The Jongurian Mission (55 page)

Bryn gave one more look at Iago and the man smiled at him, then he followed his uncle around the boulder.
Jurin and Conn were crouching next to the large boulder in front of them. Halam continued up to where Wen and Willem were another few feet past them. He exchanged a few words with the two men, then came back to sit down next to Jurin.

“Wen’s going to provide some cover for Willem to move over to that boulder across the way,” Halam said, pointing toward the large rock where two of the dead Jongurian’s lay.

“That’s got to be at least thirty feet of open ground he’ll have to move across,” Jurin said.

“I think it’s Willem’s idea,” Halam said.
“He wants to provide a target to draw out some of the enemy, giving Wen a better shot.”

“He’s crazy,” Jurin replied.
“But it might be just what we need right now.”

“He wanted me to tell you to get ready to fire.
He’ll be running across in just a minute,” Halam said.

Bryn looked up to where Willem crouched down behind the boulder.
He was taking off his pack and loading one of the Jongurian crossbows. He looked back at them and nodded, then said something to Wen before dashing out into the open ground. Several crossbow bolts sailed out at him, but they all landed just behind him as he ran. Wen stood up and fired his bow, and Bryn saw one of the Jongurians far ahead drop down with an arrow in his chest. Jurin also rose up a moment after Willem set out and he too managed to hit a man with the crossbow, sending him to the ground with a loud shout of pain as the bolt entered his shoulder. An arrow flew right in front of Willem before he dove through the air over the last few feet to land safely behind the large boulder. He looked back at them and smiled. His gamble had paid off; two more Jongurians lay dead or dying ahead of them.

Their moment of joy was short-lived; from behind them Iago shouted up that they
had company. Bryn spun around and peered over the boulder that he and Rodden were crouching near. Several Jongurians could be seen shuffling into the open ground through the narrow canyon that they had just emerged from. An arrow from Trey went sailing through the air to take one of them in the chest while the man next to him went down hard to the ground grasping at a crossbow bolt in his stomach, compliments of Iago. Both crouched back down behind their boulder to reload and smile. When Iago had another bolt ready to fire he stood up to look, but the men in the canyon had learned quickly and were now wary of showing themselves. From further out in the open area of the Oval an arrow sailed through the air. It hit the boulder that Iago was leaning against and he immediately hit the ground for cover.

Trey spun around to level his bow in the direction the arrow
had come from and a crossbow bolt struck the boulder just inches from where he was crouching. A Jongurian had crept up along the mountain wall to get a better position on the three men blocking the entrance into the open field of battle. Jal leveled his crossbow at the man and fired, taking him in the side as he tried to get back to the entrance. The main let out a cry of pain and kept on crawling, but Trey took aim with his bow and sent an arrow into his upper back. The man fell forward onto the ground and lay still.

“That was close,” Bryn heard Iago say as he looked over at the dead Jongurian.
More movement came from the canyon and Trey sent an arrow into it but it bounced harmlessly off the stone wall.

“We’ve got to get out of here
!” Conn said beside Bryn. “The Jongurians’ll steadily get closer from both directions until they have us.”

“Wen, any ideas?” Jurin shouted.

“We could run for it,” Wen called back.

“We may have to,” Halam said loudly. “They’re closing in on us.”

* * * * *

After quickening their pace for another minute after the horn had been sounded, the narrow canyon walls suddenly spread out into a large open space. Leisu could clearly see why they called it the Oval, for it took on exactly that shape as it stretch on for a couple hundred feet ahead of them before the walls narrowed once again. The men were still moving quickly when the opening appeared and a shout was heard from up ahead. An arrow sailed out and struck one man in the chest followed by a crossbow bolt a moment later, taking another in the stomach. Both men collapsed to the ground, although the one with the bolt in his stomach flopped around some.

“Get back,” Liu yelled at them, and the men pressed back into the canyon quickly.
One man tried to crouch down and help the fallen man writing on the ground in pain, but an arrow struck the canyon wall just above his head and he quickly moved back.

“Well, we know that we’ve got them pinned between us and Hu
i’s men,” Ko observed as they huddled close to the canyon walls. Every so often a man would peek too far out and an arrow would clatter against the stone wall.

“Yes, but they have us in a tight spot as well,” Leisu said.
He turned to Liu. “We need to see what’s going on, can’t you get one of your men close enough to the entrance to report back?”

“I’ll try,”
Liu said, then turned to a man close to him. The man took the sword from his belt and the bow from his shoulder and got down onto his stomach. He crawled right up the wounded man and put his hand on his mouth as he tried to speak, then crawled further ahead and out of sight. A few moments later he came crawling back and got to his feet.

“They’ve got three men crouched behind a large boulder directly in front of the entrance,” he said.
“It looks like another few are spread further out into the Oval. I saw a few of Hui’s men dead on the ground around where the Adjurians are.”

“We’ve got to get in there and finish them off
!” Leisu said.

“I’ll not waste my men’s lives by charging out into a hail of arrows,”
Liu said to Leisu with a cold look.

Leisu returned the look, but knew that he could do little to force the man.
He looked to the few men that he’d brought. “Get in there and clear a path,” he said.

One of the men crept up to the canyon wall and crouched down.
He passed the wounded man and was out of sight, but a moment later they heard a cry and he fall back into view, an arrow sticking from his chest. He tried to pull at it, but quickly died. More cries came from further in the Oval.

“Those sound like Jongurian cries,” Ko said.
“They’re far enough in the distance that they can’t be the Adjurians, unless they’ve made it much further in just the past few minutes.”

“They know we’re here and
’ll be taking more chances to get out of that deathtrap,” Liu said.

“Which means that we need to take more chances getting in,” Leisu snapped back.

Liu gave him another hard look then turned to his men, nodding his head toward the Oval. Four men crouched down onto their knees with their bows out. Two of them crept along the wall and advanced toward the entrance while the other two hung back. Several arrows sailed out at them, but the shots were too high and bounced off the walls. They moved forward a bit more then ducked back as more arrows came at them. They waited and then advanced once again. Leisu had to admit that they were brave, or else heavily motivated by the money that now weighed down Liu’s pockets. When they got as far as they felt comfortable with, which was close to the three dead men, they raised their bows and fired while the other two men rushed over to the wall on the other side. No return fire came and they crept up a little further, quickly vanishing from sight.

* * * * *

From up ahead Bryn saw a Jongurian run from one of the side canyons on the left to join another man behind one of the boulders in front of them. Willem tried to get a shot off at him with his bow but missed, and while he got back down to reload a Jongurian from a side canyon on the right ran out to take up a better position behind a boulder fifty feet in front of him.

“There’s still another boulder between Willem and those two men in front of us,” Jurin said loudly for all around to hear.
“If we can send him running up to it we might be able to draw them out and get a shot.”

“Aye,” Halam said, and he began waving at Willem, getting his attention quickly.
He motioned with his hands that they wanted him to run up to the next furthest boulder. He nodded back that he understood and readied his crossbow. A moment later he nodded again then sprang up into a fast run. Several arrows sailed out from the canyon entrance behind him but they landed in the dirt at his heels. Trey jumped up and took a shot, hitting a man in the chest with an arrow and sending him to the ground. Jal aimed at another with his crossbow but the man was able to duck the bolt and get off a shot with his bow, sending the arrow too high. The two men that were taking shelter behind the boulder in front of Wen and Halam anticipated what Willem was trying to do, however, and remained crouched down for protection.

“Not so lucky that time,” Jurin said when Willem reached the boulder safely.
“They didn’t take the bait.”

“We still got two behind us,” Rodden reminded him, but Jurin shrugged his shoulders as if that were little consolation.

Willem was now in a precarious position. The boulder he was hiding behind left him open to the men in the canyon thirty feet to his rear. Iago realized this and Bryn heard him tell Trey and Jal to keep a close eye out for any movement in that direction. Only ten feet ahead and to his right were the two more men that Willem had tried to draw a shot from when he made his dash. Both remained out of sight in their position and there was little that he could do to draw them out without himself drawing fire from the man who had come out of another side canyon and was now taking shelter behind a boulder twenty feet ahead and to his right. He seemed to sense his predicament and kept low to the ground to create as little of a target for the many bows aimed in his direction.

“We’ve got to get him out of there,” Halam said to the others around the two boulders where he sat.

“Any suggestions?” Jurin asked.

“What if we send another man to run to the position that Willem just left?” Rodden asked.

“Too risky,” Wen called back. “They’d be expecting that. Anything we do now to draw fire away from Willem will just as likely put him in greater danger.”

“What if we send him right up to the other side of the boulder that those two men are hiding behind?” Halam suggested.

No one said anything for a few moments then Wen nodded. “That just might be our only option.”

Halam nodded and leaned out from the boulder to his left so he could get Willem’s attention.
Willem gave a weak smile and Halam waved at him to move up some more. Willem shook his head that he didn’t think that was a good idea, but Halam kept on waving at him, so he relented. Drawing out his shortsword he inched toward the edge of the boulder. When Jurin sent an arrow sailing toward the two men to strike the boulder he dashed out and made the ten feet without drawing a shot from any direction. He didn’t waste any time stopping but let his momentum carry him to the far edge of the boulder so that he could take a shot at one of the men with his loaded crossbow. He must have hit him, for Bryn heard a loud groan and saw the other man stand up straight. Wen sent an arrow sailing into his chest and the man grabbed at it for a second before falling forward to slump over the boulder. At the same moment another Jongurian from the side canyon emerged and sent an arrow toward Willem while the man from behind the boulder thirty feet ahead and on the right of the Oval did the same. One struck the boulder just inches from Willem’s head and he ducked down and began to whirl around to get back behind the boulder, but he wasn’t fast enough. The other arrow slammed into his leg above the knee and he let out a loud groan. Jurin jumped up and sent an arrow toward the side canyon, taking the man in the chest.

“Quick
,” Wen yelled out, “move up to Willem!” He waved at Conn, Bryn, and Rodden, and pushed Halam out into the open beside him. Halam had little choice but to run if he didn’t want to remain an easy target, so he dashed quickly ahead toward Willem.

“Go
!” Jurin yelled at the other three, and Bryn felt Rodden pull him to his feet and push him forward and out into the open.

All three ran as fast as they could.
Bryn stole a quick glance back and saw Jurin up and firing an arrow behind him toward the canyon entrance while Trey, Jal, and Iago all did the same from their position. They must have hit a few for he heard some cries of pain come from that direction. Arrows sailed out from behind them as they ran, but most landed ahead of them and to the sides. Bryn thought he heard a thump from behind him, but kept running as fast as he could. Just before he went into a sliding dive to get behind the boulder that Willem was at he saw the Jongurian further ahead of them ready a shot with his bow. An arrow hit the boulder just inches beneath his stomach and he crouched down quickly without taking a shot, however.

Bryn slammed into the boulder hard with his shoulder.
He must have been running faster than he realized, he thought as Halam grabbed hold of him.

“Thank the heavens you’re safe lad,” Halam said as he held Bryn close to him.

Rodden was breathing heavily beside him and Halam patted him on the shoulder, but Conn was nowhere to be seen. Bryn looked back and saw him laying not more than five feet from the boulder that Wen was behind, two arrows sticking out of his back. Halam saw Bryn looking back in shock at the sight of the sailor lying dead on the ground and hugged his head close to his chest.