A few of the soldiers and lords shouted, “Agreed!” and “Hear! Hear!”
“Aloysius is a maniac, but he is still only a man. A man who lost his last war. He is not indestructible. Our reinforcements will be here tomorrow, and then we take the fight to Aloysius. Until then, we double the watch. Aloysius wanted a reply by midnight tonight, and I say to him that I will not surrender my loyal friends, but will fight for every inch of my country with you, my fellow Pitorians.”
TASH
ROSSARB, PITORIA
TASH HAD thought demons were scary, but men could be just as bad. The head in the box had nearly made her sick, the smell almost as awful as the sight of it. King Aloysius sounded like a madman. It was hard to imagine that someone as nice as Princess Catherine could be his daughter. Prince Tzsayn wouldn’t give Aloysius what he wanted, that was obvious. That meant the Brigantines would attack. But that also meant that perhaps she and Gravell had a chance of escaping during the chaos of the battle.
When they got back to the princess’s rooms Tash went to the window and looked out at the Brigantine army. Their camp was the size of the Dornan trade fair twice over. If it came to a fight, Tash was pretty sure the Brigantines would win, and she had no intention of ending up with her head in a box.
The courtyard below was abustle with preparations. Aloysius had given Tzsayn until midnight to hand Catherine and Ambrose over, and Tash couldn’t imagine he’d be the patient type. Tanya was already packing a bundle of things in case the castle fell and they had to flee.
“If there’s an attack, what will happen to the prisoners in the cells?”
Tanya ignored her. “We need food. I learned that from my last escape from a castle. I’ll go and get some. You stay with the princess.”
Catherine was at the other window, her red-rimmed eyes unseeing. Tash crossed over to her. “Please, tell me: what will happen to Gravell?”
“I don’t know, Tash.”
“He’s a good fighter. He could help. They should release him.”
“I’ve asked for his release before, Tash. The prince won’t trust him.”
“Well, I’m not leaving here without him.”
“Hopefully none of us will have to leave. The town walls are strong and the castle walls are stronger. Reinforcements will be here soon.”
Tash huffed quietly. The princess spoke fine words, but she was still getting ready to leave.
As night fell, the three of them dined together. Tash had thought the princess would eat separately, but she sat with Tanya, who talked about the soldiers, but Tash now wanted to ask her own questions.
“So, Princess Catherine, you’re still betrothed to the prince even though he’s at war with your father?”
“Yes.”
“And you seem to like him and he seems all right. I mean, he handled that whole head-on-a-wobbly-spike thing pretty well. And he’s not bad-looking, at least from one side. And he’s a prince and going to be a king, which I guess is good. So that’s all fine and dandy.”
“Indeed,” Catherine replied, as Tanya hid her smile with her hand.
“And Ambrose—he’s just a handsome soldier, sworn to protect you with his life.”
Tanya went still.
Catherine said in a too-calm voice, “He was one of my bodyguards in Brigant. All of them swear to protect their royal charges.”
“I don’t see any of the others around here, though.”
“There’s a reason for him being here. The invasion.” Catherine fanned her face.
“Hmm. So you’ve known him a while?”
“A few years.”
“And you seem to like him too. I mean, as well as Prince Tzsayn.”
“I’m quite capable of liking more than one person at a time. I like a lot of my men. I mean, in the sense that they’re good men; I mean, good soldiers.”
“I guess that makes sense. You’re a princess. Why limit yourself? Have it all.”
Tanya seemed to have a coughing fit at this.
“That isn’t what I meant at all!” Catherine got to her feet, saying, “I could do with some air.” She went to the window and said firmly, “I care for Ambrose—he’s loyal and I trust him. But I’m betrothed to Tzsayn. It’s as simple as that.”
“So you’re going to marry Tzsayn?”
Catherine hesitated. “As you mentioned yourself, he’s at war with my father at the moment, so . . .”
“As simple as that then,” Tash said. She got up to look out of the window too. It was a clear night, many stars in the sky. The fires of the Brigantine army were burning brightly, like stars on the earth. She said, “You know, these windows are very narrow and very high. No one can get in through them, even if they had ropes to scale the walls. But we can’t escape through them either. If this tower was attacked, we’d be trapped.”
Tanya butted in. “Will you shut up? We’re not being attacked. The princess explained that. The Brigantine army would have to fight all the way through Rossarb before it reached the castle.”
“Unless they scaled the castle walls from the river,” Tash said. “Isn’t that what you said they did in Tornia?”
Catherine froze. “They did.”
“And wasn’t that castle supposed to be impregnable too?”
No one replied.
Tash muttered, “It must be about midnight. I bet your father’s not one for waiting much past deadlines.”
“Waiting for the deadline will be agony for him,” the princess replied.
It was a moment later that shouts came from below.
Tanya and Catherine looked at one another and then out of the window, but they could see little in the dark.
Geratan rushed in. “The Brigantine army has breached the town walls and set fire to the buildings. And others have somehow found their way inside the castle walls too. They’ve killed Lord Reddrian. Ambrose says you must stay here with the door locked. He and the rest of your men are going through the castle searching for the assassins. Baranon and I will remain here with you.”
“And Prince Tzsayn?”
“He’s fighting on the town walls.”
“And how is that fight going?”
Geratan hesitated. “Your Highness, we must be prepared . . . I mean . . .”
“Shits!” cursed Tash. “We’re all going to end up with our heads on poles.” She paced around the room looking through each window, but eventually she went to sit with the others.
They were mainly silent, listening to the distant sounds of fighting.
Geratan said, “There’s a lot of waiting in war. Waiting and bad food.”
“And a lot of dead men,” Tash added.
Geratan shot her a look, so she got up again and went over to the window.
The fires in the Brigantine camp were as clear as before and the stars as bright, but now there was also a flickering yellow light, much closer and from below.
Tash said quietly, “I think the castle is on fire.”
Geratan swore under his breath and ran to the window as a billow of smoke rose past.
“We need to leave, Your Highness.”
Tash picked up her bundle and was ready to go. Geratan led the way. Catherine, Tanya, and Tash followed, with the other guard, Baranon, bringing up the rear. As they descended the stairs, the smoke became thicker and flames came from one room they passed. At the bottom, Tash could see the doorway that led to the courtyard, but before they could reach it Tanya screamed as a man in black ran out of the smoke with a knife. Geratan grappled with him and they slammed together into the wall.
Tash pushed Tanya, saying, “Go! Get past them!” And she took the princess by her wrist and pulled her out into the courtyard. Tash looked back and saw Baranon slit the attacker’s throat with his dagger. It wasn’t like killing a demon. Blood spurted out, covering Baranon, and the man didn’t scream but choked and grabbed at his neck.
The courtyard was dark and smoky and it was hard to work out what was happening. The fire was spreading fast. If Gravell was still locked in the cells, he’d die. Tash had to get him out. She set off for the cells but was immediately grabbed by a strong arm round her shoulders, lifting her off the ground. She kicked out and struggled.