“Would they manage to convince him?” Sergeant Caulder asked, ignoring Zacharias. “To run away?”
“Maybe,” Prince Harold said with a sigh. “I don’t know. But we can’t take that chance.”
“There’s nothing we can do, Harold,” Josephine said, touching the prince’s shoulder. “We just have to hope.”
“To hell with that!” Prince Harold growled, clenching his fists. “We’re going to stop it.”
“How?” Arcturus asked. “We’re a handful of novice summoners with no mana, most of us are injured and our forces are a few dozen exhausted men. What could we possibly do to change things?”
Prince Harold smiled. It was a strange, unhinged smile, and there was madness in his eyes.
“We’re going to make me king,” he said.
CHAPTER
56
“TELL ME THE PLAN again,” Arcturus said as Uhtred strapped the breastplate to his chest. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand it. But hearing it said aloud made it seem less crazy.
“We’ll fight our way to Corwin Plaza and then I’m going to demand my father give up the throne to me,” Prince Harold said.
They were in the room above the forge, where Uhtred seemed to store all his spare armor and weapons. Strangely, there also seemed to be large piles of what looked like bamboo lying around, though for what purpose, Arcturus did not know.
Zacharias and Josephine had reluctantly joined them, while the three sergeants were busy getting the men downstairs ready for battle.
“What good will that do again?” Arcturus asked, holding his arms and legs wide so Uhtred could fix a pair of metal vambraces to his forearms and two greaves to his shins.
“We will do it in full view of the crowds,” Harold said, examining the weapons piled in the corner and selecting a fine sword. “They know I am not the same man as my father. I have always been popular with the people—in fact, many nobles have been pressuring my father to abdicate the throne to me for this very reason—including Zacharias’s father. Is that not so, Zacharias?”
Zacharias looked up from where he had been prodding a stack of shields with his foot.
“He has,” Zacharias admitted. “Everyone knows Alfric is detested by all common folk, and this makes the nobles’ position precarious given their allegiance to him. But Harold’s public support of the military, and his opposition to the continued construction of the palace, earned him a lot of goodwill there. He would make a more stable king than Alfric.”
“So it would appease them?” Josephine asked. She had barely left the stairwell, and in the dim torchlight, her face looked pale and waxen. “If Harold was made king. The crowds would disperse?”
“They have to,” was Harold’s only reply.
“They had better,” Ulfr’s gruff voice called from the stairwell. He stomped into the light, and Arcturus was surprised to find the dwarf had armed himself with a battle-axe, and was wearing a brigandine of mail and a steel helmet.
“Are you joining us?” Harold asked.
“Aye, I’ve got to protect my investment,” the dwarf said. “Can’t leave you lot to mess it up at the last hurdle.”
“Very noble of you,” Arcturus said drily.
Still, the dwarf’s participation made him feel much better. They would need every fighter they could get.
“You’re all set for armor,” Uhtred said, patting Arcturus’s chest. “Any more and you’d be too weighed down, but at least you’re protected from a crossbow bolt or a sword blow. How about your weapon?”
Arcturus smiled and tugged his axe free from the quiver on his back.
“Good workmanship,” Uhtred said, examining the blade. “Sharp as a razor too. Have you used it before?”
“I have,” Arcturus replied, though he wondered whether his frantic skirmish in Vocans or chopping at a drawbridge really counted.
“Best you hold on to it, then,” Uhtred replied. “Now’s not the time to get used to the weight and balance of a new weapon.”
He handed it back to Arcturus and moved on to help Prince Harold put on his own breastplate.
“I have something to say,” Josephine announced.
Arcturus turned, startled. The girl was looking at her feet.
“I’m staying here with my sister,” she said in a quavering voice. “I’m not cut out for this. I’d freeze up.”
Prince Harold’s face fell. But then he went over to Josephine and hugged her.
“This is my mess,” the prince said, kissing her on the cheek. “I cannot ask you to risk your life for me. Not when you’ve been through so much already. The soldiers below, they swore to protect king and country. But you … you’re just a student. You didn’t sign up for this. That goes for you too, Arcturus. And you, Zacharias. I will understand if you don’t want to come.”
Zacharias looked at the prince for a moment, then smiled with relief and dropped the sword he had been holding.
“Well, then I’m staying too,” Zacharias said. “Someone needs to protect the girls when you and the soldiers have gone.”
Arcturus snorted at this excuse, earning himself a glare from Zacharias. He’d take any of the girls over ten Zachariases.
Arcturus saw the disappointment in Harold’s face, but the prince embraced Zacharias nonetheless. Then he turned to Arcturus.
“Are you coming?” he asked.
Arcturus hefted his axe. This was no longer about survival, or commoners, or nobles. No longer about friendship, or choosing sides. This was about saving lives.
“Thousands could die if I don’t,” he said, looking meaningfully at Zacharias. “Thousands. Of course I’m coming.”
Zacharias shrugged and led Josephine down the stairs. Harold watched them go with what looked like regret.
“I didn’t think Zacharias would back out,” he muttered under his breath. “Maybe I should have pressed him.”
“So, just us three, then,” Arcturus said, patting Ulfr on the back. The dwarf glowered at him and edged away, then muttered something in dwarfish under his breath.
“Edmund and Alice are both injured, but we’ll have their demons fighting with us, at least,” Harold said, though he seemed to be speaking to himself more than anyone else. “Gelert’s ribs are hurt, but Edmund says he can fight.”
“Sacharissa’s hurt too,” Arcturus murmured.
He felt a flash of guilt, for he could still feel the ache of pain from the loyal Canid in his consciousness. But he doubted he could get her to stay behind, and even if he managed to, it would take every ounce of his concentration to keep her there. She was coming with him, one way or another.
“The soldiers can take as much ammunition as they like,” Uhtred said, rapping Prince Harold’s breastplate with his knuckles. “I’ll see if I can’t scrounge up some spare helmets too. Other than that … there isn’t much else I can do, I’m afraid.”
“You’ve done more than enough,” Harold said warmly, shaking the dwarf’s hand.
“I’ll go get the troops ready,” Uhtred said.
The dwarf bowed and hurried down the stairs, stopping on the way to pick up a large box of helmets, lifting it with his muscled arms as if it weighed nothing at all. Arcturus only wished that the kind-hearted dwarf was fighting alongside them.
Then the three were alone, standing in the ill-lit chamber. They stood awkwardly.
“Ulfr…,” Harold said, after a moment’s hesitation. “You should know, I will protect the interests of your people whether you help us or not. I will not forget. These laws my father has enacted … I will work tirelessly to repeal them.”
“Harold, do you want to fight alone?” Arcturus asked, exasperated.
“Don’t worry, boy, I’m coming,” Ulfr said, spinning the axe in his hands. “I’ve never been allowed to hit a human before.”
He chuckled, then grew serious as Harold’s eyebrows furrowed.
“I appreciate it,” Ulfr said, nodding his head respectfully. “But you won’t be able to do any of that if you can’t reach the plaza. And whatever I may think of humans, I don’t want thousands of deaths on my conscience. Not when I could have done something to stop it.”
“Thank you,” Prince Harold said, looking up at the ceiling, as if he could see what was happening above. “I just hope this works.”
CHAPTER