Bloodsword: War of the Leaf

Chapter 11: Last Stand

Tev frowned as he watched the flames consume the port town that sat at the foot of the ridge on whose crown he now crouched.  All around him was thick brush, almost completely concealing him.

"Is it bad?” Joran asked as he slipped through the bush to squat beside him.

"Aye,” Tev replied softly as he grimly counted the number of sunk, or sinking ships that listed heavily in the harbor.  It was almost an equal split between bulky Solavar galleys and slender Mardish war barks.  He could also see heavy fighting surging along the shore and northwestern reaches of the township.

“Bad enough.”  He turned to slip back out the way Joran had come in, the Kensarthi quickly behind him.

When the two men worked their way free of the tangled brush to stand, they looked at the two thousand expectant faces in front of them.

“The Ev Gavis freeport has been destroyed,” Tev declared broadly, “and there is still heavy fighting along the northern edges of the town.  There will be no way we can get down there and get enough wagons to get all of us into the human reaches by nightfall.”

“And I don’t think you want to bleed enough to build them,” Joran commented dryly.  Despite their grim situation, Tev smiled.  The Kensarthi had become increasingly light-hearted since their victory against the Solavar recruiters several days ago.

“The use of the blood magic at this point would only serve to draw both armies to you like a moth to flame,” the dragon in human form, Nerith, commented where she stood beside Kora and Lax.  She had finally revealed herself to the rest of their small company after the attack on the recruiters.  And while the elves had treated her with suspicion at first, they were now slowly coming around to accept her as one of them.  Especially after Tev told them what part she had played in getting them to safety time and time again.

Tev nodded in agreement.

“That leaves us only one choice, friends: cut across Askannin territory and and hopefully reach the human lands in a couple of days.”

“If the Askannin haven’t already been drawn into this war,” remarked one of the Askannin Freeholders who had taken it upon himself to be a leader.  His name was Aetak, his clan tattoos marking him as being from an old and revered clan with much experience in leading their northern people.

“Let us hope that they haven’t, Aetak,” Tev said grimly, “or things will get messy real fast.  I suggest you get your people moving.  We need to be out of range of those troops down there as soon as possible.”

“Right,” the Askannin replied and turned, shouting orders as he made his way through the press of bodies.

Tev, for his part, half closed his eyes as he used his improved senses to do one more scan of the  the ongoing battle down below for a moment before swinging north, examining their future path for any traps or ambushes.

“You can’t protect them all, you know.”  Nerith commented softly as she stepped close enough for Tev to feel her body warmth.  “No matter what you do, most of them are going to die.  It has been prophesied.”

“Are all dragons as depressing as you, Nerith?” Tev muttered with annoyance as he continued his scan.

“No,”  she said, a smile dancing about her lips.  “Most are actually a bit worse!”

“Great.”  Tev smiled wryly despite himself as he opened his eyes to look over at the startling beautiful creature that had attached herself to his ragtag band of refugees.  “It’s a wonder that you've managed to live so long!” 

Nerith’s smile deepened at finding his direct attention on her.

“One learns to be careful after several millennia of life, Tev,” she said, her eyes dancing as they carefully traced the lines of the human’s handsome face.  A reply, along with that look, that made Tev's eyebrow arch upward.