“Ready, sire!”
“Make way for them! Give them cover!”
With twenty men holding their shields for cover from Edgar’s bowmen, the engineers moved closer to the walls, pushing the huge log, sharpened at the front. It rolled on a shortened cart but could be raised and lowered with a crank at the back and front wheels. It was huge and it was heavy, and it took many of the farmers and other peasants to help push the gigantic contraption to the castle gate.
To get close enough to use it, those pushing the machine needed to be directly under the castle walls, which left them quite vulnerable. Another line of peasant fighters—also partially protected by knights with their long, tower shields—stood at the ready so they could replace those that would undoubtedly fall during the attack.
As they approached, the engineers adjusted the height of the battering ram, and the men on the sides of the cart began to run. The impact of the pointed end of the ram as it hit the castle gate must have been heard all the way back to Sterling. Arrows fell from the top of the castle walls, and many of those pushing the ram dropped to the ground. As the body of each man was pulled away, there was always another, ready to take his place.
Two more similar rams were used on the walls at the sides of the gate, smashing into the stone structures repeatedly until dust dropped onto the heads of the men who pushed it. The stone walls were harder to breach, but the men were more effective as Hadebrand’s archers concentrated on those aiming for the gate. At the same time, the catapults began their assault on the walls to the left and the right of the rams. Huge rocks flew across the sky, slammed into the walls, and pulverized the stone. Boulder after boulder was hurled through the sky, and slowly but surely, the walls started to come down.
Even as hot sand was poured from the top of the walls, the men continued to run forward as the end of the giant ram made contact with the wooden doors repeatedly. They pulled back and rushed forward again as arrows tried to pierce them from above. The archers behind us dutifully picked off the men on the walls where they could, but I still saw many of the peasants of Silverhelm fall as they were hit. Still, as one man fell, another took his place, and the battering ram slammed continuously against the wooden gate. Finally, there was a crack that could be heard across the field as the door splintered and broke.
“Almost there, Alexandra,” I said too quietly for anyone else to hear. I closed my eyes for a brief moment, kicked at Romero’s sides, and we sped forward through the archway as the doors fell before us. All around us, the walls surrounding Castle Hadebrand were crumbling.
And that is when I knew I had won the war.
Chapter 3—Utterly Destroy
Flames were everywhere.
Heat coated my face, and my nose was assaulted by the smell of singed straw and charred flesh. The courtyard was a shambles of burned and broken bodies, men who fell from the walls or were hit by debris from the catapult’s ammunition, and the sounds of the few skirmishes still going on. I rode among it all until I came to the entrance to the castle. Parnell pointed out that the fires were close but did not seem to be advancing any longer. There was plenty of time to find Alexandra and get out, but where was she?
Rylan, Parnell, and I all dismounted and entered the castle with a dozen men behind us. I didn’t know my way around the building, for I had been inside only twice before—once as a child and again when I lay with Whitney.
That particular thought now made me feel ill.
At each turn, we were met by a handful of soldiers and guards though not nearly enough to cause our advance to slow. Many tried to surrender to me, and each one of them was cut down. When I was done, there would be nothing left of the castle of Hadebrand, the family, or any loyalists that resided within. I knew there would be some—some who were not so loyal to Hadebrand—who would also perish. Unless I knew with absolute certainty that they could be trusted, I would not take the chance, and there was only one man within Hadebrand whose loyalties were pledged to me.
There had been no sign of my trusted captain, Greysen. If I could locate him, I would spare the few he said could be trusted, but without his judgment, none within the castle walls would survive.
“King Branford!” Rylan called out. I pulled my sword from a dead guard’s innards and walked over to meet him. He pointed with the tip of his weapon, and I looked down into the lifeless eyes of another familiar foe.
Prince Gage.
“You took his life?” I questioned.
“I did not,” Rylan informed me. “I found him like this.”
“I want the name of his killer,” I said as I turned and gestured to Erik. “Get me an answer.”
“I will find out who did this, my king,” he said with a quick nod.
I returned the gesture and even found myself smiling a little as the boy rushed off. He was going to make a fine replacement for…
I abruptly shook the thought from my head. Such memories would lead where I did not wish to go. If I were to think of Michael for too long, I would remember why he wasn’t here.
She must be close…
I did not feel her presence, and this agitated me. Somewhere there would be a lower area—possibly even a pit—where prisoners were kept. Would they dare hold a royal prisoner in a dungeon? A more likely place would be a tower or an isolated wing of the castle. We headed through the towers and upper rooms, killing everyone who crossed us, and found nothing.
There was no sign of Alexandra to be found, not even a shred of clothing. We also found no sign of the king or queen of Hadebrand, and I started to wonder if they had escaped during the battle. I sent two of the farmers-turned-soldiers to race back outside to the cavalry to have them search for any evidence of flight.
In one of the upper rooms, we found Hedda, Whitney’s young sister, and Hedda’s twin brother, Jared. The soldiers took them to the throne room of the castle where they could be used against the rest of the family. I tore through the remainder of the royal chamber but found nothing. I raced to the other wing of the castle, the lower levels, the dungeon, and kitchens, dropping guards and servants alike, but found no sign of my wife.
She was not here.