"I... uh, I know that you and the others are all... that is, I know she thinks of you as the last of her family. She has said it more than once."
Meric nodded, assuming that they were talking about Malina. "We feel the same way," he replied.
"Well, I thought it best... I thought that it only proper..." He cleared his throat again.
Meric smiled at the normally composed Captain and said, "Spit it out man!"
James huffed and then shot an annoyed look at Meric's ever increasing grin. "I thought you would be the closest substitute to asking her father for permission to marry her." He picked up speed halfway through so that the last part came out rushed. Meric laughed out loud and reached over to clamp a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"While Malina will probably be letting you know that no man has a right to tell what she can or cannot do with her personal life, I will happily give my blessing."
James' shoulders actually slumped in relief, and then they both were laughing.
"I have to say we have been wondering what you were waiting for."
"It just did not seem like there was any reason to rush things, and honestly... I am embarrassed to say that I was a little afraid that she might not feel as strongly as I do. That is still nagging at me, but I realized that the risk is worth the reward. I just have to hope that she is the marrying type."
"Not sure I can say much for your timing, but I will be happy for both of you. What did bring this on now?" Meric scratched at his neck as he asked.
"Pierson. I guess it could be the whole 'life is too short' thing, but I have just been thinking about a conversation we had not too long before we met Alyssa. He and Tomas got a little tipsy one night and corralled me. A rare thing to see Pierson drinking too much, not to mention he was feeling especially talkative that night." James paused a second, his eyes misting. "He basically told me that I had better do the right thing when it came to Malina, or I would not have to worry about 'those big boys from Rennick' because he and Tomas would knock some sense into me. She was too good a woman to not be treated with proper respect. Honestly, I think he might have been a little sweet on her himself." He laughed softly and wiped at the corner of his eye.
Meric nodded sadly, and then put a hand to James shoulder again. "Well, I am pretty sure Brody and Silas will agree with me, but you might want to mention it to them yourself."
"I was thinking you could at least tell Brody for me... you know, as a favor for a friend." James joked with exaggerated fear.
Meric chuckled. "No, I do not think so."
As James smiled back and began to turn away, Meric stopped him with the hand still gripping his shoulder. When James looked at him questioningly, he found a dead serious Meric looking back.
"I do approve, and I think you two will be good together... Do not break her heart. You are a good friend, but she's my family." Meric held eye contact for a few seconds to make certain the man understood, and then he slapped him on the shoulder and smiled to let him know he was done being a big brother for now.
The relieved huff of breath could be heard clearly from behind him as he turned back to the south. The unobstructed view afforded by the hilltop they had chosen was breathtaking. A riot of greens, yellows, oranges, and reds dotted the landscape, broken up by rivers, streams, open fields, and even a settlement or two. Meric was taking it all in with something akin to awe, when he spotted potential trouble. Erupting from a forest tree line in the distance was a mass of men on horseback, moving at a steady gallop. They were at least a day away, but were heading in their direction. The riders were too far to make out any detail, but Meric easily recognized the uniforms of the Rennick Army.
He knew that they could be headed anywhere, and that there was no way they could know their exact location, but that did not stop him from calling to the others to pack up and be ready to leave. There was too much at stake to leave it to chance, so he suited actions to words by going to get his own horse and mounting up. He gave a brief explanation of what he saw as well as his thoughts, and when he received no objections, he waved to Brody so he could get them moving. They would not run their horses to death, but he saw no reason not to hurry. They needed to get to the caves, and they needed to do it without an enemy right on top of them. They should be able to beat the soldiers with enough time to spare, but if not, there were plenty of places in the mountains that could be used as a good defensive position. It was not ideal, but they would do what they had to.
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
Trapped
They rode at a steady pace, but were careful not to wear their horses down. It was well after dark before they stopped for the night, and they continued with their habit of being on the trail well before the sun came up. There was no way of knowing if the soldiers they had seen were following them, but they saw no reason to slacken their pace. The need to reach their destination as soon as possible had not changed, so the group did not slow down. Dense forests populated the area all along the foothills of the Hackles and even though they were still climbing to higher ground, they could no longer tell what route the soldiers were taking. Meric estimated that they were a couple of days away from the area that the cave was in, and was not sure how long it would take to find the opening once they got there.
Two days later, the tired party came out of the last stretch of trees and into a light snowfall, stopping on a rocky promontory overlooking a lake that hugged the edge of some of the mountain's more serious peaks. Over the past day and a half, the gentle peaks and valleys of the foothills had given way to more steep hills and sharper drop offs. They had been slowed more than once by having to backtrack and find a way that the horses could handle, but they had reached the area they had been traveling to and now only needed to locate the cave that contained the hidden entrance to the Dwarven domain.
Meric reached up and pushed his hood back to get an unobstructed look at their surroundings, and then scanned the far side of the lake with relief at recognizing the landscape. They had come out near the western shore of the lake, and he could just see the small, almost valley that they needed to get to on the far side of the wind rippled body of water. He breathed warm air into his gloved hands and felt the barest bit of heat seep through the leather. Ferron shifted as he sat watching the few tendrils of steam escape into the falling snow before turning and studying the area to pick out an easy route for them to take.
"You see it?" Brody's rumble brought him out of his near trance.
Meric nodded and made a vague gesture in the direction of the lake. "On the far side, just over halfway around the lake's edge. It should not take us more than a few more hours to get there."
He saw recognition dawn as the big man found the spot and then he turned back to look once more as well. That was when he saw movement to the right of their goal, at the eastern most end of the lake. He thought at first that the soldiers had found them, but realized a moment later that there was no way they could have made it that far ahead of them. They would have had no idea that his group would come out here, or know their destination. It only took another few seconds for his brain to translate what his eyes were seeing. Goblins, at least sixty of them, were marching through the thin snow covering the rocky ground. There were also two Orc ridden wargs, and a shaman. The magic user's distinctive red-dyed furs stood out in sharp contrast against the white and gray background. He was not sure if they had seen his party yet, but it did not matter if they had. They could not turn back and run. They had to finish their mission.
Meric heard muffled cursing from his friends as they caught sight of the enemy, and he started scanning the countryside more intently looking for a place to hide if they could go unnoticed, or a defensible position. For them to have any chance, they needed a setup like the ruins. Somewhere that the enemy could not flank them, and was narrow enough that the fewest possible combatants could approach at the same time. Fortunately the mountainous, craggy region they were now in should provide multiple options; it was just a matter
of finding a good enough spot. The odds were not exactly in their favor, but when had they ever been.
The more he looked, the more he remembered about the area they were in, and thought there was indeed a spot that could work well. Brody must have had the same idea, as he spoke right when Meric did.
"The dead end pass!" They were looking at each other as they spoke. Brody grinned and after one more look back to the enemy, he turned to Malina.
"Do you remember that? There was a company of Goblins that thought they had found a pass to escape down."
"It turned into a narrow path with high, almost sheer walls that led to a cave opening that was only twenty feet deep. The cave was a dead end. They basically trapped themselves." She was studying the area as she spoke, and then suddenly started off down the slope to their left. Brody waved everyone to follow and then continued to explain as they rode.
"It was actually a good spot to defend from, but they were so panicked that they just rushed right back down the path and tried to fight their way out. We finished them off easily."
As they followed Malina down the slope and further west Meric lost sight of the enemy. He thought they might be able to get a good head start before they were even spotted, but just as he told himself this, he heard distant shout and horses. The steel shod hooves striking rock was distinctive, and it took a moment before he realized why that was so wrong. There were no horses in the Orc war party. He strained to hear the out of place sound and once it came again, accompanied by shouts that were decidedly human, he was able to track the noise as coming from behind them. The soldiers had actually caught up with them. He shouted ahead to warn the others and order them to a faster speed. Now it was going to be a race. It was possible that the two forces after them could fight each other, but he could not leave that to chance. He would not put it past Xavier to consort with the Orcs, but he found it hard to believe that any man in the army would be willing to fight next to the beasts.
Loosened gravel and rock cascaded down the slope with them as the horses slipped here and there, but thankfully none lost their balance and they made it to the bottom safely. Malina was off as soon as the ground leveled out, though she did not go faster than was safe. There were boulders and rocks strewn across their path that she had to navigate around, and some trees and scrub brush to avoid. Any opportunity that was presented for her to quicken her pace, she took, but still the going was slower than Meric would have liked. The only solace was the fact that the soldiers on horseback would have to take the same cautious approach.
The real worry was the wargs. They could cover this terrain with little difficulty, and if the two deadly animals caught them out in the open, it would be bad. He could only hope that the Orcs would decide to stay with their troops, as they had generally done in the past. Luck appeared to be on their side as they reached the far side of the lake and skirted the cliffs to the west, Meric could see the Orc steeds still off in the distance. They were hurrying after them, but not out pacing their warriors.
After nearly an hour of hard riding, they reached the path they were searching for. Malina did not hesitate to turn up the trail, and the rest followed just as quickly. It was nearly straight and a bit wide at the opening, but soon the sloping cliff-sides turned to near vertical walls and closed in to around three to five paces in spots. This continued for around fifty yards on a slight incline up to a bend that hooked right. The bend was about twenty more yards from the cave, but provided the perfect spot to make their stand. A cluster of boulders on the right side of the path would only allow them to enter single file. The side of the cliff looked to have broken away and the result was a just above head high slab of rock that leaned against the cliff wall and a few smaller boulders that would clutter up anyone trying to charge them.
Meric hoped off of Ferron and directed him along with the others. They moved all of the horses into the cave and toward the left side of the small cavern. If they had to fall back, they would use the rest of the space to make a last stand. He grabbed one of the extra bundles of arrows, giving him one hundred. He knew he would never have time to use them all, but better to have too many than not enough. Stationing himself at the boulder, he called to Alyssa and Brody.
"Be ready with that shield," he told Brody. "I am going to try to talk to the soldiers if I have the opportunity. Maybe we will get lucky and some of them will have known us." At his friend's skeptical look he shrugged and continued. "It will not hurt to try... hopefully. Have Malina and Woodard grab some extra arrows and be ready to start shooting as soon as the Goblins are in sight. We will lay into them as long as possible, and then make our stand here at this bottleneck."
"I counted about sixty goblins and forty soldiers. Make every shot count." They shared a grim look and Brody clasped his forearm tightly and then walked away. They were both thinking that they might not be walking away from this one. He had also caught a glimpse of the Rennick unit that was chasing them. While they had found a very good spot to defend, if the soldiers joined with the Goblins there would just be too many of them. They would never be able to keep up the energy level needed, especially in this higher altitude.
Meric finally turned to look into Alyssa's beautiful, worried eyes. The thought of what would happen to her tore at his heart.
"Keep an eye on that shaman. Do whatever you can, becau-"
Her fingers covered his mouth about a second before her lips did. He pulled her tight and gave in to the moment. All too soon she pulled away, and spoke determinedly.
"We are going to make it!" Her voice hardly shook as she spoke. He opened his mouth, wanting to tell her just how amazing she was and how lucky he felt, but she spoke again before he could.
"You can tell me after this is all over."
"Are you using your witchy powers to read my mind?" She just smiled and turned to look down the path, waiting.
"Can you make a shield here, to block them out?" His bearing had become serious once more.
"The shaman will be able to counter it as soon as I start making it. If I had been able to set it up before their magic user was within range to detect it... too late now."
He took a few deep breaths and tried to focus on the task at hand. He knew that it was unlikely that the Goblins would have any archers, and once again wondered about it. It was something that they had never been able to figure out, but had contemplated many times. He agreed with what Silas had once said. He believed that it had to do with the Orcs not wanting to arm them with a ranged weapon that might be used against their masters. The main reason that the Goblins could be kept in check was the magic users, and an ambush from a distance could be used to effectively counter the shaman, if it was well coordinated. Not likely with goblins, but why take the risk.
The humans were another matter all together. He was certain they would have archers, and some of them would be skilled. The cover they had should be adequate to offset those numbers, as long as they were careful when they broke that cover to fire. He could hear footsteps approach, and turned to find Malina and Woodard there.
"I doubt that the Orcs will charge with their mounts unless it looks like things are going badly, but we should be prepared just in case."
Before he could go on, Alyssa spoke. She was looking down the path, but focusing on the walls to either side instead of the ground.
"Silas can speak the Orc language, right?" Do you think he could taunt the two Orcs into charging ahead? Or even with their goblins?"
All three of them looked at her like she was crazy. She smirked and then explained.
"I have a plan, but there is no guarantee that it will work. And if it does, it will be a onetime deal. I will also have to be quick, and will probably get the shaman's immediate attention when I do."
"Go on," Meric said.
"You see the walls about thirty yards down? See how the left side is sticking almost over the trail at the top? I can make a large part that come down on top of their heads. Hopefully it will kill them, or at least incap
acitate. The more I can catch the better, but I assume the wargs are the biggest threat. It will not hurt to try anyway." She finished almost defensively at the stares she was still receiving.
Then Meric grinned, and called out for Silas. When he was done explaining, both men were grinning. Meric knew that if there was one exploitable fault of the Orcs, it was their arrogant confidence in their warrior abilities. That pride appeared to be bred into them, causing them to put faith in their fighting prowess even when caution would be the more strategically sound approach. It was not a guarantee, because some of the more experienced, older warriors had learned to temper that pride. However, they would not send those Orcs out with a party like they had chasing them.
As they prepared for the enemy to come they could hear them approaching the path. As he hoped, there was some confusion and anger from the humans. They could hear raised voices, but the echoes were not clear enough to make out exactly what was being said. It took some time, but the two sides either worked something out or the humans could not be convinced to help. The arguing died down, and they could hear the guttural calls of the goblins just before they saw them enter the path.
A Soldier's Honor: The Scepter of Maris: Book One Page 25