“Do any of you know where Macht is?” Christoph asked the half-awake members of his company who were lying around the clearing in front of the cave. When the men had come back late that night they had woken up Christoph. Their snoring kept everyone awake for the remainder of the night. It was now dawn, and Christoph had decided to go and talk to Macht about spying.

    “He bedded down by the bonfires.” Hans answered sleepily, rolling over.

    Christoph set out for the clearing which, the night before, had been the scene of the victory celebration. Dozens of men were scattered over the ground asleep. Christoph carefully picked his way through the bodies trying to find his brother. Finally Christoph found him-lying on his back, eyes closed in peaceful slumber. Christoph felt like waking him up, but thought better of it. Christoph would rather talk to a well rested Macht.

    Christoph seated himself on the ground next to his brother and waited.

And waited.

The sun rose high in the sky and still the men slept. Christoph was terribly bored. He took a charred stick from the fire and began to draw in the dirt.

    “Christoph?” it was Macht, he was propped up on an elbow and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

    Christoph hurriedly covered his drawings with dirt.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m here to talk to you.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I see that the revolution is at a standstill, and-” Christoph began his speech.

“What do you mean a standstill?”

“They won’t come back into these woods, and without intelligence as to where they have their forces we can’t leave.”

“So we need some spies-not a problem.” Macht said lying his head back on the earth.

“Do you see any spies around here? These men couldn’t spy on their grandma.”

“What about you?”

Christoph hadn’t expected this.

“Yeah, that’s what I wanted to tell you, I’m going to go spy in Bloh, where the Degan set up their capitol.”

“That is alright with me, just do not get caught and do not take too long. These men will not sit in these woods doing nothing for long.” With that Macht rolled over and closed his eyes again.

Well that was easy.

Christoph walked back to the cave.

As he had hoped, Alee was awake.

“Good morning Christoph.” Alee said with a smile.

“Good morning” Christoph replied rather awkwardly.

“Hey, Alee I need to talk to you a minute.”

“Yes?”

“Yeah, uh, I want to ask you, I mean, I am going to Bloh to spy.”

“Oh.”

“I wanted to know if you would go with me. Leith and Jair have to take care of the company and there’s no one else that could go. Not that I need someone,” Christoph quickly added “it’s just that two are better than one.”

“So because there’s no one else you came to me.” She said as she crouched down to stir the fire.

“Uh, no.”

Why is it so hard to talk to her today!

“That’s not what I meant, you’re the first person I’ve asked.”

“You look cute when you’re embarrassed.” Alee said looking up and smiling.

Christoph felt his face turn red. Alee giggled and turned back to the fire.

“Do you want to come or not?” Christoph asked. He was not mad at Alee, but he had to cover his embarrassment somehow.

“I’d love to. There’s nothing going on over here. It’d be fun.”

Fun! She thinks spying is fun!

Christoph secretly thought so too, but wouldn’t admit it.

“Fine. We’ll leave tonight.”

“I’ll be ready.”

XXVI

Large bon fires cast a warm glow on the ground of the clearing in the woods. Over a hundred men were there singing, eating, dancing, and drinking. It was the Stift victory celebration. The two companies that had tried to enter the woods had been driven out and destroyed. Christoph’s ambush had alerted all the other rebels in the forest and they had been ready for the second company on the other side of the woods. The Degan troops’ retreat was soon cut off and the enemy had been massacred near the edge of the woods.

    Christoph was standing with his back to a tree at the border of the clearing. Alee had stayed at the cave, and Leith and Jair were standing with him their backs to trees on either side of him.

    The three watched the celebration in silence. Music played from a set of pipes that Hans was furiously blowing into and many of Christoph’s company were doing some sort of dance to the lively tune. Christoph saw Macht on the other side of the nearest bonfire. He was laughing and eating off of a leg of one of the several wild pigs that they had killed earlier in the evening.

Christoph was bored.

    “What do you think about the revolt’s chances?” Leith asked, not taking his eyes off the scene.

    “Well…” Christoph hadn't given it much thought. “I don’t think that the Degan will try to come into the woods again, not after their terrible defeat today. But I don’t think that we can leave the woods, we don’t know how many troops they have or where they are. In this forest we are blind.”

    “If we had some spies we would have a pretty good chance, don’t you think?” Said Jair.

    “Yes, but who? Not any of them, that’s for sure.” Christoph looked at the men doing their silly dance.

    “What about you?” Leith asked.

    Christoph was silent a moment. “Yeah, I think I would like that. It beats staying in these woods doing nothing.”

    “I don’t mind resting for a while. We can take care of your company while you’re gone. What do you say Jair?” Leith said.

    “Yeah, I could use a rest.” Jair replied.

The three again became silent. Christoph thought about the proposition. He would have to ask – no tell – Macht that he was going. Maybe Alee would want to go with him? He would ask her.

    “Why are we standing here watching this? We already ate, let’s go find a place to sleep.” Christoph said, hardly able to stand watching the dancing men anymore.

    “What about the cave? Oh Yeah, she’s in there.” Jair answered his own question.

    What do you mean, ‘she’s in there?’” Christoph mimicked.

    “I just thought it would have been nice to sleep in the cave.” Jair said.

    Christoph had a dozen angry responses that he could have made, but for some reason he didn’t. He felt too tired to be angry.

    “Any place far out of hearing distance of the party should be good enough.” Leith tried to calm everyone down.

    “We might as well sleep outside the cave.” Christoph said.

They soon arrived and lay down inside the half-circle barricade.

 Maybe the world would look better after a good sleep.

Christoph doubted it.

Hey, if you sign up i will send you the chapters as i edit them. If you cannot give your e-mail just tell me and i can comment you when i post a new chapter. as you have seen i cannot post a new chapter everyday anymore.

thanks.

“But, you’re blind.” Christoph said the thing everyone was thinking.

    “I know,” she said sitting up, her eyes had lost their look of fear and bewilderment had replaced it. “But…” she touched Christoph, “I can see what you look like, and Leith, and these men.”

    “How is it possible.” Leith mused, “first she’s blind, and now she’s not.”

Despite having been drained of her strength by the running and her fall, Alee ran out of the cave and gazed at the sky

She didn’t remember what it looked like. She didn’t remember the color blue. She hadn’t seen these things for years. Watching her look at the sky made all of the others look up and see the sky in a way they had never quite seen it before.

    “Kampfer!” shouted a voice from the left. Christoph turned and saw a man running up the path to the cave, “Christoph Kampfer.”

    “Yes?” Christoph said stepping out from the rest. The blond young man now stood panting for breath. His whole body was covered with dirt, and he looked tired.

    “A message from Commander Macht.”

“What is it?”

“An Army landed on our coast an hour ago. They are forming and will enter these woods, they plan to annihilate the forces that have taken refuge here.”

Christoph tried not to let his surprise show. “What is the status of our forces?”

“After the fire started our men panicked and fled, the Degan troops chased them into the woods. The Degan didn’t want to enter into the woods without reinforcements so they are waiting for the troops from the boat.”

“How the heck did the Degan have a boat load of troops that close to our shores?” Christoph asked.

“They said it was in case of a revolt sir.”

“Well, the Degan sure outsmarted us this time, tell Macht that we will be awaiting the attack.”

The dirty man gave a salute, which Christoph awkwardly returned, and left the same way he came.

“Looks like the party’s over” Leith said.

“Yeah, but I think I have a plan to show the Degan who’s got the brains.”

“What’s that?” Leith asked. All the men were standing close listening to the conversation so Christoph decided to officially speak to everyone.

“Men, the Degan thinks we’re whipped, but we’re not. They’re goanna come into these woods expecting to just drive a bunch of fugitives into the sea. There is one main road leading into the forest and ordinarily I would expect them to take it, but because the Doktor is in charge they will know that any resistance would be centered on that road.” Christoph took his sword from his belt and drew a wide line to represent main road in the dirt. “There are dozens of smaller trails, like the one that leads here. They will take those.”

“But how will we know which one they’ll use?” Jair asked.

“I think that they will use the two trails that run parallel to the main road. If they did that, any rebels waiting for them at the main road would be surprised from the rear.”

Jair nodded.

“This trail that we’re standing on is one of those trails.” Christoph finished.

“Least we don’t have a long walk to get at  ‘em” said Hans.

“The Degan troops should be here within the hour.” Christoph said.

“What do we do first?” Hans asked.

“Move rocks, fallen trees, anything you can find. We’ll make a barricade in a semi-circle around the cave.”

The men set to work with a sense of excitement and eagerness to fight the coming foe. Christoph walked over too where Alee was standing next to the cave entrance.

“Another fight. I should be frightened, or scared, but I can’t be. I’m so excited about seeing.” She said.

“I’m afraid that pretty soon you’ll see things you will wish you hadn’t.” Christoph said.

“Christoph how do you do that?” Alee asked, smiling at him.

“Do what?”

“Change from being your regular self, to being this phony commander tough-guy? I’ve never seen you act like you are acting now.” Christoph was silent a moment.

“I guess I get it from Macht, he does that too. He’s a happy brother, and then he’s a dignified revolutionary leader.”

“Which do you like better? When your brother acts like a brother or a commander?”

“Uh… the brother I guess, why?”

“I just like the real Christoph better then the fake one.”

Alee didn’t have anything more to say, so they both watched the work for a moment in silence.

What the heck am I doing just standing here watching?

Setting aside his saber, he joined with vigor in the work of forming the palisade. Soon a wall about three feet tall surrounded the cave in a semi-circle. The path in the forest was ten feet in front of the cave. The men with guns loaded them and lay behind the wall. The others, including Christoph, drew their sabers and hid themselves in the woods on the other side of the path. Alee waited in the cave.

 All were ready. Now they waited.

The sound of a hundred men’s feet falling in the rhythmic pattern of the march could be heard farther down the path. Christoph sighed. He had been right about the Degan’s intentions. Christoph squinted through the thick undergrowth and waited.

 Now he could see the boots of Degan troops approaching. Christoph slowly waved his sword back and forth: the signal to the men with the guns that the troops were coming up the path.

The soldiers came ever closer, finally they were directly in front of Christoph’s band of hidden saber-men.

All thirteen of the sword-men hit the forest floor in unison. A volley from the four with the guns ripped into the un-expecting soldiers on the trail. Yells of alarm and fear ran through the enemy ranks. The volleys came one after another into the clustered mass of the Degan. Officers screamed orders and the soldiers shouldered their guns to fire a volley in return.

Christoph screamed as loud as he could, joined by his men. They rushed out onto the backs of the already shaken enemy. Christoph had picked out the Captain who was at the rear of his men trying to get them into a line of fire. At Christoph’s yell every Degan had spun around. The Captain, jumping out of shock first, drew his pistol and aimed it at Christoph who was rushing at him sword outstretched. The hammer was pulled back, the gun was fired.

Christoph’s wrist twisted violently sending his saber high into the air. Christoph did not know what had happened, he just knew he had to take down the captain. Leaping the last few feet Christoph tackled the man around the knees. Dirt got in his eyes as they grappled frantically at each other. A boot rushed toward his face and connected hard with Christoph’s jaw. Christoph caught a glimpse of the Captain’s face and swung his fist in its direction. Blood poured from the Captain’s nose. Christoph expected another blow but it didn’t come. The point of a saber poked through the man’s chest and was removed. Christoph looked out from where he was on his knees in the dirt.

Hans was standing over him. He lifted Christoph to his feet and then rushed farther on down the path.

Christoph now had a chance to see the status of the fight. Running away from the cave were ten of his men and running a little ways ahead of them were about eighty Degan troops. Alee was standing outside the barricade looking at him.

“Looks like we won.” Christoph said panting. His mouth hurt terribly and he was covered with dirt. The Degan was on the run, it looked like they wouldn’t be able to drive the Stift into the sea after all.

Alee looked at the running group of soldiers. Christoph followed her gaze. Alee looked back at him and there was an awkward silence.

“We won.” Alee said, a sad look in her eye.

Christoph surveyed the scene and saw the bodies in front of the cave and a bread crumb trail of bodies down the path.

Alee had seen violence for the first time. Perhaps she had seen something in the victory that no one else had.

“Your company will be stationed on Donna street, the one with the deli on it.” Macht said, looking up at Christoph to see if he understood. They were alone in the kitchen of their house-Leith and Jair had gone up to the cave and left Christoph to talk to Macht. Christoph nodded and Macht continued. “Your men will wear their weapons under their clothes. When you hear gunfire move toward the capitol building.” Macht pointed to the square on the map two blocks away from Donna street.

    “When will the attack be?” Christoph asked    “Today.”

    “Today! My men fight like elephants-they can't fight the Degan today!”

    “Does that mean you will not join us?” Macht stared at him.

    “How are we goanna get a revolution ready and over by this afternoon?”

    “All are ready, we decided not to tell anyone the date until the day of, so the Degan wouldn’t find out. Get your men and have them on Donna street in an hour.”

    “We’ll be there.”

Christoph left the house and started at a run for the cave in the woods. Leith and Jair were engaged in bouts with two of the men showing them how to parry a blow more effectively.

    “Have the men fall in lieutenant.” Christoph said panting as he came to a stop in front of the men. The men fell into five rows and waited expectantly for what Christoph had to say.

    “I just talked to Macht, we start attacking Tod in an hour. Hide your weapons under your clothes and we’ll wait for the signal on Donna street.”

    “Today.” Leith muttered.

    Christoph turned to Leith and said quietly: “Yes, today and if we aren’t ready to fight we better a least pretend we are. Have the men ready to go in thirty minutes.”

    Christoph entered the cave as the men loaded the guns and hid the sabers in their coats. Christoph picked up his rifle. The feeling that filled Christoph before any battle was now starting to take hold of him. A sense of honor, of excitement, mixed with a chilling fear.

    Christoph put his saber into his coat and strapped on his gun to the inside of his pant leg. Time to go.

    “Does everyone know how to get to Donna street?” Christoph asked. There was a general nodding of heads and ja’s. “Split up and meet back in that street. If you get wounded or need shelter for some reason, return to the cave - Now go.

The men split up into the woods.

    “Lets go.” Christoph said to Leith and Jair who were still standing next to him.

    The walk to the city was made in silence. All three had fought before and dreaded what was coming. Christoph tried to be excited about the fight but found it hard.

In Tod there was definitely a tension in the air. The people were busily buying things on Randolph as usual, but you could see in the faces of every citizen that something was wrong. The next street over from Randolph was their destination, Donna street. Most of the men were already there, trying not to look conspicuous. The deli where Zane’s family lived was on the corner at the opposite end of the street.

A city pigeon circled and landed on the roof of the brick shoe repair shop across the street. It hopped back and forth nervously and seemed to shake its head.

A gun shot echoed through the city. That was the signal.

Twenty-one sabers came out from inside coats, seven rifles came out from pant legs.

Christoph holding his saber high, led his men at a run past the deli and around the corner. Randolph street was to the left, James street to the right. Gun fire could be heard from the direction of the capitol building. Christoph led his men down Randolph street. The market was in an uproar. The people were running in every direction. The booths of fish and vegetables were being turned over. The noise was deafening.

“Go through the alleys to the capitol.” Christoph shouted. Leith and Jair repeated his command and the men obeyed. Right through the alleys was the street that the front of the capitol building was on. Christoph ran farther down the street toward the corner. Christoph stopped and frantically searched the streets.

There, flat up against the building on the right corner of the street, was Alee. Christoph could see that she was crying and shaking with fear. Her matches were scattered on the ground in front of her and people were running past not paying any attention. If she hadn’t flattened herself against the building she would have undoubtedly been trampled to death in the panic.

“Alee.” Christoph cried out and ran toward her. Alee moved her head up at hearing her name.

Christoph did not have to fight his way to her, when the people saw his rifle and saber they ran the other direction.

“Alee.” He repeated now standing next to her.

“Christoph what’s happening.”

“The Stift is attacking the city, don’t worry I’ll get you out of here.” Christoph knew that he wouldn’t get far if he dragged her around the city by her hand, so he awkwardly put one hand under her back and another under her legs and lifted her into his arms. He looked both ways down the street trying to form a plan of escape. Alee wrapped her arms around his neck and stopped crying. The gunfire was very loud and very close.

Christoph hesitated and then started at a run in the opposite direction of the capitol. The press of the crowd was too great, Christoph alone would have had a hard time fighting his way through. Christoph quickly ducked into an alley.

“Alee, you should be safe here-”

“Don’t leave me here Christoph.” Alee pleaded.

“Okay, I wont” Christoph replied. “I’ll bring you to a safe place outside the city and then come back.”

Christoph exited the alley into a road that went parallel to the fighting. The crowd was not as bad as the roads going directly away from it. Christoph could see smoke rising from the capitol at an alarming rate, much more than would be caused by the guns of the combatants.

“The capitol must be on fire.” Christoph said for Alee’s benefit.

The roofs of several of the buildings that they had just passed burst into flames. Christoph quickened his pace. Alee was a very petite girl but she was getting heavy and Christoph was unwillingly slowing his pace. The crackle of the flames could now be heard as it traveled toward them. The road had been deserted, all were running in the opposite direction of the flames. The roads leading away from the fire were packed with people, the slow and elderly were trampled, and Christoph knew that he would not be able to hold onto Alee in the crowd.

 The flames now surrounded them on three sides, the wind rapidly carrying the fire toward them. Christoph couldn’t run faster then the flames and carry Alee at the same time. He stopped and set her down. Sweat from the exertion of running and the heat of the ever coming flames poured down Christoph’s face.

“Take my hand, we’ll have to run for it.”

She grasped his hand tightly, and Christoph started off at a mad run. Alee was able to keep up for a short time but then stumbled and fell heavily to the cobblestones. She lay motionless, face down on the street. Christoph rolled her over. Blood ran down her face from the fall. He picked her up, and took a step.

The roar of the flames seemed to grow louder, but then Christoph realized that the new sound was not that of fire but of wagon wheels rolling over the rough street.

“Christoph!” cried a voice from behind him. Christoph turned a saw that coming toward him at breakneck speed was Leith in a single mule wagon.

“Whoa.” Leith shouted at the mule and pulled hard on the reins. The fire was only one building away and the mule wanted to do anything but stand still and wait for wait to get its bacon roasted. Christoph set Alee in the back and then clambered up himself. Leith didn’t ask if they were ready before racing off.

Once outside the city Leith stopped the wagon and jumped down from the seat. “To the cave?” Leith asked Christoph.

“How'd you find us” Christoph asked.

“Accident. When the fire started, I got this wagon and brought people out of the city. I saw you and at first didn’t realize who you were.”

“Let’s hurry to the cave-there may be Degan near by.” Christoph said climbing wearily down from the wagon.

“I’ll carry her” Leith said. Christoph gladly let Leith carry Alee to the cave.

Christoph ignored the fifteen hollow, soot-stained faces that were at the cave to greet him, and went straight to the cave. Jair was there as well and was relieved to see that Christoph and Leith were okay.

 Leith laid Alee down on the packed earth floor of the cave and Christoph wiped her face with a wet rag.

“Chri-” Alee broke off and let out a horrific scream.

“Alee! What’s the matter?” Christoph asked.

“Christoph…” Alee said slowly “I can see you.”