‘Don’t let us keep you from carrying out your orders, Captain.’ She swept past the wide-eyed young man.
Lily shot him a quick smile as she also darted past him to follow Bethany.
Martin turned just as Bethany arrived, and if he was surprised to see her there, he didn’t show it. A quick play of expressions across his face betrayed his internal debate about what to do with her, but he finally decided that telling her to do anything was futile. Without her asking, he said, ‘Raiders.’
She glanced over the wall, and despite the night’s gloom could see the dark figures carrying torches down near the docks. ‘What are they doing?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know, but I’m not about to risk men tonight to find out. The docks and foulborough are deserted and anything worth saving was fetched inside the city walls days ago. Besides a couple of rotten fishing boats at anchor, there’s nothing there of value.’
‘They’re setting fires,’ said Lily.
Brendan leaned back a little, looking behind his brother and Bethany so he could clearly see the girl. ‘Lily,’ he said with a nod. ‘You shouldn’t be here.’
Her eyes got wide and, feigning surprise, she said, ‘Oh?’
Brendan smiled, ‘My brother won’t say it to her,’ he nodded at Bethany, ‘so I felt the need to say it on his behalf, even though I know telling Bethany to do anything is a lost cause.’
Martin ignored their banter. He looked up to the sentry on the closest tower and shouted up to him, ‘What do you see?’
‘Just what you do, sir. They’re setting fires all over the docks.’
Brendan said, ‘What are they up to?’
Martin glanced at the bow in Bethany’s hand and said, ‘If you’re staying, you must do two things: follow my orders exactly and don’t get killed.’
She kissed him. ‘Tell me what to do.’
He glanced around and said, ‘Stand over there,’ he pointed to a crenel, ‘and watch for anyone coming along the wall opposite you. You’ll have to lean out a bit, so don’t overbalance. I don’t want to open the gate and come out to fetch you back in.’
She smiled and said, ‘But you would.’
He ignored the flirting, knowing she was hiding her own fear at possibly being under enemy fire again. ‘Shoot anything on that side of the wall that gets close to the gate.’
Martin turned to the general assembly of soldiers gathering in the square and shouted, ‘Sergeant Magwin!’
‘Sir!’ came the instant response from below.
‘Archers to the walls, and form a flying company opposite the gate!’
‘Yes, sir!’ shouted the old sergeant from Crydee.
‘Sergeant Ruther,’ said Martin in a lower tone, knowing that his most senior officer from Crydee would have by now found his commander on the wall.
‘Sir?’
He turned to look at the grey-haired fighter. ‘Archers are to shoot anything that crosses the outer killing ground, especially anyone carrying torches or oil near the gate.’
‘Sir,’ he said and set about at once relaying Martin’s orders.
Ancient cities often outgrew their walls, especially during times of peace; a foulborough grew beyond the outer precincts of many of them, such as Krondor, LaMut, and all the great eastern cities. In some cities like Salador, the inner walled city was the smallest quarter. But the barons of Ylith had been cautious men, who knew how easily the invaders under the Emerald Queen had swept in through the foulborough and over the walls. Since then, no building had been permitted against the city wall behind the fishing town and docks area, creating an effective bailey where archers could punish any attackers.
While a long peace had existed between the invasion of the Emerald Queen’s army and this Keshian attack, vigilance had been bred into the rulers of Ylith. Moreover, the natural slope of the landscape and the curve of the harbour caused the main gate to the city to be set at an angle unfavourable to attack. There was no easy way to bring a ram to bear on the gate and move it into position for a run. Unlike Crydee, the city gates of Ylith were massive, their huge hinges had knuckles the size of a small tree bole, with three foot leaves on each side held in place by massive iron bolts driven through the foot-thick hardwood. They were as stout as steel after years of drying in the sun, being oiled and tended with preservatives. The Keshians would have to stand on the crest of the road and hurl stones at the gate with their trebuchets, to see how long that portion of the wall could take a pounding. Martin knew they could take weeks of damage before giving out, long enough for relief to arrive from the south.
As he thought of that, he understood. ‘I know what are they doing.’ Brendan and the girls looked at him as Martin explained, ‘This isn’t an attack on our gates. They are trying to prevent any Kingdom fleet from landing.’
Brendan appeared confused, then comprehension dawned. ‘The piers!’
‘Burned to the waterline.’ Martin said, nodding.
‘The underwater pilings would stove in any hull that got near,’ finished his brother.
They thought of the three long piers that extended out from the quayside and imagined the tree-sized wooden supports jutting just below the surface.
Bethany said, ‘The tide would carry any ship right into them.’
‘They would have to anchor off shore and row men in to land!’ added Brendan.
It was Lily who said, ‘I know that slows things down, but they’d still come ashore to relieve us, right?’
Martin scanned the tableau before him; the flames had begun to take the buildings nearest the docks and the scene below was quickly growing clearer. ‘Not if they have to withstand … The old fortress!’
‘What about it?’ asked Brendan. Sergeant Ruther had inspected it the day before on Martin’s order, and had reported back that it was run down, but the walls were still stout; with a little work it could easily be made defensible.
‘Sergeant Ruther!’ Martin bellowed.
‘Sir!’ As ever, the answer came at once from below.
‘Open the sally port and get a detachment of cavalry down to the old fortress! Round up a company of foot soldiers and send them on afterwards. At first light I want carpenters and stonemasons down there starting repairs!’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘I thought we weren’t going to utilize that fort,’ said his brother.
‘We wouldn’t if we were only facing an assault from one quarter.’ He paused and let out a slow tired breath. ‘We have to deny them any possible foothold on the eastern shore.’
‘Do you think they mean to seize it?’ asked Brendan.
‘It’s what I would do if I was going to attempt a landing,’ said Martin. ‘If they get a foothold on that side of the harbour mouth, install some catapults or trebuchets into that fortress, they can deny any reinforcements a safe landing, and when they’re ready to attack they can hit us from two sides at once. We would not only have to defend this gate, but the eastern gate as well, and that would spread our archers too thinly. We don’t have enough men to deal with an assault from two sides.
‘And if we were forced to sally against an eastern assault, we’d have to ride out of the north gate and circle through miles of pasture lands and hedgerows, with no clear line of attack until we reach that beach-’
‘Where their arches would cut us to pieces,’ finished Brendan.
Martin considered the possibilities for a moment, then shouted, ‘Sergeant Ruther!’
The old soldier reappeared at Martin’s side. ‘Sir?’
‘Where do we now stand with archers? How many do we have?’
‘Those who can fire a bow, sir, or those who can actually hit a target?’
Martin hesitated, then said, ‘Fire a bow.’
‘A hundred and fifty, give or take a few,’ answered Ruther.
‘Take thirty of our best and that flying company, and occupy the old fortress to oversee the refitting personally. Build a fire under the carpenters and masons if you must, but I want it defensible by yesterday.’
