The Robber Knight's Secret

54. The Brilliant Bird's Feet Plan

Sir Hartung stood in the dark, listening to the dull, distant thudding noise that drifted down the mountain on the wings of the night wind. Slowly, the noise changed. Grinding and cracking began to be mixed in with the thuds of iron against wood. Then unearthly groans and screeches joined the cacophony, as the battered doors began to push against the metal of the portcullis with every slam of the battering ram, bending it inwards.

"How long, do you think?" Sir Hartung asked the captain beside him.

"Half an hour, maximum," was the Captain's reply.

"Then give the signal for the knights to ready themselves. I want helmets on and weapons checked by the time that gate comes down, do you understand?"

"Yes, Milord!"

*~*~**~*~*

"They are getting in. There is no changing that."

Reuben's face lay half in shadows. Even so, Ayla could see his expression, and she didn't like it. Never before had she seen him look this grim.

"Surely there's something we can do," she said hesitantly, looking around at all the others gathered in the tower chamber—not the same tower chamber she had been in before, though. Reuben had dragged her from that one, not giving half an ear to her screams of protest. Now, she was hauled up in a tower chamber of the inner wall, far away from the gate shuddering under the onslaught of the battering ram. And she wasn't alone: aside from Reuben, her three other knights, as well as Burchard, Linhart and Theoderich were all present, their faces just as grim as Reuben's.

"There must be something!" she repeated. "Something we can do!"

"There is," Sir Waldar growled. "Retreat!"

"What? No!"

Ayla looked around from one face to the next, horrified. None offered her any comfort. "We can't just do that!" she appealed to Captain Linhart. "We can't just hand them the outer castle on a silver platter!"

"We're not handing it to them, Milady. They're taking it."

"Yes, but still..." She turned to Burchard.

The old steward shrugged. "Don't look at me. I don't know a flea's fart about fighting."

"Sir Rudolphus?" The young knight might be inexperienced, but sometimes was surprisingly smart. However, to Ayla's dismay, he shook his head.

"I'm afraid I agree with the others, Milady. There's no way to keep them from getting in."

Finally, Ayla's gaze turned to the last person in the room. The person on whom not just her hopes, but all their hopes ested.

"Reuben?"

His gray eyes met her blue ones. He managed to keep up the grim expression for about two second before his devil's grin tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"You blaggard! You do have a plan!"

"I never said I didn't, now, did I?"

"You said we couldn't stop them from getting in!"

"Well, we can't. That doesn't mean we have to make it easy. Don't you remember the last time an enemy set foot into this castle?"

Ayla's eyes narrowed. "You mean the time you opened the gates for them and let them in intentionally?"

"Yes, that time," he agreed, jovially.

"Actually, I do remember. It's kind of hard to forget something like that."

"You flatter me, Milady. I hope you haven't forgotten about me laying a trap for the enemy forces and obliterating to a man?"

Ayla felt her face relax, and she shared a moment with Reuben, exchanging something through their eyes that could not be expressed in words or gestures. "No," she said, softly. "I haven't forgotten that, either."