A Gathering of Armies

by Christopher Williams

  She looked over the clearing again. It was quiet. Most of the men appeared to be asleep, but she still didn’t like her chances of reaching the bridge; had to be guards all over the place.

  “Well?” Seth demanded. “You’ve seen the bridge. Can we go now?”

  “Has to be a way to reach it,” she said, more to herself than to him.

  “No there doesn’t,” Seth replied. “And what would you do if you reached it? Spilling your blood on it won’t do any good.”

  Karina pulled her eyes from the clearing, glaring at Seth. Oh how she wished they were alone right now; no one to hear them. She’d give the brute a lesson in manners, even if he could turn into a bear…

  Something in her expression must have changed, because Seth swallowed hard. “I don’t think I’m going to like this, am I?”

  Karina grinned sweetly. “Seth, how would you like to create a diversion for me?”

  His eyes narrowed and Seth glanced back to the clearing. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Turn into a bear and charge that mass of sleeping humans.”

  “What?” Seth asked in surprise, his voice rising a bit.

  “Shh!” Reega said from right behind them. “Keep your voice down.”

  “Are you crazy?” Seth demanded. “That’s suicide.”

  Karina shook her head. “Just run out there, gut a couple, and then run away. They’ll follow you only for a short while. You should be able to get free.”

  “Not exactly,” Seth retorted. “I’ve got to come back for you.”

  Karina shook her head. “No you don’t. Reega and I will use the Adelion to get away. You create the diversion and then get clear.”

  Seth was quiet for a long moment, considering. “You sure about this?” he finally asked.

  Karina nodded. “Get undressed and turn.” She started to move away and then stopped. “Wait here until you hear from Reega.”

  Seth grinned wickedly at her.

  “What?” she demanded.

  There was a twinkle in Seth’s eye as he said, “I’m starting to think you just like seeing me naked.”

  Reega and Karina worked their way around the edge of the clearing toward the beach. They were still two hundred yards from the bridge, but they were now on the opposite side where the men were sleeping. If a bear attacked those men, then Karina hoped all the mercenaries would run toward the attack and not away from it; then again, these were mercenaries.

  It took them nearly an hour to reach the spot she wanted. Traveling in the bushes this close to all the mercenaries was nerve wracking. Reega led them and he was in constant communication with his animal friends. Without his talent, they never would have made it. As it was, they had to backtrack several times to avoid a particular sentry. Finally, at long last, they reached a spot that Karina liked. It wasn’t perfect, but it was the best that could be hoped for.

  She knew better than to speak, instead she touched Reega on the arm. He looked at her and she nodded once.

  Reega looked away, back to where they had left Seth. After a moment, he looked back and this time he nodded.

  Karina swallowed hard and waited for the fun to begin. As it turned out, she didn’t have long to wait.

  The bear-Seth broke from the trees at the edge of the clearing and loped across the clearing toward the men. There was a shout right before he reached them and he answered with a roar of his own, and then sprinted the rest of the way. He fell upon the men as they tried to wake up.

  The men were half-asleep, dazed, unable to see, and rather confused. They were easy pickings for Seth.

  He swiped his huge paw at the first one and slashed the man across the stomach. He collapsed and began to scream.

  Before the men could even react, he bit his second victim. His jaws clamped down on the man’s left thigh, just below his butt, and he ripped a huge chunk of flesh free. This man, too, collapsed and began to scream.

  The men were becoming more alert and the bear-Seth decided it was time to run. He turned and headed the way he had come, slashing two more victims on the way.

  Karina and Reega watched the mayhem caused by Seth and it was amazing to behold. In a matter of moments pandemonium reigned. For the first few moments, the men seemed to be unaware of what was happening. Their confusion was perfectly understandable, after all they had been asleep just moments before. When the first couple began to scream, the sound jarred the rest of them to action. Guards emerged from the trees lining the edge of the clearing and began running toward the bear. For his part, Seth turned and ran from the clearing, drawing most of the men after him. A few remained behind, but they seemed more interested in helping the bear’s victims.

  “If we’re going to do this, then now’s the time,” Reega said.

  Karina couldn’t agree more. She took a deep breath and stood up. Together she and Reega raced toward the bridge.

  They ran fast but not hunched over. If anyone saw them, they were two more humans running in the darkness. If they were running all low, then that would probably raise an alarm.

  They needn’t have worried, as they reached the bridge without any incident. Karina was pleased to see that even the guards on the bridge had left their posts at Seth’s attack.

  They stopped just on the edge of the bridge and Karina tried to use her talent. She had visions of massive vines pulling the bridge down around them, but in order for that to happen she had to have vines at her disposal, and there were none. Not only that, but the only thing she could use was the grass that grew down to the edge of the water; all the trees had been removed for some distance.

  Karina refused to believe that this had all been for nothing and cast around, trying to find anything that she could use. She even tried to find something in the water, but there was nothing. Dejected, she looked to Reega.

  He was staring at her, expectantly. “Well?” he asked.

  “There’s nothing I can do. There’s nothing I can use.”

  He nodded. “It was a long shot, remember.” He reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s all right, but we need to be going.”

  She looked at him as a tear ran down her cheek. She hated failing, almost as much as she hated him seeing her cry. There was little enough to be done though. He was right; they needed to get moving.

  They turned and started off the bridge, when something pulled them up sharp. The goblins that Seth had sensed earlier had arrived.

  There seemed to be no end to the goblins. They spilled into the clearing, flowing like a wave. These weren’t the white goblins; these were the nasty black goblins.

  “Oh, I don’t think we’re going that way,” Reega said. He suddenly sounded afraid.

  “No. Let’s try the bridge,” Karina said.

  They had just turned and begun walking northward, when a loud explosion shook the bridge. So loud was the noise that their ears rang and the night sky ahead of them was lit up like daytime.

  “Uh oh,” Reega said.

  Chapter 32

  Reega and Karina stood side-by-side, staring up at the tower of flame that reached for the heavens. The explosion had occurred on one of the other bridge spans, not on the bridge they stood on; still, the ground had shaken and for a moment Karina had thought their bridge might collapse.

  “Uh, Karina,” Reega said.

  There was something in his tone that caused Karina to pull her eyes from the towering inferno ahead of them and glance at the boy. He was staring wide-eyed, but not at the fire; he was staring back at the clearing where the mercenaries were. She glanced over her shoulder and realized real quick what had spooked Reega. The goblins were headed for the bridge and there was no way they could have missed the two humans standing on the edge, which meant there was no going back to the beach.

  “Come on,” Karina said, grabbing Reega’s hand and jerking him forward.

  The bridge itself wasn’t that wide and they quickly reached the mid-point of the span. Ahead of them, it appeared the span ended on a large
sandbar, which stretched out ahead of them in the darkness. The fire from the explosion still burned, but it no longer lit up the night sky.

  They ran toward the sandbar, but slid to a halt maybe thirty yards short. Mercenaries, some badly wounded were headed away from the sandbar, having just stepped foot on the bridge.

  “What now?” Reega asked.

  It was a foolish question, but Karina didn’t waste the breath to let him know. If you couldn’t go forward and you couldn’t go backward, you had to go sideways. She was just about to say so, when she tried one more time to find a plant in the water or on the sandbar that would respond to her call. She reached out with her talent, closing her eyes in concentration. She gave a long, but silent, desperate cry, a cry that was answered. Her eyes popped open as she realized there might just be a chance.

  “Giivve Opp,” a deep, gravelly voice said from behind her.

  She glanced over shoulder to see that the goblins had arrived. They stood, shoulder-to-shoulder, across the bridge, blocking any chance of retreat; but retreat wasn’t what she planned any more.

  “Karina?” Reega asked quietly. “What’s the plan?”

  She didn’t waste breath answering. What was the point? Instead, Reega’s answer came as the thick, cable-like vines reached up over the edge of the bridge. They were thick as tree limbs, but their movement was reminiscent of snakes.

  The vines began to wrap around the bridge supports, one after the other.

  Shouts arose, both from the mercenaries in front of them, and from the goblins behind.

  “Karina?” Reega shouted, as the vines began to twist and pull.

  She continued to ignore Reega, not to be rude, rather, her full concentration was elsewhere. Sweat broke out on her forehead and she began to grow light-headed. Never before had she done anything that caused her this much distress. Her body seemed to be alternating between cold and hot. Her sight went from blurry to yellow-tinted, so she closed her eyes to avoid being distracted. She continued to call the vines, continued to urge them on. Her breathing grew short and the dizziness grew. Right before she passed out, she heard a loud ripping sound. She didn’t know what it was and she found herself no longer caring. As the blackness rushed in, she let go, finding the release peaceful. She thought, for a moment, she felt hands grasping her and then the icy cold of the river.

  Reega grabbed Karina right before the bridge collapsed and they fell into the Adelion river. It was a near thing, too, but he just managed to get his hands on her and pull her close. He held her with a death grip, knowing that if he let her go then she would die.

  The water was cold, but not unbearably so, and he wrapped his arm around Karina’s waist, trying hard to keep her head above the water.

  There were other splashes and he knew that the mercenaries and some of the goblins had fallen in, too. He wasn’t worried about the goblins; they hated the water and would surely drown. The mercenaries were another story, though. There was a good chance that some of them could swim and would make it back to the shore. That was fine by him, as long as they didn’t catch up with him and Karina.

  The river’s current pulled them along steadily and he kept looking around for mercenaries. Gradually he relaxed as it became apparent that any of the humans that survived had made straight for the shore. They probably expected that he and Karina would do the same.

  Slowly, his fear of being caught in the water subsided. His fear for Karina only intensified as time went along. He could feel the heat coming off her in waves. He wasn’t exactly sure what she had done, but it had nearly killed her. He continuously mumbled prayers for her well-being. Tears streamed down his face, but they were constantly washed away by the river.

  After an hour in the water, Reega was unsure how far they had come, but he began to swim south, toward the shore. He swam slowly, burdened as he was by Karina’s weight, too.

  He had just come within sight of the shore when he immediately changed direction and moved back into the center of the river. The shore had been covered with goblins. He didn’t think they could know what was happening at the bridge, rather he suspected this was the goblin army headed toward the bridge to go north.

  The sight of so many goblins sent his mind racing. If they were lining the shore, then they could reach all the way back to the Arium Highway, and that meant he would not be able to come ashore on the southern bank.

  Reega glanced to the north, but he couldn’t even begin to see the shoreline in the darkness. Still it was the only way to go, but already his arms and legs ached. Momentarily at a loss, he did the only thing he could think of; he reached out with his talent, seeking any animals that would help him. He found the two minds that responded to his call shocking, and quite frankly, they scared him silly.

  Enton pulled himself up onto the bank of the Adelion and just lay there, immensely relieved to be out of the water. Actually, that wasn’t quite true; everything below the waist still lay in the water, but his upper half lay on the soft sand of the river shore.

  The elation of Atock’s plan actually working had faded several hours back, when his arms and legs had ached to the point of pain. The current of the Adelion river had been steady and had easily transported him to the west, but that same current had made it nearly impossible to swim to the northern shore. The swim had taken hours and he wanted to just lie there and sleep for the next week.

  The cry of a bird in the early morning light made him raise his head and look around. It was foolish to lie here in the open. He’d come so far and he surely could find a safe place in the bushes to spend the night. He sighed and pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the agony that ran up and down his muscles.

  He’d come ashore at a small cove. The beach was gently-sloped and the perfect place to come ashore.

  Regaining his feet, he stood there for a moment, staring off to the east. The sun was rising and that part of the sky was a light gray now. The sky was still overcast, but at least it wasn’t raining at the moment. He laughed at that, laughed long and hard. He was soaking wet from the river and he was worried about a little rain. He stretched and once again his muscles screamed in protest.

  He looked up the shore, first to the east and then to the west, but there wasn’t any sign of Atock. That wasn’t surprising. They had gone into the river at different points and at different times; they could be miles apart by now.

  He took a deep breath and began to move toward the bushes. He so looked forward to sleeping the day away. As he walked, he glanced back toward the river; something caught his attention and pulled him up short. He stood there, willing the faraway objects to resolve into something that he could recognize. Even as the object got closer, he couldn’t make any sense of it. It looked for all the world like two people sitting on the water.

  All of a sudden, he realized the ‘thing’ was coming right toward the bay where he had come ashore.

  Turning, he attempted to sprint for the cover of the trees, but all he managed was a quick stumble. He just slipped behind the nearest tree, when the ‘thing’ reached the beach.

  From this close, he could see that he had been partially right. It was two people and they had been riding the water, or it was more correct to say they had been riding upon two enormous crocodiles.

  The crocodiles swam side-by-side, and a young man, who was conscious, helped support a woman who was not.

  Reaching the shore, the crocodiles stopped at the edge of the water and the boy climbed free and began to struggle, pulling the woman up the sandy beach. He’d only managed to move her a few feet when the two crocodiles turned and swam back into the river.

  Enton closed his eyes and rubbed his eyelids for several moments, wondering if the whole thing had been a hallucination. After a moment, he opened his eyes and looked to the shore; the young man and the woman were still there. They both lay on the sand, the boy appearing as tired as Enton felt.

  Unsure what this meant, Enton pulled his knife from its sheath and walked slowly toward them. As he
got nearer, Enton could see that the woman still breathed. He guessed her to be about his age, while the boy was in his mid-teens.

  The sand scrunched under his foot and the boy’s eyes flew open. He quickly climbed to his feet and moved between Enton and the woman.

  “You can’t have her,” the boy said.

  Enton snorted. “Who said I wanted her?”

  The boy studied Enton for a moment. “You’re one of the mercenaries, aren’t you?”

  “What if I am?” Enton asked. He wasn’t sure who these people were, but if they supported the invading army, then he wanted to know about it.

  The boy sneered at him. “Your bridge is in shambles. It looked like one of the spans burnt up, and she,” here he paused and pointed to the woman, “pulled down another one on her own.”

  “Really?” Enton asked, looking around the boy at the woman. “She did that all on her own, did she?”

  The boy suddenly clamped his mouth shut.

  “Care to explain that?” Enton asked. He suddenly remembered how these two had arrived on the shore; the exhaustion was even affecting the way he thought. “And were those crocodiles that brought you ashore?”

  The boy wobbled a bit and collapsed to one knee. “I don’t have the strength left to fight. Kill us if that’s what you intend.”

  Enton put his knife away. “Boy, if you’re telling the truth about that bridge, then I intend to see you get a medal.”

  The boy was looking confused.

  Enton extended his hand. “My partner and I are the ones that burnt the other span.”