Mount and Blade-

The Warband of Wolves

By Indogma

Inspired by the Mount and Blade Series, primarily the game: Mount and Blade: Warband.

Night Attack.

The collection of stone and slate stones that were molded together to form the placed called Asugan Castle, seemed to add to the dullness of the night. The night itself did not help. Tonight was the peak of the new moon and the darkest of the ever-continuing cycle, and the stars seemed like they where farther away than usual and less bright.

This was especially true on the walls of the castle, predominantly on the southern wall where a lone guard patrolled. It was a long watch, from the end of the wall to where the keep met the parapet, to the outer most the gate on the wall. Only he and another guard had this watch thought the night. Of the forty men in the castle, and under siege no less, only three guards stood watch at night. It was probably because they were the newest recruits to the small company, in fact the one patrolling the southern wall had joined the company the day before. He cursed aloud at the night, hoping his words would speed the passage of this boring watch, "Gods, I miss the Nord," sighed the man whose name was Birkle, "It may have been cold, but it was never this dull…"

As he finished speaking he had made it to the end of his path of watch, turned and started again. Like the moon, this cycle was continuous throughout the night.

Then something caught his eye, a flash of light? Towards the south and he looked again, and saw that it was a small light was there. Then another faint light appeared, making the man stop in his patrol to peer across the rough pack of rocks that cluttered the earth like tall rocky fingers.

Soon there the ridges and rocks were spotted with lights, and Birkle could make sense of what he saw. There were seven fires all along the rocks, brazier, wooden makeshift portable campfire on a stand, but that was not the biggest discovery. Beside the braziers where figures people, humans figures, and the man almost gasped and the realization that they were archers.

He cried the alarm and within seconds a bell started to ring, and the castle awoke to the alert of the one guard. Within minutes, the walls were filled with the men who guard the castle.

"What's goin' on?" Demanded the senior guardsman, and therefore the one in command of the castle.

Birkle pointed out into the rocks, and he did need to explain. Instead he joined the captain to look at the lights and figures that now threatened them and their little castle that man called home.

From afar they saw movement on the several of the ridges and saw several smaller lights of flame trickle out of the braziers like little fairies dancing in the night. Then the little pixies remained where they where for a moment, and then lurched up into the and towards the castle. Some of the little lights plucked away at the wall, making small little pricks at the wall like raindrops, while other embedded themselves into the ground and while one light screamed over head and landed into the courtyard of the castle. All of the men looked at it and saw that it was an arrow with a bit of cloth on the tip that still was engulfed by fire. Flaming arrows.

"I 'ant men with buckets to douse out the flames!" Shouted the captain to the men. He looked out at the groups of figures slowly reloading their arrows. The captain growled, "They plan to burn us…"

The other man looked over the wall and saw all of the arrows that stuck out of the ground like the quills of a hedgehog, still alight but burning our quickly. "Not all of them are in range," he observed. Then he turned to look at the one arrow in the courtyard, still alight and burning brightly, "Apart from one, sir."

"All it takes it one," warned the captain, "to burn the castle to a husk…"

"Should we prepare for an attack?" Asked Birkle.

The captain shook his head, "No. I've known siegin' armies to do this just to try to weaken the enemy…" he rasped a small beard growing on his chin, "But it was they were desperate and in day time…" He gave what might have been a shrug, "Hells 'ey might be desperate…" He then turned to leave, "You're 'ill on watch… don't think this changes anything. You hear?"

"But what about the flaming arrows?" Asked Brikle.

The captain did not look back, "Avoid 'em! I'll put a few men with buckets under the wall in case they hit one of the buildings." He gestured to the arrow in the courtyard and added, "But like you said, only one seems to be a threat. Couple of men with water buckets ought to put out any flame that starts up." He then laughed, "Not that we have many straw roofs like in other castles…"

"Yes sir…" came Birkle's annoyed response. He was hoping that his would be the end of his watch, and someone would join him, or that the castle company would take some progressive action against the archers, some chance for excitement. But instead he would have to play dodge the arrow with these archers, no, that one far shooting archer. Not so much exciting as threatening and disheartening, as well as annoying. He shook his head, even with this new event, it would be his same old patrol, and that is what annoyed him to no end.

While the northern side of the Asugan Castle was slowly being lit up with flaming arrows like the stars had begun to fall around that side, the south side of the castle in comparison was cool and quiet. A completely different feel from the south.

About a hundred yards away from the castle the ditch that ran for nearly a mile on the northern side of the castle was in complete darkness. At least to the castle.

Then as if by magic a small rectangular figure appeared and rose a good several feet above the ditch. It was a ladder, one of the refined and well made ladders of Artimenner. Then the other two ladders appeared from the ditch, but the first ladder was the only shifting slightly, from the weight of someone climbing up the steps of the wooden siege equipment.

Then a darkly tanned face appeared from the ditch to slowly rise up the ladder cautiously. It was Haydee, slowly looking up at the walls of the castle, slowly letting her eyes look for the guard or whoever was keeping watch.

When she was satisfied, she slowly lowered herself back down into the ditch and whispered quietly, "We haven't been spotted," she said as quietly as possible. "You all remember the plan?"

She could not tell if everyone in the ditch had nodded in agreement, but if there was a protest it would have been said by now. She looked down the ditch at the fifteen Wolves that accompanied her, and was amazed they had come this far, and nothing had gone wrong. After the strange man had told Haydee about her mother, she had gone straight to work.

Taking the ladders that Artimenner had made so carefully, Klethi, Bunduk, five of his best crossbow men with their shields and eight of the Wolves best fighters had ducked into the large ravine to conceal their approach to the castle. At first Haydee had planned to swing around the northern side of the castle on the other side of the castle and then conjoin two of the ladders together to form a bridge of sorts. But when they arrived at the edge of the ditch, Haydee was discouraged when she saw large jagged rocks littered the far northern side of the castle much like the south, and it would take hours to cross.

Then Klethi had suggested an alternative, she assumed that the ditch was less then eight feet deep in some places, and if that where the case, the ladders could very well be used to scale the ditch. Plus it was a more direct route to the castle and thanks to the deepness of the ditch, it would conceal their approach better then Haydee's original plan. So that is what they did. And now that they where here, came the critical part. The scaling.

Haydee took another peak at the castle and saw that it was the same as before. Nodding to herself, she quietly barked, "Let's go! Last six men take the ladders."

As quickly as she dared to climb, Haydee lifted herself up the few remaining steps, placing her on the same level as the ground, where she hoped off the ladder lightly afraid of even making the slightest crunch under her foot. Any unnecessary sound could be their death, and the loss of the surprise that was so vital for this plan to work.

Now on the plains between her and the castle, she broke into a quick walk, while her entire body screamed to run. She wanted to sprint to the walls, to make a mad dash, forgetting all about the subterfuge just to be under the immediate safety of the walls. But if she did the rest of the company might worry, they might be rushed, and rushed people tended to make mistakes. Besides it would look cowardly, and that was something she did not need to look like now.

It took about fifty steps to reach the middle of the flat plain of the castle, and yet the castle seemed to be no farther then when she started. Taking a quick glance back, she looked at the several Wolves behind her. All of them under normal circumstances would be visible to any guard on the castle wall. But Haydee was aware the night was anything but routine. Without the presence of any moon, the guard would have to rely on his eyesight that would be adjusted to the darkness. But that was where the flaming arrows came into the plan.

Haydee vaguely recalled Roland mentioning something about eyesight, and how looking at a light, even for a moment could dampen one's eyes ability to perceive objects in the dark. And during her time of being a Cyclops, she had distinctively noticed that fact to be true on several occasions. She was hoping to take advantage of that fact, while under the guise that the archers where hoping to light something ablaze. Plus, it was like the stars, no one looks at the darkness, they would rather look at the lights. So Haydee decided to give them something to look at.

Now they where less then ten feet away from the wall, and Haydee felt this was a good spot to edge the group forward. She stopped, but turned to gesture the men to move more quickly, and soon the brisk walk turned into a trot, and one by one the Wolves Haydee had passed her. Once the six that carried the ladders reached her, she joined them as they dashed to the wall.

Now up against the wall, she felt the cold stone slowly seep to her back, reminding her of her lack of thick armour. Now that they had made it this far, she was beginning to question weather or not she was wise in ordering the company she brought with her to wear light armour and leave the noisier plate armour behind at camp. While she distracted their eyes, Haydee had to worry about their sense of hearing. Any sound out of place, and loud clank of metal tapping against other metal was too noticeable for Haydee's taste.

Because of that, all of the sixteen people of the attacking force were wearing leather armour with light chainmail underneath, including Haydee. They piece of armour that she allowed was the Wolves' helmets. Even if they did not have their full sets or armour, there was no reason why they did not need to look like they had left it behind, and in a night like this the guards would have to look twice at the people's armour to notice, but if they wore their helms, it would add to the illusion that they did have armour. Plus it would prevent easy kills on one's heads.

Now it was the crucial part, slowly the party of Wolves crept towards the northern tower. And again Haydee had to question why she chose this way. Why not place the ladders here, by the first gate? And why did she only select fifteen Wolves when she could have had the whole company? But the answers echoed in her mind as if to ridicule her. First she knew the smaller the group, the less noise and chance for a mistake. And for the ladders, the answer in her mind was an echo of how Klethi described it, "The guards have a torch on the intersectin' wall, right beside each gate. If we tried to climb up there in that light, we would be seen in no time… But the north tower. Some tired fool left that unlit. One guard at night, and once we to take it there is enough room to for men to camp up there and move as one." And thanks to the assassin, the plan was decided. Hopefully she knew what she was doing.

Despite the grimness of the thought, it was some relief knowing that Klethi would be there if her suggestion failed. Haydee shook her head, now was not the time for those grim thoughts.

Then one ladder was up against the wall, with as little sound as possible, then another, then the third. All three ladders, were propped against the wall now it was time.

As Haydee reached for her helm, she had taken it off in the ditch to help see the castle in the dark, he sought out the assassin, Klethi. After finding her figure, she gave a quick nod and whispered, "Your turn…"

Even in this blackness, Haydee could tell that the red haired girl was smiling. Somehow she always smiled when she was about to do something this daring. Roland had always said it was because she was a cold-blooded killer, and the thought of killing something or one brought her excitement. But Haydee was not so sure, at least she did not think that was the whole reason why she loves this times.

With a quick look over herself, the red hair girl approached the ladder and slowly crept her way up it. As she approached the top of the ladder, she hung there on the ladder waiting for the right moment, and Haydee could hear the reason. Above on the wall, she could hear the lone guard on the north approach was walking back from the end of the route on the gate side, soon he would pass the tower, and that was the time Klethi was waiting for, she guess.

After almost another second of holding her breathe, she was proved correct, as Klethi pounced onto the tower as soon as the guard had passed it. For a moment, the most unbearable silence fell over the Wolves. Haydee felt her stomach tighten, and her mind loose its grip. It was unbearable, she wanted to whistle, talk, anything to calm herself.

Then, to her relief, Klethi's head popped out from the parapet, as she quickly gestured the rest of the men to follow her lead. With the way cleared, Haydee whispered, "You know what to do, me and the crossbow men up first. One person climbs a ladder at each time. Understand?"

Again, even with her eyes used to the darkness, she could not tell if they all agreed. But there was no turning back now.

Slowly she crept to the ladder, and placed her hands on it. When her hands were on the wood, she paused, the impending danger that lied over the wall weighing her feet to the ground like a ton of bricks. She shook her head in a moment of clarity. What was she doing? She was not a leader? She could not lead this attack… if Roland was here…

She closed her eyes, and wanted to cry, but something flashed in her eyes. It was the image that ended her nightmare. It was her old self, crying. She snapped her eyes opened and became angry. "Not any more…" Then lifted her foot on the first rung of the ladder and began the assent.

Roland shifted his legs uncomfortably back and forth, as he sat in the storage shed in the village of Dugan. Despite his stiff legs, he was glad that he had lowered himself, after Arwa had departed, to rest his legs. And when the tall Lady had returned, to make sure Nizar had not let Roland escape, he noticed a brief flash of surprise on her face. Perhaps she was expecting Roland to be tearing his nerves apart with the incoming doom that Haydee would bring; but since he was not she might have begun to have doubts. And that was all he needed.

But Arwa had just after desk, and it was well after midnight and into late night. As the time grew longer, Arwa had begun to pace, slowly and controlled, but still a nervous habit anyway.

At last Roland said calmly, "Are you worried?"

Arwa looked the mercenary captain and lightly snorted, "Hardly…" she looked away, "Not for you, anyway…"

Roland could sympathize; this Baheshtur was taking too long in bringing Haydee here, if she would come. Hopefully she was not in any trouble.

Then the sound of a galloping horse came from outside and all three held their breathe. Arwa glanced a quick look at Roland, she said nothing, but he could sense the triumph in her eyes.

The door opened and Baheshtur came into the room, just the man, and Arwa look behind him expecting another person. She asked the man a question, and he gave a quick response. Quickly Arwa turned hotly towards Roland and towered over him. "What have you done with my daughter?"

Roland tried to answer, but nothing came from his mouth. Not from terror but bewilderment. He had no idea what she meant or was implying. "My daughter is now scaling walls and trying to take the castle!" She stared him down, "I want to know what have you done to turn her into this!"

Roland still was trying to come to grips with this, "She's attacking the castle?"

Baheshtur nodded, "Yes, her and the entire company is attacking it seems…"

"But why?" Asked Roland. Why tonight? Why the sudden need to attack the walls when she could wait for him to return.

Baheshtur shrugged, "She said it was something she needed to do…"

Roland shook his head, was it just to prove that she could do it? But apart from the initial concern, Roland felt a little pride swell from himself. Haydee had not buckled under the pressure like he feared she would, and had taken the initiative to attack the castle. But he still worried if she knew what she was doing.

"What trick did you pull on my daughter?" Came Arwa's voice bring him back to the present. "What spell did you cast on her?"

"Nothing!" Retorted Roland. "I did nothing to her."

"You must have," she said, although not as firmly as before. Perhaps her doubts where growing after all.

"Think about it," reasoned Roland looking at Arwa, "How could I have any influence over her from so far away? How could I make her deicide to assault the castle when I have been here all day! I had not planned any attack, and I am just as surprised as you are!"

Arwa paced back and forth, more quickly now, but not frantically. She looked at Roland and seem to regard him searchingly, but then shook the believe he might be right away, "No. No it can't be."

"Milady…" came Nizar's voice, "He is correct. Even if he did prepare a plot in case of his absence, I doubt your daughter could have been tricked into going ahead with that plan, if she didn't want to…" Roland glanced at the dark man, again he was trying to help him…

But still Arwa did not agree, "No. Emir Dhashwal assured me that—"

"What did you say?" Asked Roland. "Dhashwal?! He's the Emir that has been telling you this?"

"So what if he is?" Replied Arwa coldly.

Roland struggled to stand, "Dhashwal tried to kill Haydee that's why!"

Arwa stared at Roland, "What?" She said not comprehending what he had just said.

"Emir Dhashwal sent manhunters after the war to chase down Haydee! He sent an assassin after her in Reyvadin! And he chased us though the Sultanate when we came through a few months ago!"

"No!" She said adamantly, "I know the Emir, I agreed to have him marry her…"

"He betrayed Haydee's father! He sold his loyalty to the Sultan!" He looked into her eyes, "He's the one who tore your family apart!"

Arwa's hand fell hard and Roland's cheek, "Liar! Emir Dhashwal was a trusted friend of the family! He would never do that!" She turned added, "And he would never try to harm his future bride. Then or now."

Roland looked at her, did she intend to marry Haydee off? "She and Dhashwal?"

Arwa nodded, "Yes. When we have taken control back from the Sultan, I will see that my daughter is looked after, and the Emir can provide that. We have been discussing it here."

Roland lowered his head, like the weight of the revelation was too much. So the Emir here the night before was Dhashwal, the one he had overheard. He shook his head, he should have recognized that voice, that sudden alarm when he was so afraid of Haydee. Then the realization came to him, Dhashwal must have forced Haydee into attacking the castle. Perhaps he had a plot against her when she did scale the walls? Maybe he would attack her and the Wolves!

"I need to go." Roland stated.

Arwa scoffed, "You think we are just going to untie you because you ask!"

"I need to get back to my company! Dhashwal might have something planned to harm them! Including Haydee!"

"No," she said firmly.

Roland looked away, knowing it was stupid to reason with her and talk about Dhashwal, but he needed to get out of here, not just for Haydee's sake but his men's sake. "As of right now, Haydee could be scaling those walls." He saw the realization sink into Arwa's face. They had forgotten all about that, "She could be in danger of dying or dead already! I want to make sure that does not happen to her." He almost said my Wolves, but it would have carried less impact then implying Haydee.

"What are you purposing?" Asked Arwa listening cautiously.

"Are the other Sultans attacking?" Asked Roland to Baheshtur.

The man gave a quick shrug, "I know not, but I doubt it…"

Roland looked to Arwa, "If it just the Wolves trying to take the castle… and there is anywhere from thirty men to sixty…" He let his voice trail off, aware that the impact had taken it's hold.

"What do you want…"

"Please, take me to the camp. I can talk the Emirs into attacking with the Wolves and increase their chances."

"No," Arwa replied, "You would have the two younger Emirs turn on me." She leaned in close, "I am not a fool."

"That's not what I want!"

"Either way it is not going to happen! My daughter is in danger because of you!"

Roland looked away, she as back to thinking that he was oppressing her in someway. Then a new idea crossed his mind, but with it came a price, a steep price, "What if?" Roland started unsurely, "What if I released Haydee from the Wolves? Would you be willing to help then?"

Far outside the village of Dugan, in a low dip in the hillsides, a small band of cloaked riders were resting in the brisk night air and shifted restlessly in their saddles. As the air of the night pass by the group it blew one of the rider's hood's off his head, revealing the baldhead underneath. It was Emir Dhashwal, and much like Roland predicted, he did have a plan. But it was not what Roland had thought.

When the man named Baheshtur had visited him and informed him that Arwa requested his presence to be reintroduced to her daughter tonight, he saw a chance to strike. When the daughter arrived to the village, he and his riders would ride in to set fire to it. To anyone it would not be that surprising to hear that a village was burnt nearby a besieged castle, and if anyone questioned the Emir he would say he witness the traitor Arwa the Pearled One there, and had reason for assaulting the village. If Hayah Deema had to die just to protect the Sultanate, then so be it.

He chuckled to himself at his cleverness, it had been a near thing, and yet despite the plan's short time of development, he was proud of it. Before he arrived at the castle, he had been content with just assisting Roland in this fruitless endeavour, request the castle be given to him, and be content.

It was only by luck that Arwa had arrived at Dugan one the first day of the siege. No it was beyond luck, fate, it had to be fate. Arwa had requested Emir's Dhashwal's advice about approaching her daughter. At first it was strange, why should she come to him? Then it dawned on him, she still had no idea about Dhashwal's past. Neither in the civil war in his betrayal to Haydee's father and brothers, his pursuit of her after the war, and then their confrontation less then half a year ago. In fact very few did know about that, the Sultan, and his closest advisors, Roland, Haydee, and a few others, but very few did know about it.

Then the plan started showing, he could eliminate the source of his shame, Haydee, and come out looking like a hero if he was careful. First he warned Arwa of Roland, claiming he was tyrannical and oppressing her daughter into a state of misery. Then he met with Arwa, to discuss how he secretly supported her cause, but could not act on them because of the Sultan keeping a close eye on him. The meeting had almost been a scare for the Emir, when Arwa had told him that she had invited Haydee to the meeting. Fortunately she did not arrive and the Emir's secret was safe for another night.

But it could happen, if the siege lasted any longer it was inevitable for them to meet without the Emir knowing about it. The Emir needed to act and fast, he needed to catch them while they met to justify killing them. Then an idea of forcing them into a corner, at the same time abandoning this siege and taking out Arwa: he would tell Roland that the Sultan was requiring him to return to Shariz and abandon the siege. That way it would force Haydee, if Roland realized that the siege could never work with the Emir there, to sneak in a visit to her mother.

However, thanks to Roland's disappearance this morning, the Emir could forgo his well prepared speech he had for Roland and used his absence as a way to leave the castle. It had worked out well, for the rest of the day. Roland still had not been found and a messenger sent from Arwa came to him first, letting him know about a meeting tonight.

It would happen tonight, there was little doubt in his mind. Haydee would be forced to see her mother this evening before she and the Wolves would be left alone. She might even go to her for advice on how to take the castle, or even aid. But whatever they would say tonight, it would not be repeated, the Emir thought grimly.

Dhashwal look up at on of the nearby hill peaks at the sentry posted on the top of it. Nothing yet, but that could change at any moment. Soon, he said to himself. Soon he would spring his trap on the unsuspecting village. He and fifteen of his best warriors would rain hell on the small village. He would be rid of one loose end and be a hero at the same time.

"Sir," came the sentries, low and nervous voice.

"What is it?" He replied in a curt and threatening voice.

There's movement in the village sir, it looks like there is saddling of horses, sir."

"What?" Snapped back the Emir. Without wait for an answer, he reared his horse forward and approached the top of the hill, to see for himself a group of figures readying some horses to ride in the faint light that some of the village torched provided.

The Emir growled as he weighed the situation in his mind, debating if he should attack now, or wait to see what they where up to. But his entire thoughts came to a halt when he noticed Asugan Castle. While a far off monument in the distance, on the opposite wall, small light flickered in the night sky, arched up and then slowly fell to the other end of the castle.

Could it be, that the castle would be under siege? That Haydee, the scared girl, could even be behind such an attack? He growled again, angry that that little girl was now ruining his plan.

His blood began to boil, as once again that girl appeared to ruin his plan, again. Why didn't she die in Reyvadin? He had sent a group of assassins to end her life, and all but one reported back with the news that their lost comrade had killed a Sultanate girl. Haydee he assumed, and that should have been the end of it.

His gaze returned to the village and saw the riders now galloping away, there where a large number of them, and no guards appeared to be remaining at the village. Arwa must be going with them. "Blast!" His chance for an attack on the village had passed. With them on horse back, any pursuit would be more than obvious. Any chance of surprise would be lost

He ignored the riders and turned back to the castle. If it was Haydee, no, it had to be the wench, assaulting the castle. He griped the reigns, more angry then ever at that spawn of Arwa. She had been the bane of every one of his plans, and he would have no more.

He spurred his horse down to the rest of his hidden men, and barked, "Two of you! Back to the camp! I want you to gather the forces and met me at the foot of the castle!" He turned to look in the direction of the castle, even through the hill now blocked off the view of the stone fortress. Then he said aloud, "I will destroy her…"

Back on the walls of the castle, Haydee felt an ice-cold shiver crawl down her spine. She needed to quicken the men's pace. Only the five crossbowmen and Bunduk had managed to reach the top of the tower in the first ten minutes. They needed to get the rest up quickly. Any straying glance could find them out, and then they were ruined if only the five managed to remain on the tower.

Haydee looked around as she ducked beside the parapet. The crossbowmen where doing like wise, there weapons loaded and ready in case of the worst. Form beside Klethi shifted uneasily, she was not used for this waiting while sneaking into a castle.

She turned to Haydee and whispered, "We gotta hurry up. Any longer and the guards are bound to find us." She gave a wry smile, "Not that I'm afraid if they do…"

Haydee almost smiled, that was the closest thing Klethi would ever say that could be interpreted as fear or worry. "I know," she replied flatly. She looked over her shoulder, two more of the party had climbed up from the ladder. Halfway there…

"We'll never get the two gates open at this rate…" Haydee sighed through her helmet, not realizing she said it aloud.

"I could," started Klethi, "I could head for the front gate and open that…" She smiled, "It's a gate with a crank, I should be able to open that…"

Haydee almost retorted "no". She needed the assassin here, in case the plan backfired and they needed to retreat. But when she thought about it, it was a good idea. If anyone could take care of themselves in this situation Klethi could. And if they had to abandon her, she would be able to find her own means of escape.

Haydee nodded slowly, aware she hated herself for agreeing, "Yes, go head." She then added worried, "Be careful there's a guard over there…"

"A guard is the least of my worries…" replied Klethi, then she was gone from the cover of the parapet and towards the front of the castle.

With the one most experienced with this sort of sneaking gone, Haydee had to check on the progress on the others. Now there were thirteen of them. The talk with Klethi had taken longer then she realized, and in away she was grateful for the quick lapse of time. But now time seemed to slow again, dragging on painfully.

Then, there came the sound of wood clattering on stone. Haydee turned and watched in horror as a fire arrow, came sliding across the floor of the tower toward the parapet where the ladders where positioned; lighting the once darkened tower like a comet in the sky. It skirted across the floor until it lightly tapped the far end, but the flame was bright blinding to Haydee's night eyes.

For a moment no one moved, no one knew how to react, until Haydee snapped, "Put out that light!" The two closest Wolves stomped on the flamed arrow until the light was extinguished.

Even after the fire live had been doused, the others were still in a state of shock. Their clever little distraction had threatened the main one. Haydee felt the inner contempt grow feverously at her plan. That arrow was no doubt from Deshavi's bows. She had the best range of the archers. Haydee should have kept from using her bow because of such a chance of the event that had just happened.

But all of her anger turned in to worry, as a par of footsteps could be heard on the staircase, and Haydee turned to see a figure struggling up the stairs, carrying an object beside it's knee, shushing with some sort of liquid. A water bucket, he must be here to douse the flaming arrow! She realized.

"Klethi," Haydee whispered like one would say damn. She was the only one who could take the water carrier out silently; that is to say she had the most experience with that sort of work. I'll have to do it, she thought grimly.

"Stay low," she ordered the others, and drew her sword. A knife would be more useful then a sword. She knew that fact from the grim experience at Reyvadin, and the one who tried to kill her. It was a strange thought realizing she was now plotting someone's death like she had been the center of someone else's.

She shook her head, no time to ponder on that. The man with the bucket of water was now almost to the tower. Even if he was half blind in the dark, he would still be able to notice them in the night air.

Less then five feet now, Haydee decided it was time to act. Remaining crouched, she turned the corner to meet him. What happened next, Haydee could not be sure. Whether it was the sheen from her blade gleaming off of one of the torches in the castle, the man had seen her or one of the Wolves or something else entirely, the man had let go of his bucket and it fell off the wall and onto the stairs with a large crash and all of the water spilling out of it adding to the already loud noise.

Even with Haydee's swift reaction, ignoring the blade she had pulled out for this purpose, she shifted her hands on to her blade's guards and brought the hilt of the blade hard into the man's chest. As he fell to the ground, Haydee used the side of the blade to pound a heavy hit onto the man's forehead. The hit might have killed him, or lightly wound him, but either way, his life ended or merely temporary stopped, he would not make a noise tonight.

But it was to late. Form the other wall, came a shout, and within seconds a bell started to ring. The alarm was raised anyway despite Haydee's efforts.

Having no time to blame herself, she ran back to the tower, "We're found out!" Looking at the crossbowmen, "Focus on the barracks, shoot anyone who runs out!" Then she shouted at the few still climbing the ladders, "Hurry up down there!" Already she could hear some of the crossbowmen letting loose a bolt or two. Informing her that the Khanates were already rushing out of the barracks ready for fighting. There was not much time left. Turning around she added, "We will have to fight to the gate!" She gestured towards the stairs. "We'll block them at the stairs!"

Not waiting for her men, Haydee rushed ahead to the stairs. She stopped short as she saw a figure on the wall already. The captain of the guard, clad in heavy Khanate armour and holding an object in his right hand revealed to be an ebony mace by a torch in his left hand. Haydee froze in fear by the sight of the man, more of the calm look on his face in spite of the Wolves' sudden appearance. How did he get here so quickly?

He took a step forward, and scowled viciously. Haydee could only watch the mace in horror as it slowly picked up speed and slowly arc towards her. Eventually the dark mace disappeared from her eyesight thanks to her slits for eye slots, but soon the weapon let it presence known to her. With a sudden lurch of her helmet, she knew the mace had connected with her helmet, and a searing pain came crashing on to her head, on the corner of her forehead just in front of her left temple. The pain was horrible, and blinding as the force swung her head to the right as if she had been slapped.

As she turned her head back she saw a look of frustration on the man's face, and she realized why, Haydee had taken a blow to the head and had lived! The fact that the man had not winded up to swing his weapon was her saving grace in this instance. It had given the mace the power of a low slap rather then a swing. He would not that mistake again.

This time, the captain of the guard took is time to wind up his swing, pulling his right arm across his body, making it apparent that he intended to finish the so called fight here and now. Haydee again could only watch, but with every heartbeat, the pain on her head seemed to flare in pain causing the man to speed up. As the mace was about to reach the point to stopping, Haydee shut her eyes to be prepared for the impact. The fatal impact.

Then a foreign sound to a battle rung to her ears, the sound of dripping water. And then an image flashed before her eyes: the statue from the nightmare, her own self, crying on the small island surrounded by her tears.

She swore that was no longer her!

Her eyes snapped opened and she saw the man's arm had not yet stopped move back to wind up. She needed to strike back now! Letting her head drift downward she saw the man's foot, it was on the very edge of the castle wall. With a little force, it could force the foot from its grip on the smooth stone.

She didn't have time to wind up for a swing, instead she lunged out for the leg, and prayed it hit. It did, fortunately, the captain of the guard had turned his right leg slightly in a habitual way learned to gain more power for his attack, and the blade had hit right when the foot was shifting. With the blade hitting the metal brace rapped around the man's leg, (doing no damage although), and the captain of the guards foot shift, it was enough to for his leg off of the wall, and the foot led the rest of the body to fall.

It didn't help that the man's mace was in his right hand, and the weapon only aided in the man's downfall, literally. Haydee watched slowly, as first the foot disappeared into the blackness, then the man's knee came slamming down on the hard slate, then sliding off as the rest of the captain tipped away to follow his foot.

He would fall on the stairs, Haydee realized as he watched him fall. It was probably only five feet to where the stairs where, he could probably live after that fall. But he was not threatening at the moment, and no long risked her life.

Haydee remained fixated on the spot where the captain's foot had once rested, and where he slammed his knee into the hard rock... Perhaps it was the hit to her head that rendered her stupid, or the realization that she almost died. However when the sound of the captain's metal armour clattered on the stairs, the Lieutenant's mind snapped out of stupor.

Remembering the alarm had been given she tried to focus her vision on the courtyard, trying to make out if any men where threatening her. But as she strained her eyes through her great helm's eye holes, she felt her vision cloud from the intense looking.

Quickly she removed her helmet, and tossed it to the side, unaware of the jagged dent in the forehead of it. Now with her face exposed her cool night air, she feel it was strangely cold on the place where the mace had kissed her. It was bleeding now, and several small trickles of blood moved down her forehead and poured into her eye.

The sudden pain caused her to close the eye to cap the blood from getting into it, but despite the temporary loss of vision in one of his eyes, she could see the courtyard much better. The courtyard was beginning to become all the more active, like a swarm of ants who's hive was under attack.

Haydee turned back to her party and shouted, "Come on! To the gate!"

-End notes-

Ah, Cliffhanger again?!

Again sorry for the cliff hanger ending, but I feared what I have in mind would be far to long to have it fit within my personal 10,000 word limit. Plus this way, I can finish the arc within the next two chapters! Haha, it will end on a nice and even number! My OCD wins again!

Done with delays. (Not what you probably thinking.)

Looking over all of my endnotes on an ego run, (a time when I look up my reviews and stories to puff up my inner ego), I noticed I complain about delays A LOT… huh. Well now that I am aware of this problem, I hope I can avoid doing this again, not being delay but mentioning delays.

Endnotes revived

In addition to noticing the delay complaints, (I swear this the last time I mention the d-word), that I have not been making endnotes with personality much anymore. I know the reason why this happened, and I have resolved the reason why that was to case, I and I hope I can rekindle my fun times with the endnotes.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter.

Cheers

Indogma.

PS, I do apologize for the long ass exposition of the Emir…