Take the body and give me the rest

by Julius Schenk

  ‘We could,’ she said with a sigh.

  ‘So where is the other half?’ Seth asked.

  ‘He has it, Seth. The Gatherers and the Guild were once just my family. Great-Grandfather and Great-Grandmother were both passionate for knowledge, the lore and their daughter. But she died well before them. They had the coin but Great-Grandfather wouldn’t let Great-Grandmother use it. He said their knowledge was for the good of all not just them. He took the coin, separated it, and had the other half given to a trusted friend and hidden.’

  ‘And she started the Dark Guild to bring back her daughter anyway?’ Seth asked.

  ‘She did. She was beyond furious. She was mad with grief and never returned to our family. She started the Guild and tried to call her daughter back without the coin but always searching for it.’

  ‘And now he has half and you have half and we’re about to fight a war over it,’ Seth said.

  She almost started crying. ‘It’s so far from what I wanted, Seth. It’s just so far from what this is meant to be. This is meant to be a passing of knowledge from one to the next, keeping the flame alive; it’s not meant to be taking it all for one person.’

  ‘Aren’t we making this all too hard for ourselves?’ Seth said ‘why don’t we just destroy your half?”’

  ‘I’ve searched my whole life to find ways to destroy it, that why The Gatherers exist but we never found a way’ she said

  ‘Ok then, why don’t we just give him the coin?’ Seth asked. ‘If all he wants is to bring back his wife, why are we stopping him?’

  ‘You don’t understand.’ She passed him the rough silver circle. Reaching out, he took it into his hand and immediately felt a rush within his body. He looked at her and he knew things about her he never had. He knew how far away the army was; he could hear the heartbeat of his creature and knew that he could call it almost without words. He could feel Minsetta walking in the cold dead land and knew he could call her back in moments as well.

  ‘Can you imagine what he could do with the coin re-joined, Seth?’ As she took it back, he felt himself shrinking back to normal; he felt limited. ‘He will become the keeper of the gateway of death; he’ll be able to call back his wife to real living life and everybody else as well; he could call back hosts, whole armies’ worth!’

  She was right; Seth could imagine the power of the re-joined coin and knew it was much too much for any one man, especially this kind of a man. This duke who was coming was the darkest of the Dark Guild, and Seth knew if he had this power it would be the sunset for the whole world. Still, he’d rather face a whole army brought back to life than an army of the dead like the man could summon now.

  ‘What’s the plan? Can we stop him from calling the dead to fight? The only reason we got in this gate was because I called up someone from a distance. I’m sure he can do the same,’ Seth said.

  ‘He can and worse. I’m sure he has a few from the Guild with him as well. I’m sure they can stand back out of arrow fire and drop the very hosts of hell into our Keep,’ she said.

  ‘Anything we can do about that?’ Seth asked.

  ‘Why did I run back to this place, Seth? Just to be cornered like a rat? This place was built to withstand the attacks of the Dark Guild. Did my great-grandmother just sink quietly out of our lives? They have been coming for us for hundreds of years. He can’t summon anything within this place while I have the coin and will to stop them. It will come down to a battle of flesh and blood,’ she said.

  ‘But I called something in the gatehouse and again in Renton’s room,’ Seth said.

  ‘Summoning can only happen in Black Rock with the will of the heir.’ She said.

  Seth could tell it was a rich haul by the size of the smile on Goldie’s face. They had left in the falling light of the previous night and had started to make their way back since morning. Grimm, Flint and Stone had all done very well. They came riding back in with pouches of coins from Rosen’s house or that business of his. All told, it added to just under four hundred gold coins.

  Goldie, however, came bumping up the road in a wagon that he must have bought or stolen. The smile on his face was huge as well. Beside him, the four archers were also grinning and laughing. The wagon bounced along heavily, almost sinking into the mud, until its wheels hit the open gate. For the first time, Seth saw it wasn’t one wagon but a small wagon train of four being driven by people he’d never seen before. Behind the wagon walked a small troop of men, about forty all told, all in leather tunics, picks and axes slung across their shoulders.

  They made their way through the gateway, and, as it closed behind, then Goldie shouted to one of the men of the new troop, ‘Gresh, first order of business: can you see what you can do about blocking this up on a permanent basis?’

  The man answered with a brisk nod and with some of his men started to look at the mechanism and close the gate.

  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 ask
ed.

  ‘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.