She waved for him to continue, but now studied him with an expression he didn't understand.
"So anyway, once I got her to back off, I managed to gather she'd been in hiding because she had been weakened and had nothing to feed off of." He explained. "As could be inferred, Succubi feed off of sexual energy. Being in an empty castle with its only entrance and exit constantly under guard, there was no way she could get outside without being attacked by a soldier that had been made all the more suspicious by the actions of Kalenden. This meant that she had to try to bide her time and find someone dumb enough to wander in there alone."
"Like you." Bridget said.
"Yeah, exactly like me." he replied. "Someone alone, vulnerable to a woman's charms, and with a tremendous amount of magical power to feed off of. She managed to get a few scraps of power in our tussle, and it nearly completely recovered her."
"That must have been a lot of power she stole." Bridget replied.
Endrance shrugged. "It didn't feel like much. Maybe a single percent."
Joven raised an eyebrow. "How much is that in words we understand?"
Endrance thought. "I guess maybe most of the power you would have had. Any normal person would have died in one pull."
"And that's one hundredth of your power?" Joven asked.
"I was rounding up." Endrance replied. "Besides, it's not important. Point is, she's gone now and the circle is destroyed."
"Ah." Bridget said. "You know, you should have tried summoning another bird when you had the chance."
Endrance blinked a few times. "Wait." he muttered. He grimaced, pounding a fist onto the table. "Son of a bitch!"
* * *
Joven rode through the pass on his way to the village where Anna's family lived. He was armed and armored, and he had several extra armaments stowed on his horse in case they were needed. The day was waning and he would have just enough time to get to the village before dark. After that, he would be returning at night. Even for the barbarians traveling alone at night was a dangerous proposition. Things far more fierce than a barbarian warrior wandered the snow ladened hills in the dark.
The sun was at his back and his horse was glad for the solid ground to thunder across as they moved. The cold winter air rushed through his hair. The subtle combination of live pine trees and smoke filled his nostrils. It was a great day to ride.
He came out of the pass knowing there was a few hundred yards until the outer walls of the village could be seen. He rounded the final bend and came within line of sight of the village and pulled to a stop, wheeling his horse to the side as he made sense of what he saw. The horse picked up the scent of something and reared, anxious and agitated.
The village was intact, but from the light he could see men at the walls actively defending it. Dead and dying invaders clustered up against the walls. Joven couldn't yet see enough to identify them, but he intended to find out. He spurred his horse into action, and he unslung the axe of Daelin, his father. The bipennis axehead gleamed in the late afternoon light as he adjusted his grip for mounted combat.
As he got close, the sight of the invaders' profiles were as obvious an identifier as the howls that left their jaws as they loped towards the wooden walls. Wolfmen. Several dozen of them were swarming the village walls, clawing at the wooden bark as they tried to climb them, heedless of the men guarding the upper edges.
The militia was stalwart, never panicking or giving ground. Spearmen on the top of the wall flanked the archers that picked off wolfmen as they approached, and skewered the ones that made it to the walls. The men were remarkably calm, killing off the invaders with a detached manner that told Joven this was not the first night that this had happened.
He rode towards the gates, the place that was hardest hit by wolfmen. Something seemed off about the wolfmen he was approaching, but he couldn't identify it yet. He came within a dozen yards before some of the enemy turned on him.
Wolfmen had as much in common with wolves as they had with men. Furry, they stood upright like a man, but with the backward bent legs and muzzles of their lupine brethren. They had little need of clothing, but would wear armor in battle and were as intelligent as any men Joven had fought. They fought cleverly and with great ferocity.
These were different. Unarmored, they attacked the outer walls of the town with tooth and claw. Their fur looked ratty and matted. Several of the closest ones he saw sported injuries that looked unhealed. What were they doing?
Joven rode past the first as he swung his axe single handedly. He hardly felt any resistance in the haft as the sharp edge parted flesh and fur like a hot blade through snow, and the first wolfman tumbled past Joven’s horse with his head continuing the charge its body had abandoned. Dark blood splattered the snow as the barbarian swept through the enemy, his axe swinging left and right with lethal efficiency.
Something seemed even more unnatural about the attack, as all of the wolfmen he encountered fought without trying to defend themselves, accepting attacks as they came. It mattered little; even if they could defend themselves, the height advantage from horseback coupled with the weight and heft of the axe meant Joven was easily striking heads and necks within reach.
It seemed in quite short order the battlefield was quiet. He wheeled his horse around, surveying the area. Not a single wolfman stood, walked, or crawled. He also didn't see any fleeing; they had died to the last man. That alone screamed something was wrong. No military unit was that disciplined, even among barbarian tribes. At best, a unit would hold ranks until about two thirds of their men had fallen, then loss of morale usually caused the remainder to break apart and scatter.
He shook his head in wonder as he rode his horse up to the gates. He looked up at one of the men on the wall who had been walking along the top towards his position.
"I thank you for helping, stranger, but I do not think you will want to stay here much longer." The man said. Joven saw that the barbarian looked exhausted. "Are you injured? Did they hurt you?" he asked.
Joven did a quick check. "No, they only gave me a little exercise."
"And your horse? Is he injured?"
Joven's eyes narrowed. "What is this about?"
The man shook his head. "There is a curse. Leave now while you have a chance."
Joven shouldered his axe and shook his head in return. "I cannot. The Spengur has demanded I retrieve someone, and I cannot return unless I do."
The man watched him without speaking for several seconds. An archer walked along the wall to the man at the gate and spoke with him. The first glanced down at Joven more than once during the conversation, and eventually he turned back to the bodyguard.
"I hear you are Joven, son of Daelin, brother of Balen." The man started. "I also heard that the Spengur you serve is powerful and terrifying."
Joven had to restrain himself from laughing, but let the smile spread across his face. "I am Joven. The Spengur can be those things and more, when needed."
"So what unfortunate soul has he called for today?" the man asked. "Is it a woman to replace the one he returned to us?"
So the man was one of Anna's relatives. Joven sighed. This was going to be more difficult to navigate than he had initially thought. "Almost two months ago she brought a child here to be watched over for a time." He called out. "The babe's father returns from the field, and I have come to bring him home."
The man watched him without speaking. "We had told no one of this child." he said.
"Of course; you were told not to." Joven stated. "However it is now time to take the child home."
"We will let you into the village, but we will not open the gates again until tomorrow." the man called. From the other side of the gates, Joven could hear the sounds of wood bars being shifted. "The wolfmen may come again tonight and we will not leave the doors unblocked."
Joven frowned. It seemed he was going to be enjoying the countryside for a lot longer than he had hoped. He slung the axe onto his back as he waited.
The ga
tes pulled up, the wooden logs composing its structure were built on a pivot near the top and they levered the gate up using a pulley and rope. As he rode into the village, he saw two men on either side of the gate hauling the ropes back until he cleared the logs. Once past, they dropped the ropes and the gate crashed back into position. Immediately they grabbed wooden bars to brace the gate at the midpoint, so that one couldn't open it from the outside by pushing from the bottom.
Joven dismounted from his horse and scratched under his chin as he walked it towards where a cluster of men waited for him. One man took the leads for his horse and led it away, while Joven stopped before the man he had been talking to earlier.
"I take it you knew Anna." Joven started. "She was a strong woman. She had earned much honor and respect in her sacrifice."
The man studied his face for a few short moments before responding. At close range, Joven could see that, though haggard, the man was a strong one, with short cropped blonde hair that was graying at the temples and tired blue eyes that didn't quite seem completely attentive. He gave Joven the impression that he was distracted with some inner turmoil.
"I knew Anna from the day my sister birthed her until they day she died, many months ago." he said.
Aha, Anna's uncle. From what he remembered of their conversations, she only had one. Berand. He knew that Berand was aware that she had died only a few weeks before, but traditionally, she had been dead to her family the day Endrance accepted the silver ring she offered him. They had performed a funeral, filled an empty grave and mourned her death long ago.
Her dead body arriving only a few months after was an emotional and cultural hammer blow. Though she died honorably, the fact that she had done so only a short while after the Spengur arrived cast a stigma upon the family. Were their people incapable? Did this person anger the Spengur and he struck her down?
"Berand." Joven said, nodding. "I also knew Anna."
"You knew her ghost, nothing more." Berand said, turning away from him. "Come, I'll show you where you can rest for the night, and tomorrow we will get you on your way."
Joven didn't follow immediately. "I want to see the child first, and then I will feel better about finding somewhere to rest."
"Then we go this way." Berand replied, without changing his direction. He led Joven to a large wood and stone house with a creeping plant that covered most of the whole roof. Tendrils of vine hung off the sides of the awnings, quietly swaying in the breeze. They were harmless to the structure, instead growing in swaths wherever the sun shone constantly in mountainous terrain. The roof was entirely taken over by it. With a little work, Joven could probably hide the house as a small hill of rock with the amount of cover the place had..
Like all the houses in the village, the house itself was half below ground level and half above. Four short steps lead to the front door. Berand let the two of them in and Joven could make out a central hearth as well as a circle of five doors. The central room was rounded, with the hearth in the center, and the kitchen and larder were immediately at hand. Each of the doors that were unopened likely contained the rest of the house.
A woman in a dress and soft shoes tended to the fire in the hearth as she adjusted a stewpot next to it. She too had blonde hair, long and straight, but green eyes instead of blue. She seemed all too familiar a face to Joven.
"I'm sorry to bother you, Merina." Berand stated as he entered. "But this is Joven, the Spengur's bodyguard."
Her expression hardened. "I know of him. I saw you the last time I went to the markets in Balator. You were fighting."
"It's what I do." Joven admitted.
"What does the Spengur want of me now?" she spat. "I'm not able to provide another daughter for him to spirit away."
Joven's ire raised, but he kept control of it. "I am not here for you or your family. I am here to collect the baby that was left behind." he explained as patiently as possible.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “We told no one of the baby, but now you are here. I was told that no one must know, and I feared the baby would be here the rest of his life when Anna’s body was returned to us.” She turned from him and walked back to the fire. “You may take the baby back with you tomorrow. You’d only get him killed if you left tonight.”
She resumed stirring the pot, her expression unreadable through a curtain of hair that draped from her hung head. “Gods know I’ve had enough loss this year.” She muttered.
Joven watched her silently for a few seconds, the pain of loss also twisting sharply in his chest. He turned to Berand and spoke. “Please show me the child.”
Berand turned to his sister. “Merina?”
“My daughter’s room.” she replied.
Berand led the way to one of the side doors to the left, opening it slowly. Inside was a small room barely seven feet tall, ten feet long and eight feet deep, devoid of all furniture except a small handmade crib. A small window high up on the outside wall provided light into the room. Joven could even see the shadows of the vine tendrils across the slats of the glassless window.
Joven strode forward and checked the inside of the crib. The baby was sleeping deeply, completely at ease despite the small siege that was being waged on the walls not a dozen yards from the house. These things were normal in their culture; dozens of individual clans battled each other for almost any reason that seemed appropriate. Land, resources, revenge, those were the simplest reasons, but not the only ones they fought for.
It was a fact of life that his people fought. Tempers were naturally short in his people. And because of that, conflicts were viewed in a much more acceptable light. Even the berserkers cursed by the Furie were accepted because though they were unnatural; it was believed the goddess of rage cursed them, so their people didn’t look at them in the same way that they looked at mages.
Joven nodded, assured that the child was safe for the moment. He turned and walked out of the room. Berand followed in his wake.
"Is everything all right?" Berand asked.
Joven turned and nodded to him. "The baby is well." he said. "Now, before we let the wolfmen overrun the village and change that, let me see what your defenses are."
Berand followed the bodyguard out of the house, the both of them leaving the widow to her cooking. "What?"
"I don't intend on letting your people do all the work." Joven said. "If anything gets through the walls tonight, then I won't be able to complete the Spengur's request. I will not let that happen. Now show me your defenses so I can help protect the village tonight."
"We've been defending this village for days now-" Berand began angrily.
"I can tell!" Joven shouted. "You're all exhausted! How much longer do you think you can keep this up before you make a mistake? How many people will die because you refuse to recognize you're at your limits?" The barbarian's hands were clenched in fists, his voice echoing off the pines up the side of the mountain.
Berand flinched, something he would not have done were he not so tired and strung out from several days of continued combat. The people of the village had been constantly on the defense for days, and they didn't have enough people to effectively form shifts of men guarding the walls. They had been cycling a few people off the walls at a time to sleep, but everyone was resting however they could between attacks.
"I...well then, fine." Berand said. "I suppose I shouldn't turn down an extra sword arm. Follow me."
Joven followed the man up onto the wall. From the way the land was laid out around the village, the front area Joven had ridden up to was the easiest place from which to assault the village. The pine trees coming down the mountainside came within thirty yards of the walls, meaning that there was a relatively short area that charging attackers were vulnerable to enemy fire. The other three sides of the village were surrounded by a hundred yards of open terrain at minimum. Farmland covered the back half of the open area around the village, and an archer could hit anything in line of sight for a hundred yards with no trouble
in the low breeze.
The biggest problem was the intensity of the wolfmen's attacks. They fought without weapons and with little or no armor, but went on unless dealt massive damage. It wasn't a huge difficulty; overkill was a barbarian's specialty. But their lack of self-preservation and ability to use tools was triggering a warning in the back of Joven's mind. He'd fought wolfmen before; they'd always fought tactically, as a team, and with equipment. These packs were bigger than he'd seen them in before, but they had no coordination or tactical reason.
It was almost as if they had lost their minds. Joven was concerned, but also glad for the change. It was a great deal easier to defend against a simple minded enemy than a clever one. The only problem they had was the fact that dozens would attack in each wave, and they had hardly a few seconds warning before they would attack again. Their numbers were enormous; already Joven counted at least a hundred dead in the field and at least two dozen dead against the wall.
Joven pointed out some areas where the wolfmen would be naturally inclined to charge up. He also shifted the positions of the archers and spearmen so the archers could position over the gate, providing cover for either side's walls if the spearmen were being overwhelmed. He also tasked groups of a single spearman and three of the village’s youths to go outside the walls and haul the bodies away from the village. They would be under watch the whole time, but they needed to get the dead away from the walls. The next attackers could use the bodies as step ups to climb the wall. They could spare three teams. The spearmen were to lance the corpse in the head before the youths would drag it away by the ankles.
While Joven was directing the preparations, he caught sight of a glimmer coming from deep in the woods. He would not have seen it if the suns hadn't been setting. It hadn't looked like a natural phenomenon, so he searched to find Berand.
He found the man dozing, sitting on a barrel that was leaning against one of the houses inside the village. Joven knew the man needed his sleep, but he had to check to see if they had noticed it before. He reached out and shook the man by the shoulder.
Spellscribed: Ascension Page 8
