“You’ll what?” said the red and purple scaled warrior, “you’ll nothing. Sound the conchs,” he said and turned to the young soldier. “We’ll kill these Freeriders and then travel during the day to the Mountains of the Orc like proud warriors, not like snakes slinking to their nest.”
The boy ran off at a gallop and the general turned to Usharra. “I should just kill you now, but my troops need me. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll be gone by the time we get back from killing the Freeriders. I’d offer to bring back one of their women for you but I’m not sure that’s to your taste.” With that the general followed the boy back into the cave although the sounds of conch shells already echoed back and forth along the passage.
“By Sakatha that fool will kill us all,” said Usharra to himself. “I must gather the loyal priests and the naval crew. We need to head directly to the mountains or all is lost!”
Chapter 17
“Where did they get themselves to?” said Odellius his breath coming in heavy pants as he and a dozen other knights of Elekargul stopped for a moment in their chase.
“I don’t know,” said Thaddeus. “Once the mayor joined us, who knows why he left the safety of town in the first place, things have been a shambles. That damn fool just charged after them into the darkness. We need to coordinate, but nobody is listening. We’re all on our civilian twelve month and no one wants to take orders from anyone else. We don’t have a command structure.”
“I know Thaddeus, I know. How many men followed the mayor after the creatures?” he said with a shake of his head as his breath slowly returned to a normal pattern.
“At least half of us,” said the hobgoblin brew master as he also shook his head and fingered the sword at his side.
“All right,” said Odellius and put his hand to his massive stomach. “Get everyone who is left gathered and we’ll advance silently. If those lobsters jump into a pot of trouble we’ll hear the fighting and charge up as a reserve force.”
“Yes, sir,” said Thaddeus as clenching his fist and raising it in salute.
A few minutes later forty men stood at the ready with Odellius in the lead. “All right men,” said the rotund warrior. “The mayor went chasing with the rest of the fellows so I’m taking command. I know the First Rider hasn’t authorized any of us to use military force but it is as it is. Does anyone object?”
No one dissented and after a few seconds Odellius nodded his head. “Excellent, we’re going to move forward at a walk, no noise, and keep listening for the sounds of battle up ahead. If you hear anything don’t go charging off into the night. Say something to a neighbor and I’ll issue orders. Understood?”
The men nodded and clenched their fist in the same manner Thaddeus did a moment before. “Now, let’s move out,” ordered Odellius.
They spread out into a skirmisher’s formation and walked silently into the night, their swords in hand, and ears cocked to listen for anything except the crickets and occasional hoot of an owl.
It didn’t take long to hear the strange almost kitchen like sounds of sword play and then a shout from some Elekargulian, “To me, to me! Knights of Elekargul.”
“Hold your position,” said Odellius in a loud voice but not a shout. “We’ll move around and flank them. Hit ‘em in the side. They’re reptile men, they don’t much like battling on land and don’t maneuver well. Watch out for their tails, they can trip you with a sweep. Now, come along and behave like knights, not little girls!” He continued and then began to move to the left in a wide maneuver.
The knights followed him silently into the cool evening and within another minute a new eruption of cries roared out as they attacked the reptile army from the flank.
Chapter 18
“They’re all after the Staff of Sakatha,” said Sorus as he finished with the ants. The young lad immediately flailed his arms and fell on his backside, “whoa.”
Jon walked over with two tremendous strides and knelt next to Sorus, “You’ve been lying down for six hours, Sorus. Take it easy,” he said and held the boy around the shoulders to steady him.
“They just left, a skeleton thing and a snake thing, they’re the leaders, we can catch them!” said Sorus and pointed off in the direction the two went only moments before. “But they’re not on the same side. I think there are like five or six sides and no one knows where the staff is hidden. They were talking about dreams and dragons and things. They need the children of dragons to interpret the dreams from some dragon that will tell them where the staff is hidden,” he blurted out all in a rush.
Proteus looked to Jon who looked back at the older knight and both men shrugged at the same moment. “Are you ready for a chase?” said Jon to Sorus as he turned back to the young man and released his hold.
Sorus put his hand to his sword hilt and rose unsteadily, “Of course I am. I… I just got a bit dizzy standing up so quickly. If we want to get that staff then we have to go right now.”
Jon nodded and smiled, “You’ve the warrior spirit all right Sorus, I’m pretty sure I’ve got it, and there is no doubt in my mind that Proteus there, Brokenshield or no, has the same. Now, the only question I have is; how do you kill a skeleton thing and a snake thing?” With that Jon started off down the path and then looked back to Sorus, “They did head this way, didn’t they?”
Sorus looked down the narrow trail and thought about it for a moment, “I guess, I mean the only other direction is back down the slope.”
“Good enough,” said Jon and dashed up the mountain trail.
“Follow him,” said Proteus as he busied himself with the saddle bags attached to the horses, “I’ll gather some supplies in case we end up gone overnight. Go on, Sorus, I’ll catch up.”
Sorus started to run after Jon but felt a sudden onset of nausea and slowed his pace for a moment, “Jon, slow down and wait for us!” he called out.
It took Proteus several minutes to get water, food, and other supplies from the horses and then he paused for a moment and stared at the beasts. “I’ll leave you free, head down the mountain if we’re not back in a day or so,” he said to the horses and shook his head. “I’m an old fool still talking to horses after all these years,” and with that went after Sorus and Jon. It only took him about five minutes to catch up with the two as they stood near a rocky overhang in animated discussion. They saw him coming and motioned him up with a wave of their hands.
“Goblins or orcs,” said Jon and pointed with his finger around the corner. “I sniffed out an ambush.”
“Well done, Jon,” said Proteus, “how did you spot them?”
Jon pointed to a crossbow bolt on the dirt trail just to their right, “I cleverly drew their fire,” replied the young warrior.
“It’s a good thing they didn’t wait until you were completely in the open,” said Proteus as he glanced at the wicked barb for a moment, “were you hit at all?”
Jon shook his head, “One shot went between my legs, and I think I heard the other whistle by my ear but no hits. Pretty poor shooting considering the size of the target.”
“So,” said Proteus with a look up towards the rock that sheltered them from the ambushers and then squinted at the afternoon sun in the opposite direction, “two of them and they’ve picked the wrong time of day for this location.”
“I only saw the two bolts,” said Sorus also who followed Proteus’s gaze at the position of the sun. “I don’t see any way they can work around to a firing position on us,” he continued and pointed to the large overhang above them. “They’ll just wait up there until we make our move unless they’ve got wizards to collapse the rocks on us.”
“I’d guess they are close to wherever the skeleton and snake thing went to ground,” said Proteus with a shrug. “It’s a terrible spot for ambush this time of day and the mountain has so many hidden spots it’s ridiculous that they chose this one.”
