CHAPTER 42
The center of town started moving again as people realized what was happening. Being on the perimeter of the second most populous island meant we had trained for this. All able-bodied men were to head to the city to help with the defense. Everyone else was to gather as many supplies as they could carry and follow to the city as well. In the event the city was unreachable, the townsfolk were to band together and defend the town.
In all, it was a simple plan that seemed too difficult to follow. As each person first looked for their family and then either headed home or to a friend’s house.
“Meredith and Feradith, I have to go,” I said worriedly, trying to find my parents and Freya. My thoughts were churning. I had put my hand ax and throwing daggers into my storage last night. Spending the entire day with the twins, I hadn’t thought to bring them out. I brought the axe with its belt to my hand and strapped it around my waist, ignoring Mera’s look of disbelief. Next, I got two throwing daggers secured on my person. Aelyn was herself bringing forth various weapons and suiting up for a possible encounter.
Mera had elbowed her sister, who had been searching the quickly dispersing crowd for her family. Fera saw the daggers appear last as I secured them and asked, “You have magic, Storme?” I had been scanning the crowds as well, looking for family, friends, and Gareth. It was Gareth who found me first and came toward me with Brianne in tow. I had been formulating a response to Fera but discarded it.
“Storme! My dad and yours have gone to the city to help with defense. Our dads want us to hold up at Callem’s farm with our families. I think Callem told them all to head out there. I haven’t seen him, though.” Gareth was breathing slightly heavily. “We have plenty of food, and it should be well out of the path if any Sadian skyships land on this part of the island.” Gareth, for his part, seemed extremely calm. I gave him a short nod.
“Fera and Mera, you can join us at the farm with your family if you want,” I said, remembering the twins were with us.
“Our parents went to the city with our siblings to enjoy the larger celebration there today,” Fera said with uncertainty on her face. “Our grandparents stayed at our farm. Maybe we should head there?” She added worriedly.
I decided to take charge, “No. You are coming with us then. Your farm is a good two miles away, and your grandparents are smart enough to know what to do. Gareth, go get your mother and as many supplies as you can and meet me at my house. We will leave from there.” I walked fast home with Aelyn, Fera and Mera following.
My mother was packing large satchels with food when we entered the house. She jumped at me, slamming the door open, “Sorry to scare you, mother. This is Fera and Mera. We are all going to Callem’s farm to wait out the attack.” I said as I made my way to help her. The twins paused briefly before helping as well. Aelyn remained at the door and scanned the streets. She was smarter than me. I should have designated someone to stand watch.
I expected Freya to be in her room packing, but after a few minutes asked, “Where is Freya?” My mother looked up, noticing for the first time that she was not with us. Her brow creased, worried in thought.
“Oh no, I think she went swimming with Gwen. They were in the pie-eating contest together and were a mess!” Of course, nothing would be simple.
“Pascal’s coming!” Aelyn said from the doorway, and he entered thirty seconds later. He looked a little shocked at all the activity in the house. I noticed a hickey on his neck, so he had been busy.
Pascal regained himself, “Came to get my sword and head to the city for the defense.” Our mother looked at him like he was an idiot. “I can fight,” he said, gaining confidence in front of our family matriarch. Mother just resumed her packing, accepting Pascal was now old enough to make his own decisions.
“I am going to get Freya and Gwen with Gareth,” I announced, moving toward the door.
“I’m coming,” Aelyn said, and I just nodded and turned back to the group.
“Mera, stand watch at the door. We should be back in 20 minutes with the girls.” I bolted out the door and down the street to Gareth’s house. Gareth and his mother were still packing. “Head to my house,” I said to Gareth’s tiny mother. I gave Gareth a different order, “We are headed to the swimming hole. Freya and Gwen are up there.” Gareth looked at what he had been working on for a second before grabbing his hand axe and moving toward me for the door, leaving the pack behind.
As a trio, we ran toward the swimming hole, and even with my heart thudding and the noise from running, I heard something that put dread in my heart. The warning bell in the center of Hen’s Hollow switched to a constant cadence.
This meant that enemies were on the island and within sight of the town. How? This made no sense to my addled brain. With all the magical scrying the Skyholme navy employed, we should have had more warning! My thoughts parted to clarity as I heard barking, it was Monty. Gareth had already increased his pace, but the exercises I had been doing to keep my mind clear.
“Gareth, don’t get ahead of us! If there is a threat, then we need to meet it together!” Gareth slowed, clearly not wanting to. I increased my own pace to my fastest speed and got my throwing axe ready. A yelp of surprise and pain from a dog echoed, and my heart lurched. This could not be happening!
We broke through the clearing, and even though I was shocked at what I saw I continued at a full run. Five massive gray-skinned humanoids stood on the banks. Monty was down on the shore…Freya and Gwen were in the middle of the shallow river, not sure what to do. “Gareth, center. Aelyn, left.” I said as I moved to engage the ogre on the right. Their name came to me from the collection of monster plates I had collected. Our bestiary training with Callem had taught us they were strong, hardy, and usually simple-minded.
Gareth, having been given a directive, raced ahead of us at the only ogre currently facing us. Gareth had a dagger in each hand. The ogre started to swing a massive maul parallel to the ground. The idiot ogre had so clearly telegraphed his attack even I could dodge. Gareth went into a slide between the monstrosities legs. Using a dagger in each hand, he cut both of the ogre’s femoral arteries. Coming up from his slide behind the ogre, he threw the daggers at the back of the necks of two different ogres. The penetration wasn’t much, and they were turning around. I had my own ogre to worry about. It was also turning.
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My goal was to hack into my ogre’s neck, hopefully hitting a carotid artery. Instead, I got the shoulder, and his turning body yanked the axe from my grip. My opponent was wielding a massive sword, and he did not look happy as his bloodshot eyes narrowed in on me. Freya and Gwen were yelling, but I needed to focus. Even if something was coming from behind me, I should have time to circle and see. My ogre flicked his wrist, and his blade raced toward me. If I hadn’t seen his forearm flexing in preparation for the attack, I would have probably died right there.
Of course, of the five ogres, I got the trained swordsman. Cynically I thought he was probably the only skilled warrior in the group. His swing came up short as I had moved just out of reach. My opponent was wearing well-made and form-fitting leather armor. He was definitely not a grunt, even if he smelled like rotting garbage. I managed to turn off my olfactory sense enough to continue.
I circled to see how my friends were doing. Gareth’s first victim looked to be bleeding out, moving feebly. His other two opponents did not look good. One had Gareth’s throwing axe embedded in his chest and was dripping blood from his dominant hand, and was missing a few fingers. Aelyn for her part, had put a dagger in the kneecap and both eyes of her opponent. The ogre was swinging wildly, and Aelyn was deciding whether to finish hers or help Gareth, who just wielded his hand axe now.
If I could keep my opponent occupied, they should be able to come and…I had magic. My ogre turned to help his brethren, and I summoned throwing daggers and peppered him. When he turned in irritation, I aimed for his eyes, and he easily deflected the daggers with his blade. I definitely needed more weapons in my storage. My ogre footwork suddenly changed, and fuck…he was a swordsman. The steps were from Dragon’s Might. One of Gareth’s favorite offensive sword forms.
At least I knew that even though the attack was overpowering, it had some openings. The ogre’s advance was faster than I anticipated. Fuck, he had reach, speed, power, and skill. How the hell was this fair? He came in heavy from my right side, and I moved heavily, focusing on his body and arm movements to counter his attack. I recognized it too late and had to interpose my axe to force a glancing blow. Nope…he was a lot stronger than Gareth, and my axe grip failed and the axe from my hand. His blade cut deep into my chest and threw me back. Thinking he had finished me, he turned. I used my hand to hold the gash together and worked my healing magic.
The cut had sliced my pectoral muscles and completely ruined the outfit Cilia had gotten me. Aelyn and Gareth only had one ogre standing when my opponent joined the fray. Gareth peeled to engage him, and Aelyn took the remaining foe. I moved to get Freya and Gwen out of the water. At the shore, I waved them toward me; Freya’s eyes were open in shock. Of course, she had probably thought I was dead. Monty was at the shore, and I got to him…barely alive. I forced my healing magic into the dog. I was very inefficient with my aether, but that didn’t matter. Monty’s wounds closed, but he had lost a lot of blood, and I had used a lot of his body’s stores to heal him.
My own chest healing was still incomplete, but I needed to help my friends. When Gwen and Freya got to me from the river, I whispered, head to our house as fast as you can. When we finish here, we will carry Monty there. It was Gwen who we spoke too loudly, “Monty’s alive!” The sword-wielding ogre spun his head, and anger burned in blood shot eyes at seeing me alive.
“Go!” I yelled at the girls. They stumbled and ran away toward town. Gareth wasn’t letting the ogre disengage. Even with the shorter weapon, Gareth was able to dodge and move easily around the ogre’s attempts. At least it looked like the ogre only knew one sword form, and now that I watched his movements, I would say they looked unpolished, unlike Gareth, who looked like flowing water in comparison.
I continued to heal myself as I moved toward the fight. Seeing I had no weapons, the ogre ignored me to defend from the pesky Gareth. Gareth had cut the ogre’s skin multiple times, but with the shorter reach of the axe he hadn’t done much damage. When I was sure the ogre wasn’t looking at me, I summoned my saber and rushed to help Aelyn. The ogre didn’t notice me, but the sword wielder had barked a warning. Fortunately, my opponent didn’t comprehend the danger as I slid my sword into his rib cage from behind. I rotated the sword, letting it do as much internal damage as possible before retreating. The ogre turned, already frothing blood from its mouth.
Now outnumbered three to one, the ogre swordsman tried to flee. Gareth didn’t want to let him and kept blocking his escape route. “Gareth!” I yelled. “We don’t have time!” Gareth let the ogre’s next feint work so it could run away. “Gather what you can quickly, and then Gareth, I need you to carry Monty.”
We all gathered our easily found weapons in seconds and moved towards the town with Gareth carrying a heavy Monty.
“Those were Calthorn mercenaries,” Aelyn said as we moved at a much slower pace feeling the danger lighten.
Gareth asked, “Why would mercenaries be up here in Skyholme?”
Aelyn scanned around us and spoke as we moved, “Calthorn mercenaries emblem in the black bramble they had painted on their leather armors. They are a very expansive company that includes dozens of races. I don’t know why they are here. I have seen them in many cities in the lowlands. I think they usually participate in wars and raids in the lowlands.”
I guess that made sense. If you had the gold, mercs were disposable. The combat skills of those ogres were not impressive. The leader was competent, but if Gareth had his sword, I guessed it would have been no match. We broke into the outskirts of town. The bell had stopped, and I didn’t hear anything as we entered my house. Freya was crying in her mother’s arms, and the twins were holding Gwen close, comforting her. “Brianne went to find her family,” Gareth’s mother said when I couldn’t find her.
My mother came to me and started fingering the damage from the sword and my blood-soaked clothes. She was shedding quiet tears as well but wiped them before Freya could see.
“Grab the packs,” I ordered. “We are moving out now. It took a few minutes before we left the house loaded down. We borrowed a small cart from our neighbors to load Monty and some of the provisions. The twins took turns pulling while Gareth, Aelyn, and I scanned the woods on the way. We were about 100 yards into the woods when we heard fighting and small explosions back in town. Gareth looked like he wanted to return, but I shook my head no.
Those explosions were probably magic. Gareth didn’t have good defenses against magic. We moved quickly, and Monty started whining as he came to awareness. I whispered to Freya that once we made it to the farmhouse to feed him soft food to recover. My own healing was finally done, and I could move without pain.
Before entering the clearing for the farm, Aelyn went and scouted all the buildings. It was clear, and we moved into Callem’s farmhouse. It had the escape tunnel in the basement, and I showed it to everyone as we settled in. The mood was tense, and I couldn’t believe Gareth kept checking out the twins when they were not looking. Not the time Gareth! His mother even clapped him on the side of his head. Since we had all worked up quite the sweat, the twin’s tops were stuck to their bodies like a medieval wet tee shirt contest. They did have nice breasts, and their… I shook my head.
I used my cleanliness spell on myself and started giving orders to settle everyone in. We would sleep in the basement, so I needed to get blankets and beds down there because the cold runes were active. I went and packed up our bunkhouse, shoving gear and weapons into my storage space to make transport easier. It was hours before the basement was set up for the group. Everyone was somber. I didn’t find any of Callem’s or Wynna’s communication stones in their room, so we were effectively cut off.
We would keep watch in rotation at the front door. There was not much we could do now but wait.