Frederick says some sort of prayer. Then we leave.
Just before the stone tomb disappears around the corner, four words run through my head. I will avenge you.
Tactics and Women
We make camp partway down the road from Dragongate Bridge. The next day we go back to Kera.
I pick up my hammer in the barracks, sitting on the bunk where my father had died. Lord Jarl Hralfar visits me only a minute or two later. “I am sorry,” he says.
“I will avenge him,” I say. “Swordbreaker is the name of Tygnar’s leader?”
“Yes,” he responds, “Lord Jarl Lucius Swordbreaker.”
“Then it’s him I’m after.”
The Jarl only says, “That’s no small task.”
“I will kill him.” I accentuate every word. “I will kill him.”
“Well,” he says, “You’re not an official soldier yet.”
“Why not?”
“You have to take the soldiers’ oath to me.”
“When?”
“Normally in the throne room of Nringnar’s Deep, but because we’re not there, we’ll have to make due with the accommodations we have. Now would work.”
“Well-” I begin, but just before I can respond a brown-cloaked soldier tears through the front door of the barracks. Seeing Jarl Hralfar, he makes his way towards us and says, “Lord Jarl Hralfar!”
The Jarl turns towards him.
“Jarl Kjunn requests a meeting with you immediately, sir.”
“Now?”
“Yes, sir. Now.”
The Jarl turns to me and says, “Kadmus, would you come?”
“What?” I say.
“Though you may not want to be a captain, I respect your valor and initiative. You may have something to say that I or Jarl Kjunn needs to hear. Would you accompany me as an advisor?”
I think for a moment and nod.
“Good,” he says. Then he turns to the messenger and says, “Lead.”
The soldier leads us up the steps to the gate of Stormguard, and then inside and to the right. We follow the same course we had yesterday, stopping in the same room.
The soldier leaves us as Kjunn looks up from the map.
“Good; you’re here,” he grumbles. The sun shines brightly through the windows behind him, but his attitude contrasts it darkly.
“What do you need?” asks Hralfar.
“We are moving out in the morning,” he says. “Reinforcements just came from the south. Archeantus sent us eleven hundred men to aid us.” He moves a little purple flag on the map to a dot labeled “Kera.”
“How’d you get the message out so quick?” I ask quietly.
“Signal fires,” says Hralfar quickly. “With the retake of Terrace?” he clarifies.
“Yes. We need that city.”
“Farming?” I ask.
“Forgive his lack of experience,” says Hralfar as Kjunn rolls his eyes. Then he answers, “Yes, farming advantages. Those farms provide a third of our forces with food.”
I nod slowly in understanding.
“There is no option,” says Kjunn. “We must retake that city.”
“Why wasn’t it better guarded?” I inquire.
Kjunn answers, slightly agitated, “Because we did not expect an attack of such strength, and our soldiers are on the front in Watervale, to the west. You do know where that is, correct?”
I bob my head sarcastically.
“So I called you here to see what kind of army you have with you, and to plan the retake of your city. Terrace is well guarded, and it will not be easy to retake.”
“I never thought I’d have to plan the destruction of my own main gate,” mutters Hralfar as he leans over the map Kjunn brings out of a drawer. Upon closer inspection, I find that it’s a map of Terrace, and a highly detailed one at that.
“Can your survivors fight?”
“Yes,” Hralfar responds. “At least most of them can and will.”
“Are they all soldiers?” Kjunn further interrogates.
“No,” answers Hralfar with no hesitation. “Some of them are, but many are simple businessmen. Some have not been trained how to swing a sword.”
Kjunn nods. “We’ll have to work with it. Will they fight for their city?”
“To the end.”
“Perfect. Now how do we get through the gate? By the time we get there, they will have had plenty of time to rebuild and reinforce the gate, and then some.”
“I hate to suggest it on my own city,” says the Jarl, “but I’ve always favored the catapult. Take down the wall, and we have a clear shot inside.”
“Or they’ll have a clear shot at you,” argues Kjunn. “Who knows how many trolls they’ve got? They’ll smash through men like a hammer on an ant.”
“What do you suggest, then?” Hralfar says, slightly offended. “We can’t get in without destroying the gate!”
Kjunn makes to answer, but I interrupt, “Oh can’t we?” Both look my direction. “We can get in the same way we