“Commander! Where’s the commander?” came a shout from outside.
“Down here!” Kang bellowed.
A soldier dashed down the stairs, came up with a salute. “Sir,” he said, “we have repelled the first assault. The goblins have retreated.”
“Only to regroup,” Kang said. “They’ll be back, soon enough, and this time they’ll be better organized. What do you think, Slith?”
“My guess is that they won’t attack until morning, sir. It’ll be dark soon. They’ll be wanting to fill their bellies and get a good night’s rest.” Slith shrugged. “They know we aren’t going anywhere.”
“That’s true enough,” Kang growled. “Perhaps you’re right. Set the watch. I want it doubled. I don’t want those sneaky bastards slipping over the walls to slit our throats in the night. And I want the men to have a hot meal. Roast those deer we shot.”
Sister Marsel made a sound. Sister Hana scowled, and the young female put her hand over her mouth. Kang noticed the pinched cheeks of all the women, the thin bodies. He glanced around at the near-empty cellar and guessed the truth.
“We will be pleased to share our food with you, ma’am,” he said gruffly.
“And poison us!” Sister Hana said, casting him a scathing glance. “We are not hungry.”
“Suit yourself, ma’am. Slith, you have your orders.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kang looked anxiously at the babies. Kneeling down, he chucked one under the chin, tried to make her smile. She whimpered and turned away. Kang sighed deeply.
“You’re right, Dremon,” he said. “There’s something wrong. I’ll be damned if I know what.”
Kang cast a sidelong glance at the females. Sister Hana was leading them in a prayer to Paladine, speaking the words forcefully, loudly, and angrily, as if she was certain the god was around, he’d just chosen this moment to step outside. Four of the younger sisters were praying along with their leader, though they sounded hopeless and resigned rather than angry. One, Marsel, was only murmuring the words. Her gaze was drawn to the baby draconians.
Kang had been intending to wait respectfully until the prayer ended, but after the harangue had continued for almost ten minutes without pause, he felt he could wait no longer. “Uh, excuse me, ma’am,” he said diffidently. “There. . there seems to be something wrong with our little ones, here. We’re soldiers, ma’am. We don’t know anything about children. I was wondering if you, with your experience-”
“My experience! Hah!” Sister Hana turned her back on him. “We are going to keep praying, sisters! Pray that this evil be taken from our midst! Marsel,” Sister Hana said sharply, “you will lead us in the next prayer.”
“Yes, sister,” said Marsel dutifully and shifted her gaze away from the babies.
“Commander, sir!” Someone else was yelling outside. “Where’s the commander?”
“I’ve got to go,” said Kang to Dremon in an undertone. “Leave the babies down here. They’re safer here than anywhere else. Maybe the sight of them will soften their hearts.”
“What hearts, sir?” Dremon returned.
Kang just shook his head and dashed up the stairs to attend to the disposition of the defense.
Night blew in on a cold wind. The strange new moon lit the snow with a sick, bleak light. The moon looked lost and lonely in the sky, Kang thought, gazing up at it. It looked as if it were wondering how it had managed to find itself in this situation. He knew just how it felt.
He made the rounds, saying a word to each soldier on guard duty, urging them to keep careful watch, for it was in his mind that with the moon at the full, the goblins might not wait until morning to attack. Looking out over the wall, he could see their campfires blazing brightly, dark figures passed back and forth in front of the light. Tempting targets, but the goblins were out of bow range, and Kang’s men were short on arrows as it was.
The draconians were short on everything-arrows, rations. What food they had went first to the young. The deer they’d shot that morning would be the only real meat the men had eaten in a week. Kang was pushing them hard to reach their destination before the heavy snows of winter set in and blocked the mountain passes, leaving the draconians trapped, easy prey for the cursed Solamnic Knights.
“Excuse me, Commander,” said a voice at his side.
Kang turned. It was one of the women, the young one, Marsel.
“You shouldn’t be out here, ma’am,” he said quickly, and taking her by the arm, he hustled her away from the walls and into the safety of the temple.
“But why?” she protested, peering backward, trying to see. “The goblins aren’t attacking, are they?”
“Not now, ma’am,” Kang said with emphasis, “but they’re not above trying a lucky shot, and-no disrespect intended, ma’am-but in those white robes, you make a very fine target.”
“I guess you’re right,” said Sister Marsel, looking down at her robes with a rueful smile. “Do. . do you have a moment, Commander? I’d like to talk to you, if I may.”
Kang heroically put aside thoughts of stretching out beneath a warm blanket. “Did Sister Hana send you?”
“No.” Sister Marsel flushed. “She doesn’t know I’ve gone. She and the others are asleep.”
“Where I should be,” Kang muttered, but only to himself. “What can I do for you, Sister Marsel? Would you like some venison?” He brought out a choice morsel, a meaty bone, he’d been saving for his own dinner.
Sister Marsel eyed it, swallowed, licked her lips and said, “No, thank you. Well, maybe just a taste. .” She took the meat and began to eat ravenously. Halfway through, however, she paused, her face flushed. She handed the bone back to Kang. “I’m sorry. I took your supper, didn’t I? No, you eat the rest. Really, that was all I wanted.”
Kang ate what she had left him, tearing the meat from the bone with his sharp teeth.
“The babies wouldn’t eat,” Sister Marsel said. “Your man offered them some food. They wouldn’t touch it.”
Kang suddenly lost his own appetite. He tossed the uneaten portion down on the altar. Later that night, the cook would come around, gather up all the bones, throw them into the soup pot for breakfast.
“Could I ask you a question, Commander?”
Kang nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
“What did you mean when you told Sister Hana that she was on the side of evil. Was that. . was that a joke?”
“I’m not much given to jokes, ma’am,” Kang said.
Sister Marsel looked perplexed. “Did you mean it? That we are on the side of. . evil? I thought we were on the side of right.”
“We thought the same, ma’am. We believed that what we were doing was right.”
She shook her head. “Killing, murdering. .”
“Your Knights have killed countless numbers of us, ma’am,” Kang returned. “The graves of my men stretch from the Plains of Dust all the way to here.”
“You really care about them, don’t you?” Sister Marsel was astonished. “Sister Hana always said that caring was what made us different. That draconians and goblins don’t care about each other, that evil turns in upon itself.”
“I wouldn’t know about that, ma’am,” said Kang. “I know that I’m a soldier and that my men are my responsibility. During the War of the Lance, we fought for the glory of our goddess, just as your Knights fought for the glory of your god.” Kang shrugged. “As it turned out, we were both duped. Our queen turned tail and fled, leaving us to die, the cowardly bit-female. Your god did the same, or so I hear.”
“That’s what some say, but I don’t believe them,” Sister Marsel returned. “I think. .” Her voice softened. “I think Paladine has gone and left us in charge in order to test us, to see if we are able to take what he has taught us and use it wisely. He’s not the overprotective father, hovering over his children every minute to make certain we don’t hurt ourselves.” She smiled.
Kang, who had been drifting off to sleep, was jolted to awareness. “I beg your pard
on, ma’am. What were you saying about children?”
“That’s really what I came to talk you about. I think that’s what’s wrong with the babies, Commander,” said Sister Marsel. “You can’t keep them cooped up in those sacks for the rest of their lives. You have to let them out to learn about the world, the good and the bad.”
“We tried that,” Kang said harshly. “They hurt themselves. One wandered off. No.” He was emphatic. “They are too precious to us to risk.”
“You sound just like my father.” Sister Marsel smiled and sighed. “He said the very same thing about me. Do you know what he did, Commander? He sent me to live with the Sisters of Paladine. He sent me here, to this temple, where I would be safe and protected from the world. Am I safe, Commander?” she demanded. “Am I protected?”
Kang cleared his throat, embarrassed.
“The world finds us, Commander,” said Sister Marsel quietly. “We can’t hide from it, not even in the cellar of a temple. We have to know how to face it. I don’t.” She lowered her head. “I don’t know anything. I’m stupid, and I’m afraid.”
She cast a glance out at the blazing bonfires. Every now and again, a goblin battle shriek split the air. Sister Marsel shivered. “I’m afraid because I feel so helpless.”
“I don’t think you’re stupid, Sister,” Kang said, “not by a long shot.”
“The babies could play in the cellar,” said Sister Marsel. “They couldn’t get into much trouble down there. They need exercise and fresh air.”
“Perhaps in the morning,” Kang said.
Morning. The goblins would attack in full force. Kang wasn’t at all certain he could hold them off. In the morning he and his men and their young might be dead. He said nothing of his own fears to the young human, however, and he made a silent vow that she would not fall alive into goblin hands. He’d seen what goblins did to their human captives, particularly their human female captives. Maybe she was right. Maybe they had been on the side of evil, but then he’d seen what Solamnic Knights did to the goblins they’d captured, he’d seen goblin babies carried on the ends of spears. Kang would protect this female from that savage and horrific part of the world at least. He would end it for her quickly. He hoped she would understand and forgive him.
“I had better go back now,” said Sister Marsel. “You’re tired and I’ve kept you talking. Besides, if Sister Hana were to wake up and find me gone, Paladine alone knows what she’d do.”
“Good night, Sister Marsel,” said Kang. “And thank you.”
He continued his rounds and then headed for his bed, taking one of the bunks in the upper room of the temple. He was looking forward to his bed. Kang was not one to lose sleep in needless worry. He’d done everything in his power to prepare. The morning would bring what the morning would bring. He did miss laying the burden of his problems in the lap of his Dark Queen. Now he had to shoulder the responsibility himself, he could not foist it off on his goddess. He thought over what Sister Marsel had said, about the gods leaving them to make of the world what they could. He wasn’t certain he bought it, but it was an interesting idea.
On his way to his bed, Kang gave the snout of the platinum dragon a rub for luck.
“Sir! Commander! Sir!”
Someone was shaking him by the shoulder violently. Kang started to wakefulness, peered bleary-eyed into a bright torch blazing above him.
“What? What? Huh? Is it the attack?”
He sat up, groggy and still half-asleep. He had a vague recollection of someone else waking him in the night. Slith, or so Kang recalled. Slith had been excited about something. Wanted permission to do something. Kang couldn’t remember what. He’d agreed to it apparently, because Slith had departed, but what it was he’d said or what it was he’d agreed to, Kang couldn’t for the life of him remember.
“I always said I could give orders in my sleep,” Kang muttered. “I guess it’s finally come to that.”
“Sir! Please! You have to come! You have to see this!”
The soldier had thrown open one of the shutters. Red streaked the sky, clouds massed on the horizon. There would be more snow today. Horns blared. His troops were shouting and clashing their swords.
Certain that he would look out the window to see a couple of goblin regiments bearing down on him, Kang could not for the life of him understand what was going on.
The goblins, it seemed, were moving backwards.
“What the-?” Kang blinked, rubbed his eyes.
“They’re retreating, sir!” the draconian said.
“What? Why?” Kang was astounded.
The draconian pointed. “See their general, sir. The big hairy bastard riding that great, hulking warhorse.”
“Yes.” Kang squinted into the sun. “Not much of a rider. He’s almost fallen off twice since I’ve been watching him.”
“Yes, sir!” The draconian was enjoying himself hugely. “That’s Slith, sir! He killed the general and took over his body! Slith’s the one who’s ordering the goblins to retreat!”
It all came back to Kang. Slith waking him in the night, asking for permission to carry out a raid. Kang had mumbled something. He couldn’t remember what. Slith had taken his mumble for a yes, however, as Slith was wont to do. Slith had saved Kang’s life more than once. He’d saved their entire force more than once. Now he had saved their race.
Kang watched, his heart swelling with pride, as Slith, magically attired in the body of the murdered goblin general, bounced up and down in the saddle and shouted orders in goblin for the army to run and keep on running. Fortunately, having fought with goblin troops for years, Slith knew exactly what to say to motivate them. Kang could not hear him, Slith was too far away. But Kang could imagine.
“It’s a trap!” the goblin-Slith would be shouting. “There are thousands and thousands of draconians holed up in the temple. They’re going to come out and cut off your ears and eat goblin meat for dinner! Run for it, boys! Run for your miserable lives!”
“Support!” Kang said suddenly, fumbling for his equipment. “We’ve got to support him! Make it look good. Quickly now!”
“Yes, sir,” said the draconian. “We’re all ready, sir. Look.”
The gates of the temple opened. Second Squadron under Cloth’s command rushed out, shrieking like demons freed from the Abyss. The sight and sound of the enraged draconians further panicked the goblins, who had probably not been too keen on this action in the first place. Those few who had been guarding the “general” threw down their weapons and abandoned their post, fleeing over the windswept ground in haste.
Their retreat was fortunate for, at that moment, Slith tumbled off the horse. Although a dumb animal, the beast was smarter than the goblins. It knew perfectly well that this being on its back was not its master. The horse kicked up its heels and galloped off. The draconian force surrounded Slith and, in case any goblins might be watching, Gloth made a good show of taking the goblin “general” captive.
“Mogu,” said Kang, “go tell the human females that they’re safe. The goblins have fled. You can give them the good news that we’re going to be leaving, as well. And tell Dremon to let the babies out to play in the cellar this morning. This glorious morning!”
Kang stationed First Squadron at the temple gate. Second Squadron marched back to the temple in triumph. The goblin army probably wouldn’t stop running until they reached Newsea. Slith was now starting to let loose of his goblin form, returning to his draconian self. Kang led the cheers when Slith entered.
“Brilliant idea, Slith!” said Kang, slapping his sub-commander on the shoulder. “Absolutely brilliant!”
“Thank you, sir.” Slith grinned. “I have to admit that I didn’t really intend to do that, sir. I went out just to see if I could find their general, maybe bring him back as hostage. And then it came to me that if I killed him and took his shape, I could-”
“Sir!” A draconian, breathless and panting, came dashing up. “You have to come-”
Kan
g waved him to silence. “Go on, Slith.”
“Sir!” The draconian ignored Kang’s command, actually laid hands on him and shook him. “Sir! You must come! She’s going to kill the babies!”
Kang had never run so fast in his life. He nearly pitched headfirst down the cellar stairs, caught himself in time. Reaching the bottom, he found a standoff.
Dremon stood on one side of the cellar holding Sister Marsel in a clawed grip, a knife to her throat. On the other side of the cellar Sister Hana held a sword over the heads of the draconian babies, trapped inside their sacks. The other females huddled in a corner, weeping and cringing. Draconians stood with their swords drawn in front of them.
“If she hurts a single scale on one of them, Commander, I’ll slit her from ear to ear,” Dremon said, as Kang entered. “We’ll kill the rest, too!”
“Keep calm!” Kang ordered, though the words caught in his throat. The babies were enchanted with the sword that threatened to end their short lives. They squeaked with delight, reached out small clawed hands to touch it. The sword, Kang noted, was a draconian weapon.
“There’ll be no killing if I can help it. Report!” he said harshly to Dremon.
“We received your orders, sir. I took off my sword and set it aside when I prepared to let the babies out. I never thought-” Dremon swallowed, then said, “She grabbed the sword before I could stop her, sir.”
“Sister Hana,” Kang said, speaking as calmly as he could manage. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt. Put down the sword. We will take the children and leave you in peace. We won’t trouble you anymore.”
“Your kind destroyed all I had!” Sister Hana cried. “My home, my family. Why should I spare yours? These babies are the spawn of evil. I will see to it that evil ends here, this day!”
She regarded Kang with a raw hatred, a hatred he found appalling and for which he was unprepared. He remembered feeling such hatred himself once, the time the dwarves had burned down the village he and the others had worked so hard to build. He had killed dwarves with his bare hands, then. For a soldier, killing is just another unpleasant job, like digging latrines or standing guard duty, but in avenging himself on the dwarves, Kang had enjoyed the killing. This female would enjoy the killing now, too. Killing the innocent babies.
Heroes And Fools totfa-2 Page 37
