Courted Sanctuary

Chapter 17

  To the Mintharchs' surprise, not a single soldier approached the walls or a single foreign arrow sailed overhead the next morning. The following evening was equally quiet as was the day after and the day after that. But each night, through the trees, they could see the firelight. Each flickering patch would appear one by one as the sun set.

  For weeks, every morning and every evening, Sieglinde and Adalbern would meet to discuss the matter. With no new developments, the meetings were rarely distinguishable from one another. They agreed that it was likely the fires were simply taunts. Several may even have been lit by the same soldier, meaning it might only have been a small band, not capable of performing a proper assault. Lighting fires would make their numbers appear larger as they waited and hoped the Mintharchs would simply starve to death or burst from the walls in their desperation for food. But each night as they appeared, their threat was clear and it ensured that the the drawbridge and portcullis remained closed.

  Sieglinde looked out over the still water. There was no wind. The sky was clear and the sun was not yet high enough to have made the world hot. The pond was glass but she knew where the spikes rested beneath the surface. They were both a blessing and a curse. They would either save them from assault or ensure they were unable to flee if the wall fell.

  "If we continue to do nothing, we will starve to death just as they had hoped" Adalbern said quietly. These conversations were always conducted in hushed tones between them.

  "If we open the drawbridge and try to leave," she countered, "They will take that moment to attack. Until we know for sure what those fires mean, we cannot risk giving them an opening."

  "But there are more sheep in the fields," he argued. "And it has been a week. We never did pick the fields clean. More crops might be prime for harvest. If we can get to them, we can get enough food to keep us for months more."

  "And if they kill us because we are careless, food will not matter."

  As with all of their meetings, they did not agree so much as simply stop talking. The next meeting would be the same.

  She took a deep breath as she waited for Adalbern to leave. When he did not, she looked over her shoulder at him. "Is there something new you have learned?" she asked.

  He shook his head, but his lips were pursed into a skewed bunch.

  "What is it?" she pressed.

  "I suspect when I break the news to him, Humbert will come to you and demand you overrule me."

  She raised a brow. "There is a matter of dispute?" she asked.

  "Not yet," he replied, "But within a few minutes of my leaving you, there will be."

  She noticed his fingers clenching and loosening around the hilt of the sword tied to his belt.

  "I am relieving Humbert of his duties for a week," he said.

  Since the night before the expected siege, she had little chance to see him. His insistence upon taking part in as many shifts upon the wall as possible ensured even their nights were spent apart. She had been so busy with her own work; overseeing that everything and everyone remained at the ready, helping the healers make poultices that needed time to cure, and still training the Goddess Maids. She had neglected keeping a watchful eye upon him. With Adalbern's announcement, her worry flooded her insides with freezing sludge.

  "Humbert's a good boy as you know," he said. "He has been working very hard, harder than most, though he would deny it. I have noticed his weariness increasing. I do not think he sleeps even when I send him to bed. His body is close to breaking but I know he would never admit it. I am going to force him to take a rest. If the horn blows again, he, like the rest of us, will do our part, but there is no telling how long this standoff will last. If they are trying to weaken us before they strike, they are doing an exceptional job. I want Humbert to rest first because he needs it most, but after that, I wish to do the same with everyone, to keep their spirits up."

  Sieglinde nodded. "You are likely right," she said. Though logically, she agreed with him, her cheeks flooded with the heat of her guilt. It had not escaped her that she might see Humbert again in private if he were to rest more.

  "Whether or not you agreed," Adalbern added, "I would have forced Humbert to rest. He is too far gone. But I wanted to inform you of my intentions so that you would understand what is happening when he comes raging to you."

  She nodded again. "I will ensure he understands the situation," she said.

  Adalbern thanked her and left.

  The high-low call of a bird echoed sharply. It repeated once more, the tone as crisp and clear as the surface of the lake.

  Adalbern knew Humbert well.

  Later that morning, she sat with the Goddess Maids in the hall out of the sun while they spun thread on spindles. He stomped up to her and demanded she hear him out. They argued, him yelling through most of it, but he had no power in the situation. Adalbern had instructed his men to remove any tool they saw in Humbert's hands and he was forbidden entry to the gatehouse. No one would let Humbert work his way through his needed rest.

  Though Sieglinde's first reaction was to be mortified that he would wish to argue in front of the Goddess Maids, she also became relieved. There were several times when she was sure he had wanted to use their feelings for each other against her but with the girls gathered, he did not dare speak of it.

  Finally, after he had worked himself into a sweat, he stomped back the way he had come. Sieglinde's only comfort was knowing that Adalbern was right. Humbert's life was on the line whether he wanted to admit it or not.

  That night, she lay in bed, hoping that he would have worked out his frustration enough to come see her. When she awoke the next morning, realizing she had fallen asleep as she waited, the familiar wave of stinging cold flooded her muscles. She hoped to go see him but her morning meeting with Adalbern did not go as routinely as she was expecting.

  He approached her on the manor house steps, with several of his men at his back, all with empty sacks slung over their shoulders and blades in their hands. He gestured with curt nods for them to stay where they were a he led her back into the hall and closed the door.

  "I am taking some men to harvest more food," he said.

  "Have you lost your senses?" she asked. "There were fires last night just as the night before and the night before that, were there not?"

  He nodded. "Yes, but I am feeling more and more that those fires are a trick. There cannot be that many men out there with us not hearing their movements or their laughing. After this long, even the most disciplined of men would have had a night of excessive drinking. Why waste an army on us when they can wait for our stores to deplete right before the winter comes."

  "Even if they are doing that, what do you think they will do if we are no longer playing along?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest. "Do you not think it wise to wait until nightfall at the very least, so that they do not see what we are up to?"

  "Whoever is manning the fires at night needs to sleep sometime," he said.

  "You are talking as if there is only one person out there. Even if there is not an entire army, we already know there are more than that. We shot their own messenger's head at them!"

  He stood firm. "But even without the wall, we can handle several dozen face to face if we need to. If we are starving, we could not face a mouse."

  "I forbid it," she said. "At least until we know more."

  "We may never learn more!" Adalbern yelled. "For Goddess' sake, Sieglinde, stop being afraid to act!"

  His personal attack caught her off guard. Through sheer force of will, she stopped herself from physically stumbling backward. Her mental recovery was far more sluggish.

  "I am simply trying to keep us safe," she finally eked out, feeling the response was entirely inadequate for his outburst and wondering even then why she did not rage back at him.

  "No matter what we do," Adalbern said, "We are at risk. We are not safe even if that wall is solid. I am trying to make sure the threats to us in here," he pointed his thi
ck finger at the ground between his feet, "Do not kill us before we have faced the threats out there." He pointed at the door. "You are doing their work for them, Sieglinde. If we provoke them, at least we will have a fight. At least we will be able to take pride in our actions when we tell our stories to the Goddess herself. I am not hiding anymore."

  He did not give her a chance to respond. He left and instructed his men to follow as they walked to the gate.

  As she stood in the doorway, watching, she saw that he must have planned to ambush her all along. Several of the farmers were already at the gates awaiting Adalbern and his men to join them.

  She would have felt anger and rage, had she not felt the blow he dealt so strongly. Luitgard would have acted. She would have taunted the enemy until they were forced to reveal themselves. Sieglinde could teach. She could not lead, not the way they needed.

  Though she wanted to return to her room and hide under her covers, she forced the tears back, refusing to let them spill, and walked to several of the Crones who were weeding their makeshift gardens. They greeted her warmly. She had little energy to reply but managed to force out a pale greeting before joining them in their task.