Exiles of Forlorn (31 page)

“You are all here because you have no other place to be. Some of you followed me, most of you came later. But you all found this colony because of a promise I made to you. A promise that we would all be equals. A promise that we wouldn’t be judged by the station of our birth or the wealth in our coffers. A promise that you would be safe from bounty hunters. Safe from war and starvation. Safe from slavery and corruption.”

He looked down for a moment, then raised his head. “I have failed you. I have not kept you safe, and the enemy is at our gate. They mean to take what little we have, and from some of you, more than that.

“But we will not let them. We will fight them! This is our land. This is our home. We have worked it, built it up, made it ours. No one man owns this place, it is the property of us all. We share it. We bow to no kings, acknowledge no tyrants. Those who would seek to undo us will fall, because the Daevas have blessed this colony, and they have blessed us.

“Stand with me, friends. Stand with
us
. I will not run this time. You have no other place to go, and neither do I. I will fight. I will die, if need be. I require no more of any of you than I do of myself. But if any wish to make peace with our enemies, to throw in your lot with them, go now.” He pointed at the gate. “No one will stop you. This is no empire, and you are not subjects. You are free men and women, and if you are to put yourself at risk, you will do so by your choice.”

He waited for a moment, as if expecting that some might break away and leave. When no one did, he smiled and continued, “There is greatness here, but it is not from me, and it is not from my words. It is from you. It is in your strength, your bravery, your passion. It is the fire of the Daevas raging inside us that burns away the fear and strengthens our resolve. We have run before, all of us have. For many reasons. But we will not run now. We will not flee.” He raised his fist into the air. “We will fight!”

A cheer went up through the colony, louder than thunder and a hundred times as strong. Beside myself, I found I was cheering as well. It was infectious, I supposed. I looked up at the stage at Arn. I couldn’t believe I’d never seen it before. I knew then that even if I’d never met his family, even if the secret of his birth had never been revealed to me, I’d have known him to be a king.

We gathered before going to our posts. Claster and Horvis left us then. They seemed to understand that this was our time. We exchanged looks. Worried, excited, terrified, so many things reflected in our eyes. I opened my mouth, but no words came. Even Uller was dumbstruck. I looked at Antioc and nodded. He smiled back. I stepped forward and thrust my hand into the center of our circle, open with my palm down.

Antioc stepped up and put his big, strong hand under mine, holding it up. Reiwyn came next, putting hers on mine; Blackfoot slapped his dirty little hand on hers. Uller came next. Gargath and Hratoe put in, followed by Zin, Uller, then Front-Strider. We stood there like that for a moment, knowing the next time we did this, there might be fewer hands to hold.

30.

I
was standing on the wall when they came. It was blackest night beyond the flickering borders of our torches. I heard them, a clamor of steps pounding earth in the darkness. I smelled them, too. A legion of the unwashed, their bodies caught by the wind, bringing their stink to us along the edges of the wall.

I turned and looked at Blackfoot on the ground below me. I gave him a nod, and he took off, running to inform the commanders to be ready. Beyond him, in the torch-lit streets, I saw Reiwyn and her archers lined up. Beyond them, the
onagers
and their crews of mostly women and the old. I turned back to the wall and the darkness beyond.

“Are you ready?” I asked.

“I am,” answered Uller. He stood to my right, behind one of the arrow blinds. A little further down was Front-Strider, hunched down against the spiked wall. He pulled back the drawstring and locked it in place, then loaded a bolt. He nodded beyond him at the two-man crews occupying the
espringals
on either side of us, already loaded with arrows the size of spears with sharpened stone tips.

“Are you sure you can do this?” I muttered to Uller.

“You’d better hope I can,” he muttered back, and reached into his pouch. He drew out a sad looking little orange fruit and began to peel it. Once it’s white and peach flesh was bare, he sprinkled a collection of dried herbs from a belt pouch over it; little bits stuck to it like dust as he muttered a few words I couldn’t understand. Then he shoved the fruit into his mouth, his jaw straining to take it all, and raised his hands.

A great burst of light erupted from his chest with a flame-like whooshing sound, then raced above him, growing as it rose. He looked up at it and shouted as though in pain as pink juice ran down his cheeks and neck. The burst of light floated high and erupted, filling the colony and the lands beyond the wall with a great glow of light almost the equal of the sun.

Then we saw them. An army of dumbfounded raiders staring up at the great glow above. I laughed and slapped Uller on the back, apologizing the next second when I remembered that he had to concentrate to maintain this light. I grabbed a pole with a green flag on it and waved it above my head. In the colony, I saw Horvis wave a green flag in reply. I dropped the flag and turned back to Front-Strider with a nod.

“Let them have it!” he shouted.

The thump of the
espringals
releasing tension was followed by the whoosh of bolts projecting through the air. They quickly reloaded, the men at the back of the box-frames turning a crank that drew back the tension line, with the ones next to it loading another spear in the groove.

Arrows flew back; most hit the wall. Most of those that passed over the wall did so harmlessly, but a few struck home and sent a few of my artillery men to their knees. I grabbed the pole with the red flag and raised it high. In the distance, next to my
onagers,
Horvis waved a red flag back. I heard him shout, “Loose!” followed by the clank and groan of artillery firing. Three huge rocks careened over Reiwyn’s archers and the wall. I watched them travel along their path until they crashed into the throngs of Scumdogs, ripping flesh and crushing the bones of any in their path with a most gruesome sound.

I cheered and waved the flag three times, signaling for them to fire at will. The artillery crews worked furiously to reload the
onagers
as the
espringals
fired again, skewering two or three Scumdogs with each stone tipped projectile. They reloaded in a hail of arrow fire, again mostly harmless but taking some of our men down with screams. Those that fell were quickly replaced as the wounded shuffled down the ladders to Gargath and Hratoe for healing.

The
onagers
fired again, but I couldn’t watch the shots land this time. I grabbed a blue flag and waved it above my head. An arrow streaked by me, almost taking off my ear as I jumped behind the arrow blind next to Uller. Tears ran down his winced face as he concentrated on the glowing light above. Next to Reiwyn, I saw Claster wave a blue flag back at me, and Reiwyn gave the order to fire. The night filled with the twang of bowstrings, followed by the whistle of arrows as they arced toward their targets. They’d barely landed, tearing into flesh and eliciting a legion of screams, when Reiwyn and her archers had loosed another volley at them.

In the night, beyond even the glow of Uller’s spell, I heard Burlone’s voice, titanous over the screams of his men, as he bellowed his command, “Charge!”

Then came the charge. Knowing they’d lost the advantage provided by darkness, and that we had within us the means to break them at range, they sought to close the distance. Shields came up as they poured across the field. I grabbed the red flag and waved in a circle three times, Horvis waived in reply and signaled for Friyesse and her crews to push the
onagers
back to change their range. They worked quickly, pulling out the wedge breaks so Antioc and his burly Wrecking Crew could roll them back on their big wooden wheels.

The
espringals
groaned and whistled, then groaned again as they were reloaded. They were deadly at range, but once the enemy closed to the wall they’d be useless. They couldn’t be aimed directly down, and the mobility they did have was limited by their heavy wooden frame. Front-Strider gave the order for the elevation to be changed. They fired again, but most of the shots went wide and struck ground. I cursed to myself. I hadn’t really wanted to use
espringals
, they were inferior to the more aimable ballista, but I didn’t have enough room on the wall for them. I hoped the mobility of the
onagers
would make up for that, but seeing how long it was taking them to get the artillery in place told me I might have over-estimated them.

I didn’t have to wave the flag for the archers to change their targets, they knew enough from seeing the artillery position shift. Following Reiwyn’s lead, they raised their aim and fired in a higher arc, bringing the shower of arrows down tighter to the wall. The Scumdogs were ready that time, and most of the arrows thudded against thick wooden tower shields that looked like they were made from ship lumber.

I ducked under a volley of Scumdog arrows and bolts. Beyond me in the colony I heard screams as a few archers took hits. I saw Gargath charge fearlessly through the rain of arrows to aid the fallen. I looked at Front-Strider, who’d just reloaded his crossbow and was getting ready to jump up and fire. I shook my head at him. “The rocks!”

“Rocks!” he shouted. They abandoned their
espringals
and grabbed oblong rocks from the piles stacked against the wall. They threw them over the side, and we heard men scream below as they fell, crushing shields, bones and skulls. “Again!” he cried, and they grabbed more rocks and tossed them over the side. Bolts screamed through the air and took some of them down, but most were able to get out of the way in time.

The
onagers
groaned and fired. The rocks went wide, barreling through the ranks of the Scumdog archers. By now they’d learned the trajectory of these things, and had mostly cleared trenches where the rocks would land. They took some casualties as the rocks bounced along the ground, but nowhere near as many as the first volleys. I waved the red flag in a cross motion, signaling for Friyesse to turn them so as to change their attack path. She waved back and Antioc and his troops jumped into action.

Volleys of arrows were exchanged, theirs then ours, then theirs again. The shields were almost negating our shots. That was when they started augmenting their volleys with a few flaming arrows. Most of them struck dirt, but the ones that didn’t hit the thatched roofs of our yurts. I’d anticipated that, and gave a cry for Horvis, who nodded and ordered his troops into action. They ran forward with buckets of water. They extinguished most of the arrows, but a few took hold of the buildings they’d struck and sent them up in whoosh of flame.

I felt the wall shake. I looked through a slit in the wall toward the gate and saw a collection of Scumdogs forming a tortoise with their shields around it. Under them, a great iron-shod ram rolled forth on carved wooden wheels and slammed into the gate, shaking the wall beneath us. Our men threw rocks and fired crossbows down on them, but they weren’t able to penetrate the shell of shields. I grinned and ran, crouched behind the wall, to the edge of the pillars that flanked the gate.

“Release the wolf grate!” I shouted down at the men on either side. They nodded and grabbed the levers that held the drawing wheels in place. They locked eyes and counted . . . one . . . two . . . three, pull. The top grate swung on the joint in the middle, bringing it down like the jaw of a wolf on the men below. Even their shields couldn’t protect them as it crushed two dozen of them between the spikes of the top and bottom grates. Once its bloody errand was complete, the gate men grabbed the wheels and began winding the top back into place, like a book opening. This time, it was soaked with red, with a couple of bodies stuck in the spikes as it clanked along.

I laughed and slapped a random soldier’s back. “Get it? That’s why they call it a wolf grate!” I made a motion like closing jaws with my hands, but he didn’t seem all that impressed.

The
onagers
fired again, this time crushing a few dozen more archers before barreling into the darkness beyond Uller’s light. Reiwyn’s archers loosed, filling the Scumdog’s shields with arrows. Rocks flew over the side of the wall, landing with crushing blows. Another volley of flaming arrows followed, sending the ground troops scrambling to deal with the fallout. I knew somewhere in the colony, Antioc was aching for the fight to come to him, but it was my job to make sure that didn’t happen for as long as possible.

I grabbed the blue flag and waved it in a cross formation. Claster waved back and ordered the archers to shoot farther. We needed to deal with their archers before they brought down the whole colony with fire. My
onagers
weren’t going to do it. Reiwyn nodded at Claster’s command, and her archers adjusted their bows and let a volley fly. It streaked through the night and showered the ground, falling short of their archers. I waved the flag again to let them know, and they adjusted their aim again. That time, the volley struck true, landing in the throngs of their archers, ripping through flesh as men screamed and fell. I waved the flag side to the side, letting them know they’d hit their mark and could fire at will. They obliged, and arrows whistled through the air over the wall again.

I heard Uller groan. He was straining, the tears from his eyes now joined by blood from his nose. I ran to his side, head down below the wall. Blackfoot was there already, stroking his back. “You’re doing it, Uller,” he said, nodding. “You’re doing it. You’re saving lives.”

I nodded in agreement. Uller tightened his resolve, but still I saw it wearing on him. I grabbed a cloth from my belt and wiped the blood from his face. His cheeks were trembling. “Just a little longer,” I encouraged. “Just a little longer.”