by Ritu Ghosh
“No! There is nothing” said Flynn wondering what was going on.
“I think we should all go and take one more look. Jane might be able to see something hidden from our sight” said Aaron and rode ahead.
Jane patted his back gently, she wanted to say few more things to him but it seemed that she needed a more appropriate time for that.
Flynn rode behind them, his thoughts were turning sour “That girl just made my best friend cry; he still thinks that she is best at everything. I am sure she has done her magic on him”
But he silently followed them as Aaron led the way. They rode deeper into the forest. Jane was extra cautious now as if she was expecting to see the Lurgs any moment. She held her head high and looked in all directions. The horses still made no sounds.
The trees were lush green in this side of the forest as they do after the rains and the fresh smell of some wild flowers was filling the air.
The branches and the tree trunks were hardly visible. The path was not clear, but they were making their own way. Some of the tall trees appeared suddenly and Jane looked up to check if there was somebody there.
Jane stopped abruptly and looked towards a wild berry tree.
“Wait here” she whispered and signaled Aaron and Flynn to remain there. She quietly got down from her horse and walked towards the small patch of open land surrounded by the wild berry trees. She looked around and then knelt on the ground; she bent and checked the ground with her fingers. Then without much thought she came back to where Aaron and Flynn were standing and took something out of her bag in her horse’s saddle.
“What are you doing? Did you find something” asked Aaron.
“I think so, but I just wanted to be sure. I think you should come with me” she said.
Both of them followed Jane on foot. Jane now had a bundle of something in her hand and was carrying it carefully.
Flynn looked at Aaron curiously but Aaron just signaled him to remain calm.
Jane reached the same spot again and knelt. Aaron couldn’t see anything there; it was clean as the other place. Jane opened the pack carefully placing it on her right palm. Aaron saw the contents; it was a blue shimmery powder. Jane took a pinch of it and sprayed it all over the ground and then she did the same a few more times.
"What are you doing? I can’t see anything here” said Flynn trying hard to understand what Jane was trying out.
“Shh! have some patience” said Jane looking at the blue powder that was all over the ground now. She closed her eyes and chanted a few words which neither Aaron nor Flynn understood.
Flynn frowned for a second but soon his mouth was wide open “Wha.. What’s happening?”
The blue powder had now changed into many humongous footprints. It was as if an army had just passed through.
“The Lurgs have passed through here” said Jane.
Aaron sat down next to her and inspected the ground.
“You think they have gone to Arktor?” asked Aaron.
"I don’t think so, this is not the way to Arktor, but they were here. They camped here” said Jane.
“There were so many of them?” exclaimed Flynn.
“Not really, it’s just the footsteps of the Lurgs over and over; they stayed here for quite some time. But I still don’t understand why they were here. May be they came for something else or they really do not know where Alfadon is” said Jane.
“Do you think they are nearby?” asked Aaron as he stood up and grabbed his sword’s hilt.
“No, these trails are three days old. I don’t think they are nearby. They have left” said Jane standing up.
“They’ve left, we should inform the others immediately” said Aaron and headed for his horse.
Jane nodded and followed him.
The evening was upon them already, they stared for their meeting point under the Blue Mountains. Aaron remembered the way back pretty clearly now. It seemed to him that he was getting better at recognizing the paths of the forests. He also remembered the obstacles that they faced earlier. He was leading them, he never knew that riding through the forest would be so thrilling for him.
They soon reached the spot Dan had selected for all of them to meet after the search. Ony, Bo and Billy were leisurely sitting on the ground against some tree trunks; Ony was cleaning his ears with a twig. Belster and Dan were getting down from their horses. Dan stopped and looked at Aaron and Jane as they came speeding.
Jane dismounted the horse in a hurry and ran to Dan. "I found them” she said breathlessly.
“Found them? Are they nearby?" Asked Dan surprised.
“No they are gone” said Aaron while Jane caught her breath.
“Gone? What do you mean gone? We came all the way for nothing then" said Belster angrily.
“We found three day old tracks. It seemed like they have headed towards Northwood but I am not sure” said Jane ignoring Belster.
“Let’s go get them then, what are we waiting for” Ony stood up with his axe and thumped on the ground.
“No, not now” said Dan “It’s getting darker and the Lurgs have the advantage of seeing and fighting much better in the dark. We will follow the tracks tomorrow morning, at least, we know what direction they went in”
Ony settled back to his position and Belster went back to tending the horses, Dan instructed Billy to come with him for hunting for dinner.
Aaron and Flynn sat next to Ony and asked him if he has any more stories to tell. Jane was busy arranging the magic supplies from her bag. She was making small bundles and keeping these bundles inside the small pouch she carried around her waist.
Ony was soon in a merry mood as he found an audience to tell more of his stories to. He took a big bottle of ale from the food supplies and was drinking it while Bo, Aaron and Flynn were cheering him for his stories of bravery.
Belster lighted a small fire as the night grew thicker. Jane sat silently around it. Belster started to sharpen his arrows. Dan and Billy returned with a few rabbits they hunted. Billy left to prepare the meat for roasting.
“Can’t you keep it down?” said Dan “We could hear you from miles away"
“Oh what is there to worry? There is nobody here to fear. The Lurgs have gone the wrong way” said Ony and started to laugh.
“Too much wine is messing with your head” said Dan and snatched the bottle of ale from Ony. "Now, keep it down. We do not know what else is spying on us. The Dark Force is never at rest, remember that?” Dan gave everybody a long warning look and stormed away.
Dan and Jane cooked the meat and served it with bread and cheese that they carried with then. Aaron enjoyed the meal. It tasted better each time. The bread and the tender freshly roasted meat smelled heavenly. He sat next to Jane but Jane was lost in thoughts.
After the simple dinner, they found a clean place to take rest for the night. Belster was on the first watch. He continued to sharpen his arrows while the others slept. The warmth from the fire was very comforting and after the whole day of riding, Aaron couldn’t keep his eyes open. He drifted into a sweet slumber as soon as he closed his eyes.
He had the strangest dream that night. He was back at Brinsar, his uncle, his aunt and Mathew were at the dinner table. He and Brandon sat with them. There were piles of yummy food laid on the table. Then somebody knocked on the door, Aaron’s heart leapt like he knew who was behind the door. Brandon jumped out of his chair and ran to open the door, and Mrs. Renn followed him.
Aaron’s mother and father walked into the dining hall, his mother was hugging Brandon, she looked so pretty, her curly brown hair fell on her face, and her pretty eyes were searching for Aaron.
“There is my boy! Come here my sweets” she said with her open arms. Next to her, his father stood wearing armor and his sword looking like a true knight. He smiled at Aaron and was waiting for him to come to them. Aaron got up and walked up to them but they seemed to go further away. The more he walked towards them, the more they seemed to move back.
“Come dear, what are you waiting for? Aaron’s mother called him again. Brandon was still hugging their mother “Come Aaron, come here” he said in his sweet voice, but Aaron couldn’t reach them.
He saw somebody standing far away and giggling. He looked in that direction, Jane was standing there, and her golden hair gleamed. She had a pretty smile on, but she was not laughing with Aaron, she was lost in her own world.
Suddenly, everything disappeared. His uncle’s house turned into a big and dark place made of rocks. And it was in ruins. He was standing alone in the big hall, nobody was around him.
“Hello, anybody there? Uncle, Brandon, Mom, Dad?” Aaron called out, but nobody spoke back. He walked on the broken floor. Suddenly the torches began to light up on their own and the place became visible to Aaron. But it was still dim for Aaron to see anything clearly.
“Come here boy” Aaron heard a voice from behind him and was startled. He turned back quickly. He saw red glowing eyes at a distance and a grey shadow. Aaron was scared but he still walked towards the shadow. As he approached the shadow, it seemed to grow in size, it appeared to be getting bigger and bigger. The shape was sitting on a throne made of stones and was fully cloaked.
“Who are you? What do you want?” asked Aaron.
“You are such a brave boy, aren’t you? The boy who thinks he can outwit me” said the grey cloaked figure and came towards Aaron like a flash of light.
Aaron felt cold bony hands on his throat immediately, the cloaked figure was choking him with all his strength. Aaron did not have his sword or even a knife to fight back. With both his hands, Aaron tried his best to loosen the grip of the bony hands around his neck.
Chapter 4
Attack of the Lurgs
“Do you really want to know who I am?” said the cloaked figure and removed his hood, two glaring red eyes came towards Aaron and Aaron screamed in pain as it bore into his own eyes. With a start Aaron opened his eyes.
For a second he couldn’t breathe, his blurry eyes could not see much, it was still dark. The morning just began to set in. Aaron felt something around his neck, he was sitting up against a tree. With his sleepy eyes, he saw Ony on the watch but he was sleeping. Then he saw some shadows everywhere, they were big and bulky with blunt swords in their hands.
Aaron blinked his eyes a few more times to shake his sleep off. He thought he was still dreaming. His vision got clearer in a few moments and he saw that he was not dreaming anymore. They were surrounded and captured by the Lurgs of Kora and were tied up.
Dan, Belster, Billy and Jane had their hands and legs tied up. Ony was still sleeping without any knowledge of what was going on.
Aaron couldn’t move either. But as soon as he started to struggle, a heavy hand fell on his face. He almost blacked out. The Lurg standing next to him had punched him.
“Not the boy” screamed one Lurg suddenly.
A bigger and stronger Lurg came towards Aaron. Aaron flinched as he thought he was going to get hit again.
“I told you to take special care of this boy. We cannot harm him. Do you want to be killed by our king?” said the bigger Lurg loudly. Ony woke up with a sudden jerk.
“What’s going on?” he mumbled to himself and looked for his axe. The two Lurgs standing in front of him knocked him down and threw away the axe kept next to him. They immediately tied his hands and legs.
Belster was red in face and by seeing him, Aaron could guess that he has been saying things to the Lurgs as one of his eye was quite swollen. But he was still wriggling to get free from the ropes that tied him.
“Keep this one safe” said the bigger Lurg and then he came really closer to Aaron “This one will fetch me a good reward”
The Lurgs of Kora were quite different from that of the Lurgs Aaron had seen before. These Lurgs had no hunch backs; they stood straight and wore heavy amours. They had spikes attached to their hand armors and helmets. They were all black as coal and were much uglier. Their speech was not very clear as their teeth covered most of their mouths and they had no lips.
Aaron sat still in his position. Mostly because his head was still numb from the punch. He looked around for Flynn but he couldn’t find him.
‘What have they done to Flynn? Did they hurt him?’ Aaron thought. He rolled his eyes towards where Dan and Jane were tied. Jane was exceptionally calm; she and Dan were exchanging glances. Jane looked towards the tree next to her where her bag was lying. Aaron knew she wanted to reach it.
Ony started to swear as one of the Lurgs tried to touch his axe and it aggravated the Lurgs. They hit Ony with his axe’s handle till he stopped swearing.
“Stop it you morons” said the bigger Lurg and stood in the middle.
All the other Lurgs stopped doing whatever they were doing and listened to the bigger Lurg. Two Lurgs stood around Aaron, Aaron thought really hard how he could escape the situation. There was no way any of them could reach their weapons.
The big Lurg spoke “Here are the great Defenders” and all the other Lurgs laughed.
“You call yourself the Defenders of Kron? You are not even careful about your hiding. You were singing and dancing when you have come in hiding” said the big Lurg.
Dan stared at Ony who looked down in shame. Aaron couldn’t see Bo either; normally he would be sitting right next to Ony.
“So careless and you people think that you can defend the whole of Kron? I can’t imagine how they made you the Defenders” said the big Lurg “You can't even protect yourself and you want to fight the one Great Force”
The voice of the Lurg was very croaky. The other Lurgs laughed at his last comment.
The big Lurg didn’t seemed to be amused, he held his hand high to silence the Lurgs.
“You shall be finished by us right now” he said and pulled out his blunt sword.
He slowly walked towards Aaron.
“And this one will be coming with us. Our king is waiting for him” the Lurg said. Aaron looked towards Jane who was equally worried for him.
The big Lurg continued “Apparently this one thinks he can stand against the One Force, the Dark Lord himself” the tone of his voice changed to a mocking one. “A mere human child whom the Defenders think to be one of them”
Then he turned towards Dan “And there are more children, look” he pointed to Jane “You think the children can fight us? You bring children to fight us. Ha ha ha” the Lurg couldn’t stop laughing, all the other Lurgs joined him too.
“If I could, I would kill this boy right now but orders are orders. So leave this boy and kill the others” said the big Lurg and walked away.
“Coward!” said Belster “Fight like a man, free our hands and legs and then we shall see who can take whom”
One Lurg came towards Belster to hit him, but Dan spoke “Fight fair, untie us. Anyone can win by ambushing!”
The big Lurg raised an eye and finally spoke. “Very well, let’s have a fair fight then. Kartin untie all their hands and legs, let’s see what they can do!”
The Lurgs untied everyone one by one.
Before they could reach Aaron, he saw some movements behind the trees. He tilted his head to see who was there. He caught a glimpse of Flynn and Bo hiding behind the trees.
Flynn was ready with his knife and Bo with his explosives. A faint smile came over Aaron. Flynn was much smarter than he had thought. He had already smelled the danger even before the Lurgs could catch him.
The Lurgs untied all of them and then stood apart. Then they prepared themselves for the fight. The bigger Lurg stood in front with his blunt sword pointing towards the Defenders and waited till all of them got onto their feet and could grab their weapons.
Belster was ready with his arrows and bow in no time. Dan was in position with his sword. Ony fumbled on his axe for a minute, then pulled another one from his bag. He was ready with two of his battle axes. Billy was ready in an attack stance, but had not changed into his werewolf form.
Jane held her thin sword wand in her hand
and the anger was clearly seen on her face. Finally, Aaron pulled out the sword of the heavens and its shine almost blinded the big Lurg.
Behind them, Flynn and Bo were ready to attack but were still hiding. Aaron was not sure if they could take on the Lurgs, he and Jane were still not trained to fight the Lurgs and the Lurgs were double their number. Hesitantly, he looked at Dan. Dan was thinking the same, he whispered “Stay safe” to both Aaron and Jane.
“The Defenders seem to be ready” said the big Lurg loudly. He waited for a moment and then raised his sword “Finish them!" He screamed.
The Lurgs immediately lunged towards the Defenders with their long spears shouting and screaming. Dan jumped forward and started fighting the Lurgs. These Lurgs were much stronger than Mordok’s Lurgs, whom they had encountered before. These Lurgs were trained for combat and war. It was not easy to penetrate their amours and kill them. Dan did his best to find a weak point of these Lurgs but failed. He fell many times but got up quickly.