The Gully Snipe (The Dual World Book 1)

by JF Smith

  It happened so swiftly that Roald had no time to react at all. When he recovered and realized what was happening, he scrambled for the dead Maqaran’s sword and cut his hands free using it. When he glanced around again, he saw Aalehvan slashing at the neck of another of the Maqarans with his razor claws and leaving him to bleed out. Encender, too, had joined the fray, and was in a fight with another one of the invaders, using dual daggers to much better effect than the sword held by the Maqaran. And from the body of another dead Maqaran, Roald watched a large bird flying off into the night.

  Encender, so intent on the one Maqaran, did not see the other one circling behind him with sword drawn. Roald managed to leap at him, driving the sword into the back of his neck, before he could kill Encender.

  As soon as it was started, it was likewise finished, with eight Maqaran soldiers dead.

  Encender came up to Roald, his breath coming in pants. “We saw them take you, so Aalehvan, Hyynreck, and I came to bring you back before it was too late.” Encender kicked at the dead soldier that had tried to kill him from behind. “My thanks for watching my back!”

  Roald’s arm was shaking, but he put it on Encender’s shoulder, and said, “My thanks to you for saving us! And I am glad you did. My plan is not unfolding very well, I do not think.”

  “We fight together, and plans are only as good as their ability to adapt when they no longer fit! As you age in years, so shall you see more and more the truth of this. Your plan, though, still has passed its first test! And more, it lifts my spirit to strike back at these vermin after cowering from them in the woods for so long!”

  Roald took a deep breath. “Thank you again, Encender!”

  “Since this may have been heard, I had some of the archers proceed to quietly kill the ten or so Maqarans left at the pass gate so we can secure it again on our side. The main Maqaran force is hopefully far enough past so they did not hear the skirmish behind them. Come, if we hurry, we can catch up and be a part of the attack on the main Maqaran column!”

  Aalehvan led the way, in panther form, back to the Iisen side so that they would not be mistaken for Maqarans. Roald, Encender, and the rest rejoined the rear forces, which were still hiding away until it was time to close in behind the foreigners, sealing off their ability to retreat.

  Roald took his place hidden in the high ground, protected by the rocks, along with the other Iisenors and occasional balmor while they watched the pass below them for the first of the retreating Maqarans. The archers were at the front and would stay in the high ground, while the swordsmen would climb down into the path of the pass itself to block the retreat. He felt a paw on his back and turned to see Raybb’s bear form there, questioning him with his eyes.

  Roald grinned, “There was a minor deviation from the plan, but all is well, Raybb. The Iisen gate has been retaken and there is nowhere for the Maqarans to go. All that is left is to show them that their surrender is the best option for all involved.”

  Raybb nodded and settled back nearby to wait along with the others.

  The sounds of battle and attack farther ahead, at the front of the Maqaran forces, reached their ears a few moments later and they readied themselves. Raybb, both human and bear, Roald, swordsmen, and many others moved down to block the pass from fleeing Maqarans, swords at the ready for those that carried them. A few moments after that, the first of the Maqarans came running back through the pass, skidding to a stop when they saw the Iisenors and balmors blocking their way.

  Several of the invading soldiers looked unsure, but others roared ahead, knowing the way forward was the only way to escape capture or death. Those that roared ahead were the first to be felled by the Iisen archers.

  Behind them came a few more panicked Maqarans that made it to the men blocking them and the battle there ensued. Roald picked the most senior Maqaran close by and entered into a swordfight with him. They fought cautiously for a moment, testing each other, until Roald began to press hard against him. The Maqaran soldier backed into some of his own men, occupied with their own fights, and lost his footing for a moment, just enough for Roald’s sword to find the gap in the side of his enemy’s cuirass, where he pressed it deep into his enemy. The man fell on the spot, his eyes turned up into his head as his life drained from him.

  Roald glanced around, and saw Raybb’s forms handling a pair of Maqarans simultaneously. He became entranced with how Raybb made sure his two halves always faced in opposite directions, in effect giving him eyes in the back of his head. The perfect coordination between the two was mesmerizing to behold and the Maqarans arrayed against him stood little chance.

  He watched, until Raybb pointed briefly behind him, and Roald spun around in time to see the sword of a Maqaran coming up from behind. He blocked and once again focused on his own fight, pushing the smaller soldier back and back until he was against the rocks. He managed to give the soldier a cut to his hip with his sword, causing the soldier to bring his arms down in reflex. That left just enough opening for Roald to slice his neck, finishing him.

  Roald turned again, getting more used to the butchery and ready for more if need be, but things were already winding down. The Maqarans no longer seemed willing to try to push their way through the Iisen line to get back to safe land. Instead, they cowered back and waited, afraid of the archers above them and the swordsmen in front of them.

  Roald climbed up the rocks again and yelled down at the invaders, who were confused as to what to do. “Maqarans! Attempts to flee will only result in a swift death, and there is no escape in any direction you go! Lay down your weapons and save your lives!”

  A Maqaran, definitely an officer by the look of his battle armor and dress, stepped forward and shouted up to Roald, “We will die before we surrender to..!”

  The Maqaran officer’s words were abruptly cut off when an arrow pierced his head and he fell forward, dead in the spot of his shouted defiance.

  Roald watched tensely, holding his breath, and holding his hand up to keep the archers from butchering those in front of them any further until he saw what they would do.

  Tentatively at first, and then all of foreign soldiers, from those closest to Roald and his men to those at the far end of the line, began to lay their arms down. Roald gave the order to have their weapons taken and for the archers to kill any who moved against them as they did this.

  When the first Maqaran sword was taken by the Kingdom Guard with no resistance, Roald allowed his breath to escape from his lungs and he began to relax. He felt a hand on his shoulder and Raybb’s voice in his ear, “Congratulations, Roald! You have beaten the Maqarans and saved this land! It was hardly a battle at all!”

  Roald glanced back at him, shocked to see the sanguine-stained smear across Raybb’s chest and face. He looked down at his own tabard and his own arms and found they were splattered with blood, too.

  For the next several hours, the new day grew lighter and lighter as the sunlight began to seep in around them. Roald and his forces spent the time systematically disarming the Maqarans and taking them away in small groups at a time to become prisoners.

  At the end of the pass, the road split into two directions. To the west, it became the South Pass Road as it dove into the heart of the Ghellerweald and ran towards Lohrdanwuld. The other way turned north, where the land was more open across the gentle foothills of the mountains, and led up to East End. It was in this open land where the Iisen forces had set up their base and marshaled the Maqaran prisoners.

  At one point, one of the Guard swordsmen came up to Roald and said, “Sir, we’ve got people wanting to go through the pass, wanting to make their trades with Maqara.”

  “Not today. And not for the foreseeable future. Turn them away and tell them to go home. It is not safe here,” instructed Roald.

  With the two Marshal Adjuncts accompanying him, and with only a small number of the Maqarans left in the pass to be taken as prisoners, Roald rode his horse north to the open land where their camp was located.

&n
bsp; They made sure the Maqarans were properly secured and then stopped long enough to get a final report. The swordsmen in charge of this reported there were 428 Maqarans captured and 75 of them killed. On the Iisen side, there were eight of the Guard that had been killed, and one balmor.

  Marshals Pumblennor and Yorghen seemed very pleased with the report, and Roald thanked the swordsman and dismissed him after receiving the news. Ignoring the Marshal Adjuncts awaiting Roald, he abruptly left his tent. He walked a short ways off by himself, stood alone, and looked at the sun that still had not come from behind the Sheard Mountains despite it being well into morning. All of the men around him seemed thrilled with the victory of the morning, of knowing the threat upon them had been ended quickly. Everyone seemed glad of the success. Roald, too, knew he should be beaming with pride at his accomplishment, but all he could think about were the nine dead. He wondered if he knew them. Then he felt bad for even thinking that and chastised himself; it did not make it any less of a loss if he did not personally know them. In his greatest moment, he asked himself if he was really man enough to handle this.

  He wondered at why his accomplishment still felt like something of a failure to him.

  Another one of the guards came up to him and begged his pardon for the interruption. “We’ve got another one of our countrymen, sir, demanding access,” said the soldier.

  Roald rubbed at his eyes and said, “Tell him to go away. Tell him to go sell in East End today. I need to go find Aian and Omalde so that I can report our success, and our losses, back to Lohrdanwuld. The two princes will be eager to hear how the campaign has fared.”

  The soldier pointed over near one of the tents where a peasant stood quietly. He said, “This one is just over there. He’s not asking for access to the pass, sir, he’s asking to see you specifically. He knows you by name.”

  Roald capitulated and walked over towards the tent right as the sun broke above the rim of the mountains, bathing the land of Iisen in warm, gold light of a summer morning. He wondered who in East End would be asking for him, who there would even know to ask for him by name.

  He approached the man in the dirty brown surcoat and noticed that he had no parcels and no wagon of goods nearby to sell.

  Roald was about to ask what business he had with him when the peasant looked up at him from under the hood of his coat. Roald’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open.

  “Gul—!” he began, but then he slammed his mouth shut.

  The urge to run forward and embrace him was almost overpowering. Everything he was feeling that morning rose up in him and threatened to pour out of him through every part of his body. Roald felt guilty and lost and wanted desperately the comfort of the one person who had been a constant in his life. The one person who would understand how he felt at this moment. The one person who could provide him with peace and solace at the loss of life even amongst such a resounding victory. He wanted to cry on the shoulder of the one person who would share his sadness with him, and thus make it easier to bear. His arms almost reached out towards him for exactly the embrace and reassurance he needed, but he pulled himself back and forced them down to his sides.

  Roald turned red in the face as he remembered himself, dropped to one knee and said breathlessly, “Prince Thayliss!”

  He turned and shouted at all of the soldiers within earshot, “All of you! Show respect to your prince regent, now!”

  Chapter 30 — The Sword In The Field

  That blasted crown! thought Gully as his lips pulled tight to prevent a scowl. Roald before him, and then all the soldiers within sight, had sank to their knees with heads bent down before him. I’ve never even seen the dratted thing and it has already driven a wedge between Roald and me. And now when I need a brother more than I ever have!

  The thought passed through his mind and the guilt of it gripped him. He had a brother — Thaybrill. But yet it had always been Roald that had been there, beside him, as close as Gully would allow him and wishing always to be even closer. Thaybrill had just now come along, but that wasn’t Thaybrill’s fault by any stretch, and Thaybrill was a good man at heart. It was Roald, though, that knew him like no one else, thought like him, and here was Roald acting like he was kneeling before a stranger.

  He wondered if perhaps Roald was kneeling before a stranger now.

  What Gully wanted... was all of them. His life was upside down and he needed all of them. He needed Roald desperately, but he needed Thaybrill, too. And Gallun and Gellen, whom he already missed after having snuck away in the middle of the night. Wyael, also. These were the people that were now the source of his confidence when he seemed to have none of his own.

  This was the beginning of his punishment. This is what he got for the wrongs he had committed since he had been old enough to commit them. All the while that he had been selfish and held all others away, now when he needed them close to heart he found a distance there. Fate... fate was throwing at him the very isolation he had prized for so long.

  Gully sighed and said, “Please stand up!”

  Roald did so and smiled broadly at him. At least Roald seemed genuinely happy to see him.

  “Unless my eyes tell me untruths, it looks like the battle is already done,” said Gully sweeping his hand over towards where the Maqaran prisoners were held. “I am tempted to think that it all went well, but I’d like to hear it from your own lips, Roald.”

  Roald turned pensive as he nodded and said, “It is over. By any military standard, our strategy was almost perfectly effective.”

  Gully picked up on the reservation in his brother’s voice. He prompted, “But...”

  Roald’s eyes cast down to the flattened grasses where they stood. “But eight Iisen dead is eight too many, and a balmor, too. I should feel elated at the success of the campaign, but... I do not. Iisen is safe, and yet I feel as if I have failed.”

  It was simultaneously a tiny and a massive number to Gully. Nine out of hundreds and hundreds of Kingdom Guard called to the pass. So small a number. But to the families and loved ones whose men would not return home, even their one was the largest number in the world. The pain shot through his heart. Nine dead because of his decisions. His mind told him it was the right thing, that the costs were minimal for what they gained, but his soul told him there would be nine wounds inside of him now that would never heal. Gully closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head in sorrow.

  He said softly, “Aye... Aye, Roald. You and I share the sadness at this loss. I pushed for this strategy rather than simply fortifying the mountain pass and keeping the Maqarans at bay. Every decision I now make carries a cost with it that I can scarcely comprehend. These responsibilities weigh more than I ever imagined they could.”

  They stood silently for a moment, just the two of them, trying to adjust to this new burden they felt upon themselves.

  Roald finally cleared his throat and said, “Come, Your Highness. If I am not mistaken, the Folly awoke this morning suddenly short one prince regent and they are probably beside themselves with worry. We need to calm their panic and let them know he is safely under watchful eye in East End.”

  It was a gentle reproach, but exactly the kind he had heard from Roald under many other examples of his stubborn independence in the past. It felt wonderful to have Roald treat him like a brother again, even as oblique as it was. Even if it included titles that left a sour taste in his mouth.

  Gully looked at him, feigning hurt with a kernel of veracity at its heart. “Your Highness?”

  Roald stood nervously for a moment, and then shrugged his shoulders. “Forgive me. I cannot refer to you any other way now. But if I may speak freely, it is far more of a comfort to have your presence here than any other person for whom I could wish!”

  Gully felt the slight increase in formality his brother insisted upon now, and it felt like nettles digging into his skin. He was disappointed in it, but neither did it entirely surprise him.

  Roald led him to a tent set up among the camp an
d held the flap open so that Gully could enter first. Inside, the patriarch’s ocelot half was pacing back and forth, his tail swishing around in anxiety. He stopped when he saw Gully enter and he seemed very surprised to see the new arrival. Omalde was snoring contentedly in a chair, her head slack to one side and her ragged white hair forming a wiry and unruly halo around her head.

  Roald said to Aian, “I see you pacing back and forth, and I believe I have found something you lost.”

  Gully said to the patriarch, “I will not be pleased if I find out you were anywhere near the pass or the fighting this morning.”

  The ocelot stepped forward, bowed discretely and then shook his head in response.

  “I insisted they stay here near the camp,” replied Roald. “If we had not been able to secure a surrender this morning, the patriarch and Omalde were to go back to their camp in the Ghellerweald and take the clan north.”

  “Good. Thank you, patriarch,” said Gully.

  Omalde jerked awake and looked around blearily for a moment. Her eyes found Gully and then said, “Ah, yeh are here! The patriarch says to tell yeh he could chastise you jes’ the same for sneaking off in the middle of the night and showing up here this morning.”

  Gully had never seen the likes of it before, but the ocelot had an eyebrow cocked at him in challenge. Gully bobbed his head in feeble agreement. “Yes, I suppose that’s true. I could not sleep, and I could not sit in a walled and guarded city doing nothing while so much was hanging in the balance here. Even still, I find that I arrive too late due to Roald’s skillful execution of the trap.”

  “Wyael was beside himself with worry when yeh were not found in your rooms this morning,” said the old woman.

  “Tell Wyael I beg his forgiveness, but I am fine. Iisen is fine, in fact! Tell everyone the good news that our land is secure and still our own!”

  Having heard the news of the arrival of the new prince regent, the two Marshal Adjuncts arrived to pay their respects, followed by Encender and Raybb’s human half. Raybb tried to lurk in the back of the tent, but Gully would not allow it. He went to Raybb and embraced him, telling him how glad he was to see him. He even said the same to Encender.