FARHAYVEN: VENGEANCE (30 page)

     “Do not worry, now they have the experienced, battle-proven Salmon Verance to save them,” said Thorn.

     “And what if they have not
?
What if I am killed in battle here and will not be able to be there when they need me
?
What will happen to them then
?
My parents are old, and my sister is too strong-willed for her own good. They will need someone to take care of them if I am… if I am dead,” said Salmon, frowning.

     “Then I shall be there in your stead,” declared Thorn.

     “Truly, you will
?
” asked Salmon.

     “Truly, I shall,” pledged Thorn.

     “Then you are my brother, Thorn Sayvion, and I make the same pledge to you, that as long as I am alive, I shall be there to defend your family from these violent and cruel fates,” declared Salmon.

     “Brothers we are, Salmon Verance,” affirmed Thorn and they shook each others hands to seal their pledge.

     The rain had stopped. A stream-mate tapped Thorn on the shoulder and gave them the signal to move out. Like clockwork, the Fallsian soldiers got into formation. Thorn was designated as the scout. He had an arrow strung on his bow, but held the bow un-drawn as he manoeuvred along the trail. The thin air made it hard to breathe, but he controlled his breathing so as to stay stealthy. The rest of the stream followed behind him just as stealthily. Some had arrows strung on their bows just like Thorn while others had their swords drawn out.

     The mountain trail that they were following was relatively new, and it was necessary for them to investigate where it led to. The trail could have been made by smugglers, bandits or Aridyte raiders. To maintain the security of the nearby villages, these ‘trouble-makers’ had to be dealt with. The soldiers were also aware that they could be ambushed at anytime as following set trails made their travel predictable. If this was to happen, then the hunters would become the prey.

      Thorn proceeded cautiously, with his eyes peeled wide and his ears as sharp as a knife’s edge. Travelling on the muddy ground was troublesome and slippery. He tried his best to avoid stepping on broken twigs or causing splatter sounds from stepping too hard on the muddy ground. Then he heard something. He felt confused. He thought he was going out of his mind. He thought he heard…
laughter!

     Thorn’s heart skipped a beat. Instinctively, he raised his hand and gave the rest of the stream the signal to stop and crouch. His eyes frantically searched the area in front of him, but he saw nothing. He began to think that he had mistaken a natural forest sound for the illusion of laughter. Then it happened again, the sound of laughter, this time slightly louder and clearer. Thorn began to crawl forward towards the sound. He crept past bushes and tall grasses until he finally found the source. A small party of two dozen Aridyte raiders were resting under a large tree. Apparently, they had captured five Fallsian captives. The captives looked like a family of farmers or traders that had been taken prisoner while travelling to sell their produce. They were a middle-aged man, a middle-aged woman and three children in their early teens. Thorn crawled back to his stream and reported what he had seen to the suvian. The suvian gave the stream the ‘turn around and leave’ signal, but Thorn shook his head.

     The suvian gave Thorn a questioning look.

     “Servian Sayvion, what is the problem
?
” asked the suvian in a whisper.

     “Sir, if we leave, that Fallsian family will be dead,” answered Thorn in a whisper as well.

     “There are two dozen Aridytes over there and there are only 12 of us. Logic and doctrine dictates that we return later with reinforcements,” pointed out the suvian.

     “Sir, it will be too late. The Fallsian family would be dead by then,” protested Thorn.

     “Most probably so, but this is the only logical choice we have. There is also a possibility that we could be back in time to save them, so the sooner we go, the sooner we can come back,” reasoned the suvian.

     “Sir, request permission to trail the Aridytes and rescue the prisoners if I can,” requested Thorn.

     “Permission denied. Enough of this, servian, now lead us the way back to base camp so that we can get reinforcements,” commanded the suvian.

     “Very sorry, sir; but I am going on my own,” said Thorn.

     Thorn turned and crouch-ran into the bushes. Salmon crouch-ran and followed him. The suvian was furious, but he knew that nothing could be done to stop Thorn and Salmon.  Signalling another servian to act as scout, the suvian led the rest of the stream away. Thorn and Salmon were on their own.

     Thorn grabbed Salmon’s arm. Salmon gave him a questioning look.

     “You did not have to come. Now you are going to be in trouble,” whispered Thorn.

     “You did not have to risk your life saving these people like that. Now you are going to get yourself killed, and I cannot let that happen,” whispered Salmon.

     Thorn relented and shook his head.

     “All right, so what is the plan
?
” he asked.

     “This is your idea
!
You
come up with the plan,” replied Salmon.

     “All right, we shall wait until the Aridytes sleep later tonight and then you cover me as I sneak in and free the captives. Then we run like hell
!
Does that sound acceptable
?
” asked Thorn.

     “Perfect, except for one thing. The Aridytes will be having a feast tonight and this means that at least one of the captives will be slaughtered before we can save them,” replied Salmon.

     “Then we have no choice but to accept that. Saving a few is better than saving none at all,” reasoned Thorn.

     “Yes, so I guess we shall wait until nightfall. You sleep first. I shall take the first watch,” said Salmon.

     “Wake me up in two hours,” said Thorn and he went to sleep in the bushes right where he was hiding, with Salmon keeping the first watch right next to him.

     Thorn did not need waking up. As the sun set on the western horizon, Thorn was awaken by a loud commotion. From the distance of 100 paces, Thorn could hear these desperate words as though he was standing right there in the middle of the Aridytes. ‘Take me
!
Take me
!
I’m her father, kill me instead
!
Let her go. Kill me instead
!
’ were the desperate words of the middle-aged Fallsian man, pleading to his Aridyte captors. The Aridyte who was holding the Fallsian man’s daughter let go of his grip and pushed the young girl back to the ground. Accepting the Fallsian man’s offer, the Aridytes grabbed him and hit him unconscious. They then dragged him to where their campfire was lit.

     The following incident would forever haunt Thorn’s memories. With great efficiency, one of the Aridytes pulled out a dagger and cut out the Fallsian man’s heart. The scream of pain was muffled by strong Aridyte hands as the Fallsian regained consciousness when the dagger was plunged into his chest. The Aridyte who did the cutting sliced the heart into many thin pieces on a slab of flat rock and distributed these to the rest of his tribesmen. Apparently, that was just the appetiser to them. They then tied the Fallsian’s body to a sturdy stake and proceeded to roast him. Thorn felt like vomiting. Salmon actually did vomit, though he did it as silently as he could. It was now Salmon’s turn to take a nap. Thorn eyed the Aridytes cautiously, and though he knew Salmon was tired, he suspected that Salmon would not be able to get a single wink of sleep at all.

     About half an hour later, the Aridytes cut up the roasted body and distributed it amongst themselves. They tore away at the human flesh and chewed and swallowed to their hearts’ content. There was also a lamb or a cow being roasted. The Aridytes feasted away the evening like as though it was a celebration. They complemented the roasted meats with generous quantities of wine.

     Then another commotion broke out. One of the Aridytes wanted to ‘slaughter’ another Fallsian, but it seemed that the leader of the party forbade it. Thorn made out a few words… ‘save’… ‘rest of the tribe’…. Suddenly, a violent fight broke out between the two Aridytes. The rest formed a circle and cheered them on. First, fists landed on faces and torsos, and then knives and axes joined the fray. At the end of it, the party leader was standing, but only barely. Crimson liquid flowed from many wounds on his body. The other Aridyte was motionless on the ground. The next thing surprised Thorn as well, although he should have expected it. One of the Aridytes took out a knife and cut out the heart of the dead Aridyte. He offered it to the party leader. The injured Aridyte took the heart and feasted on it like a starving man. Then the dead Aridyte’s body was put on a stake and roasted. The Aridytes would be sleeping on a very full belly this night.

     Luck favours the Fallsians this night. The sky is dark, both moonless and starless. This is the most ideal situation that they can ever ask for. The Aridytes are now fast asleep, except for two sentries. Salmon climbs up a nearby tree and strings an arrow to his bow. Salmon’s marksmanship has improved significantly since their caydian days, or at least that is what Thorn is hoping for. Thorn removes his bow, arrows, scabbard and sword; and leaves them at the base of the tree that Salmon has climbed. He then crawls into the Aridyte camp with his dagger in hand. He controls his breathing as he makes his way in. He carefully feels the area in front of him to sweep any twigs away. It feels like forever for Thorn to crawl his way into the Aridyte camp.

     The Aridyte sentries are careless. The first one goes off in a direction away from Thorn and the Fallsian captives, most probably to ease himself after the heavy meal. The second one sits against a thin tree nearby and falls asleep. Thorn creeps up behind the second sentry and with one hand pressing hard against the Aridyte’s mouth, he stabs the barbarian in the rib cage several times and finally finishes him off with a stab to the heart. The muffled gasps of panic wake up the captives, but are not loud enough to wake up the Aridytes.

     As fast as he can, Thorn crouch-runs to the captives. He puts a finger vertical against his lips, signalling them to be quiet. Then he cuts their bonds and points to the direction where Salmon is. He sends them crouch-running towards Salmon. Then he follows them in the rear, looking back every now and then to see if the Aridytes are alerted. Salmon eyes the entire scene like a hawk, or rather, like an owl.

     As the captives reach Salmon’s position, Thorn turns around and for a brief moment, is horrified to see the remaining sentry returning to the camp. Then a sudden whooshing sound informs Thorn that Salmon has just shot an arrow at the sentry. Thorn observes the silhouette of the sentry collapsing and a soft lonely thud confirms his death. Thorn holds his breath. He peels his eyes wide, looking for movements. But no movements are to be found. Apparently the rest of the Aridytes are too deep in sleep to notice anything. Thorn recovers his sword and scabbard and re-attaches them to his belt. Grabbing his bow and arrows, he crouches on one knee and strings up an arrow to his bow and aims at the direction of the Aridytes. Salmon climbs down from the tree and leads the captives on a crouch-run through the bushes and tall grass. Thorn stays behind for another quarter of an hour. He wants to make sure that the captives have a good head start.

     All of a sudden he hears shouts coming from the Aridyte camp. It takes awhile for the rest of the Aridytes to wake up. Thorn wastes not a single moment. He shoots a succession of arrows, switching from target to target as fast as he can. The Aridytes holler in panic as a barrage of arrows strike them. Thorn seems sure that he has managed to hit at least three of them in the torso and another two in the arm and leg respectively. But this is not the time to stay and appreciate his success, or so he thinks. He turns around and crouch-runs through the bushes. A few moments later, the Aridytes regain their wits and chase after him. But it is too late, as Thorn, Salmon and the Fallsian captives had already disappeared into the shadow of darkness.

     The morning sun sparkled just slightly above the eastern horizon. Thorn, exhausted and sleepy, sped along the mountain trail back to base camp as best he could. Then he heard distant noises behind him. He assumed that the Aridytes had discovered the trail he was on, or had known about it earlier and were hot on his heels in pursuit. He knew he needed to ambush them and he knew just the right place to do so. The sound of gushing water told him that he was approaching the river which cut across the trail. He also knew that the trail wound around and would cut across the river again further downstream, just at the base of a nearby waterfall. He needed time and he knew just how to get it. Reaching the river, he turned downstream and ran along its bank. A few moments later, he arrived at the waterfall. It was a drop of 30 paces down to the pool below. Wasting no time, he leaped off the centre of the waterfall and dived feet first into the deep pool below.