Betrayal (17 page)

Nisero saluted as he approached. “We are ready to move, General Dreth. Our scouts are inside and hold the main gate.”

“Will you give us a moment, lieutenant?”

Nisero looked over and saw Dreth was standing with Arianne. Nisero had preferred that she stay behind somewhere, but he had no idea where that safe place might be, so she was with them at the walls of the capital.

The King’s sons and grandsons had been located by loyal troops and word had reached them. The stronghold they held in the northern hills was too far to try to send Arianne now. It was a good secluded spot which was part of the reason Berengar had chosen the region for his retirement.

Nisero saw Dreth and Arianne staring at him. The lieutenant said, “Of course, General. We are ready upon your command.”

Nisero stepped away from the couple and moved back over beside Captain Berengar.

“They can’t work that out after the battle?” Berengar asked.

Nisero looked back at them exchanging words he could not hear, in rapid succession. He turned his attention back on the gate looking for any signs of trouble. “If you or I had an understanding of how to handle the battles involving the needs of women, we would probably lead very different lives, sir.”

“Speak for yourself, lieutenant.”

Nisero smiled. “Of course, sir. I’ll just say I am glad that part of today’s battle belongs to the newly minted general.”

Berengar snorted and then looked back over his shoulder. “I’m just glad we finally convinced the King to move behind the front lines for this assault.”

“Yes, sir.”

Commotion started up near the gate and Nisero heard metal on metal.

Berengar shouted, “General Dreth, it’s upon us!”

Dreth stepped away from Arianne. “Take the city. Hold the gate!”

Berengar and other officers echoed the cry and their men drove forward in a column to enter through the gate and begin claiming control of the streets as planned.

Lieutenant Nisero turned and looked back through the advancing men for Arianne. Dreth and Berengar were already leading forward. The King was approaching in the middle ranks. Nisero did not see her. She was supposed to fall back to the support positions and he had no reason to believe she would not, but he did not see her. The men parted around him as they continued the advance.

Nisero thought of their retreat from the castle of Solag in the ruins of the ancient kingdom of Faithcore. He had Arianne and did not know the fate of her father. Berengar was fighting for his life, but Nisero had taken her out of danger, out of respect for the captain’s wishes. The captain’s wife and son were recently murdered and letting harm come to Arianne would negate the entire unauthorized mission the two of them had engaged in to rescue her. That instinct to protect her above all else had never really left Nisero as he searched the ranks for her.

The gate clanked loose of its holds and threatened to come crashing down on the heads of the King’s loyal forces seeking to enter through it. It locked again a few feet farther down. The men from both sides must have been fighting over the release lever.

Nisero charged forward between the lines.

The men were pushing through and fanning out into the city as they had been instructed. Nisero saw them taking positions on streets to control choke points until more forces assembled.

Even as more men flooded through, the gate jerked down a bit more before locking again. Within the gate arch, Nisero pushed through the flow of soldiers to locate the cranks and levers on the side. Men under the King’s command held the controls. Those serving Marlex were struggling to continue closing it even with blades held to their chests. If they served the correct King, their sacrifice would be admirable.

Nisero took a deep breath. “End them, if they refuse to end their struggle. We will not force them to be prisoners if death is the only end they will accept. Then, get that gate opened and locked. Now!”

The men pushed the traitors to the ground and drove their blades home. The others proceeded to raise the gate back to full open.

Nisero entered and surveyed the edge of the capital. Marlex’s forces in the first surprised wave threw down their arms and accepted captivity once the numbers flooding through overwhelmed them. The few that refused were cut down as Nisero watched.

As the King entered through the gate with a short sword in his grasp, the prisoners begged for mercy and forgiveness from their knees.

“Silence them,” the King commanded.

The troops made short work of the unarmed men, putting them onto the ground with the few opposing soldiers that had continued to fight.

Nisero stepped past the scene and toward Captain Berengar near the front of the advance. He heard Berengar directing the men. “Our advantage has been surprise. We won’t keep it long, if we don’t keep moving. Rally to your commanders and advance up your assigned path. The fight will grow harder closer to the center.”

The soldiers marched up the streets in their units, and the bulk of the force continued up the central avenue. As Nisero marched with the King and the main force, he knew that the street would narrow and split off as they drew closer to the palace. The force would have to split or funnel into a column that did not utilize the strength of their numbers.

General Dreth turned to Berengar. “Captain, let’s get our archers set at key outlooks on these buildings. I want our bowmen, not theirs, above our heads.”

“Yes, sir.” Berengar passed the message to the other commanders. Nisero watched the archers peal off the main force to enter doorways on each side of the street.

The King moved up beside Berengar. “Captain.”

“Yes, your majesty.”

“Do we have units posted at key buildings in the city?”

Berengar thought for a moment. “We have men at the drain openings under the wall in the event that any of Marlex’s men, the nobles, or the man himself attempt to flee the way we did.”

“And outside the other buildings I told you?”

“Not yet, but we are approaching those positions and men – trusted men – have been assigned to watch for anyone fleeing. We are coming up on the apothecary building ourselves soon.”

“I’m not even sure Marlex has discovered those tunnels out of the palace, but I do not want him to get away.”

“Yes, your majesty.”

“The men do not know what they are guarding?”

“No, sir, just who they are watching to possibly pass that way.”

“Your majesty,” Nisero said, “with all respect, if we could send a small force up one of those tunnels, we could possibly open the palace from the inside with minimal loss of life from this assault.”

The King shook his head with force. “Lives I can afford. Giving up the secrets of the tunnels might well cost me mine some day.”

Nisero pressed. “Myself and the captain already know of the one from the apothecary. You trust us with that knowledge. If he and I alone took on the mission of entering that way, you would lose no secrets and we would be taking our every advantage in this battle.”

The King considered this for a moment. He looked down at the street as they advanced with the center of the column. “I’ll allow it, but I want to come too.”

“The danger is already too great having you here,” Berengar protested. “If Marlex’s men found that pass after we used it to escape, they could have set a trap. This could well be a suicide mission.”

“Why would you push to attempt it, if you so feared death in it?” the King asked.

“Battle is risk,” Nisero said. “This is a risk worth taking for the lives it might save in comparison to the lives it might cost. That equation is off balance, if your life is one of the ones risked in it.”

The King relented. “I’ll allow it, but only you two. Keep the secret of the tunnel intact. Kill whoever you must to keep that secret on the other end before you allow us inside. Even the loyal troops must not know how you entered.”

Berengar was eager to get moving. “They know we climbed inside once to save you, your majesty. There is no reason they have to believe we got in any other way this time.”

“You must leave the nobles and Marlex himself for me to deal with, as I see fit. As for everyone else, there will be no quarter given. Take them all down, captain and lieutenant. They have forfeited their right to live in my kingdom any longer.”

“Yes, sir,” they both said together.

The man that had been on Dreth’s right inside the inn ran up beside them. Nisero did not know the man’s name, but he was some rank of officer within Dreth’s original double unit. “Your majesty, a message.”

“Yes, commander.”

“Battle has begun on the eastern border. Our forces have pushed into the territory of the kingdom of the east. They still believe they act under your command. Our forces outside the capital received the message.”

“Once we have the palace again,” the King decided, “they will, in fact, be acting under my command. No reason for most of them to think otherwise as we begin the purge of disloyal nobles and double agents within the army ranks.”

“Is there some message we could get out to delay that conflict until all the facts that led to it are revealed?” Nisero questioned.

“There is never a time when all facts are revealed. If a single message could stop wars, lieutenant, being King would be a task any man could do.”

“Yes, sir.”

The King nodded to the commander. “Thank you. That will be all.”

As he started to leave, Berengar grabbed the man’s arm. “What of the city gates?”

“We control all the gates and perimeter of the capital. Fighting rages in the streets as we push Marlex’s forces closer to the palace.”

Berengar let go of his arm and inclined his head. “Thank you, commander.”

The King ushered them off. “You better go open the door for us soon, gentlemen.”

The sounds of swords clashing rang from the street ahead of them.

Berengar and Nisero advanced through the ranks ahead of the King’s position. Fighting broke out in all three avenues of the intersection ahead.

“Which fight do you prefer, sir?”

“The one that is over,” the captain replied. He pointed to the right. “We need to get to the cellar of that apothecary, so let’s assist with the advance in that direction.”

The exchanges of blows were rapid and heavy. Both sides of the melee wore the same uniforms and bled the same color of red. As they continued to battle, the King’s forces slowly pushed back step by step and one block at a time. The lines wavered even as they advanced. A few of Marlex’s soldiers dashed up an alley and a few more of the King’s men pursued.

Nisero reached out a hand as if to grab them and to pull them back into formation. They were already deep into the shadows and weaving through to other streets still up for grabs. Once they got there, the traitors would be hard to distinguish from the King’s forces except how they self identified.

Nisero drew his sword. “I think we are only winning by accident at this point.”

Nisero saw the line of fighting men was thinning. He stepped over the body of a felled soldier he assumed was one of them instead of one of his, but there was no way to be certain. The stench of death filled his nostrils.

After several rough and bloody skirmishes, the dwindling numbers of Marlex’s men turned and fled.

Berengar pushed onward. “Run them down, men. Don’t let them find a secure position or regroup to harangue us further.”

The men that were least injured charged ahead. Seeing their enemy flee fueled their adrenaline and gave them renewed strength.

Nisero and Berengar sheathed their blades without spilling any blood themselves. Berengar turned and walked the other way, facing the bulk of their ranks behind them. “Keep advancing. Take your assigned targets. Don’t leave any streets for our enemies to claim.”

As the men moved from block to block in a systematic way, Berengar and Nisero cut across and weaved to a different avenue. Along the roofs, Nisero saw men carrying bundles fleeing above the streets. He smiled, unconcerned for the escape of the smugglers with their black market goods.

Other than the echoes of metal on metal and distant shouts, they could be walking through the capital on any other day on any common patrol. Citizens peered from windows as Berengar and Nisero passed beneath.

They rounded another corner and Nisero spotted a group of seven men standing in the center of the street, out in front of the apothecary in question.

“I was hoping to get here before our men and slip in quietly,” Berengar said, displeased.

The soldiers turned their eyes toward the two men approaching.

Nisero narrowed his eyes at them. “Are you sure they are ours?”

“I chose them myself for these special guard positions. I think they are the same men.”

As they stopped in front of them, one of the seven said, “All quiet, sir. We confirmed the building was empty and we have remained outside since. No one in and no one out, as you said, captain. No sign of the enemy either.”

The soldier was short, and Berengar towered over him. “Have you watched the back and the alleys?”