“So, then, what think you, should we take him up on his offer?”
“We have to. There’s no other choice. As long as Gunthar holds the castle undisputed, none of our lives will be worth living. We would have to post a permanent guard in front of the castle to bar him exit, and even then there’s no guarantee that he would not find some means of coming and going on the lake. We can’t surround the entire castle.”
Brach held up an imperious hand, cutting me short. “Wait you, Clothar. I am beginning to feel too naked to be discussing such things. Let me put on some clothing before we discuss this further. I’ll be thinking of it as I dress, and I’ll be back directly. I promise not to waste any time.”
We walked together, this time without speaking, until we reached his tent and he ducked inside, leaving me alone to really look about me for the first time since I arrived.
The camp was not large, yet it seemed large because of the number of people crammed into the small space it occupied, and the space seemed even smaller because of the high, steeply slanted walls of rock that hemmed the valley in on three sides. The valley itself was long and narrow, in the shape of a ragged S, and the camp lay in the rear portion of the shape, farthest from the waters of the mere that guarded the entrance.
I looked at the bustle going on all around me and reflected that, had I not known we were in a time of war, the condition of this camp would have left me in no doubt. There was not a woman to be seen, although I knew my aunt and her three ladies were here, and every man in the place was involved in something that related in some way to fighting: many were polishing and sharpening their weapons and tending to their armor, scraping and hammering at dents and rust stains; many more were tending to their saddles and riding gear—I had counted almost fifty horses in the front part of the valley and had been surprised that people had gone to so much trouble leading the animals across the causeway under the water when they might have left them safely on the other side. But then I had realized, in the thinking of it, that there could be no safety on the other side, since anyone riding casually by would immediately see horses grazing there and would investigate to find out who and where the owners of the animals might be.
None of the people around me paid me the slightest attention. I was there, and therefore one of them. There was no discussion of that and no question of its being untrue, and so it mattered not that they did not know me … they assumed that some other person did and that I had a purpose in being there, all of which was true. In the meantime, they had duties of their own, and they pursued them single-mindedly.
I was thinking about that, and watching two men struggling with some kind of sawhorse, when Brach spoke from behind me.
“So you think we should go back to the castle quickly? Soon, I mean?”
I was disconcerted yet again by the sheer size and bulk of him. Naked and wrapped only in a towel he had been formidable. Fully dressed, he seemed even larger, and I knew that when completely encased in armor fashioned to his own frame, he would seem leviathan. I looked at the breadth of him and was aware that I had to move my head to look from one of his shoulders to the other.
“Sweet Jesus, you’re huge!” I could not help myself, and Brach twisted his mouth wryly.
“Aye,” he said, wistfully, I thought. “So I have been told. It has advantages attached in time of war, I suppose—the extra strength and superior reach—but it also makes a bigger target out of me, more difficult to miss for the bowmen and the spearmen and the slingers who can stay out of range of a superior reach. Believe me, Cousin, being as large as I am has its drawbacks, even with the ladies. Now, should we go back soon?”
“Aye, we should.” I was intrigued by his mention of the ladies, but I knew this was no time to discuss it. “And the quicker the better. The odds are acceptable that Gunthar might not have returned yet to take the castle. And even if he has taken the place, he could not yet have had time to gather all his thousand men. Some of them are on patrol in the east, with Lord Ingomer, are they not?”
“Aye, but not many. Two or three score riders, no more. Gunthar’s own guards.”
“No matter. What’s important is that he has not yet had time to marshal all his forces. Once he’s in the castle, he can hold it easily and admit them later, as they arrive. But if we move quickly now we can oust him in the middle of the night, from inside the castle itself, where he will least expect us and will not be equipped to handle such a surprise reversal. So I believe we should leave immediately with as many men as can be spared.”
“Spared by whom? And what about my mother?”
“She should remain here for the time being with all the other women and the Lady Anne’s infant. She is safer here than she could be anywhere else in Benwick, and knowing she is here we’ll have no cause to worry about her. We will be able to concentrate on what needs to be done, and to get the task finished. After that, we can send back for her, and she will be safe inside the castle for the duration of this war, if it is a war.”
“Oh, it’s a war, Cousin. It is war to the death, and our enemy has nothing in common with us, though we are blood kin and siblings.” He paused, thinking, then nodded. “So, we should leave immediately, but realistically that means tomorrow at first light. After all, I have a brother lying dead out there and I need to bury him. What then?”
Brach noticed my hesitation, and his brow wrinkled slightly. “You think the timing is too important, that we do not have sufficient time to bury Theuderic and reach Genava as quickly as we should?”
I nodded, grimacing my regret but unable to dissemble. “Aye, I do.”
“No matter. We’ll do both. I’ll find my brother and see to his burial because I cannot stomach the thought of leaving him out there for the crows to pick at. You and Ursus and a few of my men can ride ahead and discover what the situation is. I’ll follow you with the rest of my men as soon as we’ve done what we set out to do.”
“That makes sense. A few hours won’t make too much of a difference as long as the preliminary moves are set in place, and I can look after those. By the time you arrive I’ll have everything arranged.”
“What will you have to do?”
I shrugged. “I won’t know that until we reach Genava and find out who is there—who’s in the castle and who’s still outside. If Gunthar is in possession, much will depend on how many of his people are in there with him, but Clodio will tell us that when he comes out to meet us. Once we know that, we will know how many men we need to take into the castle.”
“We’ll take them all.”
“No, Cousin, that’s a bad idea. The more men we take with us, the greater the chance we have of being detected. Ideally, we should go in with a score of men—the best men we have. We’ll overcome the guard and lower the bridge, let our own people in. Given the surprise of our being inside the gates when it doesn’t appear possible, we should be able to achieve great things in little time.”
“What if Gunthar’s not there? The castle might be in his hands but under the control of one of his men. What then?”
“Nothing changes, except that we lose the chance to capture Gunthar. No matter. We kill or capture those inside and close the gates against the others. Let Gunthar wander about outside in the open where he thought to scatter us.”