Part Thirty
Duma and all the party had abandoned the camp before any Orcs found it, and by then Marduk and all their surrogate Clan had caught up with the Band of scouts. When Lucky had reported back after what seemed too long a time, Marduk had not known whether he should believe the story he told. Lucky had claimed that. though their trail led clearly from the road and their fire had been spotted from afar, when closing in, the camp could not be found.
In the night a mist had descended from the mountains, and though Orc eyes could bore through darkness and see, the same did not seem to be true for fog. They had wandered, unable to find their way to the camp or to find the other Orcs that had moments before stood beside them.
Lucky said they had attempted to follow the sound of Elven whispers, but always came upon some animal or grass blown by wind and found no Elves.
When Marduk arrived, it was day, and all around them mist had burned away under the warm autumn sun but where the trail led, the air felt cold and still and the fog remained. "It is Witch-craft and Wizardry," Marduk announced. "You must make a chain of flesh and reach into the mist like the tail of an Orc whip to lash our enemies!"
The Orcs obeyed, but slowly, as they feared the mist more, knowing it was Wizardry. Marduk ordered other Orcs from the Clan to circle around the fog and search for a trail leaving the area. "If the scouts have not wandered over the signs and trampled them."
Lucky went off to search for a trail.
"I smell cooked horsemeat," Dog whispered. "Smells like horse all around here. And...wolves." Dog snuffed the air some more.
Eventually the mist dissipated, as if by magic or cue. The scouts were ordered in first. They found remains of two fires, some neatly stacked firewood left behind, prints of many horseshoes, one set of large hooves, four pairs of boots and one set of Halfling feet near the stream, some wood shavings and rope fiber, traces of horse blood on the ground, signs that a tree had been felled by an ax, and an unnatural arrangement of rounded stones that when disturbed revealed further stones inscribed with runes Orcs could read.
It did seem strange that a party that had five Elves would cut down a tree. It was strange as well that a party with men and Elves would kill a horse. If it had been sick and injured, they might have slain it, Marduk thought, but they would have buried it and not cooked it. Marduk was only a few years old, but he had been spawned in the Wizard's Vale and knew something of how Men operated, as not only Orcs had served that Lord during the war. Horses were for riding, and when one was killed, Men fed the meat to dogs or Orcs, because they did not think it good enough for themselves.
The inscribed stones were brought to Marduk. He could read these runes, as they were ancient and had long ago been adapted for Goblin sounds. The one called Elf-scream had scribed the water-smoothed stones with one of his tools and left them for Marduk, only the inscriptions made it clear that Death-Shadow would call him by another name. If the stone had been scribed in a particular order, that had been disturbed in bringing the stone to Marduk, and so he got the story in disjointed fashion.
On one stone, Duma listed the members of the party and some facts he had learned about them. There were two female Elves with names Orcs could not well pronounce, one with dark hair that carried a sword and sometimes dressed in male clothing, though today she had worn a skirt, and one with gold hair that carried a bow. Three male Elves, included Death-Shadow, who called himself 'Dale', Green-Cloak, who was named after a green gem, and one with gold hair, who was apparently spawned by the same Elf-Lord that had spawned the female archer. All the Male Elves had swords and bows, and Green-Cloak now carried spears as well. There were two Easterling Men with foreign names, one was involved in some close relationship with Death-Shadow and had claimed to be trained by both The White and The Brown Wizards. The other Easterling was quiet and often wrote with ink and paper things that he did not let many others see. The writer did not seem well armed, but had one curved sword. They had with them also a female of the race of Men who was also a witch and cast spells and made potions and medicine. The last of their party was a Halfling called Kato who read maps and directed their course.
On another stone, Duma explained how he had helped delay the party by killing one of their horses. They had punished him for it, but determined that he should still travel with them. They had allowed him to keep his small knife and his tools, so he might be able to leave secret messages, but he had no weapon and had not learned the purpose of their journey.
On another stone, Duma wrote only that he believed they were going south, but did not know how far, and that when resting, they always had at least two of their party on watch.
Marduk announced that if similar markings were found in the future they should also be shown to him. He ordered the Orcs to begin a March south. All were recovered from the incident with the bread making and they had hunted recently and cooked soup. There had also been time to stage some contests of strength so that as a new Chieftain, Marduk could determine who should be his Band leaders and who might deserve to or be able to keep a female.
Marduk had taken the strongest most healthy looking female for himself, plus one who had left the mines already swollen with some Orc's spawn and the young one called Ugarit. One he would use, but the other two he would protect, as Chieftain until they were fit for other Orcs. Orcs had no set rules for how to treat females, but it did not make sense to Marduk to disturb the growth of what might be a smart strong Orc or perhaps another female, or to hurt the young one with use they could not yet handle.
The other females were given to the strongest and smartest Orcs, provided these were strong enough to subdue the females. All the females seemed to resist up to the point when they found an Orc was stronger than they were, and then the would stay with that Orc and submit to him, if no stronger Orc, Leader, or Chieftain objected.
Though, as was Orc custom, Marduk ordered treated the females as he would the location of a breeding pit and ordered their bellies kneaded if Nimrod had lately been using them. He was a new Chieftain, and it would do no good to have his predecessor's spawn rising up all around him. Nimrod had not even been a Westerner.
The eight horses rode south at a moderate pace, never outpacing Nightmare, who pulled the sled carrying stack of burned-clean bones, hooves, cooked horse meat wrapped in sailcloth, a quantity of larch needles, cones and bark, and some food stores all lashed to its frame; not more than was necessary to scout the path ahead. Duma ran alongside the sled, ready to take a branch from the cargo to pry the runners over any rock or hollow that snared them, as they did not follow the road. Duma carried his own belonging in the bag slung over his shoulder, and except for the things on the sled he had made, the rest of luggage was distributed to the backs of the remaining horses. Kato rode before Beryl on his mount.
They knew the Orcs would follow, so they left as few signs behind as possible. They traveled over dry ground if possible and often guided their horses to ride one after the other, single-file to disguise their number when they could not help but leave prints of broken grass behind. The party used Tsuki's stove to quickly boil water for warm drinks, as rice and foraged food were cooked by the vapor rising into the higher pots. The small heating element did not leave so obvious a column of smoke as a wood fire, and so it made their position more difficult to track. When they slept, they kept no fire for light or warmth, but used one of the smaller lanterns when they absolutely needed light and if it was cold, made their bedrolls close to each other and slept with cloaks as well as blankets over them.
Knowing Marduk would drive his Orcs to travel by night as well as day, Dale insisted they did the same. Navigating was not a problem in the area they passed through, as they knew that the mountains should stay to their left and that if they only followed the mountains, they would come to the Wizard's Vale and eventually to the road.
Kato and Beryl, being on the same horse, guided the group for the most part, with Laurel or Gwindor often riding ahead and foraging. Galadhiel, Lenaduiniel and Fei were relatively light riders, but less experienced with horses, and so they did not make good mounted scouts. They stayed at the middle of the line; the Elves watching the flanks and Fei making notes as he rode. Dale rode next, or sometimes ran alongside Nightmare, to lessen his horse's burden. Duma ran beside the sled. Tsuki rode Moon-halo at the rear, carrying his spying glass and often stopping to view the area behind them.
The Orcs were a large group, and moving a large group meant more birds and small animals were flushed from the area. When there was cooking, there was more smoke, and in daylight more motion to be seen. They knew the Orcs were following, and so they did their best to stay ahead of them.
The smaller party was not especially concerned that the entire force of Orcs would catch them. They were somewhat concerned that several scouting parties might outflank them and engage them in battle long enough for their full number to join them. They kept their stops to eat, rest, and water the horses short.
They had voted on their strategy and now their plan was to reach the Wizard's Vale as soon as possible. Kato and Beryl had latest been in that area and said that there was no longer any permanent Wizard residence there, since the war, but that Rangers and soldiers of the High King, dispatched from the capitol, held the strategic high mountain valley with its tower and views of roads and lands south, east and west.
Tsuki had lived in the Vale just over a decade ago, but he had already been warned that the place would appear much changed from that time. The Wizard that had kept him had betrayed his allies in the course of the war and subsequently been outcast from the order and then killed in a skirmish further west. There was still some question among common people as to how long ago the Wizard who had then been The White had plotted his betrayal. Tsuki did not really know if the Wizard had been plotting to take power or raise an army while he had lived there.
He had been rather...cloistered.
Their second night out since leaving the camp with the sled, Orc scouting parties had succeeded in flanking them. It had been decided already, they if they came under attack and could not continue riding, the sled would be cut from Nightmare and abandoned to speed their escape, but that was not what they would prefer to do, as the hide, meat and bones were valuable in trade. They were not highly valuable, but the meat could feed dogs certainly. The hide could be tanned and put to use, likely in some commercial function, as clothing would be made from softer skins, or it might be boiled down to make adhesive. The bones could be further burned to provide paint pigments or carved into tools and decorative items. Even the hooves had value when ground. The wood of the sled had value, even if it was only burned to provide fire. Resins from the wood had medicinal properties. The bark and needles had some medicinal properties, but the needles as well could be used in making brown dye.
The Elves were set against the death of the horse and tree being in vain. They wished every part to be used to its fullest. Still, escape was preferred to fighting over the sled and loosing further lives. Duma did not want to lose the sled. He had labored hard in gathering all the materials and hoped that he would not find Dale and Beryl had set him to his tasks solely to punish him, but because the work was necessary.
Duma understood punishment. He was an Orc, even if he was lately being told he was not only an Orc. Yet, that did not mean he enjoyed punishment. When he had finished his chores he had felt good; though he had received help, he had accomplished the list of tasks mainly by his own work. It was a feeling like that of identifying metals and making a strong alloy for the making of a Chieftain's sword, or giving some Orc a piercing they demanded.
If the attack was more than the party could handle, the sled would be abandoned, and if the sled was abandoned, all Duma's work was for nothing.
That was why Duma told Dale the Orcs were there when he saw them.
Duma hoped Dale would not expect him to fight the Orcs, and as it turned out Dale did not expect him to. Dale whistled a prearranged signal to act and drew up the hood of his cloak and dropped lightly from his horse, just as Beryl, Gwindor, Galadhiel and Leanduiniel also drew their cloaks about them and dropped from their horses. Ahead, Laurel and Fei brought their horses in close to Kato and Beryl's horse. Tsuki rode forward and reached out from Moon-halo to pat Nightmare and gave a call for Dale's horse to move faster if it was able.
"Run beside Nightmare, but do not touch him. He is still angry that you killed one of his herd. If they reach us in numbers to hinder the horses, I will cut the sled free and then you shall have to decide whether to run, hide, or fight for one side in particular."
Duma glanced up to Tsuki and then continued running, matching his pace to Dale's horse.
"Break a leg," Beryl called from the ground.
"To you also," Tsuki said and then grabbed Duma by the back of his jacket to keep him from stumbling. "He was wishing us luck. It is the language of entertainers."
Duma recovered his balance quickly and turned around. He could see the Elves, but just barely. They were lying in the heather making their bows ready.
"If you stand watching their position then you choose your side now!" Tsuki hissed.
Duma understood. The Orcs had his night vision. They would see where he looked and guess the Elves were there. Duma cocked his head and shifted his gaze and saw the Orcs walking stooped and in a loose formation and splitting their force, some to chase the horses and others to sniff out the Elves.
Duma could not choose, in fact he felt a sudden sense of dread as he wondered what would become of him if Dale lost this battle. Would the Orcs have any use for him at all? Would they take him back? Most did not know of his skills. His old Master was dead, he had eaten a piece of his heart. He could not be a pet again, yet he was not certain Orcs would accept one who was so different as an equal.
Duma turned his back on the Orcs and the Elves and ran.
"Now," Dale called out the moment that Duma ran. The five Elves rose onto one knee and loosed their arrows at the Orcs. Dale knew that not all Orcs had equal night vision. Elves had keen senses and the Orcs were not the only ones who would be able to track their enemies by sound or offensive smell. Actually, as Elves were practiced at moving without disturbing their environment, they made little sound, and so Dale imagined they might actually have the advantage, despite being outnumbered.
Dale was about to give the order to draw swords when he felt Gwindor's hand upon his shoulder. "Wait." Gwindor pressed Dale's shoulder to guide him over the low vegetation to a slightly different position. Gwindor saw that the Band was dividing and thought the better strategy would be to attack before the farther group could reach Tsuki, but after there was enough distance between the Orcs that the Elves could slay the near group before the remaining Orcs could join them, thus they would not have to face their greater number all at one time.
Dale saw this after Gwindor stopped him. He could see that there was a better strategy than just rushing all the Orcs at once. The risk was that the Orcs moving toward Tsuki would not rush back to face five Elves who had just killed their companions, but go after what seemed easier prey. Dale smiled. He had seen Tsuki in a battle. Tsuki could kill this entire band if he decided they threatened him or those he was protecting.
"You give the order," Dale whispered at Gwindor's ear.
The positions they were to fight in were already understood from previous conversation. Lenaduiniel found swords too weighty and since her dagger had less reach than most Orc arms and swords, she was to stay near Beryl and use her bow. Beryl was to fight with his spears, to not give their position away entirely by using his sword, and use their range to give Lenaduiniel room to draw her bow. Gwindor and Galadhiel would fight with each other using their swords. Everyone would stay out of Dale's way.
At Gwindor's command, Dale ran at the Orcs. He spun through them in a sword dance, with dagger in his left hand. Three were seriously wounded, and when Beryl gave his ancient battle cry those Orcs plus two more died as four other Elves came behind Dale to the left and the right. That left two in this group and Dale slew one as Gwindor did the other.
"The Fool!" Beryl called out. He could see somewhat by the light of the waning moon and Tsuki had dropped back from the line to meet the second group of Orcs.
Lenaduiniel strode toward the other Orcs only a few paces and then stood and fired arrows upon them.
If Beryl was worried for Tsuki, Tsuki was not, and Dale was not either. As Dale was busy stripping Orc corpses of weapons and armor and putting the loot into his cloak, Tsuki was dancing Moon-halo in and out of the party of Orcs, taking heads and arms with his sword and kicking others away from Moon-halo's left side with his booted foot.
"Perhaps not so much a fool as too brave. I had forgotten how capable he was," Beryl said, as he wiped gore from his spear onto the grass, "or Moon-halo."
Dale and Lenaduiniel had also seen Tsuki at battle in the past, and Gwindor had seen him train, but Galadhiel had not yet seen Tsuki fight. "Would he seem as skilled without that Wizard blade and that horse?"
"It is not a Wizard sword. It was found with Tsuki after the attack on his village. They are his heirlooms," Lenaduiniel said.
"And he is the one that trained his horse. He is simply, determined, intelligent and able to put his strength to its best use," Beryl said, "But all of us here are skilled in battle."
"Yeah, Gwindor. You gave orders and we didn't die!" Dale said.
Gwindor wiped his sword on some grass and then began walking to join Tsuki.
"I wasn't wrong to say it!" Dale insisted, "I guess he is thinking that it's only a matter of time, but you don't see me cackling madly and worrying that we'll all be taken and spoiled by Orcs."
Tsuki had killed the Orcs that Lenaduiniel had not, and so she put the last arrow she had drawn back in her hip quiver and waited for the three Elves behind to join her. "I do not think you are wrong, Dale," Lenaduiniel said, "You are a good friend to my brother and you give me hope for him."
"Aaaa, thanks, My Lady."
"Did you find any decent arrows?"
Dale adjusted the bundle slung over his shoulder. "I took some that I found, but you can judge their quality later."
"Can all of you still run, or should I ride and bring the horses back?" Tsuki called.
Dale jogged ahead to view the corpses and then began stripping them of their weapons and armor.
"Ride ahead and have the others slow their pace and we will run to join you," Beryl suggested.
In short time, Tsuki had ridden ahead to inform Kato and the others that the nearest Orcs had been defeated and that they should slow their pace to keep from tiring the horses too much. Dale reached his horse first, being Nightmare was at the rear. He tossed the bundle made of his cloak and then leaned against Nightmare's side, with an arm over the large horse's back and his other hand patting Nightmare's neck.
Dale whispered encouragement to Nightmare for running with the sled and promised they would rest as soon as it was safe. Dale believed that Nightmare understood. The horse did not really like Orcs and pulling the sled and all the tasks Dale asked of him were not so hard as what his previous handlers had demanded. The Elf's sled and packs were a light load compared to siege machines and military supply wagons, and the Orc whip at Dale's belt never touched Nightmare's skin.
The other Elves had reached their horses and Dale turned his head to view Duma, as he remained walking at Nightmare's side. He found Duma walking near the sled, when he turned to look over his shoulder. "You can take any weapons or armor you find there for your own," Dale told him.
"You took all of this from dead Orcs."
"Yes. They made themselves my enemies in coming after our party and so I killed them, with help of other Elves, and took their gear. It is what Orcs do. If I had left the gear, it would have been taken when their Chieftain found them, and then the rest of his Orcs might be better armed and have more arrows to use against me in the future. This is the best way."
"You burned my old clothing because it came from a dead Elf, you said. You said it was offensive. What if I knew one of the Orcs this gear came from?"
Dale stepped away from Nightmare and fell back to walk beside Duma. "If you are offended, you are offended by Orcish ways, for it is common practice with them to scavenge battlefields. Elves may, in time of war or in a desperate battle, take some arrows or a sword from a fallen enemy, or from fallen companion to avenge them, but ordinarily, if there is time, they bury enemies with all their belongings and treat allies the same, except if they intend to take a friend's belongings to deliver them to their kin or to avenge them in some way. Because Elves do this, they would be offended to see one who could be an enemy wearing garments that were obviously taken through murder or combat, but Orcs would not be offended, because they believe in taken the strength of the fallen for themselves, whether it is in eating their flesh or possessing their belongings."
"You are saying that, if I am offended, you are more of an Orc than I am."
"Or you are more of an Elf, in some ways."
Dale watched as Duma reached onto the sled and opened the bundle. There were various styles of swords, daggers, and knives, simple sheaths, scabbards, and swordbelts, bows, arrows, and quivers, with assorted pieces of mail, primitive scale, and leather armor.
Duma reached out again, thinking that he was the only one in this party that did not have weapons before. He withdrew his hand. "It is a…reward," Duma said, trying to think of the correct word for it. "Because I told you I saw them and…"
"No," Dale said, interrupting Duma's words. "I am possessed of no illusion that you acted out of loyalty to me. You knew the only way to keep the sled was to avoid our party being surprised and overwhelmed and so you acted in self-interest. That is not so bad. It means you have some pride and you think of yourself as something above a pet. If a young male finds he has something he wishes to protect, he should learn use of some weapon to defend what is his. That is not really Orc teaching or Elven belief, it is just how I think, or perhaps something I learned from Men."
Offended or not by being in the position to choose sides or Dale's purposes, Duma did agree he should have some weapon, because it seemed unfair that he should be the only one who went unarmed in their party. "What do you do with such…scavenged things usually?"
"Sell or trade most often. Sometimes if they look useful or made of good material, I might adapt them for my use."
"To take a part of one thing and add it to a part of some other thing to make something better."
"Yes, that is one way."
"I will choose later."
Dale nodded. "Well enough." He dropped back further until Tsuki brought Moon-halo to his side and Duma and Nightmare were moving away from them. "See anything?"
"It is to dark for me. Sometimes I think I sense motion, but it could be grass in the wind or animals."
"No magical sense?"
"It is possible, I believe, for one to sense the presence of specific forms of life, but I have not practiced it. I am certain it would involve focusing greatly on the Orcs. Perhaps if I knew one personally or had something of theirs, then I might locate them…"
"Have no worry. I merely wondered." Dale looked behind and then to their sides and saw no sign of Orcs. "If there are there, they are too far or too well concealed for me to see."
"Perhaps Kato remembers or has some sense of how far the Vale is. I was its area during the war, but for the most part remained further south and east, and when I traveled to the fort I went along the road."
"Beryl and he may figure it out from the maps. I hope it is not very far. The horses are being pushed nearly to their limit."
"How do you suppose the Orcs fare? Do they not need rest?"
"Depends if Marduk is still Chieftain and how determined he actually is to catch us. And perhaps how smart he is. An ignorant Chieftain would simply run his Orcs until they dropped, which would be several days. Orcs can run several days without rest, it makes races against them difficult."
"As we have seen. We should rest again, but I do not know if I trust myself to judge whether it is safe."
"To me, the best time to rest is when you have some water and concealment, before and afterward are not the right times."
"Dale, when we set out, it was only Kato, you and I, but the party is more conspicuous now, and you Elves shall be walking into at least this next settlement accompanied by two Easterlings and an Orc."
"I-I suppose I stopped thinking of you as one. I do not mean that being descended from Men in the east is bad, but I know I identified you as an Eastman in the past, and now, I only think of you as Tsuki."
"I understand. I was not so aware of it when I lived with My…The Wizard, or recently, but when I am among Men, I can never forget that I look different, because I hear their whispers all around me. You remember the night we met. We both had been involved with fights in town, and that was a town close to the fort and the people there would not have been thought evil by many. Those are the sorts of people that we must be wary of, common people who are not highly educated or widely traveled. They are not the sort to intend to do wrong, but they will fear what is strange and think it evil."
Dale laughed coldly. "I think I was forgetting how strange I look to most people."
"Fei knows; he has told us of his misadventures, but I do not know that Duma understands that some people may react with fear or anger when they see him."
"He knows he is an Orc."
"Yes…but…Dale, I suspect from the short time he has been with us and spoken to us that his time with the Orcs was not…like yours," Tsuki said carefully. "It was likely not what a Man would consider a good or happy life, but he was likely agreeable enough and knew no other life and was not punished overly much, except for displaying his more Elven traits. I doubt many other Orcs apart from his master knew he was half Elven, if they kept him in the hottest brightest room and he remained as dirty and ungroomed as the rest. I think that we have treated him decently. I think, on many accounts, we would not have treated him quite as well if we met him alone and did not know he was kin to you."
"What can I do? He is my responsibility."
"Firstly, I would suggest warning him that a person's goodness is not dependant on race, nor is it an immutable standing. Second, I would suggest you decide what this responsibility means to you, for though things may go well, it may be that you will be in a position to defend him or see him harmed by others."
"I told Duma he could have weapons. I told him that if he had something to protect he should learn to fight in its defense."
"Well enough, but you must also tell him that carrying a weapon carries an added responsibility. No one should carry a weapon they are not able or prepared to use, because in certain circumstances, the weapon may be read as a threat in itself. It may also be assumed that one who is armed is willing to chose a side to fight for."
"I wish I had not done it," Dale whispered, "I do not know what I was thinking."
"Whatever you were thinking, it was as an Orc. It is done. Duma is heir to your Orc Clan and your Elven bloodline. Whether you like it or not, you are a product of both as well."
Dale was not certain he liked it. He still though Tsuki insane for seeming
so content with the situation. But Dale thought he must be out of his
mind, for he was quite fond of the mad Easterling.