table of contents – (spoilers)
After lunch, the platoon assembled in the courtyard for a full campaign drill. This meant that the men had with them their full kit and packs; everything they would have with them if they were marching off to war. Choke had located a couple of the town elders to let them know that the platoon would be at the Wilson place, and that if anything happened, someone should ring one of the gate bells. For anything critical, Brother Barrelmender should also be alerted to ring the church bell. Choke had decided against notifying Barrelmender of this possibility.
After Choke had conducted his inspection of the men, their kit, and their weapons, the platoon marched through town and out the south gate. Choke had already given Hardmod his new horse, and informed Dom of his change of mount. Dom seemed well-pleased by the upgrade. Choke, Peep, Knuckle, Pinch, Dom, and Hardmod were all mounted. Those townsfolk not at work assembled to watch them, and seemed entertained by the spectacle. It was a merry affair. Once they were out through the gate, the platoon marched through the confluence of the Bristle and Cowslip creeks known as the Crotch. They then marched up the Bristle Creek to the Wilson place, where Mariola and the Holy Fire Wailers were living. About a dozen children from the town followed along with them.
The property was little more than a clearing hacked out of the forest on the hillside. Even so, it looked much improved. The burned-out stone cabin had a new thatched roof, with the three tents from the brothel camp flanking it. The grass in the small, fallow field had been mown, and the archery targets the Holy Fire Wailers had made from the grass were set up at the far end.
As the platoon marched into the clearing, it became immediately obvious that the space would be small for all of them to train properly. There was not enough room for any marching. Still, they were able to stand in formation and practice setting up a spear wall from a marching column.
When Choke gave the order, everyone but him dismounted. Without Gabe there, Hubert, the platoon’s cook, was assigned to wrangle the horses behind the spearwall. This was a terrible difficulty to coordinate, and they had to do it many times over to get it right. Once they finally had, they could then focus on getting their ranged attackers into position.
With Reece killed and Lenny executed, they were down to twenty-seven basic spearmen, plus Corporals Dom, Hardmod, and Osgar. Hardmod had his squad of five slingers. Dom was now put in charge of the five men that had been given the platoon’s shortbows. The two heavier deer bows they had just bought from Gotthilf had been given to Pinch and Dom. Pinch’s lighter deer bow had gone to Mariola, whose shortbow went to a new man. Dom’s old shortbow and the two new shortbows from Gothilf went to three men that had distinguished themselves as decent shots on the day Leof had been given Lenny’s shortbow.
The slingers needed more room to operate, so when the order was given, they split into two groups of three and moved to either end of the spearwall. When ordered, they dropped their spears and shields and moved out from the sides to sling. Dom and his five archers spread out behind the shieldwall with Knuckle on his longbow.
As this was being coordinated, Mariola retrieved her roundshield and spear from the cottage, along with her quiver and bow. Without a word, she fell in with Dom and the other archers. Some of the men looked askance at this, but none would meet Peep’s eye when she glared at them. Within a minute, it was just as though she was one of the men.
The shieldwall of eighteen men, including Corporal Osgar, was two men deep. They were staggered so that the rank behind could stick their spears out between the shoulders of the two men in front of them. In the setup for shooting from the spearwall, the front rank knelt down behind their shields, with the rank behind holding their shields up above. The archers put themselves between the men of the back rank, who would ease to the side to give them space.
Again, this took a good deal of practice to accomplish smoothly. The platoon did it, again and again, for over an hour, without a single arrow or stone being loosed. Finally, though, they were able to get in and out of this formation from the marching column smoothly enough to begin live shooting. Once the men had begun getting a handle on this, Choke glanced over to Peep.
“I think it’s time to go and see Barrelmender, yes?” he asked.
She nodded.
Choke tapped his lance on his shield to get the men’s attention.
“Good work, all!” he said loudly. “You all did very well. Take a break and have some water. Then, I think that is enough of the combined training. Sergeant Theodas: after the men have rested, you and Corporal Osgar take the spearmen to the stretch of road just here along the Bristle Creek. March up and down and practice getting in and out of the shieldwall formation, in different directions. Pretend as though the archers and slingers are with you. Understood?”
“Yes, sir!” both Knuckle and Dom answered loudly.
“Good. Sergeant Nikolas: you and Corporals Dom and Hardmod stay here with the archers and slingers. Mariola as well, I think,” he smiled down at her from horseback. “Continue target practice. As well, practice switching from shield and spear to your ranged weapons, and back again. That seemed a little rough. You must get used to both modes of combat. Without your shields and spears, in melee you are utterly vulnerable! I expect that in the heat of battle, it will be all too easy to lose them. You must learn to quickly transition. Your life will depend on it. But, I tell you, that your ability to quickly send harm at our enemies at range will vastly improve all of our odds in any combat. Master this skill and we, as a unit, will become deadly. Yes?”
“Yes, sir!” the men shouted enthusiastically.
“I can’t hear you!” Choke shouted back, nudging Nike into a spirited prance with front kicks.
“Yes, sir!” the men roared.
“Excellent! Carry on!”
Choke and Peep rode back around through the Crotch and the south gate, and then to the church. Nothing was amiss in or around town.
Brother Barrelmender was sitting on the front steps of the church with a mug of stugroot, glowering at the crones on their benches across the town square. They were giving him as good as they were getting.
“Ah. There you are,” Barrelmender said as they tethered their horses. “Shall we meet out here on the steps? The church is filled with rabble, as it usually is these days, with their incessant moaning and praying. As well as their ceaseless questions about what is to come. As though I have the foggiest notion!” Barrelmender bellowed back into the open doors behind him.
“Ahm. That might not be the best idea, Brother. The topic at hand is sensitive. I don’t think we want the chance of anyone overhearing,” Choke said.
Barrelmender sighed deeply and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he had a hunted look about him.
“Damn,” he whispered, before speaking up: “I have been enjoying the sun today. The church is awfully cold, you see. I have a chill that is hard to warm. The undead that molested me took a part of my soul, I think, and left the cold in its place. Since I stopped drinking, I have been feeling it more. I would have liked to have stayed in the sun. Never mind, though. It is no matter.”
Barrelmender shifted his weight to stand, but Peep disrupted that:
“Why don’t we take a little ride, Brother?” she asked. “The men are training just outside the wall, across the creek on the Bristlenook road. There are sunny stretches along that. We can watch them at a distance and have a word.”
Barrelmender blinked at Peep as though she was a complete lunatic. Eventually, though, he recovered and was able to respond:
“That sounds splendid, Otilla. Thank you. Lieutenant, would you do me the favor of saddling a horse? I believe there are still some in our stables around back. Unless you’ve moved them all out to make more space for your fornications.”
“Ah, yes Brother. I mean, no Brother. I mean, I’ll do that right away, Brother,” Choke stammered before hurrying around the side of the building.
“It really is too easy with him,” Barrelmender snorted as Peep sat down beside him. “He’s such a child. And, yet, setting up to be a fearsome killer. Funny how those things so often seem to go together.”
“Yeah, aint it?” Peep agreed.
She and Barrelmender stayed silent, then, and glowered at the crones together. When Choke had the horse saddled, all three rode back around the Crotch and stopped on a sunlit portion of the Bristlenook road with a view of the men being marched around by Knuckle and Osgar.
“So, please remind me of what it was you were up to this morning?” Brother Barrelmender asked.
“We went to Bristlenook, Brother. To see what might happen if we pressed the fletcher there for the arrows he still owed us,” Choke answered.
“Ah. Yes. And how did that go?”
“Well, we got a reaction,” Peep said.
Choke and Peep went on to describe the attack they had suffered, as well as the subsequent parlay with Diya. They finished their tandem report with Peep leaving with Diya to talk at the lilac pool. Barrelmender listened without any reaction. After they had finished speaking he exhaled sharply.
“So! The druid is powerful. And she has an adept ally. Well, I did warn you,” he said.
“What? No ye didn’t!” Peep exclaimed indignantly.
“Didn’t I? Well, you really should have known better.”
“How? How are we supposed to know better? Ye didn’t say anything about what fighting druids was going to be like! Like, even just that they can make yar arrows fly up in the air, and have spirit animals fight for them, and shit!” Peep said, still angry.
“Obviously they are dangerous! Why else would we be so fixated on their extermination? Must I hold your hand on every minute detail? They are spellcasters. Do you want a lecture on every spell potentially available to them? That would indeed be a remarkable improvement in your capacity to listen!”
“Okay,” Peep said, her voice tightly clipped.
“Still, for the cost of one horse, you learned that this woman, Diya, we’ve been hearing about is a druid of some power. And that she has a powerful ranger ally. So, a very productive morning. Good work, I’d say,” Barrelmender said.
“Thank you, Brother,” Choke said, before Peep could respond. “If you don’t mind, what do you mean by ranger? That seems a specific term.”
“It is. They are wilderness scouts, basically. But, being aligned with the devil worship of druidism, they gain an affinity with nature that allows them to cast some spells themselves. If they are of sufficient power, of course. The stealth and marksmanship you describe, along with the suggestion that the man was controlling the summoned wild boar, at the least, makes it very likely that the mystery man was a ranger.”
“Interesting. Thank you, Brother,” Choke said.
“Yes, yes. So, Otilla: what of your private meeting with the druid? I suppose that the two of you made some manner of deal.”
“Well, umm… yeah. But I was gonna—” Peep started.
“You were going to what? Try to obfuscate it? Warm me up to the notion first, with some manner of introduction? Foolish! Words are not your strong suit, Otilla. Be direct. So, to save you the bother of trying, let me take a stab at what your destination might have been. I suppose that Diya was quite charming and played upon your shared sex in some way. She offered you a deal. If you agree to leave her and her ward be, she will help you with your outfit rascal. What’s his name? Sneed?”
“Yeah, that was it. How did ye—”
“Do not assume I am an idiot!” Barrelmender roared, loudly enough to started some of the men almost a hundred meters down the road. “What else could it be? Would you strike a deal with this devil harlot for anything less? There is nothing but that for her to offer. And as to how I knew that a deal was struck: well, why would a druid that could have killed all of you at her leisure suddenly arrange a private meeting with you? Just after another powerful druid came through to have a look at your brands? It is clear that the fire within you is something that they worship on some level.”
“Yes! Exactly!” Peep exclaimed excitedly, giving Choke a pointed look.
“But, Brother, that’s blasphemy, isn’t it?” Choke asked.
“Well of course it is, fool. But your cart is in front of your horse. Everything these demon worshipers do is blasphemous. They are a putrification in the eyes of our Lord Stron; utterly lost in their spiral down towards an eternal hell. We do not give credence to their beliefs. But that does not mean that they do not believe in the evil they do. The Holy Fire within Otilla is a member of the Holy Host. Before Stron lit a path to Heaven for the wicked of this world, the Holy Host was at work in this evil world. They tilled the soil for Stron to plant the seed within. Filth like Hargarl and Diya, their types, have always worshiped elements and such. Why not the Holy Fire? It does not make it theirs.”
“The fire chose the Wheel of Stron,” Peep said, holding her palms out towards Choke and Barrelmender.
“Exactly so, child,” Barrelmender said, putting his own hand up to his cheek where one of the brands had burned him.
“So, what do we do, Brother?” asked Choke.
“How can I know when I have not yet heard all the particulars of this deal that Otilla has made? So, Otilla, would you tell me as succinctly as possible? That means: no bullshit is necessary.”
“Thank you, Brother,” Peep said, nodding in relief. “Right. So, basically, she told me that two of Sneed’s guys, Kerl and Dane, are cousins from a holler to the north of Bristlenook. Place known as Gorefield. Seems like the folk from in there might all go by that clan name, too. It’s right on the edge of the Moondark. She said that when they were hanging around, Sneed and his guys were mostly using that as home base. She also said that if we don’t go into Bristlenook, she’ll let us know when Sneed is heading back this way. She’ll send ye a gesture of goodwill, whatever that means, with a message of how many days out Sneed is. Oh! And she also said that the druids in Moondark are called the Blood Circle.”
Barrelmender was thoughtful for a while before speaking:
“Blood Circle, you say? I have not heard that name before. And I was briefed properly before coming here. That could be another gift. Probably an inadvertent one.”
“Cool! And, also, at the end when we shook on it, my brand pulsed her, like it does to people sometimes. And it fucked her right up. I got a good look into her right after, and I know, deep down inside, that she’s on board with us. She said that Hargarl said that the druids have to let the fire in me do its thing. They need to get outta our way.”
“Is that so?”
“Yup! She’s been getting the same goblin dreams as the rest of ye. It’s driving her nuts.”
“Wait. So this means you have not been receiving any dreams and visions?” Barrelmender asked.
“Nope! Sleeping like a baby every night.”
“Blessed indeed, then. So, you say that this woman is your faithful servant now, is she?” Barrelmender asked.
“I wouldn’t go that far. I believe she’ll stay outta our way, though. And I think she’ll do what she said she’s gonna do,” Peep answered with conviction.
“Very well. And what do you want to do about it?”
“I want to take Pinch and go and creep around that holler. Check it out. See if there’s any good spots between there and here to set up an ambush for Sneed when he comes back.”
“That all sounds reasonable. Very well. Do your scouting. And we shall wait and see if this druid of yours is true to her word.”
Peep grinned and nodded to Barrelmender.
Choke shook his head in disbelief. “Wait! What? Brother! This is a druid we are talking about!”
“Yes. I am aware.”
“And we are going to go along with her plan?”
“In so far as it coincides with our best course of action, yes. What would you have us do, Lieutenant? We have no way of rooting out this Sneed and his men. We must wait here for them to make their move. Your scouting today revealed that there is indeed a druid of some power in Bristlenook. We are not capable of tackling her on her home ground. So we must leave her alone for the time being. So to do as she asks is only what we would be doing anyways.”
“And what if she’s setting us up? What if she’s baiting a trap to draw Peep close to the Moondark where the druids can get her?” Choke exclaimed.
“That is unlikely. If the druids of the Moondark Hills wanted her and any or all of us, they could have had us easily. With the way they manipulate wildlife, they can be aware of our every movement. But they are aware that if they creep too far out from their area, they will attract the attention of Stronians that they do not want to deal with. This is the stalemate I spoke to you of earlier. Yes?”
“I understand that, Brother. But now we are talking about Peep going right to the edge of their territory based on nothing more than the word of another druid!”
“I know. But Otilla has said she believes that word. That is so, Otilla, is it not? You believe that this woman is earnest in her desire to help you?”
“Yes. I felt that in her,” Peep answered.
“And there we have it. The Holy Fire has moved. I understand this is shocking to you, Lieutenant Pekot. But you must understand that people in our position must always weigh our priorities in all matters. We cannot fight all the evils of this world at once. We must bide our time. Once these more pressing matters have been taken care of, if we are still alive, we can always kill this Diya later on. Doing as she wishes now may lower her guard.”
“Yes, I… ah… I understand, Brother.”
“Good. I trust you will be as cautious as ever, Otilla. Carry on. For me, I think I shall take a bit of a ride now. Up the Cowslip to the old trading post, I think. I need to stretch myself. I am woefully out of shape. That trip to Spitzer and back left me quite sore.”
“That sounds like an excellent idea, Brother. I’ll go with you, yes?” Choke asked.
“No. You shall not. I have seen quite enough of the lot of you for the time being. Good day,” Barrelmender said, giving each Peep and Choke a clipped nod in turn. He then wheeled his horse and rode away from them without looking back.
Muse Vassal 