by A. J. Smith
‘Steady,’ shouted Horrock, as the advance guard formed into a line narrow enough to pass through the gatehouse. ‘Mark your targets well and make your aim true… I want fifty dead in the first volley.’
The Ranen, hidden below raised wooden fortifications, were poised for action. Each man held two throwing-axes, one in each hand, and close to a hundred of the battle-brothers of Wraith had been designated as axe-hurlers. Their job was to thin the ranks in preparation for a second line of Ranen to emerge at ground level and roll barrels of flaming pitch towards the mounted knights. If that didn’t force the knights to retreat, the third rank, which included Hasim, Horrock and Haffen – and Bronwyn – would emerge and engage the knights in close combat.
Horrock held his axe up in readiness and shouted, ‘Hold…’
The knights reached the southern wall and turned sharply to aim their horses at the gateway.
‘Hold,’ roared Horrock a second time, as the knights reached the gate and began to enter the courtyard.
‘Hold,’ he shouted for the last time, his voice raised above the sound of the armoured knights.
The men of Ro flooded in. Bronwyn was taken aback my how many there were. Five hundred fully armoured knights of the Red rode into the courtyard and fanned out in practised fashion. They held longswords aloft and roared challenges and promises of death at the men of Ranen.
‘Now,’ bellowed Horrock, and he stood and turned to face the advance guard of knights.
There was barely a moment between his command and the first volley of axes. The Ranen rose as one from their places of concealment overlooking the courtyard and shouted words of defiance as one hundred axes were hurled at the knights.
The ruined city burst into life as the men of Wraith Company unleashed their pent-up anger against the men of Ro. The sound was deafening and Bronwyn couldn’t hear any of the knights over the shouting of the axe-men, but her vantage point gave her a good view of the courtyard and she saw men and horses hit by razor-sharp throwing-axes.
Horrock’s demand that there be fifty dead in the first volley was close to the mark, as heads were cleaved, armour split, limbs severed and horses lamed or killed.
‘This is the land of Wraith,’ roared Haffen, standing high on the forward battlements and raising his axe above his head. ‘You will not take it while we live.’
The knights had been taken aback by the first volley, but recovered quickly and Bronwyn saw their captain, protected by a circular shield, give orders to storm the barricades and kill the Ranen.
Then the second volley. Their aim was truer now and no few heads were split by the whirling steel of Wraith Company.
‘That’s it, lads.’ Haffen continued to shout from the gatehouse. ‘Show the bastards how the Ranen do things.’
Bronwyn and Al-Hasim were still behind the forward battlements, though less concerned to hide now the trap had been sprung. Bronwyn could still see the catapults across the misty plains to the south, but the bombardment had stopped once the knights had breached the town.
The two volleys of throwing-axes had killed or incapacitated more than a hundred of the knights and riderless horses were loose in the courtyard. Knights who were unhurt but had been unhorsed now pulled themselves to their feet.
‘Fire the bastards,’ shouted Horrock from his position on the stairs.
All around the ground-level barricades, flaming torches sprang into life as the second wave of Wraith Company opened wooden hatchways and rolled heavy barrels at the knights of the Red. Each was lit by a long wick at the end and several had been breached with axes to hasten the spread of the fire, as twenty or so barrels of sticky, flaming pitch raced towards the attackers.
The knights couldn’t react quickly enough and were engulfed in flames within seconds. Screaming filled the courtyard as frightened horses reared and threw their riders. One clumsily stamped on a flaming barrel and sprayed sticky flames across the cobbles, setting light to a group of knights who were getting back to their feet in the middle of the killing ground.
Order disappeared from the knights’ advance as flaming men and horses flailed around in an attempt to douse the fire. Bronwyn winced and turned away from the grisly scene.
The wooden barricades were splashed with water to stop the fire spreading to the Ranen defences, and the few knights who attempted to climb the fortifications were swiftly cut down by the defenders. The knight captain was alive and whirling his longsword defiantly overhead, mimicking Haffen’s gesture.
‘Rally to me,’ he shouted at his remaining knights.
Less than half of the five hundred knights were still ready for combat and many of those had been unhorsed or were corralled by lines of flame and dead horses. The fire barrels had robbed them of any immediate chance of storming the barricades, but now they regrouped.
‘To arms,’ commanded Horrock, drawing his double-headed axe and descending the stairs to the raised wooden fortifications.
‘That’s us,’ said Al-Hasim quietly to Bronwyn. ‘Take this.’ He handed her a small wooden shield. ‘You’ve a better chance of staying alive with this than if you just rely on that big knife.’ He pointed to her short sword.
‘After you,’ said Bronwyn, after a deep breath.
Haffen was nearby but had already begun to sprint across the high walls to join his captain. Other men of Wraith, wielding a variety of heavy axes and hammers, moved quickly to defend the inner fortifications and Bronwyn could see long spears being used by the axe-hurlers.
As she turned from the gatehouse, something caught her eye and she paused. ‘Hasim,’ she shouted. ‘Look!’
Across the misty plain, just beyond the position of the catapults, dust was rising from the Grass Sea. Bronwyn could see an enormous line of horses riding into view. They were too numerous for her to count. High overhead, two banners flew erratically in the evening wind. One was the white eagle of Ro Tiris and the other the ominous purple sceptre of the clerics of nobility. Bronwyn swore to herself as the bulk of the king’s army appeared within sight of Ro Hail.
Hasim joined her and looked out at the army of Ro arrayed across the Grass Sea. ‘Jaa preserve us,’ he said. ‘So many…’
Bronwyn thought she detected fear on the Karesian’s face.
‘Horrock,’ he shouted, ‘it seems the king has arrived.’
If his words were heard, there was no sign that the captain of Wraith Company was going to alter his plan. Instead, he joined the third wave of defenders and began hacking at the few knights who were trying to breach the fortifications.
‘Come on, they need help.’ Hasim grabbed Bronwyn’s arm and led her down the stone steps to the inner barricades.
She steadied herself and felt her hand shaking as it gripped the hilt of her short sword. She’d killed before, in the tunnels of Ro Canarn as she and Hasim were making their escape, but this was different – this was a battle and, if she could not strike to kill, she knew she’d be useless.
They reached the battlements and joined the other defenders. The knights had regrouped and were attempting to fight their way on to the wooden ramparts. They had only limited success as the long spears held by the axe-hurlers were keeping them at a distance, but Bronwyn thought it could only be a matter of time.
The knight captain was still on his horse directing his troops and determination was on the faces of the men of Ro as their professionalism and skill returned. They hacked at the ground-level wooden hatches and several of the Ranen who had lit the barrels died as longswords smashed and cut at the gaps between the wooden planks.
‘Get those hatches open,’ ordered the knight captain, shouting at the top of his voice to be heard over the melee.
Bronwyn found herself at the edge, looking down on the knights trying to break open the defences. She locked eyes with a man of Ro, burnt from the fire and angrily hacking at the wood. A moment later he took a spear to the chest and fell to the cobbled floor. A second man took his place and then another joined him as they began to s
mash open the hatch.
Hasim appeared next to her with a spear in his hands and grunted with exertion as he skewered a man through the neck. The blood sprayed over his fellow knights, who yelled angry insults and challenges from below.
Then a barrel of pitch that hadn’t split open was thrown from the courtyard up on to the wooden battlements. Bronwyn held her breath as she saw it smash near to her and erupt into flame, sending two Ranen diving forward from their positions of safety. The flames spread quickly and she held up her shield arm to block the heat of the fire.
‘Put that fire out,’ shouted Horrock from nearby.
Several men ran to grab buckets of water, but the sticky pitch had quickly attached itself to a large area of wood and the fire was spreading.
With a roar of defiance, Captain Horrock Green Blade jumped down from the battlements and became the first man of Wraith to engage the knights in close combat. He killed one quickly, cleaving in his chest with a mighty blow from his axe, but other knights moved to engage him.
‘Time to get bloody, lads,’ announced Haffen with a grim smile, as he joined his captain in the fray.
Others followed, chanting, ‘For Wraith!’ as they set about the knights of the Red, until the majority of the third wave had left the fortifications and entered the courtyard.
‘Stay here,’ ordered Hasim, dropping the spear and drawing his scimitar and kris blade.
‘Not on your life,’ Bronwyn replied.
He shot her a look of frustration but didn’t argue as the two of them jumped down together.
‘Stay close to me, then,’ he conceded. ‘Strike at the neck and head and keep that shield up.’
The fight they joined was brutal and desperate, with many Ranen going berserk as they hacked at the armoured knights. Haffen was particularly vicious and foam began to appear at the corners of his mouth as he grasped his axe in both hands and whirled round, killing anyone close to him. The knights initially backed away from the ferocious axe-man, but Bronwyn could tell that the men of Wraith were outmatched in terms of skill.
She could see Micah Stone Dog fighting desperately, with his back to a wall, against a young knight. Nearby, Horrock was engaged against two Ro, his size and strength the only thing preserving him. As Bronwyn began to sense hope slipping away she was faced with a battered knight launching a high attack at her. Without thinking, she raised her shield and buckled under the strength of the blow. Another high swing followed, and another, until she was barely able to stand.
‘No way to treat a lady, you horse-fucker,’ shouted Hasim, as he appeared behind the knight and deftly opened the man’s throat with a single cut.
‘I said, stay near me,’ he repeated as he pulled Bronwyn to her feet. ‘I will not let you die here.’
They fought back to back, both relying on speed to keep the knights at bay. Bronwyn began to use her shield more and more, with only occasional swift sword cuts directed at the attackers’ faces and necks. She blinded one man and severed another’s ear, but received several small wounds herself. Hasim was faring better and was largely unhurt as he killed another man with a well-placed thrust of his kris knife. Kicking the man off his blade, he shoved Bronwyn back out of the way as a huge knight charged at them.
‘Fight me, you Karesian whoreson,’ the knight shouted as he smashed his sword down at Hasim’s head.
He narrowly avoided the blow by darting backwards and sticking his scimitar into the knight’s side. The huge man cried out in pain, but grabbed the protruding blade and wrenched it from Hasim’s grasp. Kicking out, he sent the Karesian tumbling to the ground.
‘Bronwyn…’ he shouted, as the knight advanced on the young lady of Canarn.
The Ro was too caught up in battle fervour to notice the wound Hasim had given him and he likewise ignored a glancing blow from a thrown axe.
‘Time to die, Black Guard,’ the knight said with a grotesque grin.
As he raised his sword overhead to deliver a killing blow, he paused and his eyes grew wide as a knife pushed its way into his neck and Freya Cold Eyes appeared over his enormous shoulders. The old Ranen woman twisted the knife to make sure the knight was dead before she pulled it back and let him drop to the floor.
‘Freya…’ Bronwyn breathed with gratitude as she quickly stood up.
‘Don’t thank me, young lady, just be more careful.’ The old axe-maiden was smiling but the blood spreading down her face told Bronwyn she had been fighting as hard as any of them.
Hasim retrieved his scimitar from the fallen knight and pulled Bronwyn back out of the melee.
‘It’s not just about Brom, okay? I will not let you die.’ He repeated the same phrase and Bronwyn could sense deep sincerity in the Karesian scoundrel’s words. ‘Now, I know you won’t take cover, but at least stay away from big bastards like him.’ He gestured to the large dead knight.
Bronwyn nodded and tenderly touched Hasim’s face. Without more words, they returned to the courtyard. It was difficult to see who had the upper hand, but Horrock and Haffen were still alive and causing their fair share of slaughter. She could no longer see Stone Dog; and the majority of the knights were now on foot, with their warhorses either running in wild circles or having left the ruins altogether.
The next few minutes passed agonizingly slowly as hacked body parts and sprayed blood turned the courtyard of Ro Hail into a butcher’s yard. Bronwyn stayed clear of the central melee and remained with Hasim on the fringes. Somewhere in the middle, she could hear Horrock roar a challenge at the knight captain, and the scrum parted briefly to allow the two captains to meet in the centre.
The axe-hurlers had joined the fight and the knights were largely penned in. As Horrock and the knight captain clashed, the other fights slowed to keep half an eye on the two men, each side investing heavily in the survival of their commander. Even Haffen had pulled back to the edge of the melee to take a moment’s rest and wipe the blood and sweat from his face.
Horrock did not fight as he had against Verellian two weeks before, but rather fought dirty, employing kicks and punches to keep the knight off balance. Bronwyn sensed the man of Wraith was a fast learner. The knight captain quickly became frustrated with Horrock’s dishonourable fighting style, but was helpless to stop him as axe blows began to land on his plate armour. As his breastplate became dented, his parries grew more awkward until a feint opened him up and a thunderous downward strike split his head down the middle.
As the bloody mess that had been their commander fell in a heap to the ground, the remaining knights of the Red broke and began to fall back. It was a disorderly retreat, with most of the men on foot, and several more died as they turned to flee. The knights ran towards the open gateway and fled into the Grass Sea beyond, as Wraith Company held their weapons aloft and roared their victory to the sky.
‘Stop fucking cheering,’ shouted an exhausted Horrock. ‘Put that fire out and barricade the gate.’ His men paused for a moment, looking at their captain. ‘Move!’ he bellowed, causing every man to hurry back to his position.
Haffen led a group of warriors to the gateway and piled the broken wood up in some semblance of a gate, using spears to wedge the makeshift door in place. Several dozen men shuttled buckets of water to the burning barricades. The remainder fell to the ground from sheer exhaustion.
Hasim and Bronwyn made their way across the killing ground to where Horrock sat, panting heavily.
‘That was just the advance guard,’ said the Karesian.
Horrock looked up as if this information was not helpful, but, after a moment, he smiled a thin smile.
‘I know, but at least we’ve made them pause.’ He stood again and surveyed the defences.
Bronwyn thought that only around half of the inner wooden fortifications now provided some cover, and the fire had caused a large section to collapse entirely. The courtyard was littered with the dead and, though there were many more Ro bodies than Ranen, she was still shocked at how many men of Wraith had fallen.
‘True enough,’ replied Horrock, standing next to her, ‘but they don’t know that.’ He was still panting, but Bronwyn sensed steely resolve in his piercing blue eyes.
‘If I know the knights of the Red,’ began Hasim, ‘and I think I do, I don’t think they’ll risk another frontal assault.’ He pointed to the gates that Haffen was hastily rebuilding. ‘If we get those looking solid again, I think they’ll try something different. The knights don’t like getting a bloody nose and they won’t risk it again.’
‘So they’ll just throw more rocks at us?’ Horrock asked with gallows humour.
Hasim nodded. ‘Probably, yes. But they’re more likely to encircle the city and starve us out. They have the numbers to do it and now they know we’re prepared to fight…’
‘Of course, there is someone whose counsel may be useful right now,’ Bronwyn interjected, referring to Sir William of Verellian.
They both looked at her with doubt on their faces.
‘He’s still a knight of the Red, Bronwyn,’ responded Hasim. ‘He wouldn’t want to be too helpful, I’d guess.’
‘True, but he’s honourable. I think he’d help in any way that meant fewer people were killed.’ She considered and continued, ‘At least he’d be able to tell us what they’re likely to do next.’
Hasim smiled. ‘So, you’re saying you don’t trust my knowledge of knightly tactics?’
A man offered Horrock a bowl of water and he immediately washed his bloodstained face and then shook his head rapidly from side to side. As he wiped his face with a rag he stood up. ‘Your knowledge may be extensive, Hasim, but you’re not actually a knight,’ he said.
His men were busily moving around the fortifications, repairing whatever could be quickly mended, moving bodies from the courtyard and collecting throwing-axes.
‘If you’ll take an order from me, Karesian, go and fetch the red man,’ said Horrock, without turning away from his men. ‘Find Stone Dog and take him with you… and keep the knight chained.’