Chapter 11 Eoghan

Seven Moons after Brandon Stark and his uncles began the siege of Cailin

...

Eoghan ran down a dark and bare hall as the walls shook around him.

Brandon Stark and his uncles had been relentlessly bombarding the tower with rock and earth. The boy himself had been working tirelessly in tearing down the runes and wards of the tower.

Eoghan and Balor had been trying to counteract Stark's work by replacing the runes previously destroyed. Still, Eoghan and Balor could not repair them fast enough, for they needed to be outside the walls to fix the brunt of the damage Stark had inflicted. But with the enormous force outside their walls, repairs were all but impossible.

Eoghan and the rest of the defenders of the wall had been desperately holding off the besieging force, inflicting devastating casualties upon the army. But they were at a significant disadvantage, for the race of men outnumbered them ten to one.

Eoghan stopped in his tracks as the tower shook around him. Grimacing he continued his run to wherever he was going. Eoghan could only grimace. "I swear, whatever Melkor's planning better be ready."

After Melkor first entered the room that housed the scar he had left to tell Eoghan And Balor of his discoveries.

When Eoghan heard Melkor say he heard a voice from the scar he could only laugh. But as he laughed Melkor's eyes bored into his very soul, they were like an inferno ready to be unleashed.

Melkor didn't say a word after that and re-entered the room of the scar.

Eoghan and Balor had visited him frequently trying to figure out what Melkor had in store. Eventually, six moons after the siege began, Melkor had told them that should he succeed in opening the rift they would annihilate the besieging army.

Eoghan and Balor could do nothing but believe him, for they had lost contact with the last of the great armies of the forest. The giant king and his army had settled in the far North. Eoghan had tried and tried to use the Weirwoods to contact the giant king, but had only gotten word from small tribes of children.

Now, Eoghan could only hope in Melkor and his plan to open the rift. Eoghan was at a loss at what would happen should the scar open. But what he did know is that chaos would spread, and he prayed the humans faced the brunt of it.

Eoghan had finally reached his destination, the battlements of the tower were bustling with activity, giants with great bows launched massive arrows larger than three men stacked onto each other down to the humans, hoping to destroy the siege equipment, the children threw down balls of fire to the human archers and the green men let their arrows loose with pinpoint accuracy.

Balon was atop the battlements as well, he sat at the center of a runic circle, chanting in the ancient tongue, and above him formed a mighty sphere of energy to reinforce and protect the tower.

Balor was a mighty and old Greenman born with a peculiar abnormality, a third eye. Some might think Balor would be ostracized for such a deformity, but for Balor, it made him stronger. Balor's magic power was amplified whenever he used the third eye. It made him a mighty foe to face on the battlefield, but mightier when meeting him in a battle of magic.

Eoghan gazed out at the Army, hundreds of catapults and thousands of men lined the horizon. Eoghan's eyes widened as he watched as one of the human's mighty siege engines approached the main gate.

"Aim for the ram, giants, aim for the ram!" Eoghan shouted with great urgency, worried if the gate fell, all would be lost.

The two giants let loose their mighty tree-sized arrows upon the nearing ram. One arrow aim was true and immobilized the covered ram, and the other hit an unlucky fellow. The green men and children's arrows had hit a great many men defending the ram, and for now, they could pepper the immobilized siege engine with arrows.

As the giants prepared for another volley a great ball of fire hit the battlement.

Eoghan had been blown back, he tried standing up, but his vision was blurred, it was like he was trying to look through water, and all he could see out the other end was blobs and fuzz.

He limped over to the now barely intact battlements and gazed upon what had caused such devastation, to break past Balor's shield.

As Eoghans searched, his eyes landed upon a lone man standing atop a raised hill. And there stood Brandon Stark, and around him were runes alit in flame, carved into the ground. He held a great hammer pointed at where Eoghan stood.

Eoghan Yelled back to those who survived the initial blast "Get back!"

Before anyone could react another fireball hit the battlements, blasting many away, and others to ash.

Eoghan was seared with pain, he was coated all over with burns.

Eoghan turned his head only to see Balor crawling over to him. He was in worse condition than him. He now only retained the upper half of his body.

Balor threw his hands over Eoghan. "You must survive this Eoghan, you must not let them get to the scar, don't let them reach the spear, and don't let them reach the crown!" As Balor pleaded for Eoghan to protect artifacts that the tower held, he opened his third eye, and a bright light enveloped the two.

As the light finally dimmed, Eoghan laid alone, and he had changed. His previous injuries had vanished, and atop his head sat a third eye, Balor's eye.

As Eoghan began to stand he heard an explosion, as he started to get his bearings, someone ran up to him and spun him around. It was Beorn.

"Eoghan, what happened, where's Balor? Eoghan Grimaced. "He..." Beorn cut him off "It doesn't matter, the gate has been breached, We need to get to the gate or we'll be overrun."

Eoghan nodded. The pair began descending the great tower.

As the two finally reached the gatehouse they were greeted by waves of men pouring in. The only thing holding the wave back was a dozen giants swinging massive wooden pole-like weapons, a hundred green men nimbly slashing and slaying them, and atop hidden battlements within the gatehouse were children who shot their arrows with precision.

Beorn didn't waste any time and charged into the coming horde, he was a walking calamity that the race of men had feared, and that fear was not misplaced, for the walking calamity had awoken, and he would not stand idle.

Eoghan began a chant in a tongue few understood, and fewer could speak.

As he finished his chant a mighty bolt of lightning shot out of his hands, It incinerated half a hundred men, and as those who survived watched, their fears grew.

As the men began to grow uncertain about this battle an enormous man larger than Beorn appeared. He wielded an enormous great sword of bronze that was double the size of an average human.

The enormous man had an effect on the men that they now attacked with newfound fury.

Eoghan watched as three green men tried to cut him down, but the enormous man just swung his sword horizontally, cutting all three of the green men's heads clean off.

The man spat on the corpses of the fallen, as the men around him cheer. And as they start to clamor around him, he begins to tell speech. "Men of the North, of the South, we shall take this tower, for it is the last coveted site these abominations hold dear, and we shall bring the walls down and send all those who stand against us to the fiery pits of hell!"

The men cheered and raged with newfound vigor. They only stopped and calmed down when the Enormous man came face to face with Beorn.

"So, you're the mighty Bear, Beorn. I was hoping to face you." The enormous man grinned "They call me John the Oak, and I shall be the one to slay you beast!"

Beorn snorted at the man who was larger than even him, but even if the odds were against him, Boern held no fear within his heart.

"I've beaten giants larger than you, and you shall not be the exception." Instead of readying his axe for battle, Beorn dropped it... and began to change.

He grew larger and hairier, his clothes tore away at his growing form, his teeth sharpened, and his face elongated, more beast-like.

As Beorn changed, the humans began to back away, aware of the coming danger.

John the Oak now stood before an Enormous Bear twice his size on his hind legs.

Beorn let out a thunderous guttural roar. Men all around began dropping their weapons and running to avoid the coming chaos, some could even be seen with their pants stained and wet.

But as more and more men began to run, another figure appeared from the gate boosting morale slightly. He was a large man, nowhere near the two enormous figures, but he had an especially odd feature about him. Atop his head were a pair of bull horns.

Now beside his brother stood Bors the Breaker, a man with the strength of twenty men.

Beorn now faced a formidable duo that was sure to give him some kind of trouble.

A long silence enveloped the hall, with either side waiting for the other to make the first move.

Beorn was the first to attack, he charged The Oak on all fours, quickly trying to snap his massive maw down upon his head, but the Breaker charged shoulder first into the massive Bear, causing the great beast to miss his attack, but not before he brought his mighty claw down onto The breaker, ending his charge and sending him flying into men who were standing around to watch the epic battle.

The Oak charged the Bear trying to pierce the Beast with his Giant Greatsowrd.

Beorn had been too distracted with the Breaker to notice the charging danger.

Beorn let out a roar of pain, looking to his side he could see the Oak shoving his blade into his side.

Beorn stood upon his hind legs and brought down his massive claws onto the Oak only for him to roll out of the way, but not unharmed. Beorn had given him a nasty gash on his back.

As Beorn was focused on the Oak, thinking the Breaker out of the fight had not noticed him charging the bear again. He brought his arms around the underside of the beast and speared his body against the Bear pushing him back with his mighty strength.

As Beorn was pushed farther and farther back he was pushed onto a line of men with spears. The Breaker had his men start piercing the Bear with their spears, arrows, and whatever they had in hand.

Eoghan watched the battle and knew was the time to interfere, for Beorn was outnumbered and could not stay focused on both men at once.

As Eoghan began to ready a spell to aid his friend something happened.

It sounded as if the gods themselves had come.

It was an explosion so loud it could be heard across the entirety of Planetos.

Eoghan watched as everyone covered their ears, some bleeding, the fighting had come to a halt, waiting as if the gods had come to punish them all themselves.

But all they heard was silence inside the tower, and outside the siege.

Until the rushing of water filled that silence. And screams of terror outside the tower were heard.

The men who had entered began to scramble outside to see what had happened. Only to see great tides of water wash away the army outside, it was the ocean itself coming to swallow all who stood in its way.

John the Oak and Bors the Breaker looked to Eoghan accusingly, as if he had cast a great spell to decimate their forces.

The two men were ready to attack Eoghan, but they had forgotten... About the Bear.

Hundreds of men charged Beorn to keep him away from their mighty heroes while they were to kill the one whom they thought had caused this catastrophe.

But as the two began to approach they froze.

A man clad in black appeared from the shadow at the side of Eoghan.

"Apologies for my absence, I do hope I'm not late." Melkor's gaze bored into the two men as he spoke to Eoghan, his crimson-red eyes bored into their very soul.

Eoghan chuckled. "I assume what's happening is you're doing."

"Something like that, more like, a side effect."

Eoghan raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "If that was a side effect, what was it that you did to cause such a side effect."

Melkor smirked, not saying a word

"Freeing us." A feminine voice spoke, it was mature and intoxicating for any man to hear.

A woman clad in a black gown walked out of the shadow and joined Melkor at his side. Her skin was milky white, and her hair was a beautiful platinum silver, almost as white as her skin.

Eoghan's curiosity grew. "And this is?"

Melkor interlocked his hands with the strange woman. "My wife, Aina."

Eoghan didn't know how to react "Of course she is. And did she say US?"

Eoghan's question was answered as two enormous paws flanked him, above him all anyone could see was a pair of huge glowing orange eyes, boring into the souls of the two heroes who had stormed the castle.

Melkor nodded to Eoghan "My wife, Aina, and my servant, Carcharoth."