by David Oliver
Eventually he got over his surprise and with a bellow he leapt forward, sending a whistling slice at Cassius who danced lightly out of the way, circling around the slow-moving man at his feet. A shout on the wind and an arrow arced down from the sky, hitting the second attacker like a thunderbolt, sending him spinning to the floor. Cassius spun from the direction the arrow had come from, raising a hand to his eyes against the glare of the sun. Three figures were moving in his direction, bows held out and arrows loosely knocked. Cassius raised his hands and took a few steps away from the first man he had dropped before lowering the axe he had collected. Against bows in a land with little in the way of cover he didn’t have much hope of dodging. He kept his hands raised as the archers approached, fur wrapped figures swiftly closing the distance. One kept a bow trained on Cassius whilst the others checked the two on the floor with the wounded man Cassius had taken down being rapidly stripped of weapons and bound.
Low orders were muttered and Cassius’s ears perked up. Seeing his reaction his guard lowered her fur hood, revealing a curious look on hazel eyes.
“Interesting way to introduce yourself to a lady,” she said in the Tracker’s language, her voice low and husky. She reached down to the body at her feet and threw Cassius the man’s cloak. “Come on boy, you get to meet Jadira. I imagine you have quite the story to tell.”
✽✽✽
Sophia
The black smudge Sophia had seen two days before had turned out to be a fort, smoke drifting lazily upwards on the morning air from numerous cookfires and braziers. She had watched the fort for some time, trying to get a feel for the people who lived inside, and by the reflection that kept catching the sun she had no doubt that she was being scrutinised in turn.
Well, I can either go and live in a forest or go and see what these people are like, she thought dryly. No impaled people on spikes, no raging pyres or blood-soaked signs so hopefully they’re open to outsiders and not cannibals. She cast one last look at the forest behind her, a part of her attracted to the idea of running back in there and losing herself in the simplicity of it all, but she was an Imp and if she was lost in some unknown corner of the world then it was her duty to get herself unlost so that she could return to the Academy, so pushing aside her last remnants of hesitation she started forward towards the fort.
As she walked across the snow, features that she hadn’t been able to make out at distance began to be clearer. The fort was a mixture of wood and stone, thick wooden beams supporting the outer battlements above a solid stone base. Judging by the roaming guards, the parapets were at least large enough for two to walk side by side and the top of the wall was easily thirty foot in height, providing any guard an enviable view over the relatively flat landscape. Furthermore, the place was large. The walls stretched for a substantial distance in either direction and looked to extend far into the distance. It was certainly no temporary fort but something that had been developed to be a place to call home. She only hoped that for a short time at least she would be allowed to do the same.
She tensed as she walked into bowshot, half expecting a shout from one of the guards and prepared for an arrow to the gut. When neither came she walked on until she was within easy bowshot of the walls and when still no shout came she walked to the foreboding log door that blocked the entrance. As she lifted her hand to knock, the smaller door within the frame opened and a fierce looking woman stepped out, a hand on the hilt of her sword. She barked a word, the inflection suggesting it was a question and paused as if waiting for an answer. When Sophia shook her head she sighed and tried another language before asking again in thick, heavily accented Andurran.
“Name?”
“Sophia,” she replied.
The guard nodded as if that somehow meant something to her and stepping out of the door frame she indicated that she should enter. Ducking through the door Sophia walked into the fort and found a backdrop of wooden lodges, each cleverly constructed with heavy wooden logs that seemed to slot together. It was unlike anything she had seen in the empire and certainly nothing that her clan would ever use but before she was given more time to admire the buildings or take in the hustle and bustle of the seemingly thriving fortification the guard took her by the arm and led her further into the maze, driving her through the streets until they came to a door of a lodge no different from the others that she had seen.
Opening the door the guard ushered her through before closing the door behind Sophia, shouting only one word before she left. “Sophia!”
A small but powerfully built woman looked up from her conversation with a fur wrapped figure and smiled before speaking in flawless Andurran. “Sophia. Glad to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“You...have?” Sophia replied, stunned. “By who?”
“By me,” replied a voice she knew all too well. Turning, she found Cassius coming in the door with a tentative smile on his face. “Hi Sophia.”
✽✽✽
Cassius
Sophia stared at him like she had seen a ghost, which wasn’t too far from the truth.
“You’re dead,” she whispered, taking a step back before muttering a line in her own language and making a strange hand motion as though warding herself from evil.
“He’s not dead,” said the woman from behind her, “and neither are you. Cassius is the reason that you were allowed into the fort. He described his friends when we had our first meeting and so when my guards reported a white-haired girl watching the fort I had Cassius go and take a look.” She gave a nod at Cassius who inclined his head towards her.
“I’m incredibly grateful you allowed me to do so, Jadira. This is certainly Sophia and no, Sophia, neither of us are dead.” He spread his arms out wide and took a step forward, “I didn’t believe it at first when I saw you through their scope, but it’s certainly you!” He took another step, then a third before gently wrapping his arms around her.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered in a voice suddenly thick with barely withheld emotion.
As she slowly wrapped her arms around him, as though wary that he might just vanish into thin air the dam cracked and Cassius sobbed. Suddenly Sophia’s hold on him became that of a drowning person and together they sank to the floor in tears.
Jadira gave them some modicum of privacy, looking over the maps that were spread over the table in front of her before clearing her throat when she sensed the time was right. A few moments later they were standing, eyes dried and cheeks flushed with the excitement of having a friend thought dead reappear.
“First things first...” Jadira began, directing her gaze at Sophia, “Cassius has told me what he knew. Said that you were tortured, that all of his friends were killed and that he awoke naked in the snow. What’s your story?”
Sophia’s eyes widened at the revelation and quickly added in her own version of events, highlighting how she had seen her friends, including Cassius die before her eyes.
Jadira nodded along as Sophia spoke, her eyes dark. “Okay, well as an impartial bystander I can confirm that both of you are physically here and very much alive, so unless you can be killed and brought back to life I’m going to suggest that what you saw was in your head. As for waking up naked in the snow? Sounds like someone is either playing a sick prank on you or throwing you in the deep end and seeing if you manage to swim.”
At that both Cassius and Sophia shared looks.
“As it is, I could do with some more bodies around the place. As Cassius is all too aware, Hrudan forces are being found throughout my land in more numbers than I care for. My hunters tell me that Cassius managed to thoroughly disarm a heavily armed Hrudan warrior whilst naked and cold. If that’s true then you’ve had training, yes?”
A hesitant nod from Cassius.
“Good enough for me. If you support my people with training I will see you fed, housed and watered until such time that your other friends arrive or you choose to leave. If you have other skills that would be useful feel free to make them kno
wn to me and I’ll see you put to use. No idle hands or free meals here I’m afraid.”
Sophia raised a hand and waited for Jadira to nod before speaking, “Bows are my speciality. I would put good money on being able to teach your best a thing or two.”
Jadira gave her a thoughtful look before clapping her hands together in decision. “Good, I like that spirit. My archers are good, better than good in fact, but if the both of you are who I think you are then you might well just be able to show everyone something new.”
At that Cassius and Sophia shared a look but said nothing, cementing Jadira’s theory in her mind. “Excellent,” she said with a laugh. “Cassius already knows where to get food and Jentar here,” she pointed at the fur clad man sitting opposite her, “will sort you a place to stay as well as introduce you to the right people. I’ll come and find you when I have a spare moment and see how things are getting on. Happy?”
The two looked at each other then grinned back at the smiling woman. “Happy,” they said in unison.
✽✽✽
Sophia
The arrow thrummed through the air in a high arc, the fletching rippling in the wind. A moment later the furthest man crumpled, the shaft buried deep in his neck. The others with him spared him no glance and just kept running.
Three more bows twanged and two more men fell, the third arrow just missing as its intended target darted away at the last moment - a stroke of blind luck rather than intent.
Sophia nocked and fired again, this time the arrow taking the final raider through the chest and sending him tumbling to the ground.
“Excellent shooting everyone,” she said softly as she started towards the fallen men. “All the shots were on target and accounted for the wind, nicely done.” She directed her gaze to Yana, an archer who looked slightly crestfallen at having missed, “You would have hit had he not moved at the last second, nothing about your technique was off.”
Yana gave a small grimace but nodded. “I would have got him with the second arrow.”
“I know you would,” Sophia replied with a smile, “but I wasn’t going to leave those murdering bastards alive any longer than I had to.”
Ten days since Sophia had arrived at the fort and raids by the Hrudan, the axe wielding killers who had chosen to pick a fight with Cassius the week before, had only increased. Jadira had said that they had long experienced such raids but the number was becoming too frequent, as though the Hrudan were here in force. There had been five separate reports of attacks in the past week with outlying hamlets and farms being targeted. The Meredothians were a hardy bunch themselves but the outlying farms had been targeted by more people than they could handle, resulting in a one-sided fight. Jadira had increased patrols of the outer areas whilst offering sanctuary to those who wanted to leave their homes until they felt safe, but for many of the farmers and solitary folk who lived out in the wilds of the Meredothian heartland it was their home - and they had no desire to leave.
The four that Sophia and the small unit of trackers had hunted for the past day had slaughtered a farm of five. Two adults and three children killed for a pittance of wine and food. Sophia didn’t really know who these Hrudan were or why they had problems with the Meredothians but raiders were seemingly the same the world over and her clan had the same approach as those she had spent the last days with; root them out with efficient force.
Jadira had been true to her word, allowing Sophia and Cassius to stay within the fort, providing them with clothes and equipment as long as they helped support the people within. She obviously knew more than she was letting on, Sophia had a sneaking suspicion she knew about Imperators and an even larger suspicion that she was in liaison with the Emperor, but she had spent an hour judging their skills with blade and bow with a critical eye before ordering that they provide whatever pointers and training that they could to the rest of her people. Jadira’s fort had guards but by and large Meredothians didn’t have formal soldiers. They had skilled people in violence that was for certain, but it was generally an extra addition to another skillset, whereas the Hrudan seemed to be fighters first and foremost. Jadira had implemented a training regime when she took ownership of the fort to make a cadre of individuals who were fighters beyond all else, and they were excellent. Beonica, the First Shield, was the leader of the troops and was an excellent fighter. Initially Cassius had been wary that she might have been against the sword skills that he could demonstrate but her eagerness for new tools within her repertoire had her training alongside her team, regardless of her pregnancy.
If the fighters that Beonica led were great, the hunters who doubled as guards were a step above. Food could be relatively scarce in the surrounding lands and consequently the ability to take a bird on the wing was highly prized. Jadira’s hunters were sharp eyed and keen of hearing and their tracking abilities were the main reason that the Hrudan perpetrating the raids on Jadira’s people were being punished. Unfortunately the hunters were so useful that they weren’t often at the fort as guards but were out doing what they did best. As such Sophia was spending most of her time with hunters in training and bringing them up to speed. Yana, Merkin and Illien were three of her trainees, each of them already skilled with archery but with just enough rough edges for Sophia to be able to mould them into something better.
Approaching the fresh corpses with a critical eye Sophia gave a nod of satisfaction. Each enemy had been struck cleanly through the torso, impressive work considering the distance had been near three hundred feet. Quickly and efficiently the team checked the dead for anything of value, particularly anything that would suggest where they were coming from or why they were ramping up their attacks, but aside from some dried meats and a couple of wine skins they had little worth taking. The Meredothians seemed disciplined to utilise the armour and weaponry of the Hrudan and Sophia was more than happy to leave the heavy equipment where it lay, instead beginning the long walk back to the fort, eager to get back to the warming fires.
✽✽✽
Cassius
“Form up,” Cassius barked. “At my tempo, second sequence. Ready? Begin.” He delivered an overtly slow series of moves, moving as though in treacle and grinned at the gasping and shaking team that followed him, their muscles aching with the pace.
“Doing such activities slowly may seem counter intuitive,” he said once he finished and they collapsed on the floor, “but you are putting your muscles under much greater strain than just flicking through the motions. Do it slowly first, repeatedly, before finishing your session with the faster versions, your muscles will thank you for the warm up and for the extra exercise.” He gave them a wink, “Once you stop trembling, that is.”
For the past ten days he had been training those who had been interested in the finer points of swordplay. Interestingly the majority of those who had taken him up on the offer had been female, with Beonica laughing at his puzzlement by simply explaining that most Meredothian men were idiots bound by tradition to hit things with an axe. The real fighters were the women, often quicker on their feet in the snow and that could make all the difference in a battle.
As Cassius urged his trainees back to their feet a low horn sounded out from one of the fort towers. The deep noise reverberated through the buildings, feeling like it was thrumming through Cassius’s chest until it trickled into nothingness. At first there was no sound and then like a lightning bolt had struck the fort burst into activity.
“What’s going on?” Cassius yelled as his erstwhile troops deserted his training session, scattering in all directions.
Stopping long enough to explain, Isma said, “The long horn means enemy spotted. It wouldn’t have been sounded unless there were many. Everyone is to arm up and prepare for assault.” She thought for a moment and then spoke again, “You should check with Jadira or Beonica as to what to do.”
“No need,” Cassius replied with a grim smile. “You’re my trainees, I’ll stand with you.”
“Find us at the gate!” Is
ma shouted as she ran to get her gear.
Sprinting quickly into the ordered chaos that had overtaken the village Cassius found Sophia in the bunks they had been allotted, and together they quickly strapped on any protection that they had been offered, which largely amounted to furs, blades and bows. Stepping back onto the street Sophia gave Cassius a clap on the shoulder before running off to the nearest tower overlooking the gate. Cassius turned and followed the street down to the main gate, joining his sword bearers.
“Isma,” he shouted above the din. “What’s the situation?”
“Hrudan forces on the horizon,” she reported. “Looks like enough for a full-scale attack. They’ll be here before dark.”
“Have they attacked before?” he asked, leaning against the nearest wall.
“A couple of times, but they are usually raids. Enough men to climb the walls during the night and steal what they can. From the sound of it this is a full-scale assault,” Essel offered.
“So they know that the Meredothians have good archers and they’re still some distance away…” Cassius mused more to himself than the others. “If I were you, I would take what rest you can. I doubt we will see much action until nightfall.”
“Already ordering my people around young Cassius?” a voice asked in a clipped tone. Looking up he saw Jadira descending from the nearest tower, her face drawn and grim.
