Wyka stared at the small king incredulously, but finally nodded. She picked him up and held him close to her breast. Arik’s hand felt the scales and slipped one hand under in the prescribed area.
“Enough,” Wyka said abruptly as she lowered King Arik to the ground. “You tickle me.”
King Arik could find no laugher in the dragon’s voice. “I know how much this bothers you,” Arik declared. “I will keep my word. I promise.”
“You had better,” blustered the dragon. “My people are few enough as it is. We need to find you a place to sleep for the night.”
“I know of a cabin not far from here,” responded King Arik. “It is occupied by an old man. The other dragons promised not to eat him, so I do not think he will be too upset if we go there. At least I will be indoors.”
“Very well,” said Wyka. “Climb onto my back, and I will find this cabin.”
King Arik climbed up Wyka’s tail and up her back until he found a comfortable spot. He shook his head as his eyes noticed a deformed scale. He bent his face close to the scale and peered at it. It looked like someone had carved his initials in the scale.
“Don’t even mention it,” growled Wyka as pillars of smoke curled from her nostrils. “One word and you are dinner. I am not kidding.”
“One word about what?” King Arik replied while trying to avoid laughing. “I am ready when you are.”
“Hmmph,” growled Wyka as she sent flames roaring into the already burning log and prepared to take flight. “Hang on. I am not responsible for falling kings.”
King Arik smiled and hung on as Wyka’s powerful legs thrust her into the air.
Chapter 24
Prize in a Pouch
Alexander Tork sat on Kaz and gazed at the towering pillars of smoke coming from the burning fields. He nodded in satisfaction as the Sordoan soldiers began trickling back to the spot chosen to regroup. He turned and looked at the two mercenaries at his side.
“Your men are getting better at this,” he complimented the mercenaries. “I hope it is a habit that they can forget when this war is over.”
“That will not be a problem,” smiled Captain Azule. “My men have never been into destroying things. We actually had a rather good relationship with the citizens around Sarga.”
“The same can be said for the Kadin Claws,” agreed Captain Orteka. “My men will be glad to get back on the ships and away from this devastation.”
“The time to leave is upon us,” smiled Alex. “Let a different group begin their destruction.”
A fairy fluttered down from the sky and landed on Alex’s shoulder.
“Welcome back, Bantam,” greeted Alex. “I trust the Lanoirians are on their way here.”
“They are,” nodded the little blue fairy, “but not all of them are coming this time. Only a tenth of them appear to be responding to the smoke.”
“Only a tenth?” echoed Captain Orteka. “Why the change? They always charged the smoke from the fires before.”
“And they have never caught one of our teams,” Captain Azule pointed out. “Perhaps they are getting wise to what we are doing.”
“I have no doubt that they are,” added Alex. “In fact, they should have realized it long before this. If they know that we are luring them away from growing fields, I suspect that the bulk of their forces will stay where they are until they find new farms to feed themselves.”
“That ends our campaign of destroying the local food then,” complained Captain Orteka. “We cannot burn the fields they hold captive. There are too many of them.”
“Perhaps our campaign needs to change,” mused Alex. “We have a thousand men here. They are sending two thousand towards us. Maybe we should teach them about the problems of splitting their group.”
“You mean to fight the detachment sent to investigate the fires?” asked Captain Orteka.
“That is what soldiers do,” nodded Alex. “We fight.”
“Still,” interjected Captain Azule, “we will be outnumbered two to one.”
“Then we must fight wisely,” suggested Alex as he gazed at the forest north of the meeting location. “I am fairly familiar with this area. I doubt that the Lanoirians are.”
“I doubt they know much of this area,” responded Captain Azule. “My own men have never been this far from Sarga. I see no reason to suspect that the Lanoirians have.”
“What do you have planned?” asked Captain Orteka.
“In the forest north of here,” Alex began, “there is a fairly wide stream that they will have to ford. If we time the attack correctly, we can cause great harm to the Lanoirians. It will involve your men foregoing their horses for a while. Will they accept that?”
“If your plan is feasible,” answered Captain Azule, “my men will follow your lead, but do not cast my men away foolishly.”
“I agree,” nodded Captain Orteka. “My men would savor a chance to bloody the Lanoirians.”
“There are ships off the coast in the area of the main Lanoirian cavalry,” Alex instructed Bantam. “They are waiting for the Lanoirians to move so that they may begin burning the fields in that area. I want you to inform them that the bulk of the Lanoirians are not responding to us. They are to hold off on their landing.”
“I will inform them,” chirped Bantam. “Then I shall return to you.”
Alex nodded as the fairy darted into the sky. He knelt and pulled out a knife. He began drawing a map in the dirt.
“The trail turns at the ford,” Alex began as he drew the map in the dirt. “That means that the Lanoirians will not have a good view of the battlefield. Also, they can only cross the ford in a double column, so they will be bottled up with little maneuvering room. We will strike them as they ford the stream.”
“We won’t be able to maneuver either,” frowned Captain Orteka. “The losses will be great.”
“We won’t need to maneuver,” smiled Alex. “Your men will be using bows from the cover of the forest. The only time we will need to move is after the battle is over.”
“You plan to kill them all?” asked Captain Azule. “Do you think we can do that?”
“I do,” nodded Alex. “At least all of the ones who do not retreat. I suspect some will flee when they realize what is going on, but that matters little to us. Our purpose is to convince the Lanoirians that they cannot sit idle where the food supplies exist. Even if we only kill half of the Lanoirian column, we will have accomplished our goal.”
“Or at least made significant progress towards it,” nodded Captain Azule.
“True,” agreed Alex. “They may need more than one lesson to convince them, but that is also welcome. That means that we get a chance to whittle down their numbers.”
“I like it,” smiled Captain Azule. “Count my men in.”
“Same here,” agreed Captain Orteka. “How much time do we have?”
“Not much,” frowned Alex. “We need to move out immediately. We will barely have time to get set up before the Lanoirians get to the ford.”
The two mercenary captains shouted orders to their men to assemble. A brief meeting was held with the thousand Sordoan soldiers, and the group headed north into the forest.
* * *
Colonel Zackary Nolan walked to the closet in his office and pulled out a black robe. He walked back to the man in his office and handed it to him.
“You might want to discard that rag that you call a robe,” suggested Zackary. “It makes you look like a thief. At least this one is respectable.”
“It was the best I could do,” shrugged Bin-lu. “I needed something to cover this Lanoirian uniform. I doubt the Red Swords would have freely admitted me to Tagaret with this uniform on.”
“If they did,” chuckled the colonel, “they would no longer be Red Swords. The information that you sent with Shrimp was quite interesting. We have been working hard to determine who Emperor Hanchi really is.”
“And what have you found out?” asked Bin-lu.
“Wylan
keeps coming up with the name of Dalgar,” answered Zackary. “The problem is that we are not sure if that is just rumor or conjecture. We need to know for sure.”
“Dalgar,” mused Bin-lu. “He did seem to be working at odds with Sarac by keeping Niki and Fredrik alive. It makes sense.”
“Oh, I agree,” nodded the colonel, “but Jenneva wants to know for sure. I have never seen her so tense. She has a score to settle with Dalgar.”
“I know,” sighed Bin-lu. “Dalgar is the one who raided her island home and stole the Book of the Beginning.”
“And killed the little girl, Shanor,” added Zackary.
“So what is she going to do with this information?” frowned Bin-lu. “If it is Dalgar, the man is surrounded by a hundred thousand soldiers. She will not be able to get close to him.”
“That is not my concern,” shrugged the colonel. “She wants to know, and I intend to find out for her. King Arik has agreed that she has the right to know.”
“That is good enough for me,” declared Bin-lu. “How can I help?”
“There are only two names that appear to be closely attached to the Lanoirian emperor,” explained Zackary. “You heard Zorn and Tashlan mentioned. I do not know where to find Zorn, but Tashlan is in Tagaret. Although he admits to being a Black Devil, he does not know that we realize who he really is.”
“So you want me to get him to verify the identity of the Black Devil that took over Emperor Hanchi’s identity?” asked Bin-lu.
“If you can,” nodded Colonel Nolan. “I have not thought of a way to get him to do that yet, but there must be a way.”
“There is always a way,” smiled Bin-lu. “At least that is what my teacher always taught me. You have created a monster.”
“An excellent monster,” laughed the colonel. “I was worried about you being in the Lanoirian camp. I am pleased, but not surprised, to see that you made it home safely.”
“It was close,” frowned Bin-lu. “Shrimp saved me.”
“Where is the little man?” asked the colonel.
“He wanted time to socialize with his people,” answered Bin-lu. “I told him to enjoy himself. You know, we could not do half of what we do without the fairies.”
“They have been invaluable,” agreed Zackary. “Tagaret is kept informed about the happenings all over the world. We have not heard from Prince Midge in a while, though,” he added with a frown. “I hope nothing is wrong with him or King Arik.”
* * *
“I smell goblins,” Prince Darok said softly. “They are coming closer.”
“I was hoping that we had put enough distance between us and Sarac’s castle to use the unicorn’s flying abilities,” frowned Tanya. “We better dismount and hide.”
The small group dismounted, and Frea and Chaco herded the horses away from the trail. Prince Garong pointed towards a dense stand of trees, and Eltar nodded. Eltar ran silently towards the trees and nodded his approval.
“Those trees should hide us well,” Prince Garong told the others. “I suggest that we keep our bows handy.”
Tanya and the dwarf prince nodded and moved swiftly to conceal themselves alongside the two elves. Within moments, the goblin patrol appeared along the trail. At first it seemed as if they would just pass through, but suddenly the small column stopped. They argued among themselves for a few minutes, and then began to build a fire in the middle of the trail.
“They are stopping for the night,” Prince Garong whispered. “This is not good. The unicorns will not be able to keep the horses silent forever.”
“Then we need to change our plans,” declared Tanya. “I see only twelve of them. Is that what you count?”
“That is all there is,” agreed Eltar, “unless they are planning to meet with others.”
“They will not be meeting with anyone,” Prince Darok snarled softly. “It is only three to one. Let’s do away with them and be on our way.”
“Go to the right, Eltar,” ordered Prince Garong. “I will go to the left.”
Tanya watched the elves slip silently out of the stand of trees. She turned her attention back to the goblins and watched them as they set up camp. She peered through the trees as two goblins began arguing over a small pouch. Her curiosity aroused, she tapped Prince Darok on the arm and pointed to the arguing goblins.
“What do you make of that?” she whispered.
“Goblins are very possessive,” the dwarf prince answered. “It is probably something valuable that they found on some victim’s body. I am going to move to the right edge of this stand. You get the left.”
Tanya nodded as the dwarf moved slowly away. Quietly, she moved leftward to the edge of the dense stand. Her eyes scanned the forest looking for the elves, but she could not see them. She nocked an arrow to her bow and waited. She did not have to wait very long.
Two arrows flew into the goblins from different sides. Tanya let her arrow fly and immediately grabbed another. The first few goblins to fall drew the attention of the rest. Pandemonium rippled through the goblins as they tried to determine the source of the attack. When Prince Darok’s throwing axe split the head of one of the goblins, they all turned towards the dwarf and charged.
Prince Darok grinned as he threw another axe. He watched as arrows began to take their toll on the goblin group. Only one goblin managed to live long enough to get close to the dwarf. Prince Darok cut him in two with a large axe. He left the cover of the tree that he had been hiding behind and went to retrieve his throwing axes.
“We should leave this place quickly,” warned Prince Garong as Tanya and the elves converged on the goblin campsite. “If there are yaki in the area, they will smell the blood.”
Tanya nodded absently as she gazed at the small pouch the goblins had been arguing over. She reached down and picked it up.
“I am ready,” announced Price Darok as he led the horses toward the trail.
Tanya nodded her readiness and went to stuff the small pouch in her pack when she felt it move. A curious frown fell over her face as she stared at the pouch. Carefully, she squeezed the pouch slightly.
“Stop that!” shouted a muffled voice.
Tanya eyes widened as the dwarf and elves gathered around.
“What is that?” asked Eltar.
“Is that the pouch the goblins were fighting over?” asked Prince Darok.
“It is,” nodded Tanya. “I thought that I would see what it is that goblins argue over. There is something alive in there.”
“Open it,” suggested Prince Garong.
“What if it is some evil spirit?” questioned the dwarf.
“Open the pouch already!” shouted the muffled voice.
“Open it,” ordered Prince Garong. “That is a fairy voice.”
Tanya nodded and untied the drawstrings. She expected a fairy to come flying out when the pouch was opened, but nothing happened. Cautiously, she peered into the pouch and gasped.
“Prince Midge?” she cried as she scooped the little man out of the pouch. “What happened to you?”
Tanya held Prince Midge in the palm of her hand and discarded the small pouch. The fairy looked terrible. His body was swollen all along his left side, and his left wing was mangled and torn.
“I fought a dragon, and he won,” the fairy prince retorted angrily. “He drove me into the trees.”
“Well, Mya has smiled upon us today,” remarked Prince Darok. “What luck it is that we have found you among all the goblin patrols in this forsaken land.”
“The goddess Mya had nothing to do with this,” countered Tanya. “While we may have been lucky that this band of goblins chose to camp where we were hidden, this was not one of Sarac’s patrols.”
“Tanya is right,” agreed Prince Garong. “I think we are outside the goblins’ patrol area. This group was probably delivering a message to Sarac’s castle. A patrol would never camp on the trail in any event.”
“What of King Arik?” Tanya asked hesitantly.
“Gorga has him,�
�� frowned the fairy prince. “The Bringer tied himself to the dragon’s back. Gorga could not reach him. I tried to get the dragon close to ground so that the Bringer could safely get off. I was unsuccessful. The last thing I remember before smashing into the tree was Gorga shooting skyward. The Bringer was still tied to his back.”
“Then there is still hope,” responded Prince Garong. “Valon will find a way to get off the dragon’s back.”
Tanya examined the fairy’s mutilated wing and shook her head sadly. “I do not know how to care for this,” she said softly. “It is so delicate that I fear I might break it more.”
“We will head towards Elderal,” advised Prince Garong. “We shall ask Zalaharic to look at it. He has healing talents that others do not comprehend.”
“I still think Mya had a hand in this,” argued the dwarf. “Look at the sun. It is not time to stop for the night yet.”
“That is my fault,” interjected Prince Midge. “I have been chanting my sleep spell for over an hour. I guess it doesn’t work all that well from inside a pouch, but it must have made the leader tired.”
“Whatever fate brought us together,” interrupted Prince Garong, “we are leaving now. Let us ride through to Elderal.”
* * *
The Lanoirian cavalry halted at the edge of the stream. The leader frowned as he stared at the small ford crossing the wide stream. He shouted orders and a pair of trackers crossed the stream and headed along the trail for a ways. They returned and waved the main group forward.
“You were right about the trackers,” whispered Captain Azule. “I am glad that you had us come by foot through the forest rather than use the trail. It was time well spent.”
Alex merely nodded as he watched the vanguard of the column cross the stream. He counted the soldiers as they rode by.
“Any minute now,” Alex whispered. “That is almost half of them. The leaders should be reaching the tail end of our men.”
As if on schedule, shouts rang through the air well to the south of the stream. Like a wave, the sound of snapping bowstrings flowed along the trail from the south to the stream. Cries of the wounded mixed with shouts, as the Lanoirians reacted to the ambush.
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