Lost Souls

by John Van Stry

  "I'm not quite sure," I said thinking about what he’d just said. "I'm not quite sure."

  We walked into the town; there weren't any gates or much of a wall. There hadn't been trouble around this area in many many years; this part of this kingdom was rather old and well settled.

  "Let's find a room," Clint said.

  "Where to?" I asked.

  "We stayed at the Hare and Hound last time. I was thinking of there again."

  "Sounds good to me."

  We struck off through town; the streets were still a bit busy, as people finished up their day's errands or took care of their last minute chores. The Hare and the Hound was busy, but did have a room left, which we took. The barkeep looked a little surprised at that, I gathered they were very small rooms, but it would be better to stay together rather than have one or two of us sleeping in the common room.

  "So, what are our plans?" I asked the others as we found an empty corner and ordered our dinner, sitting down with a pitcher of some rather surprisingly good ale. I could see why Clint had liked this place.

  "Portsmith next," Clint replied. “There are wagons that regularly make the trip, taking supplies to an outpost along the route; it’s only a two day journey. From there we will take a ship back to Elshavel.”

  "So we'll buy passage on one of those wagons?"

  He nodded and took a drink of ale.

  "Well, I guess this is the easy part of the trip then, today a boat ride, tomorrow and the next a coach, then a ship after that." I wasn't clear on the ship aspect, getting a ship to Elshavel wasn't an easy thing, the Elves were particular about who knew how to get to their harbors, much less let sail into them. But that was Clint's concern, so I didn’t ask any further about it.

  "Sounds good to me," Tam smiled, "I'm tired of combing dirt out of my coat."

  We all drank to that and shortly thereafter, our dinner arrived so there wasn't much more talking.

  I awoke with a start and knew something was wrong; the others came awake within an instant, undoubtedly stirred by whatever sense had awoken me. We all quickly started to don our gear, a bit hampered in the cramped quarters of the room, which had turned out to be as small as I had guessed.

  "Smell that?" Jenna asked opening the window.

  The thick scent of burning wood came in.

  "The inn is on fire!" I said and checked the door. It was rather hot to my touch.

  "Out the window!" I called and turned to follow Clint who pulled Jenna back.

  "Me first," He warned, "this could be a trap."

  Tam was pounding on the walls yelling to wake up those in the next room. When Clint made his move the sounds of others waking were starting to be heard. Just as Clint dove down an arrow flew in the window just missing him and almost hitting Jenna who drew back quickly. Several more came at him so he shifted forms in mid air landing as a cat. Streaking off into the darkness, he disappeared in an instant.

  "Damn. Better shift girls it's a long way down."

  A moment later, I had two cats in the room with me, and then one as Tam leaped out the window, again moving too fast for the archers to track.

  "What about you?" Jenna asked, "You can't shift!"

  "Worry about me later. Worry about yourself first! Go left towards the shed roof out the window. After having had two targets go down straight, they'll expect you to do the same and be leading you."

  She nodded and sprung out the window, making the leap towards the shed. I watched and sure enough, the archers fired below the window first, which is when I made my move going straight down as Clint had first tried, in human form. The second target confused them long enough that they missed her and I both, and I was able to roll into cover without them seeing me. The drop was a hard one in my human form, I drew my swords as I caught my breath.

  A loud snarl and an orcish scream told me that Clint or Jenna had set in among the archers. I leapt to my feet and charged then, coming out of my cover and directly into a band of at least twenty armed Orcs. This wasn't a raiding party gone lost; this was a war party looking for trouble.

  I clashed swords with the leading element and was instantly fighting for my life. The inn was burning fairly well at this point and the cries and screams of those trapped inside could be heard. People were now jumping out of windows and running out of the exits. The Orcs appeared to be ignoring them however, and concentrating on me.

  I wasn't too concerned yet; I was giving ground back towards the building and making them pay for every inch. I'd gotten one in the throat, another in the belly, and wounded several others in that first clash, so that the ones in front quickly grew wary. They weren't pushing forward very fast, but I knew if they surrounded me, I'd be in serious trouble. I drew them out some more, towards me and out into the street as I backed up, dropping another and wounding some more as Clint burst from an alley and attacked them from the rear, using both of his swords as well, and taking advantage of their surprise. Four Orcs fell beneath his blades before they all realized there was now a second attacker.

  I stopped backing up and began to press forward, to regain the initiative. Another two dropped as the others fanned to either side to attack me. Clint saw what I was doing and fought forward as well, the both of us pressing the orcs hard and causing them to part and let us in thinking they'd attack each of us from behind. As Clint and I passed each other, we stopped and stood back to back, continuing to fight, killing more Orcs still. At this point several people from the town rushed in, with swords and axes. What had looked to be an easy fight only a few moments ago for the Orcs, was now starting to look dangerously bad. Half were dead and the rest were all wounded. You could smell the stink of fear on them, but still they fought on.

  Then it began to pour. I heard a cry in Shrean, Jenna telling us that she and Tam had taken care of the archers. The ground was already slippery with blood, and dead bodies were everywhere, the heavy rain making it worse. I expected the Orcs to take advantage of it and flee, but oddly still none ran, instead they seemed to concentrate almost suicidally on Clint and myself, almost completely ignoring the other fighters. Clint's and my skills were pressed heavily there for a few moments under the final attack, but our abilities were enough to ward them off and the other fighters took advantage of the backs that the Orcs were showing them. The fight did not last much longer after that.

  When the last Orc dropped, I turned to look at the inn, our strange rainstorm seemed to be concentrated on it, and the fires were actually starting to die down. It had taken a lot of damage, the fire I guess had been carefully set, but at least it wouldn't spread to the rest of the town. Maybe a few of those unlucky enough to be trapped inside might even survive now.

  Looking around some, it didn't take me long to find Tam, she was up on a roof, Jenna protecting her as she controlled the storm.

  "She is pretty good," I told Clint as we turned and headed towards the inn to see what we could do to help.

  "Yes, one of the better Storm Mages we've got. Even the Elves are impressed."

  "Wow, they do grow up so fast," I smiled.

  "Tell me about it," he sighed.

  The people had a bucket brigade going shortly after we got there, and the local town's Mage had also started in with some spells to help as well.

  "Good thing you had your friend with ya's," said one of the locals I remembered from the bar earlier in the evening. He had been eyeing up Tam, as well as my sister I recalled. "A fire like this one could easily have taken half the town. Our old Kent there isn't a bad mage, but something like this is well beyond his abilities."

  I nodded as we helped pull up some of the debris, freeing the person underneath that he was trying to dig out. This one looked like he'd live.

  "Better get those wounds taken care of!" he warned looking at me and then Clint.

  I looked at myself, and then Clint. I hadn't worried about any of the strikes that had hit me, probably because they weren't serious. All the same, there were enough here to help with the wounded. I
looked at Clint who didn't seem any worse off than I was.

  "You're right, we should." I said to him.

  "Just wonder why those Orcs hit the town." He asked shaking his head and turning to help up the victim we’d just freed.

  "You and me both." I said as Clint and I went in search of some bandages.

  It was several hours later when we finally got to rest again, Clint and I were still covered in soot and dried blood. We both sported several bandages, though the wounds were more superficial than anything really dangerous. Most Orcs aren't terribly good fighters, and their advantage in numbers this time hadn't lasted long enough to really count.

  The fire it turned out had taken six lives. At least a dozen more were badly burned but the local healer said they would live.

  "They were after us," I said softly when we were alone later.

  "Or one of us," Clint replied.

  "But which one?" Asked Jenna. Tam was already sound asleep, casting and controlling the storm having taken a lot out of her.

  Jenna looked at each of us then shrugged, "To be honest, in the dark you both look a lot a like. In either form. The fighters were concentrating on the two of you."

  "They didn't exactly ignore you either," I said.

  "Could be they were told to go after whoever was traveling with us. You didn't shift, that might be why they went after you."

  I thought about that, it made some sense.

  "What do we tell the townspeople?" Jenna asked.

  "Nothing." I said.

  "Nothing?"

  "No, if they think we are to blame it could get ugly. We don't know for sure if they were after us, even if it looks likely. We were just the first out, and Orcs hate Shreans, so it's only natural that they'd concentrate on us."

  "I hadn't considered any of that." She conceded, but didn’t sound very convinced.

  I looked around the room we were now using. The local guard had offered those of us from the inn the empty cells in the jail. We'd stuck Tam on the single cot; the rest of us would sleep on the floor of the small cell.

  "The wagon leaves in four hours," I said. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow isn't going to be any better I fear."

  That morning we were all more than a bit tired as we headed out towards the wagon. The driver and his helper were getting the horses into their traces and hooked to it. Calling it a coach would have been a bit of a generous term, it was just a fairly large covered wagon. We were the only passengers on today's trip; the other two who had planned to go this way were too injured to travel apparently. There was a good deal of cargo however, which I learned was the reason for this route to be so regularly traveled.

  "How long until we get to Portsmith?" I asked the driver as Tam and Jenna found places to curl up in the back of the wagon.

  "Well ten hours to the Midway Inn, then you'll take Johannson's wagon tomorrow, which will run about seven hours."

  "You don't go all the way through?"

  "Oh no, we just go there and back again. Johannson does the same. This way we're able to run out there three times a week, more during caravan season."

  I nodded, it made sense. I'd not taken this route before, when I'd come through here last time I'd originally worked around to the north, having spent several years up there before ending up around where Bartley's inn was. The first time I'd ever actually been to Merrick had been when I was working with the smugglers.

  "So, does this route pay well then?" I asked, curious as to what justified a regular route to be run here.

  "Well, we do make the most that we can off of folks like you," he admitted. "But the garrison at the Midway is what really pays for it. They've got quite a few folks stationed there, and mostly what's in the barrels back in the wagon there is supplies for them."

  "After last night, do you think we'll have any problems this trip?"

  He scratched his head and thought a moment. "Well, I hope not, the route has been safe for a long time and it does get patrolled. The local sheriff is sending a few guards along for part of the trip however, just to be safe."

  I nodded again and climbed up into the wagon with the others. Jenna and Tam were already sound asleep. Clint was yawning a bit as well.

  "When they wake up, you can hop in the back and nap if you want."

  Clint gave me a look, "I'll be all right."

  I shrugged, "Gonna be a long trip. With any luck once we get away from the city we get away from any more troubles."

  "You don't really believe that, do you?"

  "Depends on why I'm being called home, and how many people know about it." I said giving him a hard stare.

  He nodded and stifled another yawn, leaning back against the clapboard. "Gonna be a long trip."

  Elsewhere

  She cursed at the note before her, it was bad enough that the messenger had interrupted her work, but the news itself was even worse. Not only had the planned ambush not killed the captain, but it hadn't even killed any of those traveling with him! To make matters even worse, they now had to know that someone from here had followed them, they probably even suspected that their plans had been discovered, that their enemies knew what they were up to.

  The fact that she had no idea whatsoever what he actually was up to, fueled her anger even further. She had personally contacted the fire mage that was her master’s spy in the area and told him, in no uncertain terms, what she was sure her master’s feelings would be if he failed a second time. He was either to kill the commander, or at the very least the Human that he claimed they appeared to be returning with.

  Why he'd traveled all that distance to bring a Human back made no sense to her at all either. If she at least knew the identities of the other Shreans traveling with him, she might be able to hazard a guess. But sadly, this spy was not from the valley, and it was only luck that he recognized the Shrean leading them in the first place and had then been able to track him this far on the outbound trip.

  She walked over to the door, and opening it bid one of the guards to go fetch her something cool to drink. She didn't allow anyone in the room with her while she worked, the chance for distraction was not a welcome one. She walked over to the one chair that she kept in the room to sit and relaxed a moment while she pondered this turn of events even further. Leaning back, she rubbed her aching temples and tried to think. Of what use could Elves or Shreans possibly have for a Human? He wasn't a Mage, or the spy would have noticed, she was sure. So just what the hell was he?

  "That damned Shrean," she grumbled out loud to the empty room. "All those stupid cats ever do is mislead you and waste your time!"

  She swore yet again as a disturbance outside drew her attention, she was not in the best of moods this day, as her sleep had once more been troubled and she had risen more hours before the dawn then her normal routine. Pulling up her hood she strode out of her workshop and headed down the stairs with her guards in tow. The continuing noises from the courtyard would be too distracting for her to continue working right now anyway. She might as well go see what the infernal racket was all about, when she was trying to concentrate!

  A guard opened the door before her, as she swept out of the building to look at what the cause of this particular ruckus was. She immediately noticed that a quarrel was going on between a member of the local guard, with what was obviously two rather large members of one of the outlying Human mercenary groups. A supply wagon standing half loaded nearby gave a clue as to what it was all about.

  "What is the meaning of this disturbance?" She said loudly, her voice harsh with her anger.

  "Mistress!" Said the Orc in charge, immediately bowing down to one knee before her. She noticed the others were equally fast to show obeisance.

  "Well?" she demanded.

  The Orc looked at the wagon's driver and his partner, then back at her. She was pleased to see he was more afraid of her, than the two Human mercenaries.

  "Mistress, these two have orders for a large number of supplies, larger than they should have. I suspect pilfer
ing."

  The two mercenaries swore at the Orc, but he held his ground.

  "We got that request from our commander, Mistress! We're no cheats! This one has been shorting us for months now!" The older of the two Humans claimed.

  The Orc looked at the now ripe bodies still on the wall, then back at her, obviously scared.

  "Mistress, on my life I've done nothing more than follow your orders!" he said groveling before her now.

  "Hand me the list," She said coldly, snatching it from the hand of the Orc and looking them over.

  She noticed something strange about the paper, and cast a small revealing spell. She snarled softly to herself as the paper changed. A small thing really, but the paper had been altered with a simple magical instrument, one of a type that a petty thief might use. The original order had been changed to add things that would be easily sold to soldiers in the field.

  She looked up at the two human mercenaries. The younger one looked nervous, but sure. The older looked calm and collected, he wasn't afraid of her, and that made her even angrier than she already was.

  "This has been forged," she said loudly, and then raising her hands, she cast a simple spell, using the paper and the principle of like calling to like to find the instrument that had changed it.

  As she suspected the older of the two started to glow. He looked around surprised then, the Orc and the other mercenary quickly moving away from him as her guards drew their weapons.

  "I will not tolerate thieves!" She declared and casting yet again she rooted him to the spot, smiling now as she finally started to see the growing fear of her in his eyes. Eyes that quickly blazed with pain as she closed her hands before her, turning and twisting them as if she were wringing out a wet towel. The mercenary's body twisting and being crushed by the air around him in time to the motions of her hands, his bones snapping loudly as his body twisted and deformed, then finally fell to the ground like a rag doll when she opened her hands at last. His skin was unbroken, but every bone in the now twitching body was pulverized. Her victim wasn't even able to moan in pain, as he expired before the shocked eyes of the others.