The General

by M. A. Abraham

  “It better be something worthwhile,” Lorne called back.

  Lorne was driving the lead wagon, with Ricard and Evart controlling the reigns of the following two. King Felix was showing little interest in what anyone but General Anton had to say. He was involved in a discussion with the man as they rode at the head of the procession. In the rear, three other wagons filled with ammunition and being driven by the blacksmiths followed. Behind them came the other, this one carrying barrels of explosive powder. They were all headed for the far part of the practice field to see if their theory about exploding projectiles would work.

  “I think the chances are fair,” General Anton declared. In fact, he was feeling more than confident in their success, although he wasn’t about to give their story about Dragons much credence. No one had seen or heard of Dragons anywhere he could think of. To him, this was a tale they had made up to explain a loss from a more powerful force. Nor was he about to think differently unless he saw one of the great beasts for himself. If there was any truth to this fiction, he could think of any number of Kingdoms that would align their forces with his, for no other reason than to rid the world of the danger or to capture one.

  “Do they need to hit something to explode in the air?” King Felix wondered. The idea of the projectiles landing amongst his men and the damage they could do upon impact didn’t set well with him. They had a massive number of troops, but if Lorne and Ricard were to be believed, they would need every last man to even come close to winning the upcoming battle.

  “I have heard the powder can be lit to cause an explosion in the air, but it needs to be enclosed in a container to do this,” General Anton reported. “I don’t know all the details, I only know it does. I guess you should be advised this is a weapon that can cut two ways. I have seen it explode at the wrong time and destroy whatever is close enough to the explosion. Don’t ever forget, it is not a stable weapon.”

  “I would be a fool to think it is,” King Felix snorted. He didn’t trust the black powder any more than he did the man riding at his side. Only a complete idiot would do something like that. He was known for his ruthlessness, not his ignorance. He was very much aware of the fact they had caught a cobra by the tail and it could turn on them. This general was not a friend. He was a reluctant ally, and he wasn’t about to forget this fact.

  As King Felix spoke with General Anton, he watched and listened to the action going on around him. He didn’t look like it, but his attention was focused on the men slowly entering the field. They were addressing Lorne specifically, and he wondered what this was about. He guided his horse to where the Dragon Killers were being set up and quizzed one of his sons, “What is going on?”

  Lorne grinned, even as he shrugged and answered, “I am not entirely certain, but I get the impression we are about to find out. If it is what I think, I will be well pleased. If it is what I believe is extremely unlikely, I will be ecstatic.”

  “Suppose you fill me in on the details, which I might add you never let me know anything about in the first place, and never mind the cryptic remarks,” King Felix suggested.

  “The day Evart returned from the Valley, I sent a troop of my own men to double-check his story,” Lorne explained.

  “Trusting brother, aren’t you?” King Felix commented drily. “What have they returned with that is so important?”

  “I told them to see if they could capture one blonde, Elven General. The likelihood they would even find her is probably nil, but I didn’t think I had anything to lose by trying,” Lorne admitted. “At the very least, they will return with an Elven Female we can coerce information from.”

  “So, why wasn’t I informed of your idea?” King Felix wondered. “Or did you think this wasn’t important enough to catch my interest?”

  “To be honest,” Lorne answered, “I didn’t believe they would succeed.”

  “Why not?” King Felix wondered where this was headed.

  “You tell me what the chances of any of our men going into their lands and returning with the High Lord General of the Elven Empire are,” Lorne pointed out.

  “I see your point,” King Felix agreed. “I would have assumed she would be heavily guarded and impossible to get close to by an average man.”

  “Elves?” General Anton snorted. The only time he had heard of them was in myths. Yet, these men, who seemed to be sane, were talking about these creatures like they knew they existed in reality. He was beginning to wonder if he had wondered into a pack of lunatics.

  Lorne could easily detect the skepticism in the tone General Anton used, and he couldn’t blame the man. If he hadn’t seen the things he had first hand, he wouldn’t have believed in those people either. In fact, there were still times when he doubted what his memories told him. He grinned as he replied to the foreign leader’s comment. “I don’t blame you for thinking we have lost touch with reality. But, if I am right to think these men have returned with what they have, you will soon believe as well.”

  As Lorne spoke, he left his seat on the wagon, mounted his horse and spurred it forward to meet the other men.

  King Felix exchanged looks with General Anton, then turned to Ricard and asked, “Are you coming?”

  “What for?” Ricard laid back against the seat of the bench of the wagon he was driving. “I will let Lorne play on his own for a while. It is too hot to move any more than I need to.”

  King Felix didn’t even think to ask Evart. His youngest son was so busy discussing things with the Blacksmiths about the Dragon Killers that he probably didn’t notice what else what going on around him. He turned his horse and took off after Lorne with General Anton in hot pursuit. If there was actually an Elf hidden in the midst of those men, he wanted to be one of the first to see him or her. He said he believed his sons and men when they had given their reports, but the truth was, he doubted the existence of these people every bit as much as General Anton. Despite this, he couldn’t think of any reason his sons might lie to him.

  CHAPTER XVII

  Evart was only pretending not to pay attention to what was going on with the rest of his family. He could hear every word they were saying clearly, and the news filled him with fear. He was tempted to chase after them to see if he knew the Elf they had taken prisoner, but felt it might be a poor idea. If he did know this Elf, he might not be able to keep his mouth shut, and then there would be the devil to pay. It could not only cost the Elf his or her life, but him his as well. He could, however, get away with standing on top of something high enough to see over the crowd. In this case, that meant perching on the main body of one of the Dragon Killers for lack of anything better.

  Evart wobbled, as he carefully balanced on the curve of the bow and realized how lucky he was that he wasn’t heavy. The weapon couldn’t have safely supported much more weight. As it was, it took him a while before he felt secure enough to turn his attention toward what was happening on the far edge of the field. He was quick to notice he wasn’t the only one interested in what was going on. There was no one who hadn’t stopped what they were doing to stand and watch what was about to happen.

  The men pulling Gabriella behind their horses stopped the moment they noticed the members of the Royal Family riding towards them. They had barely reached the fringe of the crowd of men in the field and thought it would probably be safer to keep the Female Elf away from the enlisted men. This meant the moment King Felix and Lorne could get close enough to hear them speak clearly the leader announced, “I believe we got exactly what you ordered. Does the reward for her capture still hold?”

  “We want to see the proof this is the one we sent for first,” Lorne answered. He wasn’t about to accept the word these men that they were so lucky as to capture this particular Elf without any of them sustaining any injuries. From his experience, she was much too good with weapons to allow anything like this to happen.

  The group of men nervously shifted in their saddles to cover the fact they were closing ranks around their prisoner. They wer
e not about to hand the Elf over without a guarantee of payment. They had seen this Royal Family renege on too many deals in the past to trust them and considered their word anything but suspect. With a bravado based more on foolishness than intelligence, the leader remarked, “We want to assure ourselves of your actual intent to pay us first. A show of good faith, if you will.”

  “I would advise against pushing your luck,” Ricard called out, from his perch on the wagon he was seated on.

  As the leader argued with Lorne and Ricard, Gabriella quickly slipped the rest of the way out of the rope binding her wrists, then checked to see how closely she was being guarded. She smiled slightly to note it was not at all. It was like everyone around her had forgotten she existed. She carefully slid a few of the knives the Warriors on either side of her were wearing from their sheaths, and with deft movements, she slid them under the cinches of their mounts. This meant the next time they moved, the saddles would slide from the horses backs. They had her hemmed in so tightly they didn’t even notice what she was doing below, and if they did, they assumed it was being done from sheer discomfort. It wasn’t something they cared about one way or the other. They had what they needed, and this was all that mattered.

  As the men on either side continued to snarl at each other, Gabriella slipped from the inside of the circle of horses. She ducked under one of their mounts, while softly speaking a few assurances to the steeds in her native tongue to make sure they wouldn’t spook or give her actions away. She continued to cut the cinches on every saddle she passed. This included those of the King and his entourage. As she finished slicing those of King Felix, she noticed his sword and grinned. The workmanship wasn’t great, but she decided it would do under the circumstances. As Lorne happened to be right beside his father, she decided to confiscate his also.

  King Felix stopped talking in mid-sentence the moment he felt Gabriella slide his sword from his scabbard. He quickly glanced to see who would dare to touch his weapon and was just in time to notice her slide Lorne’s from his. “Who are you?” he bellowed.

  Lorne whirled in his saddle to see what his father’s burst of outrage was about. Lorne then flailed everywhere as his saddle moved from under him, and he went flying off the back of his horse to land on the ground beside it. This marked the beginning of what those around Gabriella must have considered a nightmare as one rider after the other went flying through the air to land on the ground.

  Startled by all the unexpected movements and the sudden lightness caused by the loss of their burdens, the horses spooked and then began to run off. Some bucked as they ran, but most only wanted to escape the chaos. Only Lorne’s steed exhibited any control, and Gabriella was mounted on it, directing its movements with her legs and knees the moment she was on its back. She urged it into a gallop and headed back towards the outer edge of the tunnel that led to the Valley. She had no intention of letting these people keep her any longer.

  “Catch her,” King Felix bellowed from his position on the ground. He then stood to watch as the extreme outer edge of the men in the crowd formed a barrier to stop her from escaping.

  Gabriella didn’t show any signs of stopping, even when faced with insurmountable odds. In her mind, it was sometimes easier to break through a roadblock being manned by many than only a few. The men might be focused on one person, but there were so many they couldn’t hope to be effective. Those who got too close, she could run off with the swords she had borrowed.

  Gabriella hit the front lines of the soldiers with both swords swinging as she engaged the enemy troops. However, they didn’t act in the way she had expected. They should have either tried to overwhelm her by sheer numbers or scattered when she went on the attack. The reason neither happened was because Ricard began shouting orders from the background. While everything had been happening, he had purloined a mount and was headed straight for the place where she was holding off a growing circle of men. It didn’t seem to matter which direction she turned, determined soldiers were trying their best to keep her confined to the area.

  “Don’t get too close to that Elf or you will die a quick death,” Ricard advised, as he calmly rode through the crowd surrounding Gabriella. When he finally faced her, he smiled, drew one of his knives and threw it at her mount. It struck the main artery of the animal, and shortly thereafter, it stumbled and dropped to the ground to finish bleeding out. As this happened, he dismounted and slowly approached her, “My father would like his sword back, and so would Lorne.”

  “They are welcome to try to take them from me,” Gabriella challenged. She was not about to back down, she had come too close to getting loose to give up now.

  “You are alone and vastly outnumbered, High Lord General,” Ricard pointed out. “You know this as well as I do. You are not going anywhere.”

  To get a feel for how the crowd would react to anything she did, Gabriella turned her back on Ricard and began to walk from the middle of the circle to surrounding them. As she moved, so did they, even as they continued to maintain a distance around her. The only one attempting to close the gap was Ricard, and she soon noticed three others join him. Two of those were carrying bows and had arrows at the ready. This was in case she found an opening to run from them. She knew she could outrun their horses, but an arrow was another matter. A skilled archer was deadly and not to be taken lightly. Despite this, she still refused to back down.

  Lorne grinned, as he moved closer to Gabriella from opposite Ricard and purred, “We are going to have so much fun with you. When we are through teaching you how to behave like a woman should, there will be no doubt in your mind where you belong in this world.”

  “I wouldn’t get my hopes up too much if I were you,” Gabriella advised. She continued to watch everything going on around her as four more men matched distances between them and her. She knew what they were going to try, and although they were probably capable of giving her a difficult time, she doubted if they could defeat her. Eventually, they were going to be left with the choice of killing her from a distance, or letting her go. Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to be very inclined to do the latter.

  General Anton was having a difficult time believing this gorgeous female in front of them was an Elf. Yet, there was no disputing the different characteristics that declared her for what she was. It was no wonder these men were obsessed with her. She was not only beautiful, but also spirited in ways no Human Female he had ever met was. Were all Female Elves like her? If so, he wanted one for himself. To press a claim on her, he went on the attack, believing he could successfully unarm her quickly. If he were victorious, he would dare any man to try to take her from him.

  In the mythological stories General Anton had heard during his youth, Elves were elusive people. They thought they were superior to Humans, but preferred peace to war. They were not creatures anyone wanted to wage war against. It was also stated that once, many had been captured and kept in cages for the entertainment of wealthy men. In those tales, Kings had paid fortunes to own Elven Females and evil men preyed on the unsuspecting. Even as a child he had scoffed at the stories. Now he no longer doubted them, for here was a woman that matched every description he had ever heard of them, and he wanted her for himself.

  Even as determined as he was to own her, General Anton could tell when to back away. He did this as the others advanced in an attempt to capture this glorious creature. He doubted if it was going to be possible, at least not with this one. There was something about the way she moved and looked that spoke of a warrior maiden. She would die before submitting to an enemy. Yet, they had somehow managed to capture her. He was curious to know how.

  With a rapid succession of moves, Gabriella brought Ricard to his knees first, although his wounds looked more superficial than serious. She disarmed him totally, while holding off King Felix and Lorne. When he was subdued, she continued to fight against the other two members of his family.

  Ricard pulled his battered body back up and looked for his weapons, only to notic
e them at the other side of the circle. He wasn’t about to go after them, not when this meant passing the flashing swords of this particular Elf unarmed. Instead, he turned and headed for the Dragon Killers and Evart, who were standing on one of the weapons with a look of excited expectation on his face. What was this all about? Had their little brother betrayed them? As the thought flitted across his mind, he decided he would need to look into the possibility the moment things were back under control.

  Evart could scarcely believe what he was seeing. Gabriella Eagle Claw was facing off against all the heads of the armies at the same time, and she was holding her own beautifully. He had to stop himself several times from cheering for her, knowing that to do so would be suicide. It was as he thought this that he noticed Ricard heading for the wagons. Was his brother coming to use one of the weapons on her? What made him think this would work? He didn’t question why the men didn’t join the attack. He was certain that Donahue would have been ordered to hold them back. The worst thing they would do at this time would be to join the foray. If they did, it would soon become a free for all.

  As Evart was about to jump down from the perch on his Dragon Killer, he saw King Felix go down under a few swift strikes from Gabriella’s sword. He then watched as Lorne looked shocked, before going on the attack in a fit of rage. It didn’t take much more than a few maneuvers for her to have his brother lying on the ground next to their father. General Anton tried to attack her from behind and he was also quickly disarmed, when she turned to face him with her twin swords flashing messages of death to anyone daring to get close enough for them to reach. She lost a sword, as it lodged in a soldier’s left shoulder. Then, as the others seemed to prepare to attack, everyone on the field suddenly froze.

  A great booming sound came from overhead, followed by the appearance of a massive Golden Dragon roaring in rage. A sense of fear permeated the field and the men began to panic. Evart knew what he was seeing. He recognized the massive beast as the one belonging to T’Harris, and he knew help had arrived for Gabriella.