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The day after the next, waves crashed against the walls of Cirreone. Or rather the single great wall that wound its way around it in ever shrinking circles until it reached the citadel at the center of the great trading city.
To the west, behind a small rise in the land, Amoraak and a large band of his Ulak warriors waited in silence, with their broad shields, spears and swords at the ready, while Sól and Tal stood before their ranks.
Sól turned to Amoraak. “Well, this is it. Are you ready?”
Amoraak nodded. “What about you? I understand that Morgiana is a good teacher but she has never done what you’re about to do and neither have you.”
“There’s a first time for everything,” Sól told him with a smile.
Amoraak shook his hand. “Well, I hope this works for all our sakes. Good luck, my friends.”
“Thank you, Amoraak,” Sól replied.
Then Sól and Tal stepped over the rise, placing themselves in full view of all the Angdar on the western wall of the fortress.
“Are you ready, Tal?” Sól asked her former apprentice.
Tal took a breath. “Ready. But this might take it out of us a little.”
“Well, Amoraak and the others will give us a chance to get our breaths back afterwards,” Sól pointed out.
“True. Let’s do this.”
“Right.”
The two mages stretched out their hands towards the gate and concentrated as hard as they could, letting the full power of the gift course through them.
A thin coating of ice spread over the entire gate and onto parts of the wall to either side. In an instant, the entire gate was frozen and brittle. Then without any farther warning, it exploded like shattered glass. Enormous pieces of iron shot out in all directions, smashing large chunks out of the wall and sending dozens of Angdar flying from them to their deaths. Around the gate, the wall crumbled, crushing the Angdar who had been standing underneath. And when the dust had cleared, an enormous gap in the fortress wall now opened out onto the plains.
Sól and Tal climbed back over the rise to where Amoraak was waiting.
The Ulak leader chuckled. “It may be some time before I get my hearing back. I take it that it worked, then?”
“It worked,” Sól replied.
Amoraak nodded. “Right.” Then he turned to his men and motioned them to follow him over the rise. Soon, he stood where the mages had moments before, but with his Ulak warriors extending two hundred yards to either side of him.
The Angdar in Cirreone had never seen Ulak before but they would find out what they were made of today.
Amoraak watched as the enemy soldiers fanned out before the breach in the wall and formed ranks.
For a long time, the two opposing lines stared at each other, unmoving. Then Amoraak let out a wordless battle cry and as its echoes faded away, silence hung in the air once more.
Then slowly, a dull thudding noise began as the hundreds of Ulak warriors on the edge of the plain beat the ends of their spears into the ground. With each thrust into the earth, they pounded their spears harder and faster.
Then Amoraak let out another, shorter challenge. The challenge was resounded by all the Ulak warriors behind him in fearsome shouts and they stepped forward and beat their shields. They repeated the challenge several times, louder and more ferociously with each cry, until the entire plain was shaking from the noise.
Then among the lines of the enemy, the Angdar began to feel fear. Genuine fear. Their leaders, old brutes with many scars and occasional broken horns or missing chunks of flesh, grunted orders to them to stand their ground but the Angdar were nonetheless shaken.
They brandished their weapons, growling and roaring like frightened creatures trying to scare off a larger animal about to devour them, and it had no effect on the Ulak.
Then the two armies clashed. And as the Angdar fought back, they failed to see the other army that closed in from the eastern side of the fortress until they were right upon them. An army of soldiers from Ilara, Maharei and all the lands of the east. The battle of Cirreone had begun.
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Out to sea, the fleets of Maharei and Ilara approached the city and Morgiana stepped up on the deck of the Osprey beside Lord Bacara. From her vantage point, she saw that the battle had started very well but it was going to be a grueling fight. Thousands of Angdar were pouring out of the entrance to the fortress, making it more and more difficult for the ground contingents to break in. Also, she now saw just how heavily defended the outer wall was. From alcoves within the wall, catapults were hurling large rocks and rubble at the ships.
“Keep the ships back,” she told Lord Bacara. “Stay out of range of their weapons.” Then she gave him a smile. “But not too far back. If we look like we might be in range, and if we retaliate with attacks of our own, we can keep the enemy’s eyes on us and tie down their defenses.”
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Soon on the battlefield before the city, the solid front presented by Angdar began to crumble. Then the Ulak, along with the soldiers of Maharei, Ilara and the eastern lands charged as one and like water bursting from a dam, they poured into the fortress, fighting Angdar on the road that wound its way up to the citadel and heading into the alcoves in the wall to attack the enemy soldiers there as well.
Then, in a lull in the fighting, Tal came to a stop. A few yards away, Sól lay on the cobblestones, resting against a small pillar with one hand on her side. Blood seeped through her fingers.
“Sól!” Tal shouted. He ran to his friend and crouched beside her.
Sól smiled. “We’ve done it, Tal. We’ve broken their defences.” She coughed a little and clasped Tal’s hand.
Tears came to Tal’s eyes but he tried to smile. “We did it,” he told his friend and teacher.
“Finish it, Tal,” Sól told him.
“I will,” Tal promised. “We’ll wipe the Angdar off the face of the earth.”
Sól shook her head. “No. That’s... the battle. I mean what comes after.” She closed his eyes and exhaled. “Finish it.”
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As night fell, Morgiana realized that the fleet could do more where it was.
“All right,” she said. “Head for the nearest safe cove to the west. Then we’ll disembark and join our companions on the land.”
“We’re going to abandon the ships?” one of the men asked.
Morgiana turned to him. “If we’re victorious tonight, they’ll still be there in the morning. And if we’re not, then it won’t really matter, will it?”
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However, despite the anxieties some felt, the battle was almost at its end. Soon, the remaining Angdar were overwhelmed and the fighting was over.
Bloodied but still standing strong, Tal, Amoraak and Lord Falk approached the citadel.
“I can see why the enemies of the Greater Realms wanted to make their own variation of the Ulak,” Lord Falk told Amoraak. “Your people are magnificent warriors.”
Amoraak bowed his head. “Thank you, my friend.”
Lord Falk then looked at the entrance to the citadel. “So what happens now?” he asked his companions. “Do we put Marshal Artaeis on trial or do we kill him where he stands?”
“We’ll see,” Tal replied.
Then, there was a small commotion behind them as people parted to let Morgiana through. She had been running and was a little out of breath.
“How dare you think about going in there without me,” she chided Tal, panting.
“Sorry,” he replied, but without any humor.
Morgiana gazed at him. “What’s wrong? Where’s Sól?”
Tal shook his head.
Morgiana looked down and took a deep breath. Then she turned back to him. “Let’s get this over with.”
The group walked up a few small steps to the door of the citadel and knocked. When the door opened, Marshal Artaeis stood there alone. He eyed the gathered crowd before him. “What is the meaning of this rabble?”
“Are you surprised, Marshal?” Lord Falk asked him. “Are you going to deny your crimes against the Greater Realms? Plead ignorance and pretend you don’t know why we’re here? Even after your Angdar just tried to kill us all?”
Artaeis smiled. “Well spoken, Lord Falk.” Then he held out his hands. “So what is to be done? Am I to be taken in? Locked away?”
“Would you like that?” Lord Falk asked.
“I’d rather die,” Artaeis replied, his voice now laced with contempt.
“That can be arranged,” Tal said. He straightened his posture and forced a smile. “What about a duel then, Marshal Artaeis? If you win, we will allow you to sail south and live a life in exile. A lonely life, perhaps, but a life of freedom.”
“And if I lose?”
Tal’s smile remained in place. “What happens when anyone loses a duel to the death, Marshal?”
Artaeis laughed. “What happens indeed, Tal Orson? And which of your party wishes to be the champion of the people in this duel?”
Lord Falk stirred and looked at the others. “I know we all have our grudges against this man but if no one objects, I would like the honor.”
Tal and Morgiana exchanged glances. Then Tal turned back to the Aracean commander. “All right, Lord Falk. He’s yours.”
Lord Falk then drew his sword and an Ilara soldier surrendered his own weapon, which was slid across the ground to Marshal Artaeis. Then everyone stepped back to give the two combatants space and watched as Lord Falk and Marshal Artaeis circled each other.
The marshal struck first but Lord Falk dodged the blow. They then made multiple lunges at one another, deflecting their opponent’s attacks time and time again or dodging the blows. At one point, Marshal Artaeis clipped Lord Falk across the arm and, for a moment, it appeared as though the wound was serious. However, Lord Falk regained the upper hand soon enough and then, at last, his blade went home and Marshal Artaeis collapsed before the citadel.
Lord Falk cleaned his sword then retrieved the sword his opponent had used and returned it to the Ilara soldier it belonged to.
Tal put a hand on the shoulder of the Aracean commander. “Well done, my friend.”
Lord Falk sighed. “So, is it over?”
“Not quite,” Tal told him, nodding to the doors of the citadel. “There is a small task that needs to be done. No one else really needs to come but Morgiana and myself. However, you are welcome to join us if you wish.”
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Inside the citadel, they found a small hall, quite crude in appearance compared to the building’s exterior. In the center of the drab room was a table with a little orb resting on it.
Tal picked it up and inspected it. “It’s not much to look at, is it? I’ve seen sketches of the Orb of Askenroth. At least that had some style. But this...” He shook his head and handed it to Morgiana. “Is this what Marshal Artaeis used to find mages in his lands?”
Morgiana nodded. “This is the orb.” She handed it back to Tal. “Go on, Tal. I know you want to.”
Tal slung it at a wall, shattering it.
“So we’re done here now?” Lord Falk asked.
Tal nodded. “Yes. We’re done.”