01 - The Price of Talent

by Peter Whittlesey

  The morning came bright and early. Unfortunately, no bacon was cooking. Just the familiar and disappointing smell of oatmeal. Also, the sounds of Bevan’s dulcet tones complaining bitterly were echoing in the trees.

  “What is this crap, and where’s my bacon!?” He said.

  “We need to conserve some of the salt pork to take back to the longhouse.” Said Jarvis.

  “Actually, I have been meaning to talk to you all about that,” said Devlin. “We should talk about who we send back with our extra supplies so that we can refill our larder back home.”

  “What? Am I going to miss my chance to smack Tiernan in the teeth during sparring practice?” Asked Bevan.

  “No, I was thinking maybe Jarvis should go,” said Devlin. “Now that things are getting warmer and the snow has melted, it’s about time he got back to the longhouse to make repairs to the roof. There’s always a leak or two that needs tending when it stops freezing at night.”

  “The work of a carpenter is never done,” said Jarvis. “As much as I will regret not being here to see Tiernan smack Bevan in his fat head, I think you’re probably right. Besides, we should check in with Ross, Sapphire and Moira to make sure everything back home is ok.”

  After breakfast, while Devlin, Bevan, Tiernan and I got ready for another day staring at the road, Jarvis packed up the cart with the extra salt pork from the previous heist. Fortunately, Devlin did keep a few sides of bacon and salt pork for us on the road.

  “Can’t let all of this go to waste after all,” he said with a smile.

  “Yeah, now it can go to Bevan’s waist instead,” said Teirnan.

  “I’m really going to enjoy kicking your butt tonight,” said Bevan.

  When we got to the road, we had to adjust our lookout positions. Devlin and Tiernan headed off to the southern end, and Bevan and I took the north. This time the plan was that whoever spotted a likely target would run to the barricade and push it out, while their partner ran on to the other spotters and called them back. Then Devlin would sit the barricade while Bevan, Tiernan and I would be in the woods with our bows. If there was not enough time, then the pusher would stay with the barricade until Devlin got there.

  By the time the middle of the day had arrived, our change of plans was looking a bit pointless. No one had been on the road so far at all. Bevan and I took turns eating lunch while the other watched the road. Lunch was nothing special, just some hard cheese that kept well, and some salt pork, because we still had it in abundance. Not haute cuisine, but it did keep the stomach from complaining too much. As the afternoon progressed, Bevan was getting more and more restless.

  “You nervous about sparring with Teirnan tonight?” I asked.

  “Bah! I’m just bored. Thinking about the fight tonight gives me something to do while I wait to go back to camp,” said Bevan.

  “Is Tiernan any good?” I asked.

  “He’s alright I guess,” said Bevan. “He’s no Devlin, then again, no one else is either. But joking aside, and since he is out of earshot, he isn’t terrible.”

  “Well, do you want a warm up here just to get the rust off?” I asked, also thinking about how long it had been since I practiced.

  “We don’t have our staves here though,” said Bevan.

  “We’re in a forest, how hard do you think it will be to find some sticks?” I asked. “While you watch the road, let me run off and find some for us to use.”

  “Just don’t go too far. If we do spot someone, I need you in earshot,” said Bevan.

  Not needing any more encouragement, I headed off deeper into the woods. It took me a little longer to find anything that really fit our needs. I did make sure that Bevan was always at least partly visible through the trees. Fortunately, he continued to look as bored as I had been on my watch. So after about an hour of looking, I managed to find two roughly sword length candidates. With them in hand, I headed back to the lookout.

  “You see anything worth mentioning?” I asked when I got back.

  “Not really. A few robins and a blue jay,” Bevan said.

  “Bird watching?” I asked.

  “What else is there to do?” he said.

  “Well, I did find these sticks that seem to be about the right size,” I said.

  “They’ll do anyway,” said Bevan who inspected the sticks critically.

  “Better than bird watching?” I asked

  “Depends on the birds,” he said with a smile.

  I let Bevan choose the stick he wanted, and unsurprisingly he chose the largest. With one last look at the road to make sure no one was coming, we squared up.

  “Devlin says you aren’t incompetent with a sword,” said Bevan. “Coming from him, that’s high praise.”

  “I’m not sure how good I am,” I said. “He always beats me.”

  “Hah! Devlin always beats everyone,” said Bevan. “Anyway, I was thinking, given neither of us have helmets, we should, for safety, only aim hits at areas covered with armor.”

  “Do you think your brigandine and my jack of plates will take that?” I asked.

  “Well, if they aren’t, I’m the one who has to repair them aren’t I,” said Bevan.

  “It’s not the armor I’m worried about.” I said.

  “You’ll be fine kid, I’m not going to cripple you,” said Bevan with a very un-reassuring smile.

  “Yes, please don’t,” I said.

  We began circling each other in the clearing near the road that we were currently occupying. I made a couple of little attacks to feel out Bevan’s defense. While he didn’t move as quickly or as effortlessly as Devlin, he moved surprisingly fast for a blacksmith. He also did not seem in that big a hurry to attack me.

  “Come on kid, you can do better than that,” said Bevan.

  “You’re the one just standing there,” I replied.

  “Why move if you don’t have to?” He said. “I’ll move when I need to.”

  Sensing the challenge, I decided to take his bait. I hopped in and started a basic attack series, then, just as he got the rhythm of the blocking down, I switched up the pace. I tried one of Devlin’s tricks which was to keep attacking from one angle until the person was cheating a bit with their blocks, then attacking at the side that was now unguarded. I almost scored a hit on his belly with that. Bevan was saved by some quick sword (or stick in this case) work and some quick footwork.

  “Not bad kid,” he said. “You’ve clearly been paying attention to Devlin’s little tricks.”

  “Hey, at least I got you to move more.” I said.

  “True,” he said. “Now let’s see how you are on the defensive.”

  And just as he finished that sentence, he launched a furious attack of his own. Where Devlin used finesse, Bevan was using brute strength. He knocked my sword around enough that it was hard to keep my guard up and in place. Then as he was hammering down at my high guard, he suddenly switched the pace and knocked my sword up and out of the way. Then he gently tapped my chest with his stick.

  “Touché Tyr!” He said with a smile.

  “That’s not a Devlin trick,” I said.

  “There are benefits to being a blacksmith by trade,” said Bevan. “Arm strength is one of them.”

  He did have a point. I was not anticipating the use of force as a distraction from his actual intent. Good to keep in mind if I ever fought a big guy for real. Brute force can be a ruse as much as angle and direction of attack. Unfortunately, just as we were circling each other again, I noticed a shadow on the road.

  “Bevan, I think there’s someone on the road.” I said, pointing with my stick.

  “Really, you’re not trying to fool me with the old ‘Look out behind you!’ trick?” asked Bevan.

  “No there’s actually someone on the road,” I replied.

  “Oh, bloody hell!” Said Bevan with more than a little bit of annoyance.

  So we dropped our sticks, grabbed our gear and moved to the lookout point. On the road there appeared to be a fairly l
arge carriage with an outrider. It was quite a bit closer than we should have let it get, which also led to some more choice words from Bevan.

  “Ok, Tyr, I need you to run all the way to Devlin and Tiernan. Tell them I’m pushing out the barricade and that we have a large carriage and guard close by. And I do mean run, I don’t want to stop them before you all are in place.”

  “What? You’re sitting the barricade? I thought Devlin always did that.”

  “No time for arguments, Tyr. They’re too close to get everything in place otherwise. Now RUN!”

  And run I did. There was only a distance of about 200 to 250 yards between lookout points, but it was through the scrub and mixed trees of the forest near the road. So it took me about a minute to get there.

  “Whoa, Tyr! Slow down! What’s the rush?” Said Tiernan.

  “WespottedacarriageontheroadandBevanissittingthebarricade!” I said.

  “Come now Tyr, slow down, what’s going on?” Devlin asked as he arrived from his lookout point.

  “We spotted a carriage on the road,” I said. “But it’s closer than we had anticipated. So Bevan is pushing out the barricade right now and is waiting for us to take up our positions with bows in the woods.”

  “Shit,” said Devlin. “Ok, we need to move quickly then. Tiernan, lets grab our gear and get back to the ambush site.”

  With only a few moments to catch my breath, I found myself running after Devlin and Tiernan back to the ambush site. Fortunately, that was only half the distance I had just run, so I was not completely out of breath when we got to the trees overlooking the barricade.

  I quickly strung my bow, planted some arrows in the earth in front of me, and readied another. Devlin waved to Bevan to let him know we were in place, and then Bevan did the same back at us. By the time he was ready, so was Tiernan; this was fortunate because the carriage had already rounded the corner and was heading for the barricade. Worse, behind the carriage and the one outrider we had spotted earlier, a second outrider came trotting up as well. With only three archers now that Jarvis had left, we were a man down. I was starting to feel my nerves ramping up. My breathing was ragged, now as much from anxiety as from the sprint.

  Meanwhile, Bevan was sitting behind the barricade. He had his sword out and was testing the blade. The carriage approached and came to a halt in front of the log barricade. When it had stopped, Bevan stood up and moved in front of the barricade. When he did this, the closer of the two horsemen trotted up and drew his sword. The horseman in the back though stayed exactly where he was.

  “Hullo all!” Said Bevan. “If you would be so kind as to step out of your carriage, drop your weapons and to unload your goods, my friends in the woods there will be nice enough not to shoot you all full of arrows.”

  “I’m sorry, could you repeat that?” Said the driver. “I’m not sure I heard you correctly.”

  “I said, would you all please put down your weapons and unload your goods.”

  “Again, could you repeat that?” Said the driver leaning forward.

  What Bevan could not see, but we could from our vantage point, was that as the driver was leaning forward, pretending not to hear, he was actually reaching for a crossbow in the footwell of the driver’s bench seat.

  “All right, let’s take some warning shots.” Said Devlin. “One arrow each. Tiernan, if you can, put an arrow on that crossbow. Tyr, just shoot the carriage”

  So with shaking hands, I pulled the bow tight and aimed at the side of the carriage near the driver. We then all loosed our arrows. Tiernan’s arrow went wide, but still hit the footwell of the driver’s seat, startling the driver who pulled his hand away from his crossbow. I was so nervous, I was happy I hit the carriage. We will ignore that it was almost a foot off what I thought I had been aiming at. Devlin, on the other hand, put an arrow at the feet of the horse of the lead outrider. Then he immediately readied another arrow and did the same for the second rider. Both horses reared and shied away from the arrows at their feet.

  When the first horse reared, the rider fell off and immediately pulled his sword and jumped forward to grab the reins on the bridle. Unfortunately, he was now on the other side of the horse from us, and hidden from our line of sight. Worse, the carriage’s side doors opened up, and two more guards stepped out, each with a loaded crossbow.

  “Oh shit!” Said Devlin. “Fire at will!”

  I was so shocked I must have just stood there looking dumb because Devlin looked at me and shouted.

  “Tyr! Wake up and start shooting at the guards, they’re going to shoot Bevan.”

  Things suddenly came into focus and the world got really slow. I could hear my pulse hammering in my ear and my breath coming in ragged gasps. I also had managed to grab another arrow and ready it. Not knowing what else to do I shot at the carriage.

  Fortunately, I missed my shot. It went wide of the carriage and hit the dirt in front of the lead horse the first guard was hiding behind. The horse panicked, trying to escape. This forced the guard to fight with the horse to keep it from bolting. It also kept him out of the fray. Meanwhile two arrows had struck the man who exited the carriage nearest to our side of the road. One in his arm and the other in his thigh. He dropped the crossbow when his arm was hit, and it discharged when it hit the ground, sending the bolt into one of the wooden wheels of the carriage.

  As the first guard went down, Bevan was rushing towards the guard trying to keep his horse from bolting. Unfortunately, he had forgotten about the driver, who had grabbed his crossbow and was trying to get a clear shot at Bevan as he ran forward. Worse, all three of us had just fired shots and were grabbing our next arrows. Worse than that, I dropped the arrow I tried to grasp. With no arrow in hand and a crossbow aimed at Bevan I panicked and did the only thing I could.

  There was an audible “WOUMPH!” of sound as the driver and his cross bow burst into flames. Then the screaming began.

  The horse that was panicking bolted, knocking the reins out of the guard’s hands. This pulled him off balance briefly. Bevan, noting his opening, ran forward and ran the guard through with his short sword. Unfortunately, the guard with an arrow in his arm and leg had managed to free his sword with his other arm, and was limping towards Bevan, with nothing but the horses that were attached to the front of the carriage between him and Bevan’s back. Also, the guard on the horse was still mounted and had his sword free. The guard that had exited the other side of the carriage now had a clear shot at Bevan, since the first guard’s horse had bolted. The only thing keeping Bevan from getting shot was the other guard who Bevan had just ran through.

  Fortunately, Bevan was no fool. Instead of letting the first guard fall off his sword, he grabbed him by his sword belt, held him in place with the sword through his chest and kept him between himself and the guard with the crossbow. Unfortunately, holding up another human being in leather armor with a sword and a belt is not the least awkward position to find yourself in, especially when the person you are holding up is rapidly losing strength in his legs. The driver, whom I had immolated, had fallen over in the foot well of the carriage seat and had stopped screaming. He was now just wheezing and twitching.

  At this point, both Tiernan and Devlin had arrows drawn. At the same time, they both shot the guard who already had two arrows in him. One arrow took him in the back while the other hit him in the head. He dropped immediately to one knee and then just sort of fell over in a crumple.

  Seeing this, the last mounted guard galloped towards Bevan with his sword ready. The one still holding his crossbow stood with the carriage between him and our arrows, and he took an aim at Bevan’s head. I immediately realized what was happening. If Bevan used his human shield to guard against the man on horseback, he would leave himself open to the man with the crossbow. If he used the guard to protect himself from the crossbow, he would get his head split open by the swordsman on horseback. Worse, Devlin and Tiernan were reloading while the horseman was charging.

  At this point I panick
ed again and completely lost control. There was another, even louder “WOUMPH!” and the man holding the crossbow started screaming and waiving his crossbow about as he found himself completely engulfed in flames. His crossbow, with string weakened by fire, discharged. Fortunately, a flailing burning man is not a man paying attention to what his crossbow is aimed at. Thus the bolt flew off into the woods harmlessly. Better still, the flailing made the man on horseback rein in his charge. He took one look at the battle field, saw that he was alone, and immediately turned his horse and galloped away down the road.

  “SHOOT HIM! SHOOT HIM!” Yelled Devlin as he and Tiernan shot at the rapidly disappearing horses and rider.

  Unfortunately, their shots went wide. But with the danger gone, Bevan let the now dead human shield drop off his sword. He then immediately finished off the still burning crossbow man, who had fallen over into a flailing twitching mess. Devlin put an arrow into the crackling remains of the driver and Tiernan put another arrow into the last guard, who was already doing his best impression of a pin cushion with 5 arrows sticking out of him.