“What time is it?”
Elise stepped back. “Nearly dawn. There is trouble, m’lady. Fire in the town.”
“Trouble… fire?” Jessica said. She threw off the bed covers and stood, reaching for a robe to cover her nightgown. “Call out the guard, send them to help.”
“We can’t! We’re under attack. The fire was set.”
Jessica froze. “By who, where?”
“Sorcerers, my lady, and there are soldiers with them at the gate…” Elise swallowed. “The east gate. They want to talk to you.”
The east gate, but that meant… “They asked for me?”
“They wanted to talk to someone in charge. That’s you.”
“Show me.”
Elise led the way through the women’s quarter, the corridors echoing emptily with her footfalls. Jessica’s feet were bare; she wished she had taken the time to dress. The stone floors were cold.
Jessica hurried down the tower steps and into the east entry hall, and from there out into the predawn light. She paused on the citadel steps. Dozens of people waited for her, whispering and staring worriedly toward the east. The eastern ramparts bristled with guardsmen. From the numbers, Jessica guessed the barracks were empty. Every man that could swing a sword or carry a spear in Athione had taken his place up on the wall, silhouetted against a sky painted orange with a light everyone dreaded to see. Fire, a huge one lit the sky.
Jessica shook her head at her wool gathering, and hurried to the gate tower to mount the wall. She raced up the steps inside and emerged again on the east rampart. She wasn’t surprised to see men too old to fight next to boys too young, all holding swords and wearing helmets and armour. Easily two thirds of the men were servants not guardsmen, and she despaired at the sight. Some of them had been crippled the last time Athione faced attack, but here they stood. No matter their age or ability, all were ready to fight for Athione again, and her.
She straightened her robe, trying to appear unafraid, and quickly made her way to stand on the rampart above the gate. Her eyes avoided the enemy waiting patiently below. East Town was burning, the flames leaping high as if fuelled by more than simple thatch and wood. Magic, it must be. The weather had been wet for days and fire should not rage like this, not like this. It was unnatural and plainly out of control, though she could see people running to and fro trying to put it out. They had no hope.
She turned her attention to the men below the wall. She recognised the black robes of sorcerers, and loathed the sight of them. Why only two? Why not two, she thought bitterly. One alone could pull the entire fortress down stone by stone. A single legionnaire, a captain, stood with the sorcerers while his men remained mounted behind him.
Jessica cleared her throat. “I am Lady Jessica, what do you want?”
What do you want? Are you a fool to ask something so stupid? It’s obvious what they want.
The captain straightened a little, his head turning in search of who had spoken. Finally, he fixed his eyes on Jessica and removed his helmet. “I am Captain Corbin. I offer you terms of surrender in my general’s name.”
“And who is your general?” Jessica said, already knowing who it had to be.
Was the war lost, had Jihan failed to hold the north? Had she lost her son a second time? She wanted to weep, knowing it had to be true. She hadn’t dared to tell anyone what Brian had revealed to her about Keverin. That he was alive, that his body did not lie unburied on the plain, his bones picked clean by crows. Were Renard’s warnings all for nothing? Had Brian failed?
“General of the Fifth Legion, Navarien!” Corbin shouted, confirming Jessica’s fears.
“What are your terms?”
“I promise safe passage for all, if you order your men to throw down their weapons and open the gate.”
“And if I refuse?”
Corbin’s expression hardened. “The utter destruction of the Fortress called Athione and all those held within.”
Jessica nodded. “I must confer with my officers.”
“You have until dawn.”
Jessica turned away to find all eyes upon her. “Lay down your swords.”
“No, Lady!”
“We will fight them…”
“…beat them once, we can again…”
“Fight!”
“Fight!”
“Silence!” Jessica shouted over the noise. “I will not have your deaths on my conscience. Do not think this is over. We will win Athione back, but not now.” Or ever? Jessica tried to fill her voice with conviction. “The war is not lost. We will be back!”
“Aye! They’ll rue the day they were born!”
“Julia will come! She’ll not let this stand!”
“Julia! The Lady will come!”
“Athione!”
“Athione will stand forever!”
Jessica hunted for Elise, and took her arm to whisper urgently in her ear. “Gather two score of men, and go down to the vault. Wait for me there. Go!”
Elise hurried away.
Jessica found a few grizzled sergeants waiting for her and gave them their orders. The men were to break their swords to prevent the Hasians using them, and then assemble in the courtyard. Jessica doubted the enemy would let them ride out, so they would march. All the way to Wardenvale if they had to.
Jessica hurried back to her rooms. She changed into sturdy boots and riding dress, though she doubted she would be riding anywhere, and grabbed her cloak before storming out of her room. She ran through the rapidly emptying citadel and into Keverin’s study. There were important documents that she did not want lost or destroyed. She spread her cloak on his desk, and quickly went through everything in the secret compartment, piling what she needed on the cloak. She dragged a chair over to Julia’s mirror where it hung on the wall, and climbed up to lift it down. It was heavy, and she nearly dropped it, but better that than the enemy should learn its secrets. She wrapped it in her cloak together with the letters and deeds she had chosen, and struggled out of the room.
“Lady Jessica!” Elise called and ran to help. “It’s nearly dawn!”
“Oh hush. They won’t attack without threatening me first. They want Athione for themselves, not destroyed.”
“But—”
“No buts. Help me down to the vault with this.”
Together they made it down the tower steps and into the entry hall, where Tarric, a servant from the kitchens, took the burden from them. He might be old, but he was strong still, and they made better time down to the vault.
Jessica found Elise’s chosen men waiting outside the burned remains of the vault door. There hadn’t been time to replace it. She hurried inside with Elise, and opened one of the chests.
“Take off your cloak and fill it with coin, as much as you can carry. Gold only. Leave the silver.”
Elise nodded and quickly piled gold coins onto her cloak. Gold was heavy; it didn’t take long before she had a pile that would be awkward to carry. She knotted the cloak, making it into a sack and hefted it with both hands and a grimace.
“Take that up to the courtyard. Get one of the men to carry it for you. Make him walk in the middle of the others when we leave. Go!”
“Yes, Lady!”
Jessica turned to the guardsmen watching her. “You men, two to a chest, and down to the cisterns with them. I’ll not have Mortain paying his men with my son’s gold.”
The men chuckled.
Jessica led the way, with a lamp held high. The cisterns were very deep, and the way down from the citadel was complicated. It was easy to get lost down here, but she knew every inch of the fortress. She remembered the last time she came this way with Julia. Julia hadn’t understood why Jessica wanted to teach her how to do the accounts when that was Elise’s job, or why she needed to know how to make candles, judge the worth of vegetables, estimate the number of horses that could be fed and for how long on the grain in the grain stores. It wasn’t until later that Julia realised the answer. That the Lady of Athione had t
o know all these things if she were to be sure the servants were doings things correctly, and that the Lady of Athione would be her one day—Keverin’s consort.
The great cisterns came into view, and Jessica stepped out of the way. “In with them.”
The men heaved and the chests splashed into the water. They quickly sank out of sight. Jessica had no idea how deep the cisterns were, but guessed they must go down as far as the citadel went up. Hundreds of feet then. No one would be swimming down to retrieve them.
“Lady, what about this?” Tarric said.
Jessica hurried to retrieve the deeds and letters from the cloak wrapped around the mirror. She hesitated a moment, wondering if Jihan was awake, but knotted the cloak tight again. There was no more time.
“Lower it in.”
“But it will break, lady.”
“If it breaks then it beaks. We have no more time. In it goes.”
Tarric knelt by the edge and lowered the mirror into the water. He let go, and it floated for a moment before the air in the cloak escaped and it sank trailing bubbles.
Jessica watched it disappear then took a deep breath. “Let’s go back.”
Jessica led the way again with her lamp, and they were soon in the courtyard. She discarded the lamp and found Elise waiting near the gate. She looked around, trying to see if everyone was here, but there were too many people milling around.
“Open the gate!” Jessica ordered.
The locking bars drew back, and the great bronze-clad gates of Athione swung slowly open. For the first time in its eleven hundred year history, Athione had fallen to the enemy, and without a fight.
* * *
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Other titles by this author
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The Devan Chronicles:
The God Decrees
The Power That Binds
The Warrior Within
Dragon Dawn
Destiny’s Pawn*
The Merkiaari Wars:
Hard Duty
What Price Honour
Operation Oracle
Operation Breakout
Incursion!*
Counter Measures*
The Shifter Legacies:
Way of the Wolf
Wolf’s Revenge
Wolf Justice*
Wolf War*
Rune Gate Cycle:
Rune Gate
Chosen
* Forthcoming from Impulse Books UK
About The Author
http://www.impulsebooks.co.uk
Mark E. Cooper lives in a small town in the south of England, where he writes most mornings and evenings. His background is in mechanical engineering where he spent over thirty years working for Ford. He loves reading science fiction, epic fantasy, or urban fantasy and particularly likes strong female characters overcoming dire situations and tough obstacles. He can often be found laughing to himself as he listens to an audiobook on his iPod while typing like a fiend.
His hobbies include Shelby Cobras—he built a Dax replica of the famous car with his best friend in the early 90s—reading, and maintaining his blog. He is now the author of over ten titles written in the genres he loves to read.
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Copyright
First published by Impulse Books UK September 2001
PUBLISHER’S NOTE:
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental and not intended by the author.
Cover illustrations and Design by Lou Harper (http://louharper.com/Design.html)
Copyright © 2001 by Impulse Books UK LTD
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
A CIP Catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-905380-08-4
Printed and bound in Great Britain
Impulse Books UK
Acknowledgements
Special thanks go to Dave Milne for reading the final draft of this
book and telling me where I went wrong.
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