Roland's Castle (11 page)

“They’ve done it this time,”
Firebrace said.

Instantaneously there was a rumble
and a bolt of lighting struck out across the moat. The throwing
machine was destroyed and its operators killed in a blinding flash
and a bang. But Dagarth was not amongst the victims - Roland noted
that his uncle had beaten a swift retreat from the trebuchet before
it had fired. He had known what would happen if it hit its intended
target.

Roland looked down to see what had
happened to Dogwood and Dagwood. He hoped they hadn’t been killed.
He wanted them to see that the attack had failed. He wanted to deal
with them himself, too. At first he couldn’t see them and assumed
they must have fallen in and that their armour had dragged them to
the bottom of the moat. Once the noise and fury had died down a
little, though, wails and cries could be heard coming from the base
of the ramparts. Roland looked down to see that Dogwood and Dagwood
were right at the base of the wall. One of the men at arms in their
boat had managed to brace it against the wall with an oar. The two
boys were crying in fear.

“We must do something,” Roland
said, “get them up!”

“Oh let them drown,” Savitri said,
“you are too soft hearted.”

But Roland really did want them to
feel his wrath. Letting them die at the bottom of the moat was too
easy.

“Lower ropes, we will haul them
up,” Roland instructed.

Ropes were indeed lowered and a
great deal of effort put into hauling the boys up. Once on the
ramparts they started wailing, “We’re sorry!”

“We’re sorry!”

We’re really sorry! Please don’t
kill us!”

They knelt down and pleaded for
their lives, “Daddy said it would be so easy!” -

“Daddy said we would just go over
the walls and you would be too stupid and puny to do anything to
stop us…..” -

“We didn’t know you were so
mighty!”

“No – we didn’t!” -

“Please forgive us, your lordship,
we owe you our lives and our service, please spare us….!” -

“Yes! Please spare us!”

It really was pitiful and Roland
felt disgust. He told them, “ You swear loyalty now - until the
next time when you will betray us as before.”

“Oh no, oh no
lord
! We were
wrong!”

“We did you wrong but now we owe
you loyal service for sparing our lives!”

“That isn’t decided yet,” Roland
said, and gave them a very good glower. They quivered.

“Get them out of my sight!” Savitri
said.

“If we sent you back would you
forswear taking up arms against us?” Roland asked.

“That wouldn’t be very clever
Roland,” Oliver objected.

“Yes, we would!” “Yes, we would!”
they pleaded.

“I don’t believe you,” Roland told
them, “You are not gentlemen but scoundrels and in my heart I
always knew it,” and Roland began getting into his stride on the
subject, “You are your fathers spawn and thus unworthy of our
mercy!” they shook again – “Yet I will let you live.”

“Oh thank you!” - “Oh thank
you!”

“Take them away!” Roland commanded,
and the villagers led them away at arrow point.

Roland turned to his friends and
winked, “That got them going, didn’t it!”

“And some! You had them quaking in
their metal boots!” Oliver said.

“Way to go!” Savitri said, and put
a hand on his arm in approval.

Roland laughed. “It did the
trick!”

He looked out on the moat, proud of
the victory, but then he saw how many men were dead. Men who had
been living just an hour before were now corpses floating in the
water or lying on rafts, all with arrows sticking out of them.

“We did well, you did well,”
Firebrace said.

“Yes, we did.” Roland agreed,
feeling heartened, “But I don’t think they will give up that
easily.”

“What else can they throw at us?”
Oliver asked.

Firebrace was silent and Savitri
looked at the ground.

“I am sure there is something else
coming, something
very
nasty,” Roland said.

When the others had gone he looked
out again at the dead men. He was angry at his uncle for the simple
waste.

That night they celebrated. They
found auntie’s other, other secret stash of food (they had already
found the secret stash and the other secret stash). Like the first
two, the other, other secret stash was vast - it was amazing it
could all fit in the castle let alone the huge cellar it was put
in. They all feasted, laughed and joked. The villagers and
men-at-arms discussed the battle, retelling the story of the battle
and joking about the greatest victory they had known.

“Did you see them panic!” said Old
Balderguzzle.

“ Oh yes!” said Young Bodfrey.

“They would have run for their
lives if they didn’t had to swim! Laughed Young Nodkin.

“ They didn’t swim very well did
they?” laughed Old Nodkin.

Well, the were wearing breast
plates – it don’t help with the floating much!” Laughed
Balderguzzle

“Not at all!” Laughed Palfrey

And Dagarth – and Dagarth, did you
see his face?” said Old Balderguzzle

“Oh yes!” said Pomfret

“Chagrin without the grin!” said
Old Balderguzzle.

“It wiped the smile off and twice
and thrice! Laughed Nodkin

“He wont be smiling again for a
while, maybe not never!” Frenella said

“Not 'til Lammas come doomsday, I
don’t reckon , not ‘til Lammas come Doomsday!” Said Marden.

“Long live Roland – our leader and
hero!” They all cried out.

And they all toasted, “Long live
Roland victor of the battle!”

And the Fortressers began to sing
to a stirring tune.

Splendid star!

Who’s evening rise

Turns night to day

And lights our way

Beneath holy skies

To a sacred place

And an ancient race

Sought by the holy and the wise

As they sang Roland sat by the
fire, staring into the flames. He was sombre and did not feel like
celebrating. He wished they would all stop. Firebrace knew his
thoughts.

“You must allow them to celebrate,”
he guided.

“We don’t know what else Dagarth is
cooking up,” Roland said.

“No we don’t. All the more reason
to keep up our spirits and look to what we have done, not to what
we might do, might not do, or might see undone!”

“I don’t want to be undone!” Roland
said with a smile.

Firebrace laughed. “Wonderful!
Let’s make sure none of us are!”

When they awoke the next morning
the opposing army was gone. Only the smouldering wreck of the
lightning-struck trebuchet and a few embers of camp fires marked
where they had been. The other siege weapons had been dismantled
and taken away so there was little sign of the great threat that
had menaced the castle’s walls the day before.

It was another fine morning and the
joy of it filled the defenders and yet again made them enthusiastic
about their victory. Before them the valley of the stream stretched
out to the hill and they felt that it was undoubtedly,
unquestionably theirs again. Roland, Oliver and Savitri decided to
ride out on horses and look over the battlefield and see if they
could spy where the enemy had got to. It was worth a risk for a
look – they had to know what was afoot out there. Besides, it was
time they practised riding – it would be a useful skill.

Roland had some experience on
horseback, Unsurprisingly, Savitri could ride well. Oliver had very
little experience and was shaky. He doubted he could fire an arrow
from horseback.

Roland wanted to be sure he could
use a lance when he needed to, so he picked up a branch to see if
he could balance holding a weight on one side, pressing under his
arm. It was difficult and he felt he had better practise riding a
bit more first. Savitri was able to ride and wave a sword around in
a quite terrifying manner. The only problem was making sure she
didn’t decapitate the wrong people with it.

“I told you to watch out for her!”
Roland called to Oliver.

“I don’t need telling twice. Come
to think of it, I didn’t need telling once!”

They rode to the Scary Oak and
looked out beyond the hill to the country beyond. There was no sign
of the enemy.

Had they gone for good?

The fact that they were gone, that
Roland didn’t know where they had gone, or when they might come
back was actually more unsettling than when they had been here. Now
they were merely a shadow, an unknown, out there somewhere, always
lurking, always menacing, always having the potential to
strike.

Roland resolved at that moment that
the next time he had the chance he would get to know more of their
plans, whatever it took. He had to know the mind of his enemy, all
its plans, all its contingencies.

Waiting is a cruel and relentless
purpose, it saps the strength and addles the mind.

The defenders waited, and they
waited. They had not expected Dagarth and his allies to return upon
the instant but the waiting turned into a week, then a month. Each
day they were tormented by the thought and fear of the next attack.
One day a rider was spotted on the horizon with a spy glass. He
stayed for an hour or so, making observations, then rode away. The
defenders waited again.

Weeks later, one anticipated and
much feared day, an army was back on the hill of the Scary Oak.
Roland and his comrades looked out to see that it was much larger
than the last time. Dagarth had found new allies. At first it was
not clear who they were but scouts were sent out to spy from as
near as they could get; they reported back with grim news. All of
the new allies wore black armour they never seemed to take it off.
They also had strange eyes, red and glowing.

Roland knew what it meant. The
Spirus had arrived. Savitri heard the news too and reacted with
silence. She flew into a fury, drawing her sword and hacking at
anything in range.

Firebrace said to Roland, “Your
uncle has chosen the wrong allies. They may defeat us, but whatever
happens, your uncle will lose.”

It did not cheer Roland up much. He
wanted his uncle defeated by his own hand. He looked at the hill
where the enemy was gathered and remembered his resolution of a few
weeks ago.

“We must find out what they are
planning,” he said, “When Bobblejob and Jubblebub brought those
plans back it gave us an advantage. “

“Yes it did,” Firebrace agreed,
“but maybe not a crucial one. We might have won without it, with
the cogitator’s plan.”

“Which we will not have as a
surprise this time, making knowledge of their plans more important
than ever. We must know what they are planning.”

“How?” Oliver asked, “are you
planning on just going into their camp and asking them? Or perhaps
just strolling in and nosing around?”

“It s not a bad idea.”

“I hope you’re kidding,” Oliver
said.

“Look, the Scary Oak is a route
right into there camp – we sneak in during the night, find out
where they are hiding any plans, grab them and sneak out.”

“Then they will know they are
missing,” Oliver objected.

“They didn’t notice that the plans
Bobblejob and Jubblebub took were missing. “

“They probably did, it’s just that
then they were so over-confident they didn’t care. Now things have
changed. They are going to be more careful.”

“Then we have to be more careful
and better prepared too.”

Oliver knew from experience that
there was no talking Roland out of it, so he might as well try to
be helpful. “How exactly are you going to get in there?” he
asked.

“It would help very much to have
some sort of disguise….”

“What?”

“A suit of armour.”

“You would have to lift up the
visor at some stage, and they would see who you are.”

“The Spirus never lift their
visors,” Savitri said. “Behind them there is only cold fire and
hatred.”

“There we are! I disguise myself as
one of those - go in at night.” Roland said.

“They are also tall,” Savitri
pointed out, “You are too short to pass as one.”

“I shall walk on stilts. Now all we
need is a suit of armour like the Spirus wear.”

“Well, we have one of those,”
Oliver sighed resignedly, seeing where Roland was going with
it.

“Precisely –– we dismantle Fred and
use his armour!”

Then Firebrace spoke with anger: “I
will have nothing to do with it; it is a foolish and dangerous
enterprise.” And with that he left.

“was that a no?” Oliver asked.

“We will continue,” Roland
said.

If Fred had
really
been
alive he would have been surprised to be grabbed by both Roland and
Oliver at once, but he did not flinch. The fact that he was about
to be dismantled should have worried him, but it didn’t seem to.
Oliver held the top of his right arm whilst Roland tugged at the
fingers of the gauntlet, curious as to what was inside it. That, it
turned out, was nothing. Nothing at all. Just thin air. Roland
waved his hand through it. There was nothing there. They pulled off
the rest of the arm’s armour to find the same amount of nothing.
They removed the helmet to find yet more of the same. They looked
inside it and found empty space.

“He’s brainless!” Oliver
quipped.

The left arm and the legs came off
and they too were empty. Finally they uncoupled the breast plate
from the back plate. There, inside, was a glowing ball, little
bigger than a plum. It floated around and seemed to want to escape.
Roland cautiously caught hold of it, found it was very hot and let
it go again with an “Ow!”

They found a small wooden chest and
Roland, this time with his hand in a gauntlet, picked up the small
ball, thrust it inside, and closed the lid.

“Is that all he was?” Oliver asked,
disappointed.