by Heath Pfaff
Xan shook his head. "No, not trouble, but they might have information that could help me find what I'm looking for."
Gryn didn't seem comforted by Xan's words. "There isn't a good way to reach them anyway. If they want to contact us, they'll do so. If you're going up into those mountains to find them, you're doing it on your own. Forge Haven certainly isn't going to approve."
"I have no intention of claiming to represent your people Gryn, but I will be going up into the mountains. The business I'm about can't be left undone."
The mechanna sighed and shrugged. "You don't seem to be the type of person that can be talked out of things once you've set your mind about it."
Xandrith chuckled. "No, not generally. I've never relied on a consensus of opinions to make a decision, and I'm not about to start now." His eyes passed over the mountain cliffs, almost getting lost in the sparse landscape. Scraggily plant life fought for purchase amongst the rock, but it was clearly a losing battle this high up. Some of the rocks looked almost brown, Xan hadn’t noticed there was so much variation in rock before being completely surrounded by it in its natural form. It was as though the Earth had struggled up as high as it could go in places, trying to get free of the plants that always covered it. It had to go so high to get free that it had just ended up cold and graying instead of really finding what it’d been searching for. "I don't have the time to waste to making everyone happy. Events are moving too quickly. Sometimes I worry I'm already too late."
"Too late for what, Trast? What exactly are you trying to accomplish?" Gryn asked, and not for the first time. The mechanna's curiosity often got the better of him.
"If I told you that, you'd think I'd lost my..." Xan's words trailed off as his eyes snapped to movement amongst the snow covered rock face of a nearby cliff. "What's that?" He pointed.
Gryn turned to look, squinting to sharpen his vision. "I don't see anything." He said after a moment.
Xan had lost sight of whatever it was as well, but he refused to look away. Maybe he was going crazy, but that hadn't been just a trick of his eyes. He was well trained in observation, and he trusted his sense of sight impeccably. Something had moved amidst the rocks, and it hadn't merely been an animal. There were few of those so high up in the mountains, and this hadn't moved like any goat or mountain elk Xandrith had ever seen. He kept watching.
"Maybe it was just your imagination." Gryn said, and then he laughed lightly. "Or maybe you're just trying to distract me from..."
"Look!" Xan snapped as the telltale motion appeared again. He pointed up to a mountain pass that crossed the one they were currently traveling.
Gryn squinted his eyes and fell silent. The movement came again. Xandrith could see the change in Gryn's facial expression as he too witnessed the motion across the snow. "It's probably an animal." He said, a lack of certainty in his declaration.
"A two legged animal, taller than a man, shadowing our motion?" Xan was more than merely skeptical.
Gryn looked at him, worry heavy on his brow, but didn't say anything.
"Can we get these carts moving any faster?" Xandrith couldn't be certain, and he wasn't ready to voice his suspicion, but his instincts were telling him that he'd just seen a troll scout. If there was one, there were likely more of them not far away. There was no way to be certain how long they'd been shadowed.
"It would be dangerous to move faster over this terrain." Gryn replied.
"More dangerous than getting caught in these valleys with whatever trouble that thing might have in store for us?" Again Xan refused to give voice to the word ‘troll,’ as though that might summon the beasts down upon them all.
Gryn didn't reply, but he stood up and gave his voice to the wind. "Wagons to full throttle. We're making a run for the gates! No stopping until we hit the safety of Forge!" The driver of the wagon Xandrith and Gryn were riding on gave a very brief, worried look over his shoulder, and then the almost imperceptible hum of the cart intensified. A moment later the entire caravan was moving even faster along the snowy, worn road. There was a reckless thrill to the momentum. They were traveling as fast or faster than Xandrith had ever seen a horse move, and nothing at all was pulling them forward. It made the magic of the mages seem insubstantial.
Gryn and Xan sat low along the roofline of the cart, silent, the buffeting of the wind too loud for conversation. They both watched the frozen rocks around them as though at any moment they might spring to life and attack. A shrill trilling call ripped through the cold mountain air, louder even than the roar of the caravan along the snowy road. The noise tore at Xan's ears, sending a wave of pain through his head. Bright colors exploded in his vision for a second. The caravan swerved like a snake, the carts weaving as their drivers suffered the same aural attack that Xan had just suffered. Chaos erupted all around Xandrith, and before he even knew what was happening he was sailing through the air, thrown from the top of the cart.
The world sailed by beneath him in slow motion as he twisted his body through the air, trying to ready himself for a rough landing. He got a brief glimpse of the cart he'd been on sliding onto its side, and then he struck a deep bank of snow. His speed was such that he plowed all the way through the snow and hit the hard rock beneath with terrible force. His vision swam but he didn't lose consciousness. Xandrith took just a moment to gather himself, to be certain that nothing was severely broken, and then he began to pull himself from the bank of snow in which he was enshrined.
There had been a time when being buried in so much snow would have chilled him to the bone and numbed his hands, but his trollish flesh didn't seem to find as much offense in the cold. He pulled himself from the depths of the white landscape and crawled back to his feet. Devastation lay before him. Five carts lay smashed amongst the boulders along the roadway, their inhabitants in varying states of disarray. Xandrith made his way back towards the carriage he'd been riding upon, looking for Gryn. It didn't take him long to find the mechanna, or what was left of him. He hadn't been fortunate enough to be thrown from the top of the wagon. The entire thing had rolled on top of him and skidded across the roadway. His corpse was a twisted mess, strewn from where the cart had first gone upside down, to where it had come to rest.
The doors and windows had flung open during the roll and there were a number of people broken and trapped in the opening. No one looked unhurt, and more than a few had limbs severed or bodies torn open by the vicious rolling. The unblinking eyes of a young girl stared out from where her head lay, attached to her body only by a shattered strand of spine. Xan had spoken with her just that morning before her mother had chased her away.
The trilling, awful sound rang through the air again, blinding Xandrith for a moment as it sent a wave of agony coursing through his head. Screams sounded from the wreckage. Survivors writhing in confused agony as that terrible keening split the air. The surviving carts were streaking away through the snow. They'd been told not to stop until they reached safety, and for them that was the best option. A sense of hopelessness hung in the air amidst the screams and groans.
"Gather the survivors. I need some able bodied men and women who can help me get at least one of these carts righted. Is there anyone that can drive these things?" Xandrith called as he approached the broken wagon. The trolls were coming, and if any of these people wanted to survive they needed to get moving. It only took him a few moments to realize that the cart he'd been on was not salvageable. He didn't need to know how they worked to understand that the broken wheel axles were impossible to repair as quickly as they needed to.
Survivors of the accident were beginning to crawl from the wreckage, some crying, some looking off into space as though they weren't certain where they were. Xan had seen those slack jawed expressions before. In times of severe trauma some people seemed to leave their bodies behind. The only way they could deal with the horror was to slip away to some quiet corner of themselves. They wouldn't be of any help like that.
"I need strong arms and backs." Xandrith ca
lled again. "There is a horde of trolls on the way, and if we don't get moving quickly then this accident will be the least tragic thing that happens today. Do you hear me?"
"They hear you, but I don't think they're of any mind to help." Xan's own voice startled him for a moment. He looked to his left to see the younger version of himself peering into the wrecked cart. "They've gone through too much already. These people are broken."
"Broken or not, if they want to live they have to keep moving." Xandrith replied, realizing as he did so that anyone who could hear him would think he'd lost his mind.
"I'm not sure they want to live. Look at their faces. They've given up."
"They don't get to give up. If you're alive, you don't get to quit." Xandrith turned to a man near him who was staring blankly at the horizon. "Start gathering the survivors together, I'm going to go see to the other carts." The man didn't respond. Xandrith balled his fist and punched the man in the side of the head. He didn't hit him as hard as he could, but the blow still knocked him on his ass. The color seemed to flood back into his face as he hit the ground, his cheeks going red and rage filling his eyes. "Get your ass off the ground and help the survivors!" Xandrith shouted.
The man looked on the verge of becoming belligerent, but Xandrith stepped over him, a horned beast towering over a fallen man. "We've all lost a lot, and some have lost everything, but these people, these survivors, need someone to do what needs to be done. We can mourn when we reach the end of the road, but for now we will keep fighting. Now get your ass up off the ground and start helping the survivors."
The rage fled the man's face. "My son..." He whispered, looking back at the wreckage.
"Wouldn't have wanted his father and all of his friends to be torn apart by trolls. Get up, be strong for him one last time. Be the father he would have been proud of. There are other children here who will have lost their parents, and they'll need an adult to be strong for them. You can fall apart later." Xandrith didn't have children. He had Haley, and she'd turned her back on him when the cursed axe had taken control. He couldn't begin to understand this man's pain, but one thing he did understand was not giving in to despair. Giving in wasn't an option.
The man nodded numbly and got up. Xandrith didn't know if he would hold out, but he at least he was moving again. The assassin turned his back on the first cart and began moving towards the second. Unlike the first, it hadn't flipped entirely over. It was on its side, the momentum from the crash mostly dissipated by the snow it had plowed up in its slide across the ground. It was still heavily damaged, but nowhere nearly as bad as the cart Xandrith had been riding on. The occupants seemed to be in somewhat better condition as well.
Xan's ever-present shadow spoke from beside him. "The trolls will be here soon. We need to get these people moving as fast as we can. The fact that they haven't sounded that head-splitting horn again isn't a good sign. My guess is that they only used it to create havoc amongst us. It probably has the same effect on their people, so now that their own army is drawing nearer they won't use it again. We have little time left."
Real Xan gave a nod of agreement. That made a lot of sense. "Gather your survivors together. I need some people to help me get this cart turned back on its wheels. Who can help?" The assassin called to the people of the second cart. They'd already begun to gather together. There were people who were obviously seriously injured, and Xan spotted more than a few dead, but they seemed to have weathered the crash far better than those of Xan's cart. A few men separated from the ground and took up positions around the cart.
"Is anyone in good enough condition to run to the other carts?" Xandrith asked as he took up place next to the toppled cart as well. A young woman who’d positioned herself to help lift the cart raised her hand.
"I can do it, sir." She said in a weak, shaking voice.
Xandrith looked her over. She was maybe sixteen years old and covered in bruises and scrapes, but apparently in passable condition. She looked scared, but there was a determination in her eyes that Xandrith recognized as a deep pool of strength. If she lived to adulthood, this kid would be someone to reckon with.
"What's your name?" Xandrith asked.
"Raina, Mister Trast." She replied. For a moment Xan saw Haley in the girl, they were so different the comparison wasn’t really fitting, but she had that sort of determination about her. She shivered as a chill breeze swept the mountain pass and it broke the spell that had settled over the assasin. No, this wasn’t Haley. He couldn’t afford to start making new friends now.
"Raina, I want you to run to each of the carts and gather the survivors together. They need to come up to this cart as soon as possible. You need to move as fast as your legs will take you. We’re out of time. Trolls will be upon us any moment now."
Raina nodded her head once, looking out over the landscape at the other fallen carts.
"Go!" Xandrith snapped, and with a start she jumped into motion. She moved like a scared rabbit, skittering across the snow top with surprising agility. Xan only watched her for a few moments before turning back to the issue at hand.
"Everyone get under this side of the cart." Xandrith called. "I'll give a count of four and then we'll all lift as one. It's important you don't give in once the cart starts to lift. If you let go or fall back, the cart will come crashing down on those who've held their place and there will be even more dead to deal with. Are we understood?"
A general note of agreement swept through those who'd come to help. There weren't a lot of them. Xandrith wasn't sure how heavy the cart was, but he would have liked at least another five or six able bodies lifting just to be safe. There wasn't time to waste, though. They needed to get the cart righted and ready for travel.
"Alright, all hands to positions." He called. "Are we ready?" Nods and words of affirmation came back to him. Xandrith started the count. "One." He braced his own grip at the center of the wagon, his powerful claws clasping the wooded frame. At his side his illusionary alter-ego had taken a grip as well. "Two. Three." He prepared the muscles in his legs and tensed the muscles in his arms. "Four, go!" They lifted. The grunts and groans of straining men and women filled the frosty air. There was a brief moment when Xandrith wasn't sure they had enough strength to move the heavy cart, but the desperation fueled effort began to lift the cart from its side. The first half of the lift was the hardest. It was as though the vehicle wanted to stay dead in the snow where it might never have to face the rigors of the road again. Xandrith poured his all into the lift though, and the cart began to lift. Once they gained momentum it lifted into place with surprising ease, and once they were past the apex of the lift the cart’s own weight pulled it back to its wheels. It creaked and groaned as it settled back on all four wheels.
Xandrith put aside his elation and set about the next important task. "Who knows how to operate this thing? I need a driver." Xandrith expected to find a volunteer quickly enough. He'd even allowed himself to hope that the original driver had survived the crash, but it became apparent quite quickly that they were in trouble. None of the men and women at the cart knew how to operate the mechanna transport.
Other people began to poor in, sent by Raina from the other carts. Xandrith questioned them as they arrived, trying to find someone who could aid their cause. He received naught but blank stares in reply to his questions. They'd gone through all the effort of righting the cart, but now they had no one trained in its operation. Far in the distance from the direction they'd traveled, a war horn sounded. Its chilling call echoing through the still mountain pass. The trolls were coming.
"That doesn't sound good." His younger version remarked.
"Pile everyone aboard this wagon!" Xandrith commanded. He dashed for the seat normally occupied by the driver and hopped in. There were a dozen different levers and buttons. A deep blue light glowed at one end of the console. "Shit, shit, shit." He noted.
"Press the blue thing." Young Xan offered.
Xandrith pressed the blue glowing button,
but it didn't move. More and more people were gathering around the cart, pushing themselves inside to the point that the entire contraption was stuffed well beyond full. People hung from the top, clinging together to hold tight. All the eyes that weren't looking back down the road towards the coming troll horde were watching Xandrith as he tried to learn the mechanna controls with no prior experience.
"They're coming!" Someone shouted from behind the assassin. A surge of panic passed through him.
"That light should be purple." A female voice said from beside Xan in the place where his illusionary friend should have been. He looked to his side and Raina had crawled onto the bench seat next to him, sitting where his doppelganger had just been. She was pointing to the blue light. "Here." She said, and then her hands were sliding across the controls, moving the position of sliding switches and poking at the buttons. The blue light blinked off and on three times, and then when it came back on it was purple.
"You know how to drive this thing?" Xan asked incredulously.
Raina shrugged, looking down at her feet. "My father was the driver."
Xandrith moved to the side and pulled her to sit in front of the controls. "Get us moving!" The earth had begun to shake beneath their cart. The trolls were nearly upon them.
Raina didn't hesitate. Her hands zoomed across the controls and in seconds the cart started forward, slowly at first, but it gained speed steadily. Xandrith jumped from the driver's seat and moved to the roof. He had to weave his way through the mass of people clinging to the cart for dear life. When he reached the back of the cart he got his first look at the trouble they were in. Hundreds of trolls were surging down the mountain pass in their wake, gaining ground quickly as they came. Some of them ran, and some rode upon strange creatures. The beasts were larger than a horse, but with the slim musculature of a feline and heads like one of the great lizards, long, narrow, and full of teeth. Their bodies were slick, sparsely covered in what looked like orange feathers. Xandrith had never seen their like before, but they were fast. The trolls were closing the distance even as the cart crept up to its max speed.
