“The child is coming, master,” Drusala said, her voice humble. “It won’t be long now. Please forgive us.”
At least the midwife knew her place, Korthac decided. Not that he intended to keep his promise of safe passage back to the countryside. His men wanted women, and soon there would be plenty of need for her skill in Akkad.
Trella’s body heaved again. The contraction forced another moan of pain from her clenched lips, despite her effort to remain silent. Korthac peered at her belly. Yes, the infant’s bloody head now showed. The birthing had started.
Without a word, he turned away from the oppressive atmosphere.
“Call me when the child is born,” he said to the guard. “I want to see it, to make sure it’s fit to live.”
He went downstairs and back outside, to the fresh air. The servant brought more wine, but he took only a sip. If the child survived, he’d let Trella nurse it for a few days, just long enough for her to grow attached to it, before he took it from her. Her milk would dry up after that, say in another week or so, and she’d be ready to begin serving him properly.
Not that he intended to wait that long to begin her training. He’d already thought of many things she could do to please him.
22
As Eskkar and his men slipped through the darkness and approached Akkad’s north wall, he refused to dwell on the countless things that could go wrong. He had to get into Akkad. If he could accomplish that task, the most difficult part of the plan would be behind them.
To scale the wall, Eskkar brought with him Grond, Mitrac, Alexar, and two of Mitrac’s best archers, the same bowmen who had followed him over the palisade at Bisitun. Mitrac with his keen eyesight led the group down into the ditch. They crept in silence across the empty space, bent over as much as possible to reduce their silhouette.
A hundred paces behind them, Drakis waited, out of sight and hopefully out of earshot, with twenty-eight more soldiers. They would approach the wall only when Eskkar and his own group reached the top.
Bantor had taken the rest of the men, leading them off toward the river gate, ready to support the handful who’d gone ahead with Yavtar.
Eskkar put everything out of his mind except the need to move without making a sound and without stumbling over some obstacle hidden by the darkness. He couldn’t see any sentries on the wall above him, but they would be there.
With his handful of men, Eskkar reached the base of the wall, at the exact spot where the Alur Meriki had launched their night attack months earlier. Eskkar led the way out of the ditch, and one by one, they spread out along the base of the wall, hugging its rough surface as much as possible.
Except for the three archers with their bows, neither Eskkar, Alexar, or Grond carried any ready weapons that might clink against the wall and give them away. All their swords and knives had been wrapped in a blanket Alexar carried. Eskkar bore a ladder, and Grond had two coils of rope slung around his neck. The ladder and ropes had come from Rebba’s farm.
They had gotten this far without seeing anyone, following the riverbank from Rebba’s house before cutting across the fields. Now Eskkar and his men knelt in the dirt, freezing into immobility when they heard the sentry’s footsteps above their heads. Time dragged by as they waited, listening to the sentry’s tread as he walked along the parapet above them.
He strolled back and forth a few times, then the sounds faded away. Eskkar couldn’t tell if the guard had moved along, or simply sat down to rest his feet, no doubt leaning his back against the wall.
Only Mitrac, waiting in the center of the ditch and covered with a dark cloak, could see the sentry. Eskkar and the others waited, still pressed flat against the wall. As long as they made no noise, they wouldn’t be discovered. The guard would have to lean out over the wall to see directly beneath it.
Eskkar heard footsteps again as the sentry returned, walking slowly, until once again his footfalls faded away. Still they waited, and Eskkar stared into the ditch, looking for Mitrac’s signal. In the heavens, the three-quarter moon had begun to descend, but it would still shed some light until nearly dawn.
Grond’s hand suddenly tightened on Eskkar’s arm. “The signal, Captain.”
Eskkar swore to himself. He hadn’t seen Mitrac give the sign, but that didn’t matter any more. “Hurry, then. The moon is sinking fast.”
Grond took the ladder hidden beneath them and leaned it up against the wall, taking care not to make any sound. Eskkar grabbed one side of it, Alexar grasped the other, and between them they held it firmly against the fifteen-foot-high wall. Eskkar had measured the ladder before they left and found it just short of ten feet. Rebba’s men used it mainly for picking fruit from trees. The soldiers had selected the sturdiest one on the farm, then tightened and reinforced its bindings and steps; a snapped rung might ruin the attempt to scale the wall.
Under Grond’s weight, the ladder sank a little into the sandy soil, and Eskkar leaned on it with all his weight to keep it from twisting. Grond mounted the rungs until he reached the highest place on the ladder, then reached up with his arms.
With his head twisted upright, Eskkar saw that Grond’s fingers were still short of the top by nearly an arm’s length. Grond merely bent his knees, taking care not to disturb his balance, then straightened them with a rush. For a moment, Eskkar thought the man had missed and would come tumbling back down on top of them. But Grond caught one hand on the top, then the other. He hung for a moment before pulling himself up. Once he had an elbow atop the wall, he jerked his body and swung a leg up and over the top.
Grond disappeared from sight. No one had raised an alarm, and Eskkar breathed a sigh of relief. He let go of the ladder and stepped back, glancing along the wall in both directions. He heard no sound or outcry.
Grond carried no weapon with him, nothing but his bare hands, but Eskkar had no doubt as to the outcome if a sentry encountered Grond.
The faint rasp of a bow being drawn made him turn around. Mitrac had moved forward and joined the others at the base of the wall, his bow ready. By now all three archers knelt in the dirt, arrows pointed toward the top of the wall.
Grond called down to them in a whisper, and Alexar straightened up and threw the first rope up and over the wall. As Eskkar watched, the rope and Grond vanished from sight. A moment later, the rest of the rope slithered up the mud-bricks. The thick hemp strand, knotted every arm’s length, would making climbing easier. Grond’s head reappeared, and he waved his hand.
Instantly, Mitrac replaced his arrow back into his quiver, climbed up out of the ditch, and stepped up to the ladder. He handed his bow and quiver to Eskkar, who took them in one hand as his weight leaned against the ladder. The young archer moved nimbly up the ladder, then took hold of the rope and pulled himself up the last few feet.
The rope made a rubbing noise against the wall, loud to Eskkar’s ears but slight enough not to be noticed from above. The instant Mitrac went over the top, the next archer started moving, clutching bow and quiver in one hand. Reaching the top of the ladder, he paused and handed up his weapon, then reached down, took Mitrac’s from Eskkar, and passed that one up as well. When the archer started up the rope, he slipped. For a moment he hung there, his feet scratching the wall for purchase, until Grond leaned down and caught the man’s arm and pulled him up the last few feet.
The third archer had already reached the ladder and began climbing, the tip of his bow nearly poking Eskkar in the eye as he handed it up before seizing the rope.
At last it was Eskkar’s turn, with Alexar holding the ladder. Eskkar pulled himself up the rope, though he welcomed Grond’s help when his friend reached down and caught him under the arm. Once over the wall, Eskkar found no one there but Grond.