Chapter 36
The black sky began to show spots of blue and grey, Sieglinde shivered and wrapped her shawl more tightly around herself. She had tried to sleep but even when her body surrendered, the nightmares proved worse torture than exhaustion. The night had seemed to drag on for years. She had lost track of how many times she had woken up but she had not lost track of every gory detail of those nightmares. She finally gave up and left her bed for the comfort of the wall. At least sitting upon the stones, peering over the edge every few minutes, she felt like she was doing something. The trees the enemy had felled the day before, had made it easier to see the new siege weapon they had been building in its place. Lord Mintharch was right. That morning there would be a battle.
Humbert and the others had not returned. Though she had not expected them to, she had hoped they would. She had hoped for a miracle, for them to return triumphant, the battle having easily been won. As the sky lightened, she knew her more pragmatic thoughts of the day before had been correct. She would never see Humbert again.
The first hint of gold mixed with the sky along the horizon. The sun would be rising soon, and it would be time for war. She would never recover from Humbert's loss but she had no time for grief. She stood and looked over the remnants of the village. She still had a people to save.
The sparking of flint caught her attention. The sentries were already lighting the fires for the cauldrons. It was time. She made her way to the ladder.
When she reached the bottom of the tower, the men were already gathering. Half would stay behind to protect the wall and the people. Half would make their way through the woods to do their best against the forces. If there was one advantage they had in the offensive, it was that her people were used to moving through those woods.
As she saw the men readying their weapons, the women came to see them off. Lord Mintharch stood watching her, his arms across his chest.
She was sure they did not have long before the first archers arrived at the forest edge, but she could not send her people to death without them knowing what it meant to her.
She stood in front of the portcullis and waited. It was only moments before the first of the men were ready for their battle and had realized where she stood. As more of the people noticed her, the noises of leather, metal, and worry faded away.
She swallowed.
"It has been weeks that we have been under threat and have endured seeing our home systematically and slowly burned. We have watched those we love succumb to injuries both great and small. From the old stories, I know there have never been so few Mintharchs in almost the entire 50 years we have been here."
"And through it all, I have never been more proud to be a part of this family. Without complaint, you each have fought every single day to ensure you have done your part. As our stomachs growled their anger, not a single person asked me for more. As we broke our backs trying to build and rebuild, to temper, and to harvest, not a single person has asked me for sympathy or leave of it. We have worked together and survived this long as one.
"When that barrier fell, I am sure we all began to wonder what was happening. Many of us have questioned if the Goddess has forsaken us. I do not know. What I do know is that we have done nothing worthy of such punishment. If she has forsaken us, I will never beg for such a person's forgiveness. None of you need ask anyone for forgiveness!"
She looked at Oda. "There are those of you who may remember life before this place. But most of us do not. Most of us were born here and have known nothing else. For most of us, there is nothing beyond that wall, beyond those trees, or beyond those fields. That is where the world ends for us.
"As we all fight for our world, I want you to know of how proud I am, of how much I love you all, and of how much we all have to live for. For us, this fight is not about gold or favour. This is about those of us who wish to be good fighting against those who have proven to be evil. We will prove something to the evil, outside that wall today. This may be where the world starts for us but it will be where the world ends for them!"
The gathered burst into cheers of pride. Those with weapons brandished them to the sky. Those without hugged each other, but they were smiling. That glimpse of hope, even if it only lasted a moment, cradled Sieglinde's heart. Lord Mintharch nodded to her.
She did not wait for the joy to fade. She used it. She ran back to the ladder in the gatehouse and climbed to the top of the wall. Several additional archers climbed quickly behind her. At the top, they lined the walls and readied their bows.
Sieglinde's breath echoed in her ears with her heartbeat. There would be no time to grieve Humbert. She wondered if she even needed to, for at that moment, she knew would be joining him.
She bellowed the order and the first volley of arrows from her men flew into the trees. The loud cracks and creeks of the lowering drawbridge was the only noise to drown out the sound. The second volley was already being shot as the men emerged from the gate. They quickly formed a line parallel to the edge of the forest before pushing through the trees.
She gave the signal for the archers to hold. Their role was finished until the threat came to the walls.
The creeks of the drawbridge repeated as it closed. Then the terrified and gurgling cries of men escaped the foliage. Her chest constricted as she could not tell if the sounds of the dying were her own men. The trees were too thick and too dark. The sun was only now breaking the horizon and if she could see anyone, it was a featureless silhouette. But she had to trust in them.
When she heard a man screaming for god, she breathed again.
A Christian soldier stumbled out of the trees, holding his side. He was disoriented and from the red flow down his body, she was sure he likely could not see straight.
"We do not need any of them being rescued only to come back for revenge," she said to the archer next to her. He nodded and took aim. The arrow sunk cleanly into the man's eye socket and his body crumpled to the ground.
Two more men emerged from the trees, this time they were her own. One man was trying to drag another back to the gate. Both were severely wounded or, at least, covered in fresh blood.
Sieglinde ordered the drawbridge open before instructing the archers to kill any of the enemy that emerged from the trees. She hurried down the ladder and at the gate, helped pull the two inside. It was Guntram pulling Benno.
"I am so sorry," Guntram said. "I got careless trying to save this one."
"That's alright," she reassured as she checked the deep cut on the other man's shoulder. She could see the bone, moist and white.
"We have a chance," Guntram said. "They don't seem to know how to fight in the trees. We were separating them easily."
She thanked him. "At least there is some hope in all of this," she said. "How were the others doing?"
"Josef and Florian were cut down very quickly, surprised by two men hiding behind a shrub, but the others were doing fine last I saw."
She nodded, trying not to get too excited by the positive news.
Gerhild and Hiltraud arrived and were already making their own examinations of the wounds. Sieglinde took that opportunity to return to the wall.
She had barely extricated herself from the ladder opening when she looked at the nearest archer and asked, "Has anything happened?"
He nodded to the distance. "Aye," he said. "It has."
She looked over the wall. More trees had been felled along the same path the onager had been placed but the onager was no longer there. It was now a large trebuchet. Through the thinned trees, she could see the soldiers loading it but not what they were using. She clutched the stone of the battlements. The wall would hold. Lord Mintharch had said it could not fall.
There was the flickering of flame. A creak and a bang echoed through the air as the long arm of the trebuchet swung around and flung fire at them. Sieglinde fell to her feet to hide behind the battlements but the motion proved unnecessary as the flaming ball soared over her head. Though the flaming mass landed between two buildi
ngs and did not cause any damage, her heart refused to slow. She doubted the next shot would miss.
Courted Sanctuary Page 38