Sacrifice


Master Ranger Tyler glanced up, distracted from the report that he was writing about his recent scout of the orc forts. Thunder? Funny. It hadn't looked like rain when he entered the Ranger's guild hall. He turned back to his writing.

He had found that the situation at each of the orc encampments was the same. He was not sure where all the orcs were coming from or where they were getting their new equipment, but one thing was very obvious; The number of orcs was growing rapidly and would soon overwhelm the civilian hunters and possibly even the King's army. The situation near Cove was serious. Reports of a new savage enemy were also unsettling. Parker shook his head as he thought of what a war against two armies could do to the lands. At least the island home of the Skara Brae Rangers should be safe. Unless the orcs had figured out how to build boats too. He smiled grimly at that thought.
Ranger Bennett ran by Tyler's office shouting that the orcs were attacking the city. Orcs here? Tyler grabbed his sword and ran out the door. Outside the Ranger Guild Master pulled him aside. "The orcs are killing everyone," he said.

"How did the orcs get onto the island?" protested Parker.

"No time," the Guild Master waved the questions aside. "The orcs already hold the east part of the island, including the moongate and the docs. We will gather the civilians into the guild hall and defend here. I need for you to get back to the mainland and rally the rangers there. Bring a group up from the docks to attack the orcs from behind and send another group with ships around to the west side of the island. We will use the ships to evacuate the civilians. Now GO!" There was more than a hint of desperation in that shouted command.

Biting back on his questions of how the orcs had managed to orchestrate such a highly coordinated and precise surprise attack, Tyler jumped into the saddle of his horse, Light Foot, and galloped away.

The scene he rode into was like something out of a nightmare. Several buildings were on fire and the dead and dying littered the streets. Anyone coming through the moongate was set upon and killed before they had a chance to fight back. The town guards were nowhere to be seen. Some isolated pockets of civilian warriors and mages were making a desperate stand. Tyler shouted for them to retreat to the guild hall. He doubted that many would make it.

As he raced past a small house he saw a woman cut down by a green orc with a black bow. The orc was taking aim at a child standing, transfixed, in the doorway. Cutting to the left, Tyler reached down and lifted the child out of the path of the arrow, dumping her roughly across his horse. There was no time to be gentle. He threw a dagger at the orc. The weapon hit its throat cleanly, but the orc just vanished. Tyler muttered an oath and urged Light Foot into a full run. A nearby building exploded as the orcs attacked some people holed up there. Dodging arrows, Tyler raced towards the docks, crouched low, shielding the child as best he could. As he passed the corner of the healers building a gold colored orc stepped out and swung a wicked looking ax. Light Foot jinked to the left, but the ax connected and the horse collapsed in agony.

Tyler scrambled clear of the flailing horse, pulling the child behind him. There was no time to even put the animal out if its misery, let alone mourn the loss of his friend. He grabbed the child up and sprinted towards a small boat at the end of the dock. He dumped the girl into the boat and cut the rope as he leaped aboard.

As he rowed away from the dock, Tyler saw bodies floating in the water and several sinking boats. The girl tried to go over the side, but he pulled her back. An arrow bit into his shoulder. He pulled harder through the haze of pain.
Reaching the far shore, Tyler pulled the girl up the bank and ran towards the Ranger Guild Hall. He pulled up short at the sound of guttural voices up ahead. The orcs had attacked here too. He could see the bodies of Ali and Flint laying in front of the guild hall. There would be no rescue mounted from here, he realized with a shock.

The orcs spotted them and charged down the path. Tyler knew that, even with his wound, he could vanish into the woods and evade these orcs, saving his own life. But not if the child was slowing him down. Without a second thought, he pushed the child down the road toward Britain and shouted for her to run. He drew his sword and turned to face the orcs. With a little luck he could buy her enough time to escape.

Tyler engaged the leading orc, a lord, cutting it down but its fellows arrived all too soon. More arrows penetrated his studded armor. An explosion burned him badly. Another orc fell, but two others took its place. He applied bandages to his wounds but the orcs kept coming. Then he felt a new fire. The fire of poison burning through his veins. An orc mage had joined the fight. Tyler drank an orange potion, but he knew it was too late. There was just too many orcs. As blackness claimed his vision and he fell towards the ground, the last thing Tyler saw was the little girl disappearing around a bend in the road to Britain.

Through the gray mists of the ghost realm Tyler saw the orcs loot his body and rush off to join their fellow orcs besieging the town. Things would not go well for those still trapped on the island, he thought sadly.

Suddenly he was drawn away from the world, up towards an enveloping darkness. Floating like a tuft of thistledown on the wind, helpless to control his own direction. He watched with a growing dread as the darkness grew, eating away at the gray mist world. Just when the darkness was almost complete, the ethereal wind shifted and he began to drift away. He was tossed about in some strange dizzying storm as if two forces were fighting to control his destiny.

Ultimately, the darkness receded to a point and was finally gone. It seemed that whatever force controlled the gray realm had won the battle of the storms. Tyler was left floating high above the world wrapped in the gray mists. He began to move once more. He could make out features on the ground so far below. He drifted to the north and east over woods and mountains. He recognized the great city of Britain and then the deserts and swamps beyond. He began to slowly descend as he passed over the city of Vesper still moving to the north and east. Finally he spotted a shrine. The shrine grew. It seemed that this was to be his destination.

As he hovered low over the shrine, he could see that it was glowing with a strange light that somehow penetrated even into the gray mists of the ghost realm. Suddenly a figure appeared from this light. It was a savage, Tyler realized. The savages were coming from the shrines? How could that be? As he watched, their numbers grew. Some were mounted on hideous beasts. The ethereal glow faded and the savage army marched off into the woods.
Tyler floated down to the foot of the shrine. Standing once more on the ground. He felt a strange tingling. The first sensation that he had felt since the final bite of the orc's blades he realized.

The tingling faded and he was alive once more. Although weak and disoriented, the shrine had resurrected him. What can I do here alone in the woods? He thought. Then he smiled. After he was a Master Ranger.

He turned to make his way into the woods before more savages came, but stopped short. There, at the edge of the woods, a strange man was sitting on a gray horse watching him closely. The man move his foot slightly and the horse stepped forward closer to where Tyler stood.

"Da bugu-han Castile sah meh find yuh here," announced the man. As Tyler struggled to understand the meaning behind these words, the man reached down to him. "Yuh come wit meh." And then after a pause he added, "please". He grinned. "Yuh tell da bugu-han meh remember be polite!"

Grinning back, Tyler reached up to take the offered hand and swung up behind the man. When he was seated, the man moved his foot and the horse took off at an easy trot.

"Who are you and who is this Castile?" asked Tyler.

"Meh be Mongol. Castile be da bugu-han. Yuh wait. Him answer yuh questions whn weh get to tosgon," responded the man.

Well that certainly cleared things up, though Tyler, bemused. Guess I will just have wait to meet this Castile fellow.

They rode for hours, this gray horse somehow never seemed to tire. Finally, the ranger recognized the huge trees around the clearing that seemed to be their destination. They were near Yew. As they rode into the clearing he heard a voice hailing them. A child was waving from the balcony of a log cabin, a man standing by her side.
As the Mongol waved back, Tyler realized that this was the little girl he had rescued from Skara Brae. He smiled. At least his sacrifice had not been in vain...


© 2001 Todd Bailey