Malspire (26 page)

I had wanted to have a look at the tower and see it before trying to come up with a plan, but the Lady Lamient had simply rushed off, and left us to follow as best we could. Time passed, and the minutes felt like hours. All of a sudden, everyone went stiff and hugged the wall as something fell from the parapet above us. It was a little stream of water, and so I cautiously looked and could just make out the guard far above standing on the ledge, relieving himself over the side of the tower. All the man had to do was look down. It this height the piss was dispersed by the winds and spattered me and the others. Don't look down. I hugged the wall as closely as I could. What man does not look down proudly at his own pool of piss? The water stopped and a gust of wind forced the guard to jump back onto the tower's roof. He never looked down, and I muttered a thanks to any gods or spirits for that gust of timely wind.

The men began to shuffle. There was a slight mist in the drizzly air. It would probably clear soon. It was cold and hugging the stone wall did not help as it just sucked the little heat from the men who began to shiver. I looked sideways up at the doors. They were robust wooden double doors with iron studs and iron bands to reinforce them. It would take a large battering ram to dislodge it. Perhaps we could make one in the woods to the south. Of course the enemy would hear us charging so the door would have to be destroyed with a single thrust to enable the men to enter the tower quickly enough to stop the rebels from sending a distress call to the enemy. It was a poor plan. Perhaps a man would leave the tower. Then we could overrun him and hold the doors open.

Had they captured the lady? The men looked to me. I knew they expected me to have a plan. Why were we waiting? We had ropes and hooks, but it would be a slow and hard climb. I edged all around the tower’s base, looking for inspiration, but found nothing. As I returned to the doors, we heard something. The doors were set a man’s height from the ground, with steps leading up to them. I motioned the men to move away and hide. I heard it again. It was a muffled voice or grunt.

Moving into the shadow of the steps, I pressed my bent back to the wall as I could just make out footsteps behind the door, and slowly drew my gutting knife and cutlass, ready to swing up onto the steps and charge anyone who opened it.

“Hello?” came a muffle voice. “Who’s there?”

I was confused. Surely we had not been seen, but someone behind the doors had heard or seen something. There was silence. I held my breath, and then jumped as there was a bump on the door. I watched it intently, then glanced up and saw nobody looking down from the parapet, and then gazed back at the door. My heart was racing. My eye twitched. I held out my hand with the gutting knife to signal the men to make ready to charge. Perhaps we could jam a blade into the door to stop it from closing.

Then, with another bump and a slide followed by a small crack and creak, the doors opened and just as I was going to charge, the Lady Lamient appeared from the darkness within. She was spattered with blood and held a garrotte in one hand. The fine wire was held by a pair of small ivory handles. Her hands and handles where also covered in dark red blood. She saw me and waved us in. Turning to my men, I indicated that they should follow in silence.

On entering the tower, we found ourselves in a large and empty room with the decapitated head of a guard at the foot of the doors. I was no expert in the use of a garrotte, but was sure that it must take both great strength and skill to remove man’s head with such a weapon. I looked at the lady who simply smiled back at me, then with a flick of the wire, tucked it into her suit between her breasts. The men had loaded weapons. They had all taken the time at the base of the tower to check their equipment and load weapons in silence. There were two flights of steps; the first leading down and the second leading up. The lady indicated that we should move up.

“You and three men guard those steps,” I whispered to Olvan, indicating the steps leading down. “If anyone shows their heads, try to silence them quietly if possible.”

“Aye aye, Captain.”

I then signalled that the rest of us should start moving up the steps which wound up the inside of the outer walls. The lady went first and indicated that all was well as we reached the first floor. This was where she had entered, and I was again impressed as I saw how thin the arrow slit was. The blood was not just the enemy’s but hers too. Her head and ears had been cut badly as she forced it through the stonework.

In this room were two more men, both dead by the garrotte. How did she do that? The room was an armoury with racks of spears, the odd musket and ammunition. There was also some clothing and armour, but none seemed in good repair. Along one section of the wall was a workbench with tools for fixing the guns and armour. I guessed that there were three more levels before reaching the parapets and watched the steps leading up. We could just make out voices up there.

“Above us are the sleeping quarters. Then there is the mess with a kitchen. Above that is the lectrocoder’s room and some other doors, then steps leading to the top.”

“How do you know all this?”

“I have been to the top.”

“I see.” How she had managed to reach the top without being seen was yet another mystery, but I accepted it after seeing how she entered the enemy stronghold and how she had dispatched the enemy guards. Never would anything about this woman surprise me again. She was formidable.

“How many men are there?”

“Perhaps eleven or twelve in the sleeping quarters. I saw at least eight in the kitchens. More will be above them. We cannot hope to get past the floor above us without alerting the rebels.”

“Then we must charge them.”

I passed the word that four men were to come up the rear and guard the sleeping quarters. If they raised the alarm, every other man was simply to keep going up. Then I picked another four men to do the same on the next floor. The others were to keep following me all the way to the lectrocoder room. The Lady Lamient drew a dagger and waited for my signal. I looked round at my men. Sergeant Lamtak, and Jodlin were with me as well as the lectrocode officer and the marines. They looked hungry for action, and I felt a pang of pride for my crew, then signalled to move on and began to climb the steps.

The lady went first again, not that I had indicated that she should do so. As we reached the next floor, I saw a room full of bunks with a table at the far end where a couple of off duty guards where playing cards. We did not stop, but kept going up. Those men would certainly see us soon, but we had to keep going and just as I was about to scale the next flight of steps one of the men look around and saw us, a long line of enemy marines moving through the tower. Bizarrely the rebel guard looked back to his cards as though it were nothing.

I screamed, “Charge!” and carried on up the steps, knowing the guard would wake up to the threat within a second.

There was gunfire behind me and the screams of a man wounded, shouts and thundering boots as the column of Imperial Navy Marines now attacked.

“Kill the buggers!” I called behind me as we reached the next level. This room had a couple of cooks, a large stove and men seated round some tables, who, startled by the sudden chaos simply sat with open mouths gawping at me and my men as we rushed past to the next flight of steps. There was more gunfire and the sound of blades hitting flesh. More screaming and now alarm calls.

“Keep going! Keep going!”

Then suddenly I was put upon by a large man in a sergeant’s uniform just as I was going to climb the next flight of steps. The man had a cooking pan in one hand and a butcher’s cleaver in the other. The sergeant was quick, and struck out at me forcing me to duck the blade, and then thrash with my cutlass only to be denied a cut by the ring of the pan.

“Jodlin!” I called, not wanting to stop and fight, and so jumped away from the sergeant who now saw a greater threat in the hulking form of Mister Jodlin and his hammer.

We continued up the steps after the Lady Lamient. On reaching the next floor, men where appearing at doors, confused and alarmed. A guard was coming down a flight of steps. There was the mighty crash of volley fire from far down below and I presumed that Mister Olvan and his men had met some rebels trying to come up from the dungeons.

The Lady Lamient was standing at a door, her hand trapped in the door’s gap. There was obviously a man on the other side trying to force it closed. She was losing the battle of strength, a look of pain on her face, her hand being crushed. I charged towards her, passing the enemy as I did so, but one quick witted man stepped in my path.

“Drop you weapons, sir!” said the man holding a pistol. He died with a gutting knife in his neck, but not before firing the gun, which grazed my belly and hurt like hell’s fire. I screamed and spun round in pain, but again lunged at the door as it was closing on the lady’s fingers, her teeth gritted against the hurt. Together we pushed with all our strength. Shots were fired over our heads. The enemy had brought guns to bear at the end of the corridor and Lamtak’s marines fired back with the lady and I in the middle.

With an almighty shove, the door swung open. Both myself and the lady fell into the room just as an enemy officer picked up a book from a desk and threw it into a brazier. The Lady Lamient flew up and landed on the man who was easily twice her size but reeling from the ferocity of her attack. She had dropped her knife and suddenly the wire was in her hand again. With the agility of a cat and the dexterity of master assassin, she was on his back with the wire looped about his neck.

With horror, I saw how she leaned back, with her knee to the nape of his neck, and pulled the wire tight and sawed. The man’s eyes bulged and his face contorted as the wire slipped like a razor through the skin, muscle and eventually even the bone of his neck. She fell back and landed on her feet just as his head toppled from his body, and a great gush of blood fountained from his neck as he fell to the floor. In the corner of the room, the book burned fiercely with a spitting blue flame. It was the code book, and it was designed to burn well. No matter. We had our own copy.

The fighting continued for some minutes, but eventually the surviving rebels surrendered. They had been taken completely by surprise and had lost eight men with another nine injured. I had only lost two marines with a few others injured but not seriously. The commanding officer lay dead with my blade in his neck, which I retrieved and then turned to the Lady Lamient.

“I have a favour to ask of you.”

This made her cock an eyebrow. She was so slight. So pretty, even under the drying blood and after the horrendous acts of violence. A cold shiver ran down my spine just to look at her now, and yet in that moment I truly wanted to kiss her. Had I tried, I know I would not have lived to tell this tale.

“I need to find out what message the rebels send up the line when all is well, and how often.”

This made her smile. “Of course.” She left to interrogate the surviving rebels who were being taken to the dungeons by Sergeant Lamtak and his marines.

I went to the rooftop and was followed by Mister Olvan who had made his way up from below to see if his captain had any orders for him.

“All well?” I asked.

“Yes, sir. They came to investigate the noise and tried to rush us. We were ready for them.”

“Good. Any prisoners down below?”

“No, Captain. Just four empty cells and a wash room.”

“A wash room?”

“Yes,” said Olvan. “They seem to have a good sense of hygiene, these rebels. One of the rebels was in a towel. The others I believe were doing the laundry… Well done, sir.”

“Pardon?”

“The assault on the tower. It went well I would say.”

“Hm,” I grumbled. “Congratulate the Lady Lamient.” I said her name mockingly. She was not high born. I was not one to care overly much for a person’s status but I did not like men or women assuming a higher status than they were born to. “She opened the doors, and she took care of the lectrocode officer before he could lock himself in and send warning.”

Mister Olvan looked momentarily uncomfortable. “I will, sir."

"Is there a problem, Mister Olvan?"

"No, sir. Well, I suppose she frightens me. Sorry. Of course I will congratulate her."

I smiled, happy that we had taken the tower. Happy to see that I was not the only one scared of the petit woman. "She scares me too, Mister Olvan. Never seen a man's head removed with such efficiency. You should ask her to dinner! Perhaps she likes young meat."

To my surprise, Olvan seemed to consider this, and then said, "I might do that, sir. She is rather easy on the eyes."

“Don’t be a bloody fool, man. The woman is a demon in disguise. She is a murderer, liar and a trickster. She is as guilty as she looks innocent. Stay well away from her!”

“Of course.” Olvan was taken aback by my harsh words. “I meant only…”

I turned on my first officer. “Mister Olvan,” I growled. “She is as pretty as a flower and as deadly as a viper. I suspect she is as cunning fox too. She is an agent and a spy of the Empire and I will not have my crew involved with such people.”

“You mean, she’s a Secret Servant?”

“That’s right. While she is on my ship, she will be treated with respect, but also given a very wide berth. Now wipe that gormless look off your face, and stop thinking with your eel.”