The Book of Ashe

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Midpoint

"That which is plucked shall rise again, that which is cut down shall be replaced."
~ Tome of Eldnor the Seer

In the dark of the night the Five met in the shadowy halls of the Black Citadel. A large, marble table had been brought into Shekara's meeting chambers for the purpose of the meeting. It was shaped in a pentagram, roughly. The Queen of Blades stood at the head of the table. Lifestealer, her only real ally, stood to her right. Stormweaver, a small middle-aged woman, stood to Shekara's left and Darksaber to her left. The last of the Five, The Astral Rider, a phantom terrible and mad, was absent with cause. A dark figure that almost seemed to shimmer, stood in the shadow's behind Shekara. The aura of power to shed was equal to Shekara's other generals.
Torches bearing black fire poorly illuminated the large room.
"The rebels are beginning to break. The one they call Stormraven is cut off in the town called Gale. Their central armies have been decimated and have fallen back so quickly, our troops wear themselves out, trying to keep up." Shekara said. Her voice was bittersweet and hard as stone, edged with insanity.
"My armies are posed to leave the Badlands and move, once again, on the town of Scorn." Darksaber said.
"My armies are ready to march on Tamber as soon as Weaver calls off her storm." Lifestealer said.
"And The Astral Rider awaits only your command mistress to advance on the Tri-Cities." The shadowy figure said.
"Prefect, absolutely perfect. They have the Tomes of Leprous with them, We will retrieve them from Stormraven and then level their precious cities. We will leave nothing alive. Tell the Astral Rider to kill everyone. I don't want a victory, I want a Slaughter of the Innocent!"

The snow had accumulated since we had last come through the Grojan Cliffs. In places it was over eight feet deep and still falling. My face was wrapped in scarves and anything else I could get my hands on. It was bitterly cold. I walked with my head down, only looking up to make sure I wasn't going to run into anything or anyone. Our three wizards were doing all they could to melt the snow, but it wasn't a normal snow storm and Weaver was more powerful than the three put together. After two days of pure hell, we came to the hills surrounding Shepherd.
The city was damn near invisible because of the massive snowfall. A small wooden palisade had been constructed around two thirds of the city. It would be a poor obstacle.
"You feel anything down there guys?" I asked.
"Oh yeah, Weaver is down there, probably in the tower over there to the left. She has been weakened slightly, but still is able to kick some serious ass. I don't think we should use any spells while we are here, no need to tip her off that we are coming to her despite her wrath." Silverwolf said. Jayden and Raider nodded their agreement.
I stared at the tower that Silverwolf had pointed out. It didn't seem well guarded. In fact I couldn't see a single armed man down there, but it wasn't likely that they would be outside on a day like this. The snow covered smaller buildings in some places. I got to thinking about some damn fool idea.
"Silverwolf, could we sneak down there and smack Weaver's officers enough to disable her without getting dead?" I asked.
Everyone just looked at me and blinked.
"I'm serious guys. We ding her and her guys up pretty good, and they will have to re-group and she couldn't keep the storm up."
"And if she dings us up pretty good? I'm not too keen on the idea of being a prisoner of war again." Jayden said.
I couldn't really argue with that. I hadn't particularly cared much for it myself.
"Think about it guys. Last time we were here, she didn't even know it till our magic tipped her off. She probably thought the damn army was advancing on her."
No one said anything for awhile, then Raider spoke.
"You know, you might be on to something there Ashe. Suppose we could get down there without her detecting us. We could really hit her hard, for she will be to busy controlling this storm to watch who's sneaking up behind her. Our armies should be here tomorrow, early."
"Yeah, just like Windrider didn't detect us." Jayden countered. He was not thrilled at all about going down there.
"Well, if Ashe wasn't such a damn klutz you might have pulled the assassination off." Silverwolf said. "She didn't detect you, you woke her up."
"It will be a strict hit and run, we don't even have to go up against her, just take out a few high ranking officers." I said
"God damnit, I know I'm gonna regret this! Lets go!" Jayden said, moving forward.

Two half-ass city guards were standing outside the doorway to the Main Tower. We watched from a shadowy corner, concealed by low grade spells that Raider and Silverwolf both assured us would go undetected by Weaver. The guards looked bored and sleepy. Most of the snow had been cleared away from the tower's base, but a few inches remained.
"I think that’s where her commanders are, in there." Silverwolf whispered. "What do you want to do about the guards?"
"Shit, do we have bows?" I asked.
"No, didn't think we would need them." Raider said.
"Damn, any handy little spells you could use and not tip of Weaver?"
"Nothing that would do them in, but we could try to put them asleep."
"That’s damn risky Raider, if she finds out that we are here, she will act fast." Silverwolf said.
"Well that’s our best option, lets use it. Take all the time you need, make sure it's done right. Our lives depend on it."
The wizards put their heads together and within a few minutes the guards were snoring, still standing up. Talk about subtle. A faint rose glowed in the east. Dawn was approaching. We slinked to the doorway.
"Wait here." Grins said. He vanished inside and returned a few minutes later with blood on his blade. "All clear." He said.
We entered into the first floor of the tower. It was brightly lit. Three bodies lay on the ground, covered in blood.
"We go up" Silverwolf said, "Move fast and hit hard." He took off at a swift run. I followed behind him. Up, up, and up. The tower seemed deserted, except for the guards downstairs. When we finally reached the top of the stairwell, my legs were burning and my lungs ached. I was getting too old for this shit. Two ornate doors stood in front of us.
"Guys I have a bad feeling about this suddenly!" Wolf whispered.
I crept to the doors and pressed an ear against it, but heard nothing. I shot Silverwolf a questioning look. He nodded. I eased back from the doors and, with Raider and Grins help, kicked the doors open.
All five of us rushed into the room ready to chop up some Imperial ass, and Imperial ass is what we got.. The room wasn't very big. About a fifteen foot circle, with a few tables and chairs. Directly in front of us sat a small woman in blue, back to the door. She was talking with two older looking men. As we entered, the woman spun around. It was Weaver.
"Oh shit!" Jayden said, stopping so fast he actually slid a few feet. The rest of us charged her, weapons bare. She looked truly shocked, but wasn't off balance long. A blast of blue lightning smashed into Silverwolf, throwing him back a few feet. She came around with another spell as the rest of us reached her. Sparks and sorceries flew. Jayden went down, looking dazed. She had clipped him with a pretty flashy spell. I was upon her, so was Grins. I swung my sword in from the side and hit her square in the gut. My mind was flooded with fear. She was the last person I expected to run into. She yelped like a dog, and stumbled back. My blade had not marked her. Grins blade connected with her left arm. Blood flowed. Weaver shot towards us and hit Grins in the nose with the heel of her hand. She lifted him off the ground and I heard bones crack. She whirled on me and I backed up. Her eyes glowed blue and burned insanely. Then Silverwolf was there, short sword in hand. He gave her a good thrust to the chest, but didn't mark her. She was a tough bitch. She staggered back again and whipped what looked like a horizontal cyclone at me. It hit me like a calvary charge. I felt a few of my ribs give way. It was gonna hurt like a bastard when the adrenaline wore off. I tripped backwards and went down. When I regained my feet, Weaver and Wolf were locked in hand to hand combat. Weaver had a glowing dagger and Wolf had his short sword. They danced a deadly dance together, slashing each other every now and then. I moved over to Grins. She had done a job on him. His face was covered in blood. I felt for a pulse, but didn't find one. I moved to Jayden next. He was groggy, but trying to stand. I helped him up in time to witness another flash of lightning hit Wolf. He went down hard. She had nailed him pretty good. Jayden and I stood there, Jayden leaning on me for support. Weaver stared at us and we stared back. A sudden cry of trumpets sounded outside. From the tall window to my left I could see our army snaking out of the hills. Weaver's storm had slowed and stopped. Weaver looked out the window as well. She looked pissed. She was completely cut off and surrounded by enemies. She could take a few out with her if she wanted, but it looked more likely that she would surrender. She knew she wouldn't evade us again.
"Looks like you've won this round rebel." She said softly.
Totally not my intention I thought, but how do you apologize for something like this.
"Put your hands behind your back" Jayden snapped. He produced a piece of rope that he got from gods only know where, and began to bind Weaver's hands. She looked a tad annoyed. In fact she looked down right dangerous. After he was done binding her, he planted his boot in the low of her back and pushed her towards me. His eyes were cold and dead. He was remembering his capture and how fate had turned the tables. She stumbled a few steps, then turned and gave him a look that could stop a man's heart.
"Move!" He said, pushing her again.
"Jayden. Enough alright." I said, making my contempt known. He pretended deafness and gave her a more harsh shove.
"Jayden! Damnit, stop it!" I said.
Weaver turned back and faced me. I could see she was debating whether this was a good idea or not. Jayden moved up behind her again and went to push her, when she brought her foot up, right into his crotch. Jayden's eyes went big and he dropped to his knees, cradling his crotch. He sat on the ground, gasping and trying not to cry.
"Alright damnit! Both of you stop! Right Now!" I felt like a mother yelling at two fighting children. I grabbed Weaver's arm and pulled her out of the room. She wore a tiny smirk.
"What about them?" Silverwolf said as he pulled himself off the floor. He looked like hell. He indicated the two officers that had been talking to Weaver when we entered. They were flat up against the far wall, eyes wide.
"We came here to take out a few Imperial Officers didn't we?" I said.
He nodded, he got my meaning. He help Jayden up and advanced on the officers. I left the room while the other two carried out their grisly work.

We had the town under control in less then two hours. Weaver had no army to speak of, only the city guard. I drug Weaver around looking for Stormraven. Weaver got a lot of hard looks, but nobody really seemed to know who she was. Her face was as blank as a stone. When I finally found Raven, she was in one of the central squares. As we approached her from the back, she slowly turned. Her brow was wrinkled in question. She didn't like the looks of Weaver at all.
"Who's this?" She asked. She looked tired.
"Uh, well this is. . uh. . . Stormweaver. . . from the Citadel."
Stormraven's eyes bugged out a little and everyone just stared. Weaver stared right back into Raven's eyes, never saying a word.
"Stormweaver?" Raven asked, flabbergasted.
"The one and only." I said.
"Stormweaver?" Raven asked again.
"Yes ma'am"
Raven stared at me for about ten seconds, then she grabbed my arm and pulled me off to the side.
"What the hell Ashe. Where did she come from?" Raven was shaking. She was not happy about this development. How could I blame her, we had no sure way to make sure Weaver couldn't cause trouble.
"We decided to try our hand at a pre-dawn raid to rid them of some of their high ranking officers, and sort of stumbled upon Weaver."
"So what she just gave up? Just like that?" Raven snapped her fingers.
I had to admit that her sudden willingness to just go peacefully had bothered me slightly, but I wasn't about to tell her that she couldn't surrender.
"She saw the army coming out of the hills and knew that this time she couldn't get away. I guess she was relying on her storm to keep us away for awhile longer. I think you took her by surprise."
Stormraven thought a bit. She looked troubled. She had every intention in the world about taking Shepherd, but hadn't even considered the possibility we might land a big fish in the process and there was none bigger then Weaver at the moment.
"Shit! What am I gonna do with her?" She asked, thinking aloud.
"Toss her in a cell and keep her there is what I say."
"That's just it Ashe, how long do you think an ordinary cell would hold her? She has diminished a lot of her power, that's probably why she surrendered, but she won't stay weak."
"Kill her then." Raider said from behind me. He had been eavesdropping.
"What?" Raven and I said in sequence.
"Kill her and have done with it." Raider said again.
Raven thought it over. It would certainly remove any threat Weaver presented, but executing a prisoner of war seemed barbaric, especially when they are defenseless.
"No Raider, that’s too extreme. We will only take her life if she leaves us no other choice." Raven said.
"What other choice do we have? You want to wait till she gets a killer spell off and decimates half the army?"
"We will bind her, both magically and physically, and hold her for questioning for the moment. If she gives us reason, we will end her story. Since your little group got us in this, you all will be in charge of her."
"Could I ask that Jayden not be aloud to be around her? He still harbors a lot of hatred for her."
"Believe me, you'll need Jayden's magic." She stalked away after that last comment, leaving me to my own troubled thoughts. I really didn't want to baby-sit a fully functional member of the Citadel.
"Can I have Silverwolf to, just in case?" I yelled to Raven as she walked away. Without turning around she nodded an affirmative. Good at least Jayden and I weren't going to be the only ones suffering.
I walked back over to Stormweaver. She hadn't moved a muscle, but was looking around, taking mental notes. Gods this was going to be a wild ride.

I learned quickly that Stormweaver and Jayden weren't going to be able to exist in the same room. If he wasn't trying to torture her, she was picking at him and after a final blowup I had had enough. We had Weaver in a large, underground basement. She had been tied to a chair with layers of restraining spells layered over her, but after a few days I felt that she could be trusted enough to be able to walk around if she wanted, though her hands and fingers were tied together, just in case. Jayden bitched that I was playing favorites when I finally told him to leave the room while I attempted the first round of questioning with Weaver. I didn't expect much, but figured it was worth a try. At the moment Weaver was at a large table fixing herself her twelfth cup of tea that day. She could flat put it away.
"Can I get you anything else my lady?" I asked.
She glared and responded with a shake of her head. She wasn't much of a talker.
"Look, I know your not very talkative, but I'm obligated to interrogate you." She just looked at me. Even though Jayden and Wolf assured me that she couldn't use her spells, she still made me uneasy. I was playing with a thing old and powerful, that could gobble me up in a heartbeat.
"Lets start out easy first. Lifestealer! Where are his armies?"
She didn't say anything. I waited patiently, but she wasn't going to just give me answers out of the kindness of her heart. I asked again, and again she didn't respond.
"Look, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Though neither of us is going to like the hard way. I'm trying to be nice here."
"The hard way eh? You going to go get the blonde?" She asked, her voice reeked of arrogance.
"If I have to, I will." I said.
She just smiled and there was mockery in her smile.
"I've survived worse than you and your petty druids."
I tried my damnedest to get her to cooperate, short of a flogging. Resigned, I sighed and walked to the door, opened it and told the guard outside to send for Jayden. I didn't like this, I can't stand cruelty to man or animal, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and we were in desperate times.
Jayden showed up looking smug and I laid out some strict ground rules. He was to start off small and slowly work up, but was not to cause any severe or permanent injury unless Weaver just would not cooperate. Once he said he understood I asked Weaver again about Lifestealer, but still she refused to speak. Jayden wiggled his fingers and a faint red glow surrounded Weaver. She closed her eyes in pain, but said nothing. I asked a second time and once again she said nothing. The red glow increased in strength to the point where Weaver was grinding her teeth. She was tougher than her reputation! I was forced to play hard ball.
"You can make it stop right now, just by telling me where Lifestealer's armies are. Jayden can, and would probably prefer to, keep this up all day."
She slowly opened her eyes. She was not very happy. I started thinking that maybe we should just kill her and have done with it. If she ever got loose, Jayden and I were going to be very sorry I was sure. The red glow flared brightly suddenly and a scream of pain tore from Weaver's lips. In places her robes smoldered. The flare only lasted a few seconds, but that still wasn't enough to get her talking. I couldn't stand it anymore, I looked at Jayden and then turned and left the room. Jayden would get it out of her, of that I was sure. As I walked up the hall Weaver's screams rang out through the door. I shuddered and kept walking.
Jayden came to my tent about midnight. He looked tired and worn out.
"A force of fifty thousand men hold the city of Midpoint. Lifestealer is with them. They have entrenched the city, which means they know we are coming, and they probably know that we have Weaver." He whispered. His voice was scratchy and broken.
"Fifty thousand!? My gods! Does Raven know?" I asked
"Yes, I just told her."
"And. . . ?"
"She wants to move as soon as we can. She thinks we can take the city, though not easily."
'You get all this from Weaver?" I asked.
"Yes."
"How do you know she isn't lying?"
He smiled a completely un-Jayden like cruel smile.
"Don't worry, she didn't lie." He sounded confident.

Midpoint was as fortified a city as you can get when we got there. We camped twenty miles south of the city. Lifestealer had three trenches dug in the shape of crescents, one in front of the other. Each spanned three miles, almost protecting three sides of the city. Imperial forces were arrayed between each trench in formations that resembled horseshoes, with the two arms pointing towards the city. Archers and siege engines topped the ramparts. Fifty thousand entrenched men against only thirty thousand, it didn't seem possible.
"This could prove to be more difficult than I imagined. They are really dug in" Stormraven said staring across the flat plateau that Midpoint sat on.
"Those trenches are gonna be a bitch." I said.
"No, we will fill those, it's the archers and footman that will prove to be difficult."
"What about Lifestealer?'" I asked
"What about him?"
"Can you handle him by yourself?"
She gave me an angry look, but said nothing.
"His right wing is his weakness and his flank is completely unprotected. If we hit him hard and fast, we could possibly gain several foot holds over the trenches. From there we will construct a ramp up to the wall, but one thing I have found out about war is that anything can happen."
I grunted my agreement. Figures appeared on the battlements.
"I think they know we're here" I said.
"Yes, we will let them wait out the day. Tomorrow at first light we will offer battle and see if they take it."
Raider mumbled something along the lines of only a fool wouldn't take battle to an enemy half it's size.
"The big unknown is Lifestealer. We are the first to face him and his armies."
That didn't brighten the mood at all. All we knew for sure about Lifestealer was that he was a Necromancer of immense power. He was rumored to have been the ruler of the ancient schools of magic, The Necromantic Order of Twelve. Weaver's interrogation turned up nothing new, except for the fact that not all of the Five like each other. From what Jayden told Raven and I, Weaver and Stealer were as bitter enemies as we were with Shekara. Every time they got together they spent more time and power trying to sabotage each other than they did trying to fight us. Which, for us, was a good thing. Yet Weaver was unwilling to help us. Guess she is sticking with what she thinks is the lesser of two evils, but what is evil? It's not really something you can hang a sign on. Until the Shadow arose in the West, I had always thought that good and evil were simply points of view. How times change.
"Come on, I've seen enough." Raven said heading back down the little hill top we were perched on.
"Raven, can I talk to you for a second?" I asked.
She gave me a funny look, but stopped.
"Is there any reason you have given the responsibility of watching Weaver to Jayden?" I asked her.
"Why do you ask? Do you not think he is up to the task?"
"No, I believe he can do it, but given his prior experience with Weaver. . . well it's just Jayden can be a little cruel where Weaver's concerned, and he has very good personal cause to inflict torments on her. "
"And. . . ?"
"Well, even though she is our enemy, she shouldn't be subjected to torture. Perhaps someone with less of a grudge could keep and eye on her."
She turned to face me and half laughed.
"You were the one that told him to interrogate her."
"Yes, but interrogation is one thing. I don't think it will stop there."
"Ashe, she is our enemy. Don't concern yourself with her fate. She wouldn't if the roles were reversed."
But the roles had been reversed and Weaver had at least seemed concerned about my fate, but saying that to anyone might raise suspicion on my loyalty, so instead I nodded and followed her back to the encampment.
I walked around wondering about the coming battle when I cleared a tent to see Raider and Crossbow damn near coming to blows over a card game. Crossbow looked tired and his horse, which stood several feet away, looked just as tired. I stood there a minute or two till they noticed me, at which point they ceased their bickering.
"Where the hell did you come from?" I asked Crossbow.
"Been asking myself the same question for an age." Raider grumbled. Crossbow ignored him.
"Just got in from Scorn." He said.
"Scorn? I thought Flamedancer was in The Badlands."
"We were, till Darksaber pushed us back again. We encountered these weird storms that rendered Flamedancer's powers useless."
"Storms? Have you told Raven yet?"
"Yes, she said you guys had one or two out here yourselves."
"Yes we did." I said.
He kind of grunted. Magic makes him edgy. Raider says it's because Crossbow has been cursed by the gods, but Raider isn't to be trusted where Crossbow is concerned.
Crossbow sat back down and dealt another hand. The two resumed playing cards. I resumed my walk. I decided to go annoy Silverwolf for awhile.
I weaved in and out of tents till I came to his. Silverwolf is very flamboyant when it comes to his belongings. His tent was three times what mine was and made of a fabric that sparkled all the time, even at night. I walked to the front and stuck my head in. Everything was neatly stacked and labeled. Evidence of a clean freak, but no Silverwolf was to be found. A censer had been left burning a sweet smelling something. I sighed and continued my walk. I walked back out to where Raven and I were standing earlier. Midpoint looked deserted now. No one watched from the battlements, but I felt like we were being watched. Perhaps the enemy had invisible eyes in our camp. I stalked around trying to kill time. The restlessness before the hour of blood was evident everywhere. This would be our first big battle since Tamber.

While darkness still ruled the morning our army prepared for the coming battle. The east was a light rose color as the sun approached. By the time it came up it would betray our neatly arrayed forces to the defenders of Midpoint. Silverwolf had command of two infantry legions. Raven commanded two more infantry legions and a company of heavy horsemen. Raider was giving a reserve legion with six hundred men to plug any holes that appeared in our formations. Raven positioned her legions in the center and placed Silverwolf's legions on the right flank, one in front of the other. Raider held behind Stormraven's middle row, while her horsemen, spilt into two groups, guarded her left flank. Small siege towers had been constructed during the night before and now were arrayed in front of the armies. Crossbow and about five hundred elite troops were east of the city about four miles, making a slow arch to Stealer's flank.
Dawn found both sides staring at each other from across two miles of field, that would soon become a holocaust of blood and war. Stormraven was willing to wait till Lifestealer tried something. We had that luxury. We weren't trapped inside a city with limited food and water. Engines on the walls tried their range, only to find their shafts fell short. The morning mist began burning off as Stealer's forces started skirmishing our force.
"He is checking our strength." Raven said.
A particularly rough skirmish on Ravens left began showing signs of erupting into a battle. Raven, sensing trouble, charged her Calvary forward. She hit the Imperials hard and drove them back.
"I think they are getting impatient." I said to Raven.
"I think your right. We will take the first trench and gain a foot hold, then once we take the second we will bring the towers up and scale the wall." She said.
A loud bay of trumpets signaled the advance of one of Raven's legions, as well as Silverwolf's two legions. Arrows fell to meet the advance, only doing minor damage. Two of Stealer's divisions marched out to meet our advancing troops. The battle grew thick quickly. More arrows fell, killing rebel and Imperial alike, but our forces kept pushing on.
Stealer's first division started to show signs of collapse as our troops kept pushing them back. The heavy engines on the city wall unleashed a volley of missiles. Raven's legion took a beating, but Silverwolf's remained almost untouched. Lifestealer's first division cracked, and began falling back to the safe side of the trench only to find that the crossing bridges had been removed. Raven moved her Calvary up to finish off the fleeing soldiers. A slaughter of grand scale ensued, while Stealer's remaining division concentrated on Silverwolf's legion, who refused to break. The scattered remains of Raven's legions began forming up for an assault on the first trench. Engineers from our camp began bringing up large, wooden bridges to the lip of the trench. Archers from the city massed their attacks on the engineers. Many fell before ever reaching the trench. Those that did reach the trench laid out their bridges as Raven's legions poured across. Imperial regulars met them head on. The area between the trenches was too small to allow much maneuvering. Both sides suffered terrible loses. Raven ordered the calvery to attack the division engaged with Silverwolf from behind, but instead of breaking the division the attack from the back propelled it forward. Silverwolf's lines started to show the signs of collapse. A few of faint heart decided to beat the others and fled. Raven cursed. She had thought that the calvery charge would have freed Silverwolf up.
"God damnit! Get Raider out there! Now!" Raven yelled to nobody in particular, but Raider had seen what was coming before she did and was in transit to relieve Silverwolf. The Imperial's focused on Raider's reserves coming up. The six hundred men seemed to be enough. Stealer's final field division broke, though not many made it back across the trenches. Silverwolf's legions thundered across the bridges into the teeth of an arrow storm so intense it seemed like a hurricane of arrows. Heavy horsemen came out of the eastern gate and circled back to attack Silverwolf's flank. The slow advance of the siege towers caught my eye.
'"A little too soon for those don’t you think?" I asked Raven.
She didn't respond. She was focusing on the battle.
The troops across the first trench were making headway. In places they had secured foot holds across the second trench. Several large wooden beams flew into the air from behind the city wall. Each trailed yards of black fabric. I had seen their kind before at the battle of Tamber. A mist began forming on the lip of the second trench, where the beams hit. It was heavy and black. Wherever trundles reached horrid screams erupted. Another batch of mist began forming around the advancing towers. It appeared to do no apparent damage at first, but soon the towers began toppling one by one. It looked like it was causing a rapid decay on the wood.
Raven started chanting in that crazy language that wizards use and a stiff wind began to kick up. The area around the black mist glowed a soft green and the wind began to drag the mist off the field. It evaporated as it drifted. The remaining towers reached the first trench and began crossing. Several fell from the bridges. Once on the other side they moved in both directions along the edge of the first trench till there seemed to be one every fifty feet. They took a pounding from both arrows and engine shafts, but seemed immune for the most part. I still couldn't figure out why Raven sent them up so soon till it happened. A creak and loud snap echoed out as the sides of the towers began to open like a pair of massive bat wings, forming a wall sixty feet high and spanning the entire length of the trench, leaving only the areas around the bridges open.
"Genius!" I said.
Raven smiled. "That will hold the ground we have already captured during the night." She said, which only then drew my attention to the fact that the sun was beginning to set.
As night fell Raven recalled Silverwolf's legions, and pulled her troops back behind the wall provided by the towers. Engineers from our camp filtered up with wagons loaded with earth. They began filling the first trench. I followed Raven back to her command tent. Raider, Jayden, and Silverwolf joined us after awhile.
"Well we made it through the first day and still have an army to field, I guess that’s a good thing" Silverwolf said as we gathered around the table holding copies of my maps of the West. After my capture I insisted that copies be made of every map in case the originals were stolen or destroyed. I had become tired of redoing hours and hours worth of work.
"Yes it is a good thing, but the battle isn't over. Tomorrow is a new day. Anything could happen."
Raven began outlining her plan. It seemed simple. So simple in fact I was worried that she might be overlooking some important details, but she was the general, not me. After the discussion I retired to my tent for a good night sleep before the next round of fighting.

A little after midnight Raider rushed into my tent, knocking all kinds of shit over.
"Ashe! Get up! Get up Now!!" He kept screaming.
I rolled out of bed and looked at him through cloudy eyes. He looked scared shitless.
"What the f***? What time is it?" I asked, being my usual bright and cheerful self.
"Come on Ashe!" He said as he ran out of the tent. I stumbled out behind him and saw why he was so scared. Fires along the first trench burned so brightly that it illuminated almost the entire field. Our tower-wall was burning. A mess of soldiers swarmed around the base of the fires. Many were trying to flee towards us, but snipers on the city wall made that dangerous. In the flickering fire light I noticed that many of the fallen corpses had vanished from the field. Raven was perched on her mount in the same spot she had occupied during the day. She looked shocked.
"What happened!" I asked, out of breath.
"I don't know. I felt a massive surge of energy and awoke to this diabolical!"
"Stealer has called the dead!" Silverwolf yelled, running up from behind us.
"Called the dead?" Raven, Raider, and I said in sequence.
"Yes, he has raised an new army from the corpses on the field. They attacked the soldiers at the wall from behind."
"Impossible! No Necromancer could call forth such a large army of undead!" Raven said.
"Impossible or not, that’s what he has done."
"Look!" Raider yelled pointing across the field where the fires were dying down, but still betrayed the slow, drunken advance of humanoid figures.
"Shit!" Raven said and reached out and grabbed Raider's right hand and Silverwolf's left. A bright flash of light that blinded everyone but the wizards arced out and slammed into the center of the undead, sending spears of pure light burning through many of them. A great doom began to fill the night. The remaining undead turned and headed back towards the city. Raven loosed another orb of light, but it only had minimal effect. The undead army disappeared behind the burning tower-wall.

Morning's light showed us our first look at the undead's handiwork. Piles of smoking ash lined the area that had been the first trench. Our engineers had managed to get most of trench filled in, but it was still deep in places. Only a handful of our towers had survived the night. Those that had survived were destroyed by flaming arrows and engine shafts before our troops were on the field.
A little before noon Silverwolf's legions were marching toward Midpoint again. What was left of Raven's first legion had been added to Raider's forces, bringing him up to twelve hundred men. He had been placed along Raven's left flank with his forces divided into two. Claverymen formed a semi-circle behind Raider's troops. As Silverwolf's forces neared the remnants of the towers where the deep places in the trench puked up the undead army. They advanced on Silverwolf at a stagger. There was a whole damn horde of them. Three thousand easy I guessed. Sorceries and men howled as the two forces met. The undead fought with such veracity that I was afraid that our forces would break. They did not. They stood and gave more than they got. A bolt of blackish green light smashed down into Silverwolf's army from the city. It served no purpose I could see.
"Damn! Silverwolfs been hit!" Raven said.
"What? By the black thing?"
"Yes, Stealer got him pretty good. He should have known better than to use his powers with a member of the Citadel in the area."
Sudden panic began to grip Silverwolf's men and they began to fall back in a covering formation. Raven cursed every step they took. When they reached our line, their officers began trying to form them back up, but the soldiers were shaken by whatever they had seen. Still cursing, Raven ordered her remaining legion forward, supported by half the calverymen. Raven's legion cleaned up the remaining undead and moved to assault the two remaining trenches. Arrows greeted them from the city wall and from behind the third trench, but didn't stop them. The fighting grew more intense as they neared the second trench. Holes began to form in the Imperial formations at the second trench.
"Send Raider's force in and get Silverwolf's legions straightened out." Raven yelled to the staff Sargent beside her. The man spurred his mount and trotted off. Our forces were gaining foot hold after foot hold across the second trench, but at a hefty price, more than half had paid the ultimate price. Raider's legion started marching forward and Silverwolf's forces were getting organized. From where I stood it didn't look like we were hurting the Imperials much, but they were kicking our asses. I didn't think we could pull it off and said so.
"Have faith Ashe. I have not yet shot all the arrows in my quiver." Raven said, followed by, "See there?" She pointed out to the city, where smoke seemed to billowing up from inside the walls. It took me a little while to figure out that that must be Crossbow and his elite troops. Stormraven confirmed my suspicions.
"Crossbow and his boys have made it inside. They have been ordered to place firebombs in food supplies and important buildings." Her sentence was punctuated with a load groan and the crumbling of one of the towers along the wall. Terrified Imperials flung themselves from the top battlements and out windows as the tower fell. A large hole remained, almost a perfect place where our troops could push inside.
Obviously Crossbow's attack irritated somebody bigger. A sound like fabric ripping a hundred times magnified sounded out. Strange black and red clouds began swirling and for a split second the sky itself seemed to be falling. Sudden bright blue flaming rocks the size of a wagon began falling from the sky. They peppered our forces. Their impact seemed to burn metal they were so hot.
"Holy shit!" I yelled above the deafening racket. More and more rocks fell from the sky. They alone were going to start doing more damage to us than the Imperial soldiers had been.
"Jayden!" Raven yelled, her eyes closed and her brow wrinkled in concentration. Jayden came trotting up on his horse, watching the carnage take place with awe.
"Quit staring stupid boy and help me counter it. His power is too strong for me alone."
Jayden stopped gawking and went to work with Raven. I'm not sure what they did, but the falling rocks seemed to slow and then speed up, slow and then speed up."
"He. . . is. . . too. . . powerful!" Jayden yelled. His voice sounded strained.
Raven said something in a strange language and Jayden nodded a response.
Soon the rocks seemed to drift more towards the city as they fell. The dark swirling clouds above began to crackle and pop. Smash! A couple rocks collided with the city wall, bringing part of it down. Archers and siege engines flew into the air. The sky began to glow with the soft green neutralizing energies of Druidic magic as more flaming rocks crashed into the city wall. The air itself seemed to fill with a burning hatred and the clouds above turned violent. For a moment the clouds looked like they were ripping each other apart. Then they slowly began to fade, till the sky was once again a normal, gray overcast.
Jayden slumped forward and fell from his horse. I jumped down from mine and ran to his side. I checked for a pulse and found one, but very weak.
"He's been drained, he will be fine but he needs rest!" Raven said from atop her mount. I signaled to a near by healer, who came running. I stood there trying to explain what to do to a man who obviously had encountered this kind of thing before. He and his assistant had Jayden on a litter and heading back to the main camp before I was finished talking. Across the way our forces had recovered from Stealer's deadly attack and seemed to have the Imperials on the run. The archers behind the final trench were damn near firing their arrows at point blank range and not many had survived on the wall. Sliverwolf's legion began marching back towards Midpoint. The heavy engines on the wall concentrated their fire on them, but didn't do much damage. Their weapons had been built to knock holes in castles and walls, not moving infantry lines. Several large timbers shot straight up into the air from behind the remaining wall. Each trailed a long stripe of red cloth. When they came down they came down at the edge of the third trench. A massive sea of flame engulfed both the city defenders and our troops, killing hundreds of both. Those fires burned out quickly as they found no flammable materials except bodies. Once the smoke died down it looked like the Imperials had gotten the brunt end of the fire. Shekara was going to pissed when she found out that Stealer's magic helped more than it hurt. That final blow weakened the enemy lines enough for our troops to start breaking them apart. As the sky turned to blood as the sun began to sink below the far horizon, our troops had damn near breached the city walls

I awakened the next morning to a bunch of people raising nine kinds of hell outside. I leapt from my bed, sure that Stealer's forces were in our camp. I stumbled out into the light, still trying to get my pants on. The sun was over head already. I had slept till noon. Odd that no one awakened me. The source of the racket was obvious when one took a close look at Midpoint. A rebel standard had evicted the Imperial one atop the central citadel. We had taken the city, though we didn't get Lifestealer as I found out later from Raider. He apparently slipped away during the night leaving his men to fight by themselves. Them being out numbered now and starving, didn’t give up much of a fight. Many fled after their master had. Spirits were higher than they have ever been. Even Crossbow and Raider seemed to be getting along. Only the Imperial city of Mist lay between Stormraven's victorious armies and the dark walls of the Black Citadel itself. Surly that shouldn't stop us. . . . . .