The Broken Sword - Chapter 17

Chapter 17

"Good riddance," Elvanshalee muttered, sinking back down into her chair. She looked over at Vanya and Regnar and saw them both staring at her. "What?" she demanded.

"Is he really that bad? That powerful and dangerous?" Vanya asked. Regnar nodded his head up and down, echoing the question.

Elvanshalee sighed. "He is not that bad, no. He is dangerous, but he does not yet realize it I do not think. His power he does not fully grasp either, but it is not as great as he thinks it is. At least not yet."

"What about all that half dead stuff you were talking about. Is he really half dead?"

"I can't be certain, I am no necromancer or priest. There is something to his claims, that much is certain, and given his mother's area of specialty, it would not surprise me if he were. He may have been right in that he is the only person that can hope to retrieve the hilt from where it is safeguarded," Elvanshalee admitted thoughtfully.

"Pity he'll never make it there to find out," she continued, sighing.

"Why not?" Vanya asked, alarmed. Regnar's head popped up at the statement as well.

"The orcs that sometimes threaten our lands? That is where they make their camp, around the lair that once housed the dragon they worshipped as their leader and God," she told her. "There are hundreds of them, and they are no easy army to bypass."

"You've got to warn him!" Vanya said, hopping to her feet. "He'll be killed!"

"If he is stupid enough to stumble into a camp of orcs he deserves to be killed," Elvanshalee huffed. "But I shall do no such thing. My oath is to keep the hilt safe from recovery from anyone. I will do nothing to interfere with that."

"Well then I will!" Vanya said, walking briskly across the room and heading up the stairs toward her room. Regnar and Elvanshalee both watched her go, somewhat surprised.

"The door is over there, daughter," Elvanshalee said, pointing towards the door out of their tower, "if you're so adamant about warning him."

"Mother, Bobo was right... sometimes you really are a bitch!"

Elvanshalee's shocked expression was lost on Vanya, who was already heading up the stairs again. Regnar hissed, chuckling in a sibilant fashion. Elvanshalee glared at him, making his reptilian lips drop back into a neutral expression.

Vanya came back down the stairs shortly, dressed again in her leathers and having her adventuring equipment strapped on. Additionally she also had a few extra pouches and sacks filled with what gear she felt she might need for a longer outing than usual.

"I'll be back after I've found him and warned him," she said rebelliously.

Elvanshalee nodded, somewhat sour-faced. "He only just left, you're faster than anyone in the wilderness, you should be able to find him quickly."

Vanya clenched her fists and looked to Regnar for support, who only looked away innocently pretending he was not paying any attention to what was going on. "Well, maybe I'll stay with him and help him. After all, I'm an elf too, and if everybody is in danger then he could use all the help he can get!"

Elvanshalee stared at her for a long moment, her thoughts and emotions conflicting within her. "Very well," she finally said. "But go with her, Regnar, and do your best to keep one another safe."

"Will you still not help?" Vanya asked, her voice softening into almost a plea.

Her mother just shook her head. "My part in this was done many years past. Others have picked it up, and it seems that this is to be your first test."

She stood up and walked closer to her, reaching out and rubbing the back of her hand against her cheek affectionately. "You were only newly born but I made an oath to you. I told you that your life would be filled with harshness and toil, but that I would prepare you for it. I have done all that I can to make you ready. Go now and take up what is yours. The skills, powers, and talent that are your birthright will allow you to gain knowledge and understanding to better yourself. What you have on you is yours, but take also with you my respect and love, though it will do you no good to shield you from that which you will face."

Elvanshalee smiled sadly, then turned away. "Return here only when you feel you have found yourself. You are always welcome, but nothing remains here for you except for a place where you can hide from the world and from yourself."

Elvanshalee, still facing away, walked away to the stairs and back up them. Tears ran down Vanya's face, but she stood still as well. Her mother had passed her stubbornness along to her, after all. Finally she turned and headed for the doors. Regnar fell in behind her, silent as always but thoughtful.

---

Bobo had made good time. He was nearly seven miles from the tower before he had the first inklings of being watched. He cast about him, searching without showing that he was aware, but still could not be certain. It was not magic that was after him, that much he knew, but it was something.

Having a sudden inspiration he glanced up into the sky. The sun had nearly settled behind him, but that only made it easier for him to see. He was able to pick up the reptilian form of Regnar with ease, even though he was far away. If Regnar was nearby, then so too was Vanya.

The half-elven Prince spun around, his twin barrels pointing in the direction where he thought he sensed pursuit. His cutlass was in hand as well. He stared into the forest for long moments, searching for any movement or any telltale signs of life beyond that of the forest itself. The forest, he realized, was abnormally full of life. Not more than he had ever witnessed, but it reminded him of how he imagined some of the ancient woods on Innowendyn would look to him now.

I glance into the sky to check on Regnar and Bobo could not help but gasp aloud in shock. He looked again into the woods and his amazement was complete.

"Vanya, come out, I know where you are and I would not harm you or your... or Regnar," he told her, determined to get to the bottom of the mystery he had just uncovered.

Vanya stepped out, catching him off guard. He had known where she was, but in spite of that he still had not seen her, so well had she blended into the tree and the bushes. She walked towards him, hands at her sides peacefully.

"I don't want to hurt you either, Bobo. I'm sorry about my mother, but you don't have to worry about her anymore. Now it's just the three of us," she said.

Bobo glanced up again and saw Regnar rapidly approaching. He stepped off to the side and let the dragon land roughly, so tightly did he have to tuck his wings in to avoid some branches. He snorted and looked at them, glaring at Bobo for a moment.

"What are you?" Bobo asked, looking at both of them alternately.

"What do you mean?" Vanya asked, cocking her head the same way Elvanshalee had done in her casting room. Bobo ignored the similarity.

"I do not see things as you do, nor as any elf does. I see the spirit and the life force of a person. Yours and Regnar's is the same, what does that mean?"

Vanya looked at Regnar, and he at her. They looked back to Vanya and Vanya had a lot expression on her face. "I don't know..."

Bobo looked at them again, hoping for something to occur to him. It did not. "There is more to both of you than it seems. Fair enough, the same can be said of me. But let me tell you this, such similarities I have only seen in people who are very closely related."

Vanya gasped. "Related... but he's a dragon and I'm an elf!"

Bobo shrugged, "That is what I see, perhaps there is more to you then either of you know."

Regnar huffed loudly, echoing Vanya's confused and disbelieving thoughts. "Just think about it," Bobo said. "Not now, perhaps, but later. For now tell me, what brings you to me?"

"Um, well," Vanya trailed off, having trouble dismissing the revelation at the moment. "I, er, we came to help you. The lair is surrounded by orcs, hundreds of them. They once worshipped the dragon that lived there. We came to tell you of it and to help you get passed them."

Bobo frowned. "How will you help me get past them? We are only three and they are many."

"They're only orcs!" Vanya said, smiling for the first time in hours. Her smile reminded Bobo of a similar expression on Regnar's scaly face and it nearly sent shivers down his spine.

"Indeed," he muttered. "Well let us be off then, we can learn more there than we can here."

---

It had taken them several days of traveling across the harsh sands to reach the tribal lands. The dry heat made traveling miserable for Bobo, but in stoic fashion he endured and did not complain. Vanya and Regnar seemed unfazed by the heat. Regnar in particular bore up under it almost playfully. Bobo scowled at the antics of the two at times, but refrained from commenting. The brightness of the pale golden sand and the sun bothered his eyes as well, further testing his mood.

But now they stared across several sand dunes at the distant camp, noting the orcs that wandered about on patrol. Dark skinned and haired, they wore light colored robes and armors woven from tough desert fibers.

"Mother says there is around 300 of them here," Vanya said, laying in the sand beside Bobo so as to avoid showing any silhouette.

Bobo grunted. He rolled onto his back and stared up at the sky, seeing shifting essences blow with the night winds instead of the clear sky and stars that Vanya and Regnar would see. "They worship a dragon here too?" He asked thoughtfully.

"They did, a great blue dragon that your father helped kill a long time ago."

"Oh," Bobo said, sounding slightly chastised. After all, if Kelnozz had taken part in it, shouldn't he remember?

"Shortly after that he met my grandmother," Vanya continued, sounding a little distant as she remembered what her mother had taught her. "That was before Narellin captured and destroyed her. From their meeting was born Darakor."

"Of course!" Bobo said, remembering now what he had been told. It had only been told to him once, and never discussed since. Whether that was out of emotional angst or a concern for how his mother would feel he did not know. "Your mother, on the other hand, was Narellin and ... Jethallin's daughter. That was her name, wasn't it? Your grandmother?"

Vanya nodded. "Yes, it was. Your father saved her in the end, when her own son sacrificed her to bring back Ancaruin into the world." She paused and looked over at Bobo, smiling somewhat sadly. "I know the story and the names," she said softly, "but I do not know the people."

"Well and good," Bobo replied, "for what I gather tells me it was a time of hardship and of loss. We live in a better time... unless of course I can not get that hilt back to Thoragloorin."

Bobo met her gaze, seeing mercurial things in her eyes with his mysterious vision. "Besides," he said, grinning mischievously in a way that would have reminded anyone who had known him of Kelnozz, "we're making our own adventures and stories to be told for centuries now! Someday your grandchildren will hear of how you saved the life of a foolish elf prince that thought to slip unnoticed through a tribe of bloodthirsty orcs!"

Vanya laughed softly, then rolled over to stare at the camp again. Bobo studied her a moment longer, seeing the exotic life energies within her move and flare with each breath and movement. There was something different and special about, he just had no idea what it was. Yet. He planned on sticking around and finding out.

Regnar landed none too gracefully behind them, spraying sand over both of them. Bob scowled and turned, seeing the grinning dragon sitting happily behind them. He had returned from his scouting mission, apparently.

"Is the lair still in the middle of the camp?" Vanya asked. Regnar growled and nodded. He reached down and started drawing lines in the sand outlining the tents, the buildings, and the overall layout of the orc city.

"You know, every other dragon I have met can talk, why can't you?" Bobo asked, suddenly realizing he had never heard the diminutive dragon speak.

Regnar looked at him and shrugged. He opened his mouth and made a strangled noise that wavered in pitch and octave, but was not recognizable as speech. He shrugged his reptilian shoulders, sending his wings out and buffeting up some sand with the movement.

"I don't think he's old enough yet for his throat to take the proper shape and control. Or at least that's what mother says," Vanya said, answering as best she could for the dragon.

Bobo nodded, rubbing the sand out of his eyes and turning to spit out what the dragon had accidentally kicked up. He stopped then, realizing something.

"You're a dragon!" He gasped. "With a heavy blue tinting to your scales... similar to the one that Kelnozz, Garrick, and Luingirth defeated!"

"Yeah, so?" Vanya asked, not understanding where he was going.

"You can be our diversion! Get the orcs' attention and keep them busy. Their ancestors worshipped your kind, no doubt they will remember, seeing you, and if nothing else be confused long enough for us to get in the lair!"

Regnar looked to Vanya, who stared at Bobo open mouthed. Either she was impressed with the idea or outraged at the unnecessary risk to her lifelong companion. Bobo turned to look at her and smiled triumphantly. When he saw her mood darkening he realized he might have misinterpreted her.

"Wait! It's a good plan! He can fly and get away from them quickly if they turn out to be aggressive. And even if that happens they'll still be distracted so we can get into the caves," Bob pushed on, trying to make them see the light.

Regnar huffed, clearly not impressed at the thought of being used as a distraction or as bait. Vanya shook her head and sat up. "Absolutely not! Come up with something better, that's just too dangerous. Orcs can see in the dark almost as well as we can, and they have more than just swords and axes, they have bows and even some siege engines. They've had to fight off dragons before that tried to come and claim the horde that was supposedly left behind. They've had to fight off adventurers too."

"Look, we don't have time for a fancy plan. I know it's dangerous, but so is every part of this, not the least of which including our own! I did not come here to play it safe, I came here because it is expected of me. Because my people need this quest to succeed just as much as every other living and breathing thing on Viconia needs us to succeed! If I could do it I would, but I can not fly and I can not make my way past the wards your mother left in place if I were to do it."

Bobo looked to both of them, the heat of righteous anger flushing his face. "Now will you help me this? If I could think of something better I would give it a shot, and if you have anything better I would do the same. We do not, I can see from the looks on your faces, so let us do this and be done with it. For all of us, even those we don't like, it must be done and quickly."

Vanya looked to Regnar, sharing a long moment that seemed as though the two were communicating without words. Finally they both looked at Bobo at the same time, making a shiver run down his spine a the similar looks they both gave him.

Regnar nodded and Vanya said, "alright, we will do it. But let us be quick about it!"

Bobo nodded, smiling thankfully. "Regnar, you can see us from high above, right?"

The dragon nodded, closing one eye and peering at him through the other one playfully. Bob ignored the antic and studied the orc settlement. "The sand gives way to some hard packed hills and some rocks, right?" Regnar nodded again. "We will approach as close as we can, certainly through the outer circle of their guards. Do what you can to cause a ruckus then... remember, we want them to think you are a descendent of the dragon they worshipped, so attacking won't necessarily accomplish what we need."

"We," the Prince said, gesturing at himself and Vanya, "will use the diversion to sneak in further. If an alarm goes up there is no way out, we have to push in and recover what we need, do you both understand?"

"What good will it do us to get in there if we can't get back out?" Vanya asked, to which Regnar vigorously nodded his approval of the question.

"I can get us out," Bobo said somewhat mysteriously. Seeing their suspicious looks Bobo explained, "I have a magical item that, when used one time and one time only will succor us back to Thoragloorin. My mother crafted it for me ere I left."

What he did not tell them was that Alesha had intended for it to be used only by him, and the path back would be fraught with peril, especially for someone not possessing his unique nature. Bobo was not sure if it would work for Vanya and Regnar or not, but in one of his toughest moments he had decided that, if it came right down to it, he would be willing to sacrifice them for the good of the many. It bothered him more to think of doing it to them than it did to think of sacrificing himself for the same cause.

"Is something wrong?"

Bobo snapped out of his short reverie, startled by Vanya's concerned voice. He shook his head and offered a weak smile. "Sorry, I was trying to remember anything else of use my father might have told me about his fight here," Bobo lied.

"Come, let us get going! Regnar, to the sky with you, and I pray you fly swiftly and safely," Bobo said, hurrying to his feet to prevent any further discussion. He knew what had to be done, one way or another, there was no sense in brooding on it.

With a last shared look of unspoken communication, Regnar took the sky while Vanya turned and followed after Bobo. She readied her bow as they walked, moving quickly between sand dunes until they approached a patrol. Bobo looked around and made ready to move forward between sentries when Vanya's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Our tracks," she whispered.

Bobo looked down, frowning as he did so. He looked behind him and, with his special vision saw a rapidly fading trail behind them of the energy they imparted on the ground. It faded quickly enough into the faint glow that came from the desert life thriving in the sand that he considered it inconsequential. However, Bobo also knew that they would leave footprints in the sand, even though he realized he now had trouble seeing them. He had adapted to his new vision far more rapidly than he had realized until now.

"Not much choice," Bobo muttered, not seeing any easy way to eliminate their trail.

"Sure there is, take off your cloak," Vanya said with a smile. "Then drag it behind us. Let me lead."

Bobo thought about it a moment and then nodded. Untested as she was, in his eyes, she had a good idea. He readied his cloak, piling some sand in the hood to weigh it down more, then waited for Vanya to signal that they could move out.

She waited until another pair of orcs wandered by. They were sloppy in their behavior, but she had faced them before so she expected as much. Especially since they were in their home, a place no sane person would ever attack. Vanya grinned, this was fun!

She moved out, quietly slipping across the sand so effortlessly that she seemed to dance in mid-air across it. Bobo moved behind her, struggling to match her speed while dragging his clock behind him. The sand was obscured to a casual glance, though a skilled tracker could certainly decipher their trail. Orcs were not known for their skill at tracking, fortunately.

They were out of the sand then and moving amongst the low mounds that served as the outer defensive banks of the orc village. Bobo emptied the sand from his cloak and shrugged it back over his shoulders. Vanya kept watch, noting the location of several orcs.

"Don't they sleep?" Bobo muttered, never having done much in the way of studying orc social patterns.

"Few spend the desert days active. Most sleep during the day and move about at night. Orcs, in particular, are fond of the dark," Vanya said, feeling as though she were instructing a child. She grinned at the thought, then saw Bobo's concerned expression.

"How far we from the center?" He asked her.

Vanya shrugged, "I've never been here, how would I know?"

Bobo swore softly, then cast around them for some higher ground they could climb too. The only high ground was ahead, the hills and rocks that rose above the desert floor to make the base of the orc village. "Well, it's time to get our hands dirty," he said.

Vanya nodded, not paying attention to the sound of him drawing his cutlass. She had her bow at the ready, and if the need arose a hand and a half sword across her back and long daggers at her sides. They set out, moving with stealth possible only for elves. Even so, in a place outnumbered as they were, the inevitable was bound to happen.

An orc stepped around a cluster or rocks and was suddenly face to face with Bobo. They both reared back in surprise. The orc opened his mouth to shout out an alarm, already reaching for his a knife at his side. Vanya's bow hummed as she loosed her arrow, taking the orc in his upper lip. The arrow exited the back of the orc's head and imbedded itself into a nearby earthen berm.

Bobo grabbed the orc as he fell, pulling him towards him and swinging him around. Not so distantly they heard some rough chuckling and then one of the orcs calling out to his fallen comrade, asking if he needed any help relieving himself.

Bobo nearly jumped when he heard a reply coming from right behind him. He spun about, cutlass at the ready, and checked his swing when he realized that Vanya apparently knew orcish.

"What are you doing?" He hissed at her, turning back to see if any of the other orcs were coming. He heard renewed laughter from their direction, though they still could not see the orcs or what they were doing due to the turn in the path.

"I told them he had fallen and cracked his skull on a rock," Vanya said, smiling excitedly.

Bobo shook his head, the remaining orcs, however many there were, would no doubt be upon the in moments to investigate the fate of the dead one. He looked up to the sky, picking Regnar's distant form out, and began waving his hands in signal to the dragon.

After a few tense moments, only seconds really, Regnar banked to the right and then swooped down, heading directly for the orc camp. Bobo's eyes widened when he saw a bolt of lightning erupt from the dragon's mouth, jabbing out into the dark night sky and hitting a large rock in the middle of the village, at the mouth of the cave they sought to enter. The rock exploded, showering fragments dozens of feet away.

The village was deathly quiet for a long moment, then, all at once, it exploded with shouting and activity. The orcs burst out of tents, huts, and from their positions at campfires. Forgotten was the orc that Vanya had slain, its companions were already on their way headed towards the village center.

Regnar swooped around in a lazy circle, making sure he was seen by the orcs, then flew in and landed less than a hundred yards from the cave. The orcs gathered hastily, none approaching within a few dozen feet of him. He roared when a few came close, making them back up hastily. Even for a small dragon his roar was impressive.

Bobo and Vanya moved quickly, seizing the initiative and all but running through the camp. Many orcs remained behind, they soon discovered, manning posts and keeping watch for additional threats. They heard a cry come up from a disguised tower that had been built from an earthen mound. Vanya let fly another arrow, silencing the cry of alarm, but the orc on watch was not alone. A separate shout went up and, unable to find its source, they had no choice but to rush on. In moments the alarm was up and orcs began to look for them as they dodged in and out of the hastily abandoned dwellings.

They made it nearly to the top of the hills with only a few minor altercations. Every orc they encountered was dispatched by Bobo's cutlass or Vanya's bow, barely slowing their passage. It was at the top, their destination in sight, that things took a turn for the worse.

Moderately winded from the uphill sprint, Bobo slowed his pace and looked for a way through the crowd of orcs that had gathered. Most had their attention diverted by Regnar, but the orcs chasing them soon crested the hill to the sacred ground they were encroaching and began to shout and draw their attention.

"Follow me!" Vanya shouted, rushing ahead of him.

Bobo watched her, stunned for a moment at her energy. His legs were drained from the run, yet she ran as though she was fresh. He shook his head and was after her, ignoring the growing burn that was beginning to take its toll on him.

Vanya led him into the orcs, her bow secured around her back and her sword in hand. She cut a swath through them, catching them by surprise. The were five ranks deep into them before the orcs began to mount a defense, but the close proximity of one orc to another prevented them from being very effective. The orcs crowded them as well, limiting their strikes, and soon they were fighting off grasping and clawing hands.

"Almost there!" Vanya shouted to him above their cries of the orcs.

Bobo grunted, catching sight of the clearing on the other side of the orcs close by. He heard Regnar roar from close by, knowing he was clearly besieged as well. Something clamped on to his leg, biting in. He kicked but could not shake the orc that had fallen from him. Vanya was gone then, no longer in front of him when he turned to look back to her. Where she had gone he was not sure.

Bobo growled deep in his throat, feeling a primal rage he had seldom experienced growing in him. To be so close only to be denied was not fair. It was not acceptable. It would not happen!

He raised his left arm and aimed it the orc that stood between him and the lair he sought. He released a touch of his magic, enough to ignite the firepowder in one of the barrels. The resulting boom quieted the nearby orcs and made them retreat from the sorcery of it. Bobo stepped over the twitching orc with a canoe for a skull and felt his leg still being pulled. He looked down, glaring at the orc that held him, and lowered his gun to the orcs head. The orc bit deeper. Bobo fired his remaining barrel.

Vanya was there then, bursting free of the orcs that had pulled her down. Her leathers were torn in many places and she bleed from many scratches and cuts, but her sword was in her hand and a wild and fierce look gleamed in her blue eyes. Regnar roared anew and leapt from where he was encircled, beating his wings once to aid his leap. He landed near to them and faced the orcs with them.

Bobo glanced at Vanya, noting how strong and powerful she looked as she stood with her sword in hand. He smelled ozone, prompting him to turn and look at Regnar.

"They will be on us in a moment," Bobo said in elvish. "If we..."

"We will hold them," Vanya said, glancing at him long enough for Bobo to see something coiling within her aura that seemed almost reptilian and malevolent. "You must go and do what you came for. We will buy you the time you need."

Bobo wanted to deny what she said, but he knew he could not. He nodded, "Fight well and I'll see that you're remembered."

"Go!"

Bobo turned and ran, stopping only when he reached the mouth of the lair. He turned back when he realized that Regnar had spoken the last word. His flight had prompted the orcs to attack again, though this time there was room enough for proper weapons to be used. In moments Vanya and Regnar were surrounded, but they kept the orcs at bay.

Bobo clenched his jaw in frustration then turned back to the cave. He ran inside of it, seeing in the dark as others could not.

Continued in Chapter 18

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