their challenge. After what seemed like a lifetime, he saw two men looming in the darkness, heading toward the jetty.
Still worried about an ambush, Eskkar squinted against the darkness, looking for any other movement, his hand resting on his sword hilt. Relief flooded over him when he heard a familiar voice call out. Then Bantor rushed the last few steps and wrapped his arms around Eskkar, hugging him tight and pounding on his back.
“Thank the gods, Captain, but I’m glad to see you. Let’s move up to the house.”
With Alexar and Bantor leading the way, Eskkar gave the orders and started the soldiers moving toward the farmhouse. They went in single file, to leave as little trace of their passing as possible. The dogs barked a few more times, nervous at the approach of so many men. Eskkar heard voices, no doubt Rebba’s farmers, chiding the watchdogs to keep silent, and keeping them away from the soldiers’ approach.
Bantor guided his captain and Grond to the main house, while Alexar led the rest to another building. When the door opened, Eskkar saw that a small lamp burned. Heavy leather strips covered the windows and prevented the light from showing.
Rebba stood there, waiting. He had already sent the rest of his family to the other house. Inside, Rebba motioned them to the benches at the big table, lighting a second lamp, a larger one that provided plenty of light, though it smoked quite a bit. Rebba sat at one end, while Eskkar sat at the other. By then Mitrac, Alexar, and Klexor had joined them and, to Eskkar’s surprise, Yavtar. The sailor had followed silently behind the soldiers. Eskkar noticed that Yavtar had laced sandals on his usually bare feet, and carried a short sword at his waist.
“Is Trella all right?” Eskkar had to know, though he dreaded what he might hear.
“She’s alive, a prisoner in your house,” Rebba answered.
Eskkar felt relief wash over him. He still had time to save her.
“How many men have you brought, Lord Eskkar?”
Rebba’s voice sounded frail, but the urgency of his question took Eskkar’s mind off Trella.
One of Rebba’s daughters came into the house, carrying a fresh jug of water. She began pouring it, looking nervously about the table, as the men eased themselves down, shoulder to shoulder, around the table.
“Thirty-nine, no, forty now, counting me, Noble Rebba,” Eskkar answered. He saw the looks of disappointment on Rebba and Bantor’s faces.
“We came by riverboat, and it would have taken us another three or four days to march here with more men.”
Rebba shook his head. “You don’t have enough soldiers. There are many men inside Akkad who now follow Korthac.” He saw the question on Eskkar’s face. “Ah, yes. You don’t know the man. He came less than a week after you left for Dilgarth.” He looked at Bantor for a moment. “Perhaps we should start when you left Akkad.”
Eskkar held his tongue as much as possible, resisting the urge to interrupt with questions. The telling of the events took nearly an hour, with Rebba speaking of what had happened in the city, and then Bantor describing the ambush on the road. Rebba fi nished with what had happened since.
“So now,” Rebba said as he wound up his tale, “the forty or so soldiers still alive are used as slaves, and kept under guard at the old barracks.
Korthac’s men, and now he has close to two hundred of them, terrorize the villagers. There have been many rapes and much looting. Any that resist are killed horribly in the marketplace. All the merchants and craftsmen must pay a tax just to stay alive and remain in business.” He looked across the flickering lamp at Eskkar. “You must gather more men, then find a way to drive them out.”
“I intend to do that, Rebba,” Eskkar said. “But you haven’t seen Trella?”
“No, but she is in her room, with Annok-sur, giving birth.” Rebba saw the look on Eskkar’s face and realized he had left something out. “Lady Trella went into labor this afternoon. I don’t know how…”
“Trella is well, you say?”
“Yes, that’s what I heard today,” Rebba replied. “But we hear only rumors from the servants. Trella and Annok-sur are confined to the upper rooms of your home. Korthac uses the outer room during the day, but sleeps downstairs at night. He has taken a few young boys and girls as bedmates, they say.”
“I don’t care who he sleeps with,” Eskkar said, his hands clenching into fists. “He’ll be dead as soon as I get my hands on his throat.”
“It won’t be easy, Eskkar.” Rebba shook his head. “The gates are heavily guarded and the walls are patrolled day and night, as much to keep the people in as intruders out.”
Bantor rapped his fist on the table. “We just need to get inside, Captain. Ariamus’s men spend their nights in the alehouses, drinking their fill.
We’ll kill them easy enough. My men have practiced each day with bow and sword.”
“You said Gatus is in hiding with Tammuz?”
“Yes. Rebba’s men found him there two days ago,” Bantor said. “Gatus sent three men out here as soon as he learned we were here.”
“What else did he say?” Eskkar knew Gatus well enough.
“Two days ago, he sent word that Tammuz has been watching the sentries. Gatus says that Butcher’s Lane is the way in. He’ll help us, if we send word.”
Eskkar smiled at that. Butcher’s Lane was where, during the siege, the Alur Meriki had almost carried the wall in a night attack. He’d considered using the same location to scale the wall on the journey downriver. But there was no time to send word. They could be discovered at any moment.
He counted the men he had at his command. “So we have your twenty men, Bantor, and my thirty-nine. That gives us…”
“Sixty-two men, Captain,” Yavtar broke in before Eskkar could complete the sum in his head. “That includes me, and two of my boatmen, willing to gamble their miserable lives for a fistful of gold. The rest will stay with the boats, in case we need them. I told you I intend to fight with you. I know how to swing a sword.”
“I’m sure you do, Yavtar,” Eskkar said, then he stopped for a moment.
He had been struggling with ideas about how to get into Akkad, how to climb the wall. He doubted he could get sixty men inside without alerting Korthac’s sentries, no matter how many throats they slit in the darkness.
Yavtar’s presence suggested another, better way.
“Then, Yavtar, I have a task for you, if you’re willing. A dangerous task.” He looked around the table. “Here’s what I want you to do.”
He explained his plan, his men leaning closer, intent on every word.
Eskkar had thought about little else most of the day, and now Bantor and Rebba had supplied the final bits of information he needed. Yavtar’s volunteering to join the battle provided yet another option.
When Eskkar finished, his commanders began to fill in their parts.
They had all fought together before, working on defenses during the siege, and planning attacks on barbarians and bandits. They knew what to do and what to suggest to each other.
Eskkar said little while they spoke, and Bantor, Alexar, and Mitrac all made their suggestions and asked their questions. The whole process didn’t take long. The subcommanders knew how to prepare their men. In less than an hour, they were all ready.
Rebba listened without speaking during the process. Now he shook his head as they began to get up from the table. “You really think this plan will work? Why don’t you wait until tomorrow night? That way we can get some help from Gatus and others inside the city who are willing to fight.”
Bantor answered even before Eskkar could speak. “No. Eskkar is right.
We must go now. Anything can happen in a day. We might be discovered here, or word might reach Korthac that Eskkar is on the way. If they suspect we’re here… no, we must attack tonight.”
“It will work, Rebba,” Klexor added. “Those men are bandits, and they’re not even from the same clan. Half of them will run at the first sign of trouble.”
“Even if half do run,” Rebba answered, “you’ll still be outnumbered.
And Korthac’s men are trained fighters, not bandits. They won’t run. If we wait another day or two, we can get many of the citizens to join with us.”
“We’ll be discovered,” Bantor said, his fist again striking the table. “Besides, we don’t need them. We just have to get over the walls, and when we do, I will put my sword in Ariamus’s guts and watch him die for what he did to my men.”
Eskkar stared at his subcommander, surprised at Bantor’s intensity.
