The Tales of the Wanderer Volume One: A Book of Underrealm (The Underrealm Volumes 4) Garrett Robinson (poetry books to read TXT) 📖

Kaita ducked her head. “They could not reveal themselves. We had to break the outer gate. Now that that is done, they will lend their strength to ours. You will take the wall, and then kill everyone inside.”

Dotag’s eyes narrowed. “You did not say that before.”

Kaita suppressed a momentary surge of anger, that a troll would think himself worthy of questioning her counsel. But of course she could not say that. “I told you they would help us take the inner gate. That is what they will do.”

He stared at her a long moment. Kaita met his gaze, unflinching. At last Dotag snorted and turned away.

“Tell the others. We attack. Now.”

It felt as though we had had barely a moment’s respite before the trolls charged again. New soldiers had taken the place of those who fell on the wall, but everyone looked weary enough to fall over. I felt the same.

We rained oil and fire down upon the trolls as soon as they came in range. But they were better prepared this time, and they leaped aside or batted at the vials. Still we scored many hits, and their rending screams cut the air.

Once again they swarmed the gatehouse. This time Mag had joined us atop it. She flung a perfectly timed vial of oil, and I lit it, and our unlucky victim’s wild flailing stalled the charge of many behind him. Even so, half a dozen trolls burst into the gatehouse. We ran to the murder holes, throwing flasks and firing flame at them as best we could. Their roars of pain shook the wall, but without the overwhelming torrent of oil we had had last time, they only seemed spurred to greater fury. They flung themselves at the second gate like mad beasts. Dents appeared in the solid steel banding.

One of the trolls at the back of the group could not reach the gate. She looked up through the murder holes with eyes full of hate. Then a soldier leaned too far over. The troll vaulted upwards. Her hand reached through the opening to seize the guard’s head and drag him down into the darkness. His body cracked and popped sickeningly as it was forced through the narrow gap, but his screams were swiftly cut off as the troll battered him against the ground below.

“Stay back!” commanded Ditra. She ran to the back of the barbican, looking down upon the soldiers in the bailey who were still bracing the second gate. “Hold! Hold them! They cannot—”

I heard a whistling on the air. The sound of many arrows. On instinct, I shouted, “Down!” and dived to tackle Ditra to the floor.

But the arrows had not been aimed at us. They fell upon the soldiers in the bailey. I looked up in confusion, and then I heard shouting from the west wall. Peering through the gloom, by the light of torches I saw soldiers in blue and grey swarming along the ramparts there. They had swords on their belts and shields on their backs, but in their hands were bows. Even now they were preparing another volley to loose upon the soldiers in the courtyard. Behind them, I could just glimpse bits of shining metal—grappling hooks, and the tops of siege ladders.

“They have flanked us!” I cried. “Shades from the west!”

Ditra looked down. Corpses littered the stone. Barely a dozen soldiers still braced the second gate, and they were wavering.

She cried out to the soldiers around us. “The walls have been taken, and the gate will follow! Back! Back to the keep!”

They took up the cry all up and down the wall, and the soldiers turned in a rout. I stayed by Ditra’s side, wishing she would move faster. But she pushed everyone else ahead of her, determined to be the last to leave the wall. We ran down the southeast battlements and turned down the stretch that would lead us to the keep door. Every living soldier in the bailey had fled, and now the second gate was crumpling under the trolls’ onslaught. Even as I watched, it shattered. In three pieces it fell, skittering away on stone that was slick with melted snow, now tinged red with blood.

“Albern!”

Mag’s toneless cry brought my attention back to the wall. I heard a coarse rasping, like two stones grinding against each other. The hand of a troll had appeared over the top of the ramparts. They had circled around to the south, and one was climbing up now. A huge, stony head appeared before us.

We attacked it at the same time, but Mag got there first. Her spear plunged into its eye socket, and I saw the jolt in Mag’s arm as she struck the skull. As the troll screamed, I hacked at its hand with my sword. Still it did not let go—not until Ditra brought her axe down, and its enchantments hewed the troll’s hand in half. The creature roared as it fell away into darkness.

“Thank you,” I said, gripping Ditra’s shoulder.

“You would have done it yourself, if you held the axe,” said Ditra. “But you are welcome.”

“I had some hand in it as well,” grumbled Mag. But her words were lost in the din as we passed through the door and into the keep. The door was iron, and inside it had great iron bolts, thick as my arm, which we slid into place. Not even a troll would be able to break them down, and they were unlikely to try, since they could not fit inside.

We made our way quickly to the main entry hall. Some wise soul had gathered as many bracers as they could from the bailey, and now a dozen Telfer guards stood at the great main doors, bracing them against entry. But I heard no sounds of assault from outside.

Ditra caught sight of Captain Huia. “Have they moved towards the keep yet?”

Huia drew up straight,