"Chapter 28: Findegal Finds the Traitor" by Ian Plumb

Outside the Marine Fort

Heather and Simon left the marine's fort and headed towards the palace. "Where to now?", asked Heather as they reached Rue Saint Michel.

"The Tour du Soleil!", replied Simon.

At last some sensible thinking, thought Heather. We should be fine inside one of the towers. "Which one is that?", she asked, looking at the massive ediface of the North Gate.

"That one!", said Simon as he pointed towards the eastern tower of the northern wall. The tower that anchored the northern chain to the north bank. The tower that the Battle Barge must assault if it were to enter the city precinct...

Heather laid her hand on Simon's shoulder and looked him in the eye. These humans were incomprehensible and strange. Curiously, the Light of the Creator rarely shone in their eyes yet it always showed clearly in the Firstborn. With Men, it often showed as they approached death. Perhaps as they neared death they neared their maker and his Light could be seen? As Heather met Simon's eyes the Light shone brightly in his eyes. It was, in this context, disturbing.

"I will not enter the Tour du Soleil Simon. I am returning to Dirhaevel's to see if I can be of use to him. I feel his magicks will have some part to play before the day is out."

Simon bowed. "Then it is adieu, Heather. May Elizabeth Gilthonale protect you this day."

Heather smiled at his mispronunciation. "Bon chance, Sieur Simon" she replied and they went their separate ways.

At Saint Christophe

As they approached Saint Christophe Kane directed Tahrik to take a position at the top of the bell tower where the river and surrounding countryside could be watched. A warning could be given simply by ringing the church bell. Kane, Urendox, Louise, and Findegal headed into the crypt once again.

Findegal read the plaques as they travelled deeper into the crypt. "I suppose it should have been obvious that such an ancient grave would not be so near the entrance." They walked slowly down the corridor. The plaques were on each wall and the floor, making it a time consuming process.

At last Findegal pointed to a particular plaque on the floor. "This is it. The runes match those Rana saw in her vision. And see this here? Someone has scrawled the word traitor above the name."

Urendox looked at the plaque. "Are you certain? We do not have time for another mistake."

"Nor do we have time to examine every plaque that remains in this corridor Monsieur Dwarf! The runes match. I hesitate to suggest that the likelihood of another plaque bearing the same name and the body of someone found guilty of treason is remote."

Urendox raised a hand placatingly. "No need to take the hump Monsieur. Let me attend to the, er, exhumation..."

Findegal backed away to allow the Dwarf room to do his job.

At the Tour du Soleil

Simon banged on the door of the tower. It opened, revealing two Guardsmen. "At the Capitaine's request I have come to assist in the defense of this tower!", Simon said, bowing with a flourish. The Guardsmen looked at each other, then stood aside.

"Sous-Capitaine Jacquemets is on the battlements, Sieur."

As Simon headed up the curved stairs there was the distinct sound of laughter from below -- once he was out of sight. The indignity! As he entered the first floor he saw the Circle. The area was still clear after their investigation of the towers and the Circle was certainly intact. Simon smiled. Today he would do something that all the city would see -- and would believe was nothing short of miraculous. It might not be sufficient to stop the Battle Barge -- in which case he would likely die with all those within the tower -- but it would be spectacular. And above all, it would be remembered for generations to come. Assuming someone survived the coming doom.

The second story was a hive of activity. It was now the armoury and contained all the supplies that the Guardsmen would require for the battle. In particular it contained the ammunition for the heavy crossbows and the arbalests. If anything there was even more activity on the battlements themselves. Jacquemets was keeping everything under control. Two arbalests had been set up and their crews were giving them a last once-over. To Simon's eye they looked incredibly lethal.

The tower top itself was perhaps thirty feet across. Not a lot of room. The big arbalests were set up so that they could hit anything on the river -- but they could not be angled down sufficiently to aim at something on the North Bank itself. The Guardsmen themselves were set up in teams. Each team had a marksman, a shield man, and two re-loaders. Simon had no idea why they were set up this way but they each seemed to know their business. Breila had a spy-glass to her eye and was looking upstream. Distracted for a moment from Breila's beauty Simon looked upstream. His heart skipped a beat.

The Battle Barge was huge. It was still perhaps ten minutes away yet it was plainly visible. Well, it was plain to see where it was yet it seemed to shimmer like a hot road in the summer sun. "Why does it shimmer so?", he asked.

Breila put down the spy glass and turned to Simon. She smiled, walked over and gave him a comradely hug. "Plague Flies, you dopey catamite. The barge is surrounded by Plague Flies. For every three people bitten by those things two will perish. By the look of it there are tens of thousands of the things!"

"May I?", Simon asked, pointing at the spy-glass. Breila nodded and handed it to him. Simon looked carefully at the Barge. In old Armorean there was a name emblazoned on the front -- Maros. The barge itself had three masts, three decks, perhaps fifty oars per bank per side. Laid end to end three of these would be longer than the city of Tharbad. As Simon viewed the top deck he said, "What are those strange devices at the sides of the top deck?"

"They are some kind of artificed engine.", replied Breila. "I do not know exactly what they are -- but they resemble the Imperials cannon in some respects. In others they are different, for smoke rises from them continually."

Simon put down the spy glass. "How long until it reaches the chains?"

Breila laughed. "You mean before it reaches and breaches the chains! At it's current rate it will be here in ten minutes. It will accelerate to top speed as it approaches the chains. For the moment it is at cruising speed."

Simon nodded. He grabbed an apple off a plate as he started down the stairs. Time to prepare for the show...

Note: For explanations regarding the world in which this story is set, it's peoples and language please take a look at The Encyclopaedia of Everything located in my library.