CHAPTER FORTY
AIDING THE KNIGHTS OF AUBRELON
Looking down the other side of the hill they had just climbed up, Garrick, Onyx, and Cerelene saw Knights of Aubrelon fighting wyverns that were flying off with sheep and goats that grazed in the prairie.
When Elias finally arrived to meet the mercenary, mystic wolf, and elf maiden at the top of the hill, the knight barely broke stride, wanting to continue down the hill to aid King Brock’s legion of knights. However, Garrick grabbed his arm, before he could.
“Elias, stop!” yelled the mercenary. The Knight of Providence, his mind having switched into battle mode, looked at Garrick, his eyes wide.
“Wait for the others,” commanded Garrick. “You have to protect Anya. She is not only a cleric, she has never fought a day in her life.” After looking at the elf maiden, the mercenary looked back at the knight. “Cerelene and I will move ahead. Our arrows give us a stronger attack from this far away. When you and the others get down the hill, find Anya and Deelah a safe place and then you and Maldrin enter the battle!”
Though Elias wanted desperately to jump into the fray, he reluctantly nodded and Garrick, Onyx, and Cerelene quickly started down the hill. Elias looked over his shoulder and saw that Maldrin, Deelah and Anya were almost to him. When he turned back around he watched as Garrick and Cerelene stopped sporadically to launch arrows at the small dragon-like beasts while they descended the hill. However, as with their attack on the serpent of The River Caverns, the arrows they shot bounced off as often as they actually pierced the wyverns.
Reaching the bottom of the hill and stepping back onto the flat, grassy ground, Garrick looked back and saw Elias now halfway down the hill with Maldrin, Deelah and Anya behind him. There was a screech in the air and Azure drifted down to Cerelene. The falcon dropped the elf maiden two arrows that had bounced off the hide of one of the scaly monsters. With one fluid motion, the elven archer caught them and shot them back. Only this time one arrow pierced a wing, while the other cut into one of its two legs.
With the wyvern grounded and its mobility compromised, Garrick released an arrow at the monster’s eye. Then it fell to the grass and moved no more, just as Onyx was about to reach it. Not to be deterred, the mystic wolf leapt over the wyvern and onto another that had just gotten its two talons into a bleating sheep.
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Seeing a row of three weapon wagons behind a string of archers, the mercenary signaled to Cerelene to meet him there. A moment after the elf maiden joined him, Elias and the others arrived. Protected for now behind the wagons, the companions watched as the Knights of Aubrelon continued their attack on the wyverns.
Though they were out numbered almost two to one, and the men on horseback had a hard time dealing with the wyverns, the archers didn’t seem to. Every arrow that hit a wyvern, sunk in. Acknowledging the threat, the wyverns turned from the sheep and goats and concentrated on the archers.
While the knights on horseback continued to chop down the wyverns ahead of them, the wyverns that were still in the sky crisscrossed down toward the archers as they yelled for more arrows.
Seeing that the men were defenseless, Garrick pulled his sword and moved toward them, motioning for Elias to follow. Without missing a beat, the knight broke into a sprint with his shield raised.
Gripping his staff strongly in his right hand, Maldrin closed his eyes for a second and then released a strong gust of wind from his left hand. The nearest wyverns were blown off course as they were mere seconds away from striking the archers. Furthermore, the wizard’s blast of air allowed for Elias and Garrick to attack the next wave.
Elias slammed into a descending wyvern with his shield, not only knocking it over, but into the one next to it as well. As the knight lifted his sword, Garrick was already upon the scaly monster. Seeing the mercenary stab the wyvern through the heart, Elias jumped into the air and brought his large broadsword down upon the other stunned wyvern’s head, leaving it lifeless. Then the Knight of Providence opened his shield wider. A wyvern slammed into the octagon shaped metal, pushing Elias back. As the beast reared up to attack Elias, Onyx appeared as if out of nowhere and clamped his strong jaws onto a wing, steadying it enough for Garrick to stab it in its back.
As both wyverns fell to the ground dead, the archers released another volley. The wyverns that didn’t fall turned and flew off. Most of the ones that did fall from the sky to the grassy ground the knights finished off with their lances and swords. But not the one that fell onto one of the wagons, knocking Maldrin, Cerelene, Deelah and Anya to the ground.
When Anya finally got to her feet, she saw that everyone was laying unconscious on the wreckage, but even worse, the wyvern that landed on the wagon began to move. It was hurt. It couldn’t fly, but the talons at the end of each leg still worked. When it moved toward Anya, she began to panic and backed away, but she fell, tripping over a wagon wheel laying among the debris.
The wyvern opened its jaws and screamed, showing its sharp, dagger-like teeth. Anya closed her eyes and, through tears, whispered a prayer to Elion. Then she heard something moving behind her. When she opened her eyes she saw Deelah jump in the air and jam two knives into the head and neck of the wyvern. As the monster took its last breath, Deelah helped her sister up and then looked over at Maldrin and Cerelene, still unconscious, and out at the injured knights littering the prairie. Then the thief coughed, wiped her face, and reminded Anya...
“The battle is ended, sister. Now it is your turn.”
