“You should just let me have that pouch now,” she suggested.
“I’d like the chance to spit in their faces and blow them to hell myself. If I have to die I want to go with a bang,” I smiled wickedly. “You can take them from my cold dead hands if I don’t get to use them.”
“I really wish you wouldn’t talk like that,” she complained.
My heart felt lighter than it had in months. Despite the empty place it felt as if a burden had been lifted from my shoulders. “If I can’t joke about my impending death what can I joke about? Would you rather I go moping about?”
She laughed a bit, till her tears started again and then she held me. I felt a twinge of pain for her; it was easier to be the one dying. My journey was almost over, but she still had a long lonely road ahead... without me. For the first time since Marc had first given me the idea of lying to her about her ‘condition’ I felt guilty. I hoped she would forgive me someday when the truth finally came out.
***
They began the bombardment once the sun was fully in the sky. Now that I was free of the bond I found I could sense things at a much greater distance again. When the first stones came hurtling toward us I sensed them long before they arrived. On a whim I spoke a word and swept my hand sideways, striking one of the large boulders from the sky before it reached us. I was amazed at the clarity of my senses. After months being half blind my power seemed easier than ever to use.
“Did you see that?” Marc elbowed me. “One of the stones just went flying sideways. Was that you?”
I smiled. “We’ll see how they like facing me now that I’ve got my kid gloves off,” I replied smugly.
“Your eyes are blue again... does that mean what I think?” he asked.
“Your idea worked beautifully. No matter what else, you have my thanks for that,” I told him.
“I thought so,” he said. “Did she tell you what I told her?”
“Yes, and I appreciate it. I know it must have cost you dearly to say it.”
He frowned. “It didn’t cost me a thing, anyway, congratulations.”
It struck me as odd that he would congratulate me on the day of my impending demise, but I dismissed it as another of his odd jokes. “Just promise me you will make sure she’s alright, once I’m gone.”
His face tightened, “You didn’t have to ask me, Mort. Dorian and I will do everything we can for her, you know that.”
More rocks began falling, striking the palisade and bouncing across the ground behind it. So far none of our men had been struck, but I knew our luck couldn’t hold forever. The enemy troops were advancing now, approaching to within two hundred yards. The onagers were brought up behind them, allowing them to strike the palisade more easily. Some of our archers fired, though they had been told to save their arrows. Most of their shots fell short, and those that didn’t missed their marks.
I raised my staff and with a word I focused energy through it, a line of fire lanced outward and struck one of the onagers. It went up in flames. Repeating the process I began systematically destroying them until none were left. I considered doing the same to the men on the field but I knew I would exhaust myself long before I had made a dent in their numbers. I thought of the other pouch on my belt, the one I hadn’t told Penny about, but I quickly dismissed the idea. It wasn’t time for that yet.
The enemy withdrew to four hundred yards once the onagers were gone. I could still reach them at that range but I didn’t feel the need to tip my hand yet. Things settled into a dull rhythm as both sides waited. I had hoped they might try a premature rush but they seemed content to wait while trebuchet did its work. The only other activity in the interim was the occasional ballista shot. Their crews were disturbingly accurate. Once they had gotten used to the range they began picking their targets carefully. At five hundred yards they missed as often as they hit their mark but when they were successful the result was gruesome. Several of our men were impaled before they learned to stay out of sight.
A deadly stalemate ensued, punctuated only by the thrumming sound of their trebuchet every few minutes. Each time it fired a rock weighing several hundred pounds would come hurtling overhead. The first shots fell short, but they methodically adjusted the machine until the stones were consistently striking the stone curtain wall that surrounded Castle Cameron.
Dorian found me watching the steady destruction from the ground outside wall but within our palisade. “Can’t you do something about that damn machine?” he said.
“It’s too far away,” I answered calmly. “I might be able to misdirect the stones it throws but that would defeat my purpose.”
“You want them to knock the wall down?” he asked incredulously.
“Actually yes, they won’t try a full assault until they have a clear way in,” I replied.
He gave me a suspicious look, “What are you planning?”
“Something big,” I said. “Make sure the men are ready to withdraw after a token resistance at the palisade. Also... is there any way to stop them getting through the gap in the wall if they knock part of it down?”
He grunted, “Yeah, but it involves a lot of dying. I’ve already got them preparing a temporary barricade behind the section that
