Daniel met with Calden to ask about war magic while the others were gathering, and came away little better off. He had the sense that Calden was holding something back but elves were hard to read. In the tent they met with Argon and Aldon for updates.
“We have patrols sweeping the forest and so far there are no moves to try and flank us at the meeting,” Calden began.
“Even when the Baron seems to be playing by the rules, I don’t trust what I see,” Barton added.
“Agreed,” Lissette added, “even if he is living up to the bargain now, it doesn’t mean he won’t change his mind at any time.”
“Suggestions?” Daniel asked the group as a whole.
As if waiting for the invitation, Argon jumped in. “I think we move a force of elves and halflings into the woods just out of site. They can move as fast through the trees bordering the clearing as humans on horses in the open, and without the noise. The humans will stay in the trees to protect the rest in case the Baron attacks and we need more support as we retreat.”
There were no better ideas so they broke up to attend their separate tasks and prepare the camp for moving people at first light.
The good news about elves and halflings, Daniel thought, as he and about one hundred and fifty others began running through forest toward the woods and the castle clearing, is how far and fast they can move in the predawn light. What would have taken humans, even on horseback, a day took half that for the Elves. Calden had assigned men to observation positions and had runners at the ready by noon. Now they waited to see the red flag.
The sun rose behind the castle causing all to squint to make out details in the silhouette. There was a flag but it was yellow not red.
It was late morning when the sun cleared the castle and began shining into their eyes. It was then that the red flag was flown. There had been more than a bit of speculation on the Baron’s tactics and those halflings that bet on the Baron using the sun collected their wagers.
As agreed, Argon, Aldon and Daniel walked out of the clearing about fifty paces toward the draw bridge and stopped. Aldon and Argon each carried a bag of ammo. It was a small action but splitting it up made them feel like they had more control because all of it couldn’t be captured as easily.
The wait was only about fifteen minutes, though Daniel thought it felt like hours, before the portcullis opened and two men rode out on either side of a third man walking with his hands bound. As agreed, they continued to a point halfway into the clearing and well outside bolt range.
Danial, Argon and Aldon began walking forward to meet them.
Lissette was perched on a ridge as close to the clearing as she could get and still stay hidden. She had a clean line of fire on the portcullis, which was too long a shot, and the space between the drawbridge and the meeting where she felt she could be more deadly. She was confident that anyone crossing the drawbridge was a realistic target. Settled in and comfortable, her eyes flicked from Daniel, to those approaching him, to the drawbridge and portcullis, trying to anticipate a threat to her mate and the others.
She had organized her site quickly, water skin on her left and a cleared area where the hot spent shells could land on her right. Then she laid out the ammo onto a large stump so she could easily reach it for reloading without looking away from the field. Having done everything she could to exert some control over the situation, she took a deep breath and went back to worrying.
“Durbin, are you well?” Aldon asked.
Durbin caught his cousin’s eye assuring him and nodded.
With that the Captain and Jason dismounted to stand before the elves.
“I believe introductions are in order,” Daniel said and then waited for the others to go first.
Taking the cue, Jason introduced himself and the Captain. Aldon was next, then Argon, and Daniel identified himself last.
“Are you the one responsible for the hole in the dungeon wall?” The Captain asked Daniel with a tone more of curiosity than accusation.
“Captain, we are here on a specific business, to trade ammo for Durbin. What I may or may not have done has no bearing on the business at hand. I can tell you that if there is treachery afoot, it will be a long way back to the safety of the castle.” Daniel was doing his best to speak the threat in as non-menacing a way as possible. He wanted it to be a statement, not start a fight.
“I assure you all,” the Captain replied, “there is no subterfuge on the part of Jason or myself. I think I can speak for the Baron’s advisor when I say we are both nervous about the Baron being left to his unbridled whims for too long, so if you will allow me to inspect the ammo, we can be on our way.”
Daniel nodded to Aldon who gave his bag to the Captain for inspection. Having convinced himself that the ammo was authentic but low in count, he looked at the other bag. “Aldon, untie Durbin’s hands and walk him to our side of this meeting.”
The Captain’s eyes narrowed but he did not protest.
With Durbin retrieved, Argon handed over his bag and they stood while the Captain verified that everything seemed fairly done and nodded acceptance. “I wish we had met under different circumstances,” the Captain said, “There are many questions I would like to ask that I fear will go unanswered.”
“I agree,” Jason said speaking for the first time, “from what I have heard there are many fair changes that I hope will one day find us on the same side.” With that he offered his hand to Durbin, then Argon, then Aldon, and finally Daniel. There was no message passed as Jason had hoped, and that meant the burden of a fire was still his.
The Captain shook hands with all of them as well, saving Durbin till last. “Fare well, Elf,” he said, “I don’t expect our next meeting to be so pleasant, I am sorry to say.”
Durbin held the Captain’s hand an extra second and replied, “You are a good and fair man, Captain, and I hope you find a way through the corruption and onto an honorable path.”
The Captain nodded to Durbin, then, with a quick look to Jason, they turned, mounted their horses, and began a slow walk back to the castle. Daniel looked at his three friends and, with his nod, they turned and began the walk back to the edge of the clearing. They were halfway there when they heard the rifle shot and turned to look behind them. Guards were pouring out of the portcullis on horseback and armored. One of the lead guards had gone down from the shot and the charge slowed as the others tried to work around the fallen man and his now crazed horse.
Daniel had thought the exchange through on several levels, expecting some kind of trick, and despite Argon’s plan, he wanted to avoid a confrontation and loss of life if he could prevent it. But having thought it through, he was as prepared as he could be.
A second shot rang out in the two seconds following the first and Daniel smiled knowing that Lissette was at work. Out of instinct, at the first shot Daniel started to hum. The songs he had in mind were different and he was trying to weave the two of them together.
As the music built, he focused it on a wave with a cycle of about twenty-five meters, short wave, a part of him said to himself. A wave like the kind you see surfers on in the tournaments in Hawaii. This wave wasn’t in water, but in the ground beneath them.
Blending the wave song and the second tune was hard. The second song was the tune for push. One was like doing heavy rope training and the other like pushing a car. Not impossible but requiring tremendous concentration and strength. As the musical interplay came together, he found the energy he needed in the ground around him and began harmonizing the chaotic waves into one pattern. He remembered studying water hammers in school and let the waves rush back and forth, building in strength. When the energy built up to an intensity he could feel starting to slip from his control, he gave the wave the push. The force he directed was down and away from him toward the castle.
The guards’ charge was slowed by more men dropping with the sound of thunder every two or three seconds. Men were trying to rein in frightened ho
rses and frightened men were trying to pretend they were not terrified as well. Finally clearing their force from the tangle at drawbridge, they headed forward at full charge, as if running toward the fear would lessen its grip.
Ten men and two horses were down in the span of the thirty seconds, and they needed to reorganize. In the same span, Tayler and Jason had spurred their horses toward the drawbridge trying to put as much distance between them and the sound of thunder as they could.
If they are shooting at us, Jason thought, they are not very good, but as a part of his mind calculated angles he realized they were trying to stop the guards. He didn’t have much time to contemplate that as they were moving into and around the confused guards and toward the drawbridge.
The Captain wanted no part of the Baron’s treachery and while it was his men beginning their charge, he knew the Baron would not forgive the loss of even one round in the bags he carried. He and Jason had just ridden onto the drawbridge and started to slow the horses when they heard the screams. Pulling hard on his reins he slowed the horse so that he could turn and see what was happening. Jason had followed suit and together they turned to see something more terrible than the rifles.
It was a hill like an earthen palisade moving along the ground much faster than any horse. It was as tall as a big man and he couldn’t decide if it was getting bigger or just coming so fast that it seemed to grow in size. The charge had made it halfway to the meeting place when the earth began to rise and charge back. It took precious seconds for them to realize what was happening and then those in the front began trying to turn their horses.
A twenty-five meter shock wave can travel through the earth at hundreds of miles an hour. This one didn’t have the power of an earthquake but was focused on its target. As it hit the horses and guardsmen all were flung into the air. Armored men and horses are not designed to be flung. Those who saw it, said it seemed to happen in slow motion when the entire attack force went into the air. The fatalities were mostly men who had fallen on their swords or were crushed beneath a horse. Those who survived did not have time or presence of mind to understand what happened as the hill passed.
Jason and Tayler had enough sense to cling to their horses as the animals turned and fled for the safety of the castle. They only managed to get past the portcullis when the wave hit.
The wave had a twenty-five meter cycle and half of it was traveling underground while the other half rolled the surface. It would probably have died out in another quarter mile of open field but that is not what it encountered. Would that castle have stood the shock, probably not, but one of its many protections took on an unexpected duty. The moat or rather its contents roared into the air like a tsunami wave hitting the beach. Daniel’s wave threw the water and everything in it against and over the castle walls. The power of the shock wave absorbed by the water protected the walls from destruction. The rest of the wave died out shortly past the castle in the open fields.
Barton was gasping for air. He and many of the others had seen the carnage and then the foul insult to everything the Baron possessed and laughter could be heard all through the trees and even from the crowd gathered at the edge of the town. Through his tears, Barton saw a streak running from the trees into the field. It was Lissette, he realized. Then others started to run causing him to cry out, “Where is Daniel?”
Lissette found him first, lying crumpled in the tall grass. She saw the blood around his nose and mouth. She checked for breathing, and he was, thank the gods. She checked for the source of the blood, and it was already drying as if he had been hit in the nose. She was checking him for broken bones when the others began to arrive. “Make a carrier,” she commanded, “and be fast we have to get him to safety.”
As quickly as a cadre of archers formed around him, an improvised carrier was made with poles and blankets and Daniel was carried off the field at a fast trot. Lissette was beside him suffering anyone who jarred him with threats on their lives.
Calden organized the retreat leaving scouts and patrols to report on the castle activities and gather any information they could. The bearers switched out regularly to keep the speed up, and all were back in the camp before the last rays of the sun had left it.
Lissette had clean cloth and water brought, then had the war tent cleared as she began to clean up Daniel’s blood. It wasn’t critical but it tore her up to see him unconscious and cleaning the blood was all she could think of. She heard the tent flap open behind her and screamed at them to get out without looking up.
It was Calden who spoke. “Lissette, you need to calm yourself, you are not thinking.”
She turned on him then, all her worry flaring in anger, “Don’t tell me to be calm! Daniel is unconscious. Get out!!”
In the calmest voice Calden could muster, he asked, “Lissette are you two not matched? Can you not heal this?” She stood there poleaxed as the words sunk in and burst out crying. Calden moved to her and did his best to comfort her as the panic and worry drained out.
”Of course I can,” she sniffed, trying to get control, “I should have thought of that first thing, what is wrong with me?”
“Nothing,” he said with a soothing smile in his voice. “You have been mated, what, ten days? You saw no immediate threat to him and moved him from the battlefield - or whatever that should be called, and that was the right thing to do, there. But we are here now, and it is time for you to calm yourself and see to Daniel’s healing.”
She nodded, took a few calming deep breaths, placed her hands on Daniel’s and began to hum. Calden left her alone to do her work. After all, some things are family matters.
An hour later, a drawn but smiling Lissette, walked slowly out of the tent to the others waiting there. “We are starving,” she said, “is there anything to eat?”
The rest of the group followed the food into the tent and all were clearly relieved to see Daniel looking so much better and start wolfing down the food. Lissette was eating with more delicacy, but not much.
“What happened out there,” Barton asked Daniel. His tone was neutral, but he was as concerned as everyone else.
“I started the wave...”
“Yes,” Alan interrupted, “that is what I was trying to think of. It was like the ripple you get when a stone is dropped in still water.”
“Yes, that is exactly what I was trying to do,” Daniel responded between mouthfuls of food. Alan beamed that he had caught on to what was happening.
“So I sent the wave at the Guards wanting to knock them off their horses. But I didn’t know how much energy it would take to send the wave through the field, so I kept pulling more from the earth until I couldn’t control it and just pushed it toward the castle. It’s the last thing I remember. I must have fainted.”
“You were feinting?” Alan asked shocked.
“Fainting, fainting – uh – crap - swooned. Lost consciousness, blacked-out.”
Lissette patted his hand, “Swooning is not very manly, but I think we understand.”
“Did you see the wave hit the guards” Calden asked. Daniel only shook his head as his mouth was too full to respond.
“So, you missed what happened when the moving hill - the wave hit the castle?” Argon asked and Daniel nodded.
What followed were several different descriptions of horses and men flying into the air and reports that had come in that half were dead or so injured that they had to be helped back to the castle.
“Or the moat?” Aldon asked. At Daniel’s look he went on, “The moat. How do I describe that? The wave hit the moat and then threw all the contents against and over the castle wall. It was raining offal into the courtyard. If the Baron was on the wall watching, they will be trying to scrub him clean for a week.”
Barton added, “If his mouth was open all our problems could be solved in the time it takes for him to die of infection.”
“I wish I had seen that,” Daniel said with a sigh.
“No, doub
t,” Barton replied, “you have hated that moat for as long as I have known you.” That comment provided Barton the opportunity to tell them all of Daniel’s favorite part of their escape.
THIRTY-TWO
Jason and Tayler had been knocked from their horses by the wave and coated by whatever was on the bottom of the moat. The water rushing back out buried the ammo bags, and having them found was one of the Baron’s priorities. His first was getting himself cleaned. He had been standing on the wall and saw his plan to wipe out the rebellion, as he was now calling it, come apart with that moving hill. His guard forces had been reduced to barely enough able-bodied men to stand guard, let alone resist an attack or mount an offensive. He recalled the other guards from the woods and was trying to figure a way out of the fiasco. The worst part was, it had been his idea and there was no one else to blame.
Elves- the Book of Daniel Page 29
