Branchwater

From Branchwater – Chapter 8 Branch was inside the siege tower, at the top of the highest stair, trying his best to stem the flow of enemy troops that were pouring onto the wall. A group of about forty sentries were swarming the tower as well, some of them protecting him as he defended the stair, others trying to break the bridge free of the tower so that no more of the enemy could cross. The tower was built like a scaffold, and while Branch forbade access by way of its stairs, members of the First Army started climbing up its walls. The sentries were fighting as best they could, but were slowly becoming out numbered. This was the group of sentries who were defending that specific part of the wall that the tower had so unabashedly decided to impose itself upon. Everyone else who was on the wall was having ladders shoved up in front of them almost constantly and so it was everybody for themselves. Arrows whizzed by Branch’s head, barely missing him but catching a few of the sentries. Cries faded away as men fell from the tower. “Everybody stay low!” Branch shouted over the clang of weapons and armor, even though it was impossible to crouch down and stay there while in the middle of a swordfight. “How’s that bridge coming?” “It’s sturdily built, we’re not able to simply rip it apart!” A soldier shouted back. “We’ve sent a few men for torches. We’ll just set this whole tower ablaze!” “Sounds like fun!” Branch shouted back as he clubbed another man with his tracma. “Let me know when to jump off!” * * * * He knew he shouldn’t have done it. But he had. Branch was one floor lower than everybody else. Everybody else, that is, except for scads of First soldiers. He realized now that it must have been a trap, how the stairs had cleared up for a moment or two and there hadn’t seemed to be any more of them below. He had been stupid enough to descend and now he was cut off from the remaining sentries up top. He could hear them yelling his name, calling to him. There were even more of the enemy scaling the walls by now, and his comrades had their hands full. He was moving faster than he had ever thought possible. He maimed here, so he could kill there, so that he could decapitate this guy and then slice open the one behind him. As he fought, he remarkably had time to wonder at how easily he went through the motions, as though he had been fighting his whole life. Then he smelt smoke. Branch glanced up just long enough for the flicker of flame to catch his eye, looking back down just in time to block a blow that would have taken off his head. “Oh, not good.” He said to himself, burying the spike of his tracma in the kneecap of the man who would have cut his head off. “This is not good, hey!” He tried to call out to anyone who might have been above, but no one could hear him over the increasing crackling of the flames and the sounds of battle. He tried to make his way back to the stairs but there seemed to be one foe after another blocking his way. The supports holding up the roof of the tower weakened and crashed down onto the floor, setting aflame what was the ceiling for Branch. He could no longer tell if there were any friendly soldiers above him, but he didn’t expect there to be. Idiots! How could they forget about me? They probably just thought that I’d been killed. * * * * Branch tripped and fell backward over one of the numerous dead bodies littering the floor. He had only about three seconds to save himself from the blow that would kill him. The first two seconds he was stunned, exhaustion suddenly hitting him. It took him the third second to locate the screaming man with the short sword who would kill him, who was too close to stop now. It was most fortunate that Hugo appeared out of nowhere and cut off the attacker’s arm just as the fourth second was about to begin. “Hugo!” “Come on, Branch! Get up!” All of the surrounding First soldiers had paused as the second mantlik made his appearance. Now they closed in again as Branch jumped to his feet. With a yell, both mantliks charged for the stairs, cutting down blue-clad enemies as they went. Hugo swung with all his might, cutting a path towards their escape while Branch fended off all who chased after them. “We’re through!” Hugo yelled, as the last enemy soldier between him and the stairs fell dead. He leaped up the bottom three steps and turned to wait for Branch. Flaming beams began to crack and hang down from the ceiling, reaching for the floor. Their escape route was burning up fast. “Branch, come on!” The older mantlik sunk the hook end of his tracma into the foot of the closest foe. Pulling back sharply he yanked the man’s foot out from under him. With a scream the man went down and the ones behind him stumbled and fell. Branch sped up the stairs. As the two companions reached the top of the steps they saw three things all at once. First, the ceiling was developing holes due to the flames, and the pieces of wood that had previously occupied those holes were now raining down, flaming obstacles to be dodged. Second, the floor was also developing similar holes, which seriously compromised the structural integrity of said floor. And third, the bridge leading back to safety was suffering from much the same condition as the floor. They ran. Avoiding holes and weaving around flames, they raced towards the crumbling wooden bridge. If they had listened, they would have heard screams from below, of anger, terror and pain. The First Army was abandoning the tower and there was a mad dash to get off. Branch and Hugo ran over the burning embers, their shoes catching fire. One wrong step and their feet would punch through the wood, sending them to their deaths. Metal was being twisted, making a horrible screeching sound as the top half of the tower began to weaken, swaying and pulling against the metal braces. The top floor had almost collapsed when the floor right beneath it did. Launching off of the bridge, Branch landed on the wall with a thud. As the tower began to fall, the wooden walkway was pulled from the wall and Hugo found the edge of the crushed battlement with his fingers just in time. The sentries that were watching in amazement grabbed him by the arms, pulling him to safety. Both mantliks just lay there as the sentries put out their flaming shoes. They listened as the top half of that once formidable siege tower crashed to the ground, killing any that were still inside, and more still that were running for their lives.