The Game of Fates (64 page)

Truly,
the finding of the Kale Stone and the power that it would bring to the Kale Gen
were being met with the fiercest of opposition.

Durik
sighed resolutely.  Such a massive challenge as the two hordes that were
approaching was almost more than he could fathom.  If he hadn’t seen both
hordes himself, he would have been tempted to disbelieve that the Fates could
bring such misfortune on his gen.

He
had once heard one of the old warriors of the gen pontificating on how to every
action there was an opposing action; for every good there was a bad, and for
every up there was a down.  He didn’t know if finding the Kale Stone was such a
powerful event as to merit the reaction they were getting.  Two massive,
unconquerable hordes?  If this was the Fates’ idea of fairness, Durik would put
his faith in other things.

Steeling
himself once again, Durik strode up the path out of the sunken meadow up to
where his warrior group had gathered.  Kobolds stood among wolves in small
groups around the little clearing off to one side of the path to the picket
line.  At the edge of the group, Kiria and the others stood with their riding
dogs looking into the night and chatting among themselves.  As he and Manebrow
emerged, Kiria looked up at him, then blushed and turned away. 

The
brightness of the moon this evening, mixed with the subtle lining of these many
figures that the heat vision of his race provided, etched a permanent image of
them all in his brain, one that he would likely remember forever.

Arriving
at the rear of the column, Durik patted nervous warriors on the shoulder,
encouraging them as he went.  He spoke words of care for the small handful of
warriors who had lost relatives in the recent overthrow.  With fire in his eyes
for the task at hand, he clapped hands with his uncle Drok, the unspoken look
they gave each other in the moonlight showed their mutual determination to
protect all that was precious to them.

Coming
to Kiria and her little team, Durik smiled a tender smile.  “I am glad to see
you three with us,” he said.  “It appears that tonight and tomorrow will be as
eventful as these past couple of weeks have been.”

Terrim
and Myaliae laughed, but Kiria just looked nervously at the ground.

“Kiria,”
Durik said as he laid a tender hand on her shoulder.  “Let us focus on the task
at hand.  Tomorrow will be a new day, and a new cause for hope.”

Surprised
by his indirect comment, Kiria looked up into his eyes.  The care she saw there
gave her hope enough to last the night and into the battle on the morrow.

Finally,
arriving at the front of the column, Durik took the reins from his servant
Kabbak’s hands and mounted Firepaw.  With a nod of thanks and dismissal for
Kabbak, he turned Firepaw about so he could face his contingent of wolf riders.

“Warriors
of the Wolf Riders Warrior Group!” he began.  The little column of warriors
gathered closer to him in the cool night air of spring.

“This
night we strike the first blow against our foes!”

All
about him, voices and weapons were raised in hearty, if somewhat nervous
support.

“I
would remind you, my friends and neighbors, that six years ago these same orcs
came against us.  Their blades took from us many whom we loved.”  Durik paused
slightly as his thoughts turned to his father and mother, both of whom had died
in that raid.  “They caught us sleeping then, but not this time!”

Again,
somber yet determined voices were raised in support.

“Warriors
of the Kale Gen!  Let us show these orcs that we will not suffer their evil any
longer!  No, we will fight them!  Tonight in the forests we will ambush them. 
We will tear their throats with our swords and place their heads on our spears,
and deal nothing but death without mercy to these evil creatures!”

A
chorus of adrenaline met his words.

“And
tomorrow, by the Fates, our gen shall come to battle against those few we leave
for them to fight!  May the Bloodhand Orc Tribe never forget the death and
destruction we are about to sow among them, for tonight… tonight we conquer!”

The
shining eyes and raised voices of the entire warrior group met Durik’s.  As
one, on Manebrow’s command, the entire warrior group mounted their wolves and
spurred their mounts to a slow jog.  Whereas before they had been tentative,
almost fearful, now the column of wolf riders moved forward as one with
determination in their eyes and an eagerness to strike the first blow against the
evil that had entered their valley.

Not
one torch’s burning after the Wolf Riders Warrior Group left on the main path
toward the foothills of the northern mountains, a small team of dog riders
appeared out of the forest near the sunken meadow of the Kale Gen’s home. 
After a brief discussion with the sentries, the small group of riders spurred
their mounts to continue moving forward, bypassing the path down to the
entrance into the caverns and instead heading toward the limestone quarry.

What
awaited them at the large open field between the quarry and the sunken meadow,
however, was more surprising than their arrival.  Spread throughout the field
were elite warriors, evenly spaced and standing rigidly straight.  In the
middle of the field stood Lord Karthan and a pair of warriors with ram’s
horns.  On his command, first one of the two warriors blew a signal, then the
other echoed the exact same signal.  In rhythm the various elite warriors
posted around the field yelled commands over their shoulders, then one would
run one way, another would run a different way, and so on and so forth, though
eventually they all ended up in one line, though still spaced quite a few steps
apart.  Their movements were surprisingly neat, intuitive, and symmetric for a
group arrayed with such space between them.

Dropping
the hood of his cloak, Krall, son and heir of Lord Krall from the neighboring
gen, dismounted and handed his reins to one of the other riders.  After passing
his reins to another rider as well, the house guard warrior stepped up next to
Krall.

“What
do you suppose they’re doing?” Krall asked.

The
warrior shook his head.  “Drill, I suppose, though this is certainly more
complex of a drill than just getting in a shield wall.  Perhaps this is the new
drill that their Patrol Guard was trying to work out last fall before the snows
arrived and kept them underground for the winter.”

Krall
stepped forward.  In front of the entire formation, observing the maneuvers,
Khazak Mail Fist was yelling at one of the warriors who had obviously not moved
according to plan.  After getting his message across, Lord Karthan had given
another command which was played on one ram’s horn, then echoed on the other. 
In slightly better precision the group of warriors moved at a measured pace
back to the positions they had been in when Krall and his group of riders had
originally arrived.

“Khazak,
old friend,” Krall called as he walked up to Lord Karthan’s grizzled
chamberlain. 

“Well,
now,” Khazak said in surprise, “if it isn’t Lord Krall’s oldest whelp!  I do
hope you brought more with you than just this handful of warriors!”

Krall
nodded, “Aye, Khazak.  These are just my bodyguard, though I bring news of
Ardan and his team as well.  They brought word of the orc horde’s pending
arrival, but are currently serving with my gen’s scouts.”  Pointing back the
way he came, Krall continued.  “Except for a small number of border guards, the
entire strength of my gen marches behind me as we speak.”

Khazak
strode forward and grasped Krall by both shoulders, beaming with pride.  “Ah,
lad, that’s wonderful to hear!  We’re in sore need of every one of your
warriors!”

By
this time Lord Karthan had given the command for the elite warriors to rest in
place and had walked up to join the small group.

“Then
the Kralls march with us?  That’s excellent news!  How far behind would you say
the strength of your gen is, then?” Lord Karthan asked.

Krall,
released from Khazak’s grip, adjusted his cloak on his shoulders and answered. 
“Lord Karthan, may I say that it is wonderful to see you and Khazak here.  We
were not sure who we would find in charge of the Kale Gen, what with Khee-lar’s
attempt on your life and all.”

Lord
Karthan nodded, his exuberance tamped down a bit by the reminder of so recent
an evil.  “Aye.  We took back the gen from that traitor and his lackeys only
this morning.  It has been a long day, that’s certain.  But come now, how far
behind are your warriors?”

“My
father’s intent was to set up camp at your picket line,” Krall answered.  “He
sent me forward to ask where you plan to fight the orcs, and to discover your
strength and your plans for taking on this orc horde.”

Khazak
Mail Fist looked at Lord Karthan, who was obviously steeling himself to tell
Krall what both of them were thinking.

“Krall,
have you heard of the ants yet?” Lord Karthan asked.

“Aye,”
Krall said, perplexed by the question, “we’ve been fighting them these last few
days.”

Lord
Karthan shook his head.  “No, Krall, have you heard of the new ant horde, the
one that is coming up from the underdark?”

The
surprised look on Krall’s face belied a calm interior.

“Apparently
there’s a much larger ant horde coming through the underdark, directly toward
our gen’s home caverns.”

Krall
shook his head.  “Oh, no.  More ants?  How do you know?  And how do you know
they’re heading for your gen?  Who’s to say they don’t just take the Crossway
to the exit in the middle of the valley and head toward our gen?”  Krall was
beginning to fully grasp the direness of their situation.

“Now
calm down, lad,” Khazak broke in.  “Jerrig, one of our warriors, killed the ant
queen here in this valley.  According to Durik’s visions, this new ant queen is
her mother, and she’s coming after the gen that killed her dear daughter.”

“Then
why don’t we just seal up the entrance to the underdark near our gen?” Krall
retorted.

“That’s
a great idea, Krall,” Lord Karthan answered.

“But?”
Krall asked, not believing it could be that simple.

Lord
Karthan sighed.  “But there is a third entrance now.  You may have read about
the ‘Doorstep’ that was sealed off generations ago.”

Krall
thought for a moment.  “Yes.  It was a passageway through the northern
mountains that… also… led to the underdark.  Oh, foxdung!”

Lord
Karthan just nodded.

“And
the orc horde is between us and re-sealing off the Doorstep!” Krall finished.

“Aye,
Krall,” Lord Karthan answered.  “But even if we did seal that off, they’d find
another way out of the underdark.  It would only delay their arrival.”

“Then
let’s delay them!” Krall protested.

“That
we will do,” Lord Karthan answered.  “We’re bringing up the outcasts from the
underdark, after which we will seal off Sheerface, though we’ll likely wait for
the ants to get there so we can kill a few of them in the process.”

“I
need to send a messenger to my father!  He needs to seal off the mid-valley
entrance.”

“Aye,
Krall,” Lord Karthan reassured him.  “That would be the best course of action. 
Further, make sure your messenger lets your father know to stay where he is. 
We’ll be fighting the orc horde not far from where he’s camped.”

“Aye,”
Khazak added in, “and that would also allow your forces to make a dash home if
the ants don’t come this direction once they come up through the Doorstep,
though we know they’re out for Kale blood.”

Krall
nodded, the urgency of the moment restored after a long, peaceful ride through
the night forest.  “Yes, well, I believe we’ll have to have some scouts out to
make sure the ants do swing this way.”  Turning, he called out to one of the
other riders.  It was not long before a detailed message was relayed and the
messenger was on his way.

The
immediate trouble of the moment over now, Khazak put his arm around Krall’s
shoulders and led him over to where he had been reviewing the movements. 
“Come, Krall,” he said.  “You should see this.  We’re teaching our sub-leaders
some new formations.”

“It
looks more complex than just a shield wall like you Kales have always done,”
Krall replied.

“Ah,
yes.  We’re putting archers, a shield wall, skirmishers, and hopefully wolf
riders all together in one formation.  Hopefully these changes will deal with
the orc horde well enough.”

The
pair walked along in silence for a few moments, until Krall turned to Khazak.

“Hey,
so what did you mean about visions?” Krall asked.  “Durik’s been having more
visions, you say?”