“Soldiers march, Mistress,” Senka breathed.
“Bearing weapons,” Isa added. Sweat trickled from the tip of his bone white nose.
“It’s alright, we’re expecting them,” Nyset said. “I’m sorry, I should’ve told you. I met with the Earl yesterday, he’s giving us more men for the city’s defenses.”
“Told the patrols and most of the guards last night, so not to worry Mistress.” Claw winked at her.
“Good, good, Claw.” She squeezed his shoulder. “Come with me to meet them.” She cast her glance to Lena, Senka, Isa, and Claw.
The Falcon soldiers swathed the scrubland in shining armor. Their spears glinted in the morning sun. Nyset marched out to meet them, her companions following behind.
“There’s something off here,” Claw came up, muttering beside her.
“Nonsense, Claw. Your dislike for the Earl is clouding your judgment,” Nyset said.
His gray hair waved in a gust. “No, something ain’t right. Can feel it in my bones, Mistress.” Claw glanced back at Senka and Isa, who were donning their real weapons. They secured belts and tightened clasps, checking blades, hammers, and needles were properly positioned. Nyset wondered how many ways of killing were contained between the four of them. Far too many, she thought.
“Alright, Claw. Everyone, keep your eyes sharp.” Nyset nodded at him. She felt a bit of their tension creeping into her gut. Perhaps he was right to be a little worried. You could never be too cautious. She gripped the torrent of the Dragon, letting its roaring flames simmer in her chest. She betrayed her words with her actions, she knew. Claw grinned at her, seeing the glow of her eyes reflected in his.
The soldiers formed into long columns, eyes locked on the horizon and mouths hard with the rigor of discipline. The Earl trotted out on horseback from between a pair of columns, his wine-red cloak trimmed with gold flicking in the wind. He wore light padded armor, glowing with golden thread. Nyset stopped and smiled at him. He dismounted from his horse and handed it off to one of the soldiers. He strode over to them, chest puffed out. His eyes were hooded and bloodshot like he had a rough night at the tavern.
“Arch Wizard.” He slitted his eyes at her.
“Good morning, Earl Baraz. How does the day fair?”
“See you're holding the Dragon, Mistress. Don’t trust me?” He stroked his square-cut beard.
“No, no. The Dragon for me is sort of like putting on my trousers. Don’t leave home without it.” She forced out a nervy smile.
“What a gift!” The Earl clapped his big bear paw hands together. “You’ve brought me the bottom feeder of Helm’s Reach, Lena the herbalist scum, stirring the seeds of dissent to profit off the wounded.”
Lena’s tiny mouth fell open.
“Lena, Lena. You insult me. You don’t really think I’m dumb enough to have missed that you’re the only shop in the city with a printer?” He held out one of her old pamphlets, the corner ripped and image smudged, showing a picture of the Dragon and Phoenix warring in flight.
“You have no idea what it’s like—” Lena started, tugging on her flowing skirts.
“You’re coming with us, scoundrel.” The Earl cut her off and loomed over her. “Knew you’d gotten your dirty dreadlocks into the Tower somehow. Never knew you were this close, though. Thanks for bringing her, Arch Wizard.” He started towards her and Lena’s eyes widened with terror.
“I will be handling Lena’s punishment, thank you, Baraz.” Nyset’s voice sliced the air. She widened her stance, blocking his path.
“You will?” Lena squeaked.
“Her crimes are against the city!” The Earl balked. “You’ll do no such thing. Don’t forget when you’re in the city, you’re under the law of Helm’s Reach, Mistress.”
Nyset felt Senka and Isa fanning out at her sides, their fingers twitchy and eager to reach for weapons. Nyset lowered her palm at them for peace.
“I thought you came to bring me troops to defend the city, not to squabble over a matter already settled?” Nyset sighed. She didn’t have the capacity for this.
“Oh, you’re right about one thing, Nyset. It’s been settled.” His lips parted in a murderous grin. “Seize them!” He threw up his arm. “Your games here are over, Arch Wizard.”
Twenty or so men spilled out from the front of the columns, boots pounding and armor clinking. They lowered their spears and pressed Nyset and her friends into a ring. Their eyes were implacable and hard.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Nyset demanded. She made the fire in her eyes pulse enough to give the soldiers pause.
“Your little show has gone on long enough, Mistress. Can’t have too many rogues running about, understand?” The Earl planted his big hands on his hips.
“But you have no qualms about scoundrels like Scab and his mercenaries living in your city?”
A few of the soldiers turned suspicious faces to the Earl.
The Earl tilted his chin up. “They weren’t causing any problems. They’re good for the economy.”
“Good for the economy.” Nyset nodded and her lips made a hard line. As long as you all don’t mind your daughters getting poked by his disgusting savages playing at men, then well…” she gestured to the Earl, “it’s great for the economy. Great for the city, men defecating on the street, robbing your merchants and anyone without a blade to defend herself.” Mutters washed over the columns of the Falcon.
The Earl took lumbering steps toward her and soldiers parted to let him through. “A mere distraction. That’s not the point of this.” The Earl stabbed his finger into her chest. Claw predictably went for his sword, but she pressed his arm for him to stand down. Nyset glanced sideways at Senka and Isa, who followed her direction with Claw.
The Earl started. “It’s time for the Silver Tower to set sail on new lands. Helm’s Reach is no place for you. You’ve given this bottom feeder protection from the law, pillaged our children to build your armies.” He shouted it loud enough so his words would carry. That got grumbles of agreement spreading across the men. “Well, what are you waiting for? Put her in chains, damn it!”
“Wait.” She raised her palms and the few soldiers bold enough to advance on her stopped in their tracks. “This isn’t you. Who’s behind this? I’ve been here months without an issue. Now this? Why the sudden change?”
The Earl’s face brightened with a triumphant smile. “Well, if you must know, don’t see any harm in telling you now. Amand!” He shouted into the ranks of men.
She needed time to think, time to figure out a way out of this.
A man on horseback trotted from around a column of soldiers, his face burning with blood. He stopped beside the earl, his horse snorting. “I told you to leave me out of this, you ungrateful bastard. After all the marks my father’s given you!” Amand hissed.
“But, but,” the Earl stammered.
“Too late now,” Amand said vacantly.
Amand. Where had she heard that name before? She let the name roll around in her head, searching for the source. There were so many names to keep track of now, too many people she’d met. She vaguely remembered the name, something from a month ago maybe.
“He ran into us yesterday,” Claw said beside her. “I can’t forget that scowl and those unnaturally clean boots.” Claw nodded at Amand’s boots wedged into stirrups. Nyset nodded, but there had to be more than that?
Amand pulled his horse up in front of her. He wore an overlapping vest in carrot orange, trimmed with golden beads with forest green trousers stylishly wrinkled at the knees. He certainly made no pretense at blending in. “You don’t remember me, Mistress. But I shall never forget you for the rest of my days.” His voice was sharp with haughty eloquence.
“Please, refresh my memory? I’m sure this is all a mistake. We can work out—”
“No,” he cut in, his voice hoarse. “It’s too late for that now. You embarrassed me in front of the common people of the Middle.” He bared his teeth at her. “I am of noble bi
rth, of the highest rings of the city. Do you have any idea of the irreparable harm you’ve done to my reputation?”
“Truly, I don’t know what you’re talking about, Amand. How have I wronged you so?” she pleaded.
Claw sighed. “Haven’t got time for this shit,” he said under his breath.
Nyset jabbed an elbow into his ribs. “Ssh.”
Senka snickered.
“You think this is funny!” Amand shrieked at Senka. Nyset caught one of the Falcon soldiers stifling a grin. Senka’s fingers twiddled under her bracers, likely brushing the end of one her deadly needles.
“Are you going to tell me what I did to make you so angry?” She inhaled slowly, trying to calm the frantic nerves wriggling in her stomach. Claw growled at a pudgy-faced soldier that had inched too close. How quickly a friend can become an enemy, Nyset mused.
Amand stared at her and his lips furiously worked. Nyset waited with a raised eyebrow, staring back. Someone coughed at the back of the ranks of soldiers. Amand grunted and dismounted, then brushed a scrap of plant matter from his thigh. Somewhere a dog yelped in pain.
Amand strode up to her and leaned into her face. She held her ground; she would not show weakness. His skin was olive, pockmarked, and appeared to be stretched over his bony face. “Remember me now?” he hissed, his breath infused with the tang of garlic.
She wanted to back away to be safely clear of the onslaught that was the man’s breath. “I’m afraid not,” she said with forced listlessness. But she did remember now. The memory came rushing back. It felt like flipping over an old stone, only to discover to your surprise you had hidden something there. She had made him apologize to a poor woman who he had shoved to the ground at her recruiting table line. Nyset had narrowly diffused the tension in the crowd before it had become an all out brawl about which of the two gods were better. She had thrown both the woman and him into the air, putting enough fear in them to replace their anger. It worked. Yes, she remembered him well now. She wanted him to feel small and as insubstantial as a turd to be scraped from her boots. Egos like his needed to be crushed.
“You don’t remember me?” Amand snorted.
“No,” she said, then lowered her voice so only he could hear. She slid her face close as a lover’s beside his ear. She could see the beads of sweat welling out from his scarred cheeks. “You’re just another face in the crowd, swine. Nameless, unmemorable, a gnat to be swatted away, a rat to be squashed under my heel.” His jaw worked with fury. “Help me save this city, or go back to the hole from whence you came.”
Amand jerked back as if punched. “You fucking bitch!” His arm wound back, palm opened for a slap. “You’ll get yours, you—’” Isa’s arm was swift as the wind, snatching him around the wrist. Senka’s leg came after, side kicking him in the ribs and sending him sliding across the earth with a grunt.
“Kill her! Kill her!” Amand shouted from the ground, one arm wrapped around his side, the other stabbing his finger at her as if it were a weapon.
Blades rasped against leather, whispering the language of death. Isa had a hammer in one hand and what looked to be a heavy butcher’s knife in the other. One of the Falcon soldiers gaped at him, his face going white as Isa’s. “The fuck?” the gaping soldier croaked, eyes shifting back and forth between Isa’s brutal weapons.
Senka dropped into a crouch, daggers gleaming from each hand. Claw stepped in front of Nyset, the wide and curved blade of Ghostwalker drawn, notched from years of hard use.
“Do as Amand says,” the Earl said with what might have been reluctance.
The soldiers leveled spears at them, sharpened to menacing points. Shields came up behind their spears, forming a wall of steel, and behind those were eyes shrouded under helmets.
“No! No, no.” Nyset pushed her way in front of Claw and he begrudgingly moved aside. “Lower your weapons, everyone!” One man gladly lowered his spear. Others seemed to be tightening their grips on their polished wooden hafts.
She could tell the Falcon soldiers didn’t want to be doing this. They must have known of Grimbald and that he was her friend. Perhaps her messages about staying focused on the true enemy had finally penetrated their psyches, or maybe some liked what she had been doing in Helm’s Reach. Either way, their reluctance gave her the opening she was looking for.
“Soldiers of the great Midgaard Falcon!” Buttering them up a bit sure couldn’t hurt. “Defenders of the stalwart walls of Helm’s Reach!” She did her best to project her voice. “If you do not know who I am, remember me now. I led you against the Death Spawn that attacked your walls just five days ago.”
A few mutters came. “A severe fuck up!” a voice shouted out from the back. Other men shouted in agreement.
“Shut her up already,” another soldier said.
“Wait! Hear her out,” a gruff voice replied.
Nyset shouted over them. “I know I’ve made my mistakes. But who here hasn’t? Did someone else climb up the wall and fight with you that day? Was it Earl Baraz? Amand?”
“Up in their rooms in the fucking palace, cowering like babies!” someone said, producing a wave of laughs down the lines.
“I shit worms tougher than those two,” someone else said.
“You should really take a trip to the surgeon.” Nyset laughed and pointed at the man she thought said it.
“Aye, Arch Wizard,” the worm shitting soldier chuckled. A few hands jovially slapped his shoulders. She fought down the urge of her lips to curl in disgust.
The Earl’s fists balled up and his cheeks flushed in shades of red. “You’ll pay for this, Mistress,” the Earl barked. “Get! Her!” No one dared to move.
Nyset started to pace down the line, palms tingling open with sweat. This could be settled without violence. It had to be. “What about the wealthy and ferocious fighter, Amand?” She pointed at the man rising up from the ground, wincing. “Think we all know how the nobles think of anyone outside their precious Center, don’t we?”
“Fuck the nobles!” someone said.
“What I do is for you and you alone though, you must know this. I’m not up there in the Center, don’t even have walls to protect us. No precious jewels to be guarded.” She gestured back to the house she called the new Silver Tower. The heads of the men were nodding now. “The real enemy here is not me, but the Death Spawn ravaging our lands, damn it! Don’t be led astray by these clever ruses trying to undermine us! The truth is, the Earl only brought you here to take me in chains because he feels I have too much influence on you, what he thinks is his city. This is our city!”
The soldiers roared in agreement. Fists punched into the sky and shields banged against spears.
“You dirty snake cunt!” The Earl’s lips curled into a snarl and he marched towards her. A pair of spears crossed in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. “What?” he gasped. “Stand down at once!” he snapped to the pair of men. He started to press the spears down and another was thrust between them, pointing at his gut. “You’ll all hang for this treachery!” The Earl whirled around to face the columns of soldiers, his eyes wild, fingers opening and closing.
“Kill the heathen bitch!” Amand pointed with a stubby finger. “Kill her! Kill her! Kill hurhg—” He was cut off with a gauntleted fist to his mouth, sending him staggering into a line of soldiers. Blood streamed from the corner of his lip and his legs looked wobbly. He coughed and spat out a couple of dislodged teeth. He was pushed into another column and a spear butt was rammed into his ribs, sending him reeling then collapsing onto his hands and knees, his breath heaving. She thought she should stop them, but couldn’t if she wanted to win them over.
The Earl jerked on his beard, storming around in a circle of men tightening around him. “Traitorous dogs! King Ezra will hear of this insurrection. He’ll send the bloody Black Guard to take care the lot of you. You must respect the king! The Arch Wizard is a usurper, the Tower doesn’t respect you. They only want your babies to turn them into instruments of war!”
Nyset’s eyes were ablaze, roaring with all the hatred and anger boiling forth from the Dragon filling her bones. She pushed her way through muscular bodies, spears and shields parted as she reached the Earl. “You—” Her heart thudded in her chest and she leaned in close, blood throbbing in her temples. It felt like all the anger, all the frustration she had bottled up over the weeks was finally uncorked. “You are but a figurehead. The only reason you sit on your high perch is because I’ve let you. Magic rules the realm and always will. You are the food I choose not to eat,” she hissed. Nyset turned around, making her way back to Claw, watching with his blade resting across a shoulder.
“You are mine! Mine! You serve me, back down immediately!” The Earl’s voice cracked with a tremor and his arm lashed out, whipping across the air. “What are you doing? Attack them! Get her!” Tears streamed down his ruddy cheeks and were swallowed by the coiling hair of his beard.
Nyset stared at the Earl, her jaw clamping down and teeth grinding together. Her fingers curled around the bottom of her shirt, ripping the sides free from within her trousers. He brings men to me, not for defense of the city, but to bring ruin to all of my hard work. He brings death to his people with his treachery. He would destroy everything, betray my trust, tear it all down for his own petty games of power. Men will never change. You know what must be done, she thought. There was an unfamiliar harshness to the voice in her head.
“Kill him!” Nyset commanded and chopped down with her hand, a blade of fire springing to life in her fist.
“Mistress?” Claw said with disbelief beside her.
“Wh-what? Nyset?” the Earl said, his mouth hanging open.
Nyset tilted her chin up, staring iron at the blubbering Earl. “Do it!” She regretted the words soon after they left her lips, but it was already done, and with some decisions there was no turning back.
A soldier snorted, brought his spear back, grunted and jabbed it into the Earl’s side. He screamed, clutching his back where a jet of blood streaked the air, painting the earth in red. “No, you can’t do this!” He took a step towards her. Another spear came, lancing him in the thigh and dropping him to a knee. A man cleared his throat and spat on the Earl’s face. “You’ll not touch the Arch Wizard, dog.” The soldier spat again.
A New Light (The Age of Dawn Book 5) Page 24
