by Wood, Andrew
General Skalton positioned several pairs of his elite guards to ride north of the main party, to give some advance warning should they encounter any of the enemies of which Luken had recently warned them. The group rode until midday before stopping for an hour to rest the horses, as well as cater for the smaller children and babies.
Whilst he had been riding, he had thought of an idea on how to help deal with the younger members of their group. Each responsible adult would be responsible for one child, just as he cared for Taylor so others could do likewise for others. As the group was stopped, he decided to put his idea forward, and although one or two did not appear overly enthusiastic about fostering a child it appeared to give a few a lift, a purpose to continue, and he was quite proud of himself for thinking of it.
Chapter 8.
The sun passed its zenith and the line of horses, carts and wagons twisted and turned like a giant snake slowly making its way westward. By mid afternoon, they were making good time, and the General believed they should reach their destination a little earlier than anticipated if they could maintain their current progress. Luken had once more discreetly tried to manifest the great power he was supposed to have, and despite several attempts at staring and more fanatical hand waving, much to the amusement of Taylor, nothing of any note had happened. "Keep trying Father, you look funny when you do" the youngster laughed, "try? What, I was not trying anything Taylor, I just have a bit of stiffness in my arm and hand, both of them...oh alright I was, but I think your friend Sandred was not telling us the truth, as you can see I have no great power."
Finding a suitable location for making camp was not a problem, and they appeared to have reached it just at the right time. The horses needed to rest and the people needed food, and a perfect spot was found near a lake. They then lined the wagons around them to form a line of protection enclosing them within. Luken was originally concerned that they were trapping themselves in, but General Skalton informed him, they were not in any position to make any sort of retreat, and hence was better to make sure the group had some sort of barrier. The lake would give good cover one side and the lines of wagons, though not ideal would provide some sort of defence around the rest.
The sun was casting long shadows as it sank lower in the sky, when two of the General's riders came rushing back to report. "Your highness" the General shouted after Luken, "my scouts have spotted about fifty or more Darekian troops heading in roughly our direction, about an hour away at most." Luken was not quite sure what the General wanted of him, surely defensive and military decisions should be made by someone who knows what they are doing. Realising the officer was not going anywhere, and still stood awaiting a reply, "err... do what you think best General, I believe it prudent if I leave you to sort this one out" he finally said. The General nodded, "yes highness" he replied, before heading off shouting orders as he went. Luken was not sure the answer he gave was the one he was supposed to have given, but it did seem to do the trick.
Within fifteen minutes, the other riders had returned and the General kept those men mounted, as well as adding to their number, making twenty-five cavalry made up from both elements of the guard. Utilising both the elite and general guard, mixing them with the infantry they had armed from the public, they started positioning small shielded groups at the gaps between the wagons. Archers were placed behind them and lined along behind their makeshift barriers. The remaining horses were securely tethered and kept at the back, if there were to be any fighting, the creatures not being utilised by the cavalry would be out of harm's way. The women, children and elderly and any other unable to aid the defence were ushered together, and positioned near the horses. Much to his annoyance Luken was allocated two of the elite guards, and despite him ordering them otherwise, they remained at his side. Luken, although he knew himself, was not overly efficient at fighting, did offer his services, but was politely declined and gently ushered as far from danger as he was willing to stand.
Adding to the princes annoyance, were the orders his guards had been given. Should the unthinkable happen and it should appear they were getting over run; they were to mount horses and escort Luken as swiftly as possible away from danger. They were to leave everyone else behind, and 'to take him kicking and screaming if need be' had been the exact words of General Skalton. Despite numerous complaints, his wishes had been ignored and as such, he was shadowed by two guardsmen, though he made certain Taylor was at his side. Not under any circumstances would he leave him behind, dragging and screaming he may have to go, but he would make sure his son was not left behind.
Having been excused his guarding duties, for now; Levin knew he should feel nervous, though strangely he did not. If anything, the waiting with his short bow in hand and set with an arrow, positioned behind a row of shielded infantry, somehow made him finally think he was getting some revenge. It had been during his slow ride west, after escaping from Lanber, this very need, which had kept him going. As he stood, he visualised what and how he would approach the impending fight. Lifting his bow, moving it left and right at different heights, picturing in his mind another Darekian succumbing to one of his arrows.
Although people grouped up chatting, it was obvious to all there was some nervousness amongst them. Only the professional soldiers looked relatively at ease, and those with them could be seen twiddling fingers and thumbs. The General had utilised his professional men well, situating them amongst the lesser experienced, they did appear to bring some essence of calmness. There was still a little daylight left, and with the sun setting behind them, General Skalton hoped it would give his own men some small advantage, of causing nuisance, shining in the eyes of his opponents. However, if they did not show themselves soon, darkness would come, and he knew very well that fighting then would be a major problem for his less experienced troops.
A line of riders spread out some four hundred yards in front of them, "Keep steady, calm yourselves" the loud shout came from the General. The dark red flags of Darekia could still be clearly seen in the fading light of the day, fluttering in the gentle evening breeze. Once lined up, a number of horns blew, and the line of enemy riders charged headlong straight at the makeshift barrier made by the defending Corlan civilians and small number of soldiers. Screaming and shouting, the thundering of hooves on the firm dusty ground, quickly closed the gap between the two opposing forces. "Archers, fire at will" General Skalton ordered, and at his command the strumming of bow strings sounded, and the white feathered shafts of arrows took to the skies, like a startled flock of birds lifting upwards.
Levin did not pick any particular target, he could barely see clearly with everything in front of him. Angling his bow upwards, pulling the string back as far as his arms could manage, he released and spared himself a second, to watch the shaft fly skywards. Without knowing the outcome of success of his first shot, he quickly removed a further arrow from his quiver, and fired off another. Luken watched from the back, standing upon some wooden crates for an advantageous view, and before they had dropped to their targets, a second wave was already airborne. Several shafts struck the charging riders, a deadly rain, some dropping to the floor where they had been struck, others carrying on with the arrow shafts protruding from them. The second and third wave proved a little more fruitful as the targets neared becoming easier to hit, the thundering and screaming getting ever closer.
The first of the riders approached the barricade, aiming for a gapped area between the wagons, slamming straight into the four men forming a small shield wall knocking them clean off their feet, allowing a rider behind to break through the gap, only to be felled by a hail of arrows from the archers behind them. Though shaken and bruised the shield wall regained their feet, and re-established their defensive position. Two of the riders attempted to jump their horses over the wagons, with both failing miserably, their mounts crashing and tumbling bringing their riders down. One rose quickly and screamed, as his sword cut down an unfortunate archer caught unawares, nearby to Levin. The attacke
r's red bloodshot eyes bulged, in his tattooed face, screaming like a feral animal. Before he could raise his own bow, an Elite guardsman quickly cut down the intruder, swiftly slicing into its mid rift. Though normally enough to fell a man; it did however require two further cuts and a final thrust deep through the heart to finish him off.
General Skalton surveyed the battle, realising his lines were holding reasonably well, though he could see quite clearly several dead bodies lying on the ground on his side of the wagons, little more than dark shapes motionless, lifeless. Noticing the invaders had given up trying to attack the entire length of his defensive line, he realised they were starting to congregate on his left flank. Needing to act fast, if his shield line broke and too many riders surged through the gap, it could mean his non-combatants being put in danger. Estimating he now had accounted for almost half the attacking force, he decided to play his trump card. Shouting an order, one of the wagons was pushed slightly to one side, and the twenty-five men of his make shift cavalry, surged out to sweep around and hit the enemy amassing to his left.
Hoping the enemy did not decide to make a further attack to his right, he ordered the movement of men to his left, to reinforce the lines being threatened. As his reinforcements ran to their new position, he watched as several riders burst through, hacking down at the un-armoured archers behind the shield wall. His new line of twelve men raised shields and charged as a single wall to the enemy, as other archers fired from point blank range bringing them down off their horses. The sound of the cavalry smashing into the rear of the enemy, using long spears held vertical as one would a lance, came as a relief to those trying to hold back the onslaught of enemy breaking through the gap created. One intruder no longer on horseback, roared like a man insane, and despite having two arrow shafts sticking out of his torso, made a run at the General himself, Levin raised his bow, releasing an arrow which successfully hit the Darekian in the back.
Even with a third arrow the man roared onwards. Thomas Skalton did not panic in anyway, waiting for the crazed enemy to lunge at him, swinging his sword swiftly and calmly slicing, turning round in one rapid movement and removing the head of his attacker. Entirely unfazed, he then joined his line of men, helping to finish off the last of the enemy, who had been decimated once the cavalry had halved their remaining number in one single charge. With the enemy pressed up against the wagons and being held up by the shield wall, they had no way to avoid the line of spears that came charging from behind them.
A blood streaked, sweaty faced General made his way over to his prince, bowing his head before speaking. "Your highness, it is over, the last of the enemy has fallen." Luken replied as he thought a royal prince would be expected, "excellent work General, you and your men have fought most valiantly." Then realising that probably sounded cold and heartless he added, "Yes good job Thomas, did we suffer many casualties?" He knew any would be too many, though he also realised it was inevitable people would have been killed and injured defending him and the other civilians. "I am not yet certain your highness, but initial reports tell me about fifteen dead and twice as many again wounded, we are still trying to work out who needs what. I'm afraid we will need to light fires, we will need hot water and the light to help." Luken nodded, "do as you must General, I will see to getting some food and drinks distributed around the camp," "thank you highness I am sure it will much appreciated," and with that the officer wearily made his back to the men moving around by the wagons.
With darkness upon them, a number of fires had been lit, and gradually some organisation and modicum of calm fell upon the camp. They had defeated an enemy force, and although they had outnumbered the invaders immensely, in military terms they themselves had the fewer soldiers. After making sure Taylor was fed and left with Dareen, Luken made it his task to comfort each one of the wounded. He slowly moved from one man to the next, quietly uttering words to each. He was followed once more by Levin, who had resumed his position of personal guard, still taking his duty seriously. In turn, he thanked them for their bravery and wished them a quick recovery. Although it was not much, he hoped in some small way his words might help them, and give them some sense of achievement. Some of the wounded were not so bad, some had been struck by an enemy blade in an arm or shoulder, and after a clean and some stitching would probably recover. Despite his calming words, he knew all too well at least another two of the wounded would become fatalities very soon, their wounds quite severe and had no hope of survival.
In total they had lost seventeen dead, though it was only a matter of time before that became nineteen. Unfortunately, it had been the civilians, who had taken up arms at his call, which had taken the brunt of the casualties, making up all but one of the dead. The professional soldiers had been fortunate enough to not only be well trained, but also have the benefit of various forms of armour. Those who had been killed had had little more than the shirt on their backs to protect them, and hence had suffered heavily.
Finding the prince, General Skalton asked him to accompany him. "I wanted you to see some of the enemy your highness, I have never seen the likes of them before," looking puzzled Luken replied, "in what way General?" "Well, I have seen Darekian troops before, these are all facially tattooed as is the norm, but they fought as if wild animals, look at their eyes. I saw several still fighting on despite wounds that would have seen normal men fall. It was if they were being driven by some greater force, it was fortunate for us we only encountered a raiding party. If we encountered anything much larger we may not have been stood here having this conversation, in truth highness we need to get to Forwich as soon as we can." Luken nodded and stared at a fallen Darekian on the ground. The corpse had three arrow shafts protruding from its chest, each buried deep. The killing blow had been a sword thrust through the lower abdomen, wincing at the blood still oozing from the wound. As had been pointed out, the eyes were not that of a normal man. Where a colour of blue or brown would be normal, these were deep red, the colour of blood.
Luken returned to where he expected to find his son sleeping, only to see him sitting up, muttering what appeared to anyone watching to himself. He however knew the boy was no doubt in conversation with the man named Sandred. "Taylor, what does he have to say, I need to ask him some questions?" he said sitting down beside him. "He says ask away, I have just told him, we had to fight some bad men and we won." Luken tried to think of the importance of his questions, knowing this Sandred would conveniently disappear from his sons mind just when he needed to talk to him the most. "Ask your friend about my so called power, what is it? How do I make it work? Or is it that he speaks a pack of lies" he said with some amount of sarcasm to his voice.
Taylor nodded as he quite obviously was listening and trying to understand the message being relayed to him, "Sandred says he does not lie, and you should not speak in that tone, he says he is here to help." Luken sighed, "very well I apologise," trying to show his son some humility. "Just he says he wants to help us, yet I do not see how, Sandred" he spoke as if the man was actually with him in person, "what is it you want, you haunt my dreams, and now you speak through the mind of my son, you say things which are clearly not so, perhaps you have the wrong person."
After more head nodding Taylor replied, "He says you are the right man, and you do have great power, and he will try to teach you how to use it. He says it is ele... elemental," saying another unfamiliar word, with a little uncertainty he had spoken it correctly. His son added, "He says he can only talk to me for a few minutes at a time because it takes him a lot of power for him to do so," and with that the voice ceased once more. "He's gone again hasn't he?" Luken enquired, "Yes Father, he did say it was hard for him to talk to me, sorry..." Taylor appeared a little upset that he had let his father down. He put a comforting arm around his shoulders, "do not worry, it is not your fault, and I'm sorry for being a bit grumpy. I am just a little tired, and I should not have been talking in that way to anyone, come on it is time young boys like you were asleep." Making sure Tayl
or was asleep, Luken sat quietly contemplating the word elemental, what did Sandred mean by it, this power he was supposed to possess, was it something to do with the elements he thought.
Whilst the camp settled down to sleep, apart from the unfortunate soldiers who still had the task of keeping watch and guard, Luken decided to try once more. Concentrating on the fire that flickered besides him, at times, it appeared a particular flame got bigger, but he thought was probably more likely due to a breeze giving the fire a small boost. Next he unwisely thought perhaps he would be able to touch the fire, only to move his hand quickly back as he felt it burn, "ouch!" he cursed under his breath. Quickly turning to find his drink of water and dip his fingers in it, thinking himself an utter idiot for doing such a foolish thing. The soothing coolness of the water quickly eased the burning pain, and Luken considered it prudent to sleep before he tried something else irrational.
Father Dagon insisted that they ride for as long as possible, through part of the night if they must. An earlier conversation with his master had told him the prince and his people were in danger. He had also been told of an earlier battle, in which the soldiers of Corlan had successfully dealt with an attack. Captain Jak Corley had been allowed to hold the stone like pendant, a way of trying to convince him of the need for haste. The man had looked quite shocked when he had first made contact, and could feel the presence of another in his mind, but it did have the desired effect of persuading him of the need for haste.
Resting when they could, in short periods rather than making camp, enough to rest the horses and see them fed and watered. The only light was that from the slither of the moon, which was visible in the clear night sky and the plethora of distant flickering stars, and eventually Captain Corley, to the relief of his men called a halt. Four hours they had to eat and sleep before first light when they move again.
