19
Siege Engines & Worse Things
Rolf seemed a little startled when I let myself into his office unexpected and unannounced. Gabriel trotted in behind me and sat next to my feet. I enjoyed Rolf’s surprise, and didn’t bother with pleasantries. “Any demands from Sigrid yet?”
He shook his head and sighed. “Nothing. It’s borderline eerie. They’re just lurking outside our gates like they’re waiting for some kind of signal.”
I felt an overwhelming need to be sarcastic, and the urge tugged my lips into an ironic smirk. “They probably are.”
Rolf sighed and gave me a tired look. “Are you here to pick another fight with me about Adele’s presence here?”
“Nah,” I shrugged. “You know my feelings on the subject, so there’s no sense beating a dead horse.”
“You just came to ask if there were any demands yet?” Rolf was staring me down with a skeptical expression.
“Yeah,” I shrugged. “Mack and Mr. Lindsey have everything under control in the caverns. Sam’s working on the ideas I had with my phone. Nobody really needs me to do anything right now, and I’m feeling a little restless, I guess.”
Rolf’s lips twitched in a semblance of a smile. “You probably don’t want to hear this, but I don’t really have anything useful for you to do, either. There’s nothing we can do until Sigrid either makes demands or initiates an attack.”
I muttered a soft curse under my breath and nodded. “As soon as we hear anything, please let me know. I don’t know how useful I’m really going to be, but I’d like to make the best effort I can to be of use to the people in Tiernan.”
Rolf nodded. “I’ll let you know as soon as we know anything.”
Another thought occurred to me. “Have they done anything with the lumber they started retrieving from the Black Forest yet?”
Rolf nodded in response. “Yes. The guess that they were retrieving the lumber to build siege engines with was a good one. They’ve been constructing trebuchets in preparation to try to hold siege on the fortress.”
“I was afraid of that,” I murmured.
“The trebuchets don’t worry me much,” Rolf shrugged. “The outer wall is thick, and if they don’t know where the weak spots are, they’re not going to have much luck damaging the walls, at least not for a while.”
I chewed on my bottom lip for a second as my thoughts strayed to Sam’s work. “May I borrow some parchment and a charcoal stick for a minute?”
“Sure,” Rolf shrugged, motioning to the chaotic table in front of him.
I grabbed what I needed and dashed out a quick note to Sam. How’s it going? What’s complete and what’s still left to do? I rolled up the parchment, stuck it in Gabe’s collar, and he wagged his tail at me as he awaited his assignment. “Can you run that to Sam for me?” He trotted to Rolf’s office door and scratched at it, giving me a look that said, Duh. Of course I can, if you’ll open the door for me. I let him out and decided to see if there was anything to eat in the banquet hall, mostly because I didn’t know what else to do with myself.
The whole fortress had been on edge for what felt like ages as we waited for the queen and her army to make some sort of move or try to send us a message stating what they wanted from us. I knew, in my gut, that what Sigrid wanted was me, and that she wanted to know how I’d arrived in her world. I suspected that she might be willing to murder me for trying to "steal her son from her," but I didn’t care. Getting Noah back to his family mattered more to me than whatever pain she intended to inflict on me. It was just after dawn on the eighth day after they’d arrived when the queen used her magic to send a message to everyone in the fortress.
“If you wish to survive and continue living your lives in peace, I have three conditions which you must unquestioningly abide by,” Sigrid asserted. “First, I demand that you cease harboring the fugitive witch who escaped my palace and surrender her to me immediately. Second, I demand that you surrender to me any such persons as were involved in aiding her escape. Finally, I demand that you remand the traitorous defector Adele into my custody for sentencing and punishment befitting a traitor. You have 24 hours to comply. If you do not, there will be repercussions.”
I had been up making restless rounds through the caverns to check on Tiernan’s residents anyway, so I whistled for Gabriel and rushed off to Rolf’s office with the spaniel sprinting along beside me. I gave one short knock and burst in, riding high on the anxiety-ridden adrenaline burst Sigrid’s demands had awakened in me.
“What’s the plan? How are we handling this?” I asked in short, breathless bursts.
Rolf’s face was pale and grim when he looked up at me. “We can’t afford to give up anything she wants, and certainly not before we’ve even made an effort to hold out against her.”
I frowned at him as my stomach squirmed with anxiety and discomfort. Gabriel snorted quietly at my feet, as if he couldn’t disagree more, and I wondered if the spaniel were thinking of handing Adele over to buy time. If Gabe wasn’t thinking it, I certainly was. “I think the more important thing to consider at the moment is if we can bear to suffer the consequences of disobedience. What is she doing to do if we don’t comply with what she wants?”
Rolf shook his head. “I honestly don’t know whether we can or not. I haven’t had any more reports from our spies stationed within the outer wall. Last I heard, Sigrid’s army had finished engineering seven trebuchets, and they were manned, but not yet ready to deploy. We don’t really have any idea what other kinds of weapons her army has at their disposal.”
Gabriel looked back and forth between the two of us like a ping-pong spectator. “If they have siege engines, I would assume they’re armed to the teeth with bows, swords, and God only knows what else,” I said, trying not to sound like I was stating the obvious.
“I meant magic,” Rolf muttered, and I got momentarily lightheaded at the thought that we might be that far outclassed by our enemy. “She doesn’t just employ soldiers in her army, you know. She’s got droves of mages with thousands of different specialties in those ranks, too. We have no way of knowing what they’re going to throw at us, unless we hold our ground and find out for sure.”
I stared at Rolf in disbelief, struggling to find my voice. “So, basically, you want to sit here and do nothing to attempt to appease her in the hope that she’ll tip her hand and reveal exactly what it is we’re up against?” From his station at my feet, Gabriel let out a deep growl, leaden with disapproval that mirrored my feelings on the situation.
“Exactly,” came Rolf’s grim response.
I frowned and shook my head. “I really kind of hate that plan. Shouldn’t we at least do something to give the illusion that we’re considering doing what she wants us to?”
Rolf scowled back at me. “That seems like a pointless endeavor to me. All it will do is waste energy we cannot afford to expend until we know what we’re up against.”
“All right,” I huffed, dissatisfied with the whole situation. “You’re the boss. We wait out the first twenty-four hours to see if she gives away anything magic-wise.” Gabriel snorted with disgust and paced around me in restless circles as I let us out of Rolf’s office. I looked down at the spaniel with a nod of agreement. “I don’t like it either, Gabe, but I don’t think staging a coup against Rolf over a disagreement on tactics would be good for anybody.”
The dog quirked his ears at me and sighed, and I sighed right along with him. “Why don’t we go see how things are coming with Sam and my phone? After that, we can make the rounds and let everyone know what Rolf’s planning to do.”
Gabriel tipped his head up and licked my palm, as if to reassure me he was going along with whatever I wanted, and we sauntered downstairs to the banquet hall to begin our search for Sam. After an hour and a half of fruitless wandering around the fortress looking for him, I decided to ask Tamara if she knew where he was. So, I made my way to Mr. Lindsey’s forge in the hope that I’d run into Tamara there. Finding Sam
there with her was my first and last stroke of luck for the day. I gave them both a significant look before bending to pet Gabriel for a moment.
“Have you heard Rolf’s plan yet?” I quirked a brow at them, and they both shook their heads.
“No,” Sam murmured. “But from the look on your face, I can already tell we’re probably not going to like it.”
“You can say that again,” I frowned. “I know I don’t like it. He wants to wait Sigrid out and see if she’ll tip her hand and reveal whatever kind of magic she’s planning to use against us if we don’t comply.”
“You’re right,” Tamara scowled, crossing her arms and shaking her head. “I don’t like that plan at all. I’m guessing he’s in supreme leader mode, though, and we don’t really have a choice but to go along with him at this point.”
I couldn’t help laughing and I nodded. “You’ve got that right. I can see where he’s coming from, but I just really don’t love inaction as a plan here.”
“Where is he coming from?” Tamara grumbled.
“He thinks it would be foolish to expend energy and resources before we even know what we’re up against, and I can see the sense in that, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.” I shrugged, feeling a little helpless and a lot restless.
“So we wait,” Sam chimed in, his voice grim, “And we hope that whatever magic Sigrid has at her disposal doesn’t completely decimate us right off the bat.” He was scowling, his blue eyes dark with turbulent thoughts.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Tamara murmured, instinctively reaching out and taking Sam’s hand.
Part of me expected Sam to reject the comforting touch, but I was pleasantly surprised when he laced his fingers with hers, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. I beamed at them for a moment before addressing them collectively. “I take it you finally talked to each other?”
They smiled at each other before turning mutually happy gazes back to me. It was Sam who responded. “I took what you told me the other day to heart.”
“Good,” I nodded. “It’s nice to have a little ray of sunshine when things are feeling as heavy as they do today.”
They both nodded their agreement, and Sam tugged Tamara a little closer to him. Gabriel gave a soft bark from where he’d been lying by my feet and wagged his tail as if to say he approved of the match. “Enjoy it while you can,” I murmured. “I have a feeling that things are going to be ugly by this time tomorrow.”
If I had any idea how true that statement was going to be, I probably would have been smart enough to keep my mouth shut. As it was, the anxiety level within the fortress, as the 24 hours we'd been given ran out, ratcheted higher and higher with every second that ticked by.
Captain Burns, Mack, Gabriel, Sam, Tamara, and I were all waiting in Rolf's office when the inevitable message from Sigrid flowed through the fortress via magical amplification. “Because you have failed to comply with my demands in the time allotted, you shall all suffer the consequences.”
We all stared at Rolf's, and he stared back with a steely but grim expression. "Now we see what we're really up against," he murmured.
I looked over at Sam, needing to ask him a question but afraid of the answer. "How close are we to being finished on the illusory magic?"
Sam hung his head. "Not close enough. There isn't enough time to weave a spell of that magnitude right now."
I nodded and reached out to give him a comforting pat on the arm. "It's okay, Sam. You got the charging and amplification spells taken care of. That's a lot better than nothing."
Sam looked up with a halfhearted nod. "I completed the mood music spell last night. Now, the mood of whoever is holding the phone will dictate the song that comes on. You can even choose specific songs by thinking hard about their titles."
I gave Sam a quick hug. "I'm sure it's going to be more than enough." I turned my attention back to Rolf. "Where are Noah and Adele?"
Rolf's response was quick but weary. "He's busy keeping her occupied and out of the loop, as originally agreed upon."
We all heard a distant thud and traded significant glances before Mack spoke up. "That'll be the trebuchets. Unless they get ridiculously lucky, I don't see them damaging that outer wall with them very quickly, though."
We all nodded our agreement, and Captain Burns spoke up. "I don't think it would hurt much to have our archers try to slow them down a bit."
Rolf nodded. "Agreed. There were enough arrows stored in the armory for us to make their trebuchet operators uncomfortable without worrying too much about rationing arrow use, for now."
I looked over at Sam. "Do you have to be with me to activate the amplification spell I plan to use on the outer wall?"
"Yes," Sam nodded. "I'll have to be there to enact the spell because you're not a mage."
I shifted my gaze to Captain Burns. "Warn the archers that are going to man the wall that things are going to get really loud, and possibly a bit unsettling, but if what I want to do goes according to plan, it could give them a bit of a leg up against the trebuchet operators."
"Of course," Burns nodded. "I hope it works out the way you plan for it to."
"Me, too," I muttered, my hold on hope feeling a little tenuous in light of the steady stream of thuds coming from the outer wall that meant the trebuchet operators were getting down to business. There was a rhythm and regularity to the noise that felt more than a little grim. "Get them suited up in the Linothorax, just in case Sigrid's archers decide to try to fire back at us." It was then that Gabriel grumbled softly, as if asking what he was supposed to do. "Take Gabriel with you, and send him to me with a note once you've got the archers set and ready. After I get the note, Sam and I will enact the spell. Wait for the music to start for the archers to fire."
Burns departed with a nod, and I shifted my gaze to Mack. "Get everyone in the caverns suited up, as well, just in case everything goes terribly wrong right out of the gate."
"Aye, lass," Mack nodded, opening and entering the secret passage in the back wall of Rolf's office.
"Before Sam and I put on our armor and head out to the wall, I think you and I need to have one last discussion about Adele." I stared Rolf down, willing to hold my ground until one or the other of us broke.
Tamara cleared her throat. "I'll be going with the two of you to the wall, just in case you end up needing protection."
I nodded, relieved that someone with more combat experience than I had would be watching our backs. Rolf was staring back at me, shaking his head.
"You're just not going to let the Adele thing go, are you?" He growled, obviously on the defensive.
I held my ground. "No, I'm not going to let it go. You're completely irrational about her, and I want to know why." I crossed my arms, trading steely-eyed stares with Rolf, but refusing to budge until I got answers.
Rolf sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face, as if trying to rub away the perpetual weariness that seemed to plague him. "I was in love with her mother when I served as King Belen's valet. It's a long, sordid story, but what it boils down to is that I promised Adele's mother when she was on her deathbed that I'd care for the child no matter what happened, no matter what she did."
"I can respect the desire to keep your word to a woman you loved, but is Adele really worth endangering the thousands of lives in this fortress that are depending on you to make the best decision for every single one of them?" I was trying to be gentle, but my voice came out more incredulous and judgmental than not.
"I don't know," Rolf shouted, shaking as if he were coming apart at the seams. "With her here, it's almost like having Cashlin with me, not that I ever really had Cashlin to begin with. Adele's doting sweetness toward me is closer to what I wanted from Cashlin than the truth of how she was."
"If you're looking for unquestioning love and devotion toward you, then you should be looking at Wynne," I snapped, my temper flaring. "Wynne worships the ground you walk on, for some reason I can't even begin to fathom, and I'd trust her long b
efore I made the mistake of trusting Adele."
Frost: An Otherworld Tale (The Otherworld Tales Book 1) Page 26