Terran sat upon his horse between Fintan and Fallon's own horses. The three sat outside the front gate before the sizable army who had formed their ranks and stood at attention before the castle. Archers held their bows at the ready overhead, arrows knocked, and eyes squinted.

The back end of the army had finally finished emerging from the wood line now and Fallon had estimated it to be around ten thousand in all, although Fintan claimed it was only eight thousand. Fallon went with the latter of the two because it was what he had rather hoped was the case.

The army massed inside the castle walls watched at the ready from the other side of the moat. Ser Aerygaard had his archers organized along the south wall which stood around sixty feet tall and a hundred feet wide. Men with swords lined the wall behind the archers, in preparation for the mighty siege engines that had momentarily paused its forward ascent towards the castle walls.

The three riders of Weptswur rode out to the halfway point between their castle and Steed's army. Fallon's golden helm and crown did not cast its gleaming glory now as it did in the torchlight of the castle. The moonlight did shine brightly upon the open field, however, and Fallon could see that there was a man approaching them upon his own horse. Terran felt the goosebumps rise all over his body when the face of the rider was indicative of one of the Deranged Men. He had heard that many could not speak, only hear. However, when this Deranged Man arrived within speaking distance his voice resembled a hoarse whisper and his tongue enunciated its "s" sounds very slithery like a snake, Terran thought to himself.

"The great lord King of Mestrane does not speak to his enemies before battle, but I have come to hear your words," said the Deranged Man. His half helm covered the top half of his head, and the slits for his eyes revealed deep, swirling black circles that seemed hollow down to the bone. Terran's head ached from staring at its eyes so he instead he stared at his rusty blade that hung from his hip like a rusted scrap of dull metal. It did not sit in a scabbard but instead hung loosely from the belt across his waist.

"We have come in peace to discuss terms. We want your word that if our castle is overrun that our children and woman will be allowed to leave peacefully and not be bound under King Steed's control," Fallon stared him straight in the eyes. Terran wondered if his head ached from it as well and if he was just not showing it.

"I cannot grant such a request. Where is the King amongst your people by the name of King Erilin? I would only speak to him."

"I am the King of these people. King Fallon Diehurn, son of the fallen Erilin Diehurn. I am the first of my name and I will lead my people to battle against your army. If you wish to speak at all it will be with me."

The Deranged Man snarled his rotted teeth and Terran grimaced at the dirt and debris that emerged from the hideous opening that was once someone's mouth.

"I offer last chance, surrender yourself and two Magi behind your walls and the three of you shall live. Other than that, you cannot stop fate, Fallon Diehurn. The walls come down. It is the wishes of our lord king." The Deranged Man let his teeth snap down nastily on each other and the noise of it sent a shudder through Terran.

"Then consider the talks for any truce to be over. Your head will lay amongst the weeds by the night's end, demon." Fallon yanked the reins of his horse and rode back for the defenses of his walls and the two horses of Fintan and Terran followed suit. The Deranged Man snarled and did likewise, riding to the back lines of the army where King Steed sat upon the large wooden platform held aloft by the backs of Valligian Mammoths.

Fallon and the two who followed him out rode across the moat and into the castle's walls and the front gate slammed shut. Fintan turned to Fallon now.

"We wait for them to come to us. These walls will spare us enough time for them to draw near. When the time is right, we draw a shield wall up around Terran upon the highest point of the south wall before it is sieged. There is where Terran will pronounce his name as the Maldur King and reveal that he lives. If the tale is true as the books say, the Maldur will turn on King Steed and fight in the name of their true conqueror and king, King Terran."

Fallon was wide-eyed now and his eyes flickered from Fintan to Terran.

"Have Terran protected inside the south tower and I am sending you with him. I cannot trust lord Rayudus or Ser Aerygaard. The plan shall be done."

"Wait, Fallon, in that case will it not be I who rides out along the front lines should the enemy breach our walls?"

"No, Magi. It is in your blood to be the hero, but I must be courageous for my people. They will only fight if they see their king fighting alongside them. It must be me who rides. Besides, we don't know that they'll make it beyond our south wall."

Fintan nodded and patted both of Fallon's shoulders and they each returned a curt nod. Fintan ran off towards the spiraling staircase with Terran to the confines of the south tower which stood tall in the night air, closest to the stars than any other safe vantage point.

Fallon left Ser Gorren in charge of the men behind the front gate, and they both agreed if it came to ride out to meet the enemy outside their walls then Fallon would lead them alongside Ser Gorren at the front line. For now, Fallon joined lord Rayudus and Ser Aerygaard atop the south wall overlooking the battle plains below.

The enemy was marching again. The attack had begun. Trebuchets planted themselves within distance of the castle walls, but the archer's arrows would never reach. Deranged Men with banners of the dark king marched with spears pointed high and ladders at the ready. Valligian Mammoths trudged towards the castle walls with casks of oil laid across their backs as archers dipped their arrowheads in the oil, setting their projectiles aflame. The tiny flames lit the darkness below like thousands of little candles. The siege engines roared noisily now as the wood clanked loudly over the bumpy regions of plains.

"Load our own trebuchets, take out their own. If they can reach our walls, we can reach their trebuchets with our own as well." Ser Fallon heard the click, click, whoosh. Of the trebuchets. The boulders that were loaded onto the launcher flung across through the air, passing by the blazing thatch and hay that was sent by the enemy. The two armies exchanged projectiles and Fallon watched as their boulders squashed many of their men, but none acquired their target.

"Aim, release, fire!" Ser Aerygaard ordered his archers to release the first volley of arrows and a wave of Deranged Men crumbled to the ground. Hardly a dent was made in the enemy's progress, however, and they continued to come nearer to their walls with the ladders and siege engines.

Lord Rayudus approached Fallon. He didn't look happy and Fallon could sense his disproval.

"We ought to take out their siege engines, Fallon."

"You will call me King Fallon, or I will have you expelled through the air like one of those boulders, understood?" asked Fallon.

Rayudus' face became withdrawn and he pursed his lips.

"Take out the siege engines, light your arrows with fire and aim upon the engines! Let them burn to the ground," commanded King Fallon. The inevitable hooks and ladders jarred against the south wall and knights worked hard to dislodge them from leaning against the wall, but arrows came in hailstorms at the men who dared show his face down the ladder. A second row of knights layered themselves across the wall with large shields to protect the men as they shoved ladders off of the walls, but there were too many.

Fintan sat inside the south tower with Terran as an exchange of fire contrasted against the stark black of the night. The moon was bright this night in their favor however, so the enemy was not so completely concealed as they might have hoped.

Fintan heard shouts ring out from below as a siege engine caught fire and then a large rock from a catapult slammed into the top of the siege engine and Deranged Men went flying to the ground in death and fury.

Enemy arrows were flying without order or instruction from the enemy afar but the archers lining the castle walls waited for each command from Ser Aerygaard before unloading. Fintan knew there was a limited supply, although there was many. They would eventually run out and that would be the sucker punch to their plan. The enemy would face limited opposition as they clambered their way up the stone walls.

Fintan grabbed Terran by the shoulder, "Come now, it's time."

It was nearly fifteen minutes before Fintan and Terran had managed to make it across the castle's rooftops from the window of the south tower and into the scout's lookout. The lookout sat central to the castle and it overlooked everything. Fintan glanced backward and could see multiple fires from a way off inside the castle walls where the enemy's blazing thatch had caught spread.

"How will the Maldurians see me, Fintan?"

"They have to breach our walls first."

"But won't many of people die first?" asked Terran.

"Yes, but it is the only way, Terran," said Fintan.

"I should have just announced my claim to their whole army when we rode out to meet Steed's representative."

"They would have killed you immediately," replied Fintan.

"So what? Then the Maldurians would know their true king and they would rebel against King Steed?"

"It doesn't work that way, Terran. You have to earn their respect. You must show that you are their king," Fintan said it as if he was waiting for Terran to connect the dots, but he wasn't reading him.

"So, what are you saying? How is me shouting my claim from the top of the castle going to change anyone's mind? I'll just look foolish and they'll unleash all of their projectiles towards us," Terran's tone was growing desperate.

Fintan and Terran's heads both looked down below at the south wall where a few ladders successfully landed the first Deranged Men inside the castle and now swords and steel were clashing intermittently. The first few Deranged Men were swept easily back down to their death all of that distance down below.

"You won't shout it. You'll see." Terran's heart raced faster than he thought was possible and he was at a loss for words. He was too nervous; he could not even begin to formulate his next words. Fintan gave Terran a pat on the back, "Stay here. You'll know when, trust me. Whatever you do, just stay here."

Terran wanted so badly to shout for him to stay but again the words would not form, and Fintan had already slid smoothly down the rooftop of the keep and landed on his feet upon the corridor of the south wall. Terran watched his ordinary blade from the castle's arsenal slip effortlessly into the throat of a Deranged Man before he had even had a chance to lay his eyes on his killer. The ladder went back down with him, plummeting to his death and wiping out two more Deranged Men from his landing and sliding down into the moat where their bodies disappeared and then resurfaced as floating corpses.

The battle raged on and soon a battering ram was gathering at the front lines. The bridge was up but a large, wooden platform was being carried by half a hundred men to be lain across the moat and leading towards the front gate. Three siege engines arrived at the castle walls and the extending platform slid out across to rest on the hinges of the castle's walls. Deranged Men stormed across the platform and cut down a row of knights who waited timidly with swords half-ready, but it was timidity in the end that killed them.

Back at the front gate the platform had been laid and now the battering ram was being tied to the front end of a Valligian mammoth and Fallon ordered arrows to be concentrated on the mammoth. Arrows buried their head into the mammoth's side, but it was going to take a lot of arrow to knock him out. Deranged Men with shields formed barriers along its sides and so the arrows that did reach the mammoth stuck into the armor that was lain over its back, and the chance to take it out by arrows was missed.

Terran's legs had grown weak from standing at the lookout spot. He glanced down at the action below and his good hand slid slowly to his right side where a dagger hung loosely without a scabbard at his hip. Knights battled bravely below but Terran couldn't help but feel the weight of his responsibility eating away at him with each death. At some point he screamed, and screamed again, but the sounds of battle drowned him out.

One scream took his breath away, though, and he heard it come from the south tower. His head darted to his right and he saw that a Deranged Man had snuck his way up the castle's second wall and made his way into the south tower undetected and now his sword had pierced the throat of the first sentry and the second one had succumbed to fear and leapt out the window to his own death. He locked eyes with the beast and saw the walking dead slip out of the window and cross the treacherous, slippery roofing of the castle towards him. Terran's legs felt like noodles and when he tried to move his feet were stuck in molasses. His grief struck him down as he envisioned all of the death resulting of this battle. The images played through his head of the sentry jumping out of the tower's window.

The Deranged Man scraped his dull piece of metal over the edge of the roof and onto the lookout area on the highest point of the castle where Terran stood, all one. Its mouth slobbered gray spew all over itself. His mail and armor had blood smeared all over it from the sentry he had slain moments ago. Terran drew his dagger. His mind flashed and he panicked, throwing the dagger like a throwing knife but the Deranged Man did not even need to duck away. The dagger flew by his head harmlessly and clattered down the south wall into the moat below.

Terran backed away towards the back end of the lookout and the Deranged Man hissed a low hiss. Its half helm covered most of its face, but its hideous mouth swirled in a circle and his jagged set of teeth twisted like razors. Terran backed up, facing the enemy in front of him. His heel hit something, and his fall felt like slow motion. He felt his back slip over the short ledge behind him and his body carried his momentum over the ledge, and he was falling.