The man chuckled and waved him on.
As he turned away, Byren whipped the end of the staff around and caught him in the back of his knees. Before the man hit the ground, Byren followed him, bringing the staff over in an arc to strike his head. All thanks to Florin and the days spent practising to best her. He mustn't think about her.
In that moment, he realised he was risking his life to make sure she didn't fall at the gate in some foolhardy attempt to prove she was better than his men.
If he was lucky, Orrade would never guess how Byren really felt.
A soft whistle drew his attention. He looked over to find the others had dealt with the remaining night watch.
Byren hurried to join them. 'Drag the bodies out of sight, winch the gate open.' As they did this, he lit a lantern and stepped into the open gateway.
Their lookout had reported activity. Fyn and Orrade tried to make sense of what they saw.
'The gate's opening,' Orrade muttered. 'I don't believe it.'
'Someone's signalling with a lantern,' Fyn said. 'We must have supporters inside the fort.'
Orrade scrambled to his feet. 'Quick, before they are discovered.'
With Aseel and the volunteers at their heels, they hurried down the narrow defile, trying to make as little noise as possible. Bantam and Jakulos followed Fyn.
As they came closer to the gate, the man with the lantern lifted it to reveal his face.
'I swear that's Byren!' Orrade said as he ran.
Fyn sprinted to keep up with him. What had happened to his brother? He looked terrible.
Orrade hugged Byren and pulled back, low voice rich with laughter. 'How did you do it?'
'A little play acting. Eh, Fyn, don't you recognise me?' Byren gave his familiar crooked grin and Fyn threw his arms around his brother. His brother squeezed him so hard Fyn thought he'd break a rib. Byren stepped back to study his face, voice thick with emotion. 'We thought you dead, little brother.'
Aseel and the volunteers poured into the courtyard. They were excited, nervous, ready for action. Any time now, their presence would be discovered.
Byren glanced past Fyn's shoulder and Fyn turned to see the two sea-hounds. 'Uh, this is Bantam and Jakulos. They're…'
'We're his honour guard,' Bantam said. And Jakulos dipped his head in agreement.
'Good.' Byren offered his arm, pulling them each in for a hug and clapping them on his back. As he pulled back from Jakulos he grinned. 'Don't often meet a man I can look in the eye. How did you come to serve m'brother?'
But before they could answer, there was some sort of altercation and Aseel came over, dragging a prisoner.
'This man claims he knows you,' Aseel said.
'Let him go, lad. It's the tradepost keeper.' Byren turned to Orrade. 'Go with him. He'll show you where the Merofynians sleep.'
As the others left them, Byren turned back to Fyn, who took a few steps away from the sea-hounds and reached for the message cylinder inside his vest. 'Byren, I — '
'A moment, lad.' His brother strode off, after one of the warriors, caught him by the shoulder and spun him around. In the lantern light, Fyn recognised the mountain girl.
Byren glared at her. 'What're you doing here?'
'Orrie called for volunteers.' She glared right back at him.
'Did he know you were one of them?'
She lifted her chin.
For a moment, Byren seemed too angry to speak. Then he lowered the lantern. 'You can make yourself useful, Mountain-girl. Run back to the rest, tell them to come down here.'
'Yes, my king.' She darted off.
Fyn watched Byren watch her go. 'It's not Orrie's fault. He didn't know. He wouldn't have sent the girl he's bedding on a suicide attack.'
Byren stiffened, then let his breath out slowly and rubbed his jaw as if tired.
So much rested on Byren's shoulders. Fyn knew just the thing to cheer him up. He removed the message cylinder from inside his vest. 'Here. The elector offers you his support.' No need to mention that the old elector was dead.
'Better and better.' Byren took it then glanced to Fyn. 'So how is it that you bring an alliance with Ostron Isle?'
And Fyn lied to his brother.
Chapter Twenty
By dawn, Byren had called his captains together, and taken over the tap-room. He could smell spicy sausages, eggs and beans cooking, and his stomach grumbled. The traders had congratulated him, then backed out. They were happy, believing taxes would return to normal. They wouldn't be so happy when he had to confiscate their edible goods to feed his army.
Orrade was last to arrive and join them at the long table. 'The fort's secured. Your men took down the night watch. The rest surrendered without a fight.' He grinned. 'Hard to be brave when you're unarmed, barefoot and only half-awake.'
'Our losses?'
'None dead. One injured.' Laughter lit Orrade's thin face and Byren felt an answering grin tug at his lips. 'He dropped a barrel of looted wine on his foot and broke it.'
'The barrel?'
'No, his foot.'
'Just as well.'
The others chuckled, as Byren meant them to. They were all pleased with the easy victory, but jumpy because they knew the real battle still lay ahead.
'What will you do now, Byren?' Feid asked. 'They say Rolenhold can't be taken by force.'
'It never has. Deceit opened the gates for Palatyne. Cobalt won't fall for that.' Byren was reminded of tactics lessons with Captain Temor. The old warrior's death was another he had to avenge.
'Word of Byren's return will spread,' Orrade said. 'The people will rise up and join us.'
'The Merofynians could sit in the castle and ignore us,' Bearclaw countered. He was from Unistag Spar and eager to prove his loyalty to Warlord Unace, by supporting Byren who had helped her gain leadership.
'I hope they do stay safe in the castle,' Byren said quickly. The secret to leading men like this was never to appear at a loss. 'It'll give me time to gather warriors, retake the abbey and wipe out any Merofynians not within the castle walls. In fact, they don't know we're here, yet and I'd like to keep it that way for as long as possible. Before Cobalt knows it, he could have lost Rolencia.'
'But he'd still be safe in Rolenhold,' Corvel muttered.
'If I were Cobalt, I'd ride out to do battle before you're at full strength,' Feid said.
'But Cobalt doesn't know we're here yet.' Byren knew Palatyne had left a third of the Merofynian army under Cobalt's command, plus Lord Leon's warriors had joined him. He was outnumbered three to one. 'And that's why I need a secure base to strike from.'
'Dovecote's overrun with Merofynians,' Orrade began, 'but — '
'The Narrows is empty,' Old Man Narrows suggested. 'And it's secure, surrounded by the lake and cliffs on three sides. The palisade on the fourth side would have to be rebuilt — '
'We've got the men to do that. Excellent.' Byren turned to Orrade. 'See how many horses we have. Take twenty or thirty good men and the Narrows family. Go prepare the tradepost for us.' That would get Florin out of his sight and, hopefully, out of his thoughts. 'We'll follow on foot.'
As the keeper and his family brought out breakfast, Byren noticed that Catillum had slipped out of the tap- room. He'd have to catch him later and ask his advice on retaking the abbey. Recapturing Halcyon Abbey would
