Chương 70: Traitors

I glanced at the rest of my squad, then said, "We have to get out there. Now!" The fighting began immediately. Lord Ceonwin struck a Subtle Man with an open palm, launching him down the road and sending him sprawling onto his back. The air seemed to compress between his palm and the man's chest, and it exploded with a crack. There was no sign of elemental magic, but there was still some kind of magic at work. One of the Subtle Men struck him on the shoulder with an axe, and the weapon bit through his armour.

He cried out, then whirled and punched the man under the chin, sending him sprawling back along the ground. Drawing his sword, his great warbrand, Ceonwin took a two-handed grip and swung it in a wide arc. The blade seemed to split the air, almost like he was using a resonance Skill, but the arcane potential was stuck in his sword. Instead of making it sharper, it seemed to make it heavier and more real.

The Subtle Men jumped back, but his sword still smashed through the ground, shredding paving stones and creating an explosion of dust. I raced out into the open, holding my shield and spear.

"Lord Ceonwin!" I yelled.

"We're here to help! Sage, can you heal him?"

"I'm on it," she said.

"After this, I'll only have enough Presence for about two more heals, so use them wisely!" One of the Subtle Men turned toward me. He bashed my shield with his axe, splintering it. I tried to counter, but he anticipated the jab and leaned away, then stabbed with his dagger, making a thin cut down my arm. Brawl joined me, slamming his flail down and forcing the man to jump back. Anchor fired an arrow, but the Subtle Man tilted his head just enough to avoid the shot.

"They can probe your mind!" Ceonwin shouted.

"They will see some of your thoughts, your feints, what's real and what isn't. You must empty your mind and just attack!" That was easier said than done, especially when I'd spent the past three months doing my best to actually think about my attacks. Now, my Focus was working against me. But, although I was exhausted, and although my Presence was low, I had to meet the challenge. I had months of rigorous training. I knew what to do, and I couldn't let myself think anymore.

My muscles knew what to do without me thinking about it. And if I could rely on my training, let it take over, and just act, then any advantage the Subtle Man had would be gone. Lord Ceonwin took on three of the Subtle Men, and we pulled one away from him. I estimated he could take two of them at once—after all, he was a lord, and he must have been pretty skilled as a Gold. Three would have been more than enough to kill him though, and four was insurance.

"Brawl!" I hissed.

"Take Anchor and Sage and lend him a hand! I'll stay alive!" I wasn't really thinking. The chances of me winning against a Silver-tier Subtle Man one on one were so slim it was impossible. I could already feel tendrils of probing of arcane power seeping into my mind, searching through my thoughts and trying to figure out what I was planning. The only counter to that was to think about nothing, but I couldn't do that. I'd never been able to clear my mind like that.

I just needed to survive, to let Lord Ceonwin do the killing, and keep this Subtle Man busy while the Gold-tier did his work. That was easier said than done. My Subtle Man slammed his axe into my shield again, chipping it and wrenching it to the side. With the strength that he pulled at, it nearly snapped my wrist, but I let go just in time. The shield went tumbling across the ground.

I deflected the man's stab, but he lashed out with a foot, kicking me square in the center of the chest and sending me flying over the paving stones. I tumbled, my shoulder smashing along the ground, and I earned a few nasty scrapes along the side of my face. I rolled to the side in time to dodge a hack of the Subtle Man's axe, but not fast enough to avoid the dagger. It punctured my back, piercing between my shoulder blades but not hitting my spine.

I gasped, first at the pressure and the surprise, then at the building pain. But if I let it take over, I was done for. Fear squirmed in my gut. I had to trust my squad to use their training and even out the odds for Lord Ceonwin, while I bought them a little extra time. I widened my focus to my surroundings, trying to think deeply about anything but the fight—so the Subtle Man couldn't read my mind. He watched me intently, trying to gauge what I was about to do as he circled me.

For a moment, my mind drifted back to the immediate pain. If I didn't get that dealt with, it was going to be a problem. And though I could keep fighting, it was painful. When I focused on the pain, the Subtle Man winced too. He was reading some of my thoughts—so could he also feel my pain? Evidently not all of it, judging by how much I could hide from Frythlid. Still, I used what pain I had, throwing the Subtle Man off balance, then launched a gravity attack.

I only increased the gravity on him downward, because that was all I could muster without thinking about it deeply. The increased gravity weighed on him like I'd just dropped an anvil on his back. He fell to his knees, and I rushed forward, hoping to get a lucky stab—and I used a resonance Skill at the same time. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators! But it missed. The man thrust himself up, spun to the side, and launched me into the gravity field instead.

It slammed me to the ground, knocking all the air out of my lungs and making my ears pop, but I kept tumbling and fell out of the enhanced field. I had one Presence left for the night. I needed to use it wisely. Our duel continued, with me focusing everywhere except the fight and relying on my training to block and dodge. I didn't pay attention to the others, either—I couldn't afford to get distracted at all. I couldn't get a good hit on the Subtle Man.

I'd made a few scrapes, but without my shield, he'd always managed to land a good counter-attack. My arms were exhausted, and my breaths were ragged. Blood soaked my back, and any moment, I was just going to collapse. Darkness encroached on the edge of my vision. With a clang, I faintly registered that the others had dealt with the last of their three Subtle Men, and that mine was on his own. I'd lasted long enough. My Subtle Man knew as well, and for a moment, he twitched, as if about to run away.

I saw the moment of weakness. We were close to each other, but it didn't matter. I still triggered my Art, weighing us both down with gravity and trapping us. Confusion rippled over the Subtle Man's face—what little of it I could see. He performed better in enhanced gravity than I did. The weight threatened to make me pass out, and it pushed me down to my knees. There should have been no reason for me to do that Without hesitation, the Subtle Man drove his dagger into my gut, and it pierced right through my armour.

I coughed and gasped, then toppled to the side, the gravity well slamming me into the paving stones. But it didn't matter. I'd bought enough time. A second later, Lord Ceonwin's great warbrand cleaved through the upper half of my assailant's body. His eyes went blank, and he toppled off to the side, sliding with a bloody squelch. I dropped the gravity well and rolled onto my back, moaning.

"Are you alright, Levi?" Lord Ceonwin asked, leaning over me.

"How do I look?" I grunted.

"Move, Dad!" Sage hissed. Morph was somewhere else—maybe he'd been damaged in the fight—but she still pulled herself along with her arms.

"I have enough Presence to keep him alive!" She pressed her hands onto my shoulder and began healing, despite an obvious wince and gasp. The pain faded, absorbed into Sage instead, and my wounds started sealing. Flesh knitted back together, and blood stopped flowing. After a few seconds, though, she stopped, falling flat on her stomach, panting.

"I'm out of Presence."

"It's enough, my lady," I said, pushing myself up.

"I'm alive." I coughed.

"And I can walk, for now."

"We'll find you another healer back at our camp," Lord Ceonwin said. He began walking away.

"Wait!" I hissed.

"What about the Subtle Men?"

"The lives of my soldiers are more important," Lord Ceonwin said.

"Especially a loyal Sergeant such as yourself. We must heal you."

"I'm stable," I said. Everything still stung, and I wouldn't survive the night without healing, but I could walk. And there was no point in going back to our camp if the Subtle Men were just going to kill us when we got back.

"We need to know why they did this. Unless you already know…" Lord Ceonwin snorted.

"Are you accusing me of treason?"

"Absolutly not, sir. I'm— I haven't exactly had the best relations with the Subtle Men myself." Lord Ceonwin kicked the dead Subtle Man over onto his back. The corpse's gambeson fell open, revealing a coin pouch.

"As I suspected. They were paid recently—since we've arrived in the city. Otherwise, why else would they keep their payment on them?" He picked up the pouches.

"Take one pouch each, and consider it your first reward for saving my life."

"Who would've paid them off?" Sage asked.

"It couldn't have been Frythlid—she would've just commanded them, and they would have listened."

"Are they sceats?" I opened the pouch of the Subtle Man who was right in front of me. It was full of copper and silver sceats.

"Yeah. These guys were kinda cheap."

"Pathetic," Lord Ceonwin spat.

"Either it was someone in our army who paid them off, or someone in the city." I chewed my lip.

"The portreeve," I said.

"If he lied about the size of the orc force, and he was trying to lure you here…"

"He needs us to fail, and killing me helps him achieve that." Lord Ceonwin nodded in agreement.

"What better way than to have the Subtle Men do it and brand me a traitor?"

"But that would mean he doesn't want to be rescued," Anchor pointed out.

"That would mean he's working with the orcs to ensure that our liberation attempt failed."

"Or the orcs bought him off too," Sage suggested.

"And they promised to release him after our attack fails."

"Why send a message to Lord Ceonwin in the first place, though?" I asked.

"The orcs would've succeeded if we didn't come. Assuming the orcs paid off the portreeve beforehand, which seems likely, he would have practically opened the gates for them."

"Sir Egric was a good man," Ceonwin said.

"He would've sent out a call for help regardless. It was the portreeve who fed him bad information… knowing it would reach me, and doing his best to ensure I failed once I arrived. Hoping I arrived with a small, incapable force. Surely, he has a deal of his own with Mugreth. But he's as blind as he is foolish." Mugreth didn't seem like the kind of guy who would stick to a deal. But more importantly, the portreeve had overlooked the fact that it was implausible that orcs would've taken the city without inside help.

And especially with such small numbers. If he hadn't made that mistake, we wouldn't have been as suspicious of him. Or he just didn't care, knowing we would come anyway, and we would all die,"Whatever his deal is," I said, "he had a way of contacting and paying off the Subtle Men. All without opening the inner wall's gate." Lord Ceonwin nodded.

"Perhaps they have a route of their own through the sewers. Something that leads directly to the great hall."

"If we could find that route, we could snuff out the traitor right there," Brawl said.

"No. We need him alive," Ceonwin said.

"We need to question him for his crimes and have him admit what he's done—otherwise, all five of us will be complicit in the death of four Subtle Men, and it'll be the gallows for us. They won't believe that these were traitors, not when it was me who they tried to kill.

"Tomorrow, I will send you four into the sewers, but your mission is not to open the gate. You must find whichever route the portreeve's men used, and you must take it for yourself. Sneak into the great hall, capture the portreeve, and slay Mugreth." I asked, "You think we can kill Mugreth?"

"You're the only ones who I trust at the moment, and you must do it. Mugreth will soon decide that the portreeve's usefulness is wearing thin, and he will kill our only hope for survival."

"What about you?" Sage asked.

"My men need me to command from the front," Ceonwin said.

"If our main attack fails, none of this will matter." I nodded.

"We will do our best, sir. You can count on us."

"Very good. Now, help me hide these bodies. We can't have anyone find them until this is all over."