* * *
Master Pilk with the two boys in tow found a rather large rock off to the southern side of the clearing. It afforded a good view of the battlefield and, in particular, that menacing gate, which seemed to have a never ending line of orcs racing through it. Master Pilk noticed the squad of crossbow orcs coming through and quickly taking up their positions. The first round of bolts were loosed upon Jethro's squad before Master Pilk could even think of a way to counter them. He saw ten men go down with at least one bolt sticking out of them, as did two orcs who got in the way. Other bolts narrowly missed, but it was obvious that if he could not put these crossbow orcs out of action, Jethro's squad didn't stand a chance, and so he started casting his firewall spell.
* * *
As Jethro was watching the full squad of crossbow orcs, a line of fire suddenly appeared along their full length. He saw orcs dropping their crossbows, jumping forwards or backwards or rolling around on the ground, putting themselves out. The fire didn't kill any of the orcs or even severely wound them, but it did burn all their crossbows, making them useless for any further attacks. Some were burnt to ashes, while others were damaged just enough to impair their structural integrity. Jethro silently thanked Master Pilk for his ingenuity.
A quick look around showed Jethro that the original fifteen orcs that charged them were all dead, but more were streaming through the gate every minute and he was already twelve men down and had no idea how many orcs were lined up on the other side of that gate. He was committed now, though, so he charged the squad of crossbow orcs with a primal roar, confident that his squad would follow his lead.
* * *
Jeff and Gerard entered the clearing at the same time as Jethro's roaring charge.
"The boy's got a lot of spirit, doesn't he?" Gerard stated as much as asked, looking across at Jeff. As Jeff watched him, Jethro cut down the first of the crossbow orcs before he could even draw his large dagger.
"Knows how to use those blades of his too," observed Jeff as the two men ran on to join the fray.
By the time Jeff and Gerard reached the battle, another two orcs lay dead with no more loss to Jethro's squad. The fire wall was still burning, preventing close to half the crossbow orcs from assisting their brethren. But the problem was, the orcs streaming through the gate were now organising themselves for a charge. They were also behind the firewall, but Gerard knew that wall wouldn't remain there much longer. They had no idea how many orcs they were potentially facing. A decision was going to have to be made and soon. Gerard made his way over to Jethro, killing an orc on his way. One look at Jethro and he knew the man was thinking the same thing.
"Do we flee, Gerard?" asked Jethro.
"I don't like running from orcs but we don't know their number. We could be fighting an entire army." Jethro nodded in agreement. The last of the orcs this side of the firewall was killed and so Jethro ordered the retreat. Immediately after giving the order the firewall disappeared and a full two squads of orcs began charging.
* * *
"Can't you do something?" asked Trent as he looked on. "Put up another firewall or something." As he finished speaking a line of lightning came forth from Master Pilk's pointing finger. When the lightning hit the first orc, it jumped to the next, and then the next until it stopped on the tenth orc. The first two orcs fell down, one dead and the other seriously wounded, the rest continued their charge after a small hesitation.
"Never interrupt a casting wizard, boy, unless of course that wizard is casting a spell in your direction," chuckled Master Pilk. "I fear my mana is getting low, boys, there is not much more I can do," continued an exhausted Master Pilk.
"Mana?" asked Trent.
"Yes, mana; a magic user's source of stored energy. I will tell you more of it later, for now I have to secure our escape."
"But we can't just leave them all here to be slaughtered," argued Vik. Master Pilk finished off another incantation, pointed in front of him and pointed again to a far off location he had spotted to the south.
"What did I tell you boys about interrupting a casting wizard?" scolded Master Pilk through clenched teeth, as a small gate formed in front of him. "Any who can make it hither can pass through the gate, but as you recall it is limited to about ten uses, probably less as this gate travels further." Vik looked set to argue with Master Pilk but instead jumped out from behind the rock and started charging toward the retreating squad, Trent a split second behind. "Their father's sons," muttered Master Pilk to the empty night air, shaking his head as the boys ran off.
* * *
Jethro made sure that his remaining twenty soldiers were following his order to retreat before he turned around and started to run as well. Gerard and Jeff had also waited until the last before beginning their retreat. Jethro chanced a quick look over his shoulder and saw the chain lightning hit the leading orcs, but the others were gaining on them.
"We won't make it," shouted Jethro at Gerard.
"Just make it to the tree line," Gerard shouted back, "it'll give us a fighting chance at least." So the three men ran on. A few paces on, Gerard noticed Vik and Trent running out from behind a rock south of their position, waving their arms. Thinking quickly, Gerard shouted to the soldiers, "Run south, to the boys." The squad instantly changed course and started running towards Vik and Trent. Still it was obvious to Gerard they would be overtaken before reaching the large boulder where Gerard assumed Master Pilk had an escape plan.
"Half squad turn and hold position," shouted Gerard. Half the fleeing soldiers closest to Gerard stopped instantly and turned to face the orcs. Jethro, Jeff and Gerard were among them. As the other ten soldiers ran on, Gerard said to Jethro, "That squad needs a leader."
"They have Master Pilk, and what they really need is more time to es-cape. I'll give them that." Then the orcs were upon them.
* * *
Master Pilk watched both the boys change direction and start running back toward him. He also noticed half the squad of soldiers stop and face the charging orcs obviously trying to buy enough time for the others to escape. He wasn't surprised that the boy's fathers were among those.
As soon as the boys came in behind the large rock, Master Pilk or-dered them both through the magical gate.
"We will go through with our fathers," answered Vik.
"You will go through now or suffer your fathers' wrath when they catch up to you. Now go." Seeing the boys still hesitating, Master Pilk grabbed Vik and swiftly pushed him through the gate. Before he could do the same, Trent ran in after him. Master Pilk just hoped that he didn't position the other end of his gate at the edge of a cliff or he would have some serious explaining to do later.
Before the fleeing soldiers reached his position, Master Pilk had opened a second gate next to the first. As they arrived he ordered them through the gate, leaving a small interval between each soldier entering. Five soldiers went through the first gate after the boys before it failed, so Master Pilk sent the other five through the next gate. He would watch and observe what unfolded here before entering himself or possibly opening a third gate if any of those brave soldiers made it away safely.
* * *
The orcs came on in such a rush. Gerard, Jeff, Jethro and ten soldiers stood firm, facing over fifty large charging orcs. They didn't stand a chance, Gerard knew, but they had to at least buy some time, and so Gerard unleashed all his fury upon the first orc that neared him. The orc looked at him disbelievingly as he futilely tried to hold his innards in. He dropped to the ground a short time later. Gerard pictured his wife's body lying on the floor near his front door as he hacked down a second orc. He once again saw his young daughter, face down on the kitchen floor with a huge gash in her back as he cut down the third orc. He remembered the face of his friend, distraught, kneeling over the body of his headless wife as he hacked apart the fourth orc. He recalled his own son, vomiting on the floor from grief as he beheaded the fifth orc. A ball of fury, he barely felt the sharp edge of the falchion that slashed acro
ss his chest, and didn't see the blow that hit him in the head, sending him into blackness.
* * *
Vik stumbled out the other side of the gate, not quite falling over on this rocky ground. Once he regained his footing he quickly stepped to the side. A split second later, Trent came charging through the gate. Trent immediately came over to Vik, and they both instinctively turned to the north to see if they could determine what was happening back there. They could make out very little in the night; mostly just the large shadows of trees where the grove began. They could, however, just make out the glow of the gate Master Pilk had pushed them through. A faint noise sounded behind them, and when they turned around they saw the forming of a second gate. A moment later, a battered soldier came through the first gate, followed soon after by another, and a third until five had come through and the gate collapsed.
"Our fathers?" asked Vik to the soldier heading their way.
"They stopped to buy us some time, along with Jethro and half the remaining squad," said the soldier in ragged breaths. Vik couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was he to lose his entire family tonight? He started running toward the second gate, but the soldier grabbed him by the arm.
"Do not dishonour your fathers' sacrifice by going back there," said the soldier forcefully. Both the boys collapsed to their knees as tears came to their eyes for the second time this night. The soldier put his arm around Vik as the remaining five soldiers came through the second gate and said, "We all owe your fathers our lives, lads."
* * *
"Form up, you slime dogs," ordered General Krak'too. The fire wall stood twenty paces before him and he could still feel its heat from here. That magic user had effectively made his crossbow squad useless. On the other side of the wall, they were being slaughtered. On this side of the wall, they were slow to form up, preparing for the charge when the flames disappeared. He had his two squads of grunts lined up and ready and had given them the order to charge as soon as the wall went down. Finally the remaining eleven crossbow orcs had ceased rolling on the ground and patting themselves down and formed some semblance of order.
The last of the orcs were cut down on the other side of the fire wall and a command was shouted. The humans, if that is what they were, started to turn and run and a moment later the fire wall vanished. General Krak'too gave the order to charge. Once the majority of grunts had passed him, he began to charge along with them. He didn't like the idea of being the target of their magic user. When he saw almost all of his remaining crossbow orcs hit by a lightning bolt, he was thankful he made that choice.
His army was gaining ground fast on the humans, but all of a sudden they changed direction and a number of his grunts fell all over each other as they tried to follow. This is why you put grunts at the front of an army, thought the general, to be used as fodder. The humans were able to increase the distance in that moment, but General Krak'too knew it wouldn't last. They were outnumbered and had nowhere to go; meanwhile he had reinforcements streaming through the gate. He would see to it that these humans were caught.
Sure enough, the humans stopped and faced them, or at least half of them did, and within moments his army was upon them. Then he realised this was the perfect time to get some prisoners. The fierce one will be very pleased, he thought as he yelled out the order to take as many alive as possible.
* * *
Jeff was to Gerard's left hand side as the line of orcs hit. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his friend's furious attack on the first orc as he battled his first. He'd been in a lot of battles with Gerard and had never seen him hit a target so hard and ferociously. Jeff found an opening with the orc he was battling and was quick to take advantage of it. He jabbed his sword in hard and the orc fell to the ground. By the time he had engaged the second orc, Gerard had already killed his second and was working his way deeper into the orc ranks. This was not the way the two men normally fought together. They would try to fight side by side so they could help each other out. Jeff realised that Gerard was obviously venting his anger.
The soldier to Jeff's left went down, possibly mortally wounded and so Jeff found himself separated from the squad and facing a sea of orcs. He increased his ferocity in an attempt to catch up to Gerard and quickly killed his second. The third orc took a bit longer to dispatch, so Jeff found himself falling further behind his friend. He took a quick survey of the situation and noticed that Jethro was still fighting hard further to his right and a couple of the other soldiers were still battling as well, but Jeff knew they had no chance. What had he done? He still had a son to take care of and he charged straight off into battle against insurmountable odds.
Thinking about Trent and what the boy had witnessed this night and the likely loss of his father as well made Jeff fight all the harder. As he took down the fourth orc he noticed Gerard up ahead stiffen, then an orc behind him that Jeff could still not quite get to hit Gerard hard over the head with the flat of his great axe. His friend went down in a heap. He took a quick glance across at Jethro and realised the young man had noticed it too.
Both men quickly took down the orc they were fighting and started towards Gerard's position. Jeff got there first and took out his anger on the orc that had bashed Gerard over the head. The orc never knew what had hit him before his life fled from him. The one who had slashed Gerard across the chest was now confronted with two very angry men. He didn't stand a chance as two swords jabbed in at him, both finding their mark. But suddenly the two men found themselves surrounded by the enemy.
Rather than attack, the orcs made a circle around them. Totally sur-rounded by orcs wielding axes, spears, halberds and falchions all at the ready, the two men realised the orcs had them at their mercy. Jeff glanced down at his friend on the ground and realised with relief he was still breathing. The slash across his chest seemed to be somewhat superficial. He'd have a terrible headache for a while, but he would survive if given the chance.
Jeff looked back up and the orcs were still not advancing, they ap-peared to be waiting. Waiting for what? Wondered Jeff. He wasn't left wondering for long as the orcs in front of him parted, making way for a larger, broader orc.
This orc exuded power. It was obvious he was in charge as the orcs nearest him almost cowered. Surprisingly this orc didn't wear the half plate armour all the other orcs wore, but light leather armour. This orc obviously trusted his abilities with his two large falchions; wide metal blades curving slightly and narrowing to a sharp point at their ends, which were hanging by his sides. On the breast of his armour hung a number of coloured ribbons; it didn't take one to notice the ribbons, though, before they realised the command this orc obviously held. The way he walked, the way he stood and the way he held himself was enough to alert anyone nearby that here stood an orc of considerable power.
Jeff had never seen an orc wielding two large falchions before. Orcs didn't normally have the coordination needed to wield two such weapons. These were no ordinary falchions, either. They were longer and broader than the normal falchions Jeff had seen. It was also evident that they held some magical property by their faint blue glow. The orc strode toward Jeff and Jethro, stopping only a few paces before them. Then he began to speak.
Chapter 3
Retreat
Master Pilk continued to watch as soldier after soldier eventually fell. He noticed the ferocity of Gerard's fighting with a mixture of admiration and fear. He eventually lost sight of the big man as he was surrounded by the orcs. Jeff and Jethro were still fighting hard, but eventually he lost sight of them as well. The last of the soldiers had passed through his gate, and it was now obvious none of the others were going to make it. As an orc noticed him and started charging, Master Pilk calmly stepped through his gate. Once he was safely through, he waved his hand and the gate vanished behind him.
The first thing Master Pilk noticed as he exited the gate was that it was facing the way he intended it to. He would have to remember how he managed that. The second thing he noticed was the two boy
s down on the ground weeping and being comforted by a soldier. It seemed the sight of him and the vanishing of the gate took all the remaining strength from the boys, and had not the soldier been there to support them, they would have collapsed face first into the hard rock. He could offer them little comfort, but went over to them and sat down in between them and put an arm around each one.
While sitting there with the boys, Master Pilk took note of his sur-rounds. He knew this entire region like the back of his hand. He realised they were a fair way into Stonecutters Defile, a large rocky region very hard to traverse, but a stonecutter's dream. Stone was often cut out from this region, floated down Tear Drop River on large barges to El Rasa where the rock was cut into smaller pieces, and then taken by road into Arthea where it was finally shaped, sold and distributed. More importantly for Master Pilk was their exact location. They were high up, surrounded by sheer cliff faces almost impossible to climb; a perfect place to set up camp for the night and get some rest before journeying back to Arthea. He looked at the soldier who was comforting the boys when he arrived and said quietly, "Have the men set up camp, we rest here. Have one soldier on watch and let the rest of the men sleep. Three hour watch shifts."
Master Pilk remained with the boys and watched as Private Kade diligently followed his orders. He knew that he would as he had had a fair amount to do with Kade in the past. He was a man in his early twenties with a kindly spirit. He would always put the needs of others ahead of his own and so Master Pilk was not surprised when Kade announced that he would take the first watch. The small wizard could tell that the young man was just as tired as the rest of the soldiers, but he would allow them to get some rest before him and he would take his duty on guard very seriously.
The Gate - A New Breed of Orc (The Gate Series Book 1) Page 7
