Death Or Fortune (63 page)

      The
fields along the way to the ship yard were full of tree stumps.
 Everything within miles of the Black Vault had been cut down.  It
would be twenty years before the forest they butchered re-grew.  I walked
far enough away from the men and the wagon to take a seat on one of those
stumps.  I looked at what was left, if I had to guess it was some kind of
cottonwood tree, honestly it was hard to tell they did such a good job of
removing them.  As I sat down I looked up at Kandella and pointed to the
stump closest to mine.
'You didn't have to strike him. There is always
another way.'
she told me.  I asked her how long they had been talking
to him about them keeping Michaels.
'Close to an hour, I thought we were
making headway when you came over.'
 I smiled at the scribe and told
her that the Othos people thought she was a fairy tale creature of some kind.
 Odds are he was just trying to humor her until I came over.  I then
reminded her that he continued to insist that they were keeping Michaels.
'Yes
but they are a different kind of people, you have to understand their ways. You
can't just beat them until they see things your way. They got enough of that
from the Orcs.'

      I
shook my head at her and told her no. While I understand that every culture is
different, this was something that they were not about to give up on. We would
have been there for months trying to get him back to see that his final wish
was completed.
'Is this the type of Lord you are, the type of leader who
demands respect with his fist, instead of commanding it with your presence?'
I told her that I didn't know what type of lord I was.  That I was just a
man trying to get a job done and to grant my friend his final wish.
'I
honestly don't know why Bishop Hans sent you. How well do you know him?
'
 I told her that Hans and I were very good friends. That we had stood side
by side to battle evil, that he had saved my life while I protected his.
 We were brother’s just as much as two people who shared the same blood.
'He
adventured with you?
' I told her that he did more than just adventured with
me.  We went to war together and together we were victors and that without
him, I would not be here today.  I then told her that he sent me for one
reason and one reason only.
'What is that?'
she asked me.  I told
her he sent me because someone under his care was in danger.  He knew that
I wouldn't say no and he knew that I would be able to what he asked.
'And
how many people did you kill along the way?
' she asked.  I thought
about it for a moment before I stood up.  As I started to walk back to the
wagon I told her, far too many, far too many. 

     Even with
as slow as things were going, we made good time to the ship yard.  As the
full yard came into view from the trail I was glad we no longer had to worry
about burning them to prevent the army from launching.  Had we torched
that many ships, odds are it would have taken half the island with it.
 Close to a hundred completed ships, more would have been built in time. I
asked Captain Nathan if he knew where his ship was and how soon he could have
it ready to sail.
'Aye lad, I know right where it be. What are ya gonna do
about the troll and the Orc guards?'
 Everyone stopped to look at the
sailor, I asked him what troll?  
'Swamp Troll, nasty bugger. They keep
him chained up on the docks. Every now and then it sleeps in the water close to
shore. It will lay under there and wait for folks to walk by. You don't see
anything but a big green arm come out and snatch.'
As he said this it looked
like he was trying to grab something out of mid-air.
'Best pray to the
goddess that you are not chained to the poor sap that became breakfast.
 The Orcs wouldn't do anything other than laugh and call you lunch.'
     I shook my head for a minute as I could not believe
that we were that close to leaving and still had problems to deal with.
 All I wanted to do was get on a ship with my friends and sail away.
 We stood there and looked down on the ship yard for what seemed an
eternity.  Looking for some sign of activity from the guards below.
 When there wasn't any, I told Windfall to come with me, I wanted everyone
else to stay put until I called for them.  Pare stood up on the wagon and
started shouting
'What about me?
' I told him to stay with Kandella, to
keep her safe.  I then had to tell the same thing to the wolf that was
trying to follow behind me.  Every time I turned around the thing was
trying to follow me.  As we made our way down the trail I could hear
Windfall laughing.  When I asked him what was so funny he said
'He will
follow you till you or he dies. He is smarter than a typical animal, even with
his bond broken he is trying to follow the last order he was given. He also
knows you are the pack leader. He might follow me once we get home, he knows me
well enough. I wouldn't count on it though. The good thing is this, he is old
for one of his kind. He might only live on for a couple more years.
'
     The smell of the ocean was strong but there was
something else I could smell. Like the smell of rotting garbage and stagnate
water.
'Shouldn't we have seen something or someone by now?
' Windfall
asked me.  I could only shake my head while drawing my weapon.  There
were three large buildings on the dry side of the docks.  One was a lumber
mill where they cut wood for the ships.  A second massive building where
they wove cotton for the sails.  The last building looked to be a
warehouse of some kind.  The door on the front was smashed to splinters,
we checked that one first. Before we got there I felt a strong hand on my arm,
'wait,
listen
.' As I stood there I could hear what sounded like a metal chain
rattling.  It was coming from inside the building with the smashed door.
 I held up one finger to my lips, telling the half elf to be quiet.
 Not that I had to tell him, he was silent as a ghost most of the time as
it was.  I couldn't even hear him walking behind me as we started to move
towards the door again.  As we were standing in the door way, we could see
that the Orcs used this as their sleeping area.  Beds were over turned,
weapons all over the place and there were dead Orcs everywhere.
     In the center of the room we saw it, hunched over with
its slimy green back to us.  Seashells were clinging to its moss covered
back and we could also hear it chewing on the bones of the dead Orc.  The
chain we heard was attached to the troll’s leg, every time he moved, it would
rattle a bit.  As the smell in the room rolled out to greet me, I felt my
stomach turn.  I nearly started to gag before I backed away.  It was
just dumb luck that I backed right into Windfall, causing us to both fall over
to the ground.  He only fell because he was trying to hold me up.  At
least that is what he told me later on.  We hit the ground with a loud
crash of armor and weapons, loud enough to draw the attention of the troll.
 As I laid there I watched it turn around, it had half of an Orc leg
hanging out of its mouth.  It spit it out as it squinted its black eyes at
us; we got back to our feet as the creature let out a massive roar.  I
stood there side by side with Windfall, weapon at the ready as the beast
continued to roar at us.  I could see it reaching for something but it was
dark enough inside the warehouse that I couldn't tell what it was.
'Oh you
have got to be kidding me.'
I looked at the half elf and asked him what he
was talking about.  That is when I got hit by the bloated Orc corpse.
     I got my shield up in time but it did nothing for me.
The force of that body hitting me was like nothing I had felt before. Well,
short of having a dead dragon land on me. I was once again flying through the
air, landing on my back. I pushed the corpse off me in time to see a second
body flying at Windfall and this one had been chewed on. I could see its
intestines hanging out like some kind of necromancers kite tail.  Windfall
was able to dodge the flying corpse but couldn't avoid the rain of blood that
followed it. As I got to my feet I could see the troll running at him with the
chain dragging behind him. Windfall drew his sword and crouched down waiting
for the beast. The troll roared again as it reached its massive hands out to
grasp the half elf. Windfall waited until the creature nearly had him, what I
saw next was perhaps the most incredible thing I have ever seen a person do.  Windfall
jumped straight up into the air as the creature ran towards him.  Planting
a single hand on the head of the beast he vaulted over the creature.  With
his sword arm, he cut the head off the beast all in one swift motion.
     The trolls body continued to run, headless right onto
and then off the docks, splashing down into the water. Windfall stood there
watching it with the head still in his hand, its troll mouth gnashing up and
down in voiceless rage.
'Darmot, start a fire, we have to burn this.'
As
he said that he dropped it down to the ground.  Truth be told had he not
said anything I would have stood there looking at him with my mouth hanging
open.  I took a quick look around and started to run back towards the saw
mill, hoping to find plenty of wood that would burn quickly.  As I was
running, I could still hear the troll body thrashing around in the water.
'Hurry
up Darmot, this thing has a neck already.
' I put my sword away, dropped my
shield there and dug in, running as hard as I could. There were massive piles
of saw dust around the main saw blades but little in the way of anything else
to use.  I then saw a large wood crate sitting all by itself, I knew that
was what I needed.  I lifted up the crate and filled it with as much saw
dust as I could.  Half of which I lost while running back to Windfall.
'Look
at that thing, I have never seen a troll regenerate that fast, never.
' Its
eyes were watching us, they were blacker than the abyss.  If it had lungs
it would have been roaring at us.
     As the saw dust in the bottom of the crate started to
burn, Windfall chopped the troll head in half with one massive blow, putting
the two pieces in one at a time. The smell of that burning troll head is not
something I ever want to remember. It was like finding a bucket of rotting
fish, sitting out in the hot sun. Windfall stood there, watching it burn as I
went to get my shield.  No sooner did I pick it up did I hear that roar
again.  The troll body was crawling out of the water with its new head.  It
stood there on the docks, watching us.  Its black eyes were trying to
study us.  It then started to walk towards us, holding its chain in hand.
'Did
you know it could do that?'
he asked me.  I honestly had no idea and
told him as much.  I don't know if it knew what Windfall had done to it
but it came after me first, swinging at me with the length of chain in its
fist.  It was all I could do to avoid it, I then lashed out at the
creature’s leg as I stepped aside. It was a deep cut in the leg, green blood
flowed from the cut for a moment, only for a moment. It continued to swing the
chain at us, to keep us at a distance. We watched as any cut we made healed
before any serious damage could be done to the creature.
     'This isn't working!'
Windfall shouted. I told
him to run to the Orc barracks to see if there were any lanterns that had not
been destroyed inside.
'What about him?'
he asked. I told him to just
run and let me worry about the troll. When Windfall sprinted off the creature
tried to give chase, I rushed towards its unprotected back and slashed at the
creature.  It dropped to first its knees and then its hands.  I stood
there and watched as the cut I opened up along the creatures spine started to
close up.  When it stood back up, the only evidence that I had hit it was
the shattered sea shell on its back.  As it turned back around to me it
lashed out with the chain, nearly taking my head off.  The sound of the
chain cutting through the air filled my ears as it flew over my head.  We
continued our twisted dance after that, the troll in a rage swinging the chain
around.  I have to admit, I started to enjoy it.  The thrill of the
fight, the deadly dance, knowing that one wrong move would cost us both.
 It was the first time in days that I had felt alive.  At least until
I heard Pare shouting at me to
'Kick its butt!'
I turned around and saw
the halfling and everyone else, wagon included.  I tried to scream at them
to get back but I couldn’t find the words.  The troll’s chain crashed into
me like a hammer on an anvil.
     The crash of the chain on my shield sounded like an
explosion of metal.  I was nearly knocked off my feet. That is when
Windfall came running out of the Orcs barracks with a small barrel under his
arm. He shouted for me to get between the creature and the water.  He then
threw the cask at the creatures back, it smashed open, soaking the creature
with the liquid inside. It turned towards the half elf in a rage, whipping out
at him with its chain. Windfall deftly side stepped the blow and went to the
burning crate the other troll head was in. Ripping a burning board off the side
of the crate, Windfall threw it at the creature. The reaction was almost
instant, the creature ignited into a ball of fire.  It started to flail
about, trying to stagger towards the water, all the while beating at the flames
that covered his body.  Seeing a chance to end it, I rushed the creature
ramming into it with my shield.  With a great crash, the burning troll was
knocked to the ground.  Windfall quickly planted his sword blade into the
creature’s skull.  We stood there together, watching it burn until nothing
remained of the creature.  The half elf chuckled a bit and when I asked
him what was so funny he just looked at me with that half a grin on his face
and told me
'this is not a smell you will ever forget.'
     With the troll dead and burnt, I told the men to get
the ship ready to leave.  I asked Windfall to help me with something as
everyone else followed Captain Nathan and his men to the ship. We went inside
of the building where they made the sails and found a large enough sheet of
cloth to wrap Michael’s body in.  I figured that was for the best.
 We laid the cloth on the ground at the rear of the wagon, then the two of
us set him down to wrap the body.  With that task completed I turned
around to see Pare and the wolf watching me.
'Darmot, are we really going
home now?'
I told him we were and he started to look uncomfortable.
 When I asked him why he just looked at me,
'do you think we could come
back one day? I kinda want to come visit Miri and Ebbit again.'
I looked at
my little friend and smiled at him.  I told him it is something we could
think about in the days to come.  We have not talked about it yet but it
may be something we do.  Windfall and I carried Michaels to the ship,
placing him in a hold down below.  The next time I set foot on dry land we
were back at home on Arcadian soil.