I was going to need a horse.
It was dawn, the sky pale, shadows long, fires of various sizes burning high, and people were up and on the move everywhere I looked. I hadn't taken more than a few paces from the keep, nor yet asked where the warlord might be found, when the first concussion rang out.
The attack had started.
I was going to need a horse fast. There were none nearby so I started moving. Every man in sight was armed and heading for the walls. I didn't doubt there were enough of them to man the walls entire. The Eyrie was huge but also crowded. Horses were few and far between, and I had gone a hundred yards before I saw three together, saddled and standing outside a tent, reins pegged to the ground, waiting for three men who were at that moment coming out of the tent, armed and armored.
Three of them, one of me, and I had just a small knife and no armor. No. I angled away and kept moving, heading roughly for the gate and passing through camps and around fenced-in pastures as necessary. If I'd needed a cow or a bull life would have been easier.
More concussions sounded. I couldn't see much; dawn and dusk are the worst times of day to see clearly; add in the fires, shadows and kaleidoscopic movement of people and cattle and it was a wonder I could make sense of anything.
This is chaos, I thought, and grinned, suddenly lighthearted. Sow the seeds!
I snatched up the next torch I saw and started setting fire to tents as I moved. Not all of them, not waiting to see the result, just moving on and setting fire to things as I searched for a horse and someone to bludgeon into telling me where the warlord was. More concussions sounded as I moved and from seemingly all around a great roar went up as several thousand men shouted at once.
It wasn't long before I was spotted, just a minute or so. Thankfully it was a young Alendi on a horse, and alone. I moved to meet him as he negotiated his mount toward me, spear raised but expression uncertain. There was no uncertainty in me. I had recaptured the right attitude, wrapped myself in Sapphire's teachings. I tossed the burning brand at his face and moved in under the spear that he jabbed at me, stuck the short blade deep in his thigh and ripped down as I dropped and ducked under the belly of the horse. His scream was more shock than pain, I knew, but that was good enough. I grabbed his other leg as I came up on the other side of him and tipped him out of the saddle. He went reluctantly, trying to keep himself in the saddle, trying to bring his spear to bear. I grabbed the pommel of the saddle, stuck my one foot in the stirrup and pulled myself up, head butting him viciously in the face. He went. I had to drop back to the ground, control the horse, and change feet before I was able to pull myself into the saddle. The boy didn't bother me while I did so. He was done.
Spinning the horse about I started moving with better speed and better visibility. Dawn was lightening the world and the added height let me see some of what was going on.
Clouds of dust obscured several sections of the wall. I picked the nearest and headed for it.