The Tracker: Book 1 of the King's Hand Series

by B. A. Monaghan

  He pulled out his scorpion stinger and continued to work on the arrowheads. The arrows he was making now were the same as his first without the poison. One poison arrow was good enough. Or at least it was enough for the moment.

  The next day halfway through the morning Shadow found the first extremely large tree. He was able to detect a few elves in the trees. Roland kept his distance and used Shadow to scout the area before the rest of the adventurers arrived.

  Roland stopped the group and they began their journey to the west. Shadow made sure they didn’t get too close to the territory of the elves. The goal was to find interaction with the elves and orcs, and not get in a fight with the elves. They were hoping that they could find signs of cooperation without getting into a tiff with the elves.

  The trees started to get fewer and the land began to open up. The Land of the Orcs was a large plain. Much like the Great Grass Sea but the grass here was shorter and the plains were twice that of the grass sea. There were large herds of buffalo, giant rhinos, antelope and many others. The orcs were scattered about in small tribes. They ended up traveling north again along the edge between forest and plains.

  The hunting was good but it was hard to find a place to stop and hide any fire. They only started a fire if they found a good place to keep it out of sight. They had so much meat now that they could go for a week without a fire if they needed.

  There was almost a type of buffer between the orcs and elves. The elves never came into the plains and the orcs more or less stayed away from the forest leaving a good area for the group to watch for orcs and stay away from the elves. They spotted orcs in small groups on and off but nothing too big. Their daily movement was very slow because they were watching more than moving now.

  Mateo, finally decided to take down a small group that seemed to be well equipped. Normally the orcs they had seen up to this point were barely equipped. This group of orcs consisted of about 10 orcs. This was more than Roland was ready for but he would follow orders.

  Roland was the bait. He would shoot from long distance and take out as many orcs as possible with his bow. He would run and only shoot to keep them mad and to follow without thinking too much. He was to run up a small hill. At the top of the hill there were a few low lying large rocks that would interfere with the orcs coming from the right. He would run between Mateo and Damari. He would take up a position with Vena and shoot at targets of opportunity. Shadow would help were needed.

  Because the orcs had hardened leather armor he used the bodkin arrowhead. He hit the first two before they knew what was going on. The race was on. Roland was fast enough he could outpace the orcs. He would get some distance slow up turn shoot and run some more. By the time he was at the hill he had killed 3 and wounded one.

  Damari was the first line of defense. His spear had the reach. As the first orc reached the top of the hill the spear knocked the orc into the two behind him. Mateo entered the fray and almost took one of the orcs arms off who was struggling to untangle himself from the others. Damari took the first orc who was now laying on his back in the groin. That looked so painful Roland couldn’t help but shudder at the thought.

  He wasn’t able to see around the shields as the warriors were hacking away. Damari had cast off the spear and was now using his hammer. Mateo was very effective with using his shield and short fast stabs with his sword. There was no wasted energy and he looked like he could keep up a shield wall all day and stab all day. It was very effective.

  Shadow gave him a warning. The orc that was wounded was back in the fight. He was bleeding from an arrow to his thigh. He had run around the back side of the hill using the rocks to hide his movements. Shadow was following letting Roland know where he was. As he stepped into view Roland was at full draw and let lose an arrow into his chest. Shadow was taking a bite out of the back of his knee. He wasn’t moving after a few moments.

  The fight to the front was going well. Damari was bleeding along his hand. Mateo was still blocking and stabbing. The last orc took off running and Roland was sent after him while Vena was doing a quick heal on Damari.

  Shadow caught the orc fleeing first and brought him down. He had grabbed him by the back of the neck and was shaking for all he was worth. Roland wasn’t really necessary. He checked the orc for valuables. He only had the armor and sword. He pulled them off and piled them up. He found the other three orcs that had died by arrow and he recovered his arrows. Again the armor and weapons he recovered. He headed back to the group.

  Mateo had all the orcs stripped by the time he got back. Mateo wasn’t happy. “Let me see the weapons you recovered Roland.” He inspected them and pointed to the blacksmith’s mark. “You see that mark there Roland. That is the blacksmith’s mark for the largest blacksmith in the capitol. Someone is buying the weapons we use and are getting them to our enemies.” They ended up hiding the weapons and armor so the orcs couldn’t find them and start using them again.

  It wasn’t exactly what they were looking for to prove the elves and orcs were working together. But, someone was getting weapons and armor to the orcs. They had proof of treachery. They spent the next several hours burying the bodies. They didn’t want the orcs to know someone was out killing their brothers, for as long as possible.

  They moved back south about an hour travel time from the place of the fight. They ate cold rations and checked their gear to make sure it was in good order. They would push forward again the next day early. Maybe they could find more information about the weapons and armor than what they knew at the present.

  They did discuss the fight too that night. Vena hadn’t had to do anything except a small heal spell for Damari when everything was done. She had a shield spell she could have used also but there was no need. Mateo was happy with Shadow. He had seen the wolf run down the orc and kill him before he went too far and that made him happy. They hadn’t even felt like it was good fight.

  The other big issue that night was how to find more and getting information on the orcs and where they were getting the weapons and armor. There weren’t many ideas until Roland came up with one. “Well, you know I can camouflage myself when I need to. There is a little more to it than what you have seen.”

  Roland cast an illusion on himself to look like the orc who had had been wounded and come up the back side of the hill. He was almost an exact replica except he didn’t have the arrow sticking out his leg. The rest of the group actually took a step back and were a bit surprised. Vena reached out and touched Roland. “Oh, this is so cool. You don’t feel like a rough orc but if you stay out of reach that shouldn’t be a problem. Can you speak orc?”

  “I understand orc. It is a bit like low elven but more guttural and very few words. They don’t use many adjectives or adverbs. It’s is mainly warnings or commands. I don’t think I could talk and get away with being an orc. I can understand what they say though. Do you think I can get into and out of an orc group without getting caught? I’m sure I can fool most of the orcs. If I do get caught I have a few tricks up my sleeve where I can escape. I am sure I can out run them. As long as I get some distance between me and them I should be able to escape.”

  Mateo gave a look of concern. “What about Shadow. He wouldn’t pass scrutiny? Mountain wolves don’t live here and do orcs have trained wolves?”

  Roland cast illusion on Shadow changing his look into one of the prairie wolves. He was a lot bigger than a prairie wolf but one none the less. “He can stay close and as he doesn’t get too close to the orcs he should be OK. He will be able to watch out for me.”

  Mateo said, “I think it is a good plan. If you do get close to the orcs, limit the time your exposed to them. Remember we already have some proof someone is helping the orcs with weapons and armor. You would just need to get additional information. We don’t have to have it but it would be good so don’t endanger yourself too much.”

  The next morning Roland left the group. They would remain hidden while he searched for more information. Shadow went a
head of him and scouted the area. The only thing different he did was change the look of his bow and arrows. He made them look like the ones he saw near one of the orcs in the grass sea. They traveled further into the orc territory. He came across several groups of orcs and they just ignored him.

  He did come across a small village of orcs in the late afternoon. He stayed away from the village but hid close by until dark. As soon as dark set in he walked through the camp. He was insulted by a few of the orcs but nothing more was said or asked of him. Most of the male orcs had weapons and armor just like the group they had found the previous day. They didn’t have any guards on the perimeter of the camp and they must have felt secure where they were.

  He headed back towards the forest the next day. Shadow had found a group of orcs heading towards the elven lands. There were about 20 of them. They didn’t have the armor or weapons that the other orcs had. They were moving fast as if they had a purpose.

  The orcs stopped at edge of the elves forest. They were on edge. They acted more like a raiding party than anything else. They stood around for about an hour before an elf stepped out of the forest. The orcs acted like they were prepared for a fight. The elf held up his hands to show he wasn’t carrying any weapon. Then the orc leader had a short conversation with the elf. He handed the elf a small leather pouch and the elf turned around and motioned into the woods.

  A wagon came out of the woods drawn by a pair of draft horses. The driver, an elf, stopped the wagon and jumped off the wagon. The horses were almost panicked when the orcs approached. It was a good thing they had blinders on. An orc jumped up on the wagon and began driving the wagon back into orc country. The horses were very jumpy and the orcs had a terrible time getting the wagon heading in the right direction without the horses running away.

  They stopped a short distance away and made camp. The orcs pulled out the weapons and armor. They started to get gear themselves. About half of the orcs got the weapons and armor. The other half didn’t get any. There must have been some type of higher achy going on. A fire was started and a large pot of food was going. Several large pouches with liquid in them were being passed around and an environment of celebration seemed to be about the camp. It was dark soon and the orcs with the armor and weapons were already intoxicated with whatever was in the bags.

  Roland walked up to the camp and towards the pot were the food was cooking. He took out the poison glad from the manticore and dropped it in. The orc who had been stirring the contents of the cook pot yelled and commanded he get away from the food. So he backed up and strolled out of the camp. The party continued well into the night.

  The next day before the sun came up Roland came back into camp and found the orcs dead and bloated. He stripped the armor and weapons off the orcs and threw them into the wagon. The horses were still hitched to the wagon. So he watered and fed the horses with items inside the wagon. At least the elves knew what horses needed.

  He jumped up onto the wagon and began the trek back to the group. If anyone found the orcs it would be easy to find the culprit because the wagon tracks were from the only wagon in the orc lands. He couldn’t push too hard but he needed to go. He kept on his orc illusion and Shadow kept a close eye on the surroundings.

  He made it back to the group without incident. They were happy to hear what had happened. They loaded the armor and weapons from the first fight into the wagon. They headed out with Damari in the wagon. Roland guarded the rear and Shadow took the front.

  That night the horses got a good rest out of the harnesses. They were fed and watered. The horses gave Roland the idea of thankfulness. Horses were deathly afraid of orcs. If the orcs had gotten, the wagon to their village the horses would have been dinner.

  They were up early and were heading out when Roland saw the first orc scout trailing after the wagon ruts. He was more interested in catching the wagon than he was of watching for an ambush. He was killed easily. Shadow turned around and headed back his direction. As he passed the wagon Mateo would know that the orcs were in pursuit.

  Roland took his weapons and armor and cast them into a muddy stream. Hopefully they would be ruined before an orc would find them. Roland wished he could hide the tracks but, the wheels just sank into the ground too much to hide them. It would be a running battle.

  By the time Shadow showed up Roland had seen at least 20 orcs, with good armor and weapons, heading his direction. Roland and shadow would begin a delay action. Hit and move and repeat. They had to slow them down but they had to thin the numbers. Shadow was the eyes and Roland would hide and wait for a shot. They would hit from the east side of the group. They were hoping to pull the orcs off the direction of the wagon.

  The first orc fell and instead of the whole group following after Roland three orcs peeled off and headed his direction. He took another one down and started running towards the wagon. He couldn’t get too far away from the group.

  He turned and took the second orc down. Shadow attacked the third. By the time Roland got back to Shadow the orc was wounded and Shadow was bleeding from his side. Roland attacked from the back side with his knife. His knife cut through the orc armor and all as if there wasn’t any armor. Roland cast heal on Shadow and then cast illusion on himself making him look like the orc he had just killed.

  When the caught back up to the orcs they had almost caught up to the wagon. Damari was at the back of the wagon and Mateo was guarding the front of the wagon. Vena was driving the wagon. The orcs were about a half mile behind the wagon and closing fast. As he came out of the woods from the orcs left and behind they waved at him and turned back towards the wagon. They thought he was their own. They thought the archer had been taken care of.

  With all eyes on the wagon and the orcs were strung out behind this might not turn out so badly after all. He was able to drop three orcs from behind before they realized something was wrong. And then it was only two who turned around to see what was happening behind them. One took an arrow to the chest and the other was hit by a wolf knocking him down. Before he could get up Roland sliced him across the neck with this knife.

  Roland noticed the orcs had picked up their pace once they had seen the wagon. Those he attacked from behind had been breathing hard. They thought the wagon was an easy target and instead of attacking with numbers whoever got their first got the prize. Normally a lone wagon would be an easy target. But they had two warriors and a priest who were prepared for the fight.

  The first orc jumped up to the back of the wagon only to get a sword jabbed through his throat. The second who was right behind the first took the shield to his face and he caused several orcs behind him to fall down with him.

  With the smell of orcs, the horses took off and it was everything that Vena could do to keep them in check. She could hear Mateo strike with sword and shield. Damari was standing up and looking back. He was yelling his approval to Mateo. You would have thought they were at a party if you just listened to Damari.

  Roland was back up and running behind the orcs again in his orc illusion. Two more orcs were down with his arrows. Shadow pulled another down from behind. Roland helped him finish off that orc. Every time they engaged the orcs from behind they had to run hard to catch back up and the horses were taking off at a faster speed. This was going to be a hard day with all this running.

  The orcs near the back of the wagon divided into two groups. Four went right and four went left. They were trying to flank Mateo in a running wagon. Damari jumped down and took the right side of the wagon. Mateo took the left. Damari with his spear took out one orc in the eye. The body of the orc took down another orc next to him. Damari only had two on his side.

  Mateo crushed another orc in the face with his shield. Another was climbing aboard but he stabbed the beast between the chest piece and the leather greaves. It was a nice cut just above his hip. He fell off the wagon.

  Roland and Shadow were coming up close again and they started to kill those orcs who fell off the wagon or were tripped up by anoth
er orc. The four that were left decided at this time to end the fight. Roland and Shadow were finishing up orc with the sword stab in his side. The orcs were heading back his direction.

  Mateo and Damari not wanting to be left out of the finishing fight jumped off the wagon and were right behind the orcs heading back toward Roland.

  Roland knew he didn’t have much time and he needed some space. He cast an illusion on himself and made him look like a mountain troll. He took the illusion off Shadow and he was back to being a mountain wolf. This put the orcs back on the heels and they come to a complete halt. Obviously they didn’t deal with anyone who could cast illusions before. Mateo and Damari crashed into the last four orcs from behind. The fight was finished quickly.

  Orcs were scattered out for over three miles behind them. Vena got the horses to stop and turned the wagon around. They stripped the orcs and took any valuables off them. They found on one orc a pouch of a few precious stones. They didn’t have any Lava Stones but they did have a few sapphires and a ruby. The weapons and armor were probably the best loot they could get. The wagon and horses were very valuable too.

  They camped that night near a stream. It wasn’t real clear but the horses were thankful and they were thankful for the protection against the orcs. The wagon was very full of weapons and armor. If it wasn’t for the wagon they would have had to have left most of the equipment behind. They didn’t start a fire and had cold rations for five more days. They didn’t want to bring anymore orcs down on them. Shadow scouted ahead. Roland stayed behind the group. The raven showed back up and kept an eye out behind the group for two days. He did this for some jerky.

  As they got close to the place they had hidden the manticore hide he let the horses know that the beast was dead. The smell of a manticore could send the horses off running pell-mell again. The hide was still in good condition and Roland was sure that the hide could be made into some real nice armor. The wings were so soft and tough at the same time. They should make at least two sets of shirts and pants.