“You did it, Cub?” Vlad demanded.
“I have no idea. Give me a drink. Let me sit down. Don’t suppose I’ll ever know if I did it-I mean, whether it worked.” Suddenly nauseous, he flopped onto a chair, the chair in which Marek had died. He had been seen. He had broken the first commandment yet again, and he could no longer plead ignorance. He should not have tried it. Justina was going to rip him to strips, and he was fairly sure now that her help and approval were vital to any faint hope he might have of escaping the Church’s vengeance for the death of Brother Azuolas.
“What exactly did you do?” Otto asked. “Tell us, dammit!”
Wulf told them, stuttering as reaction dug in like icicles. He had not slept for so long it felt like months. Tomorrow he would be needed again. He must report back to Justina, and he must sleep.
“Go and change,” Otto said. “You’re soaked!”
“If it blew up, would we have heard it?” Anton asked Vlad.
The big man shook his head. “In this snow? Other side of a mountain? No, but hot coals and powder don’t mix, so I’m sure he destroyed one wagon. One won’t save us. Nobody’s going to stay around and put the fire out, though, so the other wagons may go up as well. Very likely, in fact. And if they all go, then Wartislaw will almost certainly not have the means to breach our defenses. He still outnumbers us hugely, but the boy may have won us enough time for the king’s men to arrive. That’s as much as-”
The castle trembled as if kicked by a giant. Wine bottles rattled on the table, the candlesticks danced on the mantel, and hot embers collapsed on the hearth.
“Satan’s balls!” Anton yelled. “What was that?”
Vlad gave a great roar and charged the nearest window like a mad bull. He flung the casement open, admitting a gale and filling the room with flying snowflakes. It was still daylight out there, but it was barely possible to see across the bailey.
“What in the pit are you doing?” Anton roared.
His brother turned to show a ragged row of big white teeth in his forest of beard. “Waiting for the thunder. It’s like mining under a castle wall. You feel the. Y sti thump before you hear the-”
A long rolling rumble echoed off the mountains, and re-echoed faintly from farther away.
“You ever heard thunder in a snowstorm?” Vlad shouted, waving his fists in the air.
Otto said, “Yes, but it’s very-” He was drowned out.
“You did it, Wolfcub, you did it! I was wrong.”
Wulf felt a jolt of triumph and leapt to his feet, fatigue forgotten. “One wagon or all of them?”
“Every last one of them, surely!” Vlad slammed the casement.
“Bravo!” Otto clapped Wulf on the back hard enough to jar his teeth, then hugged him.
Anton screamed in joy and waved his fists in the air.
“Devil take ’em!” Vlad bellowed. “Half the shitty Wend army must be plastered all over the forest! What are we waiting for? To arms!” He charged to the door, wrestled briefly with the latch, and then vanished out into the corridor, still bellowing.
Otto said, “Heavenly Father, we humbly thank you for this great mercy that you have…” He concluded with a prayer for the souls of the dead. Three brothers said amen and made the sign of the cross.
Wulf had not broken the first commandment after all, because all the workaday witnesses must be dead. But his jubilation soon lost out to shame. And fear too. What had he done? Shaken the mountains? How many dead?
“You lost your dagger,” Otto said. “Take this one, you’ve earned it.” He held out his own, an heirloom with an amber handle in the shape of a man’s forearm with the fist in a clenched gauntlet making the pommel.
Wulf recoiled. “No, no! I can’t wear that.”
“You can and you will,” his brother said firmly. “It doesn’t belong to the reigning baron. The fifth baron had it made for his youngest son. For two hundred years it has been worn by the Magnus most worthy. I didn’t earn it, I just inherited it. I brought it along this time because I was planning to give it to Anton if he could hold on to his earldom. But by God, you’re the hero now! Wear it till you die. Tell your sons to send it back to Dobkov.”
“But-”
“Take it!” Otto roared.
Reluctantly Wulf obeyed and stared in disbelief at the treasured Magnus Dagger. As a small child he had dreamed of wearing it. He hadn’t been very old when hery y W realized how slim his chances were, with four brothers ahead of him. “This should be a reward for prowess at arms, not witchcraft.”
“It’s a reward for courage. Hang it on your belt or stick it in my chest. That’s the only way I’ll take it back.”
“I agree,” Anton said thinly.
In disbelief, Wulf hung the heirloom at his right thigh. Today, what was left of it, he would wear the Magnus Dagger. Tomorrow he would give it back to Otto to keep safe for him. Otherwise the Inquisition would steal it.
“Come, Count,” Otto said. “Vlad is right. We must strike while we can. Let’s go throw the fiendish bombard into the river.” He strode out the door.
Wulf shivered. “I need dry clothes first.”
“Wait!” Anton shut the door and blocked it, arms defiantly folded. “Wulf, you have done everything we could have hoped for. You have defeated the Wends and saved Castle Gallant and we are all very grateful, but the Inquisition will soon come looking for you. You said so yourself. I realize that you got into the trouble you are in now by helping me, and I promised you any reward I could give you. Name it, take it, and then go. You must flee.”
Wulf looked up at his brother and saw a lot more jealousy than gratitude. He felt his temper twitch again. He shivered again as the cold bit deeper. “Pretty speech! The trouble is, the only reward I want, you cannot give me. And fleeing is no answer. Let’s see how things are back in Dobkov… Branka is currently reading a bedtime story to our nephews. Old Father Czcibor is teaching a confirmation class. Understand? I can see them and I could go to them. The same applies to the Inquisition’s Speakers. I can’t hide from them, no matter where I go.”
“But you don’t need to draw their attention to the rest of us!”
Fury! “Oh, listen, you long streak of stupidity. The Scarlet Spider fooled you, haven’t you seen that yet? When Zdenek offered to exalt you from a nothing to a lord of the northern marches, he knew that you couldn’t claim the reward without using Satanism. He knew the Magnuses produced both swordsmen and sorcerers. You knew that too, and knew you could twist my arm until I agreed to help, so you accepted. When you twisted, I yielded. I was just as guilty and just as deceived.”
Anton unfolded his arms, but one hand sought out his sword hilt and the other went to steady his scabbard. He was probably too mad to listen to reason. “Deceived how?”
“Because if we’ve won the war, we’ve won it for that old sinner, not for us. Maybe I’ ve destroyed Wartislaw’s powder and Vlad and Otto can do the rest. But the way the Church sees it, I begged help from Satan and you accepted it, too. We are up to our necks in Satanism, all of us. The cardinal won’t lift a finger to save inglp us, not a pinkie! Once he’s sure that Castle Gallant is safe, he’ll throw the Magnuses to the dogs and put some dandy courtier in your place. We’re all doomed. Understand? Now get out of my way.”
Anton’s face was fiery, and for a moment Wulf thought he was actually going to draw. Glaring, he stepped aside, and Wulf left.
CHAPTER 15
Wartislaw of Griffin had not won his duchy by being nice to anyone, even his nominal overlord, the Holy Roman Emperor. His entire court was terrified of him. So were his generals, because he liked to boast that none of them ever lost more than one battle. But he had rarely been in such a rage as he was now.
Even his falcons feared him, because they were prevented by their jessing oaths from defending themselves from his rages. He had been known to withhold their powers for weeks on end, and even have them beaten when they especially displeased him. He flew three falcons, who had speeded his climb to power up a ladder of mysterious deaths.