part0044

“ P ratt, turn your archers loose on those tanks!” Abraham ordered.

“I don’t take any orders from you. This is my wall and my charge. I won’t waste arrows and bolts on an enemy that is retreating.” Pratt bumped chests with Abraham. “And if you ever talk to me again, I might toss you over the Wall.”

“Really?” In a blur of movement, Abraham grabbed Pratt by the neck and waist of his breastplate and heaved him up over his head. The huge man in full armor must have weighed over four hundred pounds of dead weight. Abraham had forgotten Ruger’s great strength. His angry effort surprised even himself. “Is this what you had in mind, Pratt?”

Pratt blanched. He stammered when he spoke. “I don’t like heights. Put me down. An assault on me is an assault on the king.”

“The king isn’t here! It’s us against them. Are you going to be an anchor, or are you going to act like a Guardian?” Abraham asked. He shook the man over his head. “The standard is the standard. What is your standard, Pratt?”

The big-eyed Pratt let out an angry grunt. “I’ll cooperate, but we will settle this. You and I.”

Abraham put him down. “You need to quit acting like Lewis and get off of your high horse. “Now, rally your men. Tell them the enemy is retreating. Unleash havoc on those metal beasts!”

Pratt marched away and flagged down his generals, shouting, “Archers! Archers! The enemy retreats! To arms!”

In a matter of seconds, bows, crossbows, and ballistae fired volley after volley. The missiles sailed up and streaked down, hitting the enemy soldiers’ foremost ranks. The ballista bolts landed even deeper, impaling bodies over two hundred yards away.

Kingsland soldiers shouted over the Wall in a clamor of victorious cries. They beat their swords on their shields.

The tanks stopped in their tracks. The tank guns turned, and the green machines advanced back to their original position facing the Shield of Steel.

Abraham pumped a fist at his side. “It’s working. It’s working.”

Kingsland’s missile weapons rained down by the hundreds and rattled off the tanks.

“Keep firing! Keep firing!” Abraham said as he moved between the battlements. “That’s it, make them mad!”

The eight tank guns took aim at the gate and the archers on the Wall.

Abraham’s breath caught in his throat.

Every Henchmen hung over the Wall with eyes as big as mirrors.

“Come on, come on, come on,” Abraham muttered.

Big ballista bolts rocketed into the tanks. A few of them stuck in the metal.

The enemy tank guns fired.

Red-hot flashes exploded from the barrels.

The barrels peeled back like banana peels.

The entire field lit up like the Fourth of July. The explosions inside the barrels created a chain reaction. The turrets blasted off the tanks and into the sky. Two tanks flipped over.

Strips of metal, barrels, and tank treads flew through the air into hundreds of pieces.

The tanks caught fire. Oil and gas burned. Dying men screamed, their charred bodies torn asunder.

An eerie silence fell over the masses on the Wall. Jaws hung open. Once the explosions were over, the King’s Army let out a loud chorus of triumphant cheers.

The Henchmen were all smiles. They slapped Abraham on the back.

Abraham couldn’t help but grin all over himself. But his eyes were still searching the fiery mess of metal. One tank remained unscathed. It retreated from the rest. It was Big Apple’s.

“Will you look at that? The little billy goat is getting away.”

Horace limped over to him and said, “I don’t suppose they will fall for that one again, will they?”

“Probably not. We got away with one. It will buy us some time.”

The rest of the day, the King’s Army resumed preparations for the assault. Everyone knew that more trouble would be coming, but for the moment, the invasion of Kingsland had been halted.

South of the Wall, in a meadow where the spring flowers bloomed, the Henchmen had a funeral service for Zann. Skitts dug the grave himself with the shovel Abraham had told him to bring. He offered some comforting words and helped fill the grave.

“He was a good brother in his own way,” Skitts said with a long look on his face. “I always figured he could squeeze out of anything. I thought I’d go first, being much slower and all.” He wiped his eyes on his sleeve. “I’m going to miss him. I’ve never lived a day without him.”

Abraham swallowed the lump in his throat. He knew exactly how Skitts felt. His bowels twisted into knots. “I know it hurts. I know.”

The Henchmen made camp away from the army. They needed rest. They hadn’t stopped since having departed for the Wall. Black rings were underneath all their eyes. A campfire burned, and a few of the company set up their tents. Most of them drank and celebrated the same as the soldiers did.

Abraham lay down on his bedroll by the fire, staring up into the sky. His head throbbed. He closed his eyes, but the nagging pain didn’t go away.

Sticks took a spot beside him, and so did Solomon. They were both sitting up with their arms wrapped around their knees and the flickering flames shining on their faces.

“Old Blood and Guts,” Solomon said.

Abraham shut his eyelids and said, “Yeah, it all came back to me. Like a boomerang. I don’t guess a hippie like you was a fan of his.”

“Well, I don’t know. His brutal philosophy makes more sense to me now than it did back when. Boy, the things you forget about. It gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling, hearing it again.” The troglin stretched his long hairy arms to the sky and yawned. “It makes me wonder if I’ve gone crazy.”

“Don’t fret it—you have,” Abraham said. “Now, get some shut-eye. I figure we’ll have another big problem to solve tomorrow.”

A galloping horse could be heard thundering up the southern road leading to the Wall.

Abraham rolled over onto his side. A King’s Guardian riding a large white horse whipped the beast’s flanks. A man was draped over the front of his saddle. That man wore a black cape.