Invasion (23 page)

Chapter 25

In Search of Food

“Our food supplies run low already. At this rate it’ll be at least two days until we reach the Gate. We’ll be out of food by the end of today at full rations.” Gerard ripped off a bit of bread and handed it to Major Isak.

“I have sent Jeff on ahead to see if he can find any good place to hunt or gather food. We could fish this stream but that’d be awfully time consuming to feed this many.” Major Isak took a bite from the bread and stared off into the distance.

“I agree. A good herd of those Darz creatures would be handy — plenty of meat on them.”

“Darz?”

“Yeah those one legged hopping creatures we encountered before being captured by Sylestra.”

Major Isak raised his eyebrows. “And you want to come across a whole herd of them? Are you insane?”

“We number a lot more than we did then and we have a better understanding of how the creatures fight.”

“Our numbers may have increased but they are not fighters, Gerry. We’ve been lucky to get this far and we’re not off this cursed world yet.”

“You’re right. Perhaps we should spend half an hour training all the men each time we stop. It’ll take us longer to reach the Gate but we’ll be better prepared when we do.”

Major Isak stared off into the distance, “I think that’s a very good idea as we’re being watched.”

Gerard followed the Major’s gaze to the top of the northern walls of the canyon where some movement caught his eye. “We shouldn’t be surprised. Sylestra is unlikely to let us wander without being tracked.”

Major Isak swung back around to regard Gerard. “You think she’ll send another attack on us?”

“I think we timed our escape perfectly. Sylestra has sent all her armies east to capture the Gate and we slaughtered what little she could spare at the top of the canyon. No doubt she knows where we’re heading but will keep an eye on us all the same.”

“If her entire army is there we won’t stand a chance getting through.”

“We can hope that Duke Angus has called forth allies and keeps them distracted on the other side.”

“Huh! Duke Angus will bottle himself up in Arthea and defend. If he had sent a larger force to me earlier in Fort Lowmount, I wouldn’t have been in this position now and a lot of good men would still be alive.”

“He could not have known for sure what he was up against or the plans of the Ka’tonian orcs. He’d know more about the enemy now and have the Goldfist Dwarves fighting with him.”

“Perhaps. Either way I think we should keep an eye out for a place we can hole up for a while or p’haps even make a new beginning.”

Gerard scarcely believed what he heard. He had never seen the old Major lose hope but the way he spoke now it seemed as though he had. “You would give up that easily even before we see what we’re up against?”

“I’m not giving up but there is no harm in being prepared. From what you have told me it’s likely that Sylestra has already taken the Gate and possibly even controls the Black Skull tribe. She will not let us through without a fight.”

“She will also not let us live out our lives peacefully on this world, and if she can take out the Black Skull tribe so effortlessly then we would not stand a chance against her.”

“Then we find a place we can fortify or a place she doesn’t know about or can’t find.” Major Isak stuffed the rest of the bread into his mouth and started chewing.

“Both very difficult options.”

“No harder than fighting our way through a large army full of magic users with untrained fighters.”

“We have to at least check out what we’re up against.” Gerard knew the Major was downhearted so he tried not to show his frustration too much.

“It takes one or two people to do that, not all of us. We could be leading these people straight into a trap. They know nothing of our world, Gerry. They will be happy as long as they are free, but as long as they are free they will never be safe.”

“They lived in a slave compound where any day they could have been sacrificed to a cruel goddess on a whim. They have never been safe.”

“Granted. Have you considered the possibility of stealth?”

“You mean for us to go through and leave all the slaves behind? The Major Isak I know would never consider such a thing.”

“These are not our people, Gerry, and don’t forget there are orcs among them. How will they be received if we did manage to get them through?” The Major raised his voice. Gerard glanced back at the throng of slaves to see if his words had been overheard. If they had, they showed no sign of doing so.

“People would soon realise that they are no threat.” Gerard spoke softly in an attempt to calm the Major.

“Would they?”

“We have come to terms with it already and we have been fighting orcs for most of our lives — you longer than me.”

“Ha! Don’t remind me of my age.” Major Isak lowered his head and narrowed his eyes. “I guess I’m thinking out loud. We’ll soon have a very difficult decision to make Gerry, and I want to be sure that we explore all the options.”

“The one place these people will be truly safe is on Ka’ton with the Gate closed behind us. I will do my very best to see that happen.”

“I understand — truly I do.”

Gerard caught sight of Jeff returning in the distance. “I hope he has good news for us.”

Major Isak turned around. They both stood in silence until Jeff arrived, puffing and panting.

“A little way ahead and to the south of the canyon is a paddock full of some kind of animal. I assume it’s a farm so the animal should be edible.”

“To the south? That’ll be the Jagged Spear tribe. Is it wise to alert another tribe of our presence?” Gerard was genuinely worried. How many tribes would they have hunting them if they continue like this?

“We can make it appear as though the animals escaped. It’s better than starving to death,” replied Jeff.

“I agree,” said Major Isak, “it’ll be quicker than hunting for the food we need. Jeff, you and Gerry take a few dwarves and p’haps a slave or two that know about these creatures and get us some tucker. Leave a sign where you’ll be bringing the beasts into the canyon and we’ll wait for you there.”

“Will do, Major.” Jeff turned to Gerard and said, “C’mon big fella, let’s do some farming.”

Gerard followed Jeff and they gathered together a small group of dwarves and slaves and set off at a quick pace. After about an hour Jeff led them along an offshoot in the canyon, tying a piece of red cloth to a dead tree at the junction and showed them the way out.

“There’s a little bit of climbing to do but it’s not too difficult,” he said.

“Then how are we going to get the animals down here? How big are they?” asked Gerard.

“That’s why we brought dwarves along. They’ll come up with something.” Jeff looked at Jerzy and winked. “They’re about the size of a cow. I imagine we’ll have to slaughter them at the top and lower them down.”

The group started winding their way out of the canyon until they were about three quarters of the way up and then came to the part where they needed to climb. Jeff was right, it wasn’t a difficult climb. It was more like a steep slope where they could crawl their way up.

“If the animal is a laborg like I suspect given your description, it may be able to walk down this slope. They are very steady on their feet,” said a slave that had accompanied them.

“That would be most handy,” replied Jeff.

It didn’t take them too long to climb from the canyon and when they did they could see the farm in the distance. The house stood on top of a small hill with the large paddock between them and it.

As they neared the paddock, Gerard got a closer look at the creatures Jeff had described. His description had been accurate. Gerard had suspected that he had embellished the appearance somewhat but now that he had seen them he would have described them in the same way.

With the fur of a bear, except orange with black stripes, and the head resembling that of a hippopotamus, it was one of the strangest animals he had seen. Their stumpy legs were the size of tree trunks and their long, muscled tails hung to the ground and helped stabilise them.

Back in the Slaughterhouse, Gerard had cut these creatures up but he had seen them as meat and not a living animal. They were so solid that the meat they got off one could feed over two thousand mouths.

“We may only need about ten,” whispered Gerard.

“That was my thinking too. Even at that many we may have enough leftovers to get us to the Gate if we go on heavy rations.”

“It would be nice not to have to stop again in search of food,” Gerard agreed.

“So any ideas on how we’re going to make this look like an accident?” asked Jeff.

Gerard scanned the perimeter of the paddock. A number of large trees bordered the fence line. One tree had a large branch hanging over the top of the fence. Memories came flooding back about the fateful day he had lost his wife and daughter. He had been out repairing a gate that day which had been damaged from a branch brought down in the storm the day before.

He had been cleaning up the mess with his daughter, Marley, when they had seen the glowing light coming from Bilwarks Grove. Little did he know then that the light was a magically forming gate from another world and the hostile orcs that came through it would later kill his wife and daughter while he was away reporting the occurrence to Duke Angus.

“Gerry?” Jeff looked at him quizzically. It had obviously not been the first time he had uttered his name.

Gerard sighed. “We need to bring that branch down on top of the fence. Then we’ll drive the animals through it.”

Jeff wiped the smirk off his face and gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder.

“I’ll get me lads to chop it with their axes,” said Jerzy overhearing the conversation.

“No!” replied Gerard a little harsher than he intended, “it must look like it came down by itself. We can tie a rope around it and try pulling it down.”

“Tis a thick branch. Could take some doin’.” Jerzy looked over at the tree and put his thumb and forefinger to his chin while holding his elbow with his other hand.

“A chance for you dwarves to prove how strong you really are then, hey?” Jeff smirked and shot a wink at Gerard.

“Bah, we’ll be gettin’ it down boy, don’t ye be worryin’ about that.” Jerzy threw his pack on the ground and fished through it, moments later pulling out a long length of slim but strong rope and then stormed off toward the tree.

“Do you think he’ll get it down?” asked Jeff.

“If I know anything about the stubbornness of dwarves then that branch is comin’ down.” Gerard turned away from Jeff and followed Jerzy.

Before Gerard even got to the tree a dwarf had climbed up on the branch and tied off a rope —it was Burr. When Burr landed back on the ground, all the dwarves grabbed the rope and started pulling. Gerard used his height and grabbed the rope closest to the tree and gave them a hand.

The branch bent and creaked but held firm.

“All together now,” shouted Jerzy.

Once again they all pulled hard and the branch bent over even more but despite the loud creaks it still wasn’t breaking.

“What if we tie the rope around a laborg?” asked the slave that had told them about the name of the animal earlier. “They are very strong.”

“Can you get one over here?” asked Gerard.

“No problem at all. I used to farm them before being sent to the Compound.”

“That would be great. What was your name?”

“Norbie — Norbie Matera.”

“Thanks Norbie. I’m sure that’ll make all the difference.”

Having nothing better to do, the dwarves and Gerard continued to pull at the branch to see if they could weaken it. They swayed it back and forth like the wind would do but to no avail — the branch held firm.

A short time later, Norbie led a laborg over by smacking a large stick on the ground behind it. To steer it he smacked the ground on either side of the animal.

“Tie a loop in the end of that rope Jerzy, and get ready to put it over the laborg’s head,” commanded Gerard.

They all let go of the rope and allowed Jerzy to make a loop. Norbie led the animal toward him. Seeing that the dwarf was going to have a hard time getting the rope over the large animal’s head, Gerard stepped over and took the rope off him. When the laborg came close enough, Gerard placed the loop over its head and Norbie proceeded to turn it around.

“Now get ready,” said Norbie.

They all grabbed hold of the rope. Norbie whacked the rump of the laborg with all his strength, breaking the stick on the animal’s hide. It bolted off so suddenly that when the rope tightened it threw a few dwarves in the air.

That proved the least of their problems though as a loud crack alerted them of the snapping branch. They all dived or rolled to the side as it came crashing down, destroying the fence as if it were made out of mere twigs.

The beast ran on and started dragging the branch with him. A quick thinking Jerzy cut the rope with his sword. The laborg ran off to the centre of the paddock until it calmed, turned its head and watched them all warily.