The boys before him, hardly boys anymore, all stood tall and saluted their King. Their hands clapping against their chests in unison.
“A moment, Skyler,” Tegan said as he turned the frozen young man away from the others. After a few paces, he stopped and leaned toward Skyler as they looked upon the assembling army. “We go to war. Your men respect you and will follow you. Be sure to earn their respect by valuing their lives in all you do. Do not needlessly put them in harm’s way. Regretfully, you have already lost one of your men, so please, do your best to make sure all the rest return. Do not attempt to take down the enemy forces when you find them. Send word to us. You will most likely encounter them at some point.”
“Yes, I will,” Skyler answered obediently. The reminder of Quigle brought him quickly down to earth. Tegan smiled at the boy before him, who was quickly growing into a man. He then turned Skyler back around and led him back toward his men. He spoke loudly so the others would hear every word, “When this is over I look forward to hearing your thoughts on our army movements. Had I considered it your way, we may have prepared differently!” Tegan, above all, respected the responsibility he placed upon each one of his leaders. At every opportunity, he sought to leave that in a stronger place in the eyes of their men. It was his way of honoring the sacrifices they made for him.
The boys basked in the rare moment with their King. Skyler was also thankful to Tegan for letting him off the hook, something he certainly didn’t need to do. Tegan mounted Elard, the cat seemed to be snickering at the scene unfolding before him, “Take care and send word of what you encounter.” He then rode off to ready for the departure.
“I look forward to meeting with you when we return,” Skyler yelled as Tegan rode away, knowing the King would hear none of it. He then addressed his men, “We depart at once.” He picked up his pack, slinging is across his back and walked across the brick paved bridge. His men followed dutifully behind, each gaining more respect for their leader every day. They entered the woods on the other side, leaving the army of Tunder Bin, and easy road, behind.
Meril was very impressed by Skyler, “So, what are you going to be when this is over? Can you get me a good position too?”
“It’s no concern of mine,” Skyler answered, playing up the situation. “When the King asks me to search the woods, then that is what I do. We talked a little of me heading up a special forces unit when we return. Why, Telon might even be reporting to me soon. ‘Tis not my call, I am just a simple soldier.”
“Telon report to you?” Taylor chimed in, scoffing at the thought. “You’re delusional, you’ll be lucky to be named the court jester.”
The boys laughed, and Skyler allowed the ribbing. Still close to Tunder Bin, they were quite safe. But soon the wilderness would bring them immense danger, the kind of which they had not endured since the last war.
Δ
Tegan rode toward the front to where Telon, King’s Fiji and Dorir, Erol, Belgin and Cergon stood awaiting him. “We are ready,” Telon announced as his brother joined them.
“Where are Arlow and his men?” Tegan asked, surprised they weren’t the first ones there, knowing their eagerness to make the trip.
“They went ahead to where we meet the east road. Arlow asked to join us there. I hope that was all right.”
Tegan grimaced, not liking such things.
Cergon looked to Tegan, “Where would you have us ride?”
“Given your speed I would ask your men to take the lead. We will need scouts sent forward to report what lies ahead.”
“Thank you for the honor,” Cergon answered, proud to be able to do their part. He left to prepare his men and organize the scouts to start ahead.
“It seems we are one short. Erol, are we missing someone?” Telon asked his friend.
“Not for long,” Erol happily replied. He turned toward the river and whistled loudly. All could feel the rumble of Gile’s footsteps immediately as he bounded up from the stream, having drunk to his full before the rigorous journey began.
The men of all races felt good for the journey. The morning breeze freshened their lungs and the excitement held by all was evident. Their families lined the road, saying their goodbyes to the departing soldiers. Though they were leaving, all involved hoped this to be a quick skirmish and the army would soon be home with the expected fruits of victory in tow.
A covered wagon, with its large wooden wheels rolling smoothly against the stone pavement, pulled up next to the kings. A dwarf soldier guided the horses and out of the back peeked Quelna and Gulac. Amongst them lay all the maps of Lemuria and Calonia for the two eldest of the travel party to analyze on the voyage. “Let’s get this trip going,” Gulac chortled, “I’m not getting any younger.” He was thrilled to be going on the trip and felt better than he had in years.
Tegan hoped to make the journey as easy as possible on the old dwarf and Quelna would be there to watch over him too. If this were to be a quick trip, Gulac and his memory would be the key. Quelna, despite his misgivings of the mission, also seemed eager to go.
Under blue sky and a beautiful morning, they started their march to the harpy lands, a trip that would eventually end in the bitter cold of the north. The journey was quick and uneventful as they traveled the clean roads east. Only a few years ago traveling even this far was treacherous. Since the last war the dwarves, under Tegan’s consistent eye, did a remarkable job of cleaning up the ruffians that used to haunt these roads and give all travelers problems. The dwarves also rebuilt the surfaces, making for nice, smooth, trips between the five dwarf kingdoms.
It was less than a five-day’s march to the harpy lands, with many of the men eager for the first stop. Most had not seen a harpy since the war, but the idea of being in their land and helping the lovely ladies with their needs was more than their wild imaginations could hold.
For Tegan, this stage of the journey only carried one desired outcome and that was to pick up Timo. It was time for his cousin, who had grown into a powerful sorcerer, to do his part.
Chapter 11: Into the Wild
Two days passed since Skyler’s crew departed from Tunder Bin on a trek taking them straight north. Their goal was to scan the middle of Lemuria, looking for trails that would suggest a large army lurking in the shadows of the wild, the one that was determined to waylay Tegan’s forces and prevent them from reaching the land of Calonia. The boys saw little and heard even less as they ventured ever farther north, climbing over and under the tangled mess of brush that despised their presence and fought their advance. Shalkar’s endless chirping was the only exception to the silence.
“I like my women like I like my milk: white. The paler the better.” He was in the middle of a long ramble of his alleged conquests of the opposite sex. They hoped he was at least in the middle, and not still closer to the beginning, of his ramble.
Meril interrupted his friend, “From what I hear, the harpies you so desire like you like they like their Tolltier, extinct.” His dagger drew laughs from the others as they continued their march and rhythmic ramble through the forest.
“Seriously Meril, you want to dog me? The closest you have come to a woman is when you were born. Speaking of your mother, from your looks I would have guessed you had two dads.” Shalkar knew he hit close to home with that barb, as the rest of the boys stopped laughing to gage Meril’s reception of the ribbing. They highly doubted he would take well.
“Shalkar, do you know the difference between you and a bucket of troll crap?” Meril was running out of digs, so he went with the old reliable.
Shalkar grew heated quick and new the next words from Meril’s mouth. “Say it!” Shalkar insisted, stopping to size up his mouthy friend. “Say it and see what happens!”
Meril took the challenge, “The buck—”
Skyler shot his hand fast, covering Meril’s mouth to stop the sound. The look on his face told the others to be silent and made them quickly remember where they were and what they were doing. Skyler whispered,
“Sounds ahead.”
Skyler bent low and swiftly scampered off through the foliage. The others quickly followed. Meril and Shalkar dropping their battle of words, at least for now. The boys slipped from tree to tree, and soon the others also began to hear the argument unfolding ahead. Trolls had captured someone, or something, and seemed to be enjoying in the torture of it.
Skyler silently covered the ground to the top of a ridge and lay still as he watched the proceedings below. A small group of five trolls cut off young troll’s arm below the elbow and had him staked to the ground. The captured victim’s scream filled the low valley. As Skyler watched the young troll wail in pain, one of the larger ones took a torch and burned the end of the wound to stop the profuse bleeding, but the sizzle only brought louder shrieks from the helpless troll.
“Why burns it? We’z killin’’em anyway?” an unusually dumb-looking troll with a droopy eye questioned the others.
“So, we can put ‘em tru more pain! Thieves must pay!” the largest one retorted with a quick blast of his massive forearm that the dumb looking one narrowly dodged.
Skyler couldn’t help but feel sorry for the young troll, who looked sadly starved. The frantic pain-stricken look burned into Skyler’s soul, he had to help the young victim if he could.
“Get ready, we’re gonna save him,” Skyler warned the others, as he pulled his own blade.
“Hold on, we are going to save a troll from other trolls killing it?” Taylor protested. He saw the look in Skyler’s eyes. It was one he had seen a hundred times, one that meant he better pick his weapon because Skyler already made the decision.
Skyler slipped down the slope, still unnoticed by the unsuspecting bullies. Shalkar stayed up high where he could see, his crossbow notched and ready. The others followed Skyler and were prepared to battle the far larger trolls, hand to hand. None of them had ever challenged a troll. They would have preferred the numbers were more in their favor; but they were not.
Skyler jumped into the opening with a cry, catching the trolls by surprise. The largest one, also the closest to Skyler, barked, “A dwerf! Git’z ‘im!”
One of the trolls rushed Skyler, but an arrow from Shalkar to his eye dropped the troll to the ground, his brain skewered. The others leapt to Skyler’s aid, weapons drawn. By one, the numbers were now in their favor and that was enough. The boys rushed the larger foe. The battle whirled around and over the young troll tied to the stakes, who tried to trip the larger ones with his free leg. Shalkar continued notching his arrows, each one landing in the exact pinpointed location he sought. The dwarves were dodging the clumsy swings of the trolls, who had a much longer reach.
Finally, the frustrated leader over extended toward Skyler, his blade once again missing the intended mark. Skyler ran in close and, sliding just under the grunted swing, he slashed a nasty gash on the inner thigh of the beast. The troll buckled and fell to one knee in pain. Balthar ran across the other side, doing the same to the outer thigh of the other leg, causing the troll to fall forward completely to the ground.
The falling troll almost crushed Skyler. Meril didn’t see the injured foe and fell backward over it as he tried to miss a swing by his opponent. He was just able to dance out of the way of the crashing blade, but the evil swing did land. It missed the dwarf target and instead landed heavily against the neck of the fallen troll. The sharp blade easily sliced the tender flesh around the neck of the fat troll, relieving it of the weighted burden of supporting the pumpkin sized head.
The astonished troll froze in terror at what he had just done. That moment allowed Shalkar to take down another victim with a shot through its eye. Skyler looked over as he stood up and saw the tied-up troll still laying on the ground. He quickly rushed to it and used his knife to free the troll from its unforgiving bonds. A smile jetted across the young troll’s face as he picked us a loose sword, ready to aid his saviors.
Taylor was battling one of the last two trolls, each exchanging blows, which the other skillfully blocked. The hard-clanging swords chipped against each other, sending sparks in all directions. Taylor was the biggest of the dwarves, but the beast still outsized him. Meril went to help him as Balthar and Skyler went after the last troll, the droopy-eyed one.
With Meril’s aid, Taylor was able to take his troll to the ground and finish it. The droopy-eyed one was slick, however, and was able to land a blow to Balthar. He dropped his blade at the scrape to his side and fell over in pain. Skyler went to help Balthar, but ‘droopy’ shoved him to the ground beside Balthar. The troll then stood over them triumphantly, and readied to take down the assailants.
The young troll, one arm severed, lifted the blade he found with his good arm. He angrily thrust it clean through droopy, shoving the blade through the fattened troll all the way to the hilt. Droopy struggled to let loose a cry but could not as he fell to his knees, and then to the ground. The sword was unwilling to release its position.
The young troll then fell too, dizzy from the unknown amount of blood he lost before the dwarves arrived. Skyler left Balthar and rushed to the troll’s aid.
“What about me?” Balthar protested. He couldn’t believe Skyler was more concerned for the troll than his dear friend.
“Shut up, you’ll be fine,” Taylor yelled as he also went to aid the troll.
Balthar rose to his feet. His wound was indeed little more than a good cut, but in his mind, that just wasn’t the point.
“We need to save him if we can. Meril, build us a small fire. Taylor, get Shalkar down here and make us some cover if you can. We could be here a bit. Balthar, are you okay?” Skyler asked with a quick look.
“Yes, I thi—” Balthar began, but Skyler interrupted his answer.
“Good, then bring us some water, quick. He will also need some medicine for his arm, or he may lose the rest of it.”
The dwarves hurried to get Skyler what he needed. Soon a small fire was going, and Taylor assembled a lean-to to keep them out of the wind. They were able to feed themselves and the troll with soup Meril made from what was close. Eventually Taylor took care of Balthar’s injury, wrapping it with good medicine from the plants in the forest. They spent the evening and night taking turns watching over the injured troll, who struggled to survive.
The next morning Skyler woke to see the troll sitting up. Even though it had a greenish completion, as all trolls did, it was quite pale due to the loss of blood. The others also woke and watched as the troll tried to move, but he quickly realized the dwarves tied his legs.
“Are you going to kill me?” the troll asked frantically, fearing the worst. Skyler wrapped the stump of the cut-off arm in a clean cloth to help control the blood that continually oozed through the cracked, burned, skin. The troll winced as pain shot throughout his body when the stump was uncovered, the dressing changed.
“No,” Skyler reassured, “we just needed to make sure you wouldn’t wake and kill us in the night. Are you feeling better?” He then cut the bindings around his feet.
“Yes, thank you. I’m still lightheaded though,” he replied, bending his head low for a moment to feel better. “I think I shall be fine, in time. Where are the other trolls you killed?”
“We threw them in a sinkhole not far from here. We hoped to cover our tracks and what happened, in case other trolls came for us,” Taylor explained.
“My father is in there. He is the one I killed,” the troll said solemnly, not paying attention to Taylor. The sadness of the event obvious. The dwarves could not believe he killed his own father, something they could not fathom.
Shalkar could not keep quiet, “You killed your own father?” He received a hard elbow from Meril for saying what they were all asking in their heads.
“He turned me in for stealing meat. He asked me to do it, then he ate it all while I sat there starving. When the others found out, he blamed me for it. Then he helped them cut my arm off as punishment.” His eyes teared up telling the sad tale. The young troll was the same age as the dwarves. Each
of them thinking their fathers would never do that to them.
“Will you go back?” Balthar asked, not knowing what he would do if he were in the troll’s position.
“I can’t. My mother has died, and no one back there will take me in. I could never explain what happened here. I will wander the wilderness alone I guess, a one-armed troll roaming the forest.”
Skyler looked to the others and then offered, “You should come with us. You seem handy with a blade and we can help you mend. You are one of us now, does that suit you?” Skyler was a little uneasy with the proposal and not at all sure how he would explain it to the other dwarves back home. But he also knew they didn’t save the troll just to let it die in the wild alone.
The troll thought for a moment and then a smile reached across his face, “I will take your offer and will do my best to make certain you do not regret it!” The troll boy was very happy to have a place where he was wanted.
Shalkar laughed out loud, the others looking at him bewildered. “What is it?” Taylor asked.
Shalkar regained himself, “I just have never seen a troll with his teeth.” Skyler was embarrassed and felt bad for the troll.
Suddenly the troll also began to laugh in short bursts, though not quite as hard, “You are right, trolls do seem to be missing a lot of teeth.” Then all the dwarves joined in, having a good chuckle at the troll’s expense.
“I am Skyler. This is Balthar and his brother Shalkar; Taylor and his brother Meril.” Each dwarf bowed when introduced. “What do you call yourself?” Skyler inquired.
“They used to call me Numeri, but I am dead to them now and will go by that name no more.” The troll thought for a moment and announced, “My new name shall be Kylee. Is that fine with you?”
“I think it suits you well Kylee. We are proud to have you as a brother,” Skyler said, welcoming the troll into their group.
Skyler helped Kylee to his feet and then pulled his knife out. He made a small cut in both of his palms and then passed the knife to each of the dwarves who did the same. Shalkar then looked to Kylee who could not cut his own hand. Kylee held out his palm, “Please Shalkar, make a clean cut.”
The Three Charms Page 13