Crowe could hear real things over the din in his head: hooves splashing in mud. Wood snapping and the crackle of burning. The smell of wood smoke and burning clay was already in the air. On the road leading to the town, the earth was churned and damp, a few injured or dead horses slumped where they had fallen. A number of boxes, baskets and weapons were scattered around, though there were no signs of bodies.
It was hard for Crowe to tell, however, because he was hog-tied and hung across the haunches of the strawberry roan. He tried to move and was rewarded with a slap across the rump from the flat of a blade.
"I wouldn't move if I were you, sinner. If a rock doesn't crack your skull, I'll make sure this fine beast does."
"You're going to regret this, Dez."
"I lost ten good men at the Huntress," Gabriella snapped. "I already regret it."
Even before she had entered the town, the wails of women and children, pawing frantically at the ruins of a few homes at the edge of the edge of the settlement, could be heard. Evidently the Golden Huntress wasn't the only place that had been visited by the goblins while she was out there. Solnos itself had suffered too, or at least the outskirts had. It didn't look as if whatever had happened had got into the centre of town and she knew Erak would have led the defence.
Things seemed more normal in the centre and only the relative lack of people shopping in the market square indicated that something was amiss. Leaving Crowe where he was slung, Gabriella dismounted and ran into the church, expecting to congratulate Erak.
He wasn't there and a cold ball gathered in the pit of her stomach "Erak?!"
There was no response.
She ran through the vestry and the cloisters and saw no sign of Erak. The ball of ice in her stomach spread its way up her spine and threatened to shake tears loose from her eyes.
She burst back out into the plaza in front of the church and looked wildly around before re-mounting her horse and riding back to the edge of town, where people were still fighting some small fires. That was where a job needed doing, so that was where Erak would probably be. She was right; in the front of the bucket-chain tossing water onto a smouldering fence, was Erak. There were some other vaguely familiar faces in the bucket-chain and then she saw Kannis, directing those of her men who were helping out.
Erak was all that mattered to Gabriella, though. Relief flooded through her and she ran to him. The pair hugged tightly in the middle of the street.
"Good show you're putting on, Dez." Crowe's said. "The timing's in rather bad taste, but I can't say I don't approve."
Gabriella didn't want to let go of Erak long enough to go and hit Crowe. "The goblins attacked the Golden Huntress as well," she told him.
"I ran into them while I was following that rider. They shot my horse out from under me. At first I thought they were men trying to stop me catching up with him."
"Like at Kalten?"
"Very like and for similar reasons — it was the man who attacked you. I recognised him from your drawing." Erak sighed apologetically. "I'm afraid he disappeared when a goblin scouting party interrupted us. I came back here just in time; there were goblins arriving in town. Luckily this lady and her company were here as well." He indicated Kannis.
"Nice to see you again," the mercenary woman said with a crooked smile. "Though I'd have preferred it to be under less stressful circumstances."
Gabriella wanted to smile, but found that she couldn't. She was too tired and too certain that things were not going well. "I got caught up at the Huntress. My prisoner there and I were the only survivors."
"All ten soldiers?" Erak paled.
"All ten and everyone else at the Huntress. Everyone human anyway. A couple of whores might have got away, but I don't think anyone else did. I didn't expect to come back to this but then we saw the smoke from a couple of miles away."
"There were only about a score of them."
"There were at least twice that number at the Huntress.
"We saw them off quite easily. They didn't get beyond the first street. Like I said, they were scouts."
"Like yourself and Brother Brand here, we ran into some goblins." Kannis said. "We came down here for the market, to buy feed for the horses, and food for ourselves, and when we tried to leave… We found it more difficult than we thought. There are goblins setting up camp on the north side of the river, and they've circled round to the east as well. There are only about thirty of us and there were a lot more of them. We barely made it back into town. A scouting party is one tenth the size of the warband," she added. "That's the minimum."
"Two hundred?" Gabriella asked Erak. "Does that sound about right to you?"
He nodded. "And at least twice as many following, if that's the size of scouting party that attacked the Huntress."
"And they've got Solnos fairly well surrounded by now," Kannis said.
Gabriella went back to her horse at last and cut Crowe loose. A couple of soldiers emerged from the bucket chain to take charge of him. "Lock him up."
"Are you out of your tiny mind, Dez?" Crowe protested, holding up a hand for their attention. "You know they're coming here and you know you need to get the hell out!"
"You mean I need to get your cleansing arranged before it's too late," Gabriella retorted.
"What if I helped you?"
"What help could you give?" Erak scoffed.
Crowe nodded towards Gabriella. "Ask her. She'll tell you how good I am. Not that I'm one to brag, you understand."
"He is a decent fighter," Gabriella admitted. "I'll give him that."
"Look, mate," Crowe said to Erak, "where could I go, exactly?"
"Nowhere, unless you're a good magician," Kannis said bluntly.
Gabriella didn't react outwardly, but Crowe saw something in her mismatched eyes and nodded encouragingly.
"Yeah, Dez, you listen to her. Whatever happens, I'm stuck with you lot right now. If I'm going to have a chance of making it out of this town it'd be a better chance with your soldiers and the rest of the rabble. If you're stupid enough to try to fight — "
"We're not running away," Erak said firmly.
"There are too many to fight," one of the mercenaries said suddenly. "This guy's right, Captain. Let's break out. With the Knights and their soldiers-at-arms we'd be half again as many fighters. We might have a chance to break out."
"We might," Kannis admitted slowly.
Gabriella stepped in between them. "Can you do me a favour, either way? Pick three or four of your best riders. Send one each to Andon and Fayence, maybe as far as Gargas. Requesting reinforcements from the Order and subcontracting with some other mercenary bands. I presume there are others in the area?"
"Some," Kannis agreed. "I wouldn't recommend all of them."
"Are there any you would recommend?"
"I can think of a couple." Kannis said at last. "Whether they're close enough, or still all vying for business in the Anclas, I couldn't say."
"I've already had a message sent to the scrying chamber at Andon," Erak added. "At least the Preceptory there already knows what's happening here."
"Then I'll see to riders. One man might get through where a group can't." Kannis said and returned to her men.
"You should tell these apes to let me go." Crowe said, jerking his head towards the soldiers who still held him by the shoulders. "I can't go anywhere and you're going to need every blade you can find. Those gobboes aren't going to tell the difference between you and me. We're in the same boat. And if push comes to shove with that lot, I'd rather have you lot watching my back."
Gabriella nodded to the soldiers, who released Crowe. "I'll be watching every move you make. And every soldier in town will have orders to kill you on sight if you try to leave."
"As chat-up lines go, I've heard better."
A little later, washed and refreshed, Gabriella and Erak met in the church to discuss their forces. There were a lot more people in the pews than there had been since the two Knights first arrived. Gabriella reflected that trouble seemed to improve people's religious fervour.
"How many warriors do we have?" she asked Erak.
"You, me, Crowe. Kannis' mercenaries if they'll stay, a sergeant, squires, and a platoon of men-at-arms from the Order."
"Archers?"
"Maybe half a dozen."
"Not enough." Gabriella chewed her lip. "We need Kannis and her men."
"You're right. I think she wants to stay, but her men are split. This would be a bad time for a Captaincy challenge among them, but I don't know a way to convince them."
"I do."
"Then you'd better make it quick. We need them to decide to stay."
"Gobboes don't tend to pay particularly well," Crowe offered from the doorway. "And your mate here — " he jerked a thumb at Erak " — doesn't look like he's willing to fork out for some hired help, so why stick around and get diced in between both sides?"
Erak clenched a fist, but then spun to face Gabriella. "What did you have in mind, Gabe? Press-ganging whoever's left?"
She shook her head and pointed to Crowe. "Like he said: Hiring them."
"The Swords don't need to hire help. And they can't get out anyway; they'll be slaughtered."
"That they would and that would cut down the blades we've got available. So we need them to choose to stay and this parish might afford to do that."
Erak grimaced. "Can you imagine what Eminence Kesar would say about us spending his treasury funds on drunken, whoring mercenaries — "
Gabriella smiled. "We don't spend his treasury."
"They won't work for a few free confessions, folks," Crowe reminded them.
Gabriella strode to a small chest and nudged it with her foot. "Stoll has coin of his own. We can use that. I'm sure he won't mind."
Gabriella grabbed the small chest and hoisted it on to one shoulder.
"Hey," Erak exclaimed, "where are you going with that? It was meant to help this community."
"Now it's going to save them," Gabriella said without looking round. "How much more helpful could it be?"
Outside, she dropped the chest on the middle step up to the fountain, and saw that the mercenaries with the sharks-mouth tabards were already securing saddlebags onto their horses and some were in the saddle already. "Kannis!"
The mercenaries stopped loading their mounts and Kannis walked her horse over, followed by a few of her men.
"There will be no booty from this town or its people," Gabriella declared.
"Then, unless somebody makes a better offer, there will be no fighting for this town or its people." The mercenary who had earlier recommended trying to break out spat in the dust. "The Faith isn't short of a gold piece or three; it's hired whole armies before. So why not now?"
"The Faith isn't hiring," Gabriella said. "I am."
"What are you offering?" Kannis asked. She wore a relaxed expression, as if she was enjoying seeing where Gabriella's mind was going to take her. "Booty is scarce here." Gabriella kicked the lid off the chest. There was a collective gasp as the mercenaries saw the contents glitter in the sun. "A tidy sum," Kannis said admiringly.
"An equal share for every man who fights."
The mercenary who had wanted to leave leaned forward, resting his elbows on the saddle horn. "I've seen more."
"And since the war, I bet you've seen less."
"It wouldn't come to as much as a good haul of booty could."
"It's more than you've got now. More importantly, it's guaranteed. Booty's a chance you take — have people left their valuables around? Are they worth what you hope?" She shrugged. "This is a guaranteed fee, win or lose. And if we win, I'm sure the people of Solnos will be, shall we say, generous in their praise."
The mercenary sat back, eyes hooded. "Now, that might have been a worthwhile proposition before the Golden Huntress got burned."
"At least two of her girls didn't," Crowe chipped in. "And they're good value, believe me!" A raucous laugh went up, but Gabriella had the sense to ignore it, and keep her calm smile on.
"In Andon, where I was born, they say a warrior relishes a challenge. They say a warrior loves a chance to grab some glory and some booty." Gabriella declared.
"So we do," Kannis agreed, "but we can't do that with wounded men, half-dead horses and ruined equipment. We need more men."
"They're on their way by now."
"Is that a prophecy from the Lord?" Kannis asked mildly.
"A promise from a friend."
Kannis grimaced. "Oh, one of those." She sighed. "And what makes you think we can win?"
"The Lord of All is on our side."
"What if I said I'd heard that the Lord helps those who help themselves, and that I therefore trust my right arm more?"
"I'd say that with both your right arm and the Lord Of All on our side, how could we lose?"
Kannis laughed. "Aye, that'd make a damn scary combination for any gobboes to face! All right Sister DeZantez, a last stand it is." She spat in the palm of her hand, and offered it to her.
Gabriella spat in her own palm and gripped Kannis' hand.
"Your right arm had better have a stronger swing that it has a grip." They both laughed.
Along with Erak, Crowe and Kannis, Gabriella looked the town over. She had now donned a pot-shaped helmet, as had Erak and her surcoat was filthy with dirt and Goblin blood from the fight at the Huntress.
"Not very defensible," she murmured. "No curtain wall, four roads into town, and flat ground all the way to the escarpment."
"If I was you," Kannis said. "I'd try having as many people as possible fall back to the church. It's the strongest building, which isn't saying much, but at least the defenders inside can't be outflanked."
"They'd just be swarmed over. Or surrounded and besieged." Gabriella's mind raced. She wasn't a general, she was just a servant of God in a military order. She was a good fighter and a good priest, she hoped, but there was a difference between interpreting a man's Confession, or fighting off a Brotherhood fanatic, and handling a large field of battle with many participants. "What about the river?"
"Gobboes may not like to bathe much but they can swim and there are several bridges." Kannis frowned. "Perhaps if we could dismantle the them… "
Gabriella eyed the adobe buildings all around the church square. They were shops and houses and craftsmen's workplaces. None of them were much different than any of the damaged buildings on the outskirts of town. Half of those would be as likely to fall down as be repaired she thought.
"We build a perimeter."
Crowe looked at her disbelievingly. "What with? By the time you've cut and shaped enough trees, you'll be in a gobbo's pot. In fact you'll have been in his pot, and be in his privy by then."
A glint showed in her eye. "With those buildings that got damaged last night."
A group of oxen heaved and a burned-out potter's shop jerked sideways and tumbled into a shower of dust and bricks. Townspeople rushed though the dust, carrying chunks of broken wall between them, back to the church plaza, where they tossed them onto sections of the rough embankment that was beginning to form.
A loud, dry, clattering was rising from all around as bricks, stones, and pieces of timber were tossed onto the line of debris.
Erak Brand shook his head. "You're out of your mind, Gabe. That's not going to be much of a wall. I hate to agree with that scum Crowe, but he has a point about that."
"It's not supposed to be a wall. It's supposed to be a line."
"They won't pay much attention to that."
Gabriella's mind was racing. "No… And I don't want them to. I want them to just think it's a little raised embankment."
"They'll just hop straight over it. You know that. It won't stop anyone for more than a second."
Gabriella nodded. "And they'll be much easier targets for archery practice when they do cross that line. Then there's a clear killing ground on all sides of the church. Anything that makes it past the wall is an arrow-magnet."
Erak looked back at the rubble dubiously, clearly trying to see some value in it and failing. "There's so much cloth and dry timber that your wall will go up like a tinderbox from the slightest — "
"That's the idea," she interrupted.
"What?"
"How many goblins are there who aren't afraid of fire? When that wall's piled nice and high with their dead, we fire it."
"A burning barrier? The timberwood and cloth will take fire, but how do we ignite it?"
"You could always dismantle the pipes for the gibbets," Crowe suggested with a smirk. "Lay them around the perimeter and pump the naphtha through them. Of course you'd have difficulty putting it all back together again afterwards."
"What sort of idiot would think that was a good idea?" Erak snapped. "Aside from how long it would take, there isn't that much piping in the system."
Crowe grinned. "Well, then you could always stuff the barrier with rags and blankets soaked in the naphtha. Maybe spirits from the inn and taverns. That should do the job." He winked at Gabriella. "Just like at the Huntress. Booze, lantern, roast gobboes all round."
Gabriella nodded. "That'll do to start and then corpse-fat will keep the flames going, and they'll be twice as reluctant to try coming through it."
Kurt Stoll was completely at a loss as to what was happening. He had slept for over an entire day, and when he finally did awaken, he found that his church was full of mercenaries and townspeople. It almost felt like being a proper Enlightened One again, the way his life had been before Warrigan came and introduced him to a type of fiery alcohol they served in Allantia.
He had drunk himself insensible that night and woken the next morning to find a grinning Warrigan and a smug tattooist.
"Welcome to the Brotherhood," Warrigan had said.
Stoll had been equal parts furious and terrified. He knew that, even under the influence of drink or drug, he would never have lost his faith. Warrigan had proved to him that he didn't have to lose his faith; he just had to do occasional favours, or his superiors would be given just enough suspicious information about him to make them look at him more closely. When they did, of course, they would find the linked circles of the Brotherhood, which Warrigan had had tattooed onto Stoll's shoulder blade.
That would be enough to send him to a gibbet.
So, Stoll had done the favours he was asked and he was half-sure that the last one had given himself away to Brand and DeZantez. Only half-sure, though, and they seemed to think he had been telling the truth about why he went to Warrigan's place.
Young Collin, who had disappeared from his cell, could have spilled the proverbial beans, of course, but Stoll doubted the knights would ever find his body; Stoll had buried it deep.
He had no idea what had happened afterwards, but he knew Warrigan was gone, and suddenly the town was under threat from goblins. That was something about which he could feel solidarity with the townspeople and the Swords. Goblins didn't discriminate on the basis of politics or faith.
Gabriella, Erak, and another man with a white ponytail and burned skin appeared in front of him, as he walked around his church, offering words of comfort.
"Enlightened One." As always, he expected one of the Knights to arrest or attack him, but Gabriella merely smiled. "We're planning the defence of town and I'd like to ask your help."
"I'll wield a sword or spear against those creatures, if that's what — "
"I'd like you to act as lookout, from the bell tower. From there you can direct what archery we'll have."
"Of course," Stoll agreed. Here was a chance to show his true loyalty.
"What about me?" Crowe asked, as the trio, now joined by Stoll, continued back out to the plaza. "I can head things up at the church, keep the naphtha brewing."
"Not under my roof." Stoll snapped tightly.
"Besides," Gabriella added, "I want you out there with me."
"What? Shoulder to shoulder, against the hordes of darkness? You've mistaken me for some other bloke."
"In front of me, where I can keep an eye on you. Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't want you at my back."
Crowe waved the insult away. "No offence taken. I wouldn't want me at my back either."
Erak nudged her and whispered. "We should lock him up."
"I know. But smuggling isn't as offensive as apostasy and treason. And he's a good enough fighter that we can use him."
As Gabriella outlined her strategy she found her confidence growing. Win or lose, they'd put up a good fight and she knew that Erak and Kannis and her men, would do likewise. She was proud of them all, and she hoped the Lord would be as proud.
Although everyone hoped the goblins would settle into a siege and allow time for reinforcements to arrive to defend Solnos, the creatures were impatient with hunger and bloodlust.
They came screaming and ululating like all the most depraved and demented souls from the deepest pits. Scrawny, yet strong and vicious, the horde swarmed through the streets driving fleeing humans back towards the marketplace and the church. Those people in town who didn't have defensible positions had been offered sanctuary earlier, which most had accepted. Some hadn't made it in time and now Kannis' mercenaries and the foot-soldiers of the Swords heard them screaming as they waited for the goblins to appear.
The goblins were audible streets away as they rushed towards the church and it wasn't long before the first of them rushed at the defenders and over the low walls of rubble. Their long and angular limbs moved twitchily as they ran, reminding Gabriella of the way spiders ran when they were shocked out of their hiding places. She couldn't help but shiver, even as, somewhere in the bell tower above, Stoll shouted: "To the East! Loose!"
The thrum and twang of bowstrings launched a rain of death that fell upon the rushing creatures. Spindly bodies fell but more goblins kept coming, rough hatchets and cleavers raised and ready.
Gabriella punched a goblin in the face, smashing half its fangs, and cut the throat of another. She caught the axe-haft of a third between her swords and twisted it out of the creature's grasp before kicking it between the legs in the hope that it was as vulnerable there as a human would be. It was and when it dropped, she rammed one sword through the back of its head.
More goblins hurled themselves forward and Gabriella stepped forward to meet them. She was, she thought, just getting into her stride.
Erak swung his longsword in a wide moulinet that bowled goblins over, left, right and centre. The longsword was still a natural extension of himself, and the mail and armour a uniform to be proud of. When he cut down his first goblin, he was relieved. Disembowelling a second was easier and by the third goblin to fall under his blade, he was enjoying himself. Defending the innocent against the evil was God's will, and was meant to be enjoyed.
Distantly, he heard Stoll's voice calling: "South! Loose!" and turned to his right. Sure enough, another wave of goblins was sweeping over the barrier, screaming with rage and lust for blood. Erak ran to the centre of the line facing the onrush, and braced himself.
He cut the head from a polearm that was swinging towards a conscripted defender, then spun and took the head of its owner. The weight and balance of his sword led it naturally into an overhead swing that came down onto a goblin's collarbone and cut down almost to its groin. As someone to his left speared a goblin that was swinging for him, Erak kicked the bifurcated body free and cut down two more.
He looked for anything resembling a leader among the goblins and cut his way towards a burly goblin covered in tattoos. With a roar of defiance delivered right into its spittle-flaked face, he cut the creature's legs out from under it. Another goblin leapt forward, only to receive a shield-boss in the face, hard enough to snap the vicious creature's neck.
Yes, he decided, he was definitely enjoying himself.
Travis Crowe was angry. The goblins had forced him into the hands of the Final Faith and were generally screwing up his day. He also hated them on general principles and imagined that everyone else did too. They were inhuman, flesh-eating parasites that needed to be put down hard.
Darting to fill a gap between two Faith pikemen who were kneeling and letting the goblins run onto the blades of their polearms, Crowe blocked the swing of an axe with his broadsword. He then swept the sword round to hook the axe-head with the quillon and pulled it out of the axe-wielder's hands. Then he jabbed the pommel into the goblin's face and thrust the blade-tip through the monster's throat.
Another goblin was right behind its felled comrade but Crowe grabbed the end of the broadsword with both hands and swung the hilt towards the Goblin with all his might. It was an old mercenary trick the goblins hadn't seen before. The quillon punched clean through the thin metal helmet and into the brain behind it, dropping the goblin instantly.
That wasn't nearly enough for Crowe and he screamed back at the goblins, daring the ugly bastards: "Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough!"
They may not have understood the words, but they understood the stance and the tone of his cry. Several converged upon him and he laughed in their faces as he parried clumsy and untrained blows and counter-thrust to scrawny green throats all around.
Kannis used hand signals to direct her men to the areas of the barrier that were under the heaviest attack. The fight kept her busy, but nothing was going to stop her wondering where in the Pits these creatures had come from. Her unit had seen some villages razed by goblins, but nothing that implied as many of the creatures as had descended upon the troop the previous day, or as many as were here now.
All around the market square, men and women struggled bravely, bringing down goblin after goblin, but there was no sign of an end to the horde.
Kannis' right-hand man fell first, bravely fencing with three goblins at once, before a goblin got behind him and took his head. She spun and took the goblin's in return, but it was too late for her comrade.
"Sharks!" she called, "Let's show these green bastards who's got the sharpest fangs!"
Her men cheered and pushed forwards. They were almost on the barrier itself, slashing and cutting, kicking bony goblin heads back towards whatever rock they had crawled out from under.
Kannis was satisfied with the way things were going; they were outnumbered, but superior training and weaponry was more than enough to make up the difference. The irony occurred to her that her company probably could have fought their way out of town quite easily. It didn't matter; this was the first decent fight they'd had in years, and the Faith girl was pretty generous with pay.
"Let's earn that pay," she called, blocking a goblin axe and kicking its owner to the ground. She stabbed down with her sword to finish the goblin, then slashed upwards at another's groin. It doubled over and fell.
A gauntleted goblin fist slammed into the side of Gabriella's helmet, sending it clattering across the ground. Too stunned to think, but reacting on instinct, Gabriella slashed out at the fist as it came in again. Her blade bit into goblin sinew and bone and, as the creature screamed, she ran it through before risking a glance around and seeing that almost all her fighters were falling back towards the church.
"Fire the barrier!" Gabriella shouted. The cry was taken up and passed along, all the way along the lines of defenders.
Flaming pots of pitch and some lanterns, arced across and into the midst of the wall of goblins as they surmounted the barricades. A few screamed as the pitch stuck to them and burned, but most ignored the fragile missiles and let them shatter on the rubble. Jeers and hoarse screeches flew back at the defenders of Solnos from the unimpressed raiding party. Then the fragments of burning pitch grenades made it down to the naphtha and spirits-soaked rags that had been packed in between the dry timbers and rubble. Where burning pitch or oil met naphtha or spirits, fire bloomed, reaching out from under the chunks of cracked brickwork and snatching at the legs of the attackers. Gouts of flame burst upwards all along the barrier, forming a curtain of fire that separated the square from the rest of Solnos.
It sounded as if the town itself was screaming, as a few wounded defenders who couldn't get off the barricade and the less-than-human goblins were ignited. Their clothes burned on their backs and limbs, while their skin bubbled and softened, sticking the burning clothing to them.
Blazing goblins ran in blind terror. Some went back into the press of goblins that were stunned by the sudden inferno and ignited many of their own fellows in their thrashing. Others stumbled on through the flames and were dropped in the square by arrows from the church roof.
"At them!" Gabriella heard herself scream. Then she was running forward, her swords slashing left and right, slicing through limbs and throats. Beside her, Erak's longsword cut down everything in front of him and Kannis' troops rallied as they charged over the barricades, as soon as the fire had settled back down, in search of vengeance for their fallen man.
The other soldiers and townspeople fought just as hard, swords and axes biting into goblin flesh with gusto. Kerberos gazed down inscrutably as the fight spread out into the streets and beyond. The goblins were weakening, both physically and psychologically, and within the hour most of those who were being killed by the defenders were being struck in the back as they ran away.
By morning, no goblin still lived within the environs of Solnos.