Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

The Siege of Syrn: Part VI

While Dirk was still tying up Arem's arm, hoofbeats sounded in the distance. Dirk drew his sword, and many around him did the same.

A company on horseback rode into view around a bend in the valley. It bore the Aidarian standard. Dirk relaxed and sheathed his sword.

The leaders of the two companies held counsel. All the while Dirk was looking around, but those who had attacked them showed no sign of showing themselves.

After about ten minutes, the leaders broke counsel. A few minutes later, messengers ran through the crowd shouting "Leave the wounded! The patrol will accompany them to Syrn. The rest of you, make all haste to reform! We must reach Syrn within a day."

"Can you come with us?" Dirk asked Arem.

"I don't know. I'm very weak." Said Arem.

"Then you should probably stay with the patrol." Said Dirk, grimly.

He turned and without a backward glance he made for the column that was already forming again. Arem looked after him with tears beginning to form in his eyes.

They marched fast. They were almost running. And so they continued for the entire night. At dawn they were allowed a breif break to eat and refill their water. Then they continued on, though this time at a slightly slower pace.

They continued like this for several hours. Around mid afternoon they left the valley that they had been traveling in, and finally saw Syrn standing about a mile distant.

It stood in large, open, area. The curtain wall enclosed a small town, and inside two round walls a great keep stood at the top of a cliff. The round walls were build around the hill that led up to the cliff, the second one about twenty feet higher than the first.

Behind the round walls, a sheer cliff rose for about five hundred feet. This cliff was the end of the mountain range, and it had been carved out by hand when Syrn had been built. From Syrn, the only way into Aidar was through the valley that Dirk and his company had just come through, or around the far side of the mountain range, which was virtually impassable since another mountain range ran almost parallel to it.

The sight of the city/fortress cheered the men. After about half an hour they were passing through the gates of the curtain wall into the little town inside. A few children ran out to see what was happening, but most of them were called back by their parents. The residents of the town looked grim and scared.

The column continued through the town and up into the first level of the fortress. There they were allowed to break ranks and find food and a bed.

Half an hour later, Dirk fell into bed. The bed was hard, but he was tired enough not to care. His last thought before he fell asleep was of Arem, many miles away with the patrol and other wounded men.

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