The Reformation Wars: Beginning of the End

Chapter 21

By the time the second batch of Innutukians had come into archer range, several groups of rebels had ensconced themselves in and around the exposed buildings that had once been shielded by stone walls. Perched on a rooftop with Jude, Michelle, and Kyle, Dustin watched the bearded invaders close in on their armored horses, hand clenched tightly around the hilt of his sword the whole while. Nathan had taken it upon himself to watch over the magical olive branch that had caused so much calamity, just to make sure no foolish Innutukian used its power against the rebels.

Dustin's attention shifted to Michelle when she suddenly stood up, dropped a stone into the pocket of her sling, and wound up to hurl the stone. When she released it, the rock flew almost gracefully through the air, spinning at a consistent speed until it hit an Innutukian cavalryman in the helmet. Though the stone bounced off his metal headgear, the impact still dazed him, and when he fell off his horse, the Innutukians' unit cohesion all but fell apart.

Even those Innutukians who hadn't been thrown off course still slowed down to adjust, which significantly destroyed the power of the overall unit's cavalry charge. Arrows began to fly at the slowing riders, and while many hit flesh and bone, most simply gave away the rebels' locations. Innutuk's mounted archers returned fire.

Dustin twitched impatiently, eager to make himself useful in the growing battle beyond. But Nathan had ordered him not to throw himself into combat unless absolutely necessary, and never alone. Not only that, but his only skill was in swordsmanship, rather useless when the enemy still galloped so far off.

Then he spotted a crossbow sitting beside Kyle as he chiseled away at a thick bough of wood, apparently fashioning it into some sort of weapon. Several extra bolts also lay scattered by the weapon. Dustin took in a deep breath and stepped over.

"Surely you don't mind if I give this a try?" Dustin asked with a smirk which Kyle returned.

"Go ahead." Kyle said, "You can see I'm not using it."

With that, Dustin picked up the crossbow and weighed it tentatively in his hands for a moment. Then he walked closer to the edge of the rooftop, leveled the weapon at what appeared to be the middle of the cavalry unit, and pulled the trigger. A jolt rippled through the crossbow and into his hands as his bolt flew through the air at incredible speed, finally making impact on the side of an Innutukian's breastplate.

The bolt didn't penetrate the armor fully, but merely stuck in the left side of the metal plate and constricted the soldier's movement. Dustin found himself mildly disappointed, but still glad his first shot had actually hit a target. Now to reload.

Dustin already had an inkling about how he would go about resetting the crossbow, given he'd watched so many military drills taking place at the garrison near the royal palace. He set the front of the weapon down on the rooftop and leveraged his foot in one of the limbs to brace it in place while he tugged the string back. The sheer tautness of the string surprised Dustin, and it forced him to struggle a good deal to set the line back on the catching mechanism midway down the weapon. With some gritting of teeth and strain of muscles, he succeeded, and then it was no difficult matter to slide a second bolt into place.

By the time Dustin reloaded the crossbow, Jude had fired four or so arrows, and Michelle had flung three stones. And they hadn't been the only ones unleashing weaponry on the galloping Innutukians either. The cavalrymen had suffered several losses, and their formation weakened each time. What had once been one cohesive cavalry charge now splintered into several smaller and therefore weaker units.

Dustin pulled the crossbow's trigger again. Not by any skill on his part, he hit an Innutukian straight in the jugular. When the bleeding warrior tumbled off his mount, he further forced his comrades around to slow down in order not to trip their own horses. The slower the Innutukians advanced, the more accurately the rebels could fire upon them.