chapter three, part three

Getting this one up on time at least, if only with a couple hours to spare. I have three more entries after this one already written. If people would like me to continue, drop a comment in and let me know sometime in the next few entries.

Coming back he met Berryl in the hallway. “I’ve got everything she should need, at least everything I think she’ll need. If I missed something, tough, we can get it after we get her out of that slave train. Follow me and be as quiet as you can, there have been several groups moving past the building while we were in here.”

Berryl slipped the door open barely enough to fit through and slid out into the street. Altarn wondered if he was going to spend the rest of his life following strong-willed, impetuous females into danger and promptly slid out himself. He saw a shadow moving along the side of the building and assuming it was Berryl followed. The shadow darted around the corner and he caught glimpse of it again at the back of the building. “This will be the hard part,” she whispered “We need to get across the field quickly and into that stand of trees out there.” Altarn looked and thought that it might well be the longest 250 feet that he had ever had to cross but hissed assent through clenched teeth.

Berryl moved out from the cover of the building and began a quiet sprint across the field. Altarn watched as she made it into cover of the trees and then began to move himself. Midway through the field his foot dropped into a depression in the ground and he fell, letting out a grunt and rolling as he touched down. Gaining his feet again he finished the run towards the trees only to find Berryl with a dagger in hand. “Down!” she called. Altarn dropped to his knees just in time to see the dagger flip lazily through the air and strike with a meaty thunk. He turned and saw an orc collapsing onto its knees, the dagger sunk home in its throat. “He heard you when you fell and came running just in time to see you gain your feet and head for the trees. Good thing it wasn’t 50 feet further or he would’ve had you.”

Berryl quickly stepped out to recover her dagger and rifle the corpse. A pouch, sword and dagger were the only things she kept as she stepped back into the cover of the trees. “Ok now, what I figure we should do is wait until daylight and then see if we can’t follow the tracks to wherever they have camped. Orcs hate daylight so I doubt they will keep traveling after dawn, or for that matter still be around here after first light.” Altarn stared at the girl he thought he was in love with. “She can kill without remorse” was his first thought. “She can keep herself safe” his second. “I thought I was going to protect her”. His third and final thought before nodding and saying, “That sounds as good a plan as I would come up with. We probably ought to follow it.” The next several hours were spent with Berryl up in a tree keeping watch and Altarn jumping at every noise he heard.

Come dawn Altarn and Berryl watched the village for a bit and when they saw no movement started back towards the buildings. Voices carried across the meadow they walked in, laughing and calling out. “Who could that be?” asked Altarn “I don’t know but they sound like humans at least” replied Berryl “Maybe someone survived.” When they reached the road and peered out they knew differently, piles of valuables or even just semi-valuables were stacked in front of the doors of many of the houses. “Looters?” asked Altarn “How did they get here this quickly?” “Easily” a deep voice replied from behind them “When you are feeding information to the orcs, you just follow them when they go out in force. They get some of the better loot but we are far more thorough in our examination and frequently come away with more of value then they do. I do admit though that I miss having the women to take with us so it is fortunate that you have saved us one.” As Altarn and Berryl spun they saw several humans. The speaker was young looking and wearing a chainmail hauberk, three of the others with crossbows behind him looked closer to middle age and wore boiled leather cuirasses, with greaves and gauntlets of the same. The last individual looked much older and sported a long white beard, which was badly in need of combing. Wearing only robes, which were badly in need of cleaning, he looked somewhat out of place amidst the armed and armored men. “This is the one I think.” Claimed the old man, “He seems to have the potential I desire, what you do with the girl is of no concern to me.” He turned to look at Altarn, “Come here boy, I think I dreamed of you, which is the only reason I am with these vermin in this town.” The chainmail clad man shot the old man a venomous look but turned back to Berryl, “Come here fire-kissed one, we’ll have some fun.” Altarn saw a look on Berryl’s face that he would’ve paid anything for were it directed at him. She sidled up to the armored man saying, “I hope you can give me some fun, my more recent companions have been unable to keep me amused.” She shot a pointed look at Altarn, as the armored man followed her look, he began to laugh. The laugh cut off abruptly as a dagger penetrated his underarm on the side away from Altarn. “See, now that’s fun!” cried Berryl, shaking the blood from the dagger at the other three men. Crossbows were beginning to be cocked as the older man declared: “Austerus Crepido Adhaero”, drew an iron nail from a pouch and pointed it at Berryl. As Altarn watched Berryl became utterly immobile, limbs rigid and stretched in a threatening pose towards the crossbowmen. “Tie her up before the spell wears off or I will not be responsible for your lives or the loss of them.”, said the old man. “Now you aren’t going to give me any trouble are you boy? I’d hate to have to waste a spell on you, especially since the rest I have are far less pleasant.” Altarn shook his head “No sir, I’ll do what you say.”

Thralen(Tom)

chapter three, part two

Once again late on my post, matter of fact I missed the wed one entirely. Sorry, but here is the next part:

As they came in sight of the end of the village, a scene of horror greeted them. Militiamen were down all over the place, some with quarrels jutting from their bodies, others with torn and slashed torsos from swords and spears. Orcs were leading away troops of captives, collared at the neck and manacled at the ankles. Lines of ten per coffle were being led away into the darkness. Only women and children between six and fourteen were being taken, everyone else was being slain where they stood.

Luciana sped down the road, heading for a coffle of slaves, sword out and screaming at the top of her lungs. Altarn winced and dropped back into the shadows to see if there was something he could do that wouldn’t be suicide. As Luciana neared the coffle of slaves she swung furiously and parted the rope that held them together. Women and children ran in all directions as Luciana charged an orc and buried her sword in it. As she pulled her sword out, many more orcs swarmed towards here but one called out in guttural tones and the rest fell back. An imposing specimen of orchood stepped out from the massed orcs, standing near seven feet tall and clad in a suit of chainmail. He hefted a large mace and stepped towards Luciana, she seemed more than happy to fight him and stepped in swinging. As her sword struck the metal armor there was a brief spark and she was left holding the hilt and about eight inches of jagged metal where the blade had snapped. Luciana looked dumbfoundedly down at her sword, or what was left of it and began to look back up just in time to see the mace come down at her head. She collapsed like a steer in a slaughterhouse, bones going entirely limp and forming a pile in the road. Altarn watched with dismay as they fastened a collar and manacles to her. They dragged her over to an unfilled coffle and attached her between a pair of larger than average sized boys.

As Altarn continued to watch, he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and turned while swallowing a yell in his throat. Berryl was looking at him and motioning for silence, she had on a suit of boiled leather armor and several weapons visible to hand. A pack on her back was bulging with its contents. She motioned him further away from the orc’s activities and when far enough back whispered “I saw what happened to her, lets go get her stuff, yours as well. We can follow and try to free her whenever they camp.” Berryl merged into the shadows heading back for Luciana’s house and Altarn entirely lost track of her. Although trying to follow her example, he was sure he was seen every time an orc went by. As they slowly moved through town the sounds of fighting eventually ceased and all that was heard were the moans of the wounded drifting along the nighttime breeze.

Berryl was waiting inside the door when he arrived. While Altarn was practically panting and had to force himself to a regular breathing interval, Berryl seemed perfectly calm and not out of breath in the slightest. “Where, in the name of the Gods, did you learn to move like that. I lost sight of you immediately and was sure you had been grabbed by one of those creatures.” “Lets just say that my father had trained me for a few other things as well as grooming me for a harem. May Loki take his soul and torment it for eternity.” “You mean your father is dead?” “I would assume so as when I left the shack it was burning quite merrily and he was still dead drunk. Now lets get what we came here for and get the hell out of the village before we are caught.”

Altarn rushed into his room and swept his belongings into his backpack and satchel, when he came out into the hall he saw that Berryl was packing a bag for Luciana in her room and he went to the kitchen to grab what food he could fit in his packs.