The Eighth God
Page 14
‘What about chickens and stuff?’
‘What about them?’
‘Don’t you have to use them and other stuff in your spells?’
‘Gods no, if we did we would need to carry half a dozen backpacks on us. We would be too encumbered to cast the spell in the first place. No, that sort of stuff is for your local witch or travelling shaman, someone with a base from which to work, a hut, house, cart or similar.’
A voice came out of the darkness at the back of the cell making them both jump.
‘Nice to know you have been paying attention in classes, soldier.’
Ellowe whipped around and started to focus electricity into his hands.
‘No need for that, Ellowe.’ A figure stepped forward.
‘Commander!’ Ellowe saluted, letting his magic recede.
‘Well, a projection anyway. I’m currently writing you new orders, orders I want you to carry out to the letter but do not open them in Ashen Falls and destroy them once you have read them. The Sergeant will return with them as soon as they are written. Now you, my dear, you carry someone very important, and you must see them born, you and he must change the world for better or worse.’
The projection disappeared.
Lucy looked at Ellowe, ‘So how does a mage do that, exactly?’
‘I’ll tell you some other time, but it involves moisture in the air.’
The two stood in companionable silence as they waited for the Sergeant to return, which took ten minutes from the apparition disappearing. He opened the door and paused slightly as he saw the two unbound figures, without a word he passed Ellowe a letter and his weapons and stood to the side to let the pair leave.
PART THREE: KNIGHT’S PERCH
49: Arrivals
Bazak-Kul lay down on his front watching the guards at the entrance to Knight’s Perch. The guard was changed every four hours and consisted of ten men, five swordsmen and five archers. The Keep itself perched on its granite spur like a brooding dragon of old, with the people coming and going being the sheep it was looking to devour.
He couldn’t see any way to sneak in, but then as he watched, a cart laden with bags of some crop or another came winding up the slope. None of the guards made for the cart, in fact, one guard stepped out of the way to avoid being buffeted by the oxen that led the cart. The carter waved at the guards as he rode past and a couple of them waved back, a third said something and the man on the cart laughed. Well, that was a way in, he would simply follow the carter when he came out, kill him and bring the goods tomorrow. As he was getting up, a commotion caught his attention at the little village that lay at the base of the Keep.
He edged himself back down again.
He watched as two men on horses rode into the village, beyond them came three squads of troops. The villagers near to the troops started to throng the roadway and to cheer as if they had just been relieved of a great burden. Interesting, he thought.
As the two riders came closer and were about to turn up the ramp towards the Keep Bazak noticed the one nearest to him was a battle mage, and on the battle mages shoulder was the largest Raven he had ever seen.
Not one of the two from the farmstead the other day then, he thought.
As he watched the raven’s head swivelled and seemed to look at him, then the horse turned, and the riders and troops trudged up the ramp to be stopped at the entrance to the keep by the guards.
Some nods and shakes of heads, then the guards moved out of the way as the troops filed into the dark walls of the keep to be swallowed by the shadows.
Bazak waited for an hour while the carter emptied the waggon of its load, and unbeknown to Bazak, the carter was also having a dalliance with one of the serving ladies in the kitchen, so as the cows ate hay he was enjoying her charms in one of the outbuildings.
Bazak was just about to fall asleep from sheer boredom when the oxen appeared at the entrance to the keep, closely followed by the waggon and carter.
Bazak stood and started to follow the carter as he began wending his way through the village he received little attention. Knight’s Perch was a border village; people came and went all the time.
Soldiers would come and go on rotation, and there were lots of adventurous types who would pass through looking to get to the old ruins north of the orc lands. Only the best made it to the old cities like Helokose, where they would find chests full of coins, powerful items and of course the beasts that hoarded and guarded them, and traps that would slice, dice and burn. The people who had built those places certainly knew how to kill people in innovative ways.
Adventuring was a very prosperous business, but it was also short lived. The trick was knowing when to get out, and in most cases, greed would override safety. There were some old adventurers about. Many chose to open taverns for some bizarre reason that Bazak couldn’t fathom. Perhaps it was to be around the next, younger batch of adventurers as they headed off on their journey.
He was jolted from his reverie as his arm was grabbed and he was swung by it into the side of a building. Dazed he looked around only to see himself with an evil looking smile on his face.
‘What the fuck!’
‘Hello Bazak’, said the apparition as it brought a fist up into Bazak’s gut. Bazak instinctively began to double up, and another fist smacked into the side of his head, dazing him. He tried to reach for his gutter, but a fist slammed into his face, breaking his nose.
‘I’m going to die here’, he thought to himself.
The other man’s arm came down towards his face, Bazak winced in anticipation of the blow, then suddenly the wrist was gone, and Bazak could see neatly severed flesh and bone, then a second later blood splattered all over his face, and he couldn’t see anything.
50: In the Hands of the Enemy
When Bazak finally managed to clear his eyes of the sticky blood, he wished he hadn’t. Standing cleaning his long sword was the elf from Ashen Falls.
As he back peddled up against the wall, someone started to wipe his face with a wet cloth, looking to see who it was, he looked at the face of Ashalone.
It was an Ashalone that he hadn’t seen before, dressed differently, holding herself differently, he could almost smell the sense of empowerment that radiated off her.
‘Oh, shit’, he thought, ‘out of the cauldron and into the skillet.’
Ashalone looked at the half-orc, then threw the wet cloth at him, ‘Clean you own face then, that’s gratitude for you after we saved your life.’
Bazak looked perplexed but started to clean his face as the male elf bent down and picked something up. Turning towards Bazak, he tossed the object at him. It was a careless throw, and the object bounced off the ground before it rolled towards him.
It was a severed head, but the face wasn’t his, it was more elongated, the mouth was open, and he could see sharp pointed teeth and a snake like tongue.
The elf looked at Bazak, ‘Well, what is it?’
Bazak stayed silent.
The elf sighed as Ashalone spoke, ‘Listen Ishara, or whatever your name is; the only thing keeping you alive is the information you can give us. If that information is of use, we may just let you go, after all, we have bigger fish to fry.’
Bazak looked at the head again.
‘Look, seriously I don’t know what it is. I’ve never seen one in my life. Please, I was just sent to spy, nothing more.’
‘So you don’t know about the similar type of creature in Ashen Falls, going by the name of the Black Empress then?’
‘No, I don’t know anything. I swear. Please…’
Ashalone shouted, ‘No!’
The black blade slid into Bazak’s chest and through his heart. Bazak’s eyes went wide, and then he coughed a torrent of blood and died.
Saethryth spoke, ‘Then you’re of no use to us then.’
Tierra turned on Saethryth, ‘What the fuck did you kill him for. We could have tried asking him more questions, he might have been lying.’
Sa
ethryth cleaned his blade on Bazak’s robes, ‘He was a half-orc, killing his kind is what I do, and I’m very good at it. He lied to you from the moment you met him, he fucked you, and he tried to kill you. Don’t waste your time trying to make me feel remorse, as far as I’m concerned, I've just done us all a favour.’
Saethryth strode off towards the keep, Tierra followed wondering what kind of monster she had allied herself with.
What a bastard he was bringing up the fucking bit. He'd pay for that later.
51: Hate
Saethryth sheathed his long sword as he strode out from between the two buildings that hid the corpses. Tierra came after him, walking faster to catch up with him. ‘There are no shades of grey with you is there when it comes to orcs?’
Saethryth sighed, ‘Look, Tierra, I've seen the worst excesses of these monsters and believe me that’s what they are. They don’t just rape women, but men and children; any hole they can stick it in is fair game. They take everything they can lift and the rest they burn. We have been lucky for five thousand years, but now they're back, and they want our lands.’
‘But…’
‘But nothing, my Mother and Sister were taken alive by a small group, that group raped them again and again, made them suck their cocks, and when they couldn’t satisfy them anymore, they slit their throats like pigs. The same with the three men and women who were with them, all raped and butchered before my father could get there and kill them.’
Tierra realised now the depths of Saethryth’s hate for the orcs, what had been done to her had been nothing compared to what had happened to his family.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t be, it wasn’t your fault, and you didn’t know. But now you know why I do the things I do, why I can show no mercy. Now come on, I have a Brother to talk to.’
‘What will you tell him?’
‘Everything.’
Tierra let out a little shiver, there were dark days coming, and a lot of folk about to die on both sides.
52: Family Meeting
As Melress had ridden into Knight’s Perch with Simon, the Commander of Knight’s Perch hastily stood from his desk and made for the stout oak door that kept the common soldiers out of his private study.
As he edged around his desk, he knocked the wooden surface, and an inkwell tipped spilling ink on the letter he had been composing. He cursed inwardly, oh well it would have to wait. He withdrew a neckerchief from his pocket and placed it over the ink to soak it up and carried on out of the room.
The soldiers snapped to attention as he hurried on by, they were thin on the ground after having no new intake for several months.
He hoped that whoever had just arrived was bringing new blood, they had lost quite a few men to accidents. He had never met such a clumsy crew of men, then they had an epidemic sweep through the men, causing sweats and the shits, the weaker troops had succumbed. The garrison that numbered five hundred on his arrival was now standing at a little over three hundred.
If an orcish army came now they would be lucky to hold out, but then no army had come to Knight’s Perch for over five thousand years, and he didn’t see why one would come now.
As he was musing all this, he navigated the spiral stairs that led him down to the ground floor. He opened another door which led him into the main chamber where he would usually meet visiting merchants.
He just had time to plonk his bottom in his chair when the main doors opened, and two figures came into the room. Beside them came his chamberlain Humphrey. Neither of the men had taken off his helmet yet, and they both strode up to the dais, upon which he sat.
‘One would say it’s poor form to keep a helmet on when approaching a superior officer, even if one is a battle mage.’ He said haughtily.
Neither of the men stood before him moved.
‘I see, my name is Count Maximilian Kepler, and I command you to take off your helms.’
The taller man reached up and removed his helmet, ‘Hello, Father.’
Below him, his son smiled at him. He frowned back.
‘You will address me as Sir or Count while others are about, Captain. And who is your friend?’
The smaller figure now took off his helmet to reveal a young face and slightly pointed ears, ‘My name Sir, is Melress, and the Captain and I have brought the better part of three squads of troops to relieve your current garrison.’
‘Best part? What on earth is that supposed to mean.’ He looked at his son, ‘Please explain captain!’
So, Simon told his father what had happened on the way to Knight’s Perch, how they had met Melress and then been ambushed. The Count and Humphrey listened to the tale astonished at hearing that orcs were abroad in the borderlands.
‘But that’s impossible!’ Said the Count, ‘Even if the guards couldn’t see the orcs they couldn’t get past the statue.’
Humphrey spoke up, ‘Sir, we have been short staffed recently what with all the accidents.’
The battle mage, Melress asked, ‘What accidents?’
The Count and Humphrey explained to the two Captains about the accidents and the sickness that had befallen the garrison.
‘That would make sense, Sir, as my Commander informed me of a potential traitor here at the Keep.’
‘A traitor! Gods this is worse that I feared.’ The Count interjected, ‘Who is this traitor, do you know?’
‘No sir, we don’t, just that he was able to let the orcs pass through undetected.’
A voice from the doors spoke, ‘Perhaps we can assist there?’
The four men looked up to see two elves standing beyond the still closed door.
‘God’s damned, I ought to call out the guard!’ Yelled the count, ‘How did you get in here and what do you know about this mess.’
The two figures strode forwards, taking off their helmets as they did so.
‘My name Count, is Saethryth, and this is my companion, Tierra. We're Orcslayers Count, and I hope you know what that means because at this moment in time a whole of heap of shit is coming and I’m not sure how much time we may have.’
Melress noted that the woman, Tierra looked a lot like Captain Ashalone, but kept his thoughts to himself.
The Count harrumphed, ‘Course I know what an Orcslayer is, though I must confess I thought you were all dead.’
‘Luckily for you, we aren’t. If you send some men down to the village, you will find two corpses between two buildings. One is a half-orc that had been known in Ashen Falls as Ishara, the other is a creature I have never met before, but I know that it can change shape. Have them brought up here and see if you recognise the one we know as Ishara then we will know who your traitor was.’
The count turned to Humphrey, ‘See to it.’
Humphrey opened the door and headed off, shutting the door behind himself again.
‘How are the Orcslayers involved in this, Saethryth?’
Saethryth told his tale, missing out the part about his father, as he wanted to tell Melress that part once they were alone.’
The Count gestured to a table with a dozen chairs set around it. ‘Well, I guess we had better all sit around there while we wait for Humphrey to come back.’
The five of them all went and sat around the table, the Count sat at the head, Simon and Melress sat next to him, and Saethryth and Tierra sat down at the furthest end.
Twenty minutes later Humphrey returned and strode over to the table, approaching the Count, everyone could see the troubled expression on his face.
‘Well, man, spit it out.’ The Count said to the chamberlain
‘The priest, Sir’
‘What about him?’
‘The corpse was that of the priest, the elvish one I mean, it was Jaishtar.’
Saethryth spoke next, ‘What exactly does that mean?’
It was the count who answered, ‘It means that we cannot activate the golem. You see, the priests know how to activate them, they are told before the old priest dies.’
&nb
sp; ‘But why have they taken out the priest anyway, you still have enough men here to hold the pass. With our near one hundred and fifty and your just over three hundred we can hold the pass.’ Said Simon
‘You weren’t supposed to get here, remember, and I wasn’t factored in either.’ Melress replied
‘Wait,’ said the count, ‘What does any of this matter, there are no orcs coming?’
Saethryth looked at the count, ‘My guess is they are coming, and not just here. I think all the priests have been replaced by impostors, and I think we are in for a shit storm of trouble. I also wonder if there’s a reason our two dead friends had similar sounding names, or if it’s just coincidence.’
The count paled as the weight of the conversation took hold.
‘Humphrey, go and use the talk-stones, find out who’s still active. Hurry.’
Humphrey ran out one of the side doors, his shoes echoing down the spiral staircase as he ran up them.
The count started talking again, ‘We’ve been at peace for over five thousand years why would the orcs want to start a war now? It doesn’t make sense.’
‘I don’t think it is the orcs’, replied Saethryth, ‘Everything seems to point to it being these creatures motivating everything but what their purpose is I don’t know. If we can capture one alive, then we might have a chance to stop whatever their plan is.’
‘Hmm, I guess you’re right. So, where do we go now?’
‘Tierra and I will strike north into the orc heartlands and try to find out whatever plan these creatures are keeping to. Everyone else stays here and defends the pass. I don’t kno…’
From outside yelling started and then the warning bell started to chime.
53: Brothers
Saethryth climbed the steps up toward the battlements, he still felt a bit of discomfort from his ribs, but the magic of his armour was healing him faster than was normal. As he reached the top, the huge oaken doors to the keep were slammed shut and the locking bars put into place. He hoped all the villagers had arrived safely, he wouldn’t want to be out there when the orcs arrived.