by Tasha Bell
Harper looked pained. “Alexandra told me that she had seen Miranda naked.” He said. “And that she had not a mark on her, and that she doesn’t think she’s behaving like someone who’s been locked in a dungeon and abused for five months.” Harper blushed slightly. “She said Miranda tried to seduce her? Is that the behaviour you’d expect from someone who’s just escaped from being Matt Tindall’s personal sexual plaything?”
Christian stared at harper, his eyes narrow. “Have you ever been locked in a dungeon?” He said. “Has Alexandra? How would you two know the correct way to behave once you’ve been released?” He paused for effect. “I’ve been there, it does strange things to your mind, you don’t come out the same person you go in, you come out a bizarre reflection, and things get twisted. You know through those years I spent in the Duke of Rawford’s dungeons all I could think about was Amvale. About the fields at harvest time, about the swimming pool in the woods, about going back to work in the gardens at Loxley Hall. Then when I got free the thought of all those things repulsed me. I asked myself where is the pleasure in a golden field if a man is not free to enjoy it, if he must have his face pressed into its dirt pulling weeds or risk a flogging. I came out loathing all the things I once loved because they reminded me that they were not mine to enjoy.” He stared at harper, face trembling with emotion.
“Unless you have suffered the terror and loneliness of staring into your own mind and realising that all the things you had loved were I lie you can’t possibly talk about how someone should act when they are released from the dungeons.” He continued.
Viviana put her hand on Christians arm, but he brushed it off. “How would you like to see her behaving? What is the correct way to act on being released from a dungeon?” He screamed at Harper.
Harper was unmoved “That’s a very nice speech Christian.” He said. “It doesn’t change the fact that this plan is dangerous and foolhardy without the support of the wider population, but if you are absolutely determined that this is the way we should do things then let’s go over it one last time, make sure the plan is as tight as it can be.”
Viviana sprang to life, excited to explain the plan she had come up with to Harper, hoping that doing so would further convince Christian that she was committed to making the world anew. “You, me and Christian will take twenty men with Miranda to find the tunnel.” Said Viviana looking at Harper. “Kit takes the remaining five men and Alexandra and they hide on the road between Brookmere Castle and Amvale.” She continued. “We’ll enter the castle through the tunnel at dawn when all the men are sleeping. I’ve stayed as Sir Roberts’s guest in the castle and I know my way to the visitors’ chambers, I’ll lead Christian to them and we’ll kill Captain Bates.”
She paused and with a knife scratched a crude map on the wood of the table. “The garrison is here.” She stabbed the point into the wood. “Harper you’ll position two men at the bottom of each watch tower, and then take the rest and wait outside the door to the barracks. When the first ray of sun hits the clock tower Christian and I will burst in and take Bates, and Harper, you and your men will take the barracks. When the watch run down from the towers to defend the garrison our men can cut their throats.” She paused scanning the faces around the table making sure they had all grasped the plan.
Christian met Viviana’s gaze, for the first time since they’d been reunited his eyes contained neither sexual hunger nor distain. “Got it Christian?” She asked before continuing. “Kit and his men will wait on the road to intercept any messengers they try to send out for reinforcements. Once he sees us take down Sir Roberts flag he will head into the Village to start spreading the news of the uprising amongst friendly faces - Harper’s right - we need to draw as many people to us as quickly as possible if we want to avoid being crushed by King John as soon as he hears the news.”
“And Sir Robert?” Asked Harper.
“He’ll have drunk so much the night before that at dawn he’ll barley be able to move, let alone fight, we can deal with him at our leisure,” said Viviana standing up. “Unless anyone has anything else to add I suggest we start getting ready, we’re going to have to walk through the night if we want to be at the castle for dawn.” She turned and strode towards the training ground where she kept her pole-axe. Putting two fingers into her mouth she gave shrill whistle and Vultonis came screaming from the dark sky to land beside her. She scratched him under the scaly chin, “Soon, soon you’ll fight with us, but not yet.”
Chapter Nine
Viviana looked behind her to the silent line of men creeping through the grey light of the pre-dawn. “It’s just down here.” Whispered Miranda pointing to the mouth of a narrow canyon before sliding between its two rock faces. Viviana followed her, wincing as the point of her poleaxe clashed loudly on the stone. As Miranda led the rebels deeper into the canyon Viviana felt Christian’s presence close behind her. He had been radiating a malevolent energy throughout the march and Viviana could sense his overwhelming desire for blood, his lust to exact his vengeance on the class he saw as having stolen his life and his beloved valley. She felt herself shiver. She hoped that something good could come of this, something that would help the common people, not just more bloodshed and disruption. The country had seen enough death over the last ten years, and she got the horrible feeling that despite their noble intentions, if Christian’s revolution succeeded there would be even more good men killed in the Vale and beyond.
Miranda led them to a spot at the bottom of the ravine where a few scrubby bushes and bits of bracken grew between the sheer cliff edges and halted. Viviana and the others gathered around her. “It’s here somewhere,” she whispered. “We just have to get down on our hands and knees and find it, the opening is very small.” She looked jittery and ill at ease. In near silence the rebels began to search the bushes, Viviana drew Christian aside and whispered to him:
“Something’s not right, look at Miranda, she’s not helping search the bushes. She’s staring at the cliff top. I think she’s waiting for someone.” The rebels’ search was becoming more desperate as she said this, the longer they looked for the tunnel without finding anything, the more disconcerted Viviana became.
After a few moments of futile searching Harper took Miranda by the shoulders and started shaking her. “Tell us where it is,” he demanded loudly. “Where is the entrance!” For the first time Viviana could detect a hint of panic in the big man’s voice. Miranda said nothing, but looked blankly up at the sky, apparently unaware of the increasing confusion around her.
A clear voice rang out from overhead. “Can I help you Sargent Harper? Have you lost something?” Viviana looked up to see outline of Captain Bates silhouetted against the brightening sky. She gripped tighter on the handle of her axe, but knew he was too high for her to reach. Her stomach sank as she gazed upwards, a line of troops had appeared on the top of each of the canyon’s high walls, some held crossbows and others carried large rocks, they were a mixture of dark looking men from the capital and grey skinned, sharp toothed cave goblin mercenaries. Viviana started back up the canyon the way they had come, but as she did so a group of soldiers rounded the corner to block their escape route. So thought Viviana this is how it ends, not with a glorious march into the capital but dead in a ditch just a few miles from where this had all started. She felt strangely calm as she looked around at the men she was about to die with.
The outlaws drew their swords, each knowing that he was preparing to meet his maker. Some muttered prayers under their breath, some said nothing, just gritted their teeth. Harper rolled his shoulders and loudly cracked his knuckles, evidently preparing to go down fighting. Christian knelt to the ground and picked up a handful of earth, he rubbed it between his fingers.
“This is our land,” he said in a loud steady voice to the men gathered around him. “This land belongs to all of us, and to our children and to their children. If I die fighting for this land I die well.”
Captain Bates laughed down on them. “
But it’s not your land is it Christian? Its Sir Roberts’s land, you’ll die fighting for Sir Robert’s land and you’ll die pointlessly.” He passed his attention on to Viviana “Ah, Lady Viviana, such a pleasure to see you again,” he said. “I tried to call on you a few months back, but you were not home. Such a pity as I fear this may be the last time we meet.” He signalled for his troops to shoulder their crossbows, Viviana stared up feeling helpless, time seemed to stand still as she heard the arrows click into the stocks. It would be a miracle if anyone survived even the first volley.
The silence was broken by a voice. “Captain Bates wait for me! Let me out!” Shouted up Miranda. Captain Bates looked down on her with faintest of smiles and gave her an almost imperceptible wave with his leather clad hand before turning away.
“Don’t worry about the red-head,” he told his men. “Kill them all.”
A crossbow bolt thudded into the man standing next to Viviana sending a spray of blood across her cheek. “Run now!” Shouted Christian shoving her hard towards the soldiers blocking the canyon’s exit. She saw the man in front of her fall, an arrow hitting him in the back of the neck and driving through him to emerge below his Adam’s apple. Miranda had stayed exactly where she was, even after the first crossbow bolt hit her she remained upright, staring up open mothed at Captain Bates. Another bolt pierced her, then another and she sank to her knees, still trying to raise her eyes to the handsome captain, blood spilling out across her dress and into the dark earth of the canyon.
Christian held his shield above Viviana as they ran towards the troops, she could hear the arrows thud into its thick wood, and there was a heavy boom as it was struck by a large boulder. Viviana heard something snap in Christians arm, and it hung loose and limp by his side. He howled in pain and stopping running to cradle his shattered limb. Viviana turned round to see another boulder strike him on the side of his head driving him to the floor. She made towards him, but another rebel, this one streaming blood from a cut above his eye shoved her onwards towards the troops blocking their escape.
Harper let out a roar as he reached the line of Captain Bates’ men. He thrust his sword up into the stomach of the first man he met and pivoted quickly, using his huge momentum to ram his shoulder into the next. Viviana followed close behind and finished the man off as he lay on the ground, the rebel who had shoved Viviana forward was no longer running next to her, he had been chopped to the floor. Ahead she saw two cave dwellers run at Harper, he parried the first’s swing and struck his massive fist into the stocky goblin’s face, knocking it onto its back, before bringing his sword down hard on the second’s collar-bone, the blade digging deep into its neck. Harper’s strength had opened up a small gap in the enemy line, offering a tiny glimpse of freedom and Viviana ran for it, as she did so her ankle gave way on the stony canyon floor and she fell hard.
Harper turned round at her cry and looked as if he was going to come back to help her, she screamed at him “Go Harper. Go to Kit and rouse the village!” She watched him turn and run from the canyon - the last hope for their glorious revolution - a crossbow bolt protruding from between his shoulder blades. Desperately she whistled, but there was no reply.
***
Alexandra stood on the road to Amvale watching the castle. The sun was well up over the clock tower, but still Sir Roberts’s family crest, a boar rampant, flew over the battlements.
“Do you think something’s happened to them?” She asked her brother, her voice full of worry.
“I don’t know.” Kit said anxiously his normally cheerful face furrowed in an expression of extreme tension. She watched his hands nervously flutter about the hilt of his heavy sword.
“I told them not to trust Miranda.” said Alexandra. “The way she was behaving just didn’t seem right.”
“I’m sure they are fine,” said Kit, not wanting to think about whether his own girlfriend had betrayed them. “Just watch the flag.”
As they stared up at the overblown turrets and crenulations of Brookmere Castle there came a rushing and crashing from the side of the road, something big was charging through the forest, breaking branches as it went. Kit and the five men on the road drew their swords and Alexandra ran to take shelter behind them. She gasped in horror as she saw Harper burst from the woods, he was bleeding heavily from a deep cut above his eyes, and his breath was ragged. She saw that there was a crossbow bold in his back and that his shirt was sodden with blood.
Alexandra ran to him “What happened Harper!” She cried. “Where are the others?” Harper let out a ragged gasp.
“Ambushed,” he said. “The others, all dead or taken.”
“Who’s dead?” Asked Alexandra.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe all of them. Miranda’s dead, I think Christian is too. I don’t know if anyone else got out.”
“What about Viviana?”
“She was alive when I left, but hurt, I wanted to go back to help her but…” He paused, fighting to get his breath back. “I almost hope she is dead, I spent years fighting alongside Captain Bates. I know the things he does to his enemies. If they’ve taken any of them alive I pray they die quickly.”
Kit looked appalled all the colour had drained from his face. “Was it Miranda” he said. Harper looked at him for a moment and then nodded. “Oh god,” said Kit. “If there is a chance any of them might be alive we’ve got to get into the castle, we can’t let Bates have them.” He was panicking. “We have to rally the people.”
Alexandra looked towards Castle Brookmere, it was an imposing structure, the walls were not immensely high but they were monstrously thick, and the gate was barred by a portcullis with iron bars as broad as a man’s arm. She found it hard to believe that any amount of people from the village would be able to break their way in. But if there was even the smallest chance her friend was inside then she knew they had to try.
One of the men stepped forwards, it was Hugh, Viviana’s page. “Let’s go to Loxley Hall,” he said. “There are still men there like me, men who would die for Lady Viviana.”
“I’m going to the tavern” said Alexandra hurriedly. “I’m not sure if there are men there who would die for Viviana, but there are certainly some I know who would love the chance to kill Bates and Matt Tindall.”
Chapter Ten
Viviana looked up at the ornate vaulted ceiling of the banqueting hall at Brookmere Castle and thought back to the interminable dinners she had suffered through in this room, listening to Sir Robert get drunk and lecture her about the proper way to discipline serfs, or ramble on about what his great grandfather had done in the Seventy Year War. Now here she was, back in the same room but this time tied up to a pillar and awaiting her own punishment.
“I always prefer a banqueting hall for torture,” said Captain Bates, stroking his moustache. “I know a dungeon is more traditional, but you get a much better quality of light in a banqueting hall. It’s easier to do the more detailed work, don’t you think Sir Robert?”
Sir Robert Herriot looked ill, he swallowed audibly and said, “really Bates do we have to do this to Lady Viviana, she is one of us after all.” He pointed to where Christian stood tied to another pillar, staring murderously at his captors with dried blood matting his hair. “Can’t we just do that one and send Viviana off to the king to execute like a proper highborn lady.”
“Oh she’s no lady,” said Bates coldly. “She lives with the commoners, she fights with the commoners, she lies with the commoners, and now she’s going to die with the commoners.”
He bent his face close to Viviana’s, she noticed that he was lightly perfumed, a not unpleasant smell of warm leather and rosewater. “After I kill you,” he said. “And that might take some time, I’m going to ride over to Loxley Hall and I’m going to burn it to the ground. Then I’m going to tour round your estates and your farms, and even the woods, and I’m going to kill every one of your serfs.” He paused smiling malevolently. “And then I’m going to kill their wives, and then their
children, and you know why? Because you’re a traitor, and traitors have no right to property.”
“They’re not my property,” said Viviana calmly. “They are freemen.”
Bates laughed. “Oh free men are they? Even more reason to get rid of them. Sir Robert how do you feel about your serfs bumping into Lady Viviana’s freemen? About these so-called freemen whispering into their ears, giving them ideas?” Sir Robert shook his head to signify that he did not like that idea at all. “Do you know how many more simple folk there are in this land than highborn?” Said Bates, not waiting for an answer before continuing. “There are a hundred of them for every one of us. With the right ideas and the right organisation they could rise up and crush us in one night. So we can’t have people going around spreading ideas about rights and equality. Ideas lead to thinking and thinking leads to revolution.”
“Your time has passed Bates.” Said Christian coldly. “You can kill us and all our friends, and maybe you will have control of Amvale for another few years, but the people are angry, it might not start here, it might start in the North, or the marshes of the West, but somewhere the people will rise, and when they do nothing you highborn do will stop them. We’ll roll over you like the tide on a beach.”
Bates laughed “Christian Gardner,” he said. “So passionate, so intense. I thought I’d flogged that out of you.” He turned to Viviana “Isn’t he something? Can you see what I had to put up with, having him under my command?” He stepped back and resumed talking to Christian. “The highborn have ruled this land for two thousand years, do you think you are the first commoner in all that time to realise that the system is unfair? It’s all part of the game, for dozens of generations people like you have been getting angry and people like me have been killing them.” He drew back his fist and punched Christian hard on his shattered arm, head the bones grind together in the brave man’s arms but Christian did not cry out, he wouldn’t allow Bates the satisfaction.
