by Cory Huff
He spent the next hour watching goblins finish assembling the scaffolding. They were efficient workers he had to admit. They were just as good at construction as they were murder. They worked in a well-organized crew with each person handling their tasks, directed by a smaller goblin who seemed to bark orders in their yipping language. The boss goblin stood off to the side and watched it all come together with a look of intense concentration and satisfaction.
The goblins were lifting the final, heavy crossbeam that would top the gallows. It was long, perhaps twelve feet, and obviously quite heavy. The goblins stood around and squawked at each other, then divided up on either end to lift it as a group. Six goblins together carried a massive wooden crossbeam to the four goblins waiting on the scaffolding, who then took it and tried to lift it on the support scaffolding. Liam, a builder himself, watched with confusion. Why didn’t they assemble the whole thing lying down and then use ropes to tilt it up into place?
One of the four goblins looked at the boss and said something. Liam realized with dawning surprise that the boss goblin was invoking the Ogham. It meticulously spelled something out and pointed at the beam. Suddenly, the four goblins quickly lifted it into place. They congratulated each other and began to pack up and walk away.
Liam was curious and wanted to see if they would do anything else with the Ogham. “Wait here,” he said to Sophronia. “I’ll be back before we start.” He ignored Sophronia’s protests and crept down the alley, following the goblins into Hidden Atania. He walked in parallel to them, moving from building to building to see where they went. Suddenly, they weren’t there anymore.
He backed up one building. Nobody there. He crept down the street toward where he last saw them. He saw the last of them walk through a door that led into the grounds of the run-down palace. It was a heavy, plain wooden door that was unadorned. He looked back and forth and didn’t see anyone watching this part of Hidden Atania. He walked across the street and tried the door handle. It was unlocked.
Wondering what had gotten into him, he slowly eased the door open, peeking through the crack. He was surprised to see a wide, grassy area. Rectangular in shape, it was lined on the long sides by a variety of ancient trees. He saw oak, willow, rowan, birch, and alder. They were large as if they’d been there for a very long time. At the end of the canopy, he saw a stone arch standing free of the wall or any other support. It was on a raised dais with two stone steps.
Where had the goblins gone? He walked down the aisle and saw two other wooden doors leading off of this outdoor enclosure. He was surely pushing his luck at this point, but he hustled through the trees to the arch. Carved into the stones was a precise series of Ogham markings.
15. The Gateway to Freedom
Dubhaine and the other Atanians were waiting on the opposite side of the square from Sophronia and Liam, just at the back edge of the crowd. They watched as the prisoners were escorted out, hands bound and mouths gagged - five people whose only crimes had been to be out on the street at night when the new Emperor had decreed martial law. The minotaurs were going to execute them in order to intimidate Atanians into compliance. She felt a twinge of doubt. Was this really a good idea?
But she had run her idea by the experienced general Celestina, who had agreed it was a good plan. They would hit hard when the church knights attacked. No sustained battles. Free the prisoners and flee into the city. One person for each prisoner, and each pair would scatter in different directions. Dubhaine would free Emaile.
The sun began to set as the executioner, an enormous, burly minotaur, put hoods, then nooses, over the prisoner’s heads. She could hear their sobs from here.
There. The pounding of hooves in the distance. All of the guards looked the East, where the church knights charged down the broad thoroughfare. They wore gleaming mail that caught the orange and red glare of the setting sun.
“Now!” Dubhaine hissed to the others. She hoped Celestina was in place and the others were ready. She moved quickly through the crowd of celebratory execution spectators, bumping people, and moving through gaps. She watched as the orcs turned to meet the charging knights. She quickly counted. Perhaps twenty armored knights. That was what Aidan had told them, but it somehow seemed far less impressive than she had imagined. They were committed now. Reaching the front edge of the crowd, she stood directly in front of an orc guarding the scaffolding. The Sidhe creature was watching the charging knights, so Dubhaine sped forward and buried a dagger in its throat. It tried to call out but only made a wet noise. Dubhaine leaped up, invoking the Ogham to lighten her body, and caught the edge of the 10-foot high scaffold. She pulled herself up and saw two more orcish guards.
They saw her coming and had their swords out. Dubhaine heard a whistling noise, and suddenly an arrow bloomed in the chest of the orc to her left, then a second one as Dubhaine drew her deadly Amhranaithe sword. She silently thanked Celestina for her deadly accuracy. She turned to meet the second orc guard. He came on thinking he would easily overbear her with his size. Dubhaine was still holding her body’s weight up with the Ogham. She whipped to the side faster than the orc could follow and slashed through his stomach, disemboweling him.
She kicked him off of the scaffold as he went down. The Atanians were shouting now, pointing at her. She turned without thinking, raising her bloodstained sword and shouted, “Oglaigh na Domaine, troid!” The war cry of the Amhranaithe during the Hartland war, it meant, “Warriors of the Land, fight!” The crowd looked at her, confused. Someone screamed, “Look out!”
Dubhaine turned her head and saw a dark shadow charging her. Her quickness saved her again as she brought her Ogham-marked sword around and deflected a dagger she hadn’t had time to register consciously. The black-cloaked figure hissed and clicked, its hood falling back to reveal a black-haired, exceedingly pale Tuatha with white eyes. A Thalamhtuatha. Dubhaine was shocked. She thought the Thalamtuatha had died during the Hartland war. She almost didn’t respond to the next stab of a shortsword from her opponent’s other hand. Dubhaine turned aside the shortsword, dodged the dagger again and retreated along the edge of the scaffold. She got her legs under her and fell into the bladesong.
As she fell deeper into the Ogham-filled song of the blade singers, her weapon sped quickly, meeting each thrust and cut with the edge of her sword and counterattacking. She was vaguely aware of the crowd gasping as Dubhaine fenced. Suddenly it was over. She knocked aside the shortsword, grabbed the dagger hand with her left, and pulled the Thalamtuatha off balance, driving her blade through its stomach. It screamed a high-pitched death wail and went limp. She kicked the creature off of her sword.
Turning, she located Emaile and pulled the rope and hood off of her. Ugly purple bruises covered her entire face as if she had received a horrific beating. Dubhaine sheathed her sword and pulled a dagger, cutting Emaile’s bonds. “My name is Dubhaine. Can you run?” When the woman nodded, Dubhaine said, “Follow me.” She turned to the crowd and saw that general chaos reigned. People were running away, but each of them was running in different directions. She saw people get knocked down and trampled. The orcs who had been guarding the outer edges of the square tried to restore order but were quickly mowed over in the melee.
“We’re going to run after the edge of the crowd. I’ll climb down and help you to the ground, then we run, OK?”
Emails nodded again and got out a hoarse, “Yes.”
Dubhaine jumped off the scaffold to the ground and turned, “Lower yourself. I’ll help you catch your fall.” Emaile did so, and they turned. Dubhaine said, “Grab a handful of my tunic and hold on. We’re going to get you out of here.”
Sophronia saw the knights coming. Not as many as she would have hoped. She watched as the orcs formed up in ranks about equal to the number of knights. Standing on the ground, they would be mowed down by the charging knights in heavy armor. She held her position as she had agreed to do, to come out to help if it looked like the plan was going wrong.
One of the knig
hts slumped over and fell off of his horse, an arrow punched through his armor and lodged in his chest. She stared in shock as the knight hit the ground. She looked up and saw an orc on the rooftop across the street holding a bow and stringing another arrow. She realized with horror that the orcish bows held far more tension than any of them had anticipated.
Two more knights went down from arrows shot from rooftops directly above her. She saw Aidan riding behind the lead knight. She grimaced and realized the Empire army was going to slaughter the knights. She had to do something. She turned to one of the men behind her, “Boost me up!” He did so, and Sophronia scrambled up on the roof and saw an orc just a few feet away, aiming the knights. She launched herself forward and stabbed the orc in the kidney with her dagger. He screamed in agony, and she stabbed him two more times to make sure the job was finished, then shoved him forward off of the roof.
She immediately scrambled backward and to the right, in the direction of the next house. She heaved herself over the gap between the houses and faced off with the next orc. He threw his bow, the arrow still nocked, at her and drew a nasty looking broadsword. Sophronia deflected the bow off of the roof. That was all she needed to do. There was no point in tangling with this enormous warrior. She turned and jumped down into the alley, sprinting away, grabbing the bow and single arrow off of the ground so the orc couldn’t pick it up again.
Aidan screamed, “Archers on the rooftops!” He held on to the Lord Commander and hunched as close to the Lord Commander as he could, hoping an arrow wouldn’t hit him. He watched as the horse brought him closer to the phalanx of orcs.
The plan was to charge straight through them and get to the scaffolding to rescue Emaile and the rest. The knights would provide a distraction as the prisoners escaped, fighting any Empire soldiers who tried to recapture the Atanians. Now Aidan wondered if enough knights would make it through the hail of arrows to the square. He heard the Lord Commander bellow, “Forward in the Creator’s Name!”
The crash of horses in heavy barding slamming into flinching, fleeing foot soldiers lasted just a few seconds. The Lord Commander’s horse punched through the feeble resistance like going through paper. Aidan opened his eyes and looked back over his shoulder, doing a quick count. More than he thought had made it. There were still fifteen knights on horses. He leaned over and looked forward. The crowd was splitting as the knights thundered through. He felt the Lord Commander reign in the horse, slowing him down, so they didn’t trample Atanians.
The scaffolding was directly ahead, just in front of the crumbled palace that had appeared. The gaeas was failing everywhere. He didn’t have time to consider that he had walked by this palace any number of times without noticing it. He did see about twenty minotaurs charging to their position. Seven-foot-tall men, covered in fur with the heads of horned cows wore no armor, but each carried a massive polearm with an ax or hook head, designing for removing people from their mounts.
Aidan saw the prisoners running in several directions. One ran straight into the minotaurs and was chopped down along with his Atanian savior. Two of them ran West toward the neighborhoods, and two of them ran towards the knights, calling out for help. Several of the minotaurs split off to intercept the escapees. The Lord Commander pulled up short and wheeled his horse to turn and meet the threat charging at his men.
Aidan realized he was no good on the back of this horse. He leaped off as the horse turned on a dime, and crashed to the ground, rolling several times coming up in a low stance just a few yards away from the escaping prisoners. He drew his weapons and charged forward, shouting out, “To the knights! Get to the knights!” He then moved forward to intercept the detachment of minotaurs. He gulped and hesitated when he took them in from this angle. Seven feet tall is very different from the ground compared to from the back of a charging warhorse.
“In the name of the Creator, stop!” He yelled at the minotaurs, moving to intercept the prisoners. One of them barked out, “Your Creator doesn’t exist.” Impossibly fast he whipped out with an ax-headed polearm. Aidan got his sword and ax up to deflect the blow just enough, but the momentum still blasted him off of feet and sent him sprawling. He picked himself up as fast as possible and charged back at them. The one that hit him was watching and turned to meet him, shouting that he would catch up after dealing with Aidan.
Aidan anticipated the devastating blow this time and pulled up short as the ax head whooshed past. He immediately stepped inside the giant’s reach and brought both his weapons down on the monster’s arms. Blood spurted everywhere as Aidan severed the creature’s hands. It barely had time to register its shock before Aidan drove his short sword into its stomach and retracted. Blood poured everywhere as Aidan danced around the creature and charged forward.
Aidan slashed the closest one in the back of its hamstring, and it went to the ground in a scream of pain and surprise. Its companions heard and turned, seeing Aidan. They took in their two downed companions, and one of them said, “Well, the tiny one is a surprise. Take him down.” Aidan eyed the escaping prisoners as the minotaurs fanned out, trying to surround him. They were almost to the main contingent of knights, but the knights were engaging with the larger group of Empire soldiers. It wasn’t going well.
Aidan could see these monsters were battle-hardened, just as Dubhaine had said they would be. His fellow knights were well trained, but they lacked experience. He didn’t think they were going to get out. This was such a poorly thought-out plan. Nobody knew what they were doing, and now they were going to pay the price. He charged straight ahead at the minotaur that had spoken, hoping he could cut that one down and run. It saw Aidan coming and held steady, lashing out with its polearm before Aidan could get within sword range. Aidan blocked, but again the force knocked him down. This time he accepted it, rolling with the force out to the side, immediately coming to his feet and quick-stepping. However, he quick-stepped into one of the flanking minotaur’s reach. He ducked the sharpened polearm. His inexperience caught up with him. The minotaur wielded his weapon like a quarterstaff and hit Aidan square in the face with the haft of the weapon.
Aidan was immediately disoriented as pain exploded in his face. He kept moving his feet, hoping that he’d dodge any follow-up blow, but couldn’t even tell which direction he was heading. He barely registered it when he hit the ground because, at that instant, there was a massive flash of white light.
Liam’s hand hovered just above the arch’s stones. He wasn’t sure if he could accidentally activate whatever magic was in them by touching them. He recognized the letters. He had learned the basics from Sophronia. He spelled it out, but it appeared written in some variation of the Ogham language he didn’t quite understand. There were a few familiar words: Thir, which meant land, Doras was door. That was it.
He heard screaming from the square. Oh no! Had they started? One of the doors into this secluded courtyard opened and several goblins poured out, all staring towards the square. Liam silently cursed his foolishness. He had forgotten about the goblins while he was examining the arch. He tried to dive behind one of the ancient trees.
A goblin saw movement and looked straight at Liam. He squeaked, and the others turned as well. He pointed at the tree where Liam was, and they all started walking forward. Liam panicked and ran to the arch. The character doras was here as well. It had to be a way out of here.
He reached the arch in just a few steps and grabbed it with both hands. His need to escape, fueled by fear, blew through whatever internal struggle he had with bringing forth the Ogham. Like a backdraft, the power surged out of him. The arch, which was indeed a gateway to a new realm, instantly opened, transporting Liam and his tiny companion Ean away from the land of mortals.
There was more power than the arch needed to activate, and it had to go somewhere. The raw energy exploded outward, lighting the ancient trees on fire and igniting the flesh of the goblins. They died in a brief moment of agony before being incinerated. It continued outward, scorching the stones
of the palace wall and sending up a gigantic bloom of light into the dusk sky.
Every single person in the square stopped running or fighting and stopped to watch sudden illumination of the sky.
Sophronia had torn through the alleys after jumping down from the house, leading the orcs on a terrifying chase. She was standing directly across from the main entryway to the run-down palace. The battle was raging in the square, the church knights being cut down by the Emperor’s efficient monsters. On the steps leading up to the palace stood a contingent of Empire soldiers. She saw the Emperor himself. A massively muscled minotaur whose stance screamed arrogance.
His advisors stood around him, watching the slaughter. Sophronia smiled as a wicked idea came to mind, and she raised the bow. She only had one shot. She ran through a quick Ogham sequence, hoping she got it right, making herself stronger so she could draw the enormously powerful orc’s bow. The Emperor wasn’t wearing armor. This arrow should kill him.
Light exploded from the side of the palace, startling her as she released. She gasped in surprise and the hot wind seared her lungs. She was temporarily blinded. When her vision cleared, she looked and saw the Emperor’s retinue picking itself off of the ground. One of them shouted, “The Emperor is down!” The other soldiers formed up around him, and two of them grabbed him, hustling him back into the palace. Sophronia could see her arrow sticking out of the Emperor’s chest.
In the square, everyone was still stunned, trying to figure out what happened. She saw a figure mount the scaffolding and she heard a voice, Dubhaine’s, shouting, “People of Atania! Remember this day! The Spirits and the Creator have marked this victory for our people. The Emperor is down! Now we prepare to fight back! Get to your homes and arm yourselves. Join the Resistance!”
Sophronia had to admire Dubhaine’s timing. She was a master at this.