Chapter 16
Deep rhythmic beats vibrated through the ground, the Skandian warriors based at the front lines peered over their shoulders puzzled at the unexpected sound of bass like beats humming in the air. A new sensation prickled into the battle hardened warriors as they peered into the distance, tightening their grips on their weapons. Fear. The only one unsurprised by the sudden ripple of sound was Halt, who accustomed to the traditions of the assassin like army, hurried his way through the piling masses of Skandian men poised in a fighting stance. To his disapproval, Ragnak the Skandian Oberjarl was found to be right at the centre of his army swinging his axe alarmingly quickly, though knowing the extent of the northern sea raiders pride, he didn't let his trivial opinions be known. Halt would have preferred if the Oberjarl was somewhere safer, though safer was a relative term in this case, where he could be managing and organising the heaps of bloodthirsty corsairs. Light on his feet, Halt swayed smoothly to one side dodging the deadly weapon in Ragnak's hands and stood face to face with the general.
"Shouldn't you be somewhere where you can manage the men?" He asked. Halt grimaced inwardly. Of course he would have to direct the troops, he should have seen it coming.
"Yes I'll be there in a moment just wanted to let you know that the ratio of Temujai's to Skandians is around four to one."
"Well I'll be damned are there any other pieces of hidden information you want to tell me?" Ragnak had a calm outward appearance which gained Halt's approval immediately.
"No just a precaution for you and make sure you don't stay in the brunt of the fighting" The look on Ragnak's face forced Halt to add "too much." At the end.
Around a couple of yards behind them a small force of archers stood nervously, some kicking dusts of granulated mud into the air. They all had a look of fright mixed with weariness on their faces. As if they wanted to get this fight over and done with but were afraid to do so. Will couldn't blame them. He was feeling the same way though as their leader he knew acting calmly was essential, so as to gain their trust and be a good role model.
"Don't put your bows in tension yet, we've got to wait for the right time. In fact it would be better if you put your bows down altogether." Will said. The rest of the force looked at him as if he may have lost his senses. Then to promote his idea he put down his bow and arrow and raised his hands as if surrendering, but the rest of the team took his actions as a signal and calmer than before they too set their weapons aside and looked out through the clumps of bushes to get a good look at their adversary. Releasing a pent up breath he didn't know he took, Will made his way towards Horace who had been unusually quiet for the past half hour. He saw his bigger friend checking his equipment for the sixth time and running his hand over his shield to ensure it was still oiled from when he checked four minutes prior.
"You ready for the battle?" Will's voice startled the muscled apprentice who dropped his shield in surprise. His friend appeared to rise out of the ground as he spoke reminding Horace temporarily of a ghost. A groan escaped his lips as he saw his newly polished shield covered in wet mud and an accusatory glance at Will made Will known as to whose fault it was this happened. "Sorry, I didn't realise you were busy but I bet you will be now." A placatory gesture was given from Will as Horace bent down to retrieve his shield.
"You should have made some noise so that I knew you were coming, then I wouldn't have dropped my shield." Horace snapped. To Will it looked as though his friend was beginning to get crankier, though the reason behind it was unapparent to him so far. Perhaps he didn't get a good sleep last night he thought to himself. Then Horace cocked his head to the left as if contemplating over something.
"What do you mean I'll be busy now." He asked. Will shrugged and pointed to the bushes covering the battle ground.
"Take a look for yourself." He gestured. Horace, curious began to make his way and lifted a branch covering the view. The highly polished sword held in his right hand slipped from his fingers though he caught it just in time before he could get that stuck in mud as well. Thousands of men travelled in unison everything they wore black, every movement they made was sharp and precise, even seeing them walking Horace could tell they were fierce indeed. Some were on horse back though the majority were marching. There was something unusual about the way they conducted themselves Horace thought, it was their approach to battle. This group was unlike any other Horace had ever seen or had been taught about. They were silent. It wasn't that the area was silent, it was as if silence was being emitted from them, and this silence was deadlier than any Horace had ever heard before. The atmosphere tingled as the rest of the Skandians took their position to fight the oncoming army. Repressing a shiver Horace ran back to the trees where the archers were trembling.
"How are you so calm?" He blurted out of nowhere to Will, who was calming the men down.
"Who told you I was calm, I'm frightened out of my wits." Will said. This time Horace detected a faint quiver in his voice and he felt a rush of sympathy for the boy beside him.
"We need to get ready in position." Horace called out to the other shield bearers scattered across the ground. They nodded in agreement and joined the young boy into battle.
It had been several hours later and the casualties were rising up. They didn't have enough time, equipment or skill needed to overcome the number of injured men and those who weren't injured were drained from the long hours of fighting. Halt's plan of ambushing the Temujai's was a good one since the enemy's clearly weren't planning on a response such as this. They were forced to do hand to hand combat which the Skandians excelled at much more than them and soon masses of dead men were piled in a corner, their blood sinking in to the mud of the vast battle location. Where the Temujai lacked in skill, their numbers came in handy, wave upon wave of horrifying soldiers replacing the ones that were lost.
Things were faring good on the archers side of the battle, even though many received minor injuries only three were dead and fifteen too badly hurt to continue. The General of course had ordered the small force of archers to be killed immediately after their surprise attack, though unfortunately any Khaijjin that made any attempt at firing were killed or heavily injured by what they could make out as a blur of green and grey and a shock of brown hair.
While there had been a ceasefire the Skandians had used this opportunity to tend to the injured and inspect the weaponries. The archers had been left to themselves and they now wandered around close to each other. Which left Horace and Will once more in each others company. Will had hoped that his friends attitude towards him would have changed once faced with the task of dealing with the southern warriors, but no such luck. While the both of them were still amicable towards each other there was still a slight undercurrent of tension that both of them felt the presence of. Will who was already exhausted from the hours of battle found no solace in bantering with his bigger friend, and sensing that something was troubling Horace Will blurted out.
"Alright what's the problem?" Horace who had sat down on a particularly wet piece of grass fidgeted at his friends question. A wooden half bent stick was clenched in his hand, poking at the hard mound of earth beneath him. His hand held the stick in an even tighter clasp. He knew if he held it any tighter he would soon get splinters covering his hands.
"Nothing. What makes you think there's a problem?" Horace attempted a nonchalant approach to the question. He was surprised to find it actually worked and his voice, even to his own ears had sounded calm. Almost bored in fact.
"Horace I'm your best friend don't you think I would know if something was troubling you." Will sat down beside him and was shocked and angry when Horace abruptly stood up and sat farther away from him. Something was definitely wrong he thought. He racked his brains trying to remember when Horace had last been seen cheerful and what event could have changed that. Then it came to him. Halts words appeared out of a fragment of his mind echoing in his ears. He fancies Evanlyn Will or hadn't you noticed. Then to confirm Will's new revelation he saw Horace chance a sneak peek at Evanlyn who had just climbed out of the ditch.
"You like her don't you?" Will's voice was soft, gentle. Instead of feeling anger or jealousy he felt pity for his friend as he knew how hard it must have been on him.
"I saw you two kissing." Horace's tone indicated nothing. No anger or fury or jealousy. Devoid of emotion. Somehow that managed to make things ten times harder.
"I'm sorry Horace if I knew you liked her then maybe things would have been different."
"Different? How? She still would have fallen for you." His tone was thick with misery and Will, unsure of how to react settled for a pat on the back. This time Horace didn't flinch or move away. Unfair though it was to the poor boy sitting next to him, Will knew what Horace said was true. Even if Horace and Will both had a fair chance with her they both knew inside she would have chosen him. Will had nothing to say. Some things couldn't be said. Some things had to be dealt with alone and deep down he knew he had to let Horace figure his heart ache alone.
A resonating hollow sound came from the Temujai's horn depicting their break over. The grouped masses of warriors quickly went into their devised formation though much unlike they suspected, instead of the horn stopping it continued and changed in pitch. A lower sound was droning on and puzzled glances were formed on the faces of the Northern sea raiders. What was going on? Even Halt had seemed to be confused, a small frown appearing on his usually non descript face. The precision of black that was the Temujai army had parted down the middle, making it clearer for others to see the commotion. A massive ship anchored rather roughly to the shore and without warning a thousand warriors were jumping off it. Landing lithely on their feet. Eyes widened in horror as the warriors assembled back again into their formation. Now even more deadly with the extra thousand soldiers on their side. Only a Skandian knew how to moor a battle ship like that which meant they had a traitor in their midst. Erak darting his eyes furiously through the Temujai line found who he was looking for. Slagor. A blood curdling cry came from him as Erak charged empty handed to his rival. Betrayal in any country was punishable by death. And it seemed Slagor had made the worst betrayal possible. And just at the right time. Grinning broadly he sauntered across the battle field as if he was in the comfort of his own home and laughed as five burly Skandians had to restrain their senior Jarl from committing a foolish attempt at murder.
His hands trembled. His body trembled. His whole being trembled at the sight of Slagor smacking his lips with pleasure. He trembled in fury. A red haze fell across his eyes and it took him valuable minutes before he could calm down. Horace exclaimed a shout of surprise.
"What's going on?" Evanlyn asked as she saw the archers skittering nervously. She saw Will turn slowly around, his eyes closed, his hands shaking. He was restraining himself from something, and that's when she knew that whatever was going on it was bad. Really bad.
"Slagor" The word was spat from his mouth with such venom it contrasted to his usual flamboyancy. Had it not been for the ledge she was holding onto Evanlyn was pretty sure she would have fallen to the ground in shock. After everything, everything they had to go through this had to happen again. Yet she had not heard the worst. There was more to come and she knew it. Horace turned to her and explained. She would have preferred if Will did as he knew her better but he was still livid with anger and had paled considerably.
"He betrayed his country. A thousand probably more reinforcements have arrived for the Temujai's. They already had a four to one ratio, now the fight will be impossible." Horace quivered in fear. His death would be coming, life was trickling away from him the way water does from a hand. Suddenly everything he was angry about, everything he resented vanished. In its place came love and friendship. If he only had so long to live he wanted to be happy. As happy as he could be in the given time.
Slagor stepped forward and grabbed a cone like instrument from one of the standing men. He spoke through it and found his voice louder and more powerful than before. Magnified across the battle field his voice gave him the confidence he needed to continue. It had been discussed with General Hazkam and he knew what deal he was about to make.
"GENTLEMEN, PLEASE CALM DOWN I THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE PLEASED TO SEE ME HERE." He waved his arm at the battle field and several cries for murder were torn from the remaining Skandians. He laughed again. He forgot how much fun it was to feel power surging through him.
"AS THE LESS DIMWITTED OF YOU CAN SEE I HAVE BROUGHT THE TEMUJAI AN EXTRA THOUSAND MEN TO MAKE SURE WE DEFINITELY LOSE THIS BATTLE." The Skandians roared ever more at the treachery.
"BUT" The word was left hanging for suspense. The men stopped hurling abuse at the pirate and listened. Hoping there was an alternative to the mass destruction that was about to break out. "I HAVE SPOKEN TO THE TEMUJAI GENERAL AND WE HAVE BOTH AGREED THAT THERE IS A WAY TO STOP THIS FIGHTING. A WAY TO MAKE THE SUFFERING END." The words carried on to the pitch and echoed through the air.
"WHAT THE TEMUJAI WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING IS TO ULTIMATELY TAKE OVER ARALUAN. SO MY PROPOSAL TO YOU FELLOW PIRATES IS…" Everyone leaned in closer to hear his deal.
"GIVE US THE APPRENTICE RANGER AND WE WILL STOP THIS BATTLE."
"GIVE US WILL. AND YOUR PAIN ENDS."