The night crawled by as the camp was almost silent and almost no one could sleep well. As morning slowly came around, the warriors were called to formation at first light. The gate smasher was rolled into position 300 yards in front of the gates as this was usually just outside of maximum archer range.
Jon was now in the guard of the Jarl, so he would not be pushing the gate smasher, as this was a dangerous job.
The horn blew signaling to the men to begin pushing the gate smasher towards the gate of the city. As Jon gazed at the city, he noticed how the dark rocks started to glimmer in the open sunlight, with towers going high up into the air, taller than most trees. Jon liked the way the city looked and did not want to burn it, but the gold was going to be nice!
As the Northmen began to make progress towards the gate, archers began to shoot across the field at them. The Northmen raised their shields to defend themselves. Resembling a shield wall, the men had a lot of good protection. The arrows were hitting the shields and usually went through, but some would glance off the sides, snapping in half. Watching from afar, the scene looked completely different. Jon could see the entirety of the Northern forces.
Jarl Svygard Bjornsson called for his battle mage, as did all 4 of the other Jarls. Svygard told Jon to go with the mages, and Jon dismounted his horse and set off for the meet up point.
Jon joined up with the mages, together there were 6 of them. The mages were told to target the archers, as there were enough to put tremendous pressure on the Northmen pushing the gate crusher.
The mages were instructed to use their magic on the blowing of the horn, and to focus on the archers up on the ramparts. As Jon waited the mages all grouped up and began to converse amongst themselves, whispering and tossing glances at Jon. Unafraid, he walked to their group to hear what they were saying. Suddenly they all faced him at once, and one mage he did not know told him, "Since this is your first time using elemental magic on the battlefield, we are all going to aim at the same area. If you can see, there is a crack in the ramparts, just under that clump of archers." he said pointing to a clump of archers to the left of the gates. "That weak point is our target." with that they dispersed, no less than 30 feet between themselves.
Jon got into position and watched as the archers showered the Northmen pushing the gate crusher. The arrows were thick and a few of the Northmen lay bleeding to death, dotting the path behind the great siege engine. The Northmen pushing the machine were about 75 yards away, and gaining speed, closing the distance rapidly. The horn blew before Jon knew it and he focused his energies into both of his hands, holding them out in front of him, palms up. Jon recalled his training and thought hard on the aspects of lightning, feeling the familiarity of the static charging around him, Jon was building up energy.
It took him almost a whole second to get to this point, but all 5 of the other mages had cast their spells. Jon put every ounce of energy and mindfulness into his spell, looked at the crack in the wall and pushed the energy out of his hands as forcefully as he could.
BOOOOOM!
The explosion pushed Jon backwards almost a whole 5 feet, kicking up dust from his feet sliding across the ground. As Jon watched the bolt of lightning leave his hands, it was gorgeous yellow, purple and blue energy spiraling towards the target. He felt faint and almost collapsed, going to one knee and flushing in his face instantly. The spell was the most powerful he had ever cast and he felt the effects immediately. The mages watched in shock as the bolt of lightning grew fatter as it cracked through the air. They watched their spells hit the crack in the wall and explode, sending men and shards of rock flying. Jon's spell was the last to hit and he watched as the lightning ripped through the rest of the rampart on that side, exploding and literally shaking the earth. The explosion and noise following was so intense, that the advancing Northmen stopped in their tracks and started in horror as the entire tower collapsed in on itself, taking half of the rampart with it. They continued advancing after realizing such a mage was on their side. Jon heard the cheers of his fellow mages and of the entire army slowly fading away.
Jon lost conciousness with a smile on his face.
Waking up to three mages around him, green auras over their hands, the fourth shaking him awake. The battle mage of Jarl Svygard had a smile on his face, but as soon as Jon looked, it was gone. Jon stood up, thanking the mages for helping him, and went back to Jarl Svygard feeling lightheaded and nauseous.
When he returned to the Jarl and his father, they asked who made the last strike, bringing down an entire tower and rampart. When they heard it was Jon, they did not believe him at all. He had killed a majority of the archers and the remaining Northemen made it to the gates relatively unscathed.
Jon heard loud crashing coming from the siege machine and was told to advance by the Jarl. The entire army began to advance, some archers returning shots at the remaining enemy archers. Jon could not shoot from horseback at all because he had a heavy bow and was not used to riding a horse.
After a few more loud crashes a cracking sound was heard echoing through the area. After another few crashes, a splintering noise was heard, followed by a loud cheer, as the gates burst open. Jon galloped towards the city gates, hoping to pillage some gold from these people.
Upon entering the gates he saw many fights all across the grounds and the Northmen were overwhelming the enemy quickly. The Jarls wanted to make it to the noblemens tower to find the king as quickly as possible. Rushing through the combatants, they made it to the base of a large tower, which appeared to be the housing of the nobles living in the city.
Jon dismounted his horse and followed Jarl Svygard and his father Raska closely. The other 4 Jarls were not far behind. As they climbed up the steps of the tower they heard men arguing at the top of the staircase, but no one could hear what they were saying. Jon drew his sword silently, readying his shield at the same time.
Suddenly many footsteps were rushing down the stairs towards them. Jon and Raska jumped in front of the entire party of Jarls and guards. Shoulder to shoulder with his father they prepared to fight.
These men of the Golden Isles were the elite guards of the king mixed with veterans of the city watch and the captain of the guard. The best of them had a gilded breastplate which gleamed even inside, as it was the most elegant piece of armor Jon had ever seen. Putting up their shields, Jon and Raska Berskaggr were ready to fight to the death. The opposing sides clashed with a loud clap of wood on wood.
Jon flawlessly parried his attackers blade up, following that with a quick wrist rotation he chopped into the man's neck deeply. The man fell forward and the men behind Jon had to push his back to help them move up the steps. As more men were cut down by the father and son duo, the enemy was retreating, no doubt to fortify a room, a few men stuck behind to cover them.
Jon raised his shield, blocking a ferocious thrust, the sword sticking into his shield, Jon swung his sword down and at an angle, and cut the enemies hand off at his wrist, as the man screamed in pain, Jon silenced him forever with a quick thrust through his open mouth. The few men who were left to cover the retreat did not last very long and the party of raiders rushed up the steps.
At the top of the steps there was a large, thick wooden door with metal latches. Throwing their bodies against the door it did not even budge.
"AXES!!!" Yelled a Jarl from the back of the party, immediately three men appeared with large axes to chop down the door.
"Wait!" exclaimed Jarl Svygard and the men stopped in their tracks. "My young squire, Jon Berskaggr, claims he was the man who brought down the tower before we entered the city gates. Let him prove himself by blowing through this door with his magic. Everyone, please go down the stairs a little way. Jon, when you are ready, please, do the honors."
Jon waited for everyone to go down the stairs and went a little ways down the stairs as well to protect himself from the explosion and splintering wood. Jon recalled his spell and put a good bit of his physical and mental energy through both hands.
BOOM!
Lightning burst forth from his hands and blew through the door immediately, destroying the entire door, not even leaving the iron hinges hanging there. Everyone behind him was wide eyed and almost deaf. As they entered the room, they found the body of a charred man in a gilded breastplate. The king was shivering on his bed with a dagger in his hand.
He spoke, but no one understood. He tossed the dagger to the side and looked defeated. Apparently he could not kill himself and called off his men, hoping to spare their lives. They were immediately run through as the king was the last enemy alive.
"Well, this is the scary king who killed all those good men weeks ago and who has been a thorn in my side for the last few years. I can't wait to have his head decorating a pike on these walls." Saying this, Jarl Bjornsson took out his axe and swung it through the kings neck with almost no resistance. Even after the king's head was on the floor, he continued to make faces of shock or disbelief, as if he were struggling to talk. After a few seconds, the head stopped making facial expressions.
The only thing to do now was sack the city, and get a pike.