Rebellion: Prince of Dawn

Chapter 1.3: End of the Rebellion

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DECAN LANCASTER

When I awoke the next morning, I was told that our forces had almost broken through the Iron Keep's main portcullis.

The Iron Keep had two parts to it. The first was a wall made of limestone a hundred and fifty feet high and twenty-five feet thick. This wall protected a hill where the actual castle sat.

"It'd be easier if you can just use jynx to simply open a wall for us to walk through," I jested with Salazar as we broke our fast.

"Too bad charms are put on buildings to prevent us jynxist from altering them."

"You can't even raise the ground to get us over the walls?"

"I can only do a small area on the ground that will hold ten soldiers at best. Besides, raising the ground wears out my gates and I'd rather wear it out during the inevitable fight with your father."

"What about the other jynxists we have? We have about seven others excluding you. If you work together to raise the ground, how many soldiers will you be able to carry over the castle walls?"

"I'd say around forty men."

"That's sufficient. When we break through the main portcullis, do exactly that. They'll focus all of their power on protecting that choke point. We'll put all of their attention on us so you can attack them from above and break their formation."

"That's a decent plan."

"Also, have Beorn warg into any nearby animals to try and locate where the ritual is taking place."

"His hawk was shot down this morning. Any animal that gets close to the walls is killed. They've executed all of their carrier pigeons and royal pets. It's as if they were expecting a warg."

"That's brutal. Those animals would've died for nothing if we had none." I took a bite from the bread. "How about rats? They can try to kill them, but they'll never get them all."

"Rats are hidden, Beorn's gotta be close to warg into one."

"That makes it that then. You'll take the jynxists and forty men and ascend the walls. Beorn will stay with the rest of us."

When our men finally broke down the portcullis, the entrance it was protecting was bombarded with arrows and firebombs. The arrows were easy enough to hide from, but the flames were problematic and would burn anyone who was standing close to the gate.

The seven jynxists levitated water from the moat before Salazar took control, shaping it into a serpent-like dragon that danced through the gate and exploded into steam, nullifying the flames.

"Your flame powers are useless when you're wet, Isaac the Torcher," Salazar taunted. "Run away to your king."

Salazar went to his battalion and, with the seven other jynxists with him, raised the ground to ascend the walls as if it was a lift. "From the strength of the earth, rise with divine power and alter the land. Earth Pillar!"

With the main entrance and the fire mage drenched in water, we advanced through the choke point with myself in the lead.

I was so confident in my abilities as a swordsman that, whenever I fought in battle, I wore no armour except for a harness that shielded my arms and shoulders. My fate in the field was linked to my sword and if I lost the ability to carry one, I was nothing but a dead man walking on borrowed time.

A soldier charged at me, the tip of his sword clearly aimed at my chest.

I unsheathed Thorn, using its scabbard to sheath the charging soldier's sword and ripping his weapon from him.