“Dwelta”, came a rasping voice that Delta didn’t recognize. She started up and looked into the face of Gwen looking over her. She blinked and sat up. She could hear people moving outside.
“Thank you”, she said to Gwen. She lifted the corner of the tent flap to confirm that it was just getting to before dawn. “Time to go”, she said. She started putting her things on, nudging Zipper now and again to get her started, and keep her going.
Gwen was scooting around using her arms and arching her back. Her gear was all ready to go. As Delta was finishing, and Zipper just starting, she snapped her fingers a few times. When she had Delta’s attention, she pointed at herself, then her eyes, and made a circle gesture around the camp.
“You want to scout things out?” said Delta. But she figured that wouldn’t get through, so she just nodded.
Gwen clicked to her wolf, who came over. Grabbing handfuls of fur, she pulled herself up on its back, and carefully positioned her motionless legs on each side.
“Am I still dreaming?” asked Zipper.
Delta grinned at Gwen and gave her a thumbs up. “Someone’s been practicing something”, she said. Gwen lips twitched almost in the start of a smile. Then she was out the door with her wolf.
“Having a nocturnal mounted silent scout could be pretty cool”, said Zipper, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. “If she comes back.”
Delta smiled. “Let’s hope what we’re offering her is better than what she would get back home.”
She finished pulling out the palettes of rations she had commandeered from the supply tent while Zipper finished getting ready. Lieutenant Bickerstaple was yelling his troops into order. His sergeant was one of the ones who deserted to the other side. When he saw Delta had staged the supplies, he started parceling them out to his troops.
“Where’s your casualty?” asked Bickerstaple when Zipper came out, and it was clear there was no one else in the tent.
“She recovered faster than we hoped. She’s out scouting”, said Delta. She watched the implications sink into the man. Then she smiled.
He ordered his men into a line and started them singing a patriotic Avenio song as they marched. Loudly.
Lieutenant Tancredi was at the gate to send them on their way. Bickerstaple ignored him, but Zipper waved as they left. “Good fortune go with you”, he called after them.
The going was simple enough. Even a bad road was fairly transversable when on foot. The fort was in the foothills and the county seat in the valley, so it was downhill as well.
Once the sun had come up, Gwen rejoined them. After a few tries Delta understood she was drawing her attention to a bridge that was ahead. She then mimed something with a fearsome growl under the bridge. Delta gave her a thumb’s up.
“Trouble” said Delta to Zipper. The two of them caught up with Lieutenant Bickerstaple at the front of the line. “The scout is back”, said Delta. He sneered. “She says there’s a troll under the bridge ahead.” His sneer vanished. He waved his troops to a halt and told them to take a break.
“There is a bridge up there”, he said. “There’s a gorge that cuts across the path.”
“Might just be best to avoid it”, said Delta. “Is there an easy way for men with packs to get around?”
He thought about it for a while. “Not that wouldn’t delay us past nightfall. I’m not sure we would want to be out here overnight.” He grinned. “Time for you guys to earn your keep.”
Delta grunted. “If it’s a troll, that’s going to be pretty tough to deal with. The two of us aren’t going to be able to kill it”, she said. “If we can find a goat between here and there, we could bribe it. But I’ve seen no livestock at all.” She scratched her chin. “We’ll have to try to drive it off. Ask your men to collect likely sticks and any dried grass they can. They don’t like fire, so if we can get them all torches, that might give it pause.”
Brickenstaple laughed. “I’ll see what I can get them to do.”
“Tell them it’s that, or we draw straws and feed one of them to it”, said Zipper. “Or, worse, give it our alcohol ration.” Brickenstaple shot her a dirty look. “Have you fought trolls?” asked Zipper.
Delta shook her head. “I’ve only heard stories around the campfire. If it’s really a troll, we don’t have a chance. I’m mostly hoping it is an ogre or small giant.”
“Have you fought ogres and giants before?” asked Zipper, in the same earnest voice.
Delta laughed. “I have as much experience fighting them as trolls. But it’s all the same: make them believe that it’s easier for them to go hungry than to mess with you.”
“So, give them a bloody nose?” said Zipper.
“Pretty much”, said Delta.
The gorge was a cleft cutting down between two of the hills. The winds tended to be from the west, and the rain brought up from the great lake that was the western boundary for Avenio fell on the highlands, and most of it from around here seemed to be channeled through this point. The road ran over it at the point where the sides weren’t that far apart. A single span crossed it made of two large trees hauled up from who knows where, and wooden planking set between them.
Gwen was with them, but her hood was pulled far over her face, and she mostly clung to her wolf, drowsily. She roused enough to confirm that this was the bridge she had been talking about.
Lieutenant Bickerstaple came up and planted his fists on his hips. “Well, they have some sort of half-arsed torches, for what that’s worth. What’s the plan?”
Delta and Zipper stood at one end of the bridge, just where the planking began. She could see why a creature of the mountains would like it. It was dark and damp underneath. And, of course, tasty meals tended to wander over it.
“Ask your men to sing, please”, said Delta.
“What?” asked Bickerstaple.
“Sing”, repeated Delta. “Like you did when you left the fort. Something loud and annoying.”
“Do you want to irritate the troll to death?” said Bickerstaple.
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“Something like”, said Delta.
“I’m good at being irritating”, said Zipper. When Bickerstaple had left, she asked “So what’s the real plan?”
“Well, I want to make sure it is awake”, said Delta. “We try to bait it out, and then see if we can bloody its nose.”
“Hmm”, said Zipper. She handled her spear. “We have range, as long as we can keep it from closing.”
“Yes. Think of the bridge as a horizontal shield wall”, said Delta.
The troops had started singing. They were terrible. She let them get through a verse and then moved forward. With the butt end of the glaive, she beat on the boards of the bridge. Zipper followed suit, yelling as well.
After a minute or two of this, they could hear the timbers of the bridge creak. In the gaps between the planks they could sense something moving around under the bridge. But they could only see it silhouetted against the brighter background of the gorge. It was all shadow and they couldn’t get a good read on it.
“It doesn’t want to come up”, said Zipper, still banging on the slats.
Delta gritted her teeth. “It wants better bait. Cover me.”
She stepped gingerly out onto the bridge, keeping as close as possible to the center. Zipper hovered nearby, shifting the spear to the ready position, and no longer banging it. The thing under the bridge noticed and grew more agitated. Delta could feel the bridge sway as it moved its weight around, but it was playing pretty cautious.
So, she grew bolder. She stepped closer to the edge and jumped back. She kept the glaive at the ready but beat on the boards with the butt. Zipper nervously danced nearby, trying to be close enough to support her if anything happened, but far enough away so that her own steps didn’t add to the confusion.
With a great growl, the shape lurched to one side, and a huge, clawed, and hairy arm swiped the edge. Fortunately, the leg it was aiming for was the butt of the glaive. It clipped it but didn’t knock it out of Delta’s hand. Zipper did a step and thrust to try to hit it as it passed but missed.
Delta stepped back, but not too far back. She could see its weight shifting underneath. It really was like a great shield; feint to one side, strike for the other. It had positioned itself to do so, but didn’t strike, since Delta hadn’t overreacted.
Instead she went back to baiting it as she had before. Only now she had flipped her pole arm. Instead of slamming the planks with the butt, she beat the shaft just below the head on the edge of the bridge. This enticed a few more swings from it, but she couldn’t bring the blade back quickly enough to get a strike when it went for it.
“Coming up”, called out Zipper. When there was a pause, she raced out to the center of the bridge with Delta. “Let me bait it. You hook it. Then I’ll stab it.” Delta considered for a moment, then nodded.
They stood, hip to hip, and moved together. Oddly enough, the music helped. Zipper picked up on that and timed her movements to the verses. She took Delta’s place and beat on the edge. The spear wasn’t going to get stuck that way so she could use the very tip.
The creature sensed the additional presence and grew excited. It had stopped telegraphing it’s moves by growling but couldn’t resist this time. The paw came up and lashed out. Delta struck down, then pulled back, grabbing it as it passed. It nearly pulled the glaive from her grasp, but it was a practiced move for her, so she was braced and ready. While it was caught, motionless, Zipper thrust the spear. She didn’t do it at full extension since that would be too weak and was much more likely to be wrenched from her hand. It was a two-handed strike with a firm grip.
The spear tip bit into the arm just above the wrist and the creature let out a howl of pain. It broke free from the hook, causing another gash, and screamed at them from under the bridge. Delta and Zipper retreated to the center, and then to the end.
It growled and hissed at them, but it didn’t come up. “We’re lucky”, grinned Delta, “It’s an ogre.” Then she sobered. “A cagey one though”, she said. “But I think it’s used to catching goats. Let’s do that again but watch how it shifts its weight. I think it will try to fake us out and go for the back side.”
Zipper nodded. “I’m not so keen on playing the hero in real life. But let’s do this.”
Delta called out to the Lieutenant to keep them men singing. They sidled back onto the bridge and started up again with the banging. The monster growled low, and they could see it watching them through the slats as they watched it. When the chorus for the song kicked in, they started banging on the slats exactly as they had before. But their efforts were only for show; they saved their concentration for what the creature underneath was doing.
It rocked back and forth, watching their movements. They had a better feeling now for which bracing struts it was suspending itself from, and how the bridge swayed as it moved between them. It grew still for a moment and they could tell it was about to make its move.
It did, indeed, go for the far side. They both expected that and saw the bulk move at the last moment. It had lurched up, with a shoulder and half an ugly head peering over to get better reach and targeting. It’s huge length of arm swept the bridge from that side. Although the strike was expected, the greater reach took them by surprise.
Delta had been holding her glaive vertically, to allow her to strike in either direction. She didn’t resist letting the blow swipe her legs out from under her. She lifted them quickly so that they would just be swiped, and not caught. At the same time, she slammed her glaive down and caught the arm on the last half of its arc. She landed on her knees and leaned down on the glaive with all her weight, not just hooking it but also pinning it.
On the other side, Zipper had been banging on the edge, so her spear was not in a position for a quick strike. But the arm was pinned long enough, that she was able to pivot and get a clean stab on it once, and then twice.
The monster howled in rage and anger and the bridge creaked ominously as it shifted its weight. Zipper pulled back for a third strike and the creature roared, flung its other arm up, and started climbing onto the bridge.
“Get up! Get up! Get up!” cried Zipper, coming in close to Delta to give her cover. Delta stopped pressing on the glaive and, instead, used it to lever herself to her feet. That gave the beast the freedom to get its bulk all the way onto the bridge.
It faced off against them flexing its arm but favoring the bleeding hand. It snarled at them, squinting in the bright light and took a step forward. Zipper and Delta stood side by side, poles at full extension, making jabs with them to make it think about keeping its distance. It took another step forward, testing the reach of its long arms against the reach of their poles.
“Torches!” shouted Delta.
The men had stopped singing and stood gaping at this creature from legends and tales their parents told them to frighten them into staying in their beds at night. Half their torches had gone out, and only one took a halfhearted step forward.
The ogre looked over its shoulder and squinted at the men. Then it turned back and laughed lowly. It flexed its shoulders again and cracked its neck. Its muscles tensed.
“It’s gonna charge”, said Zipper.
But then there was a twang and an arrow shot into view and stuck, quivering in the decking of the bridge. The ogre’s head snapped to look at it, and then it peered over its shoulder again.
“Hah!” cried Delta, and lunged forward striking at it, but not connecting.
“Yah!” screamed Zipper, a moment later, with an equally wild strike.
The ogre’s attention snapped back, but it took a step backwards to recover. The bowstring twanged again, and the ogre decided enough was enough. It jumped over the edge to swing back under the bridge. Only it grabbed the edge with its injured paw. There was another yelp as the claws slipped free and it fell, banging off the supports until there was a large thud as it hit bottom.
“Move it!” screamed Delta. “Get over! Now!”
Even so, the men didn’t immediately move. The Lieutenant started yelling at them, and Gwen, on the wolf, rocketed past.
Zipper and Delta started backing across to the other side, as the moans and wails grew in pitch from underneath. Then the men bolted, throwing down their torches and one of them even shucking their pack.
The two mercenaries held point on the far side until everyone was across. “Take them five minutes down the road and wait for us there”, said Delta, as the Lieutenant passed. He, at least, had the grace to look embarrassed.
They backed off to the rise, and stood watching for a minute or two, to see if the ogre was in a mood to pursue them. But it didn’t show its face.
“I can’t believe we did that”, said Zipper. “I can’t believe it worked.”
“Thanks to Gwen”, said Delta.
Zipper leapt on the goblin and hugged her tightly. “Oh gods! You were amazing! That was awesome!” Gwen was slightly alarmed, but quickly worked out this was a good thing. Zipper let go and laughed at the quiver. “She’s still got three arrows left!” She mimed pretending to fire the bow and Gwen nodded. “She’s a smart one!”
Delta smiled, then leaned forward and tapped Gwen’s belt purse, where she had stowed the silver shilling she had been given. “You’ve earned your pay.” Gwen nodded, and sat a little straighter.
“Now that the danger is past, we should go and wipe the bottoms of any of the babies we’re guarding”, said Zipper. “I’m sure some of them pooped their pants.” She shouldered her spear.
Delta did likewise, and Gwen pulled down her hood more fully as they entered the sunlight in the center of the road. They all stepped lightly.