Homesteading on Jord

by Allan Joyal

  One of the two bands backed down slightly. The orcs nearest our wall crouched down and tried to slide in behind the others as the line broke down. The other band jeered a couple of times, but then a glare from the armored orc cowed them into silence.

  The armored orc glared at our wall. He paced back and forth a few times stopping occasionally to look at the wall again. He appeared a bit too interested in the number of people on the wall.

  "Lydia, you loaded?" I asked.

  "I haven't had anything to drink since that night!" Lydia snapped back. "You know that!"

  "Your crossbow," I said firmly. "Can you put a bolt into one of the orcs that was grinning at the leader and then reload quickly?"

  There was a twang. It was immediately followed by a thunk and a grunt from Lydia. I looked over and watched as Lydia lowered the crossbow and slipped her foot in the stirrup. She heaved back on the string.

  "She got one!" I heard Shaylin cry. I looked past Lydia and realized that while I had been paying attention to the orcs, several of the younger members of our party had joined us. Shaylin stood on the tower next to Lydia while Corwar and Soldrin were frantically trying to raise the supports for the platform Hencktor was standing on.

  The platform I was standing on shifted slightly. I looked down to see Yveney climbing up so she could look over the wall. She had the cords of her sling wrapped around her right hand. "Lydia shot one?" she asked.

  I looked out across the clearing. All of the orcs were looking to a spot next to their leader. I could see the body of an orc lying on the ground. His legs were bent under the body. One orc kicked the prone orc a couple of times.

  The orcs recoiled from the body. "Killed one I think," I said as the orcs backed away from the wall slightly. Their leader bellowed something, but I noticed that he had moved so that there were two orcs between him and the wall.

  "Ron?" Gerit called out from the ground behind me. "Heather said we have a problem here?"

  I watched the orcs carefully. The leader appeared to be studying the wall carefully. "Yveney can you use your sling on any of them if they charge?" I asked.

  "Not with you on the platform," Yveney said. "I need space."

  "Henck is the platform stable?" I asked.

  "Soldrin knew what needed to be completed," Hencktor said. "It won't last, but I expect we'll want to rebuild it after this."

  "I'm thinking we try to build up a soil berm," I replied as I carefully stepped down from the tower platform. "It will be much more stable and will offer some support for the wall. But we'd need to build a means of moving that much soil."

  "We should dig it out from the front of the wall," Hencktor said. "Heck, we could probably create a moat by digging out a trench and then allowing the river to enter it."

  "We'd need to build a bridge, but I like the idea," I replied.

  "I do too," Lydia called out. "It makes me think you believe we can hold off this horde."

  "We will," I said firmly as I watched the orcs continue to mill around. The leader had backed up to the edge of the trees, and the rest were fighting to get out of our sight. Most were looking over their shoulder at the leader as they tried to get out of the range of our weapons.

  "Cowards," Hencktor snorted. "I thought these things were supposed to be all powerful."

  "If you are alone or caught out where they know they outnumber you they are very quick to attack," Krysbain called out. "Ron what is going on?"

  "We had three different bands of orcs looking at the wall. One left when I arrived on the wall. Another faded after a leader showed up. The last group is moving back to the safety of the trees. They definitely aren't ready to fight us," I said. "I was a bit surprised to see that the different groups of orcs weren't working together."

  "They will if one of the leaders forces them to," Krysbain said. "But even their leaders prefer to only attack when they have an overwhelming advantage."

  "They do," Hencktor said grimly. "There were nearly a hundred orcs in the clearing when we sent for Ron. I'll die before they get past me, but I don't think I can hold off that many forever."

  There was movement in the trees. Conversation stopped as everyone turned to watch three orcs slowly step into the clearing. The pig-like faces of the orcs were frozen as they crouched and looked at the wall.

  Two of the orcs had some kind of wooden hook in their right hands. I was puzzling what this might be when all three orcs bellowed and started charging at the wall.

  I heard the twang of Lydia's crossbow, but none of the charging orcs paused. "I missed!" Lydia cursed as the orcs continued to approach.

  "We noticed," I called back as I hurriedly moved my spear so that the blade was facing the charging orcs. They were charging directly at the area we were defending, ignoring the rest of the wall.

  "Incoming!" Hencktor shouted. He reached out and grabbed the top of the wall.

  The orcs were within twenty feet of the wall when I heard two slings snap. One stone flew from my left and across my vision to strike one of the orcs holding a hook in the throat. The monster stumbled forward one more step before collapsing.

  As the one orc collapsed slowly, the third one who had been following him crashed to the ground. The left side of the monster's head was caved in and brain matter splattered over the field.

  Despite the deaths of his two companions the last orc kept charging. When he was about ten feet from the wall, he reared back and threw the wooden hook. It soared up in a high arc. I noticed that a rope was attached to it. My thought was that if it hooked the wall it might allow the orcs to pull down a section.

  I turned the spear and held it between my hands. As the hook started to descend, I raised the spear over my head like I was trying to block an attack at my head. The hook cleared the spear, and I leaned away as the weight of the wooden hook landed on the shaft.

  The hook caught on the shaft. I heard a roar from the orcs at the far end of the clearing. Whether it was in triumph or rage I could not tell. The orc on the ground was looking up at me. His hands were still holding the vine that was connected to the hook. The muscles in his left arm bulged.

  I let go of the spear with my right hand just as the orc yanked on the rope. The hook slid down the shaft of the spear and then dropped to the ground, nearly striking the orc in the head. The orc ignored the falling hook and made a late snatch at the spear as it pivoted in my hand and the shaft passed in front of the wall. I leapt to my left and pulled my arm back to get the spear away from his grasp.

  The platform shook alarmingly when I landed. The roars from the watching orcs quieted as I reversed the spear and got both hands on the shaft again. The orc at the wall looked at his empty hands and then moved to stand over the hook. He started to bend down to pick up the hook.

  I slid back along the wall and thrust the spear downward, aiming for the unprotected back of the orc. His fellows roared out an alarm. That only served to make my attack more effective as the orc stood up quickly driving the spear into his upper back. The monster croaked something and then collapsed to the ground, the weight of his body threatening to rip the spear from my hands before his back tore as the blade came free.

  I stood back up and looked out at the orcs. There was a lot of pointing toward the wall, but none of them appeared to be looking at us at the moment. The armored one grunted something and then vanished into the trees.

  "I can shoot one more," Lydia called out.

  I raised my hand, but the orcs were now fading back into the forest. "Leave it for now," I said. "We don't have an infinite supply of bolts."

  "Soldrin was trying to make more," Yveney said. "He found the heads you purchased."

  "What is he doing for fletching?" I asked.

  "I don't know," Yveney said. "But he's been trying to get more made. Meanwhile what do we do?"

  "Henck, can you add two more platforms? We should fill the space between the next two towers to the left. That will give us good coverage down here," I said.

  "Will that
be enough?" Hencktor asked worriedly.

  "I have no idea," I said. "The problem is that we can't know if the Orcs will decide to attack the whole wall. So far they have set up to attack where we have defenders visible. It might be that they think the rest of the wall is a trap."

  "I hope so," Hencktor said quietly. "We can't really defend the wall."

  "We'll survive," I promised. Just then footsteps behind me caused me to turn and look to the north. I could see Lawus running up accompanied by his son and older daughter.

  "Yveney? How good is Haydee with a sling?" I asked as Lawus approached.

  The young woman looked down at me. Her brow wrinkled as she looked over at Lawus. Finally she shook her head and sighed. "She's probably the worst of us," Yveney admitted. "She's great guiding the sheep, but she can't hit anything with a sling."

  "Thom can," Lawus shouted from behind us. "Why are you asking?"

  "We aren't going to be able to leave the wall anytime soon," I said. "I was hoping Yveney could go to our herd of sheep and pull one of the older ones out so we can cook it. I'm sure we have at least one too old to have babies."

  "Two. I think," Yveney said. "I'm not an expert, but there are two that neither ram has shown interest in. Several others are pregnant now, or at least I've witnessed them being mounted."

  "Ron!" Lydia hissed. "You let a child see that!"

  "It's a natural process," I replied calmly. "Yveney, can you bring one of those old ewes over here for Kariy to slaughter and cook. She'll probably need all day. Lawus, can Thom stand on the tower. Right now I expect the orcs to just watch. They appear unwilling to attack. You can help Hencktor get a couple more platforms up."

  "Those don't look safe," Lawus said.

  "They aren't," I replied. "Long term I'd like to shore them up, but for now we need something to stand on so we can attack any orcs trying to tear the wall down."

  "But we can't protect the whole wall," Lawus said worriedly. "What if they attack a section we don't have protected?"

  "We have sixteen of these towers," I stated pointing to where Yveney was standing. "There is no tower at the north end of the wall, so we have sixteen sections where we can put platforms. For now I don't think we need to cover the last section on each end, so that's fourteen. Since yesterday we've put up four, and we can probably get two more per day. In five days there won't be a section without a platform."

  "But they could…" Lawus said worriedly.

  "They could decide to leave in the next few minutes too," I replied. "So far they don't seem too eager to attack our walls. We just have to make sure to keep them occupied for a while. That's why I wanted a sheep brought in for slaughter. We can use the meat."

  "But…" Lawus protested.

  "Just help Hencktor get a couple more platforms assembled," I commanded softly. "Lydia, keep a watch and don't let the orcs set up to charge. I have to check the other part of the wall."

  "I'll shoot any leaders I see trying to encourage the others," Lydia said firmly. "They don't appear to be eager to charge at our walls."

  Everyone in the area nodded. Lawus grabbed his daughter and lifted her up to the platform. As Hencktor helped steady her and started to point out what everyone was watching, I turned to the north and began to jog to the other end of the wall.

  Chapter 32: Tedium Persists

  Lydia's comment about the orcs not being eager to charge the wall proved to be prophetic. Over the next three days they made occasional appearances at the edge of the clearing, but would retreat after a short time. Everyone soon became bored with the long periods of inactivity. We could hear some hammering off in the distance, but it was clear that the Orcs were very unwilling to charge our walls.

  We did try to use the respite from attacks. I had Al take Soldrin and Piemal and go over all of the finished platform sections. The trio worked to stabilize each section. This often meant that that they attached additional supports, or surrounded the base of an upright with additional logs to hold it in place.

  The rest of us stood guard on the walls, or helped build additional platforms when we were not standing guard. It was a welcome diversion from the mind numbing boredom of standing on a platform and watching the trees. After the attack at the southern end of the wall the orcs rarely entered the clearing, and when they did, it was almost always one orc who had been pushed into the clearing by others. Many of these incidents were followed by the sounds of conflict in the trees.

  So three days later, we had only three wall sections where there was no platform to stand on. Verval and Hencktor were working on assembling a platform in the middle of the wall while I stood guard next to the point. The orcs had noticed that we were doing something, and the few times we saw one it was usually near where we were assembling a platform.

  With this situation having become relatively standard over the last four days the sounds of movement in the trees did not excite me. However, when the first two orcs strode out into the clearing, I straightened up and tightened my grip on the spear.

  "Ron?" Verval called from the ground as I slid a couple feet to my left so I was standing directly across from the orcs. The two monsters had moved about ten feet into the clearing before stopping and a small flood of additional orcs were filing out behind them.

  "How many?" Gertrilla asked from the tower to my left. She slipped a stone into her sling as she stared at the growing band.

  "It appears we have a serious challenge coming," I said carefully. "A large group of orcs just started entering the clearing."

  One orc wearing rusty pauldrons and a carved wood helmet staggered to the front of the group. Gertrilla immediately raised her arm and started her sling spinning.

  "I can hit that one," she said confidently.

  I looked more closely at the orc. He was standing slightly hunched over and appeared to be looking back at the rest of the group. "Hold on that," I said before Gertrilla could launch a stone. "I don't think that one is the leader."

  "What?" Gertrilla said. "Ron, every time before we saw one wearing any kind of armor it was a leader."

  "That one isn't standing proudly though," I pointed out as the armored orc stepped backward. His progress was stopped by the rest of his squad. Two of the orcs shoved him forward again.

  "He's trying to retreat?" Gertrilla asked as the orc backed up a second time. He stopped about two steps ahead of the others.

  "Didn't Aine take a shot at that leader orc we saw yesterday?" I asked.

  "Yeah, and Joelia got one with a sling a couple nights ago," Verval said. "I remember we all woke up when the orcs started fighting over the rusted sword that the leader had carried."

  "Exactly," I said. "I think the real leader of that band sent out that one in order to hide from us. If we follow our usual pattern we'll kill that one."

  "Tricky," Hencktor said. "What do we do instead?"

  I was going to suggest waiting when another group of orcs burst out of the trees to the south. This group only contained about ten members, but they immediately set upon the larger group. The orcs responded with raised clubs.

  "They are fighting?" Gertrilla asked as two of the orcs from the new group pounced on the armored one and wrestled him to the ground. The larger group of orcs fought back, but their response had been slow, and they soon were retreating into the woods as the newcomers ripped the armor from their sacrifice.

  The new band of orcs soon claimed the armor and then quickly retreated back into the forest. The orc they had stolen it from staggered to his feet. One of the orcs from his group stabbed him in the neck with a sharp stone.

  The orc collapsed to the ground. His friends ignored this and vanished back into the forest. As quickly as they had appeared, they had retreated, leaving the clearing once again empty.

  "Why?" Gertrilla asked.

  "I have no clue," I said. "But I get a feeling they'll start getting more aggressive."

  "Why?" Verval asked from the ground. "I mean, they haven't made any real attempts to get over t
he wall."

  "They have to be getting hungry," I pointed out. "All those orcs near to each, and I imagine that they don't have wagons filled with food."

  Hencktor snorted. "That I doubt, but what about food for us? Are we going to have enough? We've spent a lot of time building this wall and defending it."

  "We will be fine," Natalie called out firmly. I risked looking over my shoulder and could see Natalie, Al, and Esme walking up to the wall. Al was holding a spear. He sprinted to the base of the platform and scrambled up as I watched.

  "I'll take the watch," he said. "Natalie wants to talk for a moment."

  "What about?" I asked.

  "I'm not sure," Al admitted. "She's been going back to the fields every day to check on the crops. I'm going to guess she's worried about this fall's harvest. We need food for the winter."

  "And next spring," I said carefully. "Most people forget that the first month or so or spring can be nasty. Sure we can plant, but it takes time for plants to grow and produce fruit. There is a period during the spring that we'll have little to no fresh food."

  "I never thought about that," Al admitted as he looked out over the field on the far side of the wall. "Any excitement out there?"

  We did see one large band, but they retreated without attacking," I said. "But I get a feeling we'll see an attack soon."

  "Why?" Al said. "I mean why would they attack? We aren't a threat."

  "Food," I pointed out. "Or more accurately, the lack of it. I'm sure that those orcs have been struggling. They don't farm or herd, so they survive based on what they can steal from others or what they hunt down. A band that large can't stay in one place long."

  "More likely they gathered just to attack us," Hencktor pointed out. "That would explain why different groups are so openly hostile. Each group wants to be first, but doesn't trust the others not to attack from behind."

  "Would you?" I asked as I jumped down. Natalie and Victoria had continued to approach while we had talked and were standing next to where I landed.