“What do you…”
Shadow Blade took the hilt of Bloodseeker and cracked Thorn Blade on the side of his jaw, nearly breaking it. Kunther fell to his knees, blood flowing from his lip. Shadow Blade hit him again in the face so hard that Kunther knew he was going to have a solid black eye for a month. He went down on his back, but Shadow Blade reached down and picked him up.
“Sorry, Thorn Blade, but you need to tell Talon Blade that I took this sword and am leaving this guild. You tell him that you tried to stop me, but I beat you unconscious and when you awoke, I was gone. Now, go!”
Kunther wobbled while Shadow Blade spoke to him. He helped Kunther up on his horse and hit the horse on the rear to send him back to safety. As he watched him go, he wondered if he was doing the right thing.
Rock Blade had been his friend for many years while they served with Rager’s House of Renegades, but when Rock Blade killed Red Blade, he had to keep his solemn vow to hunt down and kill Rock Blade for his crime against the guild. Although it was a crime to kill another within the guild, Shadow Blade could not help feeling that Alaezdar was justified. He and Red Blade rarely got along either, and Red Blade was at best an untrustworthy rogue within the group.
Shadow Blade had not planned on his new decision to leave the guild. He had just come to it as he held Rock Blade’s trusted sword. He now felt the need to find and help his friend.
Looking up, he saw there was now blue sky beyond the smoke. The forest fire had burned in the other direction. His only path would be to go deeper into the forest. He looked at Bloodseeker and then bent over and picked up the Rivlok’s scabbard and sheathed the sword. It wasn’t a good fit. The blade stuck out another six inches, but the two smaller clasps on the sword were clenched shut and Shadow Blade knew that meant the sword for now was either satisfied or knew its master had left.
He then found his horse, tied the sword and scabbard to the saddle, and mounted the animal. He kicked into his horse’s flanks, spun around and charged as fast as he could away from the Rager’s guild members and the fire and rode deeper into the forest to look for his friend.
Chapter 30
Corben crawled out of the hole from the mineshaft which was just a small aperture in the ground on top of a cluster of granite rocks. Along with many others, he believed that the hole was the very spot where one of the split Quarterstars had landed, pierced the mine and tainted the rock in it which they had called goblin-touched stone.
Corben and the other miners now surfaced out of the hole and hauled up the wooden boxes full of iron ore from the ground. His long, scraggly brown hair was covered in gray dust. He stood up, bent over, grabbed the rope that he had tied to a tree much earlier and dragged his box out from the hole.
The box came up slowly. His skinny, tired arms had been chiseling rock all day long and he was long overdue for some cold water from the stream that trickled nearby. He also badly wanted to kill and eat one of their chickens, cook it over their fire pit, and then rest for a few hours.
If they didn’t have enough ore from today’s haul, they would have to hit it again hard early in the morning.
“Let’s go, you lazy slobs!” Corben yelled over his shoulder. The fading sunlight made him squint. “I’m hungry and we need to get Hormet cooking”
He finished pulling his box up, walked over to the hole, and looked down into it. He could see the lanterns swaying down in the hole and the rope ladder rocking as the men climbed up, one by one. He helped each man out of the hole, took their boxes and dumped them into a large carriage behind two oxen waiting impatiently in their yokes.
The sun still had not slipped behind the forested mountains when he and his crew finished loading the wagon with their day’s work of iron ore. Corben looked at the load with satisfaction and wiped his beard as if he had just finished eating a hearty meal. He smiled at his men.
“I think we have enough to make that bastard Tharn happy,” he said, grinning. “Now the only question is, do we want to head out tonight or wait until tomorrow?”
His crew grumbled and grabbed their tired backs and knees. He knew that they did not have energy to leave tonight, but they were too afraid to say anything different and make their foreman angry, but the expressions on their faces answered his question for him.
“My sentiments exactly,” he said and rubbed his own back. “I want to eat our last chicken and sleep too long…way past sunrise tomorrow!”
All the men smiled, clapped each other on their backs and walked toward their horses that were tied up to makeshift wooden stalls that were no more than posts in the ground with food boxes and water buckets by their feet.
“Let’s go find Hormet and get him cooking,” Corben announced, but then froze as he saw something moving outside of their camp amongst the forested trees.
“Goblins!” he yelled.
He ran to grab his sword and shield from the pack he had tied to his horse. Before he reached the animal, arrows began flying through the trees and took out two of his men before they could move to protect themselves.
He was out of breath when he reached his horse. Three goblins jumped out from behind the trees and attacked him, but instead of fumbling for his sword, he turned and ran back the other way. He could see that his demise was only minutes away.
In minutes his whole crew lay dead and bleeding right where they had just stood. They never had a chance to run. The barrage of arrows had been too great.
Corben went to his knees and put his hands on the back of his head. He leaned over and planted his forehead in the dirt in hope that they would either spare him in his defenseless position or do away with him quickly.
It didn’t take them but a few seconds to surround him and he could hear them talking in their squeaky guttural language. They sounded paranoid to him, but he could not figure out why they would be. He was nothing more than a shivering coward at this point, he thought. They had nothing to fear.
“Sit up!” one of them shouted in a common language.
Corben sat up, and one of them grabbed his hands and tied them behind his back. He looked around him and saw hundreds of goblins in complete battle armor with ten standards waving colorful flags in the slight twilight breeze. The sun had just gone behind the mountains and the shadows enveloped everyone in the darkness of the exiting sun.
The goblin that had spoken to him ordered that they light torches, and a handful of goblins scattered to do so. Within minutes they had large, lantern style torches lit next to every standard.
Corben saw that all the standards were different. Having been out here in goblin country for so long, he had seen many of them already, but some he did not recognize.
A horn blasted in the distance, less than a mile away. The goblins heard it as well, and all of them scattered and formed a semi circle perimeter with one opening from the south. They all waited patiently and Corben could feel their increasing nervousness with each second that went by.
Torches begin to filter through the wood line and he heard horses approaching, many horses, in fact so many that it sounded like they were just crashing though the woods. Then he saw the fist and sword standard of the Trielian Kingdom and he felt hope. He was going to live.
The Trielian soldiers exited the wood line, came to a blazing halt, and lined up ten wide in some places. The others then formed up in ranks uniformly behind the first line. Corben thought they might be analyzing their opponent and would attack shortly, but the goblins did not move or make a sound. They just stood erect and watched the Trielian warriors form up.
One warrior dismounted his horse and with a large grunt slammed his standard into the ground ten feet in front of the first row of horses. He stood there silently with his hands on his hips. A man in full com
bat armor and a large, elaborately decorated blue and black cloak emerged from behind the horses. He walked boldly and without hesitation up to the goblin that had spoken to Corben earlier.
Corben heard the Trielian warrior’s name called out by a subordinate in the first rank and he recognized it, Azrull, as one that of one of the warriors who had been at Valewood during the Doreal Celebration.
Azrull now spoke in the goblin language. Corben could not understand a single word, but he began to worry. The tone of his speech was not aggressive, but was obviously diplomatic.
Azrull leaned down, looked at Corben and then shook his head sadly.
“Are you Corben Annesie from Valewood?” he asked.
“I am, sir,” Corben stammered. He hoped with all hope that he was there to rescue him. “What is happening here?” he asked.
“Something very big. Something very big, indeed, and you are the biggest part of our success in tonight’s event.”
Corben looked down and his hopes began to dissipate. This did not sound to him like an answer that would come out in his favor.
Azrull stood up, faced the goblins, and spoke to them in their language once again. When he finished, they all cheered excitedly for many minutes and then began to dance and build a large fire five feet in front of Corben.
Sensing that the fire pit would be for him, he stood up, but a large goblinoid hand him pushed from behind back down to his knees and kicked his back, sending him to the ground. He tried to get up, but he felt a foot planted squarely on his back and pinning him down. Another foot landed on the back of his head and held his face down in the dirt. He could not breathe with the dirt in his nostrils and he turned his head to the side. The foot adjusted and pinned him down even harder by crushing his left ear.
“This is a momentous day for you goblins!” Azrull said, both in goblin and the common language, for the benefit of Corben. “We will from this day become a partnered force in destroying the First Human King, hence destroying the prophecy. At the same time we will eliminate the power of the two types of magic, Wrae and Kronn. Together we will band together, take control of this realm, and form a new empire that will create fear and destruction to all who oppose us!”
The goblins cheered excitedly and danced even more furiously and out of control.
“Together,” Azrull continued, “we will bring back the spirit and unleash the power of Gralanxth in order to accomplish our new reign together!”
The two goblins holding Corben down lifted him up and threw him into the fire that was now fully ignited.
Corben landed face first in the flaming logs and felt his hair burn away first and then his skin bubble on his face. He struggled to stand up, but his hands were still bound behind him and he fell down again. His legs and arms now began to burn, too, and the rope binding his wrists fell away as it burned.
Now he was able to use his hands to regain his balance and stand. The pain from the fire was extreme. He heard the intense and terrifying screams, but then realized the screams were his own.
He managed to step out of the fire. His body was completely engulfed in flames, and he lay on the dirt and tried to roll out the fire, but darkness overcame him.
Soon he was at peace.
Before he faded out completely, he saw a large black ball of twisting smoke materialize into a massive goblin that stood over ten feet high, its body chiseled with massive muscles. The goblins cheered.
Their god Gralanxth had blessed them with his presence. He had arrived to help them make the goblin race the most powerful force of Wrae Kronn.
Epilogue
The old man stood up, straightened his robe, and looked at the children as they absorbed the tale he had just told them. He knew they had many questions, but he smiled with his own excitement in not revealing all that they would soon want to know.
“It is time for you to return home. It is getting late,” he said.
The sun had begun to dip below the forested trees around and the cool, early evening temperature had begun to chill their bones.
“When can we come back?” one of the girls asked.
“Soon. You will know when to return, but bring more children. Soon I will be teaching you more than just tales, but once we begin that phase, we cannot have others join us. Only now is the time. Find as many as you can, and return then,” he said with a warm smile.
They stood up, told the old man goodbye, and began to run back down the hill. As they jumped from boulder to boulder, he called out to them one last time.
“I will have a great tale for you when you return! Our hero will begin to find out that he will need friends like you if he is to survive.”
They waved back at the old man and continued on to their dismal homes in the impoverished village below.
Acknowledgements
To my wife and best friend, Crissy, who believed in me all the way as we partnered together raising our kids. I will love you everyday as they day I first saw you on our blind date.
To Rob Carr, a fellow soldier, who edited this manuscript and gave me amazing advice and insight.
To all of my beta readers for their help in the early years. There are so many of you, dating back to the days when I worked for Dreyer’s in Union City.
To the JTOC crew for our camaraderie, during those long summer days, and to the many of us who had dreams in the creative arts.
To Tom Hunt who read through the original manuscript of over 200,000 words, and gave great advice.
To my son Mitchell who makes me proud every day.
To Loganpaul Eickhoff, James Tucker, Dave Benevidez and Chris Black for their fantasy fiction advice.
To Tom Hunt again and Tom Zerull for our inspiration into fantasy through our long nights and weekends playing AD&D.
To Evan Allen for his amazing map-making skills.
To David King for turning my visual of the cover into realization.
To David Hall for helping me realize that there is a big world of story through comics and baseball.
To my mom who taught me the love of reading and then writing. I miss you mom.
To Eve Hall who encouraged my creative writing to be perfect.
To Gary Stoppenbrink who shared my love with Science Fiction and Fantasy.
To my brothers Darrell McDaniel and Gary Stoppenbrink Jr. who shared this journey with me.
Thank you to all of you.
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The Warrior's Bane (War for the Quarterstar Shards Book 1) Page 38
