Blackstone (Book 2)

by Honor Raconteur

  “Well,” Hyun Woo assured him with quiet confidence. “We have not needed to implement even half of what we have planned.”

  Darrens looked relieved at this response. “So what plan do we have for tomorrow?”

  Hyun Woo did not immediately reply but instead looked at his students, waiting for them to answer.

  Wolf glanced back and forth between Tran and Markl before offering, “We didn’t use our trap at all today. We didn’t get enough people drawn into it to warrant springing it, so I held off.”

  “And I didn’t lead my team in from the coast because of that,” Tran added with a sour expression. The way his eyes cut to Wolf suggested he was not happy to have stood in standby mode all day.

  “I think tomorrow we should try to draw them into the trap.” Fei steepled his fingers in front of his face, eyes on the maps strewn across the table. “We do not wish to simply fight them to a standstill here, but to squash them utterly. If we do not, we will have to fight a similar battle in the future.”

  “Wars of attrition are to be avoided at all costs,” Hyun Woo agreed.

  Siobhan watched this conversation play out and could tell that even though there was no smile on Hyun Woo’s face, internally the man was beaming. His students had learned well, and were obviously learning more as they put what they had learned to use into actual combat.

  Markl lifted a finger, calling attention to himself. “So tomorrow, I need to make it absolutely impossible for them to come anywhere near the northern section of the city? Drive them south, toward the trap?”

  Wolf grunted agreement. “It’d be easy to do if we layered that section with all the caltrops and left my side clear of them.”

  “Precisely so.” Hyun Woo turned to her and said, “If you will, Siobhan-jia.”

  “I’ll pass word to the blacksmiths to send all of the caltrops to the northern section,” she responded, making a mental note to do so after this meeting.

  “Very good.” Addressing the table at large, Hyun Woo asked, “Have we learned anything today?”

  “There is no training, no ranks or chain of command that we can see.” Markl rubbed at his chin, looking beyond tired with dark circles under his eyes. “But from the way they move in a group, someone out there is giving them direction. Poorly executed, but the signs of it are still there.”

  “I agree,” Fei put in.

  “What I want ta know,” Rune said slowly, “is why we only had about two thousand show up here. Ryu Jin Ho-zhi, didn’t ya say that the army had to be about five thousand strong?”

  “I did, yes.”

  “Then where’s the rest?” Rune wondered aloud, his tone half-rhetorical. “Still looting Goldschmidt? I didn’t think we’d killed that many defending the place.”

  “We didn’t.” Wolf’s cheeks puffed out as he blew out a steady stream of air. “It’s a good question. I’m guessing they’re still in Goldschmidt. Two days isn’t enough to ransack a city of that size.”

  “So there’s enough organization to split the army in half, sending some ahead to deal with Converse.” Ryu Jin Ho seemed struck by this idea. “If our guess is right.”

  A determined expression crossed over Rune’s face. “I think someone should go to Goldschmidt and take a look.”

  “No!” at least four people burst out all at once.

  Rune’s head jerked back in surprise, twisting to look at everyone that had protested. “Why not? A bit of skulking is called for right now.”

  “No,” Siobhan told him firmly. “It’s far too dangerous. Besides, how could you possibly sneak into that city? It’s flat land all around it, people can see you coming for miles. No traffic is going in or out, you can’t just blend in with a group to make it through the gates. And if that rabble has any sense, the gates are probably closed anyway.”

  Rune snorted. Apparently, to an ex-assassin, none of that mattered.

  “Rune,” Wolf drawled in a warning tone. “Don’t even think about it.”

  Those clear blue eyes rolled expressively. “I’ll be fine.”

  Clearly, none of their words were making any headway. Thinking fast, Siobhan came up with the one thing that would deter him. “Alright.” Everyone made wordless sounds of protest, but she ignored them, instead matching Rune’s gaze. He looked happy, getting her permission. “But under one condition.”

  Thinking he’d gotten his way, he waved her on. “Sure. What?”

  “You have to convince Denney first.”

  His jaw dropped and he looked at her in open dismay. Siobhan would lay odds that he had no intention of telling Denney anything until he had gone and come back, as the girl would be less than thrilled about him going into an enemy city all by his lonesome. They both knew that she would never agree to such a thing.

  Knowing it was impossible, Rune whined, “Siobhan!”

  She smiled at him sweetly. “Convince Denney and you can go.”

  His mouth moved, trying to come up with an argument and failing. It made him look like a beached fish. Finally admitting defeat, he slouched back into his chair and refused to look at anyone.

  Siobhan bit back a smile. It was so obvious in this moment that Rune was sweet on Denney that everyone at the table could read him like an open book. At this rate, she’d win the bet she had with Wolf. Acting as if nothing unusual had happened, she asked Hyun Woo, “So is there anything further to discuss?”

  Hyun Woo’s eyes were dancing with unvoiced laughter as he responded, “No, I do not believe so. My students have come up with a valid plan for tomorrow. The question of where the other part of the army is can be addressed after we have won the battle here, I think.”

  “Fine by me,” Darrens agreed. He had to rub a smile off his lips before he could continue in an admirably serious fashion. “Commanders, I think you know what to do. I’ll leave you to it. Keep me abreast of events like you did today, please. And find time to rest. I need you awake and clear headed tomorrow. Any other questions or concerns? No? Good, dismissed.”

  Late that morning, it happened. Wolf had just been getting ready to sit down to a hastily made breakfast when Fei called down, “They’re coming!”

  Wolf eyed the plate of food in his hands, which could only be described as ‘lukewarm’ and called back, “How much time do I have?”

  “Two minutes!” Fei responded, openly laughing. “Eat fast!”

  Taking this advice to heart, he wolfed down the food without any embarrassment for his bad manners. After all, a man shouldn’t fight on an empty stomach. It was common sense.

  The men around him took their cue from him and also quickly ate before tossing the empty plates into the wooden crate their kind cook held out for them. Wolf put his in as well with a nod of thanks, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand before taking up his position. Leaning over, he looked toward the horizon and the rising sun. Sure enough, here they came. Markl had done his job well in driving them back toward the south.

  The enemy had no equipment with them, no supplies, so they had faced one of two options last night: either get into the city or retreat to Goldschmidt. Of course, that meant marching back in the dark, and then returning to Converse again in the morning. It wasn’t a trip that Wolf would prefer to do, but it would beat sleeping on cold ground without any dinner or breakfast. They, however had chosen to stay last night and sleep out in the open. Wolf, for one, did not think they would be as feisty today because of it.

  He had about a minute before they reached the walls. Taking that minute, he went to the other side and checked on the trap.

  Ryu Jin Ho had actually been the one to design this, in spite of it being initially Hyun Woo’s idea. In the two days they’d been given to work, a crew of men had destroyed every building within hundred feet of the breach, clearing the area in a large circle so that a force had enough space to enter in. Around the edges of this circle was all of the lumber and kindling created from those destroyed buildings. It was like a huge fire ring, obvious from on top of the wall, but
not so obvious to the men down below until they stood in the middle of it.

  Wolf had been of two minds setting up a trap inside of the walls. It seemed folly to let the enemy in, when it would be so much better to keep them out entirely. But doing it this way, they would stand no chance of advancing further.

  Turning back, he looked outside again. The enemy had arrived while he wasn’t watching, but they didn’t immediately try to scale the walls again. They had apparently learned from their previous mistakes. Instead, they scattered this direction and that, obviously looking for a weakness they could use.

  A cry went up from down below, and then another man answered, and like a wave, the army went for the breach. Wolf smiled grimly. So, Hyun Woo’s ploy had worked. Unstrapping his shield from his back, he swung it around (carefully, to avoid hitting his allies with it) and locked it onto his right hand. That settled, he drew his sword and strode to the other side, in clear view of the archers. He raised his sword high in a pre-arranged signal, and he could hear the archers as they readied to fire.

  The first dozen or so men came through the breach and cried out in excitement, sure that they had found an easy way in. Wolf held his breath and waited. Not yet. He couldn’t light the ring on fire yet. He needed more than this inside, or the whole trap was wasted.

  More clambered inside. Wolf watched them through narrowed eyes and said, “Rune.”

  The boy appeared at his side like magic. “What?”

  “Signal Tran.”

  “Right.” Rune disappeared between two other men and was gone in a flash.

  If Tran was to be of any use, Wolf had to get him here at the right time, which meant giving him a good twenty minutes to get here. This seemed like the right time to call him. If he had learned anything from Hyun Woo, it was that timing was everything in a battle.

  Four dozen were now inside, with more pouring inside at an increasing rate. Wolf counted to five in his head, judged it enough, and lowered his sword with a fast, chopping motion, slicing air.

  A dozen flaming arrows launched into the air, arcing into the sky briefly before falling on the piled lumber. In this dry heat, and with the oil they’d splashed on earlier, the ring caught fire instantly. Some of the enemy soldiers had been about to scale it, but when they saw the fire, they quickly backed away before they could get burned.

  “FIRE AT WILL!” Wolf commanded.

  The archers weren’t really waiting for this order, but were already firing as fast as they could aim, and the sky quickly became peppered with arrows.

  Asher bumped him with an elbow and jerked his chin toward the ring. “Ain’t that your boy down there?”

  Wolf followed where he had indicated and then swore aloud when he realized the man was right. Rune had somehow gotten down there and was already fighting. Did he have no patience? Tran was a bad influence on him. That was completely something he would have done. Growling, he waved his sword to catch Fei’s attention and then yelled, “You’re in charge! I’m going down!”

  Fei acknowledged this with a general salute before scampering off his perch.

  Satisfied that things would be taken care of up on top, Wolf headed for the stairs with a fast stride. He couldn’t let the kid have all the fun, now could he?

  Wolf hopped the last three stairs to the ground and joined Rune. The boy was already a whirlwind, fighting multiple opponents at once. His feet were flying out, catching people in their midriffs, knocking them into each other. Then he caught one man’s arm and locked him against his side, using him as a shield as he broke another’s jaw.

  Seeing how he dealt with multiple enemies at once, Wolf now suspected that if he had turned Rune loose earlier against that three dozen, the boy might have well been able to handle it on his own. Laughing boisterously at the absurdity of the thought, he waded in, using his shield like a battering ram to get to Rune’s back. He broke heads and arms with that tactic, doing as much damage with shield as he was with his sword.

  Rune did a flying run toward one group, lifting up to kick two men at once, before rolling to the ground and back on his feet in a smooth move. Or it would have been smooth if he hadn’t impacted against Wolf’s back in the process.

  “Wolf-dog, you’re cramping my area!” he complained.

  “Sorry, sorry,” Wolf drawled. “But it’s hard to keep proper distance between us with you dancing all around like that.”

  “It’s these close quarters,” Rune admitted with a sour face. They had trained in an open field, so fighting in city streets was forcing them to adapt on the fly, and while they could do that, it would take adjustments on both sides. “You can go play somewhere else?”

  Wolf snorted, not about to take that suggestion, as Siobhan would skin him if something happened to her boy. The boy had every right to be confident in his skills, but on the battlefield, anything could happen. Actually, the thing a man least wanted to happen usually did with terrifying frequency. No, better to hear Rune complain than to leave him on his own.

  Ducking low, he used the shield like a cook would a platter, scooping up one man off his feet completely before throwing him at a knot of men, forcing them to scatter. He liked it better that way. Hard to block four people at once, after all.

  Someone had the bright idea of picking up a burning piece of wood, using it like a fiery cudgel to attack with. Wolf admired the tactic even as he cursed the man for thinking of it. His own people shied away from this impromptu weapon as they had no desire to be burned and a sword would do little to protect them from flying embers. Seeing the problem, Wolf called, “CLEAR! GET CLEAR!” and waded forward. He was one of the few shield users in the whole city, and with his iron right hand, he could deal with the fire better than anyone else.

  In this din of noise where people were yelling, metal ringing, and the cackle of the fire around them, it took a minute for his words to penetrate. But people felt his presence as he pushed past him, realized his intent, and scrambled to get out of the way.

  The fire-wielder kept swinging his cudgel back and forth, back and forth like an arc in front of him. A wild grin was stretched across his face as he did this, no doubt thinking that he had found the perfect tactic to keep himself from harm. A discarded sledgehammer lay at his feet. Wolf glanced at it. Was that his former weapon? In the right hands, it would have been effective. But this man didn’t have the upper body muscle to wield it. He’d have tired quickly of just carrying it, much less fighting with it. No wonder he’d changed to something else.

  With Wolf’s approach, the first sign of doubt flickered across his face. Wolf had seen this reaction several times and knew the source of it. He was a good head taller than most men, after all. His sheer size intimidated people. Put a two foot shield in front of him and a five foot broadsword in his hand, and that intimidation quadrupled.

  The man’s grip on his burning cudgel tightened to the point his knuckles turned white. He shifted his feet into a wider stance, too, as if preparing to leap forward. “You’ll burn,” he gritted between clenched teeth, eyes fierce. “You’ll burn!”

  Does he mean, no matter how big I am, even I’ll burn? Wolf wondered. Well, he was right. Being larger didn’t make a man fireproof. But that false confidence was going to lead to his downfall. Shaking his head in pity for the fool, Wolf strode in, knocking the burning wood to the side with a negligent flick of his shield.

  The man clung to it when he should have let go, and Wolf took advantage of that two second hesitation to ram the flat of his sword against his opponent’s temple. Eyes rolling up in the back of his head, he sank to his knees before falling sideways. Out of the goodness of his heart, Wolf used a foot to roll him forward, away from the burning line, so that the man wouldn’t catch fire accidentally.

  Unfortunately, the limited success of the burning cudgels caught on, and other people started picking them up and using them. It scared people, made them nervous, and they backed away when they shouldn’t have. Seeing the problem, Wolf threw back his head and b
oomed out, “ARCHERS! FIRE!”

  Several of the better archers took the gamble of possibly hitting an ally and fired at the enemy. Wolf could only pray that no one was accidentally hit before he targeted the next fire-wielder and went for them.

  It was an endless cycle of finding an opponent, defeating him, and looking around for another one. Rune was one of the few down here that didn’t find the fire-cudgels something to be nervous of, and he went for them with the same gusto that Wolf did, despite being a hand-to-hand fighter. It made Wolf think that he’d fought something similar before.

  With his focus so narrow, it took a moment to realize that he was basically out of people to fight. The area was littered with bodies but only his men were still standing. Turning, he looked around for a face he knew. “Boren!”

  The man was down on the ground, kneeling next to a fallen comrade, but at this hail he twisted about and looked up. “What?”

  “Take care of the wounded. Make sure they get to the clinic.”

  Boren gave him a very casual salute before turning back to what he had been doing.

  Satisfied that was settled, Wolf strode for the breach, where Rune was already waiting.

  Before Wolf could even get his head through the hole to see for himself, Rune announced, “Tran’s here. Actually, from the looks of it, he’s been here.”

  “Did the plan work, then?” Wolf ducked his head enough to peer through the hole. ‘Tunnel’ might be a more accurate way to say it. The wall was ten feet thick, after all, so while the hole went all the way through, it made more of a tunnel. Seeing through the semi-darkness to the outside was a real trick.

  “Looks that way.” Rune also looked toward the outside, although with him being shorter, he didn’t have to duck to do it.

  Wolf felt a sense of grim satisfaction. Part of the reason for the trap to begin with was to lure people into a particular area that they could make into a fatal funnel. If they could force their enemy into a narrow spot, then it wouldn’t matter how outnumbered they were. With Wolf’s people on one side, and Tran’s five hundred on the outside of the wall, they were literally between a rock and a hard place.