Death Or Fortune (55 page)

    
I remember standing in that tent with the rest of the men.  Thinking we
would have an advantage.  A small strike force that picked at the enemy
bit by bit until they were next to useless.  Just simple hit and run
tactics.  It never dawned on me how much of an advantage we had.  The
Orcs had been on the island for a long time, they were comfortable.  They
encountered next to no resistance from the locals after the big fight to take
the main Othos city.  The Orc company that was coming towards us that
morning was beyond comfortable, they were stinking drunk.  The simple fact
that they could walk at all was a testament to their strength.  When we
could hear them marching down the road I took a quick look out.  They were
coming down the road in two columns, marching behind the wagon that was
supposed to carry away their food stuffs.  Two huge war horses were
pulling the wagon and the Orc driving the wagon looked to be sleeping.
 Beautiful creatures they were, reduced to pulling wagons.  I turned
away and told the men to ready their weapons.
     I looked around the tent for Pare.  I was shocked
to see he was still covered in blood.  He had cleaned away some of it from
his eyes but there wasn't a part of him that wasn't covered.  Some of it
Orc, some of it I guessed belonged to Miri.  He had a grim look on his
face that scared me.  I wasn't sure if I should let him take part in the
attack or not.  Not that I would have been able to stop him had I tried.
 I took one last look at the approaching Orcs as they were nearly to the
end of the road.  I looked at Bryce and told him to watch for runners.
 With Windfall missing or dead, we couldn't afford to have our presence
announced to the rest of the army.
'None of them will get away.
' I
looked back at Pare who had spoken.
'Not a single one'
he said to me in
a low quiet voice.  I just nodded at my little friend.  I had no idea
what to say to him.  I wish I could have done something then to ease his
pain.  It isn't an easy thing to do, watching someone suffer while you
can't do anything at all.  As the Orcs started to slow, I waited and
watched for the attack to come.  When it did, I threw open the tent and
gave the attack order.  We caught them off guard and the next few minutes
of my life became a blur.
     As we ran towards the Orc ranks, Pare ran ahead of all
of us, dashing between the two war horses that had been demoted to draft labor.
 Deftly dodging between the legs of the large beast, he scaled the front
of the wagon.  The wagon driver was dead in less time than it takes to
tell.  I am not even sure he opened his eyes long enough to see the blood
covered halfling that was about to cut open his throat.  The Melkor
archers were more than good, saying they were very good isn't giving them
enough credit.  There were very few wasted arrows during the attack.
 Each shot they fired seemed to draw blood.  We hit them quick, hard
and before long the battle was over.  I only saw Pare a few times during
the battle.  After he jumped off the wagon, into the ranks of the Orcs he
became a small agent of death.  Moving quickly from target to target, no
motion wasted, every step he took was geared towards hurting the Orcs. When it
was over, he stood in the middle of the road watching them.  Looking for
any signs of life that he could end with his blades.  There was darkness
on his face that I had never seen before.  I hope I never see it again.

    
The Melkor were pleased with the victory.  Soon after the fight they were
all gathered around Michaels again, looking for guidance.  I started to
look around for Bryce when I noticed Ebbit cutting the ears off the dead Orcs.
 When I asked him why he was doing that he just kinda laughed at me with
that deep voice of his.
'Well, the pup likes to chew on them. Just need a
few more for the road.'
I looked at the wolf sitting there watching his
master, his snout was covered in blood.  I just shook my head and told him
that while he was at it to check the bodies for any papers we might be able to
use.  Any information about the enemy that we could use.  Not that
there was anything to be found.  Looking at the carnage, I started to
think about the next move. Where to go next.  Bryce was asking me the very
same questions I was asking myself.
'Do we continue on like this or try to
go back to the original plan. Split up and hit the two targets at once.'
I
just shook my head, splitting up was no longer an option to me.  Not at
the moment, maybe not ever.
'Well how long do you think we will have before
they notice all these guys are missing?’
 I just shook my head again
and told him we had maybe a day or two at the most.
     I looked him in the eye and asked him if he knew
anything about building a bridge.
'Lots of planks, tie them together, drop
it over the hole. Why?
' I held up my hand and told him I was serious.
 We needed something portable and able to support a great amount of
weight.  It also had to be something long enough to cross the rend in the
island the locals called Solarths tears.
'So you were serious about
destroying those bridges? How do you plan on doing that?'
I could only
smile at him and said all wood will burn.  The Orcs had plenty of lantern
oil in the camp and I would put it to good use.
'What good will that do?'
I told him we had to slow down the next party of Orcs.  
'Ok then, what
about this mess?'
he said waving his arms around.  I told him to have
the men team up with the Melkor that had joined us to pile them up on the
wagon. We would burn them all with the ones in the tents.
'Well if you want
them to do anything, you better talk to the messiah over there, they might not
be too keen on following my orders.
' I wanted to rip into him for some
reason but held my tongue.  I told him to get to get the men to work and
stalked off to talk to Michaels.  He was talking to the Melkor man who
called himself Balon.  He seemed to be the leader of the ones who stayed
behind to fight.

     Before I
could get a single word out of my mouth Michaels started to tell me what they
had been talking about.
'It would seem these good people approve of you and
of us as a whole. They sent a runner to summon the rest of the Mellor’s
hunters. They will add another two hundred archers to our ranks. We just have
to hold off until they get here.'
I thought about this for a moment and
looked at Balon, asking him how long that would take.
'We have many swift
runners Lord Captain, we should see the first of them here in eight days.'
It was too long, we could not afford to wait around for eight days, we might
slow the orc army down but I did not think it would be for that long. I told
Balon that might be too long of a wait but we would hope for the best.  I
then told him that I wanted him to report to Bryce for orders, to help Bryce
with the task I had given.
'Very well Lord Captain, we shall follow his
words as your own.'
I remember the look on Michaels face as he watched
Balish run back to his people.  To tell them what they were tasked with
next.  It was a look I saw on my own face the first time I saw my son walk
for the first time.  

     When
Michaels turned to me I told him that we were leaving in one hour.  I told
him to gather as much lantern oil as he could carry.
'Where are we going? I
do not want to leave my people
.' I took a long look at my friend and
thought before I spoke.  He was going on as if he had been born and raised
on that island.  I told him that in order to protect 'his people' from the
Orc army, we had things to do and that I would explain it to him on the way.
 Michaels was changing before my eyes, something inside of him had changed
and I wasn't sure if it was for the better.
'Very well Lord Kromwell, I
shall do as you ask. One hour from now I shall be ready.'
The Melkor people
were calling him the gifted one, at the time I just thought it was going to his
head. I was just a shade past my twenty second birthday, I wondered at the time
how I got myself into that mess. Then it dawned on me and I had to laugh at
myself.  I had asked for the mess, I was glad to wade into it and had a
big enough ego to believe I could clean it all up.  I let killing a couple
dragons and fighting a war go to my head.  I did that with my friends,
without them I would have failed.  It was then that I decided that I had a
friend to take care of right there.

    
I found Pare not far from where the fight ended there in the middle of the
road.  All that time had passed and he just stood around, watching
everyone else.  Looking at the Orcs as they laid there cooking in the sun.
 I called out to him and he was just standing there, lost in time.  I
called out to him a second time and he looked at me at last.
'Oh hiya
Darmot.
' I told him to follow me; I had seen the water barrels after the
fight and knew what I had to do.  I found a large barrel and took the top
off it, looking at the clean water inside.  As Pare caught up with me I
took a quick look at him and then back to the barrel.
'What’s going on
Darmot?
' he asked me with a slightly exasperated voice.  As if I was
keeping him from something important.  I tilted my head to the side,
looking at my little friend.  I softly told him to turn around; I had to
do this quickly.  As soon as he turned away from me I made a grab for him.
 I grabbed him around his chest, under his arms, he started to resist but
not before I could pick him up.  Dunking him down into the barrel of cold
water.
'AHHHHH COLD
!' he shouted. Half the men in the camp turned to
look at us. '
STOP
!' he shouted again as I pulled him up. I kept forcing
him down into the water until the blood and mess was gone from his hair and
face.

     He tried
to stop his decent more than once but I just kept forcing him down into the
cool water. When I couldn't see anything left on him I pulled him out and set
him down on the ground.  While there were still some signs of the blood on
his armor, most of it was gone.  He looked at me with anger in his eyes.
 His mouth hanging open, unable to speak.  I went down to one knee so
I could be level with him.  I asked him if he remembered when Arturo died.
 I watched as his face softened a bit, yet he was still silent.  I
told him that Arturo died fighting for something he believed in.  He died
fighting the good fight and in his death we found victory. Even though he was
gone, we still honor him with our memories and how we live today.  Pare
looked at me and said
'What are you trying to say?'
I told him that Miri
believed in this cause. That she died doing something she believed in and to
lose sight of that would dishonor her memory.  I also told him that she
loved him and who he was.  To lose sight of that would dishonor that love
they shared.  That just because she was gone, didn't mean she loved him
any less.  That she would always be with him, no different than if I died.
 That it was now his job to keep their love alive so when it was time,
they could be together again.  Tears started to roll down my little
friends face and I pulled him to me.  I let him cry on my shoulder until
his tears fell no more.

     Michaels
came and found us, Pare was still clinging to me, the paladin said nothing.
 When Pare finally stopped he pulled back from me and said
'What do we
do now?
' He had a slight smile on his face, while I knew he was just putting
on a happy face for me, I think the worst of his pain was gone.  Washed
away with the cold water that was now the color of blood.  I told him
first, we found saddles for those horses. Then we go find our missing bounty
hunter and most importantly, we send a message to the Orcs.  
'Do you
know where he might be?'
the halfling asked me.  I just nodded my head
at him as I stood up.  I looked to Michaels and he nodded as well,
'He
went to face the wizard alone. We will find him in the temple of Solarth.'
I went to find Bryce one last time and told him not to light up the bodies
until well after dark.  If the Orcs saw the smoke from the fire it might
draw their attention before we were ready.  I figured we would find the
temple long before dark and have the bridges destroyed by the time the sun went
down.  I then told Bryce if he did not hear from us by the next morning he
was to assume we were all dead and to continue on with his mission.  The
ships in the Orc shipyard had to be destroyed.  No matter what happened to
us, those ships had to burn.

    
“What did you say?" Windfall shouted as he shook the dead creature. While
he knew the Orc was dead, he kept looking at it for a sign of life. The Orcs
final words and the knowing look on its face haunted the half elf.  A
single moment before he rammed his blade into the Orcs chest Windfall saw
something in its eyes; admiration, perhaps even love.  Beyond the look
however it was the Orcs final words that kept coming back to him.
     "My General" it had said. Windfall dropped
the Orc in the road and looked towards the sky. Looking for some kind of
sign.  "Are you one of my father’s pets?  Did he do something to
you to insure that you would know me?  So that his experiments wouldn't
kill his only son." Windfall turned away from the dead Orc, looking
towards the north.  "What did you expect of me father?  I guess
there is only one way to find out." Windfall looked around for any sign
that he may have been followed while chasing the Orc.  Not seeing anyone
coming up the road from the south he turned back to the creature. "You are
coming with me as I believe we are both owed answers." Lifting the dead
Orc onto his shoulders, the half elf turned to the north and started to walk.
The dead creature’s finger tips brushed the ground as they walked as it was
nearly twice the size of the half elf.  Not that the weight bothered
Windfall.  He could have run with what he saw as a minor burden.
 Windfall often wondered if there was a limit to his strength, if there
was, this was not it.
     As the night went on and morning came closer Windfall
remembered the second Orc company that should have been headed in his
direction.  If this second company was anything like the one they met the
night before, he would hear them long before he saw them. Yet, keeping that in
mind he hastened his step.  He only paused to look ahead, looking for the
tower that marked the end of the road.  The half elf knew he could not
afford to run headlong into the Orc company.  Not with the cargo he had on
his shoulders.  They might not be too understanding when they saw the dead
Orc officer.  Yet part of him wanted just that, for them to see him.
 To see if they had the same look on their white faces as their dead
companion.  The bounty hunter smiled to himself as he thought of what
might happen if they didn't.  While he thought he might do well with such
odds, he didn't want to go down like that.  Forty Orcs against one half
elf might have been too much even for the famed bounty hunter.  Not that
he was afraid to try.
     Looking up to the sky, Windfall noticed that the once
brilliant stars were growing dim. Morning was fast approaching and the tower
was only a distant shape on the horizon.  Had things been different he
would have been looking at the flame at the top of the tower.  A beacon to
those who were lost in the darkness or to those without hope.  While
Windfall was far from lost, he could have used a little hope.  He marched
on, unsure of his fate or the fate of his friends that he had left behind.
 His only hope was that Darmot would do the right thing.  Forget
about the half elf and do what he had come to do.  Stop the Orc army from
attacking Eystlund.  Stop them from attacking the only place the half elf
ever called home. The place where he was born, the place where he met his wife
and raised a family. Windfall was rather pleased with the fact that he had done
so well for himself while never being at home for more than a couple weeks at a
time. His wife Lucinda was the first one to know of his curse.  She more
than anyone understood why Windfall had to hunt.  She was with him the
first time it happened, she saw the affects it had on him.
     As of late though, he had another reason for staying
away from home.  One that broke his heart every time he walked in the
door.  His once young and beautiful wife was ageing faster than he liked.
 She was in her forties and to the half elf she might as well have been
one hundred. Even his sons who shared a bit of his elven blood aged too fast for
him.  Not that he could or would do anything about it.  He would not
wish his curse on anyone.  To live on and on without feeling the passage
of time.  To know that if nothing changed he would outlive everyone he
knew. When he told his oldest son about the curse he became a bit pale in the
face.  Zender told him, even the elves know time will catch up with them.
 They know their end will come so they value their time, how do you value
something that will never end.
     "You know what my dead friend?" Windfall
told the corpse on his shoulders. "I did you a favor because kids are a
pain in the ass.  Don't get me wrong, Zender was a good boy.  He
turned out better than I expected.  Still, they sometimes turn out too
smart for their own good." It was then that the present caught up with the
half elf.  Looking ahead on the road he could see the incoming orc
company.  Dashing off to the side Windfall laid the dead orc in the tall
grass of the plain, then laid down beside it while covering both the orc and
himself with his cloak.  Another gift from his mother’s family, the cloak
allowed the half elf to blend into whatever was around him.  Be it the
shadows of a dark alley or the green of the forest. Windfall watched best he
could as the Orcs marched by.  First came a large wagon, then the troops
and then a second wagon.  The second, held what looked to be the commander
of the Orcs. "Friend of yours?" Windfall asked the corpse.
 Still silent as the grave, the dead Orc said nothing.
     "Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrg" the scream and crash
made the half elf let out a deep sigh.  The second wagon that had been
trailing the orc army had lost a wheel.  The Orc who was driving the wagon
had been thrown to the ground while his commander held on for dear life.
"Tell Stone Tongue send out wheel. We have to get this wagon to camp. Go
now!" Windfall could not believe what he was seeing. While he had never
had good luck, this was beyond bad.  He couldn't trot out of there with
the Orc corpse without being seen. After the first wagon and the Orc company
moved on down the road, he moved in to take a closer look at who he was now
dealing with.  Had either of the Orcs that had been left behind bothered
to look in Windfalls direction, they would have seen nothing but the tall,
flowing grass.  Perhaps if they looked close they might see a pair of eyes
but nothing beyond that.

    
"I take nap, you wake when wheel get here!" the creature barked at
his driver.  Windfall then watched as the Orc officer climbed into the
back of the wagon to lay down.  With a single raised eyebrow the half elf
turned to watch the driver, watching to see what it was that he would do.
 A younger Orc who had not yet taken into the ranks of the warriors.
 Windfall settled down to wait and watch.  He only had to wait until
the rest of the Orc company was far enough away that they would not hear the
screams.  Windfall enjoyed hearing them scream, it gave him a feeling of
control.  Fill the heart with fear and watch as all they know comes
undone.  Windfall worked very hard to make those he hunted fear him.
 Still, there was always that one.  That one who thought the stories
were made up.  That he wasn't real.  The one who decided that they
were not going to run, that they were going to stand and fight.  While
they were few and far between the last few years, there was always one who
wanted to test the legend.

     The young
Orc seemed to be content with his place as he cared for the animals.
 Checked their shoes with care and went about the task of feeding them.
 When that was completed he spent his time pacing around the wagon, each
time he walked by his commander sleeping he would peak on him.  After an
hour of this, the young Orc settled down in the middle of the road, elbows on
his knees, resting his face on his hands.  As the morning sun finally
appeared over the line of trees to the east, he could feel his eyelids getting
heavy.  Knowing that he would get in trouble with his commander for
sleeping, the young Orc stood up again and tried to stay awake. It was then that
he saw it happen.  Standing there in the middle of the road, he saw the
face spring forth from nothing more than the tall grass. First he saw the face
and then the bright blue scales.  All manner of thoughts crossed the young
Orcs mind in that moment.  It wasn't until he saw the weapon appear that
he knew how much trouble he was in.  Yet he was a good Orc, this was just
another challenge to him and he knew what to do.  He must alert his
commander who was still very much asleep.  Yet by the time the young Orc turned
around, the hammer had already fallen.

     It was
something Windfall had done a million times before.  Just as the pray is
looking in the right spot, move and strike.  While the young Orc showed no
fear or panic, he turned to run just the same.  Reaching out with one hand
he grabbed the Orcs tunic from behind, the second hand brought down his sword,
pommel first into the back of the creatures head. While it was very effective
in putting person down, Windfall always found it difficult to question a person
when they were out cold. "That is what they make rope for" he often
told himself.  After he tied up the young Orc, he went around to the rear
of the wagon to take a look at the Orc commander. Still sleeping, he was
typical size for an Orc.  He wore bits of armor, other than a small rank
pin on his shoulder.  He looked just like the Orcs they had killed the
night before.  Not wanting to waste any more time the half elf decided it
was time to wake the sleeping beast.  With one hand firmly gripping his sword,
he reached into the wagon and took the Orcs ankle in his other hand.

    
"Roaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrr" shouted the Orc commander as the half elf
pulled his leg. Landing on the road in a heap at the rear of the wagon.
"What you doing?" he shouted. "I kill...." the words froze
in the Orcs throat when it saw the point of a weapon at its neck. His eyes
traveled up the length of the blade, to the gloved hand, up the arm and to the
face of a half elf.

     "If
you so much as twitch, I will end you. Understood?" Windfall kept the
point of his sword inches away from the Orcs neck.  "I want you to
look at me, tell me if you know who I am." Windfall watched as the Orcs
eyes studied his face.  It was then that it happened.  His eyes grew
wide and for just a small moment, they glazed over.  Like a drunken dwarf
on a three day bender.

    
"General! You general, great father Argon told us you come." The look
on the Orcs face went from fear to reverence.

     "And
what did great father Argon tell you I was going to do?" the half elf
asked.

     "You
lead army. You lead us to victory over humans.  When all Orc clans in
world come together, we will drive humans out for the final time. You will be
our leader. You...urrrrrrrrrk." Windfall could hear no more.  He gave
the monster a quick death, far better than he would have had a few hours down
the road.

     "I am
no leader." Windfall wiped the blood from the blade of his sword and
turned north.  His view of the tower was clear in the morning light.
 If he avoided any more patrols, he thought he could be there in an hour
or two tops. "Maybe faster without my dead friend." Windfall took one
last look at the young Orc he had tied up and waved his hand at the beast.
"Someone will find you soon enough.  I know what I need to do now.
 Something I should have done years ago." The half elf, now committed
to his path, started up the road.  His initial steps were slow but as he
went on, more sure of himself, his speed increased.  "You set me on
this path the moment you did your magic on me father.  Did you know that
it would lead to you? You had to know where your curse would lead me."
Shaking his head, trying to clear his mind of thought, the half elf started to
run.  From then on, he only thought of his breathing and the heat that was
slowly building from the sun above.

     The temple
looked much like the temple that was standing in Eystlund.  The only
difference he could see was the stained glass windows and the two hundred foot
tower that stood over this temple. Windfall almost wished his son could be here
to see this.  He would have enjoyed finding this, if not for the near
immortal evil wizard that was waiting inside.  Then again, Zender never
backed down from a fight.  If there was one thing Windfall was proud of,
it was his sons. Cowards they were not.  What would you think of them
father, he thought to himself.  One a devout priest who battles evil where
ever he may find it. The other a carefree man who loved nothing more than to
explore the unknown.  The last time Windfall had seen his youngest son
Rathnel, he was talking about sailing a ship around the world, trying to find
new lands to explore.  Finding things that were not written about in
books.  As Windfall put his hand on the gate leading into the temple
grounds, he smiled to himself.  They both would have liked to been here
this day. "Yet, I wish I was somewhere else." The smile was gone, the
grim mask returned and he opened the gate.

     Windfall
looked around the fenced in area near the temple.  Headstones marked where
the chosen holy men from the Othos and Melkor tribes had been buried.  As
he looked around he felt a sense of peace that he did not expect.  A quiet
calm that he only associated with good times. The day he met his wife, the
birth of his children.  The day he ran down and captured Leland LaFave, a
nasty man who had a taste for small children that could not defend their
selves.  It was a good day when that man faced the chopping block.
 He was one of the first in a long line of criminals that had the half elf
had escorted to their final stop.  That was the only time he felt good
about his father and what he did to him.  He could see and feel the
difference he made in the world.  Now, he stood only a few feet away from
the door that would lead him to perhaps the worst of the lot.