Legends: The Knight of Helm (#1)

Chapter 34

Nerus rode quickly with haste. Along beside him, with the raining weather were twenty knights, and a hundred soldiers. These numbers were nothing compared to what the enemy would throw against them. This fatal filled battle was one to decide the existence of Helm. If they lost this battle, then they would be living on borrowed time. To believe it had almost been a year sense Helm's fall. Nerus was shocked, it had felt closer to three years, but they now approached the winter months, and while little snow fell in Helm's lands, rain would pour more often, causing ice to form at the cracks, crevasses and shaded areas of the land.

The horses trotted against the cold hard ground as the wet soldiers pressed forward through the plains, trees and valleys. They were choked by the mountains on both sides, there was no where they could run, and they couldn't even get in contact with Dechoneus, their only ally. They were truly damned.

Upon the following day, Nerus entered Fort Crown. Lennix had been left in Fort Dawn, now representing more of a village than a fort. Helm's recover was slow, especially given their limited space, and constant loss of land. These were reasons why they had limited soldiers holding Fort Crown. They had few people, and were trying to hold out just a while longer. Their deaths were inevitable, but it wouldn't stop them from trying. Volohs, after all these years, had finally bested them.

Nerus rushed to the wall, looking over his men, as his twenty knights took position. The torches could be seen a mile off. Luckily, there were few Ommart, perhaps only one hundred compared to the other thousand or so, men. This was a losing battle, but Nerus Was willing to give it his all.

He could only imagine the old Ommart, quizzaciously in his cell. It bothered him that they had to keep such scum around, yet it was the only way, only chance, to win the war. Perhaps the snow white being would say something of worth for Helm's unlikely victory, though Nerus knew that situation was slim to none.

"Can you see them General, the men, and the devils out on the horizon?" the soldier inquired.

"Indeed, have the men each reached their positions?" the general asked the young knight.

"Of course, we follow your orders." The young knight responded, fear evident in his eyes.

Nerus nodded as he readied the archers. Each man stood at guard watching slowly as their doom moved closer and closer. The torches slowly faded along with the night sky, as the sun began to rise. Nerus grabbed the war horn of helm, giving out a loud noise with a single mighty breath. The enemy began to fall into range of their arrows, and the knights began to fire their arrows. On the sounding of the second horn, the ambush was to be sprung, the men waiting in the bushes and cover of the forest, trees and brush. This was it; this would decide Helm's fate.

Nerus began to tense as he pulled back his ninety pound bow, launching the deadly arrows into the enemy. The long slender arrows flew through the air, as the force of the bow multiplied the arrow's lethality. He began to breathe more fluently, striving to keep his calm. He could feel the pressure of his helmet on his head, as he launched another arrow into the distance. Against their steel plates, the arrows did little damage, slamming and reflecting of the surface; a lucky few sliding between the crevasses of the armor.

The women soldiers of the Ommarts where in front, taking the blunt of the arrows, because of their thick armor. The male Ommart lifted their shields above their heads, and ran at past with the women, some even gave return fire as they crossed the three bridges Nerus had built.

The general had decided to take Lennix's advice and build a choking point. His other soldiers were waiting to take on the incoming forces. They were hidden behind the foil of the area, and painted their armor to disguise themselves. They were trying to be as discreet as possible as the men watched the hundreds of men and Ommart cross the bridge.