weapon’s booming voice, and there was no more mewling, no more screeching…
Zach came back and father and son clasped each other. Then: “Listen!” said Zach, drawing apart. But sounding from the near distance there was only a sporadic spatter of gunshots now, and the shouting of men was urgent but less fearful, and no one was screaming. “It’s over,” said Zach then. “For now at least, it’s over.”
“If you hadn’t come—” said Garth.
“—But I did,” Zach quietened him. “I couldn’t sleep; I was up and about and headed this way when the first alarm sounded. I knew where Ned Singer had positioned you and came as quick as I could; didn’t much care for the notion of your new wife becoming a widow so soon! And from the way the warning whistles were sounding, I figured the fly-by-nights must be coming at us from all quarters—including yours. Appears I was right.”
“I killed three of them,” said Garth, suddenly shuddering. “But that fourth one…he almost killed me!” Turning away, he grasped his rifle, pulling it free of the fly-by-night’s corpse. It came away quite easily now, for Garth’s strength was flowing back into his limbs, his body. And shaking his head, he said:
“I…I’ve never felt so afraid, so weak!”
But Zach only said: “And I’ve never seen you so strong! Now look, it’ll soon be dawn. The sky is starting to lighten up. By now any fly-by-night survivors will need to be drifting on back to their roosts. I think it’s safe now to get back inside, find Layla and reassure her. Then…maybe we can find out what the damage is. But damn it, I believe we’ve lost some good men this night…”
VII
They had lost some men, most of whom were very good men indeed; and they had also lost Ned Singer.
As the sun came up, Big Jon called a get-together of family heads and craft leaders in the church. He deemed it unnecessary to assemble the clan in toto, many of whose members were carrying out important tasks…which now must include the building of funeral pyres. Also present, however, were witnesses: twelve survivors of the sixteen men who had guarded the perimeters. It was one of them who told how Ned Singer had been taken.
“But…taken?” Big Jon repeated him. “Are you saying Ned was taken alive?”
Still badly shaken, Peder Halbstein answered with a nod and a shudder. “That’s right, or so I believe. At least, that’s how it appeared; but it all happened so fast that everything is now a blur. I think I saw them dragging him away, and Ned was alive and screaming! It must have been so because…well, there’s no sign of him now, is there? Anyway, let me tell it my way…
“Along with Dan Coulter, I was on watch halfway between the church and the car park on the eastern flank. Now, I say ‘with’ Dan but in fact we were separated, though by no more than forty or so paces; which meant that we could clearly see each other’s flashlight signals…”
At which, as Halbstein paused, Zach Slattery said: “You had flashlights, both of you? And whistles, too? Yet Garth here had no such aids to the performance of his duty, which I only found out after going to him when the alarms sounded. Moreover he was on his own, stuck out there on the southern approaches like…like a sore thumb! If anyone deserved a companion and the right gear, surely it was him!”
And Garth said: “Ned Singer said it was pointless me having a flashlight because there were obstructions between me and the men flanking me. I could flash all I liked and no one would see me.”
“And a whistle?” Big Jon queried.
Feeling foolish, gullible, Garth replied: “Ned told me he’d handed them all out, retaining just one for himself. So because of the bad blood between us, and rather than risk a flare-up, I let it go. Anyway I had my rifle; I could always fire off warning shots if that should become necessary.”
“That bastard!” Zach muttered under his breath. “Why it’s a
Zach came back and father and son clasped each other. Then: “Listen!” said Zach, drawing apart. But sounding from the near distance there was only a sporadic spatter of gunshots now, and the shouting of men was urgent but less fearful, and no one was screaming. “It’s over,” said Zach then. “For now at least, it’s over.”
“If you hadn’t come—” said Garth.
“—But I did,” Zach quietened him. “I couldn’t sleep; I was up and about and headed this way when the first alarm sounded. I knew where Ned Singer had positioned you and came as quick as I could; didn’t much care for the notion of your new wife becoming a widow so soon! And from the way the warning whistles were sounding, I figured the fly-by-nights must be coming at us from all quarters—including yours. Appears I was right.”
“I killed three of them,” said Garth, suddenly shuddering. “But that fourth one…he almost killed me!” Turning away, he grasped his rifle, pulling it free of the fly-by-night’s corpse. It came away quite easily now, for Garth’s strength was flowing back into his limbs, his body. And shaking his head, he said:
“I…I’ve never felt so afraid, so weak!”
But Zach only said: “And I’ve never seen you so strong! Now look, it’ll soon be dawn. The sky is starting to lighten up. By now any fly-by-night survivors will need to be drifting on back to their roosts. I think it’s safe now to get back inside, find Layla and reassure her. Then…maybe we can find out what the damage is. But damn it, I believe we’ve lost some good men this night…”
VII
They had lost some men, most of whom were very good men indeed; and they had also lost Ned Singer.
As the sun came up, Big Jon called a get-together of family heads and craft leaders in the church. He deemed it unnecessary to assemble the clan in toto, many of whose members were carrying out important tasks…which now must include the building of funeral pyres. Also present, however, were witnesses: twelve survivors of the sixteen men who had guarded the perimeters. It was one of them who told how Ned Singer had been taken.
“But…taken?” Big Jon repeated him. “Are you saying Ned was taken alive?”
Still badly shaken, Peder Halbstein answered with a nod and a shudder. “That’s right, or so I believe. At least, that’s how it appeared; but it all happened so fast that everything is now a blur. I think I saw them dragging him away, and Ned was alive and screaming! It must have been so because…well, there’s no sign of him now, is there? Anyway, let me tell it my way…
“Along with Dan Coulter, I was on watch halfway between the church and the car park on the eastern flank. Now, I say ‘with’ Dan but in fact we were separated, though by no more than forty or so paces; which meant that we could clearly see each other’s flashlight signals…”
At which, as Halbstein paused, Zach Slattery said: “You had flashlights, both of you? And whistles, too? Yet Garth here had no such aids to the performance of his duty, which I only found out after going to him when the alarms sounded. Moreover he was on his own, stuck out there on the southern approaches like…like a sore thumb! If anyone deserved a companion and the right gear, surely it was him!”
And Garth said: “Ned Singer said it was pointless me having a flashlight because there were obstructions between me and the men flanking me. I could flash all I liked and no one would see me.”
“And a whistle?” Big Jon queried.
Feeling foolish, gullible, Garth replied: “Ned told me he’d handed them all out, retaining just one for himself. So because of the bad blood between us, and rather than risk a flare-up, I let it go. Anyway I had my rifle; I could always fire off warning shots if that should become necessary.”
“That bastard!” Zach muttered under his breath. “Why it’s a
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