World of Taroo

by Jimmy Eriksson

  The Army Comes to the Forest

  The prince and five hundred of his men were standing outside the forest where the tracker had come out. Theran overlooked the forest from his horse and told the men to start walking in to the thick forest. The tracker was in the front of the troops and had no choice in the matter. The prince had not been very happy with the information about what had happened and wasted no time organising the march to the forest. Theran saw the tracker had failed the task when they left the magic stone so close to the end of the forest and the fact that his friend was dead didn’t matter at all to him. He cared only about the Alumrylite stone that he knew would grant him a much better future.

  The prince had given some money upfront to the trackers to find and locate it, and in his eyes, if the tracker would want to be paid the whole sum, he would have to get them back to that village. Even when the tracker, at first, declined to take them back and paid back the money he originally got, the prince wasn’t interested to hear it. He instead brought out his sword and told him he only had one choice then forced him to come along to the forest. The tracker’s family lived in Darcolia, and the prince had promised they would be kicked out of the kingdom if he ran away from the task.

  Theran had been, for some time, adding up his own soldiers so he would not have to rely on his father’s men. He was tired of listening to his father when it came to how to conduct the troops in war and decided to gather his own army. He was desperate to prove to his father that he was a skilled warrior and would be a great successor to the throne. Theran’s troops were well-trained on the battle field after he made them go through tough training but heavy armour and big weapons became clumsy when walking in a forest as thick as the one they had entered. The small army of men set up camp in the forest and small fires were lit. The tracker that found his way last time did so without any fires and didn’t think it was a good idea to make noise and light in a forest known then to them as dangerous but the prince did not listen and had some guards stay close to him in case he decided to take off.

  In the morning, they set off again and through the forest that had then a lower sound than the outer parts. They walked a whole day, and through the way, they killed some animals for food and when the night came back again, they set up camp near a hillside. This time, the fires turned smoky because of the wet landscape and the lack of dry twigs which made the smoke rise thick in the forest. The tracker was nervous because it had been two weeks since he was in the forest and the memories of his friend dying in front of him were all too real. As he fell asleep, he heard the sounds of the men joking and snoring.

  The morning brought with it rain and the forest even if it was thick, still brought rain down on the men. The walk through the forest became more difficult, and the rain didn’t slow down until the afternoon. The men walked behind the tracker that had spotted an open plane in the forest with only one tree on. A good place for rest, he thought, and they all started marching towards the tree. As they got closer, the tracker spotted something on the tree. It was a thick tree but it had ropes around it, and as he got closer and walked to the side, his heart started pumping hard and the sweat was starting to pour out.

  On the side of the tree just before the branches started, was the other tracker, his friend. He was hanging with a sign that said warning to those interfering with the forest. The tracker fell to his knees and sobbed but Prince Theran told the men to be calm and remembered who they were and that no forest could withstand the might of the army. He turned to the tracker and asked how far the village was and the tracker responded with saying that the village was less than a day’s walk from them and pointed to the mountain that stuck up through the forest and said from the mountain, it took a couple of hours.

  The prince was then very excited to be holding the magic stone soon that he would make money and power on. He had great confidence he would get it and told the men to burn the tree with the dead tracker still tied to it and let the smoke fill the air. He turned to the tracker again and told him to get ready to march towards the village. The men lit the tree and started to walk towards the mountain. The tracker thought it might not had been such a good idea to burn it in case the villagers would smell the smoke or see it and get ready for attack but Prince Theran did not listen and was certain he would hold the earth stone tonight.

  They arrived at the foot of the mountain where they had met the lonely villager earlier but he was no longer on the ground and instead, there were flowers thrown on the spot where he had lain. The men recovered for the last time and planned what to do when they arrived. The plan was to first demand the magic stone, and they would walk out and no one would get hurt. And if that did not work, they would attack the village. They had then the plan ready, and as they started to march towards the village, the tracker walked all the more carefully and kept his eyes open.

  Theran was confident he would hold the stone in his hand soon enough. After hearing the village in the forest only held just over 60 homes, he felt sure he had brought more than he needed of his own men to secure the stone. He did wonder whether there were others in the forest, but in either case, he knew they were no match for his army. They walked for no more than 30 minutes when the tracker suddenly stopped and threw himself to the ground behind a tree and just as he had done so, the arrows and spears started to rain.

  The arrows were hitting the warriors but the arrows could not penetrate their armour so they pushed on. Not until one of the men got a spear thrown at him, they saw what their armour could withstand. The spear penetrated the armour and the solider fell down but was still alive after it hit him on the side. The men then took cover and tried to locate the attackers and saw some of them hiding up in the trees. The archers brought out the crossbows and regular bows and in a controlled attack, they unleashed 100 arrows and bolts in one go. The arrows hit the trees and the forest people had to take shelter. This gave an opportunity for the army men to push forward and do so quickly. But not for long when more arrows and spears sailed down on them. Some of the army men had less protection on the lower part of the body. Something they discarded to be able to move in the thick forest. The ones that took their armours off were then at risk of being hit by arrows since sheep-skin trousers did not stop arrows as well as chainmail.

  The people of the forest had taken notice of this when they followed the men after seeing the smoke rise and ran to find out who it was. They had assembled the villagers and anyone else living close in the other settlement amongst the trees located in the other direction from where the two trackers first came from. Then, they directed their attacks towards the army men with low protection and were hitting some that had to take shelter. Many were fast but there were those that fell injured to not be much of a threat anymore.

  The prince was safe behind the shields protecting him that were held by some of his closest bodyguards. The prince told the men to advance and they unleashed another 100 arrows towards the trees but they still hit nothing. The arrows never seemed to end from the sky, and when the second man went down with several hits to the leg and just bled out, the men got a little disoriented and stood behind the trees rather than advancing since the arrows never seemed to stop.

  The prince saw what was going on and ordered the archers to stand up in a row with the most protected in the front and the ones with less protection to stand behind and ready their crossbows. They stood in a row, and the prince shouted forward, and as they walked, the ones with less armour shots arrows and took cover behind the men. The forest people were pushed back and at this time, the men seemed to advance towards the village. When, finally, the first villager fell to an arrow the men got their confidence boost and continued on. The spears were heavy and could kill a solider but the forest people had stopped throwing them. Perhaps, they ran out of them, the men thought, for a while the arrows stopped and it turned quiet. The men held off and looked around for the people but saw no one.

  Prince Theran told the men to march and they were on the verge to
victory. He ordered the tracker to be pushed to the front and told him to tell him how far they had left. The tracker said the village was in front of the big hill sighted over the forest and as soon as he said that, the prince ordered the men to get ready. The tracker was allowed to walk behind the first group of men and tended to keep himself there. After about 200 metres, a loud sound from a horn was sounded and the forest started to move. After seconds of hearing the sound, the people that were attacking them before then showed themselves with swords and in the midst of them all, the wide short man the trackers thought to be the leader emerged sitting on a boar. A beast so big, it looked like a horse.

  There were about 150 of them which was a lot more than he had expected. However, they were all shorter and lived in the forest while the prince’s men trained on the battleground. The army quickly stood in position for fight. ‘With the training and equipment you have received, you would win easy,’ said the prince to the men and encouraged the men with that they would be greatly rewarded for getting the earth stone for him. Theran spoke loudly to those standing ready to fight that he was looking to speak with the man called Hun. The fat man on the boar said he was Hun and whatever Theran wished to say was not interesting. He said they should leave before they would be attacked.

  Theran smiled and shook his head. He then said he wished only to have the magical stone they possessed and if it was delivered, he would guarantee no one else would get hurt. No reaction from the people living in the forest and Theran told the officer next to him to be ready. The forest people were standing still with the spears and arrows drawn with some yelling to the soldiers to leave their forest. With the sound of the horn, the forest people moved to the side to give way to the massive wooden piece, and with anticipation, the army men got ready for assault.

  Theran also finally saw what he had come for when Hun was holding up the earth stone. Hun shouted that it would be used to protect the village, and they would die if they come closer. Theran heard nothing and only thought about the earth stone that would bring him respect from his father as well as the massive riches made by the wood produced. The prince gave the signal, and they marched forward with crossbows ready and swords drawn. Hun said “fire” and in one big boom, the wooden piece went off and a mixture of rock, wood and metal flies down to the army. And when it hit the men standing in the front of the blast, it delivered such a powerful blast that five men died instantaneously. Another fifty got lightly to severely injured, that could put them out of the assault. With such a devise, they would have to act fast and the prince shouted to the men to quickly attack.

  The villagers and forest people saw the men charge and let out a war cry. Hun brought up the earth stone again which he gave to one of the people next to him. The villager put it above his head and a light came from it. The ground where the soldiers all were suddenly started to shake. The men below had to hold on to the trees or hold themselves on the ground. The attack would be much more difficult with such a power against them, Theran thought but had an idea. He told his best archers to take place and fire at the earth stone. He told them to use a tar substance his father’s scientists had created and fire it at the magic stone.

  Theran had heard only little about the powers of the Alumrylite stones but knew enough to realise he needed to get it out of the hands of the people holding it. The short man on the hill holding the stone, moved it in position towards Theran and Hun said they had then lost the chance to leave. As the ground shook more and trees fell around them hitting some of the soldiers, Hun suddenly saw the villager holding their stone get hit by something. The earth stone stopped working immediately and the shaking seized to come. The man holding the magical stone was covered by a thick tar-looking substance and so was the Alumrylite stone. The soldiers below got to their feet and advanced closer.

  Hun tried to get it cleaned up but the tar substance was hardening. He turned to the others and told them to defend the earth stone at all costs. The people of the forest howled again, and let the horns sound as they descended down the small hill they had been standing on. As they got closer, both sides shot arrows and then the spears started to rain and were hitting the army. The people of the forest were fast and had the trees’ cover as they descended. But as soon as they hit the level ground, they drew their knives and the real battle began. The fight became intense with the determination to protect the forest and the earth stone. The army had skill, armour and numbers on their side but the helmets and heavy armour could also be a disadvantage.

  Prince Theran then joined the attack and hit a forest person as he swung the blade and the hit was enough to kill the person. Hun was riding his boar in to the crowd of army men that was no match for an angry animal and as big as a horse. The ground filled with blood of the men hit by the canon and people killed in the current attack. The forest people might be smaller but the speed and accuracy of the stabbing got hits from the attacks. The prince told his men who were shooting arrows to leave and circle around and take out the men standing on the hill still throwing spears or shooting arrows. The men ran to the side and soon stood on the same side as the forest people. They got a surprise attack that took three of them out of action, and as soon as the spears stopped raining down at the army, they were able to advance their attack. The forest people must withdraw to not be overrun by the army that started to run towards the people that were being forced back.

  The canon at the top had been reloaded and was about to shoot. The men took cover, and when the canon fired, only three army men got hurt. Prince Theran ordered them to take the hill and with the men then close and the canon not having time to reload, the people had no other chance but to retreat but they incapacitated the canon by setting it on fire so the army could not use it. Even Hun had to run after the boar then being hurt, and when it tried to stand one last time, it got impaled by more swords and it released its last breath.

  The village and forest people carrying the magic stone retreated closer towards the village. When they got to the point of where the village began, they executed the defence system that involved a thicker wooden wall rising around the village by pulling a lever located in the wind mill. The rest of the villagers and forest people arrived back in the village and the last wall came up. In the village, the people inside got ready for the coming assault and brought the defensive to max by adding spikes on the inside of the walls that would serious injure or kill anyone climbing over the it.

  The army was assembled outside the village not too far away. The prince talked to the men and told a group of them to test the defences and search for weaknesses in the walls. The men stood ready and looked for cracks or anything that might get them inside. After circling the village, it was clear that the thick wooden walls all stood firm, but one of the men climbed up a tree and looked over the village. While looking, he got shot by an arrow that grazed him on the side of his head. He fell down with a cut on his head but stood up, and then retreated back to the others.

  In the village, the people had gathered more spears and other weapons that could hurt or kill. The village had never been attacked before but had trained for it and loved their land and would not give it up easily. One of the people took place in the tower and readied his arrows. He saw the men outside looking for weaknesses and he was the one firing the arrow that grazed the army man. Prince Theran really wanted this Alumrylite stone but knew if they rushed the wall, he might lose more men to the villagers and he was then currently down about 70 soldiers that were being treated for injuries or were dead. He had the tracker brought to him and asked him about the layout and how the village looked from inside.

  The map of the village was drawn on the ground and the location of the house and even the inside of Hun’s house. The army man that came down from the tree after being shot at, also added to the spiky inside of the wall so they knew not to jump over unless they wanted to be impaled by the spikes. In the village, the defences had been put to maximum capacity and the earth stone that was still covered by the
tar substance had been secured in the bottom of the well with traps in case of them losing the situation. Outside the village, the men had noticed the other settlements that housed some of the people of the forest. They scavenged for anything to use for the battle or clues for getting in the village, but found nothing until they located a pile of junk in a shed.

  In the pile, another canon was found and it looked to be in working condition. The men pushed it over to the prince that told them to ready the canon for attack. They could only find one load of the ammunition and arm the canon with it. When it was ready, the prince rode up to the village and demanded to speak to someone. There was no response from the villagers that were standing ready inside for an offensive. The prince again said he only wanted the earth stone and if they would give it up then, they would be left in peace. Still no response and the prince lost his patience and said they would attack and burn the village and anyone in it if the earth stone was not delivered before night fall, which was a couple of hours away.

  The prince rode back with his bodyguards beside him and when they returned to the others, he set up the plan for the onslaught. They spoke about the forest, people that had done well despite not being used to war. They were a little shorter than people living outside of the forest, which many thought was strange. But one of the soldiers said it’s most likely because of their diet that probably wasn’t much meat. They had seen many plants and a storage for nuts but no fur taken from animals or bones that would suggest that meat was even in their diet. The tracker wanted some revenge for his friend but not on the cost of the whole village and asked the prince if he could go and try to reason with the people in the village.