The Clan Wars Pt. 16

"I wouldn't bother asking to try them out," said Dayna. "Pretty sure it's a personalised enchantment - it wouldn't work for you. That's part of why it's so subtle."

Pointer heard their conversation and his thoughts drifted back to the song Kalliya had sung to persuade him to join her expedition. Memories of roads long since travelled and a certain long absent companion lingered in his mind. He pushed the thoughts away, lying to himself that he needed to focus on the road ahead, but knowing the truth was that he'd rather get run through than dwell on the painful memory.

Thankfully, a distraction took that opportunity to present itself. Rounding a bend in the mountain road, Pointer saw a band of goblins seated by the side of the trail. There were about ten of the diminutive greenskins; they were cheering, gathered in a loose circle around two of their comrades who appeared to be fornicating wildy. Despite the display they were observing, a few noticed the elf as he rounded the corner and Pointer noted that they were all well armed with short recurve bows and small swords. All but the frantically copulating duo were clad in sturdy looking leather armour. By the uniformity of their equipment, Pointer deduced that these were no mere bandits, but proper soldiery.

"Gashak vik nab!" called out one of the small archers and the others quickly scurried about seizing weapons and assuming firing positions while the naked pair ceased their furious rutting and hurriedly redressed.

Pointer stopped in his tracks and a moment later Alagar and the two women trotted up beside him. Seeing the goblins on the road ahead, Dayna slid off the warg's back and warily unslung her staff while Mila moved her hand to the hilt of her sword.

"Drop your weapons!" shouted one of the tiny humanoids.

"What's happening?" whispered Dayna.

"I got this," murmured Mila under her breath.

Mila dismounted and replied to the goblins in their own tongue, cousin as it was to the orcish language. As she started speaking, Dayna quickly wove her spell of translation.

{... have no quarrel with the warriors of tribe Bolenduntz!} said Mila as Dayna's spell kicked in. {We are simply travelling to Top Town.}

{You can pass, but those two elves will have to come with us,} stated the goblin.

{Yeah, that's not going to happen,} said Mila. {They have paid me as a guide and a guard, and if I don't get them there, I don't get paid.}

{I don't care about you getting paid or not,} sneered the goblin. {I have my orders - no elves allowed to pass eastwards.}

{Well, see, you should care about me getting paid,} said the orc, leaning her head from side to side and stretching her muscled neck. {Because I care about getting paid, and if you stop that from happening, it's gonna quickly become a problem for you.}

As if on cue, Alagar began to growl - a low, menacing sound that was felt in the chest rather than heard in the ears. A few of the goblins looked warily at one another, clearly trying to calculate how many arrows they could put into the armoured orc and the hulking warg before the fight would devolve into a melee.

{Look, I love a good fight as much as the next greenskin,} explained Mila, her tone suddenly becoming more soothing, {but I've been away from an inn for far too long and would rather have a mug of ale and a good fuck before having to split some skulls. Problem is, my warg friend here always prefers fighting, though. So how about you ignore me and these two *ahem* humans I'm escorting and my warg leaves disappointed.}

{Come on, Basig} whined another goblin to their spokesman, {let's just let em go.}

{Listen to your friend, Basig,} said Mila agreeably. {You might be able to bring one of us down, maybe two, but you know how wargs are and even my *ahem* human associate there is a demon with his sword. You really want to try your luck on this one?}

{You're heading east to Top Town, right? Not going north at all?} said Basig.

{We're going straight to the Ogre's Drum,} said Mila {Jo's got a bottle of blister whiskey waiting for me there. Definitely no interest in getting lost in the tundra.}

The goblin leader spat. {Fine. Get out of here. No need for us to bother with an orc and a couple of humies anyway.}

The small party warily walked past the equally wary goblins and once they were around the next bend, they mounted up and made haste. After making all speed in complete silence for some time, they finally pulled over to break for lunch.

"I wonder what's happening in the north?" said Dayna.

"I dunno," said Mila, "but I'm a little worried. The Bolenduntz aren't ones to send out cave troopers unless there's a real fight about to happen somewhere. I haven't seen proper Bolenduntz troops above ground since the Battle of Knife Valley, six years ago."

Pointer frowned. He scribbled on his slate: how dangerous were they?

"Cave troopers are serious business in the dark. Gobbo eyesight is fierce good when the light's bad; they can thread a needle with those bows when they're in their tunnels. Up here?" said the orc. "I'd have put our odds at fifty-fifty, maybe a bit better depending on what kind of crazy magic Dayna could spin up."

Dayna shuddered at the mess they'd just managed to avoid. "We'd better get a move on then; I really don't want to run into a bunch of them after the sun sets. I don't like this one bit. It might have nothing to do with the omnigarch stone, but I'll feel a lot better once we're in Drasich."

"Or Top Town, at least," agreed Mila.

The mountain-top city was its usual hubbub of activity when the weary trio finally walked through the gates. After two weeks on the trail, the three felt worn out and yearned for the comforts of civilization and the elves were more than happy to follow Mila was she led them towards the Ogre's Drum. Mila had convinced Dayna that stopping for the night at the Ogre's Drum was the best course of action. Her friends and contacts there would be able to catch them up with recent events and may even have information on their quarry. The merchant stalls that lined the streets were thick with afternoon traffic and Mila and Dayna dismounted Alagar before weaving through the crowd beside Pointer. Despite their run-in with the goblins a few days previous, Pointer noted there seemed to be no signs of any discord among the varied denizens of the bustling settlement - although far from common, he noted a few elves walking among the crowds of mountain folk.

The hulking proprietor of the inn-cum-brothel greeted Mila warmly as she and the two elves walked up to the bar. The trio took a stool each while the ogre scratched Alagar behind the ears and slipped him a large slice of salted meat from a plate she had on the counter behind her. Looking like a regular sized wolf next to the massive ogre, the big warg's tail wagged furiously before he turned and curled up happily at the foot of Mila's stool to devour his prize.

"You three look in dire need of a drink," said the friendly barkeep. "What can I getcha?"

"Hey Jo. Ale for me," said Mila.

"Wine, please," said Dayna.

Pointer signalled for the ogre to pour two glasses of wine.

As Jolene poured their drinks, Mila introduced her two companions. "This is Dayna and Pointer," explained the orc. "Guys, I'd like you to meet Jolene, keeper of the finest tavern you'll find."

"You're only saying that cos of the size of the tab I let you keep here," smiled Jo. "Pleased to meet you two."

"Likewise," said Dayna while Pointer nodded amiably at the friendly ogre.

"Pointer here's a mute," explained Mila.

Jolene's eyebrows raised and her huge fingers flickered in a quick pattern. Pointer grinned at the movement and responded with a few similar gestures.

Mila and Dayna watched the interaction with interest. "That seems pretty useful," said the orc. "What is it?"

"Night sign," said Jo, turning to smile at her friend. "Keep an eye on that one, Mila; if he knows night sign, he knows trouble."

"Don't I fucking know it," said the greenskin sardonically.

"Sounds like you had quite a trip," said Jo.

"You could say that," said Mila, taking a long pull on her tankard before continuing. "Went east with one mage, came back with a different one. Speaking of which, you haven't seen the southerner girl I left with around town, have you?"

"She skip out on paying you?"

"Something like that," replied Mila. "We need to have a few brief and possibly angry words with her."

"Sorry hun," said the publican. "She hasn't shown up here. If she does, I'll try and keep her around for you. I'd say ask Urglot, but the little gobbo's been scarce since you left. A few merc bands - the Grey Bones, Daka's Host and Klamp's Sappers - got some juicy contract with the gobbo tribes and he's off sorting that all out."

"Klamp and the Greys are all goblins and Daka's an orc," said Mila for the benefit of her companions. "Any of the mixed companies go too?"

"Nope," said Jo. "Tarant and Dosa were in here whining about it. And, before you ask, I have no clue what the contract was for. All very hush hush."

"We ran into - what did you call them?" said Dayna. "The Bolendurz?"

"Bolenduntz," said the orc. "Met a few very prickly cave troopers a few days back. Didn't seem to like elves much."

"Hmmm..." pondered the ogre. "Strange times. I wonder if it's-"

The big woman was cut off mid sentence by the approach of a patron. Before he turned to have a look at the newcomer, Pointer could tell by the heavy thump of a hoof on the wooden floor that it was a centaur. Beside him, the hairs on Dayna's neck prickled. She could smell magic. She turned to see a pretty young centaur filly with a worried frown on her face, but the dazed looking young man beside the centaur was what captured her attention. The boy reeked of the dusky-skinned mage's spellwork.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," said Cress to the barkeep, "but I really hope you can help me. I NEED to find a mage."