by Lisa Chitty
A grin spread across Abi’s face. ‘Steady on! Remember, I’m still struggling to come to grips with my sword. Still,’ Abi shrugged. ‘I’m sure everything will work out.’
Theldon smiled back at her. I’m sure it will too!’
‘Unless everything goes horrendously pear shaped of course!’ Abi was determined to have the last word and she chuckled as Theldon struggled to understand what she had said. Slang was not something he could comprehend, but she wasn’t going to explain herself. She walked past him and finished setting up the camp in a much better frame of mind than she had been.
Because they were deep amongst the trees and the amulet was, to some extent, concealing their presence, they built a small fire and had something hot to eat. Abi was surprised at how hungry she was and wolfed down a large portion of the stew that Theldon had prepared.
‘That’s it, get it down you,’ he nodded approvingly. ‘You’ll need the energy that will give you tomorrow and I doubt that you’re going to be wanting breakfast in the morning!’
Abi just smiled, feeling too replete to start an argument with him. She lay back and gazed up at the stars. Whilst they were completely different to the ones back at home, over her time in Trelyssia she had become used to them and was able to recognize several constellations. Looking up at them now, Abi felt tiny and the thought of what she had to do paled into insignificance against the enormity of what was out there. A level of calm descended and she decided that there was nothing more she could do now to prepare herself, so she got up and made her way into the tent. Abi quickly settled under the bedding Theldon had brought, and before she knew it, she was sound asleep.
Chapter 16
James and Steve eagerly followed Marldon down to where a horse and cart were waiting for them to drive into the city. Steve was excited as he was finally going to be getting some action. Things were really progressing now and his level of adrenalin was getting so high it needed an outlet. This excursion into the city to plant the gunpowder was the perfect opportunity to release some of the tension he was feeling and to actually do something.
James was no less eager than Steve to get on into the city and begin with their plans but he was keen for different reasons. This marked the start of everything, the beginning of the battle against the Baron, and for James that was what this was all about. The Baron was at the heart of everything that was wrong here, but it was more than that. This was also about his promise to Abi, to avenge her death. If everything went according to plan, then tomorrow, he would fulfil his vow. That was why he was going to personally help place the gunpowder. He wanted nothing to go wrong. This plan had to work. He straightened his shoulders, and a resolute calm came over him as he went through in his mind what had to be done.
As they arrived by the side of the cart containing the barrels, Marldon turned to them. ‘Right, from here there’s no going back. Are you both sure about this?’
‘Absolutely!’ Steve exclaimed, a grin spreading across his face.
Marldon suppressed a sigh. He had a feeling that Steve was going to cause him problems if he didn’t find a way to contain him somehow. He turned to James. ‘What about you?’
James just nodded his agreement. Marldon smiled back. That was more like it. He appreciated James’s calmness and his sensible approach to matters. He just wished that James could pass some of that onto Steve. ‘Ok. As we’re all agreed on this, we’d better get going. Sasket, you’d better go in the back, in case they want to have a close look a the barrels. Steve, you sit in there with him and James can go in the front with me.’
There were no arguments to Marldon’s directions and everyone quickly got into position. Marldon picked up the reins once they were all settled, gave them a shake, and the horse started forward to the great wooden gates that marked the main entrance. Even though the sun was now setting, the gates remained open to allow well wishers in and out. However, the gates would be shut later that night, so they would have to be quick if the four of them were going to make it out that night.
No one was surprised when, as they the drew up outside the gates, the guards signalled them to halt. Marldon immediately pulled up as he didn’t want to cause any trouble or do anything that would mark them out as anything other than delivery men.
‘What is your business in the city?’ the guard on the gate asked.
‘We have brought a gift, to celebrate this wondrous occasion of the Baron’s marriage to his beautiful bride,’ Marldon proclaimed.
‘What is the nature of your gift?’ the guard asked. He was clearly not going to let them in until he was satisfied that there was no threat from them.
‘Several barrels of the best wine in the region. It is of such a fine quality, that they only deserve to be drunk on such an event as this.’
‘Is that so?’ An expression of boredom crossed the guard’s face. He had probably been hearing things like this all day.
‘Try some if you don’t believe me.’ Marldon offered the man a wine skin that he had beside him.
The guard hesitated before stretching out his hand and taking the offering. He uncorked the skin, and sniffed cautiously at the contents. A look of surprise crossed his face as the aroma clearly pleased him. He carefully wiped the top, before taking a small sip. The taste appeared to satisfy him and he immediately took a much bigger mouthful. ‘That is good! Possibly the best wine I’ve ever tasted.’ He made to hand the skin back to Marldon with a show of reluctance.
‘Why don’t you keep it,’ Marldon suggested with a saucy wink. ‘I’m sure that manning the gate is thirsty work.’
‘Yes, my throat is quite dry,’ the guard agreed and tucked the skin away out of sight. He then went along the side of the cart to see how much they were carrying. He noticed Steve and Sasket in the back. ‘Quite a few of you aren’t there?’
‘It’s getting late, and we thought it would be quicker if we used our own manpower to unload. I’m sure that everyone is so busy preparing for tomorrow that they won’t be able to give us a hand.’
‘Good thinking.’ The guard was beginning to lose interest, especially as there were others behind them that still needed vetting. ‘Take your goods round to the back of the Citadel,’ he told them. ‘Someone will be able to show you were you can take your offerings.’ With that he waved them through the gates and turned his attention to the next group.
James forced himself to relax. All during the brief interview he had been so tense. They couldn’t have afforded to have been discovered at that point, and he was grateful for Marldon’s foresight in having brought a skin with him containing some high quality wine. It had definitely been because of that, they had got through the gates.
‘We’ll make our way to the Citadel as that’s the way we’re expected to go, and luckily for us, it’s where we want to be anyway!’ Marldon skilfully steered the cart through the very narrow streets. They were so narrow that all James needed to do was stretch out a hand to be able to touch the buildings on either side.
The Citadel was in the very centre of the city and towered over everything. It wasn’t hard to find their way towards it, as it dominated the area. ‘No building is allowed to be more than three stories high’ Marldon explained. ‘That means that the Citadel can be seen from wherever you are within these walls.’
‘And from outside I would think,’ Steve exclaimed, leaning forwards from the back to make sure that he was heard.
‘Not as much. You see, the walls are very high. The city was designed to withstand a siege, with the walls being the first line of defence, and the Citadel the second, so the walls are quite high. You must have seen that as we entered.’ Marldon turned to look at Steve.
Steve reddened slightly. ‘I wasn’t paying that much attention as we came in,’ he confessed. ‘I was thinking more about getting in here and…’
‘Shhh!’ Marldon admonished him. ‘We can’t have people overhear. Remember in the city, most of the people that you will see will be on the side of the Baron. We hav
e to be very careful until we leave here.’ Marldon turned his attention back to where he was going. He took a brief furtive look around, before turning down a side street. ‘The men that have volunteered to help us are meeting us down here’ he explained. ‘Hopefully everything is alright and they’ll be here or we’ll have to revise our plans!’
Marldon pulled the horse to a stop and issued a low whistle. A head popped put of a nearby window and then quickly disappeared again. Suddenly, a little further along the street, a large wooden gate began to open. Marldon urged the horse forwards again and steered him through the opening. As soon as the cart was fully through, the gate was closed behind them. They had pulled into the yard of a house, and as they stopped a man came out and greeted Marldon.
‘Welcome! We have been expecting you. Our workforce is gathered and ready to go. Unless,’ the man hesitated before going on. ‘Perhaps you and your companions require refreshment first.’
‘No. Thank you, Tomak. Time is short and we have lots to do.’ Marldon jumped down from the seat of the cart. ‘Lets get the gunpowder off and then we can start!’
‘Get if off?’ James questioned. ’But how are we going to get it to where we want?’
‘Although most of the Baron’s forces have got the night off, there will be some patrols about. To be less conspicuous, we’re going to put a barrel into each of the hand carts that we have, and then split up and place them where we want them.’
‘Sounds good to me! Shall we get going?’ Steve, still in the back of the cart was beginning to prepare to take the barrels off. His enthusiasm was getting the better of him though, and he was manhandling the barrel he had selected roughly.
‘Careful!’ James cried out, appalled at Steve’s treatment of the cargo. ‘It’s not actually wine in there you know. Do you want to kill us all, before we manage to accomplish anything?’
‘Sorry,’ Steve apologised. ‘But the fuses aren’t in these yet are they?’
‘No’ Tomak replied. ‘We plan to put those in later, but it will only take a spark to set them off, don’t forget.’
Several other men had by this time gathered in the yard, and with their careful assistance, the load was soon off the cart and where they were wanted.
‘Right, it’s time to take these out of here, Marldon told the group. ‘We’ll need to split into groups and leave here separately. The last thing we want is to draw attention to what we’re doing. James, you’ll come with me, and Steve, you go with Sasket. Everyone knows where to place their barrel, and once they’re in place, James and I will come round and check that every one is in the best possible place. Everyone know what they’re doing?’
There were nods all round, so Tomak opened the door that was within the gate and went out with his hand cart and accompanied by another man. At regular intervals the different pairs went through the door and out into the streets until only James and Marldon were left. Finally Marldon turned to James. ‘It’s our turn, shall we go?’
James nodded and between the pair of them they pushed their cart out of the gate and into the deserted street.
‘Try not to look so furtive,’ Marldon told James. ‘Remember, we’re out on legitimate business, taking wine to the Citadel for tomorrow’s celebration.’
James tried to relax and keep that thought in his mind as he followed Marldon’s directions down the maze of streets. The Citadel loomed above them the whole time and James could hardly believe that due to a plan that he had come up with, this building was going to be destroyed. It was an impressive structure and looked so solid that James was beginning to doubt that their plan would work. However, as James and Marldon got up to the walls of the Citadel, James could see that it was an old building that hadn’t been looked after. The parapets were crumbling away and there were cracks running down the walls.
Marldon allowed James to look for a while, taking it all in before trying to usher him along. ‘No, wait,’ James told him. ‘I think here would be a good place to for our barrel.’
‘But we’ve picked a place further along. It’s better spaced with the others so that when they go off, hopefully together, the destruction will happen in similar measure all the way round.’
James shook his head. ‘That not quite what we need. The barrels need to placed at the weakest points of the Citadel. We need to cause enough panic in the Baron that he exits here as fast as he can. While spacing might be good, preventing a place where the Baron can hide is what we want to do. What we need is to cause as much damage as possible. See here,’ James pointed to where he wanted to place the gunpowder. ‘There’s a crack in the wall that runs right down to the ground. That means at this point there’s already a weakness, so when the barrel explodes, that whole section of wall should collapse with it, and that’s what we’re after!’ James finished emphatically, his eyes shining as he explained to Marldon what was needed.
Marldon looked at James for a while before looking at where he wanted to put the explosive. His eyes travelled upwards, following the crack which he saw went all the way up to the top, to the parapet where there was already a chunk of masonry missing. He began to nod slowly. ‘You’re right,’ he told James. ‘Let’s place ours here, and then we’d better quickly go round and check the positioning of the others.’
James and Marldon had soon placed the barrel so it was as inconspicuous as possible. There was a slight niche just to one side of the damage in the Citadel’s wall into which they placed it. They then surrounded it with foliage to cover it. Luckily the land round the Citadel was unkempt and large bushy weeds grew all around the base of its walls. James stood back to survey their handiwork and nodded with satisfaction before turning to Marldon. ‘We just need to place the fuse in it now, have you got it with you?’
Marldon shook his head. ‘We didn’t want to risk any accidents before we’re ready so the fuses will only be put into place shortly before they’re lit.’
‘Good thinking. Shall we go and check the other placements?’
Marldon nodded his agreement and they quickly skirted around the walls of the Citadel. Most of them, James was fine with. Whilst the Citadel was in disrepair, not all areas were badly damaged and they just had to hope that when the gunpowder went off, as much destruction would happen as possible to persuade the Baron that staying inside was not a good idea.
After moving a few of them, James was finally satisfied, so he and Marldon began to head back to Tomak’s house. The other would be waiting for them and probably worrying about the length of time they had taken. But before they could get very far, a voice called out after them.
‘What are you doing here at this time?!’
It was by now full dark and not a time for wandering around the streets of the city. James froze in his tracks, so Marldon took decisive action. ‘Act drunk,’ he whispered to James. He then turned to face the armed guard behind him and raised his voice. ‘I am sorry! My friend here got a bit carried away tonight with celebrating and I’m trying to get him home. But as you can see, he’s a large man and difficult to control.’ James obligingly staggered against Marldon who struggled to catch him.
The guard looked disgusted with what he assumed was James’s level of drunkenness. ‘Be as quick as you can getting him to his bed’ he told Marldon. ‘The last thing we need is some drunken oaf making everything look bad, the night before the Baron’s wedding.’ When they hesitated the guard made large shooing gestures with his arms. ‘Go on, be off with you! Get away from the Citadel and back to your bed and stay there until you’re sober again!’ The guard seemed incredibly anxious for them to be out of the area, so James lessened his drunken act slightly and allowed Marldon to steer him until they were out of the line of vision of the guard.
James straightened and readjusted his clothing. ‘Phew, that was close!’
‘Too close!’ Marldon agreed. ‘I thought for a moment we’d had it.’
James smiled wryly. ‘Yeah, but at least you didn’t totally freeze and got us out of there. I was use
less!’
‘No, you weren’t,’ Marldon disagreed. ‘You did a great job acting drunk. Get a lot of practice do you?’ A sly grin spread across his face. James grinned back and the shared humour lightened the tension that they’d both been feeling. ‘Come on,’ Marldon went on, ‘we really are running out of time now. We’d better get back to the house and find the others.’
A few minutes later they were re-entering the yard of Tomak’s house. ‘You made it!’ Steve greeted them. ‘We were beginning to get worried. I wanted to look for you, but Sasket wouldn’t let me!’ A look of disgust crossed his face as he glanced across at Sasket.
‘Well, as you can see we’re fine, so you needn’t have worried.’ James replied.
Marldon could sense an argument brewing between James and Steve so decided to head it off. ‘James and I checked the placements of the other barrels and we moved a few of them.’ Marldon raised his voice above the protests of the others. ‘We didn’t move any of them far, so you’ll be able to easily locate them. Hopefully the new places will provide more damage and speed our plans well on their way.’
The grumbles subsided and Marldon turned to Tomak, a serious expression on his face. ‘May I just say on behalf of everyone involved in our cause that we are deeply grateful for the sacrifice you are making. Your bravery will not be forgotten!’ Marldon bowed low to Tomak and his friends, then solemnly embraced them all one by one. Sasket, who was standing beside Marldon, did the same.
James and Steve watched with dawning realisation. This group, led by Tomak, were the ones who, in the morning, would light the fuses on the gunpowder then ensure that the city was set alight in such a way that the Baron would have no option but to come out of the main gates. These men were willingly giving up their lives, so that tomorrow, a battle could take place.
James cleared his throat against the lump that was forming there. ‘I would just like to add my thanks to Marldon’s. I don’t know if you were aware that I came up with the plan that you are going to carry out.’ James spread his hands helplessly before going on. ‘I didn’t realise at first that you were going to have to risk your lives to carry it out, and your willingness to make such a sacrifice humbles me.’
