Silver Blades: Plate Male

Seven

King Aer Roggarth III.

Arrows careened off the interlocking shields of our defensive wall, rebel bows all but ineffectual against the mail and steel plate with which the Ward Guard were outfitted.

The rebel line swayed with mixed enthusiasm, taunting my soldiers from across the square and trying to bait them out of line. I was tempted to order the charge, but reminded myself there were worse things than peasant hunters and tool-waving malcontents lurking in the shadows beyond the palace gate. Our position was safe enough for the time being; the rabble was wary of the silver-inlaid halberds facing them over our kite shields, securing the palace while my carpenters worked furiously to repair the damaged gates.

"How long, Chief?" I called.

"Soon, sire," Chief Mattors answered, desperation in his voice.

His team's hammers rose and fell at a frantic pace, rejoining boards those things had shattered with comparative ease.

My eyes were drawn and held by two carcasses, still smoldering on the flagstones nearby. Six guards fell in that initial assault before Lieutenant Valik slew them and regrouped his men to push the rebels outside the yawning gate.

As I watched, another guardsman went down when an arrow found the narrow gap over the shield in front of him and below the visor of his burgonet.

"Make them strong, Mattors!" I ordered, "but get it done—the fripperies may be added later."

"As you say, majesty!"

"Wandeers incoming, sire!" Lieutenant Valik of the Ward Guard called, directing my attention to the colorful unit advancing from the right flank. He dashed off to prepare the line for the radiance unit's advance.

"It's about damned time," I cursed. Most of the royal guard were already chasing demons about the Ward, so it had taken some time to assemble the next watch. "Form ranks and offer quarter, Captain," I called to Julaen Raliggi, the Captain of Wandeers.

"Yes Majesty!" He returned with an abbreviated bow and flourish of his wide-brimmed hat. "Behind the shield wall, men! Form up!"

With practiced precision two score wandeers took up positions behind the Ward Guard. The royal guard, in gleaming breastplates, tricolor tabards, and armed with shining rapiers and wands hanging from blue baldrics, were the dragon of Dollif. Though sometimes disparaged by other units as overly pretty, the royal guard's bite was by no means dainty. Some wore gleaming open-faced helms like the Ward Guard, while others preferred the wide-brimmed hats adorned by plumes of colorful feathers like their captain.

"Three ranks, first on guard!" Raliggi ordered, drawing his sword so it gleamed in the glow of the amber streetlights. His men, arranged in standing rows three deep, took a step and staggered their positions, tabards swirling. The first rank took a knee so each rank behind them could clearly see the foe.

I sensed unease in the darkness beyond the gate. Though they could see little of what was happening behind the Ward Guards' tall shields, they surely counted veterans among their number who had seen wandeers in action.

"Halberdiers, withdraw to flanks!" Lieutenant Valik commanded, near the gate. The Ward Guard raised their pole axes and moved smartly to the sides. There was a murmur of voices outside as the rebels tried to make sense of what was happening. Some voices raised in alarm. Others in bravado, considering a charge on the gate.

"Present wands!" Captain Raliggi shouted, raising his sword.

As one, the wandeers drew and brandished their wands.