Silvermoon. A Tale of a Young Werewolf. A YA Novel. 12-18 (18 page)

Jennifer shook her
head and gazed at the eleven foo
t tall
,
killing machine, a person who told her he always cried when one of the chickens was killed for food. She look
ed at his eyes and saw no tears -
so it was with the werewolves, no mercy.

She remembered the stories of the many elves that had been ambushed in the forests and woods
by goblins
, and of the hundreds that had died in battles against a suicidal, maniacal foe
,
and swung her arms around to keep the muscles warm with one thought in mind.

The enemy mass moved forward, leaving a row of dead behind them. More fell as Jason, now joined by Yvette, carried on throwing until their supply of javelins ran out. As the front line reached the centre of the
lake
Jennifer
said, “I count over a thousand,” and she asked unnecessarily, “Are you two ready?”

The two growled in reply, and then Yvette howled, long and loud.

Jason howled, even louder, and longer.

Jennifer screamed, “To war, to war we go, no surrender, no quarter, death to our enemies.”

The goblins charged. Jennifer leaped onto the dead troll lying behind the barrier, bringing her head to the same height as the others. The trio flinched involuntarily as scores of arrows zipped by and between them from behind. They dropped down behind the barrier and saw the front
goblin
rank fall, and then the second, shot at close range, each goblin with an elvin arrow in its breast. They turned as one and saw a line of
four score
elves, with Jennifer’s parents, Seawan and Silvern, in the middle.

Jennifer picked up her bow, ducked down and called out as the elves moved nearer, “I have no more shafts.”

Seawan paused and unslung an extra quiver from his shoulder, packed with arrows and threw it to her. “We thought as much, so we came prepared.”

She shouldered the quiver and joined the line, shooting rapidly. The goblin dead piled up at the bottom of the slope, growing higher all the time. Goblins fell to the elven shafts as soon as they showed themselves above the gory mound. And as is in most battles, the elves ran out of arrows and they drew their long swords, unslung their shields, spaced themselves out with the others and awaited the onslaught.

Silence reigned behind the new mound of goblin cadavers and the defenders waited as the goblins reformed. Jennifer mounted her dead troll and watched as the goblins spread out in ranks, javelins at the ready. She shouted out a warning as they ran forward as one and threw their javelins over their dead. Most of them embedded themselves in the ground before the defenders; those which managed to fly further were easily avoided.

Before Jennifer could stop them, Jason and Yvette gathered the javelins, dodging other projectiles easily. They returned and distributed their prizes amongst the elves. Yvette weighed one in her hand and waited.

The goblins regrouped for another javelin attack, they came in one great surge, this time they waited until they were closer and javelins flew in both directions. A female elf fell, pierced through her thigh, another through his shoulder.

Jennifer and two other female elves gathered the enemy shafts and passed them around. Yvette and Jason threw with such force that their javelins passed through the bodies of their victims, sometimes skewering one or two more. The goblins answered by throwing their clubs, striking the defenders, bruising or injuring them.

The mound of goblin dead below grew like a gory step-way, allowing the attackers easier access to the top of the defenders wall. Some of them attacked with their bare hands in a wild frenzy, having lost their weapons after slipping on their comrade’s blood.

One huge goblin snatched a sword from an elf, dazed by a flying club, head-butted him
,
stabbed him in the chest and slashed at Seawan. Jason parried the blow with his spear blade and drove the shaft into the goblins throat. He dropped the spear and dragged the wounded elf from the skirmish. He pulled others out of harms way, dodging flailing blades as the other elves carved gaps in the goblin ranks. Suddenly the cadaver wall gave way and goblins poured through the gap. Seawan, blood spattered and bleeding from several wounds like the others, called out, “Pull back, pull back, we need more room.” The remaining elves, over four dozen, jumped down from the wall and ran up the slope, dragging or carrying the wounded with them, past Jason and his sister.

Yvette called out, after throwing a headless corpse at the surging mass in front of them, “Don’t worry, we’ll make room,” and charged with Jason into the goblin ranks. The elves stood back, ready to defend the wounded, of which were many. They watched astounded as Yvette, together with Jason, tore goblins limb from limb as they poured through the hole in the wall. The goblins fell in pairs, they died in trios. Jason swiped a group of four and they fell as one, their throats spewing blood. But despite the pair’s ferocity and the carnage they caused they were forced back due to the endless flow of wild-eyed, screaming goblins, their mouths flecked with foam.

Jennifer called out to them, “Silvermoon, Swiftfoot, pull back quickly.”

Jason and Yvette, covered from head to foot in goblin blood, moved slowly backwards
,
and
Jason shouted, “What now, we’re busy?”

“We have visitors.”

A familiar voice called out, “Do you mind if we join in, or is this a private party?”

They hurried back to the others and watched as a dozen humans and a huge werewolf came hurrying down the slope, it was the farmer and a dozen strange-looking men and women. Seawan, his eyes wide said, “Halflings, half human, half werewolf. I thought it was just a myth.”

The farmer stopped before them, he and the others were armed with shotguns and wicked-looking axes. The werewolf, a female, brown-furred and about the same size as Yvette, called out, “They’re coming, get ready, and let them get in closer.”

The goblins, full of confidence at the scattered a
nd wounded elves and the battle-
weary werewolves, charged them.

The men and women opened up with their shotguns, the goblins fell back as shotgun pellets, fired at close range, blew pieces out of their armour, wounding them. Th
e men and women fired again and
aga
in, and the goblin dead mounted. S
ome
managed to force their way
forward only to fall
victim to a deftly wielded axe. Others tried to retreat through the gap, but found their way blocked as wave after wave pushed through the breach
, trampling them
.

Then the guns fell silent and the female werewolf said, “Axes, my children, and no quarter.” Jason and Yvette joined them as they charged the goblins, a dozen against hundreds.

They never reached their target, not first anyway. They, Yvette and Jason included were surprised as a brown wave of snarling carnivores overtook them. The goblins disappeared under an immense horde of werewolves. Blood flowed as axes hacked and teeth and claw ripped. It was over inside minutes, hundred of goblins died in that furious onslaught. The remainder of the goblin force fled futilely across the lake, each fugitive brought down with a vicious slash or a cleaving blow with an axe.

Jennifer watched as the female werewolf and her offspring returned. They were well-built humans at first glance, but their features were faintly canine, their eyes were yellow, the incisors were long and tufts of fur sprouted from their sleeves and collars. The victors assembled on the slope. Jason said to the farmer, “You arrived just in time.”

He smiled and said, “My wife heard your call,” he pointed to the approaching werewolves, “Just as they did.” He called out, “Greetings, Lengowyn. We meet once more, dear brother-in-law.”

The werewolf Lengowyn bowed his furry grey head then looked up, “Greetings, Derek, my brother,” He turned to Jason and the others, “You all fought well,” he looked at the wounded elves, “You have many casualties, they can rest at my village, we will carry those who cannot walk.” He moved closer to Jason, “I fear I have bad news concerning the rune stone.” He dropped his gaze, “A person whom we regarded highly has betrayed his own kind and the elves.”

Seawan asked, “Who is this person?”

“Lucas.”

Silvern gasped. “You mean Lord Lucas?”

“Yes. He has fed us lies over the years, spreading discontentment amongst my people, telling untruths about our heritage, he said the rune stone is a myth.” He paused and beckoned to one of his people, a female werewolf came to his side. “I became suspicious of Lucas. He told me in one of his wild moments once that goblins could mate with werewolves and become stronger and wiser than the elves. I just ignored it as one of his flights of fancy, just like the one about the curse, so I sent Seerwith here to follow him everywhere he went. She saw him attack a female goblin just a day ago. He didn’t kill her, but took something she was carrying and where he is now I do not know.”

Jason said, “That would be the one we killed.”

Lengowyn nodded and continued, “Some time after you left us, Seerwith arrived back, she told me what had happened and that she had lost sight of Lucas in a blizzard, after following him north, she assumed he had caught her scent and hid somewhere. I spoke with the village elders the following morning and then my people, we decided to help you, and when we heard your call we headed out here, and it
-.”

He broke off, startled as the ground trembled; a vibration that increased slowly, Seawan and Jennifer hurried to the mound of dead and climbed up. Seawan hurried down to the others and called out, “Trolls, hundreds of them and more goblins. Damn goblins, they breed like insects.”

Yvette told Lengowyn, “We killed their king and his eldest son and daughter, their relatives will want their revenge.”

He said, “They are after blood that is plain to see.” He pointed to the piles of cadavers, “The smell is enough to make a goat sick, but it is the best defence we have. Let us level it off some, make it higher and more stable, we can close this whole gap.” He looked at the throng; over five score werewolves, the four dozen or so elves that could still fight, the farmer and his family and Jason and Yvette. He called out, “To the death, werewolves and elves together.”

“And man,” shouted Derek.

Chapter fifteen.

The visitor.

For the next hour they toiled, using javelins, spears and goblin shields to solidify the mound of goblin dead. They spread a six-metre thick barricade on the edge of the shore, from one sheer ice wall lining the lake to the other. Jennifer, concentrating on the vibrations that would announce the approaching troll and goblin army, peered into the distance. “They are coming down the incline in single file and they will assemble on the ice.”

Derek, said, “I hope it bloody-well breaks under their weight when they march across.”

Seawan told him, “There is no chance of that happening, Derek, as trolls and goblins couldn’t march in step even if you beat a drum.”

Jason appeared with Silvern and said, “Seawan, Yvette and I have distributed the javelins, over twelve hundred of them between the werewolves, each has about a dozen, they are divided into four ranks, just over a hundred in each one, but the trolls are in their thousands, so we can’t kill them all that way. We have gathered over eighteen hundred flight-worthy arrows. Jennifer is distributing them at this moment. Derek’s children are protecting the flanks, they have their axes, goblin shields and spears.”

Seawan smiled and stroked Jason’s bulging triceps. He examined the cuts on his arms, visible despite the thick fur and healing as he spoke, “We elves have always depended on the were-people for help in troubled times, they were always there, no questions asked, and now you talk to me as if I am your leader. No, Silvermoon, you and Swiftfoot are the leaders, the organisers. So, just tell me where you want me and my people to stand, for today is the day that the elves fight for the werewolves.”

His fangs flashed as he grinned, then he said, “Go where you can do most damage.”