6. Orque Raiders

> “If you want to find something you must look for it. Those who look for trouble usually find it. Those who look for peace will also find it, although they may need to look harder.” - The Sermon Of The Revenar

“There!” Athena shouted, pointing up at the cliff edge. A dozen eyes, including Aguel’s, turned to her and then up to the direction she was pointing. Yet it had only been a fleeting glimpse out of the corner of her eye, and now it was gone.

Aguel gave a derisory snort.

“I think perhaps Greysky is trying to unsettle us,” called out, drawing a nervous laugh from those around him.

“It was there,” Athena said, staring him in the eyes. He held her gaze, assessing whether to believe her or not.

“We continue ahead, and remain vigilant,” he called out, as if dismissing her shout, but Athena sensed he had taken her warning. He leaned down and conferred with two Engella that walked either side of his rokkar. They stopped walking and waited until Athena’s rokkar had passed before climbing atop the lizard beast that followed her mount and opened the side of the cargo box strapped to its back.

She watched as weapons were dispensed, stabbing weapons such as spears, swords and daggers. Many appeared roughly made, but likely still effective against mortal enemies. It was ironic, she thought, that here in what was supposed to be the land of the gods they fought with primitive sharp objects while out in the mortal plane the advanced civilisations commanded energy sources that could destroy entire planets. The Aeseri had given up the pursuit of science soon after the Ascension, partly because progress had been so slow, but, she had to admit, largely because they had so much power in the mortal plane that their lack of it on the astral plane was a cause of immense frustration.

The caravan continued, rounding a gentle bend in the ravine. The path narrowed and she felt a growing sense of unease. This would be a perfect place for an ambush, she thought. Aguel obviously thought so too as he stood, balanced atop the rokkar, swaying from side to side as he scanned the cliffs above them.

She began to relax as the canyon widened, and just as the last rokkar was through the narrow section she saw movement again. This time there was no time to call out, but she didn’t need to; most of the caravan had seen it, and heard it.

From both sides at once rocks fell from the tops of the cliffs just behind them. They bounced down the sides, at first narrowly missing the trailing rokkar, then one striking it on the side. It let out a sharp groan but appeared unharmed, its thick hide protecting it. Another bounced from a ledge, flying over its back and shattering one of the cargo boxes it carried and its contents, large pellets that looked to Athena to resemble seed pods, spilled across the canyon floor.

More rocks fell, mostly behind but also alongside, and the Engella or Aeseri that were not on rokkars pressed their backs to the walls for shelter. Aguel shouted a command and the caravan lurched forward at a faster pace and Athena clung to the bars of her cage.

They left the spilled cargo behind them, more rocks falling to bury it further. Athena looked along the ridge line and saw figures racing along it, trying to get ahead of them. As fast as the rokkars were, the raiders were faster. Athena could not count how many there were but they outnumbered the caravan.

Aguel at the head of the caravan was shouting and stamping on his rokkar, urging it faster. The others were simply following. And then, suddenly, he lifted his arm in the air and shouted a command that Athena did not understand. The rokkars stopped in unison and she was flung forward, hitting her head on the wooden bars.

“Defensive positions!” Aguel shouted, sliding down the side of the rokkar and landing on the ground. He glanced back at Athena.

“Let me out! I can fight!” she called down. He looked to be considering it but whether from mistrust or lack of time he ignored her plea.

She caught movement out of the corner of her eye and instinctively ducked. Long, thick spears rained down from the cliffs, some bouncing off the thick rokkar skins, others penetrating at weaker points. Aguel’s rokkar let out a sharp groan, a spear lodged in its neck. If one of those hit her she would not be killed, but it would hurt. She looked rapidly from left to right, ready to jump from one side of the cage to the other should one be launched in her direction.

The raiders had accomplished their first aim: the caravan was stopped in its tracks, backed up behind Aguel’s injured rokkar at the head. Another volley of spears rained down, missing Athena and her mount. It provided cover for the next wave of the attack and ropes dropped down the cliff faces swarming with Orques, swiftly descending to the canyon floor. Some carried weapons, others picked up the oversized spears, handling them with ease despite being much larger than they were. They all wore the same armour that she had seen on the dead bodies and some carried shields.

Athena looked around anxiously. She was defenceless, caged on the top of her rokkar, but the Orques knew to ignore her. She was taking no part in this fight.

Aguel held a large sword and stood on one side of his injured rokkar, and all along the line Engella and Aeseri stood either side of their rokkar, ready for battle.

They were greatly outnumbered, though. Athena drew air between her teeth at the odds they faced. They had a chance, she thought, but not if they remained so thinly spread, not scattered the length of the caravan, easily outflanked as soon as any part of the defensive line broke. The rokkars were only the focus of the Orque’s attacks while they tried to break down the organised column. Once the column was breached the groups of defenders would be easily picked off. The Aeseri and Engella were focussing on defending the cages, but they would only be raided once all opposition had been removed.

“Get me down and I can fight,” she shouted to the nearest Engella. He ignored her and stood ready for the oncoming Orques.

“Vegdar!” she called out. He had, after all, pledged to help her when the time came, and if the time wasn’t now it might be never.

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He looked up at her, then at Aguel, who was too preoccupied with the oncoming Orques to have noticed, and then made for Athena.

He had barely taken a step when she was thrown from her feet. A spear, launched from the top of the cliffs, lodged deep in the right hand side of her rokkar’s neck. The beast lurched sideways, away from the wound, but it had moved too quickly. Overbalanced, it teetered for a second on its legs, before falling heavily on its left side.

Athena gripped the cage as the momentum of the giant lizard’s fall turned it almost onto its back. Dust was thrown up into the air around her and she feared being crushed beneath the enormous beast as the cage splintered, but as it rolled back on its side she saw that it had achieved exactly what she wanted: the wooden bars were broken, splintered and twisted. She pulled herself through a gap and onto the dusty ground.

Vegdar reached her at that moment, holding a short sword in his hand. An Orque rushed towards them, a spear in its hand.

Without thinking she gripped Vegdar’s sword arm in her left hand, wrapping her fingers around his wrist, and spun him around, slashing the blade across the Orque’s chest armour. It did no damage but it did slow its attack. She threw her right hand out to her side and the Orque instinctively followed the movement. Still holding Vegdar’s arm she lunged for the joint in the armour between its arm and torso, pushing the sword deep into its body.

She didn’t wait to see if it was dead because she knew from experience it was injured enough that it would take no further part in this battle.

“I need a sword,” she said, releasing Vegdar.

“Here,” he said, handing her the one he had held. He picked up the Orque’s spear and stood just behind her.

“We need to get organised or we’ll be overrun,” she told him, not waiting for a response.

She turned towards the rear of the caravan. She knew they wouldn’t obey her if she just shouted commands to form a circle, so she had to say something they couldn’t ignore.

“To Aguel!” she screamed at them, “He needs defending!”

The mention of Aguel’s name had the desired effect. Those engaged in combat made feints at their opponents to give themselves time to retreat, and within seconds she was part of a wall of half a dozen fighters, each side of the rokkars, fighting a retreat. Nobody questioned why she was no longer caged, or why she had a sword in her hand; there were other things to worry about.

She estimated there could be up to a hundred of the Orques attacking, facing fewer than fifty defenders. Yet the Orques were disorganised, charging indiscriminately and without a plan other than frenzied attack, and retreated when cut by sword or spear. Athena knew that if they could prevent their ranks being breached they could win this battle. They just had to maintain a formation that nullified the advantage of numbers. After all, she thought, everyone on our side is immortal, although Aguel’s apparent age had made her question the truth of that. The only thing they had to fear was being disarmed and captured. She had only just escaped one cage and had no intention of being put in another.

The group of defenders found themselves at the front of the caravan, fighting in an arc around the front rokkar, still groaning from the spear in its neck. Aguel glanced around as the group arrived.

“Who’s defending the rear of the caravan?” he shouted.

“They’re not interested in the caravan. Not yet,” she replied. His eyes widened as he realised who had spoken to him and a flash of amusement passed across his expression.

“Hold the circle!” she shouted at those around her.

“So you found a way out of your cage, eh, Greysky?”

Aguel slashed at an Orque, his sword glancing off the tough armour but forcing it to retreat a few steps nonetheless. He turned and looked at the rear of the caravan and saw that Athena was right: most of the Orques were concentrated on the Aeseri and Engella at the front, ignoring the rokkars and their cargo. That could wait. There were three orques who were not part of the main battle. They were making their way towards the ropes that hung down the cliff faces, carrying something between them. Athena couldn’t see what it was.

One of the Orques lost its balance and fell on its back and Athena saw they weren’t carrying something, they were carrying someone. It was Sekardi, the Aeseri woman.

They had tied her hands but had not succeeded in restraining her feet and she continued to kick at them with all her strength. Their plan seemed clear: to pull her up the ropes. A kidnapping, by all appearances, although for what purpose Athena could not know.

Athena only had a few seconds before they would take her. She took a step back before running at the closest Orque she could see that carried a shield. He lifted the shield as she raised her sword, but Athena had no intention of striking him. Instead she leapt, as fast and as hard as she could, and as she struck the shield she curled her body into a ball.

The Orque was knocked to its feet by the force of the impact and half-rolled and half-fell backwards. It was unfooted and defenceless for a moment, but she had achieved her aim: to breach the line of attackers. She was up on her feet in a second, running at the three orcs that were still trying to restrain Sekardi.

The Aeseri woman’s determination not to be taken bought Athena the time she needed. Unseen by the kidnapper with its back to her, she reached the first Orque and hacked at its neck, all but severing the head in one strike.

The other two turned to her but before they could pull out their swords she had disabled the second with a thrust through the top of the thigh. The creature collapsed as blood flowed across the canyon floor. It tried to stand on its uninjured leg but Sekardi kicked at it and it fell to the ground.

Athena turned her attention to the last Orque. It had released Sekardi and had a sword in its hand. It was almost certainly physically stronger than she was, but she had thousands of years of swordcraft behind her. She feigned an attack before stepping to one side. It was not so easily fooled and swung its sword, striking her face.

She fell to the ground, momentarily stunned and in more pain than she had ever felt before. How mortals could survive any blow at all was quite impossible to understand, she thought. The Orque stood above her, sword raised and determined to beat her into painful submission, even if it could not kill her.

She expected another blow to fall when it was knocked from its feet by a charging Sekardi, hands still bound yet determined to fight. The Orque’s head struck a rock, disorienting it for a moment. Sekardi rolled away from her captor. Again, she had bought Athena the time she needed, and the Goddess of War made no mistake this time. As the Orque tried to stand she held the sword in both hands and swung with all her strength, taking its head from its body in one strike.

She bounded towards Sekardi and cut the ropes around her wrists. Her head still stung from the Orque’s blow.

“We’ll need to fight our way to the main group. Stay behind me,” Athena told her, turning back to the front rokkar and the circle of defenders.

Fighting an advance turned out to be unnecessary. The Orque’s had been unable to penetrate the circle and had decided to cut their losses. Possibly a quarter of the raiding party were dead, and there were no more easy pickings in the caravan. They made for the ropes and rapidly scaled the sides of the canyon. By the time Athena had covered the distance to Aguel they had dispersed, fleeing hand-over-hand up the rocky walls.

Athena put her hand to her temple, still feeling the effect of the Orque’s blow. It was wet and she looked at her fingers.

They were red with blood. Her blood.