David Mcintee - The Light of Heaven

The mercenary force had made camp on a rise to one side of the approach to the natural archway. Tents were put up and stakes set around the lower slopes of the rise. The valley curved around this rise before opening up into a field. On the far side of that expanse of arid dust and scrub grass, jagged peaks formed a curtain between the valley and the glinting peak behind.

There were other, larger, peaks around and beyond the one that all eyes fell upon, but they were merely mountain peaks. The other, the special one, gleamed and shone with myriad colours, like a diamond or carved crystal.

Preceptor DeBarres, Gabriella and Crowe all brushed into Eminence Kesar's tent without preamble. Kesar merely raised an eyebrow as DeBarres' lips barely passed over his signet ring.

"Am I to take it that your urgency signifies important news, Preceptor?"

DeBarres nodded. "That's one way of putting it. Gabriella?"

"The valley ahead leads to the location we have for Kell's Freedom city. We scouted it out with a telescope and there is a manned gatehouse set into the defile that cuts through that ridge of peaks at the end of the valley."

"A gatehouse?" Kesar looked at the maps that were unfurled across the table in front of him. "So, there is a Freedom, after all."

"If there's a town that the Faith doesn't know about," DeBarres commented, "it's a town with no Faith."

"So what does it have instead, I wonder?" Kesar said.

"People who need faith, mate," Crowe suggested with a cheeky grin. "Unless, of course, you know something more than the rest of us?"

"If you want me to go into that wretched excuse for a city and clean it out," DeBarres said, "I can. But you'll have to be prepared for how long it'll take."

"A siege? You don't think that a good idea?"

DeBarres shook his head. "Not really. There are going to be enough paths in and out of there that stopping them up will be damned hard for us or for them, but…"

"But? If there's no problem with getting in — "

"There's also no problem for them to get out, individually if not in bulk. And that isn't good horse country, which means no cavalry charges. It's going to be our foot patrols versus theirs. Guerrilla warfare."

"Somewhere in there is a force that kicked the goblins out of their homes. That's the threat that immediately concerns me." Kesar said.

"Eminence," Gabriella interrupted. "Might I suggest that Crowe and I continue our scouting mission by going into Freedom."

"Into the city?"

"There are two reasons, Eminence. Firstly, we need to know how many heretics, mercenaries and sinners are populating the area, and especially how serious a military force they are."

"And secondly?"

"Goran Kell. I've been through a lot to get him. He has, by proxy assassins, attempted to kill an Eminence, attempted to kill me and succeeded in killing Erak Brand. You yourself tasked me with finding him."

"So I did. So be it, but, Sister DeZantez?"

"Yes, Eminence?"

"Make sure you are back here, at this camp, by midmorning of the day after tomorrow. This is my will, and the Anointed Lord's will and God's will."

"As the Lord wills, so shall it be, Eminence."

At Crowe's suggestion, Gabriella left her Faith surplice behind and took a plain, nondescript cloak. "You ready for a bit of Freedom, pet?"

"Are you?"

"I'm used to it. You never know, you might get to like it."

She didn't answer, but simply rode towards the ridge of peaks that cut off the valley from Freedom. She and Crowe found themselves in a deep gash in the rock, which then widened again after a couple of miles' journey.

At the end, a gatehouse was set up on the side nearest to Crowe and Gabriella.

"Hello, they have some soldiers here." Crowe said.

"Not as many as you'd expect. They're mercenaries, so perhaps whoever hired them couldn't afford more." Gabriella squinted at the tabards worn by the nearest soldiers. "Three different companies. Do you recognise any of their colours?"

"One of them is from Mandrian's Hands…" He broke off. "Yeah, well. Mandrian was always a third-rate ponce."

"So his company wasn't an elite unit?"

Crowe barked a laugh. "Mandrian's bunch of losers, a couple of wannabe companies I've never heard of, and what's left of the Free Company. You can probably imagine how much of a force they make up."

"The Free Company, as in the ninety per cent slaughtered by the Anointed Lord in the last war Free Company?" Gabriella couldn't believe her ears. A few defeated old men were hardly the sort of force she would have expected to be commissioned to protect such a large city as this.

"That's the one."

"And the Hands fought on the Faith's side… along with Joachim Foll."

"The assassin who replaced Kell's assassin?"

"Interesting, isn't it?

"Welcome, friends," one of the guards called out. "Pass through, and welcome to Freedom!"

Gabriella and Crowe exchanged a disbelieving glance and did as they were bid.

"Why the midmorning after tomorrow?" DeBarres asked suddenly. He was still in Kesar's tent, listening to the bustle of activity outside. The troops were fortifying their camp.

"I'm sorry?"

"You gave a very specific time limit for Gabriella to return. I wondered why?"

Kesar took a deep breath. "What I am about to tell you is known only to Eminences and above, but you will have to know because you will witness it. Beyond the valley and the gatehouse, there is a citadel constructed — " He stopped himself and pursed his lips, considering. "No, constructed is not entirely the right word. Carved into the mountainside might be more accurate. It may be Dwarven or Elven, but no-one is really certain. Our Inquisitors have followed several small groups of Brotherhood factions to that valley."

"You knew about this before?"

Kesar didn't react to the question. "It's quite clear that this is where the sinners who have vanished from the western cities of Pontaine have gone. They can only be building a power base."

"The Brotherhood never had enough manpower for an army," DeBarres said dismissively.

"But with other whoremongers, gamblers, out-of-work mercenaries… Imagine if they could indoctrinate so many people. Convert them. How effectively can we block the valley?" Kesar asked.

"Block it?" DeBarres was baffled. If there was to be a fight, he needed to be able to put forces into it. "It's our only access to — "

"It is also their only exit."

DeBarres thought he saw where Kesar was going. "It's their only mass exit, but you can bet your Eminent ring that there are animal and goblin trails all around and through smaller cuttings. If you're thinking of laying siege, I already told you it'd be a dubious idea, for that very reason."

"You're questioning my authority, Raul?" Kesar's voice was mild, but DeBarres wasn't fooled.

"I'm questioning your tactical and strategic experience," DeBarres corrected him. "A siege would necessitate making sure they can't get food in, or send messages for reinforcements. Magical communications aside, they wouldn't have much problem getting runners or small groups out, carrying supplies in small quantities." DeBarres sighed. "If that's what you want I'll do it, but you'll be committing the whole of the Swords to a siege that might last longer than the last war between Pontaine and Vos."

Kesar smiled. "What if I were to tell you that the siege will last no more than two days?"

"I'd wonder what the point of it would be. We wouldn't even be fully emplaced that quickly."

"We do not need to be," Kesar reassured him. "It is not my intention to begin a long siege in the area. The Swords need only block any attempt the Brotherhood forces make to escape the area."

"If we can have an elemental mage pull an embankment up at the narrowest point of the valley, it'll slow any crowds right down and hem them in. Then we can use the plain at this end as a killing ground, using our people as cavalry to ride down anyone who comes over."