Nightingale

Chapter XXIII

P A R T O N E

Empress Nightingale

The catapults continued throwing their bombs toward the Ronian army as more and more soldiers appeared from an arriving ship.

Upon the tower, Beowulf commands his men.

"Sir!" a Maodrian soldier rushes to the imperial general, "We are almost out of artillery! Permission for ground soldiers to attack?"

"Granted," Beowulf nods.

Running to the tower's horn, the Maodrian soldier blows into the massive instrument. The sound travels across the palace's complex and soon Maodrian soldiers race onto the battlefield. Beowulf watches as the enemy soldiers collide with his men.

Suddenly a nearby catapult explodes and a cannonball is shot through the tower. Several men are thrown back by the powerful blow.

"What was that?" Beowulf asked aloud.

Crossing the rocky terrains that sprouted from the waters of the ocean, more Ronian soldiers remain close to the ground as they inch towards land. Beowulf watched through his telescope with narrowed brows. He glances towards the beach and finds several open ports along the ships' sides. The enemy was armed with cannons. "Stay low!" Beowulf warns. He changes his order and shouts into the horn, "Catapults, aim for the ships!"

In unison, the soldiers all turn their catapults away from the battlefield and towards the ocean.

"Ready!" Beowulf calls out, "Aim! Fire!"

Hastily, all soldiers light the flames of the ropes tightened around the metal of hanging unlit torches. The fire trail across the long fuse to the ends of the bombshells. In an instant red powder explodes from the paper, pouring its content on the unsuspecting men on the ships. Releasing screeches of war, the Ronian army is unaware of the other series of bombs that floated towards them like miniature kites.

"Weapon change, now!" Beowulf shouts through the horns.

All soldiers at the catapults carried large artillery. Lighting them aflame, they through the weapon into the air, watching as more powder forms against the blue sky. Some bombs even collided against the Ronian's cannonballs.

A cannonball collides with the tower's wall, causing the castle to shake. The impact of the explosion causes many of the soldiers beside Beowulf to be shaken.

"Sir," a captain of the guards approaches Beowulf, "The men on ground are struggling to hold back the Ronian army. More men seemed to have appeared!"

"Captain," Beowulf turns to a soldier, "Keep the catapults aimed at the ships."

Beowulf darts toward the nearest banner that held a small kite. He jumps off the broken edge of the roof and grips the yellow cloth. The metal that held the sign breaks from the stone wall and Beowulf began to glide through the air. However, a Ronian soldier from inside the palace notices the general from a nearby balcony. The soldier races out and leaps onto the lower end of Beowulf's banner.

Beowulf lands on the battlefield, but the Ronian soldier tackles Beowulf to the ground. It began to be a wrestling match between the pair as the Ronian guard tackles Beowulf to the group. The two men began to roll across the group as they gripped each other. The guard leans over Beowulf and began to choke him. Beowulf gasps for air. Quickly, he digs his heels into the guard's chest and flings him off.