The Staff of Sakatha (22 page)

“Kids,” said Proteus and shook his head as a broad grin came across his face. “It takes me four days to recover from something like that.”

“You drink too much frequently?” said Jon although he also laughed at Sorus’s new found energy.

Proteus looked at Jon and raised his eyebrows, “Come on, Sir Sorus, let’s try and find a ford in the river so we can head up in the mountains, find that relic, and get back to my boys before the First Rider even knows we’re on the mission.”

Jon pulled on his reins and turned his horse north and upstream, “I’ll head north,” he said and spurred the two toned trotter into a canter.

“I guess we’ll go downstream,” said Proteus to Sorus and the young man looked up towards the square jawed former knight and managed to glance at the sun. He turned his head and closed his eyes, “Ughhh, maybe I’m not so great,” he muttered and bent over for a moment but managed to keep from a repeat performance.

“Mount up there, Nightwalk,” said Proteus, “and let’s find that ford before Sir I’ve got ten girlfriends back home finds one and starts to feel even better about himself.”

Sorus managed to get back on is horse and they took off downstream at a slower pace than Jon. It took them about twenty minutes to find a good spot to cross the river and they met up with Jon about half way back. A quick decision sent them across the river and within an hour they approached the foothills of the Mountains of the Orc.

“Where does that map say we head up?” said Sorus as they rode along the foothills and occasionally glanced towards the mountains that loomed high above them.

“It’s not really that fine a map, Sorus,” said Proteus with a glance towards the saddlebag where the map rested. “We should find a small trail somewhere along here and then head up. If we find the right one then we’ll find some ruins about halfway up the mountain but it might be dark by then.”

“Great, another night in the mountains,” said Sorus. “At least I’ve still got my cold weather gear from the last time.”

Soon enough they found a trail but, before they headed up, Sorus spent considerable time scouting out the region to look for any hidden ambushes. When Proteus looked to Jon the young knight nodded his head and said, “You can’t blame him after what happened before,” and then explained the death of Mikus to the older knight.

“The problem,” said Proteus in a low voice to Jon while Sorus was off, “is that an ambush might be around any corner and you can’t spend hours looking under every rock.”

“I know,” said Jon, “but I think we can afford to lose ten minutes here and he’ll learn in time that sometimes things just happen and no one is to blame.”

After the short delay they led the horses up into the mountains on the small trail. They spent most of the day in the slow ascent and stopped once when a goat almost ran headlong into them. Proteus took it down with a quick shot from a small bow he carried at his side and they dressed the creature quickly before they continued the journey.

“I don’t think we’ll make the ruin before nightfall,” said Proteus as he looked to the darkened sky. “We should find a campsite soon. There are goblins up in the hills most nights and they’ve been more aggressive of late.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” said Sorus as he continued to look at each large rock or tree in the hopes he might spot an attack before it happened. “Can we start a fire to cook the goat?” he said, “or should we try not to draw attention to ourselves with the smoke and light?”

Jon looked to Proteus who replied, “A fire should be all right if we keep it under an overhang. Smoke isn’t easy to see at night and the light won’t be visible from too far away if we keep it low.”

Soon enough they sat around a fire, goat haunch over the open flame, as they drank hot water and complained about the already cold temperature. “It’ll be colder later,” said Proteus. “Jon, do you think we should set watches or just try and get a good night’s sleep?”

Jon shrugged, “Watches are probably a good idea just to get into the habit. It might take us a couple of days up here to find the ruins and if we’re on the wrong path longer than that.”

“Sorus,” said Proteus to the young knight, “why don’t you get to sleep first to recover from your overindulgence, I’ll take the first watch after dinner, Jon you take the second, and Sorus can take over from you until morning.”

Late that night Jon shook Sorus’s shoulder as the boy lay curled under the heavy wool blanket and it took a moment for him to wake up, “Hmmm,” he grunted, “my watch?”

“Here,” said Jon and handed him a mug filled with hot liquid, “I stoked the fire a bit and boiled some water. This should wake you up, drink it and have some food as well, that helps on watch.”

“Thanks, Jon,” said the boy as he rolled out of his blanket and found his heavy boots in the dark after a missed grope or two. He knocked them together and flipped them over for a few seconds before he put them on his feet, while Jon crawled under his own heavy woolen blanket and began to breathe heavily within a few seconds.

The moon was low on the horizon when Sorus looked up from his cup of coffee towards the sky. Even at this lower altitude of the mountains the sky seemed clearer than on the ground near Black Dale and the twinkles of the stars gleamed like lanterns during a festival night. The moon was low on the horizon and the only sounds that came to the young knight’s ears were the snores of Proteus and the rhythmic croaks from the little frogs that lived in the trees. On the night he and Jon chased the goblins into the cave he didn’t notice such things and he couldn’t help but stare at the stars and listen to the new sounds for a moment before he shook off his wonder and looked around the camp. By the fire several chunks of goat meat sat in a pan and the coffee pot rested on a little mesh tray just next to the fire.

Sorus took a few steps over to it when a small crack from somewhere beyond the camp caused him to stop suddenly and snap to attention. In the night it was impossible to tell from what direction the noise came, but the camp rested against a little notch in the hillside which limited the possibilities. He stood frozen with the empty mug of coffee in one hand, strained his ears towards the darkness, and waited for another sound, but long minutes passed without a repeat. Sorus realized he wasn’t breathing and took in a large gulp of air when an owl flew silently overhead. It was only the fact that he happened to look in that direction that he noted the creature at all and he jumped backwards with a cry as it sailed a few feet over his head.

Proteus and Jon were up in a flash, both with swords in hand as the first looked into the darkness and then at Sorus, “What is it?” they said almost in unison.

“Just an owl,” said Sorus. “It flew past my ear and startled me.”

“There are some little ones up in the mountains,” said Proteus, “I think they call them elf owls and they eat mostly insects and such. They make a whinny like a horse,” he continued as he lay his sword down next to his bedroll and started to climb back in. Just at that moment a heavy growl suddenly came out of the darkness and the square-jawed knight reached for his sword again.

“What was that?” said Sorus and Jon shook his head, shrugged his shoulder, and looked to Proteus in the dim light of the campfire.

“Not a cougar,” said Proteus who stood up his blade in one hand, “more like a wolf or a pack of those wild dogs that roam up here, what do they call them, bush dogs, good swimmers but not active at night much,” he said.

“I don’t know,” said Jon as he stared out into the darkness just as a second growl and a little bark emanated from the night. “If they’re just dogs then they’d leave us alone, unless they’re more aggressive down south.”

“No,” said Proteus with a shake of his head. “Dogs like that won’t attack men, not during the day at least, but they travel in packs, up to a dozen or more. I don’t think they’d come at us but maybe something has them worked up.”

“What should we do?” asked Sorus as he looked back and forth to Proteus and Jon. “Attack? Wait for them?”

“Do goblins used trained bush dogs?” said Jon with sword in hand as he tried to penetrate the darkness with his gaze.

“No, not around here at least, they hate dogs, kill them on sight, but they do ride lizard creatures sometimes,” said Proteus who also looked back and forth as the three men drew up into a semicircle around the fire. “That didn’t sound much like a lizard and goblins generally don’t stalk around much, they just attack.”

Two more growls sounded from outside the fire and Sorus repeated his question, “What should we do?”

Jon looked to Proteus who reached into the low fire, pulled out the back end of a smoldering log, took a few steps into the darkness, and waved it back and forth. Sorus bent down and picked up another branch while Jon simply watched the darkness and spotted a pair of green eyes glowing to his left, “There’s one,” he said and pointed with his huge stone sword towards the eyes, but they blinked out almost as soon as he gestured.

“I don’t see it,” said Sorus as he tried to follow the point of Jon’s sword. Proteus continued to advanced forward in half steps while he waved the smoldering log.

“I don’t see anything,” said Proteus but another growl sounded to their right and Jon spun in his tracks, lashed out quickly with his sword, but saw nothing and hit the same. “They’re not behaving like wild dogs,” said the older man his back towards Jon and Sorus. There’s something strange going on here, they wouldn’t hold back like this if they weren’t under some sort of intelligent command.”

“Do you think they’re being controlled by something, someone?” said Sorus.

“I don’t know said,” Proteus, “but the fire is getting low and they’re just standing out there growling at us. Put some more wood on and, if they are just wild dogs, that should frighten them off quickly enough.

Sorus went over to the small wood pile and looked at the few pieces stored for a quick morning fire and little else, “There’s not much wood here,” he said. “We only piled up enough for breakfast tomorrow.

“Put it all on,” said Proteus, “no sense in taking half steps.”

Sorus looked over to Jon who nodded his head, “If you’re going to do something do it all out, no half measures.”

Sorus began to pile the few pieces of wood onto the fire, which first began to smoke, and after a few seconds burst into flame. The region lightened noticeably with the increased blaze but the growls seemed to grow in intensity with it until it seemed like at least a dozen of the dogs surrounded them. “It’s not working,” said Sorus, “and that’s the last of the firewood. It won’t last more than half an hour.”

“No dog is smart enough to wait like this,” said Proteus. “Who’s out there?” he suddenly yelled into the darkness but the only response was another chorus of growls.

“That’s it,” said Jon suddenly and rushed out into the darkness and left Proteus and Sorus to look at one another for a second and then, as if by some unspoken but mutual communication, they both rushed after him. Sorus felt his heart hammer in his chest as he charged into the darkness unable to see much of anything. A large shape came up suddenly to his right and he lashed out and stuck his blade several inches into a small tree. “Damnit,” he shouted as he looked around but saw nothing. A shout from Jon to his left caused him to pull at the sword. This action seemed to wedge it more deeply into the tree. “Let go!” he shouted at the tree, put both hands to the sword, pulled with a mighty heave that unstuck the blade with a sudden lurch, and sent him backwards head over heels where he landed with a thump and cracked his head against a large rock.

He sat up a second later; the world swam in front of him and a rough hand grabbed him, he tried to lash out with his sword but the blade didn’t seem to be there and he smacked Proteus in the side. “Sorus, are you all right?” said the square jawed farmer as he looked around.

“I … I’m okay,” said the young knight with a shake of his head and a glance around. “I fell down.” He reached back and grabbed at the sharp pain in the back of his head and suddenly touched wet hair. “I’m bleeding?”

“Did something attack you?” asked Proteus, “Jon, he’s over here.”

“No,” said Sorus and looked at his wet hand in the darkness not able to tell much of anything. “I swung at a tree and my sword got stuck and then when I tried to get it out I fell over backwards, my sword!” he suddenly said and looked around wildly in the darkness.

Proteus scanned around as the hulking seven foot form of Jon Gray suddenly emerged from the darkness, “They’re gone,” said the gray knight. “That was no band of bush dogs,” he went on and then noticed Sorus sitting on the ground. “Are you ok?”

“Here it is,” said Proteus a few feet away as he picked up the sword. “Come on, let’s get you back to the camp and look at that nut of yours.”

“Is he wounded?” said Jon and glanced at Sorus with his eyes wide in the darkness.

“It’s not bad,” said Sorus, “I just hit my head on a rock when I fell down,” and he moved his hand back to his head and the wetness that seemed to grow more damp.

Proteus took the boy by the arm, helped him up, and the three found their way back into the camp after a couple of mistrials in the darkness. Only a low, orange flame remained in the campfire as Proteus lowered Sorus down, “Here, let me look at that. Jon, see if you can find a few more logs but don’t go too far from the camp. Whatever was out there isn’t far away.”

Jon nodded and headed out into the darkness as Proteus had Sorus lean over and saw the large amount of blood that came from a gash across the boys head, “Head wounds bleed like a creek at spring flood, let me get some bandages from my bag,” he continued and headed over to his pack. When he got there it was clear someone ransacked the camp while the trio blundered around on the mountain. “The map!” he exclaimed and rushed over to the open sack and the scattered possessions. It didn’t take him long to find it missing.

“What’s wrong,” said Sorus as he began to feel a little lightheaded.

“They stole the map,” said Proteus who soon returned with bandages. “But how could anyone know that we had it?” as he applied the thick cloth to Sorus’s head. “Hold this in place,” he ordered Sorus who put his hand to the cloth and pressed it down. “If it doesn’t stop bleeding in ten minutes or so I might have to stitch it up. I’ve got needle and thread in the pack if they didn’t steal that.”