The Shield Bearer

Chapter 10

The entire fort was dark. In the almost never ending dawn of the arctic, lights were needed until nearly midday. But not one light was lit. Rene focused briefly to magically adjust her sight. She then reached out and touched Gregory and then Elric, to do the same for them. She knew that the orcs could see perfectly well, in this low light and didn't need her help.

Bodies were all across the training yard, that faced the front gates of the fort. It looked as if, everybody had simply fallen asleep where they were standing. In this cold, that was fatal. The sight of this, made Rene nauseous. It also made her suspect that the fort's water supply had been breached and tainted. She was spared for the simple reason, that she purified all of her water with prayer, before she drank. It was a little ritual that she had picked up from the field priest, Jensen. He was always terrified of contracting some terrible disease from dirty water. "Thank you Jensen." She whispered her gratitude to the air.

She sighed as she looked past the dead and toward the front gates, which were open, as she expected. If they went to all of this trouble, of course they wanted the fort. It made perfect strategic sense. She could faintly make out movement, in the distance beyond the gate.

"Commander?" Rene turned to Elric. He was the highest rank officer, this should be his to work out.

He shook his head back and forth and pulled his commander's badge off of his cloak, dropping it on the ground. "I am no longer a soldier. I am no longer your commander." He planted his shield in the snow in front of him. "I am vengeance! I will avenge all of the dead!" He dropped to his knees with his hands on top of his shield and began praying. "Give me the strength to conquer my enemies tonight. Give me the power to avenge your servants."

He chanted this over and over again, apparently waiting for something. Rene watched him for a moment and felt her heart go out to him. He wanted to die, here. He wanted to battle in the heavens beside his best friend, Adam. The only way that he knew to do that, was to take on whatever enemies awaited him outside the walls and take as many of them with him, as possible. She quietly whispered a prayer for his success in finding resolve.

At that, his shield flashed brightly. Her prayer had been answered. Elric grew quiet and looked over at Rene. "Thank you, Mistress." He promptly stood, drawing his greatsword in his left hand and his shield in his right and charged for the gates, to draw out the enemy for Rene and the others to size up and perhaps manage.

Before he reached the gates, Rene turned to the orcish lieutenant. "Do your people really have the kind of sight, that the stories speak of?"

He nodded. "Yes, we can see better in the darkness, than you humans can see in the clearest day."

"Then I need you to send one of your unit to follow him at a distance to observe what he encounters." Rene had barely finished her sentence when the lieutenant motioned at one of the other orcs, who began jogging a short distance behind Elric's charge.

"It might be easier to communicate during battle, if we know one another's names." Rene remembered that orcs took great pride in their names. "My name is Rene Forlay. This is Gregory Johansen. We are Shield Bearers." She gestured towards Gregory.

This gave the lieutenant pause. The sound of Elric's battle cries echoed from beyond the wall. "I am Tijer Thorm and these are my brothers in arms, The Ragers." He offered her a gentlemanly bow.

"We have heard of Shield Bearers, but never had the honor to meet one, before tonight. The reputation of your order, precedes you. The reputation of you and your battle buddy, carries more weight than you know. We will gladly battle by your side." All except for the scout, who was following Elric, gave her a united salute. "May Astra's light blind our enemies!"