by Wade Adrian
He returned the embrace. "It was."
She tugged on his collar again. "No one has come looking yet. I guess we've got time..."
The sound of a loud gong echoed through the tower.
Max recognized it. He'd heard it the day before when the defenders were rallying.
"Huh."
She frowned. "I don't like the sound of that."
"Maybe it means breakfast is done?"
She gave him a level stare... before smiling and patting him on the cheek. "Optimism. I like it."
28
Tom stumbled down the stairs. His head had been ringing even before the stupid gong started.
He was about ready to use his mace on whoever had was responsible.
Unfortunately it seemed to be Einar, the one person he wasn't authorized to beat into a bloody pulp.
Of course, if he beat him just a little, and then healed him...
Einar raised his voice. "Is that everyone? Good." He set down a mallet. "Our reinforcements have arrived. They got here a few hours ago, actually. After conferring with the men on watch, we let the new guys take over and everyone rested up. Food is already being prepared, and the horses are packed. We'll be moving out as soon as everyone is ready."
Tom shouldered his mace as he wandered over. Everyone else was leaving, heading for the cook fires. A few found places to lie down again.
He understood all too well.
"You know, you could have knocked on doors."
"It would have taken a lot longer."
Tom wanted to be angry... but the kid was right. He nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. Any other news?"
"Just that this is the last bunch they are sending. When we take the Rock we're to leave our forces there and head home. Just you, me, Talren, Eira, and a handful of others. They have a list."
That lined up with what Max had learned before supper. Risky or not, the bird method was a hell of a lot faster.
Tom waved for the kid to follow as he started towards the food. "Tell me about the Rock."
Einar locked step. "It's the most traditional fort. A stone structure in an open field."
"Huh. Maybe we should have hit that first as a warm up. Defenses?"
"While it lacks a moat, the ground was dug out around it, basically meaning it's downhill all the way around just outside, and actually getting in requires the use of a drawbridge. If it rains enough there might be a moat, but generally it just gives the defenders a greater height advantage than the walls would alone."
Tom didn't exactly cut in line, but he was handed a bowl of food as he walked by. Einar got one too, so it must have been okay. "Fun."
"Doubtful." The kid shook his head. "The Rock was our first fortress. It lacks any bells and whistles, but it's built like, well, a rock. It would take siege engines days to make a breach we could use, and we don't even have any of those. We also have no idea how many defenders it has. It's been unsafe to have patrols in the area since my grandfather's time."
"I repeat: fun."
"...yes."
Tom chuckled as he sat on the stairs leading up. "You worry too much. We'll scout it out, make a plan, and go to town on it."
Einar sat on a barrel by the stairs. Most of them had rope of all things. Tom could only surmise the defenders were afraid their last bridge might break, unless they had been using it to explore the depths below this place.
The kid poked at his breakfast. "It's location makes it impossible to see inside from the outside. Almost like it was built that way on purpose."
Tom feigned shock. "Damn, I guess we'd need a birds eye view or something."
Max ran down the top few stairs before slowing. "Umm... is everything okay?"
Tom hooked a thumb at him. "There's birdbrain now." He turned that way. "Everything is fine. Einar found the dinner bell. Breakfast bell? Food bell."
Max stood up straighter. "Huh." He turned his head. "See, I told you."
Eira followed him down the stairs. "Yeah, yeah."
Tom raised an eyebrow at them. "What took you so long? I was sleeping near the top, and I've been here a few minutes. You crash on the roof?"
"Uhh... rusty lock. Took me a minute to get my door open."
Tom scoffed. "We need to get you some picks one of these days. I foresee many a locked thing in our future." He pointed at Einar. "Kid here thinks the next place is unconquerable."
Max shrugged as he walked by, his nose in the air. "We've taken four already."
"Right? Like we're going to trip at the finish line."
Max wandered right on by, making his way to the place food was being dished out.
The idiot got in line.
Eira sat down a bit higher on the stairs. "I haven't seen the Rock myself, but it does have a reputation."
Tom scoffed. "And this place didn't? Or the bloody Turtle? Or the Ladder? Or whatever the hell you call that one we knocked over with just the two of us?"
Einar mumbled at his breakfast. "The Wall."
"You guys suck at naming things."
Eira chuckled.
Well that was new. She was generally a bit of an ice queen.
Some fool took pity on Max, one of the people dishing up food stepping away from the rest to take him a bowl. He declined, like the jackass he was. He pointed at them for some reason.
The worker grabbed a second bowl and offered both.
Max seemed torn for a moment, looking at the line he was still at the back of... but he relented, bowing his head and leaving.
Growing boy, apparently. Two bowls was a lot.
Max walked close to the stairs, holding a bowl up to Eira.
She took it with a smile. "Thank you."
"No problem."
Tom's eyebrow crept up.
Einar set his empty bowl down. "What it's named is irrelevant. The Rock has never been taken."
Tom rolled his eyes. "Except that it is presently hosting a group of hostiles. So how did that happen?"
"It was traded."
Max scoffed. "Say what?"
Eira nodded. "Brynjar's father, Bjornar, abandoned the fort in exchange for prisoners taken at the Battle of Feinal."
Tom blinked at his bowl. "Must have been a lot of prisoners."
"It was, but history tells it had more to do with his mistress being among them."
Einar narrowed his eyes at her. "That isn't the version I was taught."
"No, it wouldn't be."
Tom chuckled. "Alright, so its never been taken over. Means we get the high score by default."
Einar let out a sigh. "You speak as if it was already done."
Tom smiled. "When will we be ready to leave?"
"An hour or two. Faster, if needs be."
"And how long to get there?"
"Better than half the day. Late afternoon, at the very least."
Tom nodded. "Good. That means you won't have to wait long to see history being made."
Max chuckled. "We're so modest."
Einar shook his head for a moment, but ended up shrugging. "If you were anyone else? I would say you were mad."
Tom patted the kid on the head. "Aww, he's learning."
When Einar had said the Rock sat in the middle of an open field, he hadn't been kidding.
Tom shaded his eyes from the setting sun... but all he could see was the basic shape of the place, yet this was as close as they could get with all their horses without being openly visible.
"Well this sucks."
Einar nodded from where he sat on his horse beside Tom. "I think I said as much, though perhaps not so colorfully."
"Yeah, well, fuck you."
Einar rolled his eyes.
Tom turned to the other side. Max had his head lowered, his hands on his lovely disembodied crow brain case.
"What have you got?"
Eira narrowed her eyes at him, seated on her horse on the far side of Max. "Shh!"
Tom sighed.
Everyone was a critic.
Max's chin lifted slight
ly, but his eyes were still shut tight. "Tall walls. Very tall. Only see... two ways up on the inside. One on either side. Central building takes up most of the inside. A few bridges to it from the wall, potentially a way up in there, too."
Einar nodded. "That all sounds about right, but I don't see how it helps us to know the interior layout if we can't get there."
Tom chuckled. "What do you think we took all the rope from the Narwhal for?"
The boy's face twisted with distaste. "I can't climb a rope. Especially not in armor. And we still lack grapples. If you intend for us to climb up on a hill of rope, we'll need a lot more."
"Actually..." Tom turned, looking up at the trees they were hiding their horses in. "We need to do a bit of lumberjack work first."
"Of course we do." The boy sighed.
Tom punched him in the shoulder. "Buck up, bucko. We've got this."
"I'll believe that when I'm inside."
The sun set quickly enough. Work made it seem to go faster.
It would take some time to walk to the Rock on foot, but taking the horses would make a lot more noise. Besides, they had a different part to play in the plan.
"This will never work." Einar shook his head as he walked behind Tom, helping to carry the incredibly long wooden ladder. It seemed stable enough in their tests, even if it flexed more than Tom liked.
"Why not? This is back to basics right here. Yeah, people have catapults and trebuchets, but breaking a wall means fixing it after you take a place over. Plan A is always ladders. Saves so much hassle."
"But we have a ladder. One. Just this one right here. They will certainly find us clambering up it in armor, which we also can't afford to leave outside. They don't need to defeat us all, just push down the ladder. Or burn it."
"You worry a lot." Tom nodded. "Not that that is necessarily a bad thing. A king needs to ask these questions."
"And yet you provide so few answers."
"You're not a king yet." Tom chuckled.
Einar grumbled.
Max appeared beside them, loaded down with ropes. He looked like a sailor that had tripped and fallen into a coil on deck. "That thing going to work?"
Tom nodded. "I did a test climb in the woods."
Einar scoffed. "He only went halfway up."
"Time was a factor, Einar." Tom scowled at the boy.
"And trust won't be?"
Tom rolled his eyes. "See what I have to deal with?"
Max shrugged... a tiny little bit. His shoulders were weighed down. "How many can it support?"
"Oh, you know, one or two at a time. Maybe."
Einar buried his head in his hands. "We're doomed. We can't even get up in a timely fashion."
Tom tugged on the ladder, pulling the kid along. "Keep up. We won't get another chance at this. Plenty of time for a crisis of faith when you're dead."
Several soldiers behind Einar were jostled by Tom pulling on the ladder. They made irritated faces.
He apologized by way of a shrug.
Max chuckled. "I'll be the first up, Einar. Nothing to worry about."
"There's plenty to worry about." Einar ground his teeth. "We don't even know how many people are in there."
"I saw quite a few." Max shrugged. "I'm not saying this won't be the hardest fight we've had, but I think we've earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to getting inside."
Tom nodded. "Yes. Thank you." He turned his eyes up to the walls. Fires were burning at rather large intervals. It would make those inside night blind on top of them not having any idea they were coming.
Just the way he liked it.
Granted, that wouldn't last. But that was all part of the plan.
Tom glanced back over his shoulder. "Getting too close. Cut the chatter for now."
He got several nods in response.
"You got the-"
Max held up an unlit torch and his flint stone.
"Right, good."
"Shh!" Einar held up a finger to his lips.
Tom flipped him off with his free hand. Stone age kid probably didn't know what it meant.
A handful of soldiers were already waiting at the bottom of the wall. This was the place that had seemed to have the highest bit of ground, saving them time on the ladder. It also meant any falls would probably only be bone breaking and not fatal.
And Einar thought Tom didn't plan ahead. Laughable.
Eira gave them a nod, but also put a finger up in front of her lips. She pointed up, then held up two fingers.
So, two guys up top, at least occasionally. That might be a problem... but fortunately it was Max's problem.
Max swept his fingers through the air at her. "How long?"
She responded with her own gestures. "Five minutes into a fifteen minute rotation."
Tom wiggled is own fingers. "So go, or wait?"
She seemed surprised he understood. "Good to go."
Max nodded and pointed at the ladder.
They set it down and turned it as quickly as they could. It was rather awkward to move. The top end was wrapped in old bedding from the Narwhal in hopes it would muffle the sound it made when it hit the wall. The bottom had heavy stones tied on to keep it stable.
Tom had been carrying the front.
Executive privilege.
As soon as the top of the ladder hit the wall Max was scrambling up it like a spider.
Tom was rather proud of himself, actually. The ladder was all but silent, aside from a bit of creaking now and then. Nothing major.
Max paused near the apex, carefully approaching the top and looking about before hopping out of sight onto the wall. He leaned over and waved.
Eira pointed at two of the other scouts and made some gestures Tom couldn't follow. Not the thieves cant then, just something they'd worked out. They nodded and she followed Max up the ladder. Once she had cleared it the first scout went up, and the second followed after, putting four people on the wall.
Tom and Einar were left at the bottom with two soldiers that had been waiting with Eira, as well as the other two that had been helping them carry the ladder.
Eira leaned over and waved.
Guess that meant go. No one had bothered to cue Tom into those signals. He stepped up to the ladder.
It creaked under his weight.
Stupid featherweight rogues and their fake armor...
He didn't exactly scramble up either. Getting to the top took a concerted effort, his feet feeling rather leaden once he was about halfway up. In his own defense... half way up was several stories off the ground.
He tried not to think about it, turning his eyes to the top of the wall.
Max appeared for a moment. He waved for Tom to hurry up.
Yeah... working on it.
The wind picked up as he got higher... it didn't quite have what it would take to knock him off the ladder, but it was playing hell with his cloak. It was also too cold to be refreshing.
This whole bullshit country seemed to be locked in a perpetual winter.
When he reached the top he found Max waiting to give him a hand.
His pride wanted to slap that hand away... but he was a practical man, and he was glad to have a bit of steady help making it onto the wall.
Eira and the other two scouts were waiting as well. Max leaned over and waved for the next one to come.
"Next time..." Tom had to pause to catch his breath, "you carry my armor."
Max patted him on the back. "Take a moment if you need it." He held out the torch and his flint stone. "You handle this. I'm going to get moving."
Tom didn't have a lot of room to argue. "Right, got it."
Max tapped Eira on the shoulder and both started off, running along the top of the wall in the dark. There were some lights up top, but they would avoid them.
The rest of the scouts waited with Tom for now.
It took him a few moments, but he got to his feet and leaned over the side.
Einar was on his way up, nearly to the top. Tom
had no idea how long he had taken to climb up, or how long it had taken the boy. Regardless, he stood at the top, his hand over the side. "Come on."
He helped the boy clamber up onto the wall.
His flailing limbs scraped his armor against the stone merlons, as well as against the top of the wall once he was over.
The scouts tensed, hands on their sheathed weapons...
No alarm was raised, and no one came running to see what was happening.
Of course not. This was an impenetrable fortress, after all.
If only all impenetrable fortresses had defenders that were so careless.
The last four soldiers made their way up after Einar. It didn't seem to take them long, but they were professional soldiers. Probably slept in that armor.
Tom hadn't thought he'd ever feel much kinship with Einar... but right now he did.
Once all the soldiers were up top the scouts gave salutes and vanished the way Max and Eira had gone. They might not need the help, their mission was a sneaky one, but if things went wrong a few more blades would undoubtedly be welcome.
Well, time for phase two then. Tom struck the flint stone against his mace, lighting the torch.
It sprang to life readily and seemingly happily, banishing the darkness between the points of light on the wall.
He held it high and waved it back and forth a few times.
Tom pointed at one of the soldiers who had just made it up, then hooked a thumb at the ladder. "No time for drawing straws. You get to hang out for a bit. Sorry."
The man scoffed, but climbed back onto the ladder and down out of sight.
As with everything in life, and especially their masterful approach to fort taking, appearances were everything.
Really... it took longer than it should have for defenders to appear atop the wall. When they noticed Tom and his people, one bolted and ran, waving his arms. "Invaders! Invaders on the north wall!"
Good. Tom hefted his mace.
A bell rang below, more voices rose in alarm.
The defenders atop the wall were pretty kitted out. They wore a strange form of plate armor from head to thigh.
Fortunately his own people weren't exactly slouching in that department. It had taken them longer to get up here for a reason.
Tom tapped his mace against the wall to make a bit of noise.
He'd chosen to be here. There were other positions in this fight, but this is where a cleric would be most useful.