Author Games Magi: Eriswen Faervel

Task Five: Siege

The castle loomed in front of us, its tall, andesite-stone walls formidable and dreary in contrast to the setting sun that cast a golden glow around the outline of the castle. Ravens circled the tall towers, swooping down occasionally to grab something before quickly leaving again.

A belt with assorted knives lay beside me, and I buckled it on, following it two sets of lock picks, which I slid into my socks for later use. Then, with a heavy sigh, I got down from the cart I'd ridden in and caught up with some of the other Magi. Aelia cast a glance over her shoulder at me, and I smiled at her wearily. She grinned back, looking a lot more alive than I probably did.

"How are you holding up?" she asked as I fell into step beside her.

"I'm okay, I guess. I could use a nice bath and a break from everything," I replied.

She nodded, understanding flashing across her face. "When we finish things here, you should be able to get your break."

I huffed out a laugh. "I don't think I'll be getting any real rest for a long time," I told her wryly.

She shook her head. "It isn't healthy, Eris. You need your sleep more than ever now, and you're getting less and less as things escalate."

As much as I appreciated her concern, I didn't want her worried about me. It would forever plague me if I found out that she had died because she was too focused on worrying about me. "Don't worry about me, Aelia. I'll be fine. I'm used to operating on low energy, and I did get a decent amount of sleep on the way here. My energy levels are a lot higher now," I said.

In truth, my energy levels were halfway full at best. I hadn't slept well, and I'd been too busy trying to plan how to get into the castle to spend much time trying. Hopefully, though, I would have enough energy to get over the acid moat and past the walls without touching them.

A pang went through me as I looked up at the beautiful, golden sunset again. I'm doing this for you, Ionean. Hopefully, wherever his soul was resting, he would hear me and understand. When a small measure of peace flooded through me, I knew he was still out there, waiting for me to join him. Maybe I would join him soon, but I couldn't let it happen until I'd managed to get his family out.

Aelia touched my arm. "We're going in, right?" she asked.

I frowned a little and looked at the castle walls, remembering all of the information that Kyren had given me. Getting over the wall and moat would be a breeze compared to everything else that stood between me and the only ones I had left to call family. Aelia's presence would definitely help to even the odds out, but the death hounds still bothered me. We'd have to give them a wide berth.

"Definitely. Follow my lead. I've got an idea." It had slowly been formulating in my mind and I worked to develop it as I slipped away from the army and across the barren fields leading to the castle.

"What have we got to work with?" she asked.

"I've got my shields, but they won't help further in. I managed to grab a belt of assorted knives which will be useful, and I can use hand to hand combat if I need to. Also, I can unlock the chains with my lock picks too, but it might take a while, because I'm not that good at it. You?"

She motioned to the belt around her waist. It held several throwing knives. A bow was slung across her back as well, along with a quiver of arrows. "This, my bow, and my Magic," she said.

I nodded. "It's not much, but it should work. We can't be seen or detected, though, or else we're going to end up getting everyone killed."

Someone cleared his throat behind us, and I turned to see Mordzar striding up to us. "What are you two doing?"