Carlyle and Alfred sat on the ground outside the entrance to the cave that used to be Carlyle’s home. Carlyle held Finn’s sword. Alfred had one of the axes.
It was eerily quiet that afternoon. The snow was falling more heavily now than before.
Carlyle was trying to clean the blood off of Finn’s sword. He had an old cloth in his hand, but no soap or water. Nevertheless, he scrubbed at the sword. Some of the dried blood was flaking away.
Alfred was supposed to be keeping a lookout, but he kept looking over to watch Carlyle’s progress. After a while, Alfred finally spoke up. “When do you think the robbers will come?
“I don’t know,” said Carlyle, not looking up from the sword.
Alfred nodded and was silent for a bit longer. He went back to keeping a look out, and scanning across the mountainside. Then, after about a minute, he asked, “How many of them do you think there will be?”
“I don’t know,” said Carlyle. “I think they’ll come with at least twenty, but it could be more.”
“If everyone from the group arrives, there will be twelve,” said Alfred. “Counting me and you of course. Oh, and plus Catherine. That’ll make thirteen. Where is Catherine?”
“I don’t know,” said Carlyle. “She must have gone off with our parents to your home.”
“It’s strange that she’s not here with us,” Alfred said.
“You know what she’s like,” Carlyle said. “She always wants to do her own thing.”
Alfred nodded again. He brushed some of the falling snow off of his face. “You saw what she did this morning, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t see much,” he said. “I was busy fighting.”
“You must have seen it though,” Alfred said.
Carlyle stopped scrubbing the sword briefly. He paused, and then he said, “I saw enough.” Carlyle began scrubbing again.
“It’s just like what she did to me,” Alfred said.
“Maybe,” Carlyle said.
“What do you think is going on with her?” asked Alfred.
“I really don’t know,” Carlyle said.
There was a cawing sound overhead. Both Alfred and Carlyle looked up. A raven was flying overhead. As Carlyle and Alfred watched, the raven flew down and landed on the ground a few feet away from them.
After landing, the raven hopped over, and looked at them. It appeared to be studying them carefully. “Are you Catherine’s brother?” it asked Carlyle.
Carlyle exchanged glances with Alfred, and then looked back at the Raven. “I am,” he said.
“Pleased to meet you,” the Raven said. “My name is Baldrick. I am one of the sons of Branoc.” The raven stretched his wings out. “I must go now and tell my father that I’ve found you here.”
“Why?” asked Carlyle.
But the raven did not wait for an answer. It fluttered its wings, and flew away.
Carlyle and Alfred watched the raven fly away. And then Alfred turned and looked at Carlyle. “It’s been a very strange day,” he said.
“It has,” Carlyle agreed.
Then another voice sounded from down the mountain slope. “There you are!” It was Margaret. She came running up the mountain, with Brian close behind her. “What are you doing here?” she exclaimed.
“This is our home,” Carlyle responded.
“But it’s not safe,” she said. “The robbers are coming. You know that.”
Carlyle stood up and held up Finn’s sword. “When they come, we’ll fight them.”
“You can’t fight them with just one sword, boy,” Brian said. “Your father knew that.”
“You can’t reason with them either,” Carlyle said. “You know that.”
Alfred, who was still trying to keep a lookout, saw a large group of men coming down the mountainside. “Here they come,” he said.
Everyone looked up the mountain. “There must be fifty of them,” said Margaret.
Carlyle and Alfred quickly stood up. Carlyle held his sword firmly.
One of the robbers saw Carlyle, and yelled down at him. “I see you still have your father’s sword, boy. Do you think it will protect you from all of us?”
It was one of the robbers Carlyle had fought this morning. Carlyle yelled back up the mountain. “You seem to be much braver now than the last time I saw you. Come down here and find out.” Carlyle shook the sword.
“Insolent pup!” the robber returned. “Your head will be on that sword by the end of the day.”
Margaret tugged desperately at Carlyle’s arm. “I’m begging you,” she said. “Stop this nonsense and run away. There’s still time to run away. You can’t fight fifty of them by yourself.”
“He doesn’t have to,” exclaimed Alfred excitedly. “Look!”
Alfred pointed across the mountain slope. Coming into view was Shawn, who came running from across the mountainside, carrying his father’s sword. He was followed by Lucinda, who carried two spears with her. And then came Gabriel, with a boy and a quiver of arrows on her back. And next came Lucas and Kevin, each carrying huge clubs, and Paul and Marcus, with their swords drawn, and Stella carrying a battle ax, followed by Molly, who had a giant wooden staff, and Abby who brought her slingshot with her.
Without a word, they all planted themselves behind Carlyle.
Carlyle looked back at the group and smiled. He knew that even with the twelve of them, it was still a suicidal battle. But at least he had not been wrong about the loyalty of his friends.
Carlyle turned back to Margaret. “Mother, I will fight here,” he said. “If I die, I die. But I will not run from the men who murdered my father. You are too old for this battle. Go inside the house quickly, and shut the door. Don’t come out again until it’s safe.” Carlyle looked over at Brian. “Go with her and keep her safe,” he said.
Brian turned to Alfred. “Come on, boy,” he said. “Come with us.”
“I’m staying with Carlyle,” Alfred replied.
Brian grabbed Alfred’s arm, and tried to pull him away. But the group all surged forward to help Alfred. Shawn and Paul grabbed on to Alfred to help keep him in place. Lucas and Kevin grabbed Brian’s hand, and pried his fingers off of Alfred.
Brian was furious. “You ungrateful whelp!” he spat out at his son. “Is this how you repay me for raising you all those years? Are you going to throw your life away like this?”
“Don’t be angry,” said Carlyle. “Would you have him run away, and leave his friend behind?”
Brian’s cheeks reddened at Carlyle’s insult. His eyes glared at Carlyle, but his voice stayed calm. “I would,” he said. “If it would save his life.”
“Alfred’s doing the honorable thing,” Carlyle replied.
“You fool!” Brian spat out. “There’s no honor among the mountain folk. People who struggle to survive don’t worry about honor.”
“There isn’t time to argue, father,” Alfred said. “You must either join us, or go to safety now.”
Brian looked back at Carlyle. “You are a child of evil,” he said, his voice seething with anger. “It’s not enough that you have to throw your own life away, you have to take everyone else with you as well. Very well. Since I cannot let my son go into the fight without me, I will join in the fight with him. And you will be the death of all of us.”
The robbers began running down the mountain. Carlyle’s friends braced for battle. There was very little time left. “Mother, quickly,” Carlyle said. “Get in the house.” Knowing that there was no time left to argue, Margaret simply left and retreated into the cave that had been their home for so many years.
Lucinda stepped forward and readied her spears. She balanced one in her hand, ready to throw. Gabriel reached into a quiver, took out an arrow, fitted it to the bowstring, and pulled back. And Abby put a rock into her slingshot.
There was a cawing sound in the air. Carlyle looked up, and saw what looked like three different Ravens flying above. The ravens seemed to be watching everything intently. Carlyle looked at Alfred, and saw Alfred had noticed it as well.
Shawn came up to Carlyle. “Any last words?” he asked with a wry smile.
It was hardly the time to joke. And yet, Carlyle recognized that this was humor designed to relieve the tension. Carlyle forced himself to smile back. “Last words for who?” he asked. “The only ones who will survive to remember them are those ravens up there.”
Shawn chuckled. “Fight well then,” he said. “You don’t want to embarrass yourself in front of the ravens.”
The robbers were almost upon them now. Lucinda let out a war cry, leapt forward, and threw her first spear. It struck the chest of one of the robbers and sent him down to the ground instantly. Gabriel felled another robber with her arrow. Abby managed to hit one square in the head with a rock from her slingshot.
The rest now ran forward with their swords, clubs and axes. Carlyle ran forward with his sword, and swung wildly. The robbers frantically dodged his sword or tried to block it. Shawn also fought with his sword, and he got into a duel with one of the robbers. Lucas swung his huge club and managed to hit a robber on the side of the head and knock him over.
Alfred swung his ax and hit a robber on this chin with it. Another robber tried to run Alfred through with his sword, but Brian was watching out for his son, and tackled this robber to the ground, where the two of them then continued wrestling and fighting on the groun.
It was chaos and fighting everywhere. So far, Carlyle and his friends were keeping the robbers at bay. But as the robbers kept surging forward, everyone could see that the thirteen of them would soon be overwhelmed by the fifty.
Then, a shrill sounding whistle pierced the air. Some of the combatants turned their heads briefly to see Catherine walking up the mountain slope. She was whistling that old tune that Finn used to whistle. Her hands were glowing.
“That’s the witch!” one of the robbers yelled to the others. “Kill her!”
But then, from somewhere down the mountain slope, the sound of a wolf howling answered Catherine’s whistling. This was followed by several more howls. The howling grew more and more, until it sounded like a whole chorus of howls.
And then, from down the mountain, about 50 wolves came running up the mountainside.
At the sight of this huge pack of wolves, everyone started to run. But then, it became apparent that Catherine was directing the wolves. She pointed to the robbers, and the wolves ran right past Carlyle, Alfred and the rest of the group, and attacked only the robbers. They sank their teeth into the robbers legs and arms. They jumped up and went straight for the throat. The robbers tried to fight back with their clubs and swords and axes, but when a snarling wolf is leaping straight at you, it is a hard thing to defend yourself against, even with a weapon. Pretty soon, the whole group of robbers was put to flight. The wolves chased them up the mountainside.
Shawn, exhausted from the fight, came over next to Carlyle. “I don’t believe it,” he said. “We lived through it after all.”
Carlyle surveyed the scene. There were several dead robbers strewn across the rocky slopes of the mountainside. But all the members of the group were still standing. Lucas, Kevin, Marcus, Paul, Shawn,Stella, Gabriel, Lucinda, Molly and Abby, they were all still alive, and standing. Brian had also survived his fight.
It was Alfred who ran over to Catherine first. “How did you do that?” he asked. “How did you control the wolves?”
“They owed me a favor,” Catherine replied. “Plus, I told them they could eat whatever they killed.”
Some of the group seemed a little repulsed by this comment, but Catherine simply surveyed the mountainside. She turned to Carlyle. “There are ten dead here on the slopes, and we put the rest to flight,” she said. “Who knows how many the wolves will take before they’re done. Father’s death has been avenged today.”
“It’s a good start ,” Carlyle answered. “But we’re not done yet. Not completely. There are many more robbers still left in these mountains.”
