Fool's Errand (35 page)

The fur on the back of her neck stood on end as they drew closer. A large group of goblinoids and amphiboids, led by a brutish-looking Ogre, now stood between her and the open plains of Rajik just beyond the mouth of the pass. She carefully counted and assessed the oncoming enemies. Three Hobgoblins, five Sythys, nine Orcs, and a dozen Skaahk all traveling as though they were some type of organized group.

The amphiboids did not bear any armor or markings. Even in the Djarmangara, they seldom did. The goblinoids, however, carried what Arreya assumed were tribal or clan markings. One Hobgoblin and four Orcs bore shields bearing the signet of a single broken femur bone, while the other two Hobgoblins and five Orcs bore the sign of a red skull on their shields. The Ogre wore a large iron cuirass, which also bore the mark of a red skull in the center of the chest piece.

Arreya was the greatest warrior of her Zafirr village, but on her best day, she could never take out thirty enemies, especially with Ogre leading them. She considered her options.

First option: flee. The enemies were now already within archery range and the three Hobgoblins all had bows. There was no way to make her way up the southern slope without being seen, and any retreat back toward Stonehold would also expose her to the arrows of the goblinoids.

Second option: evade. If she stayed hidden, there was a small chance that they might pass her by without noticing, but there was no guarantee of that. The only other ranged weapons were the spears carried by the Skaahk and the Orcs, but she was sure she could duck and dodge her way around those even while running away.

Spear-dodge was a game that the Zafirr played from childhood and was one of the things they used to develop their hunting and combat reflexes. Of course children started the games when young with blunted spear shafts, but by the time they were ready to join the hunt, they practiced with deadly hunting spears.

Third option: strategically attack. This was generally Arreya’s go-to option in most situations. She was a huntress and very good at her work.

Once she was past the bulk of the force, she could outrun them easily. She had never seen amphiboids use bows, and not all Orcs were trained to use them. Arrows were too expensive for use by grunts. It was possible the Ogre was trained in archery, but it would take him a bit to recover a bow and take a shot. That was Arreya’s real gamble in all of this.

She would wait until they were close, launch a surprise attack to take out the three Hobgoblin archers as quickly as possible, and then sprint for the eastern end of Dragon Pass. With any luck, she could wing south and put the mountain’s edge between her and them before the Ogre could grab a bow for a clear shot. This was the only viable plan. She took a deep breath, sank as far as she could into the shadow of the large boulder, and waited.

The scenario Arreya played out in her mind a half dozen times began to unfold almost as if she choreographed it. The Ogre traveling at the head of the column passed her as oblivious to her presence as she had envisioned. The bulk of the middle of the pack also passed without noticing her. Then, things went off plan.

As the Hobgoblins bringing up the rear approached, a particularly alert Orc glanced in her direction and let out a scream more panic than warning. This was not the opening she had hoped for, but now was no time for second-guesses. It was the time to improvise or die!

Arreya pounced from her hiding place like the panther she so resembled, a coiled mass of muscle springing into a blur of deadly action. Before the cry fully escaped the lips of the alert Orc, she cut it short with a dagger slice across his throat. The Orc dropped to the ground, hands uselessly clutching his neck as his lifeblood soaked the ground around him. Hurdling his fallen form, spear in hand, the half-Zafirr huntress charged the three bow-wielding Hobgoblins at the rear of the vanguard.

The first Hobgoblin, blinking tear-filled eyes, gawked at the spear unexpectedly protruding from his chest. Spinning to her left, she yanked the spear out of his still-beating heart and, without pausing her graceful pirouette, sent the dagger in her left hand plunging into the chest of the second Hobgoblin. As he dropped to his knees and fell backward, she reversed the pivot of her upper body, pulling her dagger from his torso. This left her in perfect position to hurl her spear directly into the throat of the last Hobgoblin ten feet away, frozen in awe at the speed and carnage of the Zafirr
chats-enash
.

This dance took mere seconds. Arreya knew if this had been a hunt, cheers from her tribemates would greet such a performance. It would have been beauty incarnate to any Zafirr observer. To her victims, it was a macabre ballet of death, which the Hobgoblins had no time to appreciate before it claimed their lives. Her moment of surprise was over, however, as the Ogre leader was already calling out orders.

“Don’t just stand there, you worthless sacks of guts, kill her!”

Arreya wasted no time engaging the end of her plan. She dashed toward the mouth of the pass, grabbing her precious spear from the corpse of the third Hobgoblin en route. Just as expected, several poorly-thrown spears clattered along the rocky ground barely forcing the fleeing Zafirr
chats-enash
to even alter her course to avoid them.

Soon, she was beyond throwing range. Although the enemies were in hot pursuit, pausing only to retrieve their thrown weapons, they were no match for her speed. A few dozen more strides would put her far beyond any hope they had of catching her.

Flashing a quick glance over her shoulder, she saw the Ogre commander stooping to retrieve one of the Hobgoblin bows and nock an arrow, just as she had expected. In a few more seconds, he would need to be able to shoot through a mountainside to hit her.

As she rounded the southern lip of the mouth of the pass, her hope and elation turned to dismay. At least a dozen Hobgoblins and three-dozen Orcs, all bearing a shield sigil of a smashed, white skull, were charging full bore in her direction.

Crouching into her battle-stance, Arreya prepared to meet the wave of rushing attackers and end her life, taking as many as she could with her. Just as the horde of goblinoids were about to break upon her, the sea of attackers parted like river waters around a giant stone. They rushed past her without so much as a passing glance and charged into the pass behind her. Had she suddenly become invisible?

A single, huge Hobgoblin
chats-enash
walked slowly toward her from the rear of the charging hoard.

“You must be Arreya, right?”

Shock and confusion raced through her mind as she tried to process whether to attack, flee from, or parley with this stranger. Her indecision led to a follow-up comment from the oddly-cordial goblinoid.

“What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?”

“Uh,” she began, for the moment ignoring the jibe. “It is just that I don’t believe I know you, and I am wondering how exactly you know me. I am also quite why I wasn’t slaughtered just now by a tribe of Ayabim-worshipping goblinoids.” Realizing the harshness of her words, she hastily added, “Uh, no offense intended.”

His snaggle-toothed smile and gravelly laugh did little to alleviate her suspicion. She kept her body tight, ready to spring into action at any moment. She would need to use this parley to figure her best way to get free and continue her journey to Aton-Ri.

“No offense taken. My name is Garrack. My brother Ebon and I are good friends of Thatcher, who I believe you do know.”

“Thatcher? The young thief?”

“That’s the one. Ebon sent word Thatcher was part of the team on the trail of whoever was behind the organizing of the Wild Land tribes. He asked me to keep my eyes out for anything unusual. I also heard the expedition had an unusual scout. Supposed to be some type of feline
chats-enash
named Arreya.”

“That would be me.”

“I figured. Ain’t many like you around. I also figured Bloodskulls and Bonecrackers, the friends you just left behind in the pass, teaming up qualified as
unusual
.”

“Really?” Arreya asked, finally releasing the tension in her shoulders. “Why is that unusual?”

“They have always and ever been mortal enemies. In the Wild Lands, Bloodskulls and Bonecrackers will kill each other for any reason, or no reason at all. Now they are suddenly traveling in the same company?”

“That does sound unusual.”

“We been on their tail for days. We have been closing the gap, but couldn’t quite catch them. Fortunately, their caution entering the pass patrolled by Durgak from Stonehold, and your delaying them a bit, let us close the final distance.”

“So, Garrack,” Arreya inquired, determined to make the most out of the conversation to supplement her report to the mayor, “why would these warring tribes suddenly unite?”

“That’s an excellent question. It seems there is some mage called the Blue Mystic making promises of expanded territories and boundless riches for any clans willing to join up and assist with some big plan.”

Arreya, still somewhat cynical at the idea of an altruistic Hobgoblin, even though he was clearly a
chats-enash
, decided to press the question.

“And your clan has no interest in more territory or boundless riches?”

Garrack’s fearfully hideous grin returned.

“Nah, that’s not it. See, I took control of the Skullcrusher clan about six months ago.”

“Not by popular vote, I take it?”

“Heh, not exactly. More by, uh,
retiring
the former leader. Since then, I have been working to broker a peace between the Skullcrusher clan and the nations to our north, Rajik and the city-state of Aton-Ri. I have also been rallying other peace-minded Hobgoblin and Ogre
chats-enash
to look at taking over leadership in vulnerable clans and joining my peace efforts.”

“Why would you do this?” Arreya asked. The Djarmangara goblinoids and amphiboids had never given an inkling of willingness to seek peace. She could hardly believe what Garrack was saying.

“My father was Adami, and what he wanted most was the bloodshed between his people and my mother’s people to end. I aim to see that happen.”

The subtle look of skepticism on Arreya’s face grew tangible.

“So all these will-bound servants of the Ayabim
are just dancing along to your song of peace with the Adami? I’m not from around here, but from what I know of goblinoids, that sounds very out of character.”

The most gruesome ear-to-ear grin he had shown yet swept across the feral face of the Hobgoblin
chats-enash
.

“You see, that’s the great thing about my mother’s people. You can get them to put on pink dresses and skip around a campfire singing praise hymns to the One Lord if they think you are strong enough to kill them if they don’t. Most Orcs and Hobgoblins are fairly tough fighters in large numbers. One-on-one, however, their top priority shifts to keeping their stony little hearts beating. The fact that I am fast and strong enough to rip their arms out and beat them to death with them tends to discourage rebellion.”

“Now that sounds a lot like the goblinoids I am familiar with.”

“Yeah,” Garrack continued. “The thing about us
Hobblers
as the Adami call us half-bloods, is that something in the mix makes us quicker and stronger than the purebloods. Pretty much the only goblinoids with any chance of holding their own against me are Ogres, and I can thrash all but the mightiest of them."

Boisterous cheers erupted from the pass behind Arreya. The battle was over. As stragglers trickled out of the pass, they all bore the sign of the broken, white skull on their shields, Garrack’s emblem.

“I guess you will be on your way now?” Garrack asked.

“By your leave,” Arreya affirmed with a nod.

“When you see Thatcher, tell him he owes me one. Oh, and tell him these renegades we just dispatched were the last stragglers heading to join the Mystic. Word was any clans wanting to join were to meet in the pass beyond Stonehold, just a few miles past the Narrows. By the fact that you are heading this way alone, I am guessing they wouldn’t have found a welcoming party left once they got there anyway.”

Not sure how much she should reveal of the happenings in the pass to this still uncertain stranger, she simply and quickly expressed her thanks, bid Garrack farewell, and resumed her marathon toward Aton-Ri. This little encounter had cost her both time and energy, neither a luxury she had in abundant supply. It would likely be well after sunrise tomorrow before she finally arrived.

Still twitching from adrenaline coursing through her veins, Arreya found herself thinking about the complexity and connectedness of the young rogue, Thatcher. There was more to this remarkable youth than she imagined. His companions held him in high esteem, and now this Hobgoblin
chast-enash
mysteriously comes to her rescue. She would be careful not to underestimate the youth again.

The cool, spring evening air picked up Arreya’s spirits and her pace. She found the Rajik countryside at night refreshing and energizing. Running beside the road rather than on it, the moist green grass of the Rajik meadows cooled her toes and lifted her joy throughout the night. Heart pounding, lungs pumping, muscles hot and tingling, Arreya could not remember when she felt more alive.