Death Or Fortune

by James Chesney

  'We came to a clearing, there is a village. We sat and watched it for as long as we dared before I came back to get you. We did not see a soul. I left Ebbit and Mason there to keep an eye on things.' I told the men to rest there, I took Pare, Michaels and Miri with me and followed Windfall back to where he left the dwarf. We stood on the west side of the village, there was one large building in the center of town, around it was a dozen smaller buildings. On the south side of the village was what looked to be a large corn field. 'I've not seen so much as a bug.' Ebbit told us as we came up from behind him. I told Windfall and Ebbit to do a sweep of the north side of the village, Pare and Miri were to head south and do the same. Michaels and I were going to walk dead center through the town to check out the large building. After the others took off, Michaels and I started to walk. 'Strange, we are still more than a week away from the Plain of Hope, the Orcs must have moved farther south, taken the rest of the island. Yet I see no signs of battle.' The buildings were simple mud brick and some of the small homes we saw didn't even have doors, just an open entrance.

  From the writings that Hans gave us it was pretty easy to see that this was a Melkor village. There were simple people who lived simple lives. They had been living like this for thousands of years. The dirt path through the center of town was like a spider web, it had strands that reached out to each building and surrounded the large building in the center of town. Along the way we passed a water well. Michaels pulled up the rope, pulling out a fresh and clean bucket of water. I watched as he took a small taste, 'it is very good. We should have the men refill our supplies here.' We continued on to the large building after he dropped the bucket back in the wide well. It was a round building; the steps went up a good twenty feet where they ended at a large pair of steel doors. Engraved on the door was what looked to be a blazing sun, under that was the image I had seen on Michael’s banner, a dragon. I felt Michaels hand on my arm, he was pointing up near the top of the building, 'arrow ports.' In times of trouble the entire village would hide here and fight if they had to. We advanced up the stairs and opened the large steel doors. In the center of the room was an altar to Solarth and around that were rows and rows of benches where people could sit. Looking up I saw the walkways where archers would stand in the event of an attack.

  Michaels removed his helm, brushed the dust from his robes and took out his medallion of Solarth, resting it on his chest. I sat down and watched as he marched forward, pulling his two handed sword from his back. Holding the pommel in one hand and the blade in the other he set the weapon down flat on the floor at the foot of the altar. He then went down to one knee, placing both hands on his chest over the medallion. I could hear him praying but could not make out what it was that he was saying. I did not think it would be polite to listen in. After about five minutes he stood up and began to inspect the altar. 'There is not a single speck of dust anywhere. There is still someone here.' I asked him if he was sure as I started to walk forward. 'Aye, this altar is like the one we have at the home temple, this silver plate on the top tells a story of the creation of the world and Solarths hand in it. It also pays respect to the other gods. Each day we must dust and polish this plate or it gets dull and the fine print is too hard to read. As you can see, it gleams in the faint light in here. If I were to light the candles here it would be as bright as the sun.'

  'Whole town is empty.' I turned at the sound of Windfalls voice and held up a single finger telling him to be quiet. I watched as Michaels searched around the altar and then around the raised platform on which the altar rested. 'Back here' he said loud enough that everyone could hear. I just shook my head, I didn't want to scare anyone that we found. 'The old temple in Westheath was something like this. Just square instead of rounded. It had a hidden door behind the altar, it was where the leader of the church would rest or hide folks if needed.' Before I could stop him he was half way down the stairs under the hidden door guided by the light came from his medallion. I told the others to stay up top as I took off after him. The stairs led down into another rounded room, half the room was filled with dried goods and large barrels of water. When we turned around and saw the old man sitting on the bed I thought for a moment he might be dead. 'I feel the blessed light of the good god on my skin, please come forward. Tell me what it is that you wish.' His hair was as white as his robes and flowed down around his body in waves. His face was clean shaven but his eyes were what drew me in, they were milky white.

  'I am Michaels, paladin of Solarth from the temple in Arcadia, far across the sea. I am here with Lord Darmot Kromwell, we are here to help.' The old man reached down and picked up a long wooden staff and stood up by the bed. Taking careful steps forward, he walked right up to Michaels. 'It has been many ages since a paladin stood in this temple. It would seem that the past has indeed come into the present. I am not in need of help but help is needed here.' I asked him why he was the only one in town. 'The others had to flee or risk drawing an attack from the Orcs. It would seem our cousins to the north do not make good slaves. Many die doing their assigned task. The first time the Orcs came south of the rift, they took all the men and women. From what I understand, any child that was not old enough to work became food. They also destroyed the village. Word went out to the other villages, everyone went into hiding. Now the Orc scouts find nothing but empty villages. They have yet to find where the people hide.' I asked him why his people left him behind. He let out a slight laugh and looked right at me with his dead eyes. 'I am blind young man, you do not drag old blind men into the jungle. Not if you want to hide. Besides, I am safe here. No one with evil in their heart can enter the temple and the Orcs don't bother with the buildings if they are empty.'

  This was something I did understand. If you are going to take over a nation, you only destroy what you must, use the standing resources as they are for yourself. I imagined somewhere there was an Orc chief with a map of the island plotting out how to use what they have found on the south side of the island. 'How long have you been alone sir?' Michaels asked him. 'Months I would say but there is a clan runner here about once every couple weeks to check on me. It was not easy for the Orcs to take the north. There are many wizards among the Othos, they do not have the hunters our people have but they are able to defend their selves. When their leader came ashore, he put an end to that.' I asked him if his people were trying to fight back. 'We are trying not to draw their ire, there are only eight hundred left in my clan. We would make them pay but in the end, it would be just that, our end. If the Orcs want to fight us, they will have to find us. If the Orcs try to attack us where we hide, they might find it not worth the losses they will take. Even the plants would fight them should they find the Lost Valley.'

  I told him we were planning on doing all we could to help and I then asked if we could use his temple for the night. 'It will not be the first time your clan from across the sea has spent the night in the temple.' I asked him what he meant. 'The female priest came here, asked if she could rest her company here. I will tell you as I told them. As my ancestors told Keltor and his men, all are welcome under the eye of Solarth if they can stand to feel his sight upon them.' I looked to Michaels and saw that he was in a bit of shock. 'Sir, what do you know of Keltor?' he asked. 'Only what has been passed down through the years. It was his companion Delmon Windfall who inscribed the altar above us. He did the same in all the temples, both here and in the north.' Delmon Windfall was an elf cleric. It was his writings that Kandella had found. The very same writings that lead her and then us to the island. He was also the ancestor of the most feared bounty hunter in all of Majius. Michaels seemed to be beside himself, wanting to question the old man about everything. I told him that I would gather the men and left the two alone to talk.

  When I left the two behind and went back up to the main room of the temple, Windfall and Ebbit were sitting outside on the steps, Miri was standing behind them. Pare on the other hand was up on the walk way trying to look out the arrow ports. I told Windfall and E
bbit to go get the men and to bring them all back to the temple. I watched them leave and then went to sit down on one of the many benches. I then rested all the way back, trying to close my eyes. I could hear Pare moving around on the walk way, he was being quiet, while not always a good sign it was something I welcomed at the moment. I had only closed my eyes for a minute. I was well on my way to being relaxed when I felt something. I opened my eyes and saw a smiling halfling face hovering above me. She was standing on the bench, bent at the waist looking down at me. Her hair had grown a bit longer since we had set sail but it was still short. 'You know, I am pretty good. I once tracked a man for a week before I ran him down. This isn't a boast, I am just telling you this so you understand what I am about to say. There has not been a living soul in this town for months.'

  I let out a soft sigh and sat up on the bench asking her what she meant. 'If I didn't know better I would say this town has been empty for years. I'm sorry but Pare and I gave a little listen to you guys down below. If he has someone checking on him, it has been a very long time. The path out of here to the east has spider webs thick enough to catch a bird. You might want to think about what he has to say, he might not have it all.' I looked at her for a moment and she just pointed to her temple, trying to say the man might be a bit crazy. I gave her a faint smile and told her we were visiting a land where the people had lived for thousands of years; without any outside influence for the most part. 'Well, we know there is nothing south of here, there is only one path out of town and it leads to the east.' I then asked her what path we followed on our way into town. 'Well, we didn't follow a path.' I held up my hand and stopped her there. I told her that these people are hiding from a larger and dangerous foe and these were not criminals on the run. These were very scared people who did not want to be found, in their home land.

  Later that night, after all the men were gathered in the temple we closed the doors tight. Michaels brought the old man up from the room below. He gave us food, water and shelter for the night. He also sat and told us the story of his people. While he was blind, he would turn his head to look at us when we asked a question. To be honest, I was a bit bothered by the whole thing. While I know he could not see us, he did feel us. That night as I slept I had a dream, at first I thought it was us that I was dreaming of. Looking back I know I was seeing how the people first came to the island. It was not the story of legend, it was something different. I wish I could remember it all, only few things stand out to me. First was the image of a volcano, smoke was spewing out of the mountain while the ground shook. Next we were on a ship, massive is the only word for it, I remember looking out to see a second ship like the one I was on. There was a storm, lightning flashing in the night and a dragon flying over the ship. The dragon saved us, saved us in the storm, brought us to land. As the dream ended we were on a beach. That next morning we set out to the north again, Michaels was the last to leave the temple.

  In a way I felt bad about leaving the old man there, without any protection. I got the feeling that he was near his end and he knew it. I also get the feeling that more than anything, when his time came, more than anything he just wanted to be at home. While I know I could still die on the field of battle somewhere, the thought of dying at home in my own bed is something I long for. To pass away in the one place I know I was loved and have given love. The thought of being beside Jasmin when she is old and gray gave me a smile as we marched. Over the next five days we passed two more villages just like the one we left behind. Massive fields of cotton surrounded the first village, while there was a building filled with spinning wheels and looms where they would make the cloth, there was no product to be found. Whatever they had, they took with them. The next village was the biggest goat farm I had ever seen. On the seventh day, we found something I wish I never have to see again. Something I pray no one ever has to see again.

  86. Farm

  Windfall and Ebbit stopped to wait for us long before we could see what was going on. The harsh Orc voices tend to carry. The crack of a whip carries even farther. Seven days after we left the old blind man behind in the temple to the south we found the largest of the Melkor farms. It was also the closest one to the Plain of Hope. I didn't need Windfall to tell me why they had stopped. I could hear the commotion long before I saw the pair. Leaving Ebbit behind with the others, Windfall and I continued on towards the noise. While I knew the elevation would drop a bit before we reached the plain, I never expected this. It was as if someone had stripped away the trees, hills and dirt, it was close to a shear drop down. 'Close to two hundred feet.' Windfall said to me trying to peek out over the edge without being seen. From where we were standing, the farm looked to be close to a half mile wide. Humans could be seen working the crops, most were in chains. We could also see more than a dozen Orcs on horseback, whips in hand shouting out at the men to work faster. Along the south end of the fields, there was a tall wooden fence. I had seen hundreds like it in my time but I have never seen anything like this.

  I pulled out my spy glass to get a closer look at what I was seeing. Hanging from several of the post were bodies in various states of decay. Some were nothing more than human skeletons that had been picked clean. Others were still in the process of getting to that state. Some of the bodies were very, very small. 'Look to the east.' Windfall whispered to me. On the far side of the fields was what was left of the village. Close to a hundred buildings in all from what I could tell, all of them were burned out or destroyed. This must have been the village that the old man had told us about. I then turned to look at the north side of the fields. There was a large area that looked like some kind of cattle pen. Make shift towers had been erected at the four corners of the area, Orc archers stood, watching the humans that were not working in the fields. 'If they pack them in they might get a hundred people in there, where is everyone else? Did they kill them all?' I just shook my head, telling him that they only kept who they needed to harvest the crops, the rest were taken north, to work at the ship yards. It was the only thing I could think of at the time. Needless to say, I do not think like an Orc.

  Just beyond the holding pen was a series of four large tents. This is where the Orcs rested when they were not guarding the humans in the field or standing watch on the towers. We watched them work, each person did they best they could to avoid being beaten. They worked in teams of three, all three were chained together. Two of the people carried wooden crates while the third picked food and loaded it into the crates. When a crate was full, they would all run together to the north side of the field where they would stack the full crates and take empties back out to the field. My best guess told me we were dealing with close to thirty plus Orcs. I wanted to help the people in chains. It was all I could do to keep from going down the side of the cliff to start taking revenge for the Melkor people. Something about the crates of food bothered me so I just kept looking at them, trying to see what was wrong. It hit me all of a sudden, there were no wagons. The vast number of crates told me that they should be picked up soon. I collapsed the spy glass and handed it to Windfall. I told him we wait and we watch. That is all we could do for now.

  I told Windfall to keep watch and that I would send someone up to relieve him in a while. I walked back to where the men were waiting as I was turning the details over and over in my mind. Should we take the risk, should we let our presence be felt now? How much danger would we draw down on ourselves? The simple fact was that I did not have enough information yet to act. I had to know more about what we were headed into. As I stood before the gathered men, I looked at the extra crates we had carried with us since we had left the ship. We had simple leather armor, two dozen long bows and a quiver of arrows for each and an equal number of short swords. I then told them all what I had seen and what I wanted to do. Wait until night time to then attack the farm, then free and arm the slaves if they were willing to join the fight. I then told them we were going to make camp where we were standing so we could watch the Orc, study their movements un
til night fall. I never expected this to be a problem with any of the men, as the sound of steel being drawn filled the air I remembered Michaels.

  'If you think I am going to stand by and watch as those people are beaten and killed you are mistaken.' he said to me. I had to run to get in front of him he was moving so fast. The others just stood by and watched in stunned silence. I held up my hands and told him to stop. I didn’t like what I had to do next but it was the only tool I had as he refused to stop. I said to him, you promised me that you would not put our mission in danger. If you go down there now, it could get us all killed. I have seen the look on his face before. I had seen it in the face of men I had killed, as they knew I had dealt them a mortal blow. 'I cannot...' was all he said before I stopped him. I told him, you must and you will. You promised me, you would follow orders that you would not do anything to put our mission in danger. I hated to remind him of this fact but it was the only thing I could do to keep him from charging down that hill and getting himself killed. 'Very well Captain' his voice was hard and cold. 'I will follow your orders but know this. You have damaged our friendship. The simple fact that you can sit here and wait while good people are being hurt makes me doubt not only my faith in you but your honor as a whole.' Michaels then turned back around returned his weapon to its scabbard.