by Clark Graham
“So everything is already set in motion through the land?” Darnic said, more of a statement than a question.
“Yes, all of the clans are upset and troubled. Some are asking why they let the Elves settle here to begin with and how they can get rid of them.”
Darnic thought for a minute and then said, “Tell all of the clans you run into to be ready to flee to the swamps. This time we will not try and fight the monsters, we will just leave. We can still use some of the huts that were built during our last exodus and we can repair the rest and build new ones. As for the Elves, they have made a mistake that they will pay for, just as we did.”
“Very well, Darnic Tewl, I will tell them,” the messenger said, and then he went back to eating his stew.
When Darnic and Aron were done eating, they paid for the meal and the room, and then headed in to bed. The room was off the main eating area and was small. It just had enough space for two beds and an end table. It didn’t matter to the travelers as they were just there to sleep.
They were again on the road bright and early, after a hot breakfast. It did help that they were heading closer to the swamps as their home was between the Elf capital and the swamps. Aron was urging the pony a little faster, although he didn’t really need to, since the pony had already sensed that he was heading home and was moving faster anyway. The Elves had taken up most of the forests, but not the Eaderwild near Bon Tewl. It had been too far from the sea when the Elves first arrived, then when the final treaty was reached, Darnic made sure that the Eaderwild was still in the hands of the Humans and not the Elves. His clan loved the woods, so he had done it for purely personal reasons.
The smell in the air was different and the pony now took no coaxing at all. It smelled like home. The odor was that of the forest and the swamp mixed with the grasslands of the rolling hills. There was no smell quite like it in all of the mother land. It was early afternoon when they could see the outline of the village. There were no walls or watchtowers, as the clans had lived in peace for many generations. Just an Inn, a few merchant stores and a collection of mud huts. It wasn’t much to look at but it was home. Sali Tewl rushed out to embrace her husband as soon the cart rolled up to the house. He had been gone several months and it hurt her heart to be apart from him. She had tried to live in the Elf capital with Darnic for a time, but found it tedious and she had missed her children and grandchildren too much. So she had moved back home.
Two of the village elders, with their long sticks in hand, came up to Darnic and Fritred, the smaller of the two asked, “Is it true what they say about the mountain awaking?”
Darnic looked at the ground and just said, “I tried to warn them, they wouldn’t listen.”
Greon, the taller and wider of the two elders said, “We cannot save them; do they know that?”
“They don’t want our help anyway,” Darnic replied.
The two elders grabbed Darnic’s things out of the wagon and after leaving their walking sticks outside, all five of them walked into the house. The four men sat around the table, while Sali busied herself getting out some shortbread and custard tarts for her unexpected guests.
“How soon can we be ready to leave for the swamps?” Darnic asked.
“In a day, two at the most,” replied Fritred.
“We will only have three days once the mountain bestirs,” Darnic was wanting more urgency from his fellow elders.
“The monsters will attack close to home first; they will attack the Elves on the mountain and that will give us a few days extra. Clan Regaulis and Clan Kartan have asked us not to completely abandon our village until they get this far. They should be about three days away, according to the latest news,” Greon reported. He was always up on the latest news.
“Three days!” exploded Darnic. “It will be seven days before they reach the swamp. I was lucky to make it this far without the mountain awaking. I don’t think we will have seven more days.”
“Only volunteers will stay, a half dozen at the most,” Greon said.
“We need to be on the road tomorrow, the road must be clear for Clan Regaulis and Clan Kartan when they get here. We cannot delay them further.” Darnic was adamant.
“We will be alright. We don’t want to upset the people. You have been too longs with the Elves; we do things a little slower here,” Fritred said as he reached for one of the cookies from the plate that Sali had just put on the table.
“Yes, we do want to upset the people! I would rather have them upset today and still alive tomorrow,” Darnic was nearly shouting.
Greon spoke up. “It is too late tonight and the people are not ready to go anyway. We will organize it tomorrow.”
Darnic gave up in disgust, “I hope we will not be too late.”
The two elders left and Aron excused himself too. When they were all gone Sali looked her husband in the eyes and said, “Don’t listen to those old fools. The women of Bon Tewl have been ready since the news broke. We can go as fast as the carts get packed.”
Darnic was so relieved that he stood up and gave her a long embrace.
Warning Horns in the Night
The ground shook so violently that Darnic thought he was going to fall out of bed. Dust from the rafters drifted down and coated everything in the room. After sneezing a few times, Darnic got up and grabbed his robe. The thing he feared most had now happened. He headed out into the street to sound the alarm, but he didn’t need to. As he came out of the door he heard warning horns in the distance. The horns got closer and closer until there was one of the horns blaring just a few houses down. He looked at the mountain in the distance; it still looked peaceful and quiet.
Soon all the houses in town had lights on and people were gathering in the streets.
“Pack your carts and wagons; we leave as soon as possible,” Darnic shouted.
Most of those in the streets headed back into their houses and started packing. Fritred however, was not packing. He ran up to Darnic and yelled, “We have not discussed this and we must talk about it as elders first!”
“The time for talking is over, it is time for action, and we do not have enough time for that,” Darnic shouted back.
Fritred just hung his shoulders and made his way back home.
The packing of the carts and wagons was complete by early afternoon. In Darnic’s opinion it took too long, far too long. Fritred was still storming when they headed out.
Darnic came up to Fritred, ”You will thank me someday, my friend.”
Fritred replied frustrated, “Maybe, but it will not be today.”
Aron got his wife and young son in the cart and sent them on their way with the rest of the group. When Darnic's wagon reached the point where Aron stood Sali said, “What are you doing? Get in the wagon!”
“I’m staying until Clan Regaulis and Clan Kartan come through. There are seven of us that volunteered.”
Sali turned to Darnic he could see the concern in her eyes , “Tell him to get in the wagon, the others can stay, he does not need to.”
Darnic just looked at Aron with a sad face. He understood the need to do something. “My old sword is still in the house, in the cabinet. It will not make much of a difference, but you will feel better with some cold steel in your hand.”
Aron nodded that he understood, but Sali scowled at the both of them to show her displeasure. Then folded her arms and sat back.
The wagon train continued all day. Fritred had wanted to stop for dinner, but Darnic would have nothing to do with it. “We will eat when we stop for the night,” was all he would say. Darnic would have preferred to travel through the night, but the children and the older clan members were tired and would not go any further that day. Darnic decided that he just couldn’t follow through with that idea.
They made camp and lit their fires to warm themselves against the chill of the night and to cook their evening meal. All of them were very hungry at this point and getting some food inside them felt great. It was a clear night, which hel
ped because very few of the clan members had tents.
Sali was still worried about her son. “Will he be alright?” she finally asked Darnic.
“Last time it took three days from when the mountain shook before the monsters attacked. I suppose that they will attack those areas on and near the mountain before they move to the outlying areas, like Fritred said. I don’t think that they will be anywhere near Bon Tewl, but I don’t know,” Darnic answered.
Sali didn’t say anything more, but kept her silence the rest of the night.
After a cold breakfast and packing up of the tents, the clan was back on the road again in the morning. The land was leveling before them as they went. Finally Sali broke her silence, “What we will eat when we get there? Will they have enough food for all the clans?”
“We ate a lot of fish last time we were there. Fish is plentiful in the swamps. It takes a bit of getting used to. There is also rice and the roots of reeds. We will be eating differently for sure, but we will be eating,” Darnic replied.
Sali seemed satisfied with his answer. It would be one less thing to worry about. Her worries about her son, however, would continue.
It was afternoon when the group stopped. Darnic was upset and walked forward to see what the matter was. When he looked he saw another clan on the road ahead of them.
“What is going on?” he asked the man at the crossroads.
“Clan Jul is ahead of us; they traveled all night and arrived at the crossroads before we did. Now they are having problems with some of their carts breaking down and have stopped to fix them.”
“We cannot afford this delay,” Darnic protested. He was very frustrated.
“From here to the swamplands there is only this one road. You can head cross country or wait for them to clear the way. There are a lot of bogs out there and the soil is sandy, so I would not suggest going cross country.”
“Very well, send men up there to help them fix their wagons then. The rest of us will eat a noon meal,” Darnic said.
“Very well,” the man replied, and after gathering four other men to him, started up the road to help.
The clan brought out bread and cookies and tarts to eat, all of those things that they had in their pantries for when guests came to visit. Since no guests would be coming to their houses anytime soon, they had brought them along.
After an hour, clan Jul was on the move again, so clan Tewl started moving too, although at a much slower rate. The two clans reached the village of Bon Garle just at sundown.
One of the village elders, Marken Garle, and ten men were there to greet them. “Our people have made it to the swamplands ahead of you. The road gets bad from here as too many carts have gone over it and it is becoming a quagmire. There is no reason for both clans to head out at once. Since it will be slow going, one clan will stay here and the other will go ahead. When the road is clear of the other clan we can let the second one go.”
That was completely unacceptable to Darnic, but Fritred spoke up first, “Good, we will stay and let clan Jul go ahead.” Fritred had thought that the whole endeavor was hasty.
The clansmen then opened their now abandoned Inn and homes to the two clans to stay for the night.
The Chancellor’s Sleepless Night
Chancellor Lanor awoke in the middle of the night. He had felt the earthquake; at least he thought it was an earthquake. He had hoped that it was not. Darnic words had kept echoing in his ears, ‘When you feel the ground rumbling and our horns start to blow, it is time to flee.’
When he stood up and listened out the window. Then the horns sounded. He was no longer in doubt.
At first they were far off in the distance then they got nearer and were sounding in the nearest Human village that was close to Fernar Darus, the Elf capital city. When his servant had seen that the Chancellor’s lamp was lit in the sleeping chamber, he went in to check on him.
After coming through the door the servant asked, “Chancellor, do you need anything?”
The Chancellor had opened the door to his balcony and had stepped out to see if he could see anything moving. “I wish I had Darnic here to tell me what is happening.”
“The Humans are restless tonight,” commented the servant.
“Yes, they are, and I think it’s my fault.”
Captain Fannor was camped right next to the mountains. He had heard a loud grown and then a creaking sound followed by a good sized earthquake. It was as if a massive door inside the mountain was being opened. When the rumbling stopped, he got his men up and mounted. He heard the horns blowing. At first the horns blew nearby in the villages that sat back from the mountain, then they faded as horns responded to the first three spread out in all directions.
The Cavalry was ready for battle. They waited all night, in anticipation of an attack but nothing happened. The next day Fannor sent out patrols to see if anything was moving out of the mountain, but all of them came back to report that nothing was stirring.
The Captain wrote a quick note to the Chancellor telling him that except for the earthquake and horns blowing, all was quiet next to the mountain. He sent his second in command, Gilead to the nearest village to deliver it to a messenger.
Gilead returned an hour later and reported, “Sir, the Humans have left; the village is empty.”
“Where have they gone?” Fannor asked.
“Pony footprints and cart tracks show that they are headed away from the mountain,” replied Gilead.
Fannor thought for a minute and said, “The fear in these people is either from hard earned wisdom, or foolish traditions. Let us hope in is the latter.”
Gilead nodded his head and then said, “Do you want me to take this to the Chancellor in person?”
“Give it to one of the men, but first add in there that all of the Humans are fleeing their homes.”
“Yes, Sir,” Gilead said and he was off again.
At first light the army commander was called to the Chancellor’s chambers. Armurous was strong and handsome. His dark brown hair was hung to his shoulders. There was a thin ponytail down the back of his head that only took up a few strands of his hair. The rest of his hair hung perfectly straight to his shoulders. He stood tall and straight before the throne of Chancellor Lanor.
“How many warriors are there in or near the capital?” Lanor asked.
“I have a thousand men here in the Capital. If I call up the reserve, I can have two thousand more within two weeks, but that would be very rash as we have not seen a real threat yet, just a lot of Human superstition.”
The Chancellor looked him in the eye and said, “You have met Darnic Tewl. Do you think that he would heed superstitions?”
“Darnic is the wisest Human I have ever met, even as wise as any Elf. No I do not think he would believe in superstitions,” Armurous replied thoughtfully.
The Chancellor stood up and put his hand on Armurous’ shoulder, “Take five hundred of your men and march up to Morgus Tier and hold the crossroads there. Leave the other five hundred here to protect the capital.”
The Commander nodded, “Yes, Sir.”
“One more thing before you go,” Lanor said, “Call up the reserve.”
It was late afternoon when the message from Fannor reached the capital. When it was delivered, the Chancellor and his advisors had a map spread out on a table and were looking it over. The Chancellor read the message, “All is quiet at the mountain, but the Humans are fleeing the area.”
One of his Landor’s counselors, an Elf named Maurice, said, “Our people will take you for a fool if nothing happens. It is quiet on the mountain, but you still have called up the reserves. Shouldn’t we wait until there is a threat before we act?”
“Is it better to be thought of as a fool for preparing for an attack that does not happen, or to be proven a fool for not preparing for an attack that does happen?” Lanor asked.
“You are very wise,” the counselor said, “That is why you are the Chancellor and I am not.”
&nb
sp; Lanor and his two counselors went back to the planning of the war.
Captain Fannor led his Calvary completely around the Mount Ealdwine the next morning. He had spent a sleepless night, listening for any movement from the mountain, but there was none. Now he and his men were out looking and were still finding nothing.
Half way through the morning a message came in from Fernar Darus. It was from the Chancellor.
‘Keep a wary eye out for any sign of aggressive behavior from anything or anyone coming from the mountain. The army is manning the crossroads at Morgus Tier; fall back there to regroup if attacked by overwhelming force. All of our people have been ordered off the mountain until we find out what is happening. Do not allow anyone to stay.’
‘Signed, Chancellor Lanor.’
Fannor looked at Under Captain Gilead, “He is already planning our defeat and we have not seen an enemy yet.”
Gilead replied, “May I have your permission to ride to the nearest clan of Humans and ask what we are supposed to be looking for?”
“Yes, of course, take ten men with you.”
After gathering up some men Gilead rode out. Fannor and the rest of the Calvary rode off to the settlement on the mountain to give them the bad news about having to move. When he arrived at the village the town leader was not willing to leave. "It's just a bunch of old Human legends," The leader would say over and over again.
Finally Fannor told him, “If I have to tie you up and put you in carts myself I will, the Grand Chancellor said for you to move and I am bound to obey his orders, even the ones I do not agree with.”
It was late in the afternoon when the last of the villagers was packed up and on their way to the Capital.
Fannor was glad to see them go. He camped out near the village that night and awaited Gilead’s return.
