Vuroth's Tear: Even the Gods Cry

Chapter 53

Chapter 53

The capital stood in the distance, as silent as a graveyard. Dravis pulled his sword free and lifted it into the air, each of his soldiers stood behind him with their swords raised with his.

"Men, this city behind me once stood for something. It was a monument of freedom and peace for this kingdom. Now, all it stands for is evil and corruption. The walls that protected its people, our king, now protects the source of the plague that spreads over our kingdom, destroying everything we hold dear in this world." Dravis spoke as he walked down the front line of his men, "We are the last defense, the only thing left that stands even the slightest chance of stopping him. Make no mistakes, gentlemen, this is our last stand. If we fall here, if we die here, Tola wins. We cannot fail, we will not fail! So let us ready our weapons!" He used a flint against his blade, igniting the flammable coating on his sword and then touched it against each sword as he walked down the line, lighting them as well.

Each soldier shared his fire with those around him, the fire spread in a wave across the men. A man in the front pointed towards Travidon, "Here they come!"

Dravis turned and raised his sword high, "Let us burn down each and every one of these abominations to ash and take back our kingdom!" He screamed and the others all erupted in excited yelling with him. Dravis charged forward with his army following behind him.

Dravis was the first to cut down one of the creatures. As he sliced through the dried flesh, it caught aflame and burned to dust. The corrupting smoke that poured from it began to burn as it exited the wound, preventing it from infecting anyone else. The soldiers, seeing that their burning weapons worked as they hoped, they attacked with a new confidence and began cutting down every creature they saw as they worked their way into the city. The archers spread out, igniting each arrow before they shot.

Most of the soldiers spread throughout the city, their focus was to kill as many husks as they could. Dravis started up the hill, leading a group of his men towards the castle. It took great strength for him to ignore the screams of the soldiers as they died, his only hope was that they weren't being brought back as more of the enemy. He cut the head of one of the creatures and stabbed another before slamming through them, crumbling them to dust beneath him.

Dravis was worried, the creatures just kept coming. No matter how many they killed, more came to replace the fallen. Another wave of arrows soared through the sky and destroyed every husk they hit. He was knocked to the ground by a husk but with a slash of his burning sword, the husk crumbled and he climbed back to his feet.

A soldier stabbed his blade to the hilt into a husk and when he tore the sword free the fire had been extinguished. The man didn't notice until he cut the head from another and its smoke blood poured from the wound and began spreading into the men around it.

Dravis stopped when he heard the screams, he almost turned back when he made out the words, "The smoke, don't breath in the smoke!"

Dravis cringed at the panic, his men were being infected and there was nothing he could do to help. He grunted and fought forward, using the sound of the screams of his men as reason to fight harder, swing faster.

"We need to spread out," Dravis screamed between slashes, "get archers on those buildings!"

The men cut down husks as they spread between buildings. Some of the men cleared a path for archers as they rushed to the buildings and made their ways onto the rooftops to provide cover fire. Fires broke out all around, screeches of the dying creatures rose above the soldiers screams and the sound of swords hitting bone and stone.

Husks started scaling the walls of the buildings to reach the archers, the soldiers on the ground attacked them while they continued to spread through the streets and alleys, working their way towards the castle.

Dravis cut down a pair of husks and looked around. Winded already, he wiped the sweat from his face, "I hope Don and the others are having better luck then us," He whispered to himself before raising his sword to the next creature.