter had left to carry out her instructions, Felicia passed through the east wing of the besieged Utopia and entered the darkness that lay over the fortress’s yard. An intimidating, reddish cloud hung from the sky above. She went under the theatre and stopped in front of the Wise Tree, where the sounds of the enemy forces and the attacks to the west seemed so muted that the trickling water of the small nearby stream could be heard above them, like the sound of tears.

“What is the situation of the battle, my child?” the Wise Tree asked.

“It is not good,” she admitted. “We’re besieged and reinforcements have not arrived yet. There is no knowing whether they will be able to break through the ranks of the enemy even when they do come. We have already suffered substantial losses. Some of our people have lost their confidence and more will follow as the hours pass. The enemy outnumbers us and doesn’t seem to care how many lives it loses, as long as it wins the Flame.”

“The reinforcements will arrive soon,” the Tree assured her. “Try to hold out for as long as you can.”

Felicia caressed its ancient bark for a moment, taking comfort in the serenity that surrounded it. She wanted to believe that its wisdom was infallible and that the reinforcements would arrive as it predicted, but she was finding it harder and harder to hold on to that hope.

The attack was still raging on as she returned to the fray. The war cries of the enemy as it battered the walls were relentless and chilling - enough to drive those who were forced to listen for hour upon hour out of their minds. Still, the warriors were struggling to hold them off. Felicia could see that the amount of effort they were putting in was unsustainable and she couldn’t imagine that they would be able to keep it up for much longer.

Meanwhile on the battlefield, a new kind of wild monster had emerged within the ranks of the demon forces. These untamed beasts tore into everything they came upon as they stampeded along the small paths and slipped through the flames and around the legs of the massive war machines. They seemed so filled with gibbering excitement at the mere acts of war and destruction that they didn’t care whether they lived or died any more than their leaders did. This made them a terrifying enemy, willing to take any number of risks unbothered by the consequences to themselves or their enemies. Creating death and havoc seemed to be their only goals.

By continually attacking on all fronts, the Leader of the Demons was testing the defense skills of Utopia in all directions. His ultimate goal was to breach the impregnable gate, but until that moment he intended to continue hurling his forces against every side of the fortress, wearing the enemy’s strength down.

The din of war grew louder as the night wore on and the warriors became wearier. Fires burst constantly to life as the enemy brought more catapults forward, rolling them across the battlefield closer and closer, the troops screaming with demonic glee as they loaded the flaming rocks and sent them spinning over the walls.

Resistance around the main gate remained powerful, with all the greatest warriors of Utopia standing ready and sending down a continual wall of arrows on any enemy who tried to draw close.

Under the main wall of the fortress, the piles of dead demon bodies grew higher, as wave after wave clambered over those who had fallen ahead of them to meet the same fate. Still, the Leader kept sending more.

Their Leader, cloaked in black, was now clearly visible to the guards on the wall as he moved forward on his horse. No arrow or spear seemed able to stop him. He passed through the flames as if he was made of steel, his horse’s hooves trampling over the corpses of his own warriors, churning them into mud. As he progressed, he hurled fire around him, setting any remaining trees alight and illuminating the gruesome scene that surrounded him, revelling in the mayhem and destruction.

The hearts of the people of Utopia could not help but pound with anxiety as they watched this dark, evil figure approach. Suddenly, he stopped and raised his jagged, bloody sword above his head, letting out a war cry of such ferocity that every one of the defenders of the fortress froze for a second and the rain of arrows ceased.

As he approached the gate he grabbed a bow and an arrow hammered by Cronus, himself, the Lord of the Titans in Tartarus, and fired an arrow with enormous speed. There was a terrifying crash and the earth trembled as the arrow struck the gate, but still it held.

Filled with fury, the dark Leader stood up high in his stirrups and shot another cursed arrow at the gate. Again, the crash shook everyone, but, again, the gate remained closed.

Two more arrows hit the gate in swift succession and the reverberations within the earth below started to build. From a rumble, they became a roar and the walls began to quake, sending many of the defenders tumbling to their deaths. As the ground below moved, opened and ruptured, an immense light appeared all around the gate, shaking it until cracks formed and, with one final explosion of light and splinters, it disintegrated into a thousand pieces, as if it were made of sugar.

His appetite for violence temporarily satisfied, the Leader grunted with approval and spurred his horse forward, wading through the blood and wreckage past the shattered gate and into the yard, a dark and looming figure.

Many of the defenders fell back in awe of the frightful sight, leaving the Princess of Utopia, Felicia, standing calmly in its path.

“Creature of darkness,” she cried. “Whoever you are, whatever you may be, return to where you belong and I shall let you live!”

The mysterious figure paused for a moment before raising a gloved hand and pushing back the hood that had been shading its face. A gasp of horror went up from the surrounding crowd and even Felicia was unable to stop her hand from flying to her mouth in shock.

“Claudia!” she exclaimed, but it was not exactly Claudia. She had been demonised and the rare beauty that she had once possessed made this new version of her all the more frightening.