The Robber Knight's Love (The Robber Knight Saga #2)(123)

The soldiers shuffled uncomfortably. Reuben saw how the eye of every villager, men and women alike, was on them. Suddenly, he realized that giving the people a say in things might not have been Ayla's only reason for allowing not just the soldiers to be present. Satan's hairy ass! She was clever…

“Understand this,” Reuben said, his voice ringing out over the courtyard. “We cannot do this without everybody agreeing.”

They could very well, if Ayla saw her way to giving him a horsewhip and permission to use it, but she probably wouldn’t.

“Every one of you,” he lied, his hand rising to move along the lines of soldiers, “has to be a hundred percent behind this, because we need you to fight with everything you've got. And every one of you—” his hand moved to the villagers, “needs to be one hundred per cent behind this, because we will be risking your lives and the lives of your children in a single, momentous battle. You have a right to decide.”

Or so she says, he thought grimly to himself. You're damned lucky that you've got the woman I love as your mistress, or I would have you on the wall in two shakes of a devil's tail.

“What does that mean, exactly?” a voice asked.

Reuben sighed. “It means that we all have to agree that this is the best course of action to take. And it means that the men who go up on the wall to fight for all our lives have to be volunteers. This is no ordinary fight. For better or for worse, it is the last battle in this war.”

Anxious whispers rose up in the crowd. Some for, some against the plan. It seemed as though it could go either way. Then, Ayla climbed from the platform. Stepping among her people, she took the hands of the first woman that came into her way. Ayla gave a little smile, and the woman smiled back uncertainly.

“I know you're frightened,” Ayla said, and although she was looking only at the woman, it was as though she were speaking to all the people, not just to one. “But really, there is nothing to be afraid of. We all were already condemned to death. Now, by God's grace, this miraculous chance has arisen for us to save ourselves.”

Reuben had problems associating the treachery of a slimy little worm like Hans with the Grace of God, but then again, he was no expert on the divine, preferring to rely on the satanic. Ayla's words seemed to work fine so far.

“We have only to grasp it, and the way to freedom and safety is open. I know it is a terrible thing to commit your lives and those of your children to a single chance—but at least it will be a chance at life, not at death or slavery under the Margrave. I say we do this. Are you with me?”

And the shout of the crowd went up in a thundering chorus:

“Yay!”[22]

Reuben watched Ayla embracing the older woman and, not for the first time, wondered how she managed to have this effect on people. She hadn't even needed a horsewhip.

“Very well,” he called out, and the jubilation abruptly cut off. “Now that we've decided that we're going to fight, we come to the more important question: who is going to fight.” He glared at the assembled soldiers, sending them as clear a message as possible as to what he thought of people who didn't volunteer. “Make no mistake—this is going to be unlike any battle you've fought before. The enemy will be like a caged lion, mad with rage. They will want to get out, and they will have to go through you to get there! That must not be allowed to happen, or we are lost. So I ask: Who is going to stand beside me on the wall tonight when the moon comes up and the Margrave's army enters our castle?”

There was silence over the assembled soldiers. They threw each other uneasy looks. Clearly, they were uncomfortable under the gazes of the villagers around them. But they probably reasoned that an enemy's sword in the gut would be quite a bit more uncomfortable.

Then, a chirpy little voice suddenly came from among the crowd.

“Me! Me! I'll fight with you! I'll smash them all to bits! Just you wait and see!”

The crowd parted to reveal a little girl, hopping up and down eagerly. Reuben heard Ayla's groan, and his lips twitched.

“And you are?”

“Fye! My name is Fye. Can I be in the vanguard? Please let me be in the vanguard!”

“Sorry, can't do that.”

“But I've heard the bloodiest fighting is always in the vanguard! I want to be in the vanguard!”

“I mean, I can’t do that because there is no vanguard. This is a siege battle, not a pitched battle where we have a vanguard and a rear.”[23]

“Oh.” For a moment, the little girl looked crestfallen. Then she perked up again. “But you'll let me be on the wall? Where all the fighting will be?”

“Fye!”

A woman rushed forward and gathered the little girl up in her arms, though not without considerable difficulty. The little girl suddenly had a stick in her hand and was defending herself vigorously against the motherly assault.

“Fye! I thought I told you to stay—ouch!—to stay with aunt Marion in the castle. What—ouch!—are you doing out here?”

“I want to fight! I want to fight like Sir Reuben! Let me go! I'm armed!”

In all probability, the mother was more than aware of that. She had to feel Fye's stick several more times before she was able to wrestle it out of her daughter's hands and drag the little girl off towards the castle, still wailing at the top of her lungs.