Windcatcher: Book I of the Stone War Chronicles (47 page)

Gavin let out a cry of frustration.

“Oh, come one Gavin. You know you have our squad’s respect. We’ve been too far from home for too long to not surpass the strict hierarchy. You are our leader and we listen to you. I just thought it would be good for us to have more information on the situation. We need to know what we’re up against.”

Gavin was about to go on a rant, when Xi’Lao put a hand on his shoulder and leaned over to him.

“Don’t let the annoyance of your little brother not listening to you cloud your judgment on the fact that he made the right choice,” she whispered softly in his ear.

His brother let out a sigh; his anger seeped away.

“What if he’d been seen or followed?” Gavin asked.

“I was not, I made sure of that,” said Galirras, with confidence. “And, I believe Raylan made the right call to send me. It was the fastest and least dangerous option for gathering information, else I would not have easily agreed to it.”

The last of his brother’s resistance broke down as he finally gave in.

“Fine. Let’s gather everyone around and hear what you’ve found out.”

Gavin and the others listened to the information Galirras provided. His brother had to admit, they had not been able to get this kind of information, in such a short time, in any other way.

“We’ll never be able to fight that many soldiers,” said young Peadar. He was normally the optimistic one, but these numbers even made him wonder if they would ever get home alive.

“It’s a lot of soldiers,” said Raylan, “and I’ve been trying to figure out why there are so many here. It can’t all be for us, can it? Or for Galirras? They’ve only found out about him a few weeks back. There wouldn’t have been enough time to get so many soldiers together. This must have been going on for months already, perhaps years. Something else is going on…something big. The ships……the men…it’s like…almost like…”

“…an invasion force,” said Gavin.

“As if getting out of here and saving our own lives was not enough, “ said Harwin, “we now have to worry about a bloody invasion?”

“If that’s so, we need to warn the king,” Richard put forward.

“But we’ve got none of our birds left. How do we get such a message back?” said Peadar.

“It will have to come from us. We need to get back home as soon as possible,” answered Gavin.

“With the number of soldiers Galirras saw and the provisions being collected and loaded up, it won’t be long before they leave. Staying here only means using up those provisions while waiting,” said Xi’Lao, “a large force like that needs a constant supply of food, either by food coming to them or them going to the food. They can’t stay in one place. It will be hard to stop them once they start moving.”

“We need to steal one of the boats,” said Raylan.

All of them looked at him, in unbelief.

“Steal one of the boats? Were you even listening? What about the thousands of soldiers between you and those boats?” said Kevhin.

“He’s right, Raylan. We can’t just walk in and take one,” said Gavin.

“Can’t we?” wondered Raylan. “Galirras mentioned there’s a small scouting party nearby. I think we could surprise them and use their armor to disguise ourselves. Seb knows the local language well enough for a small number of us to sneak into the enemy camp. With the amount of soldiers pouring in, it shouldn’t be too difficult to join the newcomers that are arriving. Together we could scout the boats and see which one is right to take.”

“How would we get the boat out of there?” said Sebastian. “A few of us will not be enough to sail away, even if we were to pick up the others, somewhere close by, along the way.”

“Galirras will create a distraction,” said Raylan.

“I will fly to the far side of the harbor. I will break something, or at least get myself noticed, and quickly retreat south. It should create enough of a panic. I am sure, if Corza is present, he will jump at the opportunity to get another shot at us. Maybe even send out a force after me,” added Galirras.

“After that, he’ll circle back and join us on the ship as we depart,” continued Raylan. “As the soldiers focus on Galirras, the rest of us will sneak in on the north side of the harbor. We can meet up at the water, take a small dinghy to get on board the boat, and then set sail, right away.”

Gavin looked at his little brother.

“No, it is much too risky. If anything goes wrong, the enemy force will be able to overwhelm us in a matter of moments. Besides, what about the flying ship…or airship, whatever you call them?”

“You’re one to talk about risk. You wanted us to simply jump from a fifty foot cliff,” pressed Raylan.

“That was a calculated risk, you know that. There was simply no other easy way to get down to the ship,” answered his brother.

“Well, I don’t see any other way this time, either,” said Raylan. “We’ve got to get back to Aeterra and warn them. We need transportation, which is only available in the hands of the enemy. Land travel would take too long to warn the kingdom, and there is no way that Galirras can cross the ocean to relay a message. Not to mention the fact that people would probably attack him, or run away screaming, before he could say anything.”

“What about patrols?”

Raylan looked at Galirras for the answer.

“There are no walls or gates. I saw very few guards around. It should not be too difficult to sneak past any patrols, especially if I can create some turmoil on the south end.”

“You still haven’t mentioned the airships. What about them?” said Gavin to Raylan, who had to think about that, for a moment.

“I might be able to rip the balloon, if any come after us,” suggested Galirras. “Without the balloon, it would just be another sailing ship, right?”

“Not good enough,” said Gavin, shaking his head. “There are too many uncertainties. Not to mention that a large part of your plan depends on the one thing we’re here to protect and return safely to the Emperor of the Tiankong Empire.”

“Galirras can take care of himself. He can easily outfly any horse or man, and if he approaches the airship from above, they shouldn’t even see him until it is too late. I really don’t see any other way to get back home fast enough to beat them there, other than to cross the ocean.”

“Are you certain they will go straight to Aeterra?” asked Xi’Lao. “They might have a very different direction in mind.”

Gavin gave a small smile.

“True, but like you said yourself, such a large force needs to keep moving for provisions not to run out. For the same reason, they wouldn’t be able to stay at sea for long periods of time. They would need to go ashore and restock provisions, at least. The mid-continent is the closest landmass to do so. They might not show up at our shores right away, but it’s more than likely they’ll land on our side of the ocean.”

“And if they would go south around the mid-continent to the Empire, for example, they would possibly be stuck fighting on two fronts against both our armies. That seems like an unlikely choice,” remarked Richard.

“That is
if
the king would send out soldiers to assist the empire,” said Harwin, skeptically.

“Still, could we take that chance? Take the long way around? I don’t think so,” said Ca’lek.

“I agree. So, are we going to do this or not?” asked Raylan. “If we want to catch the scouting party for their armor, we’d better get moving.”

Gavin looked around at each of the members. All of them had eager looks on their faces. These men did not do well without a purpose. They needed a goal, a task to focus on. The wish to return home was driving their will to forget the high risk involved. It was a dangerous mindset to be in for a soldier, to lose sight of the dangers involved. But it would be more dangerous to wander around aimlessly, waiting for the enemy to find them again. The problem was he had been unable to come up with any alternative course of action since their rescue pickup was lost, and not doing anything was just not an option.

“…fine,” Gavin said, reluctantly. “Everyone gear up and get ready to go. It’s time for us to get a new set of clothes.”

As the group stirred into motion, Raylan saw Xi’Lao put her arms around Gavin’s lower back and pull him close. They had become more open, showing their affection in front of the group, which was somehow comforting to see. They had already become more than just a group, it almost felt like family with everyone here.

As he walked away, Raylan heard his brother softly speak to her.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Raylan felt the remark sting, driving him more to prove Gavin wrong. He quickly gathered his stuff and joined his older brother as he loaded up his horse.

“Gavin, I’m sure we’ll manage,” said Raylan.

Gavin shook his head.

“I don’t think you understand the full grasp of the situation, yet.”

“I do. Actually, I think for the first time in my life, I finally understand your need to protect. To shield those things you love…people…friends from danger. To keep them safe, at all costs,” said Raylan, “but in order to do that, you sometimes have to put yourself in harm’s way…”

Gavin looked at his little brother, in silence, but Raylan noticed his brother’s expression changed. He noticed only the slightest of movements from the muscles in Gavin’s face as his brother looked him in the eye. At that moment, Raylan was certain that his brother saw him in a different light than before.

Gavin turned round to finish up packing the horse. He glanced over his shoulder, before he spoke, softly.

“It seems you have indeed grown up…a little. Still, it does not change this ominous feeling I have about all this. Just promise me to keep on your toes, the whole time.”

“Don’t worry, I will,” said Raylan, firmly.

Chapter 15

Infiltration

Raylan looked at the mass of soldiers slowly passing him as they moved in the direction of the bay. The road was packed with them. Many had large tattoos on their arms and faces, while every single one of them had at least three different weapons with them. Axes, swords, spears, morning stars, but also smaller knives, daggers and more exotic-looking weapons. Raylan had just seen one soldier that had some sort of claw tied to his arm in the shape of three large spiky blades, extending from the back of the soldier’s hand. It reminded him of Galirras’ claws.

The soldiers looked sweaty, dirty and intimidating. It was not so much a march, it was more a constant flooding of soldiers in the direction of the harbor. Fights occasionally broke out, quickly creating circles of soldiers as they shouted and yelled encouragements to the fighters in the ring. This, in turn, would block the flow of soldiers still coming in, resulting in more conflicts. Eventually, one of the more highly ranked soldiers, often riding on a horse, broke everything up and got everyone moving again.

Raylan looked at Sebastian, standing next to him. Acquiring the enemy’s armor had posed little difficulty. They located the scouting party late in the morning. With the element of surprise and with the help of Galirras, they quickly overpowered the small group. Raylan tried to come up with a way to spare the soldier’s lives, but he was overruled by Gavin, who did not want to take any more unnecessary risks for the already risky plan. The attack was swift and clean. They ended up with eight full sets of armor, more than enough for the small reconnaissance team that Raylan and Sebastian formed. The others would use the armor for their own disguise, on their approach from the north cliffs.

If not for the stench of blood and the fact that it was taken from a dead person, the armor itself was quite comfortable. Still, Raylan felt an intense resentment when he put it on. It was simple enough armor, covering most of his chest; but it was obviously expertly made, as no sharp edges from the metal could be felt on the inside. The metal had been colored black, with patches of leather, here and there. The shoulders had less mobility than his own armor as it had multiple plates of metal bent over each other, again finished to a polish deep black. Raylan wore an open steel helmet, while Sebastian had one with flaps on the side, to cover up the slave mark on his cheek. The boots were a bit of a loose fit, but had metal protectors on the shins. Flexible leather pants, with heavy leather patches on the front of the upper legs, completed the armor. It was clear that the enemy had been carrying much heavier armor— made for protection—while their own armor favored speed.

Along the road, soldiers constantly moved in and out of the main masses of people. Finding some drinking water, taking a piss, or perhaps, going for a quick hunt, for whatever the reason, they should have no trouble joining the river of soldiers moving west. Still, Raylan saw they both had their doubts about putting themselves in the middle of the enemy’s forces. The plan to infiltrate the harbor, to scout the surroundings, and to find a suitable ship to take later in the night had sounded simple enough, but the implementation took more courage than Raylan expected.

Raylan looked at Sebastian. As he took a large breath, he gave a short nod and began to move. He heard Sebastian follow him down the hill and exit the forest. Making a short hop unto the dirt road, he found an open spot in the constantly moving hoard and adjusted his walking speed to match the soldiers around him.