Forsaken At The Crossroads

by Joe Sniezek

  When they stopped to camp in the foothills, they saw a lot of activity in the valley. Soldiers travelled to and from the lake. With no gateway to act as a focal point, the army spread out over the plain into several smaller camps. Each legion picked its own spot.

  Wilfer was determined to avoid any encounters as they continued towards the lake. He chose a remote path. The part of the newly formed lake closest to the mountain was filled with debris and boulders swept down the mountain. Wilfer thought it was a good place to hide, not only would the debris block visibility and offer places to hide, but the soldiers would have difficulty climbing over all the obstacles.

  As they sat on the water’s edge nestled amongst branches and stones on the water’s edge, Ikvig let his hand fall into the water as he stared out over the lake. The giant hesitated to call out to his squid friend. He was frightened that there would be no answer. Wilfer approached him and placed his hand on the large man’s shoulder. Zumi smiled in support. Taking a deep breath, Ikvig called out, “Ike, are you alright?” He spoke softly because the squid did not hear him but rather sensed his thoughts.

  Ikvig’s shoulders slumped forward in despair when there was no answer. Wilfer and Zumi encouraged him to try again. Then, Wilfer noticed a slight ripple in the water. He pointed it out to Ikvig. As they peered out, they saw a purple round bump appear just above the water. It buoyed higher and two large black bulbous eyes appeared. It was Ike.

  Ikvig smiled and waved. He held back his shout and cheers because they were deep within enemy territory. And when Ike raised a single tentacle out of the water and waved back, Ikvig struggled to stifle a laugh of delight.

  The squid swam over to talk to them. He rolled over to show them that while he did survive the terrible flood, two tentacles were torn from his body. Ike told them his story in his unique way of combining wiggles and telepathy.

  Wilfer heard the story. He saw an image of the underwater side of the dam bubbling furiously. Then he saw images of the entire embankment disappearing in an instant. Wilfer felt sensations of being tossed and thrown about with visions of rapids, foam, and unidentified objects flying past. He felt Ike’s frustration with not being able to swim against the flow or to even grab ahold of something. It was just too much force to the water. Ike sent sensations of being smashed against rocks and having tentacles tangled in branches. That’s what tore them off his body. There was nothing Ike could do except tuck himself into a ball and ride it out.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry Ike. I never realized it could happen so fast,” Wilfer apologized.

  Ike replied in his squid-speak that it would be alright. If he can stay in the water for a while, his tentacles will regrow.

  “That is good news,” Ikvig said, “So you’ll have to stay down here for a while?”

  Ike said he’ll stay and guard the gateway.

  “What is the gateway like? Is it open? Are people coming through?” Wilfer asked.

  Ike explained that it had been damaged and nearly stripped bare. Occasionally a man came through and swam up. Ike lurked in the nearby plants and snared the swimmers. He held them underwater until they drowned.

  Wilfer suspected Ike was eating these men, but Ike did not specifically say so. It was interesting that no soldiers had yet tried to swim down to the gateway from this side. Likely, it was only a matter of time until they tried.

  “Ike, they will start arriving with crossbows and nets, if they figure out what is going on. Be very careful,” Wilfer said.

  Ike shared a mental image of himself hiding deep within the leaves and shrubbery. He was almost completely camouflaged.

  Twenty-Four

  Ike was fine and still contributing as much to the cause as anyone. The three friends could move on to the next step.

  “We have starved the beast, for now. But the beast still lives,” Wilfer said.

  “The army is so large; it would take only a small fraction to drain the lake or build a levee around the gateway,” Zumi said, “We may have accomplished less than we think.”

  “Hey, we’re not done yet. Have hope,” Wilfer replied.

  “Yes. The war has just begun. We fight on,” Ikvig said with enthusiasm.

  “We need to do something. We just poked the bear, as they say. We are in more danger than we’ve ever been. If we do nothing, we’re just waiting for them to find and kill us. If we attack head-on, it would be three against three-thousand. That’s certain death as well,” Wilfer said.

  “I would welcome such a noble death,” Ikvig said fiercely.

  “No death is a good death,” Wilfer said and Zumi nodded in agreement.

  “The giants will fight if they haven’t started already. We will join with them,” Ikvig said as he tested the weight of his war hammer in his hand.

  “There is another option. We leave. Wash our hands of the entire thing and never look back,” Wilfer said.

  Zumi thought about that for a moment, but sighed and said, “I’m with Ikvig. We join the giants and fight.”

  Ikvig smiled at that, but then he frowned and cautioned, “They may not welcome you with open arms.”

  “Maybe we don’t fight side by side with them. I must admit, I’m not too keen on helping kill my own countrymen. The best would be to stop the army without fighting. Negotiate a treaty, maybe,” Wilfer said.

  “That’s what we wanted you to do all along, stupid boy,” Zumi said with exasperation. Wilfer barked out a laugh in surprise at her outburst.

  ∞∞∞

  Wilfer led his friends back up the mountainside. The troops had spread out across the valley floor. With no better idea, he decided to map the location of the various camps. The legions moved and camped at random; there was no discernable pattern to it. Wilfer wondered about that; could it be chaos within the ranks after the flood? That would be to his advantage. But perhaps there was a reason behind the chaos. Maybe it was an intentional counter-move to prevent an ambush. It would be difficult to set a trap without the ability to predict a legion’s location. Another possibility was that the army rested awaiting orders.

  Despite the chaos, one thing was apparent to Wilfer; the army was focused mostly on San La. The density of legions was greater around that gateway than anywhere else. Wilfer said to his companions, “They seem to have found a replacement gateway.”

  “Let’s get a better look at Granberk,” Ikvig said.

  “That’s a decent enough plan. San La is impenetrable now. Maybe we can share information.”

  ∞∞∞

  The river canyon near the Granberk gateway was overrun with troops. The river had enough clean water to supply the entire army. Wilfer did not see a source of food for the army. They likely intended to bring food through one of the gateways they now surrounded.

  Access to the Granberk gateway was narrow. It was buried underneath a pile of rocks. It occurred to Wilfer that someone had tried to bury the gateway long ago, much the same way he had flooded his own gateway.

  The troops labored to dig out the gateway. They used ropes, levers, and shovels. Wilfer wasn’t the only person with that idea, apparently. Maybe he had even given the idea to them. Wilfer was starting to wish he had never done any of this; the giants were in more danger now than if he had just left everything alone.

  Wilfer, Zumi, and Ikvig edged a bit closer to the edge of the cliff overlooking the gateway to Granberk. Wilfer said to his friends, “We cannot get close enough to warn the giants. But with soldiers right outside their gate, the giants must be aware of them.”

  “There is nothing we can do here. Shall we head back to San La?” Zumi said with a sigh, “Can anybody think of any ideas?”

  Ikvig said, “We have one more thing to try,” as he drew his wasp pendant from his pocket.

  Wilfer’s eyes widened at the sight of it. He asked in awe, “What are you going to do with that?”

  Ikvig replied, “I will call wasps. I could use them to attack the men, but that would not do much without coordinating with my people first. I c
an only control the wasps. They cannot talk to me. It seemed like they were used to spy on us but I do not know how that was done. They cannot be our messenger.”

  “Can they carry something? Maybe we can send a note to the giants? Will you lose control over the wasps through the gateway?” Wilfer asked.

  Ikvig’s mouth stretched into a toothy smile. “Ah! That’s a good idea. I don’t know, but let us try.”

  As the wasps congregated around Ikvig and his friends, they tested one and it was able to carry a small bit of cloth. Unfortunately, they did not have anything to write with so they could only scratch a couple words onto the cloth. Ikvig chose to write, “Many enemies outside gateway.” That should be enough, Wilfer thought. The giants would have to decide what to do with that information.

  They wrote four copies of the note, just in case, some did not make it to their destination. Wilfer used slightly larger scraps of leather for the note. Each piece needed three wasps to carry it. Ikvig sent the wasps off, and they waited for some sign of success.

  Shortly after releasing the wasps, Ikvig informed them that he could no longer communicate with the insects once they passed through the gateway, but he tried to instill a desire to return in the wasps. However, he was not convinced the wasps would return. Wilfer hoped that the giant guarding the gateway would notice groups of wasps carrying notes. That would certainly be noteworthy if seen, but the wasps were so small that they would be easy to overlook.

  “Let us try again,” Zumi suggested, “I think there may be greater success in numbers. Ikvig, call more of your wasp friends and Wilfer and I will write more notes.”

  While they busied themselves with that, Ikvig said, “Even after a hundred notes, how will we know if it succeeds? The wasps will not return. Is there some other sign we should look for?”

  “We send a fixed number of notes – twenty-five. We release a few at a time. By the time we release the last note, we should have seen results of the first one. If nothing happens by then, we choose another plan,” Wilfer decided.

  Ikvig called the wasps to himself. He gathered far more than twenty-five, by the time he was done. The ground and nearby trees were soon covered with a black and yellow moving blanket. A bead of sweat rolled down Wilfer’s jawline; he could never be comfortable this close to this many wasps. He was very thankful that Ikvig was in control of these pests and that Ikvig was on their side.

  Half of the notes had been released when Wilfer heard shouting and fighting from down near the gateway. Wilfer peered over the edge of the cliff to see a stream of well-armed giants pouring out of the gateway and rushing to attack the men. Although perpetually prepared, the men were nevertheless taken by surprise. The lead giants pierced the soldier’s hastily drawn line of defense. The men sustained heavy losses before they recovered and waved their signal flags for reinforcements.

  “My kinsmen got the message. They know the wasps will be at their side again,” Ikvig said. He jumped up to stand with his arms outstretched. In unison, the wasps flew into the air with a deafening buzz to form a dark cloud above the ridge. Ikvig pointed at the battle and the cloud of venomous insects let fly, viciously attacking the soldiers. Ikvig shut his eyes in total concentration; this was a far greater number of bugs than he ever had to control before.

  “I can’t control them individually,” Ikvig said through clenched teeth. “A wasp doesn’t know a man from a giant.”

  A thought came to Zumi and she said, “Send them to attack the incoming troops. That’s a single target. No chance of stinging friends there.”

  “Right,” Ikvig said. He sent the entire mass of wasps up into a dark cloud then down to attack the nearest legion. When the wasps struck, it was instant chaos. Some men fell instantly, either dead or in shock from the venom in their blood. Other men danced and swatted the air or rolled and thrashed on the ground. One by one, the men that remained standing could bear no more and fled. They ran in every direction, but Ikvig focused on those men that ran towards the battle with the giants.

  With that legion decimated, Ikvig turned to his friends and said, “The wasps will tire soon. They are nearly empty of venom. It would take too long to gather more. I must go down to aid my kin.”

  “What about us?” Wilfer called after his departing friend.

  “Stay out of trouble,” Ikvig said over his shoulder and shrugged.

  ∞∞∞

  Wilfer could barely make out his friend among the warriors of the battle. He saw Ikvig send the wasps for a final attack against an approaching legion. He tucked his pendant away into his pocket and drew his weapon. He shouted as he ran into the thick of battle and Wilfer thought he could see a smile of satisfaction on his large friend’s face.

  Zumi said, “Ikvig has found his home, it seems.”

  Wilfer looked at her and said, “Yes, but it’s no place for us. That’s the trouble with loyalty. There’s always a choice in the end. I wish him well and hope we may see him again someday.”

  “Me too. But as for us, Where to now?” Zumi said. Wilfer did not answer. They mounted the horse and rode back across the mountainside.

  ∞∞∞

  They had not passed this way before. The mountain terrain between Granberk and San La was difficult. They faced sheer cliffs, steep ravines, and large rocks that the horse simply could not climb. Exhausted from their tortuous path, Wilfer said, “There is open fighting on the plain below. We have yet to see anyone up on the ridge in all the time we have travelled these mountains. I think we should risk travelling up there.”

  ∞∞∞

  It was very windy on the ridge but the walking was easier. “I didn’t count on the wind,” Wilfer had to shout to be heard. “Keep an eye on the mountainside below. We will descend as soon as we can. We can’t stay up here for long.” Zumi nodded but Wilfer wasn’t sure she could hear what he said, even though he shouted it.

  There was little point in conversation, so Wilfer kept his eye on their path. And when he grew bored of staring at the ground ahead, he turned his head to the right to view the land beyond the mountains. In the distance stood an even taller mountain range made of pure black obsidian. Never having seen such a sight, Wilfer asked Zumi about it.

  “Yes, the mountains breathe fire sometimes. It cools into black glass. We have a few islands like that, but not an entire mountain range. This is a strange place indeed,” she said.

  Perhaps it was fatigue, perhaps it was the wind, or perhaps it was fatigue of the wind, but Wilfer caught his mind drifting into a haze. With a start, he looked up to see soldiers heading towards them. They had already seen Wilfer by the time he spotted them.

  “Halt,” the lead soldier said. Wilfer glanced at Zumi in dismay as he pulled on the reins.

  “Dismount and disarm,” the soldier commanded.

  “Well, they didn’t attack,” Wilfer said quietly to Zumi, “Act like we belong and see what happens. I don’t think we have much fight left in us, anyway.”

  Twenty-Five

  With weapons drawn, the soldiers surrounded Wilfer and Zumi. The leader commanded, “State your purpose.”

  Wilfer had to think fast. He examined the small group of soldiers to try to figure out why they were on the ridge; knowing that would help him craft his own excuse. He couldn’t guess why they were travelling in such small numbers and this high up on the ridge but he assumed that they were doing much the same as him – avoiding the trouble down on the plain. They were likely messengers, so Wilfer decided to build off of that for his own story.

  Keeping it brief to avoid saying the wrong thing, Wilfer replied, “Heading to San La. It’s a mess down there, so we decided to take the high road.”

  “What do you mean by mess?” the lead soldier asked.

  Asking for clarification like that meant that the soldiers accepted everything else. Wilfer was silently relieved as he answered, “The giants are coming with great numbers. A massive battle had begun when we left.”

  The leader was unhappy; these were not ba
ttle-hardened soldiers. Wilfer did not want to push things further. There was always time to ramp up the bluff, but it is difficult to back down again. He waited and tried to appear calm and patient.

  “Why are you heading towards San La then? The soldier asked but did not seem particularly interested in the answer. That was a good sign.

  Wilfer made a gesture towards Zumi since she was obviously of that land. “We are negotiating a treaty with San La. We don’t want a war on two fronts if we can avoid it.”

  The leader looked as if he felt he should ask more questions but couldn’t think of them, so he asked, “And they’re expecting you?”

  “We’ve been back and forth a few times. Usually, we take the low road,” Wilfer said, pointing towards the valley below. He hoped that would explain why they’ve never seen or heard of him before. However, the soldier must have felt something was not right. Otherwise, Wilfer would have been sent on his way by now.

  The soldier asked his one last question, “What is your name then?”

  Zumi took over at this point. She straightened her back and said, “I am Zumi Haramu, eldest daughter of the Prefect. And I am the last hope of preventing open war.”

  Wilfer knew that Zumi’s posturing was a step in the wrong direction. Titles meant nothing to these soldiers. Wilfer remembered that Zumi wasn’t there when he was educated on the cause. He jumped in to salvage the situation by saying, “She’s aligned with the cause. It’s time we cut out the rot in San La, too. She can help with that. We’re working to educate the leadership there before they needlessly resist.”

  Zumi stared intently at Wilfer, but she hid her alarm well. Wilfer was bluffing. She hadn’t been exposed to the soldier’s philosophy before, but now was not the time to ask for a lesson. If they managed to escape their current situation, Wilfer could tell her more about it.

  The lead soldier looked at her expectantly. Zumi hesitated, unsure of what to say She had to be vague enough not to say the wrong thing again. She relaxed her posture, looked the soldier in the eye, and said, “People just need a little time to get used to new ideas. We’re trying to work something out. Show both sides that everybody benefits.”