Blackstone (Book 2) (23 page)

“WOLF!”

He snapped back around, putting one shoulder and head
through the window. (That was all he could fit.) Tran was standing below, Fei
at his side. Relieved, he called down to them, “I’ve got enemy soldiers in here
at the bottom level causing trouble! Some of them are trying to get upstairs.”

“You set?” Fei asked, worried.

“I barricaded the top, but that’s not going to hold much
longer.”

Fei and Tran exchanged glances before Tran ordered, “You
hold the second story. We’ll handle this.”

Trusting they would do so, he waved them on and retreated
out of the room and back to his barricade. He found one of the trunks had been
shoved out, and two men were trying to crawl through the narrow opening. He
booted them mercilessly in the face, sending them careening back down the
stairs. “Quit,” he ordered in exasperation. “You’re not making it up here.”

A faceless voice snarled at him, “You want to bet?”

“You loblolly,” Wolf growled back. “You stand no chance even
if you
do
make it through.”

“Oh is that right?” Something pounded against the barricade,
making it jump and vibrate, although it held. “And who are you?”

Wolf let out a menacing laugh. “I’m Erik Wolfinsky, Enforcer
of Deepwoods and the commander of the southern wall. I’m the man that kept you
out of this city and defeated you.”

An abrupt silence descended on the other side. Wolf couldn’t
see them, of course, but that silence told him they were shaken.

Hyun Woo had said from the beginning that fear was the most
formidable weapon a man could wield on a field of battle. Wolf had known that
himself from prior experience, but in this moment, he learned the lesson all
over again. The men that had been so bent on getting through to the upper story
were now arguing amongst themselves, not at all sure if they wanted to face the
man that had defeated them hours before.

Wolf was just as happy to let them argue. Every minute they
wasted up here was time that Tran and Fei could use to come up with a plan and
gather enough men together to fight with. It was time they sorely needed.

Stepping back, he retreated a few steps down the hallway and
stuck his head into one of the rooms. A brunette woman with a bandage around
her ribs and her arm in a sling was sitting next to the window, a long dagger
in her uninjured hand. She looked up sharply as he opened the door.

“I’m Erik Wolfinsky of Deepwoods,” he said by way of
introduction.

“I heard you earlier,” she returned, voice a smooth
contralto. “I’m Karen Highsmith. What are we up against?”

“Not sure,” Wolf admitted. “I can’t get a headcount through
the barrier. But two of my guildsmen are outside putting together a force to
fight with. Can you keep an eye out for them and let me know their movements?”

“Aye, I can. Do you know what they’ll do?”

“I have a notion.” Really, the only thing that made sense in
this situation was to use a bait and trap. Surround three sides of the inn,
making lots of noise so that the enemy knew where they were, and leaving one
side ‘open’. The enemy would retreat toward open ground as quickly as they
could, thinking it was their only option. At that point, the other three sides
could close in on them, and a hidden force on the ‘open’ side would close them
into the trap. It would mean little loss of life, no sieges against the inn,
and it would be over quickly.

At least, that’s what Wolf
hoped
Fei and Tran would
do. Hyun Woo had taught them about this method while they were preparing for
Converse’s defense, surely the lesson would be bright in their minds.

Satisfied with the lookout he had on the east side, he went
directly across the hallway and introduced himself to the man in there,
repeating his request. Of course, everyone was willing to cooperate. In fact,
the walls were thin enough that the people in neighboring rooms could hear him,
and they opened their doors and called out sightings as they got them.

This worked in their favor, because the enemy still on the
staircase could hear them as well. Hearing that fighters were gathering to
invade the inn made them nervous. Wolf decided to add fuel to the fire and called
out to them, “Two other commanders that were defending this city are organizing
troops to come in and deal with you! If you don’t want to be killed where you
stand, then go to the front and surrender now!”

The ginger-headed nurse from before caught his sleeve and
half-mouthed, half-whispered to him, “Will they surrender?”

Wolf shook his head no. “But that’s not why I said that,” he
informed her quietly.

Her head drew back in confusion. “Then why?”

“Because I want them focused on fleeing, not fighting.”

Multiple feet clattered on the stairs, and within seconds,
the men that were trying to break free were gone. Wolf blew out a breath of
relief. So far, the plan was working. Satisfied it was safe enough here, he
went into Karen Highsmith’s room and joined her at the window. “What do you
see?”

“This side and the front have a wall of men around it,” she
answered promptly. “But I don’t see anyone at the back.”

“Good.” She shouldn’t be able to. But Wolf knew good and
well there were men hiding back there, waiting to ambush anyone foolish enough
to run that direction. He stuck his head out and craned it around, trying to
get a better feel for what was going on.

Glass shattered below, then the sound of a door being
wrenched open and slamming against the wall. He couldn’t see it from this
angle, but he could hear men pouring out of the back of the inn and running.
Wolf shook his head in pity for the fools.

“They’ll escape through there,” Karen fretted.

“They won’t,” he assured her. “It doesn’t look like it, but
the back is a primed ambush.”

She blinked at him. “How in the world do you know?”

“The two men that are in command down there are from my
guild. I know how they think.”

Her confusion cleared and her mouth formed a silent O of
understanding.

In the next moment, his words proved almost prophetic. Cries
of alarm and the clashing of metal came from the back, almost as quickly
followed by pleas of surrender. Satisfied things were under control, Wolf drew
his head back into the room.

“Hey, Wolf!” Rune’s voice called from below.

Oh? Had kiō come in to join the party? Sticking his
head back out, he spotted the boy just below his window and responded, “What?”

“Ya’ll good up there?”

“We’re fine,” Wolf assured him.

“Get down here quick,” Rune directed, a lopsided grin on his
face. “Siobhan’s fit to be tied, she’s so worried.”

“I have a barrier to undo, then I’ll be down. But tell her
I’m fine. They never made it through up here.”

“Will do.” With a casual salute, Rune turned and headed back
toward the front.

He let out a sigh that was half-relief, half-exhaustion.
Mercy, this day had been a decade long already. Hopefully, this was the last
trouble he’d see for a while. A man had to eat and sleep at some point.

Calling out thanks to his watchers, he went to put the
furniture back in its proper place.

It was a tired but elated crowd that gathered in the inns
that evening. The main room of the tavern was filled to capacity like usual,
but the din of noise was absent tonight. Most people were too tired to talk.
They were almost too tired to eat. They sat around and had muted conversations
with each other, the loudest sounds being spoons hitting the bottom of bowls. But
through the tiredness came a quiet sense of peace that no one had felt in days.
They weren’t under threat of an imminent attack anymore. Men were still set up
in rotation to guard the walls, just in case the army decided to return and
take another run at them, but no one actually thought they would.

The battle had been won.

Siobhan sprawled out in a chair, her head on the back, eyes
staring blankly at the ceiling, while her arms draped listlessly over the
sides. Wolf watched her in concern. He’d rarely seen her like this, as if she
didn’t have a spare drop of energy to her name. Even when she was tired, his
Siobhan was always willing to move, and talk, and tease people. Seeing her
awake but quiet was strange.

He dropped into the chair next to her, wood creaking a bit
in protest at his weight. Using his good hand, he stroked the hair away from
her face in a gentle rhythm. She let her eyes fall closed and gave a hum of
approval. “Good?”

“Don’t stop,” she requested softly, nearly purring in
contentment.

Still keeping his hand in motion, he turned to Denney and
Sylvie, both of whom could be mirrors of Siobhan in that moment, although
Sylvie was draped over the table with her arms pillowing her head. “Was the
clinic that bad?”

“It was one emergency after the next,” Sylvie groaned at the
table. “And poor Conli is still stuck there.”

“The worst of it was passed by the time we left,” Denney
corrected. “All he has to do is keep an eye on a few patients. If he hadn’t
insisted on taking care of the enemy wounded too, we wouldn’t have been as
stressed trying to take them all.”

Ahh. Well, that was Conli for you. The man had more
compassion than sense some days. Even after what had happened, with about four
dozen men trying to fight their way out, he still went back in to help the ones
left. Wolf hadn’t let him stay in there alone, of course, and even now there
was a regular watch going around the clock to make sure that no other trouble
was started.

“Why are you even asking that?” Siobhan muttered, cracking
her eyes open just enough to stare at him from the corners. “Didn’t you see for
yourself when the enemy soldiers tried to break out of there?”

“I was a little busy barricading the stairs,” he defended
himself mildly. “You heard about that, did you?”

“The news was all over the place. Tran told me the full
story afterwards.” She went back to being a boneless noodle in the chair. “I’m
glad you were quick on the uptake. Otherwise it would have been a massacre in
there.”

Yes, it quite likely would have. Wolf was now glad that he
had gotten that burn. Otherwise, he might not have Conli or Sylvie and Denney
here at the table with him now.

The way that Rune’s face went tight, head snapping to
Denney, suggested he had just realized this. Wolf would have a quiet word with
him later about making sure that the next time they had a clinic like this, one
of them would stay and guard whoever was in there. The girls alone warranted
protection, granted, but Conli could be completely oblivious to the outside
world if the man was performing surgery on someone. He was just as defenseless
in his own way.

After making a mental note, Wolf scanned the table again. Still,
out of the three women, Siobhan looked the worst. Why was that? “Siobhan, did
something else happen?”

“Hmm? Oh. Yes, Darrens called me out and had me sit with him
as he interrogated two of the army commanders.”

Wolf blinked. He hadn’t been aware the army
had
official
commanders. “What?”

“Believe it or not, there were two men—at least two men—that
were actually giving orders.” Siobhan made an aborted movement, as if she felt
she should rise and properly face them while telling all of this, but at the
last second was too selfish to do so. Instead, she let Wolf continue to stroke
her hair as she spoke. “They are lieutenants or ranked officers of some sort in
Fallen Ward.”

His hand fell still as a hush descended over the whole
table.

“Fallen Ward,” Rune repeated in a strangely calm voice. “Ya
sure of that?”

“Yes.” Siobhan let out a long, resigned sigh. “It’s why
Darrens called me over. We’re the only guild that has been in contact with
Fallen Ward in the past several months. He was using me to verify what they
were saying.”

“What did they say?” Beirly pressed. “Exactly.”

“In essence, Fallen Ward really did organize this army and
sent it to Robarge. They were under orders to attack every city that they came
to and pillage it. Whatever they gained would be used to pay for completion of
the bridge.”

Markl rubbed at his eyes with finger and thumb. “So this
wasn’t something the people pulled together out of desperation, to avoid
starving, but an army to gather the funds to promote the completion of that
bridge? The one that will still take another fifty years to complete?”

“That’s madness,” Sylvie objected, finally raising her head
so she could properly join in on this conversation. “The full wealth of Channel
Pass, Stott, Goldschmidt, and Converse combined won’t pay for that bridge! It
might pay for another third being built, if they’re conservative with their
funds, but that’s it. So what were they planning on doing? Go out on a raiding
party and destroy a few cities every five years to pay for the next section of
the bridge?”

Wolf knew that she was only half-serious, but he was afraid
that was exactly what they would do. And why not? They may not have taken Converse,
but they’d succeeded with three other cities. If something succeeds the first
time, why not do it again?

“Madness,” Fei breathed, face pale.

“But they might do just that,” Markl said grimly. “Unless we
can somehow convince them it’s a bad idea.”

Siobhan grabbed Wolf’s hand, squeezing it in silent thanks,
and levered herself up into a proper seated position. “Darrens thinks that if
we can reclaim Goldschmidt and take everything they’ve looted from them, that
will be enough to stop Fallen Ward from trying this again. After all, if it
doesn’t work, they’ll have wasted the money they used to start this campaign to
begin with.”

“He’s right,” Tran said slowly. “And we need to retake
Goldschmidt anyway.”

Wolf groaned as the realization hit. “Roles will be reversed
next battle. They’ll have the walls to defend with, we’ll be the ones
attacking.”

Tran, Rune, Fei, and Markl shared the groan as they realized
what he meant.

Grae tsked them, a half smile on his face. “But they don’t
know strategy. You do. Doesn’t that give you the edge?”

“Let’s hope it’s enough of one.” Tran rubbed at his
forehead. “We’ll definitely need to sit down with Hyun Woo and Ryu Jin Ho to
come up with a good plan before leaving.”

“I’m not even sure how much help we’ll get in retaking the
city,” Markl ventured, calculations whirling in his head. “Everyone willingly
pitched in to defend Converse, as we couldn’t afford to let them have control
of the bridges. But how many will march into battle again to help give us back
our home?”

“Quite a few, I would think, if you can promise to rout the
army completely from Robargean soil so that they can return to their homes,”
Sylvie suggested wryly. “Make it a fair trade and you’ll always get a bargain.”

Fei inclined his head toward her. “Sylvie-jae has a good
point.”

“We’ll let her handle negotiations, then.” Markl grinned at
her. “Siobhan, you seem to know what Darrens has in mind. What do we do now?”

“Now? Fortify Converse so it can better withstand the next
attack, gather up our strength, and then we march for Goldschmidt.” A dangerous
gleam ignited in her eyes. “By month’s end, he wants us back home.”

That soon? Wolf opened his mouth to object, thought about
it, and closed it again. Well, maybe it was doable after all. Assuming they
could pull together enough men to form an army of their own. It would take a
sizeable one to tackle Goldschmidt’s walls.  

“And what about the men we’ve captured?” Grae asked. The
expression on his face suggested he’d only just realized they were a problem.

“Hyun Woo suggested that we use them as laborers,” Markl
answered with a slight shrug. “Have them do the repairs on the cities they’ve
damaged. I think it a valid plan—after all, most of these men were masons in
Orin working on the bridge. They have the skills to build.”

Wolf gave a sour grunt. “Like as not that they’re better
builders then they are fighters. Either way, giving them a project like that
will keep them out of trouble for a few years.”

Beirly nodded agreement. “It’ll take that long to rebuild
everything. I don’t see how it’s a bad plan.”

“It certainly frees up most of our people so that they can
focus on defending the city,” Fei noted in approval.

“And keeps them safely occupied so they’re not planning to
attack us again,” Denney said thoughtfully. “I like it.”

“Either way, it’s something for tomorrow.” Siobhan pushed
herself to her feet, hands braced on the table’s surface to give her balance.
She was so tired she was actually swaying. “I’m going to bed. Good night,
everyone.”

ӜӜӜ

Wolf got up at the crack of dawn to take his watch on the
walls. He yawned broadly several times as he got dressed and snagged a loaf of
bread from the kitchen on his way out. It was hard, getting himself into motion
this morning. But then, he’d been subsisting on four hours of sleep for several
days and doing either hard labor or fighting. That could take a toll on a man.

He greeted people as he passed them in the street, mostly
the men that had been standing third watch, and took to the stairs on the south
side walls. Once there, he had to shield his eyes from the dawn sun with a
hand. From here, he could see for a good mile in every direction and there
wasn’t a trace of movement out on either land or sea. It was a perfectly
peaceful morning and he was glad of it.

Having learned his lesson from the previous day, he didn’t
just walk back and forth while looking around, but actually bent to see the
ground below the wall too. Gradually, he woke up as his blood started moving.

“Wolfinsky-gui.”

Wolf’s head snapped around at this hail. “Hyun Woo-zhi.”
Remembering Saoleord manners at the last moment, he ducked into a bow. “Good
morning.”

Hyun Woo returned the bow, the gesture not at all awkward
even though he was still walking up the stairs. He looked unfairly awake, every
hair in place, although his clothes looked somewhat rough. No one had really
had a chance to do much laundry in the past four days, and Hyun Woo hadn’t brought
much in the way of luggage with him. No doubt when Siobhan saw him, she’d fix
it. Wolf knew her well. Things like that bothered her for some reason. Hyun Woo
had a steaming mug of something in each hand and when he reached Wolf, he
extended one in silent invitation.

Wolf’s nose twitched as he recognized the scent. Mint tea.
How in the world had the man managed to lay hands on that out here
?
Still,
he gladly took it, as a warm drink on a cool morning like this was more than
welcome. Remembering his manners, he tucked his iron hand against his side as
he accepted the cup with the other. Wrapping his good hand around the mug, he
took a long swallow and sighed in satisfaction. “My thanks.”

“Tell me, Wolfinsky-gui. This rumor that a guild from
another city was behind the army. Is there truth to this?”

What, he hadn’t heard it straight from Darrens? As soon as
the thought came, he mentally kicked himself. Of course, Hyun Woo had been on
the other side of the city dealing with the cleanup. The man likely hadn’t even
heard the rumor until this morning. “Yes. Siobhan was part of the interrogation
last night. A guild called Fallen Ward is behind the army.”

Hyun Woo’s forehead drew together into a troubled frown.
“Then this was not a rabble that we faced. It was the beginning of a war.”

He wished he could deny this but couldn’t. “Hyun Woo-zhi, we
asked you to come so that we could defend ourselves if it came to that. You
have done what we asked you to do—you stopped them in their tracks and gave us
a chance against them. I must ask, will you stay with us longer?”

“I do not consider the job done,” Hyun Woo assured him
gently. “Your home is still lost to you, is it not? I will not return until the
cities that were conquered are properly returned to its citizens.”

Wolf let go of the breath he was holding and relaxed into a
grateful smile. “To borrow one of Fei’s sayings, it does my heart good to hear
that.”