by P. G. Thomas
When Careel saw the expression on Alron’s face, he elbowed his brother, and they both reluctantly set down their plates, gave Mirtza and Gor a chance to prepare the next round. By this time, Aaro, Bor, John, Logan, and Eric had all gathered around the fire, eager for the update.
The news was not good, a major force was camped in a mountain valley, troop movements were increasing, and the road now heavily guarded. Their trip slow, mainly in the forest, as the road was not safe. As they finished their short report, both were glancing at the frying pan, Alron nodded his head, left to check on the road, as he did not want the Earth Daughter to hear his curses. His ears swiveled backwards, heard her soft footsteps, bit down on his tongue to silence his frustration.
“What about the forest Alron, can’t we go through it?”
“We does check forest behind us, it does naught be passable.”
“What about the forest on the other side of the road?”
Alron stopped, liked he had walked into an invisible tree, felt like a young untrained Earth Guard. He turned and went back to the camp, called to Cethail and Erust, told them to scout the forest, east of the road for two days south, then return.
Cethail and Erust returned in four days, the forest was passable, spots were difficult, some gullies were steep, but they felt confident they could travel for a week or more south. It would be difficult, slow, but safe. Alron announced they would move out the next day, anxious to get wherever they were going.
*******
All were bored, and none were sure what was worse, travel or sitting around. It was still dark when they crossed the road, the rear guard covering their tracks before they entered the forest. They travelled about a mile into the forest, and then turned south. It was hard to maintain the direction with no road to follow, as they tried to thread the easiest path through the tall trees. Even though the pace was slower, the absence of threats made it the better route to follow. For seven days, they traveled deep in the forest, and then headed back to the road. When they finally found it, they watched it for a day, and found the patrols diminished. So they waited for night, took to the road, hoping that Lauren’s songs would muffle the noise enough to get them past any guard posts.
*******
For a month, they travelled south this way. Slept during the day, riding at night. Both Alron and Lauren wondered if they had ridden by a mountain pass. The presence of the black-clad was less, which made them wonder even more if they had missed something, and nobody was sure if it was a good or bad thing. They should have taken a break day, but all wanted the journey south to end. Tired, undernourished, fatigued, they all had voted to push on. Alron knew better, but fatigue also clouded his mind. Dwarves do not have a word for mistake, working in the mines, deep in the mountains—there was no room for mistakes. However, they did have a word for those who made them, and that word was dead. The Earth Guard had many words for mistakes, drilled them into young Earth Guards so they would not forget. Alron was not young, forgot the last word, tired. Mistakes happen, words spoken by those who embrace failure, not spoken by Earth Guard. When they finally stopped that morning, Mirtza so tired, guard bats slept in his pocket. Everybody spread out, sought the darkest shadows to block the rising suns. Mistakes two and three.
Alron stared at the darkening sky, tried to push himself up, but wanted more sleep, then he heard the stags crashing through the brush. His brain, clouded with sleep instantly recognized the warning, and Earth Guard instincts kicked in, he was on his feet, whistling. He saw the Earth Guard stags scramble into the camp, and raced to the Earth Daughter, protect and serve, grabbed her, and leaped into the dark shadows of the forest with her. She tried to fight him, but he would not let go, just clamped his hand over her mouth so she could not scream.
[Threat imminent. Analysis: Outnumbered. Status: System configuration incomplete. Defensive options: None. Offensive options: None: Mode: Self-preservation. Select. Implement]
Earth Guards scrambled, trained to wake to the alarm whistles, they blended into the forest. Dwarves, trained for years, did not understand the warning whistles, grabbed their axes, and sought the dark to evaluate the situation.
Horses, silent horses, appeared in the clearing, crashing through the brush, absent of any noise. Black-clad men raced to where the others slept, leapt off their mounts, and attacked those still sleeping. Lauren cringed as she heard the blows land on her friends, her brother. She struggled, but Alron held her tight, and in a matter of minutes, John, Logan, Eric, Mirtza, and Zack were unconscious and tied up. A wagon with a metal jail cell on its back came into the clearing, and they threw the limp bodies into the back, and slammed the door shut.
The black-clad leader spoke, “Others slept here, find them. Turn over every rock, look in every tree, and find the rest. Gather their possessions, take them with you.”
HERE ENDS BOOK ONE OF
THE ANTI-MATTER CHRONICLES.
BOOK TWO “Sky Elf” IS NOW AVAILABLE