Trots led the Haverdash up a shallow river channel. This river fed the fields of the City of Grace, which was only several miles away at this point. Moxey was probably close to the Templar abbey, so the attacks led by Trots and Moxey would start at almost the same time.
This channel was fully obscured by a thick forest, and was the only straight path through. By virtue of being willing to run through tens of miles of river they wouldn''t be seen until they were within a few miles of the outer city.
Trots spoke to the soldiers as they ran in that calm voice that somehow was audible to each and every person, "Savor the moment, drink your wine now to not miss what we are about to do in its entirety."
They gulped down their wine as they ran, spilling it from the corners of their lips into the river. The moving waters became putrid, and the humid air rising from it carried that iconic stench. The trees curled back from the waters as their leaves and overhanging branches withered. One could point out that the fish died instantly, but they were already being inevitably crushed by the myriad of sloshing feet.
Trots, Lars noticed, did not drink. He didn''t even have a bottle by his belt, which a Haverdash would feel dead without. Considering how he was bathing in wine when they first met, he was probably too tolerant of the drink for a bottle to have any effect. But he did not feel dead, nor did he seem unmotivated. It was seemingly paradoxical, that he could not drink wine and yet feel whole. Perhaps, just as the presence of a glorious Haverdash was enough for lesser Haverdash, it was enough for themself.
The realities and perceptions of the Haverdash shifted, but they were all unified in focus on the attack. The anticipation was palpable in the air. When Trots increased the pace beyond what they would have been capable of earlier they did it eagerly and impatiently.
Twenty minutes later, when anticipation was at a boiling point from the exhausting run that had taken them all day, they passed the tree line and got an open look at the City of Grace. They burst into a dead sprint, whooping, hollering, and laughing as they closed in on their prey.
Trots directed them with a raised voice, "Columns 1,2, 12, 13, circle the city and cut off major roads. Kill anyone escaping. Columns 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, fan off and ravage the outer city. Kill as first instinct, keep those who submit in time as slaves. Columns 6, 7, 8, follow me to the inner city walls." Then he spoke only to Lars, "You''re with me."
Those who had heard the rumbling feet and now saw the Haverdash army gliding across the plain towards them were in full retreat, and a church bell rang out as a warning. That set off a chain reaction where warnings went off throughout the city, and the chimes of Nishir''s great cathedral stood out among them.
*
Andal rushed forward and made a burst of wind then immediately raised a shield and stuck the one he was holding in the doorway to stop the Haverdash from rushing in.
Izac and Riafel dragged Smaru''s body back and Riafel yelled for another Templar to rush in where Andal was. Andal protested a little, but wasn''t so confident in his ability to fill that role that he didn''t stay. He hurried to Smaru''s side and asked, "Will he live?"
Izac answered quietly, "No."
"He''s already dead," Added Riafel. He looked up at the door, where the pressure from the Haverdash was threatening to break through the small opening. He directed another Templar to help, then his eyes widened as he saw the metal rod returning. He reacted just in time, raising a shield in front of it, but this time at an angle to let it shoot inside where they could cut it off from its sender.
At that moment, the Haverdash made it through Savador''s antagonizing and split the last bar from the window. Izac yelled fiercely, "Block all the exits with shields! Hold them back!"
The metal rod redirected itself to target Izac, who was turned away from it. Riafel raised a shield again, tilting it to knock the rod upward. Izac raised a tilted shield above Riafel as the rod shot down at him, redirecting it into the floor. Reacting quickly, Riafel made his shield right on top of it so that it couldn''t move. Izac, Riafel, and Andal celebrated the slight victory.
Savador shouted, "They''ve started digging through the walls! Can we drop our shields?"
"Yes!" Izac answered, "Problem solved!"
Riafel interjected, "Wait!"
Andal looked at Riafel’s shield in fear, telling them, "The rod just disappeared."
The Haverdash dispersed from the doorway, and Moxey approached the Templar shields blocking the way. He held the rod in his palm, waiting for a shield to drop. The cracks formed in the walls as they became too weak to support the structure because of the Haverdash digging.
Savador yelled to Izac and Riafel, "We should run!"
The stress was getting to Izac, "We wouldn''t be able to outrun them, and we don''t have time to get the horses out.” The roof lowered as a wall bent in, and the scraping became increasingly audible.
Andal asked, "If the building falls it will kill a bunch of Haverdash, right? Can''t we just move to the back?"
"If there were only twenty Haverdash it would be a hard fight, with that magician I wouldn''t bet on us."
Riafel told him, "Then we have to run. Get one horse out, put Andal and Savador on it. They''re the most naturally gifted. The rest of us try on foot. "
Izac nodded, grabbed a horse, and ran with it to the back of the chapel. "Drop your shields, Everyone to the back! Savador and Andal first!"
They were hesitant, but Nombur dropped his shield and bolted, so the others responded in kind. Moxey tossed his rod in the air and it sped forward, burying itself in Nombur''s skull. The Haverdash returned to the doors, rushing by Moxey and jumping through the window to flood the chapel.
Andal stopped and started running toward Moxey with his sword raised, but Savador grabbed him and threw him on his shoulder as he ran. Andal hit his back and yelled protests, but Savador wasn''t swayed. He ran out of the once-secret exit that Izac was holding open.
There were a few Haverdash who had climbed around the back looking for another way in, and the other Templars were in combat with them. Izac shut the door behind them, and Savador threw Andal onto the horse. He swung up, and told Izac, "I know we''ll meet again. I won''t let your faith in us be in vain."A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Izac wasn''t feeling sentimental though, "Go, go!"
He shut the door as quickly as he could, then Savador rode off with Andal on the horse, and the Other Templars ran as quickly as they could as the Haverdash flooded around and through the chapel after them.
*
Lars saw the paths left by massless particles, composing all things and all people as they streamed along. He glided as he ran, not merging with the ground beneath him, which traded particles and blended with all other things. The only thing, like him, that did not blend and morph with its surroundings was Trots.
Like Lars, his particles would disappear and trade with a distant source, but it could not be seen what that was. When he stepped, the paths of the particles would become ordered, all streaming away from him and disturbing the patterns of the shifting particles in objects around them. To those without visions it appeared that the destruction of the Haverdash was effective, that stone walls were weaker than once thought, and that wood crumbled to the touch.
Arrows rained down on them as they drew in range of the inner city walls, but none would land. Lars saw them as bats which would flutter away, and Trots saw them as so heavy they would fall immediately. To the men on the walls it looked like their arrows would wobble and spin as they fell immediately upon being loosed.
Lars saw their bows, which were long and thin like a snake, and saw them as constrictors that wrapped around and consumed their archers. Those who were out of his sight saw the bows of their companions envelope them, and threw down their bows in fear.
When the Haverdash had drawn within 150 feet of the wall, Trots spoke to them, "Soar my soldiers!"
He leapt and glided above the walls. A Haverdash yelled in glee, "He sees us with wings!" And leapt also. Lars and the columns of the Haverdash flew over the walls. The human soldiers who had been waiting behind the gate saw the Haverdash above them and panicked, scattering as the Haverdash literally fell upon them.
Trots spoke again, "Lars, take the duke''s palace; column 7, follow Lars. Columns 6 and 8, branch off and subdue the inner city. I will level the cathedral."
Those is column 7 obviously deplored their assignment, to think that they should be led by a non-Haverdash! They wouldn''t disobey Trots though, and so they followed Lars as they broke their way to the Duke''s palace.
The brave among the human soldiers now became evident. Instead of fleeing from the Haverdash until they were in the safety of a large team (which tended to scatter anyway), some who were so offended at the sight of the Haverdash in the City of Grace would charge in by themselves in an attempt to kill anyone who looked vaguely like a leader.
The first ones to try to kill Lars hesitated, wrestling in their minds if they should target him since he looked like the leader, or avoid hurting him since he was just a child. They stopped hesitating after Lars killed his first attacker by wiping away the massless particles that made him up, dissolving him with a wave of his hand.
Maybe only one or two of those brave attackers saw it, since they were so disorganized, but the energy of the Haverdash behind him changed. Though not regarding him as equal in worth to themselves, they thoroughly enjoyed seeing him annihilate his attackers. Their excitement at seeing someone draw near to him led to the attackers not thinking of Lars as a victim or a child at all, but a ringleader.
Across the inner city a mighty *boom* was heard, and the foundation of the cathedral of Nishir shook. Tons of stone were hurled into the air by an invisible force like a fist punching through from the earth up through the roof, then the towers broke into thousands of crumbles before falling. One section after another was punched through, and another turned to rubble.
Then a mighty *boom* occurred again, and the remnant of the cathedral burst apart as in an explosion. Instead of rubble, it was broken into a fine powder. But instead of a powder that hung in the air and was dust on buildings, it moved like water that sloshed over the roads. The glory of the City of Grace had been erased, and the city felt inexplicably darker.
Lars leapt over a short wall onto the elevated ground where the Duke’s palace was. Arrows were loosed from the parapet, and they hucked stones and bags of lime that could temporarily blind the attackers. Lars saw them as falling rain, and the last shred of courage left the defenders when they saw their projectiles absorb into his clothing.
He came to the wall and reared back. The Haverdash behind him ran past, not knowing why he paused, to break down the great doors. Lars, seeing the paths the massless particles took, how tremors changed their courses, and how fragile the patterns they moved in ultimately were, shouted so forcefully to send them scattering.
The wall, the soldiers on top of the wall, and the Haverdash who had run in front of him so carelessly all broke apart into various clumps, powders, and even dissolved so much in places as to become a wind.
The Haverdash up to 200 feet behind him collapsed, dazed by the shout echoing back toward them. Lars felt a change in the air that gave him pause. The eyes he''d felt drilling contempt into the back of his neck now looked on in respect. They had reconciled the fact that he was so much mightier than them with how they saw him as of less value than a Haverdash, and now considered him equal.
The paths that made them up shifted, moving in a different pattern and affecting the patterns of massless particles that would merge with them. Then Lars felt a second shift, a transfer of particles to that one being so far away that was the only thing his particles would merge with. And with it, he felt a sudden loss of energy.
*
Andal looked around Savador as they rode down the hill. The other Templars, which bolted in several different directions, all fell out of sight when they fled into a canyon. Andal asked, "Savador, where are we going to go?"
"I honestly don''t know. Wherever Nishir wills. Right now, we just need to get away."
Andal''s adrenaline faded, letting his eyes tear up. "Will we ever see them again?"
"Of course we will. Things look dark now, but I promise you, we''ll all meet up again. Have hope, Andal."
Andal leaned back into Savador. “That Haverdash with the rod, he''s the one that killed my family. And now he''s killed some and broken up the rest of my second family." Through tears he tried to say, "I hate him!"
Savador understood his pain, so he silently let Andal vent himself. After a minute or so he said, "Andal, it isn''t good to hate the Haverdash."
Andal''s head jerked up in confused shock, "What?"
“I’m not saying it’s bad, but hatred is never good. You hate the Haverdash, I see that, and you want to kill them, I understand. But, don’t let them make you forget that life is valuable. All life. That’s how Nishir is. Kill the Haverdash, of course, Nishir approved of such a mission, or you never would have been added to our order by your prayer. But, don’t forget that death saddens Nishir, and we kill them because we have to, not because it’s the way things should be. You understand?”
Andal''s confusion gave way as he recognized the wisdom in Savador''s words, and sheepishly answered, "I understand."
"You were chosen in a special way, Andal. I have no doubt you''re going to be mighty. We''ll keep practicing and getting better, so I know you''re going to help a lot of people in your life. We just need to hold on in times like these. You know things will get better, because they can''t get worse, and in a way that''s encouraging."
They came to the end of the canyon and onto the major road that connected the City of Grace with the cities south of them. They were on the north side of the mountains, on a downward slope that gave them the perfect view of the city as the Haverdash razed it. A heavy cloud of dust rose from the inner city, like an enormous building has collapsed. Neither one spoke, but they both knew in their hearts that the cathedral had been destroyed.
Andal took a moment to understand the level of destruction that was in front of them, but Savador turned to look up the road where he heard voices. Just coming over the hump in the road we''re a few Haverdash holding pickaxes, shovels, and other equipment. They charged instantly, while Savador was still deciding the best response, and much to his dread a host of Haverdash equipped in the same way came running down the road behind them.
There were over thirty in all, so Savador knew better than to try to fight them. He told the horse to run, which it was more than willing to do, but the Haverdash who were closest threw bottles of wine at them. Having seen that strategy used against the King''s army, and not wanting to risk the wine touching the horse, Savador jumped off to intercept them. He raised a shield of aegis to catch one and spread out his body with his shield to catch the other two.
Andal fought the horse to pull it to a stop, looking back as Savador hit the ground with wide eyes, motionless. The mob of Haverdash rushed over him, but at that very moment Andal felt a surge of energy. It didn''t seem like it was of himself; somehow he senses that it came from the City of Grace.
He raised a barrier of aegis around Savador, but as a dome instead of a shield. Then he made a burst of wind stream out of his hand that knocked the Haverdash several feet back, and with a flurry of cuts with his sword sent a maelstrom of blades of light through the air. His skin and the skin of the horse glowed with a shell of golden light, and when he spurred the horse forward it went eagerly.
His sword cut through them like butter, and they failed to pierce the shell of light around him with their tools. They tried to evade his attacks and encircle him, but he made shields behind them that stopped their movement. When only one Haverdash remained, he dismounted, placed them both in a dome of light so he couldn''t be evaded, and cleaved it in half.
He looked around and verified that all the Haverdash were dead, then rushed to Savador''s side. He''d never been the best at healing, and even Savador could never heal such a mental affliction as this, but Andal felt confident he could clear Savador''s mind with the energy filling him. He knelt and placed his hand on Savador''s forehead. Nothing changed though, and something felt wrong.
Hesitantly, he put two fingers in Savador''s neck. He had no pulse. Andal shut his eyes with a ginger wipe of his hands, and leaned on his chest. A few minutes later, as waiting turned to wailing, the energy left him.