You Win or You Hide, 16/?
Chuck.
Chuck missed Charlie. He supposed she was the first friend he'd ever had, really. Perhaps he ought not to have been so dismissive of her crush on him. Clearly, he had broken her heart. and now she'd gone off with Dean and the prince right into the dragon's den, and he'd probably never see her again. He sucked. He sat on a rock and drew patterns in the wet leaves with his stick, hoping nobody talked to him.
Gabriel spent the next few days jesting and gaming with his bannermen. He let them drink as much as they pleased, but expected them to fulfil their duties regardless - one morning a young archer overslept and missed his turn on watch. Gabriel had him stripped and dunked in the icy river. Next time, he warned the men cheerfully, there'd be a flogging.
Chuck watched the sky for birds, hoping every day for news from the city. No birds came. On the fourth day, however, Chuck was perched on his rock whittling wood just to occupy his hands, when the sound of a horse through the trees made him spring up.
"Someone's coming!" he called. Bandits? Others on watch were already drawing up, hands on weapons as they faced the sound in a loose formation. Gabriel came and stood casually at the front, posture relaxed but with one hand near the hilt of his greatsword.
"Who goes there?" he called.
A pair of strong destriers galloped into the clearing, and their riders pulled up to halt: a knight and his squire. Chuck gasped. The knight worse no device, but he recognised him from his days at court, grey-haired and middle-aged: he'd been there the night of the coup, Chuck recalled, and done - well, not much, that Chuck had seen.
"Lord Gabriel?" the knight asked, dismounting.
"Yes?" said Gabriel pertly.
Both men knelt. "I come with news from the City. There are men willing to open the gates to the true King's army tonight."
"And you would be?" asked Gabriel.
"My name is Ser Steven Wandell," said the man. "I am a knight of the castle guard, though of no particular renown. This is my squire Mathias."
"Well Ser Steven Wandell, knight of the castle guard," Gabriel did not invite the man to rise. "I can't help but wonder what possessed you to betray your rightful king, serve the usurper, then turn your back yet again and come over to your side?"
Chuck smothered a protest. He really didn't like to look a gift horse in the mouth, as it were, but he supposed Gabriel had more experience at surviving politics than he did.
"I never served Crowley in my heart," said Wandell fervently, "But as I say, my lord, I am an ordinary soldier. I have no particular strength or influence. In my small way, I sought to disrupt Crowley's plans and workings as best I might. But were I to oppose him openly, I would only have lost my head and in no way served the true king."
"Some would say you should serve with your loyalty, though it cost you your life," said Gabriel, and Wandell looked stricken. Then Gabriel went on: "I, however, would not. I have greater use for a live soldier than an honourable corpse. Rise, Ser, and accompany me to the command tent. Coming, Chuck?"
Chuck nodded and hurried after Gabriel and his retinue. They escorted Wandell and Mathias to the command tent and let him sit and drink, while a squire took their horses to be fed and watered. Gabriel questioned him closely on the state of the city, and the whereabouts of his cousin.
"I have not seen the King," Wandell admitted. "But the city buzzes with the word of his return. My squire has seen him." The squire, a boy of twelve or so, nodded fervently. "Crowley has men out searching in secret."
"What is Crowley's strength?" Gabriel asked.
"I cannot lie, my lord - the usurper has bought many men with gold and favours. He goes about with a strong bodyguard of knights. Ser Rufus and Ser Creedy are his men," said Wandell. "Their influence has spread to many knights. Besides which, the people are in fear of him, and some say the returned King is an imposter." He looked stricken, then, as though he had damned himself out of his own mouth.
"Well, I suppose one can't blame them," Gabriel shrugged. Wandell had brought a map out of the city, and they studied it together. A straight road led from the gate to the east road to the citadel. There were inns and barracks along the road.
"Some will waylay us there, and some will join us," said Wandell.
"And some we will kill," said the captain of Gabriel's guard.
"Indeed," said Gabriel mildly. "Well, Ser Wandell, you have had a hard ride. Pray take your ease - the security of my camp is yours. We leave at dusk. Dispatch your squire back to the city - let him visit the inns on the straight road, and have the loyal people ready."
It was still early afternoon, but oddly, Chuck found himself perfectly able to sleep at Gabriel's advice. Perhaps it was the hangover. 'I shouldn't drink so much,' he thought. It was an odd, abrupt thought, something he had never before considered. 'After the war,' he sort-of promised himself. 'Maybe I'll - cut down. For Charlie, if not for me'. She was in love with him, after all. It would be cruel to make her watch him drink himself into an early grave.
Midnight found them saddled up and ready.
"Chuck," Gabriel gestured with his head for Chuck to come to the front of the host with him.
"Really?" asked Chuck.
"More guards," Gabriel promised.
They set off at a sedate pace, putting stealth before speed, and full night had fell when they reached the border of the woods, close on the edge of the city.
"I will ride ahead," Wandell said, "And tell them we are come."
Gabriel nodded. Wandell spurred his horse on and disappeared into the darkness. The Eastern gate loomed abruptly, hard and dark. Chuck was quite sure that Wandell had abandoned them, and the guards would immediately sound the alarm and engage them. Instead, the helmed men at their posts inclined their heads to Gabriel, and opened the gates.
Just inside, three of their brother guards lay dead - Crowley's men, clearly. Chuck gulped. He'd seen a few fresh corpses in his time, most recently the assassins in the woods, but one here had a lance sticking right through his throat, jutting obscenely to the sky. A rider next to Chuck pulled the lance out, and the body jerked. He wiped it off and admired it:
"Good metal."
Chuck felt kind of sick.
The city was silent and still by night. Wandell had explained about Crowley's curfew, but it was still very strange to see the streets so dark and silent, even here in the outskirts. As they came to the first inn, and the edge of the settlement proper, Gabriel commanded the banners be raised.
"Now we shall see what is what," he said with a gleam in his eye.
It seemed the squire had done his work, as a handful of common folk and two men-at-arms hurried out of the inn.
"There's been fighting already, my lord," said one of the knights. "We killed two as was loyal to the usurper and they killed two of ours. A third got off - he is run to the citadel, my lord. Crowley's host will soon be upon us."
"Eh, had to happen sooner or later," Gabriel said. "Well - drums!"
They threw secrecy to the wind, then, and rode hard. Folk came pouring out of the buildings as they passed them, some to join and some to assail them with arrows and axes - one idiot boy thought to spear Gabriel right through his breastplate apparently, and the captain of the guard cut him down. And then a cloud of what looked like dust appeared on the straight road before them, and a rumbling sound in Chuck's ears became the thundering of hooves, and then Crowley's host were coming on to meet them, with dragon banners flying.
"Stay close," said Gabriel amiably to Chuck, then raised his sword and cried, "CHARGE!"