Chương 65: To Oschester

The next morning, I woke up well before sunrise and raced to the blacksmith shop, where I checked on the progress of the siphon. I told Shatter, "We're leaving soon, and I'm going to need my siphon. Is it in a stable condition?" I wasn't going to leave behind any of the loot I got while freeing Oschester, that much I could say for certain. Especially not the Presences.

"It's half-enhanced," Shatter said.

"It'll give you larger Presences at a higher rate, but won't give them an aspect yet. But it's also not going to fall apart on you."

"That's fine," I said.

"I also rushed to complete your leg armour," he added, then rushed back into the shop and retrieved a burlap pouch.

"The cuisses you requested."

"Thanks." I pulled them out, then fastened them to my legs beneath the long skirt of chainmail and scale mail.

"They fit perfectly."

"It's easy to size them when I have myself as a reference." He handed me the siphon. I cast him a grin.

"I'll make good use of all of it. Thanks." Before he could say anything else, I rushed to the mess hall, where a bunch of early risers were gathering, eating breakfast and helping each other fasten on their armour. We weren't going alone, though. There were nearly twenty other regular, fully-trained senior sappers in Castle Urcia, and they had taken a corner of a table on one side of the mess hall. They'd be coming with us.

I gathered a hearty breakfast, then stocked up my kit bag with rations—packets had been pre-made for us, and were waiting at the end of the meal line. I stuffed a few into my bag, then scarfed down my breakfast as the others arrived. There were no new announcements. Lieutenant Owl would brief us en-route. Everyone ate with quiet apprehension, digging through their meals until they were done, then gathered in front of the mess hall.

"To your horses," the Drillmaster instructed us.

"Form a column in front of the main gates, and we will depart. All Dupes will be required to take a shield. If you do not already have one crafted for you, a basic one will be provided for you." I gathered Burr from the stables. I hadn't gotten as much practice riding as I would have liked, but I still remembered enough from my stint of practice on the way over.

Once we had formed up into orderly ranks—four squads in a line, behind one lieutenant—the Lord Ceonwin blew his horn, and we took off, riding northeast at a brisk trotting pace. ~ ~ ~ The horses couldn't ride this quickly forever. We paused halfway through the day to let them rest, where we brushed them down to keep them from overheating and fed them. While we rested, Lieutenant Owl visited all the sergeants. He held a map.

As a senior sapper, he was older than us, and his armour had pale blue markings as well as orange. He tapped the sheet of parchment. It was a sketch of Oschester from a bird's eye view, and it used the messenger's best estimates, plus Sir Egric's letter, to guess enemy positions.

"Our task is to take the outer wall and breach the defenses before the footmen arrive. Lord Ceonwin has sent his thegns to collect them. You have been selected for an infiltration task. You are to head west when we reach the fortress with a few other squads, circling around the outer wall while the other squads create a distraction at the main gate. We'll breach the wall as quickly as we can, then disappear into the city to begin freeing civilians. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Lieutenant," I replied.

"We'll smooth out the details at our evening break. But for now, they're about to call us to keep moving. Get your squad up." ~ ~ ~ If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Sage didn't have a horse, so we took turns carrying her on our horses'—Morph was getting stronger, but he still wasn't fast enough to keep up with a horse, and his link with Sage still costed her Presence.

We all needed to be ready to intercept any enemies when we arrived, and we couldn't waste any Presence along the way. We didn't speak as we rode. Spindly trees whipped past, but we kept to the open fields as much as we could so the orcs couldn't ambush us. There were a few pines here and there, and the farther north we rode, the subtle rolls in the landscape soon became foothills. In the distance, northwest of us, was a mountain range with snowcapped peaks that gently blended with the shrublands leading up to them.

Whenever we stopped, Owl updated us on the plan and continued briefing us. It was minor details, but I paid attention. As one of the highest ranked squads, our job would be the most difficult. We would have a contingent of senior sappers with us, as well as a few other high-ranking squads. We wouldn't be alone while scaling the wall, but once we got past the outer defenses, we'd be on our own. If we could even get past the outer defenses.

This was all Lord Ceonwin's plan—but he and the Drillmasters had helped make it, coordinating with the commanders of the nearby battalions. In theory, it was airtight as could be. But I held onto my suspicions. What if this was meant to get us killed? What if the Subtle Men had some kind of plan to kill me once we got into the city? I had gotten lucky in finding out Scar and Ticks' plan for me, but what if I wasn't so lucky this time, and some other squad was waiting to knife the Atoning.

There was so much that could go wrong. I had to keep my wits about me and focus, or I wasn't going to make it very far at all. ~ ~ ~ Lord Ceonwin had timed our journey so we'd arrive late in the evening. The sun had set almost entirely when we arrived at Oschester. The fortress-city sat in the center of a low plain, atop a lone rocky hill. Its outer wall circled the base of the hill, and it was a few storeys tall. Smooth stone bricks gave it a subtle slope, and towers stood at even intervals.

The main gate faced to the south, toward us, but the inner wall's gate stood on the city's opposite side, forcing attackers to push their way through an entire city to breach the inner wall—if they went through the gate. Finally, a fortified great hall stood at the very top of the slope, with its own heavy gates protecting the city's final sanctum. We stopped at the edge of a forested slope, looking down on the plain surrounding Oschester.

To the west, the distant snow-streaked mountains framed the city, and that was the only reason I could see it so well. There were hundreds of houses within the walls, but only a few torches. They lit the wall's towers and the city's main hall up at the very top of the hill. Black standards hung from every tower, fluttering in the breeze. There was nothing cohesive about them, except for the fact that they were black and torn at the edge—more like furs than proper flags.

That meant there were orcs watching the walls. Although the hills were forested here, there was no cover on the plains approaching the fortress, and the orcs would spot us. We'd planned for this, though. We needed to draw most of the orcs to the front gate.

"It's time," Lieutenant Owl said.

"Dismount and tie up your horses, then find an axe and get chopping. Phase one." We'd brought as many spare weapons as we could with us, which included plenty of axes. I took one up and started chopping a tree. It wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it might be, but that was probably due to my enhanced attributes. But Sage was by far the best tree-feller.

Morph placed his arms against the base of the tree, and for a moment, he merged with it, until the base splintered and broke, and the tree toppled to the side. He could control the trees, and that meant he could also destroy their wood with a spare thought. Some forest golem he was, willingly destroying a forest, but he seemed to understand that this was for Sage's benefit, too. We cut down every second tree, thinning out the forest, but not enough that we'd lose our cover.

There were no torches, no fire, and we tried to stay as quiet as we could. After an hour, Anchor spotted an orc scout and shot him with an arrow, killing the creature and hiding its body. We stacked up our logs into massive pyres, spreading them out through the forest at even intervals. This part of the plan wouldn't work against humans. The large columns of smoke might register to us as a forest fire, or would just be more confusing. A bunch of small fires would probably be more concerning.

But, if Lord Ceonwin was correct, when it came to orcs, bigger was better. The larger the pyres we made, the more intimidated they'd be. They would see our army on the south side of the city and panic, rushing to the gate to defend it from an army that they thought was much larger than it actually was. Once we had the pyres constructed, we set them ablaze at once, creating massive columns of smoke that rose high up into the sky, gray against the black night and plenty visible from their glow.

"That's our cue," Lieutenant Owl said. He sounded a horn, summoning his squads to him. We mounted our horses again, and Sage and Morph rode with me.

"Follow me. We circle around, using the hills and the forest as cover, and we move quickly. Lord Ceonwin will lead the rest to the gate and assault it as best he can. But it's up to us to get over the wall and open the gate from the inside before he takes too many losses." I nodded, and so did the others. Lieutenant Owl took off, racing through the forest on horseback, and I mounted Burr and charged after him.