Adversaries Together (39 page)

He felt like vomiting now, the room was
terrifying him. Every time he looked up it felt like the walls were
pushing in on him, he tried to focus on one point—the torch, a rack
of leather armor, even a point on the wall—but it didn’t work. He
felt a rush of heat to his face, his vision blurred, and he swore
he saw everything move in on him. The only thing that seemed to
help was focusing in the armor, on girding himself for the upcoming
fight.

He worked quickly to keep his mind occupied.
It had taken him longer than he would have liked to find suitable
armor. Most of what Roth had presented him with was old, not poorly
kept but certainly having seen better days. All of it was mix and
match, Goshen was certain he was seeing pieces from at least three
distinct armies and several eras. Sitting he had just finished
tying on some padded cuisses and was now covering his boots with
sabatons. As he stood up to lash on the thigh and tasset he had
found, Roth entered.

“
Finding everything
alright?”

“
Well enough, I suppose,”
Goshen didn’t look at him and tried to seem calm, “Would rather
have my own armor of course.”

Roth nodded, “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I
guess I owe you some plate.”

“
Hardly.” Goshen smiled.
Roth gestured him to come closer and hold up his arms. Roth drew
the strings of Goshen’s greaves padding tighter, then picked up the
plate greaves and lashed them onto him.

Roth looked at Goshen’s chest, “That gambeson
fit?”

Goshen tapped it with his free hand,
“Actually quite well. I usually don’t go in for all this padding
but have all the poisons I’ve had lately…”

Roth smirked, “I hear ya. Got a bit of that
bandit venom myself.”

“
Oh?”

“
Yeah, they stabbed me in
the chest with it before they threw me into the sea.”

“
Damn. How did you survive
that?”

“
Washed up like
driftwood.”

“
Lucky.”

“
That’s all it ever
is.”

“
Well, I think I’d disagree
with that.” Goshen turned around and slipped a gorget around his
neck, then pulled the straps tight.

“
Give me a hand with this
breast place and pauldron?”

“
Why I’m here.” It took a
few minutes but finally they finished. Goshen stood and looked at
himself in the dirty mirror.

“
This torchlight makes me
look a little less ridiculous.” Goshen said. His reflection showed
a mishmash armor set—black padding, a dull and dented breastplate,
pauldrons and greaves that had a queer rust color to them, his
thighs and boots oddly well-polished.

“
I’m sure in the light of
day,” Roth said deadpan, “that your opponents will only concern
themselves with the weapon in your hand.”

“
Surely. And speaking of?”
Roth held up a long seven-flanged mace.

“
I remember watching you
fight off three men with this kind of weapon.”

Goshen took the mace testing its weight, it
felt good and he felt a bit like his old self. “It was more than
that actually. You just saw the last three.”

“
Good to know.” Roth
smirked. “You’re going to be in the thick of it.”

“
I realize.”

“
You’ll be facing Spire
soldiers.”

“
Is that what Jena
spied?”

“
They’ll be
disciplined.”

“
I know what they’ll
be.”

“
But they won’t be prepared
to face a paladin—use that.”

“
How exactly?”

“
Let them know you’re a
Cathedral crusader. It’ll put a hard thought in their
heads.”

“
You see what I look like
in this patchwork, I doubt they’re going to believe me if I tell
them I’m a warrior for the Light.”

“
Fery has a tabard for
you”

Goshen paused, “A tabard?”

“
Yeah, it’s that white
thing with the golden sun rising…or setting, now that I think about
it.”

“
Where did you get
that?”

“
It’s been here since they
killed the people who built this place.”

The two men stared at each other, then Roth
turned, “I’ll show you the stairway down, Fery and Declan are at
the bottom waiting for you.”

“
The girl?” Goshen asked as
Roth stopped before a narrow and steep set of stairs.

“
She and her father are
adamant that she’ll acquit herself just fine.” Roth shrugged but
tried to sound confident.

“
What do you think though?”
Goshen pressed.

“
I’ve only ever actually
seen you and Jena fight. So I’m taking a lot on faith.”

Goshen began slowly descending the stairs,
the clink of the armor echoing off the stone walls, “I’m sure it’ll
be rewarded.”

“
It would be the first
time.” Roth muttered as he watch Goshen disappear in to the
darkness. He tapped the wall a couple of time, then turn and
left.

Kira held her bow up arrowless staring out
the center window of the white hall. She took three quick steps to
the opposite side and aimed; she dipped under the window behind
her, stood and aimed, and then reversed the motion to be standing
back where she started.

“
You’ll need to move
faster.” Wynne said standing behind her.

“
How fast can I go when
you’ll be doing the same thing? We’ll be lucky if we don’t fall
over each other.” Kira replied still gazing out the
window.

“
She has a point.” Roth
emerged from the map room.

Kira turned, “How did you? There’s no passage
in there.”

“
Yes, there is.” Roth said
dismissively.

“
I don’t think it’ll be a
problem. But I’m worried we won’t able to be too accurate.” Wynne
moved to Kira’s window, “The closer the fight gets the tougher this
will be.”

“
You don’t need to worry
about picking off soldiers once they engage Goshen. Your job is to
lay into them once they pass the point of no return.” Roth knelt
looking over the quarrels.

“
What’s that now?” Kira
asked.

“
When going back is farther
than going forward.” Wynne clarified.

“
You’re going to herd them
towards Goshen, Declan, and Fery.”

“
What if they need us down
there?” Kira asked.

Roth shook his head and stood up, “Our only
advantage is our position. You two need to keep this position. They
won’t overrun us below but you need to be here to make sure that
any reinforcements are thinned.”

“
I just don’t like the idea
of losing Goshen again after just getting him back.”

“
Trust me, neither does
he.” Roth pointed to Wynne but was staring out the window intent on
something in the distance.

“
And you and
Jena?”

“
You’ll see us soon
enough.” Roth crossed the corridor and left.

Wynne looked at Kira, “He’s right, I didn’t
come all this way to lose Fery again.” Kira nodded as Wynne held up
is own bow to the window, “Now try it one more time only together.”
Kira gave a faint smile and raised her bow.

“
This is fucking stupid.”
Declan watched as Fery tied the tabard around Goshen as snug as she
could.

“
I couldn’t agree with you
more.” Goshen conceded.

“
Where did he even get
tha?” Declan stood with his arms crossed and a clear look of
skepticism, “We ‘pect them to turn tail and run jus cuz they think
they see a paladin?”

“
He is a paladin.” Fery
said sending a fierce glare Declan’s way.

“
Was a paladin.” Goshen
corrected.

Fery came around and poked him in the chest,
“Are.” She turned to Declan, “When they see him, they’ll realize
that they’re facing the Cathedral. That’s enough to make any
mercenary hesitate.”

“
Is it now?” Declan gave a
wicked grin.

“
Isn’t it?” Goshen piped
in.

“
It is.” Fery ended the
conversation and walked toward the fire pit.

“
She’s an interesting one.”
Declan murmured.

Goshen lifted his mace and followed after
her, “I wouldn’t let her father hear you say that.”

“
Yeah, maybe. You know,
I’ve never been to Rikonen. Never been to Essia actually. Guess
this is the closest I’ve ever come.”

“
You seem quite
lighthearted for what’s about to happen.”

“
What? Trying not to
die?”

“Suppose that’s one way to put it.” Goshen
gave weak smile.

“
Look,” Declan let his
levity lapse, “You’re a soldier. That means more than you think. I
fight dirty like a sad grouser.” He pointed to Fery, who was
standing astride the fire pit staring out over the glen, “Something
tells me she’s going to show us something. But that doesn’t mean
she isn’t the weakest of us.”

“
We have to fight to
protect each other,” Goshen took hold of Declan’s wrist, “Assume
you’ll die; assume you’ll die so one of us will live. That’s how
I’ll be fighting.”

“
I’ll not let you die.”
Declan asserted then gave a wink, “Nor her. It’ll be my way in with
her da.” Goshen couldn’t help but laugh. When they joined Fery,
Goshen turned to look up the cliff face. He found the windows of
the white hall and waved, a few moments passed and then he saw
Kira’s hand wave down to him.

Ardavass, The City of The Seven Spires

The view from the Jacobean spire was of Lake
Heltast. Carlisle Jakobs when he had built the first spire had made
sure all the windows faced south and took in the whole of the lake
land vista. The only way Tamas could see the other spires was from
the balcony at the base of his family’s tower and although it had a
commanding view of the inner city, he never much liked looking up
at the others. Out on the lake were the countless thin barges the
wealthy whittled away their time upon and still further out were a
peppering of tiny dark sailed fishing boats. Unlike Elixem to the
north, Lake Heltast was shared between the wealthy and the working
and there was no lacking of Kyrios who would make this point
repeatedly to foreign envoys and even those visiting from elsewhere
in Silvincia.

Tamas was standing before the huge window
lost in thought when Neve entered. She made her way across the room
at an even pace saying nothing to him to sit at a high-backed chair
at the thick black wood table on the dais. At each of the seats
flanking the table and facing the window where Tamas stood had
several scrolls and pages of vellum set before them. Once she sat,
Neve realized that the plate of cheese and bread at the center of
the table was just out of reach. It seemed that Tamas was insistent
upon no one being distracted from the task before them. She rose,
pushed the papers out of her way and dragged the platter closer to
her.

“
Will I have to get my own
drink as well?”

Tamas didn’t turn around, “Most likely, but
there’s some raki and there will be some lassis brought in once the
others arrive.”

Neve burned a hole in the back of Tamas’s
head and let out an audible sigh. She stood again and walked to a
far island where a crystal pitch of the milky looking raki sat
amongst several other carafes. She filled a stout, fat glass and
stomped back to the table. As she sat, Tobin and Sondra
entered.

“
Apparently, Tamas is in
one of his work only moods.” She announced to the
newcomers.

“
When isn’t he?” Sondra
leaned in and gave Neve a friendly hug by way of a greeting,
whereas Tobin lingered at the liquor island.

“
What work is there to
finish,” Tobin said as he prepared himself a drink, “He pretty much
accomplished all we needed to at the last assembly. Excellent job
by the way, I think Matias actually choked on his own
rage.”

“
As though that were
difficult to prompt.” Neve said.

“
He can hardly complain,
he’ll certain be given the medal as Praetor and that should be more
than enough to placate him.” Sondra sat next to Neve and began to
look through the papers before her.

“
For now, I suppose we’re
going to have to plot to figure out how to keep him from getting
any actual power.” Tobin sat.

Tamas turned slowly and moved towards the
dais, “He will die in service to the nation.”

The others blinked and stared at him. Neve
spoke, “You hope.”

Tamas sat with the rest but further away from
the table than the others, “I know.”

“
You can’t know.” Tobin
scoffed.

Ignoring him, Tamas continued, “Matias will
use this as an opportunity to become the arm of The Cathedral, it
will find him wanting.”

“You hope.” Tobin took a long drink.

“
I know,” Tamas pulled a
piece of vellum off the table and held it up for the rest to see,
“This is a map of Cassubia, the territory of The Cathedral. It
spans from the western bank of the Falkstone to the northern bank
of the Elmander. What we refer to as the Lake District.”

“
We know.” Tobin
said.

“
The Cathedral can’t
consume the Novosar even though it’s a tiny mark state because it
would be seen as a threat to our nation. The north is too sparsely
populated to be of any concern. However, it has already
orchestrated the elimination of the Athingani…”