The Lady of the Castle (The Marie Series Book 2) Read online

  Marie pointed her chin at the powder wagon by the road. “I’ll set fire to that to increase the confusion among the Hussites.”

  “That’s madness!” Helene cried in a dangerously loud voice.

  Marie quickly put her hand over her mouth. “Be quiet, or you’ll get us all killed. Please understand, it’s the only thing I can do to help our people.”

  With that, Marie rose and tiptoed away. The men she walked past wheezed and groaned in their sleep, as if they knew something was brewing, and here and there someone ran to the latrine. She managed to reach the gunpowder wagon unnoticed and hid behind Vyszo’s tent, only a few paces from the dangerous cargo. Loud snoring came from inside the tent, telling her that neither Renata nor her husband had heeded Vyszo’s order that no one be allowed more than one beer a night.

  Marie clenched her jaw. If the Taborite leader was drunk, there was a better chance of her friends’ reaching the castle and Trudi getting to safety. Suddenly her head jerked up. She’d heard a new noise, muted, but clearly audible to good ears like hers. It was the disgruntled lowing of an ox, and she knew very well that there weren’t any cattle in Vyszo’s army. Her eyes falling on the nearest watch fire, set a respectful distance away from the powder wagon, she resisted the temptation to immediately grab one of the burning logs and light the explosives. She had to wait until Sir Heinrich’s group was close enough to get everyone’s attention.

  The minutes seemed to stretch into years as Marie strained to hear the occasional, barely audible sound of her friends approaching. At the same time, the camp was growing restless, and men ran by, moaning and uttering filthy curses as they headed for the latrines. The moon had since disappeared, and a reddish glow painted the eastern horizon. Marie heard another ox lowing, and then she saw a moving shadow on top of the hill, which then spread down the slope like a cloud. Instinctively checking the nearest watch fire, she saw that it was unguarded.

  Sir Heinrich’s men were within fifty paces of the line of siege before the first Taborite noticed them, but the man seemed to be more surprised than worried as he walked toward them. “Hey, who are you, and what do you want?”

  In reply, the German soldiers closed ranks and lowered their pikes. Only then did the guard realize the situation and sound the alarm. Vyszo’s soldiers didn’t react nearly as fast as Marie had feared, and many staggered as if they were drunk as they picked up their pikes and morning stars. Vyszo didn’t appear at all, but Renata stumbled out of their tent, vomiting, hands pressed to her stomach.

  Marie was about to breathe a sigh of relief when she realized that the poisoned beer had by no means knocked out all of the Taborites. Although very few officers were able to struggle to their feet, enough plain soldiers had flocked together to crush the German group. Momentarily paralyzed with fear, Marie quickly pulled herself together and ran toward the watch fire, grabbed a burning log, then ran back to the powder wagon. Picking up some blankets and wolf skin coats that soldiers had hastily discarded, she stuffed them under the canvas and held a flame underneath. Though several men staggered past, shouting and swinging their morning stars as they stumbled and fell, cursing, no one paid any attention to her. Since Marie didn’t know how long it would take for the powder to explode, she stuffed the torch into the burning fabric and ran toward Falkenhain. After a few dozen paces, she glanced anxiously around and bit her lip, worried that Sir Heinrich’s fast-moving men would walk past the powder wagon as it exploded.

  Just then, a terrible bang came from the other side of the camp. Marie whipped around and saw a fireball rising like a yellow and red flower before it collapsed again. Dozens of people cried out in pain and terror, and before Marie realized that one of the other powder wagons had been blown up, the one she’d lit exploded as well. The force of the explosion hit her in the back, knocking her onto the ground, where she tasted grass and dirt between her teeth. Spitting out in disgust, she scrambled to her feet and stared at the chaos she’d caused. Dozens of Taborites who had positioned themselves to block the Germans’ path were rolling on the ground and screaming; others were tearing off their burning clothes in a panic or running away, shrieking.

  Sir Heinrich’s men seemed frightened but unharmed, and were trying to keep their marching order, but the animals in front of the wagons had panicked and were blindly running away. Marie heard the knight yelling orders and watched several men clinging to the animals as they tried to keep them on the winding road toward the castle. Eva’s scrawny horses soon calmed down, and since she was at the front, her slower pace made it easier for the men behind her.

  Marie remembered to get herself to safety only after the group had passed her, and she started running toward the castle. After a couple of steps, she bumped into a Taborite soldier, who pushed her roughly aside. Cursing, she saw him raising his ax, ready to strike her, but at that moment, the castle gate swung open and distracted the Taborite.

  With tears in her eyes, Marie stared at Michel, storming out of the gate at the head of the castle garrison. They were barely more than two hundred men, mostly farmers or craftsmen who had fled to Falkenhain and were trained in the use of weapons by Marek and Michel. Suddenly overcome by fear that her husband might get killed in the skirmish, she shook off her worries, forcing herself to get up despite the pain. She saw Anni running toward her. They clasped hands to walk toward the castle together. Helene then appeared. The young woman was cradling her left upper arm, trying to staunch the blood running down her hand. Just before reaching her friends, she staggered and collapsed. Marie and Anni ran to her side, grabbed her under the arms, and dragged her up the steep slope, half running, half climbing.

  “I wanted to be like you and blow up a gunpowder wagon, but I didn’t get away fast enough before it exploded,” she explained, panting with pain. Marie managed an appreciative grunt as she climbed, breathing heavily until they reached the gate.

  They were received by a sturdy woman who at first glared at them distrustfully, then relaxed as soon as she heard them speak German. “Quick, run up the stairs and help defend the wall. We’ll need every hand up there if those bastards try to climb the walls in the thick of the fray,” she shouted at the three women.

  “My friend is injured!” Marie replied sharply. The woman pushed Helene into the light of a torch in the courtyard.

  “You’ll come with me to be cared for,” she said, pointing to some stairs, then turned back to Marie and Anni. “You two get up on the wall!”

  Marie and Anni ran up the stairs. The walkway along the battlements was full of women with stacks of stones and kettles steaming above small fires, their faces mask-like in the light of the fires as they stared at the action below. As Marie was asking a woman which spot to take, Anni tugged at her sleeve and pointed down at the circle of wagons. Another huge flame shot into the sky, followed by a rumbling like thunder and a blinding flash of light.

  “That’s my powder wagon! I lit one, too!” Anni announced proudly, grinning mischievously and rubbing her hands together in excitement.

  Marie shook her head and laughed. “Aren’t you a crazy pair, you and Helene!”

  Anni tried to look indignant but started to giggle. “You’re crazier!”

  One of the Czech women stared wide-eyed at the new arrivals. “You blew up the Taborites’ powder supplies? I’d never have dared to do that.”

  “Me, neither!” another woman called out. “I’m trembling with fear at the thought that one of those fellows down there might stick his head over the battlements.”

  Marie didn’t pay any attention to the women, as she heard Eva cursing and yelling below, and whipping her horses. Looking down, she saw the old sutler’s wagon racing toward the open gate. From above, it looked as though the wagon would crash against the newly built wall inside the courtyard. Marie ran to the other side of the walkway and stared breathlessly into the yard. Eva was pulling her horses to the side as hard as she could, and the wagon
just grazed the obstacle, careening to a stop outside the sheds. Theres’s wagon matched her speed, and the sutler only just managed to prevent the oxen from crashing into the stables. The two remaining wagon drivers had better control of their animals and carefully directed their vehicles into the courtyard.

  Since no one else appeared, Marie returned to the battlements and saw that a fierce battle was taking place outside the gate. Several hundred Taborites were trying to break through the ring the defenders had formed around the gate and force their way inside the castle. Meanwhile, others brought out ladders they had recently built to storm the castle walls. But the women, children, and elderly on the wall showed almost superhuman resistance, showering the attackers with rocks, boiling water, and pitch.

  Some Taborites still managed to climb to the top of the wall, and when the women saw their enemies before them, some of them froze while others ran away screaming. Marie saw the head of a Taborite emerge between the battlements and felt all the anger she had swallowed as a prisoner surfacing at once. Grabbing one of the empty pitch pots, she furiously struck the attacker. Anni and two other women stood next to her, hurling rocks at the men following him. The first three fell off the wall together, but the others kept climbing. Wanda poured a pot of boiling water on the next two attackers, also sending them over the side and relieving some of the weight on the ladder so that Marie and three other women were able to tip it over with the help of poles, and send the remaining Taborites crashing to the ground.

  Outside the castle, Michel had taken charge. He had the knights dismount and form a wedge along with the foot soldiers, so that the enemy was faced with three rows of pikes. Under his command, the formation retreated step by step in an orderly fashion. Just as they all stepped through the gate and almost closed it, signal horns sounded, and in the light of a bloodred dawn, horsemen appeared at the edge of the forest.

  The Taborites cheered loudly. Wanda, standing next to Marie, began to squeal like a stuck pig. “They’re Hussites! Now we’re finished!”

  Clenching her fists, Marie stared at the leather surcoats and the pointed helmets of around five hundred Czech knights, who were now all lowering their pikes, ready to attack. Marie swore if she had to lose her life that day, the attackers would have to pay a high price for it. But then she recognized the coat of arms of the horseman in front and cheered. “They’re not enemies!” she shouted as loudly as she could. “It’s Ottokar Sokolny and his group, and they’ve come to help us!”

  At the same time, she saw Vyszo, who’d been flung from his tent by the explosion, crawling out of a bush and scrambling to his feet. He hadn’t yet realized that it wasn’t friends who had appeared, as he staggered toward the horsemen, bent double with pain and naked from the waist down. Stopping in his tracks, he tried to shield himself with his arms. Ottokar Sokolny galloped toward him, decapitated him with one swift motion, and then raised his bloody weapon high above his head.

  “Come on, men! Death to the Taborites!”

  “For Sokolny!” his men shouted, spurring their horses on.

  Michel swung his sword as their enemies stood still in surprise. “Come on, men! Go! Our time has come. Let’s beat the Taborite swine, or Falkenhain will fall!” He stormed toward the nearest Taborite, Sir Heinrich and Heribert von Seibelstorff staying at his side as they mowed down rows of enemies with their long swords. Urs Sprüngli ordered the surprised foot soldiers to move ahead, and they attacked the enemy in relatively good order, pushing them against Sokolny’s knights, so that Vyszo’s men found themselves penned in and beaten down.

  After only a short while, the battle was more like a rout of the surviving Taborites by the allies. Only a few random groups of weakened besiegers tried to withstand the united forces of the defenders, but they were quickly scattered. Those enemy soldiers still able to walk took off like scared rabbits. Later, no one could tell how many had managed to escape into the forest, but the slain bodies told of the high death toll Little Prokop’s men had to pay outside Falkenhain’s walls.

  Ottokar Sokolny and Michel stopped their men at the edge of the forest, not wanting to sacrifice them in pointless pursuits. Václav Sokolny caught up with them, jumped from his saddle, and hugged his brother, tears running down his cheeks. “By God, Ottokar, never have I been happier to see you than today!”

  “A man who’s secretly a Calixtine found me three days ago and told me about Prokop’s and Vyszo’s plans. Thanks to him, I could rush to your aid, and I believe I arrived just in time.” Count Ottokar broke away from his brother’s embrace and pointed at his companions. “We’re all loyal Czechs, but we’re no friends of the Taborites and their reign of terror. If that mob isn’t stopped, they’ll turn our beautiful country into a graveyard.”

  Surprised, Václav Sokolny stared at his brother. “You really want to take up arms against the two Prokops and their followers?”

  “Want to? We’ve already started!” the man next to Ottokar Sokolny said grimly.

  Count Václav raised his hands, trying to calm him down. “Forgive me, Pán Sebesta. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

  “No offense taken.” Sebesta Dozorik patted the count’s shoulder and glanced over the battlefield. “It’s good to see that pack of peasants getting a good hiding for a change. They need to put down their weapons, till our fields, and leave warfare to those of us who know what we’re doing.”

  Michel was tempted to tell the Czech nobleman that Prokop and his Taborites probably knew more about warfare than most noblemen of rank, including the kaiser, but he didn’t want to pick a fight, and he turned instead to the younger Sokolny.

  “Let’s first return to the castle and care for the men and animals. We’ve earned a breakfast and a good jug of beer. We can come back and clean up later.”

  “I’ve got nothing against a decent sip of beer, and I bet the Taborites have left us a few barrels as loot.” Sebesta Dozorik thirstily eyed the barrels in the deserted camp, but Michel chuckled and shook his head.

  “We’d better not touch the beer until we know which barrels my wife poisoned with Wanda’s brew. Or do you want an aching belly?” The others laughed, but Junker Heribert stared at Michel in confusion. “Your wife? But the woman performing that heroic deed was Marie, our sutler.”

  “Yes, Marie, my wife. She never believed I was dead, and so she set out to find me. Little did she know I’d lost my memory and couldn’t remember who I was. The only things I recalled from my past were her face and her name.”

  Michel’s beaming face showed his love for Marie and his anticipation of their reunion, but the Junker only felt an aching pain in his chest and a sudden urge to run the other man through with his sword. A firm hand on his shoulder brought him back to his senses. Turning around, he found Heinrich von Hettenheim standing next to him, with a look that conveyed both sympathy and a sharp warning.

  Junker Heribert forced a smile. “It was a wonderful battle, don’t you agree, Sir Heinrich? All those who fought on our side will forever be our friends.”

  Sir Heinrich nodded at him in relief. “That’s what I expected to hear from you. Now let’s go! The others have already gone ahead, and I don’t want to wait until sheds and cellars are empty.”

  7.

  While most of the women stayed on the wall to watch the end of the battle, Marie couldn’t bear to wait any longer. She rushed down the stairs, squeezed through all the wagons in the yard, and ran to Eva’s cart. Michi gave her a cheerful smile, and Eva looked eager to greet her. But Marie merely gave the woman a quick wave, as she had spotted her daughter, who was crawling out of the wagon and stumbling toward her, and she shouted with joy.

  “Trudi! Oh God, I’m so glad to have you back!” Catching her daughter in her arms and holding her tight, Marie felt tears of joy running down her face.

  Trudi pulled back a little to get a better look at her mother and tried to dry Marie’s face with her hand. “Mama
, don’t cry! Trudi here!”

  Eva also wiped her eyes and nose. Exhausted, she had been struggling to hold on to her wagon, but now she pulled Marie and the child into her arms. “Miracles never cease! When we heard about your death, we were overcome with grief. It is such a joy to see you alive and well!”

  “Yes, I’m alive, and I know someone who won’t like that at all. I’ll make sure he’ll pay for it.” Marie stared into thin air for a moment.

  She wasn’t able to continue her thought, however, as Wanda, Zdenka, and Jitka were bringing up the first small barrels from the cellar and pouring cups for the women who were slowly gathering in the courtyard.

  “Come and refresh yourselves before the men return, as we’ll be too busy then!” the cook shouted, handing the first cup to Marie. “You’re the woman who poisoned the Taborites’ beer, aren’t you? Well done! I’m proud my brew upset their stomachs.”

  Marie smiled appreciatively. “What was in the potion?”

  “Oh, I just threw all the herbs, roots, and mushrooms I use to kill vermin into one pot and hoped the brew would teach the Taborites to run.”

  “It sure did!” Marie raised her cup and emptied the bitter beer. She would have preferred wine, but she was so thirsty, she could have emptied a whole well. Zdenka refilled her cup, and while the women drank, Marie introduced Anni and Helene, praising their part in confusing the enemy.

  Standing nearby with a thickly bandaged arm, Helene looked at her admiringly. “Without your setting the example, we’d never have done it, Marie. By God, it was nice to see those damned Taborites run like hares.” She fell silent for a moment and looked through the open gate. “You might think I’m crazy, but I hope Przybislav and Hasek managed to escape. In their own ways, they weren’t bad fellows.”

  Marie didn’t have a chance to reply, as Wanda started shooing her maids into the kitchen and assigning the other women assorted tasks, since, as she told them, a hungry mob of soldiers would soon turn up at the castle.