Forging the Half-Goblin Sorcerer

by J. Craig Argyle

  Trak guesses that the warships captured the soldiers when they tried to sail to the island. The enemy must have learned of the invasion and intercepted the goblin ships in route, but what about the others? Are they dead? It seems prudent to assume that the duke isn’t coming. The goblins on the island are cut off and have to act alone. It is likely that the enemy has forced their captives to reveal all they know of Duke Amin’s plan to retake the island. They must now know that three hundred of Duke Amin’s soldiers are hiding on the island. They will be anticipating an attack on either the dock or the castle. Trak and Baelock spend the day observing the activity around the castle and at night return together to the sea cave.

  The other scouts also make it back safely. One scout spent the day in his village on the other end of the island. From a relative who delivers supplies to the castle’s kitchen he learned that warships intercepted three goblin transports attempting to bring troops to the island, sinking one ship and disabling another.

  Farg knows his soldiers are running out of food. He has to make his play. The goblin numbers are too small to win a pitched battle on open ground. To improve their chances, they have to maneuver the enemy to create an advantage. Fortunately, for the goblins, the dock is out of sight of the castle walls. If the dock is attacked, soldiers could be expected to leave the castle and reinforce those guarding the dock. Farg listens to Trak’s suggestions and then sets his plan in motion. The following evening, Trak leaves with twenty soldiers carrying his sacks of explosive ingredients. They enter the forest where Trak concocts his pyrotechnics and bags them in oiled leather bags. Two small rafts are constructed and loaded with half of Trak’s supply of pyrotechnics. Trak and five strong swimmers push the rafts out beyond the breakers and begin to paddle the rafts to the dockside of the island.

  ***

  At about the same time Trak is pushing his rafts into the cold water of the channel, a fishing craft unties from the Halban docks and leisurely approaches the entrance to the harbor. To the captain of the warship guarding the harbor, it appears to be too small to carry more than a few enemy soldiers, and he is inclined to let it pass. But then, the craft hoist its sails and begins dashing past the blockade. The captain of the warship catches a glimpse of a military uniform. “It might be the duke himself,” thinks the captain. He orders his sailors to man the oars and give chase. Ten minutes later he is under full sail and rapidly overtaking the fishing craft as it sails north up the coast. When the boat is about to be overtaken, it ducks into a small cove where the larger ship cannot follow. The captain orders the ship’s landing craft lowered into the water and gives chase when he realizes what is happening. He has been tricked. He returns to his ship and races back to Halban where he spots the remaining goblin transport ship clearing the harbor and unfurling its sail. The race for the isle is on. The Duke’s soldiers take turns manning the oars, but the gap between the two ships slowly closes.

  ***

  As Trak and his assault team approach the dock, they slide off their rafts and into the cold water. The night is again cloudy. Trak sees no guards on the ships, but a large, noisy force mans the barricade that blocks the road to the dock. Trak and his team maneuver their rafts behind the sterns of two ships that are anchored in deep water. Satisfied they can’t be seen from the dock, Trak forces blades between the planks of the hulls, not to make holes, but to anchor the rafts against the sides of the ships. The rafts are padded so their bumping against the hulls is muffled. When both rafts are secured, Trak uncovers a metal pot containing glowing coals. He has nursed the coals all the way from the forest. He lights one long fuse and then swims to the second raft and lights the second. Silently, the swimmers head back out to sea and drift with the current away from the dock.

  Five minutes later, the first pyrotechnic ignites. It is a highly flammable mixture of niter, brimstone and plant distillates that quickly engulfs the raft in flames and ignites bags containing a mixture of sugar and niter. The smoke is so intense the sailors who respond can’t see the raft in the water. The flames spread to bags of oil that ignite and spill on the water’s surface. The sea around the ship burns. The fire spreads to the pitch that seals the planks in the hull, and flames climb the ship’s side.

  Cold and exhausted Trak climbs out of the surf onto the rocky shore. With the dawn appearing at his back, he glances at the burning ship and enters the forest. He hasn’t heard the second raft explode. He worries that the fuse has failed.

  Farg’s troops are in position. Half his forces hide at the edge of forest that parallels the road leading to the castle. Farg is with the second half, positioned in the rocks on top of the cliff overlooking the dock. When Farg sees the flames lap the side of a warship and hears the alarmed voices below, he lights the fuses of the incendiaries Trak has prepared and tosses them over the cliff. These are ceramic vessels filled with black powder and metal scraps. They are not particularly lethal, but they explode with tremendous noise and release copious amounts of smoke and acrid odors. The goblins on the cliff begin to fire arrows into the smoke below. The men on the dock are kept pinned beneath their shields while the fire quickly spreads to the ship’s deck and climbs up the mast to ignite the unfurled sails.

  The guards in the castle hear the explosions at the dock. They can see smoke billowing from the dock area, but they are unable to see the attackers. They inform Baron Teiber the dock appears to be on fire. The baron doesn’t know if he is besieged by the troops smuggled onto the island, an armed armada sent by the goblin king or both. If the dock falls, he would be trapped on the island. He commits all but fifty of his troops to the battle. The troops form up quickly and jog toward the dock. When they arrive, they find one ship engulfed in flames and the dock’s defenders huddled under their shields. The baron looks up and realizes that the goblins are on the cliff above. He orders his men to attack the top of the cliff, which requires them to retrace their path to where the slope is scalable.

  As the men climb the slope, the goblins above begin firing. Their shields protect the attacking men until goblins secluded in the forest commence firing at their backs. The Baron’s men are trapped in crossfire. Some men try to return to the road and attack the goblins firing from the forest, while others continue up the hill. The men are disorganized and outnumbered. The baron sees the danger of his predicament and orders a retreat back to the castle. A hundred make it back while pursuing goblins cut down from behind a third of his force.

  Despite the burning ship and the dense smoke, the dock remains heavily defended and is in no danger of being overrun. A direct assault on the barricade the men have erected across the road would be very costly. It appears the goblins will have to settle for a partial victory, when the second raft explodes and immediately engulfs a second warship in flames. The force of the explosion is felt by the goblins as far away as the top of the cliff. They can only watch. They have expended all their explosives and arrows. They cannot prevent the men from forming bucket brigades. The men determinedly fight the fire, but the oil and distillates in the water continue to burn and cannot be extinguished. Farg remains on the cliff watching the men fight the fire while his soldiers recover what arrows they can and prepare for a possible assault on the dock. At that point Trak climbs the hill and comes to Farg’s side. Trak is still wet from his swim. “Chicken, you are wet,” Farg laughs.

  “Next time, I’ll let you do the swimming.” It is clear to Trak that the enemy will lose two warships, but the dock will hold unless Farg decides to sacrifice his force in a frontal assault. “I’d say your plan has succeeded well enough with few casualties, perhaps you don’t want to push your luck. We don’t need the dock. Your father can land reinforcements the same way we arrived.

  “Yes, but as long as the enemy holds the dock he can reinforce his position. How do we know they are not on their way as we speak?” The thought causes Farg to look toward the horizon. He exclaims excitedly. “Look! Is that what I think it is?” Trak peers out on the channel and sees two ships racing
toward the dock, a goblin transport and an enemy war galley.

  ***

  The duke’s plan to get past the enemy’s blockade worked well at first, but now his rowers are tiring and the warship is overtaking. “We will never make it to the far side of the island,” observes Lord Ellot, the naval commander. “We will have to make for the nearest shore.” As they scan the island for a likely landing spot, they see smoke rising from the dock area. “The dock is under attack,” announces the duke excitedly. “If my son is attacking from the land, we can greatly increase his chances by adding our strength from the sea.”

  The captain of the pursuing warship sees the smoke at the same time and assumes that a coordinated attack on the dock has been the duke’s plan all along. Now that he knows the duke’s intended destination, he doesn’t have to chase the transport ship, but can set a course for the dock and cut off the goblin ship before it arrives. The gap between the ships closes as they approach the breakers. When Commander Fishbeater indicates it is time to raise oars and make a controlled entry into the harbor, the duke yells, “To hell with that. Avoid the two burning ships and ram your bow into the ship anchored closest to the dock. Drive it as hard as you can into the pier and the wharf beyond.”

  The goblin transporter puts on a burst of speed and is carried by a large wave toward the dock. It strikes the resting warship with its full weight. The smaller ship’s front end lifts out of the water and crashes heavily onto the pier. The momentum of the transporter doesn’t stop. The ship smashes through the wharf’s pylons, collapsing the boardwalk and sending the defenders into the water. Farg watches mesmerized from the cliff. “Excuse me for disturbing your reverie, Lord Farg, but wouldn’t now be a good time to order an attack?” Trak quips with a grin.

  Farg races down the hill shouting, “Attack! Attack!” The goblins in the forest join those on the hill, and swarm over the barricade in the road. The defenders are in total disarray. Many have to be pulled from the water or they would drown. Several are burned as they climbed out of the flaming oil. Some of the goblins are also injured in the collision, but most are able to scramble out of the wrecked vessel and help corral the surrendering men. The warship in pursuit of the transporter is forced to sit offshore. It lacks sufficient landing craft to give aid.

  When the baron’s men are disarmed, a soldier reports to Farg they have taken seventy-five prisoners. Another fifty were killed in the fighting or in the collision. The victory is overwhelming. Of the three hundred men the baron brought to the island only a hundred and fifty combatants remain and they are trapped in the castle surrounded by four hundred goblins.

  Duke Amin stands leaning on his spear as Commander Fishbeater inspects the total wreckage of his transport. “What am I going to tell King Giforing, now I’ve lost two of his ships?” the commander moans.

  “You have a choice,” philosophizes the duke. “You can tell him I forcibly seized control and ordered you to wreck the ship or you can tell the king it was your idea. In the first scenario the king will be furious with me and in the second with you. Whoever takes the blame may lose his head, but he’ll be remembered for the most daring stunt in goblin naval history.”

  Commander Fishbeater considers for a moment. “I will tell the king that we shared the idea and the blame. Perhaps he will be more forgiving when we point out that we destroyed three warships.”

  Duke Amin turns to Trak, “Where would you like to set up your hospital?” Trak realizes that without Krage, he is all the medical team they have. He has the wounded assembled along the road, goblins on one side and the men on the other. Most of the injured are men.

  The baron sends a messenger under a flag of truce asking that he might recover his dead. The duke grants the request. Trak also sends the most seriously wounded back to the castle in litters. Farg thinks they should be left to die, but Trak convinces him it is better to give the men in the castle the problem of caring for them. Some goblin women emerge from the forest and set about bandaging the injured goblins. They want nothing to do with the men. The old Spore arrives with pots and boxes of herbs. She starts brewing her concoctions while Trak attends to those with the most serious injuries.

  One man sustained burns and shrapnel wounds to his right side when an exploding ceramic bomb was thrown in his direction. He studies Trak’s face as the cross-breed removes numerous metal fragments embedded in his flank and says in the common tongue, “I’ve never met a cross-breed fighting on the side of the goblins. How do you cope with their blind hatred of men?”

  The man’s question seems sincere, and Trak answers, “I believe I inherited the best parts of both races, though my uniqueness is rarely appreciated by goblins and probably not by men either.”

  “Where I come from it is not unusual for cross-breeds to achieve positions of some importance. Here in the goblin kingdom it must be hard for you to find a mate,” the soldier observes.

  “I have met only one female cross-breed in my life and that relationship didn’t work out,” Trak replies as he wonders what has become of Myrel.

  “I heard the guards saying you are the sorcerer who set fire to the ships and made the bomb that pumped my arse full of metal.”

  “I served briefly as an apprentice alchemist and learned a few tricks. I used alchemy and not magic to make the bombs.”

  “In my world, we make no distinction between alchemy and magic. Did the sorcerer Krage train you?”

  Trak hesitates too long before he answers, “Who is Krage?” He realizes immediately he has made a mistake. If a man from the south knows of Krage then surely a goblin alchemist would also. Trak’s brain finally awakens to the realization that he is not having a benign conversation.

  “That fellow over there led the attack.” The man gestures toward Farg. “He is a born warrior but not by nature devious. Someone helped him plan the attack. Were you that someone?”

  “I am just a metal smith in the duke’s service,” replies Trak, thinking he has chosen a safe reply.

  “Then you must have helped Krage build the kilns to make iron. I was sorry when I had them destroyed, the design was very original.”

  Trak realizes that his verbal opponent is getting the better of him. He notices that underneath the muddy uniform the tall, red-bearded soldier wears a fine mail, marking him as an officer. “How are the prisoners in the castle fairing?” Trak asks.

  “The commander has them all stuffed in the keep’s cellar. I’m afraid sanitation is poor, but they are well at the moment.”

  “Your commander has thrown the duke’s niece in the cellar with a hundred soldiers and sailors?” Trak replies.

  “So, that’s who the girl is. I can’t say what the commander has done with her.”

  He knows perfectly well who she is, thinks Trak. He is just trying to rattle me into believing I have given him new information. “What happened to the traitors who informed your commander of our presence?”

  “Hard to say, I guess they went back to wherever they came from.”

  “Take this bucket of water; wash your cuts and burns as best you can. Cover the burns with an astringent made from meadow wart. I’ll send some over.”

  As Trak finishes, the tall officer says, “Thank you, Sorcerer. My name is Ran. If we survive this war, pay me a visit when you are in the south.” It is the first time that Trak considers his future might lie beyond the borders of the goblin kingdom.

  When Trak moves on, the soldier next to Ran whispers, “Be careful, My Lord; if the squids discover who you are, it will put your father in a difficult position. Did you notice the sword he carries?”

  “Aye,” Ran replies, “I’ve never seen the like of it anywhere. The metal flickers like sunlight piercing ice. It seems almost self-aware. He is more of a sorcerer than he admits.”

  ***

  As Trak aids the next wounded soldier, he mulls over his conversation with the red-haired officer. He learned a little but revealed more than he should have. Fortunately, the man is a prisoner and in no pos
ition to use the information against him.

  Chapter 13

  Isle of Uisgebeatha:

  A prison stockade is built against the cliff by the harbor where an overhang creates a shallow cave and provides some protection from rain. The prisoners are forced to haul planks from the destroyed wharf to build a barricade in front of the cave. The captives are allowed to salvage blankets and cooking pots from their camp beside the dock and use them in the enclosure.

  The villagers return to their homes to find the island’s food stores severely depleted by Baron Teiber’s forces. The spring crops have been planted before the invasion, but the harvest is still weeks away. Duke Amin asks Baelock to direct the villagers to forage in the forest. Others are tasked to fish.

  By the afternoon it is clear to duke he is stuck with several annoying problems. His soldiers have no permanent shelter, although they can temporarily house themselves in the village. He has a large number of prisoners to guard, feed and shelter. There is still a warship sitting offshore that will make it difficult to reestablish routine contact with the mainland and bring in supplies. The castle is controlled by more than a hundred enemy troops who hold a hundred of his men and his niece captive. The enemy can sleep in “his” castle and eat “his” food for weeks while waiting for King Red to send reinforcements. He has to do something to shift the balance in his favor.

  The duke meets with his advisors. “As it stands right now, we are in a stalemate. I don’t doubt that we can eventually starve the enemy out of the castle, but my niece and soldiers are inside and might not survive a long siege. We could offer the enemy an exchange of prisoners and free passage off the island, but I doubt they would accept the offer. They will not surrender the castle while they still have hope King Red will send troops and rescue them. What options do we have?”