Willem's Stand Part 20
The next thing I can clearly recall is standing under a sewer grate. Willem was there, he looked up carefully into the street for a moment then back to us, shaking his head.
"It's too dark," he said in a raspy voice, "I don't hear anything, but that doesn't mean they aren't there."
I still clenched my sword tightly in my right fist. The torch was gone though. I looked around at our group. We were now only eleven strong. Just two of the Red Blades besides Captain Willem remained. Nearly everyone was injured and bleeding from somewhere or another, though no one complained.
"So what do you think?" one of the Red Blades asked.
"We don't really have much of a choice," Willem responded, "We can't stay here. Once we're on the surface, the armory is just across the street."
"What if there's dead inside?"
Willem grunted. "Then we'll make them more dead." The captain looked in my direction, "Are you all right?"
I nodded, attempting to regain my composure. "Yes," I replied, "I'm sorry-"
Rastus shook his head and cut me off. "It's fine. I've seen trained soldiers do worse. You wanted to save your king. You never need to be sorry for that."
The words were nice to hear, but I still felt like a fool. Willem squinted up at the grating. "Removing that is going to make a lot of noise," he observed, "So once we do it we've got to be quick. As soon as we are on the streets, we have to assume they will be after us. I've got the feeling we're all that's left."
I sheathed my sword as Captain Willem and the remaining Red Blades began to push on the grating. It screeched and moaned in protest, but eventually gave way and flopped out onto the street, landing noisily. Rastus frowned.
Without wasting any time, he jumped upwards and pulled himself up through the hole. Once we he was through we heard a startled exclamation followed by a sickening crunch. We all froze anxiously until Willem's head appeared over the opening.
"That was close," he said with a hint of a grin.
One by one, we all quickly made our way up onto the street. It was still very dark outside, but I could clearly make out the headless form of one of the dead lying in the ash-covered street. What was more disturbing though, was the fact that the entire area was littered with footprints. At the rate the ash rained down from the sky, they looked to be fairly fresh.
Once everyone was up, we darted silently across the street to the old armory. It was an old stone building that had been constructed directly into the northern walls of the city. It had three stories, and its roof sat level with the parapets. It served as little more than a guardhouse now, but for generations it had been the city's main armory, almost a keep in itself. The large front doors were made of a heavy wood, and darkened windows lined the building's sides.
Rastus reached the doors first and tried to open them, but they didn't budge.
"They're not locked," he said. The captain looked down at the ground before him. Piles of ash had blown up against the bottom of the door. In places, it must have been over two feet deep. "It's the ash," he remarked urgently, "clear the ash away from the door."
I cautiously looked over my shoulder as we rapidly pushed the piles of ash to the side. I couldn't see the dead through the darkness, but I knew that they were there and making their way towards us.
Finally, Rastus was able to jar the doors open and we rushed inside. The captain closed the door behind us and slid the heavy wooden slab into place, locking it securely.
"Who has the torch?" Willem asked in the darkness.
"I do," one of the soldiers answered.
"Light it."
"Of course, Captain."
After a few sparks the reeds once again caught, and we had light. We were in a large room, with vaulted ceilings. A staircase lead upwards to the right and a hallway lead off in another direction beneath it. Some simple wooden furniture was placed throughout the room.
"That door won't hold for long." Rastus said, "We need to find something else to reinforce it with. "If I remember correctly, there should be some tools in the back room." He started down the hallway and looked back over his shoulder. "Stay together."
We walked cautiously through the hall, weapons drawn, peeking into each room we came across. They were small offices and supply closets for the most part. Near the back of the building, the hallway opened up into a larger room with several sturdy looking worktables and benches. Willem poked around under one of the tables for a moment, before dragging a heavy looking wooden crate out from beneath it. He set it on top of one of the benches and opened the lid.
"Excellent," he said. He tilted the crate so that we could all see it. The wooden box was full of large metal nails and spikes. "I'm glad they didn't take all of them," he murmured.
We quickly secured the rest of the building, and for perhaps the next hour, we broke apart furniture, and after being able to locate a few hammers began to reinforce the door. We could already hear the dead gathering on the other side. They pounded loudly on the thick wood.
When we were finished, one of the soldiers looked back to Captain Willem. "Now what?" he questioned.
"Now we hold them off," Willem answered.
The soldier nodded in understanding. "Until what?" he asked solemnly.
"Until we can't."
For the rest of the night we took turns sleeping. None of us really wanted to, but Rastus insisted, saying that we would need all we could get. The truth was though, that I was exhausted. I hadn't eaten or slept in almost two days and once I lay down, even on the hard stone floor it did not take me long to fall asleep.
I was shaken awake a time later by a somber faced soldier. "You need to come look at this," he said to me.
I followed him to the roof. It was day now. Though with the smoke it was impossible to tell what time. Willem sat off against the parapets, brooding quietly. The other soldiers had gathered at the edge of the building. I walked up behind them. It was obvious what had their attention.
For as far as I could see, the streets were packed tightly with the dead. Their catapults were busy demolishing the city in the distance, working their way ever closer towards us. Fortunately, our door still held strong, though I could already see battering rams being rolled through the streets in our direction. I nearly threw up.
I backed away from the edge a few steps, and looked back to Willem. He appeared to be lost in thought. "Well," I said walking over towards him, "I guess they know we're here." I tried to force a weak grin, it didn't quite work.
"They'll be inside by nightfall," he said simply. The captain did not seem like he was in the mood to do much talking, so I sat down a few steps away quietly.
"What time is it?" I asked after a while.
"It will be dark in a few hours," he answered. Apparently, I had slept for a while. There was not much to do other than simply wait. There was no real equipment to be had in the armory, though a few barrels of oil had been discovered in one of the storerooms. They now sat in a row just beside the opening leading back down into the building. The ladder had long since been pulled out and now lay stretched across the far side of the roof.
So we sat quietly as night again descended upon us, each largely unmoving. I thought about my childhood. Memories of my family and playing in the buildings or alleys that were now teaming with the dead or lying in ruin raced through my head and many of the others' as well, I suspect. Shortly after the sun had fallen, the attack began.
At first it was just the rams, they pounded on our doors again and again -- with each strike, weakening our defense. But it did not take long for the catapults to join in. The first strike was lobbed high into the air and arced sharply before plummeting down onto the roof. It exploded into the stone with a fiery rage, crashing through into the next level, bringing a pile of smoldering stone down behind it. Three of our men were taken in the blast and another lay pinned below the heavy rubble beneath us. Down to seven.
Before the second had time to fire, we heard a loud splintering from the front of the building. The doors had been opened. A second ball of flame from the catapults exploded onto the corner of the roof, sending a shower of stone onto those down below. I braced myself against the parapets, waiting for the next strike.
Instead, I saw one of the dead begin to rise through the rubble below. It lurched up towards the roof. Carefully finding purchases in the stone, it pulled itself upwards. One of the soldiers charged towards it, sword drawn. As another ball of flame arced up above the building I tried to shout a warning, but it was too late.
It slammed into the stone just next to him, and in a violent spray of fire, both he and the undead creature were gone. More of the dead were beginning to reach the roof now, and yet another fiery boulder came flying up from the front of the building. It peaked and then crashed through the greatly weakened roof, taking three men with it. A large stab of stone was blown into one of the barrels of oil, spraying it everywhere.
It ignited almost instantly and a blaze of fire swept over us as a portion of the roof began to collapse. This was not going very well. Willem stood several feet to my side, and one of the Red Blades lay unmoving on the ground a ways in front of me. I did not know if he was unconscious or dead. Either way, the flames would soon consume him.
The captain struck out with his large sword ferociously as one of the dead neared him, cutting it neatly in half. Two more though quickly took its place and another crawled up through a hole to his side. I rushed up behind it and gripping my sword in both hands, swung at the back of its neck. It lurched forward and fell as my blade severed its spinal column. Willem had already dispatched the other two by the time I looked back up.
"Is it just us?" he shouted over the roar of the fire.
"I think so." I yelled back as he cut down another of the dead, removing it from a leg before kicking it back down into the fire.
Then another volley from the catapults came raining down upon us as two more blazing boulders crashed into the building, sending a sharp fragment of stone ripping painfully into Willem's thigh. He cursed furiously and threw his sword to the ground.
"That's it," he growled as he marched over to one of the barrels of oil and hoisted it over his head. He took off towards the front end of the building, narrowly avoiding an attack from one of the dead. I scrambled to where he'd been standing to pick up his sword. It was exceptionally heavy. I balanced it over my shoulder and ran after the captain.
Willem raced towards the edge of the roof, it looked as if he intended to jump off. I began to call out to him but he stopped short and instead hurled the barrel off into the street. As it sailed through the air towards one of the catapults being loaded below I realized what he was doing. I couldn't help but smile wickedly as the barrel exploded onto the catapult, the ball of flames in the basket instantly igniting the oil as it seeped over the machine's frame and onto many of the surrounding dead.
He looked back to me. "My sword," he called out. I tossed it to him, it clattered onto the ground at his feet and he snatched it up just in time to cut down a group of dead emerging onto the roof. "Mind your back," he roared at me.
I spun around in time to catch the very tip of a sword. It nicked into my abdomen painfully, etching a long narrow cut down my side. I cried out and lunged towards the rotting attacker, catching it in the throat with my blade. It jerked back as my sword followed through and I slid the blade through the remainder of its neck.
I turned back towards Willem, swinging my sword at one of the dead emerging before me. I could see Rastus over its shoulder, a large number of the dead were crowding in around him but it did little to slow his vicious assault. He swung his massive sword in broad strokes, sometimes shearing through two of the attackers in a single strike. The captain roared out savagely as one of their swords plunged into his back. He lurched forward as another cut deeply into his right arm.
Willem recovered quickly though and spun, cutting down both attackers. I ducked under a blow and struck out at the creature in front of me. I kept swinging until it toppled over. I could hardly see Rastus now, the dead had formed a wall around him and were pressing in tightly.
Suddenly, another of the fiery boulders sailed up above the building. It streaked high into the air and then began to plummet down towards us. I heard Willem cry out in a rage as an entire line of the dead before him crumpled to the ground in a heap. Seething, he cleaved through a half dozen more in mere seconds.
The ball of fire exploded into the building directly between Rastus and I. I vaguely remember seeing Willem and the crowd around him being blown back out over the edge of the building. Then I felt dizzy, as if I were falling and hit something hard.
***
When I awoke, it was to a crippling pain my left arm and chest. I drew in a deep breath, ash tumbled into my mouth and I shot up coughing violently. I was sitting waist deep sunk in ash in front of the northern gates. My arm was broken and my entire chest was a deep purple, pain coursed through my body when I moved.
The northern gates remain untouched and there was no sign of the dead near me though debris from the armory was scattered all about the area. I coughed, spitting out blood and looked up to the city walls. A large billow of smoke rose from just over the walls.
I propped myself up on my good arm and looked at the ground surrounding me. The fall should have killed me, had the soft ash not been plastered thickly onto the ground it no doubt would have. Weakly, I tested my legs. They were bruised but did not appear to be broken. Slowly, I brought myself to my feet. I took a small step and was hit with a wave of dizziness. When it passed, I noticed something metallic partially buried sticking out of the ash beside me.
With an audible groan, I leaned down, pulled my sword from ground, and looked to the north. The fires still burned and would for some time to come, deep black smoke rose into the sky, dropping ash back down onto all below as it slowly floated by.
We had needed to stay alive for three days. Commander Askalon, King Targonor and Captain Willem all died, to keep the dead occupied for three days, so that the rest of Targonor could escape. With barely a thousand men, we had given them a week.
I took one last glance back at the ruined city that been home for my entire life, then took my first painful step north. I had a long way to go.
