Chapter 6: Ricochet Rabbit

Kurt and Brent crouch ran between the boulders back to where the others were gathered. Once he caught his breath, Kurt began without preamble, "The gnolls are coming. There's at least twenty of them and they're fanning out in groups of five or six to search the pass."

All eyes remained on Kurt as he continued, "The pass is really narrow here and the wind is already starting to blow our scent towards them. Twenty of them is a lot, but as long as we don't let them flank us we should be able to use the boulders here to screen us from the archers and force them into melee range. I think we can deal with that. If they do flank us or there's more than twenty of them, things might get hairy. The pass is too narrow here; with the cliff behind us and a steep incline on the other side, we really have only two directions we can go. Uphill into their jaws, or downhill and let them run us down."

"Neither of those options sounds good boss." Brian was whispering to prevent his deep bass from carrying too far. "Even if we go up into the forest at the top of the pass then we're just fighting them in their territory that they know much better than we do. And if we get on the other side of this cliff and head down the other pass aren't we just putting ourselves into the same position? They can just run us down on the other side. Especially wearing these snowshoes."

"Unless anyone else has any ideas, I don't know that we have any choice but to try to stand our ground and fight them here." Kurt responded.

While the party scanned the terrain and thought hard about their options, Binna spoke up in a hesitant squeak, "There is maybe another option."

All eyes turned to her and for a moment she nearly lost the confidence she had to speak up, but she swallowed and with the encouraging smiles of the gathered humans she pushed on. "There's a crushed tower on the other side of the cliff. It slid down the cliff and landed at the bottom partially intact. It's a landmark that we often stop at when using this path. There's not enough left for people as large as you to use, but the base of the tower still remains atop the cliff."

She pointed with her fuzzy white finger with its pink pads up the cliff. "You can just see it there, those two or three angular stones?"

Kurt could see it but he would have overlooked it had she not pointed it out. It was atop the cliff maybe another hundred yards ahead of them. Maybe four-hundred from the point where the cliff merged into the pass and they could cross it. "Tell us about it, Binna."

"It was another dwarven fortification. There's not much left of it, but it would have had an excellent view of both the southeast and southwest passes and the plateau as well. I convinced my troupe to let me investigate it on the way to Stonybrook. There's a narrow ramp with two switchbacks that lead up the cliff. At the top there's almost nothing left above ground, but there's a small basement and a tunnel that leads somewhere. I didn't go very far into the tunnel but there was a breeze in it, so that means it comes out somewhere. And the ramp leading up to the tower is narrow so if nothing else the long ones won't be able to flank you and it'll give you the high ground if you can make it to the top."

Kurt pondered that for a moment. "Alight, that's a viable backup plan. It still means we need to go about five hundred yards up to that forest at the plateau and then back down another five hundred or so. If there's any of those archers in the forest they'll have cover and we'll have to come right into their range. It's better than just letting them surround and slaughter us though. OK. Brian like normal you're out in front. They'll be coming from up the pass, so stay between those two big slabs there. Mike and I will stop them from going around the sides. Charlotte, you and Binna stay behind Brian and keep those arrows off us. Brent, get a little further up the rocks and see if you can't get a clear shot to take down their archers once they show themselves."

Nods and assents all 'round, then Kurt followed it up with, "Snowshoes off, if we have to make a run for it let's stay in these rocks. Hopefully it'll cause more trouble for the gnolls than it will for us. If we need to run, Brian in the front. Clear a path. Everyone else, follow behind him as fast as you can. Don't stop unless you have to. Up the pass to the end of the cliff, then around it and back down. Brian take the rear for the downhill and Binna lead the way to the ramp. Charlotte-"

"Yeah, I know arrow duty."

"Yeah. If we have to run, the plan is to get up the ramp until we can put ourselves out of the line of sight of the archers. We'll decide what to do from there if it comes to it."

The humans quickly removed their snowshoes and stowed them in their packs. The bear-cloaked one, Brent, clambered up the tumbled stones to a slightly higher perch up the cliffside and pulled his bow from over his shoulder. Binna had gotten a look at it last night while they were eating (the only time Brent had let it leave his hands) and it didn't look like any bow that she'd seen before. The bows that the long ones used, as well as the ones the scouts of her own clan used were all made of a single piece of springy wood. The bow that the human had seemed to be three pieces. A center grip with a cut out to place the nocked arrow on and then two steel arms secured to the grip each with a lopsided pulley at the end that the string ran back and forth through. The human ranger seemed very unapproachable so she'd bottled her curiosity about the device rather than asking the hundred questions she wanted to. Despite her trepidation about the approaching long ones, she was hoping to see the device in action.

***

The treeline was a mixed blessing, the gnolls couldn't see them, but they couldn't see past the trees either. So as they took their positions and waited, Kurt lacked information about their movements.

A few minutes later the wind had changed from a fairly aimless drifting zephyr to a more consistent breeze going uphill. It didn't take long for the gnolls to catch their scent.

A piercing howl came from uphill on the other side of the trees. The single voice was quickly joined by several more from that same direction. The eerie sound was then echoed a moment later by a pack far on the other side of the pass and then another further up the pass perhaps in the trees of the plateau. They readied their weapons and shields and faced uphill waiting for the beasts to burst through the treeline and leap for their throats, but that didn't happen immediately. Another moment later a different pack responded to the howl with their own shrieking bay from further down the pass, and then another and another.

"Shit!" Kurt thought furiously, the gnolls had already surrounded them! What were their options? They were flanked! "We're going with 'plan B' guys. Brian, charge up the hill! We need to get around to the other side!"

***

Brent preferred the calmness of the wilds over the overwhelming hustle of 'civilization'. Even though the towns on this world were much calmer than in the old one, there was still the clatter of steel rimmed wheels on cobblestone, shouting vendors hawking their wares, children screaming, laughing, and running through the streets, woodworkers sawing, blacksmiths hammering... it was all just too much. The wilds were much calmer. He only had to deal with the same four people, easy, predictable. Except for when they needed to fight, but even then there was some order to it. The shouting, the screaming, the clanging of steel, the smell of blood and shit and bile... that was overwhelming too but Brent had his obeisance, his ritual to control the chaos that assaulted his senses. Nock, draw, aim, release.

Nock, draw, aim, release.

Nock, draw, aim, release.

Nock, draw, aim, release.

In its own way it was as calming as counting his fingers or pinching his wrists. And he was good at it, people liked that he was good at it. He liked that he was good at it.

He was waiting for the long dogs to come, then he could nock, draw, aim, release... but they weren't coming were they? Not yet. The glare of the sun on the snow, the whisper of the wind in the pine trees, the clatter of small stones falling from the cliff, the susurrus of the snow being blown around, the leather creak of Brian's armor, the tinkle of Charlotte's walkingstick, but no long dogs.

Then there was the howling. He could hear them from ahead then behind. Kurt was the leader, he would tell them what to do. Brent could wait. He counted the trees. One, two, three, four, five, six, then Kurt told him what to do. They needed to go.

The others started running up the hill, Brian in front, the others behind. Brent dropped down from the high rocks and followed. The howling was closer, on the other side of the trees ahead. The branches shook as the long dogs jumped out of them with their long sword-spears and tried to stab Brian. Brian could take care of himself, Brent waited for the long dogs with the bows, those were his job.

The whipping branches, the sun glaring off sword and armor, the thunk of weapon against shield, the clatter of fist sized rocks dislodged by their movements, and now a new sound, the crunching of snow from behind.

Brent turned and saw them then, the long dogs with the bows.

Nock. Brent drew the arrow from his quiver, one of only twenty-three remaining. He placed the notch at the back onto the sinew string and laid the shaft into the cradle near his hand grip.

Draw. Brent's biceps bulged as he drew the heavy braided sinew back, the spring steel arms of the bow resisting his efforts until the cam wobbled and the strain lessened.

Aim. He sighted along the peep. At this range he needed to aim just above the ears of the long dog.

Release. The sinew snapped back with a whipping sound and the arrow shot out flying with that distinctive dry whooshing. The arc is nearly flat. The bow vibrated in his hand with the release of energy.

The rigid arrow didn't wobble like those from more traditional bows, it flew straight and true. With an audible thunk it lodged itself halfway to the fletchings in the sternum of the leader of the pursuing archers. The beast dropped its bow pawing uselessly at the shaft buried in its chest then sank slowly to its knees as the others scattered to the sides to find some cover behind the tumbled slabs. The others found their cover before the light finally drained from their leader's eyes and he slumped to the side into the crimson splashed snow.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Brent didn't pay any attention to the beast he'd killed, he simply turned and ran to follow the others. His fellows continued to run but Brent stopped a dozen yards later at the next boulder.

Nock... draw... aim... release... another fell this time with an arrow bisecting its head through the eye socket.

He ran another dozen yards to the next boulder.

Nock... draw... aim... release...

***

The party ran up the pass but before they got even twenty yards the first wave of five gnolls burst from the trees on the right. Three of them flew at Brian in the front but the other two angled around to try to get the smaller humans behind him.

They seemed smarter this time, not as willing to leave themselves completely open after an all-in attack. This time they used their long limbs and longer glaives to their advantage. Two of them on the sides slashed in long lazy arcs for brian's legs while the center one made a cautious stab for his throat.

Brian brought his shield up to protect his neck as the two weak slashes at his legs simply bounced off his thick armored boots. The stab for his neck wasn't as all-in as the diving thrusts from yesterday that lodged themselves in his armor, but it was enough that Brian could use his own surprisingly long reach to swing his five foot long ironbound kanabo just far enough to catch the leading shoulder of the center gnoll. The strike wasn't on center but it was still powerful enough to crush the gnoll's shoulder and spin it around causing it to drop its weapon as it stumbled to the side in shock. The stumbling gnoll toppled onto the still extended shaft of his fellow's weapon giving Brian a moment to focus on the rightmost gnoll without having to worry where his other fellow might try to strike him. With a surprising burst of speed he leapt forward and brought his mighty maul down in a crushing overhead arc. The gnoll brought its weapon up in a two handed grip to parry the blow but it was simply insufficient. The falling pile driver of a blow simply plummeted though the attempted parry as if there was nothing there and slammed the shaft of the glaive down into the beast's face along with his iron club. His maul was tangled in the gory remains of the beast's skull and shoulders such that when he pulled it out ragged bits of fur and sinew dangled from the dripping weapon. The leftmost gnoll had barely managed to untangle its long shafted blade from its whimpering companion before Brian's massive spiked maul slammed across the creature's back folding its spine over backwards and flinging it into a nearby boulder.

***

Michael raised his round shield to ward off the slash from one of the two gnolls that had bypassed Brian. Michael was a physically small man and strength of body wasn't his forte. The impact from the blocked slash threw him off balance and he stumbled back a bit on the uneven footing of the snowbound rocks. The gnoll pressed the attack causing him to fall on his back as the gnoll moved in to deliver a killing blow. As the vile creature stretched its body high to drive its glaive into Michael's chest a fuzzy white streak bounded off a boulder and ricocheted off the hip of the gnoll. The impact of eighteen pounds of kennik knocked the gnoll off balance long enough for Michael to regain his footing. The gnoll turned to stab at the small rabbit girl who was diving for a small crevice between two boulders, but Michael was able to hammer its leg with his mace breaking the limb and causing the gnoll to fall to the ground. Michael was able to use his shield to ward off the now ineffective strikes of the unwieldy glaive and then deliver a killing blow to the beast's skull with his mace.

***

The gnoll that targeted Kurt was much more wily and skilled than the ones yesterday. This one had the look of a grizzled veteran. They sparred, trading blows and parries until the beast made a mistake. Kurt feinted being knocked off balance from a thrust to his gut that was stopped by his armor. He flailed his shield arm wide to catch his balance and the gnoll sought to capitalize on this faux momentary distraction. The tall creature put everything it had into a killing thrust aimed for his ribs, but Kurt deflected the thrust with his axe and smashed the edge of his shield into the neck of the creature, stunning it. With a backhand chop he brought the spiked side of his axe slamming up under the far too angular jaw of the gnoll crushing its bones and snapping its head around. The beast stumbled back, spilling blood and teeth on the snow as Kurt moved in quickly and buried his axe to the haft in the creature's chest.

***

Charlotte, alerted by Brent's actions, spotted the archers coming up from the rear. She prepared herself to call the elements to her command making the proper sigils and offering the enticement of a sip of her mana. The pursuing archers weren't loosing concentrated volleys of arrows this time. Brent had scattered them by killing their leader, so they took cover and shot mostly inaccurate missiles in high arcs towards the party. This disjoined firing pattern made it harder for Charlotte to deflect them though because instead of coming in one mass that she could fling away they came in ones and twos. Rather than summoning a gale she summoned a small tight funnel of wind that she could keep between the party and the archers at the rear. The results were effective, but to keep the wind coherent she had to maintain concentration . She had precious little to spare for anything but following the party and maintaining the whirlwind behind them.

***

Binna's heart was racing, her pulse pounding in her ears like a drum. She didn't even remember making the conscious decision to jump at the long one. She'd just seen her new friend about to be killed and she acted. Her body was shaking, but the panic wasn't clawing at the door to her mind as she expected it to be. Something about how the humans stood up to these beasts that had stalked her nightmares awoke something within her. They were no longer unassailable tormentors of her people, they were simply beasts. Dangerous beasts that could tear her limb from limb in a moment, but just beasts. They could be hurt. They could be beaten.

She ducked into a cleft in the rocks narrowly avoiding the blade of the long one that she had unbalanced. The steel rang against the rock as the strike missed her by inches. She popped out the other side of the cleft and looked to make sure that Michael was still alive. He was, he had managed to knock the beast down and was now bearing down on it with shield and mace.

She surveyed the scene and saw Charlotte preparing to bend the winds to her will again and further down the slope saw Brent taking aim at seven more archers that had come up from behind.

After each human dealt with their immediate attackers they resumed their run up the pass towards the plateau and the end of the cliff.

Binna joined them running from crevice to cranny from boulder to stone in some cases outpacing the humans and in turn waiting for them to catch up.

***

The party had made it nearly to the plateau and the end of the cliff where they could head back down towards the ramp to the tower. They were continually being harried by the archers following them, but Brent's meticulous shots forced them to keep their heads down and thus kept them off their heels. Charlotte's whirlwind kept their high arcing blind shots from scoring any hits on the fleeing group.

As they surmounted the rise and the plateau with the thick forest spread out before them, the sound of heavy arrows slapping their way through underbrush came from ahead. There were more archers in the woods and they loosed volley after volley towards the party.

Charlotte was too preoccupied with deflecting the shots from behind that she could not also deal with the ones from ahead. The armored trio at the front raised their shields and took several of the missiles, blocking them from striking Charlotte or Brent.

The arrows were so heavy that they pierced right through the shields, the sharp iron tips jutting out several inches through Brian's heavier steel faced shield and nearly all the way through the lighter shields of Kurt and Michael.

Kurt let loose a strangled shout as one pierced his shield, went through his chain mail, and lodged itself in his upper arm.

Between volleys the party was able to get around the rugged verge of the cliff and start back down the other pass towards the tumbled tower and the ramp leading to potential safety.

Brian placed himself physically between the forest and his fellows using his body as a shield for his smaller allies.

Another volley, this time Charlotte was able to call forth her gale to whip the arrows away.

Then a half volley, Charlotte again called forth her elemental servants to fling them away. But the gnolls were smarter than they appeared and had changed tactics. The other half volley came before she could recall the spirits for another gale.

The second half volley rained down concentrated on brian's massive form. Six of the heavy arrows struck him, and six more clattered off the boulders around him.

Brian let out a pained grunt as six arrows lodged into his body. Three pierced his shield and embedded themselves inches into his shoulder and arm, the other three missed his shield entirely and pierced his armor at the collar, hip, and thigh.

Binna was a white flash ahead of Kurt as she led them towards the ramp. Once the ramp finally came into view he shouted, "Everyone up the ramp!. Brian, you run for it too!"

The gnolls sensing that their fleeing prey had been routed howled and burst from the treeline at the top of the hill as the archers from before rounded the end of the cliff as well followed closely by another dozen of the glaive armed ones.

Charlotte switched back to the whirlwind as the gnolls ended their cohesive volleys and switched to individual shots but there were just too many of them. She stopped to cover Brian as he limped towards her and Kurt at the base of the ramp as the rest of the party ran up the switchbacks to the top. Perhaps sensing Charlotte's change in tactics the leader of the second pack of archers yipped out a command and the archers all stopped and let loose a ragged volley towards Brian again. The sudden change in tactics was too fast and Charlotte didn't have time to switch to the gale again. She commanded the whirlwind to intercept the volley but it was simply too little to stop the storm of arrows falling on her massive friend.

Brian cried out in agony as four arrows pierced his back, but he still struggled on towards the ramp. Kurt ran out to him and grabbed his arm to help him up the ramp.

Charlotte, now switched back to the gale, was able to fling away the second massive volley as Kurt and Brian passed her at the base of the ramp.

***

The cliff was only about twenty yards high here and once Kurt and Brian limped around the first switchback they were protected from the archers by the rocks of the cliff. Charlotte followed them up as soon as they were safely out of the line of sight. They wouldn't remain so for long. As soon as the archers got closer they would have a clean sightline to them again, but hopefully they would reach the top of the cliff before then. Charlotte came up to the other side of Brian and helped Kurt to haul him up the ramp. Brian was losing a lot of blood, he was leaving a spattering trail on the stones as they walked him up the ramp. His strength was fading fast, Charlotte could see his skin was pale over clenched jaw muscles. They needed to get him into cover before he passed out completely. He was simply too big for the two of them to carry him without his help.

***

They reached the top of the ramp before the archers were able to draw a bead on them again and more importantly before Brian's strength was completely gone. Brian sank to his knees as the last of his strength faded. Michael was waiting for them at the top with his healing kit open. He placed a bit of bark stained dark green with some mystery fluid between Brian's teeth as Kurt began pulling the arrows out of Brian's armored flesh. Brian bit deeply into the bark and stifled an agonized cry with each yank. It was a small blessing that the arrowheads used by the gnolls weren't barbed and instead had smooth armor piercing heads. As each arrow came loose Michael used a clean wooden dowel to stuff a wad of cloth soaked in an orange fluid into each hole. Once they were all removed Michael broke open a large glass ampoule and fed brian the murky grey contents. Brian finally reached the end of his strength and collapsed to the ground unconscious. Kurt and Michael rolled him onto a tarpaulin and then began dragging him towards the remains of the tower base.

***

As Michael and Kurt worked on Brian, Brent watched the ramp. Brent only had nine ready arrows left, he would make them count. Whenever one of the long dogs got brave enough to try to make their way up the ramp Brent used one of his precious remaining arrows to put an end to the attempt. They became more cautious, but it didn't take long before another tried their luck.

***

Binna bounded down the shallow incline into the basement of the former tower. She ran quickly for the tunnel and followed it for more than the twenty yards that she had explored before. The tunnel sloped down and then turned and continued in the same easy grade. After the fourth such turn it had become so dim that even with the sunlight shining in from the exposed basement above it was nearly too dark to see. But as fate would have it she didn't need to go any further.

The entire tunnel was filled with fallen stone after the fourth turn. A soft breeze filtered through the stones, but there were no gaps large enough to pass.

(End of Chapter 6)

Written by Charles Caplan, all characters and situations are fiction.