Death Or Fortune (60 page)

     As the
bodies of the Orc watchmen fell from the tops of the walls, I could hear the
screams of horror from inside the walls.  Those screams of horror soon
turned to rage when those slaves realized that they had wounded Orcs in their
midst.  Those who were in chains beat or strangled their former captors
with the iron around their wrist.  The slaves did a better job of
finishing off the Orcs who lived that I could have ever hoped for.  The
ones who were lucky enough to fall on the outside of the walls were given a
much less painful death.  Once all the Orcs on the walls were taken care
of, we all raced to the tents to assist Windfall and the others in cleaning up.
 Not that there was much for us to do.  Most of the Orcs died in
their sleep. The smell of ale was so strong inside of the tents, I was afraid a
torch might have ignited the whole place.
     As we gathered outside of the door to the slave
compound, we could hear the frenzy that was going on inside of the walls.
 People were pounding on the doors, screaming to be let out.  A
multitude of voices that all carried the same message, let us free.  I
watched as the door bulged outward, straining the planks that kept it closed.
 I knew if we did not get them calm soon, people would get hurt.
 Seeing the ladders the Orcs used to get on top of the walls I called out
to Michaels and told him to follow me.
'Why don't we just open the door?'
he asked me.  I asked him if he remembered what it was like in the city
during the riots, the mass of humanity as it raged down the streets, destroying
everything along the way. When we got to the top of the walls we could see them
all pressed against the door, hundreds of bodies all trying to force open the
way to freedom.  I told Michaels to hold his holy symbol up high over his
head and to shine his light on us.  So the people below could see us for
what we were.  
'I can do better than that'
he said as he lifted
Solarths Fist over his head.
     'Solarth, illuminate the darkness so your children
may see your blessed light.
' The head of the hammer turned white and
started to glow.  When it flashed, I had to look away from him.  So
bright was the light it seemed as if Michaels had pulled the mid-day sun from
his pocket and held it over his head.  Soon all movement below stopped, as
I watched people were dropping to their knees.  The light I was feeling
gave warmth, made me feel comfort I had not felt since I was at home.  I
just looked down on them all, their dirty and haggard faces turned towards the
light, basking in the glow.
'Darmot my friend, hurry. I can only hold this
for so long.
' Michael’s voice was strained with the effort it took to hold
that light.  I held up my hands and called down to the people below.
"My name is Captain Kromwell, my companions and I are here to help you.
 I need you to remain calm while we open the gates.  Please, we need
total calm as you exit to ensure that no one is hurt.  As you leave the
doors, your chains will be removed.  Any wounded will be attended to the
best we can.  If there are any leaders among you, seek me out once you are
free so we may talk." I turned away from the people and Michaels dropped
his arm and the light at the same time.
     I did not dare to move once the light was gone, I
couldn't see a thing.  Falling off that wall was the last thing I needed.
 Once I could see again, I started to make my way towards the ladder.
 Pare was waiting for us as we came down, his eyes were as big as his
face, asking Michaels if he could touch the hammer, to see if it was hot.
 Michaels told him it wasn't but the halfling wouldn't be put off.
'But
I felt so warm, please may I touch it?
' I could not believe my eyes as the
paladin held the head of the hammer towards the halfling.  As Pare reached
out to touch it I wanted to pull him back, remembering what had happened to me
when I touched it.  
'Do you feel it my small friend, it is cool to the
touch.  The warmth you felt was the love the good god has for you.
'
 Michaels told him.  As he passed his hand over it he let out a small
whistle.  
'Do you really think he loves me Michaels, I've not been a
very good person but I do try?
' Pare asked him.  
'Pare, Solarth
loves all of those who walk in his light. If your heart is open to his love, he
will share his light with you.'
When Pare dropped his hand from the face of
the hammer he turned to me with a smile on his face.  I told him to get
his lock picks ready to which he just waved one hand at me while holding up a
key ring.
'Orc commander had these on his belt. Windfall said we might need
them.'

 
    
I had the Dead Squad line up on either side of the door way so they could watch
for those who might need help, I let Windfall and Pare handle the chains of the
people as they came out.  At the end of this make shift gauntlet was
Michaels, almost every person who came through had to see him, talk to him,
touch him.  He told them all to rest in the fields east of the compound
and when all of the people were free, he would address them all.  Bryce
and I stood by and counted people as they filled past.  Close to three
hundred of the Othos people were being held in that black walled prison.
 As the night went on a few of them stood by Michaels, waiting with him.
 I assumed that these were the elders or leaders I had asked for.  At
some point during the night Kandella and her two guards had come down to us.
 I did not even notice when.  As the last few people were coming out
the sun had started to rise again, it was then that I noticed a man watching
me.  He was chained to six other men, all in a line.  I felt
something as he watched me, his eyes locked on mine.  As the men he was
chained to came out of the doors, they saw the Dead Squad and all of them got
excited, cheering even.  I told Bryce to stay put as I went to see what
the problem was. As I got closer to the man in the lead, he smiled at me.
'I
figured you for dead after I dropped you off in Toryth Vol lad, you bring that
damn wizard with you?
'
     It wasn't until he spoke that I knew who he was.
 Captain Nathan, owner of Nathan’s Bounty, the ship that took Zender,
Lomark, Zackary and I to Toryth Vol.  He told me that after they returned
to their home port they were hired to bring Kandella and her group to the
island, after they dropped them off the ship was captured by the Orcs.  He
and his crew were forced into slavery with the rest of the Othos people.
 The six men chained to him were all that remained of his crew.
'Lost
half my crew when they took the ship, more of them died here.  Never
thought they would send a lord to find us.  I thought for sure we were as
good as dead.  Where is the rest of your army?
' He asked me while
looking around.  I just shook my head and told him he was looking at it.
'What
in the bloody hell was your mission?'
 I told him that we were to
rescue Kandella and her people if possible, then burn the ship yard on our way
out.  
'Ya got less than two dozen men, what did they expect you to do
lad?'
 He had a look of amazement on his face that made me laugh.
 After his chains were unlocked I took him and his men over to Bryce.
     I told Bryce to find the captain and his men weapons
and armor as he just got the extra help he wanted to hit the ship yard.
'Have
ya seen the ship yard yet lad? They have put quite a fleet together, close to a
hundred ships. Most of them they pirated on the open sea but we built a good
number of them.'
I asked him if his ship was out there?
'Aye, they never
even lowered my colors, just kept it flying pretty as can be.'
 I
smacked Bryce on the shoulder and told him that he didn't have to worry about
which ship to take, just to jump on the one flying an Arcadian standard.
 I then looked him in the eye and told him not to leave without us.
'I
take it this is where we part ways then?'
 I nodded at him and told
Bryce to get Kandella, the Dead Squad and to get moving.
'I won't wait for
you forever, don't be late.'
Bryce tried to salute me but I stopped him and
pulled him towards me.  No words were said, he understood the embrace, we
were now brothers, no matter his rank or my title.  I shook the hand of
each member of the Dead Squad, telling them as a whole they might want to come
up with a new nick name.
     Michaels was speaking with the Othos leaders, I
trusted him to get the message across to them about what we had planned.
 Truth be told, at the time I didn't care what he was telling them as long
as they didn't give us a problem.  Not that it would matter in the end.
 I looked around, I didn’t see Windfall anywhere, Pare was talking to
Kandella while the others were getting ready to leave.  I looked at the
mass of people on the field, while most of them seemed to be in good health, I
just couldn't see them fighting.  They looked like simple people, a bit
more studied than their cousins to the south but still a simple people.  I
started to head towards them when I tripped over Mason the wolf.  It was
all I could do to keep myself on my feet.  I turned around to look at the
beast, his eyes met mine then he looked off to the east.  His ears were
standing straight up and I could see the fur on his back had started to rise,
when he started to growl I knew something was wrong.
'DARMOT!'
Windfall
screamed, I looked up and saw him perched on the walls of the black building.
 He was pointing to the east, he tried shouting to me but the sound of the
Orc horns filled the air.
     The Orc army was marching right towards us. We were
not ready for this and all of us knew it.  I saw Bryce and the Dead Squad
running towards me.  I called out to them, told them to find something to
brace the door of the black building, something we could use on the inside.
 They scattered around the camp in every direction, leaving Kandella lost
and confused.  I called out to Pare who was racing up the ladder to join
Windfall on the wall, when he looked at me I pointed to the priestess.
 Giving me a quick thumbs up he raced back down the ladder and ran to her,
leading her towards the slave building.  I then turned towards Michaels
who was standing there in front of all those people.  He was doing
nothing, just watching to the east. I shook my head and sprinted towards him,
calling out his name.  I got all the way to his side and he still did not
respond to me, his eyes were locked to the eastern horizon.  I put my
hands on his shoulders, turning him to face me.
'Darmot my friend, it would
appear the Orc army is coming.'
I shook my head at him, telling him that I
knew that.  
'What will you do now?'
He asked me that like he asked
me the day before what was for breakfast.  Like he knew what it was that
he was about to do.
     I shook him a bit and told him to get the people up
and to get them back inside of the slave compound.
'It is called the Black
Vault, it was once a great school for magic, there are rooms underground, they
would hide their sick down there until they were well enough to work.'
 I shouted his name at him as once again the Orc horns sounded.
 Shouting at him to get them all inside, it was the only way we were going
to survive.
'You may be correct, it should be easy to defend and they can
hide people below.'
 I didn't even wait for him to finish.  I
turned towards the crowd of Othos and told them to move and to get back inside
the black walls. Now that I had spoken to them, Michaels was shouting at them
to move quickly but safely. Telling them that it would all be over very soon.  I
sprinted away from him towards Bryce and the Dead Squad who were now all
gathered around the gates. They had recovered the planks we pulled off the door
from the night before but they were damaged.
'It won't hold long but it will
give us a fighting chance. You want us on the walls or in the yard holding the
door way?
'
     I looked at Bryce and wanted to throttle him.  I
told him to stick to the plan; that he had to take the ship yard now.
'Sorry,
it is too late for that. We are not going to leave you here. So we all fight
here or we all hit the ship yard.'
Othos people were moving in orderly
lines back into the walls, it made me wonder if they could hear the horns or
the marching feet of over two thousand Orcs.  I started to wonder if all
that time in captivity had broken their minds.  I looked at Bryce, tell
him to get moving, telling him that the ship yard had to burn, telling him that
it was an order.
'Maybe I am done following orders
.'  He then
reached up, pulling the rank pin from his shoulder and tossed it in the dirt.
 He then slapped me on the shoulder and said
'I'll see you on the wall
pal.
' I couldn't say anything as he turned away from me, I could only watch
as he made his way to the ladder where he climbed up to the top of the wall. I
picked up the rank pin and walked towards the men.  I tossed it towards
them watching as most of them moved out of the way, Nelson caught it without
even thinking.

     'Pig
farts!'
he said when he saw what it was in his hand.  I saluted him
and told him congratulations on his new promotion.  I told him to take the
sailors we freed to the ship yard to finish our mission.  They would be
more than happy to help as long their ship didn't get burned.
'But sir!'
I held my hand up and told him that all of Arcadia was counting on him now.
"Do not let us down Lt. Nelson, your king and your nation is counting on
you." I could see the argument in his eyes but in the end, I won.  He
turned away, screaming for his new men to get moving. The rest of the Dead Squad
stayed with me, they were there on the walls with me as the Orcs crested the
far hill.  They were there on the wall with me when it happened.  If
not, I might not believe what I saw that day. Even with all those eyes there,
telling me it was real, I still have trouble.  Sometimes, I still don't
believe.  I still need someone to remind me of what it was that we lost.