Invasion (18 page)

Chapter 18

Pursuit

Tracking and catching up to the throng of fleeing slaves proved easy. They left a path of dead orcs in their wake. The city gates had already been won and opened wide with the slaves rushing out.

Gerard and his small group pushed their way through the masses receiving pats on the back and the occasional cheer. Hope glistened in the eyes of all the slaves. Most of them had never experienced freedom. They had a hard road ahead of them yet but if they stuck together they could survive.

He reached the front and relief trundled through him when he saw Thirak and Major Isak unharmed.

“Well it sure is good to see you again, Jeff” —Major Isak turned to Gerard— “and I’m glad you were able to make it unharmed.”

“Another second or two later and I wouldn’t have been standing here,” said Jeff, “but that’s a story for another time.”

“I look forward to hearing it.” Major Isak turned from Jeff to Gerard. “Any sign of pursuit or of Sylestra?”

“I shot Sylestra in the side with a crossbow. She was badly wounded but I wouldn’t count her dead. The Ta’zu has very skilled healers. As for pursuit, I’ve seen no sign of anything organised, just a few small angry groups here and there. With any luck we’ll be far from the city before they can regroup.” Gerard looked further along the road leaving the city to where the road lamps finished. Once they were beyond them they would be in almost complete darkness as the half moon was covered by thick cloud.

“That’s good news. Hopefully it’ll be some time until Sylestra is well enough to pursue. We must find a good defensible location before then.” Major Isak looked ahead and frowned.

“Did we bring any torches with us?” asked Gerard.

“We have a few, but not enough to last all night. We’ll be walking blind at some point.”

“Ay, th’ dwarves will be leadin’ ya true and straight don’t ye worry ‘bout that,” said Thirak.

“Then we stick to the road south until morning. After that it’d be wise if we left the road behind,” said Major Isak.

“By morning we shouldn’t be too far away from the canyon anyway by my recollection,” said Jeff, “and the Ta’zu capital is not far north of Black Rock Canyon — well according to the Black Skull maps— but there is a city southeast and another southwest so we need to watch for enemies ahead as well as behind.”

They walked all night without incident. It had been slow going once the torches burned out but they continued on and not one complaint came from the slaves. Spirits were high and those that seldom smiled giggled and laughed as they trudged along. One in particular was Sarai. It made his heart glad to see such a kindly person like her so happy, especially after what she had experienced in the fighting.

The road curved to the east around the foot of a mountain and there they decided to stop for a rest. They rationed out the food and divided all the weapons they had taken from the Weaponsmith among those capable or willing to fight.

Jeff seemed happy to find clothes that fit him and get out of the Necrolyte’s black robe. While it being a simple black robe, Jeff had expressed concern that some kind of energy flowed through it.

Once they had all rested, scouts set off in search of any threat. Jeff went south to locate the canyon. Gerard stayed with the group, still hampered by his injury.

They left the road and started navigating their way over hilly and rocky terrain. Gerard blew into his hands and rubbed them together to ward of the chill as he kept a close eye on the thick black clouds that loomed ominously in the sky.

An hour after leaving the road, a rear scout returned and reported a large group of City Guard in pursuit. Among them, some twenty worg riders and ten necrolytes led by a necromancer.

“We must find high ground and quickly,” said Major Isak. “The sooner we find it, the sooner we can start preparing it.”

Gerard jogged up to the top of the small rise and scanned the horizon. Up ahead was a place they could use. Though not perfect, it would do.

The small hill littered with medium to large sized black boulders had a sheer drop on the eastern side. A few dead trees dotted the landscape. Gerard jogged back to Major Isak and reported his findings.

“It’ll have to do. C’mon, let’s get everyone moving with haste.” Major Isak lengthened his stride and walked with determination.

They arrived at the top of the hill a short time later and Gerard then realised it stood at the edge of the Black Rock Canyon. He wondered where Jeff had gone but figured he’d no doubt gone off in search of a way down into it.

“All right, we need to determine which of these boulders we can push and which we can hide behind. I want people chopping down those dead trees and dragging them over here so we can funnel their attack.” Major Isak shouted out orders to prepare the battlefield. He divided the large crowd up into groups and put Captain Riyad, Thirak and Gerard in charge of a group each while taking one himself.

The trees were chopped down with battle axes and dragged into the centre of the battlefield. They loosened rocks and repositioned them strategically. They dug holes and covered them over to make traps. When the enemy showed on the horizon, Major Isak ordered everyone to take up their positions.

As the rain fell, the enemy marched to the base of the hill and stopped. The Necromancer took twenty paces out in front and spent some time scrutinising the battlefield.

“Any who wish to return to the compound step forward now. You will not be punished for your actions,” he shouted. “If you do not come willingly you will be destroyed, or dragged back by force where you will be severely punished.”

Gerard was proud to see the faces of all the slaves remain defiant. Not one of them considered the proposal.

Major Isak stood up on top of a rock at the front and shouted back, “I make a counter-proposal. Turn around and return to your city and pursue us no more and we’ll let you live. Make a move against us now and every last one of you will die.”

Gerard stood close enough to see the evil grin form on the Necromancer’s face. Then he noticed something else — his lips were moving.

“Get down!” Gerard watched in horror as the Necromancer lifted his arm and pointed at Major Isak. A black bolt of energy shot forth. The Major jumped to the side but the bolt still hit him in the legs and flung him backwards. He lay writhing on the ground as the bolt formed into a tendril and started wrapping around his legs. Gerard ran over to him and started hacking away at the tendril. He chopped it up into pieces but as those pieces landed on the ground they would start wriggling back toward the Major.

Nearby soldiers came over and started swatting the crawling tendril pieces away while Gerard worked at freeing him. Eventually he cut it up enough for Major Isak to pull his legs free. He reached out his arms and gave the Major a hand to his feet. The battle-hardened man looked down the hill and ordered the rocks to be let loose. Gerard turned around. In the time it had taken him to free the Major, the guards had charged halfway up the hill.

Slaves in front of the tree barricade pushed away at their rocks and got them rolling down the hill. As soon as their rocks were rolling they retreated with all haste behind the barricade where slaves lined up brandishing crossbows, Sarai among them.

Orcs were crushed under the avalanche of rocks while others dived away from them. The worg riders managed to dodge or even jump over the rolling boulders and continue their charge.

“Can you stand?” Gerard pulled his eyes away from the battle and checked the Major over for any serious injuries.

“I’m fine. I’ll just have one hell of a bruise on my leg,” he replied with a smile. “Now get back in position.”

Gerard ran back over to his flank and once again stood at the head of his group. He watched in satisfaction as the first round of crossbow bolts took flight, taking down a number of worgs and their riders.

The slaves reloaded their weapons and took aim again. At such a close range none of the bolts missed and worgs plummeted to the rocky ground throwing their riders. Some riders arose and resumed their charge while others were too injured or even killed in the fall.

No time remained for the slaves to reload again and so they retreated up the slippery slope. The remaining worg riders jumped the tree barricade in hot pursuit. Gerard ordered his group forward at the same time as Major Isak and Captain Riyad.

The three groups converged and covered the retreat of the slaves. Gerard sidestepped around the open maws of the attacking worg, ducked under the rider’s swinging sword and jabbed the worg in the rump. The animal bucked and threw its rider while the men following Gerard skewered it many times with their sharp weapons.

Gerard met the next worg head on and slashed down with his sword cracking open the beast’s skull and spilling its brains. The worg’s head planted into the rocks, flipping its body with the momentum. Gerard dived to the side to avoid being squashed. The rider dropped his sword and jumped off, landing on Gerard and tackling him to the ground.

Pain shot through him as his chest wound opened up. He tried his best to put the pain out of his mind as he wrestled the orc in an attempt to get on top of him, but the orc proved too strong. Changing his approach, Gerard bent his knee to bring his foot up closer to his hand, allowing him to grab the concealed dagger in his boot.

The orc punched him in the face which caused him to lose grip on the dagger and it dropped into a crevice among the rocks. Gerard shook, trying to get the orc off him, but the orc reached down and wrapped his hands around Gerard’s neck and began to strangle him. Gerard fumbled around on the ground searching for anything to use as a weapon. His hand stumbled onto a rock small enough for him to grip.

He swung the rock as hard at the orc’s head as he fought for breath. The orc released his hold and blocked the attack. The rock slipped his grasp and the orc resumed his strangling hold. Running out of options and strength, Gerard thought his luck had run out when suddenly the orc went limp and was thrown to the side.

Gerard looked up to see Sarai standing above him with her crossbow in hand. He turned to the dead orc beside him with a crossbow bolt imbedded deep in its back.

“You’ve become a good shot rather quickly.” His respect increased.

“I had a large target.” Sarai bent over, put her crossbow to one side and helped Gerard up.

“Modest aren’t you?” Gerard stood and scanned the battlefield to find out where he could be the biggest help. A worg charged a group of men and tore some of them apart. He retrieved his sword and dagger and ran off at once.

When he got there the worg had his head down as he ripped into an unfortunate man. Gerard drove his sword into the worg’s neck. The worg dropped to the ground and after a few minor death throws, it lay still.

Gerard crouched and inspected the man who still screamed in pain on the ground. Blood covered him but none of the wounds were too deep.

“Sarai, can you tend to this man? You have to stop the bleeding any way you can.” He rose and continued to survey the battlefield. All the worgs had been killed but the contingent of orc guards had arrived with the necrolytes and the troublesome Necromancer.

“I’d prefer to stay with you,” replied Sarai.

“I have no time to argue. Tend to him now or find someone else that can, but do it quickly.” After seeing her respond to his orders, Gerard charged toward the front line.

He got there in time to see the dwarves run out of their hiding places on both flanks and charge the necrolytes. Purple bolts, tendrils and green gas clouds shot out from the black clad figures but they had little to no effect on the magic resistant dwarves.

The Necromancer conjured a black wolf-like creature near to twice the size of a worg and set it loose on the dwarves. This allowed the Necromancer and the nearby necrolytes to retreat in amongst the orc guards. The dwarves, not caught up fighting the large conjured beast, were quick to kill the necrolytes before they had a chance to get away.

Spurred on by Major Isak, Captain Riyad and himself, the throng of freed slaves charged to assist the dwarves, many trying to keep their distance from the furious wolf.

Captain Riyad gathered experienced soldiers around him and rushed off to aid the dwarves battling the creature. Gerard engaged an orc and dispatched him after two quick strikes. A loud cry of defiance from Captain Riyad had him glancing across to where Thirak was caught in the giant jaws of the wolf. Captain Riyad charged in and jabbed the magical beast in the neck but was thrown back violently as the wolf butted him with its head and tossed the dwarf leader to the side like a rag doll.

Knowing he could do nothing to help, Gerard took out his frustrations on the next orc in line, slicing him three times before he hit the ground and splattered blood all over himself and those nearby. Anger overtook Gerard and he no longer felt any pain as he hacked and slashed his way through the orc ranks. He thought about the horrible tortures these orcs had inflicted upon innocent people as he cut them down one after the other.

Just as he prepared to run his blade through another orc, a black tendril wrapped itself around him and tightened. The orc he was about to kill wanted to take advantage of his good fortune and jabbed his blade toward Gerard’s chest. Doing the one thing he could, Gerard threw himself backwards, dodging the attack by a hair’s breadth.