They continued traveling the creek bed although they were able to walk now if they kept low. Halfway through the night the creek turned eastward and it was time to go overland to head west. The fires were scarcer now and it looked like the worst was behind them. Fergy took a guess at twenty to thirty thousand goblins and that depended on how far west they went. There were also streams of campfires still to the north. No one could have imagined that there were that many goblins around. They had also started seeing Yaki, though not large groupings of them. Fergy assumed that the Yaki would continue to roam and forage until it was time for the offensive.
Several times during the westward trek, Alex found gullies where they could have a small fire during the day. The fires were a risk, with the goblins still assembling from the north, but Ben was quite ill. He developed a severe cough and was running a fever.
Two days after Ben became sick, he was no longer able to keep up with the group. His blond hair was so wet with perspiration that water was running down his face. Fergy called a halt to the column even though it was still dark. “Mitar, David,” he commanded, “start a fire. If we can’t break his fever, we’re going to have to leave him behind. Alex, Salc, take up positions east and west. I want to know if anything moves. I don’t care if it’s just a goblin at one of those campfires relieving himself, I want to know about it.”
Alex was disturbed with the thought of leaving Ben to die. He had been told the rules before leaving Tagaret and understood the reasoning behind them, but that didn’t ease the anguish of consigning a friend to death. He started whittling small trees to make a sled in case that became an option. Mitar saw what Alex was doing and soon both of them were whittling.
An hour before dawn Fergy snapped his fingers and the group gathered at the fire. “He’s not going to make it. Prepare to move out.”
“Sergeant, we have the makings of a sled,” offered Mitar. “We’re not going to be going far in an hour and then we have to settle in for the day ourselves. Can we drag Ben with us at least that far?”
“Look, I’m no fonder of the situation than you lads are. If we’re seen towing a sled, we’ll stick out like a hairless Yaki. We’ll also be leaving tracks that will not be connected with anything the goblins expect to see.”
“Sergeant,” suggested Alex, “we’re only about a half hour from a thick stand of trees. We can drag Ben there and the last in line can cover the tracks. It’s probably safer then leaving Ben here. If the Yaki find Ben, they’ll follow our scent, anyway, hoping for another meal.”
Fergy pondered Alex’s statement about the Yaki. It was something he hadn’t counted on. If the Yaki picked up their scent with or without Ben, they were in trouble. “Well, what are you dimwits waiting for? Get that sled built and be quick about it.”
They made the woods just before dawn and settled in a secluded area away from the trails. Sometime the following night they would reach the West Mountains, the border with Cordonia. Getting Ben over the mountains was a problem no one wanted to dwell on. At dusk they moved on.
They took turns pulling Ben’s sled and covering the tracks, but the terrain was getting steeper and rockier. They had almost made the mountains at sunrise, but not quite. There was no suitable cover to hide in and no goblins in sight so they continued on. Salc spotted a small group of Yaki trailing them and they picked up the pace. Within fifteen minutes, the pack had grown to over thirty.
Just as it looked as if they might gain entrance to a canyon, the Yaki attacked. Everyone had their bows ready and fired upon the Yaki. Salc kept on pulling Ben while the others killed Yaki. A band of goblins were attracted by the noise and were coming to investigate. The Red Swords were backing their way into a canyon when one Yaki leaped down from the rocks. Salc quickly dropped the sled and drew his sword. He struck the Yaki so fiercely that he almost decapitated it, but not before the Yaki had succeeded in ripping Ben’s throat out.
The Red Swords retreated into a canyon and started looking for a way out. It was a shallow canyon with a wide mouth, not much protection at all. Worse, if they couldn’t find a way out, it may well end up being their grave. They retreated until their backs were against the steep wall. There were two large boulders a little way forward of the back wall and the Red Swords used them for cover. They could not see any more Yaki above them, but the mouth of the canyon was full of them.
They were too far away for quills or sword. The Yaki ran back and forth in the mouth of the canyon inviting arrow shots and indeed the Red Swords were managing to kill a few. Fergy stopped the firing and reminded everyone to watch their arrow supply. If they ran out of arrows the Yaki would charge and overwhelm them. If they stopped firing arrows entirely, the Yaki would attack them; so Fergy ordered them to take turns firing and to only fire when they had an absolute kill.
This worked for ten minutes, then the goblins arrived. The goblin archers were firing at the Red Swords, but most of their arrows were hitting the boulders. The goblins did manage, however, to force the Red Swords to keep their heads down. It was only a matter of, time before the enemy decided to send the Yaki to attack while the goblins provided covering fire. When that happened, the Red Swords would die.
Alex looked around for something flammable, but there was nothing he would be able to reach. He hoped he could ignite several Yaki or create some type of fire barricade as he did five years earlier.
Suddenly, a goblin arrow caught Salc in the forehead when he tried to shoot. Salc was dead before he hit the ground. They were down to four now and there were more goblins arriving. Everyone fell silent, each pondering his own thoughts of death.
And then the Yaki charged.
Chapter 12
Kantor
The Red Swords started firing in concert at the charging Yaki. All of sudden there was a tremendous flash of light at the mouth of the canyon! A gust of wind slammed into the Yaki and hurled them against the cliffs as if a large, invisible hand had slapped them. The sound echoing off of the steep canyon walls was deafening.
The force of the wind knocked Alex and the other Red Swords down and Alex jumped to his feet. Some of the previously airborne Yaki were starting to stir and Alex tore into them with his sword. Other members of the Red Swords were doing the same. Within moments the Yaki had been dispatched and Alex looked around the canyon. Goblin bodies littered the mouth of the canyon, many of them burned severely. He cautiously walked to the mouth of the canyon and peered out. There was nothing alive in the vicinity of the canyon, but in the distance he could see several bands of goblins coming towards him. Alex called to the others and started gathering up all of the quivers he could find. They had to move quickly and get up into the mountains before the next set of goblins arrived.
Alex wondered what had happened. He knew he was going to die when the Yaki charged, then instantly it was over. Alex started scrambling south along the base of the mountains. The other Red Swords were close behind. “Hurry, Alex,” called Fergy, “find us a way up quick.”
Alex heard a voice in his head. “Turn into the next canyon, Alex.” Alex obeyed, but he wasn’t sure what was going on. This canyon looked like another dead end. Perhaps the force wave had damaged his mind. He might be going crazy. He was about to retrace his steps out of the canyon when he noticed a crevice that angled up and back. It was narrow, but worth a chance investigation. He slipped and cursed his bad luck. The others were shouting for him to come back down. His mind spoke again. “Concentrate. Never doubt your abilities.” Alex called for his friends to follow him. The goblins were closing in on them now. They had just moments to get into a defensive position and Alex was leading them up this crevice. The goblin archers would pick them off before they ever got to safety.
Alex reached a plateau and crawled onto it. He watched the others scrambling to get up before the goblins could take aim. Mitar joined Alex on the plateau, then David, but Fergy was not going to make it. Alex watched as the goblin archer pulled back his bow, and then disappeared in a ball of flame. Fer
gy scrambled onto the plateau and Alex turned around and stared into the face of Jenneva.
“Move out of the way,” she commanded. Alex and the others scooted further along the ledge and Jenneva brought her two hands together. As her hands touched each other, the crevice that the goblins were climbing crumbled from both sides. The goblins and rocks joined together and slid down into the canyon into a tangled heap of stone, blood, and bones.
Jenneva turned and ordered, “Quickly, follow me.” She led them off the ledge to another crevice and the five of them scrambled up to a large, flat area where they could rest.
“Jenneva?” asked Alex. “Can this really be you?”
“Alex, I’m flattered that you remember me, but now is not the time for questions. You seemed to have attracted some unwanted attention. I suggest that you get your breath and then we get out of here. After you and your friends are safe, we can talk privately.”
They started climbing the mountains. The Red Swords kept pestering Alex for some answers, but he just shrugged or said that she was an old friend. They climbed all day with only a few stops to catch their breath. Each time they stopped Alex tried to talk with Jenneva, but she always seemed to disappear, only to return and urge them onward.
They finally reached a small valley between two peaks where they could have a fire without it being seen from below. They had heard no sounds of goblins following them. Fergy ordered David and Mitar to get a fire going and pulled Alex aside. “I am extremely grateful for the help from your friend, but I have to know who she is. The information that we have must get back to Tagaret and I cannot chance the possibility that your friend might have other ideas.”
Alex nodded and went off to find Jenneva. He found her down the valley sitting under a small tree. He walked over and sat beside her. “Jenneva, I am so glad to see you. I have so much to ask you, but I cannot fathom what you did back there. How can you do these things?”
Jenneva put her hand to his lips to silence him and then she hugged him. They embraced for a long time and finally Jenneva drew back. “Alex, I have thought of you often. I don’t know where to begin or how much is safe for you to know. Let’s just say that I have abilities that I never knew about and that I have spent the last five years developing those abilities. It’s not really safe to go into further detail.”
“That’s it? You can wipe five years out with a mere sentence. I meet a lovely young girl and five years later I meet her again and she’s blowing up mountains, but she hasn’t done anything really in between. Jenneva, you should know I would never harm you.”
“Alex,” she laughed, “I am not worried about you harming me and, yes, I know that you wouldn’t. At first I was worried that your friends would try something, but then I realized that if you considered them friends, I must also. Alex, it is very complicated and you must give me time to think about it. When I came out here, you were the last person I expected to run into. Give me time. Tell me what you’ve been doing the last five years.”
Alex sighed. He knew that Jenneva was strong willed and would not say anything further unless she felt like it. He told her about everything that had happened to him over the years up to the point of joining the Red Swords. He knew Fergy would not want him revealing the nature of their mission to someone who wouldn’t reveal why she was up here where only goblins seemed to exist. He suggested that they go back and join the others.
They went back to the camp and Fergy came over to meet them. “I believe you two must know each other. I’m Sergeant Ferguson and I want to thank you for your help with those nasty critters.”
“Sergeant, I am pleased to meet friends of Alex and welcome you as my own. I am called Jenneva.”
“Well then, Jenneva, I’d like to ask you how you accomplished that little feat of engineering back there. I assume you were also responsible for that little helpful explosion in the canyon?”
Jenneva laughed heartily. “Sergeant, I’m not really sure what you mean. I just happened along and showed you the way up into these mountains.”
“I’m sure, ma’am. Do you travel these beautiful lands often?”
Jenneva thought for a while without answering. Alex had given in and respected her secrecy. He didn’t like it, but he accepted it. This Sergeant was another matter. He had a job to do and the discipline to do it. He had never known the sweet, little Jenneva and he wasn’t going to accept her avoidance of the issue. They were both after the same thing, pretty much, and she needed to help the army defeat the goblins; but she wasn’t sure how much information she could afford to release. Finally she said, “Sergeant, you’re up here to determine the strength of the enemy. I can help you with that task. I can also assure you that we have common enemies. I will not betray you to the goblins. If I had wanted to do that, I could have merely ignored the happenings below. I have reasons of my own that limit what I may tell you. If you can respect my silence in certain areas, I can help you get out of here alive. I can also help your army defeat these beasts.”
“Oh, I’m not so worried about the goblins. They won’t follow us any further, but how do I know that you don’t work for a foreign government that means the Kingdom harm?”
“You have only my word, Sergeant. I am Targan and my reason for being in this beautiful country, as you put it, is to help Targa.”
“And how might a fair lass such as yourself help Targa by roaming through the goblin bands?”
“Sergeant, I am searching for the source of the problem. The goblins are more a worry for the army than me. The source of the problem is more of a worry for me than for the army. Why can’t we just work together and trust each other?”
“You know who is behind the goblins?”, asked Fergy.
“Yes, I know who, but not where. The same person who directed the Yaki five years ago is directing the goblins. He is an evil magician named Sarac and I must find him.”
“Then the Cordonians have nothing to do with this?”
“Nothing at all. I cannot tell you why Sarac is doing this, but I know for certain that he is. And, Sergeant, you must be careful who you share this information with. He has spies everywhere and if he finds out that he is discovered, I will never find him. That is one of the reasons that I must be cautious. Sarac does not know that I am searching for him and he must not know.”
“Jenneva, I do think that I am beginning to understand. I can’t pretend to know the ways of magic and in that area I am willing to defer to your judgment, but I have to report what I know to my superiors. Would you consider coming with us to Tagaret to speak to them yourself? And for the gods sake, lass, please call me Fergy.”
Jenneva smiled. “Fergy, I think that is an excellent idea. My search for Sarac has not been very successful and part of my mission is to help the army defeat the goblins. I sense in you a kindred spirit. I am not sure of your superiors or even the two whom accompany you, so you will have to guide me in that area.”
“David and Mitar, I trust with my life as I also trust Colonel Gregor. Above the Colonel are General Clark, Duke Nelson, and King Eugene. I cannot imagine the King as a threat, but I will let you judge the other two for yourself.”
“That I can accept. Perhaps, then, I should meet your friends as we’ll be spending a great deal of time together.”
Alex introduced Jenneva to David and Mitar and the five talked over dinner. There was no mention of magic or Sarac. Alex and Jenneva went off by themselves after dinner and talked. Jenneva still refused to discuss anything about herself since Hasra’s death, but she talked about her childhood and he went into greater detail about his trip to Bordon and the founding of Lavinda.
It took them a week to cross the West Mountains with Jenneva leading the way. Alex had never traveled this far and no longer possessed knowledge of the land. One morning Jenneva brought common Cordonian clothes for the soldiers to wear. No one asked where they came from, but it was obvious that they could not enter the Cordonian capitol with Targan military uniforms.
They finally
reached the headwaters of the Black River and followed it west. Their detour through Cordonia was eating up valuable time and Fergy was getting nervous that the army would not have time to prepare for the large number of goblins they would be facing.
Finally, the Black River widened and was flowing, so they took the time to build a raft. The raft sped their journey along, but they knew at the end of it they would wind up in Kantor, the capital of Cordonia, far away from Targa. When they got to Kantor, they would try to find a boat to get to Targa.
Kantor was a very large city, larger than Kalamaar, Alex realized. They abandoned the raft at the outskirts of the city. Everyone agreed that the first stop should be an inn. They needed a decent meal, a bath and a soft bed for the night. Jenneva was up early and went shopping in the marketplace. Fergy went out looking for a ship. Fergy was the only one of the Red Swords who had a working knowledge of the Cordonian language. Alex, Mitar, and David relaxed over a large breakfast. They wanted to get out and see the city, but Fergy told them to stay at the inn and be ready to leave on a moment’s notice. Jenneva came back with a large chest she must have purchased in the marketplace.
Fergy finally came back with the news that there were no ships bound for Targa for at least a week. Even if they could buy horses, it would take over two weeks to reach Kalamaar with no guarantee that there would be a ship leaving from there. There was little they could do but wait and they decided they might as well see the city while they were waiting.
As they walked through the harbor area Alex noticed a new ship, smaller that the rest. What caught his eye were the words “Dalek Shipping” on the stern. He ran to the ship and up the gangplank. A sailor stopped him at the deck and asked his business. He said he was a personal friend of Oscar Dalek and needed passage to Targa. The sailor would not let him on the ship, but asked for his name and the name of the inn he was staying at. The sailor said someone would contact him. Alex could get no more out of the sailor and returned to his friends. Excitedly, he told them of the ship and they agreed to return to the inn and wait. Mitar was left behind to watch the ship in case they decided to set sail without them. If that happened, Fergy was prepared to force their way aboard.
Origin Scroll Page 17