The Game of Fates (9 page)

Last
to stand, the old wizened guard commander Krebbekar turned to Durik and spoke. 
“Young Durik, don’t be offended.  After all, Morigar’s not had the same
upbringing you’ve had.  He’ll come around in time.”  Krebbekar said this none
too softly, and it was obvious that Morigar had heard by the look on his face
as he turned around, then turned back to the path and continued to walk away,
tail twitching behind him.  Durik nodded and Krebbekar added, “By the way, I’d
be the one your second needs to talk to about supplies and such.  Would he be
available soon?”

After
being affronted with so much conceit and arrogance, Krebbekar’s down to earth
attitude was refreshing.  “I no longer hear the cadence of the drills,” Durik
said.  “I’d imagine he’ll be here shortly.”

Almost
on queue, Manebrow came walking around the lip of the hollow, axe in hand and
sweat beaded on his eyebrows.  “Did I miss much, sire?” he asked Durik.

“Not
much, Manebrow, just an offer from Lord Krall’s son to take over our company,”
Durik answered.

“What?!”
Manebrow exclaimed, “I’m sure you told him what you thought of that!  Take over
our company indeed.”

Krebbekar
stepped forward and extended his hand to Manebrow, who took it and looked him
square in the eyes.  “Please excuse young Morigar,” Krebbekar told him.  “My
name is Krebbekar and I’m his second for this journey.”

Manebrow
nodded, “Well met!  So, shall we talk about supplies?”

Krebbekar
nodded.  “Lord Krall and Khazak Mail Fist have decided to be rather generous to
our two groups, but it will take some work on your parts if it is to happen
quickly.”

Krebbekar
had both Manebrow’s and Durik’s full attention.  “What do you mean by ‘rather
generous’?” Durik asked.

“In
addition to the supplies my team will require and any minor supplies your
company will be needing, before he left this morning Khazak Mail Fist paid to
outfit your company with armor much akin to what I’m wearing.”

Durik
and Manebrow both looked at each other and at Krebbekar’s armor.  It was very
generous of Khazak, and they both knew it.  “What would be required of us?”
Manebrow asked.

“Well,
we understand that you have warriors that work both metal and leather.”

Durik
and Manebrow nodded.  Both Gorgon and Ardan were skilled weapon smiths, and
Jerrig was skilled in the making of leather goods.

“Since
Khazak Mail Fist has paid for the ore and leather, as well as the use of our
forges and shops for three days, you’ll need to have your warriors cast the
metal pieces and boil and cut the leather.  If you request it, we can have one
of our own on hand in both shops to help with the task, but it’s your warriors’
responsibility to make it happen in three days’ time.”

Durik
and Manebrow were astonished.  They had had no idea that Khazak Mail Fist was
planning on doing such a thing for them.  In a moment, the two of them were up
and following Krebbekar back toward their formation.  The company was gnawing
on trail rations as the three of them approached, mostly a meager first meal of
smoked meat.  As they arrived, Manebrow called for Gorgon, Ardan, Jerrig, Tohr
and Kahn to gather.  Telling them the task at hand, and giving the twins Tohr
and Kahn the duty of helping Jerrig with the leather, Manebrow asked Krebbekar
when they could begin.  Behind their leaders, the rest of Durik’s Company were
abuzz with the news of Khazak Mail Fist’s generous gift to them.

“Tomorrow
morning you may begin,” Krebbekar answered.  “Our craftsmen are clearing out
their backlogged jobs and preparing the shops today.  Tomorrow I’ll come for
your warriors and we’ll set them to work in the shops.”

With
that Krebbekar asked if Manebrow needed to talk supplies, and the two of them
decided to gather supplies together that afternoon after second meal.

As
Krebbekar walked away, Manebrow nodded his head in satisfaction.  “Things are
beginning to shape up for us, sire,” he said as he turned toward the troops. 
Looking around at everyone listening in to the conversation, Manebrow spoke. 
“Very well, no one seems to be eating, so it must be time for some chores to
get done!”

The
warriors groaned, but soon fell in line and listened as Manebrow again listed
the tasks that every warrior was to accomplish before second meal was to be
eaten as well as the agenda for the rest of the day.  Even after the company
had spent an entire day working on their equipment, there still wasn’t a wolf
skin outfit that didn’t need sewing, and most every weapon needed nicks
sharpened out of the blade.  Additionally, there would be inventorying to do of
the new equipment, animals to be fed and exercised, straps to be repaired, and
clothes to be washed and set out to dry.  Yesterday’s efforts had accomplished
much, but there was still much to be done. 

The
life of a warrior may have seemed glorious and carefree when the new warriors
had started their training just a year now in the past, but that image had long
ago been replaced with the reality of the work such a life required.  Manebrow
had constantly told them,
the more you sweat before battle, the less you
bleed in battle.
  From the list of chores it was obvious he still held to
that philosophy. 

Though
it was hard to see what most of the chores had to do with being battle ready,
the older, more experienced warriors knew differently.  It was all about being
one up on the enemy.  If you’re more prepared, you’re more confident.  If
you’re more confident, you’ll fare better.  It was a simple principle, but hard
for the young warriors to see.  Their discipline was enough of a reason,
however, and soon they set to the tasks assigned them with determination. 
Before long, the entire company was doing everything from brushing the
packdogs’ fur to sharpening blades. 

Seeing
his company anxiously engaged in the tasks given them, Durik gave Kabbak the
responsibility of ensuring his equipment and his wolf were taken care of and
then locked himself in his room with a sheaf of parchment and a charcoal pen
from Kiria. 

Once
Manebrow was satisfied that everyone was about their tasks, he set off to see
Krebbekar about the food issue.

D
urik’s servant Kabbak had pulled
most of his master’s equipment out of the room just after first meal, leaving
his master undisturbed, and Durik was now both hungry and thirsty.  As Durik
went looking for food, he saw that some of the equipment was back; his shield
and a pouch were sitting outside Durik’s door.  After inspecting and admiring
the patching job Kabbak had had done on his shield for a moment he set it down
and walked out of the quarters just before time for second meal.

Blinking
in the full light of the sun, he held a parchment in one hand and had the
charcoal pen in the other.  On the porch several of the warriors sat passing
stones of differing coarseness around, sharpening the blades of spears, swords,
and knives to a fine, but durable edge.  In the yard Terrim was examining
Firepaw’s feet while Kabbak held the big wolf’s head in his lap, gently running
a brush through his fur.  In the distance Durik noticed Kiria and her two
younger brothers playing tag around one of the large trees that ringed Lord
Krall’s lake.  It struck him as strange that the three siblings, who had been
through so much, were able to play like nothing had happened.  Surely he
thought they’d have been marred by the experience.  He knew at least
he
was different after so much blood and death.

Seeing
his leader emerge, Manebrow stood up from his seat in the corner of the porch,
quickly wiping the dust of the sharpening stones from the blade of his axe. 
“Well, sire,” he started, “the larders of the Krall Gen have been opened wide
to accommodate us.  Second meal is cooking for us as we speak, complements of
Lord Krall’s personal chefs as luck would have it!  And, in case you’re
wondering, they said they’d support us for the duration of our stay here in
this fine gen.”  Then, almost as an after-thought, Manebrow added, “It appears
that being the captain of Lord Krall’s house guard gives Krebbekar a bit more
political clout.”

Durik
smiled.  “And who would have convinced them to do such a thing for us?  I
didn’t know you had a silver tongue.”

“Well,
I uh… well, you know, just watching out for the company,” Manebrow smiled.

“Well,
what do you make of that, second?” Durik said, pointing to Kiria, Karto and Lat
who were now chasing each other along the tree line, laughing like they had not
a care in the world.

“Well,
sire,” Manebrow started in a much more subdued tone, “you can’t blame them for
trying to blow off a bit of steam.  They’ve been through much the last couple
of days and I thought it best to let her help her younger brothers deal with
it.”

Durik
hadn’t expected justification for why Kiria wasn’t working, but he nodded and
grunted his approval.  “How do you suppose they do it?  You know.  How can they
play like they’ve not a care in the world when for all they know their father
is dead and their whole world is shattered?”  Durik’s own mind reached back to
the memories of his own parents’ brutal death during the orc raid six years now
in the past, and he felt an old, familiar ache.

Manebrow’s
signature eyebrows lifted.  “Well,” he began, “for all that, they’re still
little.  The only way they know to deal with it is to play, I suppose, the same
as my three sons are likely doing right now, I’d imagine.”

Durik
nodded.  He remembered it had been some time before he felt like playing again
after his parents were killed, but everyone is different, he thought.  “Well,
shall we do our after-talk now or wait until after second meal?”

“Now’s
fine, sire.”

With
that, Manebrow gathered up the company.  Durik called to Kiria, who left her
little brothers playing while she came for the meeting.  Soon the bulk of the
company was seated on the porch while Durik stood in front of them.  Off to one
side Manebrow leaned against the porch and Kiria had parchment out to take
notes.

“Is
everyone enjoying the morning’s activities?” Durik asked.  There were several
groans from various warriors in the company.  “Well, as I hear it, Manebrow has
got us in with Lord Krall’s cooking staff.”  This time there were cheers from
the assembled crowd.  “It looks like we’ll be getting resupplied with weapons,
trail rations and such here shortly as well.”  Again there were cheers, though
more muted.  “Well, I brought everyone together to talk about what happened
these last couple of days.  I think it’s absolutely critical that we discuss
both what went right, as well as what went wrong, if we’re going to get and
maintain a competitive edge over our enemies.  I’ve only got a few rules. 
First, we’re not here to lay blame on anyone, so don’t.  Second, everyone’s
comments matter.  Third, I won’t hold anything you say here against you, and I
expect the same from all of you.  Understood?”

There
was not a warrior in this group who had not been through one of Manebrow’s
after-talks.  Durik’s servant Kabbak had not made it through the entire year of
training, but even he’d participated in a few of them.  Kiria, on the other
hand, had not.  She found the openness and honesty that the fusion between
Durik’s and Manebrow’s leadership styles brought to be refreshing; a definite
change from the constant political positioning of their gen’s council members. 
As she looked around herself, she could see that the other warriors all trusted
Durik.  Soon, Kiria watched with admiration as Durik pulled comments from the
assembled warriors as though he was plucking fruit from a tree.  She got so
caught up in watching him that she forgot for a time that she was supposed to
be taking notes.

Suddenly
Durik’s voice broke into her daydreaming.  “Did you get that last one, Kiria?”
he asked. 

Kiria
started.  “I’m sorry.  Could you repeat that, Terrim?”

“Well,
perhaps a better way to say it is that we didn’t pack the dogs’ packs in such a
way that we could easily shift pieces of their loads to other dogs, like when
we had to carry the casualties in the ant tunnels before you leaders arrived
with the wolves,” Terrim said.

“Ok,”
Durik said, pointing to Kiria, “so one point is that we need to pack the
packdogs so that we can easily shift their loads to other dogs if necessary.” 
Kiria began writing furiously.

“Yes. 
That’s right,” Terrim said.

“Good
point,” Durik said and turned his attention to Ardan.  “Ardan, what did you
think of our scouting?”

Ardan
laughed under his breath.  “Well, sire, it was passable, though I don’t think
we paid as much attention to it as we could have.”  He saw that Durik was
looking for more than that and continued.  “I think the results speak for
themselves.  Those vagabond orcs we fought early the first day might have seen
us first, but we were smart enough to set out a sentry, so we ended up catching
sight of them before they could ambush us.”

Keryak
broke in, “Yeah, but you’ve got to admit we weren’t exactly expecting to see
orcs on the path here.” 

From
the back Arbelk chimed in, “I think we saw a lot of things we weren’t expecting
to see.”  With that everyone laughed.

“Agreed,”
Ardan said, enjoying the laugh as much as everyone else, including Keryak. 
“That’s my point exactly.  Because we followed good practices and put scouts
and sentries out, even though we weren’t expecting to see anything unfriendly
out there, we ended up ambushing those orcs instead of them ambushing us.  I
think we need to keep it up, and perhaps focus on scouting even more, even when
we’re not expecting to see any enemies.”

Durik
nodded and pointed to Kiria.  “Agreed.  That’s a standard we should keep.  In
fact, we should probably put more emphasis on it now with the addition of
Morigar’s team.”

As
Manebrow looked at the rest of the company, he could see the effects of Durik’s
character on his fellow warriors.  They talked openly, honestly, and they were
excited about the company.  If there was one thing good leadership did, it was
to create a powerful, positive energy; energy to get them through the hard
times and to give them that competitive edge.  There wasn’t much a group with
such energy couldn’t do.

Just
as the conversation began to wane, one of Lord Krall’s kitchen staff arrived to
tell the assembled group that second meal was ready for them.  Closing the
discussion quickly, Durik turned the company back over to Manebrow, who had
them quickly secure their equipment before heading off to eat.

The
discussion at second meal started light, until Durik mentioned the dragons. 
Durik had gathered his three sub-leaders around him before the meal and had
told them what he knew about what lived in and around the Hall of the Mountain
King as well as about Morigar’s mission to find out about the remnant of the
Bloodhand Orcs.  Of course, when he mentioned the pair of dragons, Manebrow,
Ardan, and Gorgon all perked up.  There were many questions, most of which went
unanswered.  Finally, it had come down to trust, trust that Durik’s information
was correct and that the dragons would leave for long enough, or trust in each
other that they’d figure out what to do if that wasn’t the case. 

With
their attention refocused on their eventual departure, the leaders all talked
for some time about responsibilities and reorganizing more effectively.  In the
end they split their two teams into three; a leaders’ team that also had
responsibility for the packdogs, then two warrior teams that were organized for
scouting and climbing as well.

“With
the addition of Morigar’s team, Durik and I have decided to put Ardan fully in
charge of my team,” Manebrow said.  “I will be his second only, and no longer a
team leader.”  Laying his hand on Ardan’s shoulder, he looked his old friend in
the eyes.  “This is well deserved,” Manebrow said.

Ardan
just smiled.  He was sure Miratha would be terribly excited for him, as this
would almost certainly get him the elite warrior mark he had sought after for
so long, and give him the wealth he would need to provide for a family…

Manebrow
didn’t know the extent of Lord Krall’s generosity until he and Krebbekar
visited the various merchants and craftsmen to fill his and Krebbekar’s lists
of needed supplies.  The first place Krebbekar took them was to the mines. 
Manebrow thought it a strange place to get the supplies he needed, but soon
they were talking with the dog master that cared for the dogs that pulled the
carts in the mines, as well as the riding dogs that served the few ore caravans
the Krall Gen sent out.  Before he knew it, Krebbekar was leading a pair of
sturdy packdogs and a pair of equally sturdy riding dogs and Manebrow had a
riding dog for Kiria to replace Starshine, her mount that had been killed by an
assassin’s arrow.

Thanking
the dog master, who was none too happy with this particular order from Lord
Krall’s minister, the pair led the dogs back toward the lake to the weapon
smithy.  Manebrow asked for and was given a replacement spear for Durik, new
javelins for Jerrig, a pair of crossbows for Kiria and Kabbak with two cases of
bolts each, and a full hundred arrows with broad hunting tips in leather
cases.  Krebbekar needed much less, just a couple dozen extra arrows with
quivers.  Sharing the packdogs, Krebbekar and Manebrow soon had the equipment
loaded and were on their way.

After
a visit to the local leather worker to acquire belts, straps, and replacement
pouches, the pair led the dogs to the ration keeper for the Border Guards. 
Lord Krall had again been generous with them and the pair left with their dogs
fully weighed down.  Back in the Kale Gen meat was more of a luxury than a
staple.  Here that was obviously not the case.  Between their two groups, they
were carrying enough salted and smoked meat to last for at least two weeks.

His
list filled, and all the dogs weighed down to capacity as well, the pair of
grizzled warriors returned to the caravan drivers’ quarters just before third
meal.  They were met with excited shouts and offers to help unload.  Bringing
order to the gleeful group, Manebrow set about designating what was to be
offloaded and what was to be left.  In a matter of a few moments the company’s
equipment was separated from Krebbekar’s and Krebbekar was on his way.