The Clearing

by Lina J. Potter

  “There’s no fresh water down there. If they wanted water, they would head for the mouth of the Earta. They’re going right over the reefs. They know what they’re doing.”

  “How many men?”

  “Judging by the size of the ships, there could be up to a hundred men.”

  Lily wanted to scream. She felt like someone had hit her upside the head with a log. She wanted to run, but she stood still where she was.

  Calm. Stay calm. If I panic, I’ll lose their respect.

  She looked at Leis. “Can we take them?”

  He thought for a moment. “I don’t know. Erik is at the river with about twenty men. Leif has thirty more, but five of them are on the coast and ten are away with him in the villages. I had fifteen soldiers, but five of them went with your father’s agent.”

  “How does that leave us?”

  “We have around fifty men, not counting the fools from the village.”

  Lily held her breath. “Best case, it’s one to one. Worst case…”

  “The wall is almost finished. We can repel an invasion, my lady.”

  Just then, Lons came running up. Somehow, he was aware of the situation. “Why should we wait out a siege, my lady, if we can get help? Where is Leir Hans?”

  Tremain stepped forward, his face grave. “I am here.”

  “Leir Hans, what do you suggest?”

  “We could get word to your neighbors.”

  “Baron Donter?”

  Lily thought that was a bad idea. She turned to Leis. He, too, looked doubtful. “I think we should start by sending out scouts.”

  “Olaf sent scouts when he sent me here. He won’t start a fight. He will wait for reinforcements.”

  Lily gasped. “Helke is down there with…”

  “Our men will take care of them, my lady.” Gel’s assurance felt solid.

  She let her breath out. “Captain Antrel?”

  “I will gather our forces. We march as soon as Erik arrives.” Leis whistled to one of the Virman boys running around the yard and gave him concise orders.

  Lily suddenly felt unsure. “Should I go with you or stay here at the castle?”

  The men standing around her stared. She realized it was a stupid question and nodded. “Fine. Leave me five men in case I need them. Peasants will do. Now go. I have to talk to the healer. Will you take him?”

  “Yes, if he will go.”

  “All my hope is on you.” With that, Lily turned and went into the castle. She needed to be alone for a few moments, so that no one saw her pace the room in panic. She had known this was coming, but she hadn’t expected it so soon. Deep down, she had hoped it wouldn’t come at all.

  Keep it together, Lily. Keep it together.

  Leis watched the countess’ upright figure as she walked away from the men gathered in the yard. Then he started to issue orders. First, he sent a runner to tell the Virmans on the shore not to let themselves be seen until help arrived. Next, he sent a runner to find Leif, who should be with his men and Ingrid in High Wold. He didn’t think Leif could get back quickly, but it was worth a try.

  What about the baron?

  Leis thought about this for a moment. Then he told the runner to take his time. Baron Donter didn’t need to be the first to know about the trouble in Earton.

  Helke gripped his knife. In the end, his help was not needed. There was not much a young boy could do against an adult Virman. Hleig grabbed him, tied his arms behind his back and dragged him off the beach. The ships were still waiting for the tide to rise, and Helke hoped that they had seen nothing.

  Five minutes later, he and Hleig sat down to question the boy.

  While Trost and Caleb averted their eyes, Hleig held a sharp knife in front of the boy’s face so that he could see the sunlight glinting off its honed edges. The boy was pale and afraid.

  “Are you ready to talk?” Hleig sneered.

  The boy shook like a lamb’s tail, but gave them nothing. “I j-just came down to s-sit on the beach…”

  “Which ear do you want to keep? Left or right?”

  Hleig was a professional. After the first small cut to the boy’s ear, he started to talk. Helke swore inwardly as he listened.

  The boy said that his uncle was a pirate, and his father had arranged for them to take as much amber as they could carry. He had been sent to warn the ships that there were now armed men in Earton.

  “Who is your father?”

  “Erk Grismo.”

  “The village elder in Riverton,” Hleig muttered. “Very interesting.”

  Helke turned to the Virman. “What do we do now?”

  Hleig looked at the boy and then at the Eveer. “We need to stop them here.”

  “Here?”

  “On the shore. We can’t let them get to the castle.”

  “But…”

  “We have to stop them.”

  “But how?” Helke felt faint. He knew what was coming.

  “Caleb and this rat are about the same age. Hey, you. Will Erk send anyone else?”

  The “rat” sniffled. After they threatened to cut his nose off, he said that no, he was the only messenger. He was supposed to wait for his uncle and show him the way as he had done before.

  Helke cursed. “Caleb can’t do it. All we can do is run to the smokehouse and tell them what we know.”

  “No. Trost will stay.”

  “But…”

  “If they leave the beach, you won’t be able to run fast enough.”

  “No, that’s true.”

  “Let Caleb run. You take the boy and make your way to the smokehouse. Trost and I will stay here.”

  Helke turned to his nephews. They were afraid, but they were also burning with excitement. He looked at Hleig. “Fine. Do not take any unnecessary risks.”

  The Virman nodded. He turned to the boy. “Rat, is anyone else coming here?”

  The boy shook his head. He had been given food for several days, so no one would look for him yet. They still had time, but it wasn’t enough. Caleb took off running.

  Helke untied the boy’s legs, put a noose around his neck and stood up. “Do as I say or you’ll end up dead. Understood?”

  The boy nodded.

  Hleig reached out a hand. “And one more thing. Take off those clothes.”

  The boy obeyed and handed his clothes to Hleig. Hleig turned to Trost. “Put them on.” The young Eveer pulled the clothes on over his own.

  Hleig was satisfied. “Keep them on for now.”

  Helke shook his head. Trost might pass for a local from a distance, but only if no one looked closely. His hair was too dark and his eyes were too intelligent. But they had no choice. The Eveer gazed at his nephew for what seemed like a long time. Then he turned and followed the boy.

  Lily found Jaimie, told him to pack his things, and ran off down the hall. The young man did as directed. When she turned the corner, she ran into the Khangan healer, Tahir.

  “What is the trouble, my lady?”

  “Pirates. I’m a poor host, Tahir.”

  “Lilian-jan, all the pirates in the world are nothing compared to the knowledge I have acquired here in your house.” The countess and the healer were already on familiar terms, using each other’s first names and sometimes adding “jan,” which was the honorific used by the Khangans for close friends.

  “I am glad of that, but I must ask you not to leave the castle for a while. The pirates are looking for a place to land and we don’t know their intentions.”

  “Could they be looking to take on fresh water?”

  “Our coastline is an extraordinarily difficult one to navigate. If they needed water or supplies, they would have headed for Altver. I’m afraid that’s not what they are looking for.”

  “Is there a village nearby?”

  “Riverton. Even that is a long walk. But…” Lily grabbed Tahir’s sleeve. “Tahir-jan, come with me!” It took her just three minutes to explain her idea to Jaimie and Tahir. Then men balked for an instant, bu
t then agreed that it was worth a try. Jaimie started pulling out herbs and bottles, and Tahir produced a mortar and pestle from out of nowhere.

  There are two seasonings that work well with any dish: sedatives and laxatives.

  If it had been up to Lily, she would have fed the pirates both seasonings all at once, but she would have to divide up whatever the men were able to concoct so that both Jaimie and Erik would have something to work with when the pirates showed up.

  Just then, Erik flew into the courtyard with fifteen more Virmans hot behind him. Lily ran out to greet them. As always, Erik bowed politely. Lily smiled.

  There’s something sweet about Erik, even if he is a cutthroat.

  As quickly as she could, she told him about the pirates, what Leis was doing and what the healers were cooking up.

  He nodded. “We will protect the boy. I may have to get my hands dirty today. Time to swing my hammer!”

  “Erik!” It was Leis, who had come up behind her.

  “Captain.” The Virman nodded and turned back to the countess.

  “How long do you need to get ready?” she asked.

  “An hour, no more, my lady.”

  “Do you have enough horses?”

  “No, but it doesn’t matter. They would only be in the way.”

  Lily saw his point, but persisted. “Still, you should take a pair. What if you need to bring back wounded?”

  “Anything that must be carried we will carry on our backs. And the healer is going with us, my lady.”

  “Yes. He is taking some important things with him. A sedative and a laxative.”

  “Poison?”

  “No. They won’t kill anyone, but men can’t fight when they are asleep or have diarrhea.” Erik looked taken aback. Leis was in favor of her plan.

  Lily was pleased. The blend of henbane, wolf’s bane, jimsonweed and hemlock would do no one any good, even in small doses. Jaimie had brought plenty of the herbs with him, and she had her own stores, as well.

  More is always more. That’s what I say.

  About an hour later, a very interesting troop of men marched out the gates, wearing everything from chain mail to cheap leather coats. They were obviously untrained. The Virmans cared little for marching in formation, and Leis hadn’t had time to work on young men who had been peasants until quite recently. Still, fifty men was a force to be reckoned with.

  She watched the guards close the gates behind them and wondered if she should announce martial law, with curfews and patrols.

  It probably wouldn’t work. I’d better put together a field hospital for the wounded we’ll be getting.

  Helke’s younger nephew came running to Ivar and told him that his uncle was alive and bringing back a spy who knew who was coming and why. At first, Ivar was genuinely pleased. Soon, however, he began to think. How much would the young spy know? Who sent him? He would have preferred to capture a pirate, but he wasn’t sure how to do it. His second thought was to grab Erk and interrogate him, but there was no way to do it without raising a fuss. There was only one thing he could do: sit and wait for reinforcements and hold on to the spy.

  More waiting.

  Big Jim and Darvin set foot on the beach, never once suspecting that they were being watching most intently. Hleig and Trost counted the men in the rowboats. They saw that each one held an average of twelve men at a time. They counted six rowboats. In the last two, they saw a pair of men who were better dressed than the others, but obviously still pirates.

  “There must be more of them back on the ships.”

  “Probably not too many.”

  Trost looked up at the Virman. “What do we do now?”

  “We wait. They’ve arrived, but there is no one here to meet them. What would you do in their place?”

  Trost thought. “I would wait for nightfall and send someone to my brother in the village.”

  “Exactly. We’ll wait to see who goes. And we have to wait for our men to show up.”

  Trost nodded, his eyes glowing with delight. Hleig turned away. He knew that the boy had not seen anyone die yet. He couldn’t know the danger he was in.

  Big Jim turned to his boatswain. “There’s no one here to greet you.”

  Sim Grismo was unconcerned. “They might have been delayed. It’s happened before.” Nothing seemed out of place. “When it gets dark I’ll run over to home.”

  “Fine. We’ll set up camp here.”

  Lily had everyone at the castle hopping. Servants and ladies’ maids were ripping sheets to make bandages and preparing cots for the wounded. Tahir was making a quick study of the surgical instruments Lily had ordered in Altver. He was up against something completely new, but as a scholar and a man of science, he was prepared to leave the mysteries for another day. Today he needed to survive.

  Ivar heard a low whistle and turned to scan the trees.

  Help is here!

  Gel had arrived in time, as had Leis. Now they could attack. Helke told them what he knew and then left under guard. After questioning the boy in detail, Gel decided to send ten men to Riverton and the rest to the pirate camp. There would be no yelling and waving of axes: the Virmans would set up a quiet ambush and wait. The two groups agreed on their signals and parted in the dark.

  Night had fallen. Sim Grismo looked over at his captain. “I guess I’ll be going.”

  “Take Tom and Sam with you.”

  “Yes, sir. Will you stay here for now?”

  Big Jim was cautious. “We will wait until daylight. Then we’ll decide.”

  Darvin made an impatient gesture. “We didn’t come all this way to turn around and leave!”

  “Better to be poor and alive than dead on the road to riches,” Jim shot back.

  “You said the guards are all gone. We can just walk in and take what we want.”

  “Something might have gone wrong.”

  “Send some men to scout around.”

  Big Jim thought that sounded reasonable. “Yes, let’s send scouts out now.” In the end, they decided to send scouts to the castle. In the time it would take their scouts to walk all that way, take a look around, and return to the beach, the other pirates would load all the amber and be ready to turn their attention to the castle.

  Hleig watched the three men heading toward him. They were going to Riverton. “I can’t take all three of them by myself.”

  “Can I help?” Trost asked in a low voice.

  “You don’t know how.”

  “Even a boy can fight.”

  “But can he get out of a fight alive?”

  “We don’t have a choice. I know how to use a knife.”

  Hleig shook his head. The boy may have stabbed somebody once, but that didn’t mean he was a skilled fighter. But he was right, they had no choice. They couldn’t retreat into the woods. They had to grab the men, interrogate them and kill them.

  “Listen to me. This is what we will do…”

  Sim Grismo didn’t even have a chance to yell when he was hit. Hleig dropped down on him from a tree, knocking the man out with his massive body. He jumped up and turned to the second man. His knife was swift and accurate, getting Sam in the heart. Tom took a step back – he had never been much for heroism – but Trost had lashed his knife to a long stick and slashed at the man’s legs. He fell onto one knee and Hleig finished him off with a knife to the throat. Then he tied up both men for good measure.

  “Good job, boy.”

  “I’m not a boy.”

  “Still, you did a good job.”

  Trost blushed with pride.

  When Sim came around, he was in terrible pain. Hleig had just cut his ear off. The man tried to scream, but he had been gagged. A knife appeared in front of his face.

  “I’m going to take the gag off. If you yell, you’re a dead man. But I’ll cut your eyes out first.”

  Sam believed the voice. He kept quiet.

  “Who are you? Where are you going and what for?” Shaking and stuttering, Sim began to talk.

>   Erk was sound asleep when the door to his cottage burst open. Rough hands dragged him from his bed, tied his arms behind his back and set him on his knees. He looked up and saw a giant Virman. He had seen him before. With one hand on his axe and the moonlight playing on his chain mail, Erik was a sight to frighten a braver man than Erk Grismo.

  “Talk.”

  Erk swallowed hard. “I haven’t done anything, sir.”

  “Where is your family?”

  “Here.”

  “Which of them do you not care about? Your wife? How about your daughter? Erik had always excelled at field interrogations, even though he didn't know that was what his skill was called. Erk didn't know, either, but he soon began to talk. Erik’s face darkened as he listened to the village elder. He was relieved to find that this affair was Erk’s own private undertaking. Other than his brothers, no one else in the village was involved. Erik sent five Virmans running to the brothers’ houses on silent feet. Then he considered what else he had learned.

  There were at least fifty pirates, and they had their sights on robbing the castle. Erik knew that some men would have said that this was not, strictly speaking, his fight. He did not have to get involved. But that was not the way he saw it. The countess had hired him to protect her. She had given him a roof over his head and a place to repair his ship. She was paying him. He would earn his keep.

  He turned to his men. “To the beach.”

  “What do we do with this one and his brothers and his family?”

  Erik didn’t need panic in the village. “Is there a cellar?’

  There was. It was a good, deep cellar. The Virmans tied their prisoners and set them in the cellar a good distance from each other, just to be safe. Two of the Virmans stayed behind to guard them.

  Erik turned to Erk Grismo. “You wait here. The countess will deal with you.”

  Erk closed his eyes and whimpered.

  Then the Virmans left the village, making as little noise as they had made coming in. They were not out to scare people. They were hunters looking to kill.

  Trost heard someone coming. He grabbed Hleig’s sleeve. The two slipped silently into the bushes. A few minutes later, they gave a low whistle and stepped out when they recognized Erik. He went for his knife, but put it back when he saw their faces.