Chapter 28

The enemy came from the east as the sun was coming over the horizon behind them. They charged across the open plain from where they started on the beach yelling insults that only a couple of couriers would understand but they were still a long ways off. Sir Stanley looked over the side of the wall and told his men to stand easy. The enemy had a lot of open ground to cover and they were running. 'By the time they get here they're going to be too tired to climb those ladders.' The longer he watched the more he wondered what they hoped to accomplish. There wasn't enough of them to need to move men from other parts of the wall to aid in the defense and they had only two ladders and those looked too short reach the top of the wall.

"I am pretty sure this is a faint and the real attack will come from the west or south."

"Movement to the west sir." Came the call from that side. As Sir Stanley waited for more information he asked "So Paul, do you think the weather will hold for a few days or will we get rain?"

Paul was a tall man with wide shoulders along with thick arms and legs. He was built in such a way that bulls in the field were wary of him. The men under him knew he was a capable man when it came to use weapons and leading men. They also admired him as he cared deeply for his men, getting to know them and their families, spending time with them, making sure no conflicts between them festered to become a problem within the ranks when they needed to rely on each other. In short, his men would follow him through any battle and felt they would win every battle they went into because of him. But Paul was unsure of his own abilities and a bit in awe of the Battlemaster so when he replied he stammered "Uh, I think it will stay clear for a couple of more days, sir. Aren't you worried about this, sir?"

"The time to worry is when they get in range to attack. But I see no siege engines, there hasn't been enough time for sappers to tunnel under the wall and we have food and water to last for months. I think our biggest worry right now is boredom." Sir Samuel said. "They are not prepared to attack a castle, that being said all they have to do for now is to keep us penned up in here with a small force and then they can take the rest of their army inland."

"So what do we do?"

Sir Stanley took every opportunity to teach his men, times like this could teach so much about when to seem unconcerned to the men and how that could keep them calm in the most stressful times. Sir Stanley could give orders that would be obeyed but not really understood but thought it best to get the men under his command to reason the best strategy for themselves with a little coaxing, so he replied "We have to make them more concerned about us here then they have reason to be. To do that we have to make them think there are more of us here than there are. How do you think we can do that Paul?"

"We have the fishermen and townsmen that have come to the castle for safety that we could arm."

"Yes but would you want them fighting beside you?"

"No I don't think that would be good for us. They would just be in the way wouldn't they? But if we were to dress them up and put them on the wall here they wouldn't have to fight and it would look like there are more of us."

"Well thought out Paul. So who do we get arranging it?"

"My first thought is Peter but he is on a cushy ride to Castle Araluen." Paul made sure to smile in such a way that the Battlemaster knew he was being humorous.

"What other people and assets do we have that we can use?" Sir Samuel asked, also with a smile.

"The Baron. We could get him to arrange for the men to be outfitted to look the part. We also have the men of the castle staff we could add to them."

"Are we leaving anyone out?"

"I don't think it would be good to use the boys. They're a little small to pass as soldiers."

"Let me ask you in a more direct way. How can we use the women in the castle right now to help us? Is there a reason they too couldn't be dressed as soldiers? Remember the more of an army they think we have the more soldiers they will have to leave to prevent us from attacking their rear."

"I should have thought of that. Shannon would be upset if we didn't use them to boost our numbers. She would also fight if it came to it, no doubt about it."

"As would pretty much every woman in this place." Sir Stanley said with a smile.

"Just a thought Sir but what if we make them think there are less of us here than there are then we could attack the men they leave to trap us and take over the island. Then we could be ready to help the main army when it comes."

"That is a good idea, let me think on it for a bit. Who is your second here?

"David sir."

"Have him take over watching this attack. I'm going over to the west side to see what's taking so long to get an update. I advise you to look after your men now, get them some water and food. It could be a long day and it will get hot up here." With that he strolled casually around by the north side checking on the men there and continued to the west side walls. When he arrived there he went to Trent and asked "Any other information on the movement that was seen?"

"No sir, they're moving around but we can't see clearly what they are doing. Also they have about forty men on horseback just sitting there but we can't tell why." Trent was amazed at how calm the Battlemaster was. His nerves were so tight he thought they were about to snap leaving him a shivering wreck. "It's like they're waiting for the order to charge but no one is there to give it. It's just weird sir."

"It does seem a little odd doesn't it? On the east we have men with ladders that are too short, here we have horsemen staring at the walls looking for a trail they can ride to the top on, what's next?"