The Robber Knight's Secret

02. How to Kill Children

So far, Reuben observed, his inspirational speech seemed to be working well. It had already inspired quite a lot of fear. Even from where he stood, quite some distance away, he could see the trembling hands of the peasants, the sweat on their foreheads, the nervous movement of their eyes from side to side. They were searching for an escape. But there was none. Not from the Margave, and most certainly not from him.

"I am responsible for the defense of Luntberg," he told them, his voice calm and cold, "so let me tell you how it is going to go: the Margrave and his army are going to arrive in a few weeks—two at the least, four at the most. The enemy army will be at least a thousand men strong."

There were gasps of horror from the audience. Young couples clutched at each other. Mothers looked around for their children instinctively—but they weren't there. Oh no, they were not there. Reuben had seen to that.

He shrugged, as if not at all fazed by the gigantic army approaching.

"I cannot be totally certain of the numbers. My scout only got a rough count."

The villagers relaxed a little bit.

"There may be a lot more than just a thousand," Reuben added, and the villagers went rigid with fear again. It cost him a lot of effort not to laugh. Satan's hairy ass! It was such fun to torture people, even if you didn't have rusty metal implements with sharp spikes.

"Here is what is going to happen," he continued. "They are going to encircle the castle. We are going to stay inside the castle, of course, because confronting such a huge army would be plain suicide with only fifty trained men-at-arms at my disposal. All of you villagers are going to come into the castle as well, of course, because Lady Ayla is too soft-hearted for her own good and for some reason doesn't want you and your children massacred, and your women raped. With all of you in the castle there will be a great many mouths to feed. You have experienced this before. Soon, our provisions will run out. There is no hope of freeing ourselves by the same trick as last time, the tale will have been spread up and down the country by now, and the Margrave will be forwarned. We will be trapped in the castle, and we will grow weak, and eventually, fall ill or just die of hunger. Either that, or the Margrave will have siege engines built to attack the castle. If he should decide to do that, the walls will fall quickly. A garrison of fifty men is not enough to defend all of the walls, and it is only a matter of time before the Margrave's soldiers swarm into the castle like ants. Then, you and your children will be massacred, and your women will be... but I think I already mentioned that, didn't I?"

By now, several of the villagers had turned slightly green. Those who stood at the back of the crowd seemed to be very grateful for the solid stone wall immediately behind them. To Reuben, they didn't look as if they could stand on their own anymore.

"B-but you're supposed to protect us," one of the men cried out, fear and anger so tightly intertwined in his voice that they couldn't be separated. "Just kill them!"

Reuben looked at the one who had spoken. He had one of the most sheepish faces of all the sheep here. The way he stood there, gazing up at Reuben, half-angry, half-desperate, begging to be saved... It made Reuben want to kick him in the ass, just to see if that would put some backbone into the sniveling excuse for a man.

"Yes, I am supposed to protect you," he admitted, not taking his eyes from the man. Eye contact was important. For the first time, he let a little bit of the anger he felt seep into his voice. "I am supposed to protect you with an army of fifty men from an army of a thousand men. Tell me, friend, if a wolf came out of the forest, would you protect your family and friends?"

The sudden change of subject startled the peasant. He looked from left to right, finding himself the object of everybody's attention. He swallowed.