Elfborn

To the River!

The wagons jounced wildly down the road as Jase drove the lead wagon hard, the second under the hand of one of Sister Eje's warriors, the man she had named Markus. Together they raced the wagons down the hill at almost breakneck speed, heads down and shoulders hunched as if they both expected an attack from above.

But, as Max hazarded a look over his shoulder back at the fortress, he didn't see the bright flare of the flame magic Mordekai had used to kill Lash. He did, however, see an almost solid mass of orcs surging out the gateway, their red eyes pointed directly at them. Swift of foot, it wouldn't take them long to overtake the struggling horses.

"They're gaining!" he shouted and Jase snorted.

"Not for long!"

The young man didn't get the chance, however, to snap the reins and urge the horses to take a faster pace. Instead, Sister Eje, who sat beside him on the driver's bench, grabbed him by the arm.

"Take a right at the bottom of the hill!" she shouted over the scream of their metal rims on the cobblestone road. "There's a river half a kilometer beyond. We have a boat waiting there to take us out of here!"

"Right." Jase nodded grimly. Behind them Markus had the second wagon virtually in the box, he was so close behind them. The first wagon was filled with the Elfborn, the second with the big warriors, who were also looking over their shoulders at the orcish horde that was quickly descending down the road towards them.

Hitting the bottom of the hill at full speed, Jase pulled the reins hard to jerk his team into a hard right-hand turn. Skilled at driving a horse and wagon, he quickly got them going in the right direction. Behind him, no less skilled, Markus had the second wagon right in his tracks, the two wagons quickly heading into an open meadow, which hadn't been worked by the local farmers.

With hard ground underfoot, the wagons made good speed. But spurred by something dark, the orcs made even better. It didn't take long before they were close enough for Max to count them individually. He stopped at two hundred.

"This is going to be close," he muttered, a flicker of anxiety washing through him.

Then both wagons were slewing hard to the side to avoid running straight into the river Eje had said would be there. Indeed it was; a wide, fast-running channel whose far bank was lost in the gloom. Silvery highlights danced off the waves as four strong men held the mooring lines of a medium-sized river barge, keeping the flat bottomed vessel in place.

Nearly spilled out when the wagon skidded sideways to a halt, Max bounded from the box before turning to help Heather and Naneen down in their dresses. Ollie and Brice were just as fast to assist Gillian and Kira. Jase hopped down beside Eje, who quickly ran to the men holding the boat in place on the tree-covered bank.

"Prepare to cast off!" she shouted, turning back to face the road as she pulled the white rod from her cloak. "We're leaving!"

Max almost was knocked off his feet as one of the cones of force ripped into the orcs a mere ten meters away, smashing the front rank into mash and throwing several more behind it into disarray. Two more carefully placed shots from the mystical device furthered the chaos. Staggering on, he kept his feet only because he was caught by one of the warriors who helped him stay upright.

As Max looked up to smile in thanks, the man abruptly halted, stopping, turning, and drawing his weapon in one smooth motion. Still, he wasn't set when the dark air itself gelled into solidity and a Mist man faded into view. It's blade, with metal as dark as the night itself, didn't pause as it scythed through his body without a sound, the man's vital juices bubbling on the metal as it exited the other side. Max dropped to his knees just in time to avoid being cut in half himself, the Mist man charging on to engage the warriors who had paused to guard the gangplank that led on board the barge.