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Captain. The Captain might want to take action more vigorous than my
recommendation to Elmo. I stayed with the Lieutenant a while, he watching the
work crews, I watching a wagon train come uphill. This one should be bringing
supper. "Getting damned tired of cold meals," I muttered. "Tell you what you
ought to do, Croaker. You ought to get married and settle down." "Sure," I
replied, more sarcastically than I felt. "Right after you." "No, really. This
might be the place to do it. Set yourself up in practice, catering to the
rich. That Duke's family, say. Then, when your girlfriend gets here, you pop
the question and you're all set." Daggers of ice drove into my soul, twisting.
I croaked, "Girlfriend?" He grinned. "Sure. Nobody told you? She's coming out
for the big show. Going to run it personally. Be your big chance." My big
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chance. But for what? He was talking about the Lady, of course. It had been
years, but still they rode me about some romantic stories I wrote before I
actually met the Lady. They always ride anybody about anything they know will
get their goat. All part of the game. All part of the brotherhood. I bet the
son-of-a-bitch had been boiling with the news since first he heard it, waiting
to spring in on me. The Lady. Coming to Juniper. I considered deserting for
real. While there was a ship or two left to get away.
Chapter Thirty-Six: JUNIPER: FIREWORKS
The castle lulled us. Let us think we could slam the door without a squawk.
For two days the labor crews ripped at the north ridge, gouging out a good
deep trench, getting up much of the needed stockade, hammering out a nice
beginning of a mine. Then they let us in on their displeasure. It was a little
bit chaotic and a whole lot hairy, and in retrospect, it seems it may not have
started as what it became. It was a moonless night, but labor crews were
working by firelight, torchlight, lanternlight. The Lieutenant had wooden
towers going up each hundred feet where the trench and palisade were complete,
and nearby them small ballistae for mounting atop them. A waste of time, I
thought. What value mundane siege equipment against minions of the Dominator?
But the Lieutenant was our siege specialist. He was determined to do things
properly, by the numbers, even if the ballistae never were used. They had to
be available. Sharp-eyed Company members were in the towers near-ing
completion, trying to see into the castle. One detected movement at the gate.
Instead of raising a fuss, he sent a message down. The Lieutenant went up. He
decided that someone had left the castle and slipped around to One-Eye's side.
He had drums sounded, trumpets blown, and fire arrows shot into the air. The
alarm wakened me. I rushed up to see what was happening. For a while there was
nothing to see. On the far slope One-Eye and Shaky stood to arms. Their
workers panicked. Many were killed or crippled trying to flee across the
brushy, rocky, steep slope. A minority had sense enough to stand fast. The
castle folks wanted to make a quick strike and catch some of One-Eye's
workers, drag them inside, and complete whatever rites were necessary to bring
the Dominator through. Once they were discovered, their strategy shifted. The
men in the towers yelled that more were coming out. The Lieutenant ordered
harassing fire. He had a couple of small trebuchets chuck balls of burning
brush into the area near the gate. And he sent men to find Goblin and Silent,
figuring they could do more than he to provide needed illumination. Goblin was
down in the Buskin. It would take him an hour to respond. I had no idea where
Silent might be. I had not seen him, though he had been in Juniper a week. The
Lieutenant had signal fires lighted to warn watchers on Ouretile's walls that
we had a situation. The Taken above finally came down to investigate. It
proved to be the Limper. His first act was to take a handful of javelins, do
something to them, then cast them to earth from above. They became pillars of
chartreuse light between trench and castle. On the far slope One-Eye provided
his own illumination by spinning spiderwebs of violet and hanging their
corners on the breeze. They quickly betrayed the approach of a half-dozen
shapes in black. Arrows and javelins flew. The creatures suffered several
casualties before they took exception. Light blazed, then faded into a shimmer
which surrounded each. They attacked. Other shapes appeared atop the castle
wall. They hurled objects down-slope. The size of a man's head, they bounded
toward the minehead. One-Eye did something to alter their course. Only one
escaped him. It left a trail of unconscious soldiers and workers. The castle
creatures had, evidently, planned for every possibility but One-Eye. They were
able to give the Limper hell, but did nothing about One-Eye at all. He
shielded his men and made them fight toe-to-toe when the castle creatures
closed. Most of his men were killed, but they wiped out their attackers. By
then the castle creatures were mounting a sortie against the trench and wall,
directly toward where I stood watching. I recall being more puzzled than
fearful. How many were there? Shed had given the impression the castle was
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practically untenanted. But a good twenty-five of them, attacking with
wizardry backing them, made the trench and wall almost pointless. They came
out the gate. And something came over the castle wall, vast and bladder-like.
It hit the ground, bounded twice, mashed down on the trench and palisade, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]