Goblin grinned his big frog grin. "Sure, Croaker. Sure. You know me."
"That's the trouble. I know you both."
Goblin faked bruised feelings.
"You guys make these costumes look good. Hear?"
"You'll strike terror to the roots of their souls," One-Eye promised. "They'll flee from the walls screaming."
"Sure they will. Everybody ready?"
They were. "Around it from the right," I told Murgen. "At the canter. As close as you dare."
He rode out. Lady and I followed twenty yards behind. As I got started two monster crows plopped down on my shoulders. A flock came out of the hills and raced ahead, circling the city.
We got close enough to see the scramble on the walls. And impressive walls they were, at least forty feet high. What nobody had bothered to mention was that the city was built upon a mound that raised it another forty feet above the plain.
This was going to be a bitch.
A few arrows wobbled out and fell short.
Finesse. Cunning. Trickery. Only a dip would go up against those walls, Croaker.
I had had liberated prisoners work up maps. I had a good idea of the city's layout.
Four gates. Four paved roads approached from the points of the compass rose, like spokes of a wheel. Nasty barbicans and towers protected the gates. More towers along the wall for laying enfilading fire along its face. Not pleasant.
It was very quiet up on those walls. They had one eye on us and one on the horde still pouring out of the hills, wondering where the hell we all came from.
We got us a little surprise south of Stormgard.
There was a military camp there. A big one set maybe four hundred yards from the city wall. "Oh, shit," I said, and yelled at Murgen.
He misunderstood. On purpose, probably, though I'll never prove it. He kicked his mount into a gallop and headed for the gap between.
Arrows rose from the wall and camp. Miraculously, they fell without doing any harm. I glanced back as we entered the throat of the gap.
That little shit Goblin was standing on his saddle. He was bent over with his pants down, telling the world what he thought of the Shadowmasters and their boys.
Naturally, those folks took exception. As they say in the chansons, the sky darkened with arrows.
I was certain fate would take its cut now. But we had moved far and fast enough. The arrowstorm fell behind us. Goblin howled mockingly.
That irritated somebody bigger.
A bolt of lightning from nowhere struck ahead, ripping a steaming hole in the turf. Murgen leapt it. So did I, with my stomach creeping toward my throat. I was sure the next shot would fry somebody in his boots.
Goblin went right on mooning Stormgard. Horsemen began pouring out of the camp. They were no problem. We could outrun them. I tried to concentrate on the wall. Just in case I got out of this alive.
A second bolt seared the backs of my eyeballs. But it too went astray—though I think it shifted course just before it hit.
When my sight cleared I spied a giant wolf racing in from our right, covering ground in strides that beggared those of our black stallions. My old pal Shifter. Right on time.
Another two bolts missed. The gardner was going to be pissed about all the divots knocked out of his lawn. We completed our circuit and headed for camp. Our pursuers gave up.
As we dismounted Mogaba said, "We've drawn fire. Now we know what we're up against."
"One of the Shadowmasters is in there."
"There may be another in that camp," Lady said. "I felt something... "
"Where'd Shifter get to?" He had disappeared again. Everybody shrugged. "I hoped he'd sit in on a brain-storming session. Goblin, that was a dumb stunt."
"It sure was. Made me feel forty years younger."
"Wish I'd thought of it," One-Eye grumbled.
"Well, they know we're here and they know we're bad, but I don't see them making a run for it. Guess we'll have to figure out how to kick their butts."
Mogaba said, "Evidently they mean to fight outside the walls. Otherwise that encampment would not be there."
"Yeah." Things skipped through my mind. Stunts, tricks, strategies. As though I'd been born to come up with them by the hundred. "We'll leave them alone tonight. We'll form up and offer battle in the morning but let them come to us. Where are those city maps? I got a notion."
We talked for hours while the chaos of a camp still settling raged around us. After dark I sent men out to rig a few tricks and plant stakes on which the legions could form and guide their advance. I said, "We shouldn't bother ourselves too much. I don't think they'll fight us unless we get in close to the walls. Get some sleep. We'll see what happens in the morning."
Many pairs of eyes looked at me all at once, then, in cadence, shifted to Lady. A swarm of smiles came and went. Then everyone went away behind their smiles, leaving us alone.
Big Bucket and those guys don't fool around. They had gone into the hills and diverted one of the irrigation canals to bring water to the camp. I figured it in my head. To give every man in the mob one cup we needed about 2 gallons. With the animals run it to 3. But man and beast need more than a cup to get by. I don't know what the flow was on the canal but not a lot of water was getting wasted.
Not much manpower was going to waste, either. The boys from Opal had dug some holding ponds. One they set aside for bathing. Being the boss wazoo I crowded the line.
Still soggy, I made sure Mogaba had done all the things I didn't really have to check. Sentries out. Barricade manned. Night orders posted. One-Eye working Frogface on scouting missions instead of loafing. What have you.
I was stalling.
This was The Night.
I ran out of busybodying so finally went to my tent. I got out my map of Stormgard, studied it again, then got to work transcribing these Annals. They have grown more spare than I like but that has been the price of keeping up. Maybe Murgen will get me to let go... I did three pages and some lines and began to relax, thinking she would not come after all, but then she came in.
She had bathed, too. Her hair was damp. A ghost of lavender or lilac or something hung around her. She was a little pale and a little shaky and not quite able to meet my eye, at a loss what to do or say now that she was here. She buttoned the tent flap.
I closed this book. It went into a brass-bound chest. I closed my ink and cleaned my pen. I could think of nothing to say, either.
The whole shy routine was dumb. We had been playing around like this, and getting older, for over a year. Hell. We were grown-up people. I was old enough to be a grandfather. Might even be one, for all I knew. And she was old enough to be everybody's grandmother.
Somebody had to take the bull by the horns. We couldn't go on forever both of us waiting for the other one to make a move.
So why didn't she do something?
You the guy, Croaker.
Yeah.
I killed the candles, went and took her hand. It was not that dark in there. Plenty of firelight leaked through the fabric of the tent.
She shivered like a captive mouse at first, but it did not take her long to reach a point of no turning back. And for goddamned once nothing happened to interrupt.
The old general amazed himself. The woman amazed him even more.
Sometime in the wee hours the exhausted boss general promised, "Tomorrow night again. Within the walls of Stormgard. Maybe in Stormshadow's own bed."
She wanted to know the basis for his confidence. As time labored on she just got more awake and lively. But the old man fell asleep on her.
Chapter Thirty-nine: STORMGARD (FORMERLY DEJAGORE)
Even I grumbled about the time of day I got everybody up. We all ate hurriedly, my valiant commanders in a clique so they could pester me about my plans. A crow perched on the tent pole at the front of my tent, one eye cocked my way, or maybe Lady's. The bastard was leering, I thought. Really! Weren't we getting enough of that from the others?