Death Or Fortune (54 page)

     A step
forward, his arm lifted his sword.

     A step
forward, must time it right he thought as he tightened the grip on his weapon.
 While Stone Tongue had practiced this maneuver several times, never has
he tried to hit a target so small.

     A step
forward, his arm whipped forward, letting go of his sword.

     Stone
Tongue watched as his blade flew through the air before him, like a great
spear.  He watched in grim satisfaction as the blade struck the body of
one of the Halflings.  It's body driven back by the force of the throw.
 As the blade struck the ground, it reminded him of one of the many
creatures Argon had in his lab back on the island they called Well Spring.
 Pinned down to the table for him to study.  As he ran past his men,
he started to cut north, hoping to avoid the humans.  Digging deeper as he
ran, he pushed as hard as he could.  Not even noticing the screams coming
from behind him anymore.  Not even that high pitched scream that split the
night like a bolt of lightning could slow him down.  Stone Tongue just
kept running, trying to cut north the more he ran.  When he saw the road
before him, he knew he had cut all the way around the humans.  As his feet
first hit the road, he was sure he would make it to the tower on time.  He
never knew how he was caught.  He just knew that something hit his feet.

     Crashing
to the road Stone Tongue landed hard, nearly knocking the breath from his
lungs.  As he looked up he saw a single figure standing before him in the
road.  He looked at the leather boots first, soft deer leather covered
with strange writing.  From there up he only saw the blue scale armor. As
he got to his knees he knew the man in blue armor had caught up with him but he
did not know how.  As he looked to the man’s eyes, he knew that this
wasn't just a man.  He had seen eyes like that a hundred times before.
 They looked on him with such pride before but now all he saw was hate.
 Stone Tongue knew his father’s eyes.  The feeling of love started
somewhere in the back of his brain, something that he didn't even know was
there.

     The last
thought Stone Tongue ever had in his life was of his master and his message.
 He did not even have the time to form the words before the half elf
rammed his weapon into his chest. No one heard Stone Tongues last words, he
wasn't even sure he said them as the burning steel blade was pulled from his
chest. "My General..." was all he
said to the
dusty, dirty road.

     When we
set out that night, I expected that we might lose a person or two.  I also
expected that from the slaves we freed that we might gain a few more allies.
 It was a gamble and truth be told, I could not have asked for a better
outcome from a strategic stand point.  Michaels and I lead the Arcadian
troops who had taken to calling their selves
The Dead Squad
.
 Mostly because one of their number died before we even left Arcadia.
 The men took a liking to Eli, even if he was a little strange and distant.
 Soldiers are strange at times, when they found out that one of their
brothers had been dead for months, they all started to joke about their own
fate.  Wondering if any of them were really alive still.  Since we
landed on the island, nothing seemed to go our way until that night.  We
hit the camp, caused a bit of pandemonium and were able to cut the Orcs numbers
in half before they were able to organize at all.  By then it was too late
for them.

     I had seen
the Orc commander running around, trying to get his troops in line.  I saw
as he pointed towards Michaels and me.  Telling his men where to attack
us.  The next time I saw him is when the screaming started.  It was a
scream that will haunt my dreams for many years to come.  Not because it
came from some horrid beast but because it came from my best friend.
 There were no more than a handful of the Orcs left standing.  We cut
them down like wheat in the field, when Pare let out that anguished scream time
seemed to slow.  I saw the orc commander running and I could see Windfall
was close behind him, chasing him down.  I knew he wouldn't get away from
the half elf.  I put him out of my mind and started to look for Pare, his
screaming had not stopped.  I found him not far away from a pair of Orcs,
one still had a dagger sticking out of its chest, the other had his nearly lost
his head the cut in his neck was so deep.  When I saw Pare standing there
covered head to toe in blood I felt my heart stop for just a moment.  It
was then that I looked down at his feet.
     Miri Rivermyst, halfling from the city of North
Hembers.  A respected bounty hunter in small circles yet respected just
the same.  She came to the capital of Arcadia to find a criminal
vigilante, only to have her own heart stolen from her.  Yet, I happen to
believe that she gave it away freely. The sword entered her body just below her
rib cage.  It did not hit bone until it passed through her spine.
 She was impaled to the ground with her eyes were open wide, looking off
to the stars above.  I ran to my friend and got down on my knees, checking
to see where he was hurt.  He did not have a single scratch on him. 
Every ounce of blood on him came from the Orcs.  I took my hands and held
his face, making him look away from Miri, making him look at me. '
Darmot
'
was the only word to come out of his mouth that I understood.  His knees
started to give way and I soon noticed that I was holding his entire body up by
his head.  I pulled him close to me and held him there while he cried.
 When Miri coughed, it made us both jump.  I looked over at her,
blood was running from the side of her mouth but she was there, looking at us.

     Pare let
go of me and got down next to her.
'Yer gonna be ok Miri, we will take real
good care of you.'
It was painful to watch her shake her head at him,
telling him no.
'No, listen, it will be ok. Michaels can fix you up.
' I
looked around for the paladin to see he was directing the men, keeping them
away from us.  I called out to him and waited for him to come over.
 Pare had pulled out a clean rag from somewhere and was cleaning her face,
talking to her, telling her that everything was going to be alright.  
'See,
Michaels is coming right now. He is gonna take good care of you
.' She just
kept shaking her head at him, telling him no.  When she reached up and
pulled him down to her face I looked away.  I could hear her speaking in a
low pained voice but only Pare knows what it is that she said.  I have
never asked him, he has never told me.  Michaels came over and ignored
Pare and I, looking at the wound and the blade.  I watched as he pulled
back the cloth and looked at where the sword entered her body.  I then
watched as he put a hand under her, feeling where the sword came out on the
other side.  He then felt for her heart beat, placing his fingers at the
side of her neck.  He then stood up and told me to follow him.

     'I have
clerical powers, gifts from my god.  This is beyond me, to heal her I have
to remove the blade from her body.  Once I do that, she will slip away
from us. There is nothing I can do.
' I asked him one time if he was sure,
he could only nod his head at me.  The two of us together, turned back
towards Pare and Miri.  As we approached the pair I stood on the left,
Michaels on the right.  Pare was sitting there with Miri's head in his
lap, stroking her short curly hair.  When he looked up at me, I could see
where his tears had washed away some of the Orc blood on his face.  I
tried to talk but found the words failed me, they were stuck, somewhere between
my stomach and my heart.
'She knows, she is ready
.'  I looked at
him and asked him to say that again.
'She knows she is going to die. She is
ready
.' His voice was hollow and empty yet when he looked back down at her,
he could only smile while he stroked her hair.  Michaels reached out and
put his hand around the handle of the sword.  I knelt down beside them and
waited.  She looked at me for one small moment and tried to smile.
 When Michaels pulled the blade from her body, she kept that smile until
the light expired from her eyes.

     I stood up
and looked around to avoid looking at the dead halfling.  The men had
stopped their work of collecting the Orcs bodies.  Michaels had told them
to pile them all up in one of the tents.  There were also several of the
freed slaves standing about watching us.  They were all at a respectful
distance but they were watching just the same.  I tried to ignore the
paladin behind me saying a prayer over the halfling.  I tried to push all
emotion aside, we were running out of time and we had another fight to get
ready for.  I then walked away from my friend and it was one of the
hardest things I have ever had to do.  I looked at the men.  The
entire lot of them looked like I felt.  I told them to gather around.  I
looked at them and told them to go pay their respects to their fallen companion
and then they were to get back to work.  We had a lot to do before the sun
came up.  Bryce and Ebbit were standing near one of the tents, I wanted to
speak to them but had to see to the crowd of slaves that had gathered around.
 As I approached them, one man stepped forward.  His chest and arms
were covered in scars from the beatings he had taken.  Some of them were
newer than I liked.

     'My
name is Balon.  I would like to thank you for setting us free. That man
over there, is he really one of the gods chosen ones? He is one of the gifted?
'
I looked to where was pointing, I should have known it was Michaels.  I
turned back and looked at the man, telling him that Michaels was a paladin of
Solarth.  A warrior devoted to the god.
'I understand what a paladin
is, even if they are only in the stories of long ago. Very few of our people
are ever chosen. Only two in every generation, when they were killed I did not
think I would ever live to see another.
'  I looked at the newly freed
slaves and all of them had their eyes locked on Michaels.  I asked Balon
what he meant by that.  I had assumed that on an island filled with people
devoted to Solarth, that there would be many clerics among them.
'Every generation,
one is chosen from the Melkor and one from the Othos. The two of them together
live in the Temple of Hope. When it is time they chose who it is that will
replace them.  That has been our way since the beginning of time.
 When word went out of trouble in the north, they both went to the Othos
village.
 
They did not return.
'  I was shocked because
every village we had passed through had a temple of Solarth in the dead center
of town.  I even asked him about that.
'The village elders reside in
the temples, yet they do not have the power of healing.'

     The entire
time I was talking to them I could not get Miri off my mind.  I had grown
to like the halfling over the time she was in our lives.  I could feel the
pain Pare was in, I think of what I would feel if Jasmin had shared the same
fate and can only shudder.  For the most part, Pare is the same as he has
always been; a free spirit without any boundaries.  Yet at times, I see
the sadness in his eyes.  It isn't something he talks about with me.
 I give him his peace on that matter.  When Michaels came over to me
all of the former slaves dropped down to one knee, bowed their heads and
remained silent.  Michaels had started to speak and stopped, mouth hanging
open, looking at them.  I asked him what they were doing and he just said
'I
don't know.
' I told him to say something to them. He stepped forward and
said
'stand up my brothers and sisters.
' They all stood as one and
surged forward to surround him, to talk to him, to touch him. In the process
they pushed me out of the way.  It was perhaps the only thing I smiled
about that day.  The only thing that gave me any joy at all.
     I looked around the camp while the men were busy
stacking the Orc bodies in one of the tents.  Bryce and Ebbit were helping
with that so I left them alone to go back and see to Pare.  He was still
there, with her head on his lap, eyes closed as if she was just taking a nap.
 He had cleaned all the blood from her face and had even tried to clean it
from her lips.  I said nothing to him.  I just placed my hand on his
shoulder to let him know I was there.  When he looked up at me, his tears
had stopped but there was something else on his mind.
'Will you help me bury
her?'
he asked me.
'They might kill us all and eat us but they will not
have her, they will not have my Miri.'
 I could only nod my head and I
went off to find something to dig with.  I made quick work of the hole and
wrapped her body in a tunic one of the men had given me.  Michaels, free
of the Melkor people said a prayer as Pare and I covered her body with dirt.
 We stood there side by side for some time, ignoring the fact that there
was another company of Orcs headed our way. This was a time for Pare to mourn
the loss of his love and it was time for me to stand by my friend.
     As the sun started to brighten the eastern sky he
looked up at me and said something I will never forget.
'I was going to give
her a ring when we got home.  Not something I found, something that I paid
for. Jasmin helped me pick it out.  Next to you, she was the best thing
that ever happened to me. I will never forget her.'
He showed me the ring
once after we got home.  It now rest on a chain around his neck, next to
the silver dragon scale.  As the distant sun started to show over the
trees Bryce came to me.
'Twenty of their men are going to stay with us. Help
us fight, rest of them are not fit to carry a weapon. We gave the ones who are
staying bows. Our men are going to hide in the empty tent, the Melkor are going
to hide in the tall grass east of the road.  If they are on time, the sun
should be in the Orcs eyes. When the next company gets here, the Melkor will
open fire, then we move in.  I figure they will be looking to the grass
for a fight then we hit them from the blind side.'
It sounded like a good
plan to me and the odds were much better than what we were facing several hours
before.  Pare took one last look to the little grave where we placed Miri
and came to join us.  He was the only one who had the common sense to ask
about the one thing I had failed to notice.
'Hey, where did Windfall go?'