Chapter XI
In the Camp of the Enemy
Since their arrival at the enemy camp, Agoran had increasingly become more sombre; his sobriety had spread to the others as they realised just how vital and difficult their mission was. The plain was littered with such small fires as theirs, uncompromising reminders of who was in control of the land of the Finns. The four had reached the enemy camp only days before and had immediately set to gathering information. And fortunately as they stole around the camp none of them had been invited or for that matter conscripted into participating in one of the many raiding parties that were a regular feature of the army. Large numbers of soldiers would go off to harry, pillage and plunder provisions; causing major distress to the local inhabitants and an overwhelming amount of destruction to vast swathes of the countryside. News had reached Agoran that Findolin’s second city, Hecata, which had been a rich thriving established community for almost a thousand years had fallen, after what had been a merciless assault by the Imperium; they had raised the City to the ground with only a few Finns escaping the savagery of what had gone on. A devastating and great loss indeed and a sign of what type of fate awaited Findolin, should she fall.
Their hostile surroundings were made more alarming by returning warriors who gleefully recounted tales of their exploits. And they knew that empires were crafted in the emperors image, so what type of man was it that ruled over such a callous realm, where the only maxim that counted was the one that said, might was right. Agoran heard the crack of a twig and turned quickly to see Kranz returning from one of his many sorties. He settled warily in front of the fire and begun to warm his hands over it.
“What can you report Kranz?” whispered Agoran.
Kranz leant forward lowering his voice, and making sure he could not be overheard.
“As you are aware the enemy is vast,” said Kranz. “Never have I seen such an army. Their Siege engines are as tall as mountains; they must be ready to strike. I have also seen the Orochi, it is huge. A true monster, who knows the damage it will cause once it's unleashed.”
"It cannot be any worse than what the Mandrake have already done," said Agoran sombrely.
Kranz picked up a small stick close by and began to scratch out a plan of the encampment.
“Most of the Wrath,” said Kranz. “Are to the front of the camp, no doubt they will lead the first assault on the city. But they are still far beyond the range of our archers and our ballista. In fact they’ve left an area of open land all the way round the city; I’m assuming the reason why it's larger than normal is because of how high the plateau and then the walls of the city are. They have made sure that nothing coming out of Findolin can harm their camp.”
“They’re going to be unsatisfied with what occurs here then, are they not?” said Agoran smiling.
“Have you been able to locate where the Loki are?” asked Agoran.
“I was getting to that part,” replied Kranz. “I’m afraid they seem to have moved their personal caravan close to the Lord of the Mandrakes tent, which means they are probably heavily guarded. Perhaps the reason why he has ordered them close by is so that he can strike soon. So they are over here.”
Kranz jabbed the stick hard into the ground at the place where he felt the Loki were situated.
“Well that completes our search of the area,” said Agoran. “Let's see we split up from Victor and the Seer two days ago, I was expecting them back by now, but as yet nothing; we will wait until dawn then we must move on. It does no good to remain in the same place for long.”
Agoran stamped out the plan that Kranz had made and went back to warming his hands by the fire. The two sat in silence eating the fare laid out by the Imperium. As dawn approached they began to pack their things away and were making ready to move on when as though they were shadows in the night, Victor and the Seer emerged. The Seer had a bruise under her right eye, mating rituals amongst the Mandrake were primitive and someone had taken a liking to her. She had shown him the true meaning of the word rejection; it would be some time before that warrior would walk again or mate again. As she stepped close to the fire Agoran pulled her face to one side to get a better look at her injury.
“I see you had a little trouble?” asked Agoran.
“Nothing I couldn't handle,” replied the Seer. “And besides it looks a lot worse than it is. What have you discovered?”
Agoran informed Victor and the Seer of their precarious situation and the recent fall of the city of Hecata, at the news Victors head dropped, and he moved away from the glare of the fire, his sister had lived with her family in that city.
“Seer what news have you got from your travels?” said Agoran.
“Well there's not much I can add to what Kranz has told you,” she said. “Except maybe one thing of value see the smoke rising over there. It’s where the imperial smithies are situated. It’s also where the stores, armoury and plunder are kept. If we can destroy that, his army would surely starve and be unable to maintain itself. They would only be able to last a couple of weeks at most. And after this length of time most of the surrounding settlements I’m afraid have been plundered dry so there won’t be much for his army to live on.”
Agoran placed his small bag over his shoulder.
“Right our first task then is to get the powers of the elementals; from there we will split up. The Seer and Victor will make their way over to the Jin’s tent whilst Kranz and I will head off to where the Stores are kept, we’ll then fire them which will provide you with a diversion. It is likely or hoped that the Jin will want to see for himself what’s occurring when he does; you gain access to his tent, find and break the sphere then make your escape. As for us once we start the fire we will make our way back to the city. We will set the fire at midnight so you had better be in position by then.”
The four of them carefully set off to confront the Loki. As they walked the sun rose ever higher, they noticed that the morale of the army was still strong. This army had not known defeat and it showed. They also saw a tent where some local villagers were being held captive. One of extremely drunk Marauders walked up to one of the woman unchained her from the others and began to drag her over to his tent. Kranz went to intervene but was stopped by Agoran; they simply could not afford to take the chance of being discovered. As they walked further on Agoran sneaked back to the tent where the young woman had been taken, he opened the tent flap to see that the woman was on the ground with the Marauder on top of her trying to rip her clothes from her. She lay there in shock frozen with fear. Agoran quietly hit him over the head with the hilt of his sword. The Marauder was close to passing out anyway so he just sank to the floor without a struggle. The woman’s eyes seemed to come suddenly alert. Agoran gestured for her to keep quiet. He told her to change into different clothes so that she fitted in with the other woman of the Imperium, to take a cloak, so that she could not be recognised, and being covered from head to foot by it, to try and sneak out of the camp unnoticed. She thanked him, her wits now fully returned to her, and hurriedly she threw on the garments that were lying around.
After she left, Agoran searched the Marauder. There was a peace of paper in his pocket on it was a symbol, three dashes with a diagonal line running through them. Another code to identify the legion he belonged to, also there was some loose change, and something else, he recognised the craftsmanship as from Findolin, a ring of some poor unfortunate that he must have robbed. Agoran emptied the mans pockets and took anything that he thought might prove valuable to the mission but made sure he did not leave anything that could connect him to the man. And thinking he would be too drunk to remember what had happened to him, Agoran thought it better to leave him alive. He looked at the man to reassure himself that he would not wake for some time, and then left. Before leaving he gave the woman some money and told her to make a pass similar to the one he had taken off the Marauder. He then left and hurriedly returned to the others, who seemingly had not noticed his brief disappearance. After
what he had seen the sooner they had cleared the filth of the Mandrake away the better it would be.
They crept forward in silence desperately trying not to draw attention to themselves. But as they moved closer to where the Loki were, someone who had been standing by the side of one of the tents jumped out. He held a spear to Victors head. The man wore a corselet of rings and a thick jerkin, his helm was high and crafted into a wolf's snarl. His breeches rested round legs that were more like trunks of a tree.
“Where do you think you're going," he said with a gruff voice. "You know that everyone has to keep to their designated area. What legion do you belong to?”
Agoran produced the piece of paper he had taken from the Marauder, and handed it over to the Wrath warrior who studied it.
“What are you lot doing this far south of the camp,” said the Guard. “You should be east of here, you Marauders your more trouble than your worth. You’ve probably so drunk you got lost; I should run you through, but instead you're going to give me three silver coins so that you can be on your way, so pay up, and don't let me catch you here again or I'll take double, in fact let me catch you here again so I can take double.”
Agoran pulled the money out and paid the man. The Wrath warrior just sniggered and went back to resting, drinking and gambling with his comrades.
“Lucky they're all so corrupt,” said Agoran. “Lets keep moving.”
“It should be easy to copy these papers," replied the Seer.
With that Kranz and Victor produced papers of their own.
"If you had let us handle it, we've got the right papers for this section and would have been able to pass with less scrutiny and hurt to your pocket."
"Why didn't you mention this before?"
"We did, when we were in your chambers," replied Kranz.
"But you never mentioned that you had a pass for each cohort of the Mandrake."
"We don't, but the last time we were here, we took time to get the ones that would prove most useful to us."
They made their way forward manoeuvring between the many positions of the enemy, calmly and quietly darting from camp fire to camp fire, where they could they kept perimeter of the camp; and tried to remain as unnoticed as possible, so as not to be challenged, and though the going was slow, it was steady. They did this throughout the day until the fires that had been extinguished at dawn were gradually being relit at dusk; here and there people were talking of the many raids they had been on.
They weaved their way across the enemy camp hearing many tales each seemingly more harrowing than the last, at length the four furtive figures found their way to the area where they had assumed the Loki to be. But the Loki were not there. Without causing suspicion they frantically searched the area but without success. Agoran finding an empty tent ushered the others inside. Laid out on the floor were rugs and cushions for comfort, a sharp colourful contrast to the harsh thick leathery tent interior they had seen that was usual in the encampment. There were some chard remains at its centre, indicating perhaps that they should not linger. On one side leaning up against the wall was a sword, shield and bow.
“We have a problem, without the Loki there are no Elemental powers,” said Agoran more than a little perplexed. “That places the whole mission in jeopardy.”
“Not necessarily,” said the Seer. “With my powers of illusion I might be able to convince some of the Mandrake to give us information as to their whereabouts.”
“It's worth a try,” said Agoran. "Especially with so few options; we’ll wait here a little while. You see what you can find out.”
The Seer lifted the tent flap and stepped outside, leaving the others to wait in silence. Kranz began to pace back and forward in the tent. Victor got out his knife and began to swivel it on the ground, Agoran unknowingly began to grind his teeth: soon enough though the flap to their tent opened and in crept the Seer.
“Everything worked out well,” said the Seer. “I didn’t have to use any powers of illusion to tell you the truth. I merely passed a slop area where I overheard someone say they were collecting food for the Elementals and so without being seen I followed them back to their tent. The Loki are not far from here what’s more, they’re unguarded. The Mandrake obviously considers it unnecessary being that they are surrounded by an entire army. There is something else, I do not think my powers of illusion will work against the Elementals; they're collectively too strong. What I will do is mix a greater quantity of the yellow powder I got from the Labyrinth with water, place the substance in some Thavma leaves and throw them inside the flap of their tent whilst they sleep. Such a high quantity should give off a poisoned vapour forcing the Loki into an even deeper sleep. We should be able to perform the right of transference and take upon us their powers, after that we must work fast before the bodies are found. Agoran I have bought with me the necessary essentials that will destroy them and release the Elements of water, air, fire and earth: I won't tell you the sordid details of how they are going to die, but it's not pleasant. We will know which elemental is which when the ritual commences.”
“Lets get to it, and good fortune to you all,” said Agoran.
They left the tent and carefully crept round to where the Loki were situated. As they drew closer they could here unmistakable arguing coming from the tent.
Inside the Loki were having a heated debate, Cynon was arguing frantically to bring the discussion to an end.
“Let me get this straight Ragnor,” said Cynon. “You want us to disobey Jin, who can crush us at will. Whose magic has defeated death itself, are you mad.”
“I’m saying if we do not make a stand we’ll never make a stand,” said Ragnor.
“Then we’ll never make a stand.” said Cynon.
“When I think of all the lands throughout Suberia that we helped subjugate,” replied Ragnor. “And now Findolin and Osgaroth, what will people say of us in years to come.”
Cynon shifted uncomfortably whilst puffing up her rather flattened pillow that she had been resting on.
“Our people will say that we did our duty, we will be remembered as heroes, true servants of the Empire. Suberia will be united and everyone will consider themselves part of the Mandrake Imperium. And as for the Witch King, he will never again threaten our lands.”
Ragnor grunted ruefully.
“Is that what this is all about,” said Ragnor. “Being good servants of the Empire, I thought we considered these people a threat to our way of life, that they were ready to destroy Mead.”
“They tried, but failed at the battle at the Durnham Hills,” said Cynon.
“They were driven to invade, or don‘t you recall the incessant raids,” replied Ragnor. “And you’re being naïve if you think this war is about safeguarding the empire, of all the principalities that have been conquered from beyond the Steppe to here; these have been the least formidable, though they are by far and away the most stubborn. We were told that we would be fighting a militia and not a well organised determined defensive apparatus. They've made us pay in blood for every foot we've taken, and when Hecata finally succumbed, what a slaughter that was; on both sides.”
“Yes, if it hadn’t been for the taking of Hecata and all its riches the Guilders might have forced us home,” said Cynon. “And they would have considered this war as nothing more than a poor investment. Soon this campaign will be over and then we can all go home.”
“You sound like Jin, and you well know that once this war ends, we must ready ourselves for the next one,” replied Ragnor. “You should not believe the rumours that Findolin is on the verge of collapse. Or that everything is rosy in our empire, if it was then why does he need to resort to such methods as abducting families and holding entire villages hostage to gain our support."
“They're not hostages they are being well cared for,” said Cynon.
“Cynon, sometimes I think your power of fire has also consumed your ability to think properly,” sneered Ragnor.
“I think clearly enough,�
�� replied Cynon. “A Suberia where there are no more wants and needs connected from one end to another, under one banner, surely that’s worth fighting for. And remember the Lord of the Mandrake gave these Finns a choice to join with us, or face consequences if they didn’t, they brought this on themselves?”
“What a choice, what a choice,” replied Ragnor angrily, “Tell me then, at what cost? What cost all the shattered bones, dismembered arms, orphaned children, and you say this will lead to a united Suberia. Should all the dead ever rise up again from their sunken beds; do you really think they'll thank him for the grim harvest he's sowed or for that matter, do you think they'll thank us? If conquest be done, then let it be done quickly, without time to reflect upon it or suffer from it, I dare say by the time this is over there will be more meat on a Vendigo than on a Finn.”
Outside Agoran had quietly listened, his anger had grown as they argued over the rights and wrongs of the war. If the Seer had not been there he would have probably entered the tent and tried to run them all through. But as the situation required it, the four of them waited silently in the shadows for the Elementals to sleep.
It was not long after the whisperings within the tent ended, that they were sure it was time to act. The Seer drew from her bag two bundles wrapped in Thavma leaves. Victor slowly lifted the flap of the tent. The Seer poured water over the bundles and rolled them carefully inside. They shut the flap giving time for the noxious fumes to take affect before acting. An hour passed before the Seer gave a quick nod to Agoran. They took out cloths from their bags soaked them in water and tied them across their faces and then entered the tent. The smell within it was powerful almost overwhelming. Luckily by that point the poison they had first used to incapacitate the elementals had dissipated.
The figures in front of them lay quite still. Agoran could see doubt on the faces of Victor and the Seer as they stood over the dormant bodies.
“We have to do it,” said Agoran in a determined voice, “Think of the lives we’ll be saving. Remember this is war.”
“Isn't that the same argument they used to attack us with,” said Victor.
“There's a difference, which is we're in the right,” said Agoran, in a harsher tone than he had wanted to. “Seer, begin the rite of transfer.”
The Seer made some potions up, pouring herbs and other strange substances into a stone goblet and then slowly heating it until all was congealed together. One by one the liquid was poured into each mouth of the elementals. The potions created the desired effect. Each of them created a circle, scratched out the symbol of the element they were to become, and stood over it. In low whispered tones they chanted the words required for the transfer of power to occur. Whilst repeatedly drawing in the dirt the sign for that element that they were to become. Something started to happen, the essence of the elements seemed to be sucked from each of the unconscious bodies as they lay there. A ghostly vapour hung in the air above each body, then the vapours started to swirl becoming tumultuous clouds that moved towards the four figures of Agoran, Victor, Kranz, and the Seer. As one they were engulfed simultaneously by the vaporous fume. The powers of the elements surrounded their bodies with such force as to lift each of them off the ground. Their bodies writhing in the air, their backs arched violently as there heads were thrust upwards, their arms stretched out at their sides. Each essence entered through the mouth, nose and ears. When the transfer was complete they all fell back gasping for breath. The previous Loki’s shrivelled forms lay lifeless on their beds. Kranz heaved, turned on his front and was physically sick.
Agoran was the first to regain his self-control lying on his side and leaning on one arm he took in as much air as possible.
“Midnight will soon be upon us, we must act take whatever you can of value, see if they have identification papers,” gasped Agoran, "We need to put the second part of the plan into action and quickly. I will take Kranz and set fire to the storage tents and the armoury. It will take a long time to replace so many of their spears, shields and arrows once they've gone up in smoke, and I would like to see how they intend fighting on empty stomachs. Hopefully with a fire in their camp that should give you the opportunity to release the spirit of the Orochi from the sphere. I suggest you start making your way over to the Jin’s tent.”
With that Agoran and Kranz slipped out of the tent and checking first to make sure that they had not been seen they made their way slowly over to the storage area. Every so often they were forced to take cover, ducking down and hiding so as not to be discovered. Ultimately they made there way there, it was now or never so both grabbed a torch and moved closer.
“Stop and what are you two doing here?” said a tall swarthy thick set Marauder; his eyes seemed to flash angrily at the disturbance. “You know this area is restricted and if you're out to steal supplies your dead men, you know the rules.”
The Marauder stood in front of Agoran and thrust his spear forward, preventing him from moving in any direction except backward. He was quickly joined by another three guards. Things had taken a turn for the worse. Kranz looked over at Agoran hoping for his direction as to what to do next. Agoran shrugged in response he knew that though they both had elemental powers neither of them actually knew how to use them.
“You know there is only one punishment for looters,” said the Marauder.
“Wait we are two of the Loki,” cried Agoran. “If you kill me Jin would be upset and you really don’t want to upset Jin.”
The Guards looked at each other unsure of how next to proceed.
“Prove it,” said the Marauder.
Andreas pulled out his identification paper and showed it to the guard.
"Okay then you're one of those Elementals," said the guard handing back his paper. "Show us what you got."
“Yes,” said Kranz with a mixture of amusement and trepidation. “That’s something I would like to see also.”
Kranz stepped aside affording Agoran more room to proceed with his demonstration.
Agoran began to concentrate, the element for earth stirred within him. To Kranz amazement the ground started to move and shake in front of him and from a small disturbed heap of dirt erupted, not much bigger than an ant hill.
The guard looked at Agoran and back down at the small bulge in the earth.
“Is that it? No wonder this wars dragging on,” said the Marauder.
“Do not try my patience,” said Agoran. “You're lucky I don’t get the earth to swallow you up.”
The guards looked at each other and back at Agoran and Kranz.
“Sorry sirs, of course you may proceed,” said the Marauder.
The guards backed away and returned to their card playing and drinking.
“So Agoran,” said Kranz quietly, “you were going to get the earth to swallow him up. I‘d liked to have seen that.”
“Actually that’s what I tried to do,” said Agoran. “Controlling these powers is a lot tougher than I thought perhaps we all need to be together for them to have any real effect. Anyway let's set the fires and get away.”
They entered the large compound where the stores and armoury were situated. The two of them looked for the best place to start the fires, as they walked up and down the storage area Kranz noticed that something was wrong.
“Where have all the shields, arrows, and spears gone,” said Kranz.
“We’re too late,” replied Agoran. “They must have been distributed among the legions, which can only mean one thing, they intend to strike, possibly at first light, we must hurry.”
They moved to the rear of one of the large shelters that had been built to house the army's provisions, and proceeded to set it alight. Unfortunately the fire would not take hold, as internally it was simply too damp.
“Now what are we going to do,” cried Kranz, who was beginning to panic.
“Keep trying,” said Agoran. “Light the stores they’re dry.”
Kranz took down one of the lanterns and threw it at the stores, the wheat, barley
, went up like tinder. Soon the flames spread to the tent coverings. Reddish flames scurried along the tent walls touched the roof and spread out. Suddenly there was the sound of a gong and then another, people were running in confusion thinking they were under attack.
Achil & The Rise Of The Mandrake Page 17