“Well, now we know what they were waiting for,” I said to Meredith. “If I’m not mistaken, those two are Malvolio and Claudius.”
Meredith didn’t respond verbally, but she did grimace in recognition of the two. When they were close enough to the longhouse that they knew we could hear them, Malvolio cleared his throat and addressed us.
“Tyr, Meredith, it’s over. Why not spare yourself the pain of a fight and come along peaceably.”
“Yes, Mal and I have been discussing your cases, and we think we can agree to be lenient with you two,” Claudius said. “Despite having killed more guards in your escape from Caer Nord, and having spit on our generosity in trying to bring you into the fold of the church, if you surrender now, we can avoid any further bloodshed.”
I was considering my response to this when I was surprised by Meredith shouting out the window at them.
“You killed my father! He didn’t do anything! What kind of leniency can we expect from murderers? How do we know you won’t just kill us when you have us safely locked away from prying eyes?”
“Your father didn’t do anything?” Malvolio said with a laugh. “Don’t be droll. Not only was he harboring a fugitive, but when we inspected his books it turned out that he had been embezzling tax revenue from us for years. Worse, when confronted with both, he refused to talk. Refused to hand over what was ours. He had a chance to avoid his fate and spat on it!”
“And I’m supposed to take the word of a murderer for this?” Meredith yelled. “You admit to killing him for information, and then expect me to think that lying is somehow beneath you? Don’t make me laugh!”
“You want proof?” Malvolio asked. “You grew up in a nice sized manor house. Ever wonder how your father afforded that with just his small stipend from being the mayor of a small farming community? While both he and your mother were well off, they hardly had enough to afford all that. Or were you blind to their largess?”
“Even if that were true, which I have no reason to believe, that hardly justifies torturing him to death,” she replied. “You killed him and then hid the truth from me, even lied in the report so you could set a trap for us if we escaped. We have no reason to trust you.”
“No reason to trust us?” Claudius interjected. “Meredith, while it is true that we hid the truth from you, it was for good reason. We wanted to spare you from being implicated in your father’s crimes. You’re such a talented young woman, with a bright future ahead of her among the church’s medical staff, we didn’t want you to ruin it all chasing after a deceased embezzler.”
“And you Tyr,” Claudius continued. “I thought we were passed all this running away nonsense. You also have a bright future ahead of you, even now despite all you have done. All you need to do is surrender now, make penance, and it can still be yours.”
“You want me to join the very organization that killed my parents as well as Meredith’s?” I asked, also rhetorically. “How could I ever look myself in the mirror knowing I was a part of that?”
“Killed your parents?” Malvolio asked, with a scornful laugh. “Tyr, their deaths lie at your feet, not ours!”
“Horseshit!” I responded. “You sent a bunch of trained killers to ambush me at my parents’ house and accept no responsibility for the destruction they wrought? Are you insane?”
“Are you?” He asked back. “Tyr, none of the people who were sent to capture you had the capacity to blow up an entire farm. Very few people in the entirety of the priesthood now living have that kind of power, save for the high priest himself. No Tyr, while the confrontation was inevitable, its outcome is your fault. You blew up your farm and killed everyone inside it.”
I was left with nothing to say, so shocked and angered by his response. That he could so easily wipe his hands of his role in the deaths of both Meredith’s and my Parents infuriated me to the point where I temporarily lost my powers of speech. Fortunately, Claudius took that moment to interject, inadvertently saving me from having to respond.
“Tyr, Meredith, you have your options,” he said. “Either surrender and avoid bloodshed by throwing yourselves on the mercy of the church, or stay locked in there until we send in troops to dig you out. You both know the right thing to do. You know that further killing will gain you nothing. In one hour, I expect you both to surrender. So think well on your options.”
That next hour seemed to last forever. It didn’t take us very long to decide that surrender was not an option. The problem was that, we didn’t really want to just sit here in the longhouse while they threw waves of troops at us. I knew I could probably do some damage, especially in this confined space. But Meredith’s knockout spell only had a short range of efficacy, and she had a limited number of arrows to go with the bow we found. The best plan of action we could muster is wait for an attack and try and slip out during the confusion. Or, failing that, try to make it to nightfall and I would start lighting tents on fire, panic the animals and try and escape during the confusion like my sword had suggested.
Towards the end of the hour, or as near to it as I could figure given how far the sun had risen, something odd happened. Claudius and Malvolio were at the edge of the camp ready to come ask for our surrender when a soldier came running up to them. He was gesturing like mad to the East. Suddenly, both Malvolio and Claudius took a keen interest in what he was saying. While this was happening, more and more troops were joining them. It appeared like they were running from eastern side of the clearing.
“Tyr! Come here and look out the window!” Meredith practically shouted at me, despite being in the same room.
I quickly ran over to the window she was staring out of and saw a sight I had not imagined even in my wildest dreams. Out of the woods was marching what looked like a platoon of heavily armored men. It was only as the last remnants of the church troops ran by that I realized their proportions were off. They were shorter and much broader than the church troops. And while the church troops had light leather and chainmail armor, these new arrivals were in heavy plate.
“Are… Are the runes on their armor glowing?” Meredith asked, still looking out the window with me.
She wasn’t wrong. On the plate armor that this new platoon was wearing, there were intricate runes that I didn’t recognize. At first it looked like they merely glittered in the morning sun, but they still had a shine on them even when out of the light.
“Are they… Are they Dwarves?” I asked out loud.
“It’s like… It’s like right out of fairy tales…” Meredith said, clearly in awe. “Except, I don’t think they’re all dwarves… Those two clearly aren’t dwarves anyway.”
Then I saw what she was referring two. Two taller figures were coming to the front of the now stationary platoon of men, or dwarves, or whatever they were. From their silhouettes and hair, it was a man and a woman.
“Why would dwarves have human leaders?” Meredith asked.
As I was pondering just this question, Malvolio and Claudius walked out between the two groups, with their soldiers forming defensive lines behind them. The church troops formation being obviously less disciplined and orderly than their counterparts.
“What is the meaning of this?” Malvolio asked, with no small amount of hostility in his voice.
“Yes, please, we’d like to know who you are,” said Claudius. “For surely the Low King hasn’t decided to break the truce his grandfather brokered with the High priest all those many years ago…”
With this opening statement, the man from the new arrivals walked forward and turned and smiled at us through the window. It was then that I recognized him and the woman standing beside him.
“Holy shit, that’s Devlin and Moira! We’re saved!” I shouted with elation.
“What, you mean the leader of the bandits you lived with?” Meredith asked with some confusion. “What is he doing leading dwarven troops?”
A very good question indeed. In my time with my bandit friends, I never knew them to have dealings with any
one else. Of course, I realized I probably didn’t know much about their dealings at all. While Devlin had discussed what sort of loot he liked to grab and why, he was not all that clear with what he did with it once he had it. The longhouse was big, but not so big that it could hold years’ worth of stolen goods, even if we were discerning with what we stole and from whom. But my thoughts were interrupted by Devlin speaking.
“Why hello! Please, allow me to introduce myself,” said Devlin to Claudius and Malvolio. “My name is Devlin, and you seem to be trespassing on my property. Moreover, I do believe you have a friend of mine locked away in my old house. So if you would be so kind as to remove yourselves from my property, I would greatly appreciate it.”
“Your property?!” Malvolio said. “All lands belong to the church, cur! And if I’m not mistaken, we ran you trespassers off months ago. Run along before we do the same again.”
“Mal, please, perhaps a more… politic voice is needed here,” Claudius interjected.
No doubt Claudius interrupted when he saw how many backs straightened in obvious anger among the dwarven troops at the statement “all lands belong to the church”. For all that he and Malvolio were backed up by their own troops, I doubt he liked their chances with lightly armored foot soldiers against their heavily armored opponents. Also, politics was somehow involved here. His mention of a treaty with someone called the “Low King” clearly played a roll.
“Devlin, as you may or may not know, these woods are a boundary between the holy empire and the low kingdom, from whence I assume these soldiers have come,” said Claudius. “Your… house… exists in a legal grey area. However, since you are human, and the fugitives we have trapped in your house are human, policing this area falls to humans under the treaty struck between the first high priest and the low king.”
“You discuss legalities with me on my own doorstep with my friends trapped in my own house?” Devlin asked. “Bold strategy. However, given our current positions here, I think I must insist that you withdraw and allow me to leave with my friends. Or do you really want to break a peace that has stood for 500 years?”
“If you would pardon me for a minute, I have matters to discuss with my colleague,” Claudius responded with an obvious grimace.
Claudius and Malvolio then withdrew some ways and had an involved discussion. Unfortunately, I was too far away to overhear, but I bet it would have been entertaining to hear. During this conversation, the church troops were nervously eying each other and the new arrivals, clearly not relishing the idea of confronting their well-armed adversaries. For the dwarves’ part, they just stood there in strict ordered lines behind Devlin and Moira.
After some time, Claudius approached Devlin again, while Malvolio went back to his line of troops. Claudius then addressed Devlin.
“Surely some kind of arrangement can be reached here. The two friends of yours are fugitives and wanted for the murder of church inquisitors and guardsmen. While we are perfectly happy to leave the area, we can’t do so without taking those two with us.”
“You seem to misunderstand our positions,” Devlin said, now sounding more stern. “These are my friends and they are in my house. As far as I’m concerned, the only arrangement we can make involves me leaving with my friends, you can have the bloody burnt down longhouse.”
“I’m afraid that’s not an acceptable outcome to us,” said Claudius. “And I had hoped to avoid violence…”
And with Claudius stating the word “violence” he drew a wand out of his sleeve and blasted Devlin with lightning.
“Devlin!” I shouted, or something to that effect, as I watched him fly backwards onto the ground twitching and convulsing.
But then I had other concerns. The whole line of church soldiers broke into a run at the moment Devlin was incapacitated. Some ran at the open end of the longhouse, clearly trying to capture Meredith and I, the other formed ranks around Claudius, one row of foot soldiers followed by a line of archers. Moira grabbed Devlin and pulled him back, meanwhile the dwarven lines moved forward and surrounded Devlin. Unfortunately, they were shortly thereafter pinned down by arrow fire from the church archers.
Upon seeing this, Meredith and I immediately drew in magic. Meredith also grabbed the bow and arrows I had found. For my part, I can’t remember if I summoned my sword, or merely drew it. But either way it was in my hand already and ready for use.
The first soldiers pushed their way through the wreckage of the back of the longhouse in minutes. They ran into the kitchen, only to be confronted by the barricade we had rigged. They didn’t have time to do much about it though, as their momentary slowing on the barricade gave Meredith a chance to shoot one with an arrow, while I blasted another with lightning of my own, using the sword as a wand.
While Meredith reloaded, another group of soldiers had forced their way in. I stalled them briefly with a line of icicles I had summoned in the space between attackers. Unfortunately, these mostly rattled off the helmets and armor of the soldiers. One took a solid hit in the head and went down. But the next only paused half a step. This man suddenly found himself engulfed in flames as I instinctively blasted him with the magic I was most familiar with.
Unfortunately, this still left two soldiers. One immediately vaulted the barrier, and I engaged him with my sword. He was armed with a battle axe, so his attacks were forceful. Despite this, I was able to parry the first few attacks he threw at me without losing my grip on my sword. While I was distracted the second soldier cleared the barrier and started to raise his sword to strike me down while I was otherwise engaged. Fortunately, this distracted him long enough for Meredith to put an arrow through his armor’s armpit seam. I saw him fall over and begin convulsing on the floor out of the corner of my eye.
This was all I could spare of my attention as I was still dealing with an axe wielding soldier. After a few more parried blows, I moved in to counterattack. My first few thrusts were parried by the axe wielding soldier with some effectiveness. Unfortunately for him, he had to back up into the barrier to do so. With his back at the barrier, I aimed a series of strokes at his head. This kept his head up and kept him from focusing on where he was stepping. His last step hit the barrier and tripped him. This loss of balance caused him to drop his guard for just long enough for me to run him through.
With my opponent taken care of, I looked over to make sure Meredith was ok. I was glad to see that she was not only ok, but that she had readied another arrow for the next wave of attackers.
“Good shot Meredith, you may have saved my life,” I said. “How’d you learn to shoot so well? You got him right in the armpit join!”
“Um, well… I may have been aiming at his face…” She said a little embarrassed.
“Oh, I see…” I said, realizing how lucky I had been. “Still, good save!”
I figured saying anything less encouraging wouldn’t be helpful given the circumstances.
Over the next 15 minutes or so, a few more soldiers were able to break through. One went down to an arrow from Meredith. I hit one more with another fiery blast. With two soldiers down from being lit on fire, the longhouse was beginning to smell nauseatingly like burnt meat. The last wave of soldiers jumped the barricade at the same time, and Meredith flubbed the shot with her arrow. Fortunately, while I was parrying blows from both soldiers, she used her magic to knock one out. This distracted the other long enough for me get under his guard and stab him though the neck.
With this last soldier down, we found ourselves without foes. Meredith and I ran to the window to see what was going on, though I made sure to keep an eye on our barricade for more intruders.
Outside, I saw Devlin behind the line of Dwarves, he was sitting up, but still shaking from being hit with lightning. Moira was standing in front of him, using her height advantage over the dwarves to shoot arrows at the church soldiers. She was shooting damn near an arrow every second, with few missing their marks. Her prodigious skills as a hunter clearly being put to good, if grisly, wo
rk.
The Dwarves were holding a line. They were clearly well trained at fighting in formation as the church soldiers were having a hard time trying to break their lines. They used large shields to form a barrier and would coordinate axe strokes with their shields so that the only opening in their line had a battle axe swinging through it. This kept the church soldiers from breaking through, and open to Moira’s bow.
This situation also explained why no more soldiers were trying to break into the longhouse, their surprise attack having failed, they were unwilling to get out of formation to rush the house because it would make them an easy target for Moira. With no progress being made on either the house or the dwarven troops, Claudius and Malvolio, now in the back of the line of troops using magic to deflect arrows, began signaling a retreat.
It only took them a few minutes to leave the clearing and get into the cover of the trees. When they did this, the Dwarves formed up battle lines next to the main entrance of the longhouse. Seeing this as our chance to escape, Meredith and I started tearing apart the barricade at front of the door. In a few minutes we were able to get it open and get out of the house.
01 - The Price of Talent Page 43
