Two Heirs (The Marmoros Trilogy Book 1) (21 page)

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The dismantling of the village had gone smoothly, much more so than David had imagined. The people had cheered Jeren to the echo, until their throats were so hoarse that they could not raise another cheer. Then they had set to work with a will and the village structures came tumbling down to be packed away in the wagons. The herds had been moved to the west side of the village, ready to set out at first light and Ash’s scouts had long disappeared in different directions.

David made his way back to his own camp where preparations for the evening meal were well underway. He spoke to Marta and examined the captain’s body. It was exactly as Jaks had described. Not a mark on it but most decidedly dead. He gave orders for it to be buried and Marta assured him that the camp would be ready to move whenever he ordered in the morning. Then he called Jorgen over.

“I have a task for you in the morning. At first light, I want you to take the prisoners, all of the prisoners in one of the open wagons. Take sufficient men with you to act as escort and ride for, say, four hours in a generally easterly direction, away from the direction the village is moving. After four hours, dump them out of the wagon, turn round and come back. That’s Gaelan, his son Raslo, the manservant and the two thugs who were waiting for Lady Falaise. Is that all the prisoners?”

“There’s the two men who were attacking the Golder family, milord.”

“Ah, yes. I’m tempted to say that I don’t want men who behave like that but I know that soldiers can get carried away in the heat of action. I’ll talk to them this evening. If they’re worth having, I’ll try to get them to change sides. Otherwise you can take them as well. Don’t take any nonsense from any of them tomorrow. Just dump them a long way away and get back here.”

“As you command, milord.”

The next stop was his own tent where Leyla and Mo were waiting for him. “We have your food waiting for you, David,” Leyla said.

“Leyla, I’ve told you before. I eat what the men eat, nothing special.”

“No, no. This is from the camp stew pot. We just got you an early serving.”

“Oh, well where’s yours?”

“We will eat later, David,” Mo said.

“No, you will eat now. Or I do not eat now.” David sat down and folded his arms in front of him. “So go and fill your bowls and come back and eat with me. Unless you don’t want to eat with me,” he added slyly.

“Oh no, David.” There was a flurry of activity as the two girls grabbed bowls and disappeared out of the tent. They were back in moments and hastily sat down on either side of him.

“Good,” he said, “now tell me about your day.”

“Our day? Why would you want to know about our day?”

“Because I am sitting down to my evening meal in the company of two very attractive ladies who I am very fond of, and I would like to talk about something other than the problems of keeping an entire tribe of people out of the way of an advancing army of soldiers.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, David,” Leyla said. “We never thought…”

“We helped Marta with the wounded this morning,” Mo chipped in.

“Good. So tell me, how are they doing?”

“”They’re mostly fine, David. The cuts that were sewn up in the field are all healing nicely. Some of them won’t be fit to fight for a few more days but they’ll all survive. Even
Smitty.”

“And how is Smitty?”

“He makes me laugh,” Leyla said. “He’s so funny.”

“He lost an arm and he makes you laugh? David queried.

“He says they cut the wrong arm off, David. Everyone was so concerned that he had lost his right arm but the blow that took him down, shattered his shield and cut his arm to the bone just below the shoulder, which was why they had to take it off. But it was his shield arm.
Smitty’s
a left hander. He pretends to be dying when Marta’s around, I think he’s sweet on her, but as soon as her back’s turned, he’s out of his cot, waving his sword around and practising his swordplay.”

“Hm, I think I had better go and have a word with Smitty after we’ve finished here.”

“You won’t tell him what I said,” Leyla asked anxiously.

“No of course not. So, what else did you do today?”

“Well, this afternoon, we crept into the village,” Mo said. “We stood at the back of the crowd and watched the trial. We were very scared when we saw you burst into flames.”

“Oh no, not you two as well. I didn’t burst into flames, girls, as you can see by the fact that I’m sitting here in front of you. It was all a magic trick.”

“It looked very dangerous, David. And Will got burnt by the flames, didn’t he?”

David looked from one to the other, at the worry on their faces. “Alright, come here.” He put his arms around them as the girls snuggled in against him.

“There is a…. magician is the only way I can describe him to you and he works for Duke Henry. He was reading the captain’s mind to discover what we were doing. And so I had to stop him, fight him if you like and that’s what all the pretend flames were about. I am not hurt in any way and you don’t need to worry about me.”

“So you fought a magician?” Leyla said. “Does that mean you’re a magician too?”

“If you repeat one word of this conversation to anybody, including Marta, I will be extremely upset but yes, in the terms we are talking about here, I am a magician too.”

“Oh.” And both girls fell silent as they considered the implications of that. So David hastily changed the subject.

“Now, there’s something I want to talk to you two about. I will have to keep most of the company at the back of the column because that’s where Duke Henry will attack if we don’t stop him first. But there’s no reason for you and the other camp women to stay back with us. You will be much safer in the main body of the column, mixed in with the villagers.”

“Noooo,” they chorused. “The camp stays close to the men. If they have to fight, they need us nearby to feed them, look after them and tend to the wounded. Marta would never agree to this and neither will we. We will stay close to you, David.”

“And if we lose? Or the Duke’s men break through? What then?”

“Then they will be sorry. We can defend ourselves,” Leyla said and she hitched up her skirts to show an indecorous length of leg. Strapped to the outside of her thigh was a wicked looking dagger.

“Where did you get that from?” David spluttered.

“Marta gave it to me.”

“I have one too, David,” Mo added. “Would you like to see it?”

“Later,” he laughed, freeing his arms and standing up. “You can show me later. For now I have to go and see
Smitty. And have another little talk with Marta, I think.”

Chapter 12

White voices again. That's silly, he thought to himself. Voices can't be white. But if I can hear the voices, why can't I see anything but white? Am I going mad? Or have I already got there?

"When it starts to breakthrough, how quickly will it all come apart?"

"We don't know. We haven't done enough trials to assess that."

"Well what happened in the trials you did do?"

"In some cases it was just a single thought, a single memory and nothing else for days or even weeks. In other cases, that single memory triggered a kind of cascade of other memories and the whole thing came apart inside a day."

"And you can't predict or control which way it will go?"

"No, we just don't have enough experience yet."

"What will happen to him, if and when it does all come apart?"

"He will still have all the new stuff we've implanted but he'll have everything else as well. He'll know who he is and why he's there. How he'll react to that will depend on his training and experience, I suppose. And on how good a cover he's managed to establish for himself.”

The next day started well. Despite the dreams he managed to not disturb Leyla and Mo and, as he went through his morning exercise routine, a part of his consciousness recorded the fact that the herds were already on the move. Children of all ages were running alongside the herds to keep them moving
and keep them together. The first wagons were on the move as well, leaving their plots and heading in the
same direction as the herds.

The officers were waiting for him in a group when he finished his exercises. Ash he assigned to the van of the column with instructions to direct them according to the reports coming back from the forward scouts. Jorgen he despatched with the prisoners as arranged the previous day. Feynor and Bern had returned from their scouting trip and reported a couple of promising ambush sites which they wanted to show him.

"We’ll deal with the new recruits first," he told them.

The new recruits he had been promised, had turned up at dawn. There were
fourteen hunters who came carrying their own bows; a few long bows with their greater range but mostly short hunting bows. David assigned them all to Bern to assess and train.

Three old veterans had also arrived, bringing with them an impressive array of swords, shields, spears and one lethal looking halberd. The three men were all slightly past their prime but looked as though they could still handle themselves. Their weapons had obviously all been well cared for with a new edge recently added and their armour and shields gleamed with the signs of an all-night polishing. As David approached, they stood to attention and saluted as one, arms crashing across their chests.

David returned the salute and spoke to the one in front. "What's your name, soldier?"

"It's Jacob Golder, milord."

"Golder. Any relation to Aron Golder?"

"He's my nephew, milord."

"I see. How is he now? Or more to the point, how are Miriam and the boys?"

"They're all fine, milord. And very grateful for what you did. The whole family thanks you."

"I wasn’t looking for thanks, Jacob. I was just concerned because the effects of an attack like that can sometimes last a long time."

"Hm
, well the boys are fine, milord. They're young and not showing any ill effects at all. I'm not sure the youngest two truly understood what was going on with their mother. Miriam... is fine when she's busy or
dealing with the boys. But Aron
says she sometimes wakes in a sweat in the middle of the night. He loves her very much and she's a strong woman. The family will be fine thanks to you."

"Good. Now let's talk about you
.
Who are your two friends here?"

Jacob introduced Reuben and Marvin.

"I hope you didn't spend all night polishing that armour," David joked. "I need you fresh today, not sleeping off an all-night cleaning stint."

"Don't worry about that, milord," they laughed. "We've all got grandsons and nephews."

"Which one of you owns that vicious looking halberd?"

"That's mine, milord," Marvin
replied. "Trained with that for
twenty years in Duke Charles' army."

"Duke Charles. That's Westron isn't it?"

"That's right, milord. Weren't Duke Charles at first of course; it were his father. But Duke Charles is in charge there now."

"It's a handy weapon. I wish I had more of them and men trained to use them."

"We might be able to help you there, milord."

David pricked up his ears at that. "How so?"

"Well Reuben and I have been doing a bit of smithying
since we retired like. Always something to do in a village this size. Mostly farm implements and shoeing, that sort of thing, but we can turn out a blade if we have to. Haven't tried a halberd but we can give it a go if you like."

David thought about it for a minute. "Okay Marvin
, I'm thinking ahead here. A
large body of horse is a threat to the
company and to the village. But a
mixed squad of trained halberdsmen and pikemen could wreak havoc in a troop of horse, particularly if they’re not expecting it
.
Now I know we'll have to fight some horse in the next few days but t
hat's too soon. We won't have the weapons or the men for that
particular
fight. But by
the time we get to Marmoros..."

“…We can have a bunch of weapons ready and I can train the men in their use,” Marvin finished.

“Your forge is packed up ready to go?”

“Yes, milord. But we can set it up quickly every evening when we stop for the night. We’ve got plenty of charcoal but not a huge amount of raw iron. We may need to requisition some old farm tools.”

“I’ll speak to Lady Falaise about it. Jorgen is the officer in charge of the spears but I’m not sure what he knows about halberds. Once you have the first weapons available, I’ll get him to allocate some men for you to train. Jacob, I’d like you to work with Feynor here to train the swordsmen. Is that okay?”

All three veterans snapped to attention again and saluted. “Yes, milord.”

David smiled as he returned the salute and then turned his attention to the final group of volunteers. There were about twenty youths waiting patiently in a group headed by Jeren and Baltur. David estimated their ages as ranging from about eighteen or nineteen down to ten or eleven.

“So Lord Jeren, does Lady Falaise know you’re here?”

“She does, my lord.”

“And is she happy with that?”

“She is not, my lord.”

“And does that mean I am going to have a problem with your lady mother?”

“She will worry, as will the mothers of every one of us. But Baltur and I have fought alongside you once already and you were the one who gave us our swords. It makes sense then for us to know how to use them properly, even if only to defend ourselves. Besides, everyone here is my friend,” he went on, indicating the group of youths behind him. “How would it be if I let them step forward to fight for my people but stayed behind myself, cowering behind my mother’s skirts?”

“Very well. And does that go for the rest of you as well? I cannot take anyone to train, who does not have their parent’s permission to be here.”

There was much nodding of heads and murmurs of “yes, milord.”