Page 24 of Heart of Defiance

“Whoareyou?” Sepp’s father demands, though his face has lit up at the promise of her suggestion.

Landric motions between him and Signy. “Darium soldiers destroyed our home a few days ago. We’ve had enough. It’s time to send the invaders running.”

Weiland’s wife eases closer to the cart. “What exactly is the plan? We can’t all fit in the cart.”

My mind has already been spinning through the possibilities, but Jostein is the most natural leader among us. He probably took stock before they even introduced themselves.

He points to the casks. “We can have three people hiding in the barrels—they’re empty. The women are the smallest, so I’d suggest the three of you for that task. Iko will drive the cart, since he’s the best at bullshitting his way through tense situations.” He shoots me a wry smile.

“Guilty as charged.” I salute him and then turn to our new allies. “I’ve stocked the casks with several homemade incendiary devices and flints. You’ll have about ten seconds from when you light the rags to throw them before the glass bursts on you. I’ll signal you when it’s time—I’ll stop the cart partway through the door and say, ‘I almost forgot something.’”

Signy points to the one woman’s bow. “You can stash that and your arrows between the sacks and grab them when you need them. And we also have these.” She hands over the pouches of lemon juice and tosses the last to me. “Throw it in the soldiers’ faces when they get close. It’ll blind them for a little while.”

Clever as well as brave. I attach the pouch to my belt. “The three of you can use the casks as shelter for as long as the situation allows. Just keep lighting and tossing out the bottles—the more fire and smoke we can get going, the more confusion there’ll be that works to our advantage.”

Jostein walks over to the horses. “As soon as we see the first spurts of fire, the rest of us will charge in from over the nearest hill. I’ll ride… and it’d be good to have someone else particularly skilled with arms at the front of the charge.” He beckons Otmar over. “Landric will lead everyone else on foot. Just get in there as quickly as you can and stop any soldiers who try to run or ride off. Any concerns?”

The newcomers have gone wide-eyed, taking it all in, but I can tell it’s as much excitement as anxiety flushing their faces. Jostein sounds so confident I already believe we’ll pull the whole plan off without a hitch.

Signy leaps into the cart, her eyes glinting fiercely. “They won’t be expecting a thing. They figure they’ve got us all cowed. We’re about to show them different.”

Her words propel everyone into action. Otmar strides over to join Jostein at the horses.

Landric motions for the other men to follow him. “Come on, we need to get going to make sure we’re in position ahead of the cart.”

They set off at a brisk tramp, and Signy and I help the two women into the cart. They slide tentatively into the barrels, their feet setting the bottles clinking quietly, and crouch down.

“You’ve found the flints?” I check. “We jabbed a few discreet air holes so you should be able to breathe just fine, and the lid will pop off the moment you smack it. Let’s try it just so you know how it’ll feel.”

Signy ducks down into her own cask, and they practice a couple of bursts out of hiding. By the second time, the other women are laughing breathlessly.

“It’s really going to work,” one of them says.

I smirk. “The assholes aren’t going to know what hit them.”

With the lids in place, I take my seat at the front of the cart. I touch the blanket I laid there, which is covering the new weapon I spent a few hours last night constructing after a flare of gift-given inspiration, and then twitch the reins.

The stallion heaves forward, and the abandoned wagon rolls after him.

Even with our mostly false load, it’s enough of a burden that our pace is about the same as if we were walking. I expect we’ve given Landric and his followers a solid enough lead that they’ll be in place in time even with their roundabout route.

Jostein really was quite astute in how he divided us up.Every group has at least one of our original four in it, so our new allies won’t be unsupervised.

As I direct the horse onto the lane that leads to the fort, I glance toward the nearby hill. A flash of black cloth atop it confirms that the others are ready.

But this next step depends entirely on me.

I keep my posture straight as the horse clops up to the gate and draw the cart to a stop a few paces away. The two guards posted outside peer at me with vaguely puzzled expressions.

“Xaver fell off a ladder and broke his arm last night,” I say, using the name I gathered with a little chatting around town. “He sent me instead. Wanted to get that pork roast to your commandant bright and early.”

I motion to the hunk of meat, dribbling a bit of blood through the folds of the paper.

One of the guards walks over and then nods. “Thank you. He’ll be glad to hear it.”

They move to open the gate.

No expression of condolences for the grocer’s supposed injury, but I didn’t expect one. And barely a hint of caution.

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