Age of the Gods: The Complete, twelve novel, fantasy series (The Blood and Brotherhood Saga) (149 page)

It would be easy enough to simply saunter down the slope to the valley, cross it and climb back up the opposite side, but it was all open ground. Dangerously open. No, instead he would skirt the valley, clinging to the base of the forested mountains and foothills. From there he would again turn north in search of the great black castle.

Deprived of sleep and in need of both food and rest, he began his trek through the forested foothills of the mountainside. Signs were all about that these grounds were regularly hunted. Both by human and troll. But all signs were days or weeks old, and as such he kept alert but did not expect an encounter.

With free time to think and explore while he sought suitable shelter, Gnak’s mind drifted to the images he had seen at the Catunga ceremony. He remembered the castle but it was of no use. Instead he focused on the memory of the gathering of chiefs beneath the great chief. There he scanned the faces, and realization struck him. In the vision, he was the chief of the Gathos clan. He was a leader. It
had
to be destined by the gods. How else could anyone explain his run-ins with both goblins and giants without so much as a fight, let alone a scratch. If this
was
his destiny, the gods would see to it that nothing went wrong. After all, the gods were all powerful. If they had chosen him for this task, surely they would see him through it. Puffing his chest out, Gnak strode through the woods fearful of nothing, confident that the gods guided his every move.

It was not until near the middle of the night when he found a suitable cave for shelter. It was neither very deep nor very well hidden, but would have to suffice if he planned to get some rest. Plopping down upon one of the three large rocks just outside the entrance to the cave, he opened his bundled leather and pulled from it two strips of dried meat he had brought for the journey. Eating both vigorously, he realized that his body would not be satisfied by the meager meal as his stomach churned and growled loudly. He dared not eat more, at least not until he could find a suitable source of food, and as such prepared to get much needed rest.

Snapping a few green branches from nearby trees, he climbed into the entrance of the cave, pulling the branches with him to conceal the entrance. He intended to sleep the remainder of the night and the entire following day, to strike out again once darkness returned. The world did not seem to care much about his plans.

Inside the cave was damp and cool, the ground making up the bottom consisting of a thick sticky mud. So different was it to his own home just across the mountains, that he shivered violently, jerking himself awake time and again throughout the night. When morning did come, the sun seemed to bring some warmth with it, but so stiff were his muscles from nearly freezing the night before that he could hardly get comfortable enough to sleep. It was hours into the morning when sleep finally took him without fits of cold, but it was only a few more hours before something awoke him.

Gnak’s eyes shot open, his ears straining for anything unusual. The branches he had dragged to the front of the cave remained, but something had alerted him into wakefulness. A moment later he heard it. It was not so much a voice as a grunt, but he knew it was some form of man. Whether he had been tracked or stumbled upon by accident, something was outside his shelter. He needed more information.

Twisting slowly inside the limited confines of the small cave, he got his arms beneath him. Then lifting his body up he half slithered, half crawled towards the entrance. Carefully, so carefully, he reached up, pulling aside the leaves of the branches that covered the entrance. At first he saw nothing to alarm him outside. Everything seemed perfectly natural. The stones remained, and nothing else seemed to be present but the trees. That was until one of them seemed to move. Then he saw the creature for what it was.

Thick limbed, the stout race of trolls were covered in a thick leathery hide. Their young, it was said, appeared as polished river rocks, so shiny and smooth was their flesh. But so heavy was their hide, that as they aged it stretched and wrinkled, appearing more like the bark of an old oak tree. Outside his cave, Gnak could distinguish two of the creatures. The first, with its back to him, stood just beyond the three stones. It was a tall creature, perhaps slightly taller than he, with legs as big around as his own chest. The creature’s torso was massive, its back bulging and hunched over. Two immense arms sprouted from the shoulders, unnaturally long, the knuckles of the beast easily touching the ground. Its wide lump of a head sat atop a thick tree trunk of a neck, from where grunting sounds emerged.

Just past the first, the second stood, obviously having some sort of conversation with one another. The second had less wrinkles and lighter toned flesh, but otherwise was equal in proportion to its peer. Neither carried a weapon so far as Gnak could see, but he had a distinct feeling that the odd race of men needed little more than their fists to kill most of their prey.

Having never faced a troll before, he thought it wise to watch them instead of attack. It was only a short time later that the grunts ceased, and the thick creatures decided to settle upon the stones just as he himself had done the night previous. There the two pulled out some sort of meal that appeared little more than burned rodents or rabbits, and together the pair crunched upon the charcoaled carcasses in almost silence as Gnak watched from his cover within the cave. After eating, the two lingered still, for more than two hours, simply sitting and looking off into the distance in silence. Finally, what seemed an eternity later, the younger appearing of the two began to move again, its head swiveling slowly around. It was then that Gnak heard the sniffing.

Just like the sound a bear or wolf made when following a trail, the troll began sniffing rapidly, its odd almost nonexistent nose picking up something of interest. Gnak watched as its gaze slowly turned, its body twisting as its eyes settled upon his cave. Carefully he let the leaves fall slack, and inched backwards reaching behind himself.

Without thought or plan, he wrapped his fingers about the shaft of his spear in the darkness just as the branches covering his only exit were torn asunder, a thick gray head thrusting into the hole they had concealed with a deafening roar. Like lightning Gnak reacted, lashing out with his spear with all his might. Deep into the head of the troll it pierced, another raging roar exploding from the creature.

Rearing back, it dragged the spear and Gnak with it halfway out of the hole, reaching up with massive limbs to tear the spear free of its face. Crawling to extricate himself, and make himself clear of the wounded troll, he rose before springing aside to put some distance between himself and his foes. The second troll had just registered the change and was now rising from its place upon one of the rocks. The first pulled the spear free, a deep green blood oozing from the hole that remained. But even with such a grievous wound to the head, the beast did not relent. Instead, it dropped Gnak’s spear before charging, its arms raising before it to grasp and crush him with immense hands.

Fortunately for Gnak, he was quicker. To his advantage he had not only speed, but apparently could reason much faster as well. Diving aside, the troll missed him by a wide margin before he rolled back to his feet. Pulling his blade from his belt, he slashed at the first troll as the second charged. The blade of his weapon cut a green streak upon the troll’s shoulder, but the wound was neither deep nor effective. Dodging the second troll, he again sprang into a roll and turned to strike at
its
back. This time he stabbed instead of slashed, to much greater effect.

Though it took a great deal of effort, the blade of his crude sword slid deep into the back of the creature, slamming into thick ribs somewhere beyond the flesh. Pulling it free, he watched the thick green blood ooze from the wound a split second, as the troll reacted unexpectedly quicker than Gnak could have anticipated. Swinging its torso nearly completely around, it struck out with the back of its arm and hand, smashing him full in the side of the head with one giant balled fist. Lights exploded before Gnak’s eyes as ringing sounded in his ears. Stumbling back, he felt the blood trickling down his face. Blinking his eyes over and over to restore his sight, he watched as both trolls turned to face him. Though he had underestimated them, he would not do so again. Now he had a plan.

Letting them charge, he simply out maneuvered them once again, diving aside at the last second as they slowed their own momentum to a stop before turning. Having outwitted them, Gnak snatched up his discarded spear and placing the butt of it upon the ground then slashed at it with his blade, slicing the end off at a sharp angle. It was only seconds before the younger turned yet again, beating the older troll by a moment, and without hesitation this time it charged with its arms wide, hoping to catch him as he sprang away. But Gnak did not spring away this time. No. He needed to use the creature’s own momentum.

Raising his spear as the troll smashed into him bodily, he drove it as far as he was able into the chest of the beast, the blade of the spear slicing between the troll’s ribs. Angrily it roared, trashing at him with its arms, but Gnak ducked them and moved back too quickly for the beast.

Turning to face the remaining troll, he kept one hand on the spear, keeping the angry troll behind him at a distance. When the second troll charged, it was all Gnak could do to line up the blow as he struggled to hold the first troll in place.

Smashing against his body, driving him back towards the troll behind him, the second troll had no intentions of slowing its charge, prepared instead to crush Gnak between it and its kinsman. Instead, the creature not only drove the spear further into its own comrade, it also impaled itself upon the now sharpened end of the shaft. There they stood a moment, confused, the remaining foot or so of spear shaft between their chests, both impaled by the same weapon.

Gnak managed to free himself from the clenching hands of both foes by slashing with his sword and head butting one of the beasts full in the face. Once free, he moved further down the slope to a safer distance to watch the trolls struggle, but nothing of note happened. Both trolls slowly ceased their thrashing before their heads leaned forward slightly towards the other. That was it. So thick and stout were their legs, that when attached together by the spear as such, even in death they remained standing, leaning into one another, without any indication that they would ever topple over. Gnak damned his luck. There was no way he was going to be able to retrieve his spear.

Reaching up, he accessed the wound upon the side of his head. Already it was swelling; the skin, having been smashed apart, was bleeding freely. All he could do was let it clot on its own and hope the swelling would subside naturally. He had not thought to bring any supplies from the shaman for wounds, and now it was apparent that the gods did not intend to make his Catunga task an easy one.

So it was with a pounding in his head that he set out again to skirt the great valley in the early afternoon daylight. Hungry and poorly rested, Gnak stalked off to the west, keeping to the trees and slopes for the remainder of the day and night that followed. The night had proved uneventful, minus hearing the howling of wolves and finding a small spring-fed stream to drink from.

It was near morning when he reached the western edge of the valley and, deciding again that he did not want to spend the daylight hours crossing an open expanse, he hunkered down within a copse of trees at the forest’s edge. Leaning his back against one of the trunks, he again ate two strips of his dried meat and prepared to wait out the day. Unintentionally he dozed on and off throughout the day, without any disturbance beyond the occasional fly who sought to lay eggs in his face wound.
Was no place safe from flies?

Day came and went, and then finally it was time to make his way across the rim of the valley to the other side.

Darkness enveloped the land like a sheet of cold blackness that breathed ice crystals and spoke of shadows and death. No insects stirred. No predators loped across the open expanse. Gnak felt completely exposed. The few sounds that did interrupt the night sent him sprawling to his belly, ceasing in his movements for long moments, straining his ears into the night for any sign that he was being hunted. It was strange being out of his element. Here he was the prey. Gnak didn’t like it much.

Racing as fast as his long legs would carry him, it was only four or five hours after dark when he made the far side of the valley, as this point was its widest. Reaching the far side, he climbed atop a tall rock and peered out over what lay beyond. Nothing.

Nothing but rolling hills extended to the north for as far as he could see, which was much further in darkness than daylight. All the way to the horizon ahead, hills populated the land covered in a dense layer of tall grasses and weeds. Listening carefully, he could now hear the scurrying of rodents and grunts of other foraging animals. If the opportunity presented itself he would have to try and obtain a more suitable meal.

With nothing left to do but charge ahead, he stalked off through the tall grass, following game trails where possible in an effort to hide his passing. As the hours passed, he missed opportunity after opportunity for game that he could have bagged if he had managed to keep his spear, but with only a sword he had not yet managed to make a kill. The remainder of the night came and went, and no change appeared on the horizon ahead. For several hours into the morning he continued on, hungry, with nothing better to do than wade through the grass and peer into the distance. His stomach growled constantly, a fact that he blamed for the sudden retreats of several small hares. He should have at least sharpened a stick into a spear before leaving the trees behind. If he was going to be a chief he needed to spend more time thinking about such things.

As the morning grew warmer and birds began appearing in the sky, Gnak laid down in the shallow valley between two hills, thoroughly hidden by the grass all around him. Upon the warm grass, he found himself more comfortable than he had been since leaving his home, and drifted off into a deep restful sleep. It was well after sunset before he rose again.

Slumbering heavily, his mind began to drift, first to his tribe and then beyond. Before him stood the burning camp of a rival clan as cheers arose from behind him. Up the flames and smoke climbed, as he turned to see thousands of Orcs, every one of their gazes turned on him as if expecting something. Then they vanished.

Again his dream twisted and he watched as Orcs hauled huge stones, dragging them in teams with ropes upon rolling logs. Looking up the worn path they traveled, Gnak saw something he could have never imagined. Upon the face of the tallest peak of the southern Rancor mountains a great structure was being erected. It was thick and mighty with high walls and soaring towers. It spoke of strength and might, and it made his heart proud at the sight. But then too it was gone.

Another vision followed and again Gnak was standing, though this time he found the air hard to breathe as the wind whipped at his face. Turning, he found he stood atop one of the mighty towers of the great Orc castle, and below him a mighty force stood at the ready to march to war. And then, as quickly as the dreams came they were gone, and darkness swallowed Gnak whole, carrying him into deeper sleep where he remained for the rest of the night.

Stretching, Gnak sat up upon his grass bed. With a shiver running down his spine he cursed the cold of the human lands, before realizing that he felt ill. He could recall the strange dreams he had the day previous, and grinning at the fanciful thoughts he laughed a deep throaty sound, at the absurdity. Laughing made his head spin as pain enveloped the side of his face. With sweat beading on his forehead, he reached up to feel his wound and found it still swollen and overly warm. He had become afflicted. Without the treatment of their shaman, such wounds often were lethal. Gnak doubted the wound would kill him. He was stronger than most. But he did realize that before long he would lose his strength and endurance, with a lack of proper food and an affliction in his wound. He needed to hurry while he still could.

Looking up to the stars he located those that would take him home, and turning, he again strode off towards the north. It was not until near midnight he found something he had not expected among the hills. Cresting the millionth rise of the night he noticed that he now moved parallel to a wide trail. It was dirt, but was obviously frequently used. Two hours later the dirt turned to stone, as the road became more than a trail. An hour after that, Gnak could see the top of the castle in the distance. Fires upon the top of its massive walls stood in stark contrast to the night surrounding him.

Then it struck him. Where there was fire on the wall, there were humans. If he could see them, could they not see him? Were they watching him right now? Thinking about his predicament, he realized that it would be more suspicious if he continued on through the grass, and hoping that they paid him scant attention he set off upon the road. Nearer and nearer the city grew, and taller and taller it soared. Even against the backdrop of the sky, the great black castle seemed to suck the light out of the stars, it stood too dark against its surroundings. It was just as he had envisioned it at the Catunga ceremony.

Closer still he came, as the grass fields around him turned to planted rows of crops. Everywhere there were signs of humans. Wagons lay abandoned all about in the fields. Crops stood in high piles in preparation for hauling. Footprints and scents abounded. But out here in the dark, not a single soul dwelt. Sure, during the day the humans likely came out of their walled city, but here in the dark, where he could take one unaware, nothing. He would either have to wait until day, or enter the city somehow. But he didn’t want just any human. No. That would not please a god. He wanted a special human. Perhaps a chief, or a captain. Nodding as he watched the dark walls ahead, he smiled to himself.

Walking off of the road, he decided that he was close enough for now. He would find a place and hide through the day, watching what the humans did. Perhaps he could find what he sought in this manner. Locating one of the great stacks of what appeared to be grass and weeds, he dove into the thing, burrowing further and further into it before turning around and poking his head back out the hole he had entered. Moving the dry grass about, he covered as best he could any sign of his tampering, and laid in wait of the day to come.

The sun rose into a clear blue sky, and with it came the humans. They were tiny wretched things, hardly bigger than goblins as they began to come into the fields surrounding the black castle. They were thin, dirty creatures, scraping and churning up the soil, cutting down plants and making piles. Their every effort seemed a waste of time.
Did they eat plants like rabbits did?
It was not until an hour or more later that Gnak saw what he thought could serve as his sacrifice. Thundering down the road a pair of armored warriors upon great white beasts passed him, leaving the castle headed south, the way he had come the previous night. If he could capture one of those, it would make a god happy. Two hours later he could hear them returning, but more slowly. Also, it sounded as if more had joined them. Wriggling about inside his stack of weeds, he turned and made himself another hole upon the opposite side. There the armored men came, dismounted from their beasts, following his own tracks across the field. Now there were four of them.

Gnak pondered his situation a moment. Eyeing his opponents, it was obvious that they were better armed and armored, but they were smaller and slower than he. Closer and closer the humans came, and knowing he may not get a better chance, he waited until they were on top of him before he sprang.

Like an explosion of dust and weeds he rocketed out of the stack of drying grass, landing on the nearest human, driving it to the ground. Stabbing his sword up under the edge of its helmet, he drew it back covered in red blood with a replied gurgle and spasm. He was on the next human before they knew what hit them. Stabbing this one beneath the arm, he watched as copious amounts of blood spewed from the small man as he staggered backwards, reaching for the wound. Then, finally it was a fight.

The remaining two armored humans charged simultaneously, each bearing a large two-handed sword longer even than his own. He parried the first swing and dove aside to avoid the other. Coming to his feet just in time, he deflected yet another blow, before striking out at the attacker. The other human vanished from his peripheral vision, but Gnak was no fool.

Charging the human in front of him, he smashed the smaller man’s blade aside with his own before grabbing the man by his breastplate and lifting him up and off his feet. Twisting, he spun upon one heel, raising the human overhead before he threw him at the now charging second assailant. The human in his hands managed a minor jab that barely pierced his shoulder as he was flung away. That would have been it. Kill one, claim the other and flee back to his clan. Except just when the end he needed was in sight, a horn was sounded from atop the wall of the vast black city, and the thunderous sound of mounted warriors erupted in the distance. Dozens more came for him, maybe more. Against his warrior spirit, there was only one thing for him to do. Gnak ran.

Turning back the way he had come, he ran as fast as his legs would carry him. He thought he could at least match the pace of the beasts the humans rode, but he doubted he could outrun them.

Screams arose from the road before him as he took to the smoothest trail possible in hopes of stretching his lead. Women, children, and men alike dashed away at his approach, but then he had an idea. Ripping the sack from his belt he tore the strings upon it open, and reaching in he drew out a handful of the metal disks, stones, and jewelry the goblins had carried. Tossing it into the air, he listened as it fell to the paved road behind him in a symphony of tinkling sounds. The dirty, field-working humans’ reaction was perfect.

One instant they fled him, the next they rushed back to the road, dropping to their knees to collect the trinkets. With thunderous hooves still behind him, he tossed more and more trinkets into the air to either side of the road as well as straight upon it. Let the armored warriors crest a rise only to trample their own kind beneath their beasts. Let their beasts stumble beneath them, throwing them to the ground. And they did.

Listening as he ran, human screams sounded as the beasts carrying the humans also screamed and the thunderous warriors ceased momentarily in their pursuit. Glancing back he was surprised to see that even some of the warriors had dismounted to claim that which he had discarded.

Following the road to prevent leaving tracks, on and on Gnak ran, sprawling more trinkets here and there even after there were no more humans. He hoped they would stop time and again to collect them before pursuing him. For more than three hours he could hear them following in a broken pattern, each hour their sound growing more faint.

It was after midday that he found an intersection in the road. He could continue straight, back the way he had come, but he knew that no humans were in that direction. But with a road before him that turned eastward, towards the mountains that stood upon the horizon, he could not but help believe that it must lead to another human camp.

Turning down the road, he was surprised to find that this road quickly became less and less a road, turning into no more than two parallel tracks within the distance of a mile. Here, instead of sticking to one of the clear dirt tracks, he ran along the grassy center of the trail, stretching out his stride to the max. Two more hours passed, the afternoon slipping into evening as Gnak topped a rise in the road and immediately froze. Sliding to a stop, he backed up slowly before he turned and trotted back down the trail a short way. Ahead were more fields with more dirty humans. He could not risk a repeat performance.

Instead he dove off the trail, and dropping to all fours he slowly and carefully circled the crop fields and humans working within them. It was dusk when he neared one of the humans’ buildings. It was a large thing in comparison to the other nearby shacks. It had a wide door upon one side, and a small door as well. Creeping stealthily inside, he found nothing but tools the humans used in the fields and stacks of bundled, dried, grasses, all tied up with cords.
Silly humans. storing weeds
. Gnak shook his head.

It was only an hour or two until dark, and as such he climbed up over the top of one of the giant stacks of weeds and dropped down behind it to wait. Just in time too. No sooner had he landed and turned to face the door he had entered, than a small male child of the humans came rushing inside.

The child cupped his face with both hands, sobbing as blood dripped from between his clutched fingers.

“I hate you!” he tried to scream back the way he had come, his voice muffled by his own hands.

“You do not,” a small girl replied as she followed him into the building.

Gnak’s whole world spun for a moment, his mouth falling open. Not only could humans speak, but they spoke the same tongue as his own people. The thought was absurd. None thought humans smart enough to do anything but stack stones into buildings and make weapons and armor. Yet here were two of their young, holding a conversation. Gnak listened in.