The Stone Road (13 page)

Chapter 17

Zhou let the bow fall from his hands as silence descended on the balcony. Every eye traced the arrow that would decide their future. The dying cattle's scream pierced every ear and Zhou could feel tears springing to his eyes. From the stricken animal, beams of purple sprang up towards to the clouds and a great sheet of light flowed over the Wubei and Yaart troops outside the city walls.

Zhou forced himself to move. He grabbed Hsin by the shoulders and dragged him to the edge of the balcony, forcing him to look at the scene unfolding before him.

“Look at it. Look,” Zhou shouted in Hsin’s ears. “I’ve seen one die before. When I was escaping from the Yaart after they slaughtered our troops. The slaughter you told me never happened. It’s painful to watch but you need to see this. Then you'll believe me.”

Hsin grabbed the edge with clawed hands but needed no forcing to stay there, he didn’t seem to be able to look away.

Before the city walls the light was intensifying and now the troops in Wubei uniform were starting to flicker and change, the illusions that created the faces of the dead were beginning to unravel. The horses they rode grew skittish and not far from breaking. Zhou watched the fake Chung’s face vanish to be replaced by another's.

“Look, Hsin,” Zhou snarled, “this is your fault.”

“No.” Hsin’s voice was a desperate whisper.

“I told you, I told you.” Zhou shouted at him, “Look at what you’ve brought us to. No cattle, no gold and a great big bloody road, fit for an invading army, leading the way straight to our gates.”

Hsin turned away from the confusion below and looked at Zhou with a gaze lacking any comprehension. He looked, every inch, an old man lost in the confusion of years and shock.

More arrows started to fly from the walls towards the men outside. Not many, but enough hit their targets to cause fear amongst the troops. Their horses started pulling at the reins, taking control of their own fate. Zhou watched as the small army broke into a rout as more and more arrows fell amongst them. Above the death scream of the magical beast there were cries of outrage from the city walls.

Then the screams rose into an exquisitely painful crescendo. Hsin clasped his hands to his head and fell to the floor whilst Zhou staggered backwards. All along the wall men fell to their knees, covering their ears. And then, there was quiet. For a second, silence blanketed the city and the mountains before a sharp clap and crump of an explosion shattered it. The blast wave battered the city walls and the mountains echoed the noise. Zhou was the first to pick himself up from the floor where he had thrown himself and he looked over the dust scoured wooden wall. Just like the cattle he had seen destroy itself in the Yaart camp, this one had left behind statues of men in twisted, agonised poses.

“Hsin, we have to act whilst they are distracted.” Zhou grabbed the old man by the shoulders and looked directly into his eyes, there was no recognition. “Hsin, you have to act.”

Zhou shook him and shouted his name another three times but there was no response. In disgust, he dropped the old man who collapsed to the floor.

“Ignore him,” he shouted to the Commanders, Captains and Nobles that stood on the balcony. “You have to do something.”

“Son,” said the oldest man still standing in a calm, steady voice, “there is nothing we can do.”

“We can attack them now, while they are confused and vulnerable,” Zhou insisted and gesticulated towards the retreating Yaart.

“With what?” The soft spoken man shook his head sadly, “The army isn’t here. We disbanded them and sent them home. Some of them hadn’t seen their families in years, with peace around the corner it seemed the right thing to do. All we have is the city guard, whatever soldiers call Wubei City their home and the small honour guard that Hsin had organised to welcome the cattle.”

Zhou gave the man a shocked look, “Disbanded the whole army?”

The man stroked his grey wispy beard, “All of them. Every report we received, even your own up till they stopped, was full of good news about the road. Yaart has suffered a terrible disaster, they are flooded with refugees. The traders who ply the roads between the plains and the mining towns plus our own sources confirmed it. The emperor sealed the treaty with the 'promise of heaven', there was no reason to think it wasn’t true. The army is gone, back to their homes.”

“But,” Zhou began. He paused, struggled to make sense of the news and then something clicked in his brain. He bowed deeply and addressed the soft voiced man, “my Lord Duke, there must be something we can do?”

“We wait and see what develops. With even the small force they have we are trapped in here.” The Duke moved past Zhou, directing a sad smile at Hsin as he stepped over him, to stand and look across the field before the city. “I would be most surprised if that were their whole force. No, Zhou, we cannot charge out to a glorious victory, we have no choice but to wait and see. In the meantime, I have some instructions to give, a militia to raise, and an emperor to contact.”

Zhou bowed again and struggled to keep his voice level, “Yes, my lord.”

“Hindsight is weapon that is always aimed backwards to destroy your own cause, Zhou. Yes, we should have listened but we didn’t. Your voice was one against many and they had evidence, not just wild stories. This is the position we are in and we must deal with it. Now, I know you don’t like him much but see if you can get Hsin back on his feet and back to some state of understanding. We will need him, he still has a great deal of power in the council and his voice will be needed in the next few days.”

The Duke gave a tiny nod towards Zhou then, gathering up his advisors, he left the balcony and stepped down the stairs calmly. The quiet crowd below parted as the duke’s party approached them. Once the duke was out of range, the crowd started shouting at the soldiers and officers on the walls, demanding to know what was going on. News would spread like the plague, everyone it touched would be changed. Fear would infect every heart, no one would be immune.

# # #

“It is my watch, I must go,” Zhou said, a lump of fear and sadness in his throat. His hand cupped his wife's soft cheek. “Stay indoors and bolt the doors. I will be back later.”

This was the third day since the cattle had shown up and the siege had begun. The second time he had said goodbye to the people he loved most. He picked up his boy and, being careful of the metal plates on his armour, squeezed him tightly.

“Daddy, brave,” said his son.

“Yes, Daddy brave.” He looked over the boy’s head at his wife, “Look after Mummy for me while I am out. I’ll see you later. I love you, both of you.”

He put his son down carefully and, before the tears came, he left the house, closing the door behind him and waiting for the noises that told him she had locked the doors. Sunrise was still an hour to two away as he walked down the dark streets. Wooden buildings that towered above him, imitating the cliffs, looked down upon the city. In the past, this had made him feel protected and safe but now he just felt trapped. He let the cool air dry his eyes and by the time he reached the city walls and climbed to his position there was no evidence of his worries.

“Captain Zhou,” the section sergeant acknowledged him, “changeover is due in thirty minutes. It’s been quiet all night, the Yaart haven’t moved. I haven’t heard any construction noises since midnight.”

“Thank you, Sergeant.” Zhou returned the brief bow and peered out into the darkness. The Yaart camp was easy to see, marked out by lines of camp fires burning brightly. Beyond those fires, at night, it was difficult to see anything and if you looked too long, you lost your night vision.

“I’ll get one of the men to bring you a tea, Sir,” the sergeant said quietly.

“Appreciated, Sergeant, just make sure you get one yourself,” Zhou spoke in an early morning voice, pitched low to carry.

“Oh no, Sir. Never be able to sleep if I have a tea now,” and there was a smile in sergeant’s voice.

Zhou chuckled in return. The soldiers had shown him respect as soon as he had shown up for duty after his promotion on the first day of the siege. The sergeant had explained that Zhou was the one man who had seen through the Yaart scheme and now the men thought he was a lucky talisman. Zhou did not disabuse them of the notion even though it was based on a lie. Morale was vital right now.

A glimpse of something between the camp fires gave Zhou pause, “Sergeant, don’t bother with the tea. Get the men up, check armour and weapons. See if you can rouse a messenger, we'll need to get a message to the Duke’s Commander. Tell him, they are coming.”

“Bugger,” was the sergeant’s single word of acknowledgement before he marched off to rouse the men.

All along the walls, in every section, there was commotion and shouting. Zhou was sure he was not the only one who had seen the movement in the enemy camp. He stood still as all around him men bustled about him. The sounds of creaking leather, metal on metal, and gruff, sleepy voices were a strange dawn chorus.

The sun peeked over the mountains and its rays lit first the Yaart camp and then the walls of the city. In between the two and crawling forward in rhythmic lines, the massed army of Yaart. Leading the way were siege engines pulled by teams of horses. Zhou shaded his eyes from the dawn light and saw two covered battering rams, several siege towers and more than ten catapults and stone throwers.

“Sergeant,” Zhou called, “make sure each team has a brazier lit and contained. We may be needing the flame arrows before today is done. When the replacements get here, instruct them and then rotate the tired men out. You make sure you get some rest yourself. It is likely to be a long day.”

# # #

Zhou ducked behind the stone battlement as another stone flew over his head, a few feet too high. There was a crunching noise as it landed somewhere in the city behind him. He did not turn to look where, it was not the first one and it would be far from the last.

“Sergeant,” he called then, spotting the man hunkered down behind his own battlement, crawled over to him. “Looks like they are starting to find their range. Won’t be long till the wall starts to take a beating. Get the men ready to move, no point being on the walls whilst they pound it. Leave a man on top, and rotate him out regularly. Once they start bringing up the towers, rams and men, I want to know. We’ll return to the wall then.”

The sergeant gave Zhou a smile, “Wise move, Sir. Not sure the Commanders will see it that way. In my experience, they usually like someone on the walls for the enemy to aim at.”

“We’ll convey them my apologies, if they survive,” Zhou returned a savage grin.

“Of course, Sir.” Despite their crouched positions the sergeant tried to bow.

In short course, Zhou’s section of wall was cleared of troops. The one left at the top had lain down behind the parapet. The sergeant moved the troops a little away from the wall, hopefully out of range of any falling blocks when, and if, the wall succumbed to the upcoming battering. The men, every able bodied man left in the city, soldiers mixed in with citizens, traders, and administration staff, found room to sit down. A few used the time to dive into their day rations and take the moment’s peace to eat.

A few more heavy stones whistled over to crash into the city, then came the first deafening crack as a stone hit the city walls. The shouts and screams did not come from Zhou’s section but further along the wall. Outside the city walls, a loud cheer carried on the wind. After the first success, the stones found the walls more and more often until it was a rare occurrence for one to miss.

For two more hours, the stones pounded the walls and Zhou, under the warm noon sun, was fighting a headache. He ground his teeth together on every impact, the muscles of his jaw throbbed.

“Sir, look.” A corporal grabbed Zhou’s sleeve and pointed at the battlements. On top, the lone watcher was signalling to him. The enemy were on the march.

“Sergeant, get the lads up and on the wall. Looks like they got bored with throwing their little stones at our walls,” Zhou shouted, settling the helmet on his head and tightening the straps.

“Put your food away. Check armour and weapons, and when you’ve stopped shitting yourselves, get up on that wall. Time to show them what soldiering is all about.” The sergeant walked amongst the men, clapping them on the back, kicking their legs, nothing in true anger but playing the role perfectly.

The men staggered to their feet and began filing off, back up the stairs onto the walls and resuming their hunkered down positions behind the battlements. There were cries of alarm and orders shouted all along the wall, then the sky darkened with a cloud of arrows. They flew over the battlements and into the houses and businesses behind.

Zhou heard the sergeant bellowing to keep their heads down. It was not advice that Zhou needed but it was expected and comforting for him and the rest of the men. Lying on his back, Zhou attached a small mirror to a thin metal pole which he raised above the battlements. The mirror was angled so that he could see the field before the gates. There, in the distance, and looking incredibly small in the mirror, was a dark line of men marching towards the walls. Those men surrounded tall siege towers and battering rams.

“Any second now, line one,” Zhou whispered to himself as he focused on the image reflected in the mirror.