Blood Isle

Chapter Nineteen: Death's Call

Brenna watched from a position high on a turret of the castle wherein she sat perched. Before dawn, she had transformed into a henna hawk, and swiftly found her vantage point. She could observe all the guards upon the walls and any Dark Binders or Audumorda that were present.
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The enemy, Brenna discovered had  stationed two Dark Binders and four Adumorda to assist with the castle's defense. The army had not drawn troops from the army that stood to fight the battle yesterday. There appeared to be a strong force defending the wall's ramparts.

There was a slight breeze on this overcast day, that hinted of coming rain. The thought of more rain filled Brenna with disgust, they barely had time to dry out. She sat perched, observing everyone with her keen vision, and noted there seemed to be more arbalests than normal.

King Donovan had given orders to work crews to gather dead horses and soldiers. They than would be hurled over the castles walls by two of their trebuchets. Pestilence, in a confined space cast aspersions of hopelessness and disease to those within. The flies it attracted, swarmed around the dead bodies, necessitating the burial of the dead, adding to their stress.

This was an affront to the enemies' senses within, dealing a psychological blow which served to damage their morale. Donovan was patiently turning the screws which would eventually cripple them as a fighting force. He had ordered two thousand of the dead to be hurled inside the castle walls. All of the dead were fly magnets, the ones inside would not be able to rid themselves of the plague. That is, without painstakingly burying each and every body.

Two young lieutenants rode to the castle gates, offering to allow the elderly, women and children to escape. They were promptly turned down, which did not matter, they would be asked again in the future. Brenna chose to report to Donovan with the intelligence she had gathered.

With a rustle of feathers she arrived in front of the command tent and changed into human form. Afterward, she walked in, to find Donovan and Maska waiting to hear what she had to report. "I have found that the castle is well manned, the battle yesterday did not require  their soldiers. Of particular interest, I found the enemy is utilizing two Dark Binders and four Adumorda to help defend it.  There also seemed to be an abundance of balista present that I found interesting, they are ready for us," stated Brenna.

A tinkerer and his wagon were captured and led back to Donovan by two scouts. He was a human, that wore thick glasses, before his brown eyes, whose hair had abandoned him. He wore a ragged tan coat, over a patched pair of brown leggings. The man was pleasant in his manner and quite the talker.

"My name is Len Reese, I am a tinkerer by trade, and I do not take sides when doing business. My motto is to treat everyone with respect, though I have not seen many of your type before. Would you happen to have something that needs fixing, might as well get to it if you have?" asked the tinkerer.

"Not that I am aware of. Though I believe one of our cooks could use some of your cooking pans. I heard him talking about them two days ago," replied Donovan. "Go and get Manny, someone is here that has an answer to his pot problem. While you are at it, spread the word through camp that if someone has something that needs fixing, bring it. As it is the blacksmith's are busy enough repairing armor and weapons, they can scarcely find the time for anything else."

"Len smiled and nodded his head in gratitude. Thank you I appreciate it, your majesty." said the tinkerer.

Len was as good as his word,  for a line formed with people who needed something repaired. It did not matter if the item was leather, iron, brass, or wood. Rivets were tightened or replaced, leather was replaced or sewn, he had pots available for Manny and the other cooks. He was kept busy all day, everyone was pleased by his workmanship.