"Him -- there, that's the one." Bankerra pointed at a huge barbarian cutthroat standing in the distant camp. "He's the one that started it all!" She stabbed her dagger into the ground near the edge of the shade tree where we sat resting.
"Why did they attack?" I asked, munching some berries I'd foraged. "Do they have anything against any of you? What happened?"
"Hmpf." Nazix shrugged. "We'd just gone to sleep, and suddenly there was the most horrible racket. 'I'll teach you not to interfere with me, Bankerra!'" Nazix mimicked a deep barbarian voice. "'How dare you disturb us,' he said! Innoruuk's teeth! We, disturb them? How utterly ridiculous. They nearly killed us all!"
"Well, we were a little close to their camp." Wrixlan drank some water from a flask and passed it to Nazix. "Perhaps they thought we were planning an ambush."
Bankerra snorted. "Planning an ambush?" She retrieved her dagger from the ground and wiped it off on her leg. "They're not STUPID, Wrixlan. If we were planning an ambush, we'd send a scout ahead! We'd rally where they couldn't see us! We'd draw our weapons! We'd --"
"Yes, yes, perhaps you're right." Wrixlan stowed the flask away in his backpack. "It seems they're just bloodthirsty. In which case," he said, standing up, "We'd better get rid of them before they hurt more travellers to this area."
Bankerra jumped to her feet. "All right then, let's go. What are we waiting for?"
"NO!" Nazix stamped his foot. "I'm not going through THAT again. This time you're to wait for me while I summon some undead help." He sat down and began leafing through his spellbook. I peeked over his shoulder. I couldn't read the drow language, but it did look very organized.
As we waited for Nazix, I cast a spell to make Bankerra and Wrixlan's skin as hard as rock, then did the same for myself. I tried not to get hit much in the heat of battle, as I knew I wasn't as strong as a warrior, or even a bard. But just in case, I wanted to be ready. I turned to cast the same spell on Nazix, but he declined.
"Cast it on my friend," he said, pointing to the skeleton which now stood at his side.
"Is that your undead help?" I looked doubtfully at the skeleton. He let out a gleeful cackle. "My leader is Nazix," he said.
"Don't be fooled, Elf," said Nazix. "Stand closer to him for a second and you'll see what I mean." I moved closer to the skeleton. He was almost as tall as I was. Up close, he looked quite formidable. I shrugged and cast the spell on him, hoping it would work on something with no skin at all.
"Are we ready yet?" Bankerra was pacing back and forth under the tree. "I say we get that one first -- the barbarian. He's off to the side, and the others won't notice if I pull him away."
"Have you an arrow, Bankerra?" Wrixlan looked concerned.
"An arrow?" Bankerra laughed. "Archery is for cowards! I'm going to walk up behind him and run him through with my sword!" Wrixlan and Nazix exchanged a worried glance.
"Uh, Bankerra," I said, taking my cue from the others, "Perhaps we should do this so that the rest of the camp won't notice? We don't want them all to attack at once. Perhaps I should take care of this with magic?"
"We don't need magic!" Bankerra leaned over me. "Human beings have been fighting since the beginning of TIME! You take the strongest first, as fast as you can, then even if the others try to help, their best fighter is gone! I've been sizing them up this whole time, and he's the only one that's going to give us any trouble. Humans invented the art of war!"
"But they aren't all human," Nazix said. "Look, that one's a mage of the Erudites; they're a bit more than human if you ask me. If they have magic, we need it too."
Bankerra scowled. "He's as weak as my grandfather!" Just at that moment, the Erudite sent a huge ball of fire flying toward a distant black bear. The bear charged as the fire hit, howling in anger and pain, but he didn't make it. I winced as another of the Erudite's blasts knocked the bear to the ground, killing it. I hadn't been enthusiastic about the battle until that moment, but now I knew the Mother of All would want me to avenge the bear's needless death.
Nazix and Wrixlan looked expectantly at Bankerra as the bear groaned its last. "Oh, all right, Elf," Bankerra said. "What do we have to do?"
"Wait here. Don't follow. I'll bring the barbarian when it's safe." I began to head toward the camp, trying not to attract any attention. The camp itself was surrounded on three sides by hills. We'd have to attack from the front, but I saw as I got closer that I could approach from the side, and do my work up high on the hill, without them seeing me.
I climbed as high as I could, making as little noise as possible. The Erudite stood in the center of the camp, the Barbarian a little to the West of him. Near the Erudite, a female human as tall as Bankerra stood outside a tent, and next to her, a female Barbarian sat mending some armor. Bankerra was right, those few wouldn't be much of a challenge if we could protect ourselves from the mage's casts.
Over near the male Barbarian, however, were a male human and a male ogre. They were going to be trouble. I checked their position, and realized that from where Bankerra stood, those two were blocked by a tent. It was a good thing we'd talked her out of charging the camp.
I knew I'd have to work quickly, for my magic wouldn't last too long. Concentrating on the Erudite and the two women, I put the best thoughts I could think of in their heads. Green grass, I thought, peace, friendship, the warm feeling of belonging to all of Nature. The Erudite blinked, then stared off into the distance. The Barbarian put her sewing kit down and smiled. I knew my spell had worked.
The other three would be tougher -- I had to concentrate only on the human and the ogre, while allowing the Barbarian cutthroat to stay as he was. I tried to block the Barbarian from my thoughts while placing visions of happiness in the other two's minds. The ogre stopped scratching himself for a moment and sniffed the air. The human stared dreamily ahead. Now was the time.
I took a deep breath and ran as fast as I could toward the camp. As I reached the Barbarian male, I said, as quietly as I could but loud enough so he'd still hear me, "Hey you -- what are you looking at! Don't mess with me!"
"I'll teach you!" he growled, charging after me. I sprinted toward the others, shouting "OK, OK, here he comes!" I turned for a moment and called on Tunare to snare him fast to the ground -- that would give the others time to ready their weapons and spells.
Bankerra didn't need any time. She was already running toward the Barbarian, sword drawn, ready to impale him. Nazix's undead helper jogged up to the snared cutthroat and began slashing him, cackling wildly. Suddenly I felt stronger, as I heard Wrixlan begin to sing a song of battle. Backing up, I evoked bursts of fire to harm the barbarian and distract him from the battle.
It only lasted a minute or so. Then the Barbarian sagged to the ground, but not before saying, "The Dervish Cutthroats will learn of this!"
"HAHA!" Bankerra danced around the fallen corpse. "Teach us will you! Interrupt you, did we? HAHA! I am Bankerra, and nobody teaches me ANYTHING!" She held her sword aloft.
As she did so, I heard a shout from the cutthroat camp. "Uh oh, Bankerra," Wrixlan said, "I think they heard you. Look!" The rest of the cutthroats had noticed their friend missing, and were all running over to investigate. Bankerra winced as a shock of frost from the Erudite froze her over.
"What do we do?" I wanted to run away.
"Stay here and kill the rest," Bankerra said. She drew a second sword and held it ready. She looked rather heroic standing there like that, and I resolved to stop thinking of her as boorish. Her nobility was of a different kind.
Then the rest of the camp was on us. The ogre hit the hardest, but Nazix quickly engulfed him in darkness. "Hey -- me can't see!" He stopped fighting and staggered about. I kept busy healing Bankerra, and Nazix's skeleton, and Wrixlan, who sang as he battled, keeping all of our strength up. Then someone hit me from behind. I turned, and found myself face to face with the female barbarian.
I had thought Bankerra was tall, but this woman was bigger, and nastier-looking, than anyone I'd ever seen. Her blue-painted face froze in a horrible snarl as she prepared to hit me again. Before she could do that, I shut my eyes tightly and swung my staff at her. Miraculously, the staff connected and she slumped to the ground.
"Hit her again, you stupid elf," Bankerra shouted, "She's just unconscious! Then do your job and heal me!" Feeling extremely guilty, but remembering the slain bear, I whacked the barbarian again. "Sorry," I whispered. Then I healed Bankerra's wounds.
In a few moments more, the cutthroats lay dead. We took what we could of their armor, and split their money between us. Nazix kept a rusty sword to give to a future undead helper.
"They won't bother anyone anymore," Wrixlan said, prodding a corpse with the toe of his boot. "We've done our duty."
The sun was getting lower. Soon it would be time for me to wake Uncle Zophia and get some answers. "I must go," I said.
"We will stay," Wrixlan said. "We can set our camp tonight without worry."
Bankerra beamed. "You did pretty good, Elf. But don't get too comfortable yet. You have a ways to go."
Nazix stood. "Goodbye," he said. "Thank you for your help -- er, Gwion."
I was too stunned to say anything. He had known my name after all. Waving goodbye, I ran toward the East Commonlands. I had reached my fifteenth season.
