Chapter Thirteen #2
Elated, he maintained a low profile as he looked around the yard, which only had one man working in it.
The yard itself was cluttered and run-down.
Gage had fond memories of running around in that yard as a boy, chasing chickens and goats, of a cook who would make candied pear slices for him with honey and cinnamon.
He actually felt a little sad looking at what the yard had become.
He could only imagine what the castle itself had become.
But that thought would have to wait.
He made his way back into the drainage pipe and returned to the entrance to the moat where his men were waiting. Azul was already there and they pulled Gage out by his arms.
“It’s not blocked,” he said, using his sleeve to wipe the debris from his chin. “We can go through, one at a time.”
“The other one is not blocked, also,” Azul said. “However, there is something over the opening, like a barrel or a basket. I could not move it without the risk of being seen.”
Gage understood. “Then I’ll go first through the other pipe and when I emerge, I’ll move whatever is over the opening,” he said. Then he looked at the men. “Bull, you go first through the other pipe. Azul, you are with me. Everyone else, disperse behind me and Bull. Even numbers.”
The men began to shift. Wyeth went with Bull and the men split up quickly so there were the same amount of men going through each pipe. With that, Gage slithered back into his sewer and began to move, quickly.
Time was wasting.
He made it to the end of the pipe much more quickly this time, standing up when it made its 90 degree turn to the kitchen yard.
He perused the yard but, this time, he didn’t see the male servant.
The yard looked vacant. Quickly, he squeezed out through the opening and moved to the sewer outlet right next to it, shoving aside what looked like a broken wheelbarrow.
Very quietly, he moved the entire thing aside and pulled Laurence through the opening.
Azul came through after Gage and began pulling men out as Gage and Laurence were the lookouts.
As a man would come through, Gage or Bull would position in them in the kitchen yard, concealed by the vast amount of clutter, including carcasses of large, dead animals.
It looked like a hellscape of the yard Gage once knew, but in a short amount of time, twenty men were stationed in that kitchen yard awaiting orders.
Gage and Laurence kept them there while they did some reconnaissance.
The kitchen yard was walled, backing up to the enormous keep, with the bailey of Septentrion to the southeast. They made their way to the kitchen gate, peering into the courtyard beyond only to see that, at this early hour, it was nearly vacant.
Puzzled, they looked at one another. Septentrion was a mighty fortress but it was clear their security protocols were quite relaxed.
There was an enormous gatehouse set within the walls.
There was a wall walk adjoining the gatehouse on both sides, but it ended because the other three walls of Septentrion had buildings incorporated into the walls themselves.
It was a castle built more for comfort thanks to Gage’s grandmother, who had insisted on building apartments and chapels and other rooms. She didn’t like a strictly military fortress.
She wanted comfort.
Gage slipped over to Laurence.
“There is no one between us and the gatehouse,” he said. “My suggestion would be that we rush the gatehouse now. Head straight for it. You and I can get to the second level and release the portcullis before the alarm has even been raised.”
Laurence was in agreement. “Better to get straight to the point and not attract any attention,” he said. “Once that portcullis goes up, it will be too late for Boothe and his men, but I have a feeling the alarm will be raised at that point.”
“Agreed. Then we move as fast as we can.”
Laurence nodded. Quickly, they headed back to Azul and Wyeth, explaining the strategy to them, and watching as the order was passed down the line through the men in hiding. At Gage’s signal, they all came out of hiding and moved to the kitchen yard gate.
Gage nodded his head and opened the iron panel.
That was when the mission began in earnest.
It was still misty, though lightening considerably, as they ran through the courtyard as fast as they could, right to the gatehouse.
Gage slit the throat of the first man he came to, silencing him, as Azul took care of another man.
Gage and Laurence, followed by several of their men, charged up the stairs leading to the second floor of the gatehouse where they found four more soldiers.
Two were sleeping, two were just rising, and between Gage and Bull and the other men, they managed to silence them quickly.
The portcullis began to crank open.
Gage put the men who had followed him on rolling up the portcullis by the giant wheel that held the chains.
The more men, the faster it went, and Gage raced down to the gatehouse entry.
Varro, Brian, and Clark were standing there with the entire army behind them as shouts began to echo through Septentrion’s bailey.
Men who had sighted the invaders were now crying alarm, but it was too late.
The invaders were pouring underneath the portcullis.
Once Gage knew the men were coming through unopposed, he and Laurence and Azul raced over to the troop house where the door was opening and sleepy men were looking out into the bailey with puzzlement and curiosity.
They were ill-prepared for the heavily armed soldiers who came rushing at them, shoving them back into the troop house and blocking the door from the outside with anything they could get hold of.
Laurence made it to Septentrion’s armory and returned to the troop house with metal pikes, using them to block the door and preventing it from opening on the outside, as Gage instructed Varro’s archers to lob flaming arrows at the damp roof.
Normally, a damp, thatched roof wouldn’t have burned, but the mist had only managed to wet the top layer, not the dry and brittle layer beneath.
The flaming arrows were covered in fat that, when melted down through the damp layer, managed to catch the drier layer on fire.
In a short amount of time, the roof of the troop house was on fire and with the door blocked, most of Septentrion’s army was trapped and being inundated with smoke.
But not all of the army. Men were pouring out from all over the bailey and the fighting began in earnest. Some of Brian’s men made it into the keep and that soon became a killing ground. In fact, Gage watched as Brian and Laurence headed into the keep, undoubtedly to find Boothe.
But Gage wasn’t going to go hunting for his brother.
They’d see each other soon enough.
Therefore, he remained in the bailey supervising the battle and, at several points, engaging Boothe’s weakly trained troops.
Those that weren’t fighting were running, trying to escape from the gatehouse but being cut down by Varro’s men, who had formed a line outside of the gatehouse for just that purpose.
Like a net, they were catching the stragglers.
As the mist finally lifted, the bloodbath began in earnest.
Boothe’s men, realizing they had to fight or die, began fighting furiously.
The wagons began to arrive from Langley, bearing helms and other pieces of metal protection that had been removed so they would not reflect the sun.
This included Gage’s possessions, which had been gathered from the trees where they’d been stashed.
Gage wasn’t aware of this yet, however, and was fighting without his helm or hauberk, which left him somewhat exposed.
But he fought flawlessly, cutting men down, considering every death a victory towards restoring Septentrion’s honor.
He couldn’t believe how badly it had suffered over the past six years.
That, more than anything, fed his determination towards victory.
A couple of hours after the battle began, Azul and Wyeth emerged from the keep dragging a man between them.
They were followed by Brian, Varro, Laurence, and even Clark.
The Ashington knight wasn’t supposed to fight, but he’d caught battle fever and had been cutting down members of Septentrion’s weaker force and then denying he’d been involved at all.
Gage had seen it twice and in the midst of the fight, Clark’s behavior had made him laugh.
Then he’d watched the man disappear into the keep, now emerging with the group and a prisoner amongst them.
Curious, Gage went to meet them.
Boothe’s bloodied face was the first thing that greeted him.
“Gage!” Boothe gasped. “Gage, thank God! Tell them to spare me. Please, Brother!”
Gage frowned. “Why would I do that?” he asked. Then, he cocked his head, giving his brother a good look from head to toe. “So this is what six years away from you looks like? You do not look well, Brother.”
Boothe was flushed and angry. “What do you expect?” he snarled. “Beaten in my own home, dragged out like an animal. Tell your men to release me!”
Gage was feeling a good deal of satisfaction as he looked at his brother, harkening back to the moment he was banished from Septentrion those years ago.
He remembered the fear, the anger, the same emotions he saw on Boothe’s face at this moment.
He relived the entire conversation from that day, starting with the men ambushing him in the stables to the moment he walked from the gates.
He’d always known he would return home but he simply hadn’t realized it would be in the course of a paying job.
That did not diminish the sense of satisfaction, however.
He was enjoying it more than he thought he would.