Amalia Tham - “The wind is picking up, will you see to the canopies before you tuck in for the night?” I said to Falk before returning to the front desk. He turned, attempting to mask his displeasure with my latests command. Of the items floating around in my head that needed to be completed before retiring for the night, securing the canvas shades was the least of them.
The unrest in the area meant the staff nearly outnumbered the patrons at our little roadside inn. Father had refunded many of the guests for the unused portion of their stay. Most who came here only stayed the night, but there were always a handful that spent an extra day or two.
It was late before I settled into bed. I had intended to stop by father’s room before heading to bed. He liked knowing everything was buttoned up before retiring for the night. He had been so busy with other matters that when I stopped by his room he was already asleep. I wasn’t far behind him a quick turn of the stairs and the dousing of a lamp and I too could put the day behind me.
I awoke from a dream to a sunless room. What hour was it, I wondered. The cool stale air of my room cooled the sweat on my forehead. It was then I realized I had had a dream of some portent. That usually meant trouble. I threw a work dress on over my shift and slipped into my shoes. The door opened easily and made my way downstairs. Everything was quiet in the receiving room. Danja was curled up on the overstuffed chair, purring lightly in her sleep. She had a room, but preferred the couch even though Duncan had asked her not to sleep there. She maintained her defiance in secret waking early and finding her way to her room every day before Father came down. I don’t know if father failed to notice, or stopped caring. In either case it was not for me to get involved in their battle of wills. I looked through the window into the moonlit yard. All was quiet. Too quiet. Deep shadows made it hared to see details.
I crossed the yard to the barn. Only one horse remained in the stables. It pawed at the straw covered dirt and brayed softly acknowledging my approach. I climbed the ladder to the loft where I found Harney sleeping on a blanket. I was drawn to the shutter that overlooks the road outside the compound. Harney stirred as I crossed the straw. Outside the moon colored the landscape in a wash of gray and black. It would be more than an hour before the sun showed itself. Standing amid the gray were moving shapes. Dozens of them. I lost count after forty. I recognized the shapes in the dark. Orcs. But they were not alone. Standing in their midst were five giants. Before yesterday I had only imagined them in the stories told by the old Dwarves. Now they we standing legion outside my door.
“Harney!” I said in a harsh whisper. “We are in trouble. Help me wake the others, there is little time.”
Harney sat up surprisingly alert. I had hoped to buy us some time by not sounding an alarm. We had held off orcs in the past, this would be worse.
“Harney, wake our guests quietly make sure they are ready for a fight.” My worlds usually carried a note of confidence, but the crack in my voice betrayed the fear that was threatening to overpower my reason.
I crossed the yard again, waking Danja as I threw the door open. She knew from the look on my face that there was trouble. I had always viewed her as a sensual creature, but in the time it took her to reach her feet, a feral cat now stood.
I darted down the hall hammering on doors. “We are under attack!” I said, as loud as I dared. When I reached Father’s room he met me at the door. His ebony skin was a cloak of night. Half dressed; he was holding his scabbard in one hand and his shield in the other.
“Orcs and giants.” I said. “ Fewer than sixty more than forty. There are five giants with them.” I had been conditioned for years to report the facts first and opinions second.
“Everyone to the yard.” He said as he pushed past me.
I had never been trained as a soldier, even during the war my contributions were limited to a support role. As I entered the yard I saw the men assembled there. Father was directing the non-combatants to shore up the front gates. Anyone with a minute’s combat training was being equipped with a weapon and shield.
Keval and Harney were pulling a damaged freight wagon from the barn and propping it up against the gate when the first arrows landed on the roof. Flames jumped from the arrow to the thatching almost instantaneously.
“Get the horse out of the barn!” Duncan called. Some of the non-fighters scrambled toward the opening. Smoke was collecting in the rafters before they reached the entrance.
The thud of more arrows in the yard sent me scrambling for cover. Duncan, several guards from Dowry, Falk, and Leonid formed a tortoise in the yard, warding off arrows with their shields.
“Reinforce the door with timbers!” Duncan called out as the men endured the rain of arrows. As they were positioning the timbers against the gate it shuttered violently sending splinters and clouds of dust showing the men.
“Giants!” Keval cried out through the thickening smoke of the barn fire. Ladders clacked against the south wall of the compound. The hoots and war-cries of Orcs sounded from the other side of the wall.
“Shield Wall!” Duncan cried. Prepare to repel!”
The fight was going to happen in the yard. Likely on two fronts. Outside we were surrounded on all sides. Our only hope was to last long enough for an opening to appear outside the walls. I pushed through the door into the receiving room. Danja approached from her room carrying a curved blade and a shield not much bigger than a pie tin. Her eyes were narrow and predatory. Her lips curled up in a devilish grin. She pushed past me into the yard without a word.
I reached Father’s room and ran to the bed. I pulled a flat box from below it and threw off the lid. Seven leather wrapped glass vials stared back at me. I gathered them in my apron and sprinted back down stairs. I braced myself against the wall to keep may balance. A few moments later I was back in the yard. The tables and benches that had served so many were now filling in for want of more soldiers. Orcs were dropping over the wall, half a dozen were already flinging their heavy blades in deadly arcs toward the line of soldiers.
“Keval! Fill in the line. I’m going up.” Duncan’s commanding tone rose above the clatter of swords and shields. On the walkway overlooking the yard were three shadowy figures armed with bows and heavy quivers.
Keval filled the void as Father climbed the stairs, dispatching two of the invaders as he ascended. The archers were heading toward the front gate where several merchants and Harney tried to reinforce the gate.
The wagon that had been braced up against the gate bucked violently under the assault on the door. Some of the men fell to the ground scrambling to regain their feet. One of the archers on the walkway reached the end and fire arrow in the dirt near Harney sending him crab-crawling backwards for cover.
A shout of pain from the line of men forming the shield wall captured my attention. I crossed the yard falling in behind them. The squish of red mud nearly cost me my balance. Vials of healing magic spilled into the mud. I dropped on all fours to rescue the precious vials. Gamlor I think his name was, nearly stepped on me to avoid an enemy blade. A deep gash on his leg was adding to the crimson pool.
“Open your mouth!” I screamed at him. “This will restore your strength!” He didn’t stop swinging his blade as I attempted to pour the potion into his mouth.
“Thank you lass.” He said in ragged breaths. The slap of another body falling into the mud sprayed me as I continued to gather the gore-soaked vials. I looked over my shoulder toward the gate then back across the walkway. The fire had consumed the upper story of the barn flagging winds pushed black smoke into the yard nearly obscuring the gate. The rhythmic pounding was overcoming all efforts to shore it up. Father was returning to the shield wall, having dispatched the archers.
The bodies of the fallen were starting to pile up; challenging footing for friend and foe. For each Orc dispatched, two more would spill over the wall. The line was holding, if only just. Duncan rejoined the group from the back stairs clearing our a few more on his return. We made eye contact as he rejoined the shield wall. There was no hint of humor on his face.
My eye was drawn to the far right of the south wall. The head of some creature hovered for a moment near the crest before mounting the wall. A giantess crumbled the tile shingles atop the wall along with the first few courses of brick. She attempted to place her weight fully on the wooden stairs, collapsing them like they were made of peanut brittle. Her arrival caused everyone to step back. We were nearly falling over the bodies of the slain as we reorganized.
“Take healing if you need it!” Duncan roared. “I’ll buy us some time to reform the line.”
Every instinct in my body screamed run! The only place to run was inside the building.
More Orcs were spilling into the yard and moving around our weak flank. The merchants that had been shoring up the gate donned the warriors mantle filling in where solders should have been. One of the Dowry solders stumbled back into me on his way to the ground. A lethal gash to the head, his untimely demise. I tossed the last of the healing vials to a soldier on the far left of the shield wall before picking up the blade at my feet.
The giantess was nimble considering her great size. Duncan was pressing his attack in an attempt to avoid the lethal arc of her spear. It found a home in one of the guards his body lifeless in the red mud. Duncan seized the opportunity and bloodied the monster in a way that sent her off balance.
With our attention on the giant, the orcs were once again pressing. My shoulder rocked backwards violently. The shaft of an Orc arrow protruded from my arm. Pain and panic stole my reason. Behind me, the sound of smashing timbers announced the gates had failed.
“Father!” I screamed.
“I know.” was his reply. “Dining Hall. Everyone fall back!”
I slipped behind the turned tables for protection. Orc bodies were on the ground along with several of the merchants. They had managed to outflank us and these men gave everything to hold the line. On the ground next to the Orcs was Danja’s lifeless body. This exotic beauty who graced us most nights with her preternatural grace lay inanimate, her life blood soaking into the dirt and cobbles. Behind her was the doorway. The ground trembled. I cast a glance to the gate. Three impossibly large creatures were crossing the yard; lust for blood staining their expressions.
Duncan and two of the guards were flanking the open door. Orcs were piling up at there feet. My frozen legs thawed allowing me to step over Danja’s body.
“Find us a way out!” Duncan said to me as I stepped through the door.
“I’m not leaving without you!” I challenged.
“Dammit girl! If we don’t make an exit, none of us are leaving this place.” He said in answer.
Falk tripped through the door onto the blood-slick floor. He scrambled to his feet, drawing up his weapon as he stood.
“Upstairs!” Duncan growled. “All of you!”
Two of the Dowry guards had joined Duncan in the banquet room. They took turns holding the door against an onslaught of orcs. A shadow fell across the doorway and the Orcs flew from the door in fear for their lives. The frame of the door exploded a moment later along with chunks of the wall. A guard went down.
Leonid was in the receiving room. We locked eyes for a moment before he sprinted upstairs. The merchantmen were not far behind him.
Voices like rolling thunder filled the courtyard. The giant in the doorframe pushed his bulk into the dining hall. He was unable to stand fully in the confines of the hall, which made him look even more enormous. His bent frame kept him from unleashing his full might. Blood and spittle trailed from his mouth as he swung his maul in a wide arc. His belt rattled with skulls. Braided leather interlaced the eye sockets and looped through his broad belt.
The giant glanced my direction. I felt my heart stop. My stomach clinched forcing me to bite down to avoid spilling the contents of my belly.
“No you don’t, you half-wit son of a bitch!” Duncan’s words we followed by a thrust from his hand-and-a-half sword. Blood sprayed from the wound onto the floor, drawing the giant’s attention back to my father.
I turned toward the stairs, shouts were coming from above. The panicked voices gave me renewed urgency.
“You can’t hold this room. The doors will only slow them a little. Its time to go!” I said.
“He’s nearly spent. I just need a second?” Duncan wheezed.
The giant was having a harder time fighting in the confined space and Duncan and the remaining guard were making him pay dearly.
“Get going!” Duncan shouted. ”We’re right behind you!”
The shouts from upstairs were growing louder and Father looked like he was handling the giant in the room. I took a few steps back until I was even with the checkin desk. Splinters shat past me accompanied by an explosive bang! Another giant entered the building separating me from Duncan and the guard. It took a moment for him to recover from bashing down the door. I stumbled backwards toward the stairs in the time it took him to recover.
“Father! Behind you another one!” I called out as I retreated up the stairs.
The Giant cast his gaze in my direction, thrusting his mass my way, toppling Danja’s couch and spilling ledger books onto the floor.
Oh Danja. I already miss her.
Father let out a war cry, a sound that I hadn’t heard since the end of the 10 Years War.
The Giant swung his dead around, using the walls to throw himself into the dining hall, leaving the receiving area looking like piles of tinder. Another large shadow loomed in the broken doorway. Another giant! My feet acted when I could not. Before I knew it I was at the top of the stairs. Falk was helping one of the merchants out the second story window. They had fashioned a rope from bedding and curtains.
“Come on Amalia” Falk said. “Your next.”
“But father and the guard…” I protested.
“…Are far better suited to fight than we are.” He finished. “Now grab a knot and go. There is a clear lane to the high hide. The Orcs have cleared out of here for now. They may come back at any time.”
I looked over my shoulder hoping I would see the two of them coming up the stairs. I could still hear the clash of steel. He is still alive.
We were on the ground and crossing the open field. The darkness was starting to peal back and give way to morning. The six of us pushed our bodies hard to reach the high hide without being spotted. I didn’t look back again until were were safely hidden.
The compound was lit by orange light from the barn fire. aside from the crackling fire and the gusts of wind it was quite now. Leonid touched my shoulder.
“Its not safe here.” he said. “ I know someplace safe.”
I thought I did too. I thought to myself.
Begrudgingly I relented. “Ok you lead, I can’t see the path.
“Duncan knows the way.” Leonid said. “He’ll follow when he can.
We stumbled into the night. My world in flames behind us.
