The Marches of Edonis

by G. R. Cooper

  "Interesting. But I'm more worried about how we're going to take this pass." He paused, beckoned Tim to join them. "How about this plan?"

  Wulfgar looked up at the tower above him. He and Rydra had closed - quietly but not stealthy - on the stone edifice. He looked to his right, to Rydra, and nodded. They would part and encircle the structure, meeting at the rear. He turned left and began working his way through the shadows at the base of the keep. He ran his right hand along the cold, night-dew wet stone as he made his way along the base. Apart from the normal high-valley night noises - the occasional call of a distant bird, the low quiet hush of breeze - the area was silent. He looked back toward their camp, but could make out no sign of either their campfire in the low valley or of Tim, waiting their return or call a hundred meters away.

  As he finished his half-lap around the base, he saw that the rear of the tower had a lone stone staircase that hugged the wall as it ascended. The lowest part was on his side of the keep, and he saw Rydra emerge from around the other side. The little thief shook his head once - he'd seen nothing. Wulfgar looked up the stairway. At the top, about five meters off the ground, was a lone wooden doorway. It was open to the night and a low, flickering light shone out of it.

  Wulfgar smiled grimly and began to climb the stairs. As he did, he looked upward. As on the other side, the keep only had two narrow windows near the top, just below the crenelations. They were little more than arrow slits. He thought he might be able to sneak through them, but they'd be a tight fit.

  He reached the top of the stairs and peaked around the corner, into the tower's interior. There was a rounded room that matched the size of the tower. In the middle was a lone, small fire. It flickered smokeless, giving light to the room. It showed nothing of interest except another wall-hugging stairway that climbed the interior wall and ended in a trap-door in the room's low ceiling. The room was otherwise empty.

  Wulfgar looked back to Rydra and nodded. They both pulled out their stoppered flasks and pulled the cork.

  Rydra smiled and mouthed, "Cheers," before raising the glass to his lips. The two of them quaffed the potions.

  Wulfgar looked back up the tower and activated his climbing skill. Two orange lines appeared to snake their way up to the roof. Wulfgar smiled again - it would be a difficult climb, but not impossible. They'd have to take their time.

  Choosing the left hand route, Wulfgar reached high and dug his fingers into the cracks between the stacked stones of the keep. He pulled himself up and began to claw his way up the wall. He paused, as did Rydra, as they reached the windows, and they looked in.

  Another room, identical to the one below, held another fire. Around this fire, however, slept three large hideous humanoids. Their pig-ugly faces, resting in repose, still showed horrendous fangs that poked outside of their closed mouths - two pairs each, one lower and one upper. Teeth that were made for rending. Weapons that were strewn haphazardly around the floor, however, implied that their teeth were not the creature's primary weaponry.

  Wulfgar looked to his right, to Rydra hanging off the tower wall.

  "Orcs," mouthed Rydra silently. He smiled. They had determined that if they saw anything in the tower that they didn't think they could handle - or at least run from - they would return for the rest. Wulfgar hadn't encountered orcs yet and didn't know which side of the scale they fell upon.

  His unasked question was answered, however, as Rydra continued his climb.

  Matching his friend's movements, Wulfgar reached the top of the tower and pulled himself between two merlons and dropped quietly onto the roof.

  "Congratulations! You have gained a level in Climbing!"

  Wulfgar's excitement was short lived as his breath caught when he saw an orc standing on the opposite side of the tower, looking out over the valley they'd approached through. He looked to Rydra and raised his eyebrows in question.

  Rydra shrugged - neither of them knew how they'd been able to walk underneath the creature's eyes without being spotted. In all of the literature he'd read, orcs had always been able to see in the dark. Perhaps the orc had just taken position - maybe he hadn't been in place when they arrived.

  It didn't matter. They hadn't been spotted. Wulfgar grinned and cocked his head toward the orc, waved one hand toward it.

  Accepting the offer of the kill, Rydra moved forward at a crouch. Halfway across the space Rydra's form disappeared into a shimmer as the thief entered Stealth. Wulfgar rapidly lost the shimmer from view as Rydra moved toward the orc's back a few meters away.

  Wulfgar stood fully and took a step toward the opened trap-door in the floor of the tower's roof. As he stepped down, he froze as his weight caused the board he'd stepped on to creak. His blood ran cold as he saw the orc start and jerked its head in Wulfgar's direction. A cold sweat broke as the orc's face erupted in a fierce smile when it saw him. It took one step when a second smile appeared beneath the first and Rydra apparated behind it.

  The second smile spewed blood across the wooden floor as the cut stretched from ear to ear.

  Wulfgar leapt forward to the orc and grabbed the torso just as the head separated from the body and the knees began to buckle. He took the weight on his shoulders and moved the corpse toward the nearest crenelation.

  Rydra grinned as he tossed the severed head over the side of the tower.

  "Little help?" whispered Wulfgar as the bulk of the brute's dead weight threatened to overwhelm him. The orc was smaller than Wulfgar, but limp. Hard to manage. The spray of blood fountaining up from the neck didn't make matters any easier. He tried to position the body to prevent the blood stream from soaking him. He was successful. Mostly.

  With Rydra's help, he managed to push the Orc through and over the tower's edge. He looked to the thief and nodded his thanks as the body thudded into the ground below.

  "I got a level in my Cull skill," whispered Rydra happily.

  "And I gained in Climbing," added Wulfgar. He paused and looked over the edge to the darkness below. "Shit, we forgot to loot the corpse."

  "He'll still be there after we finish downstairs."

  The two of them then turned and looked to the opened trap door and the lit stairway that led down.

  Wulfgar looked down into the room they'd spied earlier. The sleeping orcs hadn't been roused by the dispatching of their comrade. The light from the fire flickered and the faint smell of burning oak permeated the air. Oak and something else Wulfgar couldn't quite place. He looked to Rydra and silently sniffed into the air.

  Rydra just shook his head lightly, then whispered, "Pork?"

  Wulfgar nodded. That was it.

  He thought for a moment.

  "I hope it was pig," he whispered back, "and not long-pork."

  Rydra's eyes narrowed and he smiled back at Wulfgar. He understood the reference. Human cannibals in the Pacific rim had historically referred to their human victims as long-pig or long-pork, citing the flavor similarities between swine and Homo sapiens.

  Wulfgar took the top step and began moving down into the chamber. He breathed a little more easily once he'd fully moved onto the stairs - they were made of stone; less chance for the odd creak to wake the orcs.

  The plan had called for Wulfgar and Rydra to take out the tower occupants if it seemed easy. Two or three sleeping foes had made the "easy" list, so Wulfgar reached behind himself as he descended and drew Shepherd's Bite. Had the defense been more dangerous, or if they were discovered in their reconnaissance, they were to return to the group and fortify for a bigger fight.

  Worst case scenario - if they were chased out of the tower, they'd run to Tim and let him keep the defenders off of the human's while they prepared for the larger fight.

  Wulfgar smiled as he reached the bottom of the stairway. The scene that presented itself was one of the best case scenarios. Sleeping tower occupants, and only three of them. Two of them were on the left side of the fire, near the windows. The other was alone on the other side of the room.

  Wulfg
ar pointed to the nearer of the sleeping pair and looked to Rydra, who nodded. Wulfgar made his way around the left of the fire and, stepping over the first of the sleeping orcs, settled in above his partner and waited for Rydra to get into place.

  He looked down at his victim. Sleeping on his side, the orc presented his back to the human. Wulfgar felt a rise of happiness spread throughout himself as he poised over the orc - these things were truly evil, and the system was going to reward him with a great feeling of self-satisfaction for attacking them. He crouched and drew back his arm. Without looking back to Rydra, he nodded his head. He was ready whenever the thief was.

  Wulfgar activated Stealth.

  He heard the meaty, wet crunch as Rydra struck.

  Thrusting forward and down, Shepherd's Bite entered the top rear of the orc, between two ribs.

  "Critical hit!"

  "11 points of damage!"

  "17 points of damage, Hidden Stab!"

  "You have poisoned your target!"

  "Your target is stunned!"

  "Congratulations! You have gained a level in Hidden Stab!"

  Wulfgar pulled his blade out of the orc. The wound gurgled as the sword left the body, and a stream of blood fell from it into the fire, which hissed loudly. He turned and stood, facing the further foe and felt Rydra join his side.

  Blankets flew off of the last orc and it sat, eyes blazing fury and red. It stood and pulled a huge sword. As it turned to face them, Wulfgar saw that this orc was larger, much larger, than any of the others.

  The monster looked into Wulfgar's eyes and the human's blood chilled. He felt an overwhelming wave of nausea. This orc was not only a giant, its level was much higher than its brethren had been.

  Time seemed to slow as the orc captain took one step toward him. It rose to full height and raised its arm in attack. The tip of its sword dragged along the ceiling above as it plowed through the fire, scattering burning logs throughout the room.

  Without thought or acknowledgment, the two humans turned and fled. They had each come to the same conclusion at the same time. They were over-matched. Wulfgar saw the blur of Rydra as the two of them leapt through the two windows into the darkness of the night.

  As the pair fell, they both screamed at the same time.

  "TIIIIIMMM!"

  Wulfgar yelled in pain as his leg collapsed beneath him. He'd fallen faster than he thought he would. He imagined that jumping from a window would somehow, as in the movies, be in slow motion - he'd have time to prepare himself, to tuck into a roll and gracefully leap up and continue running.

  Almost before he realized that he was through the window, however, he was rolling on the ground. His left leg had hit first and his right leg, almost petulantly, decided to move in a different direction. He heard a sickening snap as his left leg crumpled.

  "You have taken 5 points of damage!"

  Almost instantly, however, he felt refreshed. Healed. The Orc that he'd attacked in the tower was apparently still bleeding out. Still dying.

  Wulfgar smiled - the boon of transferred health that his sword provided had saved him yet again. He chuckled a bit as he rose to his feet. Then he looked to Rydra.

  The little man, not having the magical healing provided by Wulfgar's blade, lay crumpled. A ten meter fall in the dark left little room for error and less time to prepare. He looked up at Wulfgar and grimaced.

  "My leg."

  Wulfgar nodded and bent to pick up the thief. As he rose, with Rydra in his arms, he fell backward against the wall of the tower, knocked back by the sudden arrival of the orc captain.

  The orc, having taken the time to prepare himself for the jump, landed solidly on his two feet just in front of Wulfgar.

  Wulfgar stumbled and lost his balance. He fell backward onto his butt and sat there, helpless with Rydra on his lap and in his arms.

  The orc turned and raised his longsword above the pair of humans. Its red eyes glittered happily in the darkness and a low rumbled growl rose into a shriek of fury and delight. It stepped forward and began bringing his arm - and the sword - forward and down. Straight toward Wulfgar's head.

  Then the arm froze.

  Wulfgar saw that it had been grasped by a large stony hand.

  Thinking quickly, Wulfgar activated his Illumination spell. The tableau in front of him leapt into light. Tim appeared out of the darkness, holding the orc captain's arm immobile. The sudden light seemed to blind the orc, who raised his free arm to cover his eyes. Tim seemed unfazed. He lifted the orc's arm higher and the captain rose onto his toes.

  The orc dropped his left arm and reached behind it to pull out a long, evil looking knife. It growled at it tried to stab backward, but it could find no purchase to turn itself and Tim's bulk was out of range.

  "Hold him just like that!" yelled Wulfgar.

  He set Rydra down and stood up, then turned to face the orc. It was huge. As tall as Wulfgar and twice as wide, it rippled in muscles. The other orcs had been much smaller, of a size with Rydra - about chin-high to Wulfgar and thin.

  Wulfgar walked forward until he was just out of the range of the knife in the orc's left hand. He looked up into its eyes, which glared back at him with undisguised hatred. The sword in the orc's immobilized hand quivered as the creature struggled, but the troll's grip was implacable.

  "Do you understand me?" Wulfgar asked.

  The orc didn't reply, but fury blazed in its face and its fangs bared. Wulfgar took that for a yes.

  "I could kill you," he began. And probably gain a lot of experience, he thought.

  "Only now," hissed the orc, "only with help."

  Wulfgar nodded at the truth of it.

  "But the fact remains that I do have help," he shook his head, "but I don't want to kill you. Not unless I have to."

  He put his hands on his hips, "Do I? Have to kill you?"

  The orc stared back. It didn't reply, but he re-sheathed the knife in its left hand.

  Wulfgar shook his head.

  The orc pulled the knife again and dropped it onto the ground.

  Wulfgar smiled.

  The orc opened his right hand and the sword joined the knife.

  "Tim. Lower him, but don't let go." Wulfgar stepped forward as orc was dropped back fully onto its feet. He knew that he was now within range of the creature's left arm, but the orc didn't attack.

  Wulfgar nodded, satisfied for the moment. He turned and, pulling a healing poultice from a pocket, dropped it to Rydra, who nodded his thanks and began applying it.

  "How about you loot this place while I deal with our prisoner?"

  "Are you thinking of opening a zoo?" Snorri shook the sleep out of his eyes as he looked warily toward the orc captain sitting on the opposite side of the campfire. Wulfgar had the orc sit in place before waking his friends. Tim stood just out of the firelight behind their captive, watching in case the orc decided to end the truce that had developed. Once ready, he woke Snorri and Lauren and began talking to them as if there was nothing out of the ordinary about having a giant orc sitting with them at the campfire.

  "Seriously," said Snorri suddenly awake and serious. "There is a huge orc as well as your pet troll sitting over there." He whispered, "double-you tee eff?"

  "We are negotiating a peace," said Wulfgar levelly as Lauren sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She just looked at him and raised one eyebrow.

  "A peace," she stated, not a question but with a hint of incredulity.

  "With an orc," whispered Snorri to add accent to the thought that Lauren left hanging.

  Wulfgar looked up to the orc, but its face was still a mask. Whatever he thought the likelihood of a group of humans seeking to entreat with him was left unspoken. He simply shifted his seat slightly and looked back into Wulfgar's eyes.

  "There's no reason," began Wulfgar as much to his friends as to the orc, "that we can't come to some beneficial arrangement that addresses our mutual interests, right?" He took that lack of response on everyone's part as tacit agreement. "
All we have to do," he spread his hands to encompass the group, "is to identify what our mutual interests are."

  "To that end," he continued, sitting up, "what are our reasons for being here? Ours," nodded Wulfgar, "are to determine what happened to this outpost. There is nothing in our mission that addresses any further course of action, right?" He looked to his friends, who nodded.

  "So," he said turning back to the orc, "if you can tell us why you are here, we can not only complete our quest, we can in turn help you acquire whatever it is you want."

  For the first time, emotion crossed the orc's face.

  He looked at Wulfgar as though he thought the human utterly stupid.

  "To hunt."

  Wulfgar nodded, smiling.

  "What are you hunting?"

  "Humans."

  Wulfgar nodded again, smiling even more broadly.

  "Well, you found them. Or, rather, they found you."

  The orc snorted.

  "Younglings. You found younglings. Had you found a true war party, the outcome would have been different."

  Wulfgar nodded, understanding, "So you were leading a group of younglings in a hunting party. To train them? To teach them?"

  The orc nodded once.

  "To make warriors of them."

  Wulfgar frowned. He didn't know how, on the surface, to find a way to identify what it was that he had to offer the orc. It had brought a group of young orcs to transition them to manhood - or orc-hood - and complete whatever rituals were required to make them warriors in the clan. But they were all dead, killed by Wulfgar and Rydra. What more could the humans offer? All they had was the orc's freedom. Wulfgar looked up again at the orc. He didn't get the feeling that merely letting it go, alive, was much of a win.

  He needed to identify something that he had that the orc wanted, and he also needed to identify something that the orc had that he wanted. If there was nothing, he was wasting time - they should just kill the orc and have done with it - but that wouldn't gain them much either.

  The group heard a rustle in the darkness and looked up as Rydra rejoined the group. The little man smiled happily as he took a seat on the opposite side of the fire, next to Lauren.