Guwayne reveled in it, his heart lighter than in weeks.He raced Sera across the plains on horseback, their cloaks streaming like banners, the wind swallowing their shouts of “Faster!”The troop’s cheers followed as he edged ahead, his mare’s hooves thundering.They staged a mock “beast hunt,” charging stuffed sacks with wooden lances in a rambunctious melee, Kael tumbling into the grass and sparking a pile-on of giggling recruits.From the keep’s walls, Harlan watched with a bemused shake of his head, his veterans chuckling at the chaos.Let them have their fun, he mused.There won’t be much time for that in years to come.
If Thor had been watching, he would have swelled with pride and also felt a pang of nostalgia.The innocence of youth.These moments echoed Thorgrin’s early days, when a shepherd boy found purpose among Legion comrades, turning drills into games that forged lifelong bonds.Guwayne sought the same unburdened joy, here, where he was not the heir weighed by prophecy, but a boy among friends, leading through laughter and sweat.
As dusk approached, the troop built a bonfire in the field, its flames casting a warm glow over their flushed faces.They roasted provisions—bread, dried meats, apples—and shared tales: ghost stories of ancient beasts, boasts of training feats.Guwayne sat cross-legged, poking the fire, his heart buoyant.“Tomorrow, we scout the river,” he said, his voice carrying a commander’s confidence.“Real patrols, like Father’s Legion.”Lila raised a mock salute, Marcus tossed an apple core into the flames, and the others nodded eagerly.
But as twilight deepened, something seemed to change in the air around them.It was as if the air was vibrating, but at a resonance their ears couldn't detect.Their laughter died out, and they looked at each other, each aware something had changed, but equally aware they had no idea what it was.The fire flickered wildly, embers scattering like startled fireflies.Guwayne leapt up, his hand flying to his sword, his real one this time, not the training one.
“What is it?”Lila whispered, her bow drawn, an arrow nocked.
Toren pointed, his voice tight.“The Shield—look!”
A jagged crack tore through the shimmering barrier, visible in the distance, snaking like lightning down the ethereal wall.They all stood transfixed as the fissure widened.The air around it seemed to warp, and they could hear the hiss from where they stood.
Then, as they watched in horror, from the breach poured a tide of horrors—hulking beasts with jagged rock hides, eyes like burning coals, huge claws held aloft, charging across the plains toward Eldridge Keep.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The roar of the beasts shattered the twilight calm like a thunderclap from the depths of hell, echoing across the eastern plains and sending a chill through the bones of every soul at Eldridge Keep.Guwayne stood rooted by the bonfire, his hand clamped around the hilt of his steel sword—the real one, not the blunted training blade he'd used in their playful drills.The flames leaped erratically, casting flickering shadows on the faces of his troop, transforming their youthful expressions from joy to raw terror.
The breach in the Shield had widened into a gaping maw, a jagged tear in the ethereal barrier that had protected the Ring for fifteen years.From it poured a nightmare made flesh: a horde of monstrous creatures, hulking forms that seemed carved from the Canyon's own rocky depths.Their hides were like shattered boulders, jagged and impenetrable, their eyes glowed with the fire of molten coals, and their claws—long, curved daggers dripping with viscous venom that hissed and smoked upon the grass.Their terrible mouths gaped wide, revealing serrated teeth that could rend armor like parchment, and though their movements appeared stiff and lumbering at first glance, they surged forward with an unnatural speed, covering the distance from the Canyon’s edge with terrifying efficiency.
Sir Harlan’s voice cut through the initial shock like a battle horn, booming from the keep’s ramparts.“To arms!Man the walls!For the Ring!”The veteran guards, a mere score of men who had spent years in quiet duty at this remote outpost, scrambled into action.Their silver armor clanked as they rushed to positions, bows strung and arrows nocked, swords drawn and shields raised.Eldridge Keep was not a fortress designed for siege; it was a watchpost, built in the old days to guard against bandits or stray wildlings from the Wilds.Its walls were sturdy but low, its gates reinforced with iron but not impenetrable.The kingdom’s main forces—the elite Silver knights, the full Legion battalions—were scattered across the Ring, garrisoned in King’s Court or patrolling distant borders.Ravens had not yet been dispatched; the breach had struck without prelude, catching the entire realm off-guard and unprepared.Whispers of the earlier, smaller incursions had failed to lift the complacency, the false sense of security that the Shield would protect them, the recent breaches put down as anomalies, easily contained.But this was no minor crack—this was a deluge, a flood of horrors that overwhelmed the senses.
The first wave of beasts slammed into the keep’s outer defenses with the force of a battering ram.Claws raked against stone, sending sparks flying and chunks of granite tumbling.Harlan’s men loosed a desperate volley of arrows from the battlements, the shafts whistling through the air like angry hornets.Some found their mark, thudding into the rocky hides and eliciting guttural howls as black ichor oozed from the wounds.A few beasts staggered, their coal-like eyes dimming as they collapsed to the ground, but most shrugged off the impacts, their armored skins deflecting the barbs as if they were mere twigs.The guards switched to spears and swords, thrusting downward at the climbers, but the horde was relentless.One veteran, leaning too far over the wall to drive his blade into a beast’s throat, was snatched by a venomous claw.His scream pierced the night as he was dragged into the throng below, his armor crumpling like tin under the crushing weight.
“Fall back to the gatehouse!Hold the line!”Harlan bellowed, his voice hoarse with urgency as he swung his own sword, cleaving a claw from an ascending monster.The guards retreated step by step, forming a hasty phalanx at the gates, their shields interlocking in a wall of steel.They fought with the grit of men who had survived the Blood War, parrying slashing claws, thrusting spears into glowing eyes, and hacking at limbs that regenerated with eerie speed.But the numbers were daunting—fifty, perhaps a hundred beasts, with more spilling from the breach like shadows pouring from a broken mirror.For every creature felled, two more surged forward, their roars blending into a deafening symphony of doom.The gates groaned under repeated rams, wood splintering, and iron bending.Blood—human and monstrous—stained the grass, mixing with venom that scorched the earth and filled the air with acrid smoke.Harlan's men were helplessly outnumbered, their valiant efforts a mere delay against the inevitable.Cries of pain and defiance rang out as guards fell, one by one, their bodies trampled under cloven feet.
Guwayne’s heart hammered in his chest like a forge’s anvil, fear coiling in his gut like a venomous serpent ready to strike.He was fifteen, trained in the arts of war by the best, but this was no drill, no mock battle with blunted weapons and laughing friends.This was real, raw, and overwhelming.The Sorcerer's Ring burned hot on his finger, its runes glowing faintly as if awakening to the chaos, urging him to act.His troop clustered around him, faces pale and eyes wide in the firelight: Lila with her bow half-drawn, fingers trembling on the string; Marcus clutching a wooden lance like a lifeline, his usual boisterous grin replaced by a grim set jaw; Toren's eyes darting frantically for weak points in the horde; Elias, Sera, and Kael.They were apprentices, not seasoned warriors—meant for exercises and games, not this slaughter.
“We… we have to run,” Kael whispered, his voice cracking like brittle wood, echoing the terror in all their hearts.“There’s too many.We can’t—”
Run?The word echoed in Guwayne's mind, tempting, but he pushed it aside.To where?The open plains offered no cover, and fleeing would doom Harlan's men—and the innocent villages beyond, filled with farmers and families who relied on the keep's protection.Flashes of memory assaulted him: his father standing alone against the Blood Lord, wielding the Destiny Sword with unyielding resolve; his mother leading the exile through blizzards and battles, her will an unbreakable shield.They hadn't run.They had fought, rallied, and turned despair into victory.The ring pulsed again, a surge of warmth spreading through his veins, chasing away the chill of fear and igniting something deeper—courage, raw and untested.No, he thought fiercely.We fight.For the Ring.For each other.
“Troop!”Guwayne shouted, his voice cracking at first but steadying into a command that cut through the din.“To me!We hold the line here!”
They turned to him, eyes wide with a mix of doubt, fear, and flickering hope.Lila notched an arrow fully, her hands steadying.“What’s the plan, Guwayne?We’re not the Silver.”
He scanned the field, his mind racing like the strategies Toren had drilled into him during late-night sessions in the training halls.The beasts were focused on the keep’s walls, but stragglers veered toward the bonfire, drawn by the light or the scent of fresh prey.The gatehouse was buckling under the assault; if it fell, the horde would pour into the courtyard, overwhelming the defenders.“We flank them,” Guwayne decided, pointing with his sword.“Lila, Sera—archers and scouts to the oaks on the left, pick off the stragglers and aim for eyes or joints.Marcus, Elias—grab shields and spears from the armory, form a wedge with me at the point.Toren, Kael—harry their flanks on the right, distract and retreat, draw them into bottlenecks.We buy time for Harlan to reinforce the gates.We turn this tide—together!”
It was a desperate plan, pieced together from half-remembered lessons and instinct, but the troop nodded, their fear hardening into determination.Guwayne’s courage was a spark, igniting theirs; in turn, their bravery fueled his own, a cycle of spirit that bound them tighter than any oath.Lila flashed a fierce grin despite the pallor on her face.“Like that mock hunt earlier, but with real teeth.Let’s make them regret crossing.”Marcus clapped Guwayne on the back with a meaty hand.“Lead on, prince.We’re with you.”Toren met his eyes with a nod of respect.“Smart play.We can do this.”
They moved as one, the apprentices transforming from playful youths into a fighting unit.Lila and Sera melted into the shadows of the ancient oaks, their footsteps silent as ghosts.Arrows began to fly almost immediately—Lila’s shafts whistling true, finding the glowing eyes of beasts and extinguishing them like snuffed candles.One monster reared back, clawing at its face as black blood streamed down, collapsing in a heap that tripped two others.Sera’s darts, coated in a quick-mixed poultice from Elias’s kit that burned like acid on contact, struck joints and underbellies, eliciting howls that disrupted the horde’s rhythm.
Marcus and Elias bolted to the armory, returning moments later with shields and spears scavenged from the racks.They formed a wedge with Guwayne at the tip, shields interlocking in a portable wall.“For the Ring!For our friends!”Guwayne cried, charging toward a cluster of beasts clawing at the keep’s base.The impact was brutal, a clash of flesh and steel that jarred his bones.A venomous claw slashed overhead, its drip sizzling on his shield and filling the air with acrid fumes, but Guwayne thrust upward, his sword piercing a chink in the rocky hide where the armor was thinnest.The blade bit deep, dark, thick blood spraying like oil from a struck well, and the beast howled, staggering back.Marcus roared beside him, his spear impaling another’s leg, twisting to bring it down.Elias deftly dodged a swipe before recovering and slashing at exposed tendons.
On the right flank, Toren and Kael darted like wolves among sheep, Kael’s youthful speed drawing the beasts’ attention with taunts and feints—“Over here, you ugly brutes!”—while Toren exploited the openings, his sword slashing hamstrings and retreating before claws could connect.Their harrying tactics worked; beasts turned from the walls, lumbering toward the distractions, only to be picked off by Lila’s arrows or stumble into each other’s paths.
The horde reacted, sensing the new threat from these puny humans.More beasts peeled off the assault on the keep, their coal-eyes fixing on Guwayne’s wedge with predatory hunger.The ground shook under their charge, and fear surged anew in Guwayne’s chest as a massive claw grazed his shoulder, tearing through leather and drawing a line of fire across his skin.Pain exploded, hot and sharp, but he pushed it down, the ring’s warmth spreading like a healing balm, dulling the edge and sharpening his focus.“Hold the wedge!”he yelled, parrying another blow that nearly buckled his shield.His mind raced ahead, adapting tactics on the fly using insights gleaned from his close encounters with the enemy: “Lila—high shots!Aim for the necks where the hide thins!”
Arrows rained from the oaks, thinning the ranks further.One beast toppled mid-charge, its massive body crushing two others in a tangle of limbs and roars.Harlan’s men, inspired by the unexpected reinforcements, redoubled their efforts from the walls—pouring boiling oil from cauldrons, the sizzling liquid eating through rocky hides like acid; thrusting spears through murder holes to impale climbers; loosing crossbow bolts that punched through weaker joints.But the numbers were still daunting.
Suddenly, there was a shout from the ramparts above, its urgency and hope somehow finding the ears of the defenders in and outside the keep."The breach!It's healed!"
Guwayne managed a quick look at the Shield and saw with a rush of emotion that the guard was correct.The breach through which the beasts had poured through was healing itself and as he watched it became whole once more.
There was a visible uplifting of the spirits of the apprentices around him and from those defending the keep.He rallied his troop again, his voice stronger, more confident, knowing that the enemy's ranks would be swelled no more.
“Together!Push forward—drive them into the river!”The wedge advanced, shields bashing against legs, swords thrusting in unison.Marcus’s brute strength anchored the center, shoving a beast off balance and into Elias’s waiting spear.Elias, his gentle hands now bloodied, patched a gash on Kael’s arm mid-fight with a quick bandage, shouting encouragement.Toren called out vulnerabilities—“That one’s limping—flank it!”—while Kael’s daring dashes lured groups into bottlenecks near the oaks, where Sera emerged like a shadow to hamstring them.Lila’s focus was unbreakable, her arrows a steady rhythm that felled leaders and sowed confusion.
