by Adams, David
“Yes. A group pacing us.”
“What do you want us to do?” Silas asked in a hushed voice.
“Move away at an angle,” she said. “We need to get some distance.”
“That’ll expose our backs,” Darius pointed out.
“I know,” Uesra replied. She pulled back her hood, and turned to face the wood. “I’ve got us covered.”
They managed another two hundred feet before those hidden broke cover. A group of hairy-looking beasts with nasty fangs and nastier halberds trotted out to form a line some thirty feet in front of them. They outnumbered the travelers three-to-one.
“Norgoblins,” Uesra muttered as she moved back in front of her companions. “Spread out,” she ordered quietly. “Ten foot intervals.”
The largest of the norgoblins stepped forward. He was nearly seven feet tall and well-muscled, and wore rough leather armor and carried a thick wooden shield. “We have no issue with you, Ice Elf,” he growled. “But these are our lands.”
“Then apparently you do have an issue. These are open lands, and we need to pass through them.”
The norgoblins growled at this, and their leader frowned, feeling his hand being forced already. “You and the other elf may leave,” he said. “The others we will take prisoner.”
Uesra sighed inwardly. So much for the cloaks convincing the norgoblins they were all elves. “We stay together. And we cannot go back.”
“Then you will be made a prisoner as well.”
Uesra unsheathed the two scimitars she carried. “These are Ashtalon and Thellas. If you do not let us pass, they will spell your doom.”
The norgoblins growled and laughed, but their leader hesitated. He had heard stories of the fighting abilities of some of the Ice Elves from witnesses he trusted. “We outnumber you,” he pointed out.
“You do,” she confirmed. “And I am not so vain as to promise death to your entire band. But you I have singled out. Let us pass, or die.”
He rubbed the back of his hand against his mouth, trying to find an out that could salvage his pride. Failing to do so, he banged his weapon on his shield three times and said. “Take them. Now.” As his troops surged forward, he stepped back, his eyes never leaving Uesra.
As the charge began, Uesra’s companions drew their weapons or, in Adrianna’s case, prepared to cast a spell. Uesra slid back into the spaced line her friends had formed, while Silas moved in front of Adrianna to give her cover.
The norgoblins lost much of what discipline they had before the first blow was struck. Incensed at Uesra’s insults to their leader’s honor, too many made for her, thereby getting in one another’s way and yielding much of their numerical advantage elsewhere. Of the group making for the female Ice Elf, two never made it, being brought down by deadly shots from Xanar’s bow.
Uesra’s biggest fear in the initial surge was not the norgoblin’s weapons but rather the sheer weight of their charge. She knew from past experience that she was much swifter than the hairy brutes, and even badly outnumbered she was confident in her scimitars and her skill. But if enough of the norgoblins simply decided to try to knock her to the ground, she would be hard-pressed to defend herself. She hoped they weren’t bright enough to figure that out as she watched their angles of approach and positioned herself as best she could to survive the initial onslaught.
Two things allowed Uesra to engage in the fight effectively. One of the norgoblins was quicker than the others and arrived first, bringing his halberd down viciously as he skidded to a stop before her. She easily parried the blow, and the norgoblin’s very presence forced the next to arrive to change tack to go around him. The first norgoblin, at least for the first critical moments of the fight, unwittingly acted as a shield for Uesra. In addition, Adrianna unleashed a fireball at the dense group of norgoblins rushing Uesra, setting one ablaze, singeing two others, and causing four more to scatter in different directions.
Darius found he had to step forward to find an enemy to fight, as none of the norgoblins initially charged him directly. As he moved he drew the attention of the nearest beast, but before they could clash an arrow lanced past Darius’ ear and lodged in the norgoblin’s throat. The monster clutched at the arrow, then let it go, looking at his hand with a confused look on his face. Then he fell back, dead. Darius moved toward the next nearest norgoblin, half-expecting an arrow to interrupt before he could fight.
Barlow dropped a norgoblin quickly with Gabriel, then angled to hack at the group trying to converge on Uesra. As he drew near, he wasn’t sure she really needed his help.
The scimitars wielded by the she-elf moved at a dizzying speed, alternately meeting metal and biting into flesh and bone. She moved with a fluid grace, her actions flowing one into the next with effortless ease. Soon after the battle had been joined she had to hop back to be clear of the three dead norgoblins lying at her feet. The others that had converged upon her, too stupid or too stubborn to see what was happening, pressed the attack.
It wasn’t just the nearest norgoblins that rushed forward to test Uesra. The two that had come closest to Silas and Adrianna misread Uesra's backward movement as retreat. Preferring their chances against her rather than against a mage, they veered away from the waiting Silas.
The cleric looked back at Adrianna, who understood immediately. “Go,” she told him. Like Barlow on the left, Silas now closed on the grouped norgoblins from the right.
Uesra continued to backpedal, but it was no indication that she was losing the battle. She kept the norgoblins strung out, fighting one or two at a time while making the others easier targets for her companions. As each norgoblin fell to her blades, the dead became obstacles to the living, which threw their attacks further off balance.
The norgoblin leader had kept a safe distance from the fighting, with one of his lieutenants by his side. He had hoped his force could overwhelm the travelers, and had wanted to swoop in when the fighting was nearly done, striking a final blow and stealing as much of the glory as possible. Now as the battle went from bad to worse, he felt a trembling start in his legs and work its way up to his chest and arms. He wanted to throw down his weapon and run, but he was frozen in place. And the she-elf would soon be free to keep her promise to him.
Adrianna gave him the out he needed. She unleashed another fireball, a smaller, less effective burst than her earlier effort that was more show than anything else. The male elf’s bow was proving far more deadly at a distance, but simple creatures like the norgoblins had long-seated fears around magic. Something clicked in the norgoblin leader’s mind, and he now felt free to retreat as soon as he called upon his remaining troops to do the same. “Mage!” he screamed. “Fall back! Follow me!” With that he was off, without sparing a glance back to see if his forces had heard and obeyed.
They had, and the fighting ended almost as abruptly as it began. Xanar readied another arrow and looked at Uesra with a raised eyebrow.
“Let them go,” she said. “They’ll not trouble us again.”
Darius was looking at Xanar as the elf relaxed his muscles. Much to his surprise, the arrow, which appeared as if it might be made of glass or crystal, vanished as he did so.
“Magic bow?” Darius asked.
Xanar nodded. He drew back the string, and another arrow appeared.
Silas smiled. “I had wondered why you carried no quiver.”
“Nice to not have to fetch them after use, too,” Xanar said.
“What of the arrows?” Darius asked.
“Ice,” Xanar said.
“Sounds like they’d be a bit fragile.”
“Let’s call it very hard ice, then,” Xanar said. He fired the arrow toward a nearby tree. The projectile easily penetrated the wood.
Barlow had been watching the fleeing norgoblins, and was still looking toward the wood even after they were well out of sight. “You seemed certain they will not return,” he said to Uesra. “I’ve not dealt with these creatures before, but…”
“You fear
they’ll return in larger numbers,” she said.
“Yes.”
“In another situation they might, perhaps if we had attacked first, or simply outnumbered them. But their leader was afraid. He did not want to fight.”
“Then why did you push him?” Darius wanted to know. “It sounded like you were almost daring him to start something.”
“I was, but only to better our chances. Once they broke cover, he really had no options other than us surrendering or fighting. If he believed they would win, he would have attacked immediately, and without any discussion. Once I had singled him out I believed he would use the battle to try to sneak away, which, fortunately, he did.”
“So he won’t try to lead them back, even if he receives further reinforcements,” Silas said.
“They work in small groups,” Xanar replied. “He’d need to ask for help, against a party of six. He won’t do that. He’d lose even more respect with his own forces. Plus, he likely will not even have such an opportunity.”
“Why is that?” Adrianna asked.
“His group no doubt is aware that he did not join the fight,” Uesra answered. “Some, if not all, will break from him over such perceived cowardice.”
“And when norgoblins break, they do so in rather violent ways,” Xanar added.
“They fight amongst themselves,” Silas concluded.
Uesra nodded. “To the death.”
Darius glanced at the dead norgoblins, then off to the east. “So where does that leave us?”
“Ready to start off again,” Xanar said. “Before the smell of norgoblin blood draws scavengers.”
No one wanted to know what those scavengers might be.
*
When they were well away from the site of the battle, Barlow complimented Uesra on her fighting skills, then asked about her swords. “I noticed you named them. Enchanted weapons?”
She nodded. “Attuned to me as well. Although others could use them, and I other weapons.”
“I don’t doubt that. I didn’t think the swords gave you the talent you have to use them.”
“I was well-trained, over many years. I sense your weapon is special as well.”
“Gabriel. A paladin sword, most effective against evil creatures.”
“Is it named after the archangel?”
“Yes,” answered Barlow, pleasantly surprised. “You have heard of him.”
“I studied more than fighting. The religious beliefs of many are known to me, at least to some extent. I do not profess to be an expert.”
“I’m afraid I must confess ignorance to Ashtalon and Thellas. Are these beings in elven lore?”
“No,” Uesra replied with a shake of her head. “Elvish words, actually. They mean ‘striker’ and ‘defender.’ Not very creative when stated as such, but they are apt.”
“That they are,” Barlow agreed.
Silas glanced back at Xanar, who was at the rear of their little band with Darius. “What about your weapon?” he asked. “What do you call it?”
Xanar thumped his chest twice with a fist, while holding the bow aloft with his other hand. “I call it…Bow!”
Silas shook his head while Adrianna and Uesra groaned and Darius stifled a laugh.
“I thought to ask the same thing,” Barlow told Silas. "But I’ve learned better.”
*
Landri was furious. He paced his throne room like an angry tiger in a cage, muttering to himself. Various objects were strewn about the room, objects he had cast to the ground or thrown at his advisors in a rage. He ordered everyone out, an order that did not need to be repeated. Everyone left gladly, wanting to be away from this storming maniac.
Landri tried to calm himself. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest, could feel the tightening sensation coming on, like a great hand was starting to squeeze the life from him. He tried to sit on his throne, missed, and ended up on the floor.
He managed to settle himself somewhat with a dozen deep breaths, although he could feel the cold sweat running down his face now. He closed his eyes and tried to think, to penetrate the black fog that came over him when he lost control, either of himself or of events. He should have realized it was the latter that usually led to the former, but was too stubborn to face it, too spoiled by a life where so much he had not earned had been given to him. His thoughts swirled around one thing, one name: Kaelesh.
Landri was not so naïve as to think Kaelesh’s priority was always Landri’s welfare. Landri had always understood he should take Kaelesh’s advice with a grain of salt, to keep his own council, but he had rarely done other than what Kaelesh had advised him to do. Had told him to do. In his darkest times, like now, he often wondered who was really the master.
Kaelesh had been absent a great deal of late, and was openly evasive about what he was doing. Whether the reports from Dalusia were in any way connected to Kaelesh was open to debate, but now that Landri’s internal fires had been stoked, he decided that even if Kaelesh wasn’t involved in what had happened, he surely knew of it. Kaelesh seemed to know everything,
As Landri’s chest pain subsided, he rose to his feet. A strange calm settled over him, a feeling that a long journey had been completed or a test passed, that he knew what he had to do. Regardless of what had happened over the last ten years, Landri was still king. No one could deny that. Or change it.
He stalked from his throne room, waved the guards that started to escort him away, and headed for Kaelesh’s chambers. He had better be there, Landri thought grimly. Even as a tiny pit born of doubt started to form in his gut, Landri smiled, thinking of the look on Kaelesh’s face when Landri demanded answers or else.
What had his chief advisor really done for him lately? Where was the book? Finding it was the only real task he had been set, and there had been no mention of progress for weeks. Landri’s smile grew. Yes, Kaelesh had much for which to answer.
Landri breezed past the guards posted at Kaelesh’s door and burst in without knocking.
Kaelesh was there, slowly pacing while reading a book. Rather than being shocked or insulted at the king’s sudden intrusion, he simply closed the book, smiled, and said, “My king. How may I serve you?”
This measured calm on the part of Kaelesh really didn’t surprise Landri, but it infuriated him nonetheless. He bit back a nasty retort, knowing he needed to save his anger for the right moment. He wanted to slap at Kaelesh with it when his chief advisor was off balance. He felt his lip quiver, and could hear the vibration transferred to his voice when he said, “The reports from Dalusia are…interesting.”
“How so?”
“You’ve not heard?” Landri asked with open incredulity.
“I hear many things, my king. I am only uncertain to what you refer.”
“Open slaughter of civilians. Of women and children.” Landri couldn’t stop his voice from going up a half-octave with each sentence. “Our own troops scattering. Some abandoning their posts and fleeing the army.”
Kaelesh held his hands out. “What would you have me say?”
“Tell me you knew nothing of it, Kaelesh.” To make sure the sarcasm in his tone wasn’t missed, he added. “Lie to me.”
“No need for that,” Kaelesh said with a shrug. “I did not order such atrocities, but I was aware they were likely to occur.”
“You were—” Landri turned bright red. He wanted to lash out physically, but he knew better than to strike Kaelesh, even if he was king.
Kaelesh’s face suddenly went hard, as if he had tired of this game. “If you don’t have the stomach for such things, don’t blame that weakness on me. You’ve participated in your share of foul deeds.”
“Those were not women and children.”
“They were living beings. And much of what you’ve approved has brought about the deaths of women and children, just not so swiftly and brutally. But why so squeamish? Afraid your legacy will be tarnished?”
If Landri wasn’t already red with anger, the flush of embarra
ssment the words caused him would have had the same effect. “You dare—”
No words could have been crueler than the laugh that passed Kaelesh’s lips. “Of course I dare, my beloved king. What say you, Praad? Have we not done enough to merit more respect?”
Praad stepped from the shadows in the corner of the room. “I would say so.”
Landri could feel the anger swept away, to be replaced by the claustrophobic feeling he always had when Praad was about. “What’s he doing here?” he asked. He meant the question to be stern, an accusation, but his voice sounded small and weak.
“Oh, yes,” Kaelesh said. “I forgot how uncomfortable my brothers make you. But this is a trivial matter of no importance. I have something to show you, my king, something which will help you forget about this news that has upset you so.”
Landri wanted to snap back with some sort of retort, but his energy was quickly leaving him, as was his courage. “What is it?”
“Follow me.”
Kaelesh went past him to the open door, and Landri dutifully followed, almost as if in a trance. Praad moved next to Landri and took his arm, escorting the king along. Some part of Landri wanted to scream, to flee, but that part of him could no longer push its way into action. He felt as if he was dreaming, and could only watch events unfold.
They made their way down from the upper levels of the castle where Kaelesh’s quarters were located to the main floor, and there headed for the steps to the lower levels. Along the way they passed several guards, each of whom seemed uncertain what to do beyond standing at the strictest attention. It was rare for three such important persons to move about without an escort, but any of the guards that made the slightest motion to provide such protection were quickly waved back by Kaelesh. None regretted the dismissal, preferring to keep away from the quick-to-anger king, his intimidating chief advisor, and the eerie Praad.
There were several lower levels in the castle, the uppermost being the kitchens and various storage areas, and further down the dungeons. On the dungeon level the guards acted differently, already at attention and far less nervous at the sight of three passing through. These looked unabashedly to Kaelesh, and at a quick shake of his head knew they should remain at their posts.