“
There is nothing more we can do now but do as he says and hopefully the King will have time for us in the morning.” Loranda nodded,
“
Yes, let’s make the best of it, do you think we could get a bath?”
Nightwing turned to the valet with a questioning look, who in turn nodded in understanding.
“
Oh and some food too thank you.”
Again the valet nodded and they were ushered out on their way to a tent. At least they were efficient at something here Nightwing wondered.
Back down south Dark and Keera were laying on their bellies either side of Wollfen at dawn, looking out from a ridge to Port Cholandra in the distance. They had been riding all night and laying here was a welcome change to the saddle thought Keera. Dark was busy contemplating the sight of hundreds of soldiers busily moving about on the roads below. Encampments stretched out from the defense walls of the city in all directions. As far as she could ascertain there were thousands of soldiers, too many for the group to really comprehend the sheer size of it all, they had seen nothing like this before. How did they manage to feed and control such huge numbers?
Wollfen had been quietly watching the city gates. For over thirty minutes he watched and then finally spoke.
“
The large contingents are waved through by the gate guards, but all of the individuals up to groups of say 15, they are stopping them all and checking papers, that’s a real problem. I have looked at the papers we have and nothing in them gives us an excuse to go in there. I’m afraid we can’t get in and I need to see in the city, I need to get to the ports themselves.”
Looking out over the bay, Wollfen studied the city walls, they extended out into the ocean like two huge fingers. One at the North of the city here and the other would be at the southern boundary. Not only did it mean any land force couldn’t get around the edges, but the fingers also acted as windbreaks on that choppy bay, giving safe haven during storms to any ship that docked in at the wharves in between them. With gunnery positions bristling along their length it would take a very brave Admiral to attack those walls from the ocean. They were of solid rock and impervious to catapult fire.
“
Something else as well,” piped up Dark, “Have you noticed none of the solders are females?”
Wollfen shook his head, this wasn’t getting any easier.
“
Keera, do you know of any other way to get in other than by those gates or the sea lane?”
Keera shook her head.
“
I’m sorry no, even the sewers were well maintained and usually checked by the city guard on a daily basis. They are well reinforced with thick steel bars and have traps hidden too.”
Wollfen shook his head again. He had really hoped something would reveal itself when he got here, they had ridden this far for what seemed a pointless exercise in the end. He went back to studying the gates, there must be something.
Dark kept looking at the soldiers, watching them busy themselves with their daily grind. She could see the occasional contingent moving out with heavy gear, sometimes it was heavy wagons loaded with building materials, obviously part of their engineering corps. Then there was the other stuff, machines of war including ballistas and catapults.
Keera subtly nestled into Wollfen who was focused on the gates laying her head on her arm and resting. She figured they would be awhile so why not rest? Maybe Wollfen would notice her rubbing into him.
Back from the ridge a bit Justin was watching the horses. The others had been gone awhile but he needn’t worry, if something happened he was within earshot and would be able to react quickly, he too was enjoying his rest.
Wollfen kept staring, he was getting restless, it was nearing midday and still no idea of how to get in. Then it happened, the opening he had been waiting for. A Sorceress with a single soldier behind her had approached the gate, the guards had tipped their head to her and kept looking down until she was past. It was perfect, how lucky could they be? Now they would just have to find a couple of gray robes, Wollfen sprung up, feeling enthusiastic again,
“
I have it!”
Having explained to them on the way back to the horses, the two girls were feeling excited too. It was almost a relief to be on their way again and now they would be able to enter almost with impunity, did it get any better than this? But of course there was the question of the robes.
Dark spoke up,
“
I know! The horses blankets under the saddles are made of gray material.”
They all looked and Wollfen instructed them to remove their saddles and retrieve the blankets. Another bonus was that each piece was folded over in half, being double in size of the area covered.
“
We will need to use two sheets for each girl and have to do some quick sewing to put them together right. Here Keera, take these two and get cracking and I’ll do mine.”
Keera looked on a bit doubtfully; her sewing skills weren’t her forte’.
Justin took the gray sheets and whispered to her
“
It’s okay I had to do a lot of sewing on the farm.”
They sat down together and while Justin took charge, Keera did what she could. Wollfen on the other hand was all thumbs and couldn’t understand the instructions of Dark.
“
How do you do a folded seam? A pleat--what’s that?”
Dark looked up,
“
Go on piss off and do some man’s work.”
Wollfen retreated back to the ridge.
It took maybe an hour, but they managed to create reasonable facsimiles of their intended clothing, the girls tossed their helmets into the bushes and did a good job of hiding their swords under the robes once they were sitting on their horses.
Wollfen sat back in his saddle.
“
Now listen in everyone, each of us will go in a pair at a time, just as we have seen below. We shall make it five minutes apart so that when we are together inside and any word passes around of strangers they wont make a connection. Once we regroup inside we won’t be able to talk amongst ourselves as I have been watching for awhile and the Sorceresses do not engage in conversation. So right now Keera you will lead the way to the tavern you talked of and we can sit down with the barkeep to discuss all we want to know then, do you see any problems with that?”
“
I am sure he will readily cooperate and give us whatever he can even if he is doing a roaring trade at the moment.”
“
Then it is settled, once inside, Keera leads the way and we all keep to our guise until we reach the tavern. I’m not sure Sorceresses would visit taverns, but that’s a risk we will have to take. All right, let’s move out. Keera and Justin first so she can get her bearings waiting for us inside.”
The two moved off and disappeared from view. Dark took the opportunity to kiss Wollfen full on the lips, it caught him by surprise but it was welcome.
“
Maybe tonight in the tavern we can get some alone time?”
Wollfen nodded, he wanted to too. Five minutes passed very quickly for them. The kissing helped, but now they separated and moved off, back to work on a sunny afternoon.
The distance to the gates was eaten up rather quickly and nothing of note happened. It was interesting to see how much the soldiers and others were so submissive in the presence of a 'Sorceress'. They must hold very high status indeed in their own country. They passed through the gates without incident, the guards had bowed their heads as they had every other time, nothing happened and they were in. One soldier caught the sight of a boot under the edge of the gray robe, a questioning look crossed his face.
Keera watched them come in from a distance, once she caught the eye of Wollfen from under her cloaked head, she moved off and led the way. They wound their way through the town, the cobblestones damp and a little slippery. The roads were very busy just as it had been outside. Wollfen could see this was more a situation of cooperation with this army than an occupation of the city by hostile forces, he would have a lot of questions to ask when he got to the tavern.
It was another full ten minutes before they found their destination. Keera pulled up, immediately dismounting and entering the establishment. The less she lingered the less likely anyone would notice. Dark did the same, both Justin and Wollfen took more time, dressed as soldiers they had no need for discretion and it also gave them the benefit of allowing them the time to scan the street before entering. No one noticed them, that was good.
Upon entering they saw that it was rather quiet, only two locals were sitting in a corner both looking on in surprise at the gray-hooded women. The barkeep wasn’t conducting himself much better, he was staring. Keera stood before him and lifted her hood a little, a look of recognition and surprise crossed his face. She looked from him to the customers and back.
He got the message and turned to the customers,
“
I’m afraid the bar is now closed. These people wish to be left alone.”
They were only too willing to leave dropping coins on their table and hastily grabbing their overcoats on the way out the door, the barkeep locking it behind them. Turning around both Dark and Keera slid back their hoods, the barkeep beaming, a huge smile crossing his lips.
“
Keera you mangy tigress!”
Keera beamed back,
“
Hello Duggan.”
They embraced and kissed, Justin watching on and appearing quite uncomfortable. Wollfen was taking note and then motioned Dark to the window.
“
What brings you here of all places? No one’s hiring here you know, practically all have gone out of business now that this army has moved in.”
“
We are on a scouting mission for the Kingdom gathering information. This here is my leader Wollfen and that is Dark and Justin, my partner. Can you help us?”
Duggan watched Justin for a bit and then leaned close to Keera whispering,
“
Isn’t he a bit wet behind the ears for the likes of you?”
Keera swatted him away.
“
So can you help us?”
Duggan stood there looking them all up and down,
“
Well if Keera is in league with you all, then you must be made of just the right amount of rogue, why not? I’m sure as hell not making much money with this lot around.” He motioned them to sit down calling out to the back for food and ale. “So what would you like to know?”
Wollfen leaned forward and spoke,
“
These forces stationed here are the vanguard of a full scale invasion and we have little to go on other than they have large numbers already landed and are laying waste to the towns inland from here. My first question would be, how on earth did they get to occupy this city? There is no sign of there having been a battle here?”
“
And there wasn’t one. One day everything was fine, peaches and cream, then the next we wake up to these soldiers traipsing all over this good city, it could only have happened one way, old Beerguts let them in.”
“
Old Beerguts?”
“
That’s the name of the local Regent in power here. He used to be an Admiral of the Navy. Has a penchant for rum and beer mixed together and well, no one has seen him since these guys moved in.”
“
And the traders?”
“
Oh well on the day this lot showed up they closed the gates and took whatever they wanted. The soldiers have cleaned out what ever they could find, but the biggest thing they have been after is food. Seems they lost a few ships on their way here and they arrived with very little food, so many men here. Those cities stores aren’t going to last long.”
It explained a lot, the towns being stripped for one.
“
So what of the local army?
“
Well, when these soldiers came in, cut a few heads off and the rest, well they just fell into place, those that didn’t were disposed of. They have no qualms about killing anyone that annoys them. Personally if I had a choice, I would run. They don’t take prisoners either.”
“
No prisoners? Why do you say that?”
“
Well, it got back to me that one of those units brought back a bunch of prisoners from who knows where, but the local commandant was incensed and had the lot weighed down and thrown into the sea. Even the captain who was in charge of the unit copped it too.”
That was disturbing news. Damn it, it also meant the villagers that weren’t found were dead too, now Wollfen was angry, angrier than he had been. He had been holding out hope that all the villagers had been taken and put in prisoner camps, he could see it wasn’t so. He let out a low audible moan as he felt his heart constrict. All those people, men, women and children, they were all gone.
“
Hark!” Dark caught their attention. “Soldiers grouping, a sorceress is talking to a man out there and he is pointing this way.”