by Sean Golden
The sky to the east was just beginning to brighten with the false dawn. His eyes were now fully adjusted and the additional light of the sky made his way much easier. He continued south for a few thousand strides, losing himself in the movement, silently working his way back and forth covering a wide swath of the forest, steadily working south. He followed the familiar feeling of the hunt, allowing his body to move where the faint, familiar urges led him. A sense of anger at the voice in his dream solidified in his mind as a need for vengeance, and a thirst for blood.
Suddenly he froze. His nose caught the scent of a smoldering fire, mixed with the smell of men. Hearing nothing he worked his way south slowly and methodically. The sky was beginning to brighten with real dawn when he found the invaders’ camp. He first found the outlying guard, who was nodding at his post. Lirak’s blade slashed across his throat soundlessly, and the man woke only to die choking on his own blood. Lirak continued on to the camp where he saw three sleeping forms. Two unoccupied bedding piles told him that there was another guard, probably on the southern side of the camp. He saw nothing other than the sleeping forms.
His heart was pounding so hard that he was certain it would wake the sleeping men. But they didn’t awaken. Lirak crept closer and eventually stopped just a few feet from the first of the sleeping men. This close he could see that the man in the middle wore the gray robes of a warlock. His heart quickened. With sudden resolve, he crept around until he was within reach of the warlock’s head. Then he rose into a crouch, watching the three men as he carefully drew his blade and held it over the sleeping warlock. With a sudden thrust he drove the blade into the sleeping warlock’s throat. Blood spurted from the wound and the man made a gurgling sound as Lirak leapt to his feet and dashed into the forest. Behind him he heard the sound of the soldiers waking and realizing their companion was dying. As soon as he reached the trees Lirak pulled an arrow from his quiver and turned with the arrow drawn. Just as he expected, one of the soldiers rushed behind him, holding his sword, but not wearing his armor. Lirak’s arrow caught him in the chest. Lirak soon was heading back north. He signaled the southern guard as he approached and told him of the camp to the south. Even as he wiped the blood from his blade, Lirak realized that the vengeance he sought had not been sated, the blood he took was not the blood for which he thirsted.
When he reached his tent, Mayrie was dressed and walking with Chutan. She saw Lirak and rushed over to him.
“Where were you?” she asked. “I woke up and you were gone.”
“I went out and scouted around a bit. I found a small party south of us; I killed three of them, including a warlock.”
“Lirak, that’s too dangerous!” Mayrie said. “You’re going to get yourself killed doing things like that.”
“I’m not dead yet,” Lirak said “And a dead warlock is the best kind of warlock. But there’s a bigger question here, why did a large force have a fake warlock, but this small force had a real one?”
“I told you last night,” Dedrik’s voice cut in. “They are now moving to destroy you. The decoy had to be a ruse to get you to reveal your location. Soon you will find the forest filled with such groups, and they will call more soldiers until you’re overwhelmed.”
“It’s time to move the camp,” Lirak said.
“Where are we moving?” Mayrie asked.
“Chutan, bring Jerok, we need to make a decision quickly.”
Chutan moved off to find Jerok. Lirak and Mayrie made their way back to Lirak’s tent. As they entered, Mayrie reached out and took his hand.
“I’m sorry about last night,” Mayrie said. “I know you must be frustrated.”
Lirak leaned forward and kissed her, but soon they heard feet approaching and they quickly arranged the tent for a council.
Chutan entered, followed by Jerok, Patrik and Dedrik.
“We are leaving now,” Dedrik said. “We are heading directly back to Hanoria. Keep the token I gave you with you at all times. You may need it in a hurry. When you do come, I will find you and will have your weapons ready.” With that he turned and left the tent.
“What’s happening?” Patrik asked.
“I think we are attracting more attention than we realized. The forest may be full of small groups of invaders looking for us.”
“Well, let’s use that to set a trap then,” Patrik said.
“That’s not a bad idea” Jerok said. “We can draw them in with a decoy and hit them from behind or flank them.”
“They could be anywhere,” Lirak said. “They know roughly where we are by now, and know that we are aware of them, so they’ll be expecting us to do something. For this to work we’ll have to take out at least one of their scouting parties without them getting a warning off, then head south, leaving a group behind to bait their larger force in.” He paused, taking a deep breath, unconsciously wiping his bloody hands on his leggings.
“Mayrie will take the larger party to the south and set the first ambush that Patrik and I will bait the Groln into. Jerok and Gawn will take a small force to find and destroy any Groln scouts to the south ahead of the main force. Then Jerok will set up the final ambush for any stragglers following Mayrie’s force if they survive the first ambush. Patrik and I will set the bait here after everyone is gone. Take this Mayrie.” Lirak handed Mayrie the token Dedrik had given him. “If you get into trouble, head to one of the gates of the Hanorian wall and this will get you inside to safety.”
They continued to work on their plan for a few more moments while the camp was collected and packed away around them. Jerok, Gawn and ten others moved out to the southwest, trying to find the suspected scouting party before the scouting party found them. Lirak, Thorn and Patrik stayed behind in the empty camp, waiting.
“This is always the hardest part for me,” Patrik complained. “I want to be in the fight, not let the fight go without me.”
“You will get your chance,” Lirak said. “And there is nobody else who can come close to matching me in the forest, so I need you here.”
Patrik seemed embarrassed by the comment. “Really, you think I’m close to you in the forest?”
“You are better than anyone else, and yes, you’ve learned all my tricks,” Lirak replied.
They sat quietly for a while longer. Thorn lay in the matted grass at Lirak’s feet and began to snore.
“You know, we could make some decoys so that we aren’t the first thing that the invaders see,” Patrik suggested.
They spent a few moments using some of the left over camp materials to fashion several rough dummies which they put on logs in the darkest shade they could find. Then they moved a few steps into the trees at the southern edge of the clearing. Thorn yawned widely and moved with them.
Sometime later they heard the sounds of heavy feet moving through the forest from the northwest.
“I hope Jerok found and took out their southern scouts,” Patrik whispered.
“I do too,” Lirak replied. “Get ready, it’s about to get serious.”
The first Groln soldiers to enter the clearing stopped suddenly, one pointed at the shadowy figures on the log, and they quickly retreated back into the trees to the northwest. Lirak could hear the movement of a large number of men on foot. Finally a Groln horn blew and a sudden rush of a score of Groln soldiers burst into the clearing, knelt down and set their shields in front of them. Behind them another dozen soldiers came with their strange bows. Soon the dummies Patrik and Lirak had set up were riddled with the thick, short heavy arrows of the Groln. There was quiet then as the soldiers realized that they had been fooled.
“Now,” Lirak said.
He and Patrik let loose three arrows each in quick succession. One of the bow-wielding Groln fell to the ground, the rest shifted their shields and began returning fire into the trees, but Patrik and Lirak had already moved and soon they repeated the tactic and another Groln solder fell. Then another score of shield bearing solders ran into the clearing with another dozen bowmen.
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br /> “No warlocks,” Patrik whispered as he and Lirak once again shifted position and fired another volley.
“Not yet anyway,” Lirak replied.
“They aren’t taking the bait,” Patrik said.
“I wasn’t expecting this many of them,” Lirak admitted.
Then another score of shield men and another dozen bowmen entered the clearing, accompanied by a man riding one of the Groln beasts.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Patrik said.
“Yeah, me too,” Lirak said. “I think we should head south.”
With that the two turned and began moving quickly to the south to rejoin the main Dwon force. As they turned to go, the Groln behind them lined up and began marching south themselves. Then they heard a horn sound to the southeast, and another to the Southwest. And that was answered by a horn blown directly behind them.
“They’re everywhere!” Patrik’s eyes were wide with growing panic.
“We can’t do anything but move now,” Lirak said, quickening his pace to the south.
Ambush
Where the defeater of death goes, blood and destruction go with him.
– The Prophecies
Lirak, Patrik and Thorn ran south, no longer worrying about stealth. Again the horns sounded, with another directly from the south. Then Lirak heard the one thing he dreaded most, the reverberating BOOOM! of a warlock’s wand. Lirak thought he heard at least five separate horns, which meant hundreds of Groln soldiers. At least the blasts from the horns gave them a good location of Groln forces. Thorn growled each time a horn rang out. Lirak scowled, that was far more than he had expected. Clearly he should have listened more carefully to Dedrik’s warnings.
Finally, as the horns had nearly converged on them, they reached the clearing where the main force of Dwon had set up their first ambush. Lirak and Patrik threw themselves behind a tree on the southwest edge of the clearing. He looked for Mayrie but the Dwon were well hidden. From the north he heard the sound of the Groln forces moving south. Soon they would enter the clearing and the ambush would begin.
“They have no warlocks,” Patrik said. “This could still work.”
Lirak nodded, but he felt no inner voice guiding him and his stomach was in a knot with worry. They had never fought this large a force in the forest. But there was little he could do now.
Then, from the north, Groln soldiers began to emerge into the clearing. Lirak and Patrik sent arrows at them while trying to remain hidden, which made their aim poor, but had the effect they had hoped for. Groln arrows tore through the air toward their position. More and more of the Groln soldiers crashed into the clearing. Within moments there were over sixty men in the clearing, in three groups of shieldmen and bowmen.
Lirak and Patrik were up and running to the southwest as the clearing erupted into fiery chaos as the firestone powder was set aflame and the nets dropped. Burning Groln soldiers screamed in agony but more shouts and horn blasts were filling the air around them. They suddenly found themselves crashing directly into a group of five Groln soldiers and a warlock. Patrik grabbed for his sword as the Groln did the same, but Lirak simply crashed headlong into the startled warlock, sending him flying in one direction, his wand falling on the ground. Lirak quickly snatched up the wand with his left hand. Instantly the air and sky was full of pulsating, swirling color, but Lirak focused on the battle. Patrik ran as fast as he could, barely missing getting cut down by one of the Groln. As the Groln soldier turned to pursue Patrik, Thorn leapt on his back, driving him into the ground. A moment later Thorn was back up, his muzzle dripping red.
Lirak rolled forward and sprang back to his feet just as a blade swept down where he had been. He lowered his shoulder and drove it into the chest of the attacking Groln and both fell in a heap, while Patrik desperately fended off another with his sword. Lirak rolled off of the fallen Groln and swept his blade down, but missed a killing stroke, instead cutting a deep gash across the man’s face at his left eye. Lirak continued to roll his left, trying to keep his bow from breaking against the ground. A flash of movement swept past his head and he felt a stab of pain from his right shoulder. Then he was up again, sweeping his blade up and scoring a long bloody gash on the torso of the Groln. He lashed out with his foot, catching the side of the man’s knee, and the man fell heavily.
Lirak saw Patrik moving southwest, with two of the Groln pursuing him. As he watched Thorn leaped on the trailing Groln’s back, and the two went down in a heap. The second Groln Lirak had collided with was up to one knee, holding his eye with one hand. Lirak swept his blade at the man’s neck, but the Groln’s own sword flicked up and blocked the blow, although Lirak’s blade sliced the Groln sword nearly in half. He lashed out with his right foot, catching the Groln in the gut and he fell on his back with a grunt. Lirak turned and ran to the southwest, hearing the sound of pursuit from the clearing behind him. Thorn joined him, limping slightly as he ran. Suddenly realizing he was still holding the wand, he stuck it in his belt, hoping the bulb at the end would keep it from falling through. The world returned to normal as the pulsating ribbons of color faded. They passed the body of another Groln, face down and motionless. Patrik was far ahead. Lirak dodged around trees as he ran, hearing Groln arrows whizzing past his head.
Everything now depended on Lirak outrunning the Groln and leading them to the Dwon’s final ambush, where Mayrie’s force should have joined Jerok’s smaller group by now. He hoped it was an easy race in his light clothing against the Groln in their heavy gear. But he was dodging back and forth to avoid the Groln arrows. Another arrow whizzed past his left ear, but there were fewer of the arrows in the air. The bank of the deep gulley was just ahead, he saw Patrik leap off the edge. Thorn was now just beside him, and they both leaped off the fifteen foot bank together. They hit the water hard, nearly knocking the breath out of Lirak. The water was not deep, and as he stood, Patrik grabbed him and he was out and into the brush on the bank of the stream. Lirak allowed himself a smile as he saw Jerok and his men hiding in the trees ahead.
“This might still work.” Lirak said to himself.
Behind him he heard the sound of heavy boots skidding to a stop. Jerok’s men unleashed a withering barrage of arrows just as the Groln reached the gully bank. Several men fell in a heap and a few fell into the stream, but the Groln didn’t break and run, instead they formed a phalanx of men holding shields and returned fire into the forest from their strange bows. When they planned the ambush Lirak and Jerok expected to have at most a handful of Groln left on the steep cliff. But Lirak realized there were over forty Groln soldiers in the group at the top of the cliff, and they were well trained and not panicking.
Lirak and Patrik worked their way around up the bank of the other side of the gulley as the Groln turned their attention to the incoming arrows. In a few moments Lirak and Patrik were on the other side of the gulley where they found Chutan and Mayrie. Mayrie, Lirak and Patrik fired several arrows into the Groln, felling two of the men before the Groln saw that they had been flanked and they extended their shields to cover their flank. Then Lirak, Patrik and Mayrie were diving for cover as Groln arrows flew through the trees around them.
The battle had turned into a stalemate. Perhaps ten or so of the Groln were dead or dying, and cries from the forest told Lirak that his own men had suffered casualties. But now the Groln were using their shields as a wall to stop the incoming arrows, and returning fire from behind the cover of the shields. Neither side could get an advantage over the other, and neither could move to another position without receiving a barrage of arrows. Mayrie, Lirak, Chutan and Patrik moved around the perimeter carefully. Thorn’s left shoulder had an ugly gash in it, but he was moving okay.
Lirak shifted his knife to his left hand, and with his right he pulled the wand from his belt. The sky above and around him was again radiant with glowing bands of light. He felt Patrik take his elbow and moved in the direction Patrik indicated, but his mind was totally focused on the scene around
and above him. The glowing bands of light pulsated and moved as if alive. As he watched, a large pulsating knot of color to the west suddenly flashed and vanished, and Lirak heard a great “boom!” from the location of the disappearing knot. Then the bands slowly began to reform and start a new knot. Twice more Lirak watched a knot swell and flash, then dissipate and slowly reform, and each time he heard the loud “boom!” of a gray man’s attack. Three warlocks at least, he realized.
Finally they found Jerok, after several tense moments of moving through the forest, avoiding the areas where the colors knotted and convulsed. Lirak returned the stick to his belt, and the multicolored bands and knots disappeared.
“This isn’t going to work,” Jerok said. “We have them pinned down, but they’re like turtles, we can’t hit them unless they poke their heads out. It’s just a matter of time before we’re the ones pinned down if they bring more soldiers in. And it won’t be long until the warlocks find us.”
“We can retreat and fight again later,” Lirak said.
“That’s probably the best we can do now,” Jerok said.
“Okay, then let’s get ready to move out, we’ll leave a few behind to keep them pinned down while we move.”
“Which direction?” Jerok asked.
“East,” Lirak said.
“Okay,” Jerok said.
Lirak and Mayrie moved southeast, Lirak cursed under his breath.
“What’s wrong?” Mayrie asked.
“There’s too many of them,” Lirak said. “And their shield turtling is very effective. I hate it, but we’re going to have to retreat.”
As he spoke the first of the Dwon warriors came into view and moved to the east. Several more followed. A blinding flash suddenly stunned Lirak; followed by a thunderous ‘boom!’ that reverberated through the forest. His ears ringing, Lirak blinked away the spots in his eyes, and grabbed Mayrie, running to the east. Another boom followed, and Lirak heard screams of wounded men. Before he could locate Jerok or Patrik, his men were in full rout running east at their top speed. Mayrie and Lirak simply joined them, running as fast as they could, until the booms finally receded behind them. They ran for a long time, not knowing what else to do, and only occasionally seeing another running figure in the forest. Lirak’s men had been routed and dispersed into the forest. Dedrik had been right.