Time flew again. The memories were a bit clearer now. John drew her away from her pack and rode with her for a while; months, maybe years; taking her all over the lands. Then he left her deep in a jungle, assuring her that she would be safe . . .
The last memories were much more recent and vivid in their clarity. Gwyrtha was deep in a swamp-like jungle, crouched high up in a tree, looking down on a small village of humans. She looked down at them with yearning, knowing they feared her, knowing that she must stay away, but wanting their company. As she looked down, a man passed through the village. The people were in awe of him, bowing and reaching out to touch him. The man walked up to her tree and Gwyrtha smelled him. She pounced at once. People screamed and ran, but John laughed from his position in the mud under her feet. He rose and embraced her. They rode together for a time . . .
John brought her to another wood, a place both old and new. He introduced her to the elves and asked them to care for her. Then he left her once again . . .
The memories faded and Justan was left with a lingering sense of affection for the man Gwyrtha knew as John. She loved him and missed him still. Without a shadow of a doubt, the prophet was immortal as the scholars once said. He was the same, unchanging throughout Gwyrtha’s memories.
Justan now knew he owed the man a great debt. The prophet’s words as he visited him that night at the Mage School had helped him better understand himself and his powers, but more importantly, he had guided and protected Gwyrtha throughout the years.
“This’d better not be a dag-gum joke!”
A sharp pain in his side startled Justan to awareness. His face was in a pile of leaves.
“That ain’t funny, you beet squisher!” A rough hand grabbed his shoulder and rolled him over. Lenny slapped his face. “Wake up, dag-blast it!”
“Ow,” Justan sat up and winced, rubbing his side where Lenny had kicked him. Stanza was standing nearby. Master Coal had dismounted Albert and was running over towards him. Justan hadn’t realized he had been so deep into the bond. He was fortunate he hadn’t hit his head on a rock. “Sorry, Lenny.”
“What the hell’s wrong with you, Son?”
“It was the prophet, Lenny,” Justan said. “He left her there with the elves.”
“Huh?” The dwarf leaned in close looking into Justan’s eyes, his one bushy eyebrow raised in concern. “You alright in there, son? What’re you goin’ on about?”
“He brought Gwyrtha there, Lenny. To the elves. All those years, he was saving her for me.”
Chapter Seven
Willum stood at his post on the northwestern corner of the wall and watched the incident between the giants and goblins unfold.
It started when a hungry giantess walked into a goblin camp and stole a whole hog they had set roasting on a spit. The goblins gave chase and she trampled one of the goblin leaders in her haste to return to the giant army with her prize. Enraged, the goblins had chased her into the giant’s territory and slew her.
The retaliation of the giants was brutal. A large group of them left their encampment and waded into the mass of goblins, smashing them with clubs, rocks, and fists. There was no way for Willum to know why they reacted so strongly. Perhaps they knew the female that had been killed. Perhaps they just didn’t like the goblins invading their space. Either way, hundreds of goblins were killed before they were able to take down the invaders.
“Could this be it?” yelled a student from his post a couple of yards to Willum’s left, his hands cupped on either side of his mouth so that he could be heard over the army’s roar. “Could this be the start of the battle the council has been hoping for?”
“I don’t know! Maybe,” Willum yelled, but he didn’t think so. Everyone hoped that the army would destroy itself from within, but though fighting broke out among the different factions of the besieging army quite often, it always died down. True, this fight was the largest so far, but the army was so numerous that even if thousands of goblins had died, the loss wouldn’t matter. Maybe if they were lucky and the scuffle spilled over to the rest of the army, starting a chain reaction. Maybe . . .
At any rate, both encampments were in an uproar and it seemed for a time that full out war just might erupt between them. Then one of the giant commanders appeared. He was a huge thing, at least half again as tall as most of the giants camped in the hills, and his skin was an odd bluish gray. Willum had manned the north wall many times before and knew most of the leaders by sight, but had definitely never seen this one before. He hadn’t known giants like that existed. This new commander shouted down his people and forced them to withdraw from the goblin camp.
The goblins chose to see this action as a victory. They gathered at the dividing line between their army and the giants, taunting and brandishing their weapons. The giants looked back at them from their side of the line, most of them with a sense of bemusement, but there were a few that frowned and hefted large rocks in their fists.
“I’m a bit disappointed,” came a voice behind Willum’s shoulder. “I come up here to see the ruckus and find that it has calmed down already. I wonder if there is something we could do to get them fighting again.”
Willum looked back, surprised to see Tad the Cunning standing right behind him. “Sir! What brings you up here?”
“I am inspecting the battlements, Willum,” Tad said in amusement. “It is something everyone on the council does from time to time.”
“Right. Of course, sir,” Willum said, a bit awkwardly. His surprise had come from the fact that Tad was talking to him in public. Ever since Willum told him about Dann Doudy’s past, Tad had made sure that no one ever saw them together. Lately they had only met in the dark of morning and Tad changed the location constantly.
“I am sorry I missed our meeting this morning,” Tad said. “Doudy cornered me and wanted to talk.”
“I understood, sir,” Willum said. Tad was the council leader after all. “But is it okay for you to be seen talking to me now?”
“I can’t always avoid you. That would be just as suspicious as being seen talking to you too much,” Tad said. “This is a perfect time for our meeting, actually. I am here to investigate the skirmish amongst the enemy ranks and no one can hear what we are saying. So, let’s dispense with official business first, shall we? Willum, what is the current status of the enemy?”
Willum smiled. When Tad was around, he always felt more confident in his abilities. “Since the giant commander arrived, both sides have backed down, sir.”
“I see. Is that him?” Tad pointed down to the center of the camp, where the huge gray giant now stood. Several of the other giant leaders were gathered around him and one of the ogre chieftains was gesturing animatedly. The grey giant folded his enormous arms and nodded occasionally, but his eyes were focused up on the wall.
Willum nodded. “They are all bowing and scraping around him now. What kind of giant is he?”
Tad shook his head. “I have no idea. Giants vary in size, but that one’s huge. His skin color is throwing me off too . . . maybe Stout Harley would know. He’s from giant country.” He looked over to the goblin side. “This appears to be over then. The goblins are putting on a show of aggression, but that’s just to make themselves feel better. I am honestly quite surprised that they dared to chase the giantess down in the first place. Goblins would never hunt down a giant in the wilds. They are terrified of them.”
“Maybe they are just getting too used to being around each other,” Willum suggested.
“Fantastic observation, Willum. I wonder if we can use that fact to our advantage . . .” Tad rubbed his chin for a moment, then shrugged. “Now that we have that out of the way, what did your father tell you last night?”
“I told him your concerns about his plan of action, sir,” Willum said. “He and Sir Edge are determined to move forward, though. They promise to continue to gather information for you as they go, but they feel that asking the Mage School for assistance is the best way they can help to br
eak the siege.”
Tad frowned. “I fear that it is a waste of time. We sent messengers out the moment we knew the army was descending on us, so they already know about the siege. They also know how well provisioned we are. They helped us stockpile our supplies after all. No, the wizards are secure behind their walls. I doubt that they will see an urgent need to march to our aid.”
“My father has the same concerns.” Willum said. “But he feels that if they can win even a few of the wizards over to our side, it would be a great help in giving them the legitimacy they need to raise an army.”
“Maybe so,” Tad sighed. “I suppose it gives us a distant chance of rescue if this siege doesn’t break on its own soon.”
“So you think that the enemy is going to break, sir?” Willum asked hopefully.
“I don’t know. I have no idea what has kept them together so far. By all rights, this army shouldn’t exist in the first place. They all hate each other as much as they hate humans.”
“They believe that the Dark Prophet is leading them.” Willum said.
“So we hear,” Tad acknowledged. “But that can only go so far. Even when the Dark Prophet was actually alive, his armies constantly turned on each other. No matter how convincingly their leaders have deceived them, that belief won’t be enough. Hunger should do it. Their supply trains have slowed down to a crawl recently and by all rights an army that size should have hunted down all edible animals in the area by now. As they run out of food, fights like today’s will become more commonplace.”
“Then why are you so worried, sir?” Willum asked. Tad’s words were convincing, but his voice was full of doubt.
“Something’s not right about this whole thing. There are so many aspects that remain a mystery.”
“Then maybe it’s a good thing that my father is raising an army to help,” Willum suggested.
Tad gave him a half smile. “At the very least, with your father at the Mage School we will have a way to communicate with the wizards directly. Maybe we can convince them if your father can’t. It will probably mean more concessions on our side of the school contract though.” His smile faded at the thought. “At any rate, once we establish communication with them we won’t be able to keep our meetings secret anymore. The council will need to know how we are able to get information to and from the Mage School.”
“But what about the spy?” Willum’s brow wrinkled in concern. “You said Doudy, er . . . Representative Doudy was asking questions?”
Tad snorted. “If he is a spy, as we suspect, he is a horrible one. If you hadn’t told me about his connection with the Vriil family, I probably would have dismissed the possibility. Everyone has been suspicious of him from the moment he arrived and he hasn’t even tried to get into our good graces since. He storms around asking odd questions, belittles everyone on the council that isn’t noble born, and then complains about every positive decision made. The man is so obviously trying to undermine our efforts, it’s laughable. No one takes his suggestions or demands seriously and any truly sensitive discussions are done away from the man. The only thing I can think of is that our security efforts have been successful and since he has no way to get a message out, he is just trying to sabotage us any way he can.”
Willum frowned. “Maybe he’s just acting like a fool to lull the council into dismissing him as a threat.”
Tad gave him an appraising look. “That’s some shrewd thinking, Willum. Have you been talking to Hugh the Shadow?”
Willum’s eyes widened. “Why no, sir. I mean, I have taken his espionage classes, sir, but I haven’t talked to him about anything else. I have done as you asked and spoke of my father’s movements to no one . . . sir.”
Tad laughed. “Don’t worry, Willum. I wasn’t accusing you of anything. I was just impressed is all. You are quite-.” He paused and looked down at the giant army with interest. “What are they doing now, I wonder?”
The giant commander and his retinue of leaders were walking towards the wall, all of them talking to their commander at once. They stopped at the edge of the siege line. The gray giant said one word and pointed to the top of the wall, right at an academy graduate stationed only two spots down from Willum’s. A hush went out over the giant ranks. The commander bent and punched into the rocky shale, breaking it up and pulling out a chunk that had to weigh as much as an average man. He tucked the chunk of rock under his arm like a great disc. He spun, gathering momentum.
“He’s aiming for our man,” Tad said.
“He’ll never hit him. He’s way too far away,” Willum said, but Tad moved down to stand beside the graduate nonetheless.
“Stand firm, soldier,” Tad said and the graduate nodded. “Show him we don’t fear them.”
The giant swung his arm in a wide arc as he released the rock. It hurtled towards the graduate’s position with startling accuracy. Tad stood firm. He rested his hand on the graduate’s shoulder and watched as the rock struck the wall just three feet below their position, shattering into a hail of tiny shards that fell back towards the ground below.
The graduate didn’t flinch, but his face was pale and his breathing heavy.
“Good job, soldier,” Tad said and walked back over to Willum’s position. “Their new commander’s showing off.”
“The giants do this from time to time, sir,” Willum said. “It’s a game. They take turns throwing rocks to see if any of them can get them over the wall.”
“I saw a report about that. But I was told they stopped this game a week ago.”
“We started shooting them if they approached close enough to clear the top of the wall, sir. It stopped being fun for them after that.” Willum explained. He looked down at the grey giant, who was shouting at the other giants around him, another hefty boulder clutched in one hand. “They must have told him about it. He’s standing just out of range for most of our archers.”
“Let’s change that,” Tad said. He walked a short distance along the wall to talk to one of the students at their post. The student nodded and rushed down the stairs. Tad arrived back at Willum’s post just as a commotion started below.
Two ogres came out from behind the hillside dragging a portly man behind them. He was bound hand and foot and seemed terrified, shouting and pleading as they dragged him to their leader.
The gray giant nodded in satisfaction and dropped the rock he was holding. He bent and grabbed the prisoner’s feet instead, then lifted the man off the ground with one large hand and started to spin. The man let out a high pitched scream.
“By the gods!” Tad said.
With a mighty release, the giant sent the man through the air in a high arc, tumbling end-over-end, screaming all the way.
“He’s going to clear the wall!” Willum gasped.
The man flew just over their heads and Willum caught a quick glimpse of his panicked face before the man fell into the school grounds. He crashed onto one of the rooftops with a thud, shattering tiles before rolling off and hitting the street below. A panicked crowd of refugees gathered around him.
Tad sent another of the students down to secure the body, telling him to take it to the infirmary immediately. There was no way the man had survived, but they needed to make sure that he hadn’t been diseased. The last thing they needed was a plague behind their walls. The Dark Prophet’s armies had used vile tactics like that in the past.
Willum felt sick. “I recognized that man, sir. He was a shopkeeper from Renuel. He was supposed to have escaped with the people that left before the army closed in.”
Tad turned, his jaw clenched as he looked down upon the enemy commander. The giant pumped his fist and cheers erupted throughout the giant army. In their excitement, many of them broke out with a flurry of rock-throwing. These rocks didn’t pose a threat though. None of them struck more than halfway up the wall. The giant commander laughed and motioned to the ogres that had brought the man. They nodded and ran back behind the hillside.
“I think he sent them to bring
back more,” Willum said.
“We can’t allow this.” Tad said grimly. “Emotions are tense enough. If the bodies of friends and neighbors keep landing in academy grounds, there will be panic.”
Willum shuddered at the thought of a constant barrage of Renuel’s citizens hurled over the walls. He had read about such things and his teachers had spoken about the horrors of siege warfare, but nothing had prepared him for what he had just seen. He took a deep breath and forced the visage of the poor shopkeeper from his mind.
“What are they bringing now?” Tad wondered. The ogres had returned from behind the hill, but this time they were pulling a large boxed-in handcart. Willum hoped it didn’t contain more prisoners.
A group of men rushed up the stairs to the battlements and Willum was glad to see Swen and Mad Jon among them. Swen carried Windy and Mad Jon carried a bow almost as big. They rushed over to confer with Tad and he updated them on the situation.
The War of Stardeon (The Bowl of Souls) Page 11