by James Wymore
"We mean to build a wall of defense and machines of war," Bowen answered. "They can't be fought the same as a man. We have to train to fight them."
"And this house is the place where all that will be taking place? You mean for us to build a wall all around here?" Drake asked. Other men and women looked to him, hoping he would say something to justify their reluctance.
"It's situated well," Elwood said. "We only need a wall between us and the north streams."
"Why not south? Why not east, in case they come from the peak?"
"This is not the time to decide such things," Bowen said. "Now is the time to commit our resources and our lives to each other."
"What of those who don't?" one woman near the fire asked.
"Nothing," Vince said. "We won't force anyone. However, we are expecting to be sorely outnumbered. Each family less will make the whole town that much closer to death if we can't hold the wall."
"And what if nothing comes of it?" Drake asked. "What if they never come against Winigh?"
"Then we count ourselves lucky to have good friends," Bowen said.
"We have no weapons," the same woman said.
"We will make them," Vince said, "and learn to use them." He pulled his sword out, revealing the twisting curves of the blade. Unlike Bowen, most of them had never seen the barbed, serrated, and twisted weapons of Sel. Everybody from Lanny's house pulled them out now. The visitors of the town glanced over the modified pickaxes and swords.
"You know how to make these, Selene?" Drake said to Elwood.
"No. Not these, exactly. They were forged in factories with great forges. However, we can use them as models. Many things you already have can probably be converted." Elwood drew his sword, drawing new attention.
Elwood sheathed his sword, stepped forward, and said, "I am pledging my life here before you all. I will die before Hyzoi enter Winigh. Who will stand with me?"
"I will," Vince said, and stepped forward. Bowen, Macey, and the rest of the house followed. Soon other families were joining as well.
"I want proof, first," Drake called out. A wave of murmurs went through the room as every eye turned to face him. "You have some fancy toys and the word of your own family. But what does that mean to us?"
"I've seen them," Bowen started.
Elwood put a hand out to Bowen's chest to stop him. He stared down Drake and said, "Name your proof."
"Show us your skill in battle. Prove you deserve our trust in war."
"You want a duel?" Elwood asked.
"Exactly."
"We don't have men to waste," Elwood said.
"Grappling, then."
Bowen said quietly, "This isn't a good idea."
Jewel came up with a scowl on her face. Macey clucked behind them all.
"Name your champion," Elwood said.
"Leo." A large young man stepped up. A head taller than Drake and big as a corn-fed pig, he probably weighed half again more than Elwood.
"What are the conditions of victory?" Jewel put on hand on Elwood's arm.
"You fight until somebody says they give up or can't get up."
"This is pointless," Vince said with a raised voice. "Even if Leo wins, he can't possibly lead us in battle.
"I accept," Elwood said, before Drake could answer Vince. He unbuckled his belt and handed his sword and knife to Jewel. He stretched his right hand over his head, testing the pain in his ribs. It was still strong.
"Do you want your ring back for a few minutes?" Jewel asked. She was smiling to conceal obvious worry.
"I don't own a ring," Elwood said back. He gave her a quick kiss for luck and stepped toward Leo.
The crowd spread out around the edges of the large room, leaving them plenty of space. While Leo crouched down for balance, Elwood stayed erect.
"I never lose," Leo said.
"You need to lean forward more," Elwood said. "If a Hyzoi hits you like that, you'll fall back and he'll tear out your jugular."
"I'm not fighting one of those," Leo said.
"Lucky for you. If you were, you'd probably be dead already. Your feet need to be closer together, so you can dodge to either side faster. They attack with their claws out to both sides, so you have to be able to duck all the way to the ground to get away."
"Shut up," Leo spat. "Just bring it already."
"I'm not the one with a problem," Elwood said coolly. "You will have to attack first. However, it's best always to wait for them. That, you did well. If you go to them, they will snatch you and never let go."
Eventually, Leo began circling around toward Elwood, angling for the best position. Elwood let him get all the way behind, not even turning. "If they get behind you," Elwood said, continuing his lecture, "your only good move is to run."
Leo sprang, wrapping an arm around each side. With arms pinned on each side, Elwood let Leo push him forward. As they fell, Elwood put both legs in front. Before they landed, he pushed to one side and twisted. They fell hard with Elwood's left shoulder driving Leo hard into the rock floor. When the grip broke, Elwood bounced back up. His ribs screamed, but he forced himself to keep an even demeanor.
"See, if you tried that with a Hyzoi, he would be eating your heart right now. They have frog legs, much more powerful than mine." Elwood held his anger in check. He knew he could have applied a boot to Leo's neck and ended it right then. Just as he knew now he could snap both the young boy's knees backward in a single swipe. However, he didn't have extra men. At the end of this fight, he needed to make this boy an ally.
Leo righted himself and returned to his wrestling crouch. "That almost hurt," he said.
Elwood didn't even acknowledge the taunt. "The only way to beat a Hyzoi, is to use their own movements against them. They are stronger, faster, and armored. The only way to win is with your mind and your weapons. Their best weakness is their large eyes. A hard, clear plate usually covers the eyes, but it opens when they jump or move."
Leo jumped for Elwood's legs. Elwood leaped just enough that when the strong arms wrapped around his calves all he had to do was sit down. Again, he forced Leo down onto the hard stone. When the boy refused to surrender his legs, Elwood wrapped them around the boy's neck and began to squeeze. Once the hands let go, he stood up and stepped away.
Now Elwood was talking to the crowd at large. "You have to use their own strength and size against them. If you get frustrated or lash out in anger, they will destroy you every time. Never chase them. Never lead into the battle."
Leo came with his hands up this time, swinging like a boxer. Elwood dodged or blocked every swing. When one was heading toward his left shoulder, he grudgingly let the strong hand make contact. The solid hit pushed him to the side. Elwood hoped it would make the kid feel better about what was going to happen next.
Leo followed the glancing blow with an uppercut. Elwood grabbed the hairless arm, turned, and wrenched it over his shoulder. Leo's expression turned to shock when his feet left the ground. Elwood ducked and pulled so fast the boy flipped over his back and tumbled in a heap across the ground toward the fire.
Elwood rose slowly. "Always use their strength against them."
Everybody cheered and closed the circle around Elwood. Drake went to help Leo up. Even though nobody had surrendered, the crowd declared the victor.
Chapter Twelve
In the dark room, filled with sleeping people, Elwood's thoughts kept him awake. Sometimes it felt like everything was going too slowly. Yet when he thought of it, things were moving very quickly. In the short time he could remember, so much had happened. The dark, foreboding feeling which had dogged any thoughts of forming an alliance with Jewel were fading now. Elwood didn't know if taking action gave him courage against an unremembered fear, or if it just took time to adjust to the idea. He imagined it was possible he had made some oath as part of his former military service against marrying. Surely, he must have sworn other oaths to protect the land of Sel, not just the capital city. So if marrying Jewel made it possible to
rally these people against the Hyzoi, he will have broken only the lesser of two oaths. He smiled lightly, thinking how neatly he had explained everything away.
"Are you…" Elwood jumped at an unexpected voice whispered from behind him. A dozen people nearby rolled over or shuffled around in the tight quarters. When he turned, it was Jewel.
"I didn't know you were there."
"Sorry," she whispered. She wore a vixen smile and breathed out a laugh she wouldn't voice.
"When did you show up?" It worried him she could get there without him detecting it.
"Shhh." She put one finger on his lips and signaled with her head toward the kitchen. Then she quietly rose and tip-toed between the packed sleepers. He followed her with less grace.
"What's going on?" he said softly.
Jewel winked a sparkling blue eye and quietly pulled the cellar door open from the floor. He followed her down the worn wooden stairs into pitch black. The smell of dust and vinegar heralded a vast store of potatoes and cured meats. Once his feet hit the flat rock floor, Jewel went back up and grabbed a low oil lamp, dropping the trap door silently into place above her.
She raised the light from the lamp, illuminating a long hall of shelved food and her beautiful smile. "With people filling every nook, I thought this would be a good place to talk."
"This room is bigger than the hall above," Elwood observed, trying to see the end of the long storage hall.
"It comes out in my cottage," she said. "One of Aunt Lanny's many eccentricities. Every one of these houses connects to another. Of course, six people are probably sleeping on top of it at the other end."
"We could hide half of Winigh down here if we needed," Elwood observed.
Jewel's smile dropped for a moment before she nodded. Clearly, she hadn't brought him here to talk about the war. She looked down at the ring as she twisted it in her fingers.
"What's wrong?" Elwood asked.
"Nothing's wrong," she said, making eye contact. He knew better.
"Are you concerned about the wedding? I don't know your customs here, but I will follow all of them."
"That's nothing," she said. "Far as anyone else is concerned, we might as well be married already."
"No ceremony?"
"We should probably do something," she said. "But nothing fancy, in light of what's going on."
"Does that bother you?" he asked.
"No. I'm not one of those girls who needs a big to-do, with cake and all. I just…" She took a deep breath and looked back down, afraid to say the words. "I just want to know what manner of marriage you will want."
Elwood wanted to hit himself upside the head. With everything going on, he had neglected the only good thing he could remember since waking up so few months ago. "Jewel," he said as he lifted her chin, "I want a marriage where the two of us ride off and never see another living soul for the rest of our lives. From the first day I saw you, I thought less of the men of Winigh because they had overlooked the most able and wonderful woman among them. I wish there were no Hyzoi, so the need could never have cast doubt on my intentions toward you. I wish the road were open so I could sweep you back to Sel City and parade you in the streets for all to see how great a gem I have found in these mountains. I only regret I must say the things I cannot show you because…"
She kissed him. From that moment on, the smell of musty cellars ever brought her lamp-lit face to mind.
"Won't people talk if they know we are down here?" he eventually asked.
"People always gossip. Still, it's better not to encourage them."
He nodded. "Before we go, I have a concern for you."
She turned her head and looked at him sideways. "You doubt me?"
"Never. Only I feel unworthy of all you deserve."
"The hero of Winigh, and you think yourself beneath me?"
"No, I just mean I don't know if I can give you everything I ought. Bowen believes in Macey's magic so much. But I…" He reached into his heart to try to force it to believe one more time. "I don't know if I can."
"Oh, magic." Jewel said. "Truth be told, I don't use it all that much. And it's only good for healing and helping other people. So it's just you who misses out if you don't believe."
"It doesn't make you despise me?"
"Magic won't save Winigh. You will. So I will believe in you, and we will not worry about my family's magic. I have plenty of sisters, should it come to that."
Elwood nodded. "Tomorrow, then," he said.
"Yes, I'll see you tomorrow."
"No, the wedding. I think we should do it tomorrow." He opened his eyes wide, challenging her to defy him.
"As my master wishes," she said with a sarcastic little curtsey. The flame flickered on the small lamp she still held. "Of course, people will complain if we don't give them all time to carry the news home and bring people here to see it."
"The next day, then," he said. "And we tell them that we want only alcohol for our gifts."
"Good idea." She turned toward the stairs, but he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back.
"Maybe we can endure a little more gossip before we go."
For the next two days, Elwood would have preferred Hyzoi to fight with above the unending preparations of the women of Winigh. Jewel demanded nothing be done which could not be used to help in the war. All the decorations were wooden rods, destined later to be topped with metal and turned into spears, and braided ropes to serve in so many future capacities. She demanded they raise a large barn for the wedding dance, which would later serve to house the many herds of mountain goats they expected to gather.
After a hearty breakfast, all the guests from the voting the night before went home to deliver invitations to the wedding. Jewel cleverly included in the invitation the fact they should plan to stay a long time, hoping to speed up the gathering and hasten training. For the honeymoon, they would be taking a tent and the sleigh north to survey the streams and roads. Macey would take over organizing everybody as they began quadrupling the population of Aunt Lanny's homestead.
Despite keeping everybody else busy from morning to sundown, Jewel granted Elwood's request for Bowen to remain free to work on machines. They built a few small catapults and experimented with various animal bladders and bottles to make bombs out of alcohol. Elwood also drew up some ideas for armored chariots. Crunching snow beneath their boots as they walked, they talked about designing war machines and traps.
"I don't know all the ways to use machines to turn an advantage on the field," Elwood said. "I just know we need something great. Like your melting chutes on the fireplaces. We need something new. Something they've never seen before."
"I don't know much about war," Bowen said. "It's a heavy burden to expect of a man."
"We don't need something big," Elwood said. "It can be simple. We just need something that will turn the odds in our favor. Fire, poison, ice, metal… I don't know what."
"You said fire only dries them out, but doesn't burn them."
"Right."
"Is that because of their armor?"
"I think so."
Bowen scratched his beard, which seemed to be more salt than pepper these days. "When you fought that thing, you used two weapons."
"One for leverage, one to cut the weak parts inside," Elwood said. He could see the gears of thought turning in Bowen's head. He just had to be sure to keep them going.
"And the eyes open when they jump?"
"They open other times, too. They are like eyelids, they use it to keep their eyes wet."
"Do you know if alcohol burns their eyes, same as ours?"
"I'm not sure," Elwood said. "But that's a good line of inquiry."
"Have you ever tried putting poison on your weapons?"
"I don't remember," Elwood said, "but I do know it's a short term option. Once a poison blade hits blood, especially the oily Hyzoi blood, it becomes ineffective. So it only works once."
"Oily blood?" Bowen repeated. He shuffled his hat arou
nd. "Oily like lamp oil? We get that from animal fat. Can we get it from Hyzoi fat?"
"I don't know."
Bowen paced a few times, looking up at the trees and clouds. Then he shook his head. "I don't think fire is the way to go."
"Why?"
"I mean, we'll use it. But it's just not effective in the long run. Even if we throw it at them, I don't think it will take them down. They have a limit to how far they can go from the water."
"Used to be less than a league. Now they have some kind of device allowing them to move two or three leagues."
"The stream's only two leagues from here," Bowen said.
"And we don't want the wall close to the houses." Elwood nodded. He wasn't in a hurry. He didn't expect a solution today. He just wanted Bowen to understand the important criteria so he could come up with something later.
"Seems we'd be better off moving the stream," Bowen said. He broke a twig off a nearby tree. Wiping a drift of snow flat, he began scratching a map onto the white surface. "If we are here and the peak is along this side, the stream collects down this side into the river, which turns south and to our west, below the cliffs."
Elwood packed some snow into a little wall and set it about threequarters of the distance between the stream and the houses. "If the wall goes from the peak to the cliff, we have a pretty strong defensive line. They will be near the point of going dry and have very little time. If we heat it up with fire along here and arrows aimed for their eyes…"
"I don't like it," Bowen said.
Elwood felt a pang of professional upset before he remembered it was more important to get ideas. "What's wrong?"
"If the stream is on their side of the wall, they can just start below the closest spring and trench this way." He drew a line toward the wall. "They can dig safely, unless we go out and meet them to try and stop it. The way those ones were under the ice, I think they can take all the time they want. So they just dig a big hole and slowly push it forward toward us."
Elwood patted Bowen on the back. "If you lived in Sel, they would have made you a tactical general for sure."
