The Siege

A low, long howl woke Bard. It wasn’t inside, but outside. Sen was up with a flurry. With practiced movements, they too found their gear and readied themselves. Jamil was out, while Kihana and her guards lagged behind.

“What is it?” she moaned, yawning halfway through.

“Shades. A swarm.” Bard answered, moving to the south side of the house and turning the lanterns in and grabbing the few high grade sunstones he had left out. They glowed bright, causing him to squint before he partially covered them and moved to the door. Kai was waiting outside, practically all nerves. The numbers were far larger this time. He could feel them, sense them. His tokens hummed, and the forest was already moving.

While Sen hurried up, he checked the sky. No storm shades yet. A little blessing. Kihana was next to him, seemingly more alert, before she took to the sky with her warriors. Bard was curious and eager to see what they would do. He climbed on Kai and Jamil followed.

Kai was off, weaving between the buildings. Silver fur glinted against the growing lights. The town woke.

More people gathered at the walls, with lanterns and trees. Three of the Elders broke through and came around to guard the wall. Kai got them to the wall and they climbed the ladders. Jamil was up first and helped Sen. Bard got up and looked out at the hoards.

Their glowing red or white eyes shifted, undulated. Bard shifted uncomfortably, his stomach forming knots. There were more shades than when they defended Holger’s village.

“Chief!” a commander of the guards appeared, bowing as he came near.

“Are the fires and riffles ready?” Bard asked.

“Ready and waiting.”

“Let them begin the attack when they reach Plinteth’s hill,” he said.

“I’ll take it from there, Bard,” Amir said, coming over. Bard sighed in relief. He still didn’t like ordering others around in battle. Especially since his best tactic was to be playing his instruments with the Elders. Guiding them.

Kihana flew up, surprising many, and landed next to Bard.

“We’ll help too,” she said and Amir was suspicious, but with the growing size of the hoard, any help would be welcome.

Those with tokens began to organize themselves into three groups, ready to fight but allowing them to get rest.

Elvira had the medical supplies brought out while Bard tuned his violin. The wind picked up, but not a cloud was visible against the shattered moon and stars of the night.

At once, the Shades charged and a blast went off from a riffle, lighting oil pits into rolling blazes. The shades nearby shrieked before fading. Sen led the archers to attack as they broke past.

The shades as they neared the light took on their corporeal form, and Bard watched as the trees climbed over the stony wall and engaged with them. Bard began to play, helping boost the song of the Elders present. He felt the tokens about his neck hum to life and join his tune.

As the shades gained ground, Bard noticed that some did seem more immune to the lights, and they made steady progress towards them. He motioned to Sen, and she followed his line of sight. She had her archers attack them, and they shifted to incorporeal, the arrows passing harmlessly through. Suddenly, the arrows lit, and the shades screeched before becoming corporeal again. Sen didn’t give them much chance to recover, as another round of arrows struck true. Bard inwardly cheered. Their theory that shades near light would choose to stay in their physical form was true. It meant that light was more dangerous to them when they were incorporeal.

With that, Amir led some warriors out to attack. They had sunstones mounted to them, keeping the shades in their physical forms, so their attacks could land. As more and more became injured, Bard signaled with his song for the Elders to increase the volume. They did so rapidly, and the shades screeched as they hastily tried to retreat. Only a few made it out, while those within the song’s reach burst. One of the groups raced out of the city and retrieved the injured, bringing them back inside, where Elvira and her teams got to work. The retrievers were ready to begin the next stage, while those who were resting prepared to enter the battlefield. Those who had just fought, rested.

The trees also rotated through their ranks.

The only ones who wouldn’t get a break were the leaders, Bard, Sen, and the three Elders.

Hours passed and Bard was sure that they had slain several thousand, but the hoard showed no signs of slowing. Their pace kept Bard on the defensive, trying to keep track of all edges of the wall.

Suddenly, a small group of shades broke through and scaled the wall. Their forms stayed corporeal, and the lights on top of the wall did seem to do damage, but they easily attacked the archers and the sunstones. Bard had the elders spike their volume, and it drove them back, but he was shocked that the shades didn’t burst.

Kihana’s warning had proven true. While those shades retreated, Kihana and her fifty warriors took to the skies and gave chase. Their wings of light made several of the weak shades die from exposure, and they engaged with the few strong shades before retreating and flying in again and again. They picked off their numbers, using the light of their wings to force them to stay corporeal. Bard had the Elders become quieter, and the shades came in again. If they sang too much, and the shades showed up the next night, then it would be problematic. Best to take some injuries and preserve their strength.

Reflective materials were brought to the walls, and Sen had the carriers direct the light from the sunstones into the hoard, causing massive damage.

Hours passed, with the song growing in strength and then waning when they wanted the shades closer. Bard took note of the growing injured. Elvira was busy, and so far they were holding well enough.

Kai howled and Bard felt a shiver run up his spine. He looked out at the hoard and saw glowing blue eyes. The Harbinger was present. Bard had the Elder’s increase their volume. This was one, they could not let close. As he panicked, the pattern faltered and the shades were driven back. Bard watched with battered hands, struggling to play. The warriors around looked confused until Kihana took flight and realized why Bard had changed tactics. She alighted next to him.

“The harbinger?” She asked. Bard silently confirmed. She took to the skies ahead and relayed the information to Amir and the commanders. They gathered everyone to the walls, opting for more long range tactics, with close range as the main tactic.

The blue-eyed shade rose up and howled. Bard watched the shades retreat, confusing him. He had the Elder’s relax their song, but as soon as they did, the shades charged forwards. The archers and gunners drove off what they could, but the shades came close, too close. Especially the stronger ones. Bard increased the volume, and the shades retreated. Far fewer were bursting to the songs of the Elders, and Bard’s stomach dropped.

Sen sang, giving orders to the trees of the silver woods and their dryads. They climbed the wall and began attacking the shades on the fields. Retreating when the song got quieter and giving chase when the shades retreated. It was a sound strategy, but Sen’s song faltered during one of the patterns.

“Bard!” Amir shouted. Kihana flew out with her warriors, and they protected the tree while Bard hastily played louder again. The shades attacked, and she was brought back safe, but the tree had dark scars where it was attacked. Amir held Sen close while she muttered apologies. Bard focused and had the others keep their pattern, whittling down the forces of the shades. Harbinger never charged, but his presence made the Shades change tactics multiple times.

The night finally drew to an end, and those who were inside and hadn’t participated in the fight were met with the shocking sight.

This had been the first large scale fight against the shades. They had little skirmishes, but nothing of this scope. Some of the brave warriors had perished. Of the fifteen hundred fighters, about two hundred were injured and of that, around fifteen had already passed on. Forty others were in dire circumstances, teetering on the brink of death.

Bard’s hand clenched. This was less than ideal, but far better than when they had fought with the shades in the silver woods. Over half of Sen’s people had perished back then.

Several came over and thanked him for playing. Their tokens had responded and kept the shades from attacking them as much. Most turned in for some sleep. Elwood came. Bard asked where he had been hiding. Elwood had felt the presence of the Shades and knew the fight would be long, so he stayed asleep to manage things when the suns reappeared. The last thing they needed was problems in the day and no one to direct the others. He had also asked Ruegar to wait it out.

Bard was also shocked to See Ruegar alert and rested.

“I set up da rifflemen, but returned back to me bed,” Ruegar commented, dispelling any confusion.

As Bard began to walk back to the house, seeing the warriors returning to their beds, he stretched and was grateful he had reliable people around him. He, Sen, and Kihana returned to the house. Jamil organized the catfolk merchants and did trade before returning to bed about halfway through the day.

They rested without incident, and returned the next night to the battlefield.

Bard gritted his teeth. Harbinger wasn’t here tonight, but those shades that could tolerate the light were out in force. They still kept to their corporeal forms in light, but even with their successful tactics the other night, this was a different beast.

“Bard!” Sen shouted as a group broke out and climbed the wall towards him. Facing these fiends, he felt like a sitting duck. He wanted to reach for his tokens, but he was using the fiddle tonight to better mesh with the three Elders who came to the walls. Their songs grew in volume and Bard could sense the tokens echo the melody, even more clearly than normal.

Sen was running towards him as he pulled on the bow and directed the trees to sing louder. The sound increased in a single note, and the beasts that were about to strike shrieked and backed off. Bard barely breathed a sigh of relief as Sen came up to hm.

“You aren’t hurt?” she asked rushedly as she began to inspect him while he played.

“I’m fine,” he said, grateful he didn’t have the flutes tonight.

“What a relief,” Sen sighed. Her face grew solemn as she looked at the retreating shades as Kihana and her Seraphos warriors. One of them went down as her wing was struck, and Bard quickly asked for more volume from the elders. The song, however, didn’t reach and Kihana dived to retrieve her comrade from the piling hoard. The other Seraphos protected them as they returned. Kihana deposited the injured with Elvira before she moved her hands strangely and began to heal their wounds. The sunstones flickered near them and the Shades swelled.

Bard kept playing, the one thing he could do, but the sunstones shouldn’t have done that. Fear began to cling to his heart as the battle dragged on. More Shades came at them, many dying to the strength of the song. Bard lowered the volume again and allowed them near. The lights flickered again and he hesitated. Just what was happening?

Some of the shades came at him and Sen sung, commanding a nearby tree to help protect them. Jamil also came over and began slashing at the shades with his blades.

“A little late,” Bard commented. A jab.

“Sorry. Someone had to keep those greedy merchants from leaving. The roads are too dangerous right now,” he responded. A quick nod to Sen and the two began to work in step with one another. Bard was obviously a target tonight.

The battle ended as the first lights appeared and the shades scattered. Bard could only imagine what would happen if a storm shade came.

The next night would answer that.