The beast got to him first and pounced at the last instant. Decker anticipated this, knowing animals as he did, and side stepped to the left of the creature and stabbed in the side with his dagger. The wolf like animal bucked furiously and Decker lost the grip on his dagger which remained deep in the animal's side. The orc came around from behind the beast and slashed at him, forcing Decker to jump back, narrowly avoiding having his stomach carved open. Shardae, the goddess of luck, was with the ranger as the orc's pet kicked out in a painful spasm, striking the ribs of its owner. Although the impact was not enough to throw the orc to the ground, it did put him off balance long enough for Decker to jab his sword into the orc's stomach. As the orc doubled over in pain, Decker spun a full three hundred and sixty degrees and slashed the orc across the back of his exposed neck. This also served to put the dying orc in between him and that ferocious animal that had now turned around and was currently baring his large fangs at Decker in a loud roar.
Once again the creature pounced and Decker didn't have enough time to side step it and so he just fell back on his back and jabbed up with his sword, planting it deep into the animal's chest. Its screech of pain was loud but brief as it collapsed lifelessly on top of Decker. The weight of the creature took his breath away, but he was alive and was eventually able to wriggle his way out from underneath it. He retrieved his dagger and bow and went off to inspect his horse.
He wasn't surprised to see his horse lying still in the grass with blood flowing from the wound in its chest, but he was certainly saddened by it. Nima had not only been his mount for years but also his companion, and now he had ridden her for the last time. The orcs had made short work of the killing, Nima having just that one wound, but a large and fatal one it was.
After uttering a brief and silent prayer for his horse, Decker retrieved his small pack and started following the orcs' tracks, which were far more subtle than he had thought, but certainly easy enough for his skilled tracking abilities. It didn't take him long to establish that this was a chance meeting only and that the orcs had not been sent out to track him, meaning that these orcs were keeping an eye on the smaller orc's movements.
He went back to see what the attacking army was up to and saw that they were on the move again and had a fair head start on him. Without his mount, Decker had a long walk back home, and although he could move quicker than a marching army, he had rougher terrain to deal with and not a wide, smooth road. He knew the western gate would no doubt be closed up tight by now, but hoped they had left the northern gate open a little longer for him or else he'd have a further walk around to the eastern gate, knowing that'd be the last gate they would close, as reinforcements continued to arrive. So with those thoughts in his mind, Decker set off to try and beat the advancing army back to Arthea.
* * *
"The orcs are in sight," shouted down a soldier on the wall to the general.
"Full alert," shouted General Kehar back at the wall. His order was echoed right around the city.
"Has Decker returned yet?" the general asked the runner next to him.
"When last I was at the northern gate he had not been seen. That was about half an hour ago now, general," replied the runner.
"Well run on back there and check again. Tell them to wait another half hour, then close the gate whether he has returned or not. Then run on to the eastern gate and tell them to wait an hour and then seal the gate."
The runner nodded, turned on his heels and sped off carrying the general's orders.
It was now two hours past midday and the ranger still had not returned. It was not unusual for Decker to be late, but General Kehar still had a bad feeling. Although Decker was not a soldier in the Arthean army, he liked the ranger and had a great amount of respect for him. He'd hate to find out that something bad had happened to him. But he couldn't concern himself too much with that now, he had to make sure everything was in place for the defence of the city.
* * *
Kade had overheard the runner's words about closing the gate. Since then, he had been keenly watching into the distance, trying to spot Decker. He idolised the ranger and didn't want to see him locked outside the city. Only minutes before they were to close and bar the northern gate, Kade caught sight of movement on the horizon. He called down to the soldiers manning the gate, alerting them that Decker had been spotted. As the figure approached, Kade realised that he was on foot instead of mounted. On seeing this he rushed down the ladder, mounted the closest horse and rode out the gate toward the ranger.
Pulling up in front of Decker, Kade could easily see that the man had been in a fight. Dried blood stained one side of his face and his clothes were covered in blood; Kade hoped that all that blood didn't belong to him. Decker looked tired and ragged and walked with a noticeable limp, making the ranger look a lot less agile than he normally did. Without comment, Kade held out his arm. Decker gripped it, and pulled himself up behind the young man. Kade kicked his horse into motion and turned back toward the city gate.
The soldiers at the gate looked relieved to see Decker alive and well, and started closing the gate the moment he was inside. Kade pulled his mount up before his captain.
"Who ordered you to take a horse outside the gates, private?" asked his captain sternly.
"No one, sir. I merely noticed that Decker was without his mount and figured the quicker we got him inside, the sooner we can close the gate," replied Kade apologetically.
"You'll be in charge of your own squad soon enough, soldier," replied the captain with a smile. "That was quick and decisive thinking. Now, I'm sure the general would like a word from you, Decker, you'll find him at the western gate." The captain turned to Decker. "Can you ride yourself, or do you need my young escort here?"
"I can ride, captain," replied Decker. "Thanks for the lift," he said to Kade as he gave him a pat on his shoulder. Kade dismounted quickly and watched as Decker rode off into the city.
* * *
Decker soon spotted General Kehar up on the western wall barking out orders as only he could do. Decker shouted up to him and the general turned toward him quickly. General Kehar told him to stay where he was and that he'd be down in a moment. Decker dismounted and hailed a water carter over. He had run out of water on his trek back to the city since he had to walk instead of ride. He drank long and deep and felt greatly restored after he had done so. He looked up at the wall and was alarmed at how few men seemed to be up there. Not that the walls were lacking activity, far from it, but he had seen first-hand the army that marched toward them, and knew that, by now, that army would be well and truly visible from that vantage point. He wondered if the orcs planned to attack this day, or if they would wait until first light tomorrow. He knew he'd have his answer soon enough. Looking back at the general, he realised he'd have a bit of a wait on his hands and so he sat himself down and leaned against the deserted building nearest him and closed his eyes.
* * *
"General, my two worg riders have not returned," said Gundruna. "They should have been back hours ago."
"What were their orders?" asked General Krak'too
"They were to observe the human city until noon to make sure no retaliation strike was organised against us. Then they were to return, keeping an eye on the road to the little orcs' new fort to see if their army is marching yet."
"And you tell me this only now?" growled the fearsome orc. "If the humans have sent out a force, and are responsible for the disappearance of your worg riders, they could be upon us at any moment."
"I'm sorry, general. I only thought they had been delayed, but now it seems something serious has happened to them."
"Your mistake will be noted, Gundruna. I hope you're enjoying the assignment of squad leader, because that you will remain with mistakes like this. Send out two more of your riders now and see if they can determine the fate of the other two. My scouts will be busy making sure no army approaches us." Gundruna found it hard not to show her anger at the general; that would only ser
ve to make matters worse, if she wasn't killed on the spot that is. She bowed her head ever so slightly and set off to find her best and fastest riders.
* * *
"Keep your head still." Cressida was trying to dab some ointment on the cut on Decker's cheek.
After telling the general about his encounter with large orcs and their mounts, General Kehar had sent him straight to the barrack's infirmary. Decker tried arguing with him, saying it was just a superficial cut, but the general wouldn't hear it. He said he needed everyone at full capacity for the coming fight and for all they knew, those large orcs could use lethal poisons. Decker had laughed at that and tried telling General Kehar that he highly doubted the orcs would poison their fists just in case they got in a fight, but he was cut off mid-sentence, and so now he sat in a near deserted infirmary getting treated by a cleric he'd never seen before. She was attractive; he gave her that much credit, but stubborn and blunt. After a brief explanation to her about how he sustained the injury, he had asked her for a simple field bandage. She had said nothing to him but 'sit' very firmly and then she started applying smelly ointments that stung greatly.
"My head is still," he replied.
"No it's not, your moving your cheek," she said.
"I haven't yet learnt how to talk without moving my cheek," he said sarcastically.
"Well stop talking then, and stop grinding your teeth like you were before. I need a good look at this wound." Cressida forced his head to one side and looked closer at the wound on his cheek.
"It's a simple cut, nothing more."
"I had no idea you were a cleric. Were you aware, cleric, that simple cuts could become seriously infected and prove fatal? Now stop talking."
"Makes it hard for me to argue the point back at you, my lady, if you don't allow me to speak," said Decker.
"A double win for me then." She covered Decker's mouth with her hand before he could form a reply. After forcefully holding his head still for a moment and applying some more ointment, she said, "I'm going to have to stitch this wound together. Sit here while I get my things."
"I think it's hardly worthy of stitches, my lady, I'm sure a bandage will suffice," said Decker as soon as her hand left his mouth.
"The wound is wide and deep, and if left to heal by itself would leave your pretty face uneven with an ugly scar."
"Are you this concerned about scars on all those you treat?" asked Decker.
"I'm a very thorough cleric, who happens to have plenty of time at the moment as most of the dwarves have been fully healed already."
"Well thank you, I'd hate to have to face the orcs tomorrow with an uneven face. Such a vain race they are." He heard a bit of a chuckle from the cleric and was surprised at how much he enjoyed that sound. When she turned back to face him again, though, her face was stern once more. He decided it was for the best that he remained quiet while she held a sharp needle near his face.
Chapter 12
A City Under Siege
Master Pilk had slept the night in a section of the barracks near the keep where only wizards were allowed. It was named 'The Griffin Wing'. Before turning in for the night, Pilk and the other eleven wizards, two of which had come from Yulon to help, had discussed tactics and the best way they could be of use in the defence of the city. Pilk had arranged for the boys and Jazz to move in to some spare rooms in the visitors' wing of the barracks. They were to help Cressida in whatever way possible. Pilk hoped that they didn't prove to be too much a hindrance to his sister.
Now it was early morning and he was first to arise among the wizards. He hoped that their sleeps were as restful as his was, as they would all need to be at full strength today. He threw on his robe, strapped on his custom made belt with its wands, potions and scrolls already secured to it and made his way out of the keep.
The western wall was already abuzz with activity when he arrived, and when he looked into the distance, he soon understood why. The orcs were forming ranks, finishing off some of their war machines and collecting ammunition for them. The army stood two bowshot lengths away from the city walls, just out of range of the city's best catapult.
There seemed to be less of them this morning as to what Pilk saw of them yesterday, and General Kehar confirmed this as he came up beside the wizard. "About five thousand of them moved 'round to the north of the city late last night. Guess they wanna stop any reinforcements coming down from Kethlon and Tekoa."
"Little do they know that Kethlon has no soldiers to spare and Tekoa have already sent the few they were willing to part with," replied Pilk sombrely.
"Still a pain in the arse, they are. Means we have to defend two fronts."
"Means they have to divide their forces too, general," said Master Pilk with a cheeky smile.
"True enough," was all the general said in reply. The two men stood si-lently watching the orcs for a while before General Kehar spoke up again, "Are your friends joining us today, Pilk, or do they intend to sleep the entire battle?"
"Sleep is especially important for a wizard, general, but yes, they will be joining us momentarily. We are as prepared as can be. When they arrive, I'll send two of them over to the northern wall to counter any magic the shamans might use and assist where they may."
"Thank you, Master Pilk, I'm sure the men will be glad of the assis-tance."
"Bah, smelly orc magic ain't nuthin' to be 'fraid of," came a voice from behind them. "Just let me and me boy's at 'em and we'll splatter 'em, magic or no."
"Human's don't share your degree of resistance to magic, General Ludko, and even still you became a victim of it on your way here," replied Master Pilk, not even turning around to regard the dwarf general.
"Those orcs be not normal orcs, wizard," said General Ludko, walking around in front of the two humans. "And we weren't prepared for their smelly tricks."
"All right you two, we are here to fight together and not each other. Save your anger for them down there." General Kehar pointed a finger down at the army of orcs. "Are your contraptions ready, General Ludko?" General Kehar turned to face the dwarf general directly.
"Contraptions, ya callin' 'em, ay? We have about ten squish ramps ready, with finishin' touches to go into a further five. Collectin' and preparin' the ammo goes a little slower though, but we have enough to get us started with the squishin'"
"Feel free to request help from as many of my men as you need, general. I'm rather excited to see these 'squish ramps' in action." General Kehar rubbed his hands together.
"Ya got any stonemasons still in the city?"
"A couple. I'll have them sent to you at once."
"I'll be off then, general. Got meself plenty o' work to do," General Ludko turned and walked away from the men.
"Squish ramps?" asked Master Pilk when the dwarf had gone.
"Better you don't ask, Master Pilk. Better you don't ask," replied General Kehar as he purposefully walked away from Pilk.
* * *
"You're sure there were no other hidden combatants?" asked Gundruna
"Yes. The tracks from the human spy's mount ended at the trees. The worg riders killed the horse and engaged the human. Two dead orcs and two dead worgs with no dead human," Keaka summarised again.
Gundruna could scarcely believe it; she spent a lot of time training her riders and held little doubt they were among the most skilled worg riders in the tribe. To lose two of them and their mounts to one human was inconceivable. She was not looking forward to telling General Krak'too about this, but she set off to find him anyway.
She found him a short time later, personally overseeing some con-struction work on some new defensive towers. "The humans' slow response to our presence serves us well," said General Krak'too noticing the approach of the squad leader. "The more the little orcs delay them, the longer we have to prepare our defence."
"Do you think that if the humans fight back the little orcs army, they won't come at us with everything they have?" asked Gundruna hesitantly, losing confidence that they wo
uld have any chance in that case after hearing about her two worg riders.
"Looking to be a general, are you, Gundruna? With your recent per-formance, I'd say you're lucky to still be a squad leader. So, what is the fate of your missing riders?" Gundruna swallowed hard, this was not going to go down well for her.
"They were both found dead, along with their worgs," she said a little quietly.
"I'm assuming many corpses of their killers surrounded their own?" asked the general.
"The corpses were alone, general, with a human mount not too far away. It seems as though a single human warrior brought about their demise."
General Krak'too showed genuine surprise at this, but only briefly before his face went stern once more. "Perhaps more training is needed to sharpen the skills of your riders, Gundruna. We cannot afford these sorts of losses. The fierce one is reluctant to even replace our losses of late as he suspects an attack from the Red Axe at any moment. From this point on, your riders are not to go out alone, understood?"
"Understood, general," replied Gundruna as she turned and headed back to the worg compounds.
* * *
Chief Fa'rasha observed the activity of his army. It was all coming together nicely. Since taking the human fort those weeks before, the morale of the army had improved dramatically. The orcs knew that if they stuck together, they could defeat the humans. When he first mentioned to the army inside the human fort that he planned on taking the city they called 'Arthea', a huge roar went up, and he could still see that confidence in these orcs now as he watched the preparations coming together.
He had sent Chief Narva around to the north of the city with five thousand orcs last night in an attempt to divide the humans' defence. They had taken wagons full of lumber with them to construct some ladders and war machines and the new rollable towers. Chief Izidorr had come up with the idea after observing the attack on the human fort. Fa'rasha just hoped that Chief Narva had enough time to construct a reasonable amount before noon when they had planned to attack.
The Gate - A New Breed of Orc (The Gate Series Book 1) Page 24
