Seven Swords - Michael E. Shea (best manga ereader txt) 📗

“The council hides under their own skirts. The villagers are worried. I hope they see reason.”

The door opened and Severn stepped out. He and Gauve shared a look Jon could not decode.

“It is agreed. You and your friends will augment our militia and protect our south road.” The statement was absurd and idiotic but it was a victory none the less. Jon bowed and accepted. He turned to Gauve.

“I have one condition for our service,” said Jon. Severn grew tense. “I must have more of your wife’s fine bread.”

Jon returned to the camp with good tidings and two wrapped loaves of Gauve’s wife’s bread. They ate and they talked of the meeting. That afternoon the seven swords walked through the town to the south road. At first not a single face was seen but Jon saw the elders and a few others lined up on the road. Soon, four boys took up their west flank, sticks in hand, marching as they passed.

I can only hope we can save them, thought Jon.

San’doro led them to a clearing high on the eastern mountain wall. Below them, to the west, they could see the road and the fields on the southern edge of the village. North of them, a glacier stream flowed past and into the heart of the mountains to the east.

As the others ate, Jon and San’doro stood on the edge of their camp surveying the city.

“What have you learned, my friend?” asked Jon.

“The town cannot be defended,” said San’doro. “There is no wall, no natural choke point. We know they will have to come from the south but that gives them a space as wide as the town in which to launch their attack.”

“What of the stream?” asked Jon.

“It is shallow enough and calm enough for riders to cross. They may choose the bridge at first but there is no reason they can’t cross the stream later if they wish.

“How about further south? Can we build a defense further away from the town?” asked Jon. As they watched, dusk fell and the light of oil lanterns began glowing yellow through the shuttered windows of the village homes.

“The ground is a lot rougher south. Chasms and large boulders scatter across the area but there are dozens of ways through for a long distance. He pulled on his leather cloak, a gift from Ca’daan for the cooler climate of the town.

“So what choices do we have?” asked Jon.

“Do you remember what Ca’daan told us about the salt mines in the west?” said San’doro. Jon nodded. “Perhaps that way may be more easily defended than the town itself.”

“Perhaps,” said Jon. “The townsfolk won’t like hiding in some mine while demontouched bandits burn their houses and slaughter their animals.”

“It is better than being cooked and eaten,” said San’doro.

“It is at that,” said Jon. “Take the Kal and have Severn show you the mines today. I’ll send Vrenna and Thorn south to keep watch on the mountain passes there. Adrin, Susan, and I will visit the village again and keep watch here. What do we know of the storms?”

“The torrent,” San’doro corrected.

“Yes, the torrent,” said Jon. “Do we know if it still rages or will the bandits now be on the move?”

“I don’t know. Ca’daan could tell you,” said San’doro.

“Indeed. I’ll ask the townsfolk as well. Good luck today, my friend.” Jon placed a hand on San’doro’s shoulder and the two men joined the others for their morning breakfast.

Vrenna and Thorn, dressed in hide cloaks and hoods pulled tight, went south to the mountain crags. San’doro and the Kal met Severn at the town’s southern bridge. He looked quizzically at San’doro and then at Jon on the request to see the mines, but agreed.

Jon, Susan, and Adrin walked into the town thoroughfare. Adrin wore his read cloak and his leather three-cornered hat. Both of them wore boiled leather armor, Adrin’s the brown leather of the bandit from whom he took it and Jon’s the black hard leather of the Gray Wolves. Jon chose against his own three-corner hat, instead keeping his hood up against the red sun. Susan wore a dress of burgundy, another gift from Gauve’s wife.

As they walked, the four boys, the town’s militia Ca’daan had called them, joined on their eastern flank. One of the boys, the smallest, smiled at Susan. Susan smiled back, the smile of a child, not a being who read the thoughts of everyone around her but the child she used to be; the child she should be.

“Go join them,” said Jon. Susan looked up at him. He nodded and she smiled.

“I’m sure, go have fun,” said Jon, answering her unspoken question. He would need her at the council’s meeting but she needed to be a child more. There may not be much fun left in the world. It was important that she seek it when she can.

Susan smiled and went to the boys. They greeted her and she smiled shyly back. One of them offered her a tour of their town and she accepted. When the boy held his arm out, a gesture he must have learned about in tales of knightly courtship, she took it. Jon felt tears well up in his eyes.

Ca’daan met them on the path to the house of the elders. He saw Susan with the militia and smiled at Jon.

“My uncle would like to talk to you,” said Ca’daan. “He was removed from the council but he is still popular with the rest of the village. He can help us if we need him.”

“We probably will,” said Jon.

They traveled down a small path to a stone and wood house. A wood stick symbol of marking hung over the door, a symbol of religions belief Jon did not recognize. It reminded Jon of the Voth.

Gauve’s wife had prepared a lunch for them. Thick slices of meat, potatoes, roots thick and white and slabs of steaming brown rye bread. Jon’s mouth watered. It was a meal the likes of which he had not eaten in years. He was beginning to love this town. At this moment he wanted nothing more than to rest here for the rest of his life.

“Gods below, what a meal,” said Adrin, staring wide-eyed at the table full of food. On his mention of the gods, Gauve’s wife made a sign in the air with two fingers held out at a right angle and she whispered something under her breath.

“Are you well, sir?” Gauve asked Jon. Jon’s feeling of age and weariness must have shown.

“Yes. It has been a long time since I had a meal like this,” said Jon. “Thank you.”

They spent much of the meal in silence. Jon savored every single bite, feeling the juices warm his mouth and roll down his tongue. Adrin ate like a bear on a fresh kill. Gauve’s wife, Celeste, refilled his plate, laughing at his blush. When they had slowed, Gauve began the conversation.

“How do things look to you?” asked the older man.

“The town proper will be difficult to defend. There are no walls and and no natural choke points. The bridge would work for a very short time but the stream isn’t a clear defense. We can spike it to slow them but it will not stop them very long. If they get into the village and the village is populated, many will die. Perhaps everyone.”

This grim news made Gauve’s face fall. Celeste made her strange sign again and whispered to herself.

“What choices have we?” asked Gauve.

“We can flee north but your nephew tells me that the torrent will soon cut off that path. I have another idea but I think it will be unpopular,” said Jon. “The salt mines.”

Gauve, Celeste, and Ca’daan stared at Jon.

“They will burn the village,” said Gauve. “We will live like rats in holes. Is there no other choice?”

“None that I can see. None that we can accomplish soon. When is the southern torrent stilled?” asked Jon to Ca’daan.

“It ends within the week. You will see the southern gray clouds turn white and recede into the mountains. They roll north as the air cools and then the torrent rakes the northern trail for two months. Only our valley here is spared,” said Ca’daan.

“And it takes two weeks to cross from Fena Set to Fena Dim?” asked Jon.

“Yes, if you have no caravan and a good horse. Normally it is three to four weeks,” said Ca’daan.

“That gives us about two to three weeks to prepare. We should start by spiking the river. Do you have a blacksmith?” asked Jon.

“Yes,” said Gauve. “Pedemont. He is a friend.”

“I have a simple job for he and his apprentices if he has any. It is a simple construction but we’ll need a lot of them,” said Jon.

“I will introduce you,” said Gauve.

“Two of us are in the south hoping to find some advantage but I don’t expect to find much. We have to prepare for people to go to the mines. We’ll need food, water, and shelter. We may have to stay there a while,” said Jon. Gauve’s face looked grim.

“I’m not leaving our home,” said Celeste.

“Woman,” said Gauve. “If you stay here they will rape you, kill you slowly, and eat you on this table. We can rebuild whatever they destroy. We cannot rebuild our lives.” Celeste quieted but seethed. Jon did not expect better reactions from most of the town folk. They would not want to leave and the river spikes would not be enough.

“Stock the caves anyway,” said Jon. “When the torches appear to the south and they ride in, people may change their minds.”

“I will talk to some folks,” said Gauve.

“Ok. Adrin will go with you.” He saw Adrin nod. He was learning well. “I will wait at our camp in the clearing on the east side of the southern road. Gauve laughed and Celeste blushed.

“What,” said Jon.

“That is where our older boys and girls go to be alone and away from the watchful eyes of adults. I can’t count the number of children sired up there. We call it the Lover’s Lap.” They laughed.

Jon met Adrin outside.

“Stay with Gauve. Learn what and who you can. Be nice and put on your charm for them as a nobleman and a romantic. Don’t talk of bloodshed at all. Meet the blacksmith and tell him we will meet him tomorrow to show him what we need.” Adrin nodded at Jon. Jon saw something new in Adrin’s eyes. Respect. Not just respect for battle. Jon had won that weeks ago, but respect as the leader of the coming battle.

“Come back tonight and we’ll plan for tomorrow.”

As Jon headed south, Ca’daan walked with him. “Can you get Susan? I’m not yet sure they want me knocking on doors around here.”

“Yes,” said Ca’daan. He walked up to one of the village houses, the house of the boy who escorted Susan. He returned a few minutes later empty handed.

Panic rose in Jon and he became conscious of the weight of his guns on his hips. For a moment he had a vision clear and terrible in his mind. They had killed her. They found out what she could do and they had already killed her for it. He saw himself draw his pistol and shoot Ca’daan in the face. He saw himself kill the family that had taken her in. He saw himself kill every man, woman, and child in the town. It was easy to see it, easy to feel it. He had done it before.

Ca’daan’s smile broke the dark vision, however.

“Susan was invited to stay with Alek, the younger boy. His mother