by A. J. Walker
“Pull up the sail and get out the oars,” Britt commanded the crew when they approached one of the Glacial Melt Bays.
Anders watched from behind an oar, rowing on the count, as the ships entered a narrow bay, lined with thick green vegetation different from that which he was used to seeing back at Highborn Bay. The ships beached along the shoreline and they helped Britt and the others unload gear to set up camp.
“So this is where the elves live,” Anders said, admiring the broad-leaved trees and their splayed branches growing off in many directions.
“This is the beginning of the Glacial Melt Bays and, yes, it’s the southernmost border of the Everlight Kingdom,” Britt said as she hauled several wooden shields onto shore.
“Where are all the elves?” Anders asked not seeing any sign of civilization as he searched the forested land.
“Not here,” Britt said. “If you ask me, they aren’t as bad as all the others will tell you.”
“What do you mean?” Anders asked.
“Oh, you don’t know about our relationship with them?” Britt asked as Anders shook his head. “Elves and our people don’t exactly get along. It all began about two hundred years ago. Some elves saw our people when we landed on their shores, somewhere in this bay area,” she said sweeping her hand along the shoreline.
“It was the first time anyone from our islands had sailed this far east. They were desperate and starving. The elves saw them, had empathy for their ravaged state and invited them into a nearby village. Using their healing spells, the elves brought the Rollo Islanders back to their full strength. Once the warriors were strong again and having seen all the silver and gold trinkets the elves had, the crew hatched a plan to steal all of the precious items that evening. The elves gathered in one of their lodges for a feast. The crew locked the back doors and set fire to the building. They stood at the front of the building and slew all those who tried to escape. When they were done, they stole everything of value they could find.”
“That’s a terrible thing to do to repay your hosts,” Anders said.
“Our people were raiders,” Britt said. “The only thing they cared about was wealth and war.”
“What happened next?” he asked.
“When they returned home to the Rollo Islands, the crew was praised by our high chiefs. They were seen as heroes for bringing back piles of wealth they didn’t know existed before. When the warriors returned to this area to take more, the elves knew what our people had done. The elves were prepared and slaughtered them on sight. Only a few of the warriors escaped to tell the tale. Ever since then our two nations have loathed one another.”
Britt could tell her story made Anders feel uncomfortable for being on elven soil with the entire Rollo Navy.
“It has been a long time since our people shed blood,” Britt reassured him. “Our quarrels have subsided greatly, no longer resulting in physical violence as often as before.”
The rest of the afternoon and evening were quite uneventful. Anders and Max made camp with the rest of Britt’s crew. Ivan, Red and Jorgen had meetings with the other Rollo leaders about how to begin searching the area. Anders and Max remained uninvited.
After the meetings concluded, those privy to them passed the word down to those in command of ships. Each lead captain commanded at least five ships. The chiefs passed the word down to the lead captains, who, in turn, let the captains of each ship know the plan. Each captain kept his or her crew members informed of the plans. Somehow Anders knew Britt would be keeping them much better informed than Red ever would have.
During dinner that night, Britt told her crew what would be happening the next day. They were to split up into groups led by each lead captain. One group would search to the east, one to the north, and one to the west. The last group would remain in charge of watching over the fleet of ships and protecting camp.
“I hope we don’t get stuck here babysitting the ships all day,” Max whispered to Anders. Anders agreed; he would prefer to do something to help rather than sit at camp all day wondering if anything important was happening in the field.
“We will be joining Red’s command and going to the north,” Britt said. Max and Anders smiled at the news. “We leave at first light. Got it?” she said looking everyone in the eye.
The crew replied in unison, “Yes, Captain.”
“Make sure your blades are sharp and your bows are strung,” she added.
Later that night as he sat on his wool blankets, Anders sharpened the sword he’d bought at the market back in Brookside. Then he made sure his bow was strung and his quiver of arrows was ready. He said good night to Max and they both lay down to sleep. But Anders was not going to sleep right away. He could feel that Zahara had been following them and he desperately wanted to see her again. Once Max and the others were asleep, he made what was becoming his usual nighttime sneak-away and headed off into the woods.
Once he was far enough away from camp, he used his thoughts to say, Zahara… Zahara, where are you?
Emerging from behind a large tree, Zahara showed herself, Anders, over here.
Anders crept over to her, Is everything all right?
You were on that floating log for a long time, she said.
It’s called a ship and I didn’t know that we were going to be stuck out at sea for that long. It was a lot farther than I’d thought.
I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t risk the others seeing me or they might have done something to hurt me.
Tell me what? Anders asked.
I flew ahead of your ships and saw far into the distance. There is a large gathering of horrible-looking creatures that are heading this way.
How far ahead of us are they? Anders asked. As the words came out of his mouth, he heard shouts in the distance and saw a plume of smoke beginning to rise above the treetops.
They’re here, Zahara said.
Chapter Thirteen
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Orc Attack
ANDERS SPRINTED BACK TOWARD camp as fast as he could, leaping over downed logs and bulling through brush as if it weren’t there. As he drew near, he could hear the horrible screams and shouts of battle. Clashing iron on iron rang through the night. He wasn’t sure if Zahara had followed him or not. Before he made it out of the trees and back to the shoreline where they’d set up camp, he saw a group of ugly creatures chasing one of the Rollo Islanders through the woods. Anders halted when he saw the dark figures, but it was too late to go unnoticed. He made eye contact with one of them. They stood tall like men but had the dark gray mottled skin and large tusks Britt had described.
Orcs, Anders thought.
The one he made eye contact with shouted to the others and three of them peeled off from the group to charge directly at him. Luckily, Anders had brought his hunting knife on his nighttime walk. He drew the short blade and ran toward the orcs head on. This was not a time to be fearful. For all he knew, the orcs had already overrun those he held dear back at camp; he had been lucky to be off in the woods when the ambush began.
Before he clashed with the orcs, he counted on his training for the Grandwood Games and flung his knife at the first orc, hitting him directly in the chest. Hoping to strike fear into the others, he bellowed a gut-felt cry and leapt into the air with both of his feet curled up in front of him. He kicked with all his might as he collided with the second orc, knocking it back so hard it took out the third orc behind it. Now on his back and vulnerable, but just ahead of the orcs, he used his speed to his advantage. He rolled over to the first orc, ripped his knife out of its chest, and pounced onto one of the orcs who was still trying to stand up. Anders swiftly slit its throat just in time to see the third orc rise to its feet. He went to throw his knife at it, but before he could, the orc dropped its weapon. Anders hesitated and then saw Zahara leaping over his head. She bared her dagger-like teeth and in one fell swoop landed on the orc devouring its upper half with her deadly jaws.
Anders�
� jaw dropped in surprise as he witnessed the sheer power Zahara used to dispatch the orc. She turned and looked back at Anders, crimson blood dripping from her fangs.
Are you okay? she asked him.
“Yeah,” he replied, taking a breath. “That was crazy! Thank you!” Anders exclaimed. “I need to get to my things. I need my bow and sword. I won’t survive with just this knife.” Anders said with urgency.
I hope Max is all right, he thought to himself.
I can check, Zahara said.
“You can hear my thoughts too?” Anders said. It actually wasn’t that surprising to him, but he said it anyway.
Yes. I’ll look for him with my mind, she paused, and then said, I’ve got him. He is still alive, and not far from here.
Anders ran the rest of the way back to his campsite, but Zahara didn’t follow him this time.
I cannot risk being seen by your people, her voice sounded into his mind when he noticed she hadn’t followed him. I’ll watch over you from up here, she added, showing him a mental image of where she was perched high in the treetops. He could tell she didn’t want to leave him by himself to fight, but she needed to protect her identity from those he was traveling with. He understood that many in the war party would want to kill her if they found a dragon was nearby, even if she was helping to kill the orcs.
Out of the trees and onto the beach, Anders could see the attack much more clearly. The rising moon brightened the night sky and the shoreline glowed orange from the light of flames burning many of their ships. The orcs had attacked by land on the east side of the bay, opposite from his campsite. He looked across the bay and watched as several groups of the orcs waded into the shallow water and set fire to two more ships at the southeast entrance of the bay. Anders estimated half the fleet was already ablaze. He saw how the warriors had established a line of defense on the beach to protect their remaining ships.
Anders quickly found his sword, bow and arrows, and began to search for Max. He couldn’t afford to lose another friend; panic began to overwhelm him. His vision blurred and fear was beginning to overwhelm his other senses when Zahara called to him. The familiar presence of her voice brought him back to reality; he couldn’t see her but he could hear her voice clearly in his thoughts. She told him Max was with a group of warriors who were being separated from the line of defense at the other end of the bay. She sent him a mental image of Max’s location in relation to their campsite.
“How are you doing this?” Anders asked searching the treetops, but not finding where Zahara was hiding.
Don’t worry about it now, I will tell you more about how I communicate later, Zahara said, sounding a little frustrated with him.
The ships were all docked near the base of the U-shaped bay. Most of the Rollo forces were in their shield wall formation facing the forest, their backs to the remaining ships. It seemed they had secured a solid position that would allow them to fight back while protecting the remaining ships. Orcs attacked in great numbers out of the forest on the eastern half of the bay. Several groups of warriors stood together between Anders and where the assembled warriors of the shield wall held their ground. The smaller groups who’d banded in between battled orcs that must have made their way around to the western half of the bay before the Rollo Island warriors took their position.
Anders decided to make his way along the western side of the bay working north. Max, who he’d seen through Zahara’s mind, was with Britt. The two were forced away from the shield wall, taking shelter in the forest. Anders could use the cover of the forest to stay hidden from the orcs as he advanced closer to his friends’ aid. Hopefully, he would be able to pick off enough of the orcs with his bow to provide some cover for them to break through the orcs’ ranks and rejoin the shield wall with the others. Anders could only assume Red, Jorgen, and Ivan were leading the main Rollo force and did not concern himself with their safety. Both Ivan and Red had plenty of experience; he knew they could handle themselves.
He snuck his way along the edge of the forest, passing just feet from orcs and men fighting wildly against each other onshore. He could have joined in the fighting here, but the men and women on this side of the bay were already outnumbered and he needed to focus on his task if he ever wanted to see Max alive again.
Anders gathered stray arrows he found on the ground, stocking his quiver with as many as he could fit while he worked his way through the trees. The light from the burning ships combined with the moonlight helped him search for his friends. Soon he saw Britt and Max. They were backed up against the creek bed that led from within the forest and out into mouth of the bay. Taking on twice as many orcs as any other group he had seen so far, he watched as Britt wielded two hatchets and Max struck with his sword to hold the fierce orcs at bay. Anders was within shooting range of the orcs. Remaining hidden behind several large rocks near the stream’s edge, he mustered his courage and began shooting arrow after arrow at the orcs attacking his friends. The orcs didn’t seem to notice their comrades were being killed by something other than the sharp blades wielded by his two friends.
Anders killed two-dozen orcs before some of them began to look around, noticing someone nearby was shooting at them. Anders foolishly shot one of the orcs in the head while several others around him were searching to determine where the arrows were coming from. They now knew where he was hiding. Most of them switched their focus to him and came running, swords in hand.
That worked, Anders thought.
Realizing he now faced a different problem, a much deadlier one, panic began to overcome him once more. A large group of angry orcs headed straight at him and he had no backup. Fearing for his life, he groped desperately at his quiver. Noticing that it was nearly devoid of arrows, he quickly killed two more orcs with his bow before fleeing deeper into the woods. As he fled, he recalled what Britt had mentioned about orcs being notoriously slow; he could use that to his advantage.
Calming his frantic thoughts, Anders continued through the forest, running deeper into the trees. He called with his mind to Zahara for help but didn’t hear a response. He turned around to see the orcs more spread out. He could fight them one at a time. Holding his ground and remaining more confident in his fighting abilities with the sword, he engaged the first of his pursuers. As he exchanged blows, Anders was surprised at the orc’s strength, but it was not as fast as he was. He ducked a swing of the orc’s sword and drove the tip of his through the middle of the foul creature.
The next four were easier than the first. Anders stuck to what was working: dodge the first blow, and then move in quickly for the kill. Anders kept running farther away to spread out those chasing him. Taking them on one at a time, he worked his way through the mass of orcs following him. The last remaining orcs trailed him at a distance far enough away that he was able take out his bow. The bright moonlight broke through the canopy and made his targets easy enough to see. One at a time he shot the advancing orcs, finishing them off along with the last of his arrows.
Getting back to the battle was easy enough. All Anders had to do was follow the trail of bodies he’d created. He was proud of himself, using his speed to his advantage and taking only one orc at a time. He did wonder why Zahara hadn’t responded. He wasn’t with anyone else who would have lived to tell about her existence.
Once back at the edge of the forest, Anders could see that the battle had gone in favor of the Islanders. The warriors had managed to clear the west beach of orcs and were pushing the main orc force back into the forest on the eastern edge. He came out of the trees and onto the beach. He could see through the light of the flames that Max and Britt had rejoined the shield wall and were fighting alongside the main force.
Joining the shield wall, he helped his fellow warriors. From behind the shields, Anders helped the collective group push the remaining orcs off the beach. Soon the orcs began to retreat and the battle was over.
Anders panted heavily, placing his hands on his knees. He was exhauste
d from all of the running and fighting. He dripped with sweat and his clothes were wet with orc blood. He looked around among those he fought alongside, searching for Max, Ivan and Britt.
Max and Britt had been close by, so he located them quickly. A sense of relief came over him when he found his friends unharmed. Max told him Red and Ivan were in front of the group pointing in their direction. That was enough to ease his worried mind. He and Max joined Britt and the others who had began walking back across the beach.
“I thought you were a goner,” Max said. “When the attack began, you were nowhere to be found. I assumed orcs had grabbed you and drug you off into the woods. I stayed with Britt and the people who were near our campsite. We got pushed around and separated from the main group. Somehow, we caught a lucky break and pushed through to the others on the beach. From there the battle turned in our favor. What happened to you? How did you end up in the shield wall?” he asked.
Anders lied and told him he’d gone off to pee when the attack began, so he joined the fighting late. “When I was sneaking back through the woods, I saw that you and Britt had been separated from the others on the beach. From behind a couple of large rocks, I took out two-dozen of them with my bow before the orcs realized I was shooting at them. When they came after me, I led them into the woods, taking them out one at a time,” he said, shrugging nonchalantly. “No, big deal or anything,” he added with a hint of sarcasm.
“You saved us?” Max sounded surprised. “That was you who led the orcs away from us? Wow, you saved my life!” he exclaimed.
“You saved me back in Grandwood, so I guess we’re even.”
Max gave Anders a forceful hug, “Even,” he released his firm hug and gripped Anders’ shoulders at arm’s length. “Wait until I tell others about this.”
“Well, I don’t want any praise or anything. Just keep it between us, okay?” Anders didn’t want to draw attention to the fact that he was sneaking off during the night again.
