On the Black Wind to Baldairn Motte

Part 23.

Terryll's chest heaved with explosive breaths. He was a man of the sea, not a man meant for running through the mud mile upon mile. He had no idea how far they'd gone when the Earl finally signaled them to halt. Gildan's Sprite flowed a short distance to their right in a deep ravine, and thick brambles barred their progress to their uphill side.

"Why are we stopping here, my lord?" Everild asked. "Ryndor's keep lies on the other side of the hill. We must keep going forward to clear these brambles before we can go up. It's not far."

"This is as far as we go for now."

"But, my lord, we'll miss our opportunity." Everild had a panicked look about him. "We have to strike while Ryndor's gates are open for his common folk and his morning patrol is away."

"Don't do it, Lord Verk," Terryll said, stepping toward Everild, his curtelaxe drawn. "It's a trap."

"Stand down, Captain Payce," the Earl said calmly. "I have the situation under control. We won't be walking into any trap. We're staying right here."

"But, my lord—" Everild protested.

"We're staying right here, and you're going to talk, Everild. Understand, it's not a question of whether you're a loyal man, but a question of whom you're loyal to. I'm no fool. I know Klaye and Sturm Galkmeer are up to something, so just be done with it and tell me."

Everild glanced at the Earl and the soldiers closing in towards him. "My lord?"

"Tell me what they're planning, pledge your loyalty to me, and I'll let you live, Everild. Either way, it makes little difference. A dozen of my best cavalrymen slipped away from Sturm Galkmeer's forces in the night, along with a dozen horses to spare. In an hour's time, they'll storm Ryndor's keep and set it aflame along with his common-folks' village. When Ryndor comes out, we'll be there to help the cavalry finish him off. The question is whether you'll be there at my side."

Everild spun his mace and slowly raised his shield.

"Don't be a fool," the Earl growled.

Everild swiped at the closest of the Earl's soldiers. The man blocked the blow with his shield, but Everild hadn't meant to hurt him. He'd only been after gaining a moment's head start, and he bolted off toward Ryndor's keep.

Terryll and two of the Earl's men sprinted after him alongside the creek.

"Stop! Let him go," the Earl yelled, but Terryll and one of the soldiers chased after regardless. Everild led them another forty paces alongside the ravine, past the brambles, and then up the hill. Unburdened with chainmail or armor, Terryll outdistanced the Earl's man and was almost within striking distance of Everild as he crested the hill, but Everild suddenly stopped and Terryll ran square into the back of him, tumbling them both to the ground.

There were soldiers everywhere: northmen, and more of them than there should have been. There were twenty some men-at-arms, and thirty or more common folk armed with spears and axes.

"Where's the Earl?" the man standing at their forefront demanded, prodding Everild with his sword.

Everild scrambled to his feet and Terryll slowly rose behind him. Lord Ryndor's keep sat only a short distance away behind the troops, surrounded by a shabby village of wood and thatch huts.

"The Earl knew something was awry, my lord," Everild said between gasps. "He's waiting at the bottom of the hill with his men."

It was Lord Ryndor himself standing before them, Terryll realized.

"Half of you, go, along the high trail and down to the creek to cut off Lord Verk's retreat," Lord Ryndor commanded his men. "The rest of you, kill these two traitors."

"But my lord," Everild said, back-stepping, "what about your deal with the Lord Chancellor?"

"I don't make deals with southern turnip-forners. Think you I'd really betray my dearest friend and take his seat at Hairng?"

Lord Ryndor's men closed in on them. Everild was stillstammering, and Terryll relegated himself to at least killing Everild before someoneelse did. Before he could raise his blade, the Earl's man they'd outpaced camerushing up the hill with a scream. Lord Ryndor's men were startled, and Everildbolted away along the high trail. Terryll—cut off by Ryndor's men—turned awaywith a curse and scrambled back down hill the way he had come.