The Warrior's Bane (War for the Quarterstar Shards Book 1)

by David L. McDaniel

  Soon other kingdoms came in looking to gain land and the advantage of establishing a foothold in the forest behind the massive defensive vantage point of the Vixtaevus Gap.

  As bad luck would have it, all of the tribes Pencog had belonged to had become extinct or were broken up through fighting. It was only through Pencog’s deceitful intellect that he managed to survive as long as he did. He would find ways to survive, even if it meant surrendering and becoming prisoner to an opposing tribe one day until he found a way to deceive his captors and escape the next day using various methods of deceit or cunning manipulation.

  His most common life-preserving tactic, which he used more than once, was to leave the battlefield during the height of its chaos. Instead of fighting in a blood rage as his fellow combatants did, he would turn and leave the battlefield. He felt no dishonor in saving his own life. Turning away from a battle once the blood lust had entered the chaotic fray was a learned trait, and one that many goblins could not do,

  One other tactic Pencog had used to stay alive was false loyalty. Fighting, hunting and killing were all that most goblins knew how to do. If they possessed any loyalty at all, it would only be to kill the enemy’s leader and protect their own leader until their death seemed imminent. In that case, their mindset would often change to self-preservation at all cost. Pencog changed loyalties as often as he changed his battle stained shirts.

  Pencog was an excellent fighter, and by surviving so many battles, he had learned that he could read the battle while he fought. He had an eye for knowing when his tribe was about to be destroyed. Realizing this, he saved his life many times. When the end was looming, he would resort back to his old tactic of discreetly wandering from the battlefield before the tide would turn and before escape would be deemed impossible.

  During one battle in particular Pencog became most proud of using such tactics in life preservation by using his intellectual advantage over other goblins. A rival tribe of goblins had clashed with Pencog’s tribe during a raid and they had battled all day and well into the night. The deaths became more prevalent and Pencog witnessed that many of his fiercest leaders had failed, but their subordinates had failed to notice, blinded as they were by the darkness and by their blood lust. Pencog took advantage of the situation, slipped away, and left the rest of his tribe to be slaughtered.

  He escaped the battle by discreetly running into the deep woods and then skirted around the battle site and slipped in amongst the ranks of the opposition He began fighting his own men and helped to finish off the last members of his tribe. The opposing tribe realized the battle was over and victory cheers filled the putrid and blood scented air. In the darkness they pillaged the dead bodies and afterward began their trek back to their own tribe’s encampment.

  As they walked along, Pencog walked as the last goblin in line, and one by one, he silently stabbed each one in the back until he reached the final few. He then slipped away into the woods unnoticed. He had wanted to stay just so he could watch the leaders finally turn around and notice the trail of dead bodies he had left which stretched for miles.

  He found this tactic so successful that he used it a number of times, enjoying the cunningness of his wit with every kill. He even enjoyed fighting shoulder to shoulder with his enemy. An unsuspecting goblin, not realizing that Pencog was not one of his own, would thrill Pencog to no end. The fact that the goblins did not recognize him did not matter, for they were often in such bloodlust that they assumed if he wasn’t trying to kill them, then he was on their side. The ruse worked too beautifully for Pencog.

  Years later, after switching tribes over a dozen times, he found himself with a very powerful and semi intelligent tribe. The 89th Bloody Fang tribe was notorious amongst the other tribes for being ruthless -- though not the most ruthless -- and they were undoubtedly the largest and most successful tribe in the Goblin Tribes Forest. Most of the semi intelligent tribes had formed a military structure such as the 89th Bloody Fang Tribe had, but few were as successful given to their overwhelming size.

  Once the goblins became semi-organized by learning the battle tactics of the humans, the human kingdoms found value in that for their own training purposes and they would send warriors into the goblin homeland to practice battle tactics on the often hapless and unorganized goblins. This became such a common experience that over time the smarter tribes learned from their mistakes and started not only beating the human warriors, but also destroying them down to a man.

  The devastated humans left behind their banners and standards. The goblins liked the names and the colors of the banners and began to duplicate the names and adopt them as their own. Sometimes they created names for themselves which matched their own feelings for their tribe, hence the 89th Bloody Fang Tribe.

  The goblins also took notice of the humans’ fighting disciplines, such as how they fought in groups or squads, and they even discovered the advantageous technique of scouting and flanking before and during a battle. The goblin tribes also noticed the ranking structure and the different uniforms and armor that the human leaders wore, versus the common soldier’s garb. They picked up these new techniques and ideas and used them within their tribes to create further echelons and new rules for leaders and subordinates.

  Pencog had also accepted and adapted to this new style of hierarchy in the tribes and he worked it to his advantage by moving his way up from a common warrior to a group leader and finally to Supreme Warrior, who was next in line and confidant to the tribal leader.

  He held this position until the tribal leader died in his sleep from a poison drink that Pencog had served him before they retired that night. The tribe assumed that he had merely died in his sleep. The warring goblin tribes believed it was a disgrace, though, as it was a shame to die so peacefully when a warrior was still young enough to fight and lead others. Only women and the old died in their sleep, they thought.

  When they learned of their leader’s passing, the goblins began fighting amongst themselves in an attempt to establish a new pecking order. Pencog quickly put an end to the fighting when he jumped two fighting goblins, instantly killed one and sliced the other so that he bled so profusely, but lived long enough to feel an excruciating pain. All the dying goblin could do was lie in his own pool of blood and scream. His loud, terrifying screams caused the others to stop fighting and take notice.

  They saw Pencog standing over the screaming goblin, painfully hanging on to the last moments of his life. Looking up at Pencog, he tried in his final moments to spit out a final insult as he realized his life was almost over, but he could only spit blood that splattered on his chin. As he bled out, his screaming subsided and was soon replaced with moaning as he slowly slipped away.

  All of the goblins watched in amazement and wondered how Pencog had so quickly disabled the two goblins, and then how fast he had killed one and how painful he had made the other. Most goblins killed quickly and succinctly so that they could move on to the next kill.

  At that moment, the goblins knew they had found their new leader.

  Ra-Corsh looked at his gronts. He knew things would work out in his favor either way. He would still find Pencog, who would deliver his prize of Aaelie, and as an added bonus kill the swordsman if he can make it through the pass and catch up with them in time,

  The remaining gronts stood awaiting orders even though some of them were barely strong enough to stand.

  “Those wounded come forward and I will heal you,” Ra-Corsh commanded.

  Three gronts came forward with open wounds that, although not deep, were still openly bleeding. Ra-Corsh wrapped their wounds with bandages and curing ointments he had taken from the elven healers at the Fortress of Prophetic Studies on the Rae-om Islands. Then he laid his hands upon them and upon two others who were claiming to be weak and nauseous from exhaustion.
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br />   It now took all of his strength to call his Kronn and effectively heal the beasts that so repulsed him. Their skin leaked a sweat that almost made him vomit and the looks in their eyes of a fear of him disgusted him. His work was labored, and slowed from the distraction of his disgust, and his healing took longer than expected. When he was finished, he knew he was spent.

  “I am weak,” he said quietly. “Set camp here for the night.”

  Ra-Corsh had just found himself a place to sleep when he noticed Fyaa approaching. He could tell by the way she walked that she was angry. She stopped short of walking right through him and put her face next to his. She looked downward slightly, as she was an inch or two taller, and he could smell her breath. It reeked of ash mixed with death.

  “Why did the goblins attack us?” she asked.

  “What do you mean?” Ra-Corsh returned, his eyes nearly closed from exhaustion. He was on the brink of unconsciousness. He turned his back on her to found a tree to lean against.

  “Don’t turn your back on me, wizard!”

  “Fyaa… enough…” Ra-Corsh said apathetically, and he plopped down against the tree behind him.

  “Goblins! Those were goblins in the rocks! I thought you had an alliance with these tribes. That is one of the reasons I was using you. We have been betrayed!” she said in a vicious whine.

  It took everything for Ra-Corsh to force open his eyes, look at her and respond to her stupidity and naiveté.

  “No, Fyaa. They don’t care about me or us. In fact, they fear you…and because of that fear, they would not hide from you or cower, as you may think, because they hold the numbers. They would just as quickly have you erased from this world. They don’t even care about their own brothers, so they definitely will hold no allegiance to me or to you.”

  Ra-Corsh closed his eyes again, lowered his head and bent forward before standing up. He felt like a weak old man as he stooped halfway and had to put his hands on his knees to stand erect. Looking at Fyaa in disgust, he walked passed her in a weak stupor.

  “Check on the girl for me, will you?” he asked without turning or waiting for acknowledgment.

  The flames on Fyaa’s skin lit up.

  “What! I should kill you where you stand, you puny little wizard man!”

  Ra-Corsh stopped and lowered his chin to his chest in mock submission. He was frustrated, but he would not turn to face her.

  “Please do. I am spell stricken and would welcome a quick death,” he said quietly.

  When Fyaa did not respond, Ra-Corsh continued to slouch his way over to another place to rest.

  Chapter 18

  “They’ve definitely been here,” Morlonn said to Alaezdar.

  He crouched behind a bush at the foot of the Death Pass after they had noticed the scuffled trail of gronts in the moist ground before them. Behind them a few yards Tharn, Rivlok and Gartan waited.

  Alaezdar turned and asked them to come forward, but they stopped short, too nervous to approach any closer than they had to. This was the first time that they had seen the Death Pass and now they understood the magnitude of the rumors and tales they’d heard about how destructive and dangerous the pass could be.

  “It looks like it was quite a battle,” Alaezdar said and pointed out the scarred and burnt rocks on both sides of the cliffs, along with the dead gronts in front of them.

  Morlonn nodded in agreement and he squinted to see what he could in the dying late afternoon light.

  “I don’t see signs of any one, or thing, still alive in the pass.”

  They scanned the pass, looking for more signs of active goblins and for the illusive cave, but they saw signs of neither. Alaezdar hoped the cave was still there. He did remember seeing something the last time he had been in the Gap that resembled a cave, but he was unsure of what he had seen. Was it a cave, he wondered now, or just a small crevice in an indenture in the rocks. Still, it was his best hope to try to find it so they could use it as a regrouping point.

  “I can’t tell, but you can never be too sure. They hide well,” Alaezdar said.

  “Then should we wait until night fall?” Morlonn asked.

  “No, their vision is better at night than ours. We might have to wait it out until first light tomorrow, maybe that way we might catch them sleeping.”

  “Rivlok isn’t going to like that,” Morlonn added.

  “No, I am sure he is not, but he can charge hard in there alone if he wants.”

  Morlonn shook his head. He knew that Rivlok might try to force the issue.

  “Let’s tell the others the grim news,” Alaezdar said. He stood up from his crouched position and led Morlonn back to the other three.

  They all looked to Alaezdar, anxious for his decision.

  “We will go in early in the morning and hope we might catch them sleeping,” he said.

  “No, we need to go now!” Rivlok protested, just as predicted. “I am tired of you putting off this mission. It is almost as if you are doing everything to prevent us from catching her. Let’s get her now. You keep telling us we are going to die in the process. Well, I say let’s start chasing her now and start dying. If I am to die in this, I want to die in the process of saving her. Let’s get to her now!” Rivlok ended off almost shouting as his voice had escalated louder with every word.

  “I think he is right, Alaezdar,” Tharn added. “I think it is time we put it all out there and charge hard for her.”

  “They’re right, Alaezdar,” Morlonn added quietly.

  “What do you think, Gartan?” Alaezdar asked. He looked at Gartan as the green and black leaves crawled on his cloak.

  “It is not for me to answer. Now that I have found you, I am here to observe and report.”

  Alaezdar kneeled to the ground, pinched up some dirt between his fingers, and thought for a moment.

  “Then let’s do it,” he said throwing the dirt down. “Grab your horses. Morlonn. We need you on foot with your bow to provide cover. The goblins will be focusing on us at first and won’t be attacking you if you stay behind us a bit. I will take your horse. Rivlok, take Tharn’s horse. Gartan, you ride with Tharn on the pack horse, but first unpack everything you need off the horse and leave the rest. We won’t need it anymore. It is time we save Aaelie or die trying!”

  They mounted the horses and waited a few minutes for the sun to stretch across the east side of the pass. The setting western sun would be bright on the eastern side, and Alaezdar counted on the glare to help them through the pass. He instructed everyone to ride on the western side of the center.

  Nobody spoke as they waited. It was only a few minutes, but it seemed to take forever, and the others were right, that the longer they waited, the farther away Aaelie would be. She had already been through this pass, and there would be little stopping them to reach wherever they were going. Also, now that Alaezdar and the other four had made it through the pass, they themselves had no idea where they were going.

  Alaezdar was not even sure that Rager’s House of Renegades would even find them. He had hoped everyone would meet right there at the pass, battle it out and end it before even going through the pass. But the time was now, as Rivlok and Tharn had said. It was now all or nothing.

  “Now!” Alaezdar said as he nudged his horse forward into a trot and then slowly gained speed as the others followed. He charged his steed into the clearing. The horse’s strong legs strained as he nudged him to run as fast as he could. Rivlok, Tharn and Gartan were close behind.

  They were beginning to think that they had picked a time when the watch was vacant. They began to pass the dead gronts that were scattered within the pass, yet nothing had happened.

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sp; Alaezdar searched ahead for the cave as he charged on. He did not get far when he felt a tug at his tunic and heard a whish sound just behind his head. Looking up, he saw dozens of arrows shooting from the right side of the canyon.

  “Ride to the right side of the canyon!” he yelled to the others. “Morlonn, start taking them out!” he shouted as he jerked his horse to the right.

  His horse grunted as it charged towards the rocky cliff canyon. The others followed as the arrows now flew directly over their heads and were missing them by a few feet because the angle for the goblins was too great. They continued to press on through the canyon as fast as they could until they reached a spot in the valley that was only a few hundred feet wide.

  Morlonn fired his arrows while running behind Alaezdar and keeping as many goblins as he could from getting any shots off, but every time he would get one to take cover behind the sharp rocks, two or three more would pop up somewhere else.

  “Look out!” Tharn’s voice rasped as he pointed to the cliffs on the left side.

  Looking in that direction they all saw creatures with long green arms, stretched faces with long pointed ears, and outstretched noses raising their spears and ready to throw.

  “Trolls!” Alaezdar warned. “Stay on this side and keep riding!”

  The trolls all raised their colorful, battle-proud spears in unison and paused while their commander shouted orders. Watching the intruders with intense scrutiny, their commander, though he lacked intelligence, just waited, a self-trained skill from his years of experience commanding the watch at the Death Pass. He gave a short, nearly unintelligible rasp of his voice and they launched their spears into the valley.

  The barrage of spears came down from the rocks like a massive hailstorm. Alaezdar slid off his horse opposite the side that the spears were falling, but exposing him now to the side where the arrows were coming from. Within seconds of doing so, a spear hit his horse in the chest and the horse’s front legs buckled and he fell face first into the hard dirt. Alaezdar fell to the ground and rolled as arrows lunged around his body, some barely missing him while others pounded into the flesh of his horse. Regaining his composure, he knew he had to keep moving. He stood up and ran.