The Silencing of Esteria

Chapter 25

"Enemies behind!" shouted Katrina and the back line of spearmen turned to face the threat as wolves surrounded them.

"Forward!" Katrina commanded and the militia began making unsteady steps towards the tunnel.

Katrina broke ranks and charged forward as another wolf emerged from the tunnel. It yelped in surprise as she collided with it, throwing it back into the tunnel.

She called a stop to the advance when they were directly in front of the tunnel opening, leaving five wolves behind them and the rest of the pack in the tunnel.

Toland scrambled to keep up before a hand grabbed him. Rin took him by his shirt and dragged him into the middle of the formation, positioning himself between Toland and the wolves.

The beasts growled, a low rumble everyone felt in their bones. They circled the men, occasionally darting forwards only to stop, probing their spear line for any weaknesses.

Toland unleashed another blast of lightning but the wolf he was aiming for jumped neatly out of its way, leaving him with only a single lightning spell and a spell for lightening objects.

He looked around desperately. The tunnel was right next to one of the towers, casting it into shade, leaving the wolves inside only visible as floating red orbs and forcing Katrina and the two militia by her side to poke blindly into its depths with their spears.

He looked down at his last two spells and an idea came to him. He ducked between the men surrounding him and ran towards the ladder up the wall.

A wolf spotted him and threw itself at him but with a lurch he threw himself away from it and jumped up onto the ladder, scrambling up and away from the beast.

The wolf landed and turned back towards him, but before it could leap at him again a spear jabbed it in the side, drawing no blood but it snarled and turned to face the attacker, giving Toland enough time to reach the relative safety of the top of the wall.

He ran across to the tower, drawing out his lightening rune and jamming it into a gap in the woodwork. The tower was a few metres taller than the rest of the wall, and with the magical hardening performed by Jaran it weighed as much as if it were made of stone.

Toland fired the lightning into the base of the tower, smashing the wood holding it to the wall to pieces and setting it on fire.

Toland ran behind it and pushed. The tower creaked and the sound of splitting wood boomed out as it careened over the edge of the wall, becoming completely engulfed in flames as it went.

"LOOK OUT BELOW!" Toland shouted.

The tower passed the 30-degree mark and the lightening spell dissipated, sending it toppling towards the tunnel entrance.

Fire and hardened wood slammed into the wolves, filling the tunnel entrance. The monsters howled in pain and frustration.

Katrina recovered from the shock of the flaming tower hitting the ground mere feet from her and found Toland with an appreciative gaze.

She turned and faced the remaining five wolves that had got through the lines.

The wolves were snarling and lashing out recklessly at the line, unnerved from being separated from the pack, but they were still deadly. One of the men stepped forward to thrust with his spear, only for it to be caught in the beast's mouth and ripped from his hands. He stood shocked for a second before another wolf grabbed him and dragged him from the safety of the line, throwing him against a building in a broken heap.

Katrina rushed in to fill the hole in the line, stabbing forward with her spear and driving the wolf back angrily.

Toland held his breath as the two sides wearily eyed each other, with his bag of spells empty he could do nothing but watch.