The War of the Grail (38 page)

Jack gripped Elizabeth’s arm and dragged her to one side. ‘You’re staying here.’

Elizabeth’s eyes flashed. ‘I’m coming. You can’t stop me.’

‘What about Cecily?’

‘She’s with Mary.’

‘You want her to grow up without a mother?’

‘You want her to grow up without her grandfather?’ She gestured to Godwin, who was now walking across to join her. ‘Or without her father?’

‘It’s all right, sir.’ Godwin was buckling on his longsword. ‘Elizabeth wants to defend our people. I agree. We need as many fighters as we can get.’

Jack snorted. Godwin would agree with whatever Elizabeth said. But all the same, it was true that they needed people now.

‘I’ve been practising,’ Elizabeth said. ‘I know how to fire a musket. What would you have me do? Sit around and wait to be killed, or fight to protect Cecily?’

Jack rubbed his forehead. What Elizabeth was saying made sense. It made sense, because it was exactly the sort of thing he would say himself. He stared at her for a moment. She was holding the musket in one hand, her chin was raised and her eyes flickered with defiance.

She was his daughter. She was just like him.

‘All right.’ He pointed his finger at Elizabeth. ‘You stay close to me, though, and do as I say.’

He spun round and faced the rest of the gathered villagers. Mark and the apprentices stood together, with Sonali amongst them. Sonali didn’t carry a weapon and presumably planned to fight with just her powers. She gave Jack a firm nod, but he could see the nerves in her eyes.

Saleem had retrieved Jack’s musket from the storeroom and now handed it across. Jack slung the firearm over his shoulder and adjusted the knife in his belt. He then surveyed his troops. There were around sixty of them. Several had taken branches from the fires and now held them up as torches.

‘Right,’ Jack said. ‘We’re going to the east wall. The enemy are coming up the hill and we have to knock them back.’

With that, he led the way through the gloomy arcades and boulevards of the fortress. He spotted people huddled about campfires and was disturbed that none of them seemed to be preparing to defend the wall. They were all just sitting around, talking and cooking their evening meals.

And Jack heard no bells either. Henry had said he would send criers throughout the fortress in the event of an attack.

What the hell was going on? What was Henry playing at?

The east wall reared up ahead. The guns were still silent and the artillerymen, as far as Jack could see, were still sleeping or crouching beside their weapons. Jack had been expecting an army of rebels to be gathering to defend the fortress. But he saw only a handful of people milling about one of the breaches in the wall.

He marched across to the breach and quickly recognised Henry amongst the small group. The constable was speaking to the gunner Jack had sent off earlier.

As Jack approached, Henry turned to him and grunted. ‘This all your doing, was it?’

Jack gripped the musket strap hanging on his shoulder. ‘Get everyone up here. The enemy are just yards away.’

Henry’s eyes narrowed. ‘What enemy?’

‘Troops. I’ve seen them.’

Henry snorted and walked through the opening in the wall, stepping over the slabs of fallen stone that lay half buried in the earth. He stood just outside the breach, hands on his hips and his cloak fluttering behind him. ‘I see nothing.’

Jack strode through the opening and peered into the darkness. He felt a ripple of nerves when he saw that the shifting expanse of darkness was now less than fifty yards away. It was smothering much of the slope and spreading out as it approached the wall.

‘Just there.’ Jack pointed at the shadowy mass.

Henry growled. ‘I still see nothing.’ He turned to Jack, leaning in close. ‘What game are you playing, Casey?’

‘No game. Can’t you see—’

‘Out of my way.’ Henry pushed Jack in the chest and brushed past. ‘You’ve wasted enough time tonight.’

Henry clambered back through the opening and disappeared into the gloom, his henchmen following him.

Jack tensed his hands into fists. Damn Henry. The man was a fool and would get them all killed.

He gazed back down the hill and his skin crawled as he watched the strange shadow widening further.

The enemy would be at the wall within minutes. He had to do something fast.

He scrambled back into the fortress and stared at the worried faces of the villagers. Several still held burning brands, which hissed and spat sparks into the night.

‘Listen,’ he said. ‘The enemy will be here any minute. No one is going to help us. Not yet anyway. So we’re going to have to do our best on our own.’ He gestured to the breach. ‘Get your muskets loaded and take up positions around that opening. You won’t see the troops at first. They’ll appear suddenly out of the shadows. You won’t have much time to shoot, so make sure you’re ready.’

The villagers dutifully made their way to the breach. Jack swallowed hard when he noticed Elizabeth standing at the ready with her musket raised. He didn’t like seeing his daughter in such a dangerous spot. But then, the whole fortress was a dangerous place. None of them were safe anywhere within the walls.

He would return and stand beside her as soon as he could. But first, he had to get more help.

He bounded up the stairway and found the gunner he’d spoken to earlier on the walkway at the top.

‘Start loading grape,’ Jack said to the gunner. ‘The enemy are almost at the wall.’

The gunner’s eyes widened and he raised his hand, as if to defend himself. ‘You heard the constable. There’s nothing there.’

‘Can’t you see it?’ Jack pointed over the parapet. ‘Look!’

The gunner’s eyes turned to slits and his expression hardened. ‘I take my orders from Constable Ward. I’ve listened to your babbling quite enough now. You need to go back to your camp and cool off a bit.’

Jack breathed in sharply. His face was getting hot, and he knew he was ranting like a madman. None of this was doing anything to convince the gunner to load the guns.

He snatched a look at the ground beyond the wall and saw that the dark, moving mass was perhaps fifty feet from the fort now, and one arm was advancing towards the breach where Elizabeth and the others were waiting.

Damn it. He couldn’t waste any more time talking to the gunner now.

He charged back down the stairs and raced across to the breach, slinging his musket from his shoulder. He skidded to a halt beside Elizabeth and Godwin, who were crouching behind a slab of rock.

‘What’s going on?’ Elizabeth whispered. ‘We can’t see anything.’

‘You will in a minute,’ Jack replied.

He poked his head up over the stone block and stared into the murk. Shadowy figures were moving quickly towards the top of the hillside. And as he watched, they came charging out of the darkness and into the moonlight.

They were European Army troops – hundreds of them.

And a large group of them were racing straight towards the breach.

J
ack leant against the top of the slab, raised his musket and stared along the sights. He sensed Elizabeth and Godwin do the same beside him.

‘Fire!’ he shouted at the top of his voice.

The villagers peered out from their positions, saw the marauders bounding towards the opening and fired their muskets, virtually in unison. The muskets popped and crackled, smoke burst from the weapons’ muzzles, and a blizzard of bullets whistled at the soldiers. Jack pulled his firearm’s trigger and the weapon coughed and jabbed into his shoulder. Elizabeth yelped as her musket cracked. She slipped backwards and landed on her behind.

Jack looked down at her. He thought she said she’d been practising. ‘You all right?’

She was on her feet again in a second, glared at Jack as if it were his fault and then quickly bit open a new cartridge. When Godwin tried to put his hand on her shoulder, she shrugged it off.

Jack stared through the fading powder smoke. More than a score of soldiers had been shot down, but hundreds more were still stampeding towards the opening. He could hear them snarling and bellowing now and make out their faces twisted with rage. Many of them had thick beards – they were probably French Mohammedans.

The villagers around him were already hurrying to reload their muskets, jabbing frantically with their ramrods. But Jack could see they were going to have a hard job shooting enough of the attackers. They needed more help.

He shut his eyes for a second and called the Lightning yantra to mind. In less than a second, he had it ready to use. He opened his eyes and raised his hand. But before he could voice the commands, Sonali leapt up on to a stone block and fired green lightning from her fingertips. The dazzling blaze forked across the slope and thumped into the mass of troops. More than ten men cried out as they were bowled over, knocking back those soldiers rushing up behind them.

Jack wasted no time now in uttering the command. He felt energy wriggle through his arm and brilliant lightning streaked from his fingers. The bolt pummelled the troops, knocking over at least a score.

The villagers blasted again with their muskets. A ramrod went corkscrewing through the air – someone had panicked and fired without removing it.

Mark and four of the apprentices joined Sonali on top of the stone slab and they all launched another volley of lightning. Jack could see a look of terror and astonishment on many of the lads’ faces. They were using a power for the first time and facing their first battle.

Next to him, Elizabeth fired her musket and this time absorbed the kick of the weapon without even flinching. She glanced across at him and he nodded his approval.

So far, the villagers were doing well. But as they reloaded and the smoke cleared for a moment, he saw there were still several hundred men rushing towards the opening, replacing those who’d been struck down. And further off, a vast horde of troops were streaming up the hillside and racing out of the expanse of shadow. Several thousand at least must have joined the attack.

Jhala had launched a major assault.

Jack raised his hand and fired another bolt at the soldiers. A whole row flew backwards, as if an invisible hand had lifted them up and then flung them to the ground.

He heard shouts and the brittle crack of musket fire to his right. He stepped away from Elizabeth and Godwin and stared along the wall. In the faint moonlight, he managed to make out activity at another opening further along the wall. Figures were pouring unopposed into the fortress. The rebel defences had been breached already.

He now heard bells ringing within the ruins. The peals started near the north wall, then spread like flames across the entire fort.

Finally, the rebels were mounting a resistance. He could only pray it wasn’t too late.

A boom shuddered from the ramparts. He glanced up and saw that the gunners were loading the artillery. They angled the muzzles down and fired. The guns roared, rocked backwards and disgorged fire and grape at the attackers, the orange flashes leaving spots on Jack’s eyes.

Jack whispered a Hail Mary. The artillerymen were finally responding.

Elizabeth was still firing her musket. She was doing well now, reloading quickly and efficiently. The other villagers were doing the same, and Sonali and the apprentices were flinging regular pulses of green lightning at the enemy. Jack reloaded his musket and was about to step back into the fray when he heard shouts from nearby. He stared back along the wall and saw European soldiers swarming from the darkness and bearing down on his small force.

He cursed under his breath. The troops must have come from the breach further to the south and decided to attack his party in the flank. He and the others were now facing foes from two directions.

He shut his eyes for a second and quickly brought the Lightning yantra to mind. He opened his eyes and was about to hurl a bolt at the soldiers, when a flash and a blast above him stunned him for a second. The artillerymen had circled a gun round and were firing grape down at the soldiers. The troops withered and fell back before the onslaught. A second detachment of gunners fired their weapon. The gun bucked, belched smoke, and then a deadly hail of bullets shrieked down at the soldiers. Scores of men dropped suddenly to the ground. The remainder retreated back along the wall, where their comrades were still spilling into the fortress.

Jack heard a scream. When he whirled round, he saw that a wave of attackers had got as far as the breach itself. Several villagers clicked out their muskets’ knives and drove their weapons into the soldiers. One attacker jabbed back and impaled one of the apprentices on his knife. The lad fell back, blood foaming from his mouth. The soldier looked around wildly for someone else to stab.

Jack raised his arm, recalled the yantra and blasted lightning at the soldier. The blaze punched the man in the chest and hurled him back out of the breach.

The villagers managed to repel the assault, but still more waves of troops were charging at the opening, their yells echoing inside the fortress. Elizabeth and Godwin were still firing their muskets. Sonali, Mark, Saleem and most of the rest of Jack’s group were still alive and fighting.