“Well, at least you’ve got two more people listening to your prayers than I do.” Rasmeth chuckled ruefully.
“Apostles!” A strong tenor voice called to them.
Teragdor looked over to see someone, a short someone, in the plate armor of a Shield commander gesturing for them to join him — her? They made their way towards the stocky four-foot-two commander, who was standing behind a curved shield wall set back from the crenellations; apparently a command center of some sort.
“Good to have you.” The commander gestured to the aerial forces hovering outside the moat and launching arrows and crossbow bolts at the people along the wall. The hovering forces were spread out and moving in and out of range, aware that if too many of them clumped together, they could be hit by a Holy Water catapult, as in fact happened while Teragdor’s eyes were drawn to where the commander had gestured.
“I am Wall Commander Kharkurd. The vicar general sent word you would be joining us,” the commander said. Definitely a woman, Teragdor decided.
“Our honor. Blessings of Tiernon be upon you,” Teragdor told her, making the gesture for a secular blessing. Mana levels were too low for a traditional priestly blessing. “I am Teragdor.”
“Blessings of Torean upon you,” Rasmeth said and gave her secular blessing as well. “I am Rasmeth. How can we be of most assistance?”
The commander gestured for them to join her behind her wall, which had a glass window to allow her to view the battle in relative safety, and currently, privately. She looked out to the surrounding army. “They are still setting up camp, constructing their equipment, organizing their troops. They are not yet ready for full aerial combat. Fortunately for us, there is much more preparation required for an aerial assault across the moat.” The commander sighed and looked out the forces hovering on the other side of the moat.
“I imagine one-hundred-and-fifty-foot siege towers take some time to construct,” Rasmeth said.
The commander nodded and pointed down the wall to where such towers were being constructed. “True. However, they have other options. Zombie dragons carrying passenger wagons that they will try to land on the walls,” she informed them. “For the moment, though, they are simply testing us. They have not brought out the heavy infantry, nor any serious magic; at least, not against us or the Wardens above us.”
She gestured to the Sky Wardens above their section of wall, who were flying in complicated patterns that made targeting them difficult. “I hear the ground battle to get a bridge over the moat is much more intense, but up here? My guess is that they are working to see how incapacitated we are. They are looking to see how we respond; are we healing soldiers that are wounded with clerical rituals or traditional healing?” She shook her head, and then used her hand to direct their eyes to what Teragdor suddenly realized was a lich on an ice dragon behind the Unlife troops that were shooting at people on the wall.
“The lich is also looking at the mettle of the Sky Wardens, who have not taken the battle to them yet. Which, I believe, according to history, is unusual for us.” The commander shook her head “However, to be honest, I am speaking from book knowledge and speculation. Only the older alfar have seen a force this large. In my two hundred and four years of life, we have only seen isolated attacks against the outlying farms and villages.”
She looked back and forth between the two apostles. “Understand that we train our whole lives for such a scenario as this, and yet for the vast majority of our soldiers, this a new, untested situation, particularly given that we are cut off from the Heavens. We did not train for that; we have relied very heavily on our priests being able to smite the undead. Under the best of circumstances, my men would be scared today; given this morning, they are terrified.”
Teragdor nodded and looked out towards the skies, thinking.
“When do you think they will mount a more serious attack?” Rasmeth asked.
“I have no idea. From the books, the night is always the heaviest. Even with the cloud cover, the vampires and vampyrs are sluggish during the day, as are wights. They use a lot of wights, as you might imagine, basically reanimating every ghast or ghoul that dies on them. The jiangshi are more functional, but not that much more so. So I would expect a full barrage come nightfall, unless they determine we are so weak that they move sooner.”
Rasmeth shook his head. “What are jiangshi?”
“They are a sight,” the commander said, shaking her head. “When you see one you will not mistake it. They are very intelligent Unlife, very devious. I think the best term might be zombie vampire. Their motions are stiff, like most zombies or mummies, and rather than walk, they generally hop. However, unlike zombies, they can move very fast if need be and older ones can leap vast distances in a heartbeat, as with vampires, they have fangs to consume the animus of the living.”
Holy Saint Stevos, hear the prayer of your disciple, the Apostle Teragdor, Teragdor prayed while Rasmeth talked. Stevos had promised him this would work, but he’d never done a prayer like this before, so he was still a bit surprised when Stevos responded.
I can hear you, Teragdor, Stevos said in his mind.
Commander Kharkurd says that so far, the enemy is testing us, determining how weakened we are before deciding how and when to attack. Most likely it will be at nightfall, but possibly sooner if they see weakness. Further, the soldiers, while well-trained, are inexperienced and now terrified by this morning’s events, Teragdor prayed.
That would make sense. What do you recommend? Stevos asked.
There is a lich on an ice dragon monitoring this section of the wall; I was thinking of sending it a clear message that we are not defenseless. Something to surprise them and give them pause, even as they did to us this morning. What is the best we can do at the moment? Teragdor prayed.
One moment while I check with Beragamos, Stevos replied, going quiet for a few moments.
Suddenly Teragdor sensed another presence in the prayer; it was Beragamos. May I commune with you, be one with you, using your senses and join you in your body? Beragamos asked him.
Teragdor blinked in surprise; he did not know avatars could do that. Uhm, certainly, he replied.
Suddenly he felt the warm presence of Beragamos even closer than before, completely inside his skull. He felt his hands lowering from their prayer position as he himself walked out from behind the shield and over to the wall to stare down at the vast horde of Unlife below, and then surveyed the sky above. Interestingly, while arrows were still falling, none struck his armor.
His eyes suddenly went to the lich on the ice dragon and within seconds he was staring the lich directly in the face, as if close up. That was the fastest transition to one of the Holy Sights he had ever experienced. He felt his head nod as his vision returned to normal and his body turned back towards the commander and Rasmeth, both of whom were looking at him very oddly. He walked about halfway back.
I think we can give them a show, something a bit more than a single apostolic spell, Beragamos said. I will return to you momentarily.
Teragdor shook his head as Beragamos released him.
“What was that about?” Rasmeth asked in concern. “That was very strange of you.”
“That was Beragamos; he sort of possessed me to investigate the situation,” Teragdor said wonderingly.
“Possessed you?” Rasmeth said.
“I think it was a Holy Communion. I read about in my apostolic books, but have never experienced one, obviously,” Teragdor said, blinking a few times. “He thinks we can do something to give them pause.”