Chapter Nineteen
Vision in the Night
Poretani was behind us and so were the hosts of Sheol. We’d reached the Kingdom of Ephanum with not a moment to spare.
The caravan was already pressing northward toward the Kingdom of Toll. The Kingdom of Toll was largely friendly to us and I expected to meet with no resistance to us passing through their lands to the Wastelands beyond.
The King of Ephanum was drawn off to the side of the caravan’s passage surrounded by a group of his military commanders. When we had reached the border it was to be greeted by most of the Kingdom of Ephanum’s army.
I drew up beside the King, who looked me over somewhat coldly before saying, “Glad to see you made it through Poretani.”
Sure, he was, I thought to myself sarcastically. The kings of Smirnaz and Ephanum had never been on the friendliest of terms and I now filled that role.
It was hard to think of myself as a king and yet the fact remained. The fact also remained that the King of Ephanum had known that I had to make my way through Poretani. He had been at war with Poretani and it would’ve been a thing of ease for him to keep a force on the border so that Poretani could not have mustered a second force to come against us without exposing themselves to an invasion from behind.
Instead the King had waited within his own borders and held back his troops from the border. Such actions were not the act of a friend.
“Are you ready to evacuate your kingdom sire? The enemy’s outlying scouts aren’t but a few hours back of us.”
“We’re not leaving. The Wastelands hold no refuge for us or for you, but go if you must. We will cover your retreat from the field of battle,” the King said dismissively.
His response was not surprising, but I felt that I had to try anyway, “How do you hope to stand, sire, where five other kingdoms have failed to do so?”
“Ephanum has always been alone in our fight for independence with the other kingdoms so far removed from us and Smirnaz, cursed with perpetual witness to the north, being of no help to us.”
It was a direct insult and one I would not let pass, “Who has done more for Ephanum then Smirnaz of late? We rid your northern border of giants, but go ahead and sit on your border and wait for certain destruction even as you doom your people to the monstrous appetites of the host that approaches! You will have your wish in being alone as I will not allow one resident of Smirnaz, who believes in the new covenant, to remain within the reach of the evil that is coming!”
With no further words I steered Phalon away from the King’s group and headed northward to Smirnaz to oversee that very commitment as the caravan headed for Toll.
It was early in the morning of the second day of my ride north that I saw the banners of a people on the march. The people of Smirnaz were leaving their ancestral lands. From the size of the caravan of people it looked as if everyone was coming.
I rode toward the column of refugees, closely watched over by elements of the army. Cheers broke out from soldier and commoner alike as I drew close enough to be recognized.
I rode through the ranks of civilians and soldiers to the tune of shouted praise. I was a hero to these people. The rest of the world was in dark times, but for Smirnaz, times of late had been the best it had ever experienced as a nation.
They were willingly forsaking all that now, because of how much they trusted me to not lead them astray. The pressure to not let them down was enormous, but one I accepted.
The morning sky was stained with smoke and distant fire. I rode on, concern mounting within me. It took a while to get past the seemingly endless droves of people, yet I saw more approaching across the smoke-filled plain in the distance. Were they enemy or friend?
I rode onward, assuming the latter, and was rewarded with the appearance of Thanuel and others of my trusted friends. Thanuel and I embraced briefly.
I gestured to the burning horizon, “Surely the enemy has not advanced so quickly?”
“No, but they’re not far. I didn’t feel that you would want to leave them with anything so I burnt the entire kingdom. I’m sorry, but it would appear that you are King over very little now.”
“You thought right Thanuel and I am yet King over much! Leave the Smirnaz army to guard the civilians. I want you to take my men and provide support for the caravan I brought from the West. They should have just entered Toll to the south. Both caravans will meet up in the Wastelands as we journey to the Forests of Darkor.”
Thanuel saluted and headed off with the others at his back, while I made my way to the front of the people of my nation. They’d put their trust in me and forsaken all, now I would do the same and not ride off to my own family further south.
*****
The sands blew about as the wind howled. I walked among the dunes at night, all the while keeping a close eye for Evanik dogs.
I had far more sentries posted than even wartime would require. I even had kill teams patrolling out in the moonlit landscape. If I could keep the hounds on the move instead of letting them form into larger packs, my hope was that they would be unable to mount a massed attack and pass beyond the sentry lines and claim the innocent lives of children.
What I did now by walking out into the dunes alone was foolish by even my own standards, but I felt driven to do it. I stared at the forest in the distance off to the East.
We had been camped here in this low depression in the Wastelands for two days twiddling our thumbs. My scouts told me that Ephanum was on the verge of collapsing against the fast-moving forces that had been trailing us. It was as if all had been overcome by darkness in but the matter of a few hours.
The enemy would be here soon. Troubling also was the fact that Ayaya was several days late and my scouts had reported no signs of a party of Yesathurim coming up from the south to join with us. I was at a crossroads once more as to what to do.
“El Elyon help me,” I whispered out into the chill desert air.
The figure of a man began to grow closer to me, coming across the sands of the Wastelands from the East. Somehow I knew who it was and my feet took flight as I ran with all my strength toward the oncoming man, who had likewise broken into a run towards me.
I know Kuri would’ve embraced me as his brother, but I threw myself at his feet instead, “My Lord! My Lord!”” I said over and over as I was completely overcome with emotion.
Kuri pulled me to my feet and embraced me tightly to him as one greatly loved, “My friend! My faithful friend! How I have longed for your company again Benaiah!”
Kuri pulled back to regard me and I saw the truth of all things to be seen within his eyes like never before. He had come back as foretold by the Holy Scrolls!
Kuri shook his head, “This is a dream Benaiah. Even now you lie beside your wife in a deep sleep.”
“I don’t understand,” I said, at a loss as to how what I was experiencing was not reality.
“The prophecies have not yet been fulfilled. The people are not yet one. I need you to finish your witness of faith in this life. Gather my wayward sheep into the fold and then come to me.”
The dream began to fade then. Dimly now, I heard Kuri say one last time, “Come to me.”
I awoke with a start and sat bolt upright breathing hard.
“Benaiah?” Susori asked in concern, her hand touching at my arm.
I lay back down and she pulled in closer to me, slipping her leg over mine as she laid her head on my shoulder.
“I had a dream,” I said dazedly, still trying to become aware of what was reality and what was dream.
“Can you tell me?” she asked softly.
I told her all of it. Through it all she remained very quiet and after a pause of time I said, “Tomorrow I’m going to have to leave you.”
Deep wracking sobs shook through Susori and she clasped onto me so tight I could hardly breathe. I held her to me as she continued to sob with her face buried against my neck. She wasn’t the only one crying.
I tucked my face against her hair. I loved the smell of her hair. All I had ever wanted to be happy in life was to be with this woman.
“I love you honey!” I said with all the emotion I felt for the woman in my arms.
Her face lifted to gaze down into mine. Tears dribbled onto my chest as she blubbered out, “All I’ve ever wanted is to be with you! I………” her voice trailed off in a slight wail.
I grasped her face lovingly and in the gloom of the tent I stared imploringly into her glorious eyes and said, “We will be together again, I promise! I don’t know how it will be, but we will be together again. I promise!”
She nodded and whispered brokenly, “Hold me.”
My arms wrapped around her and I held her for what seemed only a few minutes, but was probably more likely hours, before the sun began to make its unwanted appearance over the horizon.
*****
I stood tall in the stirrups watching as the mass of wagons and those walking began to grow dim. I sat down in the saddle and took a moment to bring myself under emotional control, but it wasn’t happening I silently acknowledged, as a tear made its way down my face.
I heard the shifting motion of a horse coming up beside mine and I hurriedly wiped at my tears. A hand touched at my arm and I looked over to see Falarin shaking his head.
“Sire, do not hide what you feel, for surely those who follow you do so out of the knowledge that as a leader you are great, not because of your great feats of courage alone, but also because yours is a heart made to love and have compassion,” Falarin said with tears in his own eyes.
I looked at him as a smile made its way through my private sorrow and said, “Spoken like a King, Falarin.”
“If I speak as a King it is only because I have learned to witness what I see exhibited by you.” Then, on a different note he asked, “Can I not come with you?”
I shook my head, “The people are in need of a leader and you are a great one. A man after my own heart and not that of your father. Lead the people to the edge of the forest and there make camp and wait for us. You will need to make a breastwork defense to repel against both the animals of the forest and any advance parties of the enemy, but do not fear as help will come. The prophecies of the Holy Scrolls will be fulfilled. El Elyon be with you Falarin.”
“And you my King!” Falarin said, before riding off to join the disappearing convoy of people that represented all of Ayenathurim.
Though their origins were as varied as their many languages they were a people unified by faith. I prayed once more for their safety.
Turning from the East I faced the indomitable army at my back. My eyes scanned over these most faithful of all to me. Some of them had been with me since I had left Philanthia four years before. A few from years earlier and some for only a few months.
To a man or woman I knew they were dedicated to whatever task I put before them. Such unquestioned loyalty was the stuff of legends.
To them I was a legend. To myself, I was an inferior man being used to accomplish the impossible on a daily basis and yet with El Elyon all things were possible.
I rode through their ranks toward the south. Jarken was at my side with the banner of the Holy Scrolls held high and Thanuel rode on my other side. It was good to go into my last battle with my friends beside me.
None at my back questioned why it was that we rode to the aid of a people who regarded us as their inferior, because to them it didn’t matter. We rode under El Elyon’s banner and it was His will that we would fulfill.
*****
Ayaya rested back against a boulder as she held a cool rag to her sore throat. She had talked and talked until she was blue in the face, still it seemed to matter not at all. The people would not listen to her and now it was too late.
The enemy camp lay beyond the wall already. For better or worse, they were now trapped within this valley.
She stared hatefully at the wall that ran from one end of the valley opening to the other. The people would rather put their trust in a creation of mortar and stone than they would the God of their creation.
If she could, she would crush the wall before her so that her people would have no other choice but to awaken spiritually and stop being caught up in the ancient traditions that had no spiritual meaning. Now, though, if the wall came down they would all die.
An enemy host numbering well over a hundred thousand lay encamped against the wall. The enemy’s numbers swelled daily by a figure of ten thousand or more. It was as if the whole world had risen up against them.
Ayaya rose up and made her way to the colossal wall. By torchlight she began the long climb to its top.
Her people had built the wall well, but it would be their undoing in the end. Bitterly, she stared out over the vast plain dotted with campfires. Tomorrow the enemy would attack.
The end had begun and her people had not been ready for it. The need for a miracle was high and earnestly she prayed for one.
Horn blasts rent the night air apart and drove the drunken revelry of the enemy camp into consternation. Ayaya gripped hold of the stone wall before her and watched as dark shadows sped past enemy campfires.
Tents were knocked down and caught ablaze as enemy combatants were either run down or cut down by fast-moving blurs of motion. The onrush of the unknown force was concentrated in its approach to the solitary gate in the wall.
Ayaya broke away from her spot and ran towards the gatehouse screaming, “Open the gate!!!”
Strangely, a people who had played deaf to her voice and everything that she had to say for days now, leapt into action to do her bidding. The massive gate began to inch upward just in time as the front runners of the unknown force converged on it.
*****
I ducked under the steel teeth of the still rising gate and sped onward into the valley that I and Kuri had helped drive clear of unclean beasts. Pulling off to the side, I held up as my army continued to stream by in great volume.
The enemy encampment, roused from their rest and drunken debaucheries, formed a disorganized force that now raced for the open gate that had begun to lower as the last few riders streamed through. The enemy was cut down by massive volleys of arrows that sheeted down on them from the wall tops.
The gate clicked into place solidly and the enemy retreated after having suffered serious casualties. A cheer went up from all the defenders on the wall.
I dismounted and walked toward the welcoming committee that was forming. Ayaya was the first to rush forward. Her voice was painfully hoarse as she spoke, “Thank El Elyon you came!”
The excitement fell from her face to then be replaced with a spirit of defeat as she said, “I’ve failed in my quest to get them to leave. I…….”
I put my hand over her mouth, “Rest your voice Ayaya. You have not failed! The witness we give to others is not measured by their willingness to accept what we tell them, but rather by how faithful we have been to impart what truths have been revealed to us. El Elyon expects our best and I do not doubt that is what you’ve done. Now who is this approaching me?”
“The tribal elders. The Yesathurim have no central leader.”
I nodded before I headed straight for the group with Ayaya by my side.
“Welcome stranger! How many spears do you bring to the fight?”
“About four thousand, but I haven’t come to help you in your foolishness to think you can resist the prophecies given of old.”
The five tribal chiefs stared at me in a mixture of shock bordering on outrage. Inspiration came to me and I pointed to the wall at my back, “Your wall will fall in three days’ time. I speak to you from the Most High and not out of any private knowledge. I will help you today and tomorrow, but before the third day dawns I am leaving with my warriors and all who choose to come with me of their own free will.”
“And just who do you think you are to speak to us so?” One of the tribal members spoke out harshly.
I stepped forward, “I’m the man who killed the monster single-handedly on the spot you now stand. Behold the dirt still stained red by its blood. I’m also the man who helped make this valley habitable and a safe place for your people to dwell, along with the Savior of your own flesh and blood whom you rejected as a leader over you in times past and even now to the present! That’s who I am! Now where can my warriors bed down for what remains of the night in order to be rested for the attack in the morning?”
The five tribal chiefs looked at me in shock. One pointed off to the left and I said, “Thank you. I will see you on the wall in the morning.”
I walked away then with Ayaya tagging along.
“That was awesome!” she breathed out.
“You think so? Time will tell I guess, as nothing is to be gained by not being upfront about things.”
The valley had changed a lot, but even in the dark I sensed the familiar outlines of the place that had once been my home for a year. I looked to the wall bathed in the light of torches. It was different and, although well-built, it didn’t belong in the majestic setting of this valley.
*****
The next morning
I stared out at the solid ranks of the enemy. There were soldiers from all nations and then there were also monsters: Lion men here and there, lots of Gargons and even more creations of darkness that I had never seen or heard of before.
Idly I wondered how ordinary, howbeit misguided and deceived, people could stand so casually beside unadulterated evil. I said as much to Ayaya, beside me on the wall.
She shook her head, “Not casually. They stand there in fear. Motivated by fear. Bound by fear. Enslaved by it to do its bidding. Behold an army built on fear. They only believe in what they can see and the power of the evil beings standing to either side of them testifies to the fact of whom they should serve.”
I shook my head, “Not a good way to live.”
“No,” Ayaya affirmed.
“An army comprised of such divisions surely must be a fragile one in terms of morale,” I said, more to myself.
“What do you have in mind?” Ayaya asked knowingly.
“Something crazy,” I said, as a plan began to formulate within the fertile plains of my mind’s eye.
I started to move off when Ayaya stopped me with a hand to the arm, “Do you think any of them will leave with you tomorrow?”
I thought about it a moment before saying, “Yes.”
“How do you plan to leave with the enemy force cutting off any escape from the valley?”
I smiled, “There is another way out of the valley that Kuri and I found.”
Ayaya nodded her head as if marveling at something. Softly then she said, “El Elyon provides.”
“Yes, He does.”
*****
It was midday when the army beyond the gate began to escalate the tension, in the buildup to what I felt would be a night assault on the wall. If the enemy was left free to attack the wall I felt sure that the wall defenses would fail the first night.
Something needed to be done to steal the momentum and I had a good idea as to what that could be. The only question was, would it work?
I paused beside an offensive siege machine on the wall top and studied it closely as a band of Yesathurim warriors looked on curiously. The machine in question was a simple bolt action javelin launcher.
The javelin was already loaded into the receiver and was of standard design. Turning to the warriors manning the siege batteries on this far left side of the wall I asked in their own language, “Do you have any javelin bolts for this machine designed with a latchet to attach a rope?”
One warrior dug around in a pile behind him and produced a javelin that suited my needs perfectly.
“Perfect! Now can you guys reload the machine with that javelin bolt and then move the whole contraption closer to the wall edge?”
They worked to quickly do what I requested, which gladdened me. It was as I suspected. With no real leadership being exhibited by the tribal leaders, the warriors were only too glad to follow the dictates of someone with an actual plan.
I doubted that there was an experienced warrior on the wall who believed victory, or even just defense against the enemy forces beyond the wall, was even possible. To the tribal chiefs and common people, however, the wall looked imposing and combined with their arrogance of superiority they thought themselves invincible.
“What are you up to?” came Mayrin’s voice from behind me.
I turned to her, “Think you can get your horse up here on the wall?”
Her eyes got big and stuttering slightly she said, “Uhhh…… I think so, but why would I want to do that?”
“Just do it.”
She just stood there staring at me. “Well get on with you!” I said, shoving her good-naturedly into action.
She turned from me and began leaping down the stairs two at a time. Turning back, I was in time to see the javelin launcher moved into final position.
I picked up the ends of two rope piles and tied them together. I then kicked one pile of rope over the valley side of the wall.
The rope from the second pile quickly snaked down over the wall after the first rope pile. I picked up the free end of the fast disappearing pile of rope and tied it off to the metal ring on the end of the javelin.
Turning to the valley side, I called out to the first of my friends that I saw there, “Sar’ran!”
He looked up and I gestured to the rope hanging down the side of the wall, “Tie it off to your horse and be ready to move all out when you’re given the word!”
He leapt to the task without asking any questions, but I knew he must be curious. As for myself, I was either going to make a really big fool of myself or pull off the stunt of the century. On the other hand, if I did make a fool of myself it wouldn’t matter because I would be dead.
Over the racket of the enemy army, I heard a disturbance off to the side. Looking that way, I beheld Mayrin leading her horse up the steep stairs to the wall top. The horse took to it easily enough, but it appeared that almost everyone was asking her what in the world she was doing. In reply she just kept gesturing off in the distance to me, which only seemed to puzzle her questioners more.
Thanuel and Jarken had appeared in the battery and were both looking on the proceedings with interest. Jarken nodded slowly, as if realizing some private puzzle and picked up a piece of rope and began braiding a loop of it around the rope that trailed out from behind the javelin launcher.
Thanuel walked to the wall and glanced over for a moment and then back to me, before laughing softly as he shook his graying head of hair back and forth, “You never cease to amaze me.”
Stepping up to the wall beside him I asked, “Will it work?”
“I think so,” Thanuel said. Then laughing again he said, “For your sake I can only hope so!” He slapped me on the back good-naturedly and went to help Mayrin.
In this moment I wished that I possessed his confidence in me. My palms were sweaty, as I ran through my head once again what needed to be done.
A snuffled snort behind me alerted me to the fact that Mayrin had arrived with her horse. I helped her to lead her horse over the rope and to my side of the javelin launcher. The breadth of the wall stretched out before us.
Pointing I said to Mayrin, “Go tell the warriors gathered along the wall to move back to the valley side edge and to stay down.”
She looked at me strangely, but quickly complied. The warriors moved back at her bidding as Jarken and I worked on securing his short length of rope, which was noosed over the main rope, to Mayrin’s saddle.
I glanced over the wall, and saw that Sar’ran was ready and on his horse, prepared to ride. He gave a big grin and waved up to me. I waved back, as I felt a smile come out on my own face. I was crazy to do this, but increasingly the thought of pulling this off was a challenge I desired to accomplish.
All was in readiness and Mayrin was back.
“Just what are we doing?” she asked nervously.
I patted her shoulder, “You’ll see. Now mount up.”
I helped her up and then gazing up at her I said, “When Thanuel gives the word, you ride as fast as this horse can go out along the length of the wall. Understand?”
Wiping sweat off her brow she nodded shakily.
“You’ll do just fine.”
I turned from her and went to the wall. Thanuel handed me a short length of chain, which I accepted.
Jarken was already manning the javelin launcher. He lifted it to point it down over the wall and for a man typically of many words he spoke only a few. “The big one?” he asked, as he sighted down the peep sights of the launcher.
“Yep. Put it in the sand right in front of him,” I said.
Yesathurim warriors all over were shaking their heads in disbelief and beginning to voice objections to what was going on.
“Do it!” I said.
The taunt strings of the launcher snapped forward and the javelin shot out at high-speed over the wall. I watched as it streaked out toward the giant that was whipping up a frenzy among the enemy forces.
Standing about 11 feet tall he wasn’t the most imposing of giants that I’d ever seen, but he did possess the fighting attributes of a superior fighter along with some leadership ability. It didn’t matter. I was going to kill him.
I leapt up onto the wall top at the same moment the javelin buried itself deeply into the sandy loam not 10 feet from the giant’s feet. I jumped out into space as Thanuel and Jarken pulled taut the rope attached to the javelin.
I whipped the chain out and overtop the rope and caught the other end with my free hand. My wild ride began in earnest then.
The chain, now burdened with my weight, skipped down the rope at high speed. The ground was fast approaching and at the last moment I let go of the chain and tumbled head over heels into the sand and up to my feet.
My tumble had brought me dangerously close to the giant who had turned from the crowd before him at the outburst of excitement when the javelin bolt was shot from the wall. In surprised alarm at the appearance of me, the giant swung his large broadsword down in an attempt to separate me into two pieces.
I sidestepped away from the blade and as his sword bit into the ground I drew my own blade, stepped close and swung upward with all my power. Blood spurted as the giant’s head went rolling, even as his body remained motionless still grasping the sword buried in the ground.
Dodging forward, I picked the head up by the hair and then, spinning in a half circle, I heaved the head, that had the weight of a boulder, out into the stunned crowd of onlookers.
That done, I wiped my blade off on the back of the giant’s body that had meanwhile fallen forward. Then I stepped backward with an overly dramatic bow as if receiving praise for a well done performance.
An insane howl erupted from a nearby creature of darkness and as one the enemy line heaved forward toward me. I grabbed hold of the rope still attached to the javelin and with one short swipe of my sword I severed the rope from the javelin. In the next moment I re-sheathed my sword.
I heard Thanuel’s booming voice call out to Sar’ran to ride hard and the rope in my hands jerked me forward toward the wall so abruptly that I almost lost my grip on it. I held on with a death grip though, because that would be what I was if I let go. As it was I could barely keep my feet under me as I was pulled along at high speed.
The wall was very close now. Very close!
I couldn’t help but think this had been a bad idea. As if from a long way off I heard Thanuel’s voice ring out, yelling at Mayrin.
All of a sudden I was jerked off my feet and into the air towards my left. With gritted teeth I prepared to push off from the wall before I smacked into it. If I didn’t keep my feet under me I’d be dragged up the rough side of the stone wall and be nothing more than bloody pulp by the time I reached topside.
My legs connected with enough force that it felt l