by Bill Albert
“Only what happened after they left the mountain.”
“The dragon had been watching us, me, for some time. Zaslow kept him as a kind of pet, to help him out with casting abilities, but the dragon was helping me out. He made sure there were tremors inside the mountain at the right time, sure that Pate found me when I was captive, sure that I found my weapons. After we made sure you were safe, I finally demanded to know what was going on and he used some kind of jump casting to move Luvin and myself further up the mountain to where he was being held. Before the Dragon War he had been trying to cast immortality on himself. He had cast a spell he had worked on for a very long time on a bracelet; he was still wearing it and believed he had become immortal. He didn’t find out until too late that he had been horribly correct. He was immortal, he wouldn’t die, but he would still grow old.”
Jakobus took a deep breath and shook his head. “Immortality will always be a curse. We dwarves don’t believe even the gods are immortal in their powers.”
“Yes, I agree, and the dragon had been paying for it for a thousand years. He called it only his second greatest mistake. The first is why we’re going to the Dragon Burial Ground. He told us they needed a massive workforce to help defend and control the mountain. They tried to convince the elves to join them, but they were too peaceful and loving and didn’t want to get involved. He cursed them. Took away their ability to choose.”
Jakobus froze as if he had been struck a fatal blow from his own axe. He took the remains of his meal and tossed it into the fire and then he stood and paced wildly. As he went, he said several dwarven prayers before turning back to her.
“We are told from the day we are born how evil the aquilus are. We grow up being taught how to hate them and fear them and how they must be destroyed. It is even more in our nature than our faith to the Giant Lords. The fall of the mountain could do little damage to our society compared to this.”
“Yes, we have to help the Giant Lords be prepared for that moment.”
“This mission you are leading us on is to try and correct things?”
“Yes,” she said and stood to face him. “There have also been legends the Giant Lords have heard about a library lost somewhere inside the Burial Grounds. They hope that there may be some clues there. Maybe even the actual curse. I am working as a special agent for the Giant Lords to find it.”
“You haven’t told Luvin about this?”
“No, he only knows what he needs to know for now.”
“It’ll stay that way,” Jakobus nodded and she understood. “What else happened to you in there?”
Gallif wrapped her arms around herself, stared off in the distance, and refused to answer.
EIGHT: BLINKS OF AN EYE
Gallif twisted hard and swung the flame sword in for a strike but missed. She cut in with the frost sword and just barely managed to hit her target. She was thinking how good it felt to be in the thrill of combat again. The blood sliding down the cut in her left arm reminded her of just how badly she was getting beat. She cursed herself for saying that the trip had been so quiet that morning.
They hadn’t spoken much, just a few words here and there, but as the sun rose on the final morning they started talking. Gallif finally informed Luvin of where they were going and with a slight hint of sarcasm, he told her he had figured their destination and thanked her anyway. That brought all the conversations to an end until she found a spot to camp for the day and they had only been stopped for a few minutes when the horses started to get skittish. Then all hell broke loose.
The band of orcs that attacked them didn’t even try and hide the fact that they were approaching. There were sixteen of them coming in from all directions howling and barking as they ran. Gallif, Luvin and Jakobus all knew this was going to be a rough fight as these orcs were carrying battle axes that were bigger than any they’d ever seen.
“Protect the horses!” Gallif shouted haunted by the reminder of the original Snow’s demise. Luvin decided not to wait and had quickly pulled his bow from the saddle bag of his horse, Sparks. He started firing on some of the orcs coming at them from the south. Gallif started running towards the orcs from the west and Jakobus headed north.
The distance between her and the attackers diminished rapidly, and she was able to impale one of them through the chest before it knew what was going on and it dropped to the ground in a heap. Before she could pull her flame sword from its husk, she felt a rush of air as a blade passed near her right ear. She ducked back and spun in the direction of the orc that had missed her. She saw the axe coming back and used her frost sword to deflect its path. While the orc’s attention was on that she jabbed in with the flame sword and cut hard at its left shoulder. Part of her attack was deflected by its armor, but it howled and shuddered.
She turned to face the two remaining orcs in the group that she had confronted to find they were circling back. They had cut her off from Jakobus and Luvin and, for the time being, she was on her own. They both chopped at her with their axes and she took two steps back. She stumbled briefly as she bumped into the orc she had already killed, and the blades came uncomfortably close. She was able to take a direct swing to the head of one of them and it backed away. The second one continued at her and she tried to chop into its side but missed.
The orc with the wounded shoulder came at her from behind. She heard its heavy footsteps and changed her stance to deflect its strike with her frost sword and again struck it in the same shoulder with the flame sword. The orc growled in pain and she finished it off with a fatal strike. As it dropped she saw two more orcs coming towards her. She was confident in her skills but, even then, four to one was a bad situation.
She had moved away to far to see how Jakobus and Luvin were doing protecting the horses. She knew at the same time they could not see her problems, so she started running to avoid being trapped.
She kept running, only looking back when she heard the howls of her pursuers as they entered the forest. The orc in the lead was having difficulty maneuvering and its clumsiness slowed the others giving her a few moments to plan her next move. She waited near the edge of a bald spot in the forest and held her swords down and away so the brutes wouldn’t catch sight of her.
It was less than a minute when the first of the four came crashing around the tree in front of her. She brought the swords up simultaneously making a strike against its side and it fell away from her. She knew it would come back for more and she glanced quickly to see two more orcs on the path behind it as they jumped in surprise. She had barely a second to wonder where the fourth one was when its axe smacked against the tree next to her. It had been only an inch from her skull, and she felt the tug as some of her hair was yanked to one side and then cut away by the blade. She thrust the flame sword blindly behind her as she pushed herself away. She felt resistance and knew she had made contact but could tell it was the armor she had hit. She pushed back hard hoping the blade would slip through some joint and hit the beast but knew it did not happen.
With luck the axe that missed her was lodged deeply in the trunk of the tree. While the orc behind her was trying to dislodge its weapon the two in front of her tried to keep her surrounded. They both came at her swinging and she deflected one axe with the flame sword and the other with the frost sword. The axe was jolted out of the tree. Had the long blade edge been on her side it would have removed her arm. The shorter hatchet blade on the backside cut into her left, unprotected, arm and opened a slice in her skin below the shoulder. She screamed in pain and it took all of her strength to avoid dropping her frost sword. She stumbled briefly but avoided more attacks and ran outside of the trap.
She caught a glimpse of the wounded orc rejoining the pack and could hear them coming after her. She sprinted as fast as she could until the forest started to thin out. In the distance she could see a dirt road and started to head in that direction. From a bad step, she stumbled again, and her wounded left arm slipped against a trunk. The pain was enough to force he
r to her knees and the orcs gained rapidly. With no time to run she turned to fight.
Gallif kept the tree at her back to help protect her and they broke into two groups. She chose one and made a dual attack cutting the handle of its weapon in half. She twisted hard and swung the flame sword in for a strike but missed. She cut in with the frost sword and just barely managed to hit her target. The blood sliding down the cut in her left arm reminded her of just how badly she was getting beat. She cursed herself for saying that the trip had gone so well that morning.
She thought about Luvin and Jakobus and decided to try to head back in their direction. She took a few swings at them, but her bleeding left arm was weak and she missed. They were moving quickly, and she knew time was running out.
They started to separate and surrounded her. She moved sideways and closed the distance on one of them hoping to escape their circle. She swung hard with the flame sword and managed to hit the orc’s leg. Her aim was slightly off, but she did enough damage to cause it to slow and followed through with the frost sword. Though the pain in her left arm was getting worse she managed to hit the orc. It fell to the ground and she leaned forward and impaled it with both swords. She looked up too late to see that they had taken advantage of the brief distraction and were now circling her. She was trapped and for the first time in a long time she started to feel afraid.
The leather armored human that joined moved so fast he had already taken down one of the orcs before she even knew he was there. The broadsword he wielded came slicing down into the orc’s side totally severing a muscular arm along the way. The death howl of the beast was cut short as a second swing removed its head.
The remaining orcs jumped as they saw what was happening and paused for a moment unsure of who to attack. Before they made up their minds the broadsword sang again and had eliminated one with a mighty strike. The remaining orc started to run but came within distance of Gallif’s flame sword as it moved. She chopped down and the blade and flames from her weapon completely split the handle of the orc’s axe in half. Before the orc could even consider what its next move would be the broadsword had punctured its chest and its heart beat no more. It dropped to ground as the male withdrew his weapon.
After the orc fell, they both stood and silently listened. There were no more howls or crashing of an enemy approaching, so they slowly relaxed. Gallif sheathed her weapons as the pain from the cut in her arm started to get her attention and she quickly sat down on the ground.
“Let me help you, let me help you,” the man said as he ran to her side. He kneeled next to her and pulled an orange cloth from a bag strung on his belt. “Don’t move, don’t move,” he said as he looked at the cut. “Ok, well, move your arm, but don’t move anything else,” he said quickly. He put one hand on her shoulder and another on her elbow and rested her arm on his leg. “Ok, now don’t move anything even your arm,” he said. She felt uncomfortable being in contact with him, but the sting from the strike was too much for her to protest.
The man took the orange cloth and wrapped it around her wound. She was surprised at the instant relief of the pain. She looked at her arm and could feel it healing and then looked up at the man.
“What is that?” she asked slowly. The pain was still sharp but decreasing steadily.
“Special cloths, made from grass and straw and soaked with various natural spices and herbs,” he said.
“The same stuff in potions,” she said as she smelled the slight herbal fragrance. “How come it’s not light blue?”
“Good point,” he said looking at her wiping the blond hair out of his eyes. “You know nobody has asked me that before. That’s a bit odd. I suppose it’s also really good that no one has asked me that before.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know the answer,” he said unashamedly. “I do have to admit that it usually doesn’t work this fast,” he said as he pulled the cloth away. The cut in her arm had already sealed. There were several smears of blood and a raw patch of skin where it had been, but the pain was almost completely gone.
“The forest, being out in nature, helps me a great deal,” she said.
“You’re one of those, aren’t you?”
“One of those?” she asked suspiciously.
“Forest people? Druid? No, you can’t be a druid, no one has seen them for decades, of course.”
“Of course,” she agreed. She pulled herself away from him and easily stood to face him. “Thank you,” Gallif said gratefully. “What’s your name?”
“Blinks,” he said. “Nice to meet you?”
It didn’t take her long to figure out why he had that name. As she looked him in the face, she couldn’t help but notice just how often he blinked. It wasn’t at the usual pace that would go unnoticed by most people but a rapid stream of blinks. She guessed there were only two seconds between each blink. She didn’t feel threatened by it, but she had to admit it was quite difficult to concentrate and had to look away.
“Well, hello Blinks,” she said trying not to make it obvious she could not look him in the face for any length of time. “Thanks for coming to my rescue. My name is Gallif.”
“Never heard of you,” he said and suddenly jumped in surprise at himself. “I hope that wasn’t rude. Sometimes my people skills are a bit…rusty? Yes, that’s right, rusty. I haven’t put you off already?”
“No, no, no, no,” she said quickly. “It’s quite alright. Almost a bit of relief to tell the truth,” she added. As odd as he was there was a certain charm about his demeanor that she enjoyed.
“So, why are you out here by yourself anyway? If that isn’t too much to ask. If it is too much to ask, I’m sorry.”
“I’m not really alone,” she said with a smile. “I’ve been travelling with some friends and we were ambushed. The orcs attacked us, and we wanted to keep them away from the horses. I ended up getting separated.” She soon found the only way she could talk with him was to focus her attention on his nose or cheeks.
“Oh, that is very nice,” he smiled. “Travelling with friends, I mean, not getting ambushed by orcs. That’s never nice. How are they anyway? The friends,” he added, “not the orcs. Where are you headed? That’s two questions. I better slow down so you can catch up.”
“Well,” she said and looked around just to be safe that no one was close, “we’re headed to the Dragon Burial Grounds.”
“Wow,” Blinks said genuinely impressed. “Nobody goes there anymore.”
“We are,” she said. “I’d better check on them. We’re just north of here.”
“I’ll catch up with you,” Blinks said quickly. “If that’s okay,” he added, but she had already left the clearing.
Gallif ran back to where they had started to camp. To be safe she drew her weapons as she approached and was relieved to see the horses standing peacefully. She saw Jakobus rubbing some dirt off of his horse and she slowed to a steady walk. Jakobus waved at her and Luvin joined them just as she came to a stop near Snow. Luvin’s was relieved and his first instinct was to hug her, but the swords in her hands kept him back. They were explaining how they had stayed together and defeated a second wave of orcs when Jakobus spotted a rider approaching.
“It’s okay,” Gallif said and sheathed both of her swords. “He helped me out.”
Luvin stepped forward and watched as the new man approached. “How so?”
“I was surrounded by orcs a few hundred yards further down. He was passing by on the road and heard me shout and stepped in.”
“You were hurt,” Luvin said in shock and quickly turned to look at her. He saw the reddened bruise on her left arm but was more worried about the dried blood on her arm. He reached forward to make sure there were no injuries out of sight, but she pushed his hands away.
“It’s okay. I took a cut from the back blade of an axe, but he’s taken care of that, too. He’s quite a healer,” she said indicating her arm.
Luvin turned to examine the healer. He ground his teeth sev
eral times and took a step back.
“This is Blinks,” she introduced him as he dismounted his horse.
Blinks smiled and shook hands with Jakobus first. Jakobus welcomed him and thanked him for helping Gallif. Jakobus genuinely liked Blinks and was grateful that he had such good timing, despite that he soon found the rapid eye movements distracting.
Luvin kept one hand on his hammer and the other on his belt. He nodded and said only a few words to Blinks, but soon looked away as if he was uninterested.
“You are welcome to join us if you’d like,” Gallif offered.
“Oh, that would be nice,” Blinks replied with genuine excitement. “It’s been a while since Horse and I’ve travelled with friends. You don’t mind if I think of you as friends, do you?”
Gallif and Jakobus smiled and told him it was okay. Luvin glared at Gallif and just kicked the ground a few times.
“Horse?” Gallif could not resist and had to ask. “Your horse’s name is Horse?”
“Well, he is what he is,” Blinks said without offence.
“Ok,” Gallif managed to bury a giggle. “I need to make sure, now that there are four of us, that you know something important,” Gallif said as she pulled the token that the Third Minister had given her out from under her red tinted leather armor and made sure they all could see it. “We are on a special mission for the Giant Lords. As of now you are all working for me. We’ll be leaving soon.”
“I thought we were going to camp here for the day?” Luvin asked.
“I was, but the attack made me change my mind,” she said looking at him hard. “If we have a good day ride, we’ll be there before sundown.”
With that she dismissed them and walked away at a steady pace to check on Snow. Jakobus showed no expression on his face but watched her go and then went to check on his own horse, Harton. Blinks was very impressed by her and mounted Horse to make sure he was ready when she left.
Luvin shook his head in anger and frustration as he walked back to his horse. He felt the urge to just let her go and head in the opposite direction and wondered how long it would take for her to notice his absence. He figured there would be a lot of people looking for help to rebuild after the fall of the mountain. It wouldn’t be difficult for him to get a steady job for a while until he had enough to start exploring the new landscape. The others all mounted and were letting the horses get a few chunks of grass from the meadow while he looked back at the empty eastern horizon. He looked at Gallif and thought how they had been inside that mountain and the things they had seen. He also thought how she had befriended him when they were at the school. No, he told himself, he didn’t know what was going on, but he wasn’t going to give up on her that easily.
