Chapter VI

  Drake woke heavily in his bed. When he opened his eyes, it was so dark he feared he had gone blind until his eyes began to adjust. He lay still, trying to remember how he got there. When he went to meet the leader of the imposters, it was little more than a blur. He remembered going to the leader’s rooms with the men and knocking on the door. When no one answered, he broke open the door and looked inside. The room had been a mess, yet there was no one in it. He had thought immediately to go to the stables, yet he was headed off by a servant, saying he had run straight for the front gate not moments before. Drake took off after the man and was met by another servant with his horse saddled and ready to run. The servant pointed him in the right direction and the big black stallion took off like a dragon in a dive.

  It had taken almost no time to catch up with the Mondallian assassin, yet just as Drake was about to run him down, the man turned and threw a dagger at him. Drake barely avoided the blade as he rolled off his horse and drew his own dagger to fight the man to the death. Instead of confronting Drake, the assassin took off running again, straight for the town. Drake used all his strength to chase after the man, yet it was not easy to catch up with a man that had been trained to run better than most. When they reached the town square, or at least as much of one can be in a town built upon a hill, the man turned again and finally faced Drake.

  The battle between them was hazy as both tried to gain leverage on the other. Drake was used to fighting head on, in a battle of strength, yet the assassin was not trained for such things. The man had leaped, twisted, rolled, and flew around Drake as he tried to disarm the assassin. Drake didn’t want to kill this one because he was the leader and should be brought to proper justice, yet the man was not, to say the least, very cooperative.

  When the battle was finally at its end, the leverage came, and it was not in the favor of Drake. His soldiers and the ladies had run after him when he bolted out of the castle and had finally caught up with Drake. The assassin, seeing his opportunity, threw a dagger at Lady Rosoline. Drake had thrown his Dragon dagger at the assassin’s to stop it from hitting his mother, yet he was too late. He could still remember watching as the dagger sunk into his mother’s left shoulder. The sickening sound it made, the scream that was rent from her throat, and the anger that welled up inside him. He didn’t know what happened after that until he felt the blade slide into his back. Next thing he knew, he was waking up in his bed.

  He tried to get up to get a drink of water, yet he realized he was strapped down. He tried to stay calm and think of all the possibilities of why, yet he didn’t like being secured. The stirring caused someone to wake from a chair beside his bed. A cool hand touched his forehead, and a sigh of relief came from the person.

  “It’s about time you came to,” Lady Nelver said. “We were worried you wouldn’t make it.”

  “What happened,” he asked in a horse whisper.

  “You were stabbed in the back by the assassin,” she explained quietly. “There was a deadly poison on the dagger he used, and if it had been anyone else, they would have died.”

  “How is my mother?” he asked fearing the worst.

  “Not nearly in such bad shape,” she said. “The dagger that got her was not dipped in poison. What happened to you out there?”

  “What do you mean?” he asked confused.

  “When Rosoline got hit, you lost it entirely. You jumped on him without any kind of weapon and started scratching and biting him. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought you were some kind of monster trying to eat him.”

  He had no answer for that.

  “Well, never mind that. You must be hungry. I’ll go get you some food.”

  “Could you release me first?” he asked as politely as he could.

  “Oh, sorry,” she said quickly as she cut the leather straps. “The poison caused you to have violent thrashings. We started wishing you would have died to relieve you of that pain.”

  Drake started to think about that yet was distracted by someone stirring next to him.

  “It seems I need food for two,” Lady Nelver said sounding very relieved. “Rhey refused to leave your side when you got hurt before she started falling to the floor and having thrashing spells at the same time as you. We had to strap you both down to keep you from injuring yourselves.”

  She left without another word. Drake sat up and shook his head to help clear it, yet it only hurt more.

  “Please don’t do that,” Rhey said holding her head. “My head already feels like it’s about to split.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said simply.

  “You should be,” she said mercilessly. “If you wouldn’t be so brave all the time, you wouldn’t get us hurt.”

  “I didn’t realize my getting hurt could cause you pain,” he said.

  “I did,” she told him. “I realized it when your heart broke. Killing that soldier caused you a lot of pain and I knew then that if you got hurt, I would be hurt too. It took all my strength to comfort you past all the pain you were feeling.”

  “I’m just glad you’re all right,” he told her gratefully.

  “I should be,” she smiled gently. “I had to live for the both of us.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Since I wasn’t poisoned, I wasn’t in the danger of being killed by it, yet because my life is attached to yours, I had to live so you could live.”

  “I don’t understand that,” he admitted.

  “Neither do I, yet it’s still the truth.”

  Lady Nelver came in and the conversation was lost in the eagerness for sustenance. Once morning came, and he could no longer stand to have Lady Nelver poking and prodding him, he retreated to the training field where he found Dolmont and the other boys practicing. The cheer he received was gratifying, yet he stopped them almost immediately.

  “Cheer for yourselves men,” he told them. “Without you, I would never have been able to do what we pulled off.”

  “Yet without you, my lord, we would never have had the courage to fight for our home,” one of them said.

  “Please, call me Drake,” he said. “And I think I would like to know your names. An officer should always know the names of his men.”

  “Soren, my lord,” a boy about thirteen said. He was typical of someone from Curew with dark hair and eyes, and he was average height.

  “Zetif,” was a boy about sixteen, or close to it, and was tall for his age. His dark brown hair was cut short, and he sported a few manly whiskers.

  “Elzo,” a twelve-year-old boy said. He had blonde hair and green eyes. He was short and thin, like he hadn’t eaten enough over the years. He was the same boy who kept stabbing the Mondallian soldier.

  “Welden,” a serious boy told him. He couldn’t have been over fourteen and his black hair was short like Zetif’s.

  “Malorn,” another said. This one was obviously at the age of manhood with a short beard and dark hair that came to his jaw line.

  “Carren.” He was serious looking like Welden, yet he had the air of a person who was very sarcastic. His hair was long like Drake’s, yet blonde, reaching halfway down his back.

  “Angus,” a boy of fifteen reported. He seemed a little shy, yet his military training was obvious in his muscled arms. His hair was dark, like most of them, yet his eyes were a bright green.

  “Darious,” was another that looked serious. His dark hair and eyes seemed to match his face in an ominous way. He looked like he was reaching manhood like Malorn.

  “Karmet,” had pale blue eyes and long red hair. His soft complexion didn’t seem to make him look any less dangerous than the others.

  “And I’m Falour, my lord,” the last said with bowing with a flourish. Drake immediately recognized him as the one that was worrying about looking fat in his dress.

  “Excellent,” Drake approved. He clasped his hands behind his back and looked at them. “Congratulations men, you are now all part of an exclusive army. You will answer to me and me only. If I take direction from another, you will do the same as if it were I. We’re still not through with this war and we can expect this latest incident to not be our last. Now, how long have I been out?”

  “About ten days,” Dolmont answered.

  “That’s a long time,” Drake mused. He had a sudden feeling like he was missing something yet whatever it was, he couldn’t say.

  A sound reached his ears like distant thunder coming from the east, almost as if in answer to his thought. He didn’t like the sounds of it, yet he dismissed it as a storm approaching.

  “What has been happening while I was asleep?”

  “That’s an interesting way to put it,” Soren said.

  “We heard you were almost dead,” Elzo told him. “Yet everything has been quiet so far. Do you really expect something else to happen before the war is over?”

  “Borom is a strategic location,” Drake explained. The sound of thunder was growing louder. “It would be idiotic if the Mondallians didn’t attempt to take Borom again. The problem is that because the war is going so badly, Curew has no men to spare to protect us. That’s why we have to do it ourselves.”

  “Do you think we can do it?” Karmet asked skeptically.

  “If anyone can, Drake can,” Dolmont said proudly. “You saw how he rid us of those imposters.”

  “I was not the one that rid us of them,” Drake disagreed. “We’re the ones who purged our home of those bad liars.”

  “I think we get the point, my lord,” Carren said diffidently. “Without us, you are nothing but a little boy.”

  “He may be little, yet he is as much a man as the rest of us,” Dolmont challenged.

  “Relax Dolmont,” Drake laughed. “I think he was only joking. Besides, we can always hang him in the dungeons later.”

  Carren shuddered then smiled.

  “What of the spy Master Morden told me of?” Drake asked.

  “It turned out to be a Mondallian posing as a merchant,” Dolmont reported. “He’s been passing information along for months. It has been taken care of.”

  The thunder was now getting loud, and Drake looked to the sky to see the storm coming in, yet there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. A faint buzzing sound alerted him at the last moment, and he dived out of the way, barely escaping an arrow.

  “Back to the castle,” he barked.

  Drake and his men bolted for the keep shouting at it to get people to close the gates. He was almost at the door when a scream of pain stopped him. Angus caught an arrow in the leg and had fallen to the ground. Despite the arrows raining down, Drake ran back for the man and dragged him bodily to the door. Once inside, he left Angus with servants that were barring the door and went to the main courtyard. He barked the commands to lock down the castle to his men as he went and was proud that they all rushed to do their work; only well-trained soldiers had discipline that strong.

  In the courtyard, he rang the alarm until curious and worried people started making their way in.

  “The castle is being locked down,” he told the few that were there. “There is an army on its way here to take our home from us. Now is the time we must all work together. Fire up the pitch, get bows and arrows on top of the battlements, spears, knives, anything that can be used as a weapon. We need everything we can get. Get it now.”

  The few people who had shown up rushed off to grab this or that to ward off the attackers.

  “And tell anyone you see to do the same,” he shouted after them.

  “What’s going on Drake,” Lady Rosoline demanded coming into the courtyard.

  “I can’t believe I was so absent minded,” he berated himself.

  “Worry about that later,” she snapped. “What is going on?”

  “How could I forget about them?”

  “Drake,” she yelled slapping him.

  “Sorry Mother,” he said. “We’re under attack by the small army that I told Father about. I should have known that was what the imposters were all about. They wanted to kill father and have control of the castle by the time the army came. How could I be so stupid? We need to get on top of those battlements and start fighting.”

  He rushed to the nearest set of stairs and bolted up them to look out over the south. Sure enough, there was an army two thousand strong coming from the southeast. Just before the gates was a small advancing force of two hundred, making their way back to the main force, having lost their chance to gain entrance. Drake immediately dismissed them from his mind to think more about the small Mondallian army that had stopped just north of the town and started to spread out.

  “Of course,” he said to himself.

  “What are they doing?” Lady Rosoline asked puffing from the run up the stairs.

  “They want to give us enough room to set up before they start the siege,” he told her. “First they will surround us, pillage the town for any supplies they might find, then start setting up their siege engines.”

  “Is there anything we can do to stop that?” she asked.

  “I suppose there are ways,” he said dubiously, “yet the likelihood of surviving is getting slimmer and slimmer as I think about them. That’s a force to be reckoned with out there. Right now, the best we can do is to get ready for them.”

  “What do we need to do?” she asked, expecting him to start giving orders.

  “I want archers around the battlements at all times from now on, half of our forces at a time. I want another quarter working with the pitch and keeping the archers supplied. The rest can sleep until their shift. Prepare yourself Mother; we’re not going to get much sleep for a while.”

  Dolmont was the first to return to the courtyard shortly followed by Carren and Falour. All three were panting from their run around the castle and had to take a few minutes to regain their composure.

  “Everything is in order Drake,” Dolmont reported. “There are several servants raiding the armory as we speak for weapons and armor.”

  “Good, there are several more here setting up the pitch,” Drake told him. “I want all of my men to report to my study as soon as they are finished. Pass the word along.”

  “Yes, my lord,” both Carren and Falour saluted with sharp fists to the chest.

  “Dolmont, you’re with me,” he added. “I want you at my side for now. Now you’re going to earn the title of Second-in-command. Tell the first person you see not busy to fetch all the tradesmen in the castle. We’re going to need them more than the archers.”

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  “Yes, my lord,” Dolmont saluted.

  “Drake,” a frightened voice said. “What’s going on?”

  “Rhey, we need to find a place for you to stay safe,” he said grabbing her arm.

  “I’m not leaving you,” she said defiantly, pulling her arm from his grasp. “We stick together, remember?”

  He looked at her helplessly, wanting to tell her no, yet knowing it was no good to argue with her. He sighed defeat and gave only a single nod in reply before heading back down the stairs.

  “Mind the work up here Mother, you know what you’re doing,” he yelled over his shoulder. “The army is about two thousand strong,” he said to Dolmont. “We can hold a force like that off for quite a while, and maybe even defeat it. We have a week or two before Father returns with a sizable army to match the one that’ll be knocking on our front door, yet for now, we’re on our own.”

  “How long do you think we have until they get here?” Rhey asked.

  “Only a few hours at most,” he replied. “Yet that will just be the preliminaries. First, they will surround us, then start working on their siege engines and raid the village. It should still be a couple of days before they start throwing rocks at us.”

  “What do we do then?”

  “We fight,” he told her simply.

  “We need a way to neutralize the engines,” she told him.

  “Please, my lady, don’t talk in military terms,” Dolmont said with a pained look. “I know you are a special girl, yet it sets my teeth on edge.”

  “Good luck with that,” Drake laughed. “Don’t worry Rhey, I think I have a plan that should help us with that.”

  “I see,” she said, and left it at that.

  When they reached the study, they already had most of the group waiting for them. Drake opened the door and led them all inside. He took his seat at his father’s desk and looked at them all with a grave expression.

  “We’re at war, gentlemen,” he told them seriously. “You have served me well so far, now is where we take your loyalty to the next level.”

  “What do you mean?” Carren asked.

  “Let’s wait for the rest,” he said quietly. When Angus was the only one missing, he started again.

  “We’re at war, gentlemen. And in war, our loyalty and our strength are tested. These are not men unarmed and drunk, but men ready for battle. Here is where our fates are sealed and there is only one way out of this: victory. We have two possible ways of coming out of this victorious. First, we can defeat this enemy and send them home to lick their wounds, or we can hold them off until David the Mighty has returned. Either way, do not mistake this as another training game. This is real. There will be casualties on both sides, and the struggle will continue. You are no longer boys, yet men, and men with a purpose. We must win or die trying. We’re now the army of Borom, and all of you are her officers. Every person in this castle who has any fighting ability is now a soldier. They will answer directly to you, and you will answer directly to me. Dolmont is my second and Rhey, though many of you will not like this, will be present if I am not available.”

  There were shocked and outraged protests to his last, yet he simply held up a hand for silence.

  “Any man who refuses to follow her directions in my absence will die by my hand. Does anyone want to test that?”

  No one spoke up after that.

  “Now, you all need places. Carren, you will take the north side. They will throw rocks the size of your common room, arrows will blot out the sky, and they will attempt to scale our walls. Don’t lose your head over there or else we’ll be lost. Soren, you take the east, and Welden, you take the west. Darious will take the south. Your job is to lead the archers in their harassment of the ranks and to signal when it’s time to dump pitch on heads. Karmet, you will head the production of arrows. Get as many people as you need because we’ll need all the arrows we can get. Falour, you will take control of the pitch. Make as much as you can as fast as you can. Zetif, Elzo, and Malorn, you three will take the lead in distribution. Everything we make or have has to go equally to the four sides. It’s your job to make sure it gets there. Dolmont, you will oversee all the archers. You outrank any man here. Have the archers picking off officers and high-ranking officials at every opportunity, there won’t be many, so make them count. We must make sure they fall apart from the top. You all have your tasks, move along.”

  “Am I to stay here?” Rhey asked.

  “Yes, if you are going to be able to give orders, you’re going to have to know what I’m up to,” he explained. “Ask the tradesmen to come in.”

  “Is it true?” one man asked shoving Rhey out of the way. “Is there really a force of a hundred thousand men coming to kill us?”

  “No,” Drake said calmly. “It’s only two thousand.”

  “Two thousand?” another asked incredulously. “How can we survive against a force like that?”

  “Easily,” Drake assured him, “yet only with your help. What I need from you is all your strength and skill to make the weapons necessary to battle this army. Do I have your support?”

  “We need to find a way to retreat,” the first man said. “Or give up, or something. What can we do without Lord David here?”

  “We can survive,” Drake tried to tell him.

  “All we’re left with is this little runt,” another almost cried. “What are we going to do?”

  “We need to band together and start coming up with a plan,” another said.

  “That is enough,” Drake yelled at the top of his lungs. “Any man who is not with me is against me. And I will be the first to throw you over my battlements. This is my land, my castle, and my fight. Please don’t tell me that I have to start executing you gentlemen for insubordination?”

  “You wouldn’t dare,” one man from the back said shocked.

  “Don’t underestimate my authority here,” he told them darkly. “I will not tolerate any man who is not willing to donate to the cause.”

  “It’s your fault we’re in this mess to begin with.”

  “Nevertheless, we’re in this together. I need bows, arrows, spears, pitch, and anything else I can get my hands on to throw at them. Now,” he said in a forced calm, “are you with me, or are you going to die for your lack of enthusiasm?”

  “Nicely put my lord,” Rhey said brightly.

  “Thank you, my lady,” Drake said trying to sound calm.

  “Sorry, I was busy getting my apprentices started on making arrowheads, what did I miss?” the master blacksmith asked entering the study.

  “Nothing much,” Rhey said lightly. “Lord Drake just gave these fine gentlemen the option of either working or dying.”

  “Nicely put my lady,” Drake said.

  “Thank you, my lord,” she returned with a smile.

  “What does he know about defending against a siege?” one of the tradesmen demanded.

  “Can you fetch my officers please?” he asked Rhey politely. “I want someone thrown over the wall.”

  “Yes, my lord,” she said brightly.

  “No need my lord,” the master blacksmith said. “I would be honored to do your bidding.”

  The blacksmith grabbed hold of the man and began pulling him bodily towards the door.

  “Please, stop, I’m sorry,” the man shouted. “I’ll do as you ask.”

  “Very well then,” Drake said. “If it happens again, I will not throw you over the edge, yet run a blade through you personally. We don’t have the time to be playing this game, gentlemen, and I will not tolerate any more of it. We’re at war, and I was trained all my life for these kinds of situations. Right now, there are eleven boys running around doing my bidding and you will all defer to them. They are my trusted officers, and they will not hesitate to kill you on the spot for insubordination. What I need from you all is to begin working on everything you know how to do. Master Carpenter, I need you to make arrows, as many as possible. Stonemason, make arrowheads with the Blacksmith here. Master Fletcher, you oversee it all. You can demand anything you need from anyone who is not busy with something else. Do I have everyone’s cooperation here?”

  Everyone looked to each other then slowly nodded.

  Drake sighed.

  “I know I do not seem like much,” he admitted, “yet I really am the best for this position. We can, and will, win this. Now get to work.”

  “I hope he’s right,” one of them said under his breath as they all filed out of the room.

  “What is it you need me to do?” Rhey asked after they were all gone.

  “I need you to keep an eye on things,” he told her. “Let’s use this ability we seem to have to our advantage. We can use our minds to communicate orders to different places.”

  “Excellent idea,” she beamed. “So, can I have a bow now?”

  “I’ve been waiting for you to ask that,” he smiled. “Come with me.”

  Drake led her back to his room where he unlocked the chest at the end of his bed. He pulled out a chain mail shirt and a leather quiver.

  “These are for you,” he said handing them to her. “You’ll want to put a padded shirt under this, yet it should fit you comfortably.”

  “This is what you got for your last birthday,” she protested.

  “And now I am giving it to you,” he said. “If you treat it well, it will serve you well. We can get arrows from the armory, and I think I have an old shirt in here you can have, yet I still haven’t given you the best part of my gift.”

  He got down on his hands and knees and dove under his bed. What he pulled out was a brand-new bow that still smelled of freshly cut wood.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t give it to you on our birthday,” he said flushing. “The master bower was dragging his feet.”

  “Oh, it’s wonderful,” she exclaimed. “How could you afford this?”

  “The master bowyer has a mistress, and he was ever so grateful that I not mention it to anyone, especially his wife,” he chuckled. “You don’t think you’re the only one to be devious, do you?”

  “Blackmail is wrong,” she smiled.

  “So it is,” he smiled back.

  Tension was high that first day, yet everyone used that tension to drive themselves harder to prepare for the siege. On the second day, the boulders started flying and the arrows rained down on the people of Borom, signaling the start of the battle. The tradesmen worked like dogs in whatever room they could find. Their apprentices took shifts working and the rest of the people in the castle either held stations up on the battlements shooting arrows at the army surrounding them or running supplies to their designated places. Luckily, there were not very many large boulders that could be thrown at the castle, yet the Mondallians were quick to put other things in their catapults. Arrows were shot by the bundle, and pitch was thrown often. It didn’t take long for the castle to be thrown into flame.

  “What can we do about this?” Dolmont yelled over the roar of battle.

  Drake took only a second to think before he had the idea in place.

  “Siege engines are made of wood, my friend,” he laughed with glee. “Let’s burn them.”

  He took an arrow, wrapped some cloth around it, and doused it into the pitch. He notched it, pulled back and yelled, “Light me.”

  Dolmont took a torch from someone and lit the cloth. Drake took careful aim and let loose. The arrow hit its mark and the engine caught fire. They both cheered even as several men started putting out the fire.

  “Run that around,” Drake yelled. “Three to five people each engine. That should stop them. And get someone to put out this fire. I like the heat, but I don’t like to burn.”

  “Yes, my lord,” Dolmont said proudly and ran off.

  Drake called some more people over to help him and together they managed to get the engine to collapse in flames. The entire south wall cheered and within an hour, all the catapults were destroyed. Still, there was enough to keep them busy. Men tried to climb ladders, use grappling hooks, and anything else they could get their hands on to climb the walls. Many more were attempting to break down the gates and doors. And there was never a moment that arrows were not in the air. The treacherous walls were hard for many to bear. The few men that were still within the castle, and not working with the trades’ masters, were often taken away by others because they couldn’t handle the stress. Drake didn’t blame them in the least. These were not soldiers fighting, yet average men and women. There was no heart for the excitement of battle among them. This was simply a fight to protect what they worked for all their lives. This was their home and to have to fight for it was a gruesome affair. He commended the women, however, on their bravery. The women fought harder than most of the men did. If it came down to a confrontation on foot, Drake was sure these women would fight like a bear protecting her cubs. Children screamed in fright even as they threw things at their attackers. Drake pitied them all.

  Though he thought all this, he had little time to do so. Rhey and his officers gave him constant updates while they helped shoot arrows. A bow was always kept beside him for that reason alone. Busy as he was, he took it upon himself to seek out and kill as many officers as he could until they had all either died or ran off to safety. Still, he gave them something to think about when he lit another arrow and hit a pavilion on the north side. He and several people close by him laughed as the officers ran out of the burning tent, obviously flustered.

  “You there,” he yelled to a man trying to raise a ladder. “Tell your commanding officer that I am the son of David the Mighty and there is nothing I cannot do.”

  The Mondallian looked at him fearfully for a moment and dropped his ladder and ran off. When the sun started to set, Drake pulled out his reserves so the main force could rest. Just as the change was complete, the Mondallians withdrew to a safe distance, back behind the ashes of the burnt pavilion. A man on a horse rode forward from the ranks baring a white flag.

  “Hold your fire,” Drake yelled. “That man is not to be harmed.”

  “Thank you, son of David,” the man yelled. “I see you have honor.”

  “That I do,” Drake responded. “Have you the same honor to not take advantage of my cease fire?”

  “Indeed, I do,” the man replied. “Might we have a conference?”

  “Anything you wish to say can be said here,” Drake answered.

  “I am an old man,” he complained, “could we not have the honor of speaking face to face?”

  “If a single man moves from your ranks, you will die,” Drake warned. “Go to the west side door and I will meet with you.”

  The man rode off in the right direction as Drake turned away.

  “Spread that around,” he told the closest person to him. “Make sure they do not move from their position; if they do, kill them.”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  “Rhey, did you catch all of that?”

  “Yes, I did. Do you want me to come with you?”

  “No, just round up my officers and stay close.”

  She knew what he meant by stay close, because he could feel her tighten her grip on his mind and smile. He wiped his face with his hands, finally starting to feel the drain the last two days caused. He walked down the closest set of stairs and waited. Dolmont and the rest of them all converged on him before the rider could enter.

  “Dolmont, you are with me, the rest of you make sure there is no one here who will harm him. I want to show the Mondallians that I have honor and I do not want to be made a fool of.”

  “My lord, might it not be foolish for you to allow this man in here? If he sees what he is up against, he might be able to come up with a better strategy,” Karmet asked.

  “That’s a good mind you have, Karmet, don’t lose it,” Drake complimented. “Someone get me a long piece of cloth.”

  The man was blindfolded and led gently to Drake’s study. Drake personally sat him down in a chair across the desk and removed the blindfold before dismissing the people helping him and sat in his own chair behind the desk.

  “I am sorry about that,” Drake told him, “yet you understand my situation.”

  “Of course,” the man brushed it off. “I wouldn’t have even allowed me entrance.”

  “I was taught war courtesy by my father,” Drake told him. “He is very strong willed about that sort of thing.”

  “Maybe at home,” the man disagreed, “yet we know a different kind of man.”

  “Possibly it could just be that he wanted to teach me to be better than himself,” Drake suggested.

  “That’s possible,” the man conceded. “Fathers always want their sons to be better than themselves. I know I hope for nothing short of the best from my sons. I must say, however, that I would have never thought one of your age capable of fighting a war.”

  “I am a rather special boy,” Drake agreed delicately, “or so I am told.”

  “So you are,” the man agreed. “Was that your idea to neutralize my engines?”

  “Yes, as a matter of fact, it was.”

  “Impressive,” the man nodded.

  “Again, I am sorry, yet I feel that we might be getting off track,” Drake said. “Might I ask why you are here? I highly doubt you came just so we could enter into idle chitchat.”

  “Yes, sorry, I came to you so we could discuss the terms of your surrender,” the man said officially.

  “Was that supposed to happen before or after your assassin killed my family and me?” Drake asked lightly.

  “We’ll not surrender,” Dolmont said hotly.

  “Dolmont,” Drake snapped warningly.

  “It seems your friend here hasn’t had your training,” the man said easily. “Yet surely even he can see that your situation is just a tad unwelcoming. As for the assassin, his failure is of no moment. We have you surrounded and there is nothing you can do to stop us. Your army is to the north, and you have no way of getting a message to them. My plan now is to just sit back and allow you to starve yourselves to death.”

  “That’s a long wait, friend,” Drake told him seriously. “A wait I am sure you don’t want to be forced into. The army will have heard about the siege here in a week and they will be here to help. If that means they take the war with them, then that means we win because this is the best place to score a victory. I think your superiors will be upset about that.”

  “Your words may be true, young man, yet you forget that you don’t have the king. Without a king, your kingdom no longer exists. If the army comes here, then my army is free and clear to take Tarmin. Not even your father would make that mistake.”

  “I suppose you are right,” Drake conceded. “Yet as my hotheaded friend here said, we’ll not surrender. Now, if you want to fight it out, then let us return to the battle, or if you would like to simply starve us into surrendering, then I will bow my head in defeat when that day comes. Was there anything else you would like to discuss? The weather seems to be getting worse.”

  Drake smiled politely and waited for the man’s response.

  “How can such a young boy have so little fear in this situation?” the man asked dumbfounded.

  “Its not that I have no fear, good sir, yet that I have immense bravery in the face of danger,” Drake told him.

  “You’re a smart boy; I hope this is not the last time we meet.” The man stood and waited to be blindfolded. When he was back on his horse again, Drake called a meeting with his officers atop the south battlements.

  “I must say, he was a splendid fellow,” Drake told them lightly.

  “Splendid?” Lady Rosoline asked raising her eyebrow.

  “Yes, Mother, quite. He was very polite about it all, and full of information.”

  “How did you come to that one?” Dolmont asked.

  “His asking about the terms of surrender was a way of telling Drake that he didn’t want this to go on for very long,” Rhey told him.

  “How do you know about that?” Dolmont asked frowning.

  “Never mind that,” Drake said with a mental warning to Rhey. “Right now, we need to figure out a way to end this quickly. I don’t want them to have the chance to starve us out. I will not bow my head to a Mondallian.”

  “We could launch some of these boulders laying around at them,” Soren suggested brightly.

  “With what?” Drake asked.

  “You, of course,” he laughed. “You must have the strength for it somewhere in that little body of yours.”

  The group laughed.

  “How about I just throw you at them,” Drake smiled.

  Soren took a step back.

  “Hey Soren, your prudence is showing,” Falour laughed.

  “All right gentlemen, let’s not play in front of the enemy,” Zetif joked. “They might think we’re not taking them seriously.”

  “Yes, it might provoke them,” Welden agreed.

  “What was that?” Drake demanded.

  “It might provoke them,” Welden repeated, looking a little nervous.

  “Welden, you’re a genius,” Drake exclaimed.

  “I know that,” he said brushing back his hair. “Why are you saying it now?”

  “Because you just gave me an idea.”

  “Well then out with it,” Carren demanded.

  “I’m going on a mission,” Drake announced; “alone this time. I’m going to sneak into their encampment and cause a bit of mayhem.”

  “Like hell you are,” Dolmont and Rhey said at the same time.

  “Don’t worry about me,” he told them. “I’ll be just fine. Get yourselves ready for the start of the battle again.”

  “Drake, remember what would happen if you got hurt,” Rhey said warningly.

  “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.”

  “You’re taking me with you,” she said.

  “No, you know I will not let you.”

  “You don’t have a choice.”

  “I will tie you to a bed.”

  “I will get out.”

  “You will do it because I can’t protect you when I get out there. You must stay here. You still have a lot of training to go through before I take you on a mission like this, and you would never forgive yourself if we got hurt because of that.”

  She gave him a disgusted, hateful look, yet argued no more.

  “When are you doing this?” Elzo asked.

  “Tomorrow night if they don’t resume fighting before then,” Drake answered. “Go get some rest, all of you. I need you to stay fresh.”

  “What of the people here?” Dolmont asked.

  “Keep a decent watch yet send the rest to help make more weapons. We’re going to need everything we have.”

  “And if the fighting starts?”

  “I think we’ll have time for everyone to return to their posts. Just make sure that they keep their bows with them.”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  Drake’s officers bowed and left. Lady Rosoline and Rhey stayed.

  “Do you really think you could do something like this on your own?” his mother asked.

  “I wouldn’t try if I didn’t,” he answered heavily.

  “What kind of mayhem are you planning?” Lady Rosoline asked.

  “I’m not much one for sneaking,” Drake mused. “I know I can manage something though. I’ll figure it out when I get there.”

  “You could always poison their food,” she suggested.

  “Mother,” he said indignantly, “that’s a disgusting thing to suggest.”

  “It would work.”

  “That may be, yet to do something like that would be unethical.”

  “You have a strange sort of ethics my son,” she said shaking her head. “They would not hesitate to do the same to us.”

  “That may be, yet I will not lower myself to do such things,” he said stubbornly. “If they did that sort of thing to us, then I would be forced to do something just as horrible. Yet if it stays clean, then I am content to fight this battle in a dignified manner.”

  “Suit yourself,” she said and washed her hands of it.