After they exchanged greetings, Darrens continued, “He’s brought bad news with him.”
Bryce took this as his cue. “I’m afraid another army is marching this way from Coravine. It’s not as large as the others, about three thousand strong. But they look mighty angry and determined.”
Siobhan felt like crying. “So much for your careful plans, Cha Ji An-jia.”
“They were nice plans, too,” the other woman mourned. “Bryce-gui, how soon should we expect them?”
He scratched at a cheek. “About four days? They’re making good time.”
“Bryce tells me they’re properly armed this time,” Darrens inputted. He looked as if he had bitten into a rotten lemon saying the words.
That was exactly what Siobhan hadn’t wanted to hear. It was bad enough to face yet another army, but now they were actually armed with swords instead of hammers?
“Wait.” Alexander put both hands on the table and shot to his feet. “You mean to tell me that the previous armies I sent weren’t armed?!”
Bryce pointed at him and asked Darrens in confusion, “Who is this kid?”
“Guildmaster of Fallen Ward,” Darrens supplied.
“HIM?!” Bryce spluttered, eyes in danger of falling out of his head.
To Alexander, Darrens responded, “They had hammers, or staffs, or things along those lines. Few had swords or bows.”
Alexander dropped back into his chair, weak with disbelief. “They told me that my men were well supplied! I asked! And they lied?”
“I think they’ve been lying a lot to you, Alexander,” Siobhan said, tone off-hand as her mind moved on to other things. “We didn’t complain, though, made it easier to defeat them. Master Bryce, you say they’re going to be here in about four days. Are you certain?”
“Maybe three,” Bryce responded with splayed hands in an uncertain shrug. Even as he answered, he kept glancing at Alexander as if his mind couldn’t fully accept the information. “Like I said, they’re angry and determined. They’re not stopping to set up camp until the sun actually sets. They’re using every bit of daylight they can to make time.”
That was a scary thought. “We best get the defenses back in place, then. Guildmaster Darrens, have you notified Hyun Woo and Ryu Jin Ho?”
“I’ve sent messages to both. I expect them any time. Siobhan, I want your enforcers here to help plan this.”
“I’ll get them here immediately.” She thought about taking Alexander with her but instead said to him, “You put your head together with them, see if you can’t think of a plan to make them stop before this actually turns into another battle. None of us can afford another one.”
Alexander still looked white and shocked but he gave her a game nod. “I will.”
It took an hour and a half for Siobhan to go fetch her enforcers and bring them back. Conversely, the meeting itself only took a half hour. It was less a strategy session and more a divvying out of tasks. Every man in the room had prepared and defended a city from attackers at least once, sometimes twice. They knew what needed to be done; all they were doing was assigning sections of the city and specific jobs. There were only two people in the room that were confused by the end of it—Siobhan and Alexander. Siobhan, having sat through dozens of meetings just like this one, more or less followed the majority of it, but Alexander had no experience in anything of this nature and was completely befuddled.
As they left, Alexander caught Wolf’s good hand and complained, “I don’t understand what anyone said!”
“Oh?” Wolf looked down at him in consideration. “Well, that’s no good. A guildmaster needs a head for tactics and strategy. Tell you what. You follow me as we get to work, and I’ll explain things as we go.”
One would have thought, looking at Alexander’s expression, that Wolf had just handed him five years of birthday presents all at once. “Really?”
Siobhan sighed. Boys seemed born with this innate love for destroying things. Even ones as young as this one were not immune to the pull. “Putting up the defenses for Goldschmidt is all well and good,” she interjected as they left the study, heading into the crowded hallway, “but what I want to know is, isn’t there a way to stop them?”
“If you have a suggestion, I’m all ears,” Wolf responded with a one-shoulder shrug. “The easiest way would be to send Alexander down to the front gate and have him tell them to stand down, but…”
“No one would likely recognize me,” Alexander put in with a long face. “There were people in my own compound that didn’t know who I was.”
That had been bothering her for a long time. “Why is that, anyway? I mean, you were the only child from the Jonquil family, right? How could they not know you were the next guildmaster?”
“The heir of the family never lives in the compound,” Alexander explained patiently. “It’s too dangerous. If the guild is ever attacked, they can wipe out the whole family in one night. I didn’t step inside the compound at all until the day I took over for grandfather.”
“And then you were shut up in that building Rune described?”
Alexander nodded, expression a little sad. “I liked being outside better. But it wasn’t bad, being in there.”
Siobhan tried to imagine staying inside one building for days, months, years on end. A shudder of horror raced across her skin. No. Absolutely not. She’d break an arm escaping first. “Is there absolutely no one that would recognize you? That can’t be, right?”
“My advisors will know me.” Alexander’s head cocked and he started counting things off on his fingers. “Some of my lieutenants will. My maid will. My doctor, too. Umm…oh, and three of my spies. But that’s it. Oomph.” He body checked into Tran, who was ahead of him, and stumbled backwards three steps, only to fetch up against Wolf’s legs.
“Steady there, Alex.” Wolf put a hand on his shoulder and helped him find his balance again.
Tran glanced over his shoulder. “I felt something tickle me.”
Alexander, indignant, crossed his arms over his chest and glared upwards. “I bumped into you.”
“You’re, what, sixty pounds soaking wet? ‘Tickle’ is the right word.” Tran’s teeth flashed white in his dark skin, smile teasing.
Siobhan could see the feathers ruffle as Alexander took umbrage at this. She stepped in and planted a hand over Tran’s mouth before things could devolve into a wrestling match right here in Blackstone’s main building. “Behave, please. Alexander just said something important, can we follow through on that?”
Tran gave her an expressive roll of the eyes above her hand. She took the hint and reclaimed it before pumping Alexander, “So there’s several people that will recognize you on sight?”
“Of course,” he said, as if that were the most obvious thing in the world.
“What are the odds that at least one of those people will be leading the army coming at us?” she pressed.
Alexander opened his mouth, paused, and then his eyes went wide. “Good. Very good. Without me there, it will take someone close to me to have the power to get an army together and moving.”
She felt excitement rising in her. “Good, good. Who?”
“Well, Lorcan, Roskin, Dahnner, Troy…maybe Harris? They’re my closest advisors and the most powerful.”
Siobhan caught Wolf’s eye and they exchanged a look of perfect understanding.
“Alex,” Wolf said mildly, “this would have been a good thing to mention before, while we were all still in that meeting.”
And it would’ve been a good thing for them to ask him while they’d still been in the meeting, if they’d thought of it.
“I didn’t think of it,” Alexander said apologetically.
“But it makes perfect sense for someone close to him to be in that army.” Siobhan was more or less working through things out loud. “For one thing, only his nearest people will even be able to recognize him. What’s the point of sending an army to fetch him home if there isn’t someone there who knows who h
e is?”
“A good point,” Wolf acknowledged, brows furrowed as he turned this over in his mind. “If we can somehow get a message to that person…”
“Then maybe we really can avoid another battle,” Siobhan finished. “Taking Alexander through a gate is out, I don’t think his army will stop and ask questions before charging for the gates, so it’ll be too dangerous at the ground level. But can’t we have him up on the wall?”
“At least. If we can’t think of a better option.”
She turned to Tran, distracted by another worry. “And your knee? Conli was making a fuss about you walking earlier.”
“It’s not as bad as we first thought,” Tran assured her.
That was Tran-speak for, ‘I’m not bleeding to death, I’ll survive.’ Well, it wasn’t like she could tell him to rest under the circumstances, not with an army coming to knock on their door. “All the same, try to stay off of it as much as possible in the next few days. We want you fighting strong when the army actually gets here.”
“Conli put a poultice on it and wrapped it for me, it’s fine,” Tran assured her breezily.
In other words, he had no intention to stay off that leg now that he had a valid excuse to get up and run around instead.
Darrens chose that moment to step outside of his office. He took in the four of them, and drawled, “Is there a reason why you’re loitering in my hallway?”
Siobhan stepped forward. “Guildmaster, we have an idea.” She quickly ran him through it, ending with, “What do you think?”
“I’m certainly game to try talking first,” Darrens answered frankly. “Let’s come up with several approaches, in case just standing Guildmaster Jonquil on the wall doesn’t work. It would be best if this didn’t come down to a fight.”
She couldn’t agree more.
ӜӜӜ
They spent four days making preparations. Of course, construction on Goldschmidt ground to an absolute standstill as people focused on war instead. Siobhan was heartily sick of it but knew that if she wanted her guild and her city to come through this intact, she had to focus and do what was necessary.
Bryce was still sending in regular reports, giving them a more accurate timetable of when the army would arrive so they wouldn’t be taken by surprise. Siobhan half-dreaded hearing that status report every morning. But it gave them the knowledge they needed.
Tonight was the last night they had before the army arrived the next day. Bryce thought they would arrive late in the afternoon at the pace they were setting. Knowing that the enemy would be on their doorstep in sixteen hours or less sent the citizens of Goldschmidt into a tizzy of activity. There was more than one household that had the midnight oil burning.
Siobhan rushed back and forth, checking on everything she could think to check, and then double checking it. She probably would have started triple checking but as she passed Wolf in the main taproom, he caught her by the wrist and tugged her into his lap.
“Woman, you’re giving me a dizzy spell watching you,” he rumbled, tone half-complaining. “Sit and unwind. You need to rest before tomorrow comes.”
She shifted so that she was in a more balanced and comfortable position before demanding of him, “How are you so calm about all of this?”
“Years of experience, love.”
Well, alright, that had been a stupid question. “So what do you do to stay calm?”
“I think about what comes after.” He reached up a hand and stroked a lock of hair behind her ear, the gesture gentle and affectionate. “I envision the day the guildhall is complete, and we can go to Reske, or to your parent’s home, or back to Saoleord. I focus on the good times ahead of us. Tomorrow will come no matter what we do. We shouldn’t let our worry about it ruin today.”
Such practical advice. “You’ve said something similar to me before, after we lost the Hall. Is that always what you do, to get through the rough times?”
“Always.”
The wound tension in her was relaxing in slow degrees, now that she was sitting. It had been nervous energy keeping her going before. Wolf’s voice and patience was steadying her, letting her relax. “What about early on? In the first few years you were in the guild?” As soon as she asked, she realized the answer. “Wait, you didn’t dream of us being together back then, did you?”
“Course I did.”
“Really?” This answer pleased her immensely.
Wolf leaned forward long enough to place a chaste kiss on her lips. “Really.”
Siobhan had a warm moment of complete happiness. Even the stress of tomorrow couldn’t completely ruin this moment for her.
“What will you dream of?” he asked her.
“Oh, lots of things.” She rattled them off without thinking. “Getting Markl and Sylvie properly married—”
“What? Why?”
“Because if he’s married to Sylvie, he can’t leave,” she answered. Her tone said, Duh.
Wolf burst out laughing. “You conniving woman!”
“Honestly, Wolf, you think I want to give him back? Markl has been a life saver ever since he entered this guild and Sylvie would be lost without him now, you know she would. I like Nuel, I do, but I’m not giving his son back.”
Wolf kept chortling, beyond amused at this. “And Rune and Denney? Them too?”
“No, I think we need to give that relationship at least two years before we plan anything. They’re both a little young, and Rune’s always this close,” she held up her finger and thumb an inch apart, “from putting both feet into his mouth.”
“Not to mention Conli needs two years to come to terms with it all?” Wolf’s eyes were laughing.
“And that. Really, you think the man would have realized this was coming like we all did and mentally braced himself.”
“I think he did. He just didn’t expect it to happen this soon.”
Why he was struggling at all, that was what Siobhan couldn’t understand. As rough as Rune was with things, he was always very careful and protective of Denney. In some ways, the girl couldn’t ask for a better suitor.
“Is other people’s happiness all you think of?”
“Hey, if they’re happy, they’re not coming to me for advice or help on solving problems,” she pointed out.
“Ah, true.”
“I selfishly wish we could keep Alexander, though,” she added wistfully. “It’s been fun having him with us.”
“I didn’t expect the boy to grow on me, but he did,” Wolf admitted. “I think we can plan to visit, and often, though. I have faith that Cha Ji An will get things straightened out and put our guilds back on amiable terms.”
Siobhan had no doubt she would. The woman may have been soft spoken and sweet, but Cha Ji An had a will of iron and only fools chose to cross her. A yawn took Siobhan by surprise, and she raised a hand to cover her mouth.
“Oh, sorry. It’s not that late, why am I suddenly so tired?”
“It’s near midnight, love,” Wolf corrected gently. “Why do you think I caught you and held you still like this, eh? I knew if you would just sit for more than ten seconds, the day would catch up with you.”
“You know me well,” she replied ruefully. “Alright, let’s head to bed. We both have a full day tomorrow.”
“We do.” Wolf waited until she slid off his lap before standing, but even then, he put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her close before heading for their beds upstairs.
“Do you think we have a good chance of stopping this tomorrow?” she asked. It was the one question she hadn’t dared to ask for four days. But with Wolf, she knew that he would give her the straight of it.
“I think we have even odds of it working, or not working, depending on how things go. But I hope it does. I truly hope it does. I’ve had enough of battles for the time being.”
So had she.
The army arrived at Goldschmidt’s eastern gate late in the afternoon, exactly as Bryce predicted it would. They came in like an angry beehive, fas
t and loud, brandishing their weapons in open threat. Rune watched them come and felt nothing but determination. They might have breached Goldschmidt’s walls once, but that was before anyone knew how to properly defend a city. That was not the case now. They’d repelled their attackers in Converse, they could do it again here.
They would not take this city a second time.
Wolf, Tran, Ryu Jin Ho, and Hyun Woo were in charge of the four gates of the city and the section of the wall to the left of that gate. They chose to divide it up that way on purpose, so that even if a breach was made in the wall, they had an experienced commander ready to take charge of the counterattack. They had not, after all, managed to repair all of the damage done to Goldschmidt. There were weaknesses to be found, if someone was determined and creative enough to exploit them. Fei, Rune, and Markl were to be on hand in case problems cropped up. At the moment, they were all clustered near the eastern gate, waiting to see how things would pan out. Siobhan had climbed up with Alexander, joining the men.
Alexander, standing on tiptoes, could barely get his head above the wall’s stone guard. “I can’t see.”
Rune grabbed him by the waist and hoisted him up, then put a knee under the kid’s rump so he could sit there and focus on the army below. “Anyone you know?”
Shaking his head in frustration, Alexander braced his hands against the top of the wall and leaned even further out. “No. And it’s hard to see people. There’s so many of them all squished together.”
‘Squished’ was the right way to describe it. None of the commanders that had come at them previously had managed to make it back home, so there was no one in this new army with any experience. They had no sense of strategy whatsoever and they were repeating the same ol’ mistakes by charging their entire force at one gate. They had no idea how to flank or use prong attacks or anything. They were such amateurs that Rune wanted to groan in pity.
Fallen Ward (Deepwoods Saga Book 3) Page 22