David Mcintee - The Light of Heaven

"Then I'll see to riders. One man might get through where a group can't." Kannis said and returned to her men.

"You should tell these apes to let me go." Crowe said, jerking his head towards the soldiers who still held him by the shoulders. "I can't go anywhere and you're going to need every blade you can find. Those gobboes aren't going to tell the difference between you and me. We're in the same boat. And if push comes to shove with that lot, I'd rather have you lot watching my back."

Gabriella nodded to the soldiers, who released Crowe. "I'll be watching every move you make. And every soldier in town will have orders to kill you on sight if you try to leave."

"As chat-up lines go, I've heard better."

A little later, washed and refreshed, Gabriella and Erak met in the church to discuss their forces. There were a lot more people in the pews than there had been since the two Knights first arrived. Gabriella reflected that trouble seemed to improve people's religious fervour.

"How many warriors do we have?" she asked Erak.

"You, me, Crowe. Kannis' mercenaries if they'll stay, a sergeant, squires, and a platoon of men-at-arms from the Order."

"Archers?"

"Maybe half a dozen."

"Not enough." Gabriella chewed her lip. "We need Kannis and her men."

"You're right. I think she wants to stay, but her men are split. This would be a bad time for a Captaincy challenge among them, but I don't know a way to convince them."

"I do."

"Then you'd better make it quick. We need them to decide to stay."

"Gobboes don't tend to pay particularly well," Crowe offered from the doorway. "And your mate here — " he jerked a thumb at Erak " — doesn't look like he's willing to fork out for some hired help, so why stick around and get diced in between both sides?"

Erak clenched a fist, but then spun to face Gabriella. "What did you have in mind, Gabe? Press-ganging whoever's left?"

She shook her head and pointed to Crowe. "Like he said: Hiring them."

"The Swords don't need to hire help. And they can't get out anyway; they'll be slaughtered."

"That they would and that would cut down the blades we've got available. So we need them to choose to stay and this parish might afford to do that."

Erak grimaced. "Can you imagine what Eminence Kesar would say about us spending his treasury funds on drunken, whoring mercenaries — "

Gabriella smiled. "We don't spend his treasury."

"They won't work for a few free confessions, folks," Crowe reminded them.

Gabriella strode to a small chest and nudged it with her foot. "Stoll has coin of his own. We can use that. I'm sure he won't mind."

Gabriella grabbed the small chest and hoisted it on to one shoulder.

"Hey," Erak exclaimed, "where are you going with that? It was meant to help this community."

"Now it's going to save them," Gabriella said without looking round. "How much more helpful could it be?"

Outside, she dropped the chest on the middle step up to the fountain, and saw that the mercenaries with the sharks-mouth tabards were already securing saddlebags onto their horses and some were in the saddle already. "Kannis!"

The mercenaries stopped loading their mounts and Kannis walked her horse over, followed by a few of her men.

"There will be no booty from this town or its people," Gabriella declared.

"Then, unless somebody makes a better offer, there will be no fighting for this town or its people." The mercenary who had earlier recommended trying to break out spat in the dust. "The Faith isn't short of a gold piece or three; it's hired whole armies before. So why not now?"

"The Faith isn't hiring," Gabriella said. "I am."

"What are you offering?" Kannis asked. She wore a relaxed expression, as if she was enjoying seeing where Gabriella's mind was going to take her. "Booty is scarce here." Gabriella kicked the lid off the chest. There was a collective gasp as the mercenaries saw the contents glitter in the sun. "A tidy sum," Kannis said admiringly.

"An equal share for every man who fights."

The mercenary who had wanted to leave leaned forward, resting his elbows on the saddle horn. "I've seen more."

"And since the war, I bet you've seen less."

"It wouldn't come to as much as a good haul of booty could."

"It's more than you've got now. More importantly, it's guaranteed. Booty's a chance you take — have people left their valuables around? Are they worth what you hope?" She shrugged. "This is a guaranteed fee, win or lose. And if we win, I'm sure the people of Solnos will be, shall we say, generous in their praise."

The mercenary sat back, eyes hooded. "Now, that might have been a worthwhile proposition before the Golden Huntress got burned."

"At least two of her girls didn't," Crowe chipped in. "And they're good value, believe me!" A raucous laugh went up, but Gabriella had the sense to ignore it, and keep her calm smile on.

"In Andon, where I was born, they say a warrior relishes a challenge. They say a warrior loves a chance to grab some glory and some booty." Gabriella declared.

"So we do," Kannis agreed, "but we can't do that with wounded men, half-dead horses and ruined equipment. We need more men."

"They're on their way by now."

"Is that a prophecy from the Lord?" Kannis asked mildly.

"A promise from a friend."

Kannis grimaced. "Oh, one of those." She sighed. "And what makes you think we can win?"

"The Lord of All is on our side."

"What if I said I'd heard that the Lord helps those who help themselves, and that I therefore trust my right arm more?"

"I'd say that with both your right arm and the Lord Of All on our side, how could we lose?"

Kannis laughed. "Aye, that'd make a damn scary combination for any gobboes to face! All right Sister DeZantez, a last stand it is." She spat in the palm of her hand, and offered it to her.

Gabriella spat in her own palm and gripped Kannis' hand.

"Your right arm had better have a stronger swing that it has a grip." They both laughed.

Along with Erak, Crowe and Kannis, Gabriella looked the town over. She had now donned a pot-shaped helmet, as had Erak and her surcoat was filthy with dirt and Goblin blood from the fight at the Huntress.

"Not very defensible," she murmured. "No curtain wall, four roads into town, and flat ground all the way to the escarpment."

"If I was you," Kannis said. "I'd try having as many people as possible fall back to the church. It's the strongest building, which isn't saying much, but at least the defenders inside can't be outflanked."

"They'd just be swarmed over. Or surrounded and besieged." Gabriella's mind raced. She wasn't a general, she was just a servant of God in a military order. She was a good fighter and a good priest, she hoped, but there was a difference between interpreting a man's Confession, or fighting off a Brotherhood fanatic, and handling a large field of battle with many participants. "What about the river?"

"Gobboes may not like to bathe much but they can swim and there are several bridges." Kannis frowned. "Perhaps if we could dismantle the them… "

Gabriella eyed the adobe buildings all around the church square. They were shops and houses and craftsmen's workplaces. None of them were much different than any of the damaged buildings on the outskirts of town. Half of those would be as likely to fall down as be repaired she thought.

"We build a perimeter."

Crowe looked at her disbelievingly. "What with? By the time you've cut and shaped enough trees, you'll be in a gobbo's pot. In fact you'll have been in his pot, and be in his privy by then."

A glint showed in her eye. "With those buildings that got damaged last night."

A group of oxen heaved and a burned-out potter's shop jerked sideways and tumbled into a shower of dust and bricks. Townspeople rushed though the dust, carrying chunks of broken wall between them, back to the church plaza, where they tossed them onto sections of the rough embankment that was beginning to form.