by Mike Morris
Jack was relying on her to succeed and she wouldn't let him down.
She called a halt before an oak door at the end of another long winding corridor. "This leads outside. The cannon are on the other side of two watchtowers. I don't know how many guards we'll face but, as the sun is up, there shouldn’t be any Masters to deal with."
"Alan, check what's out there," said Robert. Alan grunted in response and opened the door ajar. A streak of daylight cut through the darkness. Satisfied there was no immediate danger, he slipped outside.
"Doesn't say much does he?" said Lin.
Robert smiled. "I've known him fifteen years and he's probably not said as many words to me in that time," replied Robert. "But there's no man more useful in a tight spot."
"Good, this is a tight spot," said Lin.
"Aye, that it is."
They waited in the darkness. Lin licked her dry lips and wondered how far Jack had gone, if he was still safe. She wished she were with him. She understood the priests' faith now. If she believed in a God, she'd hope it would protect them all. Get them home safely. Life, unfortunately, made it hard for her to accept that there was a higher power. She'd seen too many bad things happen to good people. You were on your own in this life and that was a fact.
The door opened, startling both of them. Alan's head poked through and he beckoned them outside.
The sunlight stopped Lin for a moment as she stepped through the door. Its warmth on her skin energized her. Just that experience alone made everything worthwhile. Whatever happened, she couldn't go back to living in the dark. She wished Old Jahn could feel the power of the sun. Maybe, if he had, then he and the others would’ve come with her. Taken a chance on freedom. Some things were worth taking the risk for.
She followed the two priests along the battlements. The vast ocean spread out to their left as far as the eye could see. Sunlight danced across the deep green surface. In its midst, the Great Hope waited out of range of the cannon, with its white sails ready to unfurl at a moment's notice. On the right were the towers and walkways of the castle. She glanced down to the streets, a twenty-foot drop.
Alan didn't slow down as they reached the first watchtower. Lin almost called out a warning about the guards but then she saw three bodies propped up in one corner. They looked peaceful, almost as if they were sleeping except blood pooled around them.
The guards at the second watchtower were also dead. She looked at Alan and shivered at the thought of how quickly he'd killed six men without so much as a scratch.
From there, they observed the cannons through slotted windows.
The guns stood fifty feet away.
There were four side-by-side, aimed out to sea. A stockpile of iron cannonballs sat next to each one. Three men were stationed to each cannon and another four stood watch around a giant telescope. No wonder they’d destroyed the priests' ships so easily. She took a mouthful of water, swished the liquid around her mouth before she swallowed. Sixteen men waited for them at the end of fifty feet of open ground. Bad odds. The tight spot had just got worse.
"Can you shoot them from here?" she whispered to Robert.
He gazed at their target. "No, it's too far. The pistols are unreliable over distance," he replied without looking at her. "I wouldn't even want to try and throw a grenade from here." He looked over at Alan. "We move quickly. Make every shot count. We have enough pistols to take out half their number. For the others, we have swords."
Alan nodded and the two men drew their pistols simultaneously.
"Let's get it done," said Robert.
Lin had just the one pistol but she stood with the others. Fear gnawed away in her gut and made her legs shake. They were going to march straight at the enemy. It was madness. It was all they could do.
Alan nodded at them and set off. Robert fell into step behind him. Lin quickly followed.
They managed to cover ten yards before they were spotted.
"Dogs!" someone cried. The Grunts' heads swiveled towards them. The men snatched at weapons as Alan, Robert and Lin ran towards them.
"Stop where you are," shouted a man just before a bullet struck him in the head. Alan threw the used pistol to the ground and drew another as the guard's body fell.
Robert shot a guard in the chest. and
they closed the distance to twenty feet while the other Grunts were rooted in place with shock. Robert slowed his advance only enough to take aim and fire at another target. The top of a gunner's head disappeared in a spray of red mist. Alan's pistol's roared and one more man dropped.
Time moved in slow motion. Every step took a lifetime. The gap closed to ten feet. Lin could see fear and indecision ripple across the guards' faces.
Two more shots rang out so close together they sounded as one.
Two more guards fell.
Eight feet to go.
The Grunts began to react. One ran toward Robert with a sword. He made four steps before a bullet knocked him off his feet. Another guard threw a spear. It sailed harmlessly between them. Alan fired his last pistol. There were six men dead in the time it took them to cover forty yards.
The two priests drew their swords. The blades called for blood as they left their sheaths.
Robert and Alan ran through the gun smoke. They hurled themselves into the remaining enemy. Robert screamed a war cry full of anger and hatred. Their swords were a whirlwind of fury.
One Grunt rushed toward Lin but Alan cut him down from behind.
As the last guard fell, Lin realized she had not fired her pistol or bloodied her sword. There’d been no need.
Robert gave her a smile as he flicked the blood off his blade. "I'm sorry you couldn't persuade your friends to leave this delightful place," he said.
"It was madness to think that they would," she replied. "This is all any of us have ever known."
"Some say it's better to stay with the devils you know than risk far worse elsewhere."
Lin looked out to sea, past the Great Hope to the horizon. It was a view she had gazed at since she was a child but never before had she seen it in daylight. The sun danced across its surface in ripples of gold. "Not me. I always thought there was something better out there. Somewhere I could be free."
Alan coughed and they both looked at him. "Enough talk. I will signal the ship. You destroy the guns. The girl can collect the pistols and reload them." He didn't wait for an answer and walked to the edge of the sea wall. Angling a small mirror to catch the sun, he signaled the Great Hope.
Robert shrugged at Lin and pulled grenades out of the pouch slung from his belt. He placed two grenades at the base of each cannon, tying their fuses together.
Lin was returning with the pistols in her arms when she suddenly stopped. Robert poured gunpowder down the barrel of one of the cannons. It was a monstrous beast of a gun
"Wait," she called out, running to him.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"The Abbot wanted us to cause as much destruction to the Masters as possible." She paused for a moment to control her excitement. Even Alan was listening to her now. She placed the pistols on the ground and pointed to the cannon. "I think that could do the job very well." She swept her arm around, mimicking the barrel of the gun, toward Grosnar. The three looked at the castle as if seeing it for the first time.
The short buildings nestled amongst the higher towers with covered walkways linking them together, all spiraling out from a central tower. Robert glanced over at Alan. "She's got a point."
Alan grunted his approval and returned to signaling the Great Hope.
They chose the first cannon in the row to move. The barrel was some eight feet in length and the size of a man's chest in width. It was mounted on large, solid oak wheels with ropes attached to help with maneuverability. Robert and Lin managed to pull the weapon back from the battlements but struggled to turn it. Its weight proved much too great for them. "Maybe not the best idea after all," grunted Robert as he strained against the rope in his hands. "Come on. M
ove, you bastard."
Alan joined Lin on her side of the cannon and pushed against the barrel. Their feet slipped on the stone but, with a small groan, the gun moved. It was only an inch but it was enough to encourage them.
Lin glanced out to sea. The sails on the Great Hope began to unfold.
"On three," said Robert. "One... two... three...push." Lin put all she could into moving the barrel. Her feet sought purchase in the cracks between the stones, places where she could dig in.
There was another groan and the cannon moved another inch.
"Again," called Robert. "One... two... three...push."
This time the creak from the wheels was more pronounced as the barrel moved some fifteen degrees.
"Again!"
The cannon faced along the sea wall.
"Again!"
Lin's eyes bulged as she strained every fiber of her being. Once more the cannon swung and. its barrel hovered over the edge of the battlements as the first few buildings of the castle came under its sights.
Another glance told her the Great Hope was on its way.
"Again!" shouted Robert.
Sweat dripped into Lin's eyes. She'd sleep for a week once this day was done. She just had to find that last reserve of energy. She groaned with the effort. "Come on," she hissed.
The cannon moved one last time. The barrel pointed straight at the main tower. The three looked at each other. Lin could have sworn a smile appeared under Alan's mustache.
Alan took a gunpowder bag from the stores and slotted it down the barrel. Robert hefted a cannonball up and rolled it in place before pushing everything tightly together with a ramrod. "I think you deserve the honor of firing the first shot," he said to Lin.
She took the torch, thinking of everyone she knew who died or suffered at the hands of the Masters. She thought of Pet'r and his gentle kiss. She thought of Jaar and how he stood up for everyone. She thought of all those poor souls who died in the hunt. She thought of Brendan, a man she didn't really know, being tortured by the demons. Even Droonan flashed through her mind. She lit the fuse for all of them.
They stepped back.
The fuse burned quickly.
They covered their ears.
The boom shook the very ground as the cannonball burst out in a plume of smoke. It arched through the air, crashing into the side of the tower before deflecting off into one of the walkways, destroying its roof and ripping a gaping hole in it.
"We are going to get someone's attention with that," said Robert as he swabbed down the barrel with an old mop from a bucket of dirty water. It fizzled as it washed down the hot interior of the gun. "Move it slightly to the left."
Alan nodded and the two men pulled on the ropes one last time.
Once the barrel moved a few more degrees, they reloaded it. Again Lin lowered the torch onto the fuse.
This time, the cannonball flew true. It smashed into the center of the tower. It punched through the wall and a window, wrecking chaos within, opening up the castle to the deadly daylight. The screams of the Nostros was music to their ears. They laughed at the sheer pleasure of striking back.
"Again?" asked Robert.
"Again," agreed Lin.
The third cannonball hit home. The hole within the tower gaped even wider. They moved the barrel further to the left for the fourth shot and fired at one of the smaller buildings, catching it at its junction with a walkway. Masonry collapsed under the impact and stone fell from the side of the building. It rained down on the structures below it, causing more damage.
Alarm bells rang out across Grosnar. Shouting and screaming mixed in with the cacophony caused by their attack.
"The ship is about ten minutes away," shouted Lin over their ringing ears.
"Still time to do more damage," replied Robert, another cannon ball in his arms. "You better reload the pistols just in case we need them."
Lin bent to her task as another cannonball screamed its way into Grosnar. Her shaking fingers fumbled the first bullet pouch. But, with a deep breath, she loaded the pistols. To her right, the Great Hope made its slow progress toward them. To her left, smoke and flames danced through Grosnar.
"Watch out!" cried Robert. He pushed Lin to the ground. Robert crouched over her as archers appeared in windows and in the gaping holes caused by their bombardment. Arrows ricocheted off the ground around them.
"Keep your head down," he said before scampering back to the cannon.
Lin worked slowly and methodically, ignoring everything except her task. As she did so, the priests fired another cannonball. It struck part of the battlements where archers were stationed.
A shout came from the entrance to the seawall. A group of guards charged towards them with spears in hand.
"Robert!" she called. "We've got company!"
He pulled a grenade from his pouch, lit the fuse and raced over. An arrow nipped at his heels as he dove down beside Lin. He threw the grenade along the walkway. It bounced once, twice and then rolled into the second watchtower just as the guards reached it. It disappeared from sight as the guards ran past it. Lin gripped a pistol, ready to shoot whoever reached them first.
The explosion ripped the watchtower apart. Bodies flew in every direction amid the stone and rubble. Part of the wall under the watchtower collapsed, raining down to the streets below.
"That should slow them down for a bit," said Robert. "Is that the only way out of here?"
"Yes. There wasn't a need to build any other ways onto or off the wall," replied Lin.
"The good news is they can't come at us from any other direction. Bad news is we're stuck here."
"The ship's getting closer," said Lin. "A few more minutes and they'll be here."
"Let's hope the others have made it down to the docks in time."
A roar erupted from the far end of the sea wall. A Master stood in the doorway, covered in full battle armor from head to foot. Behind him, more armor glinted from in the darkness.
"Shit," said Robert. He turned to Alan. "Nostros! Time to blow those things and get out of here."
Alan nodded and pushed all the gunpowder pouches down the barrels of the guns.
"How are we going to escape? I told you that was the only way out of here," said Lin.
Robert looked past her at the Nostros. "Here they come."
Lin's eyes widened as five Masters strode toward them, shields held high to give extra protection from the sun.
Robert grabbed Lin's hand and pulled her to her feet. Alan waited for them with torch in hand.
The Masters reached the collapsed watchtower and clambered over the rubble. Wisps of smoke seeped through gaps in their armor as the sun burned them, making them look even more monstrous.
"Better light that fuse," said Robert without looking at his fellow priest. He stepped back, leading Lin until their backs touched the battlement wall.
The first Master cleared the rubble. The Nostros screamed in a mixture of pain and anger and ran towards them.
Robert climbed up onto the battlements. He pulled Lin up along side him. Alan quickly followed. The fuses sizzled away.
"What are you going to do?" she said in a whisper as the Masters came closer.
Robert glance down to the bottom of the sea wall.
"No. I can't sw..." She said as his hand tightened on hers. He pulled her off the battlement into open space. Her stomach lurched as her feet tried to run on ground that didn't exist.
She had time to see the Nostros reach the battlements just before she struck the water.
The water battered her.
Robert's hand slipped from her grasp. She tumbled and turned. Panic filled her very being as she gasped, choking on seawater. Somewhere, far away, explosions ripped apart the world. Brick and rock crashed into the water around her.
Somehow she broke back through the surface. She spat out water but went under again before she could get air into her lungs.
She looked up. Saw someone swim toward her. She reached out, taking
a hand in hers and was pulled back towards the world.
This time, when she broke the surface, Robert's arm was around her. The air tasted so good. Alan was nearby and, this time, there was no mistaking the grin across his face as he bobbed in the water.
"You never told me you couldn't swim," said Robert.
All Lin could do was laugh. Laugh at the madness of the day and laugh at being alive.
Robert dragged her toward the ship. She gripped his arm, enjoying the sight of Grosnar in ruins and feeling safe once more. The battlements no longer existed. The castle itself wasn't in much better shape. It'd be a longtime before anyone had to worry about Grosnar posing a threat.
They had achieved everything they had set out to do.
She closed her eyes. Please let Jack be safe.
42
713 PN
"Turn her around," shouted the Captain as a blanket was draped over Jack's shoulders. "Let's head for home as quick as the wind allows."
Faces pressed in around him, offering their congratulations and well wishes but he looked past them. God knows how but they had made it out of Grosnar alive. His head hurt like hell but at least his vision was more or less back to normal.
He slumped down next to his brother and leaned back against the starboard railing, ignoring the pain in his back. For a few moments, Brendan didn't seem to notice he was there. He just stared straight ahead into the distance.
Someone came up and handed Jack two bowls of stew. He placed one at Brendan's feet before taking his first mouthful. The warmth of the food felt good. It took the edge off the chill in his bones.
"Remember when we were kids? How we'd go crazy for Mrs Waters' chicken stew?" Jack said as he ate. "We'd celebrate with whatever pennies we had from going on the rob and have a proper meal. Acting all grown up like we'd done a proper day's work like the rest of them in there.
"I used to think it was the best food in the world — certainly better than anything Mum would make for us. But, you know what? This stew here is better than anything Mrs Waters made. Maybe it's because I'm just bloody hungry and grateful to be alive. Maybe it's because I'm cold and wet and it's steaming hot. Maybe it's because I'm sitting here with you once again. I don't know — maybe it's all those things but it sure tastes good." Jack put his own bowl down and picked up his brother's. He held it in front of Brendan's nose, let him smell the aroma. "Shame to waste it or let it get cold. I reckon you'll love it even more than I do."