Chapter List
Chapter Twenty-Two
We made it across the wet grass towards the darkened castle. That was when one of my fears came true. We suddenly felt the rain hit the back of our heads rather than the front. The wind had changed. Lightning struck in the distance and I could see the animal silhouettes pointing towards us and yelling something. We all stopped and we watched the castle door be lowered. Light shone out onto the field in front of us from the castle and out poured a large army of humans. I pulled out my sword and raised it into the air. I held onto the shield I had grabbed earlier and looked back at my army. They pulled out their sword, bows, and arrows, ready to fight. I had hoped this wouldn�t happen but also prepared for it. I watched as the humans lined themselves up near the castle.
�Bowman up!� I yelled out above the rain. Several animals with bows and arrows lined up behind other animals. The animals in front of them held up their shields, ready to protect the bowman from incoming arrows. I held up my shield to protect me and the bowman behind me, Anthony.
�Ready for this, Renard?� he asked me. I shook my head.
�Not really.� I laughed slightly. I heard him chuckle lightly behind me,
�Me neither, but I�ll do what I can.� He said. I smiled.
�You sound like me when I first joined the AFAS.�
�Great, now I�ll end up like you.� He said jokingly. I chuckled and let out a light sigh.
It all came very quick. Arrows from people on the sentry wall were suddenly bombarding us at once. I held my shield firm and growled lightly.
�Fire at the sentries!� I yelled out. Every bow moved upwards, aimed to hit the sentries on the walls. I felt many arrows hit my shield. One arrow hit so hard it went through most of the wood and I felt the tip touch my bare arm. Arrows started flying towards the walls of the castle. I saw many sentries fall down onto the wall and others fall off the wall, falling to their deaths. I turned my sword to face the castle and looked at it. I could see the human soldiers advancing towards us in the reflection.
�Fighters ready!� I called out. I knew that the arrows would stop being fired soon. The bowman stopped firing and moved backwards through the group.
�Good luck, Renard.� I heard Anthony say to me as he backed away to let the fighters towards the front.
The arrows soon stopped firing and I lowered my shield to see humans less than 20 yards from us. I held up my sword into the air, my mind going back to my first battle.
�FOR FREEDOM!!� I yelled out. There was a loud response behind me and we all run forward at once to meet the enemy. I was the first to begin fighting. My shield connected with a humans shield and I brought my sword vertically to my side, blocking his sword blade. I brought my knee up into the humans gut and fell him. I didn�t bother to kill him myself, others trampling over him would do that. I didn�t prefer to kill others anyway.
I fought on against every enemy that approached me. I could hear screams all around me, human and animal. I blocked them out and tried to fight my way towards the side of the mass of fighters. I had other plans. I turned in my heel and brought my sword up to deflect an attack. I looked at the attacking human as he pushed down on his sword. He was very strong and forced me to my knees as I pushed back on my sword. I took my sword in both hands, one hand on the hilt and the other on the back of the blade. I pushed back quickly; unaware this was what he was waiting for. As I pushed him off he twisted his sword downwards and brought it up towards my open gut. Suddenly he stopped and fell over, an arrow imbedded in his back. I blinked and looked past him to the edge of the forest. I saw Anthony standing there, lowering his bow. I smiled at him a thank you then continued on my way.
�Damien! Where are you?� I called out.
�Here!� I heard him yell back to me. I followed his voice, hitting enemies away with my shield. He was on the edge of the mass, fighting off an enemy. I brought my shield back then slammed it into his head, knocking him out cold. I looked up at Damien and he smirked at me.
�Not ready to get blood on that sword yet then?� he asked. I rolled my eyes.
�C�mon let�s move.� I said to him.
�Renard wait!� I heard from behind me. I turned and smiled as Fea ran up.
�Good timing, let�s go.� I said to her.
We made our way on the outside of the fighters towards the castle, leaving the battle behind us. We went up to the door of the castle and were immediately under attack by arrows from above. We all covered ourselves with our shields and ran inside. Once we were running we didn�t stop. We ran through the halls, luckily empty of guards. We turned a corner then froze. We stood in front of about twenty-five guards. This must by the way to the throne room� I thought to myself. I looked at Damien and Fea.
�Lets do this�� I said to them. They nodded and we charged right into the waiting guards. It took all of my combat skills to stop swords from coming at me at once. It was a hopeless attack but we had no other choice. We stayed back-to-back, blocking attacks from all angles. I swung the side of my sword against one human�s side and caused him to stumble over two other humans, becoming impaled on one of their swords.
My ears perked up as I heard Fea cry out in pain. I took a quick glance at her. She had fallen over with a stab wound in her arm. While looking away a guard brought his gauntlet against the back off my head. I fell over in pain and shook my head. Damien growled, seeing this, and brought his sword across the guard�s chest. He looked at me worriedly.
�Renard? Are you- Ahh!� I looked up as I saw a sword being pulled from his chest. My eyes widened as he dropped to the ground.
�Damien!� I yelled out. I tried to get to him but two guards seized me under my arms. I struggled against them furiously but it was no use. They grabbed hold of Fea and lifted her up. She also struggled against them before she was knocked out by a hit in the back of the head with a sword hilt.
�Silence beast!� the guard yelled. I looked over at Damien. He wasn�t moving. The guards started dragging us away. I kept my eyes on Damien. The friend I had always known and looked up to was gone�