A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 1015 - General Karstly’s Plan - Part 1
1015: General Karstly’s Plan – Part 1
1015: General Karstly’s Plan – Part 1
He matched the movement of the swaying tower uncertainly.
He found he was more standing on the wall behind him than he was resting against it.
The distance to the ladder was a span of several metres.
He knew he’d need a good run to reach the cut out in the ground, but nor could he afford to wait any longer.
The tower was going to fall, and soon, and he knew he’d much rather be closer to the ground than as high up as they were when it did.
He grabbed Blackthorn by the shoulder.
He didn’t have time to indicate his intentions, he could only trust that she would match it.
Blackthorn’s own sense of balance was extraordinary, though hers came to her naturally, without the arduous physical abnormalities that Oliver was forced to suffer.
She put her feet flat against the wall.
The fact that in such a situation, she trusted Oliver enough to put her very life in his hands might have warmed his heart if they hadn’t sat so close to death.
The second he was sure her feet were secure, he began to throw her.
Matching his timing, Lasha kicked off just the same.
Together, they managed to send her a fair distance, but it was still far from enough.
She kicked off the slanted platform to continue her momentum, and only then could she throw herself within reach of the opening.
Her fingers met it, and she pulled herself the rest of the way.
“Hurry, Oliver!” She said, dragging herself down towards the ladder to clear the way for him.
“G-general!” Yadish cried, seeing the two Stormfront assailants beginning to make their escape.
But he was pinned in place.
It wasn’t the sort of athleticism that he could hope to emulate.
He couldn’t even truly remain standing.
He kept having to pick himself up after each and every fall.
General Khan was in much the same position.
His glaive was by his feet.
To reach for it and swing at Oliver would be to forfeit his own life.
He shared a look with the boy, and motioned with his head.
“Leave, then, if you can,” he said in the Stormfront tongue.
“I will not die here.
You have not snatched your victory.”
“I know,” Oliver replied with undisguised bitterness.
Indeed, this was far from being his victory.
He was Karstly’s distraction to the very end.
“Oliver!” Blackthorn shouted, hurrying him, and Oliver timed his movements with the sway of the tower, and then began to jump forward himself.
He couldn’t get as much speed as he would have liked.
He needed two striding steps on the slanted platform to reach the opening that Blackthorn had grabbed in one.
There was simply too little power to be generated by a single man.
Each step that he was forced to take was a dangerous one.
The swaying tower threatened to throw off his aim, and he had to match each landing in accordance with its pendulous rhythm.
It was a tightrope, and one that he crossed with no shortage of sweat on his brow.
Nevertheless, his fingers met the edge of the opening, securing him in place, as he landed hard against the floor.
An extra bit of pulling, and he found himself flat against the ladder, just above Blackthorn.
“Climb!” He shouted.
The foolish girl had remained at the top of the rungs to assure herself of his safety, when she likely could have been nearly at the bottom by now.
Only when he shouted did she begin to move.
And it was not a moment too soon either.
Oliver could see the team of axemen laying into one of the giant wooden wheels that supported the Khan’s tower.
That was the last thing he saw, before the tower lurched, and he began to fall.
Chapter 19 – General Karstly’s Plan
“Commander!” Firyr shouted.
“Commander, we’ve got to move!”
He pushed at a lifeless body.
The eyes did not even flicker.
He dared not even shake him too much, for the blood pouring from the boy’s head seemed to be all but endless.
“Carry him, Firyr!” Verdant said.
“We don’t have the time.
We need to leave, and now!”
General Karstly was already on his way.
The tower had collapsed entirely on its side.
It was out of the wreckage that they pulled the body of Oliver Patrick, and Lady Blackthorn.
The girl had awoken a few moments earlier.
She’d been closer to the bottom of the ladder, and her injuries seemed to be light for it, though she was dazed beyond belief.
“Oliver…” She murmured, her eyes haunted, seeing the blood continue to run from his head.
She couldn’t help but think he ought to have gone first.
If he’d dashed away before her, then he could have made it to the bottom of the tower before it had even begun to collapse.
That would have been far more sensible.
He was the one that the Patrick forces needed, far more than she.
Now they were all but trapped.
Despite having felled the tower, Karstly hadn’t waited around for a second.
He called his forces, and began to punch forward, through the sea of men.
His aim was obvious – he intended to break free, once and for all.
The flags were raised, and the Blackthorn detachment of three thousand was called from the right.
They were offered a path free from the repeated walls of men that held them in place, and they were seizing it hungrily.
They punched through the side of the left formation with ease, preparing for their rendezvous.
It was a feat only possible because of the mighty men that led them – and because of General Khan’s absence.
The path that was carved was quickly filling in again, however.
Karstly had left nearly a minute before, and it was only due to the efforts of Lombard from the rear that they still had any sort of escape route at all left open to them. freёnovelkiss.com
“Your horse, Lady Blackthorn,” a Blackthorn Sergeant said, handing a dazed Lasha the reins of her mount.
She took it mutely, but her eyes did not drift from Oliver’s lifeless body, even as Firyr hefted it onto his back.
