Siege At The Settlements (Book 6) (11 page)

Chapter 26

J
ordak’s Crossing. The framework of the stone and iron bridge was nothing short of enormous. Spectacular. Ancient. Foreboding. Bayzog sweated. The heat from the fiery river below made all his clothes stick to his body. It was humid. Hot. Nasty. His enemies that led them from one side to the other had never smelled worse either. He fought the urge to cover his nose.

You’re a goblin, remember?

And that was what bothered him. The potion. Normally, the enchanted liquid would last a day, maybe longer, but in this case it was split three ways. Morning approached. If anything, they maybe had an hour. Probably less. And it had already taken half an hour to get across the bridge.

What do I do when we change?

He held the Elderwood Staff close to his chest. It didn’t look like much now, but it gave him comfort. He ran through an inventory of spells in his mind.
I know what I can do. But what will they do?

Brenwar and Ben stood nearby. They weren’t the worst pair of goblins he’d ever seen, but they weren’t the best either. Their yellow eyes were watching all around and their ruddy fingers fidgeted with their weapons. The orcen soldier had left them under the guard of the lizard men minutes earlier, and had taken their horses into the darkness of another campsite.

Bayzog wandered closer to Brenwar. The lizard men eyed him, but remained still with their spears crossed over their chests and tongues flickering out of their mouths occasionally. He spoke in Goblin to Brenwar.

“This magic will not last much longer.”

Brenwar’s goblin brows lifted and he said, “Good, then we can start killing them.”

“Hush, goblins,” a lizard man hissed.

“Hush yourself,” Brenwar spat back in Goblin.

The lizard man lowered its spear on Brenwar’s chest.

Brenwar slapped it away. “I’ll make new boots from those scales of yours and a necklace with your teeth, Snake Belly.”

“Quiet,” Bayzog said to Brenwar in Goblin. He stepped in front of the spear and pushed Brenwar back. “Sorry,” he said in the common tongue.

The lizard man’s tongue flickered and it stepped back. Suddenly, the lizard men snapped to attention. The orc leader approached, swords rattling on its wide hips. It stopped and tossed a small sack that Brenwar snatched out of the air.

“That’s your payment,” the orc said, “Now you go.”

Bayzog could sense a smile behind the orc’s throaty voice.

“What’s this?” Brenwar said in Common. “Coppers and a few silvers? That’s insulting.”

“Perhaps you feel our forces are being unfair … little goblin?”

“We had a price arranged already,” Bayzog said. He had to sell it. Goblins were just as greedy as anyone else in Nalzambor and they weren’t bad negotiators either. He snatched the sack away from Brenwar and tossed it to the orc soldier. “We’ll have the steeds back or you’ll bring us back twenty times that.”

The orc’s big chin bobbed back and forth and it showed some rotting teeth. It pulled out two smaller sacks and tossed them over.

“No more negotiating. Be on with you.”

Bayzog checked the bags. It wasn’t enough to cover the cost of a donkey, but that didn’t matter at the moment. Moving on did. He tossed one sack to Brenwar and one to Ben. Something caught his eye. Brenwar’s beard was growing.

“We go!” Bayzog said with anger. “But I’ll let my buyers from Barnabus know about this!” He pointed to Ben and Brenwar and started to head up the road. “Come, goblin brothers!”

“I’ll certainly not be going without more gold for those horses,” Brenwar argued back. “Now give me back my horses or give me more money.”

Bayzog wanted to take his staff and whack Brenwar in the head, but he should have known. Dwarves were as fierce as negotiators as they were as fighters. Dwarves parting with their possessions was a serious matter. Sleeping with a snoring bugbear would have been easier.

“
Come,
brothers!” Bayzog demanded.

Ben came, but Brenwar ignored him. He was almost on the orc’s toes when the dwarf’s beard started growing faster.

“Say!” the orc said with its eyes popping open. “What’s going on with that face of yours?”

“What do you mean?” Brenwar said. He followed the orc’s eyes and looked down. Filled his fist with a handful of hair. “Oh….”

“Yer not no Goblin,” the orc roared. Its meaty neck turned toward Bayzog. “What are you?”

Bayzog felt his limbs stretch taller and taller. All the lizard men hissed. He locked eyes with the orc and said, “Yes, I am an elf, Orc.” He raised his staff over his head, closed his eyes, and yelled. “
Gustoovanleeght
!”

A sunburst brightened the sky.

Shock and dismay shouted from the lips of the orc and lizard men.

Brenwar swung his hammer in devastating fashion.

Crack! Bang! Whop!

The orc soldier went down. Several blinded lizard men screeched.

“I can’t see,” Ben cried out.

Bayzog took his hand. “Come.” He led them down the roads into the woods. Brenwar’s heavy footsteps were right behind them.

“You better have more than pretty lights up your sleeve, Elf,” Brenwar shouted from behind. “I could always stay back and fight them.”

“Come on, Dwarf! There’s no time. We have to move! We have to hide.”

Bayzog could hear the soldiers scrambling. Orders shouted. In moments, the forces of Jordak’s Crossing would be on top of them.

Hiding and escaping are not my best skills. And without the horses, they’ll be on us in moments.

He pulled Ben along. The rangy, blinded man stayed with him stride for stride.

A war horn sounded and a great bell rang.

“Guzan!” Ben said. “We’re in for it, aren’t we.”

Chapter 27

F
ifty yards from the bridge, Nath took cover and waited. His keen dragon sight could pick out most details, day or night. Only one detail mattered. Jordak’s Crossing was armed. Heavily armed. Soldiers of Barnabus were posted all along the bridge in pairs.

There must be thirty of them.

He sighed and rubbed his aching ribs, shoving two of them back together.
Pop! Pop!

He eyed the bridge. Its towers were like black obelisks against the stark night sky, with more than twenty yards between them. The bridge itself was over a hundred yards long and twenty wide. A marvel over the fiery Jordak River.

He shook his head and took a breath. He was tired. Hurt. All of his bones felt like jelly under his skin. He needed rest for the first time since he’d awoken from his twenty-five year hibernation.

Did fighting that grey scaler take so much out of me?

He felt something burning inside him where the blade had entered his side at the settlement. The irritation was worse. He opened up Brenwar’s chest and peered inside. Several vials popped into view, in tiny racks. He rummaged through them one at a time. There were things he could use, but didn’t want to waste any. It wasn’t as if he could go back to Dragon Home and get more, and something told him not to ask Bayzog to make any.

Can’t always rely on potions, and the Cloth of Concealment is too small for me
.

He fingered a bright yellow vial.

These I don’t mind so much.

As much as he hated to do it, he grabbed the healing vial and drank. Tingles erupted inside him. His ragged breathing eased. He closed the chest, stood up, and tucked it under his arm.

Got to get over there.

The biting in his side had eased. He rolled his shoulders and pulled them back.

Huh, I just vanquished a full-grown dragon. With no Fang and no Akron.

He nodded. Another rush went through him. There were many dragons, and they came in many shapes and sizes, but though grey scalers were not the biggest, they were contenders for toughest and deadliest. Nath’s chest swelled. Pride overtook him. His head was rushing. He ran his fingers though his mane of hair and walked out into the middle of the road, headed straight for the bridge.

“If a dragon can’t stop me, then those soldiers certainly can’t.”

Ready for anything, he approached with a smile. He made it about ten yards and stopped.

What am I doing?

It hit him. Wisdom. It conquered his pride. The objective was to get over the bridge without drawing any attention to himself or the others.

What are you doing, Nath? If the soldiers have them and they hear me coming, they’ll be put in further harm’s way.

He slid back off the road and hunkered down. He could imagine Ben, Bayzog and Brenwar tied or caged up somewhere. He squinted his eyes, but the heat from the river obscured his vision almost halfway across.

Time, Nath, Time.

Suddenly, a Battle Horn sounded. An iron bell rang. His thoughts raced.

Brenwar!

The soldiers turned their backs to him and peered toward the other end of the bridge. Nath rushed through the high grasses along the road. The soldiers were moving. Organizing. Shouting orders back and forth among them. Seconds later, two-thirds of the soldiers trotted across the bridge and out of sight.

Now that’s excellent timing.

Still hiding in the grasses near the bridge entrance, he waited a moment longer. Four soldiers were left standing guard, talking softly to one another. The twos and threes posted along the bridge were now ones.

All lizard men. Good and not good.

Lizard men were stout soldiers, but they weren’t the better trackers. They weren’t very good on horseback either. Horses and lizard men didn’t get along well. It was a good sign.

They’re chasing someone.

Orcs and gnolls were other cases. The gnolls were like hounds and the orcs had a keen sense of hunting things. Brenwar, Ben and Bayzog were formidable, but being hounded by thirty, maybe more? If that was the case, that would be deadly.

Quietly, he moved out of the brush and walked onto the bridge.

The lizard men continued speaking to one another, facing the other side of the bridge.

“Ahem,” Nath said, keeping his distance.

Startled, the lizard men turned with spears lowered.

“I say, can you tell me, does this bridge lead to Narnum?”

“Getss,” one said, poking a spear his way. “Leaves chest.”

“And part with all my personal belongings?” Nath said, turning the chest away. “Why, I need to return my new trousers and boots back to Narnum. They don’t fit these scaly legs and feet of mine.”

All four of the lizard men peered at him. Their reptilian eyes narrowed even further.

“You have scaless,” one said. “How iss that?”

Stupid lizard men. Orcs with scales.

“I was going to ask you that,” Nath said, “but why are yours so drab and ugly? And those faces on top of them. I hope that’s a mask. It’s hideous.”

A lizard man took a jab at him.

Nath slid away.

“Easy now,” he said. “So is this the bridge to Narnum or not?”

One lizard man whispered to another. It nodded and grabbed the horn hanging on its neck.

“What’s that?” Nath said, “I didn’t catch it?”

“Leaves the trunk.”

Nath grabbed the iron handle on the side of the trunk and swung it back and forth gingerly.

“I’m afraid I cannot part with it.”

All the lizard men crept closer.

“We kills you thens.”

Nath’s trunk laden arm kept swinging. He smiled.

“Alright thensssss,” he mocked. “You can have it.” He wound the trunk around in a huge windmill circle and let the chest fly. It struck the nearest lizard man in the ribs and toppled him over.

Spears sailed through the air.

One soared by Nath’s ear. The second bounced off his chest. The third he snatched from the air. He snapped it in half like a twig.

“You are the worst bridge greeters I’ve ever met.” He dropped the broken spears and they clattered on the bridge. “Who is your superior? I wish to speak with him.”

The lizard man with the horn raised it to his lips.

Nath leapt the distance between them. Snatched the horn and crushed it in his fist. “Now, now,” Nath said. “It’s rude to blow your horn when no one else has one to play as well.”

The lizard man gaped and blinked.

“Did you just wink at me?” Nath said, grabbing the lizard man by its armor’s collar. “That’s strange.” Behind him, swords scraped out of their scabbards. The one he held slipped out a dagger.

Simultaneously, all the lizard men struck.

Gick. Gick. Gick.

Nath didn’t feel a thing. He shoved them all away.

“Really?” he said. “You just saw a spear bounce off me and you thought you could still harm me? What are you, lizard men?”

One charged, sword raised to strike.

Nath ducked inside in the blink of an eye and punched.

Whop!

The lizard man and his sword bounced on the bridge walk.

“Next,” Nath said, dusting off his claws. He yawned. “I’m waiting.”

Wary, both lizard men approached with their swords ready.

“I don’t think that is going to work.” Nath shook his head. “You should have figured that out by now.”

“Diess!” one said.

Both charged. Both lunged.

Nath leapt high in the air.

Below him, the lizard men’s heads snapped up just as he landed on top of them. Nath knocked them out with single blows.

Whack! Whack!

All four lizard men were out cold, but more stormed over the bridge right toward him.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Ah, that’s a good number.
Nath felt better than ever. Stronger. Faster. His dragon blood rushed through his body like a geyser.
I’ve never felt so wonderful before.
He picked up the dwarven chest and faced the oncoming horde.
Good for me.
His eyes narrowed.
Too bad for them.

Nath took the chest by the handle and smashed it right into the lizard men. They hissed. They flew through the air. Their limbs were busted and broken. Nath swung the chest like Brenwar swung his hammer. He busted their snapping jaws. Broke the fingers on their scratching claws. He sent one flying into the bridge wall.

Seconds later, they all were down and Nath wasn’t even breathing hard. No more were coming either. It was just him and the haze on the bridge.

“Huh.”

He set the chest down and opened it. Everything inside was in perfect placement. “Dwarven. The ultimate craftsmanship.” He closed the lid, tucked it under his arm and strolled across the bridge.

He didn’t know what was different about him, but something was. Something had happened when he defeated the grey scaler. He’d grown. Not in size, but in something else.

What is it?

He crossed the bridge at a slow pace. One clawed foot in front of the other. Thinking. Contemplating.

I could have fought an entire army of those lizard men. They used to be able to hurt me before.

Halfway across the bridge, through the haze he could see the other side.

Troops were gathered at the end. He could smell them just as well as see them: orcs, gnolls, and lizard men. The rush of the fiery Jordak River no longer covered their voices. The hunt was on for a man, dwarf, and elf. A piece of gold for each head.

We’ll see about that.

Nath kept walking. One quarter from the end, the soldiers saw him coming. Grunts and fervor started.

Nath set down the chest and watched them come in a frenzy.

I now know what the difference is.

He spread out his arms and opened his clawed fingers.

I’m a dragon. They are not.