by Shawn Keys
Ajax took a deep breath. “I’m lucky to have you all.”
He scanned the horizon, then peered up into the tattered sails. The foremast and mizzenmast were still standing, if a little singed. “Can we make a few knots of headway without ripping those off the ship?”
Jyliansa did her best to be cheerful. “I can give you a toss of the dice, at least.”
“Try to mark them in our favor. All of you, please, help her get this wreck underway. I’ll do what I can to phrase this wish carefully and spare Quala as much pain as possible. But you are right. We need to get to shore. And preferably before we either sink or another fleet finds us.”
Chapter 12
The Wavesword limped into sight of land. When Helleanna called from the crow’s nest that she had spotted mountains, a cheer went up from all of them.
The atmosphere aboard the ship was an odd blend of anticipation and angst.
With the power of another wish, Quala had raised a glittering white-blue orb into the distant sky. It was visible even in the bright noon sun, though Ajax hoped they were the only ones who could see it. He had done his best to convey how important that was when forming his mental image of his wish, but it was an imperfect system. Wish magic was temperamental, even when the spirit granting that wish liked you.
Either way, having a definite goal in sight had given them purpose.
The daily struggle to keep the ship floating and sailing toward that goal was hard. Ajax saved any wish-magic for the desperate moment if the hull burst and water rushed through in an unstoppable flood. That never happened. So instead, his small crew once again raised sails, undoing the damage they had done in the battle. They listened fearfully to each creak and groan of the ship, willing her to hold together a little longer.
Within a week, Helleanna announced she could see the highlands on land ahead, and their guiding star was hanging right over a cluster of mountains not more than a day’s march inland. Their crossing of the sea was nearly complete. Ajax couldn’t believe how close they had been. Then again, without the star, maybe they would have sailed right by, having never known this land existed. All their maps were ruined, washed away. They really had no idea where in the world they had drifted upon. But as their meagre food rations (supplemented by Jyliansa’s fishing skills, but still not enough to last forever) and the even more critical fresh water supply ran dry, they were all ready to be finished with the journey.
The hour was early, just past dawn when Helleanna spotted land. She nimbly slid down from her high perch to point out some details. She gestured first to the left. “I could see lights there. Lanterns. Fires. A city for sure.” She exchanged worried looks with all of them. “I could see the crystal spire of a Sun Elf castle as well.”
Ajax chuckled. “So, we haven’t sailed off the end of the world after all.”
Callistia latched on to his humor. “Yes, we knew this was likely.”
Krizzilani asked Ajax, “You are sure the guide was taking us to a gateway not controlled by the elves? It seems to be hovering right over that plateau in the highlands. Strange that the elves here would have one, and yet another unguarded –”
Jyliansa interjected, “– or controlled by another.”
The dark elf accepted the thought. “… yes, or controlled by another laying so close at hand.”
Ajax nodded grimly. “If only I could be certain. The wish was a complicated one, even if the magic was not demanding. There were no many conditions, and I am no master of magic to hold such thoughts in my head at once. But it was in there, and I hope she heard me.”
Callistia placed a fond, comforting hand on his shoulder. “We needed somewhere close. How many more days could we hold this ship together? Whatever challenges lie between us and this gate, we’ll manage.”
Helleanna pointed then to the right. “I can see a small harbor down the coast a few miles. It is a nice enough cove, and a day’s travel from the city. We could put ashore there. Less questions.”
Krizzilani patted the resilient deck of the Wavesword. “She’s sturdy, but she’s going to draw a crowd for sure.”
Ajax agreed. “Make for the cove. Strike all but the central fore-sail, and keep just enough wind to slip us in near the cove. We’ll all row ashore in the longboat and leave the ship to beach herself or drift back out to sea.” He sighed and gave the ship his own fond pat. “She deserves better than to be abandoned, but we have little choice if we want to stay unobserved. The anchor is gone. And none of us are going to remain behind to look after her.”
Callistia reminded him, “We’ve work to do before we arrive. I won’t allow the magics I’ve enspelled into the bolts to be found by anyone else. I’ll mar them as best I can.”
“Aye, and I’ll toss the ruined bolts into the sea so they’ll be lost. Even a merman plucking it off the bottom will find them rusted and scratched beyond selling to anyone.”
Not about to waste their last hours on the ship, the crew got to their tasks. Though they were only less than a dozen miles off shore, it took most of the day to creep into range of their marked landing. They struggled the longboat over the side and down into the water. The normal pulley system had been destroyed in the battle, so the whole process was agonizing. Ajax acted as the anchor for the boat’s weight while the others guided it smoothly onto the lapping waves.
They had only a few possessions to take with them. Helleanna’s satyr pipes were small enough to have survived and be carried, but little else. Only memories remained of the paintings they had done. Krizzilani couldn’t take her telescope, but did slide the journal of their star patterns and conjured stories into her pack. Ajax thought, How strange. After all the ways our lives changed on this ship, to be carrying away from so little is wrong, somehow.
But there was nothing that could change the cold, hard fact of necessity. They were about to set across unknown land. Every pound they carried would be a hardship. They lowered their packs into the boat, pushed off with the oars, and entered the cove under the stealth of an early evening sunset. An hour later, they took a few long pulls of their oars and rammed the narrow bow into the sand-coated rocks along the cove’s beaches.
They leaped clear, and then Ajax shoved the longboat away from the shore. He had no idea how far it would drift, but no sense giving anyone a clear sign of where they came ashore. Skirmishers and patrols lived for that kind of clue when hunting down renegades on their lands.
Shouldering their packs, they moved deeper into the forest. Ajax considered himself to be a decent woodsman, maybe the best among them. Callistia was trained well enough for a mage, but she was no gendarme. Helleanna spent her life in castles as well, and Jyliansa was out of her element. The sea elf loved nature, and she would quickly get used to this new flow of life, but it would take time. Only Krizzilani faded into the trees like a shadow, already at home and far more effective than all the rest of them combined. Very aware that anyone hunting them might have far greater skills, the group edged carefully inland, giving the city a wide berth.
Ajax paused under a large oak, pointing upward through the branches. “At least the star is still visible.”
Callistia’s ears were twitching. “As long as it isn’t attracting other attention. I’m hearing something. Metal on metal. Weapons being sharpened and food on a fire. A war party in camp, I’d guess. Not sure how large.” She sniffed the air, and her usually velvety voice dropped into a disgusted snarl. “Orcs.”
Ajax frowned. “Where?”
“Between us and the mountains.”
Not pleased, Ajax gave the low whistle they had agreed on as the signal to gather in close. Once they were all huddled together, he whispered, “There is trouble out there. Can we go around them?”
“We don’t know if they are raiders or the vanguard of an army.” Krizzilani said. “I could find out.”
Ajax gave her the nod. “Do it, but be invisible.”
She flashed white teeth in the deep dark. “If an orc sees me, it will be the la
st thing it sees.” She vanished into the bushes.
Ajax grimaced. “I hate this. We have no idea what is going on around here. They could be in an all-out war with a horde for all we know.”
Helleanna quipped, “I’d say it is safe to assume elves and orcs still hate each other.”
They all shared a small chuckle. But Jyliansa added, “But we can’t know if the nearby city knows of this incursion. Are they fighting a constant battle here, or will this stun them with surprise?”
Ajax shook his head, “I’m not here to play savior to a foreign elf king.”
Callistia argued softly, “But there are humans and gnolls and others who will suffer from an orc raid without warning. Can we live with that if we could have helped?”
Jyliansa pointed out, “He’s got ogre blood in him. Some might say he’s a closer cousin to orcs than us. And what has elf-kind ever done to earn his loyalty?”
Ajax gave her a smile for her willingness to understand if he had anger lurking in his soul, but he shook his head, “As sure as Krizzilani left her kind, so did my mother. I’m raised in the human tradition, and bled under the elfish one. I’m no more the cousin to orcs than to a minotaur. But the quest calls to me, and this is not our fight.”
Callistia pressed, still gentle but firm, “Remember Krizzilani. We stopped for her. Are the lives these orcs will take any less worthy of our intervention?”
She has a bloody bad habit of playing my conscience. And… well, being right along the way. Ajax huffed to acknowledge her point. “Fair. Innocents like that deserve to be warned at least.”
She smiled at him, sparing a fond caress on his hand. “There’s my knight.”
Krizzilani returned like a ghost. “Perhaps two hundred, and they are breaking camp. Orcs travel at night.”
Ajax cursed. “A full raiding party. Not enough to take the city, but they could scour the outlands for days before the knights and gendarmes can chase them away. And that’s assuming there aren’t a dozen other raiding parties like this one. Could you tell where they are headed?”
“Toward the city for now. No telling how far they’ll go.”
The knight chewed on that. Then, asked, “Can you get ahead of them? We’ll follow and pace along beside them. I want to know if they are going to smash into a town that can’t fend them off.”
Krizzilani spared him a quick kiss, then darted away. The small team trailed after her, taking care to be silent. Orcs could move fast when they wanted over open ground, but the trees, the need for stealth, and their large numbers kept them at a pace slow enough for Ajax and his team to follow them easily enough.
The dark elf returned not long after, breathless from running. “There’s a small town ahead of them. I think I can see a small encampment of warriors taking succor for the night, but they’ll be caught off-guard. They aren’t expecting an attack. Only a couple sentries are strolling about.”
“How long before the orcs find the town?”
“Half-a-dozen minutes, no more.”
Ajax gritted his teeth. “Time to make enough noise to ensure the orcs are noticed. Let’s go, lasses. We need to punch into their lines loud enough to make a ruckus. Callistia, watch for a shaman. Fire off a couple spells to cause noise, then save your power until you see some of their fell magic that needs smiting.”
Nothing more needed to be said. They had fought too little together. He would have to trust them to find their own way in the battle. He tore Skyreaver off his back and gripped the massive weapon in one hand, though it was normally meant to be used with two hands by an elf or human. He charged into the underbrush, caring less and less about stealth with every step.
He surged around a copse of trees and sighted two orcs doing their best to jog along in silence. Ajax gave a bellowing roar. They turned, their saucer shaped eyes bugging out at the ferocious sight. His blade scythed down from high above his head and cleaved both of them into two bloody chunks with one swing.
Stumbling in surprise, another orc nearby struggled to bring his crossbow up on aim. Krizzilani materialized behind him, latching hold and carving his throat out with two of her daggers. She tumbled into a roll, then hissed up at another orc nearby. The sight of a feral dark elf in his midst made even the battle-hardened orc flee in terror, yelling about nightmares emerging out of the dark in their crude tongue.
Callistia decided to spook them even more. She sparked her fingernails together and ripped a mighty bolt of magic through the forest. Light strobed in the darkness, blinding most of them for several seconds after. The blast caught five of the creatures in the sizzling strike, and another half-dozen were blown off their boots by the thunderclap that followed.
Helleanna and Jyliansa lingered near to the princess, knowing the demonstration of power was going to make her a target. Both wielded their long, fierce daggers and prowled along at the sun elf’s side like guardian angels.
Deciding she was well-cared for, Ajax roared again. Best if he kept attention on himself. Trusting in Krizzilani to shadow him and watch his flanks, the ogrelav knight stormed into the midst of the orcan raiders. Momentum carried him for another dozen steps. The raiding party was only now stumbling to a halt, realizing they were being hit from a different angle than expected. Skyreaver cut into the torso of another, then Ajax rammed shoulder first into a fourth. Pushing hard, he slammed the unsuspecting orc into a tree trunk wider than both of them.
It was a strike that would have squished most human into pulp.
Orcs were a lot tougher.
Rather than fold like a shoddy house of cards, the orc gnashed its tusks in the air and shoved Ajax back a step. He swiped with his war axe, whistling the tip past Ajax’s chin close enough to shave. Deciding not to give him a second chance, the knight swatted the haft of the axe with his blade. The magic hummed and clipped through the two inches of wood like it was a straw of wheat. Rage was the orc’s answer. The orc smashed at him with the remaining axe handle like a club.
Taking the beating on his shoulder, Ajax snarled a deep laugh as his own blood lust ignited. Guess that was his favorite axe. Who knew? He answered rage with rage, hammering the orc in the face with a massive fist, then swiped Skyreaver across his chest to open his rib cage to the air.
He spun in time to deflect a spear thrusting toward his back. Krizzilani was harvesting vital innards from another couple warriors a few yards away. This one got through. Batting aside the spear, Ajax hacked off the orc’s arm and then chopped through a leg for good measure. He left that one alive to scream and draw even more attention.
More and more orcs were streaming from the forest. Come on, you fucking elves. Come and defend your own kind! If he was leading the Fist squatting in that village, he would already have his team whipped out of bed, into full armor and boiling into the forest!
A crossbow bolt burned past his leg, opening a long cut in his skin. Shit. Archers. Bad news. He searched the darkness for them, then gave up. “Krizzilani! Take the ones with the bows!” Leaving his panther to hunt, Ajax thundered into another knot of orcs and scattered them like leaves. He stayed in close, making it hard for the orcan archers to find him in the mix. He laughed in bloody joy as Skyreaver tore the guts from another pair with one backhand slash. The blade of a king indeed! He felt invincible.
He nearly missed the presence behind him. Damn! He’d gotten so used to Krizzilani watching his back, he’d gotten sloppy. Lurching forward, the ugly sword aimed at his back still managed to draw a burning line across his shoulders, coming within inches of severing his spine. Roaring in pain and channeling it into anger, Ajax exploded into the face of the offending orc, spearing him through the gut and then twisting the blade out and sideways, all but cutting the warrior in half.
Spinning the rhompaia above his head, he brought it down in one – two – three quick blows, each one hacking off a head that had come too close.
Another orc ducked his shoulder and rammed into Ajax’s torso. It was the knight’s turn to be smashed into a t
ree. Rather than fight it, Ajax went with it. The momentum carried him outside the ring of death starting to surround him.
They impacted hard, but he was ready. It didn’t even knock the wind out of him. Wrenching free his griffin-bone half-sword to complement Skyreaver, he dug it into the charging orc’s chest, then ducked under his bulk. Flexing his powerful legs, he threw the dying warrior back at four others gathered together nearby.
Rather that charge in, Ajax stepped to one side and took two hacks with Skyreaver into the tree behind him. The enchanted blade cut a nice little wedge right through the meat of it. With a loud groan, the whole massive tree collapsed onto a mass of about twenty orcs deciding whether or not they really wanted to step into his sword range. Instead, they were buried in the tangle of tree limbs that would take a good while to hack free of.
Ajax bellowed again, “Well, who’s next then?”
From the dark, nearly fifty orcs stepped out in a wide arc. His low-light vision was not great, but he could see far too many for him to handle.
One in particular stepped onto a wide stone, using the added height to see Ajax more clearly. He carried a staff with a lion’s skull at its peak, beads and other fetishes draped over the staff, his neck, and every other limb on his body. The orc shaman hissed, “Fear not. My curse shall fall upon this denizen of the night! I shall sap the strength from its limbs! Kill it! Kill it!”
Ajax’s orcish tongue wasn’t perfect, but he got the gist. Where are you Callistia?
She heard his silent cry. A terrifying crack split the night, and another lightning bolt transfixed the shaman’s chest, leaving a smoking hole in its wake. She put everything she had into the blast, cutting through any protective magics the shaman had in place as if they never existed. Then came the thunderous aftershock; the violent sonic blast ripped the shaman into bloody shreds.
With a fine flair for the dramatic, Krizzilani chose that moment to drag one of the archer orcs into the shadows. He gave a ragged “urrk!” and then was gone as if eaten by ghosts. A second later, another went. Then another.