by John Olsen
Draken seemed about to say something else, but he slumped slightly and nodded. He glanced at the stacked papers spread across the surface of the old oak table. “You’ve made yourself familiar with the capabilities of the guard, and of our possible defenses?”
Gavin gave a wry smile. “We’re good for defending against a small force, but these walls were never meant to repel an army. We don’t have a chance against the army you saw, even if we put everyone on the walls to repel attackers, do we?”
Draken stepped up to the table and pulled the map out from under the other papers. “No, we don’t. The army is north of us, marching south.” He jabbed at the map as if he could squish the army with his finger. “We have to leave. We can go south through Greenvale, through Richland Barony, and then on to the capital. If we take more than a day to pack, we’re at risk. If we have breakdowns on the road, we’re at risk. If they get close enough to spot us with forward scouts, we’re at risk.”
“But if we leave the castle, it will drop into the hands of the enemy.” Gavin scowled.
Draken leaned forward and placed his hands on the table. “When I say we are at risk, I mean we are at risk of all being killed.”
It was a stark trade-off with no winning position, other than short-term survival. With no experience running Stoutheart Barony, Gavin was forced to abandon it. “How do we evacuate? What’s the procedure?”
Draken shrugged. “I don’t know. It hasn’t been done in over a century. In case you couldn’t tell, I’m not that old. I’ve only served your father for ten years.”
“At least the treasury will be easy to pack. Did you know it was nearly empty? My father had most of the crystals with him, and the only gold to speak of was a chest of Graven coins.” Gavin watched for Draken’s response to determine whether he knew anything about the situation with the empty treasury and the foreign coins. Draken’s training on watching for reactions had made an impression on Gavin.
Draken didn’t disappoint. His eyes narrowed, and his lips drew into a line. “Empty? This time of year, we should have a significant surplus.” He smacked his fist down on the map. “The crystals are another issue. I know he took most of them with him. What crystals do we have?”
“There’s the pair you used for your scouting mission with the wolf. I found three small training sets unused in the vault, and one master crystal I’m now wearing. I can tell the other half is worn by something, but it’s a long way from here, somewhere to the south. I, ah, also pardoned anyone who may have made illicit crystal pairs, and set the tinker to work on a stash of cheap crystal. There are crystals among the people we can draw upon.”
Draken’s voice edged up in volume, and he placed both fists on the table, knuckles down. “You don’t have the right to pardon people when they’ve broken the king’s law or the Accords! You may have the shortest baronial tenure in history.” He stopped, glanced up at the ceiling, and then continued in a calmer tone. “Then again, the king and the barons are dead. You may not end up before a royal court at all. How many crystals are we talking about among the people?”
Gavin cringed at what Draken might assume from the answer but told him anyway. “Thirty or more. All of them are rough cut, but they’re good enough for a full control trance.”
“You mean to tell me we’ve got thirty or more crystal-trained people in the castle and village? I wouldn’t think we have more than five ex-military men with formal crystal training.”
“No, I’ve learned you can use them more than one at a time. There’s no reason for that rule in the Accords to forbid it.” Gavin thought back to having seen Saleena control the entire cattle herd as one unit, and of having given the three small crystals to her with instructions to train Willem and others. He’d never heard of using cats with crystals. He was eager to see what the Cats of the Apocalypse were capable of.
“The reason is that it’s one of the easiest ways I know to kill a man. You should know how dangerous it is to use more than one crystal at a time. It’s always been possible, but it’s a bad idea. Oh, yes. You skipped too much of your training to know these things.” His biting tone was like a dagger in the back. “If you double up on crystals, you can get locked in, and nothing will break you back out of your trance. I once saw a man die when we took two crystals off his neck because he couldn’t back out. That’s why the Crystal Kings wrote the Accords to forbid using multiples. Something about leaving part of your mind out wandering away from home.”
Gavin thought again about the three crystals and his instructions. Saleena had used her cheap-cut crystals all at once for three years without a problem, but he had given her three high-quality crystals. They might be different. He stood up and headed for the door. “The three crystal sets. I sent them with Saleena and told her to train Willem. She might have given him all three for his cats.”
As they ran through the halls, Draken berated Gavin. “You drop almost everything from the vault onto a peasant boy, and you assume everything will work out well? Even if you haven’t killed him, do you expect him to magically turn his pets into a special assault team of war animals? They’re cats! I leave for less than two days, and you singlehandedly risk the financial stability and safety of the barony, maybe kill one of your subjects, violate several of the king’s standing laws, and one of the Accords. And all before you heard my report about your father!”
They burst into Willem’s living quarters, and everything turned into a blur of action. The Cats of the Apocalypse yowled and flashed into action landing against Draken’s chest from the front and his knees from the back. Draken fell to the ground with a yelp at their coordinated pounce. The cats bounded from Draken’s prone figure into position between Draken and Gavin. Their hackles were up, and the cats growled and hissed as they wove back and forth among themselves with tails fluffed out and backs arched.
Saleena’s voice overrode the noise. “Back out now, Willem. Everyone hold where you are,” she said, desperation in her voice.
A few moments later, the cats scattered and Willem let out a cough. He sat up and saw his new visitors, then shot to his wobbly feet. He nearly knocked the cot over as he staggered forward, shaky from exiting his trance. “Sir! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take you to the floor, but you startled me. Are you hurt?” Without waiting for an answer, he turned to Saleena. “My head still hurts when I come out of the trance, but it was better this time.”
Gavin helped Draken up to sit on the end of the cot, all the while trying to hold back laughter without much success. “Willem seems to be a fast learner.”
From the cot, Draken shook his head in dismay. “Maybe I should consign myself now to hang from the gallows at the capital when they learn we’ve thrown the Accords to the winds. It would be the simple way out.”
Gavin leaned against a wall tapestry while waiting for his advisers to arrive in the main council chamber. It took great effort to stay in one place and not pace away his nervous energy. Draken had gathered the full barony council again. Two members were new since they had met last, added to replace those who were dead. They had little idea of how such meetings were run, much like Gavin.
As the last man entered, Draken thumped on the table. “Everyone, take a seat, please. Baron Gavin Stoutheart will address us.” Some of the men glanced back and forth at each other, but none spoke any objection. They shuffled around into their assigned seats.
Draken nodded at Gavin. “Sir, the floor is yours.”
Gavin moved to the head of the table, pulled out his notes and placed them before him. He reminded himself he was in command, and nobody could see his hands shake. Even if he wasn’t confident, he had to sound and look as if he was. “We have reliable reports that the Graven Kingdom ambushed the king’s Baronial Council. Their king is leading this assault personally, and we know of no survivors.” He stopped to look around the room for their reactions and saw the downcast nods of acceptance. None of them showed the least surprise. This was merely a formal confirmation of the rumors that h
ad spread over the past few days. Draken’s suggested wording of the announcement softened the blow by implying rather than declaring his father’s outright demise. Draken’s news left no margin to hope for his father to return, and they had work to do.
“I’m sure you feel, much as I do, that my father would have known what to do and how to do it. I can’t do things as he would. I don’t know how. I don’t know what my father would have done, and I would probably disagree with him.” Some awkward chuckles arose around the table. Most of these men had years of service with his father and were well aware of Gavin’s reputation.
“I must rely on you for information and ideas to keep the people safe. This is your chance to make a bigger difference than you have in years.” He couldn’t tell if their looks were of appreciation at their greater influence, or if they were considering how to peddle the situation into a grab for more power. He hoped most would take him at his word and do what they could to help.
Strategically, Gavin knew he must keep a careful balance in what he offered them. Give too much and the strongest would work to use Gavin as their personal puppet. Give too little and they might rebel or silently sabotage his efforts. For all he knew, he would get both extremes anyway, and all he could do was minimize the damage as he maximized the progress.
“There is only one item on our agenda, and you will understand why nothing else makes a difference at this point. Captain Zachary, please describe what size of a military force we can repel here at the castle.” It was a gamble to rely on the other council members to back up the case he was about to make, but including them might rally them all to a common cause.
The Captain of the Guard stepped forward and cleared his throat. “We’ve already increased our patrols both outside and inside the castle walls. We can withstand an attack of fifty men, possibly a hundred if we have additional time to prepare and train. We could meet and defeat such a force in open battle if we had to.”
Draken interrupted. “How many large war animals can you hold against? Bears, wolves, bison, mountain lions?”
The captain rubbed his fingers through his short beard in thought. “We’ve never faced war animals at this castle in my lifetime, but I’ve seen it done in other locations back in the last war. Maybe twenty or thirty depending on their size and training. If Ithan Talandor is at the head of his army, they’ll be well-trained. Twenty animals from his force are enough to challenge us. With that many, they could force a weak spot and breach the gates.”
Draken said, “They have over fifty trained war animals and over five hundred men on foot. I saw their entire force. If we stay, they will run through us with minimal losses.”
Gavin looked around to see who showed panic, and who appeared to be thinking the situation through before he said, “We only have one real strategy; we must evacuate to the south through Richland Barony and on to the capital. Anything we leave behind will be theirs. I need your ideas. Each of you has a specialty you understand, so I rely on you to each do your part. I need to know what resources you have, what you need, and how much we can take with us after one day of preparation. We also need a plan to warn outlying villages so they can join us or flee on their own. The most remote may survive unscathed if the enemy doesn’t know about them.”
The ideas came rapidly from some, slowly from others, while still others sat and watched the exchange. Gavin’s leadership skills came into question at one point, with Captain Zachary speaking up in his defense. “He’s shown the ability to organize and run the barony in the short time he’s served. He’s worked to increase our defenses here and planned for better defense as we travel. I, for one, don’t expect him to know the details of wall patrols and rotating schedules because that’s my job. You should each grant him the same courtesy.”
The quiet men warmed up, and soon they argued details back and forth until Draken stepped in. “Gentlemen. I hope you each know what you need now, and have a good idea of where to get it. Anything you can’t agree upon among yourselves, send to the baron’s desk but make it quick. We pack tomorrow and leave the morning after. No exceptions. The outliers will have to catch up as they can. We need as much space as possible between us and that army.”
Gavin decided to risk one last offer to unify them further. He was sticking his neck out, but he hoped it would pay off with better cooperation. “You have heard I will not penalize anyone who has owned or used crystals in violation of the law. We need to know what sort of animal forces we have to defend ourselves with, even if it’s simple pets, war trained or not. I have a limited number of crystals to be assigned out to those who can use them.”
Master Quincy, the merchant guild master, said under his breath, “As if we have anything able to make a difference after the war animals the old baron lost.”
Gavin’s face flushed as he tried to keep his anger in check and failed. “Do you have expertise using crystals you want to share with us, Quincy?”
“I . . . No, sir. Only with their purchase.”
Gavin was sure Quincy implied something but didn’t know exactly what he’d missed.
After discussing a few more general questions, Gavin dismissed the council.
Anger crept into Gavin’s tone. “Remain here for a moment, if you please, Master Quincy. I have a few more questions for you.”
Quincy’s brows furrowed and his jaw clenched. Gavin hadn’t meant to make it sound like a reprimand, but it was clear that Quincy took it that way.
He had possibly made the man’s disagreeable attitude permanent, but Gavin needed to keep dissent in check at all costs.
* * *
Gavin cringed at each beginner’s mistake he made as he worked with his council and interacted with the people. The day of meetings and planning stretched into a night filled with hard truths. Farmers would lose crops still in their fields. Merchants had carts stored too far away to fetch for the evacuation.
Draken forced him to get some rest, so he collapsed on his bed fully dressed, having left instructions for Jase to wake him at first light.
Gavin lurched from his bed when his outer door banged open and Draken strode in. “What is it? Are we under attack?” He rubbed his red eyes as he stood.
“Hardly.” Draken grinned. “You will want to see this for yourself, sir. It’s a good omen.”
For Draken to see something as a good omen meant it must be spectacular. Gavin grabbed his cloak.
The courtyard held a dozen more wagons than it had the night before. “Where did these come from?”
“The neighboring villages, sir. The first arrived just after you retired. Our riders reached them, and the people responded. These men, your men, hitched their wagons and rode through the night to reach us and lend a hand.”
“They came.” A lump rose in Gavin’s throat, and he smiled. The evacuation might work, despite their challenges.
Draken clapped him on the back. “Indeed. The people know that even with your father gone, a Stoutheart leads the barony.”
As the morning wore on, more wagons arrived from miles around to help haul supplies. The barony’s wagons were loaded down with food from the granaries and other long-term storage. People milled about everywhere and got into each other’s path as he made his way past the cattle pens.
In contrast to the chaos, Tover had a wagon of supplies neatly packed, and the cattle all gathered for a quick exit while Saleena tended again to the animal injured by the bear. The injury would leave a scar, but it was healing well. Gavin hoped the animal wouldn’t slow the Tanners. He would be the one to order them to slaughter the animal if it became necessary. They were now his personal herd.
Gavin stepped up to the fence. “Tover, you’re set to go already?”
Tover bowed and touched his heart. “Of course, good sir. It’s not hard to organize a trip for the cattle herd. I’ve done it dozens of times. Some folks aren’t good at it, though. Not enough practice. I had to convince three different families to leave their furniture.”
His words
got Gavin thinking. “Say, Tover. Saleena can manage the cattle without you, can’t she? You’re packed and ready to go, after all.”
“She’s right good at it, good sir. But you knew that.”
Gavin smiled. “Get the crystal you’ve used for Runner and wear it where everyone can see it. I’m giving you a promotion to Travel Master. These people need someone to organize things, or they’ll take a week and get trampled by an army before they get out of the gate. I’ll announce it, so they know to listen when you talk.”
“Well, good sir, there’s a difference between convincing cattle to move and convincing people. The cattle are trained. People think they’re masters of their own fate and don’t like directions.”
“I have faith in you, Tover. I’ve seen how you care about the cattle. The people will see you care about them, too. But I’d recommend against having Runner chase and nip at people’s heels.”
Tover laughed and replied, “I’ll do it for you, good sir, and I’ll keep Runner as my last resort.”
* * *
Five people had come forward with the skill to use a crystal, but nobody would admit having a crystal of their own. Perhaps it was a fluke that the Tanners had figured out how to make them. Gavin shook his head. He would work with what he had. As requested, Tover had delivered one of their cattle crystals to the tinker along with several raw stones, so Gavin stopped to visit the tinker as part of his rounds.
“Is the raw crystal any good?” Gavin asked.
“Normally, I’d say no. It won’t handle all the fine detailed engraving work, but this crystal pair from Tover doesn’t have all that. The intricate patterns are gone, and the core shape doesn’t match what I’ve done in the past. I’ve replicated the cut already. The pooka marks will be a few hours work instead of weeks. I’d never thought to try such a shortcut. The cost to discover this through trial and error with proper crystal boggles the mind. Nobody would waste the resources.”