by A. C. Cobble
“How many?” snapped Ben.
Inslie turned, blood still dripping down her face, and hissed in frustration when she saw Ben. “How did you know we’d be here?”
“I didn’t,” admitted Ben. “We got lucky. How many of their men did you let into the city?”
The lady reached up to wipe the sticky, crimson liquid from her face.
“Your father is dead, your uncle is dead, and you are captured,” declared Ben coldly. “You’ve lost. There’s nothing left for you to fight for.”
Lady Inslie snickered. “I may have lost, but you’ll lose too. You and your girlfriend will be butchered, along with everyone you’ve tricked into following you.”
“What almost happened to you will happen to every young woman in Issen,” growled Ben. “If those animals were willing to do it to you, with your status, what do you think will happen to other girls? I cannot believe there is no heart inside of you, somewhere. Are you willing to consign every woman you know to that fate out of petty spite?”
Inslie spat on the floor.
“We saved you from a fate worse than death,” said Prem. “You can do the same for others. Don’t let your friends – don’t let all of the innocent little girls – go through what you just did.”
Silence filled the room, then Lady Inslie broke. “Twelve thousand.”
Ben breathed a sigh of relief. Twelve thousand. It was more men than he had, but it wasn’t enough to storm the castle if the defenders were prepared.
“Twelve thousand soldiers of the Alliance,” continued the girl. “They’ll attack this evening. They mean to strike before you’ve shut the gate against the approaching armies. There must be about the same number from the Coalition. They plan to assassinate Lady Amelie and put her mother back on the throne. They’ll do it tonight as well, I suppose. Does that make you feel better, General, knowing the attack will happen and there is nothing you can do? You can’t even make it back in time to warn your girlfriend.”
“The Coalition?” gasped Ben.
Inslie smirked at him.
“But… these men are Alliance?” said Ben.
“My father taught me that you should always have a backup plan.” Inslie sneered. “If Amelie was a competent ruler, she would understand that. Her arrival was unexpected, but the council of highborn isn’t the only way to the throne.”
“What was the plan?” snapped Lloyd. “The Alliance and the Coalition are to team up against us?”
Lady Inslie shook her head, one eye on Prem’s long knife that was held against her throat. “No. When I told them Amelie had returned to take the throne, they didn’t care. They thought to kill her or use her to their advantage. Both of them have met her, you know?”
“We know,” snapped Ben.
“Then what?” pressed Lloyd. “The Alliance and Coalition are meant to fight each other?”
Lady Inslie turned to him, looking like a cat who’d managed to spill the milk jug. “My father and Lord Dronson were already in discussion with both leaders, preparing to assist one of them with something like this. When my father was captured, I continued their work. I used my family’s resources to sneak troops from both armies into Issen. I was worried neither one would bring enough men to take down your force, so I got everyone I could.”
“Two opposing armies loose in the city,” groaned Lloyd. “It will be mass bloodshed.”
“If Amelie had not arrived,” declared Inslie, “this all would have been settled peacefully. Any blood is on her hands.”
“We have to get back to Issen,” said Ben. “Prem, warn your father. I will watch the girl. Lloyd, gather the men. Inslie, where does this node gate lead?”
“Node gate?” asked the girl, blinking innocently.
Prem pressed the knife into her neck, and a trickle of blood leaked down pale flesh.
Trying to fight down a tremor, Inslie admitted, “It leads to my family’s warehouse complex on the west side of the city. Do you want me to open it for you, and you can walk through?”
Ben swallowed. The girl’s ploy was obvious. Alliance men were sure to be thick on the other side. Twelve thousand of them, if she was telling the truth. There was no way they could risk sneaking through that many men.
“Where are the Coalition forces?”
Lady Inslie glared at him like she would refuse to help. Then her eyes fell on the dead bodies of the soldiers, the ones who had been heartbeats away from violating her.
“Our warehouses on the eastern bank of the river.”
“And they both strike tonight?” questioned Ben.
Inslie didn’t respond, and Ben was about to probe further when Serrot came rushing inside. “Ben, the bulk of the Alliance men are in view of the outskirts of the village. We can’t leave without them seeing us.”
Ben glanced at the node gate and shook his head. Twelve thousand men on the other side would snuff out his small party easily.
“What do you want to do?” asked Lloyd.
Ben turned to Prem. “Can you keep Lady Inslie under guard?”
The former guardian nodded, and Ben shook his longsword, flicking a string of blood off. “Serrot, make sure no one slips behind us. Lloyd, let’s go start a fight.”
They peeked around the wooden door of the building and saw the Alliance men were already streaming into the village, headed directly for them. The soldiers were decked in plain-clothing, presumably so they wouldn’t draw notice if someone spotted them in Issen, but they were geared for war. Swords, spears, and armor clinked as the column of men approached.
Ben waited the length of a breath then stepped out into the open, shouting, “Throw down your weapons and surrender!”
The line of men stopped walking, and the soldiers at the front stared at Ben incredulously. Lloyd stepped out of the building and joined him.
“There are only two of you?” asked one of the Alliance men.
“Last chance to surrender,” declared Ben.
More men poured into the village, pressing close to the ones in front who’d stopped when Ben appeared. They were bunched in a tight formation and vulnerable.
The man snorted and unsheathed his sword. “Let’s make this quick. We need to be in Issen by nightfall.”
Ben raised his voice and bellowed, “Attack!”
Bows snapped, and men burst from the sod buildings, swarming behind the hail of arrows. Ben and Lloyd charged as well. Ben had the numbers, the superior skill, and surprise, but the Alliance men weren’t going to die without a fight.
As Ben raced closer, a pair of soldiers broke away from the scrum and separated, trying to get angles to come at him from two sides. One of the men held a wicked, hooked axe, and the other carried a massive, two-handed sword. Terrible choices of weapons for close combat in a city, but in the open streets of Melchin, either weapon would split Ben like an overripe melon.
He chose the man with the two-hander to deal with first as the blade’s reach was half an arm-length longer than his longsword. The Alliance man saw Ben’s change of direction and wound up for a powerful cut with his two-hander.
Ben was quicker. He darted in before the man could unleash his blow and jabbed his blade into the soldier’s gut, twisting the longsword and spinning around the man, turning his body. The man dropped his two-hander, and his bare hands gripped Ben’s longsword as it twisted inside of him. He didn’t see the axe his fellow swung at Ben, which whistled over Ben’s ducked shoulder and impacted the first man in the face, flinging him off Ben’s blade.
Ben pivoted and lashed the length of his sword across the axe-wielder’s throat, a geyser of blood cascading down the man’s tunic.
Past the two fallen Alliance soldiers, Lloyd was plowing into their column, his blade moving as fast as the blink of an eye, leaving gaping wounds and fallen men in its wake. For a heartbeat, Ben wondered what it would be like to see Lloyd square off against his brother. Then, Ben jumped at a pair of men who went down, clawing and pounding on each other. They rolled across the dirt, a
nd when the Alliance man rolled on top, Ben plunged his sword down, killing him.
In moments, the throng of standing Alliance soldiers shrank as they were outnumbered and overcome. Ben held back, watching as Lloyd’s blademasters and Rish’s rangers carved up the Alliance soldiers. Men began to throw down weapons and drop to their knees.
“Let them surrender!” yelled Ben, raising his voice, hoping it carried over the shouts and clashes of battle.
Not everyone heard, and Ben cringed as he saw a man on his knees slaughtered, but word spread, and surrenders were accepted. Soon, two score Alliance soldiers kneeled in a bunch, surrounded by four times their number of dead compatriots.
“Rish,” instructed Ben. “Tend to the wounded. Then escort the prisoners to Issen.”
Commander Rish blinked at him uncertainly. “Where will you be, m’lord?”
“I need to go ahead,” said Ben. He explained what they’d learned and asked Prem to leave Lady Inslie under Rish’s stewardship. He saw fear in the lady’s eyes. He instructed Rish, “Keep her away from the Alliance men and see she is not harassed.”
Rish nodded, studying the woman, who, even underneath the dried blood she’d been unable to wipe off her face, was still stunningly pretty.
“Lloyd, Prem, we’ll take the two hundred out in the hills and make haste for Issen. The attack won’t come until nightfall, which gives us a little time.”
“Ben, it’s six bells’ hard hiking,” warned Lloyd. “Even if we’re walking fast… it will be dusk soon.”
“If anyone doesn’t think they can keep up,” said Ben, “they may stay behind. I’m not a fool. I know we won’t make it there by nightfall, but I won’t delay. Jason, Saala, twenty-four thousand soldiers… We can’t wait.”
“I understand,” murmured Lloyd.
14
Blood in the Streets
Ben’s legs ached, and his lungs burned, but he wouldn’t stop. He couldn’t stop. For five bells, he hadn’t paused for longer than it look to refill his water skin at a small stream. Behind him, half the men he’d set out with were still there, the other half had fallen behind. He hoped they’d catch up safely and rejoin in Issen, but he couldn’t wait for them. The battle had already begun, and according to Prem’s reports that came through the thought meld, it wasn’t going well. They’d gotten the gates closed in time to prevent the surprise attack from the Alliance, but enemy troops were loose in the city. Two bells after the Alliance started rampaging, the Coalition forces appeared as well. Now, both armies were loose in the city, and Issen’s forces couldn’t do anything about it.
Walking at a ground-eating pace, Ben’s party descended from the rolling hills of the plains into the fertile river valley where Issen lay. In the distance, Ben could see the glow of war. Orange light lit the black sky, illuminating ominous plumes of dark smoke with ghastly clarity.
“The walls are holding,” advised Prem as they hurried toward the outskirts of the city. “They almost didn’t. The Coalition brought mages. Their mages don’t have the strength of Earnest John or Elle, but they’re ruthless. Our talented are having to extend their will, trying to protect the innocents. The Coalition is indiscriminate in their destruction.”
“We have to get to the wall,” declared Ben.
“And then what?” asked Lloyd. “There’s nothing we can do to defeat a mage from afar.”
“I could put an arrow in one,” offered Serrot, a mask of anger clouding his face.
Ben reminded himself his friend had never seen a full-scale battle before. He was about to get an unpleasant lesson when they got into the streets and started stepping over dead civilians.
“I have an idea,” stated Ben.
“What is it?” asked Prem. She sounded nervous.
He ignored her skepticism and explained, “Lloyd is right. We won’t have any more success striking the mages from the walls than the archers who are already there, and while we have skill, we can’t swing a sword any further than the other swordsmen. Scouring the city looking for Saala or Jason is a fool’s errand. They could be anywhere in Issen, and it’d take us days to walk up and down every street. If they are moving or didn’t join these advance groups, we may never locate them.”
“Right…” said Lloyd hesitantly.
“If your brother knew you were here,” said Ben. “Do you think he’d come to face you?”
The blademaster stumbled. Under his breath he cursed an unseen clump of dirt in the road. As they entered the scattering of buildings that marked the edge of Issen, he conceded. “He might.”
“We need to get you up on the walls where he can see you,” said Ben.
“How?” wondered the blademaster. “Between here and the castle, the streets are filled with Alliance and Coalition forces. They’ll be thickest in the areas nearest the keep. Please don’t tell me you expect Amelie to throw open the gates just because you’re outside. It’s going to be just as difficult for us to get in as it is for the Alliance and the Coalition. Ben, we have to consider the possibility we’re already too late to join Amelie and the others.”
In the distance, they heard a thunderous boom which shook the windows in the streets and sent up a plume of fire two hundred paces tall. They could see the flames billowing up the wall of the castle, but it seemed to hold up against whatever was being thrown against it.
“That’s not magic,” stated Prem. “At least, not the kind done by mages. Street magic, as Cogdill would call it.”
Ben grimaced. “I suspect before the night is over, we’re going to find out every little trick the Alliance and the Coalition have up their sleeves. This is their chance to end the war before it really begins. If they breach the walls...”
“They’ll be fighting each other and fighting us,” affirmed Lloyd. “If we’re going in, we’ve got to do it quickly. What’s your plan, Ben?”
“We’re going to see a costumer,” he replied.
One hundred armed and armored men and women cannot move through a city quietly, but they did their best. They were assisted by the din of battle floating throughout the streets, covering the sounds of their footsteps. Explosions, screams, and the clash of steel hung over Issen like a blanket.
Ben led the way as they snuck through twisting back alleys and narrow streets. The open boulevards they passed appeared empty, but Ben knew if they took those main thoroughfares, it was only a matter of time before they encountered resistance.
They saw few citizens. Most of the residents of Issen had chosen to barricade their doors and hide until the fighting was over. Even the temptation of looting wasn’t enough to draw them into the open with roving bands of unknown soldiers in the streets.
Ben didn’t blame them for hiding, but he knew that the end of the fighting might only spell the beginning of the horror for those people. If he and Amelie were unable to defy the Alliance and the Coalition, Issen would be sacked.
“I think we should have taken a left at that last intersection,” hissed Prem.
Ben stopped, a grimace on his face. He looked over his shoulder, past the long string of men following him.
“You’re lost!” accused Lloyd.
“We’ve only been to this place once,” muttered Ben. “It was dark that night.”
“It’s dark now,” retorted Lloyd.
“I think it’s just another three streets ahead and a block to the east.”
“Or one street behind, and three blocks to the west,” suggested Prem.
Ben clenched his fists in frustration.
“Sir!” called one of their men. He was pointing to a side street behind them. Soon, Ben heard why the man was concerned. Echoing down the empty cobblestones was the sound of boots moving fast. There was nowhere they could quickly hide one hundred men, so instead, Ben began giving instructions to array into an attack formation.
“Stay alive,” he said to Lloyd. “Right now, you’re the one we’re counting on to draw Jason’s interest.”
“I mean to,” assured the bladema
ster.
Ben and his captains silenced the group and waited, everyone nervously clutching weapons. There could be twenty men or two hundred running down the street. They wouldn’t know until the other group appeared.
When they did round the corner, two score Coalition troops skidded to a stop, confused shock on their faces. Ben didn’t wait for them to recover.
“Attack!” he screamed, and bolted toward the Coalition men.
The steel-grey tabarded soldiers scrambled, breaking in all directions as Ben’s force fell upon them. Outnumbered and surprised, they never had a chance. Turning their backs and splitting, instead of bunching together and facing their attackers as a line, they had even less of one.
Grimly, Ben decided they didn’t have spare men to guard the prisoners, and even if they did, they couldn’t safely transport them in the midst of a battle. They couldn’t allow the Coalition men to flee and warn Lord Jason, either. Ben stabbed a Coalition soldier in the neck and then twisted his blade free, watching as the man collapsed, his sword clattering to the cobblestones and his hands clutching at his ruined throat. In moments, two score of Coalition men were butchered, their pleas for mercy ignored.
Ben surveyed his men. They’d only suffered minor injuries and two casualties. Surprise had been their friend in the conflict. The next time, the boot could be on the other foot.
“I think Prem is right,” he admitted. “We need to go back a block.”
“We could stop and ask someone in one of these houses,” suggested the former guardian. “Just to be sure.”
Ben shook his head. “We don’t have time for directions.”
He started off, trying to ignore Prem’s curses.
“Damma!” yelled Ben as he pounded on the stout wooden door. “It’s me, Ben!”
There was no answer, so he turned to the pair of Issen’s soldiers who had been watching the building. “You are sure no one’s been in or out of here?”
“Only the girl, sir,” responded one of the men. “We’ve had eyes on this place since we heard Alliance and Coalition troops were in the city.”
