In the weeks following the Eclipse Feast, preparations continued with increased urgency as winter cold slowly waned and the first flowers peeked from under the snow. If we wanted to retain initiative and have the best chance of victory, we needed to attack as soon as possible.
With that in mind, I directed the last bits of iron we have to be invested in siege engine parts, which we needed to draw out the count’s forces. Our attack would commence as soon as Otto was done with his work.
That was the plan at least, had events not forced my hand.
***
I heard them before I saw them.
Hoofsteps.
Shit!
Ugo had no horse, so I knew straight away it was not someone from the village. And believing the mountains to still be impassable, I didn’t post any guards, either. The army was away training with the poachers, and Adalbert had taken Ugo’s sons to get some fresh air under Wulf’s watchful eye.
The only people around the manor were Erika and the four other women who studied with her.
I rushed to the manor’s narrow window.
Ten, eleven, twelve… Twelve armoured horsemen emerged from the edge of the forest, galloping towards the village. Their polished helmets reflected the morning Suns, their heavy winter cloaks billowing behind them.
Shit! Shit! Shit! This is bad.
“Lotti!” I shouted at one of the women. “Quickly. Go find Dietrich and Kurt. The rest of you, help me clear the room. Hide everything!”
Without a word, the women jumped into action, tossing various animal parts and organs into buckets, then carrying them off to the kitchen. Meanwhile, I haphazardly collected the many pages scattered over the high table, stuffing them into a pile.
Outside, the hoofsteps grew louder and louder as the horsemen approached.
Soon, I could hear them in the front yard, the horses huffing as they finally stopped their gallop.
I held my breath.
“Hail! I am Sir Wulfric, sworn knight in service to Count Hohengrenzberg. I have come at his bidding and seek audience with Ugo, bailiff or Rand, that I may deliver his word.” A deep, booming voice announced from the yard.
There was little else I could do now.
I smoothed my tunic, took a breath, and walked out to meet them.
Sir Wulfric was exactly how one might imagine a medieval knight to be. Clean-shaven, rough face, broad shoulders, clad in a chainmail hauberk, with a sword hanging by his waist. The men behind him were similarly equipped, differing only in the colour of their surcoats.
“Hail, Sir Knight! I am Prince Karl Ludwig von Austmark," I replied, doing my best period drama impression. "Son of Duke Friedrich. I received your announcement, but I know that the honourable bailiff is not here right now. I suggest you seek him some other day. Once he… returns from his hunt.”
“It is an honour, Your Grace.” The knight bowed his head, but stared at me with distrust in his eyes. “But should Your Grace permit, we shall rest here until his return. My lord has received some troubling news from this here village, and we can’t leave without seeing the bailiff.”
It seemed I would not be able to talk my way out of this.
“Of—of course,” I answered with a forced smile. “Let me just make sure everything is ready…”
“Good.” Sir Wulfric replied briefly, then turned to the men behind him. “Ehrhard, take six men and check up on the village.” He then turned back to me. “I hope you won’t mind, Your Grace.”
“Not at all…“
Sir Wulfric and the remainder of his men followed me into the great hall.
I was grateful for the women’s quick work. The high table was clear, the morning’s anatomy practise scrubbed away, the schematics tucked out of sight. It looked almost like a room in which a prince might reasonably be staying. Well, aside from various scribbles all over the walls and table.
“Please, sit.” I gestured to the bench across the high table. “Can I offer you something to drink? We have—” I turned briefly to Erika, who had remained by the far wall. “—wine, I believe.”
“Water will do,” Wulfric said, settling onto the bench, his sword scraping against the floor. His men remained standing. “Hopefully we won’t stay long.”
If I had any nitrate left, I could have dissolved it in his drink, but sadly, we used every last bit on the gunpowder.
“Of course.” I sat across from him and folded my hands on the table. “You must have had a hard ride. The passes were still thick with snow not two weeks ago.”
“They still are.” He accepted the cup Erika brought without looking at her. “But the Count grows impatient when news is slow in coming.” A pause. “Tell me, how long have you been in Rand, Your Grace?”
“Since autumn. My father sent me to… observe the domain. Learn on the job.” It was the same vague language I had used with Ugo.
It felt like a lifetime ago.
“Mm.” Wulfric looked around the hall slowly. “Forgive me, but I expected… more activity. A bailiff’s household usually keeps a full staff. Especially with someone so important around.”
“The bailiff runs a modest household.” I smiled. “It is rather refreshing.”
“I see,” Wulfric spoke in the same tone, but his face visibly darkened. He must’ve known about Ugo’s proclivity for excess and luxury. Shit. “And the bailiff himself is currently hunting, you said?”
“He went some days ago.” I tried a different strategy. “You know how he is with food. He felt the winter meals lacked variety and went to catch something more filling. No doubt trying to impress me, too.”
“Mm.” Wulfric turned his cup slowly. “Ugo always struck me as a man who preferred his food to come to him already cooked. I confess I’m surprised to hear he’s taken up active hunting.”
There was a silence.
Why do I get sent one knight who apparently knows Ugo so well?!
I kept my smile where it was.
“But I suppose people can change in twenty years. Even those like that one…” Wulfric concluded. His tone was slightly more pleasant, but his face remained just as frowned.
He didn’t believe me.
One of the standing knights murmured something to the other. I caught none of it, but from the tone, it wasn’t complimentary.
“Well, people surprise you.”
“I suppose so,” Wulfric leaned forward slightly. “In his absence, however, maybe Your Grace can help me. I wonder if you might help me understand something. The Count received a report recently that there was some manner of… disturbance in the village. Perhaps Your Grave knows of it? Given it’s Your Grace’s job to observe the domain, as you said.”
“A disturbance?” My smile crooked. “Y-you know how rumours travel in winter. I imagine people had rather too much to drink, and someone made it sound more dramatic than it was. Might you know who made this report?”
“I would not know.” He nodded slowly. “Though I wonder—" He stopped.
Elke had appeared from the kitchen doorway carrying a tray with more water. She set it on the table, glanced at the knights, and retreated quickly.
But Wulfric turned to her before she could leave the room. “You there. Girl.”
She looked up, her voice skittish. “Sir knight?”
The knight to Wulfric’s right made a small sound of irritation. “You address him as your lord, peasant.”
“M-my apologies,” She stammered as she tried again. “My lord?”
Wulfric waved a hand at his companion. “Where is the bailiff’s cook? Surely he would have come out to ask us about a meal by now.”
“I-I wouldn’t know, my lord,” she said, her eyes darting between the knight and me. “I just h-help around. The kitchens are not my area.”
“And yet here you are. In the hall.” He looked at her more carefully now. “What exactly are your duties?”
“I…assist Lord Karl…”
Both knights looked at her, then at me. A peasant girl assisting a duke’s son. The older knight frowned and turned his head slightly.
“I see,” Wulfric said.
“She’s very capable,” I added. I knew the moment I said it that it hadn’t helped.
Based on Karl’s reputation, I could guess what they were thinking.
“I’m sure.” Wulfric looked back at me. He seemed to have reached a decision. “Your Grace, I will speak plainly. My lord did not send me here to exchange pleasantries. He has received reports not only of the bailiff being killed by a mob, but of armed men training in this village. Men that do not answer to the Count’s garrison, nor to the Empire’s levy.” He set down his cup with a resounding thud. “I think you understand my position.”
I did.
And I was rapidly running out of things to say that weren’t the truth.
I opened my mouth—
“His Grace was attacked,” Erika spoke instead.
Wulfric turned to her.
I turned to her.
“On the hunting trip,” she continued, meeting Wulfric’s gaze with perfect composure. “His Grace was ambushed in the forest by rebelling villagers during the first weeks of autumn. He was badly wounded. The bailiff’s men drove the brigands off, but Ugo himself was sadly killed by the mob. His Grace has been managing the village since.” She paused. “As for the armed men—this is a frontier village with wolves, bandits, and worse in the hills. His Grace thought it prudent to organise a watch until a suitable replacement could be sent by the count.”
Silence.
Wulfric looked at her for a long moment.
“This,” he said finally, “is a very convenient account.”
“Yes, my lord,” Erika agreed. “I imagine the truth often is, when it happens to be true.”
The knight to his right took a step forward. “You will hold your tongue—”
“Steger.” Wulfric stopped him with a gesture, his eyes still on Erika. There was something in his expression that wasn’t entirely displeasure. “You are bold for a peasant girl.”
“I am the village reeve’s granddaughter,” she said with a small curtsy. “I have learnt to know the value of when to speak.”
He sat back. The interrogation, I sensed, had reached a kind of ceiling. We were circling. He knew I was lying. I knew he knew. Erika had bought me time but not a resolution. He would push further, or he would—
The hingeless door to the hall fell over as a man staggered through.
One of Wulfric’s riders.
I recognised the bright green surcoat, now dark and wet across the left side. He was missing his helmet and had both hands pressed to his torso. Protruding between his fingers was the short, thick shaft of a crossbow bolt.
Every person in the room went still.
“Ambush—” the man managed, blood spurting from his mouth in between his words. “In the—village. B-b-between the houses. They—”
He dropped to one knee.
Wulfric was on his feet before the man finished falling. All five knights had their swords drawn.
“What have you done?!” Wulfric shouted at me.
“I—”
Then, a sharp crack.
The wounded knight pitched forward onto the rushes and did not move.
Another bolt was sticking out of the back of his head.
Through the narrow window, I could see shapes moving all around the manor. And from the direction of the courtyard came the distinct sound of Dietrich’s voice giving orders.
Curiously, I could only count about half the army once they all bunched up at the entrance.
Wulfric wheeled on me, sword levelled. “Call them off!”
“I can’t.”
“Call. Them. Off.”
One of the knights, Steger, moved fast. He crossed the room in four steps and caught Erika by the arm, his blade coming up against her throat. The two girls who had remained in the hall were similarly seized.
I felt something cold settle in my chest.
Wulfric stepped toward me. “You will give the order to stand down, or—”
“Let her go.” My voice came out steadier than I expected.
“You are in no position—”
“Let her go,” I said again, “and I will tell them to grant you safe passage back. My word as a duke’s son.” I held his gaze. “But if you harm her, I cannot answer for what happens next.”
Compared to losing someone as valuable as Erika, having the count learn about my army and the crossbows was a low price to pay.
“Your word.” He laughed, short and hard. “You’ve spent the last hour lying to my face! You had your men ambush my knights like common bandits!”
“Yes. But I haven’t lied about the crossbows.” I nodded towards where the hall’s gate used to be. Four men took position there, their crossbows aimed at Wulfric. “It’s a new weapon I made. At this range, through chainmail, you have perhaps a moment after I give the order. How else do you think a common peasant could defeat a trained knight?”
Wulfric looked at the doorway.
Then looked at me.
He was not a stupid man. He was calculating, weighing.
What he didn’t know was that our crossbows had wooden prods, not steel. We lacked enough raw iron to make those. So, even at this range, through chainmail, I wasn’t certain what would happen. They would cause blunt injury, certainly. Likely even a broken bone or two—an injury which was likely fatal in this age. But I couldn’t guarantee they would penetrate and instantly kill him.
“Hey, I am just a peasant girl,” Erika then called out between the knight’s arms with a dark smile. "Are your lives worthwhile enough compared to mine to gamble on it, sir knights?”
A few more tense moments passed.
I was amazed as ever by how she knew exactly the right thing to say.
Finally, with a puff, Sir Wulfric relented.
“Fine. Let them go. The prince clearly values his bed warmers quite highly.”
The knights kicked the women away from their grasp, but kept their swords pointed in all directions as they slowly made their way out of the hall.
“But know this is not the last you are hearing of us, you dishonourable brat!” Wulfric spat on the floor as he exited. “Let’s see if you will be so smug when all of my lord’s forces descend on this village.”
He said something else, too, but his words became muffled as he put his bucket helm back on.
***
Much to my surprise, that same helmet, albeit with a bloody stain over it, clanged against the floor not an hour later.
“H-how?”
“Well, Sir, we figured whatever happened here, they only had one way to leave the valley. Dietrich took one half of the troops. Ralf and I took the other.” Kurt reported with a salute. “They never saw it coming. A few scrapes and bruises on our side, but nothing serious.”
“That’s, that’s—“
“We hoped you wouldn’t mind, sir. Your orders weren’t detailed, after all.”
“No, no, not at all,” I answered as I picked up the helmet to examine it more closely. It was pleasantly heavy in my hands. “You did well taking the initiative.”
“Thank you, sir.” Kurt proudly smiled and lowered his hand from his forehead. “But what now?”
I wanted to stay and investigate how exactly did the count find out about us in he first place—but none of that mattered if he strengthens his defences. And while the count will stay unaware of our army and weapons for a while longer, he will no doubt notice the absence of his patrol soon enough.
Which meant there was really only one thing to do now.
“Now… now mobilise the army, Captain,” I ordered with a grin on my face. It sounded so cool to say it, despite the army already being up and ready. “We are going to war.”