Chapter 11
Sieglinde's eyes had trouble focusing upon who was shaking her awake. When she realized through the dark that it was Humbert she felt a jumble of confused emotions. Reality quickly swept them away.
"Uncle has sent me to fetch you," he said. "There is trouble."
She jumped out of bed and in only her chemise, followed Humbert out of the manor and to the walls. Since the storm of many days prior, it had been raining without respite until that very evening. With the sky now clear, the temperature had dropped dramatically. The moistness to the air didn't help. She wrapped her arms around herself and only moved them away from her body again to climb to the ladder to the battlements. Her muddy feet slipped on the rungs of the ladder but she managed to complete the climb without serious incident.
Adalbern was looking out into the forest and did not turn to her.
"Do you see it?" he asked.
She followed his gaze. It was not difficult to see what he meant. The bright spot of firelight was the only thing that was distinguishable in the darkness.
"A forest fire?" she asked, never thinking she would be saying such a thing hopefully.
He shook his head. "Someone is camping out there," he said, "Within the line of the barrier."
"Do they know we are here?" she asked, still desperate to be given some reassurance, no matter how much she knew it would not come.
"It showed up not long ago," he said. "It is possible that whoever it is has not seen the walls yet." He tilted his head towards the sky. There was no moon. They were lucky for that.
"It's just a single fire," she reasoned. "Do you think we can kill whoever it is?"
He nodded. "Exactly what I had planned to suggest. I will do it myself."
"Thank you," Sieglinde said as she felt her shoulders relax.
Adalbern climbed down from the walls, enlisting Humbert and two other young sentries named Kuno and Florian to join him.
Before Humbert climbed down, Sieglinde grabbed his hand in hers and squeezed it. He seemed surprised and unsure of what to do but after a moment of standing frozen, he squeezed her hand back.
"We will not be gone long," he said.
She watched him climb down the ladder before turning back to the forest. Though the drawbridge was well maintained and made little noise as it was slowly lowered, the rattle of the chains were the most deafening thing of her life at that moment. Once it was down, she breathed again. It was too dark to see the men walking into the trees so she focused upon the distant light and prayed to the Goddess that it would be extinguished.
The breeze caught at her loose hair. More than once, she had to pull locks away from her face. Despite the distraction, she did not move her eyes from the dot of light. She shivered, not entirely sure it was due to the cold, but still kept her eyes upon the glow. Her heart pounded in her ears but still the light remained.
Each of the nightly forest sounds stabbed at her eardrums. Each one was entirely indistinguishable from that caused by animal, friend, or monster. The light remained. She wrapped her arms tightly around her middle and began to whisper, "Please," over and over. The light remained. It felt as though the entire world around her would fall away before that light was extinguished.
It flickered. Her breath caught.
It went out.
Her entire body relaxed at the same moment and finally allowed her to take in a proper breath.
Several minutes later, she heard the rattles and creaks of the drawbridge being closed; this time with much more speed and less care than had been used when it had been lowered. She rushed down the ladder. At the bottom, she was relieved to see all four of the men had returned and none appeared injured but Adalbern had something round held under one arm.
"We must show you something," he said, leading her back into the gatehouse where a torch was lit without fear of the light showing beyond the walls.
He lifted the round object and it reflected the torchlight. It was a helmet.
"He was a soldier," Adalbern said. "It appears he was on his own but that worries me."
"Why?" she asked, "Isn't that better than an army finding us?"
"A lone soldier could be a scout."
"But you've killed him. He cannot report anything," she said.
He nodded. "But when he does not return, they may send more."
She became acutely aware, to the point that her skin prickled uncomfortably, that all the men were watching her and waiting for her response. And at that moment she very much hated Luitgard.
"How much time do you think we have?" she asked.
Adalbern considered. "At worst, a day," he said, "At best, until the end of the world. I doubt any sooner. The scout was camping, so his army cannot be that close. They may not even know he is missing until tomorrow evening."
She nodded in acknowledgement of his answer. "We need to send out as many as we can first thing in the morning and harvest as much as we can. Find the cows in the pastures and some of the lambs and bring them within the wall. Fill the storehouse and the manor as if winter were coming. Go to the smithy and get Conrad to work on as many weapons as they can manage. And try to come up with a way to fortify the walls. They may have penetrated the barrier but we cannot allow them to penetrate the wall. And make sure you harvest so much there is nothing left. If they come, we must outlast them."
Adalbern nodded firmly. "I will start preparations immediately."
Sieglinde thanked him. As she left to return to the manor, her cheeks became hot. Humbert was watching her.