Chapter 18
Dressed like guards, Hazk’s men were able to move through the city with ease. There were enough guards that the people in the city didn’t know all of them, so seeing a group moving briskly along the streets didn't raise suspicion.
“The East Gate is just ahead a couple blocks. The guard change takes place there in fifteen minutes precisely. Your group was added to the roster, so there shouldn’t be any questions when you arrive, but if there are, I am sure you can deal with them quietly,” the guide said as he led them to a stop in the back streets of the city.
“You know your assignments,” Hazk said. “I expect there will not be any mistakes from you this time, right?”
“No sir, no mistakes. We will take and hold the gate, sir.”
“Good. Go now.” Hazk turned to the guide. “Is the other position prepared?”
“Yes, it is. I will take you to it. We will need to stick to the side streets since it is near the market and south road, just like you requested it should be.”
Half of the remaining men left, moving in step with military precision. Their uniforms were a perfect match for the guards’; their only tell was that they were crisper than the guards’, and their uniforms neater, sharper looking.
The safehouse at which Hazk and his men arrived was only one street off of the Gatestreet Market.
Looking out the window, he could see the people going about their business through a break between buildings.
“Trin should be in place by now. If things go as planned, there should not be another guard change on that gate in time for it to matter. Is everything else ready?” Hazk asked one of the men.
“Yes, sir. Our contact in the city says that everything is set up and ready. Unless something unexpected creeps up on us, we are as prepared as we can be.”
“Good. Make sure everyone is rested and fed. We move out in a few hours.”
***
Waking with a start, Glem found his sword already in hand and Oarf standing in the doorway to his room.
“Sorry to wake you before time, but the Master at Arms is here for you,” Oarf said, glancing quickly at Glem’s blade.
“What does Garen want?” Glem asked, slipping the sword into its scabbard and tugging on his boots.
“He wouldn’t tell me. He just said that you were needed and that it was very important, and to hurry. I told him to wait and that I would wake you.” Oarf replied. “He was anxious.”
“Harumph. Let’s go see what he wants then,” Glem replied. “Can you bring me another plate of something to eat? If I can't sleep, I need to get energy from somewhere at least.”
Glem strode into the dining room of the inn, and spotted Garen sitting at the table near the fire. “Garen, what’s happened?” he asked without preamble.
“The city knows the battle is coming now, and the people are getting scared and volatile. Our distribution plan for the guard is a mess because we have had to spread some of them through the city to try and deal with opportunists who plainly think they can advantage themselves. They have been breaking up fights all over the city.”
“Has Lorne spoken to them yet?” Glem asked.
“No, he is struggling to keep the guard on the walls with the chaos,” Garen replied.
“I’ll go out and start doing sweeps of the city and the guard posts. Have Lorne pass the word around that anyone caught fighting will be held in the barracks until the battle is concluded. Send Jorick to do guard post checks, working sunwise around the city, and I will go the other way and meet him in the middle. Oarf,” he then said loudly, “Would you please ask Eiriean to wrap that food so I can take it with me? Garen, make sure that the people know that we are outmatched and don’t have time to deal with their petty squabbles. Go on. I will start all the checks as soon as my food is ready.”
****
The first several guard posts that Glem checked were in order. His ambiguous position had clearly been addressed by one of the soldiers higher up, or enough of them had seen his training session with Lorne that they didn’t want to get on his bad side. He looked each position over unobtrusively when he showed up to each location before engaging with the guards onsite. Most of them were chatting with one another while they watched over their assigned areas either outside the wall or within the city. At one post, the guards spotted him well before he arrived, nearly falling over themselves to be at attention when he turned up.
“At ease. You are at the corner of the city and looking to both the south and east. Have you seen anything moving or odd along the tree line? This is an area I would expect them to post up scouts in preparation for the army's arrival.”
“No, sir. The lieutenant told us almost the same thing before we came on duty, sir. So, we’ve been watching closely,” replied the sergeant.
“Thank you, is there anything you have to report?”
“No, sir. Right now, everything is quiet.”
“Carry on then. Dismissed,” Glem said.
He continued on to finish his checks.
Glem carefully watched the people in the streets as did the guards, looking for any indicator of the arrival of a foreign army. He worked his way through the city along the wall, and past the gates that had been barred. The huge beam set into the locks on the East Gate was reassuring with its massive presence.
He arrived at the barracks and training grounds for the guard. Aside from the men at the entrance, very few people were visible when he entered. Glem spotted Garen across the grounds, reading reports as he walked. “Garen!” he shouted.
The startled man looked up from his papers.
“Glem, glad to see you here. You made good time with your checks,” he said, as Glem crossed the training grounds to him.
“I talked to the Captain when I got back, and he put out an announcement to the effect that anyone caught fighting would be held in the barracks until after the siege. That should at least cut down on the problems,” commented Garen.
“Good. Have you seen Jorick yet?” asked Glem.
“No, he headed out to do checks on the other side a few minutes after I met with you earlier. Unless there is a problem, he should be here soon. There is one additional post on his circuit than on yours,” Garen replied.
“Lorne in the map room?” Glem inquired.
“Yes, I don’t know when the last time he left was. I think he has been there since you and Jorick got back,” answered Garen.
“Thank you. Finish up whatever you are working on and join us. If you see Jorick, send him in as well,” said Glem.
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Garen nodded; he would do just that.
The door to the offices stood open with the sun streaming into the interior. The clerk at his desk with his always impressive pile of paperwork didn’t look up as Glem entered.
“The trays are over there. Take them and bring back more. We have additional people coming, and they are likely to be here a while.”
Glem cleared his throat, and the clerk looked up.
“Sorry, sir, he’s in the back. I thought you were the runner.”
“Head down and all that, I can understand. I will head back to the map room. Thank you for making sure we get fed.”
“You’re welcome, sir. Garen just left, but I was told to expect you and Jorick.”
“Slight change. I saw Garen just now in the courtyard and asked him to join us. Jorick will be along shortly, I think.”
“Yes, sir. I will send him in when he arrives.”
Glem walked back through the hall to the map room, to find his old student worrying over the potential location of the army and the distribution of the guard.
“Has it changed since we discussed things last night? Is there any new information on when we expect them to attack?” Glem asked.
“No. No changes yet. I am just worried about how underpowered we are in comparison to the army you reported. I’m afraid that no matter what we do, we will get swept away. Garen said you and Jorick were doing a check on the guards. How did that go? Was there any improvement after I had the announcements made about fighting?” Lorne answered.
“All the posts I checked, the guard seemed to be alert and watching,” said Glem. “The city is boiling some, but I didn’t see anyone getting out of line on my way in. The tension is to be expected, though.”
“Good, that is an improvement. I know there were several fights broken up before the announcements,” answered Lorne.
The clerk knocked on the open map room door.
“Sirs. Sorry to bother you, but the runner is back with more food. Would you like me to have it set up for you somewhere?”
“Just put it on the table along the wall,” Lorne replied as he turned back to his map.
“I asked Garen to join us, and Jorick shouldn’t be far behind me. Take a break for a few minutes, and eat something while we wait. If anything happens, we will know as soon as the messenger arrives,” Glem replied.
The runner and clerk had now left.
Both men settled back into chairs while they ate, waiting on the others to arrive.
Jorick showed up, tossing his cloak and sword onto one of the free chairs and starting to help himself to food. “Are we waiting on Garen, or should we get started?” he asked.
“Garen will be along when he’s finished up. Did you find anything doing the checks on the guard posts?” Glem asked.
“Everyone is agitated, but watchful. No signs of the army yet, though,” Jorick replied.
“I made the announcements about fighting earlier in the day. Hopefully, that will help quell some problems and allow the guards to do their jobs,” Garen said as he came into the room.
Glem stepped over to the map table where the silver coins still lay on it as markers.
“Jorick, do you want to tell Lorne about the plan for the West Gate? We need to get that clear and started. Soon as we can.”
“Captain, we talked about using the houses that the merchants built up against that west wall to block the gate.”
“How would the houses block the gate?” Lorne asked.
“Well, we would sorta get a couple guys from the engineers to collapse them behind it. We thought that if we put thirty or so tons of rubble at this side, it would be really hard to open. Couldn’t push it in and couldn’t break the lock.”
“That's a very good idea. If the gate won't open, we can redistribute some of the guards there to more vulnerable areas. It is going to piss off the merchants, but this gives them a chance to live long enough to get pissed off. Do it,” Lorne ordered.
Glem picked up a small stone off the floor and set it on the West Gate on the map.
“That deals with one. Now let's figure out the others.”
Lorne looked over the map and at the distance estimates to the enemy army and the various soft spots in the town.
“Each of the guard posts is ten men right now. Since the fighting in town is stopping, we will be able to double that and still have a reserve force in the market that we can move around as needed. The market provides a central staging area for the town and quick access to each of the main gates.”
Glem mentally counted the locations as he looked at the map. “We will need to make sure that if there is a breach somewhere, we can get the men there as quickly as possible. I suggest that we put a good-sized contingent at each gate and a smaller force in the center of town, ready and available to reinforce them. It means that the reinforcement will be smaller, but we will have a better chance of holding at the gate or wall until they arrive.”
“We should also take some of the guards and have them act as roving patrols inside the city. Seeing them will give the civilians confidence and maybe keep people from doing anything stupid when they think they can get away with it,” Jorick added.
Garen set down his trencher and walked to the table.
“Based on where the army was a couple days ago, we should also send out a couple scouts to try and get eyes on them to confirm locations and estimated timetables,” he observed.
“People are preparing to evacuate the city. While I was checking the guard posts, I had multiple people ask if they would be allowed to leave through the North Gate on the capital road. They are not sure if they are going to be allowed to leave before the fighting starts,” Jorick said.
“Garen, when we finish, have one of the clerks make an announcement that we will allow people to continue with evacuations up until the Southern Army arrives. Anyone evacuating will need to be self-sufficient and have at least ten days of travel rations per person. Small hand barrows and backpacks only, no large carts, as they will move too slow.
“Anyone traveling does so at their own risk. We will not be sending guards to escort them.” Lorne looked at the others to see if anyone had anything to add.
“Jorick, you take the West Gate. How long will it take you to gather the engineers that you need?” Glem asked.
***
Kiiryas moved through the city, lost in his thoughts about the impending war. He listened to the conversations of the people in the markets, hearing undertones and general rumblings of fear and anxiety everywhere, and discreetly took reports from his informants spread throughout the city. His anger at the situation was building as he walked. If there had been anyone watching him, they might have seen him fade into the stone walls of the buildings before reappearing hundreds of feet further on.
He flexed his hands as he went, opening and closing his fists; they glowed blue just slightly, hidden under his cloak, and the glow invisible. Then, Kiiryas came out of his reverie with a start.
He had wandered all the way to the walls of the city, past the Governor's house and the barracks. He was nearly to the Dog Gate tucked into the corner of the city.
He worked to put together all the information he had gathered, assembling it in his head as he went.
There was something missing in it, but couldn’t put his finger on quite what it might be.
“Worst guard duty yet,” he heard men complaining from up ahead and stopped to listen.
“Shut up, you know you can’t say things like that here,” another voice said.
“Give it a rest. It's not like anyone cares about this gate anyway. We should be out doing something. We trained for months, and now we’re stuck here,” the first voice said.
Kiiryas moved up closer to the corner of the building he had stopped behind, just out of view of the guards. I don’t recognize those voices. Aside from Glem, I haven’t heard about any guards doing any special training in the last few months.
“Shush, if he hears you talk like that, we will both be in trouble, you for talking and me for not stopping you. He killed Palek, and he had completed his job but made too much of a mess. Imagine how long you would last, talking out of turn,” the second voice said, sounding genuinely disgruntled.
But there hasn't been anyone killed in the city in weeks. Not since the accident in the market when the guy slipped on the soup and hit his head. Who on earth are they talking about?
“Yeah, he’s a scary one. I just want to be doing something. Instead, we’re stuck here on this stupid gate, and the rest of the team’s out doing important stuff,” the first voice said.
“Well, at least the pay is good. For the amount that General Inehorn is giving us, I can be happily bored wherever I am told to,” the second man said.
General Inehorn? Where have I heard that name before?
Almost before Kiiryas realized it, he had begun to move.
He glided forward silently, around the corner of the building.
Hmm. I don’t recognize either of them. Inehorn’s the General of the Southern Army. They’re imposters.
He faded completely into the stone around him as he approached the false guards. A long knife appeared in each of his hands, the blue glow spreading from his fingers and outward, to the blades.
They’re in the city!
The guards were oblivious to the danger that approached them. Kiiryas grew more powerful; with each step, his anger increased. How dare they come here like this!
The guards faced toward each other while they talked as Kiiryas approached them. Before either of the guards had chance to be alarmed, Kiiryas had slid his first dagger into the base of the skull of the one facing away from him. His action was fast and smooth enough that even the guard looking right at him didn’t notice until Kiiryas lowered the body to the ground.
The remaining guard looked down in confusion at his friend on the earth. His last thought was to wonder why he was taking a nap in the middle of guard duty.
Kiiryas’ second knife went through the man’s eye as an iron hand glowed slightly blue over his mouth. He wiped the blades on the guards' uniforms before the sharp objects disappeared back under his patched cloak. Letting his stealth fall, he began to run toward the barracks. The gates to the training yard stood open, and Kiiryas was past the guards at the entrance before they saw him. He flew across the yard and into the map room where Lorne, Jorick, and Glem were standing over a map of the city.
Glem’s hand went to his sword as he slammed into the room.