Sapphire of the Fairies soh-1

by Richard S. Tuttle

  “What are you up to?” Arikinquired.

  Garth separated the two leads andhanded one over to Arik. “There is a small canyon coming up in ahalf hour at this speed, and we are going to surprise ourfollowers. Tie this to your saddle. You and I are going to bediversions, but not just yet. Keep an eye behind us and if you seeanything, shout.”

  Garth moved his stallion up betweenFredrik and Tedi. “Do you and Niki know how to shield against magicspells?”

  Fredrik looked at him and nodded.“Somewhat,” he explained. “I am better at it than Niki, but sheknows the concept. We have had precious little chance to practiceand I’m not sure how effective they will be.” Fredrik laughed. “Acouple of days ago, I would have boasted that I could stop anyspell. After the little display with Kalina, I realize that I knowvery little of my craft.”

  “We are going to plan a littlereception for our friends,” Garth explained. “I will need you tocreate a shield around you and Tedi. Can you handle it?”

  “I will try my best,” Fredrikstated.

  “I can ask no more of anyman,” Garth smiled. “If you feel the shield coming down, you andTedi will run away from the fight. Is that clear?”

  “Yes,” declared Fredrik. “Iwill do nothing stupid.”

  “Good,” replied Garth. “In ahalf hour we will be coming to a canyon, Tedi. Just before thewalls start to rise, you and Fredrik will bear to the right andfind a way up to the rim of the canyon within eyesight of a smallcave where the path below turns. I want you to keep hidden untilthe Dark Riders attack, and then you will shoot at the Dark Ridersin the valley. If you get the chance, without moving your position,to shoot the witch, take her first. Fredrik, keep the shield on thetwo of you as long as you can and then both of youflee.”

  The boys nodded and Garth started tomove ahead, but dropped back quickly. “Tedi, I don’t want you toveer off the path where your tracks will show. Wait until theground is rocky, even if you have to backtrack a way. I don’t wantthem to know that you have split off.”

  Garth rode up between Niki and Tanyaand repeated the instructions, but sending them to the left. He hadto grill Tanya about her understanding of tracking and leavingtracks before he was satisfied that she understood. Niki’s attitudebothered him a bit. She seemed eager to use offensive magic againstthe Dark Riders and he had to keep stressing that the only magicshe was to use was shielding.

  Garth rode up to Kalina and explainedhis plan before dropping back to Arik. After telling Arik what hetold the others, he launched into the diversion plan for himselfand Arik. “As soon as we can see the canyon rising in the distance,you and I will head off at angles from our current track. We willlead our pursuers into believing that the group has split intothree groups. They will be forced to divide their men. After youhave gone out about ten minutes, turn enough so you are headeddirectly at the canyon mouth. At this point, cut the spare horseloose. Try to chase him to continue the way you had been heading,but don’t waste any time if he chooses a different way. Then gallopas fast as you can to the cave in the canyon. You will have tohurry because your false trail will have shortened the distancebetween you and your pursuers.”

  Arik nodded solemnly. “I understand,Garth. I will make tracks that are easy to follow right up to thepoint where I turn. I will make it to the cave. Do notworry.”

  Garth placed a firm hand on Arik’sshoulder and smiled. As soon as he caught sight of the canyonrising in the distance between the trees, he indicated for Arik tomove out. Garth veered sharply to the left with his horse kickingup large clumps of grass while Arik veered to the right. When Garthhad ridden out for ten minutes, he cut the spare horse loose andchased him off. The free horse went more westward that Garth wouldhave liked, but it didn’t really matter much. Garth dismounted andchose the best tree for this part of his plan.

  * * * *

  Klarg and Wolinda halted their columnby the two trackers who had stopped on the path. “What is it?”Klarg demanded.

  “The group split up here,” oneof the trackers supplied. “Two to the right and two to the left.The rest continued straight.”

  “What does it mean?” Wolindaasked. “Why would they split up?”

  “I would suspect,” Klargmused, “that they plan to siphon off the children a little at atime with instructions for them to meet in some town, like Lorgo. Iwould expect to see another split-off about ten minutes down thepath. If we follow only the main trail, we will end up behind onlythe gypsies and they will plan to disappear on us.”

  “I don’t care about thegypsies,” Wolinda snapped. “I want the children.”

  “We will have them all,”declared Klarg. “Five men to the right and five to the left. Therest will continue on. Trackers, continue down the main path.”Klarg laughed. With thirty men at his disposal, they could split upas much as they wanted and he would still get them all.

  The five men detailed to take the lefttrack took off at a gallop. With any luck at all, they couldcapture their two runaways and still make it back for the battlewith that gypsy devil with the wicked sword on his back. Once ithad been determined that the gypsies had been hiding the children,Klarg placed a high bounty on the gypsy warrior. Klarg wasconvinced that the gypsy was part of the group of armed men who hadhelped the boys escape the trap by the seaside cliff. That madeKlarg want him more than the children.

  Garth heard the thundering of the DarkRiders’ hooves a full two minutes before he got first sight ofthem. Perched on a sturdy branch with an excellent view of thetrack, Garth had one arrow already nocked and three more stuck inthe tree within easy reach. He quickly pulled another arrow fromhis quiver and slammed it into the tree. There was not much chancethat he would be able to down them all from here before they gotwise, but he would be prepared if they gave him thechance.

  The first shot would be the trickiest,as Garth planned to take out the last rider first. If it worked, itwould confuse them as to where the attack was coming from. One ortwo of the other riders might notice that the arrow had come fromin front of them, but there would be no time for them to tell theothers. When the front two riders went down, the confusion justmight give him a chance for the remaining two.

  Garth pulled back and let the firstarrow fly. He immediately nocked the next arrow and sighted on oneof the leaders. Garth heard the piercing cry of pain as he let gothe second arrow and nocked the third. Garth knew that the DarkRiders had not bought the deception and they started to split up asthe third arrow found its mark. The last two men were going to eatup valuable time now and Garth grabbed the two remaining arrows andreturned them to his quiver. Quickly, he climbed down out of thetree and crept off at an angle to the track the Dark Riders hadbeen following.

  Garth nocked an arrow as one of theDark Rider’s mounts passed in front of him. He wasn’t sure wherethe remaining two men were, but they had each chosen a differentside of the track. They had dismounted by now or he would haveheard them high-tailing it back down the trail. Getting closer tothe area of the attack, Garth discarded his bow and took twoLanoirian Stars out of a pocket as he dropped to his belly. Lyingquietly, he listened for sounds. One of the men on the trail wasnot dead. Garth could hear him moaning and realized that it musthave been his third shot and the man had turned to flee into thewoods while the arrow was traveling.

  The noise of the horses was alsodistracting and Garth could not pick up the sounds of his enemies.Precious moments were ticking by, but Garth remained motionless andlistened. Finally, he heard the sound of the man on the other sideof the trail. The man was creeping towards the tree where Garth hadbeen shooting from. Still, the warrior had to eliminate the man onthis side of the trail first or risk exposing his back. Garthcontinued to wait patiently.

  Soon he heard the sound of a crawlingman and the sound was coming closer. Garth laid the Lanoirian Starson the ground and silently extracted a reed and myric quill.Fitting the quill into the reed he held the blowpipe to his mouthand waited. Several tense seconds later, the Dark Rider’s headappeared not three feet
in front of Garth and he blew the quillinto the side of it. The man collapsed and Garth shoved the reedback into his pocket. Picking up the two Lanoirian Stars, Garthcrawled to where he could see the trail and lay quietlyagain.

  Less than a minute later, he saw thelast man dash across the trail to the foot of the tree that Garthhad used. Garth quickly and quietly made his way back to where hehad dropped his bow. Hiding behind a bush that shielded him atground level, Garth nocked an arrow and sat waiting for the man toclimb the tree. He still kept the Lanoirian Stars on the ground,one on each side of him, in case the man decided to come back thisway, but Garth was pretty sure that the man would find his oldperch too inviting. It offered good cover for an ambush and affordan excellent view in all directions. Unfortunately for the DarkRider, it was exposed if somebody was expecting you to bethere.

  As if on cue, the Dark Rider pulledhimself onto the sturdy limb and Garth let his arrow fly. Quickly,Garth rose, gathering his Lanoirian Stars and went to check on thewounded man. The arrow had missed the mark that Garth had aimedfor, but the man had died, anyway. Garth jogged down the trail andfound his horse waiting for him. He grabbed onto the mane and swunghimself onto the horse and took off for the canyon.

  * * * *

  Klarg halted the column at the mouth ofthe canyon. “I do not like the looks of this,” he speculated. “Itis too convenient for an ambush.”

  “From children?” Wolindacomplained. “Don’t tell me the Dark Riders are afraid of thesechildren.”

  “Not from the children,” Klargspat. “I am sure that this gypsy and his men were the ones whoambushed us at the sea cliff. This is probably where his men arehidden. The fact that the rider came back to meet the main groupsupports me. It was an attempt to lessen the amount of men theywould have to attack. Our left flank group never returned. They areprobably ten miles from here by now chasing a nonexistentenemy.”

  “Does this canyon go through?”Wolinda pressed. “And if so, how long to go around it?”

  “The canyon goes through,”Klarg admitted, “and it would take an extra day to get aroundit.”

  “Then we have no choice but tofollow,” Wolinda ordered. “You shouldn’t worry. My magic willprotect you. Of course, if you want to run for reinforcements, youhave my leave, but your men are going in.”

  Klarg clenched his fists in anger. Hecould not be seen as a coward in front of his men or they wouldrefuse to follow him, yet he felt as if he wouldn’t have any menleft if he followed the witch’s orders. “Let me at least take acouple of men up each side of the canyon to provide cover,” heinsisted.

  “Fine, Klarg,” Wolindapatronized, “play the grand strategist if you wish, but use the menfrom the left flank when they get here. These men are going in withme to get those children.”

  Wolinda gave the order to move forwardand Klarg felt like putting an arrow in her back. Instead, heturned his mount and galloped westward to find the men of his leftflank.

  The trackers led the procession intothe canyon and followed the evident tracks. They rode deeper anddeeper into the canyon at a cautious pace until the trackers hit aninvisible wall. They stopped, dumbfounded, and looked down thecanyon trail at the cave where Kalina and Arik stood waiting forthem. Arik started firing arrows over the invisible wall into theDark Riders. At the same time, Tedi from the right side of thecanyon rim and Tanya from the left, started showering arrows downon the assembled troops.

  The Dark Riders dismounted and soughtcover. They started returning arrows at the three targets, but theywere not able to reach the rim of the canyon and most of the arrowsdirected at the cave slammed into the invisible barrier. Wolindastarted blasting at the invisible barrier and the two bowmen on therim with her magic. Each time one of her projectiles struck thebarrier or one of the shields, it burst into radiant colors anddissipated, but each hit weakened the shield. Wolinda ordered theDark Riders to start scaling the sides of the canyon and directedmost of her magic at the two rim bowmen.

  Tanya kept trying to aim at the witchwith the bright green dress, but every time she let an arrow fly, aDark Rider or a horse got in the way. She was trying to conserveher arrows and make each one count for a hit, but the pandemoniumbelow made that difficult. If the horses would clear out of thecanyon, she would have a much easier time of it.

  “I’m not sure I can hold thisanymore,” Niki complained. “Every time she hits my shield, I canfeel it, just like she was punching me. She must be verypowerful.”

  “Just keep holding it,” Tanyademanded. “I want to kill that witch and if your shield fails, wemust retreat.”

  “I’ll try, Tanya,” Nikiwheezed, “but you don’t know what it’s like. It reallyhurts.”

  Across the canyon, Tedi was not tryingfor the witch because there were too many Dark Riders a lot closer.“How are the shields holding up, Fredrik?” he asked.

  “Okay, so far,” Fredrikreplied. “I’ve never really done this for any period of time. It’sstrange. Every time she hits my shield, I feel it more. At first itwas like a distant thump, now it is more like a jab with her fist.Not hard enough to hurt, but annoying to my concentration. This issomething I am going to have to practice more when I get thetime.”

  “You are getting practiceright now,” Tedi chuckled.

  “Yeah,” Fredrik laughed, “butI am concerned about Niki and Tanya. She’s not nearly as strong asI am and she is getting hit just as much.”

  “Don’t worry about them,” Tedisaid. “If it gets too tense, they will withdraw.”

  “I hope you are right,”Fredrik grunted with another jab from Wolinda. “With women younever know, though.”

  The arrows were starting to take a tollon the Dark Riders with fifteen of them dead or dying in the canyonbelow when Fredrik announced that he could no longer maintain theshield. “We have to retreat, Tedi. Garth was clear with his ordersand I never want to feel his wrath or displeasure. Let’sgo.”

  Tedi backed away from the edge of therim and Fredrik gazed across the canyon and saw that Niki and Tanyawere still there. The two boys took off running and Fredrik hopedthat Tanya wasn’t as stubborn as Niki. If she were, both girlswould likely be dead before the battle was over.

  The Dark Riders were not making muchprogress at climbing the walls because Arik was concentrating onthe climbers. Any time a man got higher than the level of Kalina’sinvisible barrier, Arik shot him down. He no longer concernedhimself with the men on the canyon floor. It felt strange to him tosee armed men trying to kill him and not be concerned about them.He began to think that magic did have some goodbenefits.

  With the thinning ranks of Dark RidersTanya finally got her shot at Wolinda. Her arrow ran true andstruck Wolinda in the left side of her chest. The witch tumbled tothe ground and the Dark Riders below started shouting.

  “My shield just went down,”Niki shouted. “I don’t understand it. I felt it getting weaker andweaker and then it stabilized and her punches didn’t hurt anymore.Then, all of a sudden, it just collapsed.”

  “It doesn’t matter any more,”Tanya replied, watching the Dark Riders heading for the mouth ofthe canyon. Those that could find live horses mounted and rode backthe way they had come. Those without horses ran. Tanya managed toget one more as he was running away.

  “Damn!” Tanya shouted. “Ididn’t want any of them to get away. Now they will just get moremen and come after us again.”

  Garth rode into the mouth of the canyonhoping he wasn’t too late. The sound of shouts echoed off thecanyon walls with the wail of men in retreat and Garth drew hissinuous sword. Garth slowed his steed to a stop a little ways froma bend in the trail and waited. He didn’t have long to wait beforetwo riders came flying around the bend. The enemy approached whiletrying to draw their swords and Garth swung into action. Garthswung his sword and decapitated the first rider. Stopping the swingshort, he lunged at the second rider with his sword and it cutcleanly through the man’s armor and pierced his chest. Yanking hissword free, Garth saw two more riders round the bend. The secondset of rider
s immediately halted their horses, nearly collidingwith each other, and drew their swords.

  Garth slowly approached them and theytried to sandwich him between them. Garth’s steed suddenly rose upand turned towards one of the Dark Riders, its hooves lashing outat the man’s head. As if this was a practiced maneuver, Garth chosethat very moment to swing his mighty sword at the other Dark Rider.Garth’s sword cut a long rent in the man’s body from his neck tohis waist as Garth was sliding off his horse to the ground.Ignoring the man he had just severed, Garth turned to the rider whohad been knocked off his horse by the beating hooves. Garth haltedhis swing at the man on the ground when he saw a pair of lifelesseyes staring up at him. Garth’s horse had crushed the man’shead.

  Garth stepped around the bend in thecanyon trail and saw three men running towards him on foot. Heplaced himself squarely in their path with a stance that indicatedthat the men were not getting past him and they slid to a halt.Eyeing his blood-drenched sword, the Dark Riders drew their ownsteel while looking for another way out. Garth furtively slippedhis hand into a pocket and grasped a Lanoirian Star. He stood withhis sword point on the ground in front of him, hilt in his righthand, with his left hand concealing the Lanoirian Star.

  “You wanted to serve the DarkOne, didn’t you?” Garth sneered. “Well, come, let your blood flowfor him.”

  The three men screamed as they rushedas one. Garth waited until they closed the distance before tossingout his left hand and sending the Lanoirian Star into the leftmostman’s eye. A second later, he brought his right arm up and the tipof his sword caught the center man just under the right side of hisjaw. The sword continued upward and sliced through the man’s noseand left eye. Dropping to one knee, Garth felt the shock of thethird man’s sword striking his sword. He allowed the blow to pushhis sword back by withdrawing it in a smooth arc that came aroundand sliced through the third man’s legs. The man lay screaming andGarth plunged the sword into his heart.