In the afternoon while they were preparing to leave Darr and Eir had requested to go as well. Bringing the total that would be leaving to fourteen, a sizeable party in its own right.
Each of the new recruits had been given a horse and some new clothes. As well as a full quiver of arrows, after all of the longbows had been checked by the master bowyer who had deemed all to be in good condition bar one which he replaced with his best bow.
Just as Tul and the other parents were turning to say their goodbyes a man staggered into the village half carried by one of the guards. Men rushed to help carry him into the village proper. Others brought a chair and some Kuhool for him.
It was Juno a man from the next village a full days journey way. As Mal got closer Mal noticed blood splattered over the man’s tunic.
“Tul, creatures attacked two days ago the village was lost. We’ve sent a man to each of the nearest villages. To warn them. I see that I was too late, I hope you didn’t lose too many people”
“Seventeen in the initial fighting and another three during the nite, and you?”
“Only ten survived, over forty of the beasts attacked the village, Myself and eight others were out hunting and a child escaped from the village before it was overrun and all were lost. The bastards burnt all of the buildings to the ground before moving on.”
Lord Turok who had been standing beside Mal’s father spoke up “This is grave news Tul, this is a major offensive there must be several thousand goblins in this area. It is most important that we make it to the king and get warriors here as soon as possible. With your leave we will make haste, The quicker we are off the quicker help will be on its way.”
When Tul nodded his agreement, Turok swung up into his saddle Shouted “Forward!!!!” And kicked his horse into a quick trot.
Everyone quickly swung into their saddles and headed after the Lord Turok, The first day of travel was split between a quick trot for an hour followed by walking for an hour the miles disappeared behind them at a good rate. During the only stop Lord Turok gave them a dry meal of fruit and meat was consumed and then it was back on the trail. By the end of the first day everyone was travelling sore but in good spirits.
“Captain Talbot, I want sentries around the camp tonight and a cold camp lets not announce our presence to anyone in these mountains.”
“You heard his lordship no fires tonight lads, cold rations again and I want three groups of sentries, we have enough men to have four sentries at a time,” Captain Talbot started to give people a number between one and three for which shift they would be taking.”
Even though it was the middle of summer it was a cold night due to how far into the mountains and how high they actually were. Mal and Tomi woke for their three-hour watch, cold and sore.
Mal respected Lord Turok for his understanding of the need for the cold camp and sentries, there was another two to three days of travel to the nearest town and it would be an uncomfortable journey.
Lord Turok stood up, lifting the blanket he had wrapped around himself and handed it to Captain Talbot who stowed it on the back of his horse.
“Everyone here?” He said scanning all the faces to make sure they were listening. “Ok I’ve been thinking we might run into a band of goblins and anything could happen, so since we need to prepare for that possibility. I’ve written out orders, for each of you to carry, at least one of us must get to the town of Bearon or the mountains will be lost and we must not allow these greasy bastards to get a foothold here in the mountains or we will lose more than the mountains.”
Lord Turok signalled to one of the Guards who started to pass out a small scroll of paper sealed with some red wax.
“These orders are for the Sub Commander of the Town which orders him to send all of the local watches to the mountains and to request all of the local towns go on a defensive setting and for them to supply more men. I intend to fill these mountains with fighting men and to avenge those that have been lost. Don’t forget to carry these orders on you at all times so if you get separated from the group and your equipment you still have the orders,” he continued.
“Get your stuff stored and get mounted you have five minutes,” said Captain Talbot
Since it was a cold camp they were all ready and on the move in two minutes. Another day of fast-moving continued until about three hours before dusk. When just as Mal and some of the other mountain folk noticed that the noise level had dropped, Mal was about to say something when Lord Turok signalled a halt everyone readied weapons The soldiers that Lord Turok had with him had long swords and shields while the group of mountain folk had longbows and short swords.
Captain Talbot signalled one of his men who moved quieter than Mal would have thought was possible for a man in light chain mail. A long ten minutes later he emerged from the forest.
“There are ten goblins camped about six hundred meters down the trail, More busy eating than watching, ya gotta love a stupid a goblin.” He grinned “The trail is wide enough at that point for four horses side by side with room to move. They are lounging around on one side and vulnerable to attack by arrows.” He said looking at the mountain bowmen.
Grins spread across everyone's faces.
“Now listen to me lads, we’ve never fought in close quarters together, but if we agree on the attack plan first this could work well to our advantage. I recommend that you lads are on the left with us on the right that should give you free access to them with your bows. We would appreciate if you stop shooting when we engage the enemy in hand to hand combat.”
“Sounds like a plan, your lordship,” said Mal and the others nodded their agreement.
“Saddle up then and let us give the bastards a warm welcome.”
Once in their saddles, they headed off at a slower pace to reduce the noise, though as they got nearer to the camp there was no need as the nose from the camp was loud enough to cover any stray noise the horses or men made. As they got closer the guard that had spied them out before signalled they were close and slipped forward to scout the area again. They didn’t have long to wait before he slipped back to the group.
“There are another six goblins now, sir but the plan should work just the same.”
Nodding Lord Turok signalled the attack and the group charged down the road to meet the goblins. When they heard the noise of the horse it was too late the first four went down with large arrows in their heads, Just as Lord Turok and the guards were a couple of meters away from the goblins another rain of arrows took five more of the goblins fell to the ground.
Then the battle was engaged Lord Turok drove his battle trained horse into the biggest goblin and his sword cleaved a large gash into his neck only for him to be trampled by the horse of Captain Talbot. Mal and the rest of the mountain folk switched from the longbows to the short swords they carried and raced to join their comrades.
Tomi sprang from the horse landing almost on top of the nearest goblin who was busy raising a shield against one of the guards. The goblin didn’t see the short sword or understand why his legs went weak and the last thing that he realised was the pain as Tomi’s sword slid into the back of his skull, Tomi Spun to find the next attacker but it was too late all of the goblins were dead.
Lord Turok watched the face of Tomi with both interest and sadness he knew what it was to lose someone close in such a vicious and callous way. As he turned away he noticed Mal watching and nodded his understanding. A silent communication that spoke of the worry they both felt for the state of this young man’s mind to do such a reckless thing as jump into a group of goblins.
As they surveyed the carnage that they had wrought upon the goblins Lord Turok was impressed by the placement of the arrows by the mountain folk. They had placed arrows in such close quarters of the goblin hearts which while mounted and moving was a testament to the ability these young kids had. He understood why the High King favoured the mountain peoples as allies and swore a silent vow to get these kids safely to Bearon.
Mal and lads retrieved their arrows any broken arrows were retrieved for the fletching and the steel tips. While each man normally made their own arrows the steel tips were hard to come by. It was gruesome work the lads continued until they had all arrows and tips accounted for.
Grego looked inside a cooking pot and immediately threw up and continued to try and throw up for several minutes even after his stomach was empty. No one in the group wanted to look into the cook pot after seeing Grego's reaction.
While Mal reclaimed the last arrow from a vicious looking goblin a glimmer of light reflected off a metal bracelet on the goblins arm. Taking the bracelet off and giving it a bit of a rub to remove some of the dirt and grime that was caked on it. Mal could see that it was off a bronze and silver design. Throwing it in the saddle bag Mal decided to look at it later.
When finished the gruesome retrieval of arrows they went over to a small stream at the side of the road to wash their hands-free of the blood and gore that covered them. A change of clothes would be needed tonight thought Mal.
Once everyone was ready again they all mounted and headed off down the road again.
Mal overheard Captain Talbot and Lord Turok talking about how long they thought it would be until they had goblins on their trail. Both men agreed that probably no more than one or two hours grace if they were lucky. Since it was nearly dusk they might be lucky and have until the morning.
“Men, we will be travelling all night lets get far from this spot and see if we can put some distance between us and those foul bastards. “ order Lord Turok
A chorus of “Yes my lord” came naturally to the lips of the men as all of them agreed that the best plan would be to put as much distance between them and the carnage of the goblin camp.
As they travelled darkness descended on the forest trail they followed. It became harder for Lord Turok to follow the trail. So Mal suggested that a couple of the mountain men could scout ahead on foot and lead the way as they were still in lands that they knew.
Grudgingly Lord Turok agreed while he respected the ability of these kids he had made a promise to Tul to look after all of them, and that was a promise that he wanted to keep, There was something about Tul that he really liked and admired.
They had travelled no more than one hour when the sound of horns from the rear announced to one and all that the goblin camp had been discovered. Everyone hoped that they would lose the goblins in the darkness.
Mal and Dareon moved forward on foot, all through the night, the two young mountain hunters continued to move the group through the forest at a steady pace. Every once in a while a horn was sounded off in the distance sometimes to the left sometimes the rear or the right but never ahead, it seemed like the group were keeping ahead of the goblin hunting party.
Mal and the mountain people knew that sometimes they would use horns to drive a pact of deer into a trap. Mal and Dareon kept a look out for an area where they could get off the track and lose the goblins. Eventually, they came to a rocky stream, Mal halted the party and returned to Lord Turok.
“My Lord, I fear we are being herded into a trap, there is a rocky stream here which we should use to our advantage and try and lose any trackers on our trail”
“I agree, it's been clear for the last hour that we are definitely being herded to some location so let's not do that. I guess that we will be heading downstream to get away from them and it won’t take them long to figure that out as well. Let us make some signs of going uphill back into the mountains and see if we can add more time between us.”
Mal took a knife and tore a couple of strips from a blanket and hung them on shrubs heading up the stream while everyone added little tracks in the surrounding sides of the stream to indicate that they were heading back to one of the villages.
Once they had the fake trail set they carefully moved back down the stream with Mal and the other mountain folk hiding the real trail as much as possible. It was slow going but eventually, Mal was satisfied they had done as much as possible in the time they had.
Mounting up they headed after the rest of the party. An hour later they could hear the horns of the goblins again but this was a different tone one that Mal hoped meant that they had gone past the stream and lost their trail, but how far past had they gone and would the second trail trick them or would they spot the real trail. An agonising twenty minutes passed by Mal’s estimate before the horns sounded again longer and more urgent,
“Mmm, let's hope that’s them finding the fake trail” Mal muttered quietly so no one could hear.
The tree line was starting to thin out and the sky started to brighten as the sound of horns could be heard sounding far off in the distance. Catching up to Lord Turok,
“My Lord looks like our ruse might have given us a couple of more hours of time and it looks like there is a track of some sort over that way,” said Mla gesturing to where a small trail could be seen in the early morning light.
“From your lips to the ears of the gods Mal, let’s make haste before the bastards catch up on us,” nodded Lord Turok.
With that, they wove their way through the trees to the overgrown track that lead east-west through the light woods.
“I’ve never been this far my lord, Which way do you think?” asked Mal.
Taking a strange wooden box out of a pocket of his coat opening the lid and looking inside Lord Turok pointed to the West, “That way. There should be a major road leading to Bearon that way. Which will make travelling easier”
Mal and Dareon mounted and led the way again through the light tree covering, The smell of burning wood drifted over the air. The group slowed and Mal dismounted and along with the guard that had scouted the previous camp.
Slowly the two of them headed forward to the edge of the trees moving from bush to trunk to bush until they had a view of a burning farm. There were about ten goblins sitting around a campfire eating. After the experience of the previous camp, Mal knew they didn’t want to know what they were eating.
The two men moved back to the group, “My Lord “ said the guard waiting for his lord to acknowledge him. When Lord Turok inclined his head he continued “Small group of Goblins have burnt and pillaged the farm”.
At that exact moment, the scream of a young woman pierced the morning sky. Tomi who had been quiet all night spurred his horse forward catching everyone off guard.
“BALLS! that's torn it, another couple of days is all he needed, let's go, lads,” ordered Lord Turok who turned his horse and charged after Tomi. The whole group was disorganised coming out of the woods not in any formation at all.
All that Lord Turok could hope for was to overwhelm the goblins before they raised the alarm. He watched as Tomi who was twenty yards in front raised up in his saddle and shot his bow a large twanging noise accompanying the release of the bow.
Lord Turok watched the arrow fly straight and true and pierce the back of a goblins head that was dragging a screaming girl from a shed.
Before any of the goblins had even registered the threat Tomi had a second arrow loose. By that time Lord Turok and the rest had caught up to Tomi and charged into the farmyard to see Tomi losing another arrow into the pack of Goblins that were rushing towards him. Swerving around Tomi Lord Turok and Captain Talbot drove into the goblins the killing was done quickly as the goblins had been taken by surprise. Only one of the guards had been hurt taking a nasty cut to his back.
Turning to Captain Talbot he gave orders to find that girl, then fuming he rode over to Tomi and in one swing of his gauntleted fist that connected directly with Tomi’s chin he lifted him out of his saddle and lay him out cold on the floor.
Mal and the rest were stunned by the strength that Lord Turok had just shown as none had thought of him as a strong man.
Getting down off his saddle he grabbed the water skin from Tomi ’s saddle and emptied the lot over him. Spluttering Tomi woke to find a very angry Lord standing over him.
“Do that again boy and I’ll cut you down where you stand, let me be clear with you all,” he said turning to face the rest of the mountain kids “I GIVE THE ORDERS TO ATTACK NOT YOU!!!” he roared.
Glaring at all of them he continued “You’ve agreed to join the kings' rangers, that means that you follow orders, no hot headiness, and you remain in control of your emotions at all times.”
Turning back to Tomi who was rubbing his chin he continued “You will be responsible for the care and comfort of Maxillion, who got hurt because of your stupidity.”
Mounting up Lord Turok swung his horse around towards the group. “Ah I see that Captain Talbot has found the girl, everyone mount up and let's get on the road. If the goblins are this far we’re in trouble.”
When Captain Talbot rejoined the group he had a young girl sitting behind him on his saddle. Her clothes were tattered, torn and covered in blood. One of the guards produced some cheese and dried meat for her, which she took and ate quickly. Another guard offered her a blanket to warm her up.
When they were finally on the road again Lord Turok beckoned Captain Talbot and his passenger forward.
“I’m sorry for your trouble my dear, please know that you are safe now. I know that you probably don’t want to think about what has happened to you. But we need to know what happened”
“I understand my lord I’ll try” she responded quietly.
“What's your name, my dear?”
“Molly sir, This was my Da’s farm, Oh god they killed them all” she sobbed, After a couple of minutes her crying subsided and she was able to continue.
“There were a whole bunch of them my lord about twenty they stormed the farm last night while we were having supper, destroying everything they killed my Da and my brother Joesph straight away”. Taking a deep breath she paused and went on “They knocked my mother out and threw her, me and my little sister in the shed.”
Sobbing she stopped talking and just cried for five minutes. While Lord Turok was impatient for answers and knowledge he understood that this was something that she would have to work through herself. It would be better for her to get it out rather than letting it fester like a poison.
“Sorry sir”
“Don’t worry, you take your time” he replied as if time wasn’t an urgency.
Taking another deep breath she continued with her story and it was harrowing, the goblins had locked them in the shed and posted a single guard while they had eaten her father and brother eventually they had come and took her mother screaming from the shed, they didn’t kill her before they started eating and her screams would haunt Molly for the rest of her life. Eventually, the goblins had fallen asleep but the girls couldn’t get out of the shed to try and escape as a guard had been set. Then they had come back and taken her sister. The goblin that had taken her little sister had picked her up and threw her writhing body to a group of goblins. Whose teeth and claws had caused the little girl to scream the loudest she had ever heard. The goblin had returned for her and was dragging her out of the shed when the arrow had suddenly appeared in its head.
“I’m sorry I fled sir, I was just so scared.”
Most of the men were openly weeping including Tomi which Lord Turok and Mal were both glad about.
“Seems like we didn’t get all of them, if they come back to the farm we’ll have them after us sure enough, Hold on Molly this is going to get a bit fast”
They continued down the road at a fast pace switching between walking and riding for most of the day, When suddenly a horn blew from far behind them reminding them of the danger they were in. Turning in his saddle Lord Turok swore as about a league and a half away on the top of a large hill stood a single Goblin outlined on the sky, then he was joined by more and more goblins there must have been twenty or thirty flowing over the hill. Again they heard an answering horn to the rear and left.
“Let’s go, men,” ordered Lord Turok leading them on through the rest of the day passing more burnt out farms. Lord Turok was pleased that Tomi stuck close to Maxillion who was a sensible soldier who was less hurt than he seemed and was forcing Tomi to focus on him rather than the darkness that he was brooding over.
Lord Turok was honest to himself that as this invasion of the goblins was going to be hard to defend against and it might be a while before Tomi would be in a situation that would allow him to forget about the horrors the invasion if he ever could. They continued at a good rate along the road the horns of the goblins were getting further and further behind.
As dusk fell for the second night Lord Turok ordered a three-hour rest with three guards chosen by lot for an hour each. It was going to be another cold night with cold rations.
Molly tried to sleep rolled up in a couple of blankets, but the darkness brought back the memories and her sobs kept most people either fully awake or in most cases very little sleep. Captain Talbot sat beside Molly laying a comforting hand on her when she would startle awake and start screaming from the dreams she was having.
They had only a couple of hours rest before they were all mounted again and on the cold hard road. Travelling at night allowed them to see the danger they were in when they finally crested a small hill and could see quite far in all directions the number of fires they could see stretching off in all directions numbering between twenty and thirty.
“Looks like we need to move quickly and put some distance between us and those camps. If we are lucky they will be lazy and not be up early, that will give us a couple of extra hours if we’re lucky we will get to Bearon by late afternoon.”
Lord Turok sent Mal and a guard called Jason to scout ahead and they all set off on the road travelling as fast as they could. By the time the sun had risen high above the horizon. They knew that the goblins would soon be on their trail again.
Half an hour later they had their worst fears confirmed when a horn blew loudly no more than a couple of miles away. The race was on everyone bent over closer to the horses, egging them on for more speed.
Suddenly there was a blast of a horn from somewhere in front of them and they knew that their luck had run out. Lord Turok and his guards drew their swords and the mountain men drew their longbows. They didn’t have long to wait, twenty goblins charged out of the tree line to the left charging towards the road trying to block them off.
Six arrows slammed into the front ranks of the goblins causing them to fall into the path of those coming behind but they came on frothing at the mouth as they ran to engage the humans.
Although Lord Turok and his men were now at full charge it was apparent that the goblins would make it to the road first. So he veered off the road straight at the goblins hoping to fight his way through and taking them by surprise.
More arrows found their way into the flank of the goblins, twelve goblins were down some lying still some screaming and groaning on the ground as Lord Turok and his men smashed into the goblins. The goblins rushed the group trying to pull the riders from their saddles.
Suddenly one of the guards was pulled from his horse and thrown to the ground as the goblin raised his arm to smash the winded guard with its mace there was a bright flash and the arm and mace fell to the ground. With a backhand swing Tomi severed the head of the goblin before moving on to the next goblin. Soon Mal and the rest of the group had engaged with the rest of the goblins,
Mal parried a particularly ugly goblin and struck quickly to the torso, just as the sword was about to connect. The goblin surprised Mal with his agility by parrying the blow, then in an unbelievable show of speed, the goblin attacked.
Mal felt sure that this goblin was going win as the goblin’s reflexes were so fast and it kept pressing its attack, again and again, Mal was forced to defend rather than attack as the goblin drove forward forcing Mal back again and again.
Finally, the goblin smiled as it cut Mal lightly on the arm, Mal hand released the sword out of reflex and knew death was about to arrive. The goblin stepped forward to deliver a piercing blow when another goblin stumbled into his path and they fell in a tangle of legs.
Mal jumped forward grabbed the belt dagger that Tul had presented when they were leaving, Just as the goblin was trying to free his sword from his fallen comrade he felt the tip of Mal’s dagger slide between his ribs and pierce his heart. With a savage jerking motion, Mal’s dagger ripped the goblins heart and the life fell from its eyes.
Mal looked around to see the rest were surrounding the last goblin who died in a hail of sword blows. Looking around for the fallen sword but couldn’t see it. Grabbing the goblin with as much strength as Mal could muster.
Mal turned the goblin over but the sword wasn’t there just the goblins sword was just lying there so Mal grabbed it. It was slightly longer than the short sword the mountain folk used and had gem encrusted in the hilt.
Picking it up and swinging it a couple of times. It felt so light compared to the short sword they had been carrying. The lightness of the sword must be why the goblin always seemed to be able to block the attacks.
Mal checked the corpse of the goblin for a belt and scabbard that fit the sword and took those as well. Strapping on the belt and sword it felt loose and cumbersome to start with, but as Mal walked over towards the horses the belt seemed to fit more snug and comfortable.
As Mal bent to retrieve some arrows from a corpse, more goblins came running from the trees behind. Shouting a warning of “To the Rear!, To Horse”
Everyone clambered onto the horses leaving the arrows where they lay. Swinging onto the horse Mal realised that it was getting easier getting on the horse with practice. Kicking heels to the flank of the horse Mal followed the group at a gallop down the road.
After a short while, Mal risked a look behind and was surprised to see the goblins still running after them although they were falling further and further behind.
Mal spurred his horse forward to catch up with Lord Turok. “Lord Turok,” Mal said waiting for a nod to continue just like the other guard had done “The goblins are still running after us, they seemed to be able to run for a goodly way without tiring”
“Unfortunately the greasy bastards have huge stamina and can run for hours” he replied “If we are lucky they will have been already running to catch up with us. We need to push the horses and try to get to a safe place. Mal you have my thanks could you take the rear guard and keep an eye out for them.”
As Mal started to turn away Lord Turok spoke: “Don’t get too far behind and get left behind stay close in case we have to change direction.”
They continued for another ten minutes pushing the horses hard putting as much distance between themselves as they could. Eventually, they went back to walking for an hour to rest the horses.
About three-quarters of the way through the rest period Mal announced the goblins cresting a hill about a league behind. Mounting up they trotted for an hour, Mal was able to report that the goblins were still about a league behind.
Lord Turok spoke up “If we can keep this pace up we might outrun the goblins.”
When it came time to rest the horses Mal had waited behind a hill and watched a hill four leagues behind so far the goblins had not crested that hill, which didn’t mean that they were still on the road but since it was a straight road that they followed Mal hoped they were not trying to flank them.
Just as Mal was about to give up the goblins crested the hill much slower than before they seemed to stop on the top. Mal estimated that there were about sixty in the group. Noticing that there were two really big goblins in the group and there seemed to be some discussion going on.
When one sat down another smaller goblin seemed to be upset about stopping as it was jumping up and down in front of the larger one, that was until the larger one hit the smaller one with a club and all motion stopped as the larger goblin casually picked up the corpse of the smaller one and started to eat him.
Even at this distance, Mal felt revulsion for what it was doing. Quickly and quietly Mal left the hiding place from under a shrub and moved back through the shrubs and trees safe from prying eyes and went to catch up with Lord Turok and the rest of the group.
When Mal caught up with the group the weariness on the faces of his comrades stood out a mile.
“My Lord?” said Mal walking up to Lord Turok
“Yes, Mal report?”
“About sixty goblins crested the hill four leagues behind” on hearing this there was a collective groan from the group, Molly just started sobbing, Mal continued “They seem to have stopped for a while, one goblin seemed to be upset about it but a larger one hit him with a large club and started to eat him.”
“Dam looks like they have Ogre’s on their side as well, Ok we will rest here, Henry!” he called.
The guard that had done the scouting before came forward.
“Hows that wound you received?”
“Fine my Lord, Bandaged up and should heal nicely sir” he replied
“Good go back to the previous hill and see what you can see in two hours head back here as we are moving out. Mal would you show him where you were able to see the goblins from? Then come back here and rest”
“Yes, Sir” Mal waited for Henry to mount up. “It’s not far and there is a nice spot under a bush that I could see them from”
When they reached the hill and tied the horses where they could feed and drink easily they slowly moved up the hill making sure that they would not be seen from the location of the goblins. When they crawled to the spot Mal had viewed the goblins from there was a roaring fire on the hill and the goblins and ogres were camped on it.
As Mal started to slip back through the shrubs and whispered: “See you in two hours, Henry”.
“Will do, Thanks Mal” was all he replied.
It was strange that Mal felt a surge of pride that this man was giving his thanks to a mere villager.
What Mal didn’t appreciate was that the mountain folk grew up hunting in the mountains and could naturally move quietly from all of the hunting they did as children.
Most people that were kingdom born were unable to master that simple feat thus the reason that the King had requested that Lord Turok High Commander of the Northern Duchy make overtures to these mountain people. Something that had irked Henry and the other guards but now after what they had gone through they was honestly fond of these rough mountain people.
Two hours passed and Henry returned to the encampment of the group. Where he was handed some almost stale bread and cheese. While he reported to Lord Turok “The goblins seemed to be in no hurry to break camp, my Lord.”
All of the horses were tired but were rested enough as long as they didn’t push the horses too much they would be out of the high lands and into the lowlands and at the city of Bearon by late afternoon.
Again as they travelled in the dark leading their horses they were able to see the odd light of a campfire but none close enough to worry about.
Still Mal, Henry and Grego scouted ahead allowing the group to travel quickly and quietly and use hand signals to each other to stop the group when Henry signalled a stop. By early morning they had reached the end of the woods and were now properly into the kingdom, not half a days journey to the City of Bearon.
Ahead of them was a small village called Targon that farmed the land and cut and maintained the trees in the wood. As they headed towards the village men appeared all carrying bows, swords, pitchforks and any other farm implements that they had to hand.
As the group approached the village in the early morning light the audible sigh of relief washed over the villagers as they realised that they would not have to fight this time.
“Hold in the name of the King”, shouted the foremost villager “Who goes there?”
As Lord Turok approached the responded “I Lord Turok, High Commander of the Northern Duchy goes here stand aside in the name of the King or face the kings' justice.”
“My lord, it pleases me to see you have returned from the mountains some creatures attacked some remote farms in the woods and some of the survivors have fled to here. I was worried that you would have been caught by them. I took the liberty of sending a man to Bearon with the news and to request the watch send some men.” Looking over the group that was with Lord Turok he raised an eyebrow when he noticed the mountain folk but said nothing.
“Goblins,” he said absently, “How many people are here in the village?”
“Seventy, sir mostly Women and children my lord although we do number twenty-eight fighting men and with what your fourteen men, that gives us a defensible advantage”
“No, I’m afraid not the numbers in the hills number in the thousands they would overrun this village like a wave of darkness, Tell everyone in the village to pack warm clothes only for two days we leave in the hour. Gather any carts and horses for the trip. Once we get to the city of Bearon we will put together a proper force and come back and take back whatever the goblins have taken.”
“Yes my lord,” stammered the villager not liking the idea of leaving his home.
Leading the party to the local tavern they went inside and were treated by the smell of a lamb roasting on the fire.
“How long until that's ready?” Lord Turok asked the Tavern keeper.
“It’s ready now your lordship,” replied the tavern keeper.
“Good,” carving a chunk of the lamb off it on to a plate to eat. As he went to sit down he continued “You may go and help get the people ready to leave. Make sure only what they can carry in their hands any carts have to have people not belongings.”
Turning to the group and gesturing to the lamb “The rest of you eat a warm meal it will grant you energy and strength.”
The hungry group helped themselves and sat down at tables or stools whatever was close to hand. Eating hungrily they ate the freshly cooked lamb the juices dripping off their chins and which put a smile on their faces. Just as Lord Turok had predicted the hot lamb seemed to renew their strength and energy.
When they had finished eating they went to their horses which the villagers had kindly fed fresh grain and water, the saddles had been taken off and the gore brushed off the horses. They too pranced more as the calming nature of the village washed away the stress of the battle and journey that they had been on. Replacing the saddles on the horses and getting ready to ride took a matter of moments but in the end, it took two and a half hours to get people moving. Everyone had one more thing that they must have.
One of the villagers on seeing that Mal and the Mountain people carried longbows grabbed extra quivers of arrows from a store and presented them to the mountain folk saying “You might need these, men.”
Eventually, Lord Turok had to shout at them that if they didn’t mount up they would be left behind. There were six wagons and a carriage that held the young and the old everyone else was either on horseback or walking. They set off along the road to Bearon which with carts would take about six hours three times longer than by horseback alone.
Lord Turok had sent one of his guardsmen ahead with orders for a platoon of watch guard to make their way to meet them. He would feel more comfortable once he had more protection around the villagers.
The mountain folk and Henry fell behind as the villagers left the village following along and spread out to keep an eye out for goblins. They were only an hour into their journey when the saw the smoke rising from the direction of the village, cries of anguish erupted from the villagers and more than one villager had to be restrained from turning back to defend their homes.
Half an hour after they saw the smoke the outriders saw the first goblin he got too close and an arrow appeared in his head as if by magic, the Longbows of the mountain folk had exceptional distance, one that was now unencumbered with forests or undergrowth.
Each of the scouts fell back to the villagers' position. Each reported seeing a number of goblins most reporting that one or two fewer goblins were following much to the glee of the villagers. Who responded with shouts of “For the Kingdom” and the such like. Not knowing that they praised a people that were not kingdom born or citizens.
When Lord Turok heard the news a quick calculation estimated that there would be around a hundred goblins in the force following them. Probably trying to stop news getting to Bearon.
Looking around for a defensible spot he spotted a small hill about twenty minutes down the road and ordered the wagons pushed to get there as fast as possible.
They tied ropes to the wagons and used the extra horses to pull them it was bumpy and dangerous with the wagons travelling so fast and many a villager had a bruise or two by the time they slowed at the base of the small hill.
As they crested the hill they could see a sizeable army of goblins around one hundred and fifty fast marching to attack, they would be no more than thirty minutes from catching up with them, and there was no way that they would be able to get these people to Bearon without a fight.
Since this was the most defensible location around they circled the wagons and tipping them on their sides prepared to defend the villagers, once the circle was complete the forty-two men at arms were spread around and mixed with seasoned guards and mountain folk. The mountain folk and every person that had a bow where behind the swordsmen Mal was standing at the front of the group.
“Steady now,” Mal told the group more for the benefit of the villagers noticing some ready to fire their arrows, “Let them get closer”
“Ready, hold until I give the order and when I do keep firing at any moving targets, and take your time and aim properly make each arrow count.“
“Steady, couple more feet, that's it you hairy bastards keep coming,” when Mal judged that they were well within the kill zone of the arrows. Mal gave the order “Launch!”
Arrow after arrow sped out hitting goblins decimating the front ranks but more and more was getting closer and closer to the top of the hill.
Mal was a demon putting three arrows in the air to everyone else’s. Even Tomi who would have wagered that he was Mal’s equal in speed was astonished at the speed that Mal was emptying the quiver of arrows. Once the last arrow had been depleted the archers moved back to let those with pike, pitchforks and swords to the front while they switched to their other weapons.
When the goblins engaged one goblin clambered over a wagon smashing the pike that a young villager held in his hands out of the way. Mal rushed in slashing and parrying with the new sword saving the young lads life.
To the villagers, they were amazed by the ability of the mountain men fighting frantically to defend them. Their leader Mal outshone all of them every time a goblin tried to get through to the elderly and young Mal appeared in front of the goblin and slew it before moving on. Flowing over the ground as if in a dance.
Moving from one opening to another each time a goblin got through Mal or one of the mountain men would plug the hole, Tomi bunched his muscles and cleaved a goblin almost in two.
After a tiring fifteen minutes which seemed like an hour the fighting was over ten of the villagers were dead. Two guards and Eir had sustained major wounds the old and the children were tending the wounds as best as they could.
“That was close, my Lord,” Mal said to Lord Turok who had been standing side by side for the last few minutes of the battle and was bleeding from a nick to the face that would leave a small scar by the looks of it.
All Lord Turok did was to point in the direction of the village they had left there was another band of goblins running this way. There was nothing to do but stand and die. Wiping the worst of the blood off, Mal said a silent prayer for the people in the mountains that they faired well and prepared for the coming battle.
“Prepare yourselves,” said Lord Turok “For the King!”
As the villagers and guard prepared to defend the elderly and the children once again. Mal found the young man that had frozen when first confronted with the goblin standing to the left looking slightly embarrassed.
“Sorry I froze like that earlier” he stammered
Placing a hand on his shoulder Mal said: “What matters is that you didn’t let the fear keep you from the fight.”
With that simple statement, the young man and several around him straighten a bit more.
When the Goblins charged the wagons the young men were straight into the fight with shouts of “For the King!!” and “For Calpo!!”.
The battle was intense as they had no arrows too slow and reduce the number of goblins that made the barrier. As they fought on more and more goblins seemed to be cresting the wagons.
Suddenly the noise level rose to a thundering of feet on the sides of the hill and all Mal could think of was that a group of those ogres must be attacking. Fighting on Mal was determined to kill as many of the goblins as possible and found Tomi and Dareon to the left and right.
Well, Mal thought if I’m going to die today who better to be standing with. When suddenly the goblins turned away from the wagons Mal slashed a Goblin across the back causing it to drop its club. It was then that Mal heard the noise of fighting from the other side of the wagons and climbing up onto one to see a formidable group of mounted men had smashed into the goblins flank and the goblins were now trying to escape.
Seeing this Mal Shouted “For the king” and jumped over the wagons and started to attack the goblins, Tomi, Dareon and the other mountain folk pushed their way out from the wagons followed by the rest of the defenders, killing goblins by the score.
Mal killed a goblin and turned to see an Orge who had been swinging a massive club at the guards from the city.
Without thinking Mal engaged the Orge it was fast its arms were long and strong and Mal had to duck a couple of swings. The battle with the ogre slowly moved from Mal being in a defensive posture to an even battle but the Orge started to slow down as Mal started to tire it out.
Mal intensified the attacks and cuts and grazes now covered the Orge body. Eventually, Mal was able to catch the wrist of the Orge with the edge of the sword and the club dropped from the Orge’s numb hand.
Before the Orge could register that it didn’t have a weapon Mal was on it, slashes and cuts covered the Orge’s legs, arms and body. Mal started to notice a pattern developing in the responses from the Orge. Falling into a rhythm Mal cut, sliced and pierced the ogre causing it too howl in rage.
Eventually, Mal saw an opening forming with the ogre exposing its neck. On the last move, Mal felt as if time slowed as the sword cut deep into the hand of the Orge and a finger flew off the creature, who screamed in pain.
Mal jumped forward as the Ogre was distracted and drove the blade of the sword deep into the neck of the Orge just above the chest armour it wore driving the blade in at an angle that pierced the ogre’s heart and nearly cleaved it in two.
Mal watched as the life drained from the eyes of the Orge before wrenching the blade free of the tumbling corpse and springing free.
Spinning to find the next target, Mal was met with a huge cheer from the villagers and the city guards who had all been watching in stunned amazement the battle Mal had with the Orge.
Shouts of “Hazzar!” And “For the King!” Echoed across the battlefield accompanied by the bitter cries of villagers finding love ones dead or injured in the fighting.
Lord Turok slapped Mal on the back “Best fight I’ve seen in a long time, the type of fight that bards will fight over to tell, mark my words Mal they’ll hunt you out or others that were here but the tale will find its way to be told.”
Mal was stunned their people had a bard who travelled between the villages and would tell stories of daring deeds and knew the honour that Lord Turok was talking about.
The wagons were turned over again and hitched to the horses, one wagon didn’t survive the treatment of being turned on its side and then back again. The axle broke clean in two and there was nothing to do but to let those people ride on the city guard horses and for the guards to walk.
It was a long four hours until they got to the city gates which opened as they approached calls of welcome and relief were shouted from the walls that they were home safe.