Elysia ducked just as an arrow splintered the wood of the parapet before her. She bent down to pick up a crossbow from the hand of the guard who had been killed when an arrow pierced her neck. From her He groped for a bolt and struggled to load the weapon with it; finally, she got it.
She jumped to her feet. Fire arrows flashed overhead like shooting stars, and from behind her came the smell of burning. Elysia looked down from the parapet, and she saw the goblin wolf riders surrounding the camp like a pack of beasts rounding up a herd of sheep. She saw the green skin of the horsemen gleam in the light of the flaming arrows, which also highlighted the yellow of their eyes and fangs.
"There must be hundreds of them." Elysia thought, and she mentally thanked Frey for the presence of the moat, the stakes, and the wooden wall that her partner had made them build. At the time, it had seemed like an unnecessary effort to them, and Frey was cursed by everyone; but now the construction was hardly enough.
She took aim at a wolf rider who was now aiming a pitch-soaked arrow at the tower and pressed the trigger of her crossbow. The arrow pierced the night like a blur and pierced the goblin's chest, causing him to fall back in his saddle. The burning arrow shot straight into the sky, as if its target was the moon.
Elysia crouched down again and loaded the crossbow once more. With her back against the parapet, she could see into the fortress courtyard, where a human chain of women and children carried buckets of water. They took it out of the rain barrels and carried it to the flaming huts in a vain struggle to extinguish the fire. An old woman fell dead and others crouched as arrows rained down on them like dark rain.
She turned to fire again, but this time she missed. The night had become a din of different sounds: the cry of the dying, the howl of wolves, the deadly whistle of arrows and crossbow bolts. Frey sang happily in Norse, and somewhere farther away, the baron's dry, raspy voice gave orders in a steady, calm tone. Dogs barked, horses neighed in terror, and children cried. Elysia wished she were deaf, for she cursed her inhuman hearing.
Very close to her, she heard the scrape of claws against something wood, and she jumped to her feet; Looking over the parapet, she nearly lost her face as a wolf's jaws snapped shut beneath her. The creature had jumped out of the pit, ignoring the stakes now covered by the corpses of her companions.
She caught the stench of the beast's breath and saw the rider cling tight as she readied the mount to leap again. Elysia fired her crossbow, and a bolt pierced the animal's chest, causing it to fall dead. The rider rolled away from him and slipped away into the night.
Catgirl then saw Mrs. Winter walk up to the guard tower and stand beside Frey, and she hoped that the sorceress had come to do something. In the tumultuous chaos of the night it was impossible to tell for sure, but she had a feeling things were stacking against the defenders. Although the moat seemed to be littered with the corpses of attackers, the guards fell like flies under the incessant rain of arrows; the protection that the parapet supposedly offered them was useless.
When she looked outside again, a group of orcs were running towards the door with a tree trunk sharpened with the intention of using it as a battering ram. A few crossbow bolts landed among them, but others ricocheted off the shields of those running to the sides of the battering ram. Next, the catgirl heard the crashing sound of the tree crashing into the door.
She groped for her sword, ready to leap from the wall into the fortress courtyard and defend the entrance. If it fell, the only thing she could do would be to plead for Frey to fight seriously, since they were vastly outnumbered and couldn't stand the harassment for long. She felt fear twist her insides.
And then Mrs. Winter's calm, clear voice began to sound, which she intoned as a priest would a prayer, and then there was lightning.
Scorching blue light pierced the night, filling the air with the scent of ozone. The fur on Elysia's tail stood on end as she waited for the moment when the flash would take effect among the battering ram wielders. She heard them screaming, and some of them prancing back like clowns as they let go of the tree trunk. After falling to the ground, they were lying and smoking. The air was filled with the nauseating stench of charred meat.
The bolt shot out again and again, the wolves howled in terror, the hail of arrows thinned, and the foul smell thickened. She looked at Mrs. Winter, who had a gaunt and pale face, and her spiky hair. The alternating black and blue on her face gave her a demonic look. Elysia hadn't even suspected that a human being could wield such powers; but she was not surprised either, as she had witnessed the true power of Frey.
The goblin wolf riders and orc infantry retreated howling in terror until they were out of range of the ghastly bolts, and Elysia was relieved. Then, in the distance, she saw a flash of light.
She strained her eyes into the darkness, and she could make out a green-skinned shaman around whose head swung a red halo, illuminating the wolfish headdress that covered it and the bone staff he held in one gnarled hand. . A beam of red light shot from her head and streaked through the air toward Mrs. Winter.
The sorceress groaned and staggered back; Frey held out a hand to hold her down. The woman gritted her teeth; her forehead was beaded with sweat and she seemed to be immersed in a supernatural battle of wills with the green-skinned shaman.
The wolf riders fell back around their valiant leaders, and slowly began to attack again, though their renewed attacks lacked the savage ferocity of their earlier ones. The fight continued throughout the night.
♦ ♦ ♦
At first light, Elysia walked over to where Frey, Manfred, Dieter, and Mrs. Winter stood. The woman seemed exhausted beyond human endurance. People had gathered around her to gaze at her in admiration.
"What situation are we in?" the catgirl asked the dark hero.
"As long as she is able to summon lightning, and I maintain my position at the forefront; we can resist."
Manfred looked at Frey and nodded his agreement. At that moment, a commotion broke out across the courtyard.
"Mrs. Winter, come quickly." Dr. Stock yelled. "The baron has been seriously injured. He has received an arrow, and it is likely that he is poisoned."
With an exhausted step, the sorceress headed towards the mansion. Frey saw Krisvel come out of the crowd to help her, and he smiled at her, glad that she was alive.
♦ ♦ ♦
With a noise like sudden thunder, the door tilted back. "Another blow like that, and the door will fall." Elysia thought. She looked at Frey, who was testing the edge of the greatsword with his gauntlet-clad thumb, drawing sparks in the process. Already in the second night of the siege, the dark hero eagerly awaited the close combat that was to come. The catgirl felt someone yank her shoulder, and turning she saw it was the burly Hef; by the looks of him, he was scared to death.
"Where is Mrs. Winter?" she asked her at the same time that she indicated the door with a nod of her head. "They don't do that with any normal battering ram. I'm sure this is being caused by that orc shaman. He will adorn his hut with the heads of all of us before the night is out, unless the witch can stop him!"
Elysia looked away from Hef to the rest of the pitifully exhausted group of defenders. She saw tired warriors, wounded men who could barely carry a sword, and teenage boys and girls armed with pitchforks and other makeshift weapons. The howls coming at them from outside were deafening, and only Frey seemed serene.
"I don't know where she is. Dieter went looking for her ten minutes ago."
"Well, he's taking her time to bring her over."
"It's true." Elijah replied. "I'm going to look for her."
"I'll go with you." Heff said.
"Ah, no, you will not accompany him." Frey contradicted him in a powerful voice. "I trust that the cat girl will return. You stay here. The goblins will pass through this gate over our corpses."
Elysia walked away towards the mansion, where she knew that Krisvel was with the sorceress.
She had barely reached the entrance when she heard, from behind, the sound of the door breaking and the eerie crash she made as she fell in. Then, Frey uttered his war cry, and the warriors let out cries of terror. Turning around, Elysia beheld a terrible sight.
At the entrance of the fortress, mounted on a huge white wolf, was the shaman. A halo of red light, coming from the end of the bone staff, crackled around his head, staining the faces of those around him like blood. A bolt shot from the wall, but was deflected by a mysterious force before she could hit him.
The white wolf rider was flanked by six mighty ferocious orcs, clad in mail and armed with axes. Behind, there was a sea of wolves and green faces, and Frey gave a loud laugh and charged towards them. The last thing Elysia saw before entering the building was the dark hero running with his sword raised towards the source of that terrible light.
It was eerily quiet inside the mansion, the din from outside muffled by the stone walls. Elysia ran down the halls at the same time she called out Mrs. Winter's name, and it seemed to her that her voice echoed eerily in the quiet spaces.
She found the bodies in the main hall. Mrs. Winter had had her chest stabbed several times, and her clean gray dress had been dyed red. She had a surprised expression on her face, as if her death had caught her off guard. How had the goblins gotten in? That was Elysia's first thought, and it was absurd, for she knew that no goblin had done this.
Near the door lay another corpse, stabbed as she tried to open it. Heart pounding, Elysia stepped forward, gently turning Krisvel's body. She experienced a flash of hope as her eyes opened, but then she saw the trickle of blood that trickled from her mouth.
"Frey." she sighed. "Are you? I knew you would come."
Her voice was weak and a bloody foam stained her lips when she spoke. Elysia wondered how long she had lain there.
"Do not speak." she asked her. "Rest."
"I can't… I have to talk. I'm glad I left the Empire. I'm glad I met you Frey. Love you."
Though generally frowned upon, Elysia had no problem with polygamy. As a half Catfolk girl, it was natural for her to understand that a male like Frey was capable of attracting many females "I'm sure Frey loves you too." Elysia said, and then she noticed that Krisvel's eyes had closed. "Do not die." she begged her as Elysia held Krisvel's body.
She felt Krisvel's body go limp, at that moment she Elysia froze, it was the first time that a person she could consider a friend of hers died at her hands. She set her down gently, and then she looked at the door Krisvel had tried to open. She stood up and began to walk cautiously.