Courted Sanctuary
Page 15
Chapter 15
Sieglinde watched the flickering distant fires amongst the trees. She had known her reply to the Church's offer would not be well received. She had expected them to lay siege to the city immediately. But the soldiers simply picked up the head of their comrade and retreated into the trees as they tried to dodge the arrows her men sent after them.
A week later, more fires appeared in forest. The enemy did not bother to hide now. The fires of their camps burned brightly and through the night. Adalbern was sure they would wait until morning to attack. Sieglinde could not make such assumptions.
Their village was small, only a hundred of them, half women and children. With the barrier breached, the women felt helpless and useless despite their efforts to grow gardens and prepare poultices. Their most important task had been to maintain the protections of the Goddess but She had left them. Perhaps she had chosen to follow Luitgard instead. Such thoughts fed Sieglinde's bitterness and she had begun to suspect she was not the only one. If anyone spoke of Luitgard now, their tones were harsh even if their words were not unkind.
The men had trained for this very situation, but there were so few of them to protect the wall. She turned and looked over the black expanse of water that surrounded the rest of the peninsula. She did not fear attack from those sides. They could try but she knew they would fail. The line of spikes was too well hidden and too effective against even small craft. It was the wall they needed to worry about. Despite how well it had withstood the years without any need for repair, there was no telling how it would withstand the force of attack.
Five men were perched along the battlements; unused swords at their hips, arrows at their backs, and bows in their hands.
It would not take long for others to join them if the alarm sounded so she insisted as many as possible sleep. Humbert had tried to be noble again but when she threatened not to marry him if he disobeyed her in the matter, he relented. She had no idea if he was really asleep. She simply prayed that he would rest enough to survive the next morning.
Her mouth went dry at the thought. Who was she even praying to? The Goddess had left them. She no longer cared about their prayers or their rituals. The Mintharchs had only themselves.
She stood upon the battlements. She stood and waited for the first arrow not shot by one of her own.