by Joe Jackson
“More recently, though, they’ve gotten even more vicious. They seem to have split into numerous smaller tribes or clans, and their infighting has escalated. Worse, now they care little for who gets caught in the middle of their conflicts, attacking travelers, caravans, and just about anything that moves. In recent weeks, we’ve been considering getting involved to at least put an end to the fighting, but this is beyond diplomacy, and we’re not sure which side we would be best served aiding.”
“Have you seen any of my people up this way, either joining in or trying to put an end to the fighting?” Max asked.
The general regarded him for a moment. “Not that I’ve seen or been made aware of,” he answered, glancing at his two fellow generals, who shook their heads. “And most of the gnolls are too stupid to even speak the common trade tongue, so it’s been difficult to get answers.”
Max frowned again, and then said something in the flowing dialect of the luranar. The general shook his head, glancing at the other two men with him. Before the human could reply, though, Max continued in his native tongue. With no response forthcoming, he said something in another language, and then another, so far as Leighandra could tell. When he was done, it seemed the generals had no idea how to respond. Finally, the luranar prince translated his own words, “Be careful who you call stupid for not being able to speak your language. Instead, bear in mind that you speak very few of theirs.”
Galadon put a hand to Max’s shoulder and snorted. “Max is right. We can’t go into a situation like this expecting to help when we look down our noses at those we try to aid. True, to us, the gnolls seem quite savage and perhaps stupid, but we can’t treat them as such, and we have to remember they probably see us the same way.”
“This looks like the heart of the gnolls’ strength,” Delkantar said, pointing to an empty area. He began tapping each of the gnoll positions in turn, and continued, “All of their major strong points surround this area, suggesting there’s something – or more likely, someone – that needs protecting. Perhaps this is the place to start.”
“If we can speak with some of them, I may be able to get us a better idea of how to proceed,” Max said. “I believe the Caerumachs speak a different dialect than their cousins here in the north, but I should be able to get my points across, at least.”
“Will they regard you as, or at least recognize you as a prince?” Yiilu asked.
“Not in a way that benefits us,” he answered, ignoring the sudden respect on the faces of the three generals. “In many cases, the free gnolls regard our relationship with the Caerumach tribe as being a corrupting influence. They do not want to live as we do, much less the way your people or these folk of Dira Ch’Tori do. They see us all as a threat to their way of life, and may see me as a focal point of that.”
“You’re not exactly exuding confidence in our ability to talk to them,” Starlenia said, leaning out over the map with narrowed eyes. “We might just be best served finding this family member of yours and then continuing on.”
“Karinda sent us this way for a reason,” Leighandra countered. “If we are to give in too easily on this, what hope do we have of solving the larger issues?”
“Oh, shut up,” the Okonashai woman said with a laugh.
Yiilu smirked for a moment but then pointed to the map. “It may be beyond the scope of our influence, but the czarikk will be migrating north soon, if they have not already. Do they not come up the coast every summer to forage in the northern forests?” The generals spoke back and forth and then confirmed her thoughts. “A conflict among the gnolls endangers the czarikk as well, then. And they will have their young with them. If there is a way to end this conflict, either directly or indirectly, we must make every effort to do so, and quickly.”
“We’re going to put a stop to it, one way or another,” Galadon declared. “Let’s go on Delkantar’s intuition and see if we can find the source of the problem here.”
“What about us, Majesty?” General Neimann asked. “Will you require the assistance of the military?”
“We’ll go on the assumption we won’t. Let us try to solve this by our own methods, and if that won’t work, I’ll send word for you to mobilize and where. But it’s best if we leave the armies out of this for now. We’re not exactly familiar enough with the gnolls to differentiate friend from foe if it comes to that.”
“Good point, my lord.”
“Max, we’re going to rely heavily on you for this.”
“I am up to the task, my friend,” the luranar paladin answered.
Galadon pointed to the clear spot on the map again. “Delkantar, Starlenia – it’s going to be up to the two of you to get us here without being held up by skirmish after skirmish.”
“We’ll leave at dawn,” the woodsman said. “I’ve never ranged this far east, but I don’t see these woods being too much different than back home.”
“What about the gnolls themselves?” Max asked, but Delkantar refrained from answering but to shrug. The luranar prince didn’t push the issue.
“And Lauren?” Galadon prompted, drawing the regent’s attention. “In the meantime, can you provide me with every bit of history you have about the battle with Arku?”
“I can, though it is quite limited, my lord.”
“Doesn’t matter. Just need it to try refreshing my memories.”
Leighandra looked around as the meeting came to an end, and she nodded her head. Their group was small, but thus far, they seemed to have everything they needed to accomplish their immediate goals. She thought of all the songs she’d heard and performed that dealt with the Apocalypse, and particularly the battle with Arku. Would Galadon be receptive to her own efforts to shake his memories free?
There was only one way to find out. She fell into step beside him as the group was led to their respective quarters for the evening. “Would you like me to go through some of the ballads and epics I’ve learned about the War and that battle in particular?”
“Anything would help, I’m sure,” he agreed.
Chapter V – War in the North
Leighandra’s songs hadn’t produced any immediate results with Galadon. Between them and the records of the battle with Arku, though, the path to his hidden memories seemed to become clearer. Despite the need for patience and the lack of results, they did learn quite a bit from the exercise. Most notable among the findings was evidence that Galadon had, just as Regent Matthews insisted, been killed in battle with Arku, not long after Kalamaris had fallen.
The chronicler found it curious that Galadon chose to leave Max out of their meeting, but he asked her to keep it all private for the time being. Leighandra didn’t understand it. People keeping secrets from each other was always the root of problems, whether it was eroded trust, divided loyalties, or even just hurt feelings. Max was still a young man, coming of age and trying to find his place among both the world and his own people, and he strove to follow his father’s example. Leighandra wasn’t sure why Galadon would keep what he knew of Kalamaris a secret with how close he had become with the luranar prince thus far.
For his part, Max didn’t press the issue. Along with the others, he accepted Galadon’s assurance that things would come in due time and let the matter pass.
The companions spent the morning resupplying and getting ready for their trek farther north. Leighandra suggested they each pack enough supplies to reach one of the northern fures-rir cities, fully intending to go straight to Castle Tenari on the north coast to see to Karinda’s hint. After glancing at their rings from Karinda, everyone else agreed.
“Does the cold not bother your people, despite your southern home?” she asked Max as they prepared to depart.
The luranar shrugged, his gaze distant. “The fur should keep me warm enough.”
“Something troubles you?”
He shouldered his pack. “My wife was not expecting me to go out into battle. I… In all this excitement, I failed to consider her or my daughters,” he answered, but
he waved off Leighandra’s attempts to placate him. “They will be well cared for should I fall and fail to return, but that does not make me any less of a kashav.”
“Oh, we just learned a bad word in his language!” Starlenia said, shoving past the luranar playfully. “Don’t worry about it, Max. We’ve got the backing of several nations if we run into any trouble that concerning. And your wife’s not as naïve as you think.”
“True enough,” he said, frowning.
“How long have you been married?” Leighandra asked, trying to get his mind to refocus without changing the subject too much. And, of course, to be terribly nosey.
“It will be three years come the summer solstice.”
“You got married when you were sixteen?” Starlenia blurted. “Hmph, I didn’t think that was all that common outside of my own people. We get married young, too.”
“How did you meet her?” Leighandra asked a little too loudly, trying to overshadow the overly blunt rogue.
“It… was arranged,” Max answered with a sigh, and he started to walk off. He stopped after only a few steps and shook his head, then turned back to them. “Forgive me, I do not mean to be rude. I just… I miss her, even more than I expected, and the prospect of going into battle and leaving her a widow is… sobering.”
“We’ve got your back.”
“And your front,” Delkantar said, putting a hand to the luranar paladin’s pauldron as he stepped up beside him. “If things look bleak, Starlenia and I will lead us around the conflict. We’ll focus on trying diplomacy first, and if there’s going to be fighting, we’ll make sure the odds are in our favor. If not, we come back here and round up His Majesty’s army. I may not have a wife and children waiting for me back home, but that doesn’t mean I want to get back there in one piece any less.”
Max met the ranger’s eyes and they nodded curtly to each other.
“Would you stop with the majesty nonsense?” Galadon grumbled.
“We all have people we want to return home to. Let us see to it that we guard each other with our lives, that each of us ultimately can,” Max said.
There was a heartfelt chorus of hear, hear to that, and they left the city without any further delay. The roads out of Dira Ch’Tori were well-established, leading to the nearby city of Darkpines to the southwest, Norfolk and the farther frontier towns to the west, and into the wild lands between the seat of the kingdom and the fures-rir realm to the northwest. Most trade went south, with some going west and only a fraction going north, and the roads were accordingly sized and patrolled.
The gnolls apparently controlled a great deal of the woods to the north, so the friends took to the road that would eventually bring them to the fures-rir lands. Leighandra was certain that no matter how things turned out with the gnolls, Castle Tenari was their destination. There was someone there Karinda wanted them to meet, whether it was for information, aid, or perhaps an addition to their party. Whatever the case, it was a place their enemies were unlikely to follow, and even less likely to have any sort of influence. The lands of the fures-rir were an unforgiving place, one most people avoided unless they had good reason to trek there.
The roads were deserted to the north. With gnoll troubles abounding, those traveling the northern roads were likely finding roundabout routes or getting to Dira Ch’Tori by ship where possible. The road was wide, but the silent vigil of the deep pine forest on either side lent it a haunted quality. Thankfully, there was no fog to bring a physical aspect to it, but Leighandra watched the noses and ears of her two lupine companions every so often for any signs of trouble.
“You said the czarikk migrate?” Delkantar asked, rousing Leighandra from her thoughts.
“Aye, from their winter home in the south of Laeranore up to the coasts here, north of Dira Ch’Tori, for the summer,” Yiilu answered.
“I thought they’d just stay where it’s warm.”
“They are wary of exhausting their food supply and overstaying their welcome, as it were. The scale-folk are not farmers, relying primarily on hunting and fishing, so they migrate to give the land and sea time to recover. We see them pass near our settlements from time to time, but they are a shy and quiet folk, not given to acting as we would consider neighborly. That is not to say, however, that they are poor neighbors. Anything but.”
“Then we must do the neighborly thing and protect them from this madness, no?” Max commented. “And that is to say nothing of being neighborly to the gnolls themselves.”
“Well, hopefully we can find your family member and get answers from them first,” Galadon said. “That would certainly expedite things.”
“Are there czarikk in the western woods?” Leighandra asked.
Delkantar glanced over his shoulder. “They have settlements along the coast, I think, but farther south. Don’t see them in the woods where I come from; it gets nice in the summer, but based on what Yiilu just said, I guess they like to keep their distance from our cities and towns.”
“Aye, there’s some to the northwest of my people, but we have no dealings with them,” Starlenia added. “Never even seen one of the lizard-people.”
“That may change soon enough,” Max said, and the others agreed.
They continued well past the immediate area of the city’s influence over the first day and the next. They were in Delkantar’s realm again, and despite the fact that they followed the road, he kept abreast of tracks, trails, and signs along the way. He found aged signs of gnolls in the area, but nothing that suggested they remained close to the city. On the other hand, the hunting prospects were thin, which said the gnolls’ war was having an effect on more than just people.
“How are you certain they’re not still in the area?” Galadon asked as they continued.
“Dung is old,” Delkantar answered. “Same with what I can find from the game. Chances are, the gnolls chased off or killed the game, and they may be following the herds to keep fed while they fight. But there’s nothing recent in the area that I’ve seen.”
“Man knows his shit,” Starlenia chuckled.
The ranger snorted, but added, “You’d be amazed how easy it is to track things just based on how and where they leave their droppings. Why do you think I’m so specific about how we tend to our own privy traps?”
Leighandra cocked a half-smile. She’d assumed he was just being a good steward of the woods and the lands of the realms they passed through; to think he’d been protecting them from being followed the whole time said a lot about him. Was that part of his training as one of the Ghosts of Liam, as he’d called them? There was so much to learn about her companions still, and she suspected Delkantar might have a wealth of secrets, tips, and tricks to share. Almost as if he heard her thoughts, he glanced at the chronicler over his shoulder again and smiled.
Delkantar trotted off into the woods a little bit to search for signs, and he had a frown on his face when he came back. The gnolls were growing increasingly violent and territorial, but despite General Neimann’s words, they were far from stupid. They knew better than to encroach on the city or anywhere near it, which was both a blessing and a curse. It kept the conflict safely away from the cities, but likewise drew defenders and ambassadors far from safety. And in this case, their troubles were cutting off a trade route, no matter how lightly traveled it normally was.
The third day brought the first signs of trouble, plumes of smoke rising here and there deep in the woods. They were too black, too unorganized to be campfires or anything controlled.
“Those have got to be burning homes or vehicles of some kind,” Delkantar said, watching the inky tendrils of smoke dance in the wind. “Star, help me check for any tracks veering off the road, any signs of travelers being hijacked and dragged with their belongings into the woods.”
Leighandra ran her hand along the hilt of her saber. Thus far there had been no sightings of gnolls, but as the old adage went, where there was smoke, there was fire.
Delkantar moved to the west sid
e of the road and looked east, craning his neck and trying to get a glimpse through the trees. “There’s smoke coming from that direction, but it’s different. Looks to be a controlled burn, maybe a bonfire of some kind. Near as I can figure, we’re close to the outer edge of that ring around whatever the gnolls are protecting. It’s farther east than I was expecting, but the coastline does limit how far we’ll have to look.”
“Hey Max,” Starlenia said, turning to the luranar. “Just how powerful is that sniffer of yours, anyway?”
“It is fairly astute, though not so much as Vo’rii’s would be. Why?”
“Would gnolls be able to sniff me and Delkantar out from a distance?”
The luranar considered his companions. “I think not. Their senses of smell are no less sharp than my people’s, but I cannot smell you across a room or road unless the wind specifically draws your scent to me. I could track you by scent to a degree, but again, not as easily as Vo’rii could. And as far as I am aware, the same holds true for the gnolls.”
“Think we can slip close enough to get a look?”
Delkantar chuckled. “At the risk of offending our friend, I’m honestly surprised most gnolls can smell anything beyond themselves. I think we can scout the area safely, but as Max said, they may be able to track us to the group. We’d best prepare for trouble to come to us.”
“Be very careful, please,” Max implored them. “Should you come across any gnolls that are not hostile and seem willing to talk, try to bring them back to us.”
“Can you howl reasonably well?” Starlenia asked.
Leighandra fought down the urge to hit the shorter woman over the head with something heavy. “Starlenia!”
Max held up a hand to stop her from getting worked up. “You wish me to howl to signal you if trouble finds us before you?” he asked, and the Okonashai woman nodded before shooting the chronicler a dubious glance. “Then yes, I can, and I will. I imagine Vo’rii might join in if she senses danger.”
