by Gerard Bond
It was time to start something, they were not going to go any further in, that only made it less likely for them to be able to escape and from where they were now they could easily hit a few of the bandits with their crossbows. Night looked across to Loranda and gave her a nod. Then she raised her own crossbow and took aim at the closest bandit turned sideways to her. As soon as she heard the thunk of Loranda's crossbow fire she pulled her trigger too. There was a scream from one of the men hit while the other fell dead into the fire in front of him. The other bandits all cried out and immediately dove for cover without looking. It gave the two of them precious seconds to reload and fire once more, there was another scream and then the two of them were up and running for the entrance.
They may have taken almost twenty minutes to get into position but their retreat was accomplished in only seconds. As soon as they burst out into the open they both turned and went to either side making for cover. Night squinted in the glare of the sun and leapt behind a large boulder, taking aim back towards the cave's entrance. Within twenty seconds a man showed in the gloom and Dark fired, he crumpled on the spot. After a little time they heard someone calling out and giving orders but for the most part it was quiet.
Wollfen gave a good look around at everyone in position, they were all well placed, there was nothing to do but wait now and see what happened. He doubted the bandits would attempt to make a break for it while it was daylight out.
After thirty minutes he moved and stretched a little, there had been no sound and no movement at all. He looked about and saw Night had her socks on top of the boulder, she was drying them in the sun. Behind her and closer to him was Solynne and Kane both spread wide in an arc. To his right was Dark and beyond her Loranda behind a log laying back with her hands behind her head. She looked across at that moment and gave him the thumbs up with a big grin. He shook his head at her irreverence for the situation. If it had been anyone else he would have given them a dressing down but he didn't doubt her abilities, she had proven herself more than capable.
Then there was a shout from within the cave,
“You out there! Can you hear me?” Wollfen thought quick, should he answer? It couldn't hurt,
“Yeah I can hear you! What do you want?”
“I want to make an offer! We have money! What say you?”
He was about to give an answer when he noticed Dark signaling him excitedly, then he called out,
“Wait on! I have to confer with my comrades!”
Wollfen then shuffled across to Dark's position and asked quietly,
“What is it?”
“I know that voice, his name is Blackstorm. He was of the clan Berengah!”
“Are you sure? He was in your clan? What is he like?” She shook her head as she spoke,
“A real prick. He thinks far more highly of himself than his abilities ever achieved. But I can tell you, he is good when it comes to giving a speech. But beyond that not much else.”
Wollfen digested the information quickly, it didn't change the situation at all but at least they knew who they were dealing with.
“Alright, I will keep talking to him and you get to everyone else and describe what he looks like to all of them. He is our main priority in this okay? We need to target him when the opportunity arises.”
“Got it, I will tell you what he looks like when I get back.”
He nodded and Dark moved off stealthily to Loranda first, then turned and called out to Blackstorm again,
“Give me thirty minutes and you will have your answer!”
He expected that would keep those inside happy for awhile thinking that the posse was actually considering their offer. He looked back to Dark and Loranda seeing the barefoot blonde rolling her eyes and nodding. What the heck were they talking about? As Dark came back past him he gave her a quizzical look , she nodded and gave a smirk,
“Loranda knows him, he was giving his men a speech before they fired.”
Well that explained Loranda's reaction he guessed.
After another thirty minutes Wollfen called out rejecting the offer from Blackstorm and was met with a vitriol of abuse.
“You sons of fucking bitches! We are going to come out there and kill you all slow! You are all goin to suffer at my hands! Who the fuck do you think you are to reject me? I am going to cut all your hearts out and eat them!”
This went on for another five minutes and Wollfen now understood fully Dark's description of the man, he really was all words.
Dusk fell a couple of hours later without anything happening, everyone was getting stiff laying in wait watching on without moving. He was sure there would be one or two bandits watching from the gloom trying to spot their positions. They all knew not to move though but it was taking its toll.
Wollfen's mind started to wander, he thought about what Loranda had done earlier in the day riding up naked to that sentry on duty, he thought about Darkling and how he felt about her. He thought about where Keera and Justin might be right now? Keeping watch was getting monotonous.
All of a sudden the bandits burst out into the waning light and ran at them, Wollfen shouted,
“Watch out!”
He raised his crossbow and fired off a quick shot catching one man in the shoulder and spinning him around. The others too fired off their weapons and a number of bodies went down. No one had expected this to happen right now and Wollfen was up with sword in his hand in a flash.
Two men came at him and he swung hard driving them both back. Then they began to parry, each taking turns to attack and respond. One of then drove in hard from below while the other raised his sword high and swinging down fast, Wollfen backed off a couple of feet and splayed his legs. This time he stabbed at the one who aimed low and he recoiled, the other swung in from the side and Wollfen had to deflect the incoming blade with his own. At that moment the other man took off past him running for the woods.
Turning he focused on the first man in front of him and the two of them dueled with swords clashing. The fight was rather one sided though and as Wollfen swung hard smacking the man's blade away he quickly pulled back and the tip of his blade bit deep across the man's chest. He screamed in agony and fell forward onto the ground. Wollfen finished him off by plunging blade into his body piercing his heart.
Looking around Wollfen saw Loranda firing her crossbow at a retreating figure running up the valley, the man didn't stand a chance and he crashed to the ground as the bolt passed clean through him. Turning around he saw Kane finishing off another bandit, the rest were standing looking about.
“Take a head count! How many did we kill? I know of one that escaped.”
Wollfen counted the bodies on the ground and they were two short, he turned to Loranda and Night,
“You two go back inside and see if anyone is hiding out. Dark, I need you to check all the bodies and see if Blackstorm is one of them.”
“Got it.”
He watched for a moment as she bent to her task and then turned back to the woods, well there was one at least that had escaped. He looked back to the others,
“Did you two see any others escape?” They all shook their heads,
“No, too busy fighting, sorry.”
Dark returned to him,
“None of these are Blackstorm.” He sighed in frustration,
“Well shit. Let's hope he is hiding out inside the cave.”
It was a few minutes more before the two girls came out,
“Anything?”
They both responded in the negative.
“Damn it all, he was the one we wanted!”
He was angry, not at any of them, just at the situation. Some of them though looked uncomfortable. He looked about in thought putting his hands on his hips.
“Alright, break up into pairs and let's start tracking him, he can't have gotten far. If you find nothing by morning we will rendezvous back here okay?”
Wollfen looked up into the evening sky, at least there would be a full moon tonigh
t.
Each team was given an area to search and went about their business, it was going to be a long sleepless night.
At dawn the next day they had all regrouped by the cave sitting on the ground looking tired and grumpy. Blackstorm was long gone as well as the fellow that had run past Wollfen.
“I guess there's nothing for it but to return to Outrock and make a report, I am sure the new Lord will be well pleased by our work.”
None of them felt too pleased, they understood what the main goal was and they had failed. There wasn't much they could do to correct it either.
“Alright let's mount up and head out, no point in hanging around here.”
The team tired as they were started mounting their horses and all of a sudden Loranda called out,
“Hey, there's two wagons approaching, it must be Keera and Justin!”
They all paused and looked on, waiting for the wagons to get closer, maybe they could take a break for awhile and rest?
“Wait, that's not our wagons! That must be the supply wagons for the bandits!”
And just as Kane had spoken the two wagon drivers also realized who they were and immediately turned around trying to make their escape. Night was the fastest to respond as she was already on her horse, she cocked her crossbow and fired at the rearmost wagon hitting the driver in the back. The impact sent him flying and falling between the two horses. Then she was off riding hard and reloading, the others were mounting fast too but Wollfen simply stood and watched on. Night had it in hand and within a few more moments the second driver was laid out in his wagon dead.
Three hours later Wollfen and his team were on the road back to Outrock with two wagons in tow, it had been decided they could sell the goods and use the money to feed and shelter them in the coming months. It wasn't a bad idea really and he was sure that the Lord of Outrock wouldn't mind them taking the spoils.
It wasn't long before they spotted two more wagons coming along the road toward them, this time it was definitely Keera and Justin. As they pulled up the three of them, Falk, Keera and Justin all had smiles on their faces,
“What's up with you three?” Justin was the one that replied,
“We got ourselves a bandit, it was the funniest thing eh? We were camped last night and early this morning while having breakfast this one guy shows up telling us we had to clear out before the posse finds us, he was telling us the cave had been found out and that the rest were dead. Then Falk here came walking back out of the woods after having a pee, he saw his uniform and the penny dropped for him. Keera took him out fast with a flying dagger.” Wollfen and the rest looked at each other and then he looked back to Justin,
“Tell me Justin, where did you leave his body?” Justin grinned again,
“Oh we got him right here in the back.”
Wollfen immediately dismounted as did the others and they all crowded around, he lifted back the canvas tarp covering the fuel oil pots and there lay Blackstorm. Dark, Night and Loranda all made a noise, they recognized him,
“That's the man, how about that? We got him. Damn, you three have no idea do you?” Loranda looked to them who were looking on without a clue.
“No what's going on?” Wollfen turned to the three,
“That there my fine friends in the leader of the bandits we have been after all along. You managed to bag him without even knowing.”
Wollfen breathed a sigh of relief, in fact all of them looked visibly relieved. They had been out here for a month and a half and now they could finally say they had accomplished their goals. He turned to all his compatriots,
“When we get back to Outrock, the drinks are on me!”
They all cheered, Loranda was the most excited of all,
“Well come on then, let's get going! There's free drinks at the end of this road!”
They all turned their horses and started moving off, Keera though was a bit put out and even as she was turning her wagon about to follow she was calling out to them.
“Hey! I spent all my silver buying two wagon loads of fuel oil, what am I supposed to do with it now?”
They were to hear her bellyaching about her misfortune all the way back to Outrock over the next three days.
Ah Outrock, a cesspool of outlaws and vagrants with no hope of any elevation in royal society but to the nine people coming back from the east it was an afterlife sent sight. After offloading all the supplies and the four wagons for a large bag of gold they all descended on their old Tavern and ordered ale for everyone there. That amber fluid went down their parched throats so well and everyone was grateful. Kane stood up and made a toast to Wollfen,
“I'd like to propose a toast to the man of the hour, his name carries no royal seal, he is not known amongst any of the people in general but to us, he is a man that has shown us a new way. He has given me and I am sure any number of you a new purpose in life. I can tell you, after what we did out there, I feel pretty damned good about myself. So here's to you Wollfen, I tip my head and bow to you for all you have done.” The rest called out,
“Hear hear!” And all drunk deep. Then Kane went on,
“One more thing my good friend, I have talked with the others here and we would like to just say this,” He looked around at the others and then went on, “We are your wolf pack. Call upon us anytime and we shall answer. This wolf pack belongs to you.”
Wollfen smiled and looked around at each of them, then he stood up and spoke his own words,
“Thanks Kane, you do more for me than I expect, that's the truth. I would like to thank you all for what we have achieved together, we have a great team here and I can tell you we can do some real good together.” He paused and looked around a bit, “I would like to tell you now why I gathered you all together, why it is this 'Wolf Pack' that you have named yourself exists.”
Again he paused, letting them take notice of his words.
“Thing is I have been given insights into the future, there are things, big things that are going to happen to this nation very soon and we have to be prepared. I was contacted by mindtouch over a year ago by an old elven friend who as you know have the ability to predict the future and also interpret the prophesies too. He speaks of a great evil visiting this land and that the Kingdom will be sorely tested. We on the other hand will be able to counter it by our actions. It is why we are here. If you believe in what we are doing is right, then I hope that you will all continue to follow me in the future.”
Now he stopped and let what he had told them sink in. They all sat in quiet contemplation for a minute and then Nightwing stood up, she looked at all of them who nodded in turn and then she looked back to him,
“We your wolf pack are with you to the finish Wollfen.”
End
Please read the next book in the series called Angels Blood, a far grander and more powerful tale than you have already read. Its scope covers entire nations and races of elves, orcs, humans and more. A vision of world changing events through the eyes of our heroes, the 'Wolfe Pack'
Angels Blood
"I have read your book three times already, I can't put it down!"
I have heard this from a number of my current readers and I am amazed at how well received my books are. If you want an exciting book then don't hesitate to add Angels Blood to your cart.
Angels Blood is a book looking to grip you and keep you enthralled from start to finish. With every chapter it lures you on making you wonder, what has happened? What's going to come next? All the while you watch and pray for each of the heroes as they face not only the enemy but their own fears too, not to mention conflicts with each other.
Can Wollfen the main character hold his team together in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds? Will his partner Darkling rise up to the challenge and lead the rest when he is not there? Can Nightwing formerly of a royal house get past her own inner demons that she has carried around since her teens? Will Kane a savvy tactician rise up and fulfill his natural destiny? And what of Keera the former m
ercenary seemingly tamed by a youthful Justin? Can they manage to hold their relationship together while facing the power of the enemy arrayed against the Kingdom?
Then there is the enemy they face too, the invading armies of Isogorr led by the powerful Sorc Clique under the control of Queen Drexus. Is conquering the lands for fame and fortune really their goal? Or is there something far more sinister being undertaken, something that could tear the entire world apart? Will Wollfen find out in time what is truly at stake as the war rages on between the Kingdom and Isogorr? Maybe the Elves of the north hold a key to it all, but will they get involved or keep to themselves and not participate in seemingly human affairs.
Wollfen too carries dark secrets and hidden agendas, what is his connection to Queen Drexus? How has such a powerful sorc such as him been able to hide for so many years? Is he in fact there to save the Kingdom? Or is he too focused on something different?
All these questions will come and more when reading the book.
Nothing is certain, some will prevail and some will fall. There will be moments of joy and anger even sadness, plus moments of passion too. Sometimes you will get a laugh at the antics of Loranda as she dances about cheekily irritating the self important members of the royal court. All in all you will be filled with compassion for the characters as they stumble their way through the trails of war and human conflict.
End Notes
If you wish to continue following the ongoing adventures of Wollfen and his companions then please don't hesitate in adding me on twitter for regular updates on my continuing works. Thank you for reading my book, I hope you enjoyed it and that you will continue to read more in the future. Regards,
Gerard Bond
Twitter account, @GerardBond1
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