“That’s not much time,” Tarq observed.
“We need to move swiftly. The Usurper has many more warriors and his plans are already in motion. Our few will have to work hard to outdo his many.”
“And we will!” Koah promised eagerly. “If we leave you two warriors, it leaves five each for Tarq and I. We’ll split them up and leave immediately, general.”
“Good,” Garnuk agreed, sliding a sidelong glance at Tarq. “Head north, search the mountains west of Dun Carryl, between the stronghold and the city of men. Koah, take the peninsula and the coast to the east. You know these lands. Use that knowledge to find my warriors.”
“Yes, general,” Koah murmured, brow furrowed as he thought furiously. “Do we keep them with us as we find them or send them to you?”
“Keep them with you,” Garnuk replied. “Otherwise, they will never make it past the Sentinels.”
“Good point,” Tarq observed. “The questions is, will we make it past the Banuk Sentinels when we return?”
“I will make sure they are expecting you,” Garnuk promised. “That would be an unfortunate turn of events indeed.”
“They would not turn on me,” Koah said confidently.
“They may not recognize you,” Garnuk countered. “They will see a group of outsiders. And you know what the Banuk do when they see outsiders.”
“Kill on sight,” Koah muttered. “Usually.”
Garnuk chuckled to himself. “Thank the spirits for that, eh Tarq?”
“Yes, general.”
Garnuk nodded. “Go, both of you. Time is wasting, and we have little to spare.”
Koah hurried out of the room, muttering to himself about likely hiding places. Tarq followed more slowly. Garnuk called after him.
“Tarq?”
The vertag stopped at the door. “Yes, general?”
“Be careful my old friend. We have lost too many comrades to the Usurper already.”
Tarq inclined his horned head, crossing his arms over his chest in salute. “Of course, old friend.”
Garnuk watched the captain go and sighed to himself. He did not like sending others to do his bidding. Partially because he was loath to place a long-time friend like Tarq in harm’s way. And partially because he had spent so long trusting only himself. Ten long years, actually.
And now, here he was, trusting Tarq to stay alive. Trusting the Banuk not to betray him. Trusting Koah not to do anything rash or blow the whole operation. Trusting his twelve warriors and their two captains to gather his old comrades and officers. That was quite a bit of trust.
But it was necessary. Garnuk needed eyes and ears, and when more people were brought into a cause, the leader of the cause had to learn to trust them a little bit. Otherwise, he would not be able to give them orders and he might as well not have them at all.
He extinguished the small fire he had built and paced around the edges of the room. There was not much to look at or investigate. No ingenious traps to discover the inner workings of. Koah had assured him that the bunkrooms and officers’ suites would be devoid of traps, save the ubiquitous threshold spike. Garnuk idly wondered if there was a way to beat those. Metal soled boots, perhaps? How thick would such a layer have to be in order to withstand the puncturing force of the spike?
His ruminations were interrupted by a brisk knock at the door. He moved over to it quickly, puling open a small hatch built into the door so that he could peer out into the hallway. He needn’t have feared, for it was just two of Koah’s former Sentinels. Now soldiers of Shadow Squadron.
“Greetings, general,” the larger of the two said, saluting in the same manner that Tarq had. “Captain Koah told us to report to you.”
“Ah,” Garnuk said, nodding. “And which are you? The influential one or the warrior?”
“I am the warrior,” the smaller vertag said. He was at least a head shorter than his companion, but thick and muscular. His arms were long for his body, his clawed hands nearly scratching his knees. His horns were not as large as normal either, and grew closer to his head, curling tighter than average.
“You are?” Garnuk asked skeptically.
“Yes,” the smaller vertag replied calmly, as though he were used to this routine. “I’ve proved it often enough, but I will do so once more if I must.”
“No,” Garnuk replied, shaking his head. “We have not the time at the moment. Some other time, perhaps. Right now, I need to speak with Chief Carh again.”
“The Banuk chief is busy,” the taller vertag rumbled, frowning down at Garnuk. “He will not take kindly to being interrupted.”
Garnuk bared his fangs. “That is where you come in. Use your influence to smooth things over as best you can. But I need to speak to him.”
The taller vertag grappled with this for a moment, then submitted. “Very well,” he decided. “We will go now, and find Chief Carh.”
“Excellent,” Garnuk growled. “You will both accompany me. But before we go, what are your names?”
“Danur,” the warrior replied, straightening slightly.
“Brunn,” said the taller one, dipping his head in a slight bow.
Garnuk nodded, filing the information away. “Good. And you both know how to get back into these halls once we leave? You understand the trick mechanism that Koah showed me yesterday?”
“Yes, general.”
“Then let’s be off,” Garnuk replied briskly. “Wouldn’t want to keep Chief Carh waiting now would we?”
Danur chuckled quietly to himself, but Brunn frowned slightly. He followed Garnuk out of the room though, and through the warren of passages that was Shadow Squadron’s new headquarters.
It took several minutes to descend back into the bustling world of the Banuk tribe. They encountered no one above the fourth level, and only began seeing regular traffic at the third. But when they emerged from the gallery onto the first-level corridor, Garnuk felt positively hemmed in by the seething mass of vertaga.
“Your halls are crowded,” he observed as Brunn forged ahead to clear a path.
“Only this one,” Danur replied quietly. “And if this stronghold were fully occupied it would be even worse. It was like that once, before more and more of our kin moved out under the great dome that hides our part of the valley.”
“Why do you suppose so many moved out?” Garnuk wondered.
Danur shrugged. “Once, the fortress of the Banuk was the ultimate symbol of strength and safety. Even the hidden valley was considered an open and potentially dangerous area. But as time passed, our people came to accept that the valley was just as secure as the stronghold.”
“That and they got tired of the crowds,” Brunn called back to them, muscling between two warriors.
“That too,” Danur agreed.
They continued on their way, slowly forging a path through the close-packed Banuks. It was several more minutes before they came to the arches that led into the Banuk chief’s audience hall.
“Everybody who enters the fortress comes through this chamber outside the chief’s hall?” Garnuk asked, realizing that he had seen no other way in or out.
“Yes,” Brunn replied. “This way our chief can keep an eye on comings and goings.”
“Seems like it would get annoying for him after a while, constantly having people wander through.”
“The doors of the council chamber itself can be sealed if he requires privacy,” Brunn explained as he passed through the arch. He stopped, frowning as he started to turn towards the center of the chamber and found the way closed by the very doors he had just mentioned to Garnuk.
Garnuk frowned, puzzled. “Do you think he knew we were coming?” he wondered aloud.
“I don’t see how he could have.”
“You!”
Garnuk and his two companions spun around. Brunn moved to the side, stepping out from between Garnuk and the shout. Danur though stepped in front of Garnuk, a clawed hand dropping to his sword. Garnuk noticed this with one part of his mind, reali
zing that he could not count on Brunn to protect him in a pinch. Not yet anyways.
A group of five warriors was marching towards them from the porch beyond the outer doors. “The chief wants to see you,” he said, pointing at Garnuk with a black claw. “Immediately.”
“What luck,” Garnuk observed. “We want to see him as well.”
“Not the others, just you,” the warrior snapped, grabbing Garnuk by the shoulder and forcing him towards the door.
Garnuk stopped in his tracks and shook the other vertag off, glaring at him coldly. “I am quite capable of walking without your assistance,” he said, his voice dropping to an ominously low and deceptively quiet level.
The warrior did not flinch. “You are in no position to be giving orders, interloper.”
“Interloper is it?” Garnuk asked, moving forward slightly so that he was chest to chest with the warrior. “Chief Carh accepted me into his halls yesterday, as an ally and temporary friend of your tribe.”
“Things change,” the warrior replied.
What did that mean? Garnuk wondered briefly if Tarq or Koah had gone and done something foolish. But he waved the thought aside. They had enough discretion to avoid offending Carh at least. But what could have happened to sour Banuk attitudes towards him so quickly?
“Danur, Brunn, stay here,” Garnuk said at last. “Guard the doors. I will go and meet with Chief Carh alone.”
“I must escort you,” the warrior in front of him said stiffly.
“I can find my way,” Garnuk replied. “Just open the doors and let me in.”
Two warriors stepped forward and grabbed Garnuk by the arms. He went to shake them off, but their leader drew his axe, testing its edge against his rough, calloused palm.
“I am afraid I must insist,” he explained. “The chief commands it.”
“Very well,” Garnuk replied. “Lead on.”
The remaining two guards shoved the doors to the council chamber open. The other three guards marched Garnuk into the room quickly, and the doors swung shut as soon as they had cleared them. Garnuk looked around the room for Carh and found him, sitting in his chair on the elevated dais. And there was someone with him.
Garnuk looked closer and realized that two of the guest chairs were occupied by rams, armed to the horns. Warriors who had a familiar and dreaded device on their shoulders. A black hawk, clutching a crimson axe in its talons.
The Ramshuk’s hunters had come to Banta Kodu.
Chapter 10:
Honored Guests
“Hunters!” Garnuk snarled, shaking off his escorts and drawing his sword. He moved like chain lightning, racing towards the dais and springing into battle.
The hunters made no move though. They did not even rise from their seats. But Chief Carh did. He rose smoothly and calmly, holding up his hands to stop Garnuk.
“Peace. They can do you no harm.” He walked around the fire ring, pushing over first one hunter, then the other. The two bodies toppled to the ground with no resistance whatsoever. And now, Garnuk could see the multiple wounds that pierced their hide, the rents in their armor and clothes.
“You killed them,” Garnuk observed, returning his sword to its sheath. “This was well done.”
“Yes,” Carh replied, returning to his seat and staring at Garnuk. “They were dangerous warriors. Four of our Sentinels fell in the battle.”
Garnuk swore under his breath. That little detail would hardly endear him to his hosts.
“The real question,” the Banuk chief continued gravely. “Is why were they here?”
“No idea,” Garnuk replied stiffly, tearing his eyes from the sigil on the hunters’ shoulders.
“No? You seem to know who they were. You were willing enough to attack them at any rate.”
Garnuk decided there was no use in denying they were pursuing him. Chief Carh was nobody’s fool, and treating him like a fool would not be a wise course to take.
“I do not know these two,” he said, kneeling beside the nearest vertag and studying the grimacing features. “But I do know their kind.”
“I rather thought so,” Carh agreed, nodding slowly. “They are from Dun Carryl?”
“Yes,” Garnuk confirmed. “These are two of the Usurper’s most elite soldiers. His hunters.”
“Hunters? Of what?”
“Of the exiled ones,” Garnuk replied. “Me. A few dozen others, many of whom have been caught and killed. I have encountered these hunters before, but I have always managed to escape.”
“Impressive,” the Banuk chief said impassively, his arms draped over the sides of his chair. His left hand dangled dangerously close to his war club. Close enough that Garnuk was sure the chief could snatch up the weapon and knock his head from his shoulders in a single, fatal second of inattentiveness. He resolved to keep a close eye on the chief for at least the next several minutes. If he lived that long.
“They were hunting you,” Carh observed, nudging the nearest corpse with his foot. “And they killed four of my Sentinels.” He raised his eyes to meet Garnuk’s again. “No Banuk has died in battle in a thousand years. And now, you have brought death to our doorstep.”
“It could have been random chance,” Garnuk protested weakly. “There is no proof that I drew them here with my presence. How could they have known?”
“They are hunters,” Carh said dismissively, waving a clawed hand. His right hand. The left stayed close to the war club, the fingers twitching every so often. “The best of the best. They can track a hawk on a cloudy day. Surely they could track you.”
“Perhaps,” Garnuk agreed. “But I am the best of the best at traveling the Fells unseen. At staying out of my enemies’ grasp. If they were closing in on me, I would have known. Besides, on our way here Tarq and I went through a massive snowstorm. There is no way these hunters tracked us through that.”
Chief Carh shifted uncomfortably. “The fact remains that four of my warriors are dead.”
“And more will follow unless the Usurper is brought to heel,” Garnuk informed him. “He will not stop at the world of men. Everybody knows of the Banuk’s existence. Once he holds the rest of the world, the Usurper will turn his gaze south, and attempt to seize this place from you.”
“He may try,” Carh said, shrugging. “But he has to defeat the race of men first. And you said yourself that he is almost certain to fail.”
“Well, yes, there is that,” Garnuk muttered, thinking furiously. There was something lingering in the back of his mind, something Carh had mentioned.
“Whatever the case, you are the reason these Black Hawk hunters are here,” the chief continued, rising from his seat. “And, therefore, the reason my warriors – ”
“That’s it!” Garnuk cried suddenly, spinning around to examine the bodies again.
“That’s what?” Carh asked irritably.
“Hawks,” Garnuk replied. “These hunters, each of them has a bird he uses for reconnaissance. Scouting rough terrain like the Fells is easier from the sky. They’ve trained them to look for certain things and return, then lead them to whatever was found if anything.”
“Your point is?”
“Were there any birds with them when you found them?” Garnuk asked.
Carh glanced at the warriors who had led Garnuk in. The leader stepped forward hesitantly, glaring at Garnuk.
“We saw no birds, hawks or otherwise,” he informed the Banuk chief hesitantly.
“Then they may have already sent for the rest of their pack,” Garnuk muttered.
“There are more of them?”
“At least a dozen.”
“And they know the location of Banta Kodu?”
“It is possible,” Garnuk admitted. “But unlikely. If your Sentinels slew the guards before they reached the hidden wall, then the birds were sent without knowing where Banta Kodu is. And, therefore, they cannot lead the hunters here.”
“You are most fortunate in that,” Chief Carh informed him gravely, fingering his war club.
“However,” Garnuk continued. “They could lead the hunters back to the place where last they interacted with their masters. Which would bring them close.”
“Too close,” Carh agreed.
The Banuk chief paced around the edge of the fire ring, deep in thought. Garnuk waited silently for his verdict, acutely aware that his position with the chief was severely eroded by these events. Listening was the best course for now.
Carh finally swung back to face the others and sank into his chair. “We shall double the Sentinels on duty,” he announced. “And when these hunters arrive, we will crush them swiftly and without mercy. Banta Kodu must remain a secret if our tribe is to be safe and secure.”
“With all due respect,” Garnuk said tentatively, daring to intervene. “Despite the skill of your Sentinels and the element of surprise, it would be difficult to kill or capture all of these hunters without some escaping. Particularly if their feathered friends are with them. These are master warriors as well as great hunters. I would be hard pressed to defeat more than two of them.”
“The Banuk are masters of unseen death,” Carh countered. “No one can thwart us.”
“Perhaps,” Garnuk conceded. “But, might I offer a simpler, less risky alternative?”
Carh fixed the Exile with a cold stare for a long moment. “Proceed,” he said at last.
Garnuk turned to the Sentinel leader. “How far out were these two found?”
“About a mile,” the Banuk warrior replied promptly.
“Then here is what I propose,” Garnuk said. “Pull your Sentinels in, in a tighter perimeter. But give the area where the hunters were killed a wide berth.”
“Why do you suggest this?” Chief Carh demanded.
“Because, if the Banuk are nowhere to be found, they will be forced to move on,” Garnuk explained. “They only have the instructions of birds after all. They will not understand that two hunters were killed and taken by the Banuk. They will arrive at the site of the battle, find nothing, and have to look elsewhere. Remember, they are under pressure from the Usurper to find me. They have to keep moving constantly. They will not linger here if they believe there is nothing to be found.”
The Ramshuk (Heirs of Legacy Book 3) Page 9