Table of Contents – (spoilers)
In Spitzer Fort’s third barracks, Lieutenant Hamon’s platoon had finished up their dinner and were lounging around before turning in. When Choke entered the chamber, Sergeant Euan leapt to his feet and shouted:
“Officer in quarters! Attention!”
The men responded with decent alacrity. Sergeant Euan stomped up to Choke and stopped smartly in front of him.
“Lieutenant Pekot! Sir! How may I be of service to you? Sir!”
“Thank you Sergeant Euan. I am sorry to disturb you and your men. I have been charged with command of the first watch. I have need of two men to go on watch with me.”
The men in the barracks groaned, and Sergeant Euan blinked at Choke for a moment before exclaiming:
“Two of mine, sir? That is highly irregular, sir! This lot have just come off a week straight of watches, sir. Far more than their share, sir! On account of all the… goings on down in town, sir.”
“I understand this is irregular, Sergeant. I know it ought to be my platoon’s responsibility to man the watch. But, as you know, my platoon is all raw recruits, and I require my sergeants to keep close watch on them. I do not wish to unduly strain your unit, however. You may select two men that have not recently been put on watch. And they need not include a corporal. I’ll be able to mind the men. I would appreciate your cooperation in this matter, Sergeant.”
“Well, sir, I don’t reckon I have any way to say no, now do I? Not with our Lieutenant Hamon banged up in town as he is. So you and Lieutenant Cooper can take your liberties. But I’ll have ye know, sir, that…” Sergeant Euan drifted off as his irate glare towards Choke was disrupted by a facial spasm of something new occurring to him.
“Yes, Sergeant? You’ll have me know what?” Choke asked pointedly.
Sergeant Euan blinked before responding smartly:
“Nothing, sir. We shall do our duty, sir! Two men, you say, sir?”
“Yes. Indeed. You may send them out to me on the wall above the gate. Promptly, sergeant.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Thank you, Sergeant.”
Choke turned on his heel and left the barracks. He went down a floor to the chamber where his platoon was bedding down for the night. They were already locked in, so he had to knock on the door. Pinch opened it promptly and Choke took him out into the corridor to quickly relay the situation to him. Pinch winced as he heard it.
“What?” Pinch hissed, his voice low but full of intensity. “You’re gonna be on the wall all alone with two of Hamon’s men? Choke! Are ye nuts? No! Me or Knuckle gotta be with ye.”
“Look, Pinch, I can’t have a babysitter with me all the time. If I bring you along, it will look like I’m frightened of them. And I told them I needed two of them because I need the two of you to watch the men tonight. Which I do.”
“Sorry, Choke. But fuck that. There’s brave, and then there’s stupid. Yar gonna go up on the wall with two of Euan’s handpicked men with crossbows in hand to backshoot ye with? No. That aint happening. I’m coming with ye.”
Choke sighed and rubbed his temples, trying to marshal his thoughts. He had just about realized that Pinch was absolutely right, when Knuckle came out into the corridor.
“What the fuck is going on?” he asked, too loud.
“Hush!” Pinch swatted him. “Choke here thinks he’s gonna go out on watch with two of Hamon’s men and leave the both of us here while he gets himself murdered.”
“What? Fuck that!” Knuckle exploded.
“Hush!” Choke snapped at him.
“Oh. Sorry. Fuck that, sir,” Knuckle said. “But, no. Why d’ye gotta go out on watch anyways? Why don’t—”
“I don’t have time to explain it all to you right now, Knuckle. Alright? Sorry,” Choke said, giving Knuckle a friendly pat as a wounded look rose on his face. “But I suppose the two of you are right. This could easily be a trap, and there is no sense walking into it alone.”
“Pretty safe assumption, I’d say,” Pinch said. “Hamon is an Outfit man all the way. We can’t trust his people.”
“Yes. Okay. You’re right,” Choke said, patting Pinch on the shoulder this time. “Thank you. But I must take the watch, and I can’t bring both of you with me. One of you must stay with the men. Knuckle: can you handle that alone?”
“What, these dipshits? I could handle them alone if they all tried to kill me at once. Fuck yeah. Don’t worry about it. I got it, LT,” Knuckle said.
“Okay, then. Pinch, you’re with me. No offense, Knuckle, but Pinch is better on a bow and at spotting ambushes and the like. And you’re the better choice to control the men.”
“Yeah, no doubt! And I can sleep instead of tromping around the wall all night like a stooge,” Knuckle laughed.
“Good. Thank you. Both of you,” Choke said, giving both Knuckle and Pinch’s shoulders a squeeze.
Choke and Pinch both entered the courtyard from the keep with their bows in hand. Up on the wall across the courtyard, above the gate house, were two soldiers lit by a hooded lantern near them. They both had crossbows in hand.
“If they level those crossbows at us, I’ll take the one on the left,” Pinch said quietly as he and Choke started off across the courtyard.
Choke said nothing and went to check that the gate was barred properly. Then he and Pinch went up to the wall through the tight staircase in the gatehouse. The two soldiers were waiting for them up there. They were standing with a slightly insolent air about them, somehow, but otherwise looked professional enough. They were both armored in leather armor with decent shortswords, hand axes, and daggers on their weaponbelts. They each had a quiver of crossbow quarrels slung over their shoulder, and their crossbows were undrawn according to the regulations for the watch.
“Good evening, men,” Choke said as he stood tall to address them. When they did not immediately respond, he stretched his neck to pop a crick in his shoulder as he stared them down.
The men both straightened up and saluted Choke. “Good evening, sir,” they said.
Choke returned the salute. “What are your names?”
“Cyrel, sir.”
“Theo, sir.”
“I thank you for joining me on this watch, Cyrel and Theo. I must apologize for bothering one of you unnecessarily, though. It seems Sergeant Theodas is confident that he can handle my recruits by himself, so Sergeant Nikolas here is able to join me on the watch. So I only have need of one of you tonight. If you two wish, you can decide between yourselves who shall take the watch with us. The other may return to quarters,” Choke said.
As he finished speaking, Choke leaned over to open the nearby lantern’s hood, so that he could have a better look at the men’s features. Curiously, far from being pleased at the news that one of them would be able to return to his bed, they both seemed suddenly ill at ease. They glanced nervously at each other, then at Choke, then to Pinch lurking behind him, and then, once again, at each other.
Neither Cyrel or Theo were green men. While not middle-aged, they both had the hardened look of seasoned soldiers; capable killers not easily rattled.
“What’s the problem, men?” Choke asked. “Do you need me to choose for you?”
Theo started to speak up, but Cyrel raised his hand to cut him off.
“No. I’ll stand watch with ye, sir,” Cyrel said. He looked to Theo: “I’ll do it. Ye go back to bed. Ye can pay me back next time.”
“Thank you, Cyrel. And thank you, too, Theo, for coming up. I am sorry to have disturbed you needlessly. You may go straight back to quarters.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir,” Theo said as he saluted Choke.
Choke saluted him in return and followed him down into the gatehouse, where he made sure the man put the crossbow and quiver back in its place in the small armory there. Then Choke went out on the wall and waited until Theo had crossed the courtyard into the keep before he addressed Cyrel and Pinch:
“Alright, men. Tonight’s watch is split in two. Lieutenant Cooper shall relieve us. We shall set up positions here at the gate house and at each corner there and there,” Choke pointed out the other positions on the wall.
The Spitzer Fort’s wall had a good walkway about a meter wide. In a square shape, the wall enclosed the courtyard and the narrower service areas to either side of the keep. On the west side of the courtyard, built as a lean-to against the wall was the stables. On that side, further south along the side of the keep were the latrines and the washing up area. Opposite the stables, on the east side of the courtyard were storage sheds and a wider access around the side of the keep to its loading bays and kitchen access. Rather than completely enclosing the keep, the wall connected up to the keep’s sides at its rear. Where the wall connected to the edge of the keep on each side, there was an iron-bound door into the keep’s third floor, barred from the inside. As well, on its east and west sides, the wall had narrow staircases down to the courtyard below. Choke had pointed out the back corners of the wall.
“We’ll alternate positions,” Choke went on. “One man walking the wall at a time, to switch posts with another, who will carry on to the next post. And so forth. We don’t need to be quick about it, though. Take your time and stay alert.”
“Yes, sir,” both Pinch and Cyrel.
Choke lit two more lanterns and handed them to Pinch and Cyril.
“Cyrel, you head down that way first. Hold your position at the back wall until one of us relieves you,” Choke said, gesturing for the man to go down the west side of the wall.
“Yes, sir.”
With Cyrel moving slowly around the wall to his post, Choke quickly explained his plan for the rotating watch to Pinch in more detail, so it would be possible for at least one of them to keep an eye on him at all times.
Pinch moved down the east side of the wall all the way to where it connected with the keep, before turning around and returning to the gate house. While Pinch did this, Choke left his lantern at the gatehouse and moved a little west on the north wall so that he could see around the edge of the keep towards Cyrel at his post. When Pinch reached the gatehouse, Choke took the lantern from him and moved down the west side of the wall to relieve Cyrel.
Moving along the wall towards the soldier, Choke kept his lantern fully hooded so that it would not blind him to the shadows it cast. Cyrel’s silhouette was clear as he paced up and down his stretch of the south wall between the keep and the wall’s south-west corner. Choke moved with his longbow in his left hand and the lantern in his right, ready to drop the lantern to draw an arrow the instant Cyrel made any sudden move. The man did not.
“All clear?” Choke asked as he reached the corner of the wall where there was a bit of a deck.
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Go back around the wall, past the gatehouse, and take a post at the south-east corner. Wait there to be relieved. I’ll stay here,” Choke ordered, his voice quiet and steady.
“Yes, sir,” Cyrel said, saluting as he moved past Choke.
Choke stayed at the south-west corner of the wall so that he could watch Cyrel all the way to the gatehouse. As the man passed Pinch at his post, Choke could make out them exchanging a few words. Cyrel moved on to his post and Choke relaxed on his watch, focusing his attention on the sounds of the night around him.
It was still and calm, with a few sounds of the horses in the stables below and dogs barking down in town far below. It was peaceful. Then, to the east there was the distant sound of rolling thunder. Choke instinctively looked that way, but the keep looming above him blocked his view of the sky in that direction.
Choke cursed under his breath at the prospect of commanding his men at their work in rain. He then admonished himself and said a quiet prayer to Stron to let the storm pass them by. Then he remembered that it had been a dry spring and without rain the crops might fail. He admonished himself further, and amended his prayer to Stron, submitting himself to His will.
It had been long enough now with the three of them stationary at their posts. He could see Pinch’s silhouette at the wall above the gatehouse, and had been checking it several times a minute. Pinch had not signaled him with his lantern, so Choke knew that, as far as Pinch knew, Cyrel was at his post on the south-east corner as he should be.
Choke picked up his lantern and moved back along the wall to join Pinch above the gatehouse.
“Anything?” Choke asked him.
“Nothing.”
Just then, the night sky above the flanking hill lit up in the distance; big thunderheads flickering with their internal light.
“That’s getting closer, though. It’s gonna rain tomorrow, most likely,” Pinch said, as the rolling thunder finally reached them.
“Yes. And praise Stron for his watering of our kingdom’s fields. For they are surely parched. We shall have need of the food He and His father, Altas, provide,” Choke said, with just a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
“Huh. Lucky fields. Are ye sure ye didn’t miss yar calling as a priest?” Pinch chuckled.
“What, and miss all this fun?” Choke gave him a friendly bump. “Okay, head around and relieve Cyrel. Tell him he’s to come back to me and then take the south-west post again.”
“Yes, sir,” Pinch said.
Pinch moved along the wall to relieve Cyrel at his post. Like Choke had before him, Pinch approached the man carefully. Once again, the man made no untoward move. However, he stayed further down the wall towards the keep, forcing Pinch to approach him.
When Pinch had relayed his orders, Cyrel grunted a garbled, “yes, sir.” Then he moved to squeeze by Pinch on the wall’s walkway. It was easily a meter wide, so there was room to spare, but there was no railing on the inner side. It was a fifteen-meter drop to the cobbles in front of the loading bays. Not a sure death, but surely a terrible fall.
As Cyrel approached him, Pinch set his lantern on the defensive outer railing of the wall as he pressed himself into it, forcing Cyrel to pass him on the open side. Pinch kept his left elbow tight to his side with his bow against his body and turned as Cyrel moved past him, ready to shove him off the wall with shoulder or elbow. With his right hand, he drew his buck knife quietly and held it hidden low down at his side.
The bigger man made a point of bumping into Pinch, but Pinch was ready for him and met him square with his shoulder, giving as good as he got.
“Excuse me, sir. Bit tight up here,” Cyrel said as he passed. Then he stopped and turned back towards Pinch, who replied:
“No problem. Just be careful. It would be a shame if something bad happened.”
“Yeah. That it would, Sarge,” Cyrel said. Then he hawked loudly and spat over the wall out into the night. More lightning lit up the clouds behind him. “Say, Sarge, ye don’t mind if I ask ye something, do ye?”
“No. I suppose I don’t. Go ahead.”
“How old are ye, anyways? Pretty young to be a sergeant aint ye?” Cyrel asked.
The nasty edge that had been in Cyrel’s voice previously had softened somewhat. It seemed to Pinch it might be an earnest question. Pinch set his bow down to lean against the wall behind him. With his knife still hidden in his right hand, Pinch dropped his left to his hip as he adopted a lounging posture. This meant he was able to slide that hand behind his buckler shield on his belt to grip its handle and unhook it.
“How old am I? Not sure, really. Maybe about twenty, I suppose.”
“Yeah. That’s what I thought. Killed plenty, though, haven’t ye?” Cyrel said.
“That’s right. It’s a bad, old world. Plenty that need killing in it.”
“Yeah, ye got that right, Sarge. So… How’s it ye got to start right off as a sergeant? That’s a nice trick. Friends in high places, I suppose, huh? If ye don’t mind me asking, of course,” Cyrel said.
The nasty edge had returned.
“I wouldn’t call them my friends. Not the ones in high places, I mean. No. They don’t give a shit about me. I’m just along for the ride. On account of I’m friends with a person or two who rose up from pretty low places. Same as me.”
“Yeah. So I hear,” Cyrel said, a sneer in his voice.
“Yeah? Do ye?” Pinch asked, his voice hard as he shifted his posture into a ready fighting stance. “And yet ye fuckin ask me about it like ye haven’t already heard everything that’s been said about us. What, ye wanna hear about the orphanage? Find out if all the nasty shit ye heard about us there is true?”
Pinch paused for a long moment. Cyrel said nothing, just staring back at him in the half light of their hooded lanterns. Pinch finally continued:
“Well, let me tell ye, man: if yar fixing to get on my bad side here, then ye’d best hope that all the shit ye heard about us aint true.”
Cyrel spat over the wall again. “I’m just making conversation,” he finally said.
“Yeah. Likewise. But we’re supposed to be on watch. So how’s about ye get on with it, huh?” Pinch snapped.
“Yes, sir.”
Cyrel walked back along the wall, heading towards Choke at the gatehouse. Pinch kept as sharp a watch as he could on the man as he passed Choke on his way to the south-west post.
The next hour or so went on like this, with Choke and Pinch taking turns at the gatehouse post. One of them always stayed there as the other would switch places with Cyrel to send him back around the wall to the opposite post at the rear of the fort. This was exhausting, with every switch being a high-tension moment as they and Cyrel had to pass by each other on the wall. It had all been uneventful, however. That is, until it was not.
Pinch was on the wall above the gatehouse, which had a larger, flat roof area from which to defend the gate. Choke had been on the south-east post and was walking the wall back towards Pinch. This meant Cyrel was on the south-west, the side of the fort with the stables. At least he was meant to be there.
Generally, when they were on the rear wall positions, they had taken to standing in the corner, since it was a wider area and made passing each other easier. Now, as Pinch looked over there, Cyrel was not to be seen. From Pinch’s position above the gatehouse, the wall leading up to the door into the fort was not visible, with the front of the fort blocking the view. With his concern raised, Pinch dropped down so that he would not silhouette himself against the sky, and moved west on the front wall to get a view of the whole south wall. When he finally had the view, his alarm flared further as Cyrel was still nowhere to be seen.
Pinch dropped into a full crouch and strained to see whatever he could of the opposite wall and the courtyard below. There was nothing to be seen. As to sounds, the distant thunder had stopped, but the sky was now overcast and black, with gust of wind raising up with the incoming rain.
Then, right at the point on the south-west wall where it connected to the fort, Cyrel’s silhouette detached from the deeper shadows. He moved back along the wall towards the corner. As he did, the hoot of a barn owl came across the courtyard from his position.
Pinch’s asshole clenched. He knew his birdcalls; was adept at making many of them himself; and it was no owl that had made that call. Of this, Pinch was certain. He cast his eyes around the courtyard and the wall all around, looking for whoever Cyrel had signaled. There was only the wind and the dark, just the same as it had been all that night.
“Psssst!” Choke hissed Pinch’s way from the gatehouse. “Is that you Pinch?” he whispered loudly.
“Yes. Hold up,” Pinch whispered back. He stayed in his low crouch below the top of the wall behind him to move over to Choke.
Pinch quickly told Choke what he had seen and heard.
“So he was at the door into the fort,” Choke said.
“Yeah. Must’ve been right up against it.”
“There’s peepholes in them, tight?” Choke asked.
Pinch thought hard about it, attempting to visualize the doors. “Yes. There are. Of course there are. Were they open or shut? Did you notice?” Pinch asked.
“No. But it wouldn’t matter either way. Cyrel could just go over and give the door a knock whenever he wanted. Then anyone in the fort could easily talk to him,” Choke said grimly.
“So it’s on, then. Who’d he signal with the owl call? No one’s come out of the fort, right?” Pinch asked.
“No. And he wouldn’t need to signal anyone in the fort if he’s communicating with someone inside already. So risking a signal outside, it has to be to people already out here. They must be hiding in the sheds or stables. Those are the only places. Since the gatehouse is clear,” Choke said.
“Well, he’s on the stables side, so must be the stables. And they aint storming us right now, so the plan must be to take you when you go to Cyrel to send him back this way. Then they’ll come and get me, I guess. Good plan. So, what do we do?”
Choke thought for just a second before making up his mind. He felt the spirit of Stron rise up in him.
“Stron, grant us strength in this fight if it must come. Grant us your protection from these evil men and we shall deliver their souls to you for your judgement. Amen,” Choke said, tracing the Wheel over his breast.
“Amen,” Pinch seconded. “So, what’s the plan?”
“Forewarned is forearmed. We give them what they expect, and then turn the tables,” Choke smiled at Pinch, his teeth white in the dark.
Muse Vassal 