The Staff of Sakatha (9 page)

“You might get back one day,” said the old warrior, and then suddenly a pained expression came across his face as he bent over his hands on his legs and let out a grunt.

“What’s the matter?” said Jon and put his big hand on the grizzled veterans back.

“The leg shoots,” said the old man through gritted teeth. “Like a dagger in the back of the leg dragging up and down. Hurts like the rotted tooth needing to get pulled. I gots the Zosters about twenty years ago and now I get these shooters now and again. They get worse the older I get. It’s time to die, past time to die,” said Germanius, standing up, and looking at Jon, his teeth still clenched. “Find me something good to die for boy. That’s what I ask of you.”

Jon put his arm under the ribs of the old warrior and helped him to the small fire that Mikus got started, “You sit down here old man,” he said and helped Germanius to the ground. “I’ll find you something good, I promise you that. Something that folks will be talking about for years to come. What do you say to that?”

Germanius nodded his head and then grimaced in pain again as he sat down with a thump, “I’ll be fine come morning.”

“You just stay there and take it easy old man, me and the kids will cook up some supper, here, take a sip of this,” said Jon and pulled a small leather flask out from his belt. “I was saving it for a victory drink but we might be dead by morning so why not take a jolt now?”

“I like your thinking on that,” said Germanius, took the flask, pulled out the leather stop, tilted it back, and poured a generous amount down his throat. “Ahhh, by the fifth leg of the Black Horse that hits the spot!”

Jon laughed and turned his attention to the camp where he helped Mikus and Sorus finish the fire, get out the bed rolls, put a roast chicken they brought from Black Dale on the fire, and start the water to boil.

Two hours later they were ready for bed as the fire burned brightly in the night and only a few clouds dotted the sky where a half moon shone brightly. “It’s hard to get used to that sky,” said Jon as he looked up. “It changed when I was sailing from Sea’cra to Tarlton.”

“The stars are different in the north?” asked Mikus with a puzzled expression on his face as the two lay on their rolls and gazed skyward. Sorus sat nearby, his back against a tree, and watched the same sky but still wore his chain shirt with his sword out and next to him.

“The world is round,” said Jon. “So when you get past the halfway point the stars change. They’re all different down here, none of the same constellations at all.”

“I didn’t know that,” said Mikus. “I mean, I knew the world was round, everyone knows that cause you can see a ship’s mast come up over the horizon, I just never really thought about how the stars would be different when you look up.” Suddenly the boy stopped and thought for a long time. “Hey, if the world is round, on the other side, in Tanelorn, up is our down.”

“That’s right, Mikus,” said Jon with a smile. “I bet you’re wondering why we don’t all just fall off?”

Mikus laughed and Sorus gave a chuckle from his seated position nearby. “What are you laughing at, Sorus,” said Mikus.

“Not at you,” said Sorus. “I was just thinking about that too. What is up and what is down? I mean, if people up in the north half look up they see the stars above them, but we in the south half look up and see the stars above us, right?”

“Yeah, I guess,” said Mikus, “but that doesn’t make much sense.”

Just then a heavy snore from Germanius came from under his blanket and was followed by a staccato burst of several more.

“Germanius might have the right idea on this one,” said Jon. “Tarragonius, the gray druid, tried to explain all that to me once but I got a little lost. I’m not sure anyone can figure it out.”

“Yeah,” said Mikus. “I guess there’s not much to be gained in thinking about things you’ll never understand, but, jeez, it sure doesn’t make much sense.”

“Get some sleep,” said Jon and rolled over onto his side. “Wake me up in a couple of hours, Sorus, and I’ll spell you. Let the old man sleep, he’ll be sore in the morning and I’d be surprised if you and Mikus weren’t a little worse for wear yourselves.”

Sorus gave Jon a short nod with his head and looked at the sky for a moment before he gazed out toward where the mountains loomed above them.

The mountains appeared huge to Jon, whose own lands of Tanelorn were plains with long low hills covered by grass. There were massive mountains further north of Tanelorn, in the frozen lands, but Jon never went that far in his travels. When he first came across these mountains he grew to know the cold nights in the heights and he slept comfortably under the heavy woolen blanket given to him by Rhia and Shia.

The night went by uneventfully. The four packed up their camp the next morning, headed along the mountains, and looked for the trail that led up the slopes. It took them all of the morning and part of the afternoon to find the trail and it was the sharp eyes of Mikus who spotted it. “That looks like a bit of trail,” said the boy as he pointed to a small bush that sat atop a rock, “behind that rock.”

“I think you’re right,” said Jon and nodded his head and walked over to the little gap in the rocky foothills. “It looks right and the time we took to get here is about what I remember. What do you say, Germanius, camp here for the night and start up in the morning, or cover some distance with the light we have left?”

“My back hurts like an old bear that fell out of a tree trying to get honey,” said the old warrior. “Damn that Odellius for giving me such a fine horse, I’da been better off on a donkey, they ride smoother and not so hard to climb in the morning.”

Mikus looked at Jon, “Did he answer your question?”

Jon laughed and shook his head, “I’m not really certain but I think he means we should get to where we’re going as quick as possible so he can get himself killed.”

“That’s about right,” said Sorus. “If we’re lucky that’ll be me and you someday, Mikus.”

Mikus nodded his head and dismounted to lead his fine horse up the path. “I’ll scout ahead and if I find something dangerous I’ll tell Germanius!”

The stone projectile caught him directly on the temple and he was dead before he hit the ground. His horse reared, wheeled around, and headed back towards town at a gallop.

“Where did it come from,” shouted Sorus as he gazed wide eyed in all directions.

Jon dove for cover behind a large rock just to his right when he heard Sorus’s words, “Get off your horse, get to cover!” he shouted and then looked around to find that Germanius not only already lay under cover, but had also pulled his horse along with him to provide protection from a second side.

Two more rocks sailed past Sorus’s head just as the boy leaned down to dismount and a third hit his steed in the foreleg which sent the beast skyward with a kick. The young brewer managed to dismount with a thump, fell to one knee, then pulled his horse down, and quickly hustled to the cover of the rocks near Jon. “Where is it coming from?” he said and looked around until his gaze came across Mikus dead on the ground his eyes open and sightless. “Is he dead?”

Jon nodded his head, “Killed outright, lucky shot. Bastards. We’ll kill them, don’t you worry,” he said as a trio of rocks skittered off the boulders just above their heads. “There,” said Jon and pointed off to his right. “Three of them at least, maybe five, slinging from just up there. If they’re smart they’ll have a couple of swordsmen protecting their flank if we try to get around them. Germanius, what do you see?”

The old knight was a good ten yards from them, behind a group of three large angular rocks and had his horse positioned to his left to cover any enfilading fire. “They’ll try to come around us to your side,” shouted the old warrior and pointed behind Jon. “I figure three slingers, maybe four. Either they’ve got no swordsman or they’re cowards; they should have attacked us right when the slingers fired. That’d been their best chance.”

“Sorus,” said Jon. “Grab the horse, run about ten yards out, when the slingers fire, dart back and take cover in those rocks between Germanius and me,” said the gray knight as he pointed to a clump of low rocks between the two. “I’m going to go to where the slingers are headed and beat them there.”

“Got it,” said the brewer, immediately following Jon’s commands and heading back into the open. “After five long strides two stones ricocheted on the ground, neither one coming with five feet of him, and he quickly turned and retraced his steps as another stone hit his horse in the flank, which caused the beast to jump, but he was able to control it and lead it to cover. When he looked back to where Jon was a moment ago he saw the trotter but no sign of the warrior. He then looked towards Germanius who had his long steel sword drawn and was in a low crouch.

“We charge the bushwhackers as soon as Jon hits them, we’ll catch ‘em as they run. Gut ‘em straight through and don’t think about it,” said Germanius in a low shout and with a clenched fist.

Sorus nodded and a moment later a huge bellow came from Jon followed by a terrible shriek. Germanius was up, he ran to the boulders, tried to leap the first one but his foot caught on vines from bush and sent the old man face first into the ground where he jammed his hand as he tried to catch himself. Sorus was up right after him and paused to help the old warrior, but Germanius spat out, “At ‘em you fool, I’ll get there!” so the brewer continued with a bound over the fallen knight.

Just beyond Germanius the trail led back and around to where Jon pointed earlier and suddenly two young goblin boys, not more than teens, each with a sling in their hands appeared around the corner looking over their shoulder and running at a full gait. Sorus jumped down from a rock into their path, and the first one ran himself onto the boys slim blade which pierced deeply into his belly. The creature opened his eyes wide in shock, looked up at Sorus, spat out something in a strange language before his gaze lost its focus, and fell to the ground.

The second goblin stood and stared for a moment as his mouth tried to say something but no words came out. It then pulled out a small dirk from its belt. Sorus tried to pull his sword out of the first goblin’s belly, but the creature had fallen sidewise, and the blade was twisted and wouldn’t easily slide out.

At that moment Jon came around the corner with a mammoth stone sword, somehow both thick and sharp, in his hand. The gray knight’s eyes were calm, his face bore a cool almost relaxed smile, and his movements seemed to be slowed somehow to the eyes of Sorus. Jon was a good fifteen feet away, yet he covered the distance in three apparently leisurely strides, and was on the goblin before Sorus could even open his mouth. The gray sword licked out and the goblin was in two pieces, cut in half at the waist.

“Come on,” said Jon his voice quiet and calm. “There might be more up in the hills,” and then leapt off.

Sorus tried to follow but, while the gray knight appeared to move long, sluggish strides, he leapt from rock to rock with a speed that belied belief and he was quickly up and out of Sorus’s sight.

“Never seen anyone move like that,” said Germanius’ voice from his right, and Sorus jumped from fright and raised his slim blade which had somehow loosed itself from the goblin boy.

“By The Mare, don’t startle me so,” said Sorus as he looked up to where Jon had vanished up into the hills.

“He moves like a ram, or a cougar, and that sword, looks heavy enough to cut iron but he wields it like a toy. If we had a brace of soldiers like that, by the Black Horse, the orcs would tremble!”

By the time the two arrived fifty yards up the hill Jon stood in a small clearing where a campfire and gear indicated the creatures had spent the night. One of them was dead, his head crushed so badly that it took Sorus a moment to realize that it was a goblin, and a second was on his knees with his hands held up in surrender.

“One of them put up a fight,” said Jon as he pointed with the mammoth blade, “but his friend thought better of it.”

“They killed Mikus,” said Sorus.

“They’re just boys, goblin boys, younger than you,” said Germanius with a shake of his head as walked over to the survivor and talked to him in the guttural language of the creatures.

“You speak that?” said Jon to Sorus and the brewer shook his head in the negative. “No, not much. Germanius said something about blood but I’m not following it much. The goblin wants mercy, that’s ‘hugara’ that he keeps saying. Germanius is saying something about killing our friend and wanting payment but I’m not sure.”

At that point the old warrior turned to Jon and smiled. “You were right, there’s something big going on up in the hills. Those boys said there is a dragon up there and a child of the dragons gave orders to the goblins and orcs to come down from the mountain and attack the freeriders,” he said as his smile broadened. “A dragon, can you imagine that. What better way to die than fighting a dragon.”

“Better than getting killed by a goblin with a sling,” said Sorus. “Poor Mikus. I never liked him much and his father is an ass but that’s no way for a squire of Elakargul to die. Should we kill him?” said Sorus and pointed with his blade to the goblin. “If we don’t, won’t he just head back up to his tribe and tell them what happened?”

“I don’t like killing in cold blood,” said Jon, his huge blade sheathed. “Let him go. We’ll pile up a cairn for Mikus and follow the little rotter up into the hills. He’ll lead us right to them.”

“Careful, Jon,” said Germanius in a whisper, his face away from the goblin boy, “he might speak Elakargul better than he lets on although I doubt it. You’re right though, give the bastard a head start and follow his trail. We’ll come up on them at night, take them down, and find out where this dragon is holed up. By the Black Horse, a dragon! Jon, you’re a man true to his word.”

Jon nodded his head and made a motion towards the little goblin who immediately peed all over himself, “Scat” he said and the creature got the idea well enough and fled headlong up the trail.

It took the about ten minutes to pile rocks on the body and find a suitable stone to carve Mikus’s name on. Germanius said something over the body but Sorus couldn’t bring himself to take part in the ceremony, more than to stand by with a dazed expression on his face, and soon they were on their way up the hill as they followed the trail of the little goblin. The creature didn’t do much to hide his path in its headlong flight and they were able to follow it with relative ease. By the time they cleared a small crest it was near dark, and Jon and Germanius picked a spot next to a small rise to tie up the horses.