by Allan Joyal
“We still don’t have Jeff or Gertrilla fully back,” I said with a sigh. “And without Gertrilla we have been asking extra people to help with the herd. I’m not sure it will be safe for the scouts if we push them out too far.”
“I know,” Krysbain said. “But we have to make sure we can’t be ambushed. If they are hostile and get too close, they could kill or stampede the herds. That would be disastrous.”
Hencktor looked at me. I nodded with a sigh. “And those herds are probably going to determine if we can be successful long term. The hides, wool and meat of those animals will have to sustain us in the years ahead.”
“I’ll talk to Al, Aine, and Lydia about helping. I know you prefer to lead the group, which is where we’ll need you anyways,” Krysbain said. “But where do we go from here?”
I pointed south. The meadow we had found at the top of the bluff seemed to continue off to the south in an endless wave of short green grass that was just starting to blossom with the coming of spring. “If this mountain range is like most, we want to head to the edge of it to find a low pass. When west of the Elfwall, the south appears to have the milder year round climate, and I’d hope it would be the same here. We’ll want to find a valley in the south anyways.”
“South it is then,” Krysbain said. “I’ll circle around the herd and look for more tracks while the camp is set up. Tomorrow, we’ll set up to scout to the south.”
Chapter 5: Aztec Orcs?
The camp that night seemed cheerful and relaxed. Jeff was still hobbled by the gash in his leg, but Esme had told him that it was healing well. Konstanzia appeared greatly relieved by the announcement and sat next to him as we enjoyed a quiet meal.
Gertrilla was animated as she ate her meal. The day after she had been hurt she woke convinced that she was going to die. Esme showed her the empty potion bottle, but the young woman remained solemn. Shaylin had stayed by her side and as Gertrilla got stronger convinced the young lady to get up and walk. The exercise had helped, but it looked like it had been the experience of crossing the ford that had finally broken through Gertrilla’s depression.
“I still can’t believe you wasted a potion on me,” she told me as I was finishing off a bowl of stew. “I’m nobody.”
I had to reach around Cimbra, but managed to put a hand on Gertrilla’s head. “No, you are our friend, and you are the head shepherdess. I think Corwar is going to want to do backflips once you are fully recovered and able to help with the herds.”
“He can do it,” Gertrilla affirmed.
“Not like you can,” Corwar said. “None of the bulls like to follow me. All of them will pay attention to you, which means that the cattle moves a lot better when you are around. I think there is only one ram that doesn’t always pay attention to you, and it’s the smallest one out there.”
“Who’s watching the herd?” I asked.
“Just about everyone,” Corwar said. “And Cimbra will be helping tonight. Krysbain told me about your strange footprint. We checked and didn’t find any over by where the herd is, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t being watched.”
“Just remember that we need to protect the herd. Gertrilla make sure all the herders have their slings and plenty of good stones to use,” I said.
“They stocked up at the ford,” Corwar said. “It was Piemal’s idea. He thought we would be able to find some good round stones that would fly straight.”
“Good,” I said as I finished the last of my meal. It wasn’t quite as much as I might have preferred, but Kariy had taken an inventory of our remaining stores and worried that we might not have enough flour to make it through a winter.
The others were also finishing their meals and moving away from the fire to find a place to lie down and sleep. I found my spot near the wagons and sat down on the bedroll as Cimbra and Heather joined me.
“I’m hungry,” Heather said in a childish voice.
“We don’t have as much food as we’d like,” I said. “We need to watch for any berries or fruit as we travel. And if we can find some wild wheat that would be perfect.”
“In the spring?” Heather asked.
“Anytime,” I said. “Although it’s unlikely we’d find grain this time of year. We just need to be watchful. The food won’t last forever even with all the hunting that gets done.”
“Mostly by Corwar and Piemal from what I hear,” Cimbra said. “I guess they challenge each other constantly.”
“It’s food and it keeps the stores from being wiped out,” I said with a nod. “Cimbra sorry you’ll have to watch first.”
Cimbra smiled and patted me on the cheek. “I’ll be fine. When I’m done I’ll make sure to warm up against you.”
“I still think I should stand a watch,” I grumbled.
“We told you earlier,” Heather said. “We need you to be fully awake so you can make the snap decisions that keep saving our skins. That means you get to sleep at night.”
“It’s not fair,” I grumbled as I lay down. “All of you are doing more work than I am.”
“Not true,” Cimbra said. “During the day other than helping watch the animals I just walk along with the carts. I’ll even sneak a ride on the back and doze sometimes.”
“But you watch most nights,” I pointed out.
“Which is something I do better than anyone here,” Cimbra said. “Now sleep. If there are people of some kind nearby, we’ll need you fully away in the morning.”
I rolled over and closed my eyes to sleep. Sleep was very slow in coming. Every gust of wind put me on alert. All I could hear was an occasional crunch of grass when one of the herd animals shifted. My worries refused to allow me to relax. Only Cimbra returning to wrap her arms around me allowed me to finally fall into an exhausted fitful sleep.
Heather shook me awake before dawn. I looked up to see that the sky was growing lighter. A cold breeze was blowing making me want to say under the fur.
My love seemed a little upset. “Cimbra saw one of the people last night. She didn’t recognize the race. Krysbain believes we are being watched.”
I sat up quickly. “Where is everyone and why wasn’t I told earlier?”
“You were awake when I got back to the bedroll,” Cimbra said as she walked up with Hencktor. “Everyone believes we’ll need you rested. The creature I saw was holding some kind of weapon and was definitely trying to get close to our herds.”
“Why did he give up?” I asked.
Cimbra giggled. “I used my magic. The bright flash disoriented him, and he retreated.”
I frowned. “That might scare them off, but it might also make him decide that we are a threat. We need to get moving as soon as there is enough light.”
Heather handed me my spear. “We’re way ahead of you. Someone should be bringing food soon.”
Gertrilla came over. She held out a leather pouch. “Kariy prepared this for you. Eat it while we move.”
“Aren’t I supposed to tell us to move out?” I asked as I opened the pouch. It contained several pieces of hard cheese as well as some slices of sausage.
“Kariy opened up one of the wheels of cheese that was kept in the barrels,” Gertrilla told me. “She said we needed the energy. I also heard Esme say that everyone was to get a couple pieces of the pickled citrus later.”
I nodded as I began to eat. “We need more variety in our diet and more fruit is vital. Unfortunately it’s hard to do while we are constantly travelling. Meanwhile you have herds to drive, and I have a caravan to lead.”
Heather giggled and pushed me so that I stumbled. She ran past me heading south. I could see that our usual parade of carts and wagons were moving in the same direction and followed.
When I got to the first cart Borlan waved me over. “I know you want to rush to the front, but Krysbain is worried that the creatures are to our north. He thought it best if you stayed here to watch for them.”
“He just wants control,” I said with a laugh as the herd passed us. Gertrilla had th
e herders keeping them to the left of the caravan as we made our way southward over what I could now see were rolling hills.
“No one wants to take control from you,” Ximenia said. “You are the one who had the idea and I hear you provided the money for everything.”
“Others were always there when I obtained money,” I replied as my face warmed. “And I always spent it for the benefit of the caravan.”
“We’ve heard,” Ximenia said. “That’s why… what is that?”
Ximenia’s hand whipped up. She was pointing to the north-east. I turned around almost dropping the pouch of food as I brought the spear to a ready position.
We were being followed by five people. At least that was the best word that came to mind at first. They were spread out in a line far enough behind me that I struggled to make out facial details. What I could see bothered me. The one in the center was a full head taller than the others. He had massive muscles that were bulging as he adjusted his grip on the large wooden club he was carrying. At least I thought it was a club until it twisted in his hand and I could see the shards of stone embedded in the side to form a blade.
He and his friends were all wearing loin cloths. The large one also had something covering his head. From the angle and distance it looked like some kind of greenish helmet, but I thought I saw teeth hanging down from it. The others had some feathers attached to thongs that wrapped around their arms and thighs, but wore no other clothing.
“What is that?” Heather said.
“I think it’s the source of the tracks we saw yesterday,” I pointed out. “Although the tracks were probably not from the big guy in the middle.”
“The small ones have some kind of toe covering,” Heather pointed out.
I looked more closely. It was hard to tell at the distance, but the strangers were using an unusually high step as they walked forward. It made it possible to see the leather contraption that covered their toes. A flap of leather went back to wrap around their ankles. I could see four white points at the front of the covering.
“It must be the source of the circular holes,” I said. “Don’t allow these guys to kick you.”
“Kick me? I don’t want them close enough to even see me. Have you looked at Mongo over there?” Heather snapped.
I looked more closely at the big one in the middle. They had been walking just a bit faster than our caravan was moving but were still some distance away. My stomach turned over as I looked at the face of the big one.
It was a mockery of a human face. The nose had been split and then pushed back and up, creating a pig-like snout in the face. The forehead was bulbous and hung over the eyes. The creature actually had fangs that hung down from the upper jaw and ran along grooves in the skin surrounding the lower lip.
What made it worse was that his smaller companions looked much more human. Their noses were still split and pushed back, but not to the same extent. They had no fangs and the forehead did not appear to bulge. I glanced over at Heather. “The smaller ones look human,” I pointed out.
“And one is coming!” Heather snapped.
I looked back to find that the one on the end of the formation closest to our herds had started running towards our flock. I started to sprint to cut him off when I heard the snap of a sling.
The charging stranger reared back. His right arm went back and then swung forward in an overhead arc like an old style baseball pitcher. He was holding a spear, and I watched in fascination. His arm appeared to grow an extra foot or more as he heaved the spear towards us. However, just as the spear was about to leave his hand the head of the stranger jerked to the right.
The man crumpled to the ground as the spear sped towards us. I could see it was going to miss the herds, but it was heading towards the carts. “Incoming!” I shouted .
Borlan and Ximenia turned and ducked as the spear flashed over their heads. It stuck in the ground past Borlan and just to the left of the path the caravan was taking. I turned back to look at our followers, but they had paused to look at their fallen comrade. An argument broke out among the smaller members as we continued to move.
I kept an eye on them as we retreated. Our route took me right past the spear so I pulled it from the ground and examined it as we travelled.
The spear was impressive. The shaft was one piece of wood. At first I thought it might be a rounded board, but when I examined the end I could see the growth rings clearly. There were five rings in the inch and a half diameter piece of wood. The head proved to be carefully carved from a single piece of bone. It started with a socket that fit tightly over the shaft. The spearhead had then been carefully carved progressively smaller until ending with a pair of finely cut barbs and a needle-like point. I could imagine this spear causing a massive amount of damage if thrust into someone’s body and then removed with a jerk.
“They stopped following,” Heather murmured.
I stopped looking at the spear and looked back at the remaining strangers. They were still standing next to their fallen companion, but were now pointing off to the southeast. From the gestures, it was clear they felt we had left their territory, and they were not willing to risk continuing. I scanned the horizon to the east looking for signs of any markers, but could see nothing that identified why they had turned back.
I was continuing my scan while following the carts, when I noticed Hencktor allowing the carts to pass. He looked at me and the spear I was still carrying. “What is that?” he asked.
“One of our visitors threw it as us,” I said.
“Who?” Hencktor asked.
I held the spear out to him. “Hold this while I eat my breakfast,” I said. “I’ll explain while we walk. It shouldn’t take that long.”
Hencktor took the spear. I dipped my fingers in the pouch Gertrilla had given me and began shoveling the pieces of sausage and cheese into my mouth. As soon as I swallowed the first bite I spoke. “Five people were following us. One was huge, bigger than you or me, but he didn’t look human. His face was strange with a pig-like nose and fangs that came down over his lower lip. He had four men with him. Heather noticed that the smaller men wore some kind of toe covering that may have been the cause of those strange circular holes in the tracks we saw yesterday.”
“What did they want?” Hencktor asked as I took a moment to grab another bite of sausage. He waited while I chewed the food.
“They said nothing, but one charged forward. He was knocked down by a stone from a sling,” I said.
“Who shot?” Hencktor asked loudly.
“That was Yveney’s shot!” we heard Piemal shout back. “She said it looked like the man was going to throw the spear at the herds.”
I shrugged. “Anyway it fell to the ground ahead of Borlan, and I picked it up. And now I’m eating breakfast.”
Hencktor shook his head. “You aren’t worried about what just happened? I mean five men followed us for half the morning. Only killing one got them to turn back.”
“I don’t think they turned back because of the death,” I said. “Heather noted that they seemed concerned about something to the southeast. I suspect we crossed some territorial boundary.”
“What does that mean?” Hencktor asked.
“I’m not sure. I’m not even sure what we were looking at. They had human skin color, but the noses weren’t normal and the big one looked like some kind of….” I shrugged unable to come up with a word for the last creature.
“I’ve heard orcs had fangs of some kind and very rough faces,” Hencktor said. “but what about the rest.”
“Um. Ron…” Heather said slowly. There was a strange note of awe and fear in her voice. I looked up to see that she was pointing off to the southeast. “Doesn’t that look like some kind of Aztec temple?”
Chapter 6: Meeting the Natives
Hencktor and I turned to see the building Heather was pointing to. It was a massive stone pyramid that rose high into the air. We could see that there was some kind of platform near the top. Twin b
raziers provide a flickering beacon that could be seen for miles. Scrambling up and down the visible side of the pyramid, there were some creatures that look similar ‘our’ kobold.
I noticed that our accompanying kobold had left the safety of the wagons and was advancing towards the pyramid. “Borlan, we need to move faster. Pass that message forward,” I shouted.
“Why?” Hencktor asked as I began moving to circle the herd. “We don’t know they are hostile.”
“The last group did try to throw a spear at our herds,” I said. “And that was likely a small raiding party or patrol far out of their territory. We ran into this temple too quickly for them to have turned back at a border of some kind. They were fairly confident they could follow us almost to the city safely. But for them to turn back near the end suggests that this group won't be welcoming.”
“Maybe patrols this close would be too big to fight off,” Heather said. She paused for a moment. “Oh, that doesn’t work because then you have to wonder if we can fight off a patrol. That makes it worse if these guys are hostile.”
“Exactly,” I said as we passed by Piemal. He looked over at the temple and frowned.
“Corwar,” Piemal shouted. “Look forward. We should rotate the herders and get the better slingers between us and that place.”
Corwar turned to shout at someone in the distance. I looked back to see that the carts and wagons had sped up noticeably. They were still travelling with the edge of the bluff to the right so I relaxed a little as Heather, Hencktor, and I continued to move around our slowly moving herd.
We had reached the far side of the herd when Soldrin ran up from behind us. His breath came in gasps as he staggered to a halt. “Sorry,” he said between breaths. “Krysbain says that there is a large group waiting by the pyramid. He says some look a bit like orcs, but the color of their skin is wrong.”
