Chapter 144 Test of Courage
West of Costa Lunas.
The army scouts returned through the south gate and the gate of hunters before the sun illuminated the walls. They brought bad news. The army was approaching from the forest. They spoke of soldiers armed for war, formations of Blue Knights mounted on war Unicorns, and wagons with battering rams. The captains sent messengers on horseback who raced to the castle. The soldiers rushed to their positions on the walls with crossbows, arrows coated in pitch to light before firing, and jugs to fill with boiling oil to throw at the enemy.
Each side watched as the line of the sun slowly traversed the western fields. When its rays reached the army of the queen, two forces of hundreds of men, armed and ready to attack the gate before them, began to move. In the area between the two forces stood nearly three hundred unicorns clad in their blue caparisons and knights in similar tabards mounted upon them. In front of them was a unicorn with a knight with a long braid and a riderless unicorn.
The captains defending the gates knew that if one was breached, the unicorns would burst through the opening and destroy their companies. Then they could move along the main roads toward Colina Verde or the royal castle.
The royal castle.
Victorino was looking at a map of the city. Around the table, pages were reading messages and placing coins that represented soldiers, knights, and unicorns.
The Count: My King, Esteban is attacking two gates to divide our defenses. The southern army is advancing toward Colina Verde. If they breach one gate, the Unicorns could attack from another direction, and Colina Verde will fall. It is a good plan.
Valero: So, do we send forces to that castle and the two gates?
Victorino: No. The castle could defend itself against the force from the south. We send soldiers to the gates and station a force here. If one gate fails, the force could help the defenders against the unicorns, or if they hold, attack south to destroy the army there.
Valero smiled: And if we need this force here for any reason, they are closer to the castle. I am proud of you.
Pages ran with orders for captains. More than a thousand men began advancing southwest. At the gates, nearly two thousand soldiers fought to control two entrances to the city.
In a field west of the gates.
The squire had never ridden a unicorn before. But he wore a blue and silver tabard like a Blue Knight. He wore armor and a helmet that looked similar from afar. Under his helmet he wore tied the braid of Rodrigo, which had been cut from his head the night before. But his sword and spears were his own and functional. Beneath the young man was a horse draped in the blue and silver coverings of the war Unicorns. On the steel armor covering the head, a wooden horn was attached. Nearly three hundred squires, soldiers, and servants were armed and dressed as Blue Knights. The horses, with their false horns, appeared to be the full force of the royal Unicorns ready to charge. The men were selected for their size so that they would look like a larger man riding a unicorn. A huge horse named Big Jaun represented Azure Death.
In forest camps.
The pages patrolled in groups. Most were not used to the forest. But Yegor had spent time in forests and mountains. He held his torch close to the ground to show the others the print. It looked like the dog prints that everyone had seen many times, but it was bigger than the hand of the biggest boy in the group.
The young man whispered a word: Wolf.
The howls began soon after. Some came from the west and others from the south. The other pages looked both ways and discussed which direction they should walk. The twelve-year-old boy shook his head firmly. He pointed toward the camps.
Yegor: The dangerous wolf makes no sound.
His grandfather used to sing him a song of hunters when he was a child. The howls of the wolves were a distraction or a way to push prey toward the hunters. The group ran towards the camps.
North of the camps.
Antonio heard the howls and his blood ran cold. Only one thing occupied his mind: protecting the queen. The group walked towards the sound with spears ready to stab a wolf. Two wolves approached the group and growled. The boys moved closer in a curved line. When they were very close, the wolves quickly fled into the woods.
They looked at each other and smiled. Then they heard women screaming.
In the cabin of the queen.
Olivia: Investigate what is happening. Those were wolf howls, were they not?
Guard: Yes, but we cannot leave your side.
The queen: My order is to help whoever is screaming.
The guard motioned two others toward the door, and the men blocked it.
Guard: I am sorry, my queen. Our oath is to protect you without exception. An assassin would know how to howl like a wolf.
Olivia: But...please...
Another guard: Everyone here will die by your punishment before leaving you. Sometimes our duty is to protect you from yourself.
In the most isolated camp.
The maids were preparing the little food to divide among too many people. The wolves emerged from the darkness before dawn. Two of them were almost as tall as the women. In every direction the women looked, there was another wolf. They took torches and waved them at the wolves to scare them away. The wolves leaped toward the women from one side to attract attention. The others approached silently. The circle grew smaller and smaller. If one wolf managed to grab an arm or a leg and drag one into the woods, another would try to bite her throat while the others attacked the remaining women. Just one of them would be enough to feed their pack.
In open country, Yegor ran faster than most men. He spent three years running through the forests of the Ridges. No one could catch him in the woods. His spear pierced the side of the wolf' near the shoulder. The animal cried in pain. The other wolves shifted to surround the young man. The wounded wolf weakly retreated. The boy turned and raised his spear, taking turns with the wolves. The largest wolf leaped from his side. He swung the spear point at it, but the animal shifted its body to the left, and the spear missed. Its teeth found his arm and bit until it bled. Yegor dropped the spear and drew his dagger. He plunged it swiftly into the throat of the wolf. After the fourth thrust, the wolf collapsed to the ground, making sounds as if it were crying. The young man took the spear and saw that the other pages were nearby, stabbing at he wolves. The pack quickly retreated. Yegor stabbed the wolf to kill it quickly.
Yegor to the women: I want the teeth and the claws. Cook the rest. We need meat to eat.