❝𝘼 𝙈𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙎𝙠𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙖❞

Chapter 21: A Hopeless Battle

Halt's outward appearance was completely emotionless as he let fly arrow after arrow, accurately taking out repeatedly that one man at the frontmost of the rams, the one taking the most weight. There was, however, a swarm of men close around the two rams, ready to leapt forward each time one of them fell, and the arrows did very little save to methodically take one man out every time either of the rams came away from the gates.

But then, the gates of the capital of a kingdom of warriors were not easy to break. The gates were still solidly holding out against the double ramming, and the Skandians, for the most part, were beginning to find themselves bored, as there was no hand-to-hand combat as yet. Something at the back of his mind gnawed at Halt, as things seem to be less urgent than he would otherwise have anticipated. A little voice kept reminding him that the Temujai were cunning enemies, and that they would have a better plan than simply knocking so uselessly against the gates, especially when these has shown no signs of weakening.

Halt tried hard to focus his mind and bring himself to realize what that small thought at the edge of his conscience was, but found it hard to keep his mind on much other than the rhythmic thrumming of his own bow as he rent all his despair into that one action of vengeance. Very distantly, he heard the murmurs of the greater part of the Skandians complaining at the dullness of the battle, while another part, the younger and less experienced, gripped their axes and spears nervously.

This isn't right, there's something going on! The voice insisted again in his brain, causing his head to swim. To his everlasting dismay, one of his arrows went awry and thudded into one of the rams.

Halt stopped shooting immediately. It was never normal when a Ranger misses his mark, and he knew that this is when he must stop and force himself to not lose his sanity.

The murmur of voices died around him abruptly.

"Halt?" A jarl said at last. "Are you alright?"

Halt said nothing, shutting his eyes in an effort to clear his mind. Just then, a scream rang out from a distance, followed by a sudden crescendo of voices all around them.

Forcing himself to the present, Halt raised his head and looked around.

He did not even get to ask.

"Ranger!" A young Skandian that he did not even recognize pushed his way to the front of the people squeezing around him, wanting to know what is happening. "The Temujai have crossed around to the back and are pouring over the walls! The scaled the walls using ropes and—"

He did not get much farther. The clamor around them grew until Halt felt as though his brain might burst at any minute, but he raised his voice suddenly and shouted a loud, "SILENCE!!!"

At once, the entire battlements around them fell into dead silence. None of them had ever heard a Ranger using such an authoritative voice, and the momentary shock of it froze them in place. From around the main city buildings, they could now vaguely hear the sounds of shouting and fighting from the other side of the walls.

"Gundar," Halt said to the jarl closest to him, "You and your men will stay here and guard this side. You must inform me at top speed if anything happens, or if the gates begin to give. The rest of you, come with me."

As he led the men in a brisk run around the battlements to the other side, where the walls had been breached, Halt felt as though a stone had settled into his being. So this was what he had missed. On a normal day, he knew, he would have guessed it much earlier. Now, that distraction will most likely lead to an even quicker end for Skandia.

Strangely, it seemed to him as though no emotion conveyed itself in his mind, as if his heart had frozen into ice, and cannot be touched or healed. He only felt a very faraway sense of regret that he may never see either his wife or his apprentice ever again, yet there was no sorrow, no pain, only a hollow nothingness.

There was no hope left for them, he knew. Skandia will fall, and with that fall, so also will Araluen, the country that he called his own and had grown to love, though it was not where he was born. 

An arrow left his bow, singing the death song of the first man he sighted around the corner. As that arrow slammed into his target, a Skandian beside him fell also, as though in reflection, by a Temujai arrow. And that one second slammed to reality the despair that had entered Halt's heart and soul.

They were dying. And there was nothing they could do but embrace it.

>>>———>

"Erak!!! Stop this right now!" Alaric roared straight into the Oberjarl's ears. It had taken him what seemed like an age to fight his way into the middle of the fight, where Erak was currently fighting like a mad man. "Listen to me, Hallasholm needs us!! We need to get out of here, now when those cursed Kaijin aren't targeting us."

Erak grunted without responding, his focus still too set on the Temujai in front of him.

"ERAK!!!!!!!!" If he had had the hands to do it, Alaric thought he could have cheerfully slapped the Oberjarl of Skandia.

Erak started, as one coming out of a trance, and gave the Araluen knight a sharp glance. "What?!" He asked, his voice irritated.

"Hallasholm. Needs. Men. It. Needs. Us. NOW."

"Hallasholm?"

"Yes. Erak, snap out of it." Alaric spared approximately one second to reflect on the fact that he now felt absolutely nothing while telling off the ruler of a whole kingdom. "You need to think of your entire country first, not your blood lust!"

Erak was silent for many minutes, struggling against the Temujai, but slowly giving ground in front of them. At last, he was beside his herald, and he shouted in his ear, "Sound the retreat!"

"The WHAT?!" The man returned, incredulous.

"You heard what I said. Sound the retreat. We go back to Hallasholm."

Shaking his head disapprovingly, the man did as he was told. Throughout the ranks of the Skandians surviving, loud murmurs of protest rose up, but when the command body around Erak began to full-out retreat, they were forced to follow them.

"Follow me! We rally at the gates of Hallasholm!" Erak bellowed, then turned completely and simply ran from the Temujai camp. Beside him the entire time, Alaric ran with the same untiring energy. He saw plainly the pain in Erak's face for having to turn tail and run away from battle in front of all his best warriors, but with that, he saw what it meant to truly be a leader, one who would sacrifice his own desires for the good of his people. 

A/N: Yayyyy I'm back at last! Did you miss me?😜 Forgive me, but I'm almost falling asleep (for reasons of my own and not because of anything related to the story itself) as I publish this so there may or may not be mistakes...still pls don't forget to vote and comment~