The Wrath

by D Glenn Casey

  The children squealed with anticipation and the older girl got them to hold hands and promise not to go running up on the dragons. Then she escorted them across the field to see this most, wondrous sight.

  Hilde and the other bowmaiden followed Teven into the village and they could see there was quite a bit of damage. One of the buildings looked like it was the village pub and there were some men working at getting it cleaned up and repaired.

  “That used to be the pub, but the ogres knocked down parts of the walls before they left.”

  The bowmaiden spoke up, “It’s probably best if it’s not open for a while anyway.”

  “Why’s that?” asked Teven.

  “Because about one hundred royal soldiers are on their way here right now. They constitute part of the army that is coming.”

  “Royal soldiers?” exclaimed one of the women in the group.

  “Yes, ma’am,” said Hilde.

  “Good lord, dragons this morning and royal soldiers this evening.”

  Hilde laughed and said, “And m’lady, I’m not quite certain which is more impressive.”

  ~~~~

  Within an hour, the two dragons returned with the two healers and they joined Caroline in one of the homes that had been turned into an impromptu clinic. They moved through the people that had been brought there and did everything they could to heal them.

  The Guildenian couple that Teven had spoken of were a younger couple, that had come to live in Terranasia a few years earlier. Caroline recognized the woman and they talked about life in Guilden as it was now. They had come to this small town to help with the movement of materials between Terranasia and Wyndweir and had become trapped when the forces from Gallyneer and the ogres had cut off all access to the lands to the east.

  Later that afternoon, Pendivall and Jarell walked into town, followed by an army of over four hundred soldiers. They had the troops set up their camp in the field where the dragons were situated, as the wizards walked into the village to see if they could obtain some answers. They found Hilde and the five bowmaidens and healers tending to the wounded of the town.

  When Teven saw Jarell, it was like two brothers recognizing each other after a prolonged absence.

  “Jarell, you old dog,” said Teven as he hugged him, “I found out earlier this morning that you are now joined.”

  Jarell stepped back and laughed.

  “That I am, old friend. Who would have thought?”

  “Certainly not I, but it looks like the ideal woman has found you,” said Teven as he nodded toward Hilde.

  “You have no idea, Teven.”

  The wizards and captain followed Teven to a small space in the center of the village, where some tables and chairs had been set under some towering trees. Some of the people of the village were busy preparing a lunch meal for everyone and Teven had the recent arrivals sit around one large table so they could talk. He filled them in on the days previous, when they awoke to find the troops of Kerrick packing their things and leaving.

  Captain Belgard spoke up and said, “We should think of sending our dragon riders forward to look for those troops. We need to know what happened and how weak the dark wizard has become.”

  “They left here three days ago,” said Teven, “and moving as a group, I would say they won’t be much further than Strafton.”

  “I’m not quite sure I like the idea of sending Hilde and the other women forward, looking for these troops,” said Jarell.

  “Much as you might not like it,” said Pendivall, “the captain is correct. We need to know what happened to those troops. How was his control over them and ogres effected and what caused it to fade?”

  “Well,” said Jarell, “we know what caused it to fade. Him being used for target practice by my lovely bride. What we need to know is if this loss of power over the troops is permanent.”

  “I think the four of them should leave at first light,” said Pendivall.

  Jarell wasn’t happy about sending the four women further into Terranasia, especially when one of them was his wife. Not that he worried too much about her. He knew she was capable of taking care of herself and with three bowmaidens with her, she would be completely safe.

  He was more worried about what she would do when they caught up with the fleeing troops. Not that she would attack them, but if they tried to challenge her, she wouldn’t back down from the fight.

  Lunch was placed on the table and the talk continued and it was decided that the four dragon riders would go forward the next morning and see what there was to see.

  Chapter 5 ~ Glad To Meet You, Brother

  Hilde and the others glided silently over the terrain, searching the ground below for signs of the retreating troops. They flew high enough that their chances of being spotted from below were minimized, even though there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. If anyone did look up, hopefully they would appear to be nothing more than large birds.

  They had already passed Weston and they could see the destruction that had been done to it. Hilde had flown a little lower over the town and could tell that the damage was old and not done during the recent retreat of Kerrick’s troops.

  An hour later they came over some slight hills and the sight was nothing they had expected. And not what they wanted to see.

  There was a major battle being waged on the ground below. The dragon riders could see what appeared to be two armies fighting on the north side of the village of Strafton.

  One army was firmly entrenched in the edge of the village and the other seemed bent on moving into the village. They were clearly fighting over the village and it didn’t take long to figure out who was who.

  The army situated north of the village was being driven on by ogres, wearing the markings of Kerrick.

  “What do we do, m’lady?” asked Caroline.

  “Well, it’s obvious those troops to the north are Kerrick’s troops. If that’s the case, we need to be on the look out for dragons.”

  Both Morgath and Venia started scanning the skies, looking for the dark wizard’s dragons, but there didn’t appear to be any.

  “There are no dragons in the sky except for the four of us,” said Venia.

  “We need to put a stop to this fight,” said Morgath. “The village is in danger.”

  “The orders to try to spare as many Gallyneer troops as possible still stands,” said Hilde. “We need to concentrate our attacks on the ogres. Hopefully, if we take them down the armies will stop fighting.”

  When the eight sky-flying warriors agreed, they dove in unison on the battlefield. Before the ogres knew what hit them, the arrows of the women took down ten of them. There were still three left and two of them took off toward the mountains to the southeast.

  The last ogre started lashing the nearest troops to him and ordering them to fire on the dragons. His attacks on the backs of the troops was horrific and it set the souls of the four women ablaze with anger. Even though the troops were firing upward, the dragons dove straight through their arrows and all four women fired at the same time, turning the ogre’s head into a pincushion.

  As the dragons thundered over, the ogre fell flat on his face and the dragon riders thought that would be the end of it.

  It was not.

  The troops continued firing arrows at the dragons. Even though their aims were decent, the armor the dragons now wore did its job and protected them.

  Hilde had one arrow glance off her left shoulder, but her battlewear protected her and the arrow fell harmlessly to the ground.

  “Why do they still fight?” asked one of the other bowmaidens.

  “I don’t know,” said Hilde.

  It mystified her. They should have given up once the last ogre fell.

  Hilde ordered the other three to climb higher, out of the reach of the archers and she turned Venia towards the village. Venia circled around to the south and then approached a clear spot in the village center, behind where the other troops were massed.

  A couple of cap
tains came running to her as she jumped down off Venia’s back.

  “Hilde,” said Venia, “you shouldn’t get down until we know what is going on.”

  “Venia, we won’t find out what is going on as long as we stay in the air.”

  As she saw the captains approaching, she nocked an arrow and pointed it at the closest one. As they got closer, she yelled at them to stop. They both skidded to a stop and held their empty hands up in front of themselves.

  “We mean you no harm, m’lady,” said one of the captains.

  She relaxed the bowstring and placed the arrow back in the quiver. After placing her bow across her back, she pulled her sword and started walking cautiously toward the two. She didn’t really need to pull the sword. She had a smoking, green dragon stepping along behind her, keeping her wary, yellow eyes firmly fixed on the two.

  They came to about five paces apart and Hilde said, “That’s close enough.”

  She could feel Venia’s fiery breath on the back of her neck and knew she was within a couple of feet of her back.

  “What is going on here?” she demanded.

  “I am Captain Toll and it’s happening all over again.”

  “What’s happening?”

  “The dark wizard’s influence is rising again. We were on our way home to Gallyneer when some of the troops started falling victim to his powers. Then the ogres showed up this morning and took command of the army again.”

  “So, why are you fighting each other.”

  The other captain spoke up and said, “Some of us aren’t so easily swayed by the dark wizard. When the change started to come over some of the men, the rest of us fell back to Strafton and we’ve been trying to keep them out. When the ogres showed up it became a dire battle.”

  Hilde looked at the two of them and could see that they were telling the truth. After looking back and forth between them, she put her sword away and stepped in front of them.

  “Why are the others still fighting, even after we’ve taken down all the ogres?”

  “There are still some leaders among the troops,” said Toll. “Gallyneer men that have turned their backs on their own homeland. They drive the others on.”

  They could hear the sounds of the battle still raging a hundred yards away.

  “We need to put a stop to this battle, but I’m hesitant to fly back into it. The armies of Wyndweir have a desire to spare as many Gallyneer troops as possible.”

  “M’lady, those troops on the other side of the line are no longer considered Gallyneer men,” said the other captain.

  “There’s no chance that they can be calmed down if we take out the leaders?”

  “No,” said Toll. “They are the most loyal to the dark wizard and he has promised them many riches and power when the lands of Terranasia and Wyndweir have been conquered.”

  “Maybe,” said Venia from behind, “it’s time for them to burn. It may be the only way Hilde.”

  Hilde turned around and looked at her.

  “I know Venia, but once we start killing Gallyneer troops without any thought to freeing them, we become no better than them.”

  “Do you remember the words of Captain Jong?” asked Venia.

  Hilde looked at her and didn’t know where she was going with this.

  “He said, we won’t win this war by being the nicer army.”

  Venia could see both the captains nodding in agreement with her.

  “But, how much of our souls do we lose if we start down the path of killing those men?”

  Captain Toll spoke up, “That’s the danger all warriors face, whether they fight for good or evil. But if we don’t face that danger, we may allow the evil to spread across the land. I’d prefer to lose a piece of my soul than to let the dark wizard win this war. It will only be in defeating him and returning home to my wife and children that I may reclaim that piece.”

  Hilde could feel her breath quickening and her heart was racing. She nodded to the two and then turned and climbed back on Venia.

  “We will focus our attacks along the rear of their lines, but that will leave the ones closest to you to deal with. I hope none of your men get too singed when we burn them down.”

  “We’ll take our chances.”

  Venia turned and launched herself into the sky and they climbed to the others. After telling them of the strategy the four dragons began diving on the back lines of the enemy troops. They flew in a line, coming in one after another.

  With each pass, they unleashed streams of dragonfire and it engulfed the troops. This had a secondary effect on the battle. The enemy troops had no route for an escape because the landscape was blazing behind them.

  It only took two passes from the dragons to wipe out most of the troops. What was left was quickly dealt with by the troops under Captain Toll’s command.

  Hilde could see they were not intent on taking any prisoners and she knew she had to put a stop to it. She ordered the four dragons down to the ground.

  When they landed, she jumped off the back of Venia and raced into the remnants of the battle, followed closely by the bowmaidens. All four had gone to their swords and they charged to the disappearing line between the two armies.

  When they got there, Hilde demanded that Toll’s troops stop killing every enemy soldier.

  “We can’t let any of them live,” said one of the soldiers. “They have helped destroy our homeland and won't stop until we stop them.”

  “We can’t get any information from them if they are all dead!”

  Captain Toll came up and commanded that any enemy soldiers that dropped their arms would be spared. A few were still intent on fighting and were killed immediately, but a handful surrendered and were taken prisoner.

  One enemy soldier was still trying to kill any soldier that got close enough to him and Captain Toll had obviously had enough of him. As the soldier was concentrating on fighting with one soldier, Toll walked up behind him and slashed his sword across the calf of the soldier’s leg. The soldier fell, screaming in pain and Toll put his blade right to his throat.

  “I said that’s enough, Kreiger!” roared Toll.

  Kreiger looked up at him with hate in his eyes. Hilde stepped up beside Toll and looked down at the injured soldier.

  “You know him?”

  “Absolutely. This is Captain Kreiger, one of the scum that thinks the dark wizard is going to reward him for his devotion.”

  Toll motioned for some soldiers to take Kreiger captive and bind him and to get him some help for his leg. After they had hauled Kreiger away, Toll turned to Hilde.

  “I wanted to do nothing more than run my blade right through his dark heart. But, you are correct and if there is anyone we can squeeze some information out of, it’s him.”

  “Then, I thank you for not killing him.”

  Hilde turned and looked at the battlefield. It was covered with charred bodies of the fallen soldiers, some of which were still burning. The dragons were moving through the scene, spreading their wings and laying them over the fires to extinguish them. Any soldiers they found still alive and suffering from their horrific burns were put out of their misery by snapping their necks with their jaws.

  Hilde knew she would never, ever get the sounds of those necks being broken out of her head for the rest of her life. Memories of what she and her family had done to Tottenham were nothing compared to the memories being formed during this war.

  She saw the four dragons standing together, talking between themselves and the bowmaidens were standing a little ways away from them. She walked over to the women to see what was going on.

  “What are they discussing over there?”

  “We don’t know, m’lady. Seems to be a dragon’s only council,” indicated Caroline.

  Then two of the dragons lifted off the ground and headed southeast. Venia and Morgath stood together as the four women approached them.

  “Where are they going?” asked Hilde.

  “Hunting,” said Morgath.

&nb
sp; “Hunting?”

  Yes, Hilde,” said Venia. “They are going to find and slay those two ogres that ran earlier. They shall return when they are finished.”

  For some reason, Hilde didn’t feel nearly as bad about killing ogres. These monsters were Kerrick’s chief tool of control over his troops and the more of them that died the better. Slay enough ogres and this war can come to an end.

  As they talked, the other captain walked up. When Hilde saw him, she held out her hand.

  “I am Hilde, of Greenvale Castle and these bowmaidens are from Guilden.”

  The captain took her hand and said, “I am Symon, captain of about half of these troops and I want to thank all of you for coming to our aid.”

  He looked at the three bowmaidens and shook his head. He had seen Guilden women before, but he couldn’t get over how small and young looking they were.

  “Relax captain,” said Caroline, “we are all at least two hundred years older than you.”

  “Oh, you think so? I’ve met Guildenian women before and they never cease to amaze me.”

  Then he turned back to Hilde and looked at her.

  “You said Greenvale Castle. That’s the home of Jarell.”

  “That is correct.” said Hilde. “Master Jarell of Greenvale Castle. Also, my husband.”

  Symon stepped back in shock.

  “Your husband? Jarell?”

  “Why is everyone so shocked to find out that Jarell has taken a wife? I experienced the same reaction yesterday from Teven in Keirdon.”

  “Well, it’s just that I never thought Jarell was the type to take a wife.”

  “So, you know him.”

  “Yes, m’lady. I do. He’s my brother.”

  Hilde was stunned. This was new information to her, information that Jarell had neglected to divulge to her.

  “Your brother?! He never said anything about a brother.”

  “Well, he still has sore feelings toward me ever since ...”

  His voice trailed off, as if he had said too much.

  “Ever since what?”

  It was at that moment that Hilde noticed Symon’s blue eyes. They weren’t nearly as bright as Jarell’s or Garlan’s or Marnell’s, but they were still blue.