Sons of Gailland: chapter 6

Chapter 6

Tarn and his men sat around campfires with the centaurs celebrating their recent victory and escape. The men were all rail thin and frail from days of malnourishment and poor treatment. The centaurs drank heavily and played games of strength and mind created with the sole intention of getting drunk since they are half horse the imbibing of alcohol must be much more rapid to constitute drunkeness. Some of the men attempted to partake in these drinking games but were quickly inebriated and unconsious in most cases.

General Havok sat with Tarn in his store brooding over a small glass of wine. Tarn sat quietly inspecting the large creature who had just saved his men from a horrible death at the hands of the cannibals. Tarn, relaxed for the first time in ages, as he sipped quietly at his glass of wine. Finally General Havok had sat quietly long enough.

"Why are you here, Davmourn?" he asked curtly.

Tarn nearly choked on his wine as the grisled old warrior startled him with the break in silence. "What do you mean, friend? I have told you on many occasions that me and my men are here searching for riches and work as mercenaries in the armies of this land." Tarn said as he examined the scarred face of his new friend.

"That is not the truth, Davmourn. You and your men owe me your lives, the least you could do is honor me with the truth of you presence on this continent," General Havok's face became stern as he looked over this strange man in his store. "Are you the first wave of a raiding party from Gailland?" he asked as he brought the glass to his lips once more.

Tarn's head fell quickly back to rest against the high back of the chair he was sitting in. His entire life he had been a liar, a cheat, and an all around bad guy. The one thing he had never been was a dishonorable man nor had he ever backed out on a debt. "No," he replied simply, "We are not the first wave of an invasion force."

"Then what are you, Davmourn?" the general asked. "These men are very well equipped and are very well trained and disiplined. So well in fact that there is no way you could be anything other than regular army. So I ask you once more, friend Davmourn. Why are you here?"

Tarn stared hard into the old warriors eyes before he sighed and threw his hands into the air. "Ok, you have us figured out. I'll tell you everything. My name is Tarn Shiver, captain of the "Red Dove" and these are my men. We were propositioned by the king of Gailland to strike into your country to lead a sneak attack on Hornklaw as he reaches the shores, taking him by surprise and crippling his army. After we do this, if we survived the battle, we were to retrieve something stolen from the king and return it to Gailland." Tarn raked the hair out of his face and took another long pull from his glass befor continuing, "That's pretty much it. Are you satisfied, old friend?"

The generals face did little to hide the concern he felt at this news. He downed his entire glass and placed it gently on the table. "You will not even make a dent in the armies that have risen up under the flag of Hornklaw" he paused befor using his friends new alias. "Tarn, if you had ten times the numbers with you now it would not compare to the tens of thousands of orcs at Hornklaws command. His armada is but a grain of sand in his hourglass."

Tarns face drained of color as the old centaur spoke. His mind raced as he began to imagine his men trampled under the feet of orcs. "There must be a way to defeat him!" Tarn said as he slammed his glass onto the table.

"Our scouts reported in yesterday, Tarn. The orcs have been mobilizing to the northeast shore. We have been running interference, engaging smaller bands and intercepting communications between camps. They plan to be in Gailland by this time next year with their entire force. We are on your side, Tarn, but you need to keep me in the loop. What does Hornklaw have that the king wants?"

Tarn refilled his glass and downed it before repeating the steps twice more. Tears welled up behind his eyes as he looked at the centaur, "He has my sister-in-law, Jessykah."

The general looked confused as he asked, "Why is your sister-in-law so important that Hornklaw would set sail with an armada and risk personal harm to obtain her? Why is the king concerned about her at all?"

Tarn looked up with tears streaming from his eyes as he said, "My brother is Roth, and his wife Jessykah is the only descendant of the current king. His daughter."

Havok now looked visibly shaken and it was his turn to finish off his wine and refilled both glasses.
. . .

Smoke billowed up from the center of the dark island as the sand from the beach scrapped the hull of the ship. Braydin ordered his men to unload the bodies of their fallen companions. The sails were trimmed and their anchor was deployed as the men made ready to go ashore. The beach was a beautiful white sand stretching up about two-hundred feet until it met with a thick jungle of dark green undergrowth and sweet smelling vegitation. The men began unloading as the warm wind blew through the dense foliage causing a relaxing rythm to pace their work.

"Could you imagine a nicer place to be burried?" Kalin asked the others as the climbed up onto the gangplank.

"Home would be nice I think." answered Braydin with a mocking tone.

"It is lovely," replied Thorn, and his brother nodded in agreement.

Braydin turned to Airicka and Cade, and said "You two will wait here with me and the ship. Kalin and the twins will scout into the forest to see if they can find a suitable place to burry the fallen."

Cade nodded curtly and walked back across the deck to start assessing the damage to the ship from the last encounter. Airicka however was not happy with the orders and demanded that Braydin allow her to acompany the landing party.

"Is it because I'm a female?" she began "I'm perfectly capable of handleing any situation that might arise."

Braydin sighed befor replying, " Of course you can handle anything this island can throw at us. That is the precise reason you are going to stay here and watch the ship. If anything happens to this ship we are marooned here on this island with no food, no water, and no way to repair it."

Braydin finished these last words as Cade resurfaced from the lower deck. "Bad news I'm afraid, Cap'n" he said as he reached the rail. "The entire lower deck is flooded and we have a hole in the port side big enough to drive a cart and horse through. The Mare is sinking fast and there is no way we can sail out of here without repairing it."

"Are you sure?" Braydin asked as he began following Cade back below deck. "If it is as bad as you say we will be stranded on this island for weeks."

Kalin and the twins had already disappeared into the forest and the men began setting up a camp on the beach, anticipating a layover to give respect to the dead. Kalin, Marko, and Thorn made their way quietly through the forest looking for an open clearing large enough to bury the men who had died the day before. After what seemed to Kalin like hours of searching they finally found a clearing large enough to fit the need. The twins seemed to be able to communicate without words or gestures, Kalin had noticed. They would occasionally stop and one would look to the other, each would nod and then their direction would change with Kalin following along silently. After taking a break in silence the three men heard a loud crunching sound coming through the forest in their direction. Without hesitation the three men took to the trees as if they were the ratlines on the ship, hiding in the foliage of the large branches.

They waited a few moments befor the source of the noise appeared crashing through a stand of trees to their right. Kalin's eyes grew wide as the monstrosity came into view and it took all of his will not to scream in terror and run away. The thing was nearly twelve feet tall and made entirely of iron, it had two legs and two arms, and was smashing its way through the foliage on its way to the beach. The only way Kalin could describe the thing was a walking iron cart. An orc sat on top of the thing in a chair pulling levers and moving switches. he was followed by three more of the contraptions each powered by an orc. Steam bellowed out of the objects in billowing funnels that created a dense fog behind them.

Kalin looked to the others who merely shrugged as the leader slapped another tree to the side and continued walking. Marko's eyes widened as he realized where the things were heading and the sign language the brothers had taught Kalin as part of his training finally came into effect. Marko's fingers danced in a wild display followed by Thorn's reply. Kalin couldn't follow each word but he picked up enough to know that the brothers were discussing stopping these machines before they had a chance to reach the ship and do irreversable damage. Kalin waved at the brothers and gave the sign for affirmative. The Brothers nodded and then simultaneously lept from the tree they were occupying down onto the two orcs in the back.

The orcs screamed in surprise as the brothers landed upon them and began releasing the blood from their necks before diving back into a nearby tree. The two in the lead turned to see two of their bretheren grasping at their throats as blood spewed forth. The grisly sight was horrifying to the other two who charged back in the direction they had come, only one catching a dagger in the shoulder as it ran past.
Kalin lept from his perch in the tree and made his way to the fallen orcs and their strange contraptions. Thorn and Marko were already pilfering through the orc's belongings by the time Kalin reached the first one. The orcs were the average run of the mill grunt that Kalin had fought back home in the streets, but the vehicles they were using were something out of fantasy and imagination.
"Living iron!" exclaimed Marko, "And I thought I had seen it all!"

Kalin nodded in agreement as he began to examine the machine. He traced his fingers over the bolts and rivets of the legs and stared in amazement at the craftmanship that had gone into this magnificent thing. He examined the controls in the area where the orc had been seated, and after some time figured out how to opperate the legs and arms of the thing.

When the leg moved for the first time Thorn jumpped back from the metal form cursing to the gods. "Is it magic?" he asked as Kalin peeked over the belly of the thing smiling.

"No," said Kalin, "It's something else. I'm not exatly sure but it's not powered by magic. That much I'm sure of."

"Can we kill it?" Marko chimed in.

"It's not alive, Marko." Kalin said with hesitation."It's some sort of advanced smithing. We should report back to Braydin he will know what to do."

"Agreed!" the brothers said in tandum as they turned to walk back to the ship.
. . .

Airicka loosed another lightning bolt at one of the "metal men" as it came closer to the ship. The bolt hit the contraption square int the chest causing it to convulse, shaking it to the ground where it began smoking with a charred black spot where the chest was origionally. A charred and burning corpse was visible through the hole the lightning melted into the panel.

"Well that worked," Bryadin said as a crew member was flung through the air by a large iron arm next to him. "Can you do that again?" he shouted to Airicka who was perched behind the rail of the ship. Airicka nodded and attempted to say something, but her words were drowned out by the spash of the crewman landing in the ocean. It had been nearly three hours since Kalin and the twins had gone into the woods when the "metal men" first attacked the ship. Braydin and the others had now been fighting for an hour and a half against seven of these things and the first one had just fallen. Swords and daggers had no effect on the iron casing of the enemy and it was all they could do to keep them away from the ship. Three men lay dead and countless more injured, with no way to fight back, it was a miracle they lasted this long.

Thorn, Marko, and Kalin burst through the woods excited to share the news of this strange new technology. The scene before them was not what they were expecting however. Men were scattered about like dolls in a child's play room and small groups fought in vain against the metal bohemuths. The thing that worried them the most was that these attackers were different than the four they had encountered. The bodies were large egg-shaped things with the arms and legs sprouting out of them. The driver was completely covered exept for a vent that wrapped around the small end for vision. The machines in the forest had clamp-like "hands" where these had sharp points that resembled the head of a ballista bolt. Kalin noticed that one machine had been defeated but the beach was a grisly deathtrap for anyone without one of these amazing suits of armor.

Kalin looked to the twins and said, "I'm going to grab something from the ship, see if you can distract those things to give those guys a break."
Thorn looked to Marko and said, "Let's find Cade and make a plan." The three men took off running across the torn battlefield.

Another lightning bolt hit one of the metal men in the shoulder, exploding into a shower of sparks and arcing to the one beside it. Both machines began shaking and fell smoking into the sand. Kalin hurdled the smoldering contraption and sprinted up the gangplank.

"Are you ok, Kalin" Airicka asked as he ran by. Kalin only nodded on his way past.

"Concerned?" Braydin asked Airicka as she watched Kalin run by.

"Yes, is there something wrong with being concerned for a member of our team?" she replied as she playfully batted her eyes at Braydin.
Braydin began to dig deeper into her answer but he was interrupted by Kalin pushing by him once more, this time carrying a smithing hammer in his hand. Kalin raced across the sand to the nearest enemy contraption. The large mechanical bohemuth attempted to skewer the young man with it's left arm, however Kalin was much to agile to be taken so easily. Kalin quickly side-stepped the attack and brought the hammer down full force on the knee joint of the machine. The pin and key joint broke causing the thing to topple over and steam to billow from the once whole leg. The machine rocked and thrashed until the steam had expended itself and the hulking mass of metal became still on the warm turned and shouted in triumph before continuing on to the next enemy.

The twins found Cade, near the waters edge bruised and bloody. Cade was hanging from the vent on one of the machines back with one hand while the other arm was burried to the shoulder inside the machine. The arms of the attacker flailed wildly in an attempt to remove Cade. The small man made a jerking motion three times before his arm resurfaced and threw a red object onto the sand below. Cade lept from the machine as all movement stopped and the "body" slumpped forward still standing on two immoveable legs. Cade walked toward the twins as blood drained from the vent onto the sand. Cade only nodded as he cleaned his hand on his tunic. The twins looked at each other and then fell in behind Cade as he walked past.

Kalin had dented in the vent of another suit of armor imparing the driver's vision. The machine walked awkwardly, grasping out with its arms for some sort of bearing until it walked into the surf and lost its balance in the crashing waves. The screams of the orc inside could be heard as the "body" filled with water and drowned it's inhabitant. The final attacker attempted to flee, charging across the sand for the safty of the woods. Kalin and a group of crew men attempted to stop it but the thing scattered them across the beach as if they were no more than a tall stand of grass in the path of a hungry bear. Kalin cursed aloud as the way to the forest stood open to the final attacker, however the machine stopped and fell to the ground. Kalin stood to examine the situation, and he noticed the rope leading from the machines back, back to the ship. Kalin grinned when he realized what had happened. He waved wildly to Thorn who was now seated on the bow of the ship manning the balista used for boarding other ships.

Kalin stood and wiped the sand from his chest. The other men who were the target of the large machine began picking themselves up as well.
"Thank the gods thats over with." Kalin thought as he heard Braydin's whistle blow across the beach. He turned to see Braydin standing over the contraption he had crippled.

"This one's still alive!" Braydin shouted as Kalin began running in his direction. "We have to get him out of this, thing, so that we can question him."

Kalin looked at the smithing hammer in his hand and replied with a smile. "That should be no problem at all, brother!"

Braydin laughed at his younger brothers comment. "He never ceases to amaze me." he said as Cade joined him at the downed enemy's side.

"You're not the only one, Braydin. He rivals me in hand to hand combat now and he has taken quite well to his magic training with Airicka." Cade said as he examined a cut on the inside of his arm. "The twins say he was the first to dissappear when they encountered four of these things in the woods and he is even getting over his hesitance to kill."

Braydin looked confused "They encountered some of these in the woods?"

Cade nodded, "Yes, four if my memory serves. They downed two and wounded another but the other two did escape."

Braydin rubbed his bearded chin for a second then said "That is impressive. I will have to speak with those three after we get this filthy creature out of his shell."

"Yes indeed, Captain." Cade replied as Kalin walked up from across the beach.

"Well master smith," Braydin said to his brother in a mock serious tone. "Let's see what you can do with that thing."

Kalin nodded and quickly brought his hammer down hard on the rivets holding the body together. The orc manning the contraption was shocked by the sound of someone attempting to break into his vehicle and began flailing wildly at the controls. The contraption began to move slowly at first and gained momentum after a few more crushing blows from Kalin's hammer.

"Almost through, watch out for those blades on the end of the arms." he said as he brought the hammer down once more.
Cade leapt onto the body and put his arm through the vent. "Aaarrgh! He bit me!" Cade exclaimed as he pulled back his bleeding hand to examine it.

"Look out!" Braydin and Kalin shouted in unison as they notcied the left arm begin to move.

Cade turned his head in time to see the sharp point the size of a ballista bolt ram itself into his face. Cade slumpped to the ground with blood flowing freely from the hole where his face had once been. An eerie laugh escaped from the vent sending Braydin and Kalin both into a rage, the like of which no man with them had ever seen. Both brothers drew their swords and began chanting the words Archy had written on the parchment packed with their belongings. The sword blades became red hot and flames licked from the ends of them.

"...and fuled by the fires that burn in my blood!" they finished together before they leapt into action.

Each brother took a side and began to hack away at the conraption, their blades slicing clean through the hard iron arms and legs as if it were no more than a sappling being put to the axe. The metal sliced by the swords became red hot itself and melted dripping into liquid pools in the white sand. Screams could be heard from the orc as the hot metal from the body burned into his skin.

In a matter of moments both brothers were standing over the orc now lying on what was left of the machine that had killed their friend. He writhed and rolled clutching at the molten metal deposited through out his body. His left eye was completly covered in a large section that had covered a quarter of his face, along with many same sized patches on his chest and legs. He stood and attempted to make his way to the ocean to soothe the burning, but he was stopped quickly by Braydin.

"Where did you come from?" Braydin asked as he pointed the glowing hot sword at the Orc's one good eye. The orc quickly pointed into the woods. "How did you come by these... things?" Kalin asked as he touched his sword to the orc's ear. The orc screamed in pain and then he began to speak in a strange gutteral dialect of the King's Tounge, commonly used in Gailland.

"Y-You can...n-not stop. H-He will win. Gnomes h-help him. Rakkjaw w-will kill you all." The orc said as he stumbled across the strange language he had learned only weeks before. "I-I-If you go to the m-middle he will kill you."

The brothers looked at one another in bewilderment. Neither of them had ever heard of this Rakkjaw but even more astounding was than before their eyes was an orc speaking the king's tongue.

"We must go and investigate the middle of the island and see about these gnomes. They might be able to help us fix the ship." Kalin said as he stared hard at the orc.

"Yes, but if the gnomes work for Hornklaw, they will want to fight rather than help." Braydin mused.

"S-s-slaves!" the orc screamed as pain wracked his body. "K-k-kill me!" he shouted once more.

"No, I'm afraid we have plans for you my friend." Braydin replied to his prisoners request.

"No!" the orc shouted as he rammed his head forward onto the brother's swords. The brothers pulled back quickly as the two holes seared into the orc's face and he breathed his last breath, sprawled on the sand at their feet.

"Never a dull moment around here, brother." Braydin quipped, "You should go and see Airicka, I do belive she is worried about your well being."
Kalin grinned and said, " Well I wouldn't want the lady to become vexed on account of me. I must go and see her with much haste."

Braydin laughed and replied, "Make it fast my brother, for at nightfall the twins, you, and I make for the middle of the island to see what this is all about. I have to get a correspondence back to Archy. He is probalby worried sick, I've forgotten all about him."

Kalin slapped his brother on the back and began walking back to the ship to see Airicka and comfort her in the loss of an old friend. Braydin sheathed his sword and knelt down beside Cade's body.

"You will be missed, though I did not know you long. You have taught me more about life than anyone I have every known. Go into the house of the gods with clear concience, that your job was completed and no harm has come to me or my family." Braydin said before standing back up to look upon the ocean. "The one responsible for this will pay with his life. That is one thing you can count on my friend. I just hope everyone I have come to care for doesnt have to die for that to happen." He said under his breath as he watched the large orange sun sink into the ocean, and the soft warm breeze dance through his long flowing hair. He tried to enjoy this moment of peace because he knew that tonight the work would be bloody. Like his father had shown him, tonight he would have to show Kalin what kind of man lurked beneath his stern exterior.