Aiduels sin, p.47
Aiduel's Sin, page 47
‘They didn’t, my Lady,’ stated Menion Thatcher after a few moments. ‘With our thanks to The Lord, Duke Gerrion still lives. But… we think another attack may come tomorrow. Please, may we discuss?’
With Kalyane’s consent, such a discussion was then led by Caddin. The grey-bearded man displayed an impressive understanding of every aspect of the city’s defences, and he talked in an assured manner which contained none of his past belligerence. Leanna noted that Sendromm was completely sober, as indeed he had been for the entire preceding week.
Lord Aiduel, thank you for starting this man on his journey of redemption.
Leanna had witnessed a transformation in Caddin during the last week, ever since the cathartic events of his attempted suicide and subsequent confession. Leanna’s powers had saved his life by raising the taut rope which had been strangling the life out of him, and now he was a man reborn. He appeared to have been given new life and purpose.
From those depths of despair, Caddin had re-emerged to engage with commitment towards the town’s preparations for siege. Sendromm’s expertise was such that Captain Menion Thatcher had effectively ceded authority to the older man.
‘We also have good news, thanks to Priestess Leanna,’ Thatcher now stated, catching Leanna’s attention. ‘All of the men who were wounded in the first assault are now back on active duty. Every single one of them. Over eighty men, all healed to full health by the miracle of the priestess’s work. We lost thirty men to death in that battle, but we’ve lost no one to injury, which is incredible. The toll on the enemy was much greater. If we keep that going, we may just have a chance.’
‘It truly is a miracle,’ stated Kalyane, turning towards Leanna. ‘A miracle befitting of the Angel of Arlais. But can you keep it going, Leanna?’
Leanna met the woman’s gaze. ‘For as long as I have the strength, yes.’
Lord Aiduel, please give me that strength.
But she knew that she would not be able to do it alone.
–
The next morning, there was indeed another attack.
The flow of wounded on this day was greater, and the fighting on the northern ramparts sounded even fiercer.
Leanna was sorely beset from the outset, and the volume of casualties meant that she was not able to address all of the injured. Some of those with less serious wounds were left to be dealt with by other physicians, using more conventional means.
Lord Aiduel, why must we choose to inflict such suffering on each other? Why can’t there just be peace in this world?
However, Leanna still healed scores of the wounded. She called upon her own reserves of energy, and was also thankful for the sustenance that she drew from Allana.
By mid-afternoon, the battle on the northern wall had been raging for three hours, and Leanna was close to exhaustion. The aura of the woman Allana also seemed dull and depleted. By this time, the field hospital was filled beyond its capacity, with every bed and area of floorspace taken up.
Leanna’s forearms and dress were covered in blood. She stood up, moving away from a patient whom she had just pulled back from the brink of death, and she felt suddenly woozy.
‘Lea, are you alright?’
Amyss was beside her, placing her arm around Leanna’s back and waist, to hold her upright.
‘I just need a rest, Amyss. A few moments.’
‘You need more than a few moments. This is too much, even for you.’
‘Just a-’
She was interrupted by one of the other physicians shouting, ‘We’ve just had word from the wall. The attack failed again. The battle’s over!’
There was a muted cheer from the people around Leanna, and she forced herself to stand up straight.
Lord Aiduel, please give me the energy to carry on, for just a little longer. Please help me to continue to save lives.
And for the rest of that afternoon, she did.
–
The next day, there was another massed assault. Once again, Leanna exhausted herself and Allana close to depletion as she attempted to heal as many as possible. Leanna repeatedly dragged the most severely wounded away from the clutches of death, whilst bathed in a halo of golden light.
In The Lord Aiduel’s name, she was working countless miracles in the small field hospital. She could hear reverence in the voices of the injured men as they were brought before her, and it was clear that word had already spread throughout the army and the town about the hospital’s angel of healing.
The northern walls held again, that day.
At dinner that evening, in Septholme Castle, Leanna was feeling physically and mentally drained. She wanted to close her eyes and sleep, but she forced herself to pay attention to Menion Thatcher and Caddin’s report of the day.
‘We’ve held them back three times now, my Lady,’ said Thatcher. ‘But we fear that soon we’ll face our most difficult test. Despite Priestess Leanna’s… miracles, we’ve now suffered almost three hundred deaths since these assaults started. We estimate that the enemy have lost at least six times that number, to death and serious injury. But we can’t withstand many further losses of our own, whilst still maintaining the integrity of our defences.’
‘Our forces in the entire town have dropped to roughly one thousand seven hundred,’ stated Caddin. ‘We’ve only five hundred men in total now manning the castle, the harbour, and the eastern and southern walls. However, even with us spread thinly in those places, we can only deploy one thousand two hundred men to the north wall. That’s becoming dangerously low compared to the ten thousand which might come against us. And tomorrow’s fight will be even harder.’
‘Why?’ asked Kalyane.
‘Their siege engines are nearly ready,’ replied Caddin. ‘Two trebuchets, so they’ll be able to start bombarding the northern parts of the town tomorrow. But worse than that, two siege towers also look close to completion, and a third is not far behind them. If they’re not deployed tomorrow, they’ll be ready the day after next. And believe me, it’s much easier to hold off your enemy when they’re climbing ladders, than when they’re running off a tower ramp straight onto your battlements.’
Lord Aiduel, will things get even worse soon?
‘What can we do?’ asked Kalyane.
‘To stop a siege tower, you have to prevent it from reaching the walls,’ said Caddin. ‘We’ll have to use all of our firepower to try to bring those towers down or to set them on fire, before they reach us. But Elannis siege equipment is designed to take a hammering, so stopping them will be easier said than done. If their commanders are sensible, they’ll wait until all three are ready, so we won’t have the ability to stop them all.’
Leanna was listening intently to what Sendromm had to say, and she was dreading what might take place in the coming days.
‘And do you think that we can be successful?’ asked Kalyane, with a slight tremor in her voice. ‘Can we hold?’
‘I think we can hold the wall, yes, at least next time,’ replied Caddin. ‘But there’ll be a bloody cost. And with every able soldier that we lose, it’ll get harder. We need to know soon whether there’s any prospect of a relief force.’
Kalyane looked directly at the burly man, holding his gaze for a moment, then she stated, ‘Lord Arion will return to us. From what you’ve said, it would be prudent of me to start to think about a contingency plan, for what I’ll do if the town falls. But I firmly believe that if we can hold out, my husband will return. He’ll not abandon us.’
‘But will he bring soldiers?’ asked Sendromm.
‘He’ll return,’ repeated Kalyane. ‘That is enough.’
Leanna wished that she could share in such apparent certainty. She recognised that she was beginning to lose hope and was feeling helpless. Starting with the events in Arlais, she had witnessed so many deaths, so much suffering, and for what? Her efforts so far felt utterly futile. She could carry on trying to heal people, trying to use her powers to stem the gaping wound of this war, but it seemed as if that wound would just keep on growing with each renewed assault.
Elannis would continue to attack, until too many were dead or the town had fallen. That would be the end result, unless Leanna could find another way. Another solution.
Lord Aiduel, please help me to find a way to stop this.
–
Two days later, in the morning, Leanna was in the courtyard outside of the northern field hospital, with Amyss standing beside her. The smaller woman was clearly nervous about what the coming day would hold, and her hand had crept across to gently grasp Leanna’s.
Leanna had slept poorly during the prior night, after being disturbed by the recurring dream. Once again, after awakening in her private room in Septholme Castle, she had been certain that the figure in the Gate had been speaking to her. She sensed that she was on the cusp of retaining those spoken words within her waking mind, but yet again they remained frustratingly out of reach.
She had awoken with Amyss’s arm draped across her, the petite woman still asleep as she lay with her cheek on Leanna’s chest. For once, Amyss had also been unsettled in her sleep, and Leanna had soothed her by stroking her long red hair in the darkness.
Despite the broken night’s sleep, Leanna felt much stronger today. The prior day had passed without further assault against Septholme’s walls, which had enabled her to recover from her last exertions of healing. The woman Allana had also continued to remain close to the town, which was helping to fortify Leanna with energy and vitality.
From this position outside of the hospital, Leanna had a clear view of the northern wall, including the towers at the North Gate. She could also observe the hundreds of soldiers lined along the wall’s ramparts, all of whom appeared to be facing outwards.
The battle had not yet started, but she knew that it was going to be a bloody affair. Earlier that morning, Caddin had come to the hospital to tell her that he felt certain that all three of the siege towers were going to be deployed.
‘And do you think that you’ll hold the walls?’ she had asked him.
‘We’ve a good chance,’ he had replied. ‘But if it feels like we’re being over-run, then I’ll come back to the hospital to find you. Wait here for me. I’ll keep you alive, Leanna, no matter what.’
‘And Amyss?’
‘And Amyss.’
‘Then we’ll wait for you, Caddin. Take care.’
He had departed after those words, looking resolute and without fear.
Leanna was also trying to maintain her own courage and resolve. However, it was terrifying to contemplate the defence on the walls failing, allowing the fighting to surge into the streets of the town.
‘What are you thinking about, Lea?’ asked Amyss.
‘I’m not sure,’ replied Leanna. ‘Just that I’m scared. I don’t want to have to face so much bloodshed, yet again.’
Amyss squeezed her hand. ‘We’re together, remember that. Whatever happens.’
Leanna turned to the petite woman. She could see the love in Amyss’s eyes, and the equivalent heartfelt emotion was beating out towards her.
Lord Aiduel, thank you again for the gift of her love.
As a spontaneous reaction, she softly placed her hand onto Amyss’s neck, and kissed the other woman on the mouth. Amyss responded, and for moments they embraced and kissed. They had always been careful to maintain the secret of their intimacy, displaying their physical passions only when behind closed doors. However, in the context of what might come today, such considerations seemed trivial.
When they broke off from the kiss, Leanna whispered, ‘I love you, Amyss.’
‘And I love you, Lea.’
–
Shortly after, as they continued to wait in the hospital courtyard, the noises of battle began to be heard from atop the walls.
Even from this distance, Leanna could hear the steady thrum of hundreds of arrows being fired by the defenders, and the louder metallic clang of ballistae as their spear-length missiles were released. Soon after, thunderous crashes could also be heard as rocks launched by Elannis trebuchets landed on buildings in the streets behind the wall. Each such alarming impact was accompanied by an exploding cloud of dust and rubble.
Leanna watched with increasing concern as there was a rush of movement on the battlements, and a resounding clash of metal and shouting which suggested that hand-to-hand fighting had commenced.
Then she spotted the two siege towers appearing into sight beyond the northern wall, the top of these mobile constructions taller even than the battlements. The towers did not look as if they had yet reached the wall, but Leanna could see that they were teeming with Elannis soldiers. Once these structures touched against the ramparts, many more would enter the fray. There would be carnage.
No amount of healing by Leanna would compensate for the blood which was going to be shed here today. For the lives that would be lost. And to achieve what? It was senseless slaughter.
Lord Aiduel, must you allow this to happen? What must I do, Lord?
The siege towers were trundling ever closer. As Leanna watched them with a sense of frustrated anxiety, a realisation sprang into life of what she could do. How she could stop this. For a handful of seconds, the idea seemed impossible, sheer madness, and she hesitated.
But she was brimming with energy. She felt strong and powerful, and was bolstered and rejuvenated by Allana’s presence. And she felt capable of… miracles.
Lord Aiduel, thank you for showing me the answer.
She had once been unable to aid Arlais in its hour of need, following which many people had died. But today, it was within her power to do something. To save thousands of lives.
She came to a decision, then set off running in the direction of the northern wall, without pausing to explain herself.
She heard Amyss shouting in protest from behind her, but she did not stop. The surrounding world seemed to slow down as she ran, and her senses were suddenly alert and attuned to all of the horror on the looming battlements. But she was imbued with a sense of purpose; a sense that Aiduel was with her and that He was guiding her.
It was only two hundred metres to the North Gate and to a stone staircase leading up to the ramparts. However, as she ran that way, another arcing boulder crashed down against a nearby building, somewhere to her left. She ignored the earth-shaking impact and flying rubble and instead continued to run, reaching the foot of the gate’s adjoining towers in little time.
Her whole body felt alive, vibrant, and infused with energy. The feeling was almost equivalent to her final, ecstatic moments on the pyre.
Devotion. Sacrifice. Salvation.
A choir of angelic voices burst into her mind, instilling her with even more power, and helping her to draw boundless more energy from the one beyond the walls. This sound of angels heralding the moment made her even more certain about the action that she was about to take.
The Lord Aiduel supported her intention.
The battlements now sounded of chaos. From this position, at the bottom of the tall stone wall, she could no longer see the siege towers. However, she judged from the clamour of shouts and screams above that these weapons of war had now reached the walls, and that the intensity of the fighting had escalated.
Lord Aiduel, please give me the strength and courage to do this.
She started to climb the steps up to the ramparts, feeling trepidation about what she would encounter when she reached the top.
‘Leanna!’
She heard the plaintive cry when she was halfway up the stone stairway, and she turned to see Amyss in the courtyard below. The petite priestess was looking distressed.
Leanna raised her hand, palm forwards, and ordered, ‘Stay there, Amyss! Do not follow me!’
Her tone of voice surprised her, sounding deeper than usual and somehow more fearsome, and she hoped that the other woman would obey. Leanna then returned to climbing the stairs, before finally emerging onto the battlements.
She was greeted by a chaotic sprawl of melee along the entire length of the northern wall, accompanied by endless beating emotions of terror and pain. In every direction, the blue tabards of Andar were mixed in brawling, brutish, close-quarters combat with scores of yellow-clad troops of Elannis.
Leanna could see frantic fighting where one siege tower had already reached the wall. A spearpoint of Elannis soldiers had charged across its upper ramp and onto the battlements. The second siege tower was just metres away, whilst the third could be seen ablaze and toppled, burning in the fields outside.
Directly in front of Leanna were several dozen Andar soldiers, standing with their backs to her. She judged that she was out of any immediate danger of being caught in the churn of combat, and she focused upon what she needed to do.
Energy was still surging within her, as much energy now as she had felt on the day of the pyre. She had been granted powers which extended far beyond the wonderful act of healing, she knew that. Additional powers that she had first discovered on that momentous day in Arlais, and which she had since honed and trained with the assistance of Amyss.
And now, in the magnificent, bolstering presence of the nearby Allana, she was ready to do The Lord’s work.
Lord Aiduel, I am your devoted servant. Please help me to stop this madness!
Unlike at the pyre, this time she was able to control the release of energy. It began as a golden glow around her body, a shimmering cocoon of light which swiftly encased her form. This brilliant illumination had such radiance that the closest soldiers began to turn towards her, and were forced to shield their eyes.
As she unleashed more power, she witnessed the shimmering glow expanding from her body to reach the front of the ramparts. From there, it flowed rapidly outwards to the east and west, whilst also rising high above the heads of the fighting soldiers. By the time that its growth was finished, there existed a golden, transparent wall of light which cascaded from high above. It ran along the entire front of the northern battlements.
