by Rocky Bills
The man spoke once more. “Aye, I believe you be right on that account, sir, aye 'tis true.” The other men chimed in their agreement.
“Thank you two once more,” I said. “The rest of you, I will meet on the field today.” Another battle cry erupted from the men as Basilea and I returned to the house.
We settled across from one another at the table and began eating our bread and drinking cider. Basilea said, “You know, you’re very good at handling men. You have a degree of leadership quality to you, sir.” We both started to laugh, the first time in hours.
“Be sure to drink lots of liquid. Ox says during a fight one gets as dry as a boar hog's tit.” Basilea and I laughed together. Much too soon, it was time to clean up and get on our way. Basilea grabbed a couple of big blankets on our way out the door. Demon and Mildred were waiting for us in the rear turnout. Mildred took position on Basilea’s left, and Demon walked on my right side. We were escorted to the rear gate. Two beasts more miserable could not have been found when we gave them hugs and told them we would see them later. We turned back several times to see the horses at attention, eyes and ears tracking us until we slipped out of sight. When we passed the kitchen window, we could feel eyes on us. Trina’s voice could be heard. “Just what ta hell be going on tis what I’d likes ta know?”
Fina responded, “Not'in' of our business; go back to inventory.” We crossed in front of the main house complex and found Bells and Goodwin waiting with five guards. I took note of numerous other guards dressed in common folk attire mixed in with the entourage. Bells was dressed in a snow-white loose-fitted short dress with matching britches. A dark green sash covered her weapons belt. She wore a lightweight pale green cloak to hide her katana sword on her back. In her hair was the new hair comb with its matching pins.
Goodwin wore a loose linen suit in forest green. His belt contained a short sword and dagger. His cloak was also of a pale green color to match the one Bells wore. When Bells saw us, her face broke into a great smile, but the creases between her eyes remained. I looked into her enchanting golden eyes and gave an obvious wink. It was rewarded with a strained titter. I addressed them both. “Good evening, my lord and lady. Basilea and I would be honored if you would join us at theatre tonight.”
Lord Goodwin spoke with a strained smile. “A grand idea, Master Gamel. Lead the way.” Basilea and I joined the group in front of Goodwin and Bells, leaving no space for anyone else to slip between. We strolled into the festival grounds and traveled past the numerous vendor booths. I was pleased to find the bread tent deserted. As we neared the field in front of the stage, I saw Ivan and Giselia walking in the opposite direction. The four of us waved to them. They waved back with forced smiles on their faces. I noticed Ivan wore a weapons belt with a long, curved scabbard attached. I could also make out a curved dagger. Giselia had several handles sticking up from the bright orange sash around her waist. No one stopped to talk. I guided our party in the direction I had chosen on the diagram. When I neared the place I thought was appropriate, I scanned the treeline with my peripheral vision. My efforts were soon rewarded by one single flash of bright metal. This was the spot. I addressed the crowd. “I think this is a good spot, my lord and lady. It comes highly recommended.” Noticing the flash of light for themselves, Basilea, Bells, and Goodwin made little gasps as they tried to refrain from giving the jibe away.
Basilea laid out the blankets on the grass, then she and I sat down on the blanket closer to the treeline. Goodwin and Bells took the blanket next to ours. The mixed entourage started positioning themselves. The uniformed guards asked several families to please move farther away from the lord’s group. This would be a perfectly normal procedure regarding security measures. The guards were helpful in relocating the small groups and thanked them for their cooperation. Captain Terric joined the uniformed guard stationed at the southern edge of our group. I had to admit, he looked mightily fierce in battle dress. He wore no cloak, making no attempt to hide the long sword strapped to his back. His sword had earned the name Screamer because of the horrible bloodcurdling sound it made when he swung it. People said it sounded like a wounded banshee.
Well, all was in place. Now, the suspense would begin. I took Basilea’s hand in mine and gave a light squeeze. I was rewarded with a light kiss on the cheek. I immediately started giving little squeezes to her hand. She chuckled and whispered, “Behave yourself, good sir. Only one kiss; you must wait for another!” We both chuckled. Our playful attempt to lighten the mood was joined by Goodwin and Bells. We looked to them and found them smiling at us. Then the waiting started once again.
Ivan and Giselia had arrived at Sirates House and met the guards. Many of them were still honing blades to a razor-like edge. Ivan and Giselia went into the house but felt too uneasy to relax. Soon they were in the turnout looking for the horses. Since Gamel and Basilea left them at the fence, both horses had paced back and forth in front of the gate. Giselia called to the horses by name. Demon and Mildred froze and went to attention, heads high, ears pricked forward, nostrils flared as they searched for the source of the sound. Giselia called again, louder this time. The horses locked on the direction and took off at full gallop. The two of them sounded like a stampede of herd beasties. When they reached Ivan and Giselia, they lowered their rear legs and slid to a stop, leaving huge gouges in the ground. Ivan and Giselia started calming them, rubbing on their necks and talking soothingly. They soon had both horses under control. Giselia patted Demon on his lathered neck. “It okay, Sir Demon, you see back they be soon. It all right be for them, safe be for them.”
Ivan, who particularly liked Mildred, spoke gently to her. “Mildred, be okay, you see. They not leave you, soon they return, you see, big girl.” Both horses seemed to quiet with the attention of the gentle Gypsy couple.
Chapter 11
In the treeline, Fulk and Ox had positioned themselves to allow cross coverage where Goodwin’s party sat. Fulk had taken a position slightly farther down to cover anything coming from the direction of the stage. Ox was in position farther to the rear of the party to cover their backs. Where Goodwin’s group sat, either archer could find a target if needed. Ox would be the prime observer and direct actions. Slung from his neck was Hades Quake, his ancient battle horn. The thespian group noted that Lord Goodwin had arrived and made preparations to start the show. I was sitting with Basilea, holding her hand, when a brightly dressed actor came onto the stage and began an oratory description of what we would be viewing this evening. That is the last thing I heard from the stage. All of my senses were focused on the people sitting in front of me, every sound, every movement, even the smell that was carried on the air. The foul stench of fear filled the air, so foul it befitted the event that was about to take place. A man’s worst sin: murder of his own kind.
At Sirates House, all of the guards protecting the house joined the Gypsies in the open turnout. Ivan spoke to Renald. “What wrong? Why all men here with horses?”
Renald answered, “When we hear the signal, all of us but two,” he pointed to two men, “will run to battle. We don’t know where yet, but we will follow the sound.”
Ivan spoke to Giselia for a few moments in their native tongue then said, “The battle will be festival grounds in front of stage.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, it will happen there, at theatre; soon, I think.”
Renald said, “Thank you, Ivan. Men, we start walking in that direction. Hold at the main house unless you hear the signal before that.”
The men started moving out. Demon and Mildred started dancing and prancing in place. Giselia spoke softly to them. “No, brave horses, you stay; no go, stay with us, no go.”
Ivan looked at his wife, who had already started to cry. “Wife mine, I must.”
Tears streamed from Giselia’s eyes without any restraint. She just gave a painful nod of agreement. Ivan came to his wife and hugged her. He kissed her tenderly on the forehead and lips. He dropped to one knee and k
issed the palms of her hands, then he placed her hands on the sides of his face. He turned without rising, stood, and quickly walked away. Giselia watched him go while her heart broke. This did not go unnoticed by the horses. Both of them had started to bellow and snort. Demon stuck his head straight up in the air, curled his lips back, and sampled the smells. Mildred soon followed his example. It was all Giselia could do to keep the two horses from running. She calmed them and rubbed them. Still, standing in front of them was the only thing that held them in place.
On the theatre stage, a knight on a cutout horse trotted back and forth waving a sword. Everyone viewing the spectacle clapped and cheered, everyone but our group. Our attentions were elsewhere. Our attentiveness was soon rewarded. The hair on the back of my neck bristled. Something was amiss, and I experienced a sense of danger. I reached back and tapped my axe handle, then spread my fingers and pointed over my head in front of me. Captain Terric cleared his throat. As the first cloak in front of us began to fall, Basilea and I rose from our seated positions, our cloaks lying on the ground below us. Hades Quake let go in a high-pitched warble that threatened to shatter my teeth. The pitch changed to a deep bass reverberating tone that shook the ground. I reached back and released my axe. One twirl and the leather strap was around my wrist. Basilea stood next to me in a low stance, her katana sword held by both hands over her head. All around us, I could hear steel clearing scabbards. Screamer started singing its song as Terric swung it over his head. The gruesome pitch-changing warble and screeching was only overpowered by Captain Terric’s booming voice. “All folk run from the forest! Run from the trees!”
Demon and Mildred were dancing in place, snorting and bellowing. Giselia couldn’t hold them much longer. When Hades Quake sounded, both horses froze instantly and turned to face the sound, every heightened sense turned in that direction, nostrils flaring, ears twitching. When Screamer sang, the horses locked on to the position and distance. Giselia couldn’t hear Screamer from the house, but the horses could hear it just fine. Demon squealed and bellowed in anger, twisting and shaking his head viciously. Giselia moved from in front of him. Within four strides, he had stretched out and was flying through the turnout. Occasionally, his feet touched the ground to propel him forward. Mildred was squealing in front of Giselia. Giselia grabbed her ear and pulled her huge head down to her level. “Mildred, listen, find Ivan, find Ivan, take Ivan with you!” Mildred started prancing in place. Giselia stepped aside and released her. Mildred let out an angry, bloodcurdling squeal and took off at a flat run.
The first wave of assassins were close, about thirty yards away. There looked to be about a dozen. Basilea and I charged them to engage as far from the center of our group as possible. Fulk had started finding targets in our forward group. An arrow flew into a man’s eye, and he fell instantly. Another attacker was stopped when an arrow found his heart.
Basilea engaged her first attacker. She moved forward with lightning swift blade strokes, putting her opponent on the defensive. Always on balance and staying low, she overpowered the man and opened his stomach, allowing his intestines to fall out. With her blade held with two hands and to her right side, she ran to the next attacker.
I ran toward three attackers. With my left hand, I pulled out a quoits. Using my forward movement as momentum, I hurled it overhead while coming down on my left foot. It flew true, and in an instant, it split a man’s face down the middle, penetrating deep into the brain. Fulk dropped another of the three by placing an arrow directly in his forehead. That left one. I pulled the kukri with my left hand. When the man swung his ugly curved blade at me, I knocked it down with my kukri sword and brought my great axe down at an angle against the side of his neck. I felt the razor-sharp blade crush through the vertebrae. His head tilted over, held on only by some remaining skin and muscle tissue. I sensed being rushed from my right rear, and I gave the appropriate twists to my axe handle, dropping and locking the blade in the handle end. The man charged with his blade high as I withdrew my axe from the neck, stepping back and squatting low. The man overshot and was off balance when I pushed the blade into his chest. Glancing off a rib, the blade continued on its quest to find the heart. I felt the vibration of one single heartbeat, then nothing. I had another assailant almost on me from the front. While I withdrew the handle blade from the man, I threw a death star with my left hand, embedding it in the new attacker’s forehead. I let the blade retract into the axe handle and locked it in place.
At the armory, angry, vicious men in battle dress waited for the attack signal. At the first sound from Hades Quake, one hundred screaming men left their imprisonment at full run. Lieutenant Renald’s group had just cleared the Sirates House turnout fence when they heard the high-pitched shriek of Hades Quake. Before the tone had changed to the bass note, eight screaming, angry soldiers ran past the kitchen with swords drawn. The kitchen staff ran outside to see what was going on.
Demon slowed his flight just slightly to measure the paces to the gate. When he neared the gate, he took off on his right front leg. Tucking his front legs under him, he easily cleared the top rail. He stretched his hind legs out while in his descent on the other side, his rear hooves just clicking on the rail as they cleared. In two strides, he was at full speed again, screaming with rage, ears pinned, pumping his hard, lean muscles as fast as they would work. Ten seconds later, he passed the kitchen staff with mist spraying from his dilated nostrils, bellowing in anger. Trina yelled, “I’d hate ta be what he be after!”
Mildred spotted Ivan running ahead of her. When she was almost even with him, she planted her huge hindquarters and slid to a stop. Squealing, she knelt down and looked at Ivan. Ivan said, “Why not, you go my way!” He jumped on her sweaty back and gripped as hard as he could with his knees as she rose and started running. He was amazed at how fast she could accelerate. Within four strides, she was stretched out to a full run. Ivan was grasping hands full of braids and gripping with his legs. Once at full speed, Mildred’s run was as smooth as a placid lake. Ivan spotted the gate and braced himself for a sliding stop. Mildred didn’t even slow down; she seemed to speed up. At the speed of an eagle in a dive, her ton of muscle just plowed through the gate like dry twigs. The kitchen staff heard the loud snap of splintering wood. Ten seconds later, they felt the earth shake as one totally pissed off Mildred went squealing by. On her back was a big Gypsy man holding a handful of braids in his left hand and a four-foot curved back sword in his right.
Fina shouted, “This is bullshit! Trina, open the weapons locker! We be under attack!!”
Trina yelled, “It’s about time, by God!” and all the ladies ran back into the kitchen to get their weapons.
Perched on the huge tree limb, Ox fired a quick volley of arrows. Then he would survey the field. Bells and Goodwin were busy. Although not a master, Goodwin was doing well. Goodwin was exchanging sword blows with an attacker. He rushed the man, knocked his sword upward, spun, and stabbed a dagger into the man’s heart. He moved to the next attacker.
Bells was moving with the speed and grace of an elk. She would run, take stance, exchange a few sword blows, forcing the man off balance, then she'd deliver the death blow while he was two moves behind her. Three men tried rushing Goodwin. She planted her katana in the ground. With the flick of her right hand, a throwing knife sank deep into one of the men’s forehead. With the flick of her left hand, a death star lodged in another man’s eye socket. This left one for Goodwin to handle, whom he quickly engaged. Being rushed from behind while throwing her weapons, Bells grabbed her katana, did a cartwheel to the left, spun, and flashed her blade. The man’s head rolled on the ground before the body knew it was missing. Observing it all, Ox said to himself, “Deadliest woman ta walk da earth’s surface that one be. There be too many a them, though. If'n they got reserves, we be swimmin' a river a shit.”
Just then, Goodwin sliced into a man’s neck with his short sword, putting him down. Just as the man was falling, a thin spear flew from the woods and
lodged deep in Goodwin’s right shoulder. His sword arm was rendered useless. This put Goodwin on his back, pulling the spear out of his shoulder. By the time he had pulled the spear out, three men targeted him and rushed in. At a run, Bells threw a throwing knife at the closest man. It lodged in his throat to the hilt, severing the spinal column. As Goodwin tried to get up, Bells ran over him, forcing him back down, and launched herself in a somersault, slicing another attacker through the shoulder and severing main arteries. She landed on her feet in front of the third man, too close for him to swing his blade. She plunged her katara up through his chin, into the brain. She released her fist grip on the dagger and left it stuck in the man’s head. She quickly went back to Goodwin and put a foot on him to hold him down. She held her katana with both hands straight up and to the right side, taking a low stance. She was ready to defend the one she loved.
From the trees, Ox yelled out, “Goodwin’s down, protect Goodwin!”
Captain Terric stopped swinging Screamer long enough to bark out, “Ten men circle the lord and lady! Hold what you got! If'n the man next ta ya falls, kick his arse out the way and close ranks.”
Ox said to himself, “Lovely bastard you be, Terric, havin' such a way wit words.”
Within several heartbeats of time, ten men had encircled the lord and lady, defending all comers. Bells stuck her katana in the ground, ripped part her skirt off, and bent to plug up Goodwin’s wound. Terric worked outside the perimeter of the circle. When numerous attackers would approach, he would thin them out before they reached the defensive circle. Ox saw one man take Terric on, trying to match blades. Terric swung his seventy-two-inch Screamer from overhead. Screamer made its horrible banshee cry, then it smashed through the man’s sword, breaking it, crushing through the man’s shoulder, cutting rib bones and stopping in his chest cavity. Terric almost produced a repetitive song with Screamer. First, you hear a banshee cry, then a clash of metal, followed by a deep thunk, usually followed by a human scream. Ox said to himself, “Bastards just never ta learnin'. Terric ed make ta fine butcher, he would.”
