“Lord Bryce is camped a few miles from here with a new army,” she explained. “Close the gates immediately. I’ll warn my father.”
“Yes, milady.”
She kept running, with Cuyler right behind her. Once at the castle, she ran up the stairs, and turned right, into the family quarters. Cuyler decided to wait there for her.
“Father… father…” Kaylein knocked on her parent’s door.
“What the hell is going on, Kaylein?” Lord Arryn asked, opening the door to his room.
“Lord Bryce is camped right outside the woods, a few miles from here. He has a new army,” she told him.
“You just had a nightmare, girl.”
“Father, look at me, I haven’t even gone to bed yet. I was walking through the woods when I saw them,” she explained.
“Why the hell, were you in the woods at this hour of the night?” his father scolded her.
“Father, please listen to me.”
"I'm sure you imagined things. There's no way Bryce managed to put up a new army so fast,” her father insisted, dismissing her words.
Hearing the conversation from a distance, Cuyler decided to intervene.
“I’m sorry to intrude, Lord Arryn, but there’s an army of at least three thousand men out there,” he said, in a serious tone.
“You saw them?” Lord Arryn asked, suddenly worried.
“Yes… I stumbled across with your daughter while I was walking through the woods and we both saw the campsite. I’m unable to recognize their flag, but there is no doubt it’s a big army,” he assured the man.
“Damn,” the man cursed. “Give the alarm and order the men to lock everything.”
Kaylein nodded and rushed downstairs.
In just a few minutes, the doors to the village had been closed and barricaded. The villagers were all sent to the castle, and Lord Arryn’s army took their places all around the protective walls.
“What’s going on?” Igor asked Cuyler, when he came down to the main room, alarmed by the unusual noise.
“There’s an enemy army camping just outside the village,” Cuyler explained.
“Are we going to interfere in this?” his friend asked him, with a serious tone.
“There are over three thousand men out there. With the kind of weapons I’ve seen so far, I’m sure we could take them all, but it would be a slaughter. On this side and on their side,” Cuyler said, considering their options carefully. “But that would expose us.”
“Yes…” Igor agreed. “We could go now and finish them.”
“We’ve never participated in wars without knowing both sides of the story,” Cuyler said. “We could end up eliminating the wrong group.”
Igor nodded. “We need to know more about this.”
“Talk with the soldiers, and the servants, to see if we can get to the bottom of this, and ask the rest of the men to do the same,” Cuyler ordered. “I’ll go ask Lord Arryn and his men, and we’ll meet in a couple of hours.”
He assumed they had time. The other army didn't want to attack during the night. Otherwise, they wouldn't have camped so close to the village. That probably meant they didn't know the village and had no idea what they were up against.
Igor nodded and walked away.
In the back of Cuyler’s mind was still throbbing the fact she had lied to him. He understood her need to protect herself, what he didn’t know was from whom she needed protection, but he would find out. Right now, he had other matters to attend.
Lord Arryn was gathered in the middle of the main room with some of his men. Kaylein was there, next to him.
“No, I’m not sure it’s Lord Bryce. I couldn’t see the flag. I just assumed it was him, due to the description of Sir Cuyler,” she was saying.
"I can recognize the flag if you have a picture of one," Cuyler said, intervening in the conversation.
"We don't have one…" Lord Arryn started saying, but Kaylein interrupted him.
“I can draw it,” she said, running out of the room and returning with some sort of paper and a piece of coal.
With a few quick strokes, she drew the other lord's flag, with so much detail, Cuyler recognized the flag immediately.
“Yes, that’s the one I saw,” he assured Lord Arryn.
“How is it possible that he’s here so fast?” Lord Arryn ranted.
"Someone has to be supporting him,” Sir Henry said, with a deep frown on his forehead.
“That’s obvious, but who?” Lord Arryn said.
“We could send someone there to spy on them, and get all the information we can on them,” one of the other men suggested.
“It’s too risky. If they catch him, they’ll know we’re aware of their presence, and they will attack tonight,” Lord Arryn replied, rubbing his face.
“Let me send Jason. He’s fast and an expert going unseen. He could bring us more information on them,” Sir Henry suggested, and Lord Arryn finally accepted.
“Why don’t you attack them?” Cuyler asked, puzzled.
"Because, my friend, I have better chances of avoiding a bloodbath staying behind the walls of the village,” the older man explained. "Bryce had tried this before and wasn't able to cross these walls, but I lost over a hundred men, and I can't afford to lose more. If they really have three thousand men, it will be hard, if not impossible to stop them from breaking through the doors and slaughtering my people."
“Why are they here? What do they want?” Cuyler asked again.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have an heir. My wife only gave me daughters, and I don’t even have a bastard son to take my place when I die,” Lord Arryn started explaining. “Though small, my lands have a splendid location, fertile soils, and even a silver mine.”
“So, it’s a prized place,” Cuyler concluded.
“Yes, that’s right. Bryce has always coveted this village, and he has tried to get it, one way or the other. Last time he arrived with an army, and we were able to deter their attack, but this time I’m not sure what will happen.”
“Why can’t one of your daughters inherit the village?” Cuyler asked, puzzled. Amongst his people, women were revered and certainly considered equal citizens with equal rights and duties.
“Our laws don’t allow it,” Lord Arryn replied, shaking his head. “I could only make one of my grandsons my heir, but so far, none of my daughters have given me one.” With those words, he looked at Kaylein with so much hate in his eyes, Cuyler had to clench his hands into fists, not to smash some sense into his head with a punch.
“Let me know if we can help you in any way,” Cuyler said, nodding and stepping away.
Lord Arryn nodded and returned to planning with his men.
Kaylein followed him.
“Please, wait,” she said, in a soft tone.
“Yes, Lady Millicent?” he asked, sarcastic, exposing her lie.
She blushed beautifully, and he immediately forgave her, even if he didn’t tell her so.
“I’m terribly sorry for that. I feared you would ask my father for me. No one knows I go down to the river to take my baths,” she explained, nervously.
He nodded. “I can understand that. If you would have told me that, I would have respected your wishes.”
“I really am sorry,”she insisted.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” he asked her, though he already had offered his help to her father.
“If you and your men aren’t ready to fight for your lives when the sun comes up, I advise you to leave now, or you’ll be caught in the middle of the battle,” she warned him.
“Are this village and your family worth fighting for?” he asked her. “Or these people are coming to retrieve something your father stole from them?”
“The king himself gave these lands to my father, as a gift for his loyalty,” she blurted out, furious. “My father might have a lot of defects, but being a thief or a traitor isn’t one of them,” she assured him.
“Then, we’ll stay and help.”
“Thank you.” She nodded and returned to where her father was.
Cuyler walked around the village, checking the walls and the barricaded doors. He also estimated how many effective men did Lord Arryn had and his findings weren’t good, at least, not when they were supposed to face the army he had seen just outside the woods.
He met with his men, and they all confirmed Lord Arryn’s story. The fight was for greed, and these men didn’t care for anything.
Last time they had been there, they had burned all of Lord Arryn’s crops, and destroyed all they could, especially when they were unable to penetrate the walls. They had used burning arrows to destroy the castle, and only the channeled water Lord Arryn brought straight from the river, in underground channels had prevented the whole place from burning down.
“According to Lord Arryn’s men, this Lord Bryce guy is as vicious as they can be,” Haskell said, worried.
All the women and children were gathering inside the castle, for protection, and Cuyler saw the interest they were raising in his men.
“Take a walk around and return as soon as possible. We need to decide the best way to confront this. We can’t allow these people to be slaughtered when we can easily prevent it,” he ordered them. They would fight with more enthusiasm if they had to protect their soulmates.
Igor stayed behind, pretending he could wait, but a single look at the king’s amused expression was enough for him to disappear inside the castle.
Making a decision, Cuyler decided to check on the enemy's army. With all of the fuss around the village, he could fly out of there, unnoticed.
Decided, he easily climbed to the top of one of the towers and took off his clothes, not willing to trash them with the shift.
Taking a deep breath, he allowed his wings to come out along with some of his scales, to protect the most vulnerable areas of his body. When he was about to fly away, he heard something moving behind him, and he turned around to see Kaylein, trying to walk away from him, her eyes opened wide, with astonishment written all over her.
“Wait… please,” he begged. “I won’t hurt you, I promise.”