CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - THE SIGNAL

A column of smoke rising from the south; that’s what he was watching for, and there it was. Hiram knew it would be coming, but dreaded it. They had trained for nearly two weeks straight, and though he felt comfortable with his own marksmanship, he was far less confident in that of some of his fellows. As for the sword…he just hoped it wouldn’t come down to that.

He sat on a rooftop near the edge of town. The Mayor, at Raedrick and Julian’s behest, had convinced the house’s owners, and the owners of the house across Main Street from his perch, to erect a platform up there, to facilitate keeping watch. And to aid in the defense of the town, if it came down to it.

Which it looked like it was about to. Fortunately for Hiram, the plan called for as many archers as possible to man the rooftop platforms, then pull up the ladders behind them. He should be relatively safe from having to use his sword up there. Hopefully.

Hiram picked up the horn resting on the platform next to his water barrel and lifted it to his lips. Blowing into it, he blanched when all that came out was a little squeak. He hated the damn things. Wetting his lips, he took a deep breath and tried again.

The horn’s call rang out strong and true.

Down on the street below, every eye turned toward his position. The people stood motionless for a long moment. Hiram could practically see the thoughts churning in everyone’s head. Is it for real? Is this another drill?

Then a second horn sounded, from the platform across the street.

The people on the streets scattered, running as quickly as they could to the boats or to designated mustering points. It was pandemonium for a few minutes, then the streets became eerily silent, empty.

That would change.

Hiram looked back to the south and his heart sank. The smoke column stopped abruptly. The smoke that was already in the air continued to rise, but no more rose to follow it. It was almost as if someone had taken a blanket and smothered the fire in an instant. He was not sure how that could be done, and he preferred not to think about it.

He just hoped the sentries at the Eastflow had managed to get away after lighting the signal. He was not intimate with the two men on duty this day; they were from different boats than he. But he had gotten to know them a bit over the last couple weeks. They were good men, and it would be a shame to lose them.

A group came running from the center of town toward Hiram’s position. He recognized Raedrick and Julian at the head of the group. Selam was close behind, along with half a dozen of his fellow fishing men, bows in hand. Strangely, that Klemins woman was with the group as well. Nowthatwas a good looking woman. A bit uppity for Hiram’s taste, but good looking regardless. Why was she there? A fight was no place for a lady like her, whether she was close with Raedrick and Julian or not.

Hiram was not sure what to make of those two. He and the others who had been with them to confront Farzal in front of Town Hall had heard the revelation about their background. They had not discussed it much, but Gilroy and Rolf did not care either way, and Selam…well, those two seemed to go up in Selam’s estimation after that. But then, he had always been a strange fellow. But Hiram’s father had raised him to value honor and to always do his duty. The thought of a man running out on his oaths by deserting the Army revolted him.

And yet…

And yet, Raedrick and Julian were stand-up guys. They did not have to stay here to help with the town’s problems. Yet here they were, putting their butts on the line. It was hard not to respect that.

The group came to a halt on the street below Hiram’s post and Raedrick shouted up to him, “Hiram, what do you see?”

“Smoke from the south, but it stopped all of a sudden.”

Raedrick nodded with a frown and turned to the group. Speaking quickly, he issued orders that Hiram could not make out. Not that he needed to, since they all knew the drill.

Four of the bowmen split off from the group; two headed to Hiram’s platform and two to the one across the street. Meanwhile, Julian, Selam, and the other two bowmen jogged to the end of Main Street, where workers had erected a makeshift barricade. To one side, an empty cart stood ready. The four men pushed it into the narrow opening in the barricade, then, working together, tipped the cart up on its side, effectively blocking passage.

Hiram’s two additional bowmen reached the top of his platform. Hiram turned to greet them and was surprised to see that Mistress Klemins had climbed up as well.

“My lady, what are you…”

“Doing?” she finished for him. “Nothing you would understand. Get back to keeping lookout and don’t worry yourself about things that don’t concern you.”

Well she did not need to be rude about it. Feeling more than a little affronted, Hiram was tempted to snipe back.

Unfortunately, she was right. He had more important things to do than get into an argument with her. Instead, he re-verified the storage bins were full of arrows and then looked out to the southeast, where Farzal’s men would most likely come from.

There was not much to see, though. And it was hard to maintain concentration with her chanting behind him. What was she doing? At one point, she even sprinkled him with dust of some sort. Him, and the other two men with him. And then the platform, too! He opened his mouth to protest, but the expression on her face made him bite his tongue.

Mistress Klemins finally stopped her chanting and climbed down the ladder. “Thank the Gods,” Hiram breathed. That chanting was driving him crazy.

Then he realized there was a bit of a commotion in the street and the other platform. Men in both places were talking excitedly to each other, some of them with expressions of shock or fear. And they were pointing at him and his platform.

“What are they going on about?” he asked, receiving shrugs from the two men with him.

Then Mistress Klemins mounted the other platform and performed her chant there as well, and he got his answer. No sooner did she stop chanting than the platform, and all the men on it, disappeared! His jaw dropped. Impossible! Rubbing his eyes did not help; they were gone.

Except he could still hear them. What the…

It came to him, and he looked down at Mistress Klemins in amazement. She was a mage! That was the only explanation for it.

“Nah. Women can’t be mages,” said one of his companions on the platform, as though responding to Hiram’s thoughts.

“Apparently this one can,” Hiram replied. He realized he was grinning, and the anxiety he had felt just moments ago was significantly lessened. With a mage on their side, they might just make it through this with their skins intact.

* * *

Raedrick nodded approval as the second archery platform vanished from sight. Or whatever it was that Melanie’s spell did to make it appear to vanish. “That trick of hers never gets old, does it?” he quipped.

Julian grinned in response. “Yeah, she’s right nice to have around.”

Raedrick almost choked at that. Really? Julian must really be smitten. Raedrick did not think he would ever use the word nice to describe Melanie, however good to look at she might be. Although truth to tell, he preferred Lani in that way, too.

Funny how that worked out. He had not thought about the fact that she would still be here when he decided to take the route through Glimmer Vale. He had only thought to get a good rate on a room for the night from Molli. And now he could not bear the thought of leaving Lani when this was all over.

But that was a thought for another time.

Raedrick spent the next several minutes looking over the barricade carefully. He was far from satisfied. It was ramshackle, obviously put together in a hurry, but that was to be expected. The best he could hope for was that it would delay Isenholf’s men enough for the archers to drive them off. If not…

“I hope she has something with a little more firepower up her sleeve,” he said as he turned back to face Julian.

And found himself facing Melanie as well. That was fast.

“I have a few other tricks, Raedrick. Fear not.”

He nodded. “Fair enough. Hold off until I give the word, if you can. I’d like to keep you as a surprise for as long as possible.”

She frowned, but nodded. “It will likely not be long. Once the archers begin to fire, their mage will put two and two together and take steps to find and counter them.”

Raedrick did not want to think about what would happen when that started. “Can you handle him?”

Melanie looked at him like he was daft. “Do you have some information that I do not, Raedrick?”

“No. What -”

“Then you have just as much an idea how to answer that question as I do.”

“Ah.” He had no idea, and apparently she did not either. Wonderful.

“Riders approaching!” The shout came from above. It sounded like Hiram.

Raedrick looked up and nodded, then did a double-take, as he was able to see Hiram’s platform clearly. For a moment, anxiety welled up, far more than the normal pre-battle jitters Raedrick always felt. But then he moved his eyes slightly, and Hiram’s platform faded from view again. It must be what Melanie said the first time: he knew it was there, so he could see it. If he worked at it, or surprised himself.

“Time to roll the dice.”

Raedrick looked over his shoulder at Selam and nodded. The swarthy swordsman had a way with words, sometimes. Then he stepped up onto the small walkway that was constructed on the back of the barricade and looked out at the oncoming riders.

It was time to roll the dice indeed.

Glimmer Vale is the first book of the Glimmer Vale Chronicles, an ongoing heroic fantasy series set in a world of valor and magic. It will be published here, one chapter per week, on Tuesday.

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