Chapter 14
The Hunt Begins
Year 3043 AGD
Month of Ragnós
First Day
Continent of Terroval
Southwest of the city of Stalwart
What did I do now?”
“Oh laddie you're the one who got us into this mess.”
Shawnrik mumbled to himself. “She was a pretty girl.”
“They always are lad, they always are” Ashur said laughing.
“I don't see what's so funny. There's over a hundred blood orcs in that camp and the boy is still wet behind the ears.” Dunnagan popped his head over the natural rock wall to look at the scene below. “Ahh, and a few giants it seems.”
“What?” Ashur asked as he looked over the edge. “Damn, they must have been hiding in the caves to the east… I wonder what else we are going to find.” Both of the men looked at Shawnrik.
“Well we can't just let 'em die can we? I may have distracted the caravan by going for a walk with her, but it's their own fault they dropped their guard enough to be captured. They could have been slaughtered instead.”
“Aye laddie you probably did save most of their lives by letting them be caught a few at a time. I just wonder how long they have.” Dunnagan was making a quick count of the scene below. “I make out about a hundred and twelve give or take a few, and at least two giants. We're going to have to start with their patrols. That should be able to whittle 'em down twenty or thirty before they realize something's out here. If we can make it seem like a pack of Grim-le we might be able to draw the lot of 'em out to hunt the pack down. Orc's like the taste of 'em, and they'll be plenty riled up about so many of their numbers dying.”
“There's a lot of hoping in there my friend.” Ashur looked excited, but his voice held a hint of caution. “It's not usual for this many orcs to be about outside the shattered hills. Especially together like this.”
“Ye think they have someone guiding 'em? I've seen a few of the more intelligent Blood Orcs, but they were smart enough to not try to lead their brethren. Maybe it's one of those Fire Giants. Worse yet it could be a Grey Elf.”
“My friend you think of better and better possibilities.” Ashur said dryly. “Well whatever the case, they are down there, they have captured citizens of the Protectorate, and we are the only ones around to do anything about it. This is the kind of training we were looking for, albeit on a larger scale than what we were hoping for. The boy has filled out well since New Beginnings when I first saw him. I'd say he's at least fourteen now. Which is about the age I was when Nim started taking me on these kinds of trips. From what I'm told Nim was about the same age when he…” Ashur looked around and saw his companions eying him. “Well anyway, looks like a patrol is leaving, lets get to work.”
They took the same trail back down the hill as they had going up. Their horses were keeping themselves busy with the few patches of grass near where Shawnrik and Ashur had left them tied to a tree. Thunder was busy stripping a tree of its bark, not the tree he had been left at either and he had chewed his way through his reins in order to get to his current meal.
“Ah… it's a good thing that one is smart enough to know where to go when I tell 'em.” Dunnagan said, making them chuckle quietly. Ashur and Shawnrik pulled the bows from their saddles, and strapped on a quiver of arrows. Dunnagan went to the packhorse and brought out several throwing axes and slid the handles through several loops of his belt. Grabbing another he tossed it to Shawnrik. “Ye never know when you're gonna need something that will be a little more helpful at close range. Them bows you boys got will punch a hole through armor at a hundred paces, but if for some reason you don't have your bow or you run out of arrows that axe'll be good for cleaving a skull or twenty. It works rather well up close and personal too.”
Shawnrik noticed as he was strapping his leather armor on that his clothes were getting a little tight around his shoulders, and seemed to ride higher on his waist than they had only a month before. He figured he was around fourteen by his and Ashur's estimation, but he was already gaining height and weight at a good speed. In the past month alone he had grown three inches and put on another twenty pounds. Dunnagan and Ashur had made him run half the time they were traveling. Occasionally Ashur would run with him, but most of the time they rode while he ran. He understood that they were trying to make him strong enough for what needed to be done. He wanted them to, so he never complained, aloud. At night they would take turns instructing him on the use of daggers, swords, maces, axes, and bows. Whenever they stopped next to a stream bed for the night they would have him find or dig up large stones in order to stem the water so they would have a place to clean up in the morning. When they were done cleaning up he would move the rocks and let the water run normally again. They had both taught him muscle building and limbering exercises and he had used each method until they were comfortable and then began to meld them all into one long exercise. Ashur and Dunnagan had both seen him work through his new method, and both had simply nodded before going back to whatever it was they had been doing as they prepared to leave for the day.
Shawnrik wrestled regularly with both men as they taught him how to grapple. In the last few matches he managed to do better against Ashur, who was one of the strongest men he had ever met. Dunnagan was a bit more challenging because his center of gravity was so low. More than once he felt like he might as well be trying to move a boulder. The Dwarf's strength was nothing to take lightly either. Once, he had seen Dunnagan performing a prayer before the fight. Having seen Dunnagan pray several times a day since they had began their journey he had thought nothing of it. When they grappled however, the dwarf picked him up like a sack of oats and tossed him fifteen feet. When Shawnrik asked how he had done it Dunnagan laughed.
“It's all in the wrist.” He had said, a twinkle in his eye. Shawnrik made it apparent that he didn't believe that for a second and Dunnagan relented. “Oh laddie it's all part of being a cleric. It's not all healin' and sayin' prayers. Cypheria knows that every once in awhile you'll need a boost, or to call down holy fire to smite your foes. She will aid you just like she knows that you will aid those in need. It will all come to you in time. When you are able to handle something new you will know it intuitively. She'll let you know.
Shawnrik's life had never been easy. His years on the streets had allowed him to learn quickly in the six months of training he had gone through with Ashur at Nim's mansion, and that training had allowed him to withstand the grueling training that Dunnagan and Ashur had dreamed up in the past month. He knew that the real training was only just beginning now, and he wasn't quite sure if he should be more excited, or scared.
“Let's go, they should be approaching where we camped last night shortly, we should be able to get there ahead of them.” Ashur started off at a quick pace, moving as quickly through the trees as he could manage without making a lot of noise. Dunnagan and Shawnrik looked at each other, knowing they would not be able to move nearly as fast while making as little noise before starting out after him.
There was a hill to run down before they neared their camp site, Shawnrik let out a small groan as he looked at the thick brush and low hanging branches. Dunnagan let out a laugh and barreled downhill, his tough skin taking few scratches from the bushes, and his short stature allowing him to avoid many of the branches. Nearing the spot Ashur had told them they were heading, they all slowed their pace, trading speed for silence. When they were a hundred paces from the clearing they were moving like cats stalking their pray; big, burly cats. Shawnrik remembered how surprised he had been the first time he had seen Dunnagan move quietly through the brush. When he asked him if all Dwarves knew how to move so silently in trees his mentor replied.
“When you are training to be a Warden, they teach you to move fairly quietly, but if you are going to travel anywhere with Nim Mithriannil you learn quickly how to move silently, or he'll leave you behind. Let's just say I got tired of being left behind to wait for the
first signs of battle. If you have to wait until the enemy notices that man half the fun was usually over already.”
They only had to wait a couple minutes before the forward scout of the patrol came into sight. The patrol was made up of ten Blood Orcs. One scout in front, eight in the core unit, and another scout bringing up the rear. Ashur took up a position at the front of the clearing, signaling for Dunnagan to wait in the trees opposite the stream, and for Shawnrik to take up position on the far end of the clearing. Shawnrik watched as the first scout walked out into the clearing, failing to notice the large human hiding in the bushes beside him, nor the Dwarf lying in wait to the side. Shortly after the main body of the patrol entered the clearing. The forward scout was about twenty paces away from Shawnrik when the rear scout began to emerge from the bushes behind the core unit. Before the scout set one foot outside the bushes however he vanished without a sound. Shawnrik attempted to replicate Ashur's work as the forward scout walked into the bushes next to him. He reached out, grabbed the Orc, and quickly broke it's neck. As he lowered the body to the ground he realized that he had not been nearly as efficient as his mentor however as the main body of the party had stopped and were now motioning ahead of them to where the scout had gone. Shawnrik unlimbered his bow and nocked an arrow as the largest of the Orcs called out ahead to a scout that could no longer answer.
As the Blood Orcs began to move forward, weapons ready he heard Ashur's whistle. At the sound the Blood Orcs looked toward the other end of the clearing. Noticing their rear scout was also not where he should be they began to get even more excited. Before they could figure out what they were going to do next Shawnrik took aim and shot. At the same time an arrow flew out of the trees on the other side of the clearing where Ashur was hiding. As the first two arrows connected, Shawnrik's finding a throat, Ashur's finding an eye socket, an axe seemed to materialize from the bushes to the side of the party cleaving the patrol leader's skull. The four remaining Orcs, finally realizing their predicament decided to run back the direction they came. By the time they made it back to the bushes three of the four were down, and the last was not even able to swing his club before a dagger pierced his heart.
“Well that was easy enough.” Ashur said with a grin as he cleaned his dagger.
“Aye, but the one that comes looking for this one will be bigger.” Dunnagan said.
“Always with the spoiling of the moment.” Ashur gibed as he pulled his arrow from the eye of the first Orc he had downed. Shawnrik held back some bile as he went to retrieve his first arrow, which he had to cut out from the Orcs throat. Bile which Shawnrik found he was unable to hold a moment later as Dunnagan, finding his axe firmly stuck in the head of the Orc he had killed, decided it was easier to break through the rest of the way rather than try to pry it out.
*****
Year 3043 AGD
Month of Ragnós
Night of the First Day
Continent of Terroval
Docks District
Safeharbor
The day he had just gone through seemed unreal, and the night was quickly going by in a blur.
Victor knew that only a few minutes ago they had been sitting in the shadows down the block making sure they had the layout of the building correct; yet each moment after stepping out from those shadows seemed to stretch out a great deal, as if time itself was on their side. He knew that it was probably full of assassins. He knew that he would probably die if it came down to a one on one fight with any of them. He just didn't seem to care about any of that at the moment.
Victor, Nim, and Zander sauntered towards the front of the building as if they belonged there. Every time Victor witnessed Zander preforming his Shaping he seemed to learn something new, and this time was no exception. As they approached the doors Zander seemed to grow larger, and his muscles became more pronounced. He was shaping his own body into a weapon. From what little Victor knew about such uses of Shaping, it took a very thorough understanding of anatomy and an even deeper understanding of one's body to perform such a feat. As close as they were together, Victor could feel some of the changes that Zander was making, but he couldn't understand anything about them at more than a basic level. When Zander walked up and turned the doorknob, one could almost have thought that it had not been locked a moment before. Victor even harbored such a thought before he saw the wrecked remnants of the knob.
Nim was the first one to slip through the door, it was dark inside, but light could be seen emanating from the cracks of several doorways. Victor heard a swoosh and then a thump and knew the sentry in the hall was dead. Sliding quietly into the building, Victor immediately began to trick the light, creating pockets of shadows for himself to slip between. In moments all hell would break loose and he wouldn't be of any use if he was caught out in the open. Sneaking down the hallway Victor started up the stairs. He was still a little surprised that neither Nim, nor Zander had seemed to have any issue with him coming along. Looking back at the two he realized that it was because they were all cut from the same cloth. He wouldn't stay behind even if they had told him to, and they knew that they would not have stayed behind either if they were in his position.
His job was to scout the second floor while Nim and Zander worked their way through the first. From what information Nim and Zander had gathered they thought that there were over seventy five trained assassins living in this building at any given time. Three Grand Assassins, the Second in charge, the Grand Master's protégé, and the Grand Master also lived on the premises. It could be more be more or less at any given time. Victor knew that there were now fifteen less than there had been the night before. At that thought he smiled, but as he realized what it had cost he began to frown. Pushing such thoughts aside his face once again became a calm mask, there was time enough for such thoughts later.
They expected most of the guild to be awake, as a large portion of the guild's business occurred at night. It was more than likely that many of the Assassins would be out working, either gathering new contracts, or completing old ones. Those that remained would probably be taking their leisure, feeling safe within the walls of their guild. Who would dare attack an entire guild of Assassins... The few members that had tasks to complete during the day would be asleep, but Victor knew that any of those that slept too soundly would be dead shortly. A short scuffle broke out in the room to the bottom right of the stairwell, but it ended quickly, and Victor didn't think anyone had been alerted by the short noise.
Moving through the halls like a ghost, Victor knew that much of his remaining undetected was as much due to his size as it was his skill. He had felt more than a few loose boards that had a larger person stepped on them they would have creaked in protest. It appeared that the largest room on the second floor was the one nearest the stairwell. Victor guessed that it was either a room where a lot of men bunked, or the quarters for the Grand Master, either way he was not going to go anywhere near it again. The next two largest rooms he also left alone as the ornate doorways marked them as most likely being the other Master Assassin's chambers. As he neared the end of the hallway he found a ladder with a hatch at the top of it. Having seen no one out and about on the second floor he decided that it was worth his consideration.
Victor opened his pouch, taking out the tools that Nim had given him in order to bypass locks and traps. Probing around the small portal he found two traps that would trigger from the outside if someone were to attempt entry from above. He disabled those so they wouldn't bother him on his way back, and easily unlocked the locking mechanism, as it wasn't meant to keep people from going out. Lifting the hatch, Victor poked his head slowly through the hole, finding the roof.
Great, you found the roof. Nim's going to be really glad to have this information. “Hey Nim! I found the roof.” Victor was cursing to himself as he walked up to a structure that took up a large portion of the center of the roof. Walking all the way around the stout structure he could see no visible point of entry. Hmm, maybe I shouldn't be so quic
k to dismiss this.
He began a stone by stone search, looking for any loose stones, indents, keyholes, or other such mechanisms that might reveal a hidden door. Several minutes passed before he located the indent he had been looking for. Victor probed around the area carefully in order to make sure there were no surprises waiting for the person who dared to push the button. Not finding anything untoward he was just about to push the button when he noticed the slits under his feet. Cursing himself quietly for a fool Victor stepped back gingerly from the portion of wall he had been inspecting. Taking out his dagger he probed along the area where the floor met the wall and found the catch for the trap. His first attempt at disabling the device ended horribly with the trap going off and a needle thin set of spikes coming out of the floor about six inches. He noticed in the moonlight that the tips were definitely coated with something that he was sure held its own nasty surprises. I wonder if that's the stuff that got Megan? The thought crossed his mind before he could stop it, and a solitary tear escaped before he could regain control.
Looking into his toolkit he pulled out a set of pliers that he used for making his own traps, and gripped one of the needles from the trap before it reset. It was nearly a full minute before the mechanism triggered again and slowly lowered back into the roof. The needle he had gripped came free fairly easily, and he placed it into his match case point down for later examination. Taking a deep breath Victor moved back into position to work on the trap. It took him several tries, but he was able to release the mechanism. After his recent close call he was not feeling especially lucky, so he decided to use his dagger to press the button.
*****
Nim had only been slightly surprised when Zander had offered his assistance tonight. They had traveled together for a time in his youth. Nim had been sixteen, ready to take on the world, and Zander had been twenty seven, trying to prove to the Tetriarch and the Arch Magus that he was someone worth watching. Zander had definitely proved himself, and Nim had learned quite a few tricks from the man he had chanced upon on the road to Asylum nearly twenty years back.
Victor Deus (Heritage of the Blood Book 1) Page 26