Chapter 20:

More than fifty of them refused to swear allegiance to Dylan.  Either they didn't believe he had been the prince, they didn't believe he spoke for the God, they refused to join with slaves, they were angry because he'd castrated them, or they would rather die than live without cock and balls. 

Each had his reason.  Perhaps some of them didn't believe he actually meant to kill them, if they didn't take an oath to the God to obey him.

He didn't kill them.  He had Islwyn and other nobles kill them.  Those had already taken the oath, and having taken it, had no choice but to obey. 

Some of those killed, tried to change their minds upon seeing that they were to be killed, but it was too late.  Dylan had given them their chance.  They were killed along with the others.

He left the castle with five hundred fifteen boys in his army.  He made Islwyn one of his lieutenants. 

They left Merfyn behind in the citadel.  It would have taken too long to oust him from it.  When they had killed the golem shells, Heddwynn's golem soldiers would have died. 

Realizing that Langaris was under attack, he would be returning; and although Dylan had killed many of his golems, Heddwynn, with the wizard's help, had probably replenished many of those in Dolbadarn. 

He would be coming with an army far too powerful for Dylan's army of cut boys.

Since Dolbadarn was northeast of Langaris, Dylan headed his army for Bela, to the southeast, arriving that night. 

Bela, a village of about three hundred, was held by a noble, now loyal to Merfyn.  He had a walled estate on the outskirts of the village.  He only had a few soldiers, though, and his slaves revolted, joining Dylan's army. 

Dylan left the next day with an additional one hundred soldiers.  Before they left, though, they cut every male, young and old, left behind in Bela, dedicating their male parts to the God.  Over two hundred of them they cut that day.  Briath felt the God strengthen in him.

Pursued by Heddwynn's golem army, they traveled southeast until they reached the coast, then turned north, Dylan's army growing both from slaves they'd freed and from free men willing to be cut to join them, willing to dedicated their male parts to the God.

Dylan had sent Pedr and eleven others ahead to spread the word of the God, that he would accept as his children, that he would build a kingdom for them on Earth, if they first gave him their genitals.

"Accept the God as your lord," Pedr said to those gathered around him, "and he will accept you as his children.  First, though, you have to sacrifice your male parts and those of your children.

"But," someone always argued, "if we give up our male parts, who will father our children?"

"Your cocks and balls will enable the God to defeat the Dark Lord.  When that's done, the God will appear on Earth and establish his kingdom on Earth. 

Those sacrificing their male parts to him will become his angels.  You will be like gods, but only if you give up your sex first.  Neither the god or his angels are of any sex.  By cutting off your genitals, you become like them." 

Then Pedr and each of his disciples bared their groins, showing the evidence of their sacrifice.

"What choice do you have?" he asked them.  "If you don't willing give them to the God, the blood wizard will take them for the Dark Lord.  If that happens, the Dark Lord will feast on your souls for eternity."

Then he told the the story about being in the stockade with Dylan, how they had dedicated their male parts to the God, how one of their friends had earlier been turned into a golem.  He told how they'd escaped, aided by the God.

Many of them, accepting the God, sacrificed their genitals each time Pedr spoke.  By the time Dylan reached a town with his army, he already had willing recruits waiting for him, those free men that had given their cocks and balls and the slaves already castrated by their masters. 

When Dylan arrived in a town, he let those willing to sacrifice their male parts to the God join his army, after cutting them first.  Those that joined, Braith healed.  The rest they cut -- every last male in every town they passed through-- he didn't heal.

They couldn't leave an uncut male behind to become golems, to be sacrificed to Nysrogh.  Each one they cut counted for the God, not for Nysrogh.

By the time they reached the straits separating the mainland from the Isle of Anglesey he had over five thousand men and boys in his army.  He'd left twice that many cut males behind.

Several miles of open water separated them from the island.  They had no boats; and Heddwynn's army was close behind. 

Other than the few market boys he had left and the noble boys, none in his army had any military training, and most were armed with farm implements. 

They had acquired some weapons along the way, but not nearly enough to equip his army.

Although Heddwynn's army only numbered three thousand, most of those were hard to kill golems, each worth several trained soldiers.

Dylan's army was pinned against the ocean.  One of his out riders rode up.  "Dylan," he said, "they're less than two hours away."