Richard Parker - Elsewhere

‘Yes,’ he thought as Sunwind followed along the road on her own accord, ‘once de Baard is dead at my feet, I’ll have free reign over the country. Maybe I’ll take some time and see a bit of the countryside. Let King Mastoc have his war, I’ll enjoy the rest of the Massi country folk…country lasses. Yes, there were always plenty of lonely, unprotected women in times of war.’

Lacombe laughed aloud, startling Sunwind who jumped forward, causing the Executioner to struggle to retain his seat. His temper flared and Lacombe spurred the mare to greater speed and then forced her to hold to it as punishment.

‘Three days,’ he thought to himself.

ǂ

“How long will you be gone?” Samantha asked sleepily, unconsciously rubbing her stomach as she watched Gwaynn dress. The bulge of pregnancy was just becoming noticeable, but so far only to herself and Gwaynn. She vowed it wouldn’t stop her from fighting and continued to work with Captain Hahn and Olney Hawser training both new archers and the seasoned veterans. They all split the training time between archery practice and working with developing new spear formations. Currently everyone was excited about a large formation Olney had come up with which contained more than three hundred men. It was a simple diamond formation and around the perimeter were a full two hundred and fifty men presenting a line of bristling spear points. Some of the men were kneeling and some standing in order to present a solid wall of sharp metal. Inside the formation were another fifty men, all archers, and they would attack any threat with arrow fire. Olney’s plan called for a great number of multiple formations placed at wide intervals and separated by open ground. In practice they found that the separate formations gave the men a surprisingly large amount of protection against cavalry.

The design was very radical and went against all military tactics of the day. Conventional wisdom held that infantry should mass in a solid line, forming a shield wall against attacking cavalry. But Olney Hawser knew horses, and realized that most animals, even those trained in battle, would not charge into a formation of spear points no matter how hard their deranged riders tried to coax them. This was especially true when the horses had a clear avenue around the obstacle. Olney believed the horses would instinctively veer around the immediate danger and become targets for the bowmen within. So far in practice, his ideas were being proven correct.

Of course the formation would be less effective against a charge of heavy infantry and might completely fall apart if faced with another strong force of archers…but they were working on that little problem. Olney was turning into quite a tactician and he was an excellent bowman, but Samantha was afraid she would soon lose him to the cavalry. He was becoming fascinated with the art of mounted warfare and hung about Jeffery Gaston during most of his spare time, which was precious little for any of them.

Gwaynn glanced at Samantha as she rubbed on her midsection, and smiled. He did not want to leave her…did not want her here in the midst of war, but she refused to leave and as yet her pregnancy did little to hamper her ability to lead and train men.

“No more than a week,” Gwaynn answered. He’d wanted to take her with him, to show her off to Tar Nev and perhaps Kostek, maybe even cajole her into staying on Noble for safety, but she refused, knowing that her time with her archers was running out.

“Zarina Monde believes she’ll be strong enough to return in only a day, but I doubt Nev will be that easy to convince.”

“You really think you can convince him?” She asked and moved to Gwaynn. She put her arms around his neck while he reached down and took over the duty of stroking her growing belly.

“He’s growing bigger,” Gwaynn said as Samantha moved away to put on her own clothes. Gwaynn stood attentive as she did so.

“She,” Samantha insisted.

“Nev likes his solitude, but he did tell me to call if ever I needed his help,” Gwaynn added, returning to the subject at hand. He chaffed at the thought of leaving Samantha, and worried about his growing cowardice. Over the past month his fear was growing steadily and there were times, in the darkest hours of the night that he would come awake with a jolt, his heart pounding to the rhythm of some unremembered terror. It mattered little to him that his fear was for someone other than himself. It was still cowardice; still weakness, and it worried him. He could feel it growing inside like a poison, mirroring the bulge in Samantha’s midsection. The very thought of the newborn baby terrified him in many different ways.

“I’ll be fine,” Samantha whispered coming closer and nuzzling his neck. “You go get some Tars to fight on our side and then we will have no worries at all.”

“I wish,” Gwaynn said rolling his eyes. He gently pulled away from her but still kept hold of her hand. He led her from the room and out into the main hall of their new home. It was quiet, empty and still in the hall itself, but sounds of construction filled their private rooms as men erected platforms along the interior of the main wall of the fortress.

They stepped out into the day. It was bright and sunny, though it had rained sometime over night and the ground was wet and muddy in spots. All the men working looked up and nodded. They were a popular couple and the warriors of Massi were becoming fiercely loyal to them both. A few workmen shouted out greetings, some of them smiling and briefly forgetting for a moment that they were working on the very walls designed to hold out an army, an enemy army that was moving inexorably closer.

As they zigzagged their way around the muddy spots, Gwaynn could feel the pressure of the approaching army; feel the pressure of the High King.

‘He means to kill me and kill Samantha and kill the baby growing inside her,’ he thought and another wave of concern and cowardice flowed over him. The thought of running, hiding in the hills and leaving all the danger and warfare behind, flitted briefly through his brain but then he grew angry.

Samantha’s hand returned the squeeze he hadn’t realized he was giving and Gwaynn glanced at her. She was watching him as they moved together through the main gates and into the square that separated the two motte and baileys. Krys, Emm, Cyndar and Lee Brandt were waiting with the Zarina Monde. Along one side of the Traveler stood Queen Ramona, who was currently residing in the sister fortress, her son had already returned to the Gap to guard against the imminent attack they all felt was coming.

Waiting on the opposite side of Monde was the Weapons Master Tabernas, who would be joining Phillip at the Gap shortly, and the Speaker Zebo Sorbello. Traveler Jess na Gall departed two days ago on horseback, bound for Heron. From there she would Travel to Parma, the large port city and Capital of the Cassinni. Lonogan Bock and five other handpicked men went along with her as escort, just in case King Marc Cassinni attempted to make any claim on the Traveler’s freedom. na Gall believed such “protection” was not necessary but Gwaynn insisted, and Bock seemed more than eager to get away from Manse for a while and accompany the beautiful Traveler to an exotic and distant land for a few days. It was Gwaynn’s hope that King Marc would judge all of Massi against Lonogan and thus feel more confident in supporting their cause.

“Anything from our High King?” Gwaynn asked Lee Brandt, who would be assuming Bock’s duties in his boss’s absence. Gwaynn had offered to elevate Brandt to Captain, but the big man just shrugged. He cared nothing for titles and had little trouble motivating those who worked under him. Gwaynn nodded slightly to Cyndar, who appeared nervous and was standing slightly behind the big man, as if for protection. Gwaynn wondered briefly at her behavior, but did not guess she was using Brandt’s large body to shield herself from the eyes of Zarina Monde. The two of them had met briefly over a year ago and in fact there was a scar on the Zarina’s right shoulder given to her by Cyn de Baard. How she had not recognized her immediately, Cyndar could not have said, but she knew it might be only a matter of time before Monde made the connection.