Episode 3 The Day of the Semites - Part 5

 If there had been a devil earlier, looking at the castle of Staphorus and the scene around it, even from the top of a nearby mountain, he would certainly have had to laugh loudly at the irony of the fate unfolding there.

 Fort Staphoros is a castle standing on a hill between the forests of Rude and Talos, with the river Kes in the background.

 The struggle for power on the frontier between the Central Plains tribes and the barbarian tribes on the frontier was still going on and on, and defending the border was not a safe task.

 Therefore, the fortresses were built in natural strategic places, and when raiders from the land came out of the forest, they had no choice but to run into the narrow, winding slope up to the top of the hill and come up in a line, thus depriving them of their strength by as much as eight percent. The defenders of the fort, on the other hand, can look down on it from above, roll away stones, shoot arrows at it, and shoot at it with crossbows, so that it can be easily defended.

 Behind the castle was a precipice cut into the Kes River, which only a water snake or a lizard could climb, so the castle was well protected.

 However, the territory of the barbarian tribe of Shem who lived in this area was mainly on the other side of the Kes River, so they were usually not in any danger as long as they stayed on this side of the river. However, due to a series of incidents, the eyes of the guardians of the fort were turned in the wrong direction.

 If a demon with eyes to see all things had looked down on Staphorus from the beginning of the night - if he had eyes to see both within and without the stone walls - he would have seen. In the black stream of the river Kes, one after another, from midnight to midnight, from the opposite bank of the stream, from the dark side of the bank that looked beyond to the wilderness of Nosferus, slipped and swam noiselessly across, many small shadows.

 It looked somewhat like a monkey. From its height, it looked like a child or a dwarf. The streams of Kes are said to be inhabited by all sorts of horrible demon fish and water snakes, and the people of the frontier are reluctant to go down them, even on rafts, but only the Semites are friends of the streams and can tame the threats that lurk there.

 Their black heads sank close to the surface and they swam across the Kesu River one after another. They had tried to come to attack the frontiersmen of the Central Plains at every opportunity, but so far they had been unsuccessful. But so far their efforts have been unsuccessful, for the Kesu River has blocked their retreat, and once they have crossed it, they have been divided on this side of the river and have been helplessly defeated by the outnumbered defenders of the fort.

 But late that night the little black heads that came rushing across the river, one after the other, numbered more than ever before. They crossed the river without making a sound and ran into the forest, filling every burnt part of the forest of Rood and the forest of Talos. And still the black heads continued to increase.

 It was just before dawn, when the great army had barely crossed the river. Lights suddenly appeared here and there in the castle, and there was a hubbub within the walls.

 The chiefs of Shem were astonished. Messages flew wildly and high-pitched chirps were exchanged. But..,

"The Valakian mercenaries have escaped!"

"He threw himself from the tower into the stream of the river Kes."

 And as soon as they realized that they were shouting at each other in the castle, they calmed down again, and sent word to their respective troops, and those who were huddled beneath the cliffs shrank even more, and those who were hidden in the woods drew their breath even more, and waited for the castle to quiet down as before.

 But on this night, Yarn, the old god of fate with a hundred ears and only one eye, must have been feeling very cynical. Soon there was a great murmur in the castle, and countless torches were brought to the walls facing the river Kes. As they were carried up the river, the surface of the Kes became as bright as day, and the Semites at the bottom of the cliffs flattened themselves like poisonous lizards and sweated profusely.

 If it had been only for the torchlight, some of the sentinels might have spotted the attackers, but the castle soon gathered its torchlight dust to fight the pre-dawn chill. They began to light bonfires that would scorch the sky,

"We'll take the boat out to the Kes River at dawn."

"But of course, the deserters would be dead by now."

"I don't care. The Count wants me to identify the body.

 They gathered around the bonfire and waited for the dawn, talking loudly. The bonfires made the fort as bright as day and the heavens as red as light - and by the light of the fires the forests of Ludo and Talos and the dark streams of Kes grew darker and darker until they had engulfed the great army of Shem. .

 But the chiefs of Shem, though for a moment disconcerted by this unexpected turn of events, knew well that their greatest ally was the darkness of night, and that the battle would be seventy-fifty in their favour when night fell. The chiefs gathered together noiselessly and consulted with each other in whispers, then dispersed quickly and gave orders to the barbarians under their charge.

 And the whip of the tail of the horse in the hand of the chief priest of Shem was beaten!

 Immediately, a small and swift band of barbarians began to climb the walls facing the Kes River as quickly as monkeys. At the same time, the troops lurking in the forest closed the gap to the fort without a sound.

 In the castle, bags of fruit wine and honey wine were being passed around a bonfire, and a little drinking was beginning. The rafts and boats would not come out until dawn anyway, they said to each other, spitting out the skins of the vacha fruits and biting into the berries. And what's more, there's no hurry for a fool to throw himself into the Kes. If it weren't for the rocks of Kesu, the water demons living in Kesu would have turned him into a cold, gurgling corpse!

 Not one of them was willing to go out into the night, into the land of the demons, to the banks of the river Kes, for the sake of a single mercenary. Within the walls of their fortress, where they believed they would be safe, they were at ease and relaxed, their faces burning in the fire, and they were drinking honey wine with one another.

 Suddenly, one of them opened his eyes wide. He pointed behind him and tried to shout something. But he could not utter a word and collapsed, clutching his throat.

 He was so astonished that the soldier next to him helped him up and saw standing in his throat a short poisoned arrow, peculiar to the Semites.

 The soldiers lined up on the side where he had pointed also rushed to turn their heads. In their eyes, they saw a hairy, ape-like figure that sprang out of the darkness as if suddenly born. His face was red and stained with the juice of meerkats, his teeth were bared like a demon's, his hairy body was covered with the fur, loincloth and boots of a wolf, and he smelled strange.

 The soldier tried to scream. The stone axe held in Shem's hand was thrown down on his head, and his helmet was flung open, spilling blood and brain matter into the bonfire, thus stopping his scream.

 Immediately, the courtyard was filled with screams!

 From the midst of the night, one after another, the barbarians came rushing over the walls of the city. First of all, they shot arrows to kill many of the guardians, and then they rushed forward with their stone axes.

 The Gora soldiers did not linger long. They had just risen armed to the teeth to search for the deserters, and they had not left their swords in their beds. And when they had recovered from their initial shock, they were furious and began to cut down the apes. The Semites outnumbered them and had the advantage of surprise, but when it came to actual hand-to-hand combat, their size was as great as that of an adult and a child, and they would not face the guardians one-on-one.

 Every Gora soldier had to deal with five to ten of these swift human apes, each of whom scurried about in all directions. One of the Black Knights, who had cut down the Semites on both sides, ran toward the tower and climbed up to the belfry, dispatching the incoming men with his club.

 Bravely he exposed himself to the rain of Shem's arrows and stood in the belfry and began to strike the bell to warn the people of the danger.

"It's Shem's night attack--the Shemites are in the fort!"

 Khan, Khan, Khan, Khan - the bells were striking furiously and frantically, and the soldiers were shouting for warning. The ape-man's axe was thrown down on his head, and an arrow pierced his eye.

 The black knights of the fortress lined up in a line and fought behind all the entrances to the towers and buildings, hoping to counteract the disadvantage of being caught off guard and forced into the courtyard. The Semites tried somehow to break through the defenses and enter the buildings. Thus the battle raged between the marauders, who tried to disperse from the courtyard in all directions, and the guardians, who tried to stop them.

 From outside the fort, a large army of newcomers came through the forest, shouting "Ea, Ea, Ea! as in Shem's time, up the only slope leading to the fort. The Ghora soldiers had closed the gates and raised the drawbridge in preparation, but more than half of their forces were already engaged in the battle in the inner court, and even the strenuous efforts of the defenders, who were shooting arrows and throwing stones to protect their high position, were sometimes overwhelmed by the overwhelming numbers of the enemy.

 Even in the courtyard, however, the Shem army was slowly pushing forward. The Gora soldiers put their backs to the gates and entrances of the buildings, cutting off the small but swift monkey-like opponents to the left and right, and began to realize that if they continued as they were, they would one day be swept in from the inside and out by the outnumbered Semites.

 The fourth captain, his black helmet fluttering, saw five young knights from Torus fall before his eyes, their throats and faces hit by Shem's poisonous arrows.

"Keep your head down! Keep your face down and don't face the wall!"

 The fourth captain shouted and knocked down with his long sword a small demon who was poking arrows at the stones of the wall. A monkey-like barbarian immediately jumped on his back and raised his stone axe.

"Captain, we're losing him!

 One of the black knights jumped into the air screaming. The barbarian's stone axe smashed the knight's helmet and he fell. The captain's great sword beheaded the Shemite.

"We're just going to have to wait for them to grab our hands and get us."

 The third captain, who was guarding the gate of the inner courtyard, shouted out as he looked at the Shemites crawling up the wall and his allies struggling against the arrows.

"Hey, you, just for one zang, please guard this door - I will open the door for one zang, step inside, and give the Count's orders."

"Yes, sir."

 The young man cried out in a nervous voice. The captain heard the youthful voice of the helmeted soldier and realized that it was Oro of Torus, who had just escaped execution.

"I'm gonna count to three."

 The captain patted Oro on the shoulder, smiled, and counted.

"One--two--three!"