[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
heavy timber. The beam tilted
toward the other side of the arch, finally sliding off its hooks and crashing
to the ground. The noble tossed the war club aside and braced his hands
against the gate. Slowly, he began to push.
The gate was about a quarter of the way open when a tremendous boom and a
terrific shock ran through Agis's body, knocking him away from the gate. He
landed halfway across the yard, flat on his back and trembling in shock.
"Get up, coward!" hissed Brita. She had directed one of her conical eyes
toward him and the other toward the gate. "You're not hurt."
Although he was not sure his aching bones agreed, Agis pushed himself back to
his feet. The gate had been pushed shut again, and the head of a
Shadow Viper harpoon was sticking through it. The weapon could only have come
from the Joorsh ranks.
Agis closed his eyes, picturing Mag'r's face and summoning the energy to use
the Way. It was not an easy task, for he was still tired from his efforts in
the crystal pit. In the short time since, he had recovered part of his
strength, but far from all of it.
Page 110
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Once he had Mag'r's puffy eyes and bloated cheeks securely in mind, Agis sent
a thought message to him:
What's wrong? I thought you wanted us to open the gate for you.
My little spies'?
came the reply.
It's Agis, the noble replied.
Don't let anything happen to our ship, or I'll bar the gates again.
In the next instant, Mag'r's voice came booming over the causeway. "Let the
gates open!" he ordered. "Charge, Beast Eaters!"
A great roar rose from the Joorsh ranks, then the ground began to tremble
beneath Agis's feet as Mag'r's warriors rushed across the isthmus. Boulder
after boulder crashed into the walls of Castle Feral, filling the gateyard
with a clamorous din such as the noble had never before heard. The Saram on
the front wall responded with halfhearted battle howls of their own and hurled
boulders down at the causeway.
Agis glanced upward, expecting to see the faces of the Poison Pack peering
down from the lofty walls overhead. Instead, he saw nothing but yellow
Athasian sky. Taking no chances that the ambush would fail, Nal had apparently
withdrawn his troops from sight.
"What are you waiting for?" demanded Brita, using her sword to wave Agis
ahead. "Open the gates!"
The noble rushed forward and placed one hand on each gate. Pumping his legs
furiously, he slowly managed to get the heavy panels moving outward. When the
gap between them grew too great for his arms to span, lie concentrated all of
his efforts on the one that had not been pierced by the harpoon. For a moment,
it seemed to stick.
Then it broke free and swung outward of its own volition. Giving it one last
shove, the noble wrapped his arms around a bone slat and jumped on. His
intention was not to hide, but merely to get out of harm's way as soon as
possible.
As Agis swung outward with the gate, he saw that the Joorsh warriors with the
battering ram had cast their weapon aside. They were wading back to the shore
to climb out of the silt. At the same time, Mag'r's Beast Eaters were charging
across the causeway, shaking their spiked clubs in the air and screaming
threats against their Saram brethren.
Overhead, boulders flew in both directions as the Joorsh charged, and so much
rubble rained down around Agis that he felt as though he had gotten caught in
a landslide. As the Beast Eaters reached the end of the causeway and stepped
onto the small deck before the gate, the Joorsh stone-hurlers turned their aim
elsewhere. The lull lasted only a moment, for the Saram quickly began to drop
boulders down on the heads of the Beast Eaters. The invaders responded by
raising their kank-shell bucklers to deflect the deadly rain.
Their efforts met with little success. Aided by the incredible height of the
walls over the gate, the boulders came crashing down with a force unmatched by
the long-distance hurling that had taken place so far.
The Saram stones smashed through the bucklers as though they were glass,
spraying shards of kank shell in every direction, snapping Joorsh arms, and
shattering Joorsh skulls with resounding cracks. Within moments of stepping
off the causeway, a quarter of the Beast Eater company lay sprawled before the
gate, either moaning and writhing in agony, or silent and still, like the
rocks that had killed them.
The survivors rushed into the courtyard. A few muffled clatters sounded from
inside, but it was nothing like the incredible din Agis expected to hear when
the Poison Pack made their attack. The yard remained relatively quiet for a
moment, until a triumphant Beast Eater cheer blasted out of the gate.
At the other end of the isthmus, Mag'r answered with a deep-throated war cry
and signaled the second wave to charge. This time, he led the charge himself,
waving a huge obsidian sword over his head and lumbering forward in great,
Page 111
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
swaying strides. Behind him came the giants who had been holding the battering
ram, armed with a motley assortment of clubs and lances. Clearly, any of them
could have outrun their king, for they were forced to trot at half-
speed behind his waddling form. Nevertheless, none of them attempted to pass,
though Agis did not know whether their reluctance was out of respect for their
leader, or merely because Mag'r's immense bulk so completely filled the
causeway that they would have had to jump into the dust harbor to get past.
Again, Saram boulders began to drop outside the castle, but the rain was not
nearly as thick as before. The small contingent of beasthead warriors were
splitting their attacks between the courtyard and the isthmus, with the result
that they did not have much effect in either place.
Mag'r, charging through the sparse hail with a jubilant grin on his fleshy
lips, hardly seemed to notice the stones that did fall near him. Knowing what
would happen once the giant passed through the gateway, Agis could hardly bear
to watch as the sachem waddled to his death.
As Mag'r reached the opening, he fixed his gray eyes on Agis's form, which was
still clinging to the gate.
"Good!" He stretched a chubby arm down to pluck Agis off the gate. "Come,
you'll fight at my side!"
The noble's heart jumped into his throat. He released his hold and dropped off
the gate, allowing the sachem's pudgy fingers to close on thin air. Mag'r
frowned and looked as though he would stop to pluck the noble off the ground,
but was carried into the courtyard by the momentum of the second wave's
charge.
Agis threw himself beneath the gate, then watched from his shelter as the rest
of the company rushed into the courtyard. By the time the last giant had
passed through the gates, the apron had become, quite literally, a mountain of
dead flesh and stony rubble. Only a small space directly in front of the gates
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]