“They are in the trees; I caught a glimpse of one,” Zdenka whispered urgently. “What do we do now?” She struggled to get her bow out, but Zoran could see that it would be nearly impossible to use while mounted. He had to make a decision immediately, before these raiders did it for him. If the enemy were on foot and if his forces were trained to fight from horseback, the ideal scene would be to remain mounted. If the enemy were on horseback and cavalry, they stood a better chance if they too remained on horseback. Then again, Emil and Renata could barely stay on their horses. No telling what would happen to them if their horses spooked or they were attacked.
“Ride up and dismount quickly!” Zoran ordered. “Pull the wagon in closer and form a circle around the wagon.” Quickly, everyone did as ordered, drawing weapons and circling the wagon as it pulled up. “Tomas, Milan, take cover in or under the wagon. This is our fight.” The drover and his guard did as ordered; obviously a big fight was about to occur any second. The seven waited, but no attack came. Still, Zoran’s inner sense told him it was eminent.
“What are they waiting for?” Karel whispered angrily.
“Probably want us to think that it is not an ambush — that the tree just fell there. When we finally think it is not an ambush and go to move the tree, then they will strike,” Jarka espoused her theory, based on what she would do, given similar circumstances.
Zoran smiled, “She’s probably right. Okay, Zdenka and I will go see about moving the tree. The rest of you, prepare to attack them as soon as they attack us. Come on; keep your bow at the ready. I’ll pretend I am dealing with the tree.”
“Be careful. I’ve got you covered,” she whispered. Cautiously they approached the huge tree lying across the road. Nothing happened. “No birds. Men must be nearby,” she whispered. “It has to be a trap.”
“Of course it is. I sense a large number of men close at hand. They are waiting for the right time. Okay, I am going to pretend to lift the tree.” Zoran tried to budge the tree, but all he could do was make a few branches wiggle. It was a heavy tree, carefully chosen to form an ideal barricade. His inner sense screamed and forced him to turn his head sideways, just in time to see two arrows heading for Zdenka and himself. Once more his lightning fast training kicked in. He dove towards Zdenka so that the arrow coming at him would miss, and as he was falling towards the ground, his right hand snatched the arrow that was heading for her chest. He hit the ground and rolled several feet before springing to his feet, while drawing his pair of swords.
He was in time to see a pair of arrows strike Emil and Renata squarely in their chests. His only thought was, “They will be out of the action.” Both arrows merely bounced off their chests, after punching a hole in their leather tops!
At the moment that Zoran attempted to move the tree, two dozen men moved out from behind the trees. Ten fired off a volley of arrows, while the others raced to close the distance to the seven who were protecting the wagon. Jarka, Karel, and Bernard both barely escaped arrows meant for them, mostly because of the haste with which they were fired. Dropping the bows, the ten headed into the combat as well.
Jarka, totally unwilling to go hand to hand with these bandits, cast her Fly spell and rose above the battle. Karel and Bernard had no choice but to draw their swords and engage in a sword battle. Their opponents gave them no time to cast a spell. Zoran seeing Jarka’s brilliant move, ordered, “Zdenka, I’ll hold them off; get up there with Jarka!” He became a whirlwind of blades, fending of two men coming after him plus two who were headed for her. He bought her enough time to get airborne. He had no time to look back and figure out a way for the twins to save themselves. He realized that neither even had a dagger on them. Surely unless they could Fly out of the melee, they would be killed outright. He’d have that on his conscience for the rest of his life; he failed to protect two of his team!
Now fighting four men, Zoran focused all his attention on his foes, his twin swords in rapid continuous motion. Seeing an opening, he lunged, struck, and retreated, allowing the man to drop to his knees in pain, blood flowing rapidly from a gut slice. Zoran intended to give no quarter to these men. Another moved in to take the fallen one’s place.
Hovering stably, Jarka fired off a Sleep spell; ten of the men around the central area dropped to the ground and began dozing. Their respite didn’t last long; another bandit rushed over and began kicking them awake. Zdenka began shooting her Magical Arrows at the men who were giving Bernard and Karel a very hard time. Both men already had blood tricking down their arms and wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer. Jarka now took her lead from Zdenka, firing off her Magical Arrows at the same group of men, hoping to give Bernard and Karel more breathing room.
While all this was going on, three men each rushed towards the twins, who stood there unsure of just what to do. At first, they looked at the holes in their tops, annoyed that their nice leather tops now needed mending. Two men drew up to Emil, while another two reached Renata. All four men took a mighty swing, intending to cut these two down right where they stood. Loud cracks of breaking steel resulted. Four blades broke, although both now had large slices in their tops, not just a puncture hole. Swung with such force, all four blades simply shattered upon contact with their bodies.
“Damn you. You ruined my leather top!” Emil cursed and swung his fist at the man closest to him. His fist totally smashed in the man’s head and sent him flying backwards ten feet. On his left, Renata did basically the same thing. She swung her fist at first one and then the other of her attackers, achieving the same result as her brother. Now, both were broiling mad and began going directly after other nearby bandits, who saw two unarmed teens charging them with clenched fists, not even holding a weapon. None had time to reflect upon what happened to their men behind the charging duo. One blow and their heads were smashed and their bodies went flying backwards.
Three minutes later, Zoran had slain three of his opponents and was dueling the last one, when Emil walked up to the man and punched him in his head. Zoran got to see the result; the man’s head took on an entirely different shape, as his body flew back some ten feet. Emil grinned. “Ruined our new leather shirts, they did. Made me mad.”
Sweat pouring off of him, Zoran gasped, “Amazing. Thanks.” He looked around for more opponents, but saw none; all were lying around the immediate area, all quite dead. He saw the two flying women landing.
“Who’s hurt?” Zoran called out.
Jarka yelled, “To Bernard and Karel! They took a beating.” All rushed to the two men at the side of the wagon. Bleeding from several nasty wounds in their arms and legs, they had slumped to the ground, leaning against the wagon wheel.
At once, Zdenka and Zoran began ripping up makeshift bandages out of their bedroll sheets. Emil and Renata watched, for neither had any notion of what needed to be done. There was no time to waste explaining. The two needed immediate attention. “I’m going to use two of our healing potions on them,” Jarka called out. “Their wounds are deep and nasty. Hang in there a minute, fellows.” She retrieved her pack from the wagon, pulled out two flasks, and raced to the men. “Drink!” she commanded. Both men did as she asked.
“Wow. This stuff really does work, Zoran!” Zdenka exclaimed as the blood flow began to subside. She could see the wounds starting to close right before her eyes.
“Well, of course it works, Zdenka,” Jarka sneered. “It is a healing potion, after all. What did you think it would do?”
“Still, they ought to be bandaged up, just in case they don’t fully close because more than one potion might be needed,” Zoran added. Five minutes later, their bleeding ceased, though both men were still weak.
“Now let’s see your wounds, Emil, Renata. You took several nasty chest cuts,” Zoran said.
“No wounds. Look, see?” Emil took off his rather cut up leather top. “Now I guess I will need to use my Mend spell.”
“Oh here, brother, let me do it. You’ll mend it goofy-like,” Renata interrupted him. She
had already mended her top, and only barely visible lines showed where the sword cuts had struck her.
Zoran rubbed his hands through his hair. “How on earth did you two manage not to get mortally wounded? I mean by all rights, you both ought to be lying on the ground bleeding to death.”
“Hey, ask them how come the bandit’s swords broke when they hit them?” Jarka called out. “All four of their swords no less. While you are at it, ask them how come their fists totally bashed in the bandits’ heads and sent their bodies flying? I’ve never seen anything like that before. Man, Emil literally crushed their heads in. How is this possible? Ask them that why don’t you?”
Bernard, now feeling a bit better, spoke up, “Well maybe the bandits had really cheaply made swords. It has been known to happen, Jarka.”
“Yes, but all four? Bernard, that potion is making you hallucinate,” Jarka retorted.
“We are stronger than we look,” Emil fumbled around for a plausible explanation. No way was he going to tell them the truth. His dad’s words echoed in his mind.
Jarka, spreading her legs apart in a defiant stance, retorted, “No one is that strong, Emil. You and Renata smashed in their heads, and you don’t even have a red mark on your fists!”
“Oh, are we supposed to have red marks? What ought they look like?” Renata said naively, looking her hands over and seeing nothing unusual about them at all.
“We are just strong, Jarka,” Emil continued his lame explanation. “Look.” He picked her up with one arm, holding her high over his head.
“Put me down! Put me down this very second!” Jarka exclaimed very much annoyed with Emil. How could he possibly be doing this raced through her mind. He doesn’t even have muscles to speak of!
“I don’t get it either,” Zoran broke up the confrontation. “Let’s worry about all this later on. Jarka, you search the bandits for anything useful. Zdenka, use your Dig spell to start making some graves. I’ll help them unhitch the draft horses and use them to try to get that huge tree out of our way.” Jarka agreed, mumbling to herself as she began searching the two dozen bodies.
Emil asked Zoran, “We need the tree out of the way so the wagon can get through, right?” He nodded. “Well, let Renata and me see if we can move it first. If we can, it will save us lots of time.” Zoran agreed, and ran his fingers through his hair once more. Everyone watched the twins walk to the huge tree. After a bit of discussion, they each grabbed a hold of a thick branch and lifted together. Right before everyone’s eyes, the tree rose three feet from the ground. With some effort, the twins pushed and shoved the tree off to one side, paralleling the road.
“How’s this?” Emil called out to Zoran. As the twins looked back at their friends and the two from the mining camp, they saw seven gaping mouths. All seven were completely speechless, none more so than Zoran, who had tried to budge the tree right before the bandits attacked.
“That’s not possible,” Zdenka whispered.
Zoran called out, “Perfect, thanks. Saved us at least an hour or more. Good going.” He had to make them feel that they had done a good job, which of course they had. He kept his total amazement to himself. How can this be? Where were these two from? Was everyone in their country this amazingly strong? He had so many unanswered questions that he just focused on the here and now, intent on getting the wagon moving as soon as possible. The rest of his team would undoubtedly ask the very questions he had.
In silence, the stunned team mechanically resumed their chores. The drover and guard rounded up their seven horses. Zdenka dug a mass grave with her spell, though she had to recast it several times to make a sufficiently large hole. Jarka continued her scavenging operation, but she asked, “Zoran. What do you want us to take? I mean we can confiscate weapons and sell them in Brn, probably some of their clothes too. Might make a few gold pieces on it.”
“No, let’s not bother with that; just get their valuables and such. Are you checking to see if anything is magical?”
“Of course, I am always very thorough,” she replied in a snide tone of voice. “Are you going to go looking in the woods for anything else they might have had, like horses?” she asked, knowing that he probably had not thought of this. From the surprised look on his face, she knew she’d guessed right.
She went on, “If they didn’t ride flea bitten nags, we ought to get ten gold for them. Probably yield us all a hundred gold pieces. I, for one, could use the extra money.”
Zoran reflected on her suggestion and then spoke, “Ordinarily, Jarka, I’d say go ahead. However, we have two of our team laid up, and we are under orders to get this wagon to Brn in three more days. I think the wisest course is to leave them for now.”
Bernard spoke up, “Boss, if they have horses tied up out there, those creatures will be in grave danger. Wild animals can get them or they might die of thirst or starvation. We cannot simply leave them be.”
“Okay, okay,” he grinned, “I know when I am outvoted. I don’t want to harm animals any more than you do. We’ll spend a bit of time checking on them, okay?” Bernard smiled as did Jarka.
“Hey, this is my woods. Let me go. I can backtrack the men and find their horses rapidly,” Zdenka called out. “I’m done digging anyway. Someone else can bury them.”
Zoran hesitated to send Zdenka out there alone, but he couldn’t see Jarka burying the dead bandits either. “Jarka, you go with her. If you come across any more bandits, send us a message immediately, got it?” They nodded and the two women vanished into the dense trees. “Emil, lend me a hand with these bodies, will you?”
A half hour later, Zoran cast his Dig spell and finished covering them up, forming a nice looking mound. Just then, they heard horses coming and a pair of smiling women rode up, leading two long strings of horses. “Found a pile of gems in one of the saddle bags,” Jarka called out. “Good horses and saddles. Probably we can each make ten gold pieces for our efforts.” She was now in good spirits. After tying the string of horses to the wagons, along with those of Bernard and Karel, the group once more headed on down the road through the Dark Forest.
That night, they made camp near a small stream, which they forded first. Around the campfire, they chatted about their big battle. Zoran kept it light, however, “Well, we sure are an unusual team, that’s for sure. Jarka’s idea to fly above the battle casting spells worked perfectly. Good going, you two.” Zdenka smiled too. “As for our twins here, you were amazing. I honestly thought that I would be burying you two back there, if not from the arrows, then from the sword strikes. You two are a powerhouse in a small package! No question of that. I will have to remember that. Are all of the people in your country as tough and strong as you two are?”
“Oh, more so, we are like you, only in our teens. We will get stronger as we grow up,” Emil explained. He was telling the truth.
“One day, I would like to visit your country of Voss,” Zoran decided. Neither twin replied to that comment, however.
They chatted until long after dark. Zoran insisted that both Bernard and Karel sleep through the night. Emil and Renata took the first watch, and then later Zoran and Jarka watched their camp. In the dawn hours, Zoran promised to wake Zdenka and let Jarka get some sleep. Instead, Tomas insisted that he be allowed to stand watch with Zdenka so Zoran could get some sleep.
Zoran was sound asleep when his inner sense forced his eyes instantly open, senses alert. He lay still listening. It was Emil and Renata’s guard duty. Had something happened to them? No they were sitting back to back near the rear of the wagon, occasionally poking at the small fire. Then he heard a light sound, padded feet upon the forest floor. Many of them. He was about to call out “Megalowolves!” but decided to see how the twins handled it.
Drawn by the scent of so many horses, a pack of twenty came to investigate and see how easily they might scavenge a meal. However, as one crept slowly up to the campsite, it stopped suddenly and sniffed. Then, it beat a hasty retreat! All of the pack followed, leaving the campsite in
utter silence once more. Strange, he thought and then went back to sleep, confident in the twins.
Around one in the morning when he and Jarka had been on duty for several hours, Jarka finally began to say what was on her mind. Talking in a very low voice, she said, “Okay, they have to be asleep by now, Zoran. Now do you see what I mean about them being really, really strange? Have you ever known anyone whose chest can stop an arrow? Or how about anyone whose chest breaks swords without getting a scratch on themselves? Eh? Know of anyone who can do that? I certainly don’t.”
“Archmage Nadia did say that the twins knew some spells. Perhaps one of their spells somehow protects them against missiles and swords? I believe that there actually is such a spell, only we haven’t yet gotten to it,” he confided in her. She bit her lip; she had not thought of this.
“Aye, you have a point. Okay, then how do you explain that those two could lift that tree? Both draft horses would be needed if we had to do it. Explain that one, if you can,” she replied and asked.
“Again, could be some kind of Strength spell that they had on themselves. That’s possible, you know,” Zoran replied.
“Damn, you are right again. Yes, I’ve heard of Strength spells too. That may be the answer. But why wouldn’t they just come out and say, ‘Look gang. We have cast a couple of spells that you all don’t yet know on ourselves, which make us into supermen.’ Or something like that. I mean, if I could do that, I would certainly tell you all about it. Well, okay, but that still doesn’t explain why they just disappear every Sunday and what they are up to, now does it? I still think that they are hiding something, and I aim to find out what,” she said defiantly.
“Let me know when you find out,” Zoran replied sincerely. She smiled.
Around noon the next day, Zdenka said, “Zoran, see that faint trail there to your left? That tract leads to our home. It’s about half a day’s travel to get there from here.” He smiled and thanked her for showing him. He really did want to visit the ex-General, though he was not sure just why at this point. A gut feeling told him that he ought to talk with the man.
Zoran Chronicles Volume 1 A Dragon in Our Town Page 8
