~~~^~~~
Dominus Fenton watched the next group file out of the taberna silently. He motioned for the domina to go but she shook her head. He snorted.
“I see you aren't going either,” she said, eyeing him coldly.
“I would just get in the way,” he said. “I'll go in a moment though.”
“Right,” she drawled, making him flush. They both knew that they could still flee if things went sour. “We need to secure the library too and as many of the machines as we can.”
“First things first. We've got to secure the princess and the castle,” he told her.
~~~^~~~
Habernicus saw the patrol and nodded politely. He stood his ground though as his training dictated.
Which meant when the man in his own livery walked up, he never moved to stop him when the man used a blade pressed to his forearm to slice his throat.
His killer appropriated his victim's weapons and gear, quickly, then pulled his powder horn, shot, and belt with coins for good measure and then dragged the body off to a dark area.
Habernicus was only the first of the Imperials to die that night. He certainly wouldn't be the last.
~~~^~~~
The sound of weapons fire told them someone had slipped up. It was inevitable though. It made Olaf speed up his pace down the hidden corridor. “I've got this,” he growled to the knight. “You need to secure the barracks.”
“It is all for naught if we don't secure her so shut up and keep moving old man,” Percival said, then brushed past the drott to charge into the inner chamber.
~~~^~~~
Garbled radio reports and muffled shots told the Palace Guard detachment that something was very wrong. When more shots rang out and they heard footfalls in the secret passage, Trey pushed the princess behind her.
There were four men with him. Two were the normal night guards, and the other three had been sleeping nearby. They had been about to slip someone out to see what was going on when all hell broke loose.
The passage door flew open, knocking Trey back. A man stepped through and threw an ax into Trey's chest, killing him.
Another guard nearby was killed as he tried to bottle up the entrance to the corridor. He managed to fire his pistol into the gut of the man who killed Trey though, mortally wounding the man. But the man managed to fold over onto the gun, momentarily binding it and leaving Livius open to a stab of a sword from one of the intruders.
“Back!” one of the three remaining guards said, pushing the princess back. He didn't have a pistol or rifle though, just a knife. He cursed himself for not being fully armed.
He cursed further when one of the intruders got his hands on Livius' bloodied pistol.
“Stop,” Zara barked, momentarily freezing them all.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"I would think that was obvious," Percival said with a snort.
“You wish to what, kill me?” she asked, lifting her chin. Her own pistols and weapons were hidden in a chest nearby. She hadn't the time to get to them. As she saw the eight men enter, she realized it was too late.
“Alive,” the balding man with a beard and long hair in the back ordered, shouldering his way through the group.
She stared at him. She didn't know him, but she felt a small amount of hope. “You wish to what, kidnap me?”
“We are taking back what is ours,” Olaf growled, looking at the tableau. His men could easily kill the guards, but he wasn't so sure of the safety of the princess.
“Stand down,” Zara said, feeling every part of her quiver in fear. But she forced herself to give the order. "If you give them your parole, I will order them and the castle garrison to stand down."
"Parole?"
"If you will not harm them or myself, they will not harm you."
"Fine, yes," the drott said. Words were easy enough to use. Promises could easily be broken. Only a fool would take them at face value.
"On your honor and the honor of your house. All of your houses then," the princess said, looking at them. Percival, Olaf and the others looked at each other and then nodded.
Once she passed the order, she shook her head. "This is unwise to the point of very foolish. My sister takes a very dim view on treason."
"We are taking back our lands," Percival said as he took a weapon from a guard.
"I never took them in the first place. We made a point of that to you," the princess stated. "Had you wanted to debate it, we could have done so without the bloodshed. What has been done cannot be undone."
"We will not be ruled by a foreign girl," Percival said, running the guard who had just handed over his weapon through with his own sword. The guard toppled over.
"Now I see what your word is worth," she said, looking at the drott. "You have no honor."
"You are still alive, aren't you?" he asked.
Dominus Fenton looked shocked. Another guard moved in on a prisoner but the drott waved him back.
"Enough!" Olaf snarled. "No more killing. Remember the plan. We'll need them."
"Why?" a guard demanded. “They are filth that must be cleansed from our lands!”
"He means as hostages," the princess replied. All eyes fell to her and then to the leaders.
"She is correct," the drott said grudgingly. So, the whelp knew a few things about how this sort of situation worked. So be it.
"Take her away," he said, pointing to a trusted legatus. "Unharmed and unmolested," he added as the guards grabbed her by the biceps. "She is not to be harmed or sullied by anyone. The one who does will answer to me ."
The legatus nodded even as some of the guards grimaced in annoyance.
Olaf pinned them with a glare and then turned back to Percival. Once the princess was gone, he looked at the knight. “That was stupid and unwise.”
“What?” the knight asked, wiping the blade on the tunic of the dead soldier and then stripping him of his belongings.
“That. In front of her no less,” the drott said.
“What's done is done. We'll continue.”
“Right.”
~~~^~~~
Percival went out the side door as a body fell from the battlements. He turned and scowled at the scream and cries for help. Noises in the barracks and then a light switching on told him that the fools were finally awake. Well, he had an answer to that.
He noted Dominus Fenton staying close to the kitchen entrance, and he sniffed contemptuously. He waved to his men silently, and they pulled out a wooden bar. The group used it to lock the barracks from the outside, trapping those within.
Once he had men stationed near the windows, he took a torch and threw it through a window. A second torch went on the roof, then another through the window. He heard yells and bellows from within. He grinned.
“It won't be long now. Be ready,” he growled, hefting his sword. When the fires flared, catching on something he heard a muffled laugh, then a scream to get out. A shuttered window was thrust open and he pointed his sword to it. Two of his men went to it with their weapons.
Anyone who tried to get out a window was cut down by spears, axes, or swords. Anyone who stayed inside were roasted alive.
~~~^~~~
The Imperial guards on duty who had been in the far-flung regions of the castle fought back but found that fighting with rifles were hard, especially in the corridors of the castle. But they had been trained to fight with them and did their valiant best.
A confused soldier trotted to the sound of weapons fire. He'd had two conflicting lessons, march to the sound of the guns but don't leave your post. But something was going on, and even if he got in trouble, he had to know.
When he rounded a corner, he saw a charging Viking and stared. The Viking had full battle dress on, complete with fur and feathers on his shoulders. When the man raised a blood-soaked ax to strike, he took a step back and shot the man in the head. He went down fast.
Another Viking came behind the first, but this one had a rifle. The Duluthians had t
rained some of their people to pick up the Terran weapons and use them. Those that did had minor success if they hit their targets. But they didn't understand the concept of reloading and in the heat of the moment; many turned to use the rifles as clubs rather than as their intended purpose.
~~~^~~~
Attack others. Destroy the radio as a servant tried to figure out how to work it. The servant was run through; her body left crumpled to bleed all over the device.
A Viking picked up and threw the laptop to the hard floor and then stomped on it.
Olaf led a team to capture the armory. He informed the men there that the princess had surrendered the castle.
That made the men inside hesitate and then surrender.
He had them bound and then set aside as he brushed past them intent on another prize. He surveyed the inside of the armory, noted the changes and then ordered the new weapons to be handed out to his supporters. He organized them into small teams of four and ordered them to search the castle.
They nodded and left, unsure of their weapons but determined to use them.
~~~^~~~
Percival saw the weapons flowing in the right direction and grinned. He took charge of a team and held them for his personal reserve, ignoring their orders. He intended to remain alive to see the battle through to the dawn.
~~~^~~~
Olaf killed a guard as the man ran around the corner. It had been a simple thing. Just wait until the soldier was there and then drive the knife into his abdomen.
It had felt good initially, but then bothered him as the Imperial sobbed as he doubled over the wound. He bent down and cut the throat of the soldier to end his suffering.
He then ordered his people to move on to secure their objectives.
He found that despite the assurances of surrender from the princess, those Imperials who knew how to use their weapons were good at it. Word had gotten around that there was no surrender either, and they were fighting hard. He took a grazing wound from rifle fire when he went out into the open. He clutched at his arm to stem the bleeding as he ordered men to the battlements to shoot down and kill the enemy.
He watched as Percival took personal charge of the men on battlements.
Olaf took a moment to look around as the shots rained down. He saw a body fall, then another before the shooter in the courtyard was finally forced out and killed. They were winning, but for every victory, it cost him a man. Despite surprise being on their side, they were being attritioned.
“Order more men forward,” he growled, grabbing a soldier as another worked on his arm. The soldier nodded and rushed forward.
They had another squad, a quindecim of trained and armed soldiers outside waiting in reserve. After that it was the volunteers, another three quindecim , most of them with basic weapons and little training. He sent another soldier to bring them forth anyway.
As he checked, he found a lot of his people were killed, especially those who took foolish chances. It was far more than expected. He needed those men. A handful were wounded; he gently spoke to them and had a servant see to their wounds until they could see a medicus.
~~~^~~~
Olaf came around to a where a group of his men were milling around a room, saw a woman being screwed and shook his head. “We have no time for that!” he snarled, picking up a firearm and slamming it into the hands of one of the guards. “Save it for later; we have Imperials to kill!”
The men fumbled with their draws and then left sheepishly.
He looked down to the wench whimpering and shook his head and then left her.
~~~^~~~
Augustus fired a series of shots down a hallway, cringing at the deep booming echo. The firefight in the hallway was just one of many. Some of his guards around him had been killed. The shooting in other parts of the castle had stopped; that told him ominous things since the enemy had begun to get reinforcements and he had not.
“We need to shoot our way out. Try to get to the princess and get the hell out of here!” a miles said, terrified.
Augustus turned at the sight of one of his people. He waved the bloodied man forward. The man came over with some enigmatic smile. When he got close, he ambushed the Imperials, shooting one and then clubbing a startled Augustus down with the rifle butt. Another guard tried to get away but moved too far out into the corridor and was shot for his trouble.
Augustus stared at the man in his own livery just as the butt of the rifle came down and knocked down him out.
~~~^~~~
Tycho took his people out just as he saw the fire roaring in the courtyard of the distant castle. He stared, realizing it was the barracks.
He turned and used his binoculars to look at the stream of people near the castle's main gate. They were coming in, but some were coming out. Those that were coming out were either wounded or carrying rifles or loot. They weren't his people.
That didn't bode well for the castle or anyone within.
“The princess!” a guard gasped. “We need to get in there!”
"We're sworn to protect her!" another said.
"And the Imperium! And we can't do both if we're dead!" the legatus snarled.
He turned back to his barracks in time to see a group surrounding it. That meant they couldn't go back that way.
"This way!" he ordered, motioning for his men to move out.
The group behind them saw them and pointed and then began to shoot. He realized they must have gotten weapons from some of the patrols in the city. There was no time to worry about that though, only time to fight and run for cover.
~~~^~~~
Zara felt her heart thud as she waited as patiently as she could in the closet. The guards had not taken her back to her suite or to the dungeon. Instead, they'd locked her away in a windowless room.
She thought she might be bait but perhaps not. Despite her parole, she could hear the fighting outside, but all she could do was hope and pray her people managed to somehow win and save her.
Fear of the unknown tore at her. She fought down a panic attack. She forced herself to meditate, falling into Doctor Carter's lessons on how to deal with the stress.
~~~^~~~
Percival wondered if they could hold but the Imperials were crumbling. His people's higher numbers were starting to tell; the tide was in their favor despite all of the losses. As Olaf had planned with control of the battlements and control of the courtyard, the Imperials were cut off, isolated in the castle, and pinned down. Their surprise had been devastating.
“Your princess has fallen!” Olaf's voice boomed out. “She is our prisoner! We have offered parole to those who throw down your arms! Do so and you will not be harmed!”
Percival snorted at the very idea of taking prisoners, but a part of him realized it was important. Every man they took without a fight was one more of his men that would live. It burned, but he ordered his men to back the order and take prisoners.
They could do something about them later after all.
~~~^~~~
With control of the castle effectively theirs, the Vikings turned to the spoils of their conquest. Some looted, but others were more interested in killing the injured or raping the women, especially the stuck-up Imperial women.
Those people who had been marked as sympathizers were targeted by supporters of the conspirators. Percival watched as some broke down doors. He heard the screams, cries for mercy, and then the whimpers and cries. He ignored it.
“Stop them from destroying the doors at least!” Dominus Fenton said. Now that the fighting was more or less over, he was going about, taking inventory and trying to put a stop to the looting.
"Why?"
“Every door they destroy is one more that we have to replace!” the dominus stated. “Try the handle first!”
A guard tried it and then sheepishly opened the door.
He shook his head in despair.
“Leave them,” Percival said, already looking to the capital and the smoke rising from there.
> “Why?” the dominus demanded.
"It is a form of their pay. And it will induce fear in the population."
"Oh."
"Besides, we need them."
“At least get that fire out before it destroys the entire castle!” Fenton said, waving to the glare from the fire outside.
Percival looked outside and then shrugged such considerations away. “I've got more Imperials to kill,” he said as he left.
Hostage Rescue (Princess Rescue Inc Book 2) Page 36
