Marcus Stoneguard's Arc

Chapter 4 of 10

The village was safe for now. The wall was not. Marcus counted the gargoyles on the parapet and got four, including himself. Three of them still swayed on their feet like drunks. Two had not fired a proper strike all night. The rest of the wall stretched east and west into the dark, and every empty post along it held a sleeping stone that had not yet heard the dragon's name. The nearest sleeper was six posts east. Marcus could reach it in a minute if he ran. But the dragon was still on the wall, clinging to bare stone, and its eyes were on him. If he turned his back, the three swaying gargoyles would not hold. He had seen one of them miss a vine with his own claw an hour ago. Leave, and the wall fell. Stay, and the wall stayed short-handed until dawn. A small voice spoke at his boot. Pebble Groutstone had climbed up beside him. "You can't do both," the small stone said. "You need another mouth. One that can say the name while you hold the line." "None of the others know the name well enough to wake a stranger." "Then bring someone who can carry it for you." Marcus looked down the wall's inside face. A thin road ran along the base. Two figures were on it, moving fast. One wore a purple robe and a pointed hat, a curved horn on his belt catching the torchlight. The other was shorter, goggled, a satchel of vials bouncing at his hip. Marcus had seen the pair pass twice this week. The old man with the horn had once quieted every dog in the village with a single blow. Marcus cupped his hands and called down. "You. With the horn. Up here." The old man stopped and looked up. "What for?" "I need noise that carries. I need it aimed east, one post at a time." "Say the rest." "Blow your horn at each post I point to. I'll shout a word after. The stone there will wake. Do it wrong and the wall falls." Aldric Hornkeeper climbed the stair without another question. The goggled man came behind him, uninvited. "Bindwell," he said at the top. "Your gargoyles are cracking at the seams. I brought glue." He set three vials on the parapet and got to work on the nearest swaying sentry, thumbing paste into a split along its shoulder. The gargoyle steadied under his hand. Marcus pointed east. Aldric raised the horn and blew. The sound rolled along the wall, low and clean. Marcus shouted the dragon's name into the wake of it. Six posts down, a stone head lifted. He did not have to leave. The line held. The wall began to wake itself, post by post, while the dragon watched from below and did not climb.