Fall of Angels (77 page)

  
"No."

  
"Visions? Images?"

  
"Those and all the scattered reports."

  
"So we need a superweapon? A magic sword that slices armsmen in quarters without anyone holding it? Or perhaps a magic bow?"

  
"Nylan." Ryba's voice was as cold as the ice on Freyja.

  
"I'm sorry. What am I supposed to do? Make more blades? Even with better blades, we still lost a lot of good guards." He cleared his throat, his eyes flicking to the window and Freyja, the ice-needle that sometimes seemed warmer and more approachable than Ryba.

  
"We can't afford those kinds of losses again," Ryba said. "Even with all the new recruits ... we can't train them well that fast, and half are scared to death of men with weapons. It takes time to overcome that."

  
Nylan rubbed his forehead. At times, especially when he thought of weapons, his head still ached. "Huldran is working on arrowheads. She can't give them that final ordering, but she makes good arrowheads. I can make more, too. I don't like it, but I can. Or blades. What do you want?"

  
"The weapons laser. I told you we'd need it for the big battle. How usable is it?"

  
"We've got one bank of firm cells left. They're at about eighty percent and deteriorating-probably won't be much good past the coming winter. The generator's gone; so we're stuck with what we have in the cells." He looked at the marshal. "How big a battle?"

  
"I don't know the exact numbers, but they'll have enough troops to cover the ridge fields. They'll have some siege engines for the tower. That's why I told you to save the laser for the battle with this Lord Sillek. He's supposedly using all his loot from taking over that seaport for just two things. Fortifying his hold on the conquered city . . . and building up and buying armsmen."

  
"The laser won't be enough, then." Nylan massaged his forehead again. "We need some defensive emplacements. I have an idea-if I can have some guards."

  
"How many? I don't have that many of the original marines left."

  
"New ones will be fine, with maybe one experienced one."

  
"Can you tell me what you have in mind?"

  
"It's an idea. Call it a booby trap. One way or another, it will work." He sighed. "It will work. Everything I build works."

  
"All right, but stop feeling sorry for yourself about it. It takes strength to survive here, and there's nothing either one of us can do about that." The marshal paused, her eyes straying to the window again, before she continued. "There's another thing. From what Relyn learned from the two survivors, before we sent them off, Gerlich was stupid, and this Lord Sillek isn't."

  
"Stupid in what way?" asked Nylan.

  
"Gerlich got caught up in the fighting and forgot his original plan. The wizard was supposed to throw firebolts at the guards and incinerate them one by one. Instead, Gerlich charged, and when everyone got mixed together, the wizard couldn't."

  
"That was probably because you parried that wizard's fire," Nylan said.

  
"Parried? I didn't do that."

  
"I saw it. You threw up the blade, and the firebolt turned."

  
"It must be your blades, then," Ryba laughed. "The great smith Nylan whose blades turned back the wizards' fire."

  
Nylan not only doubted her analysis, but failed to see the humor. "That's probably why Gerlich ordered the charge. He thought the wizard's fire wouldn't work, and that the guards would pick off his men one by one."

  
"Our arrows can't pick off a thousand invaders."

  
"That many?"

  
"That few, if we're lucky."

  
Nylan stood. "I think I'd better figure out more than a few tricks."

  
"Nylan ... we still need arrows and the laser."

  
"I know-and magic blades, and a complete set of armaments from the Winterlance." He tempered his words with a forced grin. "And a lot of luck."

  
"We can't count on luck."

  
"Of course not. We're angels." He inclined his head. "Maybe Relyn can pray to his new religion."

  
For the first time in seasons, Ryba looked surprised. "His what?"

  
"Once we destroy Lornth, he's going out to preach the faith of the angels, the way of black order-something like that. He's convinced you and I and Ayrlyn will change the world."

  
"I can't say I like that. Not at all." Ryba's fingers seemed to inch toward the blade at her hip.

  
"Let him go," Nylan said wearily. "If we win, we can use all the propaganda we can get, and religion's good propaganda. If not... it doesn't matter."

  
"It won't be the same. It won't be Westwind-what we believe. The last thing this forsaken planet needs is a new messianic religion."

  
"No, Ryba, he won't follow your vision. You're the only one with your vision, but I'd trust his version more than any alternatives that might crop up." He took a deep breath. "Let's worry about this later."

  
Ryba shook her head.

  
"Relyn's one man. We have to fight a frigging army first. A lot of your guards respect Relyn. It wouldn't exactly help morale ..."

  
"All right... but after this is over ... we'll have to settle that."

  
Nylan nodded and rose. "I'll see you later." He knew how she would settle the issue, and that bothered him, too. Would she always be like that?

  
"Nylan . . . just do what you can. You work hard, and it will be enough. Trust me."

  
"I have, and I am." As he stepped back, before turning toward the door and the steps, he gave another not quite false smile, thinking, And look where it s gotten me!

CXIX

SILLEK PAUSES BEFORE the open tower window, letting the faint breeze, warm as it is, lift the sweat off his face.

  
Despite the late-summer heat, the lady Ellindyja sits in the alcove, away from the breeze, wearing a long-sleeved shirt and an overtunic. The embroidery hoop in her lap shows the figure of a lord, wearing a gold circlet, with an enormous glittering blade ready to fall upon a woman warrior in black. The face of the lord is blank, unfinished.

  
"How nice to see you, my lord," she says politely.

  
"You are looking well, Lady Mother." He offers a slight bow as he turns from the window and steps toward the straight chair.

  
"Well enough for an old woman who has outlived her usefulness." She threads the needle with crimson thread, her fingers steady and sure.

  
"Old? Scarcely." Sillek laughs as he seats himself opposite her.

  
"Like any grandmother, I suppose, I see more of my grandson than his father. He looks much like you. And your lady is most solicitous of my health and opinions."

  
"You imply that I am not." Sillek shrugs. "I am here."

  
Ellindyja knots the crimson thread and takes the first stitch, beginning a drop of blood that falls from the left arm of the lord in the embroidery hoop.

  
"You know of Ildyrom's envoy, and his proposal . . ." Sillek lets the words trail off.

  
"I was under the impression that it was somewhat more than a proposal. He sent a sealed agreement, a chest of golds, and removed all his troops back to Berlitos." Ellindyja completes another loop in the first droplet of blood. "That should free you to reclaim your patrimony."

  
"With what?" Sillek laughs. "I have nearly a thousand armsmen still in Rulyarth, and that doesn't count those supplied by Gethen."

  
"I understand-or was I mistaken?-that Lord Karthanos offered to place score forty troops under your command for the purpose of taking the Roof of the World."

  
"You understand correctly." Sillek leans back in the chair. "It is truly amazing that my former foes have suddenly become so solicitous of my need to reclaim my patrimony. Truly amazing."

  
"Those who do not use resources while they can often wish they had." The needle flashes, as though it contained a silver flame.

  
"A good thought, provided one knows the price of such resources." Sillek leans forward slightly.

  
"You lost a wizard-a foolish one, but a strong one-because you attempted to regain your heritage indirectly. Indirection does not become your father's son." The first droplet of blood is complete, and Ellindyja's needle begins the second, darting through the pale linen like a rapier.

  
"I suppose you're right, especially since I have no choice."

  
Ellindyja sets the embroidery hoop down, and her eyes fix on her son's. "Lord, you never had a choice. A lord whose holders believe he cannot hold his own lands will not trust him to guard theirs. A lord who allows their women to flee will find his holders demanding his women, and his head. A lord who will not protect his holders against attacks on what they hold dear cannot long count on holding even his own tower, let alone his lands." She lifts the embroidery, and the needle flashes.

  
Sillek nods ever so slightly, but says nothing.

  
"It has been so nice that you came to visit me, dear," Ellindyja says sweetly. "And do tell your lady that I appreciate her kindness. I would not keep you now, for there must be much you must do." The needle knots at the back of the second droplet of blood.

  
Sillek rises. "I do appreciate your wisdom, Mother, and your indirectly forthright expressions, as well as all those conversations with your old friends, which have helped to leave me little choice. Still, I trust you will recall that I sought your counsel before I began my preparations to reclaim my patrimony. And I will certainly convey your thanks to Zeldyan. She is most respectful of you."

  
"And I of her, dear." Ellindyja smiles as Sillek bows before departing. "And I of her."

CXX

"EASY, EASY .. ."THE three new guards, led by Ydrall, eased the heavy section of log into the hole.

  
Nylan nodded. "Wedge it in place with the heavy stones."

  
Two of the guards began to roll a round stone toward the hole while the other two braced the log in place.

  
Nylan surveyed the two lines of holes. Each hole was about eight cubits from the next, and the first line lay just short of the top of the ridge on the tower side, below the narrowest point between the rock outcroppings that constricted the open space on each end. Still, the distance was over two hundred cubits, and that was a lot of engineering in what might be a very short time.

  
If he couldn't complete the pike line he had in mind, perhaps a cable that could be raised at the last moment would provide some carnage. Nylan massaged his temples. Ryba's thoughts about power notwithstanding, designing destructive systems still gave him headaches.

  
A single horse broke away from the mounted drills and started up toward Nylan and his crew. After leaving the paved lower section of the road by the tower, Saryn turned her mount from the packed clay trail and rode up across the grassy slope toward Nylan.

  
"The marshal said you were going to try something else," Saryn said as she reined up. "Are you putting up a fence? Those posts are more than a half cubit across, and you've sunk them nearly two cubits deep. Isn't that a lot of work? A fence isn't going to stop a horde of armsmen, not for long, anyway."

  
"It's not a fence." Nylan offered a wry smile. "And it is a lot of work. If I get time, there will be two lines of these posts, and what goes with them." Nylan wiped his damp forehead.

  
"Do you want to explain?" Saryn surveyed the lines of holes, turning in the saddle.

  
"Not really, except that I'm trying to put something together to cause trouble for any attackers. If I can get it in place and it works, then I'll let you know. If I don't, then I won't feel so stupid for promising something."

  
Saryn shook her head as she rode back toward the road.

  
Ydrall watched the exchange with a puzzled look.

  
Nylan hoped everyone stayed puzzled.

  
The idea was simple enough-semiautomatic pikes-a whole line of pikes attached to stringers or crossbeams, weighted to slip up at the right angle and set to ground if a horse and rider impacted them.

  
Nylan had set them on the flat just over the crest of the hill. All an attacker would see would be a line of squat pillars, with nothing between them until the last moment-he hoped.

  
As the crew finished wedging the second post in place, he nodded to the third hole. "Let's try for another." He picked up one section of the harness, and they began to drag the log toward the next hole, while behind them, two of the guards tamped soil in between the wedging rocks.

  
Below them, another crew supervised by Weindre was building a fortified platform for the weapons laser-to the east of the road leading down from the ridge. The platform would allow the laser a sweep of the entire downslope.

  
Lasers and semiautomatic pikes-what a strange combination of weaponry. Would it be enough against thousands of attackers?

  
Nylan doubted it, but what choices did they have? The locals seemed enraged enough to tear apart anyone from Westwind if they tried to flee, and most of those on the Roof of the World, for one reason or another, could not survive elsewhere.