by Joe Jackson
“All right, Del, let’s get to work,” the rogue said, and they set off onto the shadowed paths between the trees.
Leighandra sighed as she watched them go. She and her companions could be in for some wait, and she questioned the wisdom of sitting on the wide road, exposed to anyone who watched from the trees. The others apparently felt the same, Max watching the tree line warily while Galadon turned now and then, keeping an eye out for trouble along the roads. She felt a little better having the knights with her, but against an overwhelming force, their skills wouldn’t mean much – and there was no telling how many gnolls were in the area.
Yiilu, by contrast, looked completely at ease. She sat cross-legged in a patch of sunlight on the west side of the road, eyes closed, her breathing slow, deep, and rhythmic. Vo’rii danced about her after a minute, nudging the still druidess with her nose or occasionally batting at her playfully with a paw. Though the elf’s features flowed into a smile, she still remained focused on whatever she was doing.
The minutes turned into hours, and the knights sat against some trees near Yiilu, wary of getting fatigued standing around in armor. “I remembered,” Galadon said, drawing Max’s gaze up to him while they sipped from a canteen. “I should’ve told you sooner, but I was still dealing with how I felt about it myself. Your father was probably the bravest man I ever met. He charged into battle with Arku without a second thought, selflessly putting himself between the demon king and the rest of our forces. He was struck down eventually, but others rose up to stand in his place.”
“I had this dream the other night about four flames. I’m not sure what it meant, really. It brought to mind the fact that your father and I both had flaming swords, but I don’t think we were the only ones. There were others, too, and I think…,” Galadon hesitated. “After your father was struck down, and Arku shattered my sword, I took up your father’s blade. That blue flame rallied our forces, and we drove that bastard back to where he’d come from. I guess… it’s still a bit hazy for me; I guess I met my end on his sword blade as well, but we beat him. In the end, we beat a demon king.”
The human knight turned to his young companion. “And your father was the reason that happened, the only reason we had any hope of winning, let alone accomplished the victory. I know it’s probably been hard for you to learn to become a man and a king without your father to guide you and set the example. But you’re well on your way, Max. You could have stayed home, dealt with the problems in your homeland, and left all this mess to the rest of us. But you didn’t. You’ve got that same righteous flame as your father, and here you are, following in his very footsteps.”
Auremax nodded, but his ears flicked forward before he could reply and he was on his feet in moments. “Trouble is coming,” he said through his teeth.
Vo’rii bristled and growled shortly after, and the companions got up and prepared for trouble. Leighandra gauged how much sunlight they had left and prepared to provide light and other aid to her companions if necessary. The chronicler drew her saber when the crashing through the underbrush became more pronounced, but she tilted her sword to the ground when Starlenia and then Delkantar emerged, panting, onto the road.
“Okay,” Starlenia wheezed. “Those things are a lot bigger than I was expecting.”
Delknatar skidded to a halt and doubled over to catch his breath. When he straightened out, he gestured back the way he’d come. “There’s a stronghold in the woods that way. Looks like it might’ve been an old watchtower that the gnolls have laid claim to. We didn’t get very close to it, though. The ring of sentries is tighter than the generals thought. The gnolls didn’t seem all that intent on following us, but something started to give chase and we came back here as quickly as we could.”
There were growls and guttural snarls in the woods ahead of them, and the companions got ready for battle. An arrow whistled through the air between them, and Max pulled his shield off of his back and guided Yiilu behind him. Delkantar knelt behind Galadon just long enough to string his bow, and then he skulked off along the western tree line to find a blind. Leighandra stayed close to her armored companions, musing that if things were going to be this way, she’d be best served to get some armor of her own.
The chronicler took a risk focusing on something other than the gnolls firing arrows from the trees ahead. She thought of the sounds of battle and shouted orders, men stomping through dirt and underbrush, and projected the sound out to the north and south. Within moments, the yaps, growls, and arrow fire were replaced by panicked whines and the sounds of shuffling feet.
“That’s a handy trick,” Delkantar approved.
“It’ll only distract them for so long before they realize there’s no one there,” Leighandra returned. “How many were giving chase?”
“About a dozen,” Starlenia huffed. “It may be time for us to hide.”
Vo’rii spun suddenly, and Yiilu turned with her and let out a startled yelp. Behind the companions, nearly a dozen gnolls had stepped from the shadows between the trees as silently as wraiths. Leighandra’s breath caught even as she raised her saber defensively, and she saw now that Starlenia’s observation had little to do with the woman’s shorter stature.
The gnolls were burly and wide-shouldered, each standing a few inches taller than either of the human men or their luranar companion. Whereas Auremax resembled a wolf-man, the gnolls had the features and coloration of spotted hyenas, their fur in ranges of browns or golds with dark spots. Their ears were partially rounded, their wide, powerful snouts black to go with their hands and feet. Eyes in gold or brown took stock of the party on the road, and the gnolls showed their teeth along with their well-kept weapons.
It took a moment for that last thought to properly register, but Leighandra noted the gnolls’ weapons and armor were properly tended. Their blades and axes weren’t crude, hastily put-together, or improvised, and they had well-crafted bows across their backs. Their armor was a mish-mash of cloth, leather, and metal bits, but it wasn’t filthy, nor were the creatures that wore it. These gnolls were a far cry from what the chronicler had been expecting.
There was a silent minute while the two forces took stock of each other, but eventually the gnolls focused on Max. The luranar paladin said something to them in a much softer version of their guttural language, but the gnolls made no reply. There was the threat of violence in the way they held their weapons, but despite having the advantage of numbers, they made no move to assault the companions.
Vo’rii, Max, and then the rest of the group turned as another gnoll approached from the woods. This one looked much like the others but for the armor he wore. He had a decorative set of leather with plates on it, not unlike Delkantar’s, and there was calligraphy down the hard, segmented shoulders. Most remarkably, he wore a bone helm fashioned from the skull of a large animal. He started to glare at Auremax, but then his expression slackened.
“Max?” the gnoll asked.
The luranar paladin perked up, and then he gasped when the gnoll removed his bone helm. “Kas’Yari?”
The gnoll punched him across the face without warning, and Max staggered to the side a couple of steps before he straightened out again, flexing his jaw. Starlenia started to draw one of her blades, but Max signaled for her to stop, and silently bid the rest of them to stand down. He stepped back in front of Kas’Yari and returned the punch, turning his hip and throwing his weight behind it. The gnoll staggered a step as well, letting out a shocked sound somewhere between a grunt and a yelp.
Kas’Yari spat out some bloody spittle. “You punch like a pup,” he grunted with fair mastery of the common tongue. “But you can still take a good one. What are you doing up this way? Tell me the refugees didn’t ask you to come up here and get involved in this…”
Max held a hand up and took a step back, looking to each of his companions. “Friends, this is Kas’Yari Drakkara,” he said, and the gnoll bowed his head to the others before gesturing to his men to go secure the far side of the
road.
“You know him from the Care-mocks or whatever their tribe is called?” Starlenia asked, still watching the gnolls warily, circling so that she wasn’t flanked by any of them.
“In a sense,” the luranar paladin answered. “Kas’Yari is my brother-in-law.”
“You’re married to a gnoll?”
“No, no, he was adopted into my wife’s family many years ago.”
“Before this whelp was even born,” the gnoll added.
Leighandra stepped forward and offered her hand. She’d never expected to shake hands with a gnoll, but the last few weeks had seen her face many firsts in her life. Kas’Yari glanced at her hand but then shook carefully, mindful of his claws and the strength in his broad hands. “Leighandra Evenstar, chronicler of Solaris. You must be the member of Max’s family we were told we might find this way, then…?” she said, and the men stared at each other for a moment.
“Can you tell us what’s going on here?” Galadon asked.
“Kas’Yari, this is Sir Galadon Tercullin, formerly King of Dira Ch’Tori,” Max said to introduce them. He then indicated each of his other companions by name.
“Former king?” the gnoll asked. He turned away and put his helm back on when another arrow whistled past them. “We need to get off of the road. We’re too close to their stronghold. Ninget! Kavada jingu tecusta! Follow my trailblazer; he will lead you back to our camp. Once there, I can tell you what is going on, but we’re exposed on the road here.”
One of the gnolls turned and darted into the western woods, and after only a moment’s hesitation, Delkantar followed after him. The rest of the group followed in turn, until only Max remained on the road with the gnolls as they fell back.
Kas’Yari shoved him toward the trees. “Get moving. You’re a prince, and my sister’s husband. This is no place for you to get killed trying to be noble.”
The gnolls guarded their retreat, then dashed into the woods and picked up their pace. They passed the group at speed, and Leighandra marveled at the swiftness of the hyena-folk as she and her friends followed in the gnolls’ wake. Two of the gnolls took up the rear, but then she saw it was because one was limping. He had a shaft protruding from the back of his leg, and he was leaning on his companion as they hobbled along behind the chronicler and her friends.
“Can we stop and see to his injury?” she asked.
“At the camp. Keep moving. We should be safe on this side of the road,” Kas’Yari replied, lightly shoving her shoulder to keep her pace even with his.
Leighandra ran, hopefully toward safety…
~ * ~ * ~
It took about twenty minutes to reach the camp, and the injured gnoll and his supporter had fallen well behind. Leighandra was distracted by that, and hardly took in the structure that marked this uncharacteristic gnoll camp. The domiciles were crudely-constructed tents made of old rope and animal hides, but the camp was well-organized. It was circular, had fortifications about its outer edge, and had many of the smaller amenities and features she’d expect from a human war camp.
There were a few dozen gnolls in the camp, and they regarded the new arrivals with wary gazes and stiff ears. Canine noses twitched and sniffed whenever the group passed close to one of them, but none made any hostile moves as Leighandra and the others followed Kas’Yari to the center. It was only when some of them began to take note of the golden bands around Max’s arm that they stood and assumed more threatening postures. Max was greeted by growls and even the occasional snarl. The luranar paladin, to his credit, merely met each gnoll’s gaze with a stoic nod, and continued behind his brother-in-law.
Kas’Yari jumped up on a barrel and began speaking to his men in the gnoll tongue. What drew Leighandra’s attention, however, were the markings on the barrel. It was full of fures-rir spirits, and clearly stolen. While the gnolls were busy listening to their apparent leader, the chronicler attracted Yiilu’s attention and subtly gestured toward the barrel. The druidess in turn showed it to Galadon, and the message was passed to each of the companions. While they were each taking in the sight, Leighandra studied the rest of the camp more carefully.
Many of the domiciles and structures containing wooden portions were fashioned using parts of wagons and carts, and there were hints of leather from bits, bridles, reins, and other tack and harness gear. The companions were in what seemed to be a friendly camp, but one that was built from the remains of many stolen, destroyed vehicles. Where were the beasts of burden? In the bellies of the gnolls or already in their cesspits? And what of the men and women who had driven those vehicles?
Leighandra was far from an authority on gnolls, but all of these in the camp appeared to be male. This was no village, but a war camp, and this war party was fighting against other gnolls and, apparently, anyone else they came across. She could feel the tension in her friends, but she had only begun to focus her thoughts on her arcane song when she realized the horrible truth: They were in the middle of several dozen gnolls. If they had been outnumbered on the road before, there was no hope now.
The injured gnoll at last limped into camp, still supporting his weight on his companion. The shaft was yanked out of the back of his thigh, and what Leighandra suspected was whiskey was poured on the wound before the bottle was offered to him to drink. The gnoll gulped a good portion of the bottle before it was taken away in a flurry of slaps and shoves.
“Oh, no, you cannot leave the arrowhead in the wound,” Yiilu chided, moving over to them. She backed up when she was met with snarls, and Vo’rii dashed to her side, the wolf’s hackles rising as she prepared to defend her companion.
Max and Kas’Yari called out something to the gnolls and they calmed quickly, but they still glowered at the druidess. “Can you dig the arrowhead out and put some of your salve on the wound?” Max asked.
“I can get the head out,” Starlenia offered, slipping a slender dagger with a hooked tip from one of her many sheaths. “I’ve dug out more than my share of fish hooks and arrowheads in my time.”
With an assurance from Kas’Yari, the women were able to begin trying to get the piece of metal or stone out of the gnoll’s leg before it became infected. Leighandra turned back to the apparent leader of the gnolls when Galadon approached him.
“Can you explain what’s going on here?” the paladin demanded. “This camp is strangely full of pieces of wagons, barrels, and other things stolen from travelers.”
Not sure I’d have put that so bluntly when surrounded, Leighandra thought.
Kas’Yari jumped down from the barrel and stood face to face with Galadon who, not surprisingly, met the large gnoll’s gaze fearlessly. The gnoll looked around his camp at all the others and then snorted when he turned back. “It’s a war, Your Majesty,” Kas’Yari said. “While your people hide behind their walls and pretend my people don’t exist, we’re out here fighting and dying to protect your peoples’ rights to do just that.”
“Kas’Yari, please,” Max said, shoving each man lightly to split them apart. “Have your people been attacking travelers?”
“Not to my knowledge,” he answered. “I haven’t been with this band for very long, but my hunting, tracking, and fighting skills got me… promoted rather quickly. But I didn’t come up here alone. I came with Prince Roltek of the Caerumach, but he was captured and taken back to the stronghold to the east. And that place has proven… eh, what’s the word? I don’t know. It’s proven impossible to attack.”
“Prince Roltek is being held hostage?”
“What is all this, then?” Galadon demanded.
Kas’Yari followed Galadon’s gestures at the supplies. “Mostly what’s been destroyed and left on the roads after raids. These men know better than to attack your people, sir knight. They’ve spent most of their lives trying to live within your borders but outside your society without upsetting your military. But something’s changed in recent months, and some of them are growing more hostile and less tolerant to outsiders. Prince Roltek came this way to eit
her put an end to the hostilities or convince many of the more peaceful among these gnolls to come south and live with us.”
“If Prince Roltek is being held, we must make every effort to set him free,” Max said to his friends. “If he is killed, the Caerumach may move north to go to war with these gnolls. It would be yet another mangled thread in this tangled weave.”
“True; we wouldn’t want them to pass near our lands with the intent to go to war,” Leighandra said. “Any of our lands, I mean.”
“I could return to Dira Ch’Tori and gather the armies to attack that stronghold,” Galadon offered. “Then we share the burden of protecting these lands and perform with overwhelming force what your men have found impossible to date.”
Kas’Yari started to reply, but Delkantar spoke first. “You don’t want to do that,” he said, and the gnoll waited for him to explain. “I’m not positive on this, but remember when I said the gnolls were protecting someone in that circle of defensive positions? I think that stronghold is going to be full of women and children.”
Kas’Yari tilted his head as he stared at Delkantar, but then nodded. “Not just women and children, but I expect hostages from the travelers they’ve attacked.”
“Damnit!” Galadon blurted.
“Were you able to get the arrowhead out?” Max asked the returning women.
“Yep. And they even shared some of their whiskey with me,” Starlenia replied.
Yiilu made a face. “They were drinking right from the bottle…”
Starlenia looked back over her shoulder, seemed to think about it, but then shrugged. “Eh, whatever. So, what did we miss?”
“We’re going to invade that stronghold,” Galadon answered. “But it has to be done quietly; Delkantar thinks there may be women and children inside.”
“Oh, there definitely are. Saw plenty of pups or whatever you call them when we were scouting out the area.”
Delkantar gaped at the rogue. “How close did you get to the tower?”
