“No, I do not. Go get Cha Ji An and get her in there.”
“Good thought.” Grae lengthened his stride and headed around them.
Alexander turned his face toward her. “You still think Cha Ji An should go with the guildmaster of Fallen Ward? Even though it’s not me?”
“Not all of the problems disappeared just because you handed the job over to another man. I still think Cha Ji An can do a lot of good, if we can convince Dahnner to accept her.” But that was not her problem at the moment. “Alex, I’ll introduce you to the guild formally as a member later, but for now, what do you want for breakfast?”
He pretended to think for a fraction of a second before pumping a fist in the air. “Biscuits and sausage gravy!”
“I’ll second that.”
There was a unanimous vote in the guild to let Rune sleep as long as he could, but when the sun was strong enough to use for pathmaking, they had to roust him out of bed. He woke up quickly, as he always did, scarfed down a plate of food that Denney brought to him, then went with Grae to get reinforcements.
Siobhan had settled Alexander in with Sylvie before taking a plate and a large jug of water up to where Wolf was still on the wall. Last time they fought, arrows had flown back and forth, but this morning no one seemed interested in shooting people. When she got up on top, she could smell something burning, and there was a wavy, smoky look to the air. What in mercy’s name was…? She popped her head over the wall and looked down.
The grass was burning. In a strange pattern, too.
“Morning, love,” Wolf greeted, coming to stand next to her.
“Did you throw oil down there and set it on fire?” she asked. That semi-circle pattern couldn’t be explained any other way.
“You’re quick,” he approved. “That’s exactly what we did. I figured I needed to give my men time to eat breakfast and take a nap. The oil will burn about five hours, gives us space to rest some.”
Smart. She handed him the plate of food and jug. “Then is this useless?”
“Heavens, no,” he denied with open pleasure. “They only gave me one plate for breakfast.”
“One? For you, that’s not enough.” If Wolf ate less than three plates at a meal, she called for Conli, because the man was sick.
“I know.” He balanced the plate on top of the wall before he undid the cloth wrapping and opened up his second breakfast with a smile of pleasure. “Biscuits, gravy, ham, and are those roasted potatoes?”
“Dark and crisp, as you like them.”
Wolf gave her a look of open adoration. “I love you.”
“I know, dearling,” she responded, trying not to laugh. “Eat.”
She didn’t have to tell him twice. He dug in heartily, drinking liberally as he did so.
“Here, while you eat, let me catch you up on what happened this morning.”
He had his mouth full, but Wolf made an inquiring noise.
“Oh yes, something happened alright. Several somethings. You only caught part of it earlier.” She started from being rousted out of bed and went from there. Quite a few times, Wolf choked, and she had to pause so he could catch his breath and swallow. It was a bit much—even hearing about it second hand was enough to surprise someone.
“So that was why that man came over here and ordered anyone loyal to him to break off. I had wondered. I thought it was someone loyal to Alex that finally stepped up and gave the help we needed.”
“Yes and no.”
Wolf used the last bite of biscuit to sop up a trace of gravy on the plate, eyes on her as he did so. “And now Alex’s staying with us. Really?”
“I had no vote in that,” she informed him, starting to see the humor in the situation now. “None. Everyone assumed I would say yes, and Darrens has already given his verbal seal of approval. We’re stuck with the kid.”
“You’re delighted,” Wolf said knowingly.
Siobhan rubbed at the back of her neck. “I guess I am. I loathed the idea of sending him back to Fallen Ward. I do prefer he stay with us. I just don’t know what to do with him.”
“Not letting Rune teach him assassination techniques will be a good start.”
Siobhan almost laughed until she realized his tone had been dead serious. “Urk. Wait, was Rune really doing that?”
“When your back was turned.” Wolf swallowed the last bite so he could rub at his jaw. “Alex’s got a small build, I bet he’d be good at it.”
“No. No, do not go there. One assassin in the guild is enough, I do not want two.”
He didn’t argue the point, and the way he shrugged indicated he half-agreed with her. “So what are we going to do with him?”
“Start with giving him a well-rounded education and go from there?” She had no idea what else to do.
“It’s not a bad thought.”
Putting her hands together, she mimed moving something to her right. “Putting that aside, what’s the plan for our reinforcements?”
“Rune’s got the plan. He stopped by here before he left with Grae. He’ll meet up with Jonathan Glass and Gaurav Hasur in Winziane, and as soon as they arrive, they’ll march around the city and pin what’s left of that army against the walls. It’ll be a massacre.”
She blinked. “It’s that simple?”
“No need for elaborate plans this time.” He gave a wolfish smile. “Especially with only half of the army left. Before the day is out, they’ll be defeated.”
Siobhan almost felt sorry for that corrupt advisor. If Lorcan had possessed any idea of what was coming his direction, he might not have been so quick to turn on Alexander. But she wasn’t that sorry. The man deserved every bit of what was coming.
She stayed up on the wall, tossing ideas of what to do in the future with Wolf, mostly dealing with Alex. They were both hyper aware of the army down below, but the fire ring that Wolf had set kept them at bay. They were so focused on getting past it that no one seemed to consider trying a different gate. Siobhan wondered at their stubbornness. It bordered obstinacy.
By mid-morning, their pigheadedness became a death trap. Rune and Grae returned with the fighters from Winziane. Siobhan couldn’t pick out details from on top of the wall, as they were still some distance away, but she knew who they were just from the direction they were coming from. Wolf spied them in the same moment she did and he started bellowing orders.
Her first choice of weapon was her twin swords, always, but she was a decent hand with a bow as well. It was a survival skill, used for hunting when they traveled over land too desolate to support paths. She’d lost hers when Goldschmidt fell and was forced to borrow one, but it was a fine recurve that had good draw to it. She lifted it into her hands, a quiver propped up against the wall near her feet, and nocked the first arrow. When Wolf gave the command, she lifted it up near her cheek, aimed and released with dozens of other archers.
Below, a wave of men fell, caught by surprise to be shot at after hours of nothing happening on either side. They hefted up shields, ducked behind wagons or crates if they were handy, trying to avoid the arrows. Those that had bows below returned fire, although few of them hit.
They were so focused on the attack from the wall that they missed the army coming at their flanks.
The Winziane force hit like a tidal wave against an unguarded beach. It was a clash of sound so dense that Siobhan flinched from it. No one below had any mercy and they attacked each other viciously. It soon became so chaotic that she had to put the bow down, as it was impossible to sort out friend from foe in that melee. All she could do was stand and watch.
The men from Silver Moon were fresh, not having to march days to get there, and were better armed. They were also angry, angrier than the men from Coravine, at having to defend Goldschmidt again from looters. They pounded the ragtag army until they were forced up against the walls, and then pressed them even harder.
Someone, finally, threw up a white handkerchief in surrender. It took several minutes for the word of that to sp
read all the way across and into the back, but when it finally did, the fighting stopped. Siobhan saw Rune gesturing people back, and Jonathan Glass doing likewise. When they did, only the men from Coravine were left, and they numbered a bare hundred.
Wolf was right. It had been a massacre.
The Coravine army, what was left of them, were forced to put their hands behind their backs so they could be bound.
Satisfied they were contained, Wolf bellowed to the guards below, “OPEN THE GATE!”
Siobhan scampered down to the ground level so she could be there as the prisoners were brought in. As people jostled through the narrow gateway, she called out, “RUNE! GRAE!”
“We’re fine!” Grae called back from somewhere in the sea of people.
That was what she wanted to hear. Relieved, she sank back onto her heels. Now, what to do? This had happened all so quickly, had Darrens even been notified that reinforcements had arrived and the battle won? Deciding she’d better make sure, she weaved her way around where they were forcing the prisoners to sit, and over to Kaye’s shop.
Halfway there, she spied Darrens and Dahnner, who had obviously been notified, and were coming toward the gate. Darrens spotted her in the crowd and made a beeline for her. “Siobhan, I received a report that the Fallen Ward army outside has been destroyed. Is this accurate?”
“A hundred men left, or thereabouts,” she confirmed. “They’re bound and being brought in now. When I passed, they were being shoved into the holding area near the gate.”
Dahnner had a disturbed look on his face. “That was…quick.”
Siobhan met his eyes, tone level. “Two men from Saoleord came down months ago and taught us strategy. It’s proved handy.”
“Saoleord, eh?” Dahnner shot a look at Darrens. “Are these the same two men he’s encouraging me to take back with me?”
“No.” Siobhan felt semi-amused at his surprise. Whatever Darrens had told him, Cha Ji An’s gender hadn’t been part of it. “But she’s part of the same delegation. If you have any sense, Dahnner, you’ll take her up on the offer and listen to what she has to say. The woman has more knowledge and skill than anyone in your guild. I can guarantee that.”
“Is that right.” Dahnner weighed her with his eyes. “I’m told that you are the guildmaster to a small escorting guild here. How many are in your guild?”
“Ten. No, sorry, eleven now.” Alex now officially being hers.
“Eleven. And yet Darrens comes to you for help and advice.” It was not a question, but a statement of fact.
To the outside, it must seem very strange, that the guildmaster of a city would go to one of his underlings regularly for help. Siobhan was so used to it at this point that it no longer surprised her. She had experts in her guild that had skills and experience that few others did. Darrens came to her simply because she had the right people for the job most of the time.
But to Dahnner, who knew nothing of her, it would seem very odd. It would also apparently give her an air of importance and lend more weight to her words. Dahnner nodded once, and one could see the mental decision he made in that moment to take her words at face value.
“This—woman—what was her name again?”
“Cha Ji An.”
“I’ll remember it.” Dahnner made no other promises, but struck off in the same direction that Darrens had disappeared to.
Siobhan let out a slow breath. Half of her worries disappeared with that statement. If he was willing to take their advice, and use Cha Ji An as an advisor, then most of the problems in Coravine could be resolved. And doing that would hopefully put the four continents at peace once again.
Well, as peaceful as it ever got, anyway.
As she went after the other two guildmasters, Siobhan sent a prayer up to the heavens that straightening out this mess wouldn’t take too many meetings.
The heavens were not listening. It took multiple meetings to straighten it out, and for some strange reason, everyone insisted that Siobhan just had to be there.
Negotiatons lasted three days. A treaty had been signed by Dahnner that essentially said he would establish trade agreements with Darrens in the future and he would stop attacking Robargean cities. Cha Ji An had been formally invited to act as an advisor, and she had formally accepted. Immediately following that meeting, she had promptly dragged Dahnner aside and given him a long list of things that she thought might work. When Siobhan had left, the two were enthusiastically discussing ideas.
She didn’t expect problems from them in the future.
In the second meeting, the guildmasters had put their heads together and figured out what to do with Lorcan and the surviving prisoners of war. Darrens took the prisoners, sentencing them to two years of working on the Grey Bridges. They were still under reconstruction, after all, and any labor at all would be helpful. But most of these men were masons by trade, so Darrens was gleeful about sending qualified help.
Lorcan was another matter.
Siobhan would have thought he was the trickiest matter to resolve but actually it turned out to be quite the opposite. Dahnner was forthright about how to deal with the man. Lorcan had betrayed a former guildmaster, he had disobeyed the current one, and had started a war with an ally—for all of those crimes, he deserved execution. Darrens felt the same way. After all, this was the man that had started the war against all Robargean cities, even one on Orinite soil, he couldn’t be trusted. Lorcan was summarily sentenced to execution, the sentence to be conducted before the week was out.
No one was sorry to see the man go, sadly. When Siobhan broke the news to Alex, he got that tight look to his face that spoke of pain, but even he was relieved. She could not think of a sadder thing for a fellow human being, that no one would mourn his passing.
This morning had been the last of the meetings, thankfully. While her guild worked on building, she’d gone to Blackstone’s compound for the last time, at least for this business. This time, the matter was not so weighty. As Siobhan had been the one to bring people from Saoleord, they’d wanted her to come and hear what would happen to her delegation. She’d expected to have to drop everything, again, and take people home.
To her surprise, it was quite the opposite.
Cha Ji An was of course going to Coravine with Dahnner. But neither Hyun Woo nor Ryu Jin Ho wanted to return home either. The two were apparently having too much fun teaching a whole continent strategy and battle tactics. Ryu Jin Ho had been invited by Nuel Hammon to come and train everyone in Silver Moon. It was an offer he was quite excited about and had already accepted. Jay Fowler was to come and fetch him within the next two days.
Hyun Woo had been equally invited to stay by Darrens, who liked the idea of having the man teach his own guild. The man had accepted the offer with a dignified bow and an outrageous twinkle in his eyes. After the meeting, he had confided to Siobhan that he would have found a way to stay anyway. He hadn’t yet taught Rune, Wolf, Tran, or Fei everything that they needed to know, after all. He wanted to complete their training before returning home.
Siobhan had the sense it was Rune he was the most worried about but did not ask. Some questions weren’t necessary to voice in order to know the answer.
Now, she was finally ‘home’—not that it was completed or habitable yet. She stood just inside the doorway and looked around for a moment. Everyone had scattered, working on the parts that they had the skills for. Even Alex was involved, hammering in boards that Wolf held for him. He wasn’t as clumsy as he was at first, and managed to put in two nails without hitting his thumb or someone else’s. She smiled to see it.
Well, the whole guild was here. Maybe there was one last meeting to be had. Siobhan clapped her hands together loudly. “Alright, order! Everyone sit down, time for a guild meeting.”
Beirly groused good naturedly, “Siobhan, aren’t we done with meetings? I’m sick of them.”
“You only attended a third of the meetings I had to, By, don’t start with me. Sit down.” She waited u
ntil people had found seats. Their Hall was still only half constructed, so people made benches out of buckets and boards, although some chose to sit on the half-installed floor. The couples, of course, sat together. Siobhan found it hilarious for some reason to see Rune actually on the ground for once instead of squirreled away in the rafters.
Denney was good for that boy.
With them settled, she started. “This meeting is simple, I’m just giving you an outline of how the next few months will go. I need to put a few of you in motion as well. Now, first, we will not be going to Saoleord as I thought.” There was a wave of murmuring, the nuance confused and surprised. She shrugged in agreement. “I didn’t expect this, but our delegation from Saoleord doesn’t want to return home yet. They’re apparently having more fun here. They said in a few months, when they’re ready to go back, then they’ll ask for an escort. But in the meantime, they have every intention to stay.”
Siobhan was just as glad, as they only had about half the equipment they needed to make a journey with at the moment. And she hated taking a job without the guildhall finished. It was an unexpected but welcome reprieve.
“Second,” she continued, waving to Alex, “as I’m sure most of you have heard by now, Alex is now officially a part of Deepwoods.”
There was a hearty cheer and the people closest to him reached over to slap the kid’s back in welcome. Alex openly beamed.
“What he’ll do in the guild in the future, well, we haven’t figured that out yet. But there’s two things that I’ve decided should happen. First, we need to give Alex a well-rounded education.”
Alex pointed to his nose and objected, “I’ve been taught, though!”
“Your education is lacking, kid. It has more holes than a slice of cheese. We need to fill in the gaps.” Siobhan pointed her finger at the person as she ordered, “Markl, teach him economics and bookkeeping. Make sure he can read at an advanced level.”
“Certainly, we’ll start tomorrow,” Markl promised.
“Fei, history.”
Fallen Ward (Deepwoods Saga Book 3) Page 26
