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 nearing
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 Duretile’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 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, crushing one and filling the
other. The sortie streaked for the opening. Those creatures could
move.
The Limper came down out of the night, shrieking with the fury
of his descent, glowing ever more brightly as he dropped. The glow
peeled off in flakes the size of maple seeds, which fluttered in
his wake, spinning and twisting earthward, eating into whatever
they contacted. Four or five attackers went down.
The Lieutenant launched a hasty counterattack, finished several
of the injured, then had to retreat. Several of the creatures
dragged fallen soldiers toward the castle. The others came on.
Without a heroic bone in my body, I picked up my heels and
headed across the slope. And a wise move that proved.
The air crackled and sparked and opened like a window. Something
poured through from somewhere else. The slope froze so cold and so
fast the air itself turned to ice. The air around me rushed into
the affected area, and it too froze. The cold took most of the
castle creatures, enveloping them in frost. A random javelin struck
one. The creature shattered, turning to powder and small shards.
Men hurled whatever missiles were available, destroying the
others.
The opening closed after only a few seconds. The relative warmth
of the world sapped the bitter cold. Fogs boiled up, concealed the
area for several minutes. When they cleared, no trace of the
creatures could be found.
Meantime, three untouched creatures raced down the road toward
Juniper. Elmo and an entire platoon raged in pursuit. Above, the
Limper passed the apex of a climb and descended for a strike upon
the fortress. As another band of creatures came out.
They grabbed up whatever bodies they could and hurried back.
Limper adjusted his descent and hit them. Half went down. The
others dragged at least a dozen dead men inside.
A pair of those flying balls came shrieking across from Duretile
and impacted the castle wall, hurling up a shield of color. Another
carpet dropped behind Limper. It released something which plunged
into the black castle. There was a flash so brilliant it blinded
people for miles around. I was facing away at the moment, but, even
so, fifteen seconds passed before my vision recovered enough to
show me the fortress afire.
This was not the shifting fire we had seen earlier. This was
more like a conflagration actually consuming the stuff of the
fortress itself. Strange screams came from inside. They set chills
crawling my spine. They were screams not of pain but of rage.
Creatures appeared on the battlements, flailing away with what
looked like cats-o’-nine-tails. extinguishing the flames.
Wherever the flames had burned, the fortress was visibly
diminished.
A steady stream of ball pairs howled across the valley. I do not
see that they contributed anything, yet I’m sure there was
purpose behind them.
A third carpet dropped while Limper and the other were climbing.
This one trailed a cloud of dust. Wherever the dust touched, it had
an effect like Limper’s maple seeds, only generalized.
Exposed castle creatures shrieked in agony. Several seemed to melt.
The others abandoned the walls. Events proceeded in like fashion
for quite a while, with the black castle appearing to get the worst
of it. Yet they had gotten those bodies inside, and I suspected
that meant trouble.
Sometime during all this Asa made a getaway. I was unaware of
it. So was everyone else, till hours later, when Pawnbroker spotted
him going into the Iron Lily. But Pawnbroker was a good distance
away, and the Lily was doing a booming business despite the hour,
with everyone who could gathered for drinks while watching the fury
on the north ridge. Pawnbroker lost him in the mob. I expect Asa
spoke to Shed’s sister-in-law and learned that he, too, had
escaped. We never had time to interview her.
Meantime, the Lieutenant was getting things under control.
He had the casualties cleared away from the break in the
circumvallation. He moved ballistae into position to fire into any
further break-out attempt. He had pit traps dug, sent laborers
around to replace those One-Eye had lost.
The Taken continued their harassment of the castle, though at a
more leisurely pace. They had shot their best bolts early.
The occasional pair of balls howled over from Duretile.
I later learned that Silent was throwing them, having been
taught by the Taken.
The worst of it seemed over. Except for the three escapees Elmo
was hunting, we had contained the thing. The Limper peeled off to
join the hunt for the three. Whisper returned to Duretile to
refurbish her store of nasty tricks, Feather patrolled above the
castle, dipping down occasionally when its denizens came out to
battle the last consuming flames. Relative peace had returned.
Nobody rested, though. Bodies had been hauled inside. We all
wondered if they had gleaned enough to bring the Dominator
through.
But they were up to something else in there.
A group of creatures appeared on the wall, setting up a device
pointing down-slope. Feather dove.
Bam! Smoke boiled around her, illuminated from within. She came
out wobbling. Bam! And bam! again. And thrice more still. And after
the last she could no longer hold it. She was afire, a comet arcing
up, out, away, and down into the city. A violent explosion occurred
where she hit. In moments a savage conflagration raged upon the
waterfront. The fire spread swiftly among the tightly packed
tenements.
Whisper was out of Duretile and hitting the black castle in
minutes, with the vicious dust that melted and the fire that burned
the stuff of the fortress itself. There was an intensity to her
flying that betrayed her anger over Feather’s fall.
The Limper, meantime, broke off hunting escapees to help fight
the fire in the Buskin. With his aid it was controlled within
hours. Without him the entire district might have burned.
Elmo got two of the fugitives. The third vanished utterly. When
the hunt resumed with the help of the Taken, no trace could be
found.
Whisper maintained her attack till she exhausted her resources.
That came well after sunrise. The fortress looked more like a giant
hunk of slag than a castle, yet she had not overcome it. One-Eye,
when he came around seeking more tools, told me there was plenty of
activity inside.
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 nearing
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 Duretile’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 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, crushing one and filling the
other. The sortie streaked for the opening. Those creatures could
move.
The Limper came down out of the night, shrieking with the fury
of his descent, glowing ever more brightly as he dropped. The glow
peeled off in flakes the size of maple seeds, which fluttered in
his wake, spinning and twisting earthward, eating into whatever
they contacted. Four or five attackers went down.
The Lieutenant launched a hasty counterattack, finished several
of the injured, then had to retreat. Several of the creatures
dragged fallen soldiers toward the castle. The others came on.
Without a heroic bone in my body, I picked up my heels and
headed across the slope. And a wise move that proved.
The air crackled and sparked and opened like a window. Something
poured through from somewhere else. The slope froze so cold and so
fast the air itself turned to ice. The air around me rushed into
the affected area, and it too froze. The cold took most of the
castle creatures, enveloping them in frost. A random javelin struck
one. The creature shattered, turning to powder and small shards.
Men hurled whatever missiles were available, destroying the
others.
The opening closed after only a few seconds. The relative warmth
of the world sapped the bitter cold. Fogs boiled up, concealed the
area for several minutes. When they cleared, no trace of the
creatures could be found.
Meantime, three untouched creatures raced down the road toward
Juniper. Elmo and an entire platoon raged in pursuit. Above, the
Limper passed the apex of a climb and descended for a strike upon
the fortress. As another band of creatures came out.
They grabbed up whatever bodies they could and hurried back.
Limper adjusted his descent and hit them. Half went down. The
others dragged at least a dozen dead men inside.
A pair of those flying balls came shrieking across from Duretile
and impacted the castle wall, hurling up a shield of color. Another
carpet dropped behind Limper. It released something which plunged
into the black castle. There was a flash so brilliant it blinded
people for miles around. I was facing away at the moment, but, even
so, fifteen seconds passed before my vision recovered enough to
show me the fortress afire.
This was not the shifting fire we had seen earlier. This was
more like a conflagration actually consuming the stuff of the
fortress itself. Strange screams came from inside. They set chills
crawling my spine. They were screams not of pain but of rage.
Creatures appeared on the battlements, flailing away with what
looked like cats-o’-nine-tails. extinguishing the flames.
Wherever the flames had burned, the fortress was visibly
diminished.
A steady stream of ball pairs howled across the valley. I do not
see that they contributed anything, yet I’m sure there was
purpose behind them.
A third carpet dropped while Limper and the other were climbing.
This one trailed a cloud of dust. Wherever the dust touched, it had
an effect like Limper’s maple seeds, only generalized.
Exposed castle creatures shrieked in agony. Several seemed to melt.
The others abandoned the walls. Events proceeded in like fashion
for quite a while, with the black castle appearing to get the worst
of it. Yet they had gotten those bodies inside, and I suspected
that meant trouble.
Sometime during all this Asa made a getaway. I was unaware of
it. So was everyone else, till hours later, when Pawnbroker spotted
him going into the Iron Lily. But Pawnbroker was a good distance
away, and the Lily was doing a booming business despite the hour,
with everyone who could gathered for drinks while watching the fury
on the north ridge. Pawnbroker lost him in the mob. I expect Asa
spoke to Shed’s sister-in-law and learned that he, too, had
escaped. We never had time to interview her.
Meantime, the Lieutenant was getting things under control.
He had the casualties cleared away from the break in the
circumvallation. He moved ballistae into position to fire into any
further break-out attempt. He had pit traps dug, sent laborers
around to replace those One-Eye had lost.
The Taken continued their harassment of the castle, though at a
more leisurely pace. They had shot their best bolts early.
The occasional pair of balls howled over from Duretile.
I later learned that Silent was throwing them, having been
taught by the Taken.
The worst of it seemed over. Except for the three escapees Elmo
was hunting, we had contained the thing. The Limper peeled off to
join the hunt for the three. Whisper returned to Duretile to
refurbish her store of nasty tricks, Feather patrolled above the
castle, dipping down occasionally when its denizens came out to
battle the last consuming flames. Relative peace had returned.
Nobody rested, though. Bodies had been hauled inside. We all
wondered if they had gleaned enough to bring the Dominator
through.
But they were up to something else in there.
A group of creatures appeared on the wall, setting up a device
pointing down-slope. Feather dove.
Bam! Smoke boiled around her, illuminated from within. She came
out wobbling. Bam! And bam! again. And thrice more still. And after
the last she could no longer hold it. She was afire, a comet arcing
up, out, away, and down into the city. A violent explosion occurred
where she hit. In moments a savage conflagration raged upon the
waterfront. The fire spread swiftly among the tightly packed
tenements.
Whisper was out of Duretile and hitting the black castle in
minutes, with the vicious dust that melted and the fire that burned
the stuff of the fortress itself. There was an intensity to her
flying that betrayed her anger over Feather’s fall.
The Limper, meantime, broke off hunting escapees to help fight
the fire in the Buskin. With his aid it was controlled within
hours. Without him the entire district might have burned.
Elmo got two of the fugitives. The third vanished utterly. When
the hunt resumed with the help of the Taken, no trace could be
found.
Whisper maintained her attack till she exhausted her resources.
That came well after sunrise. The fortress looked more like a giant
hunk of slag than a castle, yet she had not overcome it. One-Eye,
when he came around seeking more tools, told me there was plenty of
activity inside.