“That’s what everyone would like to believe, but warriors don’t like to be beaten. They’ll fi ght harder, if anything. They’d be shamed in front of their women if they just slunk away.”
“Then there is nothing we can do but defeat them when they come.”
25
Ten days slipped by. Each morning as dawn broke, the men on the wall searched the plain before them, saw nothing, and breathed a sigh of relief. Today would not be the day. Bands of warriors occasionally rode about, but little could be seen, with most of the encampment behind the hills. The less activity they showed, the more Eskkar worried.
Almost every night brought some new threat. For the barbarians, the night gave them an easy opportunity to keep the villagers off guard. Using the cover of darkness, men would slip up to the wall, fire a few arrows at the sentries, then disappear. Sentries covered themselves with leather, but men still fell dead or wounded. By the time soldiers hoisted torches over the wall, the attackers were gone, and seldom did the soldiers have a target. Besides the cost in men, the antics kept everyone on edge and losing sleep.
Tonight Esk kar had little to say to Trella. He’d held her until she fell asleep, then rolled onto his back, wide awake, thinking about the besiegers.
If he had enough men at their rear, even a hundred would do, he could attack the enemy and disrupt the camp, burn their wagons, scatter the horses. But he was not in their rear, he was trapped inside Orak with no way to get out.
Meanwhile, the barbarians continued with their preparations. The thought made him uneasy, so he got out of bed, pulling a tunic over his body and slipping out of the bedroom. Moving silently, he descended to the main floor, then out into the courtyard. A torch burned there at all times and the guards walked by, alert even at the end of a long day.
Esk kar nodded at those manning the command table, but walked toward the rear of the house. He sat on the bench, facing the trees where Natram — zar had been tortured. Already that time seemed long in the past, a mere trifle hardly worth considering.
One pleasant memory remained, however. A few feet from the base of the tree, where it came closest to the wall, Caldor’s head had been buried deep in the earth. Both young Drigo and Caldor had insulted Trella, and both were dead, a fact all in Orak knew well. Caldor had even put his hands on Trella’s body, but that would never happen again. No man would ever touch her and live.
Esk kar returned his thoughts to the Alur Meriki. He stared into the darkness, wondering what they would do next. He needed a spy, he decided, someone who knew their councils. If only he had a way to visit their camp, spend a day or two there, observing and listening. But no one could get out of Orak. The attackers had sealed up the village too well.
A shadow moved on the ground. He looked up and found Trella in front of him, a cloak wrapped around her body, though the night air held little chill.
“I thought you found it pleasant in our bed,” she said quietly. “Or do you plan to sleep in the garden?” She sat down and leaned against him.
Esk kar put his arm around her and inhaled the scent of her hair. “I couldn’t sleep. I started thinking about the barbarians, wondering what they’re planning, where they’ll attack next.”
“You always seem to know what they think. Are their plans a mystery now?”
“Yes. They’ve many clan leaders, and right now they’re all thinking about the same thing. They wonder about the best way to crack the nut Orak has become. How can they get past the ditch and the wall, or through the gate, so they can kill all of us? And now they have a new problem how to do it without losing too many more warriors. So they prepare themselves and when they’re ready, they’ll attack.”
He sighed. “Perhaps the gods will smile on us.”
“The gods have already smiled on us. Nobody can doubt that, not even the priests. Why do you think they’ve been so quiet these last few months?
They know you’re touched by the gods.”
The thought of the priests always brought a frown to his face. In the past the quarreling priests and their demanding gods had caused trouble enough in Orak, though the danger from the Alur Meriki had quieted them down. The less he had to do with them the better.
She rested her head on his shoulder, the cloak coming loose. She wore nothing beneath it.
He slipped his hand inside the garment and felt the heat from her body.
Her breast felt soft and heavy in his hand. Esk kar settled back, letting himself enjoy a moment of pleasure.
She relaxed under his touch, closing her eyes, then lifting her face to his. “It’s time for bed, and this time I’ll make sure you go to sleep.”
He smiled, then pulled the cloak off her shoulders, so he could gaze at her body in the faint light from the stars and the torches. The longer he looked at her, the stronger the urge became to take her right there in the garden. The guards would hear the noise and come to investigate, not that he cared about what they saw or thought.
“Then we should return to our chamber, wife.” He pulled the cloak back around her and took her hand, then walked her back into the house, nodding at the guards whose smiles were tinged with envy at their fortunate commander.
Wide awake now, they returned to their bed. Esk kar forgot his worries and made love to his wife, a task that took considerable time as each seemed to hunger for the other. Trella seemed on fire, her own urges demanding satisfaction. Even after the passion overcame her, it only whetted her appetite for him, and it was a long time before they lay exhausted in each other’s arms, sweat — soaked, the bedding a mess of twisted blankets.
Neither of them knew or cared that the shaking and half — muffled cries had awakened half the household and brought smiles to the guards who paced the courtyard below. When they’d finished, Esk kar held her close, before he fell into a deep sleep.
The alarm drum roused him instantly, the rapid beating telling him an attack was in progress, even before the soldiers’ shouts penetrated his consciousness. Esk kar jumped to his feet, pulling on his undergarment and grabbing his sword before Trella was fully awake. He raced barefoot down the stairs, following the reserve soldiers as they ran down the street to the north wall.
As he ran his fear increased, since they headed toward the site that he had deemed most suitable for a night attack. Esk kar heard the clash of swords, but by the time he reached the wall the fighting had ended.
“Down, Captain!” someone shouted, even as an arrow hissed by his head. Cursing under his breath and bent double, Esk kar scuttled swiftly along the wall until he found Jalen. His subcommander had everything under control. Villagers shoved torches attached to poles out over the ditch, giving the crouched archers some targets. As usual, the nighttime attack initially favored the enemy, who could put their archers in place in the darkness while the defenders would be outlined against the wall and lighted from behind. Barbarian arrows had killed at least two men, as Eskkar saw by the bodies lying below the parapet.
But by this time the parapet held at least forty archers, and volleys of arrows flew into the darkness. Gradually the shafts from the attackers came less frequently. More torches added their light but little now remained to be seen.
Jalen finally had time to report. “A guard heard them splashing in the ditch and gave the alarm. Their arrows drove us down and they tried to climb the wall. Stones soon put a stop to that, and three who reached the top were killed.” He looked around for a moment. “This was a real assault, not just a raid. I saw at least a hundred men out there. Did they attack anywhere else?”
“I don’t know. Gatus was at the command table, and I heard only one alarm. Can you hold here?”
“Yes, we’ve plenty of stones, and the men are wide awake now.”
“I’ll go check with Gatus.” Esk kar gripped his subcommander’s shoulder for a moment, then swung down from the parapet. He dropped lightly to the ground below and raced back to the command house, now lit more brightly than when he had left it. He found Gatus speaking to several soldiers, all looking tense but displaying no
