The Fifth Beast (ManxMan Chinese/Celtic Fantasy Story)

Chapter 44

The Kirinches arced their arrows high overhead, and most of the arrows of the first volley got over the ramparts and found good targets — a sheaf of hay lying forgotten at the wall, the wooden roof of the stable (just recently repaired!), the boardwalk of the courtyard, and so on. Many of them went out at once: the rainy season had not yet ended, and everything was wet. But in several places fires began, and shadows with buckets started flickering to and fro.

Demons take the damned barbarians with their long-range bows! Niall recalled the Kirinches' bows that he had seen plenty of times during his journey, but never in action. They weren't long yew ones, like those of the Tuaths, made from one piece of wood, but short composite ones, with one or even two curves, made from several pieces of horns, bones, wood soaked in water, wrapped by strips of tarred leather.

Finn the slave certainly couldn't touch a Kirinch warrior's bow, let alone try to draw it. But Niall Mac Nechtan should have suspected that such a bow clearly had more range and power! Idiot, he had seen Kirinches wear thumb rings, copper, bronze or jade ones, but he never asked why, thinking it just a barbaric piece of jewelry. Meanwhile, it was an archer's ring, which helped to pull a tight bowstring and not cut one's fingers in the process!

Alas, this wasn't the time and the place to curse his stupidity, especially since the situation could still be saved. Niall took a deep breath and deployed his shield of lightning.

It was nice to see that here too, his skill had improved. Now he could cover not only himself with the shield of lightning, but also a dozen of his archers. More even, if he made the shield thinner and wider. He didn't need to bring down a rider along with his horse; he only needed to stop a rather light arrow. There was one drawback: the shield of lightning glowed quite noticeably in the dark, and its edge was visible.

He accessed the situation, accelerated and ran up the ramparts, behind which there were more wooden buildings. He ordered servants with buckets to gather on the other side of the courtyard and immediately put out everything that had caught fire. He placed the archers on both sides of himself, covered them from above with the shield of lightning and ordered them to shoot at the fires in the trenches. The barbarians were covered too, of course, with their wooden fences and shields; but the arrows had to be somehow set on fire, and there were torches burning in the trenches, shadows moved, cracks in the fences glowed, and the Tuaths' arrows found their targets more often than not.

The next few flaming volleys did little damage to Sliabh Mis Castle. Niall lost a dozen servants and archers, but the Kirinches lost many more. The attack died out.

The exhausted archers lay down to sleep side by side right on the ramparts. Even Niall felt tired: the shield of lightning was a difficult, costly spell, especially if deployed over such a large area. He rubbed his eyes, ran his palm over his face, and it came back black with soot. Lord of Lightning Niall Mac Nechtan must have been a sight to behold: sweaty, dirty, and soot-covered like a chimney-sweep! He really, really wanted to strip off his heavy chain mail and armor, to wash and stretch out on a soft bed.

However, he didn't feel like sleeping. Blood still run hot in his veins, despite the fatigue. Before, he had never been in a real battle, never defended his lands from an enemy, never drew so much magic from his element. He felt something akin to gratitude towards Fao for this ridiculous raid. It was nice to feel like a rather capable commander. He did not disgrace the title of the Steward of the North! Should he, maybe, arrange a sortie outside the gates at dawn? He would take the barbarians, tired of the night attack, by surprise, fill those accursed trenches with blood and bodies. Pity that the Yuizhen of the Kirinches most probably wasn't present at the site of the night attack — hiding in the dark, shooting from afar didn't fit Fao's character, as far as Niall understood him. No, Faolan Three Swords would join the fight only at the very gates of Sliabh Mis, face to face with the enemy.