Angels Blood

by Gerard Bond

  “This is my wife Ambelynne and that is my son Reeve and my daughter Jolynne.” He pointed to the three young ones in turn, “And that is Faelynne, Kara and Brons. My four farmhands here are Koror, Anders, Regnart and she is Lisett. My own name is Karls.” Again polite hellos were exchanged and it was Wollfen’s turn.

  “May I introduce my partner, Darkling Bruadar of the Nightclan Berengah. That is Vaughn of Port Cholandra and last but not least Sergeant Burkhard of Port Volarus.” Karls took note of Darkling, he had believed that all Nightclans people were dead.

  “I thank you all for having come and saved us. We are not equipped to handle such aggression. The orcs have never traveled through these lands in numbers before and have always steered clear of any farms.” Wollfen looked around at them all.

  “We are only too happy to help. Unfortunately we cannot stay though. We are on a mission to the enchanted lands to seek assistance from the elves. In view of the circumstances that are revealing themselves here, I think it would be prudent for you and your family to make a serious decision on whether you should stay here or not. The orcs that came here today is not an isolated incident, we have heard and seen evidence of this becoming a much more common thing.”

  Karls and Ambelynne looked at each other and then to the children.

  “What do you suppose would be our best destination?”

  “I believe you should head south to Windere. It is well suited to families and will be able to give you the protection you need for now.” Again the farmer looked to his wife who nodded.

  “You are probably right, but we fear that the siege of Kassandrea may go badly, what then? I would expect Windere would be a target after that.” Wollfen nodded.

  “Yes that is always a possibility, but even if such an improbable thing was to happen you would have time to move on and possibly make your way to Oceania. They have a strong garrison there and also have access to the sea.”

  “We shall move out today and take what we can with us. Is there anything we can do for you right now?” Wollfen looked to the others and could see they were hungry.

  “Would a hot meal be too much to ask?” Ambelynne jumped up.

  “Of course not! I will prepare a broth already simmering on the fire for you.” They all got busy.

  The children ran and sat on the lap of their dad as he made himself comfortable, the eldest daughter went to help her mother. The son made his way out with the farmhands. There was much work to do before they could leave.

  Later that day Wollfen and the other three were riding along again heading for the garrisons of the high mountains. They had seen the family off on their two wagons with a couple of extra weapons for defense. Wollfen didn’t think they should have too much trouble getting to Dark’s old village at the very least. From there it would be easy going for them. Vaughn and Burkhard were talking to each other with Dark sitting quietly beside him as they rode along. The excitement that morning had broken up the ride of the last five days from Dark’s village and it had felt good to make a difference in someone’s lives. Vaughn spoke up and addressed Wollfen after a while.

  “Wollfen, can you tell us of orcs and their history? Both Burkhard and I haven’t had any experience of them until this journey.” Wollfen turned in his saddle a bit.

  “It’s a bit of a story but I’ll do my best. Over a thousand years ago, the elven communities were many in number and were spread out across the lands of this world. There were probably five communities on this land alone. One was south of here inland of where Port Volarus is now. The one north of here that we travel to and another three dotted in the far east. It was normal for these communities to not have contact with each other for a few years at a time.

  Anyway one community in particular in the very far east was quiet for a number of years and it took another couple of years before the other elven communities became concerned. There simply was no contact and when messages were sent for a centennial gathering of their leaders no reply was received. Scouting parties were sent out after that to reestablish contact with the Elves of that community but when they got there all they found amongst the ruins of the city were orcs. Up until then no one had ever seen an orc or even knew they existed, it was the first contact of that kind.

  The troop drove the orcs out of the city and began an inspection of it looking for what may have become of the elves. Over the next year or so they delved into the records there and did a lot of detective work. This is where it gets creepy, turns out that the elves never left, the orcs were what remained of the elven community. The elves were the orcs that were driven out. And having driven the orcs out they spread into the mountains and since then have always existed. They have continued to breed amongst themselves and be a bane on the land. For the last thousand years or so they have done their own thing and have only ever clashed with other races whenever they have come across each others path. They have never formed societies or established any armies at all, simply been out there and existed.

  The elves spent many centuries dedicated to finding out what happened to that community and helping their brethren, but what became clear after awhile was that they are totally lost. They have no soul and obey no gods. They are an aberration of life, an existence that has no meaning or purpose. The elves finally accepted that they could not be saved and since then whenever they have been found there has been no hesitation in killing them. No one has ever been able to establish how the elves fell as they did, how it was that they became those orcs.

  Now we come here to today and things have changed. Orcs are banding together in numbers and have even worked together to defeat a target. It was only a few years ago that the Nightclans of the wilds beyond the high mountains were eliminated in a concentrated push by the orcs. It should have rung alarm bells but no one has appreciated the ramifications of that incident. I believe they are changing. How and why I do not know, but the fact that they are becoming more active here in these lands and in numbers too speaks of bad to come.”

  They all sat there riding along quietly, Dark lost in her thoughts of her old Nightclan and the other two behind mulling over the story.

  “So really, they are nothing but a scourge on this land right?” Wollfen nodded to the question.

  “Yes why are you concerned?” Vaughn showed a side of himself that surprised Wollfen.

  “I have thought that maybe they could be negotiated with, that maybe they had a right to exist too. I thought maybe if agreements could be made that somehow orcs and people could get along together a bit better.” Wollfen turned to him.

  “That is a laudable attitude Vaughn. In fact if it were any other race, any other beings at all I would say kudos’ to you for saying so. But when it comes to orcs, they have no interest whatsoever in parley or cooperation. When they see you, two things enter their mind, are you dangerous and what would you taste like as food? They have no other interests in us beyond that.”

  Vaughn let out a big sigh, it was simple view of an entire race but somehow it made things more complicated.

  “You would think that an intelligent race would naturally be able to think with reason.” Wollfen turned in his saddle again and looked him in the eye.

  “Yes one would think so eh?”

  The afternoon passed without any more deep conversation and evening came. They made camp and had a quiet time eating beef jerky before bedding down. Two of them would stay up watch at a time. The orcs of the morning made them more aware of the dangers that lurked out in the darkness here.

  They awoke to a moderate snowfall that morning and packed their supplies on the horses. There was one more day to the main garrison and if this snow continued, the idea of being there was a welcome thought indeed. They set off again and rode steadily through the morning, it was about an hour before midday when Vaughn spoke up quietly,

  “Off to the right, distance about two hundred yards, small band of orcs shadowing us.”

  Wollfen nodded without replying and he gave a sideways glance. The
re were maybe four of them, this sort of activity was highly unusual. He very carefully turned the horses direction ever so slightly, so the orcs wouldn’t notice. The gap would close slowly and Wollfen would have to gauge an attack based on when he thought the orcs would realize they were getting closer.

  The gap closed to one hundred and fifty yards when Wollfen gave the order and they jumped into a gallop making a beeline for the four orcs. It was about two seconds before the orcs realized they had been spotted and took off in the opposite direction away from the oncoming party. Wollfen and company took all of twenty seconds to run them down, swinging swords as they went past and cutting them apart. Black blood sprayed across the snow and only one managed to cry out. They reined in and went to the fallen bodies, wisps of steam rising from the open wounds.

  Wollfen dismounted and went over to the body of one. It smelled bad and he had to hold his nose even in the cold. Turning the orc over he inspected the creature and searched pockets but Wollfen found nothing. They looked like normal orcs to him. He wasn’t even sure what he was looking for, something, anything out of the ordinary. He stood up and scanned the outlying forest. There didn’t appear to be any others either. Mounting his horse Wollfen signaled for them to move out. At least these orcs wouldn’t be giving anybody trouble anymore.

  Later that afternoon the snow was still falling and they spotted the main garrison. It was a four-walled stone fort standing in the middle of the open, it held maybe a thousand men. There were smaller embattlements every half-mile and they each held about one hundred men. Most of the men inside were on rotation with the other smaller embattlements with this fort basically being an R&R station and headquarters.

  As they approached the gates Wollfen called out,

  “Hark! Weary travelers approach!”

  The guard on the inside called back,

  “Announce yourselves and state your business.”

  Wollfen told them their names and their intended destination.

  “You may enter.”

  Wollfen and the three motioned their horses forward as the gate swung back and they entered the inner compound. Inside there were quite a few troops standing around and the hairs on the back of Wollfens neck pricked up, something was wrong. The gate shut behind them and a call went out.

  “Raise arms!”

  The soldiers reacted quickly aiming crossbows and bows at the four on their horses. Wollfen had no idea what was going on.

  “Drop your weapons and get off your horses slowly!”

  They did as they were told and once off their horses the beasts were led away. The four of them stood there isolated in the middle with soldiers all around them with weapons at the ready. A ranking officer stepped forward and looked them up and down.

  “So you are Wollfen what?” Wollfen nodded in reply.

  “Yes I am he, may I ask who it is I am addressing?” The officer smiled.

  “ My name is Lord Ayburn son of Baron Gerulf and brother to Lord Ercanbold. It seems I have caught myself some spies?” Wollfen looked at him in surprise.

  “You are mistaken sir, we are not spies at all. We act on behalf of the Kingdom and have come with information on the state of affairs south of here as well as a quest to go to the Elves further north.”

  Ayburn smiled again and this time he make a clicking noise in his mouth while shaking his head. He motioned to one of his subordinates.

  “Search them. I’m afraid Wollfen the game is up, it's no good protesting your innocence here, we have heard all about you already.” Wollfen clued on straight away and responded with a name.

  “Dimarus.” The Lord nodded as he was handed the scrolls and coin bag found on Wollfen.

  “He is a good scout of mine, a well respected and loyal employee of the Kingdom.” Wollfen protested.

  “I tell you Lord Ayburn, he is none of those things, he cannot be trusted.” Ayburn wouldn’t listen, he opened the bag of coins.

  “What do we have here, Isogorrean gold and a scroll which appears to be counting the numbers of our soldiers? I think the evidence is plain. Take them away and put them in separate dungeons below! They will be dealt with after winter!” Wollfen protested as they were dragged off,

  “You must listen to me Lord Ayburn! Those things were found in Dimarus’ residence! They are not mine!” It all fell on deaf ears, the Lord had already turned away and was walking back to his office.

  The four of them were manhandled down some stone stairs under the fort. Down they went until it was almost pitch black. A torch was lit and they were shoved along a corridor with wooden doors to the side. At each of the doors one of them was shoved inside under protest and the door slammed shut.

  As Wollfen was shoved into the last one he turned to the closing door and kicked it hard with his boot. It slammed shut on the unsuspecting soldier breaking his nose. There was a cry of pain and the door opened again. Four burly soldiers entered and Wollfen fought hard getting in some good hits, but it did no good and he was beaten soundly before they left him lying and bleeding on the cold stone floor. He shook his head to try and clear the cloudiness, kicking the door was a stupid thing to do but he was angry.

  Dimarus had done a number on them and Wollfen had walked right into it. He opened his eyes and looked about. He couldn’t see a thing, it was pitch black in there. He felt his way around the room and found the cot. It was maybe five foot long and had a musty blanket on it. When he lifted it he could hear bugs scurrying away. That was just great, he hated bugs. Now he felt around some more but there was nothing so he returned to the cot and eased himself down. His muscles hurt from where they had kicked him while he lay on the floor and they cried out at every move.

  What could be done? No one was expecting them anytime soon and so no one would know they had been locked up. The more he thought about it the more depressed he got. The garrison didn’t have regular contact with any of the towns during winter. They really were cut off until the thaw and that was over three months away. Kassandrea wouldn’t be getting any help at this rate. He felt in his pockets to see if the soldiers had missed anything but they were empty. They had even found the teleporting crystal. Wollfen’s plans were shot.

  Lord Ayburn sat back in his chair looking at the scrolls. Not only was there a list of northern cities and towns with their current troop numbers but the second scroll showed a schematic of the underground piping and service tunnels of Kassandrea. That was the big one, if the Isogorreans ever got a hold of this information then Kassandrea would most likely fall. Now that he had managed to catch these spies and get a hold of their information he would be able to get back into the good graces of King Arrick. Maybe then he could get out of this godforsaken outpost. Ayburn looked up to his adjutant.

  “Get Dimarus in here now.” The adjutant saluted and moved off.

  Soon Dimarus arrived and stood before Lord Ayburn.

  “You called for me sire?” Ayburn gave him a smile.

  “You would not believe the luck that has come our way. I have captured Wollfen and his crew. Also I now have the information he has gathered too.”

  Dimarus’ eyes went wide when he saw the scrolls proffered to him by the Lord but he did not accept them.

  “May I ask how you managed all this my Lord?” The Lord laughed.

  “The fools strolled right in! They had no idea at all! It was incredible, you were right to make haste for here Dimarus. If you had gone anywhere else I would have welcomed them with open arms! And then what? They would have gotten all the information they needed before turning it over to the Isogorreans. We have been very lucky.”

  This damned fool, thought Dimarus, he has no idea. What a privilege to be working for such an idiot.

  “You are a very sharp person my Lord, you have succeeded in dealing a big blow to the enemy.” The Lord was positively beaming, luck was finally going his way.

  “I tell you what Dimarus. We should make haste with all this information. It must be taken to Oceania and Lord Gerulf immediately. O
nce he has it he will be able to make real changes and fast.”

  Lord Ayburn was seeing the biggest change of all in his mind’s eye, being called back to the city from this backwater. Dimarus had half an idea of what the Lord would do next but didn’t push it. He didn’t think he needed to prompt this moron at all.

  “Do you have orders for me sire?” Ayburn looked at him.

  “How is your arm? Do you feel up to a trip to Oceania?” Dimarus couldn’t believe his luck.

  “Yes sire, I am fully fit and ready to serve.” Lord Ayburn was lapping it up.

  “Very well Dimarus, I give you this mission. You are to take these scrolls of intelligence and make haste to Lord Gerulf and tell him of who we have captured here, do you understand?” Dimarus nodded as he spoke. This really was all falling into place for him.

  “Yes my lord, whatever you command.” He bowed his head.

  “Good man! You are one of my best. I will let you decide when to leave as long as it is within the next day.”

  The Lord took a box from within his drawer and placed the scrolls in it. Then he locked the box and held it out to Dimarus, one hand lying on top of it he looked him in the eye and spoke very seriously,

  “Make haste when you leave Dimarus, a lot depends on this.” Dimarus bowed after accepting the box and backed out of the room. This was just too easy.

  As he walked off Dimarus couldn’t help but wonder at how the world worked, it wasn’t so long ago he was desperate to simply survive. One thing was for sure, these scrolls would never make it to Oceania or any Kingdom city for that matter. An idea occurred to him as he walked along, he really should make a visit to his friends below before he departed, in particular Darkling. He returned to his quarters and placed the box in safekeeping. After that he turned around and left for the dungeon below, he was looking forward to seeing Dark’s face when he popped his head in.

  Down in the gloom Dimarus approached a guard and asked for directions to the blonde’s cell. The guard took him to it and Dimarus ordered it opened. Taking a torch in he was welcomed by Dark taking a flying leap at him and he had to dodge to the side. As she landed he punched her in the side of the head for her troubles. It didn’t stop her. She came back up swinging with a fist towards his crotch but again he managed to dodge the blow and hit her in the side of the head again. He kicked her while she was down and it made her throw up.