Harik sighed as he shifted around while wearing his new armour. The dwarven assault had slowed the progress of the Sommerdan army, giving them time to finish preparing the loose makeshift wall of rocks. Night had fallen, and a sea of flame wound its way up the mountain, getting ever closer to them at the peak.
‘Those blasted torches of theirs just make our situation seem worse.’ Harik frowned as he glanced to either side to see his warriors lined up, their bows at the ready. ‘Thovok never did say exactly how many dwarves he brought. But he seemed confident of our victory.’
Harik did not dare to underestimate them anymore. Not after the number of weapons they had brought to arm his warriors. He could only hope that was an indicator of how many dwarves had come to aid this battle.’
“They’re being cautious…” Bjorn growled as he opened the jaws of his helmet to reveal his face.
“Wouldn’t you be?” Harik snorted as he watched the Sommerdans slowly advance up the mountain path. “They’ll be thinking that an attack can come from any direction at any time.”
“Hm, well they did buy us time with that stunt, but we’ve lost the element of surprise of having the dwarves on our side.” Bjorn’s expression turned concerned. “To be honest, I’m worried about why they haven’t abandoned this approach after that. It reeks of confidence for them to continue.”
Harik nodded slowly as the steam from his breath drifted in front of his face. “Still, they’re fools to fight us here. We Skardians are built to endure this frozen wasteland and the dwarves take to mountains like fish do the sea. They’re desert folk that only know warm sands. There’s no way they can keep up an invasion for long.”
“There’s truth in what you say, Harik. But they’re not idiots either. They must have something up their sleeves since they launched an all out invasion of Skardia.” Bjorn frowned as he watched the torches march round a bend that marked a checkpoint for them. Telling them that the Sommerdans were less than an hour away.
Ania appeared on the wall at that point beside them. Her armour shone with the fires that had been lit on their side to stave off the cold.
“The shrines are ready. The gods will descend once the battle gets underway. Exile wants to make sure that the Sommerdan Pantheons don’t get scared off.” Ania’s expression turned determined as she studied the fiery snake crawling towards them.
“Did he like my gift?” Bjorn cocked an eyebrow at her when she did not mention it.
“What do you think?” Ania smiled softly. “He sends his thanks.”
Bjorn nodded happily as a grin spread across his face. The three of them spent some time studying each other in silence. Eventually, Harik chose to break that silence.
“Both of you… Be careful. This army and Exile’s plans for Skardia require that the three of us survive…”
“Four!” A throaty growl came from the darkness as Skovi silently padded into view.
Harik nodded to show that he accepted the correction before continuing. “No matter what, if you come under too much pressure, you must retreat. Now, take your positions and wait for my signal. They’ll be within range soon.”
Harik took a deep breath as the others departed. His eyes focused on the enemies below as tension filled the surrounding air. The Sommerdan army passed the marker that let him know they were within the range of their bows. Harik raised a torch to signal the warriors to prepare to fire.
The sound of bowstrings tensing filled the air. Harik waited for them to come a little closer before his expression turned grim. He waved the torch down through the air, and the bows hummed as the arrows were released.
They seemed to disappear with the night sky as their backdrop. A few moments passed before panicked screams came from the path below. Harik nodded his head as he gave the order to prepare another volley. This time, every fifth archer lit their arrow on fire to allow Harik to judge if they had to adjust their trajectory for the best result.
“Now!” He yelled, and the bows thrummed in the night air again.
Fiery trails crossed the sky. Warning the enemy of another incoming volley. Shields rose to protect against that deadly rain, but inevitably, some of them still found their mark. Harik nodded as he caught sight of where they landed. He quickly barked out for the archers to lower their angle of fire to cover more of the enemy formation.
“Split into two firing teams!” He yelled at the top of his lungs. “The first team will continue to use fire arrows. Team two will not. Team two will fire ten heartbeats after team one!”
The warriors rushed to fulfil his orders as another volley carrying fire arrows rained down on the enemy. The dull thuds of when they struck shields sounded like a heavy rain falling upon a roof. When the noise stopped, the Sommerdans lowered their shields to rush further up the path. But that was a mistake!
That was when the second volley arrived, unannounced. Many cries of anguish filled the path as Sommerdan warriors fell dead or wounded. Yells of anger, regret, and not understanding the situation filled their ranks.
Their eyes wandered to the sky again as more flaming trails filled the sky. Shields were raised in a hurry, and this time they kept them there as they waited for the second round. But nothing came. Slowly, they lowered their shields and began to charge, screaming in anger. However, they only took a few steps before the expected volley finally arrived!
A cacophony of agony rose into the air yet again as they were caught off guard a second time. The Sommerdan warriors began to falter under that uncertain assault.𝘰𝑣𝘭.𝗇𝓔t
“Keep going! Don’t stop moving!” A Sommerdan commander yelled as he pulled an ugly expression. “They are staggering the second volley! Don’t try to predict it! Keep your shields overhead and march forward!”
Harik frowned as the next two volleys were released. This time, the second volley brought what sounded like a mere whimper compared to the other times. ‘They’ve already adjusted for it? Someone down there has a brain, it seems.’ Harik snarled as he ordered the continuation of the staggered volleys.
A messenger ran along the wall to his side, before pausing to catch his breath.
“My Jarl! Bjorn Ironhide requests permission to join the battle in melee to slow their advance!”
“Denied!” Harik replied rather sharply as his eyes went to the mountain ridges on either side of the path. “Remind him that we have allies far better suited to this. He will remain here to defend the wall in case any of them break through!”
The messenger quickly nodded before disappearing back to Bjorn’s side of the wall. Bjorn frowned as he heard Harik’s reply from the lips of the messenger he had sent. ‘We should be showing the dwarves that we are not afraid to get bloodied! Even if you aim to save as many Skardian lives with this Harik, we’ll lose our chance to show what we are made of!’
Bjorn cursed under his breath as he slammed the pommel of his warhammer on a rock at his feet. His eyes narrowed as he studied the torches that had fallen to the ground, giving some light to the enemy numbers. ‘Where are those damn dwarves, anyway? If you’re going to take my glory, then hurry up and take it!’
Harik carefully had the archers adjust their angle to consistently target the front lines of the enemy army. It was impossible to tell how many Sommerdans had already lost their lives in this charge before getting the chance to fight back. ‘Just a little more!’ Finally, the torches crossed the marker where the wall would be within range of the enemy archers!
“Raise shields!” Harik’s voice boomed out!
The warriors dropped their bows and unslung their shields just in time. Arrows fell from the sky as the Skardians behind those shields laughed. Very few casualties happened during that initial return volley. Harik had prepared perfectly and only the reactions of his warriors were to blame if they got injured.
Bjorn laughed as an arrow struck his throat. The eyes of his men turned to stare at him as the arrow fell harmlessly to the ground. ‘Such pathetic things can’t harm me anymore!’
“Sommerdans! Come if you are brave enough!” Bjorn yelled as he stood in full view on top of the wall! His arms outstretched as more arrows bounced harmlessly off of him! His laughter filled the air and raised the morale of the warriors at that end of the wall. Slowly, a battle made madness overtook the surrounding warriors. They began to tap their weapons against their shields, increasing the power with every strike to create an intimidating noise.
That was when a horn sounded in the mountains…