Kerr, Katharine - Deverry 09 - The Red Wyvern by Kerr Katharine

Author:Kerr, Katharine [Kerr, Katharine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Speculative Fiction
ISBN: 9780307573872
Publisher: Bantam
Published: 1997-01-01T07:00:00+00:00

It was late on the following day that the Red Wyvern finally reached the Holy City. The fleeing Boarsmen had left the gates to the city itself standing open, but just outside the prince called a halt. He rose in his stirrups and peered through the opening, then sat back in his saddle. Riding just behind him, Branoic could see little but a dusty road leading into burnt-out ruins.

“I fear a trap,” the prince said. “What about you, Captain?”

“A rearguard at least,” Caradoc said. “A few picked men to harry us all the way to the gates of the dun. But in this rubble, my liege, you could hide half an army.”

“We’d best send in scouts, then. I’ll wager the townsfolk are long gone.”

Although Branoic volunteered to scout, the captain turned him down because of his all-too-noticeable size. Twelve men, all short and on the skinny side, went in on foot, three at each gate. The army pulled back about a quarter mile and let the slower-moving baggage train catch up while they waited. Not long before sunset, the twelve brought back similar reports.

“There’s not a soul living in the ruins, Your Highness, not that we could see. We got all the way up to the outer ring of the dun, and all the gates are shut, all right. We saw plenty of guards up on the outer wall, patrolling, like. It’s blasted long, that wall. Must run a good three miles round the hill.”

“Well and good, then,” Prince Maryn said at the last. “My lady’s father was the last man to take this city, some twenty years ago now, but the siege held and he withdrew. I’ll pray to every god that this time things are different.”

“I will, too, Your Highness,” Caradoc said. “But the gods won’t mind if we lay a few plans of our own. Three miles long, is it? Huh, interesting. You know, I think I’ll just take a stroll up there myself.”

When the captain returned, the prince called a council of war. Branoic learned its decision late, after the captain returned to the silver daggers’ campsite. After they secured the city, Maryn wanted to seize the outermost ring of the dun fortifications in one swift move.

“The Ram told us all how the dun lies,” Caradoc said. “There are five circles. The first three enclose empty land and not much else. Inside the fourth one—counting from the bottom of the hill, that is—there’s a village, where all the false king’s servants live, and they’ve got cattle and pigs in there, or so Peddyc said. Inside the fifth ring is the king’s dun proper, and by all the ice in the hells, we’re going to have a cursed lovely time taking it. Lots of little walls and wards and towers, his lordship tells me.”

“Ah horseshit,” Owaen said. “Ah well, first things first.”

“Just so.” Caradoc glanced at the silver daggers, pressing close around him. “And one ring at a time. I’ve walked round the dun now, and I’m wagering Burcan doesn’t have the men to hold that outer wall.

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