Page 52 of Stars May Burn

I snuck behind the guard, padding through the shifting shadows and hoping his focus on the flames had destroyed his night vision. I dispatched him with a quick knife to the throat. It took more effort than usual to drag the body, but I was cautious about using what little strength remained in my reserve device as I hid him behind a rain barrel.

I took a moment to rest against the wall before pushing onward. Using the fansifold knife, I burned through the hinges and melted the latch of the tiny door—the blade just long enough to reach—and caught the door before it could clatter to the flagstones. I was clumsy and weak and barely softened its fall, but thankfully, nobody came running at the noise as it thudded to the ground. The sounds of the dying fire were creating strange echoes off the tall stone walls. On the other side of the fortress, I could hear the clank of the portcullis being lifted followed by hoofbeats and footsteps as more Kollenstar troops left. I assumed they were heading for our camp. I squinted, searching the grounds for a new commander giving directions, but no one was obvious.

How long had I been unconscious? How long could my men have been under attack? The smoke-clogged sky made it impossible to tell the time from the stars.

I squeezed through the door, slipping out of the fortress, and pressed the button behind my detector. It made a low drone that only others wearing detectors could hear. It was our warning alarm or rallying point. I prayed somebody would be close enough to hear it. The scouts were trained to keep hidden and spaced out around the enemy.

Long minutes passed. The only sounds were soldiers shouting in Kollen and the crackles of the dying fire. Then Sir Cley appeared through the shadows, as quiet as a mountain cat. He performed a small salute, frowned at my sling and bloodied clothes, and took in the open door behind me.

“You burned down half of Whitehill?”

I grimaced at the embers floating through the air. “It wasn’t my intention. Thankfully, it’s worked in my favor. A few soldiers escaped the room while I was fighting their commander. Which means they knew there was only one of me and probably think I haven’t survived. They just shut the fire off from the rest of the castle with locked doors and they assumed I couldn’t get through them even if I got that far. They’re not looking for me now. They’re distracted by our army.” I looked back at the jagged, glowing ruins of the tower. “It’s almost out now, anyway.” The king would not be pleased when he heard of the damage, but I couldn’t care less.

Sir Cley nodded in confirmation. “The enemy is amassing and about to attack the camp. We’ve only had the chance to erect basic defenses and their numbers are growing. Mostly soulless. Thankfully, they haven’t caught us by surprise.”

I nodded. “They’re over-confident. They shouldn’t have left the fortress. Go back, tell my battalion to sneak here in groups of ten without detection as quickly as possible. Just that one battalion. We’ll take the fortress while the bulk of the Kollenstar soldiers are distracted by attacking our camp. We’ll need to be quick—two regiments won’t hold them back for long, even with yadum arrowheads.”

He nodded, then looked me up and down. “You should come back with me, my lord, and rest. You’re badly wounded.”

I shook my head. “I’ll guard the door. If we lose our way in, all our men will be slaughtered. Now go.”

Dawn was lighting the sky, making our plan riskier by the moment as more of my soldiers snuck against the back of the fortress walls, the Kollenstar soldiers mostly focused on the front and the road that would be easy for an army to march down.

We couldn’t risk waiting any longer. It was a matter of time until we were seen in the growing sunlight. My battalion were elite soldiers, all one hundred of them fully equipped with devices and ruthlessly efficient at taking down both soldiers and soulless. Less than half had arrived, but they would do to start our attack. I gave the first ten soldiers orders to take the back wall inner staircase, dispatching the men hidden in the archery slits. They were invisible inside the wall, so it would be hard for the Kollenstar soldiers to see them disappearing. When they were clear, they would take the top of the wall, but we had to reduce their archers first, or my men would become easy targets.

I sent the next ten inside the east wall and the ten after them into the west wall. I sat by the door and guarded it, trying to rest while waiting for more men to arrive. With my injuries and dwindling strength, I was of little use other than giving orders. My eyelids felt heavier by the hour, the pain of my wounds was starting to increase again, and the blood loss had given me a pounding headache, not to mention waves of dizziness. I was a mess.

I waited until twenty more men arrived before sending them to the front wall where there had to be at least fifty Kollenstar soldiers with arrows trained on the roads or oiling the catapults. So far, we had avoided detection.

Maybe, just maybe, we could do this.

Another ten arrived, and then another, all pressing themselves against the wall. In the growing light, I saw the movement of more of my men sneaking between the low hills.

In the middle of the courtyard, a warning bell sounded; it was harsh and jarring. I gripped my sword and crouched beside the rain barrel. It was hard to see what was going on. Shouts echoed, followed by the rasps of drawn swords and the thuds of armored boots across the stone. Soon they were joined by the zips of arrows darting through the air.

Our cover was blown.

I spun back to the door. “Get in, get in!” I hurried the fresh soldiers through, and they sped into the courtyard at a run, diving for cover as the Kollenstar soldiers on the walls turned their attention inward and started to fire. Shouts and screams echoed. I held my sword at the ready but had never felt more useless.

Sir Cley appeared beside me. “Don’t even think of fighting anymore, my lord. The battle at the camp is not going well; we’ve lost over a third of our soldiers. I couldn’t free the remainder of the battalion. This is all we have.”

I closed my eyes and suppressed my rising sorrow and anger. I nodded. “Then it will be enough. Go and give the order for the camp to retreat at full speed back inland. Even better if the Kollenstar army gives chase for a while. It will keep them distracted while we win back the fortress. But keep the lives of our people your highest priority.”

Sir Cley nodded and disappeared through the door, expertly running from the wall to a bush and then the ley of a hill.

I turned back to the courtyard and tested my bad arm. It was agony to roll my shoulder, and I still couldn’t lift the useless limb. Soulless poured into the courtyard. I was next to useless against them. Next time, I would bring a second spare freisk knife. My five normal knives wouldn’t even slow them.

Everywhere I looked, my soldiers were falling to arrow fire as they fought soulless with their freisk knives. I cursed the king. Cursed the court. Cursed Fenland for putting us in this position.

I fidgeted with my sword. I would be useless, but I couldn’t just stand here and watch. I took a step forward searching for a fallen soldier’s discarded freisk knife, then stopped as my battalion finally reached the top of three of the walls and started taking down the archers. The tide was turning in the courtyard. My battalion gained confidence to leave their places of cover as they cornered the final soulless, taking them in pairs as we’d trained; one to distract and defend, giving their partner an opening to stab with yadum. Soulless weren’t capable of fear, but the Kollenstar soldiers began showing signs of horror as they realized they had nowhere to retreat since the portcullis remained closed, and they were cut off from their main army.

Sir Cley reappeared, his face gleaming with sweat. “We’ve taken heavy losses, General, but our main force is in retreat. The Kollenstar army didn’t give chase. They’re heading back this way. I think news reached them that the fortress is under attack, and they’re coming to help.”

I nodded. “We can’t let them retake the fortress. Let’s block this doorway with rocks from the tower.”

He nodded and helped me move the fallen rubble. Our soldiers reached the front wall and helped take down the remaining archers. There were so few of my battalion left, but slowly they closed the distance on the wall.

I dared to cling to a thread of hope that we would pull this off.

---