Free Bloodstone by Karl Edward Wagner Page A

edge. But the rush could be held only for a moment. Relentlessly the Rillyti stormed up the stairway, though the slaughter was great, and the steps grew slippery with their blood, the rubble below laden with flopping bodies.
    Those who milled at the foot of the stairway shortly grew frustrated at the slow progress and thought to reach their enemy by a shorter route--although it was clear that the attack along the stairs moved inexorably nearer. A few with great hops caught the thick creepers that clung to the wall and began to climb. Others followed their lead, and quickly; the wall was wriggling with a growing horde of clambering Rillyti. Although awkward and heavy, the amphibians used their clawed strength to great advantage--having some occasion to climb in their normal circumstances--and their ascent threatened to overwhelm the defenders in a short time.
    Kane immediately noted their new line of assault, and he ordered his two worst archers to ward off this latest threat. With the slackened fire, the charge up the stairway accelerated alarmingly, but Kane knew an attack from more than one point would mean inescapable disaster. And the quivers rapidly grew depleted--only the arrows salvaged from the earlier skirmish had saved their supply from exhaustion before this. With their tough, warty hide and reptilian vitality, the Rillyti were difficult to bring down, often shambling forward in defiance of several well-placed shafts.
    Desperately the soldiers hacked at the taut vines, seeking to check the assault on the wall. Often their efforts succeeded, for as the heavy batrachians recklessly flung themselves onto the lianas, the dragging weight became too great a burden. Weakened by the sword blows, one creeper after another tore loose from the wall and plummeted to the earth with its load of luckless climbers. But the lianas were on all sides, and many were too firmly rooted to be dislodged. It soon became necessary to fire down them point-blank, as the climbers struggled to the top. And then their swords had to meet flesh and bronze as the Rillyti reached the rampart.
    The Rillyti gained the head of the stairway at about the same moment they broke over the parapet. With the detached calm that comes to fighting men who know death inescapable, Kane and his tiny force sent the last of their arrows drilling into those first to leap onto the rampart. In one corner of his mind, Kane saw the victim of the hornet's sting flung out from the wall, to plunge among the horde yet gathering on the ground below. He felt regret that he would never know whether his surgical efforts had been successful.
    The killing that ensued was too one-sided to be termed a struggle. The two who sought to repel the climbers went down immediately, their reddened blades unable to dam the flood that swept over them. Another wave of Rillyti swarmed up the stairway, their rush unimpeded by silent bows.
    "Make for the gate pillar!" roared Kane, knowing that they would be instantly overwhelmed by an attack on both sides. Not that the outcome would be altered. "Put the stone to our backs! We'll leave a few less toads to croak tonight!"
    Determinedly they rushed toward the Rillyti who were just scrambling over the parapet. Gold blades swept up to bar their path; at their backs the rampart echoed the slapping tread of those who pursued them from the stairs. Kane led his men with a fury no strength could match. One batrachian was blasted from the parapet by the force of Kane's sword; another dropped under the gutting slash of his knife. A scream, and the man beside him reeled with a spear through his side. Kane whirled to lop off the climber's other arm as it reached over the parapet. Trailing scarlet droplets, the creature tumbled away from its hold, its webbed hand left locked about the vine.
    Not yet in full possession of the rampart, the Rillyti fell away under their concerted rush. Face twisting in hate, Kane drove through their unformed ranks, dashing past the