Chapter 953: Mad Dash (Part Two)
Heila had finally run out of rooftops to run along as she reached the wide plaza outside Hanrahan Keep’s outer walls. There might not be a moat around the frontier fortress, but the cobblestone plaza that played host to bustling markets on most days transformed into a killing field exposed to the castle’s defenders when it was left empty as it was now.
This was exactly the sort of situation that Ashlynn’s tactic of giving giant shields to the Tuscans was designed to thwart, but Heila had no time to wait for Ipiktok to come to her rescue. Instead, she gathered as much energy as she could from the scattering of shade trees at the edges of the plaza before launching herself into the air in a mad dash to pass over the outer wall and reach the tower where Loman Lothian stood with his Bow of Stars.
-PFFSSSEEEET!- -PFFSSSEEEET!- -PFFSSSEEEET!-
Ordinary arrows began whistling past Heila from the archers positioned along the keep’s walls. Unlike Loman’s divine attacks, these were simple steel points and wooden shafts, but there were dozens of them, creating a deadly storm she had to navigate while maintaining her precarious footing on swirling snowflakes.
The snow-covered ground only made matters worse for her. Even though she kept herself in the air above the snow, until she climbed higher than the top of the wall, those archers were looking down on her and her dark leather hat and long-coat made her a very visible target against the backdrop of the white snowfield below.
"Snow, dance and swirl!" Heila commanded, raising Snow Fang high as she poured more of her dwindling energy into the glittering blade carved from a Frost Walker’s horn. A thick cloud of spinning snowflakes erupted around her, creating a swirling white barrier that made her nearly invisible to the archers on the wall as she pushed her legs to the limit, sprinting through the air in an attempt to pass over the keep’s wall as quickly as she could.
"Keep firing! Aim fer tha’ middle of tha snow-cloud!" a veteran captain shouted from atop the walls, refusing to let his men become confused or distracted just because the witch was using her dark arts to hide from them.
Unlike the men on the outer wall of the town, the men who defended the keep itself were well trained soldiers who trained throughout the entire year. Many of them, including the captain barking orders, had even fought during the War of Inches, and this wasn’t their first time confronting demons or the strange things that could occur around them.
A witch might be even more fearsome than an ordinary demon, but the captain refused to give his men time to think about that as he shouted orders at his men to to give them more important things to think about than being afraid.
"Five silver pennies ta tha’ first man ta stick an arrow in tha’ witch!" the captain shouted. "And a gold sovereign if ye can knock ’er from tha’ sky!"
Heila tried not to think too much about the ordinary archers below. Even when their arrows drew close, the swirling winds that provided her barrier of dancing snowflakes blew the simple wooden arrows away from her. But maintaining the concealing snow cloud while simultaneously using her magic to stay aloft was like trying to carry two serving trays piled high with fine dishes while walking on a tightrope. Each spell competed for her attention and energy, and she could feel her control starting to slip.
-WHOOM!-
Another luminous arrow blazed past her concealment, its radiant trail punching through her snow cloud like a needle through silk. This one came closer to her than any arrow had so far, nearly piercing her hoof and passing close enough that the arrow’s passage through the air alone was enough to envelop her hoof and lower leg in a wave of piercing, prickling pain.
"He can see me!" Heila realized in shock as she stared up at the glittering arc of starlight, just barely visible above the ramparts of the tower. She didn’t know how, but when she looked upward, she had the uncanny feeling that Loman Lothian was looking directly back at her, despite the obfuscation of the dancing snowflakes.
Abandoning stealth for speed, Heila burst out of her snow cloud and angled sharply upward, racing toward the tower where Loman’s position blazed with starlight. As she climbed higher into the night sky, she began to gather snow from the castle wall below, compacting it into dense, ice-hard spheres.
"Let’s see how you handle this!" she called out, hurling a barrage of snowballs toward the tower with as much force as she could manage. Each projectile struck with the impact of a sling stone, exploding against the stone ramparts in a spray of ice and snow that forced the starlit archer to take cover or risk being struck directly.
Unfortunately, while her attack bought her a moment of relief from the luminous arrows from above, it had also revealed her position completely. The archers on the walls below adjusted their aim, sending a fresh volley of steel-tipped arrows arcing toward her position. Worse yet, Loman’s bow began to glow even brighter as he prepared another starlight arrow, exposing only the smallest portion of himself as he used the saw-toothed crenelations atop the tower to his advantage.
Heila twisted desperately in midair, her snow-stepping becoming increasingly erratic as fatigue clouded her judgment. One steel arrow struck her shoulder, sticking in the tough leather of her long-coat before falling to the ground below when it failed to penetrate the tough hide deeply enough to threaten her. Another arrow, however, passed so close to her legs that she felt the fletching brush across her thigh as it sliced through the fabric of her breeches.
"Almost!" the captain shouted from below. "A silver penny for each of ye," he cried before the men could become dejected at their near miss. "Now do it again, lads, an’ this time, make ’er bleed!"