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

by B. A. Monaghan

  The orc holding the shield suddenly got a funny look on his face. He was smiling. He raised the shield in one hand and his mace in the other. Then he charged the shaman. He slammed his shield into the shaman’s face knocking the orc to the ground. He followed up the shield slam with the mace to the head. The orc shaman died quickly.

  The second shaman started casting at the orc with the shield. To Roland this was dumb the shield was just going to absorb the magic. The shield took the hit like it did the first try. The third orc was standing back waiting. The second shaman died almost in an identical way as the first shaman.

  The third shaman cast fire ball spell on the sand. The cast three more times and the sand around the orc with the shield was suddenly surrounded by glowing sand. The spells kept coming and the sand started to glow with the heat coming up from it. The feet of the orc began to burn and smoke. He was screaming shortly after. He was down and dying.

  The last shaman walked across the glowing glass and picked up the shield from the dead orc. He must have cast some kind of magic to get across the melted glass. He faced his orcs who were supposed to protect him. “Now, who wants to carry this shield for me? If you think you can use it against me, you will die like him.”

  One of the orcs who seemed a bit bigger than the others strode over to the shaman and knelt before him with his head bowed. The shaman threw the shield down in front of the orc. “Serve me and you will be rewarded. If you think one moment you can kill me I will make you and all your clan suffer. Do you understand me?” The orc just grunted picked up the shield and stood guard behind the shaman.

  This was a big learning lesson for Roland. He had heard the orcs lived by the principle rule by force wasn’t just a rumor. The bug orc who killed the first two shamans almost became the leader of these orcs. If that shaman hadn’t figured out how to get around the shield absorbing his magic, he might have been dead. What was amazing though was that the orcs had forgotten about the ring. They were walking away and the first orc shaman. The tide was coming in and the waves were lapping up next to the orc. If some orc didn’t do something soon the ring would be gone forever.

  The orcs all walked away and a shadow moved slowly to the orcs body. He pulled the ring off the finger and then took the Lava Stone off the staff still laying there. Man orcs were dumb. He worked his way back up the bluff to find Shadow waiting for him.

  “How did orcs ever get as much control of this land than they have? I am always amazed at the stupidity. You would think I wouldn’t be amazed after a while but they keep coming up with ways to do it.”

  Shadow looked at Roland and then back to the orc camp. “It’s their strength. That and they have an opposable thumb. If the mountain wolves had opposable thumbs we would be controlling everything.”

  Roland had to think about that for a bit. The wolves did seem to be smarter.

  The next day the orcs started to pack up. It looked like they were all going the females and the young orcs were all put to work. The male orcs were painting themselves. That wasn’t a good sign. They were getting worked up and were acting a bit crazy. Then they started to head towards Port Orchard.

  Roland pulled out his clay disk and broke the disk. He felt the magic come out of the disk and it felt like the magic actually moved towards the city. Well Warner should know they’re coming soon. Roland and Shadow started back themselves. They went off to the west just far enough they wouldn’t be seen or that their tracks wouldn’t be noticed. They picked up the pace as fast as possible.

  They were at the Great River that night. Roland decided to use his newly acquired ring. He took off running and just before he reached the edge of the river he put some mana into the ring. He immediately seemed to be floating. He jumped with all his might and began to sail across the river. He was about a quarter away across the river when he started to feel heavier. He started to lose momentum and began to descend. He hit the water only half way across. Well it was at least halfway. It still helped him get across quicker. The thing had limits and if he was going to use it he would need to find what those limits were.

  They quickly made it to the city wall and the gates were shut. Shadow would stay outside and Roland would go into the city. They would know if any orcs showed up early. They didn’t expect them till tomorrow night and then they would probably wait till the next day to start the battle.

  Roland cast invisible on himself. He put mana into the ring and jumped. He landed on the wall with room to spare. He quickly jumped down into the city and cast shadow illusion on himself. He was headed to the Kings garrison. It was close to the docks. It had its own tall walls. He quickly went up and over. The downstairs of the garrison was busy. Men were handing out equipment and weapons to people who seemed to have been conscripted. There was one office on the top floor that had a light on and then there looked to be a larger room with lights on.

  Roland cast invisibility on himself and jumped to the ledge outside what looked to be an office. It was Warner, sitting at a desk. He had a uniform. His eyes had bags under them and he looked like it had been a tough day. He got up and walked out of his room. Roland used his knife and opened the window. He made himself comfortable in the chair across from where Warner had been sitting.

  It was about a half hour later before Roland heard Warner walking up to his door. Roland cast invisibility and Warner came into the room. He walked around to his desk and began reading papers piled high on his desk. Roland waited till his illusion fell away.

  “I have some news for you.” Warner about jumped out of his skin.

  “You about gave me a heart attack. How did you get in here anyway?”

  “It wasn’t hard. It wasn’t your peoples fault either. I picked up a trick or two lately.”

  “So what is the news you have for me. You only broke the disk this morning. You made good time getting back.”

  “It was important to get back here. It’s more than just a raid by the orcs. The pirate Captain Baal is involved.”

  “What? The orcs and the pirates are working with each other?”

  “Yes, but they aren’t playing well with each other. The orcs aren’t playing well with themselves either.”

  “Well don’t waste my time. Tell me what you know so I can make adjustments.”

  “Well the pirates have three ships. They provided the orcs with food, equipment and some weapons. The equipment isn’t that good and neither are the weapons. They did provide a magical shield to the orcs. It is called the Shield of Void Magic. If you cast an offensive spell at it the shield absorbs the magic.”

  “The first orc who picked it up tried a coup against the shaman. He killed two before the third killed him.”

  “How did the shaman kill the orc with the shield if he could use magic?

  “He was smart. They were on the beach and he heated up the sand around the orc. He cast his magic on the sand. The sand heated up and he burned the orc alive. Now he gave the shield to another. They believe he can kill them at any time. They rule by who can kill the others faster. It has helped up out in that we only have one shaman to worry about.”

  “The bigger problem are the pirates. They are planning raiding the port while the orcs are attacking the city. They plan on taking your new ship from you. They will also take any other ship they can get their hands on. The orcs will kill the pirates if they walk away from the docs. The pirates will probably kill any orc if they get too close. They are working together but the relationship is barely holding.”

  “If I had my guess someone else has put these two groups together. They had a lot of hate towards one another. Someone had to be an intermediary. Who I’m not sure. But they would barely stand to be in the presence of one another.”

  “So how many pirates are there?”

  “I don’t know. I couldn’t really tell. All I could see were three ships and the sailors were up and down so much I couldn’t get an accurate count. The orcs are still about the same size. Minus two shamans.”

  Warner
pulled out a leather pouch and tossed it to Roland. “You earned every copper in that bag. We might have been caught flat footed if you hadn’t got the information you brought me. Mateo and the team are at Dagmar’s. They have been put on a fast reaction squad. They are to put out the fires for me but now they are going to stop some pirates for me. Get some sleep but I expect you to disrupt the orcs anyway possible.”

  “Let my sergeant escort you out of the garrison. I know you could probably do it undetected but I want the men to see someone made it in here without anyone finding out. It will keep them on their toes.”

  “Sergeant Moss.” A man in his late twenties came in. “Escort Mr. Forestson out of the garrison. Make sure no one harasses him.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  He was out of the garrison quick enough. He was at Dagmar’s in just minutes. “Dagmar do you have a room for me tonight?”

  “Roland! It’s good to see you so soon. I still have the same room for you. Mateo and the rest of the team is out back having a late dinner. Would you like some too?”

  “That would be wonderful. I haven’t eaten well since I left.”

  Roland walked out back and Dagmar was working and getting some more food. Mateo, Damari, Vena and Odelia was sitting at a table outside behind Dagmar’s house. Mateo was smiling as big as ever. “Well, well look who the cats drug in. How are you doing Roland?”

  “Good evening everyone. Good to see you again Odelia. I’m doing well. I hear you found some employment since I’ve been gone.”

  “We have been employed by the king. Since he employed us instead of conscripting us we will make at least some money on this endeavor. The rest of the guild has been conscripted as well as the mages guild. The merchant’s guild is providing provisions, equipment and weapons. No one is escaping without cost. Have you been conscripted or are you being employed?”

  “Well the last job I had I was employed. I just left the garrison and they didn’t say that I was employed or conscripted but they gave me my orders for the battle ahead.”

  “What are you going to be doing? We were told we were going to be a fast reaction force. None of us know exactly what that means but it didn’t sound like we would be on a picnic.”

  “I’m going to be doing some disrupting. Probably make myself a pain in the backside. I’m good at that. Shadow is out watching things. He will let me know if trouble shows up early. I suspect that the orcs will be here tomorrow evening.”

  Mateo asked, “You sound as if you know where the orcs are at. What are we looking at?”

  “It should be Colonel Warner who should tell you but I will say that there are about 750 orcs heading this way. They have one shaman with them and I would expect another surprise will probably show up too. The job I came from was to find the orcs. Find out their numbers and determine when they would get here. Now you know what my job was.”

  “That is a lot of orcs. But we should be able to keep them out of the city. The walls around Port Orchard were built for just this thing. I agree with you. It seems to straight forward. With the attacks on the caravans the equipment given to the orcs. Someone else has a hand in what is going on. But that is for someone else to figure out. I’ll just smash some orcs in the face.”

  That got a good round of laughs and they spent the rest of the evening talking and speculating on the days to come. Odelia was very quiet. Roland was sure it was the fights they had been in with the caravans that took the arrogance out of her. Roland like here better this way. Quiet and she had a look of determination.

  Roland was up early. He got breakfast and headed to the Northern wall before the sun came up. He cast invisibility and jumped up to the wall. It was a quick jump down and he was in the trees as the illusion was wearing off. Shadow was there and they took off to see what trouble they could find.

  They crossed the river and stalked the direction the orcs were headed. They had several orcs out front scouting ahead. With his illusions and his knives, he slowly took the scout down without so much as a noise and he hid the bodies. The disappearance of the scouts might do more damage than if they were found dead. They were out to demoralize and disrupt. Shadow was happy. They were hunting prey.

  The main force showed up about an hour later. The orcs didn’t really have a plan when it came to crossing the river other than get in and swim. Orcs could swim but they swam more like a dog than a humanoid. Pleasantly Colonel Warner hadn’t been sitting on his duff the whole time. Archers were on the far bank and were picking off the orcs in large numbers.

  The number of orcs reaching the bank became too much for the archers to keep up with. They began to retreat in good order. Port Orchard struck first. You would have thought the orcs would reassess the situation but like Roland always said. “Orcs are stupid.”

  The shaman and his guard were the last to go across. Roland followed and he cast an illusion on both himself and Shadow. He cast an illusion on them that made them look like the river water. Shadow was actually impressed with this new illusion. When they reached the shore he cast a standard camouflage pattern on them.

  Roland wasn’t sure what to do. The orcs had stopped before they reached the wall like he thought they would. The shaman was always surrounded by orcs especially his body guard with the shield. The shaman himself wasn’t a huge problem by himself. The mages could nullify his spells. They couldn’t attack him with the shield next to him. The shield wasn’t too much of a problem itself but it was the combination between shield and shaman. One needed to be taken out. So target of opportunity. Shadow was in agreement.

  Night came and the shadow illusion was cast. The shaman was in the center of camp. Guards were all over the place. They waited for hours before most of orcs were sleeping. Roland went into the camp by himself. He didn’t want Shadow with him if things went bad and he could keep track of the guards wondering the area. He went in as a shadow. He could always cast invisibility. That was a lot of mana for a short period of time but he had enough mana to cast it 10 times. Not that he needed to stay invisible that long but It was nice to have more than you need. There were two guards awake standing just to the side of the shaman. A fire was going right next to the magic slinger. A shadow getting close to him would be hard at this point. He was looking around for the shield bearer and he couldn’t find him.

  Why wasn’t that orc not next to the shaman? Shadow found him before Roland could find him. He was walking around the camp checking on the guards. He was on the western side of the camp. Roland needed to get to him before he came walking back into camp. Shadow was tracking him and Roland was tracking Shadow. He was trying to hurry but not go so fast he stepped on an orc.

  Shadow was just ahead and the orc pulling guard was being checked by the shield bearer. The check was quick and quiet. The avoided the guard and pulled up behind the shield bearer. When they were between guards Roland put his knife between the vertebrae in his neck. He dropped without a sound. They drug him further away. They relieved him of his weapons and the shield. The weapons they just hid. The shield they took with them.

  The trip pack into Port Orchard was routine now. He would need to let Colonel Warner know what was going on and he figured if anyone needed the shield Mateo should have it. He hid the shield in town in a bush next to a house. Instead of sneaking into the garrison he gave the password of “Milk toast” to the guards at the gate. They ushered him into Warner’s office immediately.

  “What do you have for me this time Roland?”

  “The shaman is alive still but the shield bearer was eliminated. The mages shouldn’t have a problem dealing with him since there is only one and the shield isn’t going to stop their offensive spells.”

  “Where’s the shield? Are you claiming the shield for yourself?”

  “I claim it. But I would like to give it to Mateo. He is really good with a shield and since I work with him I think it would be better if he had it.”

  “Good idea. He is at the docks. They are the ones dealing with the pirates. Since w
e have no idea if the pirates have a rogue mage or not the shield would be insurance if they do. The next thing I want to discuss is how are you getting in and out of the city. If you can do it the orcs can do it. Do we have a weak spot I’m unaware of in the wall?”

  “The orcs can’t do what I do. They are very stupid by the way. Shadow is even amazed at their stupidity.”

  “Well go to the docks. Work with Mateo and his group. The pirates might be the bigger threat. Thank you Roland for all you do.”

  Roland went and picked up the shield. He went to the south side of the city. Shadow needed in so he ended up putting Shadow on his shoulders. That didn’t go over well with Shadow. He barely made if up the wall. The ring was nice but there was a definite limit to what he could do with it.

  They headed to the docks. The docks looked empty at first look. When you looked carefully men were hidden all over the place. A ship sitting low in the water must be full of men. A tavern next to the dock was full of people too. Shadow picked up Vena’s smell first in the tavern. Shadow thought she put on too much rose water. According to wolves rose water had a strong enough smell they could almost see the odor.

  When they entered he was pulled in quickly and the door was closed behind him immediately. “Roland, what are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be a pain in the back side of the orcs. You’re not supposed to be my pain are you?” Mateo was laughing hard at his own joke.

  “Oh, I’ve been a pain alright. They haven’t noticed the pain I’ve inflicted yet. In fact, I have a gift for you.” He handed over the shield to Mateo.

  “I have a shield. Why would I want an ugly shield like that? I appreciate the thought Roland I do but this is my trusty shield I’ve had for a long time.”

  “I know you like your shield but you might reconsider. This is Shield of Void Magic. It will absorb any offensive spell cast at the bearer. From what I have seen of the shield I think it takes the magic and uses it to make the shield harder. I’ve seen it smash a few orcs and as you can see it doesn’t even have a scratch. What do you think know?”