Lorik The Defender (The Lorik Trilogy)

by Toby Neighbors

  “No,” Stone replied. “You were getting old and fat.”

  Lorik laughed out loud. It was the first time he’d laughed in weeks and it felt good. Stone had always been able to keep things light, whereas Lorik tended to get too serious at times. They found a small farmhouse just a few hours before dark. Lorik and Stone stopped to investigate. They found sacks of ground corn, and enough vegetables to fill another sack. They waited for Vera and the volunteers to catch up, then they loaded the food into the wagon. Stone took Vanz’s place on the wagon’s bench seat while the old cook moved to the back of the wagon to investigate the new supplies.

  They kept moving until just before dark. They made camp near a small grove of trees. The ground around the small grove was littered with dead sticks, enough to build several small fires to keep the men warm. The ground was wet from snow, but there wasn’t enough snow to make them all miserable with cold. Vanz stewed the vegetables in a large pot, then spent most of the night baking small round bread cakes made from the ground corn. They were a little sweet, but very hearty and the cook claimed they would last for weeks in the men’s saddlebags. Lorik stood watch and let his men sleep.

  The days followed in rapid succession, with each day much like the ones before. The landscape turned from snowy white to a muddy brown. The clouds sat heavy on the sky like a hen warming her eggs, only there was nothing warm on the long, wet marches. On the third day, they discovered an inn with four large kegs of ale. Lorik decided to stay the night there. They lit a fire in the big hearth of the inn’s common room and enjoyed a night of comfort before pushing on the next day. They traveled for ten days before they finally came within sight of the walls that surrounded Ort City. There had been no sign of the enemy.

  “Well,” Stone said. “What do you want to do?”

  Vera walked beside Stone and Lorik. Vanz drove the wagon, which was laden with food now. The other volunteers dismounted and began leading their horses.

  “We’ve come south a good distance from the camp,” Vera said.

  “There’s bound to be plenty of food in the city,” Stone said. “Water too.”

  “And it’s fortified,” Vera said.

  “You both think it’s a good idea to man the city walls?” Lorik asked.

  “It makes sense,” Vera said.

  “It’s a strong defensive position,” Stone agreed. “There’s probably even weapons we could use.”

  “What if the enemy can fly,” Lorik asked, “like the Leffers? Those high walls will be useless to us then.”

  “We could keep moving south,” Stone said. “But the farther we go, the more tired our men and horses will be.”

  “And the farther you’ll have to fight to get back to the camp,” Vera said.

  “Even if we just stay here for a few days, it would give us all a chance to rest and resupply,” Stone said.

  “Let’s see what we can find,” Lorik said.

  Ort City was a large, fortified town, with towering stone walls. It had been built centuries before and was on the major trade route north toward Baskla. There was also a well-maintained road that ran from the western coast of Ortis straight east to the Great Sea of Kings that lay like a jewel in the heart of the Five Kingdoms. All around the city lay the sprawl of the city’s poor. They built makeshift houses from discarded supplies. The poor were scavengers, pilfering the city’s trash each day and carrying it out of the city walls.

  They led their horses through the muddy streets that ran between the huts and hovels, all abandoned now. It was hard to tell what had been destroyed by the Leffers and what had merely collapsed from poor construction. There were two main gates leading into the city, the northern gate was closed and locked, with a massive iron portcullis that was lowered from the gatehouse above to protect the massive wooden doors.

  A smaller entrance to the side of the massive gates stood open. After closer inspection, it became clear that the main gate had been sealed, and the smaller entrance had been used by the people fleeing the city.

  “I’ve never understood why a city would have such massive walls, and a fortified gate, only to have a smaller entrance nearby,” Vera said.

  “During a siege, the gates remained closed,” Lorik explained, “but sometimes it is necessary to go in and out of the city. These smaller entrances were called Ambassador Gates. There’s probably a load of stone just over the door that can be dropped easily to fill this part of the wall with heavy stone.”

  Vera didn’t like the idea of passing through the Ambassador’s Gate. Just the thought of all the stones waiting to drop down made her nervous. Lorik expected to find stragglers in the city, perhaps even guarding the entrances, but they found no one. Ort City was a well-laid out town, with a wide avenue between the massive walls and the shops that circled the city. Lorik took a second just to take it all in. The shops were well built, most made from quarried stone with living quarters built above. Many of the tile roofs were smashed and some of the older buildings had collapsed, but unlike many of the smaller villages throughout Ortis, the city was mostly intact.

  In the center of the city, the royal castle stood like a silent watchman. A wall of ornate stone surrounded the castle. The deadly defensive mechanisms were artfully worked into the sweeping relief that stood out on the castle wall. The relief showed majestic rulers bestowing gifts on the masses that were carved below them.

  “Wow,” said Vera. “That’s impressive.”

  Lorik turned and saw that everyone was staring up at the castle just like he was. It was obvious that the city was well built to defend a massive attack, but unfortunately there was simply no way that Lorik’s two dozen men could defend it.

  “Alright, enough gawking,” he said. “We’ve got work to do.”

  “You want us to search the city?” one of the volunteers asked.

  “No,” Lorik said. “The city may be full of riches, but that’s not what we’re here for. Our job is to stop the army that is coming. We need to check the defenses of the castle. If my guess is right, there will be a secret tunnel that leads out of the city. I only hope it runs north and not south.”

  “Why do we need to find a secret tunnel?” Vera asked.

  “Because we don’t have enough men to defend the city,” Stone said. “If we can put up a good fight here, then flee, we’ll have a better chance of surviving.”

  “Stone’s right,” Lorik said loudly. “Of course the city gives us a huge advantage in battle, but an army could surround us and trap us here. If we don’t find a suitable way out of the city, we can’t stay.”

  “Well then, what are waiting for?” Vera said.

  Lorik turned to her. “I want you and Vanz to find food.”

  “We have a wagon full of food,” Vera said.

  “I know, but it would better in the long run to eat the food here and save the food in the wagon for our retreat.”

  “Alright,” Vera said. “You don’t want me in the castle for some reason?”

  “No,” Lorik said. “You’ll probably find all the food we need in the castle or nearby at any rate. But the secret tunnels may have traps. I’d rather not worry about you getting hurt unnecessarily.”

  “Good thinking,” Stone said. “Maybe I should help her.”

  “You are going to find the armory,” Lorik told Stone. “I want every weapon available, especially spears and weapons we can throw down on our adversaries.”

  “That makes sense,” Stone said.

  “And once you find the armory, I want a complete report on the castle’s defenses.”

  “You’ve got it,” the younger warrior said.

  They made their way through the city, which was neatly laid out and easy to navigate. Broad roads ran from the castle out to the city walls in many directions, almost like a spider’s web. Lorik could tell the city, which was beautifully arranged, was laid out so that the town beyond the castle couldn’t be used to hide attackers. Anyone trying to lay siege to the castle would have to expose themselves on
the city’s streets.

  The castle gates were open. They were made from massive wooden beams banded together with large iron strips and decorated with bronze sculptures of a roaring lion’s mane and face.

  “They must have been expecting us,” Stone said.

  “I don’t think anyone’s home,” Lorik said.

  “It wouldn’t hurt to find someone who knew their way around,” Vera said.

  “Only they might think we’re looters or outlaws and try their best to kill us,” Lorik said.

  “It seems so stupid,” Vera said. “Why do men have to always try to kill each other?”

  “It does seem stupid to fight people when there are plenty of monsters to kill,” Stone said.

  “I don’t care who we have to kill,” Lorik said. “As long as we’re ready when the witch’s army gets here.”

  They split up once they reached the castle’s bailey. Lorik led most of the volunteers straight into the massive structure. The castle was huge, with high towers and thick buttresses sticking out from the sides of the huge, stone building, so that it looked like a toad waiting to jump after a fly.

  Inside the main entrance, Lorik found a massive feasting hall. There were thick tapestries with colorful scenes of warriors in battle. The tapestries covered the walls on either side of the hall and in between the hangings were huge stone arches that supported the roof high overhead. There were windows high above each tapestry, but they were shuttered so the hall was dark and foreboding. It was hard not to feel as if ghosts were watching their every move in the abandoned castle. Lorik had his men spread out and began searching all the rooms that led away from the hall.

  “The escape tunnel will be secret, so it won’t be obvious. Don’t try to explore any corridors that you suspect might lead away from the castle. They could have traps waiting to catch anyone who tried to follow the king as he escaped. Keep moving down, what we’re looking for won’t be on the floors above. And stay in pairs. I don’t want anyone getting lost.”

  The men nodded and Lorik looked at Vyrnon.

  “You’re with me,” he told the man.

  Vyrnon was big, with powerful shoulders and a barrel chest. His belly was big too, but hard with muscle. Beside any other man, he seemed massive, but Lorik was bigger still. Where Vyrnon’s muscles were thick and round, Lorik’s were tightly defined, so much so that it was almost possible to see the muscle fibers. Lorik’s chest was wider than Vyrnon’s and his muscles were stretched flat, even though they stood out from his ribs. He was taller than his companion as well, and had to stoop through many of the passageways as they explored the castle.

  “I’m thinking any escape passage would be easy for the king to find,” Lorik said.

  “You want to start looking behind the throne?” Vyrnon said.

  “That’s my thought,” Lorik said.

  They climbed the dais and passed the two ornately carved chairs. There was a thick, purple curtain behind the thrones. Vyrnon pulled it to one side.

  “You first,” he said.

  The passage beyond was dark and Lorik guessed they would have to find torches or lamps of some kind. He wasn’t sure how to light the torches or lamps, there was no fire burning in the castle and combustible material would be hard to find.

  “We need to find a light source soon,” Lorik said, as the two men made their way through the darkness.

  Lorik kept one hand on the wall of the passage and another in front of him. He wasn’t afraid of the dark, but he didn’t want to crack his skull on the stone archway as they passed into another room.

  “Is that light up ahead?” Vyrnon said from behind Lorik.

  “Some,” Lorik confirmed. “Looks like another room.”

  They stepped out of the passageway into a good sized room filled with mirrors, armor, and wooden chairs. The high window was shuttered, but there was a long dowel rod with a metal hook on the end propped again the wall under the window. Lorik used the rod to pull open the shutters and let light into the room.

  The armor was highly polished and obviously not intended for use in battle. Lorik glanced around at the room and saw nothing of interest to him. There were two doors, one to Lorik’s right and one directly opposite the passage they had come from.

  “Which way?” Vyrnon asked.

  “Let’s keep moving in the same direction,” Lorik said.

  They went across and entered another room, this one full of dresses and ornate furniture with thick cushions. There was a fireplace filled with unburned wood and a brass lamp on a high stand.

  “This must have been the royal dressing room,” Lorik said.

  “For the queen and her maids,” Vyrnon said, touching the silky fabric of one of the many dresses.

  Lorik nodded. “We need to light a fire and get this lamp burning.”

  “I can do that,” Vernon said. “I’ve got flint. I just need a little kindling.”

  Lorik reached over and tore the sleeve off one of the formal gowns.

  “How about this?” he said.

  “That works,” Vyrnon said with a smile.

  The room was very gloomy at first; there were no windows and the only light came from the doorway of the room they had just left. Still, Vyrnon was as good as his word and after only a few minutes he had a fire snapping and popping in the hearth. He stood near the fireplace, warming his hands. The castle wasn’t as cold as the open prairie, but it wasn’t warm and cozy either. Lorik thought of his home in the Marshlands. It had been his parents’ home, just a simple structure, with a kitchen and sitting area near the fire. Lorik never remembered it ever being cold there, even in the heart of winter when the frosty temperatures dipped south and cooled the swamps. Lorik liked traveling in the wintertime; the cooler weather made the mud dragons and snakes less active. Occasionally, the mud would freeze and he could drive his massive wagons across trails that were normally too soft to support him.

  “It’s not a cozy place, a castle,” Lorik said.

  “No,” Vyrnon agreed. “I prefer a good inn, myself. One with ale and hot food.”

  “I agree,” Lorik said. “This place feels too formal for my taste.”

  They used one of the sticks from the fire to light the lamp, which was a simple affair once Lorik removed the ornate brass shade. It was a simple well filled with oil and a wick which caught the flame quite easily. Lorik replaced the shade, which reflected the flame’s light and cast it down in all directions.

  “Let’s keep moving,” he said.

  He held the lamp up and they explored several more rooms. Finally they came to a spiral staircase. They went down and found a long room with several roughhewn wooden doors.

  “The dungeon,” Vyrnon said.

  The doors were all open, and there was a foul odor in the room.

  “Someone must have let all the prisoners out,” Lorik said.

  “It smells worse than a barn,” Vyrnon said.

  “But it doesn’t smell of death,” Lorik said. “Let’s keep moving.”

  Beyond the dungeon was what appeared to be a storage room. They nosed around, but it seemed that they had come to a dead end.

  “We better go back and see what the others have discovered,” Lorik said.

  “Hope they had better luck than we did,” Vyrnon said.

  “Me too. It’s getting late as well. We’ll need to make arrangements for the men watching the horses.”

  “I’ll see to them, my lord.”

  Lorik nodded. He wasn’t sure how much he trusted Vyrnon and he preferred to keep men he didn’t trust close by, but Vyrnon’s gifts lay with horses. He would see to it that the mounts, which would be vital to their escape, were well cared for through the night.

  “Alright, let’s get moving.”

  Chapter 12

  Finding the armory wasn’t difficult for Stone. There were several buildings in the castle’s bailey, but only one had fortifications. They found the lock broken open. Inside the room, which had no windows and was sealed up with c
lay in the cracks between the tightly fitted stones to keep out any moisture, it was difficult to see. Stone swung the door open wide and let his eyes adjust to the gloom. There were racks and racks of spears, pikes, swords, shields, and other weaponry.

  “Jackpot,” Stone said to the two volunteers who had been assigned to help him. “Let’s start with the spears, get them all out here in the light so we can inspect them.”

  The men gathered as many of the long weapons as they could carry, then laid them gently on the ground. The weapons were sturdy, but the men had an acute sense that the weapons were their only protection from an invading army. They were used to working with simple spears, plain shafts of wood with a crude metal spearpoint made of iron. Most of the weapons the volunteers carried were from a stockpile Lorik had made with the help of a blacksmith during the Norsik invasion, or scavenged from the loot which the raiders abandoned when they fled back into the Wilderlands.

  The spears from the king’s armory were different. The wooden shafts were smooth, but not plain, they were thicker on the ends, with a narrow place in the center that was wrapped in rough strips of leather. Stone held one up and was impressed by how balanced the weapon was. He could balance the spear, which was as tall as he was, on one finger in the very center of the spear’s shaft. The blades were all dark blue, leaf shaped, and oiled to keep the metal from rusting. Stone touched the spear’s point and it pricked his finger. Then he checked the edge on the spearhead, it was honed as sharp as any sword.

  They laid the spears out on the ground and Stone counted them. There were two hundred in total. He sent his volunteers to do the same with the pikes. The pikes were longer than the spears, and each had a short little hook at the end, just below the thin, axe shaped blade.

  “What do you do with these?” asked one of the volunteers as he walked out with an armload of the pikes.

  “They’re for foot soldiers facing men on horseback,” Stone explained. “They’re long enough that you can engage without being in range of your opponent’s weapons.”

  “Yeah, but what do you with them?” the farm boy, turned volunteer soldier, asked.