2
No, not one bridge. Two bridges, I noticed with horror as I watched the structures form in just a few seconds. Too few.
Suddenly, Araton turned his stallion toward our soldiers. “Don’t let them put a single foot on our land,” he commanded in Elvish.
They all nodded together, and the archers nocked their arrows in perfect sync.
I nodded to Araton and galloped toward the second bridge. As the last beam lined up in front of my mare’s hooves, matching the wet ground, I told our soldiers, “Don’t kill them.”
I didn’t want men’s blood to stain elves’ hands, branding us as murderers.
“Attack!” the general shouted.
The next moment, my brother signaled to unleash the first wave of arrows, which took out the first two rows of the opposing legion.
One blink later, with a small rearing, Ringil threw herself forward. To my ears, the hooves on the wood sounded like they covered every other noise until we reached the other side. Using my peripheral vision, I saw Araton’s gray figure make it to this bank as well, followed by our army.
Then the fight started.
Humans were good fighters who had sharpened their skills over the ages. Still, they couldn’t match the elegance of the elves, who seemed to dance on the grass, dodging slashes, parrying strikes, and landing blows meant to knock out their opponents.
I had just kicked a boy in the face, blood pouring from his nostrils, when my gaze locked onto the general’s bloodshot eye.
“Push them back!” Araton yelled as his stallion reared up to keep anyone from approaching.
“Reach the bridges!” the general replied as if he understood our language. “Don’t give in!”
But, knowing they had no chance, some of his soldiers were already retreating toward Leukós, the shining capital of the Kingdom of Men that sat among the hills in the distance.
I swung my sword and tightened my grip on the reins, ready to lunge at the general when suddenly I heard a sharp noise.
A crack.
It wasn’t the crack of cartilage in a nose, jaw, arm bone, kneecap, or from a stick under the sole.
It was a crack in the stone.
I heard a long, uneven crack forming in a jerky way on a very high wall of boulders, which began to emit a terrifying squeak.
I quickly turned to my brother, whose wide eyes, along with those of all the other elves, darted toward the plateau to the northeast.
In the next moment, Lake Caran’s dam collapsed.