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“Even with the men we have, we’ll be hard put to take the tower in a frontal attack,” said Liutgard. “It’s built to withstand a siege.”
“Yet if we wait for the rest of the Varren army to come up, we’ll find ourselves caught between the enemy at the heart of the town and that which surrounds us from without. I do not like to think of setting a siege only to be besieged myself. Is there some other way into the tower, Sergeant? A river gate? A crawling space where a small group of men can creep in to surprise the defenders?”
“Nay, Your Majesty. Not even a servant’s gate.”
Liutgard smiled thinly. “There is no traitor’s gate, Cousin. My great-uncle Eberhard—the very one who gave up his claim to the throne in favor of the first Henry—had that tower built. He didn’t trust his enemies.”
“Or his allies, no doubt, who might wonder if he would take up arms against the new king. Well, then, we cannot sneak a contingent inside and open up the gates to let the rest of us through. Sergeant, have you any signals by which you communicate with your allies inside? Could any person be persuaded to open up the tower gates at a prearranged signal?”
The sergeant considered. “Folk in the town we can have some speech with, but there’s a heavy guard at the town gate. As for those in the tower, there’s none go in and out except the enemy.”
Sanglant frowned. “If only we had Eagle’s Sight, we could arrange our attack as we did at Walburg. Well, never mind it now. That avenue is closed to us. Can you smuggle in a score of men to assault the town gate and open it to us?”
“One or two at a time. It would take several days to manage it without being caught. But if we’re caught, the enemy will know aught is afoot.”
“And we haven’t several days. So be it. I’m of a mind to try a parley.”
“What of Ermengard?” asked the duchess. “I would gladly ransom myself for her.”
“They’ll not take you. If I hold Ermengard, I can sacrifice you and set your daughter in place with a regent. If they hold Ermengard, they hold your heir. I think they would rather have her than you, Liutgard. Still, it might be worth offering, to see what manner of men hold the tower.”
They returned to the troop and continued down the trail, returning at length to the main route of the Hellweg lower down. When at length the road broke free of the forest, they had a breathtaking view of the valley and the immense ramp down which they must ride. A sentry standing watch on the high tower walk would easily spot the banners of Fesse, Wendar, and the black dragon on the height. He nodded at Fulk, and the captain commanded the soldiers forward, down into the valley. The ramp was amazingly solid, although its slopes had, over the years, grown a carpet of low ground cover and fragile grasses.
“We’ll need to protect our flanks and rear so we aren’t surprised by Conrad’s army,” said the king, and once they reached the base, Sergeant Adalbert guided them south toward the banks of the river where a tangle of scrub brush and coppices of ash grew alongside the watercourse. They rode over a trampled field dusty from lack of rain. Red dirt coated the legs of the horses.
From the town, a horn sounded three times. Sanglant sent scouts back to get a closer look. Their route dipped into a hollow, and they turned and rode west in this cover until one of the men appeared on the rise, waving one arm frantically but not riding down to them. Sanglant spurred his mount forward, with Captain Fulk, Hathui, and a brace of soldiers behind him.
“What news?” he called.
But as soon as he surmounted the rise, he saw what the scout had seen. He turned, gesturing toward Liutgard, and Captain Fulk raised the horn to his lips and sounded the advance.
A party of about a hundred riders exploded from Kassel’s lower gate and galloped away across fields until they reached the west-wending road. They vanished, riding toward Varre. It was too far to catch them without the risk of falling into an ambush or meeting Conrad on the road where numbers would give the Varren army the advantage.
Liutgard rode up beside Sanglant. Her face was flushed and her expression fierce. “Kassel is ours!” she cried. “Taken without a fight!”
Sanglant frowned. “Hathui! Find Rufus—he’s with us, is he not? Send him—send two Eagles, by different routes, and Sergeant Adalbert will provide guides for each one, in case they must take to the forest trails. Give them each a spare horse. They’ll ride back to the main army. Tell them this: that we are settled into the tower of Kassel and will guard the town against imminent attack. They must proceed in haste, and with provisions sufficient for a siege, gathering anything they can along the route. It may also be that they will interrupt a siege laid in upon us by Conrad and Sabella. Go!”
“Your Majesty!” She rode away, calling for her Eagles.
“Fetch Lord Wichman,” he said to Benedict.
“What are you thinking, Your Majesty?” asked Fulk.
Liutgard stared at the city, straining like a hound against the leash, eager to ride in to her home.
“We’ll send Wichman and fifty riders north into the forest. It’s fairly open beech wood there, is it not?” The sergeant nodded. “Well enough. He’s accustomed to harassing the enemy. Let him wait in reserve. He can prowl the western road to ambush small parties and messengers. We’ll give him some signal if we need him to attack in force once Conrad and Sabella arrive.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Can we not go, Sanglant!” demanded Liutgard. “I want to see my daughter.”
Yet, after all, when they rode into a town ravaged by storm and parched by the enemy’s raid, with a grateful population swarming onto the streets to greet them with hosannas and hallelujas, they found the tower deserted and Lady Ermengard gone. The enemy had taken her. She was Conrad’s hostage now.
6
AT dusk, Captain Falco came to the chapel where, for most of the day, the skopos had led prayers to soothe the terrified schola. He accompanied her through the palace to the queen’s chambers. Folk labored like ants anxious to put in their stores of food. Barrels brought up out of the town were being rolled into the lady’s storehouse. Old men sharpened stakes in a courtyard, and a constant din floated up from the distant blacksmith’s quarter. A pair of guards kept watch beside the cisterns while a trio of youths spilled water from full buckets into the waiting reservoir and, empty buckets dangling, trudged away to get more.
“This way, Holy Mother,” said the captain.
