A sharp whistling noise drew both of our attention, it was coming from the direction of the wall. Briefly, very briefly, I catch the glint of flashing steel piercing the mist. Instinct takes over and I dive forward and grab Shawn by the waist in a forward tackle.
“Hey what the f—”
Thunk, thunk
Two long arrows with black fettering sank into the ground where he had just been standing.
“Dance for me, o’ Daughters of the wind.”
A howling gale covers both of us and knocks away two more arrows coming in our direction.
“Holy hell man, you saved my life.” Shawn pushes himself off the ground. “Fast thinking there.”
“Thanks.”
He holds his arm in front of him, and the wooden bracer changes into a round shield. He pulls one of the javelins from the quiver hanging off his back.
“Can you make the wind go away?” He says as he pulls his arm back to be ready to throw.
“There’s no way you’ll hit one of them at this distance.” I say, “They’ve got to be 300 feet up.”
He grins.
“Just trust me.”
I cut the supply of mana, and as soon as the wind dies down, Shawn’s arm rips forward, and a loud boom nearly bursts my eardrums as the javelin flew through the air at the speed of a jet.
“If they didn’t know we were here, they sure do now! Ha!”
A moment later the peel of a bell sounded somewhere on the walls.
“What do you think we’re facing?”
“Probably the Dogmen. They have those whistling arrows.”
“Ah, that whistling we heard?”
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“Yeah. Their archers are really good marksmen.”
“So what you’re saying is we should get some cover.”
“Probably.”
“Think that would be enough cover?” He motioned to the Siege tower.
“Probably. Hold up.” I hold up my staff and recite the incantation for Gust.
The wind picks up around us again, and we move forward toward the siege tower. Tens of whistling arrows are cast aside by the dome of wind. He matches my speed, and when we enter the overpowering shadow of the tower. A few arrows thunk against the moss-covered wooden walls. A door opened up into the interior of the siege tower. Criss-crossing beams held up ten platforms that led up all the way to the top of the wall. A series of staircases connected them all together.
“Do you think the priest is on top of the walls? In the city?”
“No clue.”
If I had a scouting ability...
“Oh well, we’ll drag all these dogs out.”
“All of them? How many do you think there are? I counted at least ten archers firing at us.”
“We can take them.”
“What makes you so confident about that?”
“I trust my strength.” He said, “It hasn’t failed me yet.”
To trust one’s own strength. How could I be a man like that? Haven’t I survived multiple near-death encounters? Why couldn’t I be confident like him? He led the way up the first set of stairs; the upper layers shook as a squad of Dogmen rushed down to meet us. We hurried up the next layer, and Shawn stopped, holding his shield and spear out in front of him. The Dogmen were hurrying down the flight of stairs.
One of them stopped at the layer above, and drew an arrow out of a black quiver on its hip, while the others approached. A bladesman up front, and two spearmen backing him up.
“An arrow, O’ djinn.” I mutter.
The arrow of flames and wind smashes into the archer. The heat snapped the bowstring and caught the creature’s fur. It patted the flickers off of its fur. What could I use? All my earth spells wouldn’t work — we were far too up in the air. If I used Ember or continued to use my ‘djinn,’ spells I risked catching the whole wooden tower on fire. I was limited. Perhaps...
Shawn held his ground and blocked a heavy blow from the bladesman, and stabbed forward as quickly as a viper. The point of the spear pierced through the creature’s throat and left it gagging on the ground. One of the spearmen engaged him at a distance, thrusting and jabbing, while the other pushed past and rushed me. I catch a glimpse of Shawn’s eyes watching the creature as it pushed past, and then glancing at me with a wild smile on his face.
The approaching spearman rushed forward and stabbed at me. I sidestep and grab hold of the creature’s wrist and pull it toward me into my raised knee aimed at its core. It grins in the way only a jackal could, and lunges forward; its teeth flashing. I step back and thrust my arms forward toward its knife-like, rotting teeth. It takes my armored forearm in its mouth and shakes violently, in an attempt to break my guard and throw me to the floor so that its teeth could find my neck next. I hold my ground and hold my staff up right next to its face as I held its other arm in place with a heavy grip on its wrist.
“You that bind the All, move for me.”
Mana entered from every pour of my body and was expelled violently from the tip of the staff. It was the incantation of Aether’s Push the spell I had decided to grab the night before. The next one in the tree was a shield, so it was a necessary purchase. I had expected it to be no more than a shove. I just wanted to create some space, after all. Instead, it was as if a sledgehammer had been taken to the side of the creature’s face. Its teeth shattered, and its eyes bulged as it was thrown off my arm and to the ground. Twitching, and dead.
Aether? What was it? After this Door was done, I was going to have to go shopping for a great many things. Use up a few of the thousands of dollars I had saved up so that I can learn more. I took a moment to look at the corpse before glancing back at Shawn. His fight was done. The spearman lay twisted at his feet, and the bowman, who now had a dagger in its paws, was pinned against the wall with a javelin through its eye.
“Have you done martial arts before?” Shawn asked.
“About a year of MMA back in high school.”
“Really? Just that? Huh.”
“What?”
“You have good instincts.” He said, “Far better than my old teammates. You read the trajectory of the spear and countered it well by grabbing the thing’s wrist quickly. You probably could make a good frontline fighter.”
“Maybe, but I enjoy the magic.”
“If you say so, all I have to say is good luck.”
With that, he turned back, jerked the javelin from the eye of the Dogman, and cleaned it off on his jeans.