Gareth Ogilvie The Great Sea King

by J W Murison

  Gareth clasped Billy’s shoulder, ‘I actually quite like that. Ok Billy, no matter what you feel you have to do I will back you all the way.’

  ‘Even if I went home?’

  ‘I'm not you King Billy, I'm your friend, or at least I hope I am.’

  ‘You need me.’

  ‘Aye I do, but your own family and peace of mind comes before all that. I don’t want to lose you Billy but I will support you in every way I can regardless of what you eventually decide to do.’ Gareth’s eyes suddenly became unfocused. Billy knew what that meant.

  ‘Tina is up at the palace, she says your wife has left.’

  ‘To where.’

  ‘Home, to the Highlands.’

  ‘Can you stop her?’

  ‘I’ll try.’

  It took a few minutes, ‘we just missed her.’

  ‘Bitch,’ Billy stood, ‘where did she go?’

  ‘Melina’s telling me now; straight to your home village, she took the youngest two as they arrived from school.’

  ‘I’ll go get my sword, he has a large family, have you got my back Gareth?’

  ‘I’ll go get my sword.’

  ‘Fine meet me at the gateway.’

  Billy was almost an hour, ‘sorry about that Gareth, the other two arrived home from school and I've had a terrible time trying to explain things to them. They didn't want me to go.’ Just then Graun, The Beast and Alan ran into sight. Billy groaned, ‘you haven’t told them have you?’

  ‘No, you were taking so long I decided we had better have back up and sent for Graun and whoever was available.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘She’s had more than long enough to arrange a reception for you. She’s related to your Clan Chieftain isn’t she?’

  ‘Brother,’ he snorted.

  ‘What’s happening,’ Graun asked when they reached them.

  ‘Ask no questions, just draw your swords and be ready.’

  ‘Where we going?’ The Beast asked.

  ‘Home,’ Gareth nodded to the Eagle and in an instant they found themselves surrounded by a ring of men with weapons drawn. One made a move but their Chieftain screamed ‘hold,’ recognising the men he faced immediately. The man faltered then drew back, he was the youngest of the lot. The Chieftain stepped forward lowering his sword.

  ‘There is no need for bloodshed here.’ He nodded to Gareth and Graun but faced Billy. ‘There is no place for you here anymore Billy. The strings of marriage have been untied.’

  ‘That takes two Rolf, I have not agreed to that.’

  ‘Unless one is in danger of their lives, she told me that you took a Dirk to her throat this very day, I know you as a man of your word Billy, deny it and I will reverse my decision.’

  The words stuck in Billy’s throat, ‘I cannot deny it.’

  ‘Then my decision stands, and you have no place here now.’

  Billy was trembling, ‘my children.’

  The chieftain looked away for a moment then took a deep breath, ‘she says you have them, all of them, but if you wish she will take in yours too.’

  Billy began to shake with rage, then he saw The Beasts muscles flex from the corner of his eye. He looked to his friends and found them all ready to erase this stain on his honour. He could kill them all if he wanted to and for a moment he did. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the cold mountain air and strange calm descended on him. He had been out witted, his revenge a pipe dream. He had been so stupid; a treat of violence had been all she had needed. The moment he had drawn his dirk he had lost, but not all. He still had his children, he knew she would try and get them back but that was another battle.’

  Light flakes of snow began to fall; Billy nodded his head, ‘ok Rolf, I’ll go, the strings have been untied, I agree. Gareth get us out of here will you.’ Rolf quickly got out of the way and in the blink of an eye they were back in the heat and warmth of the day. Billy tried to keep the last cool lungful of air in his lungs for a moment longer.

  ‘What the fuck was that all about?’ Alan spluttered.

  The Beast thumped him, ‘mind yer own business shrimp.’

  Above them there was a squeal and Lena swooped down with Tina on her back. She had been using the slip tied round Lena’s neck to hang onto. They came into land and Tina jumped off breathless and wide-eyed at her short flight. Lena didn't transform, the slip was in shreds.

  ‘What happened Dad, where is she?’

  ‘She’s home, we are untied.’

  ‘She can’t!’

  ‘She did and this isn’t a place to talk of such things.’

  ‘What of Mark and Andrew?’

  ‘They will be staying with your mother and their father.’

  Tina paled, ‘what, but.’ She never finished the sentence her head dropping. ‘Ok.’

  ‘Let’s go home lass.’ She embraced her father and the tears beginning to form. He turned to his friends, ‘you saved my life today Gareth, I would have walked straight into that, thank you, all of you.’

  ‘It’s what friends are for Billy,’ Gareth was touched by the whole thing.

  ‘I owe you.’

  He shook his head, ‘in your dreams, we owe you a thousand times over.’

  ‘Aye.’ His friends growled. It almost brought tears to his eyes.

  ‘Thanks, I will take the lass home, I’ll see you all tomorrow.’ With his arm round his daughters shoulders Billy made his way home. Lena flew high above and roosted on the roof, he had to go out and call her inside for their evening meal.

  The children were subdued the atmosphere thick, Billy went into the kitchen and stood there looking at all the pots and pans. He didn't know where to start. He looked to Tina, ‘can you help me lass, I haven’t a clue.’

  ‘You can cook Dad.’

  ‘Aye, on a hot stone or over an open fire, camp fire food is what I'm used to lass.’

  Lena almost crept in, ‘can I help?’

  ‘Can you cook?’ Billy asked.

  She closed her eyes, ‘wait a moment and I’ll see.’

  Tina frowned at him but Billy just shrugged, he didn't know what she was doing either.

  A smile lit up Lena’s face, ‘I can cook, wait.’ So they stood and waited for what seemed an age. The younger children came in to the kitchen and watched the strange woman begin to glow. When she opened them again she shooed out the men and kept the girls. Billy and his youngest sat at the table not sure what to do with themselves so they sat in silence fiddling their thumbs. Billy began to wonder what was going on when laughing came from the kitchen. He looked to the boy but he just shrugged. Iona the twelve years old ran out the door but was soon back. She clutched a hand full of weeds in her hand.

  Strange aromas began to waft through that made Billy’s stomach grumble and ten minutes later a strange array of dishes began to appear. The girls laid them out and Lena told them to tuck in. Billy was in food heaven, the flavours knocked him senseless and the meat melted in his mouth. Eventually he could no longer contain himself.

  ‘My god Lena, this is the best meal I have ever had in my life, how the hell did you know how to make this.’

  ‘Thousands of years ago one of my ancestors was a royal chef, I have the memories.’

  ‘I though Eagles couldn’t cook, that's what all the boys tell me, I thought your servants did it.’

  ‘There was a time before that when we did most things for ourselves; that was when my ancestor was a royal chef.’

  ‘You have her memories?’

  ‘His memories, no I have his knowledge.’

  Billy scratched his beard and realised he would have to shave it off now. ‘Well I have no idea how that works Lena, but I can tell you this is the finest meal I have ever had.’

  She began to glow with pleasure.

  CHAPTER 23

  The map was full now and extended, Gareth had, had to get a new table built to encompass it. There were hundreds of marks on it and a stack of drawings to accompany it. Graun was impressed, b
ut more so the Eagle King. He had visited Gareth to put pressure on him to begin his assault; Gareth had called together his commanders and the Eagle King to go over the map.

  ‘This is what we are facing father, this is the breeding centre in the middle, these here are camps for soldiers.’

  ‘There must be a dozen of them.’

  ‘More, these are the big ones,’ Gareth took a pointer, ‘these are the smaller ones, and these here are sentry posts where they keep a dozen or more men and these are single or double posts.’

  ‘They have all the rivers covered.’

  ‘Everyone of them. If you look at the far side here you will see a big lake, this is how he is getting his customers in and his Eagles out. It turns up this river here and they have a staging five miles from the Eagle centre. The river has forts on either side of it to protect it and they have some form of contraption that can throw rocks or burning bundles clear across to the other side.

  This here is the main road in to the area; there are another two, one here at the far side and this one here about half way round. Now this is the best bit. Here, here and here are rather large encampments not far from their soldiers they are for war beasts.’

  ‘Really, Eagles?’

  ‘No, these two are tyrannies and this one has something different, ‘he shoved a drawing across.

  ‘Elephants,’ the Eagle king breathed, ‘how many men?’

  ‘The best we can estimate is between seventy to a hundred thousand all told and all of them under a magic spell. The forts cover the river and a number of ships patrol the lakes. We have forces in that area and I told them to stop all trade going up river but they haven’t even stopped so much as a single ship.’

  ‘Why not, no don’t tell me, some form of magic.’

  ‘You got it; in fact I sent one of my men with them to find out what the fuck was going on. The moment they tried to board the ship they came to a standstill. The crew from the other ship came aboard and took all their stores; luckily he kept out of the way and lived to report back. His report was much different than the captains; according to the captain they never saw another vessel.’

  ‘My god, how the hell are we going to defeat him?’

  ‘To begin with I have a dozen ships manned by Highlanders, trouble is they hate it, we are not natural sailors it seems. Most of them puke their guts up while still in harbour, none can navigate and none know how to captain a ship.’

  ‘I presume you have men learning.’

  ‘Yes, but I've been told it takes a life time to learn and our mathematics aren’t quite up to scratch either.’

  Gareth nodded to two of the girls and they lifted a black web they had made and carried it to the table. The men made way and the girls laid it out on top of the map. ‘This is how far their magic extends to and the bad news is they extend it by about five miles a month. As you can see it covers the river and a part of the lake as well. We are going to stop that. Tomorrow we are going to ambush a group of them, about a hundred soldiers go round and round the perimeter and move the rings. We have been mapping them for months. They place two rings in a hole and the next time they come round they move one of the rings and then bury it in a new hole with a new ring.’

  His father-in-law nodded, ‘yes it’s called charging, the new ring draws power and the spell from the older one.’

  ‘I don’t care what it’s called. The good thing is they haven’t moved the camps very far, so these men are vulnerable. Once we take them out we are going to remove the rings we know the location of.’ Gareth removed a section of the web, ‘we are going to create a salient in the web twenty miles deep and thirty across. In it I'm going to pour ten thousand Highlanders and thirty thousand of my own troops. Ten thousand of those will be light cavalry and a thousand heavy horse. If the web doesn’t collapse in this area then we are going to retreat and try something else. I will need enough Eagles to transport all my men into the area in one go and to move them again as soon as we sight the Tyrannies, or what did you call them big things with the long nose.’

  ‘Elephants.’ He supplied.

  ‘We have a little trick to deal with the Tyrannies, but no idea of how to deal with these things other than to point big sharp sticks at them, any suggestions would be helpful father.’

  ‘I will have a dozen men scour the archives.’ His eyes fluttered closed for a moment, ‘they are on their way to do that now.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘Anything else I can help you with?’

  ‘Yes, the men we are going to kill tomorrow will be missed, they will send out patrols and we will kill them to. Once the rings have been moved I will move my troops into the area but will stay ten miles from the edge of the web and force them to come to us. I will simply camp, they will be expecting us to attack so will gather their forces and wait; when we don’t turn up for a few days hopefully they will attack. It will give us time to set up a defensive perimeter which we will patrol. If they don’t attack within three weeks we will go on the offensive and extend the salient.’

  He pointed to a part of the map, ‘I want to keep within this part of the salient if we engage in combat; however I will send out striking party’s to locate and cut rings, as their perimeter is slowly reduced hopefully it will force them to fight.’

  ‘Why stick to that area to fight Gareth?’

  ‘Ah, I was getting to that. This area is elevated, not much but I have inspected it myself, it’s almost like a bowl, it may even have been a lake at one time, it certainly looks like it. What’s interesting is that the ground below it can become very boggy when it rains and I want it to rain.’

  The Eagle King nodded, ‘you want more of my people don’t you?’

  ‘Thousands, in a ring all the way around; it’s not going to fill up but I want it to rain heavily. By the time the enemy reach us I want them to be exhausted from dragging themselves through miles of mud.’

  ‘I understand, when do you want them?’

  ‘Two days, an ambush party and a covering party are going in tomorrow. For the rest of the day and all through the night they are going to lift the rings. It will probably take them all that time to lift and cut as many as possible. With any luck they won’t realise that the rings have gone. My own people will test the area and see if we have created the salient we want. I want yours well outside the area but close enough for the rain to fall on this plain here.’

  ‘Your people will get wet too Gareth.’

  ‘We have planned for that, they won’t have.’

  ‘I see, ok I support your plan Gareth, I will have to return home and begin arrangements.’

  The Eagle King left them and Gareth dismissed the rest of the group. He sat at the map with Graun and Billy, pouring over it.

  ‘I think you got it Gareth,’ Billy grinned.

  Gareth shook his head, ‘there is still plenty that can go wrong Billy. Whoever we are up against is very smart and seems to have a never ending supply of gold. He has covered every possible angle so I'm quite sure he has planned for this one too. Graun what would you do if you were him?’

  Graun rubbed his chin, ‘speed I think, rush in troops and boot you out before you can become established. Move my web out and surround you.’

  ‘Aye but only if you realise it has been moved, to start with, I would put in a quick attack. He must know by now we aren’t bothered by their magic and he will wait at least a few days to see what route we are going to take into the territory. His scouts will believe we are setting up a supply base on the edge of his territory to begin with.’

  Graun agreed, ‘aye and in that first few days he will establish our numbers and a force big enough to deal with us, right.’

  ‘Right, but as soon as he realises we are digging in he will move as fast as he possibly can.’ Graun suddenly grinned, ‘that's why ten miles eh, they won’t want to move any father than that the day before they sight our forces, they will still be within the magic web.’

  ‘Aye and it will tak
e them a full day to move up to within sight of us. They arrive at nightfall make camp and attack by midday the following day. As soon as we see them we send the Eagle’s home. Hopefully by the next morning the rain will begin to slacken and by midday clear up.’

  ‘Aye Gareth if it rains.’

  He nodded, ‘aye if it rains. Now if you will excuse me gentlemen, I believe I have an egg hatching.’

  Graun shook his head, ‘can you no just say being born. That just disnna sound right.’

  ‘It is what it is Graun. I’d better go she’s screaming fit to bust.’

  He made his way quickly to her room which now bore a rather musty smell. She had sat on the eggs for months barely leaving the nest for longer than five minutes. Catherine was there also, she was beginning to get big herself. It had barely taken him a couple of months to get her pregnant and for a while he had two hormonal women on his hands. It hadn’t been so bad once Melina had laid her eggs but now boredom was chaffing at her.

  He was amazed by how well the two of them seemed to be getting on, however he kept in mind they could only communicate through a third party. Maybe it was this third party communication that was keeping them civil.

  Catherine was almost beside herself with excitement, ‘come here Gareth you can hear them chipping at the shell.’

  ‘Cant we just crack the egg open,’ Gareth mused.

  ‘No,’ Melina’s voice almost shouted inside his head, ‘they must break through the shell themselves.’

  ‘Aye ok,’ he murmured. Catherine was looking at him, ‘she says they have to do it themselves.’

  ‘Oh ok.’

  So they waited, it took another half hour for the first to crack the shell. A small hole appeared and as they watched it dot bigger and bigger. Then Melina took a hand and cracked it wide open to reveal a very ugly chick. That was exactly Gareth's thought, unfortunately Melina over heard it.