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Back to the previous chapter: Heretics
First Draft
Breanna stammered, "Seven... seventy-five hundred? Over seven thousand orcs? We've got to go! We can't stay here!" She scurried back to her horse and started untying the reins.
"Mount up!" Kasey shouted as he ran to Farran. "We've got to get to the gates first!"
The party rushed to their horses, quickly untying reins from trees or removing hobbles from the front legs of the horse. Rishala paused for a moment, then disappeared in a surge of Heka. His horse disappeared soon thereafter. The rest of the party climbed onto their horses. Kasey grabbed Breanna's reins away from her, then urged Farran to a run. The party followed the Church Knight as he rushed at a gallop towards Hold Asam.
Breanna screamed in terror. "This is insane! We're riding closer to an army of orcs!"
"Aye, m'Lady," Rishala's disembodied voice agreed. "But our horses will tire before the orcs do. How long do you think they will take to overrun us? This way, we have a palisade that may slow them down."
"May?" Breanna whimpered.
The horses thundered down the road towards the hold, kicking up clumps of mud and spraying water from the puddles on the way. The guards at the gate noticed the riders when they had covered half of the distance to the hold. They turned to face the riders, panic on their faces, and drew swords.
Kasey waved an arm at them as he shouted, "Orcs! There is an orc patrol behind us! Open the gates!"
One of the men turned to the gate and started hammering on it with his gauntleted fist. The others kept an eye on the approaching riders, but all three of them stole glances around to see if any orcs had materialized nearby.
When the riders were closer to the hold, Bilbus screamed, "For the love of the gods! Open the gate! Let us in before they catch us!"
Someone within the compound responded to the guard who continued to beat frantically on the gate. One of the doors slowly swung inwards, revealing the grounds of Hold Asam. The open area was little more than twenty-five paces wide, measured from the gate to the far wall, and twenty paces across, from the house to the stables. The entire area was a drying layer of mud, and it looked like nothing had grown from that soil in years.
The party's horses raced through the open gate, followed closely by the four Inquisitor gate guards. The guards pulled the gate closed, then quickly moved heavy wooden bars in place to secure the doors. When they turned to look at the new arrivals, they found the riders had already dismounted. The horses milled around the grounds for a few moments, then gravitated towards the bales of hay.
Kasey kept issuing orders. "You!" he pointed at one of the guards. "Take these ladies inside, somewhere high and safe. You," he pointed at Eric, "escort them."
The guard immediately moved to comply. He gestured towards the women, indicating that they should follow him. Eric followed Breanna and Adria towards the front door of the house.
"Who is in command here?" Kasey asked.
"The officers are inside, Sir Knight," one of the remaining guards said.
Kasey's expression was frightful. "There are ten fists of orcs marching on this hold and the officers are not preparing the defenses?!? How in the hells did they get a command?" Before the guard could reply, Kasey called out, "Get the rest of the men out here! We might slow them down! Move!" He strode across the muddy grounds to a staircase that led to the top of the palisades.
The Sun Knights were galvanized into action. Two of the guards ran towards the front doors, while those on the walls showed the grim determination of men preparing for battle. Longbows were strung, armor was checked, and quarrels were filled with arrows.
Inside the house, the guard led Breanna and Adria into the atrium of the house. The three officers Rishala had seen were still there, with a plan of the hold spread on the table as they tried to plan defenses. They looked up in surprise at the two women with Sun Knight tabards and the Azirian man, similarly dressed, following them into the house.
"Who are you?" one of the officers asked.
Eric stopped to face the men, his unstrung longbow in one hand, the other hand resting lightly on the grip of his Karasimian sword. "We were en route south when we spotted the orcs. These two women requested our escort." Glancing out the front windows at Bilbus, who wore the officer's braid that Rishala had conjured, Eric added, "Our commander is outside, overseeing the defense of your hold." Eric turned and trotted across the room to catch up with Breanna and Adria as they climbed the stairs at the far end of the room.
The house had the feel of lost glamour. Paint was peeling in places, and the floor had the abused look of years of neglect. Occasional glimpses of the hold's former life as a mansion appeared in places, such as the brass appointments on the doors and the chandeliers hanging in the hallway. Much of the interior had fallen to neglect, as the Sun Knights stationed here were meant to guard supplies that were being shipped to the military forts to the south.
At the top of the stairs, the guard led the three guests to the left, towards the eastern wing of the house. At the end of the hallway, a corridor led north and a closed door was to the south. The guard opened the door and stood aside.
"Miladies," he offered.
Breanna dipped a slight curtsy and stepped through the door. Adria coolly ignored the man. Eric nodded to him, but stopped in the doorway. As the Sun Knight left, Eric glanced down the hallway to the west. Two men stood outside a door at the far end of it. Neither one seemed interested in the Azirian escorting the women. Eric stepped into the room and shut the door behind him.
The room was a bedroom, still in good condition. There was a single large, plush bed on the inner wall, and an armoire near the door next to a full-length mirror. Rugs that showed only signs of dust on them covered the wooden flooring, and a couple of small tapestries decorated the walls. An unlit lantern rested on a small table next to two lounging chairs.
Breanna had migrated to the windows opposite the entrance. She stared out the window, her face pale. Her fingers fidgeted with the tabard she still wore as she looked past the men on the palisade twenty feet in front of her at the oncoming mass of orcs. The two armies had grouped together, forming a wide mass of dark armor. Already, their war chants were loud enough to be heard despite the shouts of the men nearby.
Eric gently pushed Breanna aside and leaned out the window. Very heavy shutters framed the window. Eric grabbed the shutters and pulled them closed, one at a time. Once the shutters were closed, he noticed with satisfaction that there were slits in the windows large enough to shoot arrows through. He looked at the other window, which opened to the east.
"Adria, light the lantern," he said as he crossed the room in three large steps. He swung the shutters closed, then noticed a wooden board near the window. He picked up the board as the lantern sputtered to life behind him, casting its warm rays across the room.
The shutters and the window frame had rectangular brass loops that lined up with one another. Eric slid the board through the loops, barring the shutters closed. He turned towards the other window, but Adria had already done likewise.
Breanna approached the Azirian. "Eric?" She paused uncertainly. "How can I help?"
Eric put his hand on her shoulder. "There's nothing right now, my dearest. Stand ready, for I know we will need your talents before this day is up."
Downstairs, Bilbus and Sturm passed through the now-empty atrium of the house. They walked slowly up the stairs at the far end, Sturm in the lead with a dagger held at the ready.
Outside the house was pandemonium. All of the Sun Knights within Hold Asam, save for the two guarding the prisoners, had been rousted. Those who had been sleeping were quickly strapping armor onto their bodies. The officers were shouting orders and organizing the troops, but few of the knights paid them any heed. Instead, the focused on the tall, blond Inquisitor who had arrived shortly after the orcs appeared.
Kasey had climbed to the top of the palisade wall, where he could see the approaching orc armies. He still called orders to the other men, preparing them to lay down concentrated arrow volleys when the orcs got within range. Amidst the chaos of the preparations, the disguised Church Knight brought order.
In the courtyard, the party's horses had congregated out of the way, near the bales of hay. None of the Sun Knights had noticed an extra horse among the group. The horse's owner, still invisible, had sneaked along the palisade wall, carefully placing his feet on the drier patches of ground so that he would leave less of a trail. Once he was even with the front face of the house, he quickly ran across the twenty feet of open ground until he reached the corner of the building.
The story teller walked along the front of the house, ignoring the windows he passed as he made his way to the front door. He paused at the corner of the front courtyard and poked his head carefully around it. The courtyard was small, almost ten paces on a side, and it gave the house a squared "U"-shape. It was also empty.
Rishala kept to the wall of the house as he walked towards the front door. He was relieved to see the door had been left wide open -- someone noticing a door open and close by itself might get a little worried. When he reached the open doorway, Rishala again paused. None of the Sun Knights had gone back to the building since the alarm had been raised, and there was no one in the atrium. Rishala trotted into the atrium and once again hugged a wall.
Compared to the courtyard, the interior was deathly quiet. The orders from Kasey and the Inquisitor officers coursed through the atrium, but no noises from the interior were forthcoming.
Remembering where the kitchen entrance was, Rishala went to the far side of the atrium. Next to the stairwell was a doorway. Rishala paused to look up the stairway. Sturm stood near the top of the stairs, one of his daggers drawn as he had turned back to Bilbus. The Sun Knight used hand gestures to indicate to Bilbus where the guards were. Bilbus nodded and drew the adamantine dagger he had recovered from one of the "Dark Prophecy Warriors" months earlier.
Rishala paused a moment longer, then went into the kitchen. He patted his belt carefully to make sure the pouches Breanna and Adria had given him were still tied fast, then set about sprinkling the contents into the assorted jars and canisters in the kitchen.
Upstairs, in the guest bedroom, Eric and Adria strung their bows. Breanna watched the two silently as she paced back and forth across the room.
Eric drew an arrow from his quiver and nodded to Adria. The blond assassin removed her tabard and grabbed an arrow as well.
Adria walked into the nearly-dark hallway, with Eric close behind. Eric stopped in the doorway and quickly brought his bow to the ready. The guards at the far end of the hallway had not expected to be the targets of archers. One stood with his mouth falling open as the other clutched for the hilt of his sword.
The loud zing of Adria's arrow echoed through the hallway. The guard reaching for his sword now had one arm pinned to the wall. Eric loosed his arrow at the other guard just as Adria loosed a second arrow, her hands moving almost in a blur.
Eric's target was grazed by the arrow, while Adria's stood pinned to the wall, the second arrow embedded through his heart.
The lone guard jumped towards the stairwell as Eric tracked him with his readied bow. Just before Eric released the bowstring, he saw Sturm rush around the corner of the hallway. Sturm jabbed a dagger into the guard, then pulled the man down to the ground and ran the dagger through the man's throat. The man quickly stopped struggling.
Eric relaxed the tension on his bowstring as he quickly jogged up the hallway. Sturm had already put his dagger away and was prying open the belt pouch on the body.
Breanna stepped into the hallway, holding the lantern.
Eric looked at the bright light. "Bree, bring the lantern over here!" he called out.
She ran up the hallway and held the lantern low, casting a steady, bright yellow light over the corpse on the ground. Adria pulled the arrows out of the other body, causing it to collapse to the wooden floor as well.
Sturm moved to the other body, again digging through the man's pouches. At last, he produced a key. The Sun Knight put the key into the door lock and turned. The door clicked, and Sturm lifted the latch. He stood to one side when Bilbus strode right past him and into the cell block.
Bilbus stopped two paces into the room. "The name's Bilbus the Great..."
Sturm snarled behind the mountebank. "Shut up."
"... and I'm here to rescue you this fine evening."
Bilbus stopped next to the first cell. He put his hands over the lock and prepared to channel Heka until he remembered the Dark One's threat. Instead, the mountebank drew his lockpicks and started fumbling with the lock.
Adria squeezed past Bilbus into the row of locked doors, and Breanna followed close behind. The apothecary set her lantern on the ground as the assassin drew two sharp metal picks from her hair. Adria started picking one of the cell doors as Breanna drew picks of her own.
Adria swung open the first cell. Empty. She noticed Breanna picking the lock on the adjacent cell.
"You know how to pick locks?" Adria asked, a touch of amusement in her voice. "My lady, I am shocked."
Breanna tossed one her hair picks -- now bent -- aside and pulled another one from the tight bun on the back of her head. She spent a few more seconds coaxing the lock to open, then looked at Adria. "I have a brother who loved to take things out of my room and hide them in his. If I wanted to get my things back, I had to get into his room." She giggled to herself. "I also left a couple of things that got him into trouble..."
She opened the door and found a man crouching in the cell. Breanna immediately approached him, hands open, and started inspecting the angry bruise on the side of his head.
Adria moved on to the next cell, once more picking the lock. This cell was occupied by another badly beaten knight.
Bilbus put away his picks and put his hand over the lock. Steeling himself, he started to direct Heka into the metal lock assembly. A strong wave of nausea washed through the mountebank, causing him to stumble back and drop to one knee. He looked down the hallway to see Breanna and Adria still opening the locks. When they had opened all the other cells, they came back towards him.
Adria looked at Bilbus with a sympathetic eye, then kneeled in front of the lock and quickly picked it. She opened the doorway and stood aside when Sturm stepped up to it.
"Sturm?" the man in the cell asked.
"Sir Atenburg," Sturm greeted brusquely.
Adria looked at the battered man for a moment. "Sirs Knight, it is time to go. Those orcs can not be far away."
The not-distant-enough howl of a trumpet answered Adria.
Sturm glanced towards the south. "I think it is too late to leave."
Kasey looked from time to time at the approaching armies of orcs. The group due south of the hold had moved at a constant lope, not quite jogging, but not really walking, either. The intimidating force of orcs covered the distance quickly, without appearing to exert much effort. The second force had been moving at a faster pace as it moved almost due east to meet with the first army at a rallying point half a mile south of Hold Asam. The men around Kasey had regained their practiced discipline after Kasey had taken charge and given them purpose, and they now waited grimly on the wall of Hold Asam for what certainly would be a brief pitched fight against impossible odds. Every arrow in the hold had been distributed, and those Sun Knights who were not on the wall made ready on the grounds below to replace fallen comrades.
The two armies of orcs met a thousand paces south of the hold, then turned northward at a lazy lope, with dozens of Shadow Kindred rushing to and fro in front of them, leading the troops as well as goading them. The banners of the two armies still hung over the massed troops, hanging from 'T'-shaped poles every twenty paces along the front of the armies. Kasey raised Bilbus's spyglass to look closely at the forces again.
A shouted command from one of the orcs at the head of the army was echoed by hundreds of other orcs in the formation. The orcs moved from their easy jog to a full run towards the hold. One of the knights on the wall whimpered loudly as seven thousand orcs charged towards the low wooden palisade walls.
"Easy," Kasey called out loudly as he looked up and down the line of knights. He noted that two of the officers were on the wall, masks of grim determination on both of their faces as they held bows and watched the assault force close the distance quickly.
The massed formation of orcs quickly covered half of the distance to the hold. They were soon five hundred paces away, still too far for a bow shot. The front had started to split, with the orcs to the west falling slightly behind the orcs to the east, but they were finally close enough that Kasey could make out some of the details of the battle flags both groups carried.
Through the spyglass, the banner of the southern group looked like a large gray fist on a black field. Stone Fist Tribe, Kasey thought. The Stone Fist Tribe had lived in the Middle Ranges ever since the Dark One had abandoned them after the Fall of Camelough. Their predation on merchants had forced most commerce from north to south to pass through Arabel Cinlu, which had contributed strongly to that city's development as a trade nexus.
The other force, which continued to fall behind the Stone Fist Tribe, ran under a brown banner that had the silhouette of a barren green tree in the middle of it. The Tree Eater Tribe had scattered throughout the Great Forest of the Dales, but there had been little contact with them since the Fall of Camelough. The Tree Eaters seemed to have been perfectly willing to stay away from human settlements until now -- only rarely were there reports of orc attacks in the Dales.
Kasey watched the approaching armies through Bilbus's spyglass. The baleful blast of trumpets in the Tree Eaters' formation drew his attention back towards them.
The Tree Eaters had dropped their banners, and the front ranks of orcs suddenly turned on the Shadow Kindred ahead of them. The Stone Fist Tribe formation started to fall apart as the rear ranks watched their allies attack the Shadow Kindred.
A murmur rose in the men watching the attack from the palisades of Hold Asam. The Tree Eaters were tearing their brown-and-green tabards off of their armor, revealing a different set of colors. Archers scattered throughout the formation stopped, and the swordsmen in the front ranks dropped to their knees. A salvo of thousands of arrows shot across the twenty paces from the Tree Eater formation into the rear flanks of the Stone Fist Formation. New battle flags were raised above the Tree Eaters.
Kasey looked at the new battle flags. Like the Tree Eaters' new tabards, the field was a bright blue. Two white rectangles, like stylized towers, were on the lower half of the banner, and a bright yellow sun, complete with rays, was above the twin towers. Kasey puzzled over the insignia.
The Tree Eaters charged the Stone Fists, and a confused melee developed on the plains south of Hold Asam as orc battled orc. A few Stone Fists tried to continue their attack on the hold, loosing arrows intermittently at maximum range. The Sun Knights returned fire, wounding orcs. Kasey watched the fight with interest, wishing for a small contingent of Stone Fist to break free and charge the hold, just to give him a chance to swing his sword, but none of the orcs would leave the melee.
As the fight raged, Kasey became aware of Bilbus, Eric, and Sturm on the wall next to him.
"Hi, guys," he said.
Bilbus stared slack-jawed at the battle. "Kasey? What in the Nine Hells is going on?"
"Oh, that?" Kasey gestured towards the fight raging four hundred paces away. "The Tree Eaters attacked their Shadow Kindred, then attacked the Stone Fists."
"What?!?" Bilbus asked incredulously. "The Tree Eaters attacked the other orcs?"
"Yeah. They also changed banners to something blue with white towers and a yellow sun."
Sturm glanced at Eric. "Can I borrow your spyglass?"
Eric handed it to the Sun Knight without taking his eyes off of the battle.
Sturm extended the telescope and looked at the confused battle. He spotted the new banners in the rapidly fading light and lowered the glass for a moment.
Eric looked at Sturm. "Is something the matter?"
"The banner is the Camelough Guards battle flag. It was what was flown at the Fall of Camelough, when we fought the orcs to buy time for the city to evacuate by sea."
The Sun Knight raised the spyglass again and continued to sweep over the battle. He lowered the glass again. "What the Hells?"
"Something else?" Eric asked.
"They have another banner. It's faded, and a bit ragged, but I still recognize it." Sturm looked at his companions. "It's Uther Paendroeg's battle flag."
Bilbus looked at Sturm. "What?"
"The Sun King's personal battle standard is flying over the Tree Eaters Tribe. Any Knight of the Sun would recognize it. It was lost when Camelough fell. How did those orcs manage to get it?"
Bilbus watched the battle in silence for a minute. He glanced over his shoulder and noticed some of the garrison waiting in the grounds near the house. Four of the officers were standing down there, talking. What the Hells am I doing on this wall? I don't have a bow, and I can't do anything about this battle, the thief thought to himself. Besides, it's getting really cold now that the sun is down. He decided on a course of action.
Bilbus glanced at his companions. "Well, I need to do some officer things. Keep me posted, men." Sturm scowled at the mountebank as Bilbus turned to walk back down the stairs.
Bilbus nodded at the officers. When they stopped talking, he smiled at them. "Good Sirs Knight, perhaps we should step inside, where we have some light, and plan on contingencies. Those orcs will not fight one another forever, and we don't know what will happen when they stop. They may be disagreeing over who gets to eat us first."
The officers followed Bilbus into the atrium of the house. A lantern sat on the table, casting a comforting glow on the interior of the house. The stack of papers Bilbus had noticed when he had passed through the room earlier were gone.
"Let me get us some drinks," Bilbus offered before he went into the kitchen.
The kitchen likewise had a single lantern providing illumination. Bilbus looked around the kitchen carefully, then went to the pantry.
"Rishala?" he whispered. "Are you still in here?"
Silence answered him.
"Rishala? If you're in here, I need to know which bottles of wine you've already prepared."
He heard a disembodied sigh from somewhere in the pantry. A whispered voice admonished, "Bilbus, if ye don't shut your mouth, someone is gonna know I'm here."
"Okay," Bilbus said quietly. "But which bottles have you poisoned?"
"All of them," came the quiet response.
Bilbus grabbed a bottle of Scowling Knight Red, then returned to the kitchen. There, he found four metal goblets. He carried the bottle and goblets back to the table in the atrium. He looked at the bottle for a moment, then went back to the kitchen. He returned moments later carrying a second bottle and a corkscrew. Bilbus opened the first bottle and poured it into the goblets. He pushed the goblets towards the other men, then opened the second bottle and took a sip.
"Who are you, anyway?" one of the officers asked as he took a sip of wine.
Bilbus straightened. "I am ... Sir Hogain. My men and I were being transferred to the south when we came across the ladies. Then, an orc patrol jumped us. We were close to here, so we decided to run for it. Then, what do we find? A large army charging from the south."
The officers nodded quietly to themselves as they sipped the wine.
Bilbus continued. "That was the oddest thing, when those orcs started fighting one another. If I didn't see it myself, I wouldn't believe it."
One of the officers snorted. "Well, orcs are barbaric. It was probably a disagreement over which chief would get to torch the hold."
Bilbus nodded and sipped from the bottle again. He was glad he had the foresight to smuggle a bottle from Sturm's stock at the vineyard. He could drink with the officers, without worrying about the debilitating poison that Adria had mixed.
Bilbus kept the innocuous prattle going for a few more minutes. He had convinced himself that Adria's poisons were not working when one of the officers slipped and fell off of his chair.
"Oops!" Bilbus said jovially. "That wine is really taking a liking to you, eh?"
"I ... I don't feel too well," the man said as he tried to pull himself back onto the chair. He slipped and fell to the ground, doubled over and clutching his abdomen.
"Sir Nevett, are you okay?" one of the other officers asked.
Bilbus noticed with satisfaction that the other officers had started to behave woozily as well. Two more fell to the ground, curled into fetal positions, while the last one looked accusingly at Bilbus. He started to rise to his feet, but stumbled and fell to the ground, whispering "Traitor!" as he, too, stopped moving.
Bilbus put his untainted bottle of wine on the table and kneeled next to one of the officers. A quick feel of the man's neck showed no pulse. Frowning, Bilbus checked another of the men. Likewise, no pulse. A moment later, Bilbus confirmed that all four men were dead. Good gods, Adria. You didn't need to kill them. Extreme discomfort would have been enough.
A noise at the doorway gave Bilbus alarm. He stood, reaching unconsciously for his sword, and turned to the door.
Eric stood in the doorway, looking at the men on the ground. "Decided to get rid of them?"
Bilbus relaxed, then snarled, "Adria mixed something a little stronger than I expected." He looked at the bodies curled on the ground around the table. "Help me move them into one of the officer's rooms. We don't need the rest of the men finding the bodies."
Eric helped Bilbus drag the corpses into one of the rooms in the east wing of the house. When the last one was piled in the room, Bilbus paused and looked at Eric.
"How is the fight going?" The sounds of battle were still audible, even within the house.
"I don't know," Eric admitted. "The sun is down, and there is not enough moonlight for me to see what is happening. I could fire arrows towards the fight, but it would be a waste of ammunition we may need later. It makes more sense for me to rest now, in case the orcs remember that we're here."
Bilbus nodded to himself. "How's Bree doing?"
"I haven't seen her since we freed the prisoners."
"I think I'll go check on them," Bilbus decided aloud.
Eric nodded and went into one of the other sleeping chambers.
Bilbus padded through the house to the stairwell. He followed it up to the second floor, then wandered through the prison cells looking for anyone. The cells were open and empty. Bilbus then crossed the house to the east wing, above the soldiers' quarters. Several of the rooms had been opened, and lantern light came from the open doorways. Bilbus poked his head into the first one.
Breanna sat on the edge of the bed, her hair a mess that framed her face. She was slumped forward, yawning. Adria sat in a chair nearby, not as exhausted as the red-head.
"That was quite a mixture you two made," Bilbus said as he stepped into the bedroom.
Adria turned her head to look at her husband, eyes blinking slowly as she struggled to stifle a yawn. "What do you mean?"
"The officers are dead. I thought you were going to give them 'extreme discomfort'."
"I'm sure they were uncomfortable."
Breanna rolled back to lay sprawling on the bed.
Bilbus jerked a thumb towards her. "What's with her?"
"She's tired. She's spent the last hour healing the prisoners and tending to their bruises." Adria paused. "The orcs haven't attacked."
"No. Kasey says one of the tribes attacked the other, just like the orc prophecy said they would." The sounds of battle subsided for a moment, then they grew again. "The orcs are about four hundred paces south of the walls. A few of them were getting closer to fire arrows at us, but most of them are busy fighting one another."
Adria looked towards the south wall of the room, as if she could see through the walls of the house. The gentle sawing of Breanna's breathing soon filled the room.
Bilbus looked at the sleeping woman and smiled. "Does Eric know she snores?"
"She only does it when she's really tired," Adria replied. "Speaking of which..." She stood and stretched, then grabbed her unstrung bow. She walked towards Bilbus. He grinned lopsidedly as she got close, but the grin disappeared when the blonde noble slipped past him into the hallway.
"Hey," Bilbus said as he followed her across the hall to another bedroom.
Adria leaned her bow against the wall at the head of the bed, then sat down, experimentally bouncing on the mattress a couple of times. Satisfied that it was stable, she flopped back onto the bed and sighed loudly.
"You're going to sleep?" Bilbus asked.
"Yes."
"But there are seven thousand orcs outside the walls."
"And it will make no difference if I am awake or asleep when those things decide to climb the walls." Bilbus started to protest, but Adria interrupted. "I want to get some sleep. If you are going to talk, go outside."
Bilbus sat down heavily on the bed. He pressed a hand into the mattress, feeling a firm mattress underneath the quilted cover. Sighing to himself, Bilbus slipped the sword belt off of his shoulder and set it on the edge of the bed. He laid back on the bed and shut his eyes, listening to the shouts and crashes of a battle raging less than a quarter mile away. His breathing slowed as he drifted into slumber.
Kasey paced along the wall. Half a dozen Sun Knights still maintained vigil on the wall, looking helplessly towards the battle raging to the south in the dark. The rest of them had returned to the grounds of the hold to nap and await their turn at watch. Kasey had repeatedly refused offers to rest; he had insisted on keeping an eye on the battle until he knew the outcome. The screams of the dying and the clash of metal on metal was enough to keep the Church Knight alert.
It was shortly past Latins by Kasey's estimation -- three hours after the middle of the night. The battle had raged for close to six hours, gaining momentum for a while, then slowing. Arrows had shot through the darkness to clatter impotently against the manor house and its roof, or to burrow into the wooden logs of the palisade, but the orcs were never organized in their attacks on the hold. Some of the Sun Knights had started a detail to collect the orc arrows that had landed inside the grounds to use against the remaining orc army. Some of the men had sneered at the coarse feathers and heavier shaft of the arrows, but they also had seen the deadly effect of the two or three arrows that had found their mark somehow. Some of their own had fallen during the night to lucky shots fired into the dark.
Kasey had been staring towards the south when he realized that something had changed. It took him another minute to realize that the sounds of battle had nearly ceased. The moans of wounded still drifted in on the breeze, but the harsh crashing and shouts had nearly stopped.
"You!" Kasey hissed to the nearest Sun Knight. "Warn the men that the battle has stopped. Have them make ready."
The knight saluted Kasey and ran down the stairs. Minutes later, one of the officers stood beside Kasey.
"What is happening?" the officer asked.
"The battle stopped," Kasey replied in a low voice. "I ordered the men to make ready, in case the Stone Fist were victorious."
"Good thought, Sir Knight." The officer looked into the darkness.
Kasey continued to watch for signs of orc, occasionally pacing along the palisade top and hitting a fist into a palm. As the last few sounds of fighting died away, Kasey resumed staring south.
Eric sat up on the bed and stretched. The first thing he noticed was that it was quiet outside. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and looked around the floor. In the gray half-light of the impending dawn, he spotted his boots. He leaned down and grabbed one of them, wriggling his toes as he pulled the boot on. He repeated the motion with the other boot.
Standing at last, Eric stretched once more. He then wrapped his sword belt around his waist and buckled, then grabbed his quiver full of arrows. He swung its belt over his head and let it rest on his shoulder, keeping the quiver close at hand on his right hip. After grabbing his bow, Eric left the room.
The hallway was quiet. Eric padded towards the corner, then looked towards the atrium. It was quiet there, as well. In the atrium Eric found a lantern that had gone cold, but no people. He walked outside and glanced at the sky above.
The gray of the sky was already taking on color. A few brighter stars were twinkling still, defiant as the last strains of night were banished once more.
"Good morning, sleepyhead," Bilbus said.
Eric looked around at the grounds of the hold. Knights were everywhere, lying in the drying mud or slumped against the walls.
"Bilbus?" Eric asked. "What happened?"
Bilbus smiled. "The girls and Rishala fixed the knights breakfast. I guess it didn't agree with them."
"They're dead?"
"Sad, isn't it?" Bilbus looked mockingly mournful. "What a waste of perfectly good Inquisitors."
"What about the orcs?"
Bilbus waved dismissively as he walked towards Eric. "Oh, some of them are still standing. Kasey stayed up all night watching them. Actually, right now, Sturm and Kasey are on the walls, staring at the leftovers of the orc army." Leaning close to the Azirian, Bilbus lowered his voice. "Personally, I think if Kasey would come down here, Sturm's scowl would take care of the rest of them."
Eric walked past Bilbus towards the stairs to the palisade. The mountebank followed him to the top, and they joined the Sun Knight and the Church Knight in looking south.
The remaining orcs stood in formation, four hundred paces south of the hold. Thousands of bodies were scattered all around the formation, black mounds with crimson borders littering the snowfield. Ravens by the dozens had already descended on the corpses, plucking juicy morsels from the exposed flesh of the faces of the dead.
"Not many survived," Eric observed.
Sturm snorted. His breath formed a small cloud in front of him as he answered, "There are four fingers of orcs out there. Even if we had all of the Inquisitors" -- he said the word distastefully -- "they would outnumber us about ten to one."
"Why are they just standing in formation?"
"See the banners? That is the old banner of the Camelough Guards. They also have Uther Paendroeg's personal battle flag."
Eric looked at the formation in silence for a moment. He then recited a stanza from the orc prophecy Sturm had received on the night of the Harvest Celebration in Armagh several months earlier.
"Betrayer will run
And join hordes of man
To stand with sun
Death to betrayer"
Shouted calls from the orcs echoed across the open plains. Forty of the orcs stepped out of formation and formed a group in front of the main body. One of the orcs in the smaller formation carried the faded battle flag of the Sun King. The small formation marched forward fifty paces and halted again.
Eric looked at his comrades on the wall. "Maybe we should go out and meet them?"
Sturm nodded and turned to stride down the stairs to the ground level. Eric, Bilbus, and Kasey followed the Sun Knight, who crossed the grounds to the stables. Someone had collected the party's horses some time during the night and hobbled them to keep them from getting in the way during the battle. Sturm removed the hobbles from his horse's ankles and climbed into the saddle. Once in the seat, the Sun Knight tore the 'I' marking from his tabard and threw it to the ground.
Eric, Bilbus, and Kasey removed their Inquisitor tabards before they climbed onto their own horses. Breanna scurried out of the house, looking about. She spotted Eric and rushed to the side of his horse.
She looked up at Eric worriedly. "You're going out there? With the orcs?"
"Yes," Eric replied calmly. "If they were going to attack the hold, they would have by now. It looks like they want a parley. You can watch from the palisades, if you like." As he turned his horse to head for the gates, he spotted Rishala. "Rishala, could you get the gates?"
The Caledonian jogged over to the stout plank barricading the gates. With a struggle, he lifted it and dropped it to the ground. Pulling hard on one of the doors, he managed to open it.
The four riders passed through the gate and immediately turned south, trotting towards the massed formation of orcs. As soon as the smaller formation of orcs spotted the riders, it started to move towards them.
Two hundred paces south of the hold, the four men stopped. The orc formation was fifty paces away, facing them. Farran snorted and started to prance about. Kasey snarled at the horse-kelpie, and pulled the reins back. Farran jerked his head and backed a few paces. The Church Knight then relaxed pressure on one rein, but pulled the other far back and to the side. Farran snorted again and started walking in a tight circle, pivoting on his foreleg.
"What is your problem, Farran? You've seen orcs before," Kasey said as he kept forcing Farran to circle tightly.
Sturm dismounted from his warhorse. "Kasey, Farran is part kelpie, right? Maybe he remembers the Sun King's armies chasing the kelpies from Caledonia."
"Don't be silly," Kasey said as he continued to fight to control his horse. "Farran isn't that old."
Eric dropped from his saddle. "Kasey, there are people who believe that some memories are passed down through the generations. Maybe kelpies are a creature where that belief is true."
"Whatever his problem is, I better not leave him alone. I'll stay back and watch the other horses."
Bilbus jumped off of Acquisition's back and trotted forward to catch Sturm and Eric. Three orcs left the formation in front of them and walked forward as well. When the two groups were three paces apart, they stopped. They regarded one another in silence for a moment as the sun peeked above the horizon, casting warming rays upon the gathered men and orcs.
Sturm spoke in hushed tones. "I hope they speak Kelltic. I don't speak orc."
Bilbus took a half step forward. "Hi!" he said.
Sturm fought the urge to slap the mountebank.
One of the orcs growled back at Bilbus in its guttural tongue.
Sturm thought for a moment. He remembered a technique Sir Atenburg had taught him years ago for understanding foreign tongues. Perhaps it would work with orcs, as well. Sturm forced Heka into the proper shape, and waited for a moment.
"Tree Eaters?" he asked. He was almost surprised to hear his own voice growling in the cruel orcish tongue.
One of the orcs grinned, baring sharp, ragged teeth. "We are of the Tree Eater Tribe."
"But you fight under the Sun Knight's banner?" Sturm asked, pointing at the faded flag hanging over the orcs' formation.
"No, we fight under the Sun King's banner. We fight for the new Sun."
"And you destroyed the Stone Fists."
The orc shrugged -- or, more accurately, Sturm realized, he perceived the orc's motion as a shrug. "We were ready to stop fighting the tribes of men. The time had come."
Bilbus suddenly started speaking in the growling orcish. "You are all that is left of Tree Eaters?"
"Of this army, four fingers survived."
"Are there others?" the mountebank immediately asked.
"We have twenty fists in the forest ready to fight for the new sun."
Bilbus whistled appreciatively.
Sturm spoke again. "I am Sir Sturm Sunblade, of the Knights of the Sun."
"Yes," the orc replied. "I am Fists Commander Krag."
Bilbus glanced over his shoulder. Kasey was still busy keeping Farran under control, and the warhorse had resorted to trying to buck, with little success. Bilbus trotted back to his horse and climbed onto it.
"Kasey," the mountebank said, "why don't we ride back to the hold, so Farran doesn't have to see the banner any more."
"Okay," Kasey said. When Farran was pointed towards the hold, he gave the tight rein some room. Farran snorted, ears laid back and teeth bared, and stood still.
"You would prefer circles?" Kasey asked as he started to pull on the rein again. "If not, let's go back." Farran started walking towards Hold Asam.
Bilbus kept Acquisition to Farran's side, several paces away, as the two returned to the hold. Once inside, Bilbus dropped from the saddle and ran up the steps to the palisade wall, where Rishala and Adria watched the discussions.
Heavy footsteps on the stairs behind them interrupted the quiet. Bilbus turned to see Sir Richard Atenburg.
"What is happening?" Sir Atenburg asked, his voice grizzled from years of shouting at trainees.
"Sturm is talking to the orcs," Bilbus replied, as if it were a common occurrence.
"Hmmph," Atenburg snorted. "Those are the ones who defected, then."
"They said they fight for the 'New Sun'," Bilbus added as he glanced at Atenburg.
The Sun Knight did not react. He continued to watch the orcs speaking to Sturm and Eric.
Some time later, Sturm and Eric rode back towards the hold, followed by the entire small formation of orcs. The orcs stopped outside the gates while the two humans rode into the compound. The observers on the wall joined the rest of the people in the grounds.
Sturm dismounted and walked towards the party. "The orcs will take care of the bodies," he said as he nodded towards the dead Inquisitors.
"They're going to bury them?" Breanna asked.
"No," Bilbus said dryly. "They are not going to bury them."
"Then what are they..." she stopped as she saw the dark expression on Bilbus's face. She turned pale and covered her mouth with a hand.
"Come on, Bree," Adria said as she took Breanna's shoulders and steered the noble towards the house.
Orcs started filing into the hold. They went to the dead men lying about the grounds and picked them up, throwing the bodies over a shoulder and jogging out once more. Once all the bodies were removed, the humans could hear the formation march away, back towards the south.
"Sturm," Sir Atenburg said. "What in the Hells is going on?"
"Those orcs have joined our side. They have twenty fists of warriors that they can collect from the Dales to stop the Stone Fist Tribe. It will take them some time to collect their armies, but most of this force will stay here."
"Very well," Atenburg said uncertainly.
"The new Lord High Commander of the Sun Knights has decided to create a new branch in the order. There will now be Enforcers with all Sun Knight groups to make sure spies are rooted out of the order. Inquisitor beliefs are now official policy."
"I've heard about his plans. That was why he had me removed from command."
"The order is not taking it well. There have been fights between Inquisitors and the rest of the ranks. One of the garrison commanders told me that Sir Vauhan was not the first choice, but the other knight was disqualified."
Atenburg nodded. "Orcs have mounted the largest attacks in generations, and the Knights of the Sun are busy fighting one another. This does not bode well for anyone."
"No. I think the timing is suspect, Sir Atenburg." Sturm had never been allowed to call Richard Atenburg by his familiar name. "Orcs have destroyed Citadel Altspire, they are suddenly marching out of the Middle Ranges in large numbers, and the Dark One's minions have been trying to control the criminals in Londoun. Here we have an Inquisitor getting command of the order."
Sir Atenburg lowered his voice. "You think Sir Vauhan is in leagues with the Dark One?"
"He wants to take knights off of the frontiers to root out 'Heka users' in the populace. I have seen how Inquisitors question their victims. They are not friendly." The long cut along the farm woman's back was still vivid in Sturm's mind.
"What is your plan, Sturm?"
Sturm had thought long about what he was going to say. Sir Atenburg was the only knight Sturm was willing to trust with the idea. "I think there are enough dissidents within the order to start a coup." Sir Atenburg raised an eyebrow. "The Knights of the Sun are going to be needed soon, and they will not be able to stand against the orcs if they follow Sir Vauhan's path. You know the knights of Sunkeep better than any other man in that castle. You should be able to find enough senior officers to throw Sir Vauhan out of command. Rally the troops, and make ready."
"The Inquisitors are fanatical, Sturm. They will defend Vauhan."
"And you will have the Sun Knights who are true to the order." He glanced towards the south. "And four fingers of orcs. I will tell them to follow your command. They can wait here and guard Hold Asam while you organize a resistance."
"What about you? What are you going to do?"
"We have to stop the Dark One."
Sir Atenburg studied Sturm's face for a moment, his own face unreadable. At last, he nodded. "Very well, Sturm."
Bilbus had listened to the conversation with interest, but he had kept his distance and maintained an air of distraction. After Sir Atenburg walked away from Sturm, Bilbus walked over to Kasey. "Hey, Kase? Let's round up some orcs and collect the darkblades. Do you have any idea how many there are out there?"
"Lots?"
"Yeah. We can find some orcs to dig some pits. If we bury the blades deep enough, no one will find them."
"Okay." Kasey spotted Farran lazily munching on some hay. Before the warhorse had time to react, Kasey had swung up onto the saddle. Farran stamped one hoof and laid his ears back.
"Calm down, Farran," the blond knight admonished as he pointed the kelpie-warhorse towards the open gates.
Bilbus rode out after the knight. Both of them trotted towards the Tree Eaters orcs.
When they were close, Bilbus hailed the large warriors in their tongue. "We need a detail to collect the Shadow Kindred's blades! We want a pit dug, and we want the blades in the pit and covered!"
Krag snarled orders to his men, and soon a detail started digging, using pieces of armor scavenged from the dead as shovels. Another group of orcs started roaming through the dead, searching for Shadow Kindred corpses. As they found the quickly-decaying bodies, they would use a discarded bow or pole to mark the darkblade. Bilbus and Kasey watched from horseback as the orcs marked two hundred places where a darkblade lay.
The orcs used pieces of armor to collect the blades, taking great care not to touch the accursed weapons. They dumped the cruel black swords in the pit, then went back into the sea of dead to find more of the weapons.
Kasey rode over to the pit and dropped out of Farran's saddle. He stopped a pair of orcs hauling one of the darkblades towards the pit and gestured, palms down, towards the ground. The orcs looked at him for a moment, then set the breastplate they used to carry the sword on the ground. Kasey nodded to them, then went to some of the nearby bodies. He tore the tabards from several of the dead orcs and carried the heavy cloth sheets back to the darkblade. He set several of the black tabards on the ground next to the breastplate, then tipped the armor, dumping the darkblade on the tabards. The Church Knight then wrapped the tabards around the sword. Finally, he used a couple more tabards to make cloth ropes to keep the bundle closed.
Bilbus watched as Kasey finished wrapping the blade. "Hey, Kase? What are you doing?"
"I want to take one of these swords to Kells. Maybe the Church can find a way to remove its magick, or stop it from affecting people."
"Just be careful with it," Bilbus said. He looked around at the thousands of bodies around them. "I am going to organize a cleanup. The orcs can bury the bodies, so they don't rot." He rode back towards the commander of the orc army as Kasey returned to Hold Asam.
Once Bilbus had relayed his request to the orcs, he returned to the hold. The orcs set about collecting the dead in the field, moving them to a large pile. They stripped the bodies of weapons, armor, and valuables after they dropped the bodies on the pile. They were cautious around the dead Shadow Kindred, using several orcs to move the body while a few more stayed nearby, weapons at the ready.
Once Bilbus was back in the hold, Rishala approached him. "Bilbus, why don't ye teach me your technique for speaking to orcs?"
"I would like to, Rishala," the mountebank said as he swung a leg over his horse's back and dropped to the ground. "But, I would have to cast it again for you to see how I do it."
"And that's a problem?"
Bilbus sighed quietly. "Rishala, do you remember that particular well-dressed man who occasionally talks to me?" Rishala nodded. "He decided to remove some protections the last time we talked. When I try to shape Heka, I start feeling ill. Last night, I nearly threw up when I tried to open a lock. I really do not want to tempt Lady Fate any more than I must."
Rishala pondered for a moment. "I see. Well, would you like some breakfast?"
"What is there to eat?"
"I dinna poison everything, Bilbus. I made sure there were a few things we could eat safely."
Bilbus followed the Caledonian into the house.
The party and Sir Atenburg left Hold Asam later that day. The other former prisoners were left manning the hold until Atenburg could return with more anti-Inquisitor Sun Knights. Rishala marked the poisoned food so the knights would know not to eat it. The orcs set up a well-ordered camp half a mile south of the hold, and agreed to wait there until Sir Atenburg had a mission for them.
After spending the night at the Scowling Knight Vineyards, the party continued along the dirt road towards Llwelyn. When they were still a distance from the town, Sir Atenburg decided it was time to part company.
"You will not want to ride into town with me," the older knight said. "Too many people will recognize me, and some of them may wonder why you are with me. I will seek others within the order who will help remove Sir Vauhan from power, and we will keep the Hold Asam open to release any additional dissenters who are brought to us."
Sturm nodded. "We may not return to this region for a long time. We are going to be heading south."
"Will you pass through Kells?" When Sturm nodded, Sir Atenburg turned to Kasey. "Can you look up a Father Gillifin? Tell him Sir Richard Atenburg sends his regards."
"Okay," Kasey said. "Father Gillifin," he repeated to himself.
"Good journey, Sturm," Richard said to his adopted son. "Keep the edge sharp, the armor ready, the eyes alert."
The knight rode towards an outlying village as the party rode towards Llwelyn.
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Original Draft 13 January 2002
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