Tranquil Fury (24 page)

Six black-clad men were approaching from the west, another six approaching from the east, all with weapons drawn. Upset to find there cloak of darkness gone, they began to rush the inn, unaware that dwarves now stalked them. Battle-axes met knees, painful screams rang out, as major arteries bled out. When the hunters realized they were the hunted, that three from each side were down, the lucky ones in the front quickly reassessed their plan, and ran into the buildings opposite the inn, too quick for Alron to draw his bow. From the far end of the town, more screams filled the night. Alron’s sensitive ears swiveled in the direction, heard the snarling beast echo through the streets, though he was uncertain about its intent.

Bor and Aaro joined Alron and Logan on the steps of the inn. Aaro was upset, “Street lights, why? Dead all would be, surprise have we did.”

Alron just pointed to Logan, “Was naught me. He does shed light on thine attack. How I does naught know.”

Thinking the danger was over, Lauren started to move towards the front of the inn, Panry tried to block her way, but she stepped around him as he was distracted trying to listen to those on the front step. John and Mirtza followed her, and nobody saw Ryan head to the back of the inn, as all eyes and ears now focused on the street, keenly looking for the next threat.

[
Threat present. Defensive options: None. Offensive options: None. Improvise
.] Ryan, paralyzed with fear, saw them first. Heart racing, he tried to scream, but his fear was so great, it would not allow his body to respond with the simple survival mechanism. From the shadows, six black-clad men quietly advanced on him, swords drawn. Ryan was about fifteen feet away from the door, several large tables, and numerous chairs between him and the impending threat. [
Engage. No response. Threat level increased. Implement
.] Deep down inside Ryan, though he never felt it, something happened, like a switch was turned on. [
Analyze. Prioritize. Counter strategy. Implement. No response
.]

Alron was not pleased, as Lauren and her friends were crowding the door, trying to get a look at the bodies in the dimly lit street. At the far end of the town, they all heard the wolf howl, and Lauren felt a chill run through her body. Thirty feet behind them, the six black-clad figures now all in the room, and ten feet in front of them, stood Ryan. White as a sheet, the blood drained from his face, eyes wide, his jaw clenched in a silent scream stood motionless.

 [
Emergency Override
.] Ryan looked at the six, stepped forward, color coming back to his face. He rolled his head from left to right, cracked his neck, and closed his open jaw. His movements were mechanical, controlled, calculated, and extremely precise. He kicked the large heavy table to his left, and the force was so great, that it easily glided across the floor, crushing two of the black-clad men between the table and stone wall. Before the eight in the doorway could turn, Ryan kicked the other large table, blocking the path of two more. As Panry reacted to the threat, and moved to engage the rear attack, Ryan picked up a chair, and threw it to the ground, where it smashed into the stone floor that was at the back of the room. The trajectories calculated, and the force specific, the impact of stone on wood caused the chair to erupt into a swarm of splinters, the flight path of each major wooden projectile predetermined. Black-clad men reacted as anticipated, moved into the projectiles path, a mistake realized too late. Sharpened spikes raced through the air to a predetermined empty location, while black-clad men dropped their swords to cover their faces from the splinter-filled air, and jumped into the empty sanctuaries of safety. Wooden chair legs converted into sharpened spears, traveled with the necessary force, and precise projection to greet the black-clad men. Then silenced them as the improvised projectiles pierced soft neck flesh, grazed major arteries, and smashed into neck bones. Panry was on top of the table that had the last two trapped, it only took a second, and the room was quiet again.

Alron came over to Ryan and looked at the dead, “Friend, thou hath impressed me. How does thou accomplish that which mine eyes does naught believe.”

[
Disengage
.] Ryan shook his head from side to side, as if he was trying to shake something back into place. He blinked, wiped the sweat off his forehead, “I don’t know. I guess I just got lucky.” Ryan turned and headed to the cask of dwarven ale, unsure of what had happened.

Alron and Panry searched the bodies of the black-clad men, as Aaro and Bor stood guard, one at the front of the inn, one at the back. After examining the first four, finding nothing, they went to the two trapped behind the table. With all of their might, they tried to push the table, but it would not move. That was when Alron noticed that it had not only crushed the two black-clad men, but it had actually knocked loose several stone blocks, and was embedded in the wall. Alron pointed it out to Panry, but both said nothing.

When Lauren wanted, she could sequence and coordinate her thoughts and words, to get anybody to give up secrets they had sworn to keep. This was not one of those times, “What the hell just happened?”

Chapter 18

Alron was scratching his right deer ear, “Which part does thou inquire about? Mirtza’s magic bat does warn of intruders. When we does go to investigate, thou brother does light up threat filled street. Aaro and Bor does dispatch threat quickly, then thou friend Ryan does discover rear threat. How, I does naught know, but friend Ryan does act, where he does kill intruders four.” Just as Alron was about to continue, a wolf’s howl pierced the night, “Yes, lest I does forget, a four legged threat does seem keen on thou as well. What does happen? Naught does I know. It was Earth Daughter who does suggest trip. When to Ironhouse we does return, thou can explain to Earth Mother what does happen.” Alron needed more time to figure out what was happening, “Mirtza, thine bats, if naught be, please send forth to warn again of dangers. Panry, first watch shalt be mine, second wilt be thine. Aaro, first watch, back of inn does belong to thou. Bor second shalt be thine. Everyone else, sleep does call thou, tomorrow a long day shalt be.” Alron turned his back on the group and headed to the front step of the inn, looking at the still burning street lamps.
What does be happening?

Inside, Aaro went to the back of the inn. Panry and Bor quickly found a place to bed down, hoping their watch shift would arrive later than earlier. Mirtza quickly grabbed a bedroll, and took it close to the fireplace, and Lauren grabbed John by the shoulder, still looking for answers.

 “It can wait till morning.” John also needed time to figure out what was happening. Sleep, if you could call it that, did not greet all, and was more like restful tossing. Every creaking floorboard or windblown sign would cause them all to open their eyes. And the wolf every few hours, also kept everyone alert.

Panry did not have to announce the new day, as all were awake before the first sun pushed back the night. The cold rations set out the night before, untouched, were quickly picked over. As saddles and mounts were reunited, John and Lauren wandered into the settlement. Alron protested, but John advised that the answers could not wait. Tired and confused from the previous night, Alron just wanted to get the group back to the Ironhouse Mine, so he put Mirtza in charge of the travel preparations, and left Bor and Aaro to guard the rest. Panry, still exhausted, followed John and Lauren, while Alron kept an eye at the main intersection.

The six slain black-clad bodies still lay motionless in the street, but there was nothing odd or unusual about them. John and Lauren searched several buildings to find that most contained all their original possessions intact. John examined a few of the houses as they walked out of the town, where the doors looked like someone had kicked them in, hoping to find a house where evidence still existed; blood splatter, a forgotten corpse, some sort of dying message scratched into a wall. He did find some bodies, but they were fresh, throats ripped out by a beast, and all were clad in black.

 “John, what do we tell the Earth Mother?”

 “That we were attacked. I think those clad in black are invading this land. They must have used the plague as some sort of hoax to keep the people from finding out the truth. They probably move in, surround a town and take everybody prisoner. This is such a large land, minimal infrastructure. It wouldn’t be possible to ensure that they got everybody, so they put up those plague posters to scare everybody else away. That way, if somebody came back to a town like this, found everybody gone, they would most likely believe the plague threat. When they returned to their town, they would tell everybody else. Some may have left, others might have stayed behind, not thinking that they were in danger, until their settlement was surrounded.”

 Lauren looked at John, “Why would somebody do this? Is it their fate? Are they just the weaker people, destined to be taken over by the stronger tribes?”

 “Was somebody paying attention in history class?”

 “I am being serious. Look at what happened to the Indians and South American tribes. You could probably list off even more. I know it wasn’t right, but is it nature, survival of the fittest. Is that what is happening here?”

John sat down on the porch of the deserted house, “I am not certain of anything here, what or why it is happening. Every race or tribe that you learned about, they all tried to put up a fight. Yes, they battled against superior technology: guns or steel, and in some cases lost because of their own ignorance. But they all fought back. Maybe that’s what the sword and armor are for, to give these people an advantage. I don’t know. What I saw at that grave, those poor souls, they never had a chance to defend themselves. Maybe the same will happen here, we simply do not know, but they do deserve a chance to fight. If it is their fate, if these invaders are superior, well, maybe they will still lose. But they should know about the invasion, and that there is no plague. They should at least know the truth, and be given the ability to react against the real threat. Not hide like frightened children from untrue phantoms and bogeymen.”

“Last night, Alron said Logan lit up the streets. What did he mean by that?”

 “Logan probably found some sort of light switch, turned it on. Wanted to spook Alron.”

 “Why would he do that?”

 “He is your brother, you know him better.”

“What about Ryan?”

John shook his head, “Adrenaline most likely, and a bit of luck?”

Lauren was still uncertain, “So then, what are we supposed to do? What do I tell the Earth Mother? She is going to ask me what we should do. What am I going to tell her?”

 “Lauren, calm down. Worrying is like an eroding river bank too close to a house. Rain and melting snow make the levels rise and fall, eating into the earth. If all you do is shore it up with gravel, the water will continue to eat into the bank, until it finally consumes the house. What you want to do is place large stone blocks, something to shield the bank from the worry. You need to battle it with something of worth, something that has substance, something that can stand up, and deflect the worry away. We have that now. This information is like placing large stone blocks into that bank. It has value, worth, substance, so we don’t have to consider the unknown. Now we have to plan, act on what we
do
know. And Lauren, there is one more thing. You already know it. It would probably be best if you spoke it, instead of you hearing it from somebody else.”

 “There is war coming, isn’t there John? That sword, the armor, what happened last night. It is all just beginning.”

“I think it began a while ago, and right now, we are in the middle of it. But yes, the short answer is war.”

 “Is that why they were waiting for us, waiting for me? They want me to fight their battle for them? Or Eric?”

John could see the confusion and worry written on Lauren’s face, “Right now, that may or may not be true. Let’s finish looking at this deserted settlement, and then we’ll head back to the mine. Maybe the Earth Mother can help us figure this out. Just don’t worry.”

Lauren nodded in agreement, but her body language did not sell the message with the same conviction. They spent another hour checking out the empty houses and shops, but there was no evidence as conclusive as the mass grave. It was still early in the morning when much to Alron’s satisfaction, John and Lauren finally got on their ponies. There was no need to go to the last settlement, as John felt sure that the same people who filled the mass grave, would have eliminated any evidence there as well. Alron was pleased to hear John advise that the investigation was over, but they still had two days of hard travel before he would be able to report to the Earth Mother, and he hoped that they would be uneventful.

The countryside was becoming more uneven, and gullies carved by distant mountain streams were common. Sporadic forests now inhabited the grasslands, increasing the threat of hidden attacks. Alron slowed the main group, sent Panry ahead as front guard, and advised Aaro and Bor to take up the rear guard. They may not have been as cautious as an elf, but it would take a lot to get by them. Alron kept them riding hard for most of the day, even after the first sun had set. He had advised Panry to start looking for a night camp after the second sun set, not wanting to risk camping in the open.

As commanded, Panry had found a forest that was not too big or small, which could afford them the cover and protection that they sought. Once he was sure it was safe, he headed back down the road, left signs for Alron, and then returned to the forest to rest his stag. It was two hours later when the third sun was low in the sky, that Panry greeted the eight. He had cleared the spot of small trees, to keep the group close together, and from large rocks, he had built a fireplace. The hard ride would deplete the travellers of their strength, but the warmth of a warm fire would help replace it. As everybody prepared their bedding for the night, all were complaining of sores or cramped muscles, and the sight of cold field rations did little to improve morale. Even Alron’s announcement, that Gor would welcome them the next night with a feast, did little to make them smile, and overcome by exhaustion, few ate. Most took to their bedrolls, just wishing that the ground beneath them would stop galloping.