The Broken Sword - Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Yamara drove her dagger into the hamstring of the faradwim guarding the prisoner. It gasped in pain and started to fall backwards, to which she aided gravity by plunging her short sword into its chest. It lay writhing and grasping on the ground after she yanked her blades free and moved to the large rock that served as a door to the pen.

"How are you alive?" The prisoner asked, jumping to her feet and staring at Yamara disbelievingly.

"Long story, would you like help out of there?" Yamara replied, glancing over her shoulder as she heard Rocktooth bellow from down the path.

"Yes!" Sandala said, grinning at the impossibility of the situation. "Is Brina with you?"

The shadow that flickered across Yamara's face would have been missed by all but an elf. As soon as it left Yamara realized that Brina was indeed with her, and always would be. "Yes, she is," Yamara said, smiling oddly.

"I don't know how you're going to move that, even with the two of you it's far to heavy." Sandala gestured at the rock that lay between her and freedom.

Yamara shrugged and looked towards the growing sounds of battle. Rocktooth sounded to be holding his own, that much was certain. If he survived she would have to thank the troll for the distraction he provided. If he did not... Yamara shrugged again.

Concentrating on the task at hand, Yamara focused her growing powers and stepped up to the rock. She leaned against it and dug her feet in, then pushed. To her great surprise the rock rolled easily out of her way. Sandala gasped as Yamara thudded into the baked ground without grace.

"Nothing to it," Yamara said, blood rushing to her cheeks at the clumsy maneuver. She regained her feet and reached in to pull Sandala out of the cage.

"What of the others? Krill and... Arktan, was it? Wait, Arktan was like these others, is he part of their tribe? Did he betray you?"

The anemically thin sand elf shook her head, her wispy blond hair floating in the dry air. "It's been a long time, Yamara. Arktan gave his life helping Krill and I escape the silt after you and Brina disappeared. Krill died nearly a year ago when some bandits attacked us. I had some other companions but they were all slain by these faradwim when we offered payment for some water. Apparently we insulted them without knowing it."

"Where is Brina and how are you still alive? How did you escape that strange place and the silt around it?"

"There's no time, Sandala, we must escape first. Then I will tell you everything," Yamara said hastily. She stopped and looked at the deeply tanned elf beside her. "I mean it this time, everything. I owe you that much."

Sandala looked at her for a moment, then nodded. "Where to then, is that ruckus some friends of yours?"

Yamara snorted. "Hardly a friend, more an inconvenience. Still, he is serving a purpose now."

Yamara cursed, seeing several faradwim fleeing from where Rocktooth was at. The lizardman saw them but did not slow down, they just kept on running. Yamara shook her head and Sandala chuckled. "Must be quite an inconvenience if he has the faradwim routed."

"You have no idea," Yamara muttered. Waiting with her weapons in hand while Rocktooth walked into the small village.

"By the spirits, what is that?" Sandala gasped, her hand reaching for the sword that was not at her side.

"A troll."

"What's a troll?"

"He is," Yamara answered without humor.

"Ey der!" Rocktooth said, walking over to them. "Me need some rest, bashin stoopidz in da heat sucks ballz!"

"Sandala, this is Rocktooth, my... companion."

Rocktooth grinned, displaying his many sharp and pointy teeth. "Ey, yooz gots a friend! Me Rocktoof, but yooz can call me Rocky if youz wants."

Sandala, eyes wide, nodded towards him. "Um, thanks, I think. I am Sandala."

"Okies," the troll said, already loosing interest. He looked around and noticed the pool of water with some scrub bushes around it sheltered from the worst of the sunlight by a cliff wall.

"Water!" Rocktooth shouted, running towards it and forgetting everything else.

"Don't drink to much," Sandala called after him warningly. Yamara just held up her hand to the well-intentioned elf and shook her head.

"Don't worry, it won't kill him," Yamara said. Then, forgetting that Sandala was an elf able to hear the quietest of whispers she muttered, "I'm not that lucky."

"He is fearsome but he seems a loyal and brave companion. No doubt he is strong in battle as well, to have made these bandits flee. Why do you hate him so?"

"He's a troll," Yamara said, as though that should explain it all. At Sandala's blank look Yamara sighed. "Another long story, come, let's find your gear and I could use some water before Rocktooth tries to bathe in it."

"He would bathe in it?" Sandala gasped, amazed at the idea of dirtying so much water needlessly.

"Good point," she responded, "he probably doesn't know the meaning of the word."

The women moved off then, stopping first by the diminishing puddle to slake their first and then fill Yamara's skins. Once finished they left the still drinking troll behind and moved through the huts. Yamara searched diligently, trying to find the blade of the sword that they sought, all the while talking with Sandala and filling her in on the events that transpired since last they saw one another.

"Brina and I were transported to another world," she told her. "A world like the one I came from, with water a plenty and cooler temperatures. Brina was delighted by it, though after a while she began to long for Acathia, I think."

"Much as any world, it was filled with evil. She was stricken when an evil man betrayed us, and I barely escaped with my life. I hunted him down after I found out he still lived, and he had sent Brina after me. She was bound to his service, and was no longer a living and breathing creature as you and I are. When finally we met again I managed to slay him and Brina, in her last moments, gave herself to me, infusing her spirit into mine.

"When I said Brina was with me, I mean that she is a part of me now, though her body has ceased to exist, I can still feel her within me." Yamara paused, feeling something stirring within her that pulled at her emotions. "She is glad to know you are well, I think, and if I know her as I think I do, I imagine she would not want you grieving at her passing."

Sandala nodded, her smile sad but understanding. She finished strapping the last of her equipment that they had recovered back under her cloak then. Rocktooth wandered by and stopped staring at her with his jaw open and eyes wide.

"What's wrong with Rocktooth?" Sandala asked quietly, nodding towards the troll behind Yamara.

Yamara turned and saw the slack-jawed troll staring at the sand elf. She turned back, following his gaze, and then chuckled.

"What?" Sandala asked, alarmed.

"Yooz... yoo...yoos'z perty!" The troll stammered.

Yamara laughed, unable to control herself. Sandala looked down at herself, not understanding. Her cloak was open as she finished belting on her sword displaying her body. As before when Yamara had known her she wore no top and only a loin cloth for clothing, the rest of her garb consisted of crossed belts over her hips to hold her pouches and weapons and another belt with several small pouches that looped across her chest to be held up by her shoulder.

"Rocktooth, shouldn't you make sure that our new friend is not ambushed by those lizardmen?" Yamara reminded him pointedly, barely concealing her amusement.

The troll scowled but turned and walked away. Yamara chuckled and looked back to her old friend. "His world is one where he seldom has a chance to see such beauty. Indeed, his kind are not welcomed except among their own, and his tribe in particular for they turned their backs on the evil warlords that once ruled them and fought with men to make their world a better place."

Sandala accepted the compliment in stride, waving her hand as if to say it was nothing worth mentioning. "If his people are as you say then why I are they shunned? To fight evil is noble, and such fervor as his kind can surely incite should bring about adulation and recognition."

Yamara opened her mouth to respond and then stopped as the impact of Sandala's words hit her. The elven woman had made a good point, she had to admit. "The people of Viconia do not always see it so. To them a troll is a troll, and since most of them are fey, they all must be. Kind of like believing that a snake is a snake, it will bite regardless of how well tended it may be."

Sandala shook her head sadly, "I think I am glad that I do not know of this place he comes from. I pity any who can not accept a person for their nature because of their skin."

Yamara could only nod, unable to think up a proper reply. Yamara knew she was one of those people as well. It filled her with shame to realize a lesson she had long ago learned, a lesson she had long ago fought for, was so easily forgotten.

"So why have you returned?" Sandala asked after the silence had grown between them. Her cloak fell back about her body, protecting her from the sun, and she studied Yamara as she spoke.

"We seek something that I lost. A powerful artifact from Rocktooth's world, my world now as well. I was entrusted to find a safe hiding place for it and I thought I did, but that place ended up being a portal to this world."

Sandala raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "What sort of thing is it you speak of?"

"The blade of a short sword, made of metal so strong that it is unbreakable."

"If it's unbreakable then why is only the blade here?"

Yamara grinned. "It was broken by something even stronger."

Sandala laughed. "You have never ceased to be filled with surprises, Yamara. It fills me with happiness to see you again, even more to learn of the companionship you have found and shared with Brina."

It was Yamara's turn to wave away the comment. "It's been a hard ride, but one that I have become the better because of."

"Now then, know you anything of this blade?"

Sandala thought for a moment and then shook her head. "I have not heard of it. Metal is scarce here though, if we journey to a nearby city, Seerpoint is the closest, we might ask about and find rumors of it."

Yamara nodded, it made sense, though it seemed unlikely. The direction Sandala had glanced when she mentioned the name of the city was in the same direction that the bond with the blade had brought them thus far. Yamara had lost the link earlier that morning, however, and now she was effectively looking for a needle in a world full of haystacks.

"I'll go and get Rocktooth," Yamara said, heading off towards the direction she had last seen the troll head.

She found him amidst the dead faradwim. He was kneeling over the body of their leader. The same one that had cut off the troll's hand with his axe, though she did not know it.

"Rocktooth, we're leaving, are you finished here?" Yamara tried, and mostly failed, to soften her tone with the troll. She remembered Sandala's words well, but change was never an easy thing for her.

The troll turned to look at her, a strange light in his eyes. Yamara knew instantly that a thunderstorm of trouble was about to come her way.

"Yooz tink dat Rocktoof iz stoopid," the troll said, his voice flat. "Yooz tink dat me duzzint care bowt you or da elfz or home, but yooz wrong!"

"You such a smart human, den why duz yooz tink dat me is helping? Duz yooz tink dat me is afeared of what Bavorish gunna do to my tribe if him come back?" Rocktooth stood up slowly, his hands clenched in fists at his sides. Yamara stood her ground, suspecting, correctly, that what she did would determine how long she lived.

"Grabbil bashed da orkz an da giants an da light elvzez kuz him knew what livin wif dem in charge would be like," Rocktooth reached down and pulled the blade of the sword out from where it was tucked into the harness of the faradwim chieftain.

"Me not gonna let dis ting go back, if lettin dis go back meanz dat Bavorush is gonna come back.. Him is bad news. Mabbe me isn't smart like yooz's, but dat's just learnins, dat's not wut bein smart is all bowt."

"Rocktooth, we gave our word to Kelnozz to return it to him for his safekeeping," Yamara stated, her voice low and casual. She flexed her forearms in preparation, suspecting the worst.

"Da udder part of da sword is already der, dis bring dem bof together, is yooz an ijjit?"

Yamara bristled. To have her intelligence questioned by a troll was nearly more than she would take. She calmed herself, remembering that he was clearly under the influence of the being trapped within the blade. "The last thing Kelnozz and Alesha want is to let Bavorish back into the world, we are here to get it to them so that they can guard it forever."

Rocktooth shook his head. "Bedder dat it stay here. Me gunna keep dis an stay in dis place. It's hot an it suckz ballz, but beddur Rocky stay heer den let dis go back."

Yamara sighed in exasperation. "Troll, you're trying my patience, and I really am trying to work with you here. Leaving it here is not an option, there is no safer place... anywhere... than under the nose of Kelnozz and Alesha!"

"Not troof," Rocktooth disagreed. "Yooz go back an tell dem dat me is keeping it, unless you tink yooz make a beddur keeper fer dis ting."

Yamara clenched her fists and ground her teeth. Behind her Sandala had rounded the bend in the trail and watched with wide eyes. "I know you better now, Rocktooth, and I am sorry for insulting you before. Your heart is good even if your appearance...and your smell, is not. I will ask you a final time to turn it over to me, then if you refuse I will be forced to take it from you and assume that you are under the influence of Bavorish."

Rocktooth shook his head. "Nope, dis is Rocktoof talking, not dat frooty God. Da boss tells me dat if youz kan't do da job right den me haz to step up an do it fer yooz. Me duzzint want to bash yooz, but me will."

"The boss?" Yamara asked, confused. "Who is that?"

"Kelnozz, him'z da boss."

Yamara nodded, she knew what she had to do and Rocktooth felt he knew what he had to do. "Stand clear, Sandala."

The expression on the troll's face was one of sadness. He shook his head and then slipped the shard into a pouch before pulling his axe free of its harness. "Yoo'z da stoopid one dis time."

Yamara jerked her arms and a dagger slid out of each sleeve into her palms. She whipped them up and sent them flying towards the troll. He batted one out of the air with his axe and let the other one glance off his cheek, splitting the skin and spilling some blood. Yamara was there then, short sword and dagger in hand and rushing towards him.

Sandala gasped as the two companions fought. Rocktooth's strength and surprising speed astounded her, yet every time he launched a blow that should have split Yamara in two the woman had moved and was no longer there. She lashed out at him repeatedly, inflicting shallow wounds that would, over time, prove the difference between victory and defeat. Or so Sandala thought. As soon as she realized that the cut on Rocktooth's cheek had healed she gasped anew. How could anyone hope to defeat such a foe?

Yamara only tried to directly block Rocktooth's axe one time. She concentrated and used her mentalist powers to aid her, but even with it the strength and power of his blow rocked her arm to the shoulder. The troll seemed surprised but recovered quickly, kicking the woman in the chest and sending her sprawling. Yamara started to roll away to give herself time to recover, then thought better of it and instead rolled towards him. She came to her feet and leapt into the air, again using her powers to boost her jump.

Rocktooth grunted as Yamara sailed over his head, slashing down at him. He felt his ear severed and felt her dagger plunge into a chink in his armor between front and back plates. Had he not twisted to the side her strikes would have been more lethal. He spun about to face her, growling and feeling the rage of combat overwhelming him.

Yamara landed and leapt straight backwards, falling as much as jumping. She timed it perfectly and slid between the trolls legs. On her way through she thrust up with her dagger, striking a blow in an area that would cripple any normal man. Rocktooth howled and stumbled forward, one hand leaving his axe to put pressure on the wound.

"Yooz gunna pay fer dat," he growled, turning around and stomping towards where she had ended up after she stopped rolling.

Yamara was already on her feet with her sword and dirk back in their sheaths. She held two more daggers in her hands that she had pulled free from her boots and let them fly, forcing the troll to bat one aside with his axe and grunt as the other one hit his arm behind his gauntlet.

"How many of dem stoopid tings yooz got?" Rocktooth growled, closing on her and throwing the dagger to the ground.

Yamara barely drew her sword in time to block his descending axe. Blocking him again made her arm shudder and dip, but she kept the axe away. Rocktooth let go of his wound, which had stopped bleeding, and gripped his axe in a two handed grip, driving it towards her again. Yamara again blocked, having no option since her back was to a rock wall, and was driven to her knees by the force of it.

Furious at having his strength resisted again, the troll raised his axe and let it fall again, his face contorting with the power he was bringing to bear on her. Yamara focused her own will and swung her side up to intercept, knowing that it was the pivotal moment for her. She had never known a troll with Rocktooth's strength, speed, or skill; she was concerned for her own survival.

The edge of Rocktooth's axe hit Yamara's sword in a loud cracking and rending noise. His axe handle shattered, as did her blade. Enough force remained from the impact to send both of them sprawling away from each other. Yamara rolled and came up, shaking her head and advancing on the troll. She dropped her ruined short sword and dropped onto the troll's back with her knees. Her dagger she pressed tightly against his throat. She heard a gurgling and rasping noise coming from him and wondered what had happened.

The gurgling intensified then, and his shoulders and back shook with the force of it. Yamara tensed to drive the dagger in, knowing that only by striking a troll in the nervous system or the heart could he be killed.

"Wait," he said, his breath groaning. "Yooz win, me is bashed."

Yamara reached down and helped roll the troll over. The head of his battle axe was imbedded into his chest, the spike on the rear of it piercing through his armor. She stared at him in surprise, then brought her dagger back around when he moved his arm slowly to the imbedded weapon.

"Yooz gonna hep wif dis ting?" He wheezed.

Yamara studied him for a long moment then sheathed her dagger and reached down to grab the broken handle of the axe. With a grunt she felt the spike pull free from his chest. The hissing noise that followed as the air rushed in and out of his pierced lung was sure sign of a mortal wound.

Mortal for anyone but a troll, that is. A few moments of ragged and wet breathing passed before Rocktooth rolled over and started coughing and retching. This persisted for well over a minute, with blood expelling from his mouth, before he finally rolled over again onto his back.

"Dat sucked ogre ballz," he said, looking up at Yamara and grinning weakly.

"Give me the blade, Rocktooth," Yamara said sternly, wondering at her wisdom in letting him live.

Rocktooth saw the serious expression on her face and nodded. He reached into his pouch at his side and pulled it out, handing the ebony colored piece of metal to her. She took it from him and slipped it into the now empty sheath at her side. For lack of anything better to keep it in she went over and picked up the hilt of her short sword and fit it in as far as it would go to the scabbard on top of it. Thus secured, she tied a strap around it, keeping it in place.

"Yooz a good basher," Rocktooth said, climbing slowly to his feet. "An me is wun tired troll!"

"I got lucky," Yamara admitted in a rare moment of honesty. She was a little giddy with the adrenaline rushing through her, now that the fight was over and she had obtained the blade.

"Troof!" Rocktoof said, grinning widely. At Yamara's shocked expression he clapped her on the shoulder, sending her stumbling a few steps. "But datz wut bein a basher is all bowt, gittin lucky!"

Yamara looked at him and shook her head, then she looked back to where Sandala still stood. The sand elf had an incredulous look on her face. Seeing Yamara looking at her she shook her head and walked closer.

"I have never seen a fight like that before. You are a mountain of raw force strong as the desert sands," Sandala addressed Rocktooth with her compliment, then turned to Yamara, "and you are like the wind above it, dancing over it untouched and able to strike out at a whim. You have gained much since last I saw you fight."

Yamara shrugged. "Like you said, it's been a while."

"You two were trying to kill each other moment's ago, yet now you behave as though nothing is amiss? How can this be?"

Yamara and Rocktooth looked at each other, sharing a strange moment that neither would be willing to admit to. Yamara finally said, "He yielded the blade to me, it did not control him."

"Her bashed Rocky fair an square, dat meenz her is gonna be bedder at protektin dat ting den Rocky is."

"Rocktooth, I am going to give it to Kelnozz," Yamara reminded him.

Rocktooth shrugged. "Dats okies. It's yooz respons...resp... it's up to yooz to know what to do wif it now."

Yamara nodded. The troll was right, he lacked in education but he made up for it with wisdom. Perhaps not common sense, she thought as she saw him kick over a rock and grab up a scorpion that had been hiding under it and toss it into his mouth.

Sandala shook her head again, not able or willing to explore it any further. "What will you do now?"

"Rest here a little, then return to our world and be done with this quest," Yamara said, fingering the ring that Kelnozz had given her.

"Would you like to come with us?" Yamara asked on a whim. "It is a beautiful world when people aren't killing one another over the fate of it. More water than you will ever see here too."

Sandala tilted her head and smiled as she pondered the offer. Quickly she reached her decision and shook her head. "I thank you both, but this is my place. I am no world-walker, as are you Yamara. My place and my people is here. This is my home, the desert and the wind both. My soul is better simply knowing you still do well, and that Brina is with you, in some way or other."

Yamara nodded, she had expected as much. "Go in peace, sister of the wind, and know that I do not think I have seen the last of you," Sandala said, touching her fingers to her forehead in ritualistic fashion and bowing to the human.

Yamara fumbled a similar response and turned to notice Thorrik was trying to pull out a snake that had slipped through a dead bush and into a small tunnel. She shook her head and looked back, wondering if maybe it was not to late to leave the troll behind after all. Sandala had already turned and started walking away, heading towards Seerpoint or wherever else she felt her next destination lie.

"Let's go Rocktooth, we've got places to go."

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Gregory floated, unaware of time and space. After a while he realized that something should be happening. He should be waking up. Or perhaps he was bound for...somewhere else? He remembered suffering great injuries, yet his friend had been there at the end reassuring him. Perhaps to much damage had been done though. If that was true why did the nothingness about him persist? Perhaps he should have paid more attention to Nathanial's preaching about his God...

Continued in Chapter 16

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