Chapter 22

22

E rik and his party went after Freigard’s men guarding the wall walk to take them down before anyone could alert Freigard and the rest of his cohorts. They crept up on the first man leaning against the wall, looking out at the forest. The other two guards were out of sight. Erik cut into the man’s throat before he could react. The problem was Freigard’s men were gray wolves, so they could hear as well as Erik and their men.

The guard dropped to the stone floor dead, his brown eyes lifeless. Erik and another of the men with him lifted the dead guard over the wall and dropped him to the ground below. That’s when Erik saw Accalia as a wolf, leading some of Alasdair’s men and his own into the woods to the tunnels. Another dozen. They could sure use them. He was glad she was still unharmed.

Though he hadn’t expected her to return to her da’s castle and would have preferred her to stay out of danger, he was relieved by the extra help. Their men wouldn’t have known where the tunnels were without her escorting them there.

As soon as the guard fell to the earth, she glanced at the wall, and so did the men with her, but they continued moving to the tunnel's hidden entrance. It was good that they were taking down the guards on the wall walk, or one of them might have seen Accalia and her party.

Erik knew they had only enough time to take care of the last two men on this part of the wall, and then some of them would have to intercept the guard who would replace the one guarding Baldur’s bedchamber.

Two men had bypassed Erik while he and the other man had thrown the guard over the wall, and he heard a thud up ahead. When they caught up to them, they found they had tossed the second one to the ground, forty feet below. The third guard came into view, his eyes widening, and jaw dropping. Logan shot him with an arrow in the chest before he could call out a warning.

He crumpled to the wall walk floor. They disposed of him, lifting him over the protective stone wall and dropping him.

“Accalia has brought another dozen of our men,” Erik told the ones with him. “I need one man to go with me to take down the replacement guard at Baldur’s bedchamber. The rest of you help the others eliminate the remaining guards on the wall walk.”

Then he took one of the men with him and they headed back down the stairs, slipping behind walls, ensuring they weren’t seen, then reached the tower where they could make their way to Baldur’s bedchamber. They needed to hide the bodies they had thrown over the walls to the ground below also.

They reached Baldur’s floor but heard voices and paused. He hadn’t counted on two people being there.

“What are you doing here?” the black-haired guard asked.

“That haughty white wolf chief turned me down. Now, if your chief would ally with my da, I will wed Freigard,” Accalia said.

When Erik heard Accalia’s words, he nearly had a heart attack.

“But how did you…you were no’ here before. Freigard would have said something to us about it. You are armed. How come you are carrying a sword?” Freigard’s man asked.

“I always carry one on me. You never know when you’ll find danger in our troubled times.”

“None of you were to be armed.”

“I dinna recall your name,” Accalia said as Erik moved toward the guard at his back, to get close enough to kill him.

“Who…who is that?” the guard asked, hearing Erik advancing on him.

“Him? Oh, no one of consequence.” Accalia’s voice was calm and reassuring.

“He’s…he’s armed.” The guard pulled out his sword.

Erik didn’t wait for Accalia to say another word. He had to silence the guard before he alerted anyone else that they had breached the castle. Close enough now, he rushed forth and the man with Erik hurried after him. Just as Erik reached the guard, the man swung his sword at Erik. He hit the guard’s sword so hard and sent it flying. Erik didn’t hesitate and stabbed him in the heart.

The other men who had come with Accalia left Baldur’s chamber.

“Glad to see you reinforced our numbers. Carry the guard into the tunnel,” Erik told a couple of the men. Then he and the others moved into Accalia’s chamber and shut the door. “Is everyone all right at the camp?”

“Aye,” one of his men said. “Accalia and her aunt took down the men accompanying some of hers to Whitehaven. Her men are helping guard the camp, though Finlay and Hans are having them watched in case they are no’ on the right side. Accalia brought us here to back you up.”

Erik’s admiration for Accalia had no bounds. “We’ve been eliminating Freigard’s men little by little. We dinna have enough people to make a full assault on theirs yet.”

“Unless we can arm my people. No’ the civilians so much as the men at arms,” Accalia said.

“We would need to eliminate the guards at the barracks and the stables. Baldur believes your fighting men might be in the dungeon.” He prayed to every god there was that Freigard hadn’t killed them all.

“He will be housing his men in the barracks, I suspect,” Accalia said. “I think you’re right about da’s soldiers.”

“Can you show us where it is?” Erik asked.

Her cousin joined them, dressed and armed. “I’ll show you where it is.”

“Did Freigard kill your soldiers?” Erik asked Cameron.

“They are well-trained. Freigard hoped to convince them to bend their knee to him. If they didna, they would be killed. But he was waiting until Accalia was his,” Cameron said.

“All right.”

“I’ll stay in my da’s chamber in case anyone comes to check on him since he doesna have a guard any longer,” Accalia said.

Erik looked at two men who had traveled with her this time, and they inclined their heads to him. He pulled Accalia into his arms and kissed her, then placed his forehead against hers. “Be safe, my love.”

“Aye, and you too.” Accalia glanced at the others. “All of you.”

Then she and the two men headed off to her da’s chamber, and Erik and the others followed her cousin to the cells in the dungeon.

As Erik and the others moved down into the dungeon, he saw lanterns hanging on the walls damp with groundwater, the stone green with moss and glistening in the lamplight. The stone steps were narrow and uneven as they made their way down to the grate locking Baldur’s men in. No one was guarding the men. They did not need to since everyone was guarded above stairs—so Freigard thought.

“We need to arm the men if they can fight,” Erik said, not sure how long the men had been incarcerated or the ill-treatment they had received—the lack of food and drink—down here.

“I can take you to the armory after this, but it will no’ doubt be heavily guarded to ensure none of the pack members break in and arm themselves,” Cameron said.

“Where did you get your sword?” Erik asked.

Cameron smiled. “I had a secret place to hide mine under the bed. They never found it. My sgian dubh also.”

“We need to get rid of the bodies we dumped off the wall walk, but we must gather their weapons also. We couldna carry their weapons with us while we were unsure if we would be engaged in more fighting. We have Dunbar’s and the two guards’ weapons that we can use. Do you know where the key is to the cells?” Erik asked the boy.

“Aye.” Cameron pushed a stone on the wall, and it receded. Inside, the keys hung on an iron hook. “So many guards kept losing the keys that Uncle Baldur had this made to hide them from view.”

“Ingenious.”

Cameron knew which key to use on the outer door. Once he unlocked it, he went inside. The men incarcerated there were so quiet Erik was afraid they had all died.

As they walked into the dungeon, he could see them moving silently to the cell bars, holding onto them, peering out at them.

Relieved to see them alive, Erik said, “I’m Accalia’s mate, Erik Norwulf, and we’ve come to free you. We need every able-bodied man to help fight Freigard’s.”

“I’m Tormod, in charge of the fighting men. Dunbar is in on the takeover.”

“Baldur killed him.” Erik was glad to deliver some good tidings to the men.

“Baldur lives?” Tormod asked.

“Aye. We know about the five who worked with Dunbar. One of them is dead,” Erik said, as the boy opened each of the cells. “We are gathering weapons for anyone who can use them to help us with the scourge within your castle walls. But we still need to do this discreetly to ensure Freigard and his men dinna murder innocents.”

“He already has,” Tormod said.

Erik assumed that Freigard had. Anyone who had spoken out against him would have been felled by a sword, either by his hand or one of his ruthless men’s. “Then we need to ensure he canna do any more harm.”

“Where is Baldur?” Tormod asked.

“He is leading a group of men from Alasdair’s pack and mine to take out Freigard’s guards on the wall walk,” Erik said.

“How many men have ye?”

“Twenty-five originally, but another dozen have joined us.”

“There are forty of us, and all of us will fight,” Tormod said.

Erik slapped him on the back. “We will need all the manpower we can get. We threw a dozen guards from the wall walk outside the castle. We’ll need to hide the bodies in the woods for now, but whoever moves them can gather their weapons and use them. See Accalia in her da’s chamber and she’ll show you the way to leave the castle in secret to take care of the matter. Then return here and we’ll make our plans.”

He needed them armed before they could take on Freigard’s forces. He wished he knew where the devil himself was staying right now.

“Aye,” several men said, and in short order, Tormod led several of the incarcerated men out of the dungeon and up the stairs to where Accalia would be.

“I’ll go with them so she knows the men are on her da’s side and no’ on Dunbar’s,” her cousin said and left with them.

“We can get knives from the kitchen,” one of her da’s men said.

“Aye, we took care of the brigands in there and the ones down below where the ovens for baking are. Their bodies are in the cellar’s secret tunnel,” Erik said.

The men they had released all smiled. “You have been busy,” one of the men said.

“Aye. We have much more work to do. Return here and we’ll go as a force to the barracks.”

A dozen of their men went to the kitchen and the cellar to arm themselves.

Then Erik and the remaining men with him waited until Alasdair and his men joined him in the dungeon and learned the plan.

“We saw Baldur’s men haul off the dead guards’ bodies into the woods while we were up on the wall walk. Baldur identified them as his men who had been imprisoned, so I figured you were down here releasing them from the dungeon,” Alasdair said.

“Aye. We needed to hide the bodies and gather their weaponry,” Erik said.

Alasdair glanced at the other men who had been prisoners. “It appears we need a few more weapons.”

“Others are grabbing knives from the kitchen and the other men we’d left in the cellar,” Erik said.

Alasdair nodded. Then they heard people moving about upstairs and one of Baldur’s men went up to peek inside. He hurried back down to them. “Guards are taking some men and women who prepare the meals into the kitchen.”

Erik hoped the men gathering knives in the kitchen wouldn’t get caught. He and Alasdair had the same notion at the same time, and they raced up the stairs, several more men, armed or not, following them into battle.

He only wanted the armed men to help him eliminate the guards and protect the cooks, but everyone was so eager to assist he understood how they felt. Some undoubtedly had families and were concerned about them too.

Erik and Alasdair burst into the kitchen, the other men who had gone to arm themselves nowhere to be seen. He heard someone in the cellar then.

Erik and Alasdair began to fight two of the guards, the cooks and servers hurrying to get out of the way, some going into a side room for safety. More of Baldur’s men poured into the room and dispensed with the five other guards. Erik killed the man he was fighting, and Alasdair finished off the one he’d been battling. Now they had even more weapons.

The men came up from the cellar, armed this time, but took the other guards’ bodies downstairs to hide them. Once Baldur’s, Alasdair’s, and Erik’s men gathered, they hurried to the barracks. There were no guards on the outside, probably because nobody thought anyone would dare to break into the barracks where a bunch of hostile armed men would be.

Freigard’s men would be sleeping to pull the nighttime guard duty.

As soon as the doors banged open, Erik, Alasdair, and the rest of the men with them charged inside. The men on the bunks leaped out of bed in various states of undress, grabbing weapons and fighting to the death. This was why Erik and the others practiced fighting so much between their people and other clans to keep in shape and to be able to battle their enemy.

The man Erik was battling was heavily muscled and taller, but Erik wasn’t letting that stop him from eliminating the brute. Still, every swing he made in the crowded barracks—a central hall with beds on either side and chests at the food of each of the beds—Freigard’s man blocked them and swung twice as hard in retaliation.

Erik felt a body at his heels and fell backward but regained his balance before the brigand cut him in two. Erik jumped out of the way and landed on his feet on a mattress stuffed with hay. He struck at the guard again.

Suddenly, Logan knocked into the guard from behind him as Logan targeted another man. When he did, the guard Erik had been fighting turned to attack Logan—as if offended by his jostling him.

To protect his brother, Erik attacked the guard with vengeance, striking at him over and over again, not letting up. The guard couldn’t strike back, just countering Erik’s moves, blocking Erik’s sword until he fell on the mattress. Erik attacked him in the chest with his sword, killing him.

Sweat pouring off his brow, Erik turned to see where his brother was. He was catching his breath and uninjured. Swords were still clanking in the barracks, a few were fighting, some were wounded, and most of the villains were dead.

“Where’s Freigard?” Erik asked a dying brigand.

He shook his head. He didn’t know. Erik asked a few more people, but everyone gave the same answer. They didn’t know.

“What about Dunbar’s men?”

“In the great hall,” one of the men said before expiring on the floor.

“How many of you are there?” Erik asked one of the wounded brigands. His eyes were glazed over, and he didn’t answer. Erik suspected they had decimated Freigard’s forces at least, and Erik probably had enough men on their own that they could eliminate the rest of Freigard’s men.

Erik, Alasdair, and their group of twenty men made their way to the great hall. When they reached their destination, the five guards there looked horrified to see so many men they had to face in battle. They didn’t stand a chance the combined forces engaged in a fierce fight against the guards, keeping Baldur's pack members imprisoned inside. Within minutes, the guards were slumped on the floor, dead.

Erik and Alasdair opened the doors to the great hall and peered in to see women, children, and older men huddled against one side of the great hall away from the doors.

“We’re here to free you,” Erik said. “Members of Alasdair’s pack, mine, and your own, freed from the dungeon, are here to help us take down Freigard’s men. Does anyone know where Freigard is?”

“Nay, we’ve been held here as prisoners the whole time. Cook and her servants were supposed to bring a meal to all of us, but—” an elderly man said.

“The guards in charge of them have been dispatched and the meal is being prepared,” Erik said.

“What of Lady Accalia?” a redheaded woman asked.

Erik smiled a little. “She is my mate.” And he hoped they could celebrate their union here, once they got rid of the vermin in their castle.

“I’m her best friend, Niamh. I’m so happy for you both.”

“Dunbar?” a younger woman asked.

“Dead.” Erik heard an audible sigh of relief.

“And the others who backed him in this revolt?” another man asked.

“One is dead. We dinna know where Freigard or Dunbar’s other men have gone if they are no’ here with you,” Erik said. “We need to clear the rest of the castle. We’ll leave some of the men here to guard you.” Luckily after the fight in the barracks, they had enough weapons to go around.

Logan and Rory joined them. “The barracks are clear,” Logan said.

“I want you to be in charge of the men protecting those in the great hall,” Erik said.

Several volunteered to protect those there.

“The rest of you, we need to go in groups of five to seven fighters, search the whole castle to look for any of Freigard’s men, Freigard himself, and Dunbar’s men,” Erik said. “We should have at least one of Baldur’s men with each group who can identify Dunbar’s men if they encounter them.”

“Where are you going to?” Alasdair asked Erik.

“To check on Accalia and make sure they are all right.”

“I’ll help clear the castle of the vermin,” Alasdair said. “We need to bring the rest of our people here.” He sounded anxious to move the pack members they had at camp and bring them to the castle.

“Aye.” Erik didn’t blame him. He felt the same way. “We will as soon as it’s safe here for them.”

All the groups searched different areas while Erik and four other men returned to Baldur’s bedchamber. When they arrived there, he knocked. “’Tis me.”

Accalia threw open the door and hugged Erik soundly. He and the other men went into the room and shut the door. “We are still trying to locate any of Freigard’s men, the rest of Dunbar’s men, and Freigard himself. But we’ve taken down most of his men.”

“I’m so glad,” Accalia said.

“Alasdair wants to move the rest of our people here from the camp, but we need to ensure it’s safe for them first,” Erik said. “Did any more guards try to take the other ones’ places while you’ve been here?”

“Nay, though we were prepared if they had.”

Rory joined them. “We’ve had Baldur’s men search everywhere along with ours and Alasdair’s, but they know all the hiding places best. They searched the bodies and didn’t find the other four men who were friends of Dunbar, or Freigard. Also, some of his men closest to him and his advisor weren’t found. Freigard’s men who were guarding the armory are gone.”

“Is Baldur and everyone accounted for? Our people? Alasdair’s? Baldur’s?” Erik asked.

“Baldur is and has taken charge of accounting for his people. Alasdair has another man doing the same. Alasdair intends to ride to the camp and have them pack up and come here. I’ve been taking care of our people. Three of your men were injured, four of Alasdair’s. None were killed. Baldur lost six people and two were injured. They’re all being taken care of.”

“Good. Stay with Accalia and the rest of our people while I go with Alasdair to bring those from the camp here. I’ll take ten of our men.”

“Alasdair is taking five.”

“That should be enough.”

“I’m going with you,” Accalia said.

Erik wanted to object. He wanted her to stay within the castle walls if Freigard and whatever force had left tried to attack them. But he knew she wanted to see the boys. “Aye.” He could deny her nothing.

Then Baldur arrived at his bedchamber. “The meal is being served. Our people havena eaten anything for two days. Freigard must have left the castle sometime during all the fighting, the coward he is. And those who threw in with Dunbar? The same thing. Alasdair wants to bring the women and children here. I’ll send ten men to ensure they get here safely.”

“Aye, they will be welcome,” Erik said.

“Knowing Freigard, he will go home and lick his wounds and try to come to grips with all the men he lost and then recruit more but that will take time, and they would have to be trained.” Baldur gave Accalia a hug. “Are you happy with this arrangement with Erik?”

“I am. We love each other.”

“Good. Because after he and Alasdair helped us to overthrow Freigard’s men, I would have insisted you stay with him.” Baldur smiled as if he was jesting. Then he turned contemplative again. “And I have been apprised of your fighting the enemy and helping Erik and Alasdair to gain entrance into the castle with their men. Without your help, they might no’ have ever made it. So I praise you for your cunning and courage.”

“Thank you, Da. Will you send men after Freigard?” she asked, as she, Erik, and the others headed down the stairs with her da.

“He willna have much of a force, but we need to secure the castle and see to the wounded.”

“We are going after the ones at camp, including Erik’s sons.” Accalia glanced up at Erik. “Mine as well.”

“Now? Before you eat?”

“Aye. Once things have settled down and we have a moment, Erik will sign an alliance with you, and we hope you will celebrate our joining.”

“Aye, and the help you have all been while freeing our people from Freigard and his men. We will make it happen.”

Erik, Accalia, Alasdair, and the others going with them, mounted borrowed horses and left the outer bailey to go to the camp. They didn’t want to delay any longer, and Erik worried that Freigard might still have enough of a force to overtake the camp if he didn’t return straight home and ran into them instead.

Riding the whole way, it took them an hour to reach the camp, and they saw that a battle had gone on there too. Blood was on the ground, but no people, no horses, and no bodies.

Sick with dread, Erik and Accalia rushed to the tent where Bessetta, Isobel, and the boys had stayed, but they weren’t there. Three tents had been slashed and had collapsed. Horses’ hoof prints were all over the campsite, making it appear that a battle on horseback had occurred there.

Erik’s blood ran cold with worry and Accalia looked on the verge of tears. Alasdair likewise looked distraught, as they began following a blood trail.