Age of the Dragon 1: Return of the Riders

Chapter 20

The change came suddenly. A certain kind of electricity in the air that danced along Fallyn's skin, invigorating her. She pulled herself up from her meditative pose. Bow taught and ready, she watched the opening of the tunnel mouth, waiting for movement.

"I hear them!" a soldier cried.

Tension ran through the ranks, weapons held ready. Dark shapes boiled in the darkness, and Fallyn took aim, waiting. A signal was sent, and the barrels of the boiling pitch were turned over onto the Urgals. Their screams of agony sounded over the battle cries, and Fallyn loosed her arrow with a whispered "brisingr" which lit the end on fire. The arrow found its mark, and flames ignited with the pitch, turning the Urgals into a source of morbid light, exposing the rest for the soldiers to see.

Across the way, at the two other openings, a similar inferno devoured the Urgals spilling through there.

Once the Urgals were able to bypass the wall of flame, they surged forward as a single wall of shields and flesh, and the archers pulled their bows taught from behind their palisades. At the order, their arrows were loosed, and Fallyn calmly guided her arrows to their marks. The lines wavered but did not break. A second volley was loosed, and Fallyn noted a hole in the shield wall that she took full advantage of. But still, the ranks surged forward.

Horns sounded through the mountain, and savage war cries mingled with the baleful notes.

Fallyn turned to the soldiers beside her, some pale-faced and shaking.

"Have heart, shemlen," she said. "In War, Victory!"

She raised her fist into the air, her cry echoed by the heartened soldiers, as spears thumped a savage beat in response to the monsters encroaching on them.

The Urgal horde crashed against the rows of stakes, covering them with slick blood and limp corpses as the vanguard was crushed against the posts. Fallyn noted a swarm of black arrows arching towards them, and with an order, the Varden pulled up shields to defend against the biting arrows. Fallyn threw her hand up, and with a few choice words, the arrows turned to ash and fell harmlessly around her.

A pause and the Urgals renewed their fury as they surged forward again. The next line of defence being rows of pikemen, who held valiantly before they too were overwhelmed by the bloodthirsty horde. As the forces clashed, Fallyn switched seamlessly to her sword and leapt forward. Her dark sword hungrily cut into her enemies, who fell before her.

Blood pumping and heart pounding, it had been too long since Fallyn had felt this alive. Like a whirlwind of death, she cut through the Urgals around her, using some as springboards to drive her blade into the large Kull and bring them down. Fallyn turned slightly, noting that Saphira was struggling against a group of Urgals with spears and pikes, and turned to cut her way towards the dragon. At the dragon's side, she cut down the surprised Urgals, as Eragon leapt from Tornac's back to deal death to a large Kull that had been trying to take out one of Saphira's eyes. He then remounted the dragon, and Murtagh held a hand out to Fallyn. She swung up behind him, switching to her bow as they charged into the battle again.

Fallyn did not need to be in the air to recognise that the battle was going poorly. When Saphira's pained growl echoed over the sound of battle, Fallyn looked to see the dragon unsteadily flying back to the stone city.

It was not looking good, but still... Fallyn wasn't going down easy.

Sliding from Tornac, she began carving her way through the Urgals. She had one more trick... but it would be too dangerous to unleash at this point.

Perhaps if she was the last one standing, that would be the method with which she would go to join those she loved.

The battle continued to rage on, and Fallyn soon found herself being pulled back onto Murtagh's horse, as a boom echoed from inside Tronjheim. Moments after that, chaos ran through the Urgal ranks as they began to turn on each other and retreat.

"What the..." Murtagh watched in confused awe.

"Murtagh, we need to get back to the city, now," Fallyn said, squeezing his shoulder. "I think we'll find the answer there."