Free Army of the Wolf by Peter Darman Page A

bell soldiers rushed to the armoury to collect their weapons and civilians raced to the sanctuary of the castle. And to the east more columns of smoke appeared in the sky.
    Minutes later Master Rudolf appeared on the battlements, his coif around his shoulders. He was the same height as Conrad, who now possessed a more powerful physique than the slimmer, older commander of Wenden. Conrad pointed at the smoke columns filling the sky.
    ‘I am all too familiar with burning villages, master.’
    ‘Get yourself down to the courtyard,’ said Rudolf. ‘You too, Hans. We need to get everyone inside the castle.’
    ‘I thought we had defeated the Estonians,’ remarked Conrad as he began to descend the ladder that led from the top of the tower down to the floor below.
    ‘So did I,’ said Rudolf.
    They descended the tower and formed up in the castle’s expansive cobbled courtyard. It was a scene of organised chaos as the families of the civilian workers rushed from the compound below the castle into the courtyard where they were reunited with their menfolk. The mercenary spearmen and crossbowmen, having collected weapons, armour and ammunition from the armoury, were going the other way: down into the compound to line the outer perimeter wall. The drills in response to the alarm being sounded were well rehearsed and the garrison went about its business quietly and methodically. Only the women and children had fear in their eyes.
    The eleven brother knights formed up in a line in front of the master’s hall, the sergeants in two ranks behind them. Each Sword Brother castle normally had a garrison of twelve brother knights in honour of the number of apostles that Christ had with him in Galilee. But reflecting its position as the strongest of the order’s garrisons in Livonia, Wenden’s garrison had an additional fifty sergeants, fifty crossbowmen and the same number of spearmen. Ten of the sergeants were at the quarry five miles to the west of the castle that was worked to provide the material to build the castle’s wall and towers.
    Rudolf stood in front of the order’s knights and sergeants. ‘An unidentified attacker is burning villages to the east. My first responsibility is to evacuate the quarry. To this end Brother Walter, six brother knights and twenty sergeants will ride there immediately to evacuate the guards and civilians there. Walter, you have your orders.’
    ‘Brothers Conrad, Hans, Anton and Johann will go the village beyond the northern wall and bring the civilians who live there inside the castle walls.’
    Wenden’s deputy commander saluted and walked to the stables, followed by the brother knights and twenty sergeants.
    Conrad and his companions raced over to the armoury. The village was located immediately north of the castle’s northern ramparts but could only be reached via the gates in the outer perimeter wall. The northern escarpment was sheer and though an excellent impediment to an attacker, it also meant that the village’s civilians could not be evacuated to a northern gate. But the village was located at the foot of the escarpment and the guards on the castle’s towers would give enough prior warning of any threat for the villagers to be evacuated safely. Nevertheless, Conrad and his friends were eager to get to them as quickly as possible.
    They entered the squat stone building that was the armoury and waited at the long wooden counter that separated the armourers from their customers. It was semi-dark inside the armoury, notwithstanding the candles around the walls, and it smelled of leather and chainmail. One of armourer’s placed his thick forearms on the counter. Either side of him his colleagues were handing out lances, maces, axes and helmets to the men who would be riding to the quarry.
    ‘Brother Conrad.’
    ‘I need a spear, my axe and a kettle helmet.’
    The man screwed up his nose. ‘Brother knights wear full-face helms.’
    ‘I know that.’
    The stocky armourer looked