The Robber Knight's Love (The Robber Knight Saga #2)(111)

“Look.” Reuben pointed, but Ayla still couldn't see anything. Only after a few more seconds did she begin to distinguish several black shapes in the grayness of the rain.

“One of them must have bumped against the gate in the dark,” Reuben muttered. “Blundering fools! If you leave your torches behind to be stealthy, you should at least be able to see in the dark, or you had better leave your armor behind to stop making such a racket!”

Ayla squinted sideways at Reuben in his monumental red plate armor and a great helmet on his head with only one thin slit to see through. He could hardly be more armored if he tried. He seemed to hear her unspoken question.

“I know how to fight at night,” he growled. “This is not my first battle in the dark. Brescia, Faenza, Taillenbourg…I have gotten used to it over the years.”

Ayla squinted at the black shapes again. “Can you see what they are doing?”

He snorted, and his breath escaped through the slit in his helmet out into the open, forming a small cloud in the cold air.

“I do not have to look in order to know what they're doing. They're securing the gatehouse, making sure all the guards are gone. Then…”

Suddenly, lightning flashed, and the night was lit in brilliant white. For one moment, Ayla didn't need Reuben's descriptions anymore: She could see it all for herself. The enemy soldiers, about two dozen in total, had spread out on either side of the gatehouse, forming a bridgehead for the enemy army. More soldiers, many more, column upon column, were marching up the hill toward the gates, the pounding of their heavy boots even beginning to be audible above the rain. The lightning shone on the tips of their spears and their cold steel armor.

Ayla was paralyzed by the sight, until Reuben grabbed her shoulder and jerked her down.

“Down! Down with you!”

With a surprised gasp, Ayla felt her legs give way, and she landed roughly on the stone walkway. Looking startled from left to right, she realized that both Reuben and Burchard were already kneeling, concealed by the crenels.

“It’s not just we who can see by the light of the lightning! If they catch sight of us,” Reuben growled, “all is over. They must not suspect we're here. Surprise is everything.”

Ayla was breathing rapidly. The sight of the enemy soldiers inside her walls had hit her like a fist of iron.

“Reuben…are you sure this is going to work?” There was moisture in her eyes. She wasn't exactly sure whether it was tears or the rain, though she hoped very much it was the latter. “If they take control of the courtyard…”

“It will work,” he cut her off, his jaw taut. “Just as long as you stay down and stay quiet!”

He was nervous, she could see that. He wasn't as sure of this plan as he’d like to be. But they had to take this chance. It was the only one they were ever going to get.

Ayla nodded. “I understand.”

“Good. Remember—stay down!”

Reuben let go of her shoulder. He pushed himself up from the walkway and, without rising, peeked over the top of the crenels.

“What's happening?” Ayla demanded in a low voice.

No answer. The only thing Ayla heard was the increasing torrent of rain. Water now stood in little puddles on the walkway and was beginning to soak through her woolen cloak. She shifted, pushing herself further up against the crenels, which afforded her at least partial protection against the cold sheets of water.

“Reuben!” she repeated more insistently. “What's happening?”

When she still got no answer, she turned and stretched her legs, attempting to get up. But a big hand clamped down on her shoulder.

“Stay down,” Reuben growled. “I'll tell you what I see when there is something to see. The lightning blinded me. I have to wait for my eyes to adjust.”

Impatiently, Ayla cowered beside him, staring up at the blood-red metal monster she still had trouble identifying as Reuben. Rain ran down his helmet and in through the slit, but he didn't seem to mind. He sat as still as a raptor, waiting to spring.

Then, another flash of lightning cut through the darkness. And another. And another. Thunder began to roll, not just as individual, distant explosions of sound but as a continuous assault on the eardrums. The thunderstorm had arrived in full force.

“They're coming in.”

Over the earsplitting racket around them, Ayla could hardly hear Reuben's raw snarl. She leaned closer, and so did Burchard on the Red Knight’s other side.

“They're coming in, in full force. More than three hundred have already passed the gate and are spreading out in the courtyard. Sir Luca rides in front. Beside him rides a standard bearer, holding the banner of the Margrave aloft.”

“Where are they heading? Are they going directly towards the inner gate?” Ayla demanded to know. They had left the inner gate slightly ajar, so as not to alert the enemy to what was really going on. If they decided to make for the gate before the entire force was assembled in the courtyard…

A shiver ran through Ayla at the thought.

“No!” Reuben shook his head. “They seem secure. They think nobody knows they're here. I can tell from the way they move.”

“I want to look.”

“Ayla, it's too…”

“Don't tell me it's too risky! You are looking, and so can I! This is my castle they are marching into, and I will make sure everything goes as planned!”