Holding The Line (19 page)

It was barely dark, and both Jared and Kaden stood quietly in a side alley. They both had on their stolen long cloaks of the Darekian's, with hoods pulled over their heads. Three men armed with swords walked past their position, and the two gave them ten paces before moving out to follow them. Making sure they kept a little distance, with daggers drawn under the cover of their cloaks, they waited until the men turned down a quiet side street.

Once satisfied the coast was clear, both Jared and Kaden closed the gap. Moving swiftly, they each selected a target. Jared grabbed the back of a man's head, and pulled his knife blade across his throat. Two men gurgled and spluttered as they fell to the ground. The third was stabbed twice in the lower back. Jared quickly scoured the area, before dragging a body down a narrow alley. Kaden followed suit, before dumping one corpse and fetching the third.

The three bodies were dumped in a rundown building that looked as if it could probably fall down, if anything more than a light breeze blew against it. Happy there deed had gone unnoticed they returned to their own part of the city, and into the house they had been using. Now they would wait a few days and hope absolutely nothing regrettable happened.

With the bright summer sunshine, making it a beautifully warm day, the last of the oversized targets were erected on the training ground south of New Easton. General Skalton and Levin slowly trotted their horses side by side, as they left the city, to watch the outcome of the impending trials. Today the best ten archers would try out the newly designed arrowheads. Levin had a pang of anxiety, and the thought of failure gnawed away at him. This was all his doing, all this work and time was down to his idea. Though it had been something, he had recalled his father making in Lanber.

The targets were set at two hundred paces, and made from wood, and roughly shaped and sized to that of an Orlac. At least, he thought, with targets quite large the archers stood a chance of hitting them. As they arrived, he could tell straight away the men selected for firing the new arrows were not overly convinced the outcome would be a foregone conclusion.

Positioning themselves behind the archers, General Skalton was passed up an arrow with the new larger head on. He examined it closely, and then placed it across his palm, judging the weight. He passed it over to Levin, "here, what do you think. It does feel very top heavy to me." Levin held it, and even with the little he knew, thought the arrowhead must have weighed twice that of a normal broad head. However, the shape and size seemed about that of which his father used to make.

The archers lined up, and the field ahead of them was cleared. These men may be crack shots, but firing these for the first time could well see a few wayward arrows. "When you are ready," General Skalton said. Levin puffed out his cheeks and looked across to his left to see Jak watching. Well not just Jak, but the entire load of the new recruits as well. He gingerly gave a little wave, and Jak gave him the thumbs up.

Each archer placed an arrow onto his bow and pulled back, aiming as they would normally for the large targets. They all released simultaneously, and Levin watched in horror, as everyone thumped into the ground some fifty paces or more short of the target. He had remembered what he had already explained to the General, that the men his father made them for had described the need for increasing the elevation of the shot. "Sir," he said quietly, "do not forget they need to adjust the elevation, to allow for the increased weight."

The General nodded and passed the message on to the officer leading the operation. He in turn instructed the archers, who Levin noticed, looked even less certain than before. They all did as asked however, and lifted the bows much higher, aiming on a completely different trajectory. This time the results were all different, each man had been given allowance to make his own adjustment. Hence, some had it near the mark, others still fell short, and two overshot by some distance, clearly over adjusting.

None actually hit the large Orlac sized target, but one was within a few paces. General Skalton nodded, "that was better Levin, and at least from that we can see the arrows can be sent that far. Not that I doubted you of course," he grinned. The archers spoke amongst themselves for a minute or two, discussing what thought the best angle for firing.

They all lined again, and Levin was relieved when two smashed straight into the intended target. He could not help but punch the air, "Yes!" he shouted, and then quickly apologised to his commander. General Skalton spoke once more to his officer, and Levin noticed the targets being changed for the more regular sized ones. "I want to see how far these arrows punch through, so these targets are just plain timber, an inch thick," he explained to Levin.

The archers firstly released normal broad head arrows, and then followed that with the bodkin type, before finally firing the new type. As expected, more of the normal arrow types hit, but the archers did manage to get three new ones on target.

The General ordered the men at ease, and he gestured for Levin to follow him. They trotted their horses down the firing range toward the targets. Both dismounting for a closer inspection, it was easy to see the broad heads had stuck into the target, though not pierced right through. The bodkin had penetrated and hence punched a narrow hole, and had sunk some way through. Levin felt like thanking the gods as he noticed all three of the new type had punctured the timber. More impressive was the size of the hole it had made as it smashed through.

The General looked up, "now that would cause a pretty nasty injury to any creature. Well done my lad, you will see me out of job before long, the way you are going." Levin beamed a big grin, although for a while there he had thought he had wasted everybody's time. The archers were summoned down towards the targets to see the damage done. Even one or two of them looked impressed.

"I want twenty men, practicing day and night if need be with these, until they can hit it regularly from two hundred paces," General Skalton ordered. "I will see to it more are manufactured." The men saluted and Levin joined the General in moving his horse back towards the city. "Well done again, now we can go back and devise some plans for fighting these things."

Jak Corley stood off to the side, watching Levin ride off back to the city. He felt some pride for the lad, before returning his attention back to his recruits. "Well, come on you lot, fun over. Get back to work," he ordered. "Captain, are we to train with the new arrows as well," asked Dane. A few of the others backed him up vocally. "Not as far as I know Dane, I am sure the General has no immediate plans to be sending recruits back out to a battlefield." There were a few groans, but he ignored them, "come on!" he shouted, as they all moved back to their own part of the training grounds.

In Bashek, both Jared and Kaden risked moving about the city in day light, to see if there appeared to be any repercussions of them killing three more guards. Covered in the large dark cloaks, hoods pulled over their heads, hiding the faces underneath, they paced slowly along the main street. Normal city folk moved aside for them, some cowering away completely, such was the fear the Darekian's held over them.

The people moved around, heads drooped as if life was not worth living for them. Jared almost felt like stopping and telling them, that soon it would all be over, but of course, he knew he could not. For now, he would have to assume the pretence he was a Darekian hidden under that cloak. They made their way to the market square, and there seemed nothing more than people going about their miserable existence. The stalls lined up, sold various items of little value. Some were just selling stuff they owned, in hope of making a few coins to buy food.

The stalls selling the few meagre items to eat were doing so for highly inflated prices. Moreover, the goods they were selling looked as if they were nothing more than scraps. Both men knew that unless this city was liberated, come wintertime, people would be dying of starvation. It was up to them to set the seeds of rebellion, which could lead to that happening. They made a swift turn of bearing, as they noticed four other figures cloaked as they were, coming their direction. They could not risk even talking to these men, and though it may have looked suspicious, once round a corner and out of sight, they ran.

They turned down a few side, narrow streets, before resuming the more slow deliberate paces of the Darekian Guards. As far as they were concerned, they could now step up the task of taking down the city guard. For now at least, it appeared as long as their targets consisted of Besemian, not Darekian Guards, and as long as they hid the bodies, no one seemed to care. Tonight they had another meet, with the now twelve strong resistance movement. They would now push ahead with more attacks, and hopefully get the city in a position where it could be free once more.

In Darekia, Supreme Overlord Fenlor sat in his chambers. The flames of the fire pit in the centre of the room, giving sufficient light by which to work. He had earlier learned further information, about his defeat at the River Fivan. The story he had heard about his army being burned from the face of the earth was apparently true. It now emerged that a young man, was being mentored by that continual irritation, the old wizard, Sandred of Kelan.

He knew all too well, if he allowed the tutorage to continue unhindered, this pupil would become too strong, even for him. Hence, the previous night he had sent out two of his best assassin's. A job such as this required stealth and ingenuity, not traits attributed to an Orlac. For this task only men would do. Men trained to the highest standard, they would slip in, carry out their duty and move away into the shadows, before anyone knew they were there. His target would be this new pupil of Sandred.

He sometimes wished he had enough power to risk engaging that old wizard directly. The old man had been a hindrance to him and his line for hundreds of years. Fenlor would make sure; he would not be an Overlord that fell as others did before him. He would strike this young pretender early, not leave it as his ancestors had done and ultimately failed. Once this pup had been sorted, he could then release his new Orlac and with the new control, could wipe Corlan from the map.

After an afternoon and scribbling diagrams, and writing numbers on scraps of paper, General Skalton finally nodded to himself. He thought he had finally worked out his plans for fighting against the demonic beasts known as Orlacs. With earlier help from the young lad Levin, whom Jak Corley had taken under his wing, he was now confident his tactics could be put into action. Now he just needed to persuade the King to go on the offensive.

As Levin only usually assisted the General for the mornings, he had returned to the training grounds, south of the city to watch the continuing practices going on. There were now more archers, firing his new arrow types, at the large targets down the range. Though still more missed than hit, it was apparent the men were slowly getting used to having to make large adjustments to their aim.

Jak walked up behind him, "I think everyone is impressed with you Levin, even that lot," he pointed behind him to the recruits who were busy doing their own training. Jak offered the chance for him to come and join them, "I think one or two might want to have a go at you. I am sure you can still better them, you are taught personally by the best don't forget." Levin laughed, "Ah! As modest as always Jak, sure I'll come and whip a few more of your recruit's asses." Jak laughed, "Don't be over confident Levin, some of these lads are getting quite good."

Levin was feeling quite pleased with himself, today had gone well, better even. It was hardly a surprise when the large man appeared before him. The same one he had embarrassed during the recruits first few days of training. Levin thought this was not going to end well. The tall dark haired man looked down at him, "Hi, Would it be okay if we sparred?" Levin was somewhat surprised by the politeness of it all, and looked towards Jak, who just smiled.

Levin nodded "of course." The man picked up two training swords and handed one over, "My name is Patrick, please don't hit me too hard this time." Levin smiled, and nodded he was ready. Patrick did not lunge foolishly forward without thinking, as he had done earlier. Just because he was much larger and stronger than his opponent did not mean he was better. Levin could already tell the improvement, and had to move quickly to block an attack.

The bout continued, and some of the other recruits stopped their own practice to watch. Jak did not seem to mind them doing so, it may prove educational to watch and others soon joined. Levin made an attack of his own, which was quite quickly knocked aside. Patrick then made a counter, and only a quick reaction stopped Levin getting whacked across his ribs. The two moved back and forth for almost ten minutes, before a rider came up to the group, with a message for Jak.

The Captain raised his hands, and stepped between the two, "Well done you two, unfortunately Levin, you have been requested to General Skalton's office immediately." There were a few groans from the watching crowd, but the two young men, lowered their training swords. "Well done Patrick," Levin said holding out his hand. Patrick smiled back, and shook it, "thanks," he said. "And thank you for going easy on me," he whispered into Levin's ear. Levin smiled, before whispering back, "I wasn't. It was all I could do to keep you at bay." The two shook hands again, and separated.

Jak then shouted out, "Dane you are to go as well, you best get running, or Levin will be there without you." The two looked very confused. "You are welcome to jump up if you wish," the youngster offered a hand to Dane. The two got up onto Levin's horse, and Dane sat behind him, putting his arms around the younger man's waist to for something to hold on to.

Levin trotted his horse back into the city, and up in through the keep gates. There was already a stable hand ready to take his horse off him, "The General says for you to go straight up to the king's office." Levin was starting to get a little concerned, why did the king suddenly want him?" Dane was feeling the same, and he thought that it had been the General, not the king, who had wanted them.