“That’s comforting.”
“Come on, don’t be such a ‘nelly’.” Terri told him.
Kenner looked at the enormous cat and then found himself making eye contact with her. A strange feeling came over him as he felt a kind of connection with the animal. Somehow he felt as he were part of her for a second; and she a part of him. The cat then stepped forward and pushed her head against Kenner’s body, nearly knocking him down.
“Aw!” Terri sang. “You got a head boop.”
The cat pushed against him again.
“She likes you.”
He slowly rubbed her neck and then rested his head against her.
“That is disgustingly cute.” Terri added.
As the two of them cleaned out her stall, Kenner noticed the rope tied to one of her back paws.
“When was the last time she got any exercise?” Kenner asked.
“I try to walk her around the courtyard in the evenings, sometimes. It breaks my heart to have to tie her back up.”
“I think I can understand.” Kenner added sadly.
“Is that a battle cat?” Captain Krall asked Sergeant Holly. He was looking over the courtyard from the window of his quarters.
“Yes sir. It used to belong to our former Captain.” Holly replied.
“I haven’t seen one of those since the last Causton War. I thought they were extinct.”
“So, supposedly were Wolfen, sir.”
Krall was exhausted. He’d been up all night studying maps and trying to figure out when the Wolfen would attack.
“I don’t understand.” He told Sergeant Holly. “They could attack at any moment and wipe us out. What the hell are they waiting for?”
“Perhaps they’re not yet at full strength.”
Krall had to admit to himself that was a good possibility.
“How many of them were they when they first showed up?”
“I believe about five hundred at first,” Holly answered. “They get reinforcements every night. No matter how many our archers kill during the day; there’s more every morning.”
Captain Krall considered Sergeant Holly’s comment about their full strength not being gathered and it made sense. He looked at the map again and it chilled him. If the creatures got on the other side of the wall, they could sweep across the plain, destroying villages and burning crops all the way to Mobrey; perhaps even Kallesh itself. At the same time, they could kill hundreds of thousands.
“Holly,” He said, still staring at the map. “Send a rider to Post One. Tell them I have to have reinforcements.”
“We’ll need more soldiers than Post One has.” Holly added.
“We may not be able to stop them, but we can surely slow them down.”
Then the howling began again.
“That’s our cue,” Terri said.
Kenner saw the experienced soldiers seeking shelter under every cover they could get to and as quickly as they could. Barely keeping up with Terri, he followed her back into the barracks. The two of them grabbed their bows, arrows and he followed her back up to the platform. Almost the instant they got there, a shower of arrows came flying over the wall. As Kenner looked, he saw several men collect the arrows off of the ground as fast as they could.
“They send them over,” Terri said. “And we send them back.”
Throughout the day, Terri and Kenner continued their game of shooting the beasts.
Just after midday, Kenner and Terri took a break by sitting with their backs against the wooden ramparts.
“This coffee’s actually not half bad.” He told her.
“Rosta may be an ill-tempered bag of scars, but he’s a damn good cook.” She said.
After their break, Kenner peeked through his shooting position to look for targets. He saw several men moving behind the Wolfen and could almost hear them shouting orders.
“Are those the officers?” He asked Terri.
“As far as we can tell, yes.” She answered. “Every now and then, they stray into shooting range and I’ve bagged a couple of them myself.”
Still looking out at the enemy encampment, Kenner saw a sight that made his bones shake. A huge man stepped out of a tent. He was just like the man he’d seen in his dream, wearing armor that looked like a skeleton and a helmet that looked like a skull. Watching him as if still in his dream, he saw the man drift close enough to where Kenner thought he could hit him. He aimed an arrow and shot. The arrow hit the man, but only bounced off of his armor.
“Congratulations!” Terri joked. “You’re now the fifth archer to waste an arrow on him.”
“Who is he?” Kenner asked, trembling.
“I’m not completely sure; but we think he’s probably their General.”
Kenner then saw the General look towards him and he seemed to be gazing directly at him. More than that, he seemed to be looking into him; through him.
“I hit him once in the head,” Terri continued, breaking Kenner out of his trance. “I don’t think he even felt it.”
The General continued to stare for a moment, then turned and went back to his tent.
Kenner and Terri spent the rest of the day killing the beasts one by one. However, Kenner was still shaken by seeing this menacing figure, not in a dream but standing before him. A worse feeling for Kenner was the sensation that this General knew that Kenner was there.
Chapter Twelve
Using a telescope, Captain Krall watched the steady stream of people leaving the city. He could also see the bridge still burning and felt a little less anxious. At least he’d bought them a little time, he thought to himself.
“It will take them at least a week on foot to reach Post One.” Said Sergeant Bobbra standing next to him.
“Yes, it will.” Krall said simply. “How are our provisions?”
“Provisions aren’t the problem. We could hold out a month if we had to. The problem is we have fifty six men against, at least three thousand of those creatures.”
“I’m well aware of that.” Krall said grimly. “But we have to hold. That’s not the only bridge across the river between here and Post One and those creatures can get there a lot faster than six thousand old men, women and children.”
“If we hadn’t burned the bridge, we might be able to use the city’s reserve guard.”
“No,” Krall interrupted. “They’ll be needed by the civilians. Holding this fort is our responsibility.”
A thought then occurred to him; a strategy he’d seen used before that might slow the creatures down.
“If I only knew when they were going to attack.” He muttered to himself.
After sundown, Kenner and the others returned to the barracks with another dinner of bread and gravy.
“Hmm…” Terri quipped. “The gravy’s looking especially putrid this evening.”
As they finished their dinner and began filling their cups with ale, they started talking among themselves again. Most talked of home and their families. Almost all of them were near the same age. Several were married and some even had children. The regular soldiers talked of some minor battles they’d been involved in tracking bandits through the badlands or patrolling the woods on the border of Walechia and the Blackwoods. When they spoke of the Blackwoods, some spoke of strange noises and creatures. They spoke of strange feelings, shadows in the dark or of trees whispering to each other. Some even talked of seeing ghosts.
“That’s not a place for ordinary people,” Rosta said. “It’s like a completely different world with its own rules of nature. Men have gone there and never been seen again. Some have been driven mad by the ill will of that place.”
“You talk as if you’re afraid of it.” Terri said.
“I am afraid; and so should all of you. It’s not a place for the living.”
The barracks was oddly quiet after that, until one of the younger soldiers spoke up.
“I keep hearing people talk about the last Captain of this post. What was he like?”
“Captain Fer
rel?” Terri asked. “Oh you should have seen him. He looked magnificent in his polished, steel armor with a gold tower on his breast plate. He had a huge broadsword on his hip with a golden sheath. And when he came riding in on his battle cat and his blonde hair flowing in the wind, he looked like one of the most beautiful things we’d ever seen. Isn’t that right, boys?”
Several soldiers muttered in response.
“He must have been a great warrior.” The young soldier added.
“He was bloody useless.” Terri stated emphatically.
“That’s for damn sure.” Another soldier added.
“What happened?” Kenner asked.
“The first thing he did when he first got here was to make us start paying for our meals.” Terri began.
“You’re kidding.” Kenner exclaimed.
“Afraid not. Every meal, he made us sign a ledger and he took it out of our pay at the beginning of every month.”
Nearly every soldier reacted with astonishment.
“Didn’t anyone try to stop him?” One asked.
“Sergeant Holly did. That’s when he had him tied up in the stables. He had his own Sergeant helping him.”
“And sharing in the profits…”Another soldier added.
“Did I mention that Sergeant Kurvis used a bull whip on us?”
“That can’t be true.”
The regular soldiers all agreed that it was true.
“The real fun started,” Terri continued, “when the Wolfen first showed up.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Almost a month ago. There were only about two hundred or so on the first day. When one of the boys told him what was on the other side of that wall, he called him a liar and had him tied up with Sergeant Holly. Of course, he didn’t actually take a look for himself the first day. He just called poor Vinter a liar and tied him up. He didn’t actually take a look for himself until the third day. That was when there was about five hundred out there and also when they began shooting at us.”
“What did he do then?”
“He called for a cavalry assault. He sent twenty brave men and horses against five hundred of those beasts. Evidently, he thought that the beasts would just scatter and run, but he was wrong. As they charged, the beasts stood firm and before he got to the line himself, he stopped, turned around and told the cavalry to go on without him. Most of the men and their horses were lost. The ones that did come back had to listen to him screaming at them like a little girl and calling them cowards.”
“The next day, when there were even more creatures camped on the field, he called for an infantry assault. While we archers shot our arrows at the beasts, the infantry marched upon them, were surrounded and cut down. Less than half of the original eighty men were able to escape. He cursed them as well, called them cowards and threatened to have us all hanged if we didn’t follow his orders.”
“Why did you follow his orders in the first place?” Broddick asked.
“Because we’re soldiers!” One answered angrily. “We’re not a band of pirates or brigands. We’ve all taken an oath and we’re taught from the very first day we put on that uniform to follow the orders of those appointed in command. We never break that oath, no matter who’s in command!”
The barracks were quiet for a moment after that. The regular soldiers looked around at each other proudly while the new recruits simply looked ashamedly at the floor.
“Then what happened?” Kenner asked, breaking the silence.
“A miracle,” Terri said smiling. “The Great Lady guided an arrow from one of those creatures into the back of Captain Ferrel’s neck. He was dead before he hit the ground. After that, we released Sergeant Holly and anyone else that had been tied up, sent a messenger for a new commander and reinforcements and a few weeks later, here you are.”
It was nearly pitch dark, except for the light of the waning moon and the dull, orange glow coming from the lone campfire the General could see coming from inside the barracks.
“We could take them now,” He thought to himself. “But we are not yet at full strength.”
Around him, he could hear the grunts and growls of the beasts around him. Occasionally, he would hear some of the creatures whispering to each other. They knew as well that they could overrun the garrison in one quick maneuver and they were eager to taste the blood of the men they would kill. He detested these foul creatures; but he knew that they were a necessary evil. This war must be won, he reminded himself and it must be won in one dagger thrust before the Army of Walechia had a chance to gather their full strength against them.
From out of the darkness, he heard footsteps coming towards him. He quickly turned and saw one of his officers approaching.
“General,” He said quietly. “The fire has turned blue again.”
He quickly rose and almost ran to the campfire in the center of his camp.
“Leave me.” He said in his low, rough voice.
The officer started kicking around at the Wolfen gathered around the fire; all of which backed away to leave the General alone.
“Yes Master,” he said kneeling in front of the bright, blue flames.
A face formed in the flames of an old man with dark eyes.
“What news?” The voice asked in a low, smooth voice.
“Our full strength is nearly gathered.” The General said, still bowing before his master. “The time for our attack is nearly upon us.”
“Excellent,” The voice replied. “My spies assure me that there will be no reinforcements for the men at the garrison. Your victory should be swift.”
“Yes master.”
“I have other news as well,” The face said with the appearance of a smile.
“Yes?”
“An old friend of yours is commanding the garrison; Captain Krall.”
The General felt a hint of sadness at this news, but he did not let it show.
“He will die along with the rest of them, Master.”
Chapter Thirteen
Kenner and Terri had the night watch. It was a cool, late spring night and the only light came from the campfire in the courtyard and the crescent moon above. In the dim, silvery light of the moon, Kenner could barely make out the shapes of thousands of Wolfen camped less than two hundred yards from the gates of the barracks. Most were sleeping, he guessed; but he could see the light from hundreds of eyes, like red stars staring at the wooden ramparts of the only thing standing between them and the small garrison guarding the fort.
“Do you always talk to shadows late at night?” Terri asked him.
He quickly turned to face her, his surprise evident in his eyes.
“I’m a very light sleeper.” She said smiling.
“Obviously.” He replied. “You must have had a rough life, growing up.”
“It certainly has had its challenges.” She answered.
“Where are you from?” Kenner asked her, trying to deflect the question.
“I’m originally from a small farming village across the river from Mobrey. My father was in the army during the last Causton war, though.”
“Did your father fight?” Kenner pressed.
“Yes, and he made sure that if she had to, his little girl would be able to defend herself.”
“Is that why you’re such a good archer?”
Terri laughed quietly.
“You can thank my mother for that. She started teaching me to shoot before I could walk.”
Suddenly, Kenner spotted movement from the enemy encampment. He saw the General along with a small escort approach on horses toward the gate. He picked up his bow and readied an arrow when one of the horsemen called out.
“Hello in the fort!” The soldier called waving a white flag.
“Who goes there?” One of the night watch replied.
“Tell your Captain, the commander of the forces opposing him wishes to speak!” The General called back in his deep, booming voice.
A messenger was sent to wake Captain Krall.
Within only a few minutes, he mounted his horse to meet with his enemy.
“Don’t go sir!” Sergeant Holly pleaded. “It’s probably a trap.”
“Even if it is, I may still be able to buy us some time.” Krall replied. Before he went out the gate though, he had the entire garrison woken and made ready as if the battle were coming. The infantry took battle positions shoulder to shoulder with the remaining cavalry in front of them. All of the archers were sent to their posts on the wall. Sergeant Holly ordered Kenner and Terri, his best archers to aim at the two officers flanking the General and wait for instructions.
Not wanting to risk any of his few remaining horsemen in an ambush, Captain Krall went alone outside the wall. He’d ordered the torches along the ramparts lit in order to give him more light. Once outside the wall, he approached the General slowly and then stopped just a few yards away. His two escorts both carried torches. The General guided his horse a few steps closer and then removed his skull helmet. Captain Krall gasped audibly at who he saw in front of him.
“Grail!” He said in horror.
“Hello brother,” General Grail responded.
Captain Krall’s horse must have sensed the Captain’s shock as it nearly bolted.
“What is the meaning of this?” Krall nearly screamed at his brother. “What are you doing with all these creatures?”
The General at first did not respond. Instead he reached behind him and produced a white sack with, what looked like blood pooling inside it.
“First of all,” Grail said, “I wanted you to see this.”
He then pulled a disembodied head from out of the sack and tossed it to the ground in front of Krall’s horse. Krall immediately recognized the face of the man as the messenger he’d sent several days before to ask for reinforcements.
The Black Sword Trilogy: The Poacher Page 7