Orcs First Blood - Legion Of Thunder Part 6

It was unusual to find a dry spot anywhere in Adpar's realm. Given nyadd physiology, a dearth of water made no more sense than an ab-sence of air. For creatures even more liquid-dependent, like merz, a lack of water inevitably led to a lack of life. Albeit slowly.

The one place in Adpar's citadel where waterless conditions held sway was the holding area for prisoners, which due to the nature of her rule was rarely occupied for long. Not that she saw that fact as a reason to make it any less unpleasant. Particularly when information was re-quired from the occupants.

Liking to take a hand in such things, she accompanied warders to the cell of two merzmale captives taken after a recent raid. They were spread, chained, upon dusty rock slabs in their arid cells, and had al-ready been given a beating. For the best part of a day moisture had been denied them.

Adpar dismissed the guards and let herself be seen by the prisoners. Their rheumy eyes widened at sight of her, their flaking lips quivered.

'You know what it is we want,' she intoned, her voice soft and bordering the seductive. 'Just tell me where the remaining redoubts are to be found and you can put an end to your suffering.'

Their refusal, croaked from parched throats, was no less than she expected, or in truth hoped for. There had to be a sense of achievement or these visits weren't worth making.

'Bravery can sometimes be misplaced,' she argued reasonably.'We'll find what we need to know sooner or later whether you help us or not. Why undergo the torment?'

One cursed her, rasping; the other shook his head, painfully slow, dehydrated skin flaking.

Adpar produced the water bottle and turned uncorking it into some-thing like an erotic display. 'Are you sure?' she taunted. She drank, deep and long, allowing the liquid to dribble and gush from either side of her mouth as she did so.

Again they refused to treat with her, though the longing in their eyes grew ever more rapacious.

She took up a fluffy sponge, saturated it and squeezed its contents over her head and body, luxuriating sensuously in the drenching. Silver droplets glistened on her scaly skin.

They ran blackened tongues around barren lips and still refused her.

Adpar soaked the sponge again.

It turned out to be two hours well spent, both in terms of the in-formation they gave up and the pleasure she derived from extracting it.

She made a show of taking the bottle and sponge with her when she left. The despairing expressions they wore added a finalfrisson to her enjoyment.

The guards were waiting outside the cell. 'Let them desiccate,' she said.

6.

The band resumed their journey before first light. They veered north-east, still working on the a.s.sumption that Haskeer was making for Cairnbarrow. And they clung to the hope that Coilla was somewhere between him and them.

They were on the upper great plains now, an area where cover was less plentiful, so even more care had to be taken.

But occasionally they encountered copses and other cl.u.s.ters of trees, and the trail they cur-rently followed wound into a wood. Alive to the possibility of danger, Stryke ordered two advance scouts to be sent forward, and a pair were sent out on either side.

As they entered the trees, Jup said, 'Shouldn't we be thinking about what happens if we haven't found Coilla and Haskeer? By the time we're in sight of Cairnbarrow, I mean. We're hardly going to get a warm reception there, Stryke.'

'I think it'd bevery warm. But I don't know the answer to your question, Jup. To be honest, I've been starting to fear they might have veered off in a totally different direction.'

Alfray nodded. 'That's in my mind, too. If they have, we could spend our lives looking for them just in these parts. And if they've moved on to somewhere else completely 'That doesn't bear dwelling on,' Stryke told him.'Well, we'd better. Unless you plan on us chasing our own tails forever.'

'Look, Alfray, I don't know any more than you do what we're-' There was adisturbance at their right. The greenery shook, branchescracked, leaves fell. Smaller trees were pitched aside. Something bulkybegan cras.h.i.+ng its way out of the wood.

Stryke pulled back on his reins. The column halted. Swords were drawn.

A creature emerged. Its grey body resembled that of a horse, but it was bigger even than a war charger, and it walked on clawed feet, not hooves. Powerful muscles rippled beneath its hide. Its neck was elon-gated like a serpent's, and a woolly black mane ran along the back of it. The head was almost pure griffin, with a feline nose, a yellow, h.o.r.n.y beak and upswept fur-trimmed ears.

They saw too that it was young, nowhere near full-grown, and that one of its sinewy wings was broken and hung limp at its side. Which was why, despite its obvious panic, the animal wasn't flying. Notwith-standing its ma.s.s it moved with surprising speed.

Crossing their path, the hippogryph whipped its head round to look at them. They caught a glimpse of enormous green eyes. Then it plunged into the trees on the opposite side and was gone.

Several of the orcs' mounts reared and snorted.

'Look at it go!' Jup exclaimed.

'Yes, butwhy?' Alfray cautioned.

A heartbeat later the two right-flank scouts tore out of the woods. They were yelling but the words were unclear. One of them pointed back the way they'd come.

Alfray peered into the trees. 'Stryke, I think-'

Dozens of figures exploded on to the trail. The foremost were mounted, the second rank on foot. They were humans, every one of them dressed in black and heavily armed.

's.h.i.+t,' Jup gasped.

For an eternal second the two sides gaped at each other.

Then the spell was broken. Mutual shock evaporated.

Wheeling about, the humans started yelling and moved in to attack.

'We're outnumbered two to one!' Alfray cried.

Stryke raised his sword. 'So let's cut down the odds!No quarter!'

The black garbed hors.e.m.e.n charged. Stryke dug his mount's flanks and led the band to meet them. Orcs and humans clashed with a roar and the sound of ringing steel.

Stryke barrelled into the foremost rider. The man flourished a broad-sword, slicing the air as he leaned out to engage the orc's blade. Their swords impacted twice before Stryke got under the other's guard and hewed him at the waist. The human pitched to the ground. His empty horse ploughed into the enemy at its rear, adding to the confusion.

The human who took the fallen man's place confirmed Stryke's suspicion of easy victories. This was a much more formidable opponent. He was armed with a double-headed axe, and handled it with practicedskill. They exchanged one or two blows. After that, Stryke tried to avoid his blade coming into contact with the axe, lest the heavier weapon snap it.

As they manoeuvred for advantage, Stryke's sword collided with the axe's wooden shank, splintering a notch. It didn't noticeably slow the wielder. But soon the effort of swinging the c.u.mbersome axe did. The man's movements grew leaden, his reactions more prolonged. Not greatly, just enough to give Stryke a precious edge.

The marginal speed advantage allowed Stryke to send in a low pa.s.s. It ripped open the human's thigh. He stayed in the saddle, but the pain served to throw him off his balance mentally. His defence went to pieces. Stryke targeted a stroke at his upper chest and it landed true. The human dropped his axe. His hands went to the gus.h.i.+ng wound and he doubled over. Bolting, his horse carried him out of range.

A third antagonist instantly filled the void. Stryke commenced fenc-ing again.

Alfray found himself having to deal with a rider on one side and a footsoldier on the other. The human on foot was the greater danger. Alfray took care of him by driving the pointed spar of the Wolverine's banner into his chest. He went down, taking the lance and banner with him. Alfray turned his attention to the horseman. Their swords crossed. On the third strike the human's blade was dashed from his grasp. A length of cold steel to the stomach put an end to him.

Clutching a short spear, another footsoldier tackled Alfray, who rained blows down on him. The spear was sliced in two, and before he could dodge, his skull was cleaved.

Individual fights boiled across and along the trail. A number of humans were trying to get round either side of the band and outflank them. Battling ferociously, the grunts held them back.

Finis.h.i.+ng off a mounted human with a sword thrust, Jup didn't notice a footsoldier arriving at his side. The man reached up, seized the dwarf's leg and pulled him from his horse. Jup hit the ground heavily. Looming over him, the human raised his sword to deliver a death blow. Jup gathered his wits just in time to roll from it. Surprised in his dazed state to find he was still clutching his sword, he used it to chop at the human's legs. Hamstrung and screaming, the man collapsed. Jup buried the sword in his ribcage.

Being on foot in such a tumult was unwise. Jup looked around frantically for a horse to mount. That ambition was delayed by a rider singling him out as easy prey. Stretching down from his saddle, the man hacked at him. Jup lifted his sword and began parrying blows. As much by chance as design, he hit lucky and knocked away his foe's blade.Leaping to his feet, Jup slashed upwards with all the force he could muster, inflicting a wound in the human's side. The man fell. Jup took his horse and rejoined the fray.

An arrow whistled past Stryke's shoulder. Its source was one of two human archers further along the trail. Betweenbatting off opponents' advances, he saw the pair of Wolverine forward scouts returning. They galloped up behind the human bowmen and laid about them. Taken unawares, the archers succ.u.mbed. Stryke renewed his onslaught.

With a footsoldier attacking from each side of his mount, Alfray had his work cut out. Fending off one then turning to fight the other was exhausting. But they had hold of his horse's trailing reins and left him no option.

Jup hastened in to even the odds. He tackled the human on Alfray's left, chopping his blade deep into the man's shoulder. Alfray himself concentrated on the remaining attacker. He was on the point of besting him when the two left flank scouts, alerted by the uproar, rode in to help. They made short work of the ch.o.r.e.

Stryke parted a human's head from his shoulders with a powerful two-handed swipe. As the lifeless corpse dropped, he looked for his next opponent. But those still alive were retreating. Five or six, on foot and horseback, fled into the woods. Stryke yelled an order and a bunch of grunts rode off after them.

He went to Alfray, who was pulling the banner lance from the dead human's chest.

'How do you figure our casualties?' Stryke asked.

'No fatalities, far as I can tell.' He was panting. 'We were lucky.'

'They weren't fighters. Not full-time anyway.'

Jup joined them. 'Think they were after us, Captain?'

'No. A hunting party, I reckon.'

'I've heard humans hunt for pleasure, not just food.'

'That'sbarbaric,' Alfray said, wiping blood from his face with the back of a sleeve.

'But typical of the race,' Stryke judged.

Grunts were already searching the enemy corpses, taking weapons and anything else useful.

'What do you think they were?' Alfray wondered. 'Unis? Manis?'

Jup went to the nearest body and examined it. 'Unis. Don't the black outfits jog your memory? Kimball Hobrow's guardians. From Trinity.'

'You sure?' Stryke said.

'Isaw more of them than you did, and up close. I'm sure.'

Alfray stared at the body. 'I thought we'd shaken off those mani-acs.'

'We shouldn't be surprised we haven't,' Stryke replied. 'They're fanatics, and we took their star. Seems n.o.body's too keen on letting us get away with that.' The grunts despatched after the fleeing humans came back, holding up their bloodied swords in triumph. 'At least there's fewer of them now,' he added.

Jup came away from the body. 'Could they have taken Coilla and Haskeer?'

Stryke shrugged. 'Who knows?'

A grunt ran to them holding a piece of rolled parchment. He handed it to Stryke. 'Found this, sir. Thought it might be important.'

Stryke unrolled it and showed it to Alfray and Jup. Unlike the grunts, they could read, to varying levels of proficiency.

Their task was made easier by it being in universal script.

'It's about us!' Jup blurted.

'Ithink the whole band should hear this,' Stryke decided.

He called them all over, then asked Alfray to read it out.

This seems to be a copy of a proclamation,' Alfray explained, 'and it bears a likeness of Jennesta's seal. The heart of it reads: "Be it known that by order of. . ." well, by order of Jennesta, that, er, ". . . the orc warband attached to Her Majesty's horde, and known as the Wolverines, are henceforth to be regarded as renegades and outlaws, and are no longer afforded the protection of this realm. Be it further known that a bounty of such precious coin, pellucid or land as may be appropriate will be paid upon production of the heads of the band's officers. To wit. . ." The names of the five officers follow that bit. Let's see. It goes on, "Furthermore, a reward proportionate to their rank shall be paid for the return, dead or alive, of the band's common troopers, answering to the names . . ." Then it lists all the grunts. Even the comrades we've lost. It ends, "Be it known that any harbouring said outlaws . . ." The usual sort of thing.'

He gave the scroll back to Stryke.

A pall of silence had descended over everyone present. Stryke broke it. 'Well, this only bears out what most of us suspected, doesn't it?'

'It's kind of a shock to have it confirmed,' Jup commented dismally.

Alfray indicated the slain guardians. 'Doesn't this mean they were looking for us, Stryke?'

'Yes and no. I think we just blundered into each other this time. Though they must be in these parts because of their master, Hobrow, and the star we took. But plentywill be seeking us for the reward.' He sighed. 'So. A moving target is hardest to hit. Let's get on.'

As they rode out of the wood, Jup said, 'Still, look on the brightside. For the first time in my life I'm worth something.

Pity it's only ifI'm dead.'

Stryke smiled. 'Look.' He pointed. To the west, far off, the hippogryph was making its way across the plain. 'At least he escaped.'

Alfray nodded sagely. 'Yes. Shame he won't live much longer.'

'Thank you very much for that thought,' Jup told him.

They rode for another three or four hours, moving in a great circular sweep as they continued the fruitless search for their fellow band mem-bers. To make things worse, they hit a pocket of inclement weather. It was colder. Showers of icy rain and biting squalls came and went unpredictably. The damp, miserable atmosphere did little to lift theWol-verines' morale.

For Stryke it was a time of reflection, and at length he made a decision, though what he settled on went against the grain. He halted the column by a gra.s.sy hillock. The advance and outflank guards were called in.

He urged his horse to the crest of the rise, the better to address them all. 'I've decided on a different course of action,'

he began without preamble, 'and I reckon we're best starting on it now.'

There was a low-key rumble of antic.i.p.ation from the ranks.

'We've been running around like headless rocs looking for Haskeer and Coilla,' he went on. 'There's a bounty on us, and there might even be others after the stars. All hands are turned against us now. We have no friends, no allies. It's time to take another tack.'

He scanned their rapt faces. Whatever they expected, it wasn't what he said next. 'We're going to split the band.'