FARHAYVEN: VENGEANCE (26 page)

     Ray, Lance and Spirit arrive in time to see the five assassins run across the lawn of the deceased mayor’s house. Within moments, the assassins reach a row of houses across the street, form a human ladder and help each other up onto the rooftops. Then they run and jump their way towards the edge of town. The trio, carrying all their belongings with them, follow as quietly as possible on the streets down below.

     Suddenly, the rearmost male assassin turns and looks down, spotting the trio instantly. As the assassin reaches into his black clothing to retrieve some star-shaped metal objects, Ray sends an arrowhead shaped pebble straight into his heart. The assassin stiffens as the pebble pierces through his body and he falls motionless to the ground.

     The four remaining assassins seem to be unaware of the event and continue towards the edge of town. As they reach the edge of town, they jump off the roof and run toward the forest. Ray thrusts his finger forward and sends an arrowhead shaped pebble towards the leg of one of the assassins. This assassin lets out a stifled groan of pain as the pebble pierces his thigh, causing him to stumble slightly and run with a limp. Within moments, all four assassins disappear into the darkness of the forest.

     Ray, Lance and Spirit searched for the small trail of blood left behind by the wounded assassin. Spirit was the first to find it, guided by his sensitive nose. The trio proceeded slowly. The trail was already beginning to thin out as the blood drops were less and further apart. The trail ran eastward, creating an imaginary path through the thick vegetation of the forest.

     Spirit was way ahead of Ray and Lance as they struggled to push through the thick undergrowth. His smaller and more nimble body negotiated the natural barriers more easily as compared to his two human pack-mates. Ray and Lance were having great difficulty getting through, owing to the numerous sharp thorns that were snagging their clothes and cutting their exposed flesh.

     After two hours of following the barely existent blood trail, the trio suddenly stumbled upon a pool of dried blood. There were drag marks on the ground as well. A short search later revealed an almost naked corpse of a man, with a small wound on his thigh and a rather large one across his chest. There were no signs of his black clothing, weapons or the metal pendant of the Shadow Deathmerchant Clan on his body. Apparently the remaining assassins took these items with them. With that, the blood trail ended.

     Ray took in a deep breath and released it in a frustrated manner while Lance stared at the body in disbelief. Spirit sat down and cooled off by letting out his tongue and panting.

     “Kill _ how could they do of this to one of their own
?
” asked Lance

     “Assassins _ they who are of them are heartless, so it is not surprising that they are willing to kill one of their own to guarantee their escape. Injury _ his of this, which was caused by my Pebble Dart Spell, was too great for him to move efficiently, thus risking their entire group. Clothes _ his of it and his weapons were removed so as to keep the secrets of their clan, specifically, to ensure that their numbers, dead, wounded or alive, are not known,” explained Ray.

     All of a sudden, Spirit barked. Ray and Lance turned and ran toward him. Spirit had found a new trail. Ray and Lance tried to look, but could not find anything. They realised that Spirit had found an invisible trail, a scent trail. It seemed the assassins did not quite successfully mask their scent during their escape. Spirit ran after the trail with Ray and Lance following closely behind. After a few moments, Spirit came to a sudden stop. So did Ray and Lance. Spirit sniffed the ground in circles and seemed confused. Ray and Lance decided to move forward to search for visible clues.

    
Crack! 
The ground gave way from underneath them and they fell into the darkness below. Then there was silence…

     The
15
th
Morning of Second Month of Wet Season
brought a slight relief to the soldiers of Fort Eastguard with the arrival of Minvian Eggle and his ad hoc pond. Several rivers from the garrisons of the province’s northern towns had arrived at the same time as well. These reinforcements, however, were newly trained and fairly inexperienced compared to the veterans who served at the border fort.

     Convian Serene Genox stood on the western wall. The moist morning breeze blew against her hardened face and her golden blond hair as she took in the sight of the arriving soldiers. Secretly, her thoughts went to Minvian Sayvion, her immediate superior and mentor. Like many soldiers who served with the minvian, she respected her mentor tremendously and readily forgave him for deserting the fort. She knew her mentor’s character well enough to know that he always followed his heart, not his orders. That was the cause, she reasoned, of him being promoted and demoted many times, despite his excellent work and constant volunteering of dangerous missions.

     Orgavian Ram Deffs walked along the western wall and stood next to the convian. He stood still, drew in a deep breath and held it momentarily before breathing out, enjoying the cool moist morning breeze as well.

     “Convian Genox, how long have you known Minvian Sayvion
?
” enquired the orgavian.

     “Six years, sir. He was my instructor at Fallsian Guards Academy. He taught archery and occasionally covered for the swordsmanship instructor. After my graduation, I was assigned to the garrison in Southdell Town for two years before I was transferred here and assigned to 1
st
Pond under his command,” replied Convian Genox.

     The orgavian took in another deep breath. Then he shook his head slightly in disappointment.

    “Minvian Sayvion is a very experienced warrior and a splendid tactician. His absence will be a great loss to us,” said the orgavian.

     “Yes, sir, he is. When I was at the academy, he shared with us many of his battle experiences from his years of service at both the eastern and western borders. He would drill us in endless battle simulations and punish us severely if we were not able to adapt to the changes that occur in these simulations. I remember once when I was forced to sleep out in the open and in heavy rain for an entire night because I was not able to change my tactics fast enough in one particular simulation. He taught me that failure is not acceptable, that failure means death to our subordinates, ourselves and also to the ones whom we are obligated to protect,” said the convian.

     The orgavian let out a soft chuckle and nodded his head.

     “Yes, that is his way, is it not
?
Effective
!
Brutal, but effective
!
” commented the orgavian.

     “Yes, sir. Brutal but effective,” agreed the convian.

     Then Orgavian Deffs kept quiet for a long time. Convian Genox looked at her superior, wandering if she had said something wrong and offended him somehow.

     “Convian Genox, you are the senior convian in this lake and you are the one who is most familiar with Minvian Sayvion’s battle tactics.  Therefore I am designating you the commander of 1
st
Pond. You are to designate one of your senior subordinates to replace you as the commander of 1
st
Pond’s 4
th
River. Your first assignment is to organise and re-assign these reinforcements,” ordered Orgavian Deffs.

     “Sir, yes, sir
!
  How many rivers are we expecting, sir
?
” enquired Convian.

     “One ad-hoc pond and two rivers are what you are seeing now. We expect two more rivers this afternoon. This is all we are going to get. I got the news via homing pigeon last night,” answered the orgavian.

     Convian Genox had wanted to ask the question that every soldier in Fort Eastguard was asking, but feared it would be inappropriate. Finally, she made up her mind to ask anyway.

     “Sir, when will the Royal Guards get here
?
” she asked.

     “Not soon enough. I expect that they will send one lake, either Strike Force 3 or Strike Force 5, to reinforce us. They will be bringing Heavy Catapults of their own, just in case this fort has fallen by then and they need to recapture it. All that heavy equipment will be difficult to move, so it will be quite some time before they get here,” answer the orgavian.

     “I suppose we should be grateful, sir, that the Serpentians are not here yet,” commented Convian Genox.

     “Yes, convian. We should be grateful
!
That earthquake two days ago caused an important bridge in Serpentia to collapse. According to our scouts, the Serpentians had to search for another crossing.
That
actually bought us a few more days. Anyway, you carry on,” said Orgavian Deffs as he patted her on the shoulder and left.

     Convian Genox turned and bowed. The orgavian turned around, returned the bow and left. She took another look at the green landscape of Eastern Falls from the battlements. Will this be the last time that she is to see this scenery
?
Will she still be able to stand here the next day or the day after that
?
Will she still be alive
!?
These were the questions to which she had no answer. But she would find out soon enough.

     Meanwhile, in a village far to the north of Fort Eastguard, a lonesome figure appeared out of the forest. With the look of severe exhaustion on his face, he headed directly to the waterfall adjacent to the village, knelt by the bank downstream and quenched his thirst. He even immersed his entire head into the icy cold water. Then he lay down on the grassy ground and closed his eyes. He covered his eyes with his lower arm to shield them from the sun. This rather peculiar behaviour caught the attention of the village folks.

     The village headman approached this strange figure. He recognised the stranger’s clothing. It was a uniform of the Provincial Guards and with the rank of a minvian.

     “Who are you, minvian
?
  What brings you to our village
?
” asked the headman.

     “Is this Eastgush Village
?
” asked the minvian.

     “Yes. Who are you and why are you here
?
” asked the headman again.

     “I am Minvian Thorn Sayvion, commander, or rather, former commander of 1
st
Pond, One, 3
rd
Ocean. And it is bad tidings that bring me to your village, sir,” replied the minvian.

     The village headman scratched his head. The minvian had given him cryptic half-answers that did not make sense.

     “I’m Grey Sheppal, village headman of Eastgush Village. What bad tidings bring you here
?
” enquired the headman.

     “Serpentian advance raiding parties are headed this way
!
” answered the minvian as he got to his feet.

      “Wha… What
?
Nobody told us that we’re going to be attacked
!
We’re not prepared
!
Is the government sending soldiers to protect us
?
” said the headman in shock.

     “No, unfortunately not. We are ill prepared for this attack as well,” replied Minvian Sayvion.

     Now Headman Sheppal’s facial expression is one of true panic. The other villagers were showing signs of panic as well.

     “Then wha… what’re we going to do
?
” said the headman.

     “We can organise a militia to defend this village and the others. Gather all the able-bodied men in your village. Tell them to bring what weapons they have. Swords, spears, knives, pitchforks, shovels, axes, hammers or anything else that they have or can acquire, will do. I shall teach them how to use these weapons and how to fight. I shall plan the village defences for you. You know this area best, is there any place we could hide the women and children
?
” said the minvian.

     “There’re some caves in the mountains. These caves are well hidden. I think they’ll be safe there. Why don’t we evacuate the entire village and hide in these caves
?
” said Headman Sheppal.

     Minvian Sayvion shook his head. He took in a deep breath and steeled himself, for what he was about to say was cruel in its own way.

     “That would not be sufficient to deal with the Serpentians. If this village was evacuated, they would know that you have all gone into hiding. They would search for you, and sooner or later, they would find you. No, my way is better. Most of the able-bodied men as well as a few of the women and children will stay to defend the village. The rest shall hide in these caves that you have mentioned. That way, if we lose the battle, the Serpentian would think that they have gotten everyone and would not search for the others,” said Minvian Sayvion.