The Kingdom of Liticea: The Sorcerer Prince

Chapter Forty-Five: Aftermath

No one in Talonwood Keep slept that night. Eyes were not just on the hill but on the woods behind. Any moment they feared a party of Morcars would charge out of the woods and scale their wall.

Jergan did not sleep in the room near his father. He spent the night around a fire wit the other young knights. Locke kept his sword in his lap, moving up the blade again and again with the whetstone. Eliza only stared into the flame, as if she was watching the doom they all feared dancing before her.

The bodies of the dead were moved to the far northern end of the courtyard, covered with as many quilts and clothes as the army could spare with the cold night coming in. One would think that the festive night before was just a dream that all the men at Talonwood participated in. No way could these men have been drinking and dancing barely twenty-four hours before. They were still drinking, but only to numb their senses against the coming cold and the pain of their own grief.

Rengle kept to the tower, but Argus with a small detachment patrolled back and forth around the wall, keeping an eye out for a surprise attack and allowing a sense of security. But they all knew the great wave of death that was waiting to charge up the hill and sweep them away. Prayers were given to the ten riders who would hopefully return the next day with Lord Clayton Blackwell and Olver Ryd and then the Ruskamen would enjoy some relief from the feeling of imminent death. A cold wind blew from the mountains, making the wine freeze in the bottles. In the darkest, coldest part of the night, not even wine could relieve them.

Cold soldiers and icy stone felt relief as the light of the sun touched them after hours of cold night. In a melancholy shuffle, the men unstuck themselves from their sitting places and took their usual places on the wall. With the casualties on the side of the Litici, the best of the Userian archers took the places of their fallen comrades. The rest of Nakbar's company arrived before dawn and the line at the base of the wall was now as strong as it was the last two days. Despite their battle prowess, the cold was hitting them harder than any others at Talonwood. Few of them had ever seen snow before, and even fewer have ever experienced the full force of winter. The night left behind a thin sheet, which would melt in a few hours. It served a grim reminder of what was to come.

Winter struck the Westland harder than any other region in the kingdom. The cold winds coming down from Runthinbore brought blankets of snow that buried castles, towns, even trees would not be spared. The Morcars chose a hell of time to attack, and the coming storms did not seem to put a dent in their desire for control of the Westland.

The cold thankfully froze the dead and prevented their corpses from stinking the whole keep. Burying them was now less of a priority. They would not be falling apart soon, allowing the survivors to bring fallen friends home. Though they were spared the smell, the sight of them did nothing for the spirit of the men, both Litici and Userian. Even though the men from the sands fought and died for coin, comrades in arms shared a blood forged in blood that could not be made anywhere else.

As well as the reinforcements on at the keep, two hundred of Nakbar's men were sent out into the woods surrounding the Keep so that the mistake of the previous day would not be repeated. With the riders were several guides provided by Whitetree. It is easy to get lost behind the walls of Red Titans that eclipsed the sun when it shined above them. They were now ready for anything that the Morcars threw at them, and the anticipation for attack was even worse than it was the previous day.

Rengle was not in his usual spot up on the balcony. With Eliza, Jergan,and Locke he stood with Sir Argus with the archers on the wall. He found that sitting up there made him feel like a coward while Argus, Nakbar and the others stood right in the enemies way. If they were going to come again, they would meet his blade before all others.