Take the body and give me the rest (30 page)

Seth laughed as
the wagons drew up into the main square. ‘Good Captain Goldie! Have
you got a tale for me?’ he said. By now, most of his other Captains
had appeared.

‘A rich, rich
haul, Sir Seth.’ Taking a hand, he threw back the leather covering
of his wagon, and sitting in it was a very large bound chest of
wood. The rest of the back of the wagon was filled with swords,
arrows, armour and a few kegs that Seth would have guess as
wine—bad idea right there.

‘Now the
story?’ he asked.

‘Well, you gave
me the directions of that place. It was just a little villa out in
the foothills. Me and the boys raided in and quick as you like,
we’d found the basement, grabbed up all this gear and the chest,
which is filled with gold, Boss, more than enough to hire us
another two armies. And, taking this wagon from around the back of
the villa, we hitched it and started riding back home. Now we’re
happy as can be. We’re riding back home along the road and, as we
do, we have to stop because we pass a slave train coming from some
mine right out near the mountains. Now these men look like a good
sort, miners, some builders and things, plus getting the whip and
all the abuse as they are driven up the road. Looking thirsty and
miserable. So I shout out, how much for the lot?’

Seth laughed again. ‘Good work, Goldie. If we keep this up
we’ll be able to buy the whole country out of slavery
!’

‘Oh that
reminds me’ Goldie said ‘I offered them freedom and wages, that’s
what we do right?’

Seth laughed
‘That’s what we do now’

The men were
exactly what was called for. The next four days Seth and his
Captains spent strengthening the defences of the Keep, counting and
rationing supplies and getting the men ready for what looked like
being a protracted siege. They had enough food to last for months
and water was available in wells all over the township. Still, Seth
kept saying to himself: three to one, three to one.

The General had
been on both sides of a siege war, and Seth let the memories drift
over him. The problem with their plan was that no one was coming to
help them. They might hold out for a week, a month or even a year,
but in the end someone would get over the wall and it would be
over. He had talked to Dagosh about other mercenary armies but the
only one not engaged for the season was the Red Bastards and they
sounded like their name suggested, not to be trusted.

Seth knew that this wasn’t the duke’s only force, either. This
might be his army of killers from the desert and some levies, but
Seth was sure he could call on allies as well. He was a duke, after
all
.
If Elizebetha hadn’t spent all her time wandering around and
actually went to some weddings, she’d have allies but as it was the
local peerage actually liked Renton more, it seemed he was good at
making friends if nothing else.

As night fell
that night, Seth, who had been visited by Elizebetha, called his
Captains together.

‘We’re as
prepared as we can be, which is good as they will be arriving with
the sunrise tomorrow. Let make sure the men are ready. I don’t want
any of this surprise nonsense. We need them filled with arrows as
soon as they get within range. Griffin, how did we do with your
siege weapons?’ Seth asked.

‘We have built
three scorpions and two rock throwers. That’s all the materials we
have, but should be enough. I’ve been helped by those miners and
builders Goldie brought in and have also been training them. With
permission, they’ll man the weapons,’ he said.

‘Will they do a
good job of it?’ Seth asked.

‘They will, and
it will free up more men for the wall.’

‘Then it’s
done. Get some sleep and no bloody drinking tonight. Tomorrow,
they’ll be here.’

Chapter 33

As the hot sun
rose over the Black Rock Keep the next day, Seth looked out from
the top of the wall at the army assembled below. They had marched
in with the sun, not trying any surprise night-time attacks, and
now stood just out of arrow range a good way back from the moat and
picket line of sharpened wooden stakes and pits. The army looked
vast to him. They stood as a sea of black bodies with shining pikes
and shields, red banners waving from flags. He could hear various
horns and trumpets as the army slowly assembled in order on the
field before them.

‘Bloody lot of
them,’ said Griffin, standing next to him.

‘Will the
scorpion or rock throwers reach them?’ Seth asked.

‘With some
luck. Should we get started?’ he asked with a grin.

‘Let’s show
them that we’ve got them . . . not that they don’t know.’

Griffin walked
passed him on the wall and into one of the turrets. Along the top
of the wall in four places, one at each end and spaced evenly, were
large flat areas. They had roofs, but were largely open at the
front. A scorpion, as Griffin called it, was like a huge crossbow
that needed to be loaded by two men and fired a bolt that was like
a handful of spears lashed together. The spears came apart close to
the target. The General loved them.

The rock
throwers did just that. They were set up in the courtyard below and
flung large rocks by the mechanics of a counter weight. The General
was less fond of them, though, as they were less accurate and a
badly made one would likely collapse after a few fires. Seth saw
Griffin running from one turret to the two others and then come
back to where Seth stood.

‘They are
ready; just give me the order.’

‘Are we firing
short as discussed?’ Seth said.

‘We are, sir,’
he answered.

‘Then show me
what they can do.’

Griffin shouted
out, ‘All fire!’ and with a cracking of wood and sound like a
hundred bowstrings being fired, the three bolts launched from the
wall and into the men assembled below. They had seen preparations
and had the form of a shield wall. They were almost out of range,
but Seth heard the sound of the sharp wooden shafts hitting the
shields, screams and horns being blown.

‘Keep firing,’
Seth said.

Griffin
shouted, ‘All constant fire!’

It took the men
a little while to load a new bolt after one was fired, but the
effect on the army below was incredible. The soldiers didn’t break
position but were pushed back and back until they stood a vast
distance from where they started, the bolts now bouncing on the
ground and not hitting.

‘Stop firing,’
Seth said.

Griffin
shouted, ‘All stop!’ and no more bolts came from the turrets. On
the ground below, Seth could see the bodies of a handful of men but
knew it must have been more. He had to fight to feel nothing. A
growing part of him was enjoying this.

‘I’ll retire.
If they come within range, start again,’ he said.

‘Yes sir,’ said
Griffin, the older man looked at him for something more.

Seth laughed.
‘They’ll have some second thoughts about this endeavour
already.’

Seth left the
wall and, walking down the stone stairs to the courtyard, stood
next to Goldie and another small team of his new people. Goldie was
supervising the rock throwing machines. Next to the tall and
dangerous wooden structures, they had gathered large boulders and
around six barrels that he’d brought in the wagon train.

‘I wish we had
more than six, but still, it will give them something to think
about tonight,’ Seth said. The barrels which he had thought were
filled with wine were actually filled with lamp oil.

Seth found his way to the Keep. Lying on top of Renton’s bed
with his boots and clothes still on, he slept during the day and
was woken by a chamberlain at the very beginning of sunset. The
darkness was when most of the attacks against the wall would come.
Flint and Stone had also slept during the day, as had their
companies
and
half of the archers. Seth was convinced this would be the time they
launched their first proper attack; he was surprised it hadn’t come
yet.

The wind howled
at the top of the black wall, but the night was still warm, and the
moonlight was bright. Looking out over the wall into the darkness,
Seth’s eye was greeted by a sea of yellow campfires at a distance.
There were hundreds of fires and that made the duke’s army seem
huge. Seth’s men had blocked the gates with stones and hammered it
shut. They wouldn’t be leaving to attack; they were only about
defence. The only chance they had to attack was this first day and
night.

Lady Elizebetha
had told him she wouldn’t let him summon anything to help them and
she had forbidden him to use fire against them. She could only stop
him from one, though, and not the other. He needed to rattle these
men if he intended to come of out of this alive.

‘Whenever
you’re ready, Goldie!’ Seth shouted down from the wall. He heard
the sounds of men loading and straining with the machines and then,
in a few moments, two large whipping sounds, one after the other.
Two barrels spinning end over end disappeared into the dark sky and
landed soundly in the invaders, who were still camped much too
close, they had set the throws short initially as well. Nothing
happened as the barrels hit except for a muffled thud and some
yelling, Seth was hoping to get one in a fire and save the need for
the scorpions, but he wasn’t that lucky. ‘Griffin, light the bolts
up and give us as much distance as we can get.’

Fires lit in
the turrets and, as the next lot of barrels were thrown over the
battlements, flaming bolts started shooting from the turrets and
into the camping soldier. The screams drifting in on the distance
had started in earnest now, and as the last barrels went over the
wall and punched through the air, something in the field caught
fire. It wasn’t the whole field—not enough fuel for that—but a
large fire broke out in the camp and the bolts keep firing into the
sleeping, eating and disorganised men.

Seth found he
was laughing loudly from the top of the wall, running from one
scorpion to the next as it fired and hit a camp fire site. The
troops with him were cheering and shouting as well. From the wall
they could see utter confusion as the men were forced to break camp
and run, not knowing the true distance of the bolts. Seth had
shouted, ‘Goldie, it worked!’ with another wicked laugh when he
turned to see the horrified face of The Duchess Elizebetha standing
next to him on the wall. She was dressed for battle in her lady’s
armour and sword, but tears were streaking down her face.

‘Why, Seth? Why
attack them while they sleep and eat, why trick them like you did,
luring them in too close?’ she whispered.

Thinking of the
General’s own vicious victories, he replied, ‘We’re out numbered
three to one in here. We have no allies coming, and if he wins the
whole world will be under his boot. The time for weakness is
done.’

Chapter 34

Smoke still
curled off the ground, and, as the day started, Seth, looking out
from the battlement with tired eyes, could finally see the damage
they had done last night. The field was littered with groups of
bodies and large areas of grass were burned, with small camps
abandoned. Seth had left standing orders for the scorpion teams to
fire on anyone within range. The invading force of the duke
couldn’t be seen—they had drawn back far enough to be well out of
range—but Seth knew even this attack would only have made the man
angry.

He was starting to know this man well. He’d finally broken
though the wall of the General’s memories and they had indeed known
each other through The Guild
.
Stephan had hated the man and even fought him once in a duel and
won, too bad he hadn’t killed him and it was only to the
blood.

As Seth saw his
face in the General’s memories he saw clearly he was the man of the
Desert who had raised his wife. So Seth was facing not only the
Dark Guild’s First Brother but an army with a vanguard the size of
his force, who could all fight like him and the boys.

As Seth looked,
he saw a white horse running across the field below. The rider in
black also held a pike high in the air, with a white strip of
fabric tied to it that blew in the breeze. Griffin called out from
one of the turrets, ‘Orders, sir?’ knowing Seth was seeing the
messenger as well.

‘Hold fire!’
Seth shouted.

The messenger
pulled up his horse, in front of the moat and well within bow
range. It was a young boy really, black hair, scared look and high
pitched voice. ‘My Lord the Duke wishes to talk with the man known
as Sir Seth, who commands the defences!’ he yelled.

‘I’m Seth. Tell
the duke I’ll be glad to talk with him, but I’m going to meet him
right down the bottom there, right within arrow range.’

Griffin,
Goldie, Grimm and his other Captains had come to stand with him on
the battlements.

‘Is this a good
plan?’ asked Grimm. ‘You’re not afraid he’ll try something?’

‘I don’t think
so. I’m sure he wants to try to turn me against Elizebetha,’ Seth
said.

Four horses
soon returned over the ridge but with only three riders. One was a
tall man dressed in full black armour who drew up his horse well
out of bow range but within the scorpion’s range; he must have
known aiming them wasn’t at all accurate—they couldn’t be used
against a single man well. One was a tall lady in flowing robes and
the messenger boy.

The messenger
continued to the spot he was before but leading a second horse. He
looked incredibly nervous. ‘My lord says he has too much respect
for your killer instinct to put himself within the range of your
bows.’

Seth laughed
out loud and spoke to his men. ‘He’s smart, this one. I would have
done it in a heartbeat and so would he. Now I have to bloody climb
down there’ said Seth with a sigh.