Chapter 15
May 3rd, 770; William and the Tower
“Where the hell is he?” Trall’s pace brought him right in front of Talon’s horse.
Talon dismounted and stood next to William’s horse. “Who wants to bet on what time he is finally going to show up?” Talon looked around him for takers.
“I’m in.” William dismounted and clapped Talon on the back.
Talon knew he would be in. “Okay.” Talon shook his hand and turned to Trall. “Tell the rest of the unit to dismount. We will take an extended break until Caswel decides to show up.”
Trall threw his arms in the air as he walked away.
Within a few moments after Trall’s order, the members of unit two gathered in a circle next to the riverbank.
"All we can do is wait for unit one.” Talon heard a few grumbles and could do nothing but agree with them. “We don’t want to waste time, so he has until the sun falls before we move further up river.”
Talon dismissed the group and watched as they trickled down to the waterfront. “So far so good, huh?”
Trall smiled. “You could say that. Although we both knew he was going to be trouble I never imagined the trouble would start this early.”
Both men relaxed on the riverbank and did the only thing they could: wait.
The sun had just reached past its highest point in the sky as unit one came into view.
“Hey, Talon I called it. What do I win?” William laughed as he pointed to the lead scout of unit one.
“You get to out of washing dishes for a week.”
“Sounds good to me.” William turned and headed off down the river. “Hey Stephen, you’re washing my dishes for me.”
Talon turned to Trall and laughed. “I never thought I would ever get the chance to work with that man again. Some things never change!”
“William is one of those who won’t change.” Trall looked down river at unit one. “What are you going to do about, Mr. Holloway?”
Talon sighed as he watched the unit break rank to allow Caswel into lead. “This is going to be one long week!" Talon shrugged his shoulders at Trall. “Reassembled the team, we are going to move within the hour.
One week later; the Outskirts of Markham
Both unit leaders stood at the edge of the forest path. This was the last path they would need to take before entering the towne limits of Markham. It was early in the morning and the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon.
"Caswel, are you ready to head into towne? My unit will go first."
"Okay."
Talon was a little alarmed by the short answer, but he was ready with or without his support.
From this elevation, they could just make out the docks of Markham.
"William, Stephen, you've got lead. Scout ahead. We will follow at the appropriate distance." Talon looked over at Trall who nodded his approval.
Talon moved his horse out of the way and waited as the scouts entered the path going towards Markham. Talon waited until the scouts had disappeared before issuing the order. "Everyone ready to move?" Talon heard some mutterings and started to head out after the scouts. "Let's move."
"Wait."
Talon turned and wasn't surprised to find who the source of the complaint was. "Yes, Caswel?"
"My unit is not ready to move forward."
Talon wasn't surprise to hear groans from Caswel's Guardsmen. This wasn't the first time everyone else had to endure Caswel’s inability to stick with a decision. Talon risked a glanced at Trall and saw he looked like he was going to explode. Talon was hoping to avoid another conflict. "Fine, Caswel. Unit two is moving without you, but as a personal favor to me, would you please join us as soon as you are ready!"
"Right." Caswel returned to his Royal Guardsmen.
Talon shook his head and started after his scouts.
Moments later; The scouts progress
Halfway through the forest path, the scouts came across a fork in the road. Luckily, they were prepared.
"Right one?" Stephen looked again at the reproduction of the path.
"No. Don't worry, I've been here before. The left will take you into the first set of homes. The right side is just one more route to another residential part of the towne. We need to head through the middle." William glanced behind him one last time. "I guess it’s going to be awhile until they decide to follow us."
Stephen looked down the forest path and wondered the same thing. "I can probably guess what they are doing right now."
William grinned and sat back on his horse. "Really. Don't keep me in suspense."
"Right now, Trall is about to explode at Caswel because he is complaining about something, anything. Caswel's Guardsmen are groaning from listening to Caswel and Talon's is doing his best to mediate the whole dispute." Stephen started heading down the path. "I really hope someone figures what to do with him. I, for one, am really tired of listening to Caswel. I really feel sorry for the Guardsmen who are heading with him to Elizabeth towne. At least we can ditch him once we finish here."
"To me, Caswel is the least of my worries. I'm more worried about us getting through this. The north had to make a move." William followed behind Stephen. “This place is giving me the creeps. Have you noticed we haven’t met one person yet?”
“Yes. I just didn’t want to say anything. I was kind of hoping that if I didn’t mention that fact that it might not matter.”
William laughed. “Too late now. Let’s move further down the path. Maybe, we will find out we are being paranoid.”
The scouts trotted ahead in silence. They slowed down as they came to edge of the forest path. They could see houses through the thin forest on each side of the path. Nothing seemed out of place except for the silence.
“What do you think we should do?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, should we report the silence to Talon?”
William laughed. “You do realize how stupid that sounds?” William continued riding. “I think we should push a little further before heading back.”
“Okay. Lead on then!”
The scouts trotted on until they came to another fork in the path.
"Which way now, smart guy?" Stephen hoped William wasn't about to have one of his legendary lapses of forgetfulness.
"Uh, I don't remember this fork in the road." William looked over at Stephen who looked like he was going to dismount and pound William's skull in. William whispered sheepishly, "Just kidding."
Stephen couldn't help but laugh. "One of these days."
William chuckled, "The docks are on the right and there are houses to the left. Straight ahead will take us behind the warehouses. I guess we wait for guidance from the big man." William started to move off the path. "Might as well stay hidden, you know, just in case."
Stephen saw the logic in hiding and followed William into the shadows. An eternity passed as they waited for something to happen. Stephen rolled his neck in an effort to remove the growing kinks when he noticed some movement coming down the path. "William, did you see that? William!"
William had been facing the wrong direction. "See what? Where?"
"I swear on the crown that I just saw someone coming down the path." Stephen hesitated, hoping to see some more movement. "Dammit. This is the first exciting thing to happen all day. Let's go check it out."
They carefully headed off down the path. They hadn't moved very far when a figure walked out from the trees and onto the path.
The figure was holding his hand up with the palm out. "Halt! Popeton no longer accepts visitors from the south. You will leave this towne. Before you go I am going to confiscate your horses. I do this under the authority of King Richard and the Northern Dynasty."
William stopped in front of the man and using a hand signal he told Stephen to do the same. He noticed the figure was only carrying a short swo
rd. William looked around to see if he had any buddies that were making him so bold. Once he realized the figure was alone he laid into him. "Listen Jack, why don't you go back to the Northern Dynasty and tell your supreme overlord that this is still a Heartfelt territory and he and you better get the hell out." William winked at Stephen who could do nothing but roll his eyes.
It took the figure a few seconds to realize what William just said. "Jack. My name is not Jack and you are not welcome in Popeton. I will ask you only once to leave here on your own feet or I cannot be responsible for what happens to you." The figure took a threatening step towards the two.
Stephen started to say something, but it was too late, William was too annoyed. "Popeton! Northern Dynasty! Who the hell is coming up with these names? Don't answer that, Jack. Look, I have had enough of your self-important babbling. Now, why don't you lay down your sword on the ground like a nice gentlemen and then please, keep in mind I did say please, step away from it."
Stephen knew trouble was about to start. Jack didn't look like he was amused. Stephen circled behind William to provide some sort of protection. In the distance, he could see unit two heading this way. "Jack, are you alone in, uh, Popeton?"
"How dare you! I will not answer your questions. Both of you, get off those horses and lay down your weapons. I am charging you with disregarding laws set forth by King Richard and I am taking you for prisoners in the name of the Northern Dynasty!" He took another step towards the two.
William almost fell off his horse. "Are you serious? Who exactly do you think you are? Stephen, do you believe this joker?" William kept his eye on Jack, but wondered why Stephen didn't say anything. "Stephen, are you all right?"
"Yeah, sorry. I just noticed the full team isn't coming. Looks like we lost Caswel. Never mind, what are we going to do with Jack?"
William glanced back and noticed the same thing. "I guess we can get an early start on this war. Sorry, Jack."
Jack's eyes grew big, but before he could recover enough to mount a defense, he watched William draw his dagger faster than anyone he had ever seen. Moments later, the handle struck him in the head. Jack fell to the ground, unconscious.
The move startled Stephen. "Did you kill him?" Stephen moved over to his body.
"Naw, I just put him out of our hair for awhile, though he is going to wake up with a splitting headache." William moved his horse over to Jack. He dismounted, retrieved his dagger, and with a leather strap, he bond Jacks' hands behind his back.
"What do we do with him?"
"Throw him onto the back of my horse. Let's go meet with Talon."
William tossed Jack onto the back of Stephen's horse and both men headed down the path.
Later that afternoon; The scouts trouble
After a little confusion, unit two had followed right down the middle path and put on a little extra speed. Not even that helped since they still hadn't caught up to the scouts.
Talon was in such a bad mood that he didn't even notice the trouble ahead. Luckily he heard Trall calling him.
"Talon. Talon, look ahead."
Talon looked up ahead and saw his scouts talking to a man. Just as the man took a step forward, Talon watched as William knocked the man on the head. The figure collapsed in a heap. Talon didn't need to be told something was wrong. "Oh boy, let's move it people." Talon kicked his horse and got moving at a fast trot. Talon was relieved as he watched the scouts start heading his way. Their visitor was on the back of Stephen's horse. "Looks like they took care of our new friend. Any sign of Caswel?"
"Not yet, but did you expect anything different."
Talon looked around at his group. "Let's meet up with the scouts and figure out some kind of plan."
It wasn't long before the scouts were next to the unit. They took a moment to formulate a plan.
"What do we have here, William. Found a new friend." Talon dismounted and walked over to him.
"You don't know the half of it. Meet the representative from the Supreme overlord of the Northern Dynasty, otherwise known as Jack."
Stephen rolled his eyes and laughed.
Talon wasn't sure what to make of it. "The what from where?"
"Of course, you realize we are trespassing in Popeton. I would suggest we leave this area immediately."
Talon looked over at Stephen, who could barely keep from laughing. "I see you have taken care of the dignitary."
William dismounted and threw Jack onto his shoulders. He walked a few yards off of the path and tied him to a tree. William gave Jack's bindings a tug. He left him alone now that he was secure. "We didn't head into towne yet. We stopped at the second fork." William walked over to horse. "What's the plan?"
"It looks like the north has already sent personnel here. Obviously, this guy isn't alone." Talon looked to Trall. "Is there anything else ahead? Any ideas?"
“No. That fact alone bothered William and me. We didn’t see one person the entire time. The houses off the path don’t show any signs of life. I would love to know what’s going on.”
“I would too, but I would really like to know where Caswel is." Trall shook his head and continued. "According to the layout of the town, the second fork can lead you to one of three choices: the docks, the warehouses, or more residential areas. Why don't you scout ahead and follow the right path. You should be able to see the entire waterfront, the warehouses, and across the river."
"What's so important about the other side of the river?"
"According to the map, that is where the main building is. Also, the northern vassals staged support forces from that side during the War of Occupation. Back then, Markham was still a neutral place and in order for the war not to interfere with trade, the housing was built on the other side of the river. After the war ended, no one from Heartfelt really paid attention to what happened to those buildings, so we will probably find that they will be our biggest problem."
"Okay. William, you and Stephen continue onto the waterfront and report back to this spot. If you encounter any difficulties, well, major difficulties, then head right in this direction. I think we should assume the worst, gentlemen. The north might have already attacked here. Let’s do some scouting around while you two head towards the waterfront. Sound good?"
"You betcha. Ready Stephen?"
"I'll follow you."
The scout team turned and headed down the same path they had just come from.
"That takes care of the first stage. I want three people to take the left path and three more to take the right. Make sure you return to this spot. Have anybody in mind, Trall?"
“Yes. I'll take care of it." Trall disappeared into the crowd. Moments later the six members headed off down the two paths.
The only thing left for the unit to do was wait and prepare.
Later that day; The scouts continue
William took lead. As they came upon the fork he moved closer to the trees. Stephen followed in behind him.
"So far so good!"
"Can you see anything?" Stephen was trying to look around William without drawing attention to himself.
"The path is clear. I can make out the end of a dock. There is a warehouse off on the left of the path, but I can't see any further. What do you think? Should we go for it?"
"Can we make it to the warehouse? That should provide us with some cover until we head onto the waterfront."
"No sense in wondering. Come on."
William took off across the path followed by Stephen. Neither man noticed the newly built guard tower by the waterfront until it was too late.
"Oh, boy! Do you see that?"
William tilted his head. "Oh boy is right. Look! Someone is coming down the ladder. He's mine." William jumped into motion hoping to stop the man. As he left, he called to Stephen, "Do you have your bow handy?"
Stephen started up behind him, "Yes."
"Wel
l, the man up top is yours." William kicked his horse again and took off in a blind dash.
Stephen slowed to take out his bow. He reached behind him to grab an arrow when one stuck into his saddlebag. "Whew. That was close." Stephen loaded his arrow, aimed and fired. "Dammit." The shot went right over the guard’s shoulder. Stephen reloaded. He looked, aimed, and was surprised to see another man show up at the rail. "Double trouble." Both men angled towards William. Stephen cringed as they fired. Both shots completely missed. Stephen released. His arrow found its mark.
The closest guard was hit in the shoulder. The guard staggered, then dropped his bow over the side and, in an effort to save it, went with it. This guard crashed to the ground. Stephen reloaded hoping to push the advantage. He was so intent on hitting the second guard that he missed the look William gave him as he dodged the falling body.
Stephen was ready to fire when the guard disappeared behind the rail. "Dammit." Stephen kept his attention on the tower. Eventually that guard was going to have to raise his head again.
William pounded past the fallen guard and was happy to see Stephen was finally contributing. He looked behind him, but saw Stephen taking aim. William only remembered seeing one man on the tower, but he hadn't waited around to test that. William focused on his target. The man jumped down from the ladder and was heading for a horse that was tied off to one of the tower supports. William drew his sword and headed in for the kill. The man lunged for his horse. William came along side of him and blocked him from getting to the horse. William noticed the man wasn't armed and this didn't seem fair to William. He turned his horse around to make another run and was surprised to see the man running away from the tower forgetting about his horse. William put his sword away and reached for his dagger. William kicked his horse and took off after him. He pulled alongside the man and quickly ended the encounter.
Whaaackkk.
William jumped right off the horse and quickly tied the man's hands to his feet. William was about to relax, until he noticed Stephen making a mad dash to the tower.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
Stephen didn't miss a beat, but yelled, "Look up!" He continued under the tower and jumped onto the ladder. He was halfway up the tower by the time William realized what was going on.
"Oh, boy." William watched as smoke escaped from the tower. "Somebody is definitely going to see that!" William jumped back on his horse and took off to try and help Stephen.
About the same time; The Northern Guardsmen
Across the river Northern Guardsmen Frank Candia was on watch in the second newly built tower. He was drifting in and out of sleep when he noticed the other tower.
"Hey Patrick, we aren't testing the fire signals today, are we?"
Patrick sat up in his chair. "Not that I know of, why?"
Frank pointed over to the other tower.
Patrick followed his arm. "Oh. What do you want to do, send a horse?"
"You wanna go?"
"Sure." Patrick started the climb down the ladder. "You want me to tell the watch leader?"
Frank thought about it. "Nah, give it some time. Scott is on watch over there and I have a feeling he is just goofing off."
"Okay, Frank. You're the boss." Patrick dropped down from the ladder. He mounted his horse and took off to the other tower.
Frank leaned back in his chair and fell asleep again.
The scouts again!
Stephen had climbed to the top of the ladder and was doing his best to break through the floor. After repeated blows he was forced to assume the guard must have placed everything he could on top of the trapdoor. Stephen continued to pound on the door with the butt of his sword. He was making so much noise that he didn't hear William underneath him. He finally looked down when William grabbed his foot. William was making gestures with his hands. Stephen had no idea what he was trying to tell him. Before he could speak, William put his finger on his lips and made a signal Stephen could understand. He wanted Stephen to keep trying to break through the floor. Stephen continued despite his confusion, which turned into surprise as he watched William crawl off the ladder. William grabbed support beam after support beam until he was hanging onto the edge of the tower. He started to pull himself up the wall until all Stephen saw was his feet. William was going to need something to divert the guard’s attention, so Stephen started to haul off on the trapdoor. It was starting to give, but it was going to take a lot longer then he wanted. The longer that fire burned the more noticeable it was going to become.
William smiled to himself as his fingers grabbed the edge of the tower. He could hear Stephen smashing with greater intensity into the door. He hoped it was enough to distract the guard. William balanced his weight on one hand and positioned his dagger better. As he put his other hand onto the lip he glanced down and, since he still was a kid at heart, he spit. He laughed to himself as he watched it hit the water. Now, he was ready to go. Using his arms, he started to sway back and forth until he had some decent momentum. On the upside of his swing, he pulled up on his arms and threw one leg over the side and found himself sitting on the lip with one leg in. William counted his blessings when he noticed the man was on the other side of the tower and moving a chair to place on top of the trapdoor. William would have paid good money to have the look on the man's face painted for him as it went from surprise to anger. The Guardsmen threw the chair he was moving at William. The move startled William, but he leaned back to avoid being hit. Unfortunately he didn't lean back far enough because one of the chair legs jabbed him in the stomach. As soon as that happened his mood changed, he was ticked now.
The guard followed right behind the chair running blindly at William, but instead of making it to William, he fell over the vat containing his signal fire. The vat spilled throwing fire all around the wooden tower. If it weren't for the fact William was about to be attacked, he would have found the whole thing funny. Flames, on the other hand, surrounded the guard, and to save himself, he dove at William. Luckily, William absorbed the blow and didn't lose his balance. William now had the advantage, but his luck ran out as the wall he was sitting on, obviously not ready to hold both men, cracked and then ripped from the side causing him and the guard to fall with the piece of wall. William turned his body and threw the man to his outside. He dove for the edge and was lucky enough to grab a hold. The guard, however, wasn't done yet. He turned his body and grabbed onto William's waist. Both men now hung from the side of the tower.
Stephen heard movement and hoped luck was favoring William. He continued hacking away at the hatch until he watched a large piece of the wall come falling down from the side of the tower. Moments later, Stephen saw two sets of feet dangling. Before he could say anything, he watched as the guard came sliding down Williams legs until he was hanging on from his ankles.
"Uh, Stephen, a little help here!"
Stephen was dumfounded by the request and broke into a fit of laughter.
William, still hanging onto the ledge, thought he could hear laughter. He yelled this time. "Stephen, would you get this joker off me!"
Stephen realized how serious things were and stopped laughing. He took out his dagger. The guard, who hadn't paid attention to Stephen, now noticed him and his dagger. The guard’s eyes grew large and he tried to sway as Stephen threw the dagger. It wasn't enough and the dagger struck him in the stomach. Unbelievably, Stephen watched the guard hold on. He knew he had to get that man off William's legs and soon. Stephen racked his brain trying to think of something else to throw at the guard when the guard lost his hold on William’s legs and fell to the ground.
Stephen called to William, "Are you okay?"
William grunted a few times and reappeared on the support beams of the tower. "We better get off of here. The floor of the tower is covered in fire!"
It took Stephen a moment to realize what he just said. "What? Oh, boy." He threw his sword into
its sheath and scaled down the ladder. He only stopped once to make sure William was following. Stephen dropped to the ground and ran from underneath the tower. William came out moments later.
Stephen turned and looked up at the tower. It was covered in flames. "What did you do with the first guard?"
"He's tied up by my horse. Why?"
"Let's grab our horses and hide him. Maybe, when someone comes they will think it was an accident."
William laughed. "It's worth a try."
Both men gathered up their horses. Stephen pulled his arrow out of the one guard while William ran over to the other guard.
As William reached down to pick up the unconscious guard he heard the pounding of an approaching horse. William looked up and wasn't that surprised to see another guard. He had been wondering when someone was going to notice the blaze. He shot a look back towards Stephen who was so busy retrieving his horse that he hadn't noticed the horsemen. William was on his own. He decided he would try his hand at acting. William dryly commented to himself, "I hope this works." He jumped up and started running towards the horsemen. "Help, please! help!" William ran towards the horsemen and quickly palmed his dagger. "Have you sounded an alarm? The others are hurt."
The horsemen pulled up next to William. "The others are hurt." The horsemen started to turn, actually believing William, but he didn't make all the way around. "Wait a minute, who are you?" The horsemen reached for his sword.
William wondered if it was his acting or his incredibly bad luck that this horsemen didn't believe him. "The name's Jack. I am the supreme overlord of united kingdom's of Valerica. You are?"
"What?" The horsemen wasn't amused and his actions said as much. He started to draw his sword and said, "Stay right where you are!"
William wasn't about to do that. In one fluid motion, he jumped at the horsemen putting his foot on top of the horsemen’s foot in the stirrup for balance and then cracked the horsemen over the head with his dagger. William jumped back down not realizing he had surprised the horse. He had to back down as the horse took off in a blind run. The unconscious rider fell from the saddle catching his foot in the stirrup. The horse dragged the man down the path right past Stephen and continued up the path. William shook his head and almost started laughing. "These Northerns don't have much of a sense of humor." William put his dagger back into his belt. "Oh, well."
William went back to his work. He threw the unconscious guard onto his shoulder and then headed over to Stephen.
"Did I just see what I think I saw?"
William grinned, "What?"
"What? What happened? Who was that?"
"I didn't get a chance to ask him. Why?"
Stephen wasn't sure if he wanted to continue the conversation. "Forget about it."
William jogged over to the row of houses. He threw the guard down next to a tree and tied the unconscious man to a small tree. Tugging on the constraints, he was satisfied the guard was secure, so he headed back to Stephen.
"Ready?"
"Sure." Stephen led the way from the tower. "You do realize Talon is probably going to kill us."
William looked back as the tower spit more smoke. He was sure Talon was going to kill them.
What’s a Northern Guardsmen to do!
Northern Guardsmen Frank Candia woke up with a kink in his neck. He rubbed the spot and walked to stretch his muscles. He did a quick lap around the tower and ended up facing the Teal River.
"Oh, my!"
He was shocked to notice that tower one was engulfed in flames. Frank ran to the bell and sounded the alarm. "Today is not turning out to be my day. I wonder if Patrick ever made it over there." He shrugged to himself, "Oh, well." Frank continued ringing the alarm.