Child of the Knight

by Matt Heppe

  “Too heavy,” he called. “I need a lighter line.”

  “Go to the town,” Arno ordered a nearby archer. “Find rope. A light line, but it must be strong enough for a light woman to climb.”

  The man ran off.

  “Come back!” Arno yelled to the three on the wall. “Don’t risk yourselves further.”

  Hadde stared at the keep’s walls. Are they still fighting? Have they been defeated? Please, Joymarre, bring them out alive.

  “Arno!” called a voice from the roof. Joymarre’s voice. “Arno! Hadde! Don’t shoot! We have the roof.”

  “Hold your arrows! Don’t shoot to the roof,” Arno shouted to those nearby. “Spread the word.”

  “Do you have the children?” Hadde shouted. “What of Maret?”

  Joymarre’s head appeared between two of the crenellations. “We have them, but the lower floor is held against us. We can’t get out the stairwell. Can you come for us?”

  “No. Not yet, at least. We can’t get in,” Arno said.

  Thunder rumbled in the distance. Lightning lit the distant sky.

  “Hey! Hey, Landomeri!” a man’s voice called. His voice came from somewhere lower on the keep.

  “Who are you?” Arno responded, looking for the speaker.

  “There,” Hadde said. She pointed to the arrow loops in the keep’s walls.

  “What do you want?” Arno shouted back.

  “Get back,” Hadde called to the Landomeri nearest her, as she suddenly realized a new danger to them. If the Saladorans controlled the lower hall of the keep, they also commanded the arrow loops and could shoot many of the Landomeri sheltering near the palisade. “Back! Behind the fallen tower, at least.”

  “I am Captain Saunder,” the man shouted. “Are you Arno?”

  “I am. What do you want?” Arno asked.

  “Your people hold the Baroness Alma. I am charged with her defense.”

  “We don’t care a wit for her,” Arno said. “We only want the children.”

  “I know. And I don’t care to hold them.”

  “Are you offering an exchange?”

  “Your people upstairs release Baroness Alma and the rest of the keep’s residents and I let your people free. All of them.”

  “And Baron Grax agrees to this?”

  “He’s not in a position to disagree.”

  “He’s dead?” Arno asked. And then he barked a laugh. “He commands the gatehouse, doesn’t he?”

  “One or the other,” Saunder said. “Do we have a deal?”

  “We do,” Arno said.

  “We’ll let your people out the sally port at dawn.”

  Hadde shook her head and hunter-signed, No! Now.

  Her father nodded. “Let’s do it now,” he called. “We’ll be gone before dawn and you’ll never see us again.”

  “I’d love that,” Saunder said. “I never want to see another Landomeri as long as I live.”

  “So let’s do it now,” Arno called.

  For the first time in a long time, Hadde felt real hope.

  “You’ve betrayed my trust twice now,” Saunder shouted. “And you Landomeri are uncanny night fighters. I won’t be burned thrice. We wait until first light.”

  “No, don’t accept.” Hadde said to her father. “Dawn is hours off.”

  He stared off to the eastern sky. Thunder rumbled closer. “Baron Grax is trapped in the gatehouse,” Arno said quietly. “I don’t think he has the men to break out. Saunder is trapped as well.”

  “What of the relief column?”

  “We’ll prepare more grappling hooks. Joymarre can open those larger windows. If we get word the relief column is close, we’ll rescue everyone from the windows.”

  “What do you say, Arno?” Saunder called.

  “First light,” Arno said. “You’ll have to arrange details with Joymarre. She leads our people in the upper floors.”

  “We will speak with her through the stairwell door.” There was a brief pause. “And Arno, we want Baron Tomar as well.”

  Chapter Thirty-four

  “What will we do?” Hadde asked. “The baron is dead.”

  “We will tell them… later. Until then, we’ll prepare our ropes for a rescue.” Arno turned back to the keep and shouted, “Very well. You can have the baron as well.”

  “Where is that hunter with the ropes?” Hadde asked.

  Arno squeezed her shoulder. “He’ll be back.”

  Lightning flashed, illuminating the side of the keep. Moments later thunder crashed and a heavy wind struck them. “This one will hit us dead on,” Hadde said.

  “I know. At least the time for archery is done.”

  Hadde looked away from the keep and at the approaching storm. She heard a rumble, but not of thunder – hooves. She felt a moment of panic that the Saladoran relief had arrived. But then the lead horseman appeared from behind the keep. Landomeri.

  “Hadde? Is Hadde here?” Fend shouted across the moat as he reined in.

  Hadde jumped off the crumbling wall and ran down to the moat. “What happened? Why are you back?”

  “We rode out to delay the Saladorans, but they have broken through.”

  A murmur of dismay ran through the gathered Landomeri. Hadde quickly counted the party. “Only a dozen of you remain?”

  “We were scattered. They’ve come in force. A few hundred we saw. Knights and archers who ride on horseback, but dismount to fight. Men with longbows. Bera is trying to collect our survivors.”

  “How far away are they?”

  “Maybe twenty arrowflights. It won’t take long.”

  “That close? Can you hold them off? Delay them just a little longer?”

  Fend opened the flap of his empty saddle quiver. “We’ve loosed every arrow we have.”

  “Ride back to the camp and get more. Please, do what you can. We must have time.”

  “We’ll do our best.” Fend turned his horse and rode off.

  “We can’t wait until morning,” Hadde said to her father. Landomeri crowded around them, staring with anxious faces.

  “I’ll try to convince Captain Saunder to do the exchange now, but he will be suspicious of our efforts.”

  “There’s no time. We have to attack the keep.” She glanced at those around her. She knew some, but many were strangers. “This will be hard,” she said to them. “Many of us will die.”

  “We knew that when we came here,” one of the strangers said. “Without Orlos the Great Spirit dies.”

  “We are with you,” someone said, and murmurs of agreement followed.

  Hadde took a deep breath and slowly blew it out. She wished there was another way. She wished it hadn’t come to this. They were out of time and out of options.

  It has to be now.

  “We have to break the keep’s doors,” she said to the expectant crowd gathered around her. “But before we do that we must seize the gatehouse so that the crossbowmen there cannot shoot while we work. Neither task will be easy, and many of us might die.”

  “We are ready,” a huntress said. “I will give my life to save Landomere. To save Orlos.”

  “We might find ourselves trapped in this keep,” Hadde continued, nodding to the young woman. “None of us might live to see Landomere again. If any of you wish to leave, now is the time. You are free Landomeri and I cannot command you to do this.”

  “You are Hadde, Slayer of Akinos,” the huntress said. “You won’t fail in this.”

  “No. Don’t stay because of me. Stay only if you believe it’s the right thing to do.”

  “We will save Orlos!” a hunter shouted. “Orlos!”

  “Orlos!” the huntress shouted. And soon they had all taken up the cry.

  Hadde gave the hunter sign for quiet and called out, “We have little time. We must act now.” When they were silent she told them her plan. When she was done, she shouted “For Orlos!”

  “Orlos!” they shouted in reply.

  “Archers, go!” Hadde called. Twenty L
andomeri poured over the palisade and dashed toward the gatehouse. Half way across the bailey, they slowed and loosed arrows at the gate towers.

  “With me!” Hadde called and led another group over the palisade and onto the wall. They dashed along the wall to the tower Calen had taken, where a door was opened for them. Four of them carried the two ladders they had used in attacking the palisade.

  “Are they on the gatehouse roof?” Hadde asked Calen as she burst into the tower.

  “Not that we can see,” he said. “We’ve shot anyone who appeared, but that tower is higher than this one.”

  “Good. Keep them down,” Hadde said. “We’re taking the gatehouse.”

  “We’ll try,” he said, and climbed the steep steps to the tower roof.

  “Let’s go!” she said to those nearest her. She opened the door to the wall leading to the gate tower and charged through it. Just ahead was the closed door to the gate tower. Above it, the crenellations on the roof. No Saladoran faces appeared to greet her. And no crossbows.

  “Ladders!” Hadde shouted.

  The first ladder was up in moments. A Landomeri hunter in an aketon and a helm was the first up it. He held an axe in his hand as he climbed. Hadde, bow in hand, followed him up. Another Landomeri crowded close behind her.

  As they reached the top a Saladoran in mail rose up, a heavy axe raised to strike. The Landomeri raised his axe to parry, but before the Saladoran could strike, three arrows drove him back. The Landomeri sprang over the wall, and Hadde followed him.

  The Saladoran was injured. One of the arrows had penetrated his mail. Not deeply, but enough to gall him. He hefted his axe, but the Landomeri was faster and struck him a heavy blow in his face.

  Hadde drew her bow and shot a crossbowman. Her arrow took him in the chest and he fell on the roof’s trapdoor. He gasped once and then lay still.

  A third Saladoran lay dead with two arrows in him. The roof was theirs. More Landomeri crowded the tower behind her.

  A hunter pushed the dead crossbowman aside and pulled on the trapdoor, but it didn’t budge.

  “I’ll work on it.” The Landomeri axeman hacked at the door with tremendous blows that echoed through the tower. Around him, Landomeri archers waited with nocked arrows to shoot down into the tower.

  “They’re escaping,” someone called.

  Hadde ran to the back of the roof and looked down. Saladorans and Idorians spilled out of the gatehouse door and ran for the bridge. The archers in the bailey loosed arrows at them and a few Saladorans fell, but most made it into the gate tunnel. She ran to the front of the gatehouse just as they appeared out of the tunnel.

  Baron Grax was with the fleeing men. He was the last over the drawbridge, his shield raised high to block the many arrows loosed at him. Hadde was about to draw when she saw horsemen at the edge of the town. At first she thought them Landomeri who had arrived to block Grax’s escape. Then she saw they wore armor and carried shields. The Saladoran relief column had arrived.

  Grax saw them at the same moment. He spun back to the gatehouse and ran, two others with him. Hadde sprinted to the back of the roof and shouted down to the Landomeri in the courtyard.

  “Bar the gate! You must bar the gate!”

  Frantic, she searched for a way down, but the only way was through the tower, and the trap door was still barred. Please, run! Close the gate! If Grax held the gate open until reinforcements arrived, the Saladorans would storm into the bailey and all would be lost.

  Landomeri entered the tunnel beneath the gatehouse. She heard shouts and then could hear nothing more as the storm crashed upon them. A howling wind brought sheets of rain as a thunderclap burst overhead.

  Instantly drenched, Hadde ran back to the front of the tower. The Saladoran knights had halted at the barricade blocking the bridge. They made no move to cross.

  And then she saw Grax, retreating down the bridge again. She slumped against the tower crenellations as relief washed over her. The gate was closed.

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Maret stood at the top of the main stairwell, Orlos in her arms, with Kael next to her holding Enna. Six armed Landomeri stood nearby. Thunder rumbled overhead, the rain pounding on the roof.

  Joymarre appeared at the stairwell door, two more Landomeri with her. “First light,” she said. “The Idorian insists on it.”

  “That long? Can’t we do anything?” Maret asked.

  “The lower hall is barred against us. And the only doors are there. The only windows large enough to get through are on this floor.”

  “If we had a rope we could lower ourselves down,” Kael said. “We could—”

  A Landomeri in an aketon ran down the hall to them. “There is something happening outside. Our people are attacking.”

  “Attacking?” Joymarre said. “Something must be wrong. Stay and guard the stairs,” she said to the Landomeri warriors and then ran down the hall.

  “I want to see what is happening,” Maret said.

  Kael shook his head. “If the Landomeri are attacking it could only be for one reason. Saladoran reinforcements have arrived and they are out of time.”

  A shiver ran up Maret’s spine. “What if they don’t break in fast enough?” She knew his answer before he could say it.

  “Then it is all over.”

  “The Landomeri will never give up,” Maret said, glancing from Kael to the grim-faced Landomeri. Not now. Not when they are so close.

  Kael met her eyes and shook his head. “Maret, being a mercenary has taught me one important lesson. There comes a time when the benefit is not worth the cost. If your friends are smart, they will realize it as well, or they might all pay with their lives.”

  “So, you are giving up?” Maret didn’t hide her anger. “You’ll let Grax win?”

  “Maret, I will protect you no matter what the cost. But if your friends don’t break in, you might have to accept a new life for you and the children.”

  A Landomeri behind Maret spoke up. “Without Orlos Landomere is dead. We will never give up.”

  Maret jumped at the sound of two heavy bangs echoing up the stairs. The Landomeri sprang to arms.

  “What’s happening?” the nearest one shouted down the stairs. “Are they attacking?”

  “All is well,” the reply echoed up the stairs. “Our own people are attacking the front door.”

  The Landomeri relaxed a little at the words, but still stood ready. “You’ll have to be ready when the door is broken down,” he said to Maret. “The moment we are out, there will be a race for the Great Forest.”

  She nodded. One frantic ride. Just one ride and we will be safe in Landomere.

  “Should we go downstairs—to be ready?” Maret asked.

  “No,” Kael said. “There might be fighting at the base of the stairs. We should wait until it is clear.”

  Enna fussed in Kael’s arms. “Poor girl,” he said.

  Maret shook her head. “She’s tired. And she won’t be getting any rest any time soon.”

  “It isn’t stopping Orlos,” Kael said, smiling at the child sleeping on Maret’s shoulder. “He’s the easy one.”

  “She misses her mother,” Maret said. She reached out and touched Enna’s face, wiping away her tears. “Not long, baby.”

  They all turned at the sound of footsteps running down the hall. “We have taken the gatehouse!” Joymarre said as she ran up to them. “Our people are trying to break the door, but more Saladorans have arrived. I don’t know how many.” She paused and then looked at one of the Landomeri warriors. “Go to the back stairwell and tell them to quietly abandon it. Bar the doors on every level. Everyone is to come here.”

  The man ran off without a word.

  “We’ll break out here, if the worst comes,” Joymarre said.

  “If your people break through the front door, Captain Saunder will surrender,” Kael said. “There’s no profit in fighting to the death.”

  A crash echoed up the stairs. Hope sprang up in Maret’s
chest. “Is that the front door? Will Captain Saunder truly surrender?”

  Kael frowned and shook his head. “Too close. Too loud.”

  Shouts and the clash of arms echoed up the stairs.

  “Is Saunder attacking?” Maret asked.

  “I’ll check,” the Landomeri man said. He ran past them, running down the stairs.

  “Ready yourselves,” Joymarre said. The Landomeri with her hefted their swords and axes and faced the stairs.

  Kael got Maret’s attention and waved her down the hall. “This way,” he said.

  “But we have to be ready to escape.”

  “No. Come this way.”

  Maret didn’t like the grim look on his face. They had just started down the hall when they heard shouts from the stairwell behind them.

  “Bar the door! Bar the door!” The hunter shouted as he leapt through the door, tumbling to the floor.

  “Where are our people?” Joymarre asked, staring through the door.

  “Dead! Bar it!”

  Maret heard footsteps pounding up the stairs. “Shut it!” Maret shouted, suddenly filled with fear at what might appear.

  Joymarre slammed the door closed and another Landomeri slid the bolt home. Immediately the door shook in its frame.

  “They have silver eyes,” the man said, his eyes wide. “They cut down our hunters at the base of the stairs.”

  “Varcolac,” Maret said, a wave of fear threatening to overwhelm her. Blows crashed against the door. Wood cracked and splintered. Both children wailed.

  “We’ll hold them in the great hall,” Joymarre said as she waved the Landomeri down the hall. Maret thought she saw fear in the bold Landomeri woman’s eyes. “Come now! Bring the children.”

  “No,” Maret said. “We’ll just be trapped.”

  “What will you—”

  “Just go!” Kael said. “Draw them to the Great Hall and give us time. We’ll get Orlos out.”

  Maret turned and ran down the hall, Kael right behind her. They turned the corner and Maret led them to her room. “Give Enna to me,” she said as they entered. The room was dark and cold. Maret could barely see. “Close the door.”