Here's the next chapter in To Kill a War Leader. It's still rough, but it is what it is. Comments are always welcome.
Thanks and hope everything is five by five wherever you are.
Wayne
The Green Mountain Tribe
I woke before Shala, so I set out to find something for breakfast. Not too far from camp I came across a camouflaged nest on the ground with four good sized eggs. A few feet away was one of Shala's snares she'd set the night before with what I can only describe as a saber-toothed rabbit caught in it. The thing had inch and a half long claws and every tooth was pointed with serrations along its edge. Even fucking rabbits are predators here. I love this place!
Once I got back to camp, I stoked our small fire and cooked a small breakfast. Shala gave the appropriate thank you to the jungle for providing for our needs. I just ate. We didn't leave much, but what was left was tossed into the underbrush to allow the jungle its share. Shala buried the fire, and we broke camp.
The rest of the morning we hiked in relative silence and well before midday we reached the edge of a clearing at the base of a cliff. With the exception of the cliff face that had to be a quarter of a mile long, the mountainside was covered in foliage. The cliff only reached about a hundred and fifty feet up the side of the mountain and the entire length of it was topped with a wall made of thick timbers. I could see the simple ladders on the cliff face leading up to a small ledge near sally ports in the wall. The ladders would likely be drawn up or pushed over in the event of attack.
I'd seen something similar once when I was a child when my family toured the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde. The only difference was that the Pueblos who lived in the cliffs on Terra didn't use ladders. They had carved out notches for hand and foot holds in the cliff face in a complex pattern that only the members of the tribe knew. When we took the tour, we had to climb ladders and the tour guide told us that researchers still hadn't deciphered the pattern. You'd think you were doing fine on a climb and then suddenly find yourself out of places to climb with. Couple of people died trying.
The next thing I noticed was that the clearing was not natural. We were standing at the edge of a killing field that was an almost perfect arc that left a two-hundred-yard run from the tree line to the cliff face. That would give the defenders plenty of time to deal with the ladders while raining arrows down on the invaders. I wouldn’t want to be part of an invading force trying to take it. The death toll would be ri-goddamned-diculous.
"There is the home of the Green Mountain Orcs," Shala said pointing to the wall. "You can see why they live in relative peace. Their village is almost impossible to assault with ground fighters and archers would have to fire from above to have any effect on the battle. I do not understand my War Leader's need to go to war with them."
"What about a siege?" I asked.
"What is a siege? I am unfamiliar with that term."
Of course, she didn't know what a siege was. Siege warfare doesn't give warriors the chance to die in glorious hand-to-hand combat. On the other hand, though, the Green Mountain orcs wouldn't know how to prepare for a siege or defend against one. In less than five minutes I may have just figured out how to kill an entire tribe of orcs.
I took a deep breath and explained. "A siege is where you basically cut off all of their access to food and water until they surrender or come out to fight. Do you know where they get water and food from? Would it be possible to cut them off? I'd be willing to bet they don't have stores for more than a week or two."
From the look on her face you'd have thought I suggested we eat their young. "There is no honor in that! You would be hurting the young and old most. The weak would die first. That is not how orcs wage war! Do your people actually fight in this way?"
"We did once upon a time," I replied. "The hope is that the warriors will come to the field of battle before their weakest die. Often times those under siege would try to seek help from allies to attack the enemy from the rear to break the siege. The fact that it isn't what you're used to doesn't make the tactic any less effective."
She snorted and said, "Well, it does not matter anyway; because, I have no idea how they supply their village. For all I know they live on the fungi that grow in a cave up there."
"I guess we're sneaking in then," I said. "This is information I have to get to give Na'Guk what he needs to wage his war. Any idea about how to get up there unseen?"
"I was hoping you did. After dark?"
"Definitely," I said as I turned back into the jungle to wait for nightfall. About five yards in a thought occurred to me. "What about from above? I mean we'd have to climb the mountain and scale back down, but I'd bet they don't defend it. Won't be the first time I've dropped in from above on a target."
"That would be better than going home with nothing," Shala replied. "We'll just have to watch out for the beasts that live on the mountain. They are different from what lives beneath. Hopefully the mountain gods are in a mood to protect you and not their followers." She was already moving before she finished her sentence.
We circled the clearing staying well within the tree line until I noticed that we had started walking up a steady incline. We were on what on Terra would likely be a deer or goat path. On Orta'ahn nothing that would qualify as prey would travel the same route routinely. This was most likely beaten into a path by something of a predatory bent, so as we ran, I kept my head on a swivel and my ears tuned to the sounds around us. It wouldn't do anyone any good for either of us to get eaten by something we never saw coming.
It couldn't have been more than a mile of jungle for us to cross to get to the base of the cliff, but it took us the better part of the afternoon to get there. The path continued up the mountain, but Shala stopped short of starting the climb. "What's wrong?" I asked her.
"The protection of my gods ends here. Once we start up, we are in the domain of the mountain gods. They have no love for my people. I do not wish to travel in their realm."
If I didn't know better, I would have said she was afraid. I didn't think gods had anything to do with it, but she believed it wholeheartedly. I guess I could empathize. I had felt trepidation on that last mission on Terra that cost me a couple of my best friends. I tried to talk Morgan out of going and he blew me off. If Shala didn't want to continue on, I wasn't going to make her.
I pulled her forehead down to mine and said, "Shala, I can go on from here without you. You can wait here for me to get back. I'm not worried about gods, and I'm confident that I'm the deadliest thing on this fucking mountain. Besides, you already know what I'm going to tell Na'Guk so if I don't come back you can always take my suggestion to him yourself."
"No. My War Leader commanded me to see this through, and I will do just that. I don't have to like it , but I will endure it," she said and continued on up the trail.
I had to give her props for courage. She was obviously on edge, but she was also determined. I just hoped that this turned out better for us than it had for my team back in the day. Oh well, the sooner we get this done the sooner I'd be able to end the crazy bastard that sent us here and get on to my next job.
I felt it about half a click up the mountain. There were eyes on us and a sense of danger that I hadn't felt in the jungle settled in on my shoulders making the hair on the back of my neck stand up. We were being stalked. Shala felt it too because she stopped dead in her tracks about two seconds after I felt it. Her head cocked to one side as she listened to the sounds around us. She sniffed the air trying to catch a scent.
A few seconds later I saw her tense as something stepped out onto the path in front of us. It was about the size of a large wolf back on Terra, and it was mostly covered in fur. There were hard scales that ran from the base of its skull down the center of its back to the tail. I'm guessing to protect the spine from attack. It had large ears that were laid back on its head and deep black eyes. Fangs are a given on this world, but the serrated edges were as unnerving as hell when it snarled. It was drooling, so I'm guessing orc was one of its favorite foods. Then again maybe it was just hungry, and we were convenient, like a bean and cheese burrito in a convenience store.
Shala reached to draw her dagger, but I reached out and stopped her. I whispered, "Calm the fuck down. Don't show it aggression yet. Something tells me it wants the fight. Maybe I can calm it down like I do the snakes in the jungle."
I stepped around her and locked eyes with it. I don't know why I did it, but something told me we would not win this one easily. The beast and I stared at one another for what seemed like a long time. Eventually he blinked, and I knew we were no longer in danger. His ears came up, and he cocked his head to one side like he was trying to figure out exactly what I was. Then he gave a snort, turned, and walked back into the underbrush.
"When we get back to my village, remind me to tell you just how stupid that was," she said as she cuffed me in the back of the head. I couldn’t help it. I laughed and smacked her on the ass.
"I told you I'm the most dangerous thing on the mountain," I said walking past her.
The rest of our climb went smoothly after that and we got to the point where we decided to start climbing down to the opening above the Green Mountain cliff dwelling. It wasn't the easiest thing I'd done lately. The descent was steep enough that we basically lowered ourselves from tree to tree. It was the only way to not fall off the mountain, but it also kicked quite a bit of debris loose to slide down the mountain ahead of us. We just had to hope that shit sliding off of the mountain was a regular enough occurrence that it wouldn't raise any alarms.
Sneaking is best done in the dark, so we settled in to wait until late in the night. It was a moonless night, so all we really had to worry about was the lanterns and torches positioned along the top of the wall. The cliff actually overhung the timber wall which is why archers weren't very useful from below. No way to lob arrows over the wall, but it did make it pretty easy for me to hang my head over and look down until I found the pattern in the guard patrol. It wasn't hard. I guess they feel pretty confident that they're safe up here. The gap was even big enough for Shala to get through unnoticed.
The place was huge. It had to be home to easily three or four hundred orcs. The cave went back into the mountain about two hundred meters, maybe a little further. All of the structures were either stone or adobe making it next to impossible to burn them out. The water supply was a large cistern cut into the rock in the back of the cave and it was fed by a spring. Not gonna be easy to cut that off with a siege. I was right about food stores though. Orcs are primarily carnivores and meat only keeps for so long. I'd be willing to bet you could effectively starve them out in less than a month, maybe as little as three weeks, but definitely no longer than a month.
I had pretty much all the intel I would need if I was actually going to tell Na'Guk how to wipe out his enemy, but that was never the plan. I had also spent a good part of this time plotting his death, and it was getting close to the time for that to happen. Especially if I wanted to prevent the slaughter of this tribe. Shala knew as much as I did, and she would give it all to her War Leader out of some misguided sense of honor and loyalty, even if she was questioning his wisdom.
"Time to go," I whispered to Shala as we noted the location of the last storage building. "Let's get over that wall before the sun comes up."
"Good idea," she agreed and we started back to the front of the village.
About ten feet from the ladder to the top of the wall Shala stumbled and fell to one knee bending forward like she was suddenly very sleepy. Looking back at her I could see the small arrow protruding from her shoulder and the orcs that were coming towards us warily.
"Shit. This just got interesting. Shala you ok?"
"I felt the arrow, and then I became very weak. I think I am poisoned. Leave me and get what we have learned back to my people."
"Fuck a bunch of that," I said and without really thinking I opened a portal back to my room at The Bar and pulled Shala through letting it snap shut behind me.
I immediately opened a second portal directly into Valsh's house and stepped through calling his name. His head snapped around and without saying a word he crossed my portal and carried her unconscious body back through to Orta'ahn.
"What happened?" he asked as he examined the arrow still stuck in her back. "This is not very deep. It should not be causing her this much trouble. Where were you when this happened?"
"Poison," I spat. "We were on our way out of the Green Mountain orc's village, and one of their guards got a lucky shot at her back. This is Na'Guk's fault. It's time for him to die Valsh."
Valsh just shook his head and said, "I can see that you are angry, but do not act rashly, Tole. Na'Guk is still very well protected and you have not yet devised a way to get to him unnoticed, have you? Besides, I am going to need time to find a reasonable explanation for how quickly you have returned to the village. Now go away and let me work."
"Fine," I managed to get out around clenched teeth, "but the countdown has started and that mother fucker's days are numbered."
I went back to The Bar to drink some real liquor and think things out.
Shala died while I was gone.
1 comment:
Interesting twist, and he finally loses somebody. This is going to be one hell of a killing!
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