Date: Sat, 26 Sep 2015 16:31:25 +0000
From: George Gauthier <georgegauthierdc@gmail.com>
Subject: Elf-Boy's Friend's 24

			Elf-Boy's Friends 24
			Orcs I
 			by George Gauthier

[The further adventures of characters from the novel 'Elf-Boy and Friends']

			Chapter 4. Slashers and Orcs

Six days later the owner of the Sign of the Bow, a worried looking Raymond
Bullock sought out the the twins and their friends.

"We have just been warned by a rider from the constabulary that the orcs
are on a rampage. No one know what stirred them up but they and the
monsters in their service are roaming these mountains and killing anyone
they come upon: vacationers, travelers, hunters."

"Monsters? What kind of monsters exactly?" Jemsen asked.

"Dire wolves and slash bears twisted by alchemy and dark magic into demonic
creatures who hunt at the side of the orcs."

"Hmmm, those demonic dire wolves are called Trackers. Karel and I have
faced them twice before. I've never heard of demonic slash bears though we
have battled normal slash bears."

"For convenience let's just call them Slashers." Karel offered.

"OK. Slashers it is."

"That is as good a name as any," a new arrival in the uniform of a Forest
Ranger agreed.

"I've met some of you already. For those who don't know me, I am Lord
Madden Sexton, a forest ranger in the New Forest on the other side of the
mountains. As for the four rangers who with me, the full elf on the left is
named Dylan, the half elf standing next to him is Brandon and the two
humans are his cousins, the brothers Garret and Lorn. We tracked a pair of
murderous orcs to the area but had to break off our pursuit when they
joined up with a large force which looked like it was preparing to head
this way. I'd estimate they number six hundred.

"That's terrible." Bullock said. "What should we do? Should we evacuate?
I'm in the hospitality business and really out of my depth."

"Fair enough, Goodman Bullock and don't think less of yourself for not
being a military man. Don't evacuate. You would only be caught all strung
out on the road. No, the only thing to do is to fort up here and wait for
the Army, though who knows when they might get here."

"No need to guess." Liam offered. "I can communicate with their war and
weather wizards via infrasound and find out. Now I cannot reach the
capital, but the garrison town of Bled is only sixty odd miles away."

"Good idea. Do so and let me know what they say. Now we have to settle who
should take command. What about you? You are in the Army aren't you?"

Liam should his head.

"Mostly in the Navy if the truth were known, but war wizards are warrant
officers who do not command troops. Ever."

"Does anyone besides me have any experience commanding troops in battle?"

They all shook their heads. Nathan allowed that he had lead squads of
sailors in naval combat but knew nothing about fighting on land. The army
major had made his career in the supply corps but had seen action only as
an enlisted man before winning his commission.

"All right. I guess that leaves me as the only seasoned commander. You
should know that in my day I've lead armies to victory on two
continents. It is not for nothing that I was ennobled as the Conquering
Lion of Sogdiana. So you are in good hands"

"Now as to arms. I don't suppose you lads brought your weapons along on
your vacation."

"Actually we did,"Liam answered, "but remember we ourselves now wield
powerful magics. I am a full-fledged war wizard and Jemsen and Karel are
earth and air wizards. Corwin Klarendes, that cute blond boy over there,
wields ball lightning as both shield and sword."

"The others have lesser capabilities though they too can act as force
multipliers and give a good account of themselves in a fight. I recommend
we use those with lesser powers to stiffen the defenses at the most
vulnerable points. Nathan can snap electrum sparks which is a big help to
others in a fight and is a master of the naval cutlass, which is a good
weapon in a close quarters melee. Axel Wilde has similar capabilities
though he uses a kukri. Axel cannot throw electrum sparks, but he can Call
Light to englobe a orc's head. Eike is still waiting for his magical gift
to manifest, but has been sparring with us so he too is handy with a
blade."

"It's true I don't have magical powers," Eike conceded, "but like the rest
of you I am one of those with enhanced physical powers. I am easily twice
as strong as I look, and I have stamina and really fast reflexes to
match. I even trained with Karel to run with the wind at my back just like
Axel and Jemsen so we could take part in ambushes or harassing or spoiling
attacks over open ground."

"All right Eike. I'll keep that capability in mind. We just might be able
to spring a nasty surprise on the enemy once we whittle them down and get
some room for you and Karel to run in." Madden said approvingly. "Glad to
see that you are up for a fight. You are a plucky lad for one so much
younger than these hooligans you've fallen in with."

Which was said with a wink and a grin.

Then Raymond Bullock said:

"We occasionally drill our staff as an informal militia and we could pass
out some extra weapons to any of our guests who are enrolled in their
militias at home or are just willing to fight. That might give us sixty
fighters armed with spears and shields and short swords or long
knives. Orcs may have a longer reach but our spears put us humans even with
them on that score. Plus we could distribute all the repeating crossbows to
women and teens and station them on the lower balcony. It's too bad though
that we have only a couple of dozen bolts per crossbow."

The repeating crossbow was the standard weapon for the militia of the the
Commonwealth of the Long River. Almost every adult, male and female, was
familiar with the weapon which was lightweight, easy to master, and simple
to operate. What it lacked in range it made up for in rate of fire and ease
of use. Given a goodly supply of ammunition the militia would confront
attackers with hail of quarrels or bolts which could punch through armor.

Madden nodded. "Make it so. I'll post my four rangers and their long bows
up there with the crossbow archers My rangers can engage at long
range. Save the crossbows and your supply of quarrels for when the enemy
closes in. Now about that big bow hung over the bar. With a weapon like
that I could take down a Tracker or a Slasher all the way out to tree
line."

"Do you really think you could even string that bow much less draw it."
Bullock asked skeptically. Madden was a muscular man who stood six feet
tall and weighed two hundred fifty pounds, but the bow was made for a
giant.

"There is a lot more to Madden than you might think." Dylan offered. "As an
enhanced wir wolverine he is as strong as a Frost Giant.

"Let's see, shall we." Madden said confidently. "Drew, if you please."

Drew nodded and Lifted the bow and quiver of arrows from the display on the
wall and floated it over to Sexton. In one fluid motion Madden bent and
strung the bow, selected an arrow from the quiver, drew the string back to
his ear, and shot at the spot on the wall where the bow had hung, driving
the shaft deep into the wood with a convincing thunk.

"OK, but we'll need more than just steel against demonic creatures." Jemsen
said. "What we need is silver. Silver burns their ensorcelled flesh and
keeps their wounds open so that they bleed out. Balandur always applied
silver grains suspended in lacquer to his arrowheads. We should do the
same. Goodman Bullock, you must have silver handy."

"Of course, but it is all in the form of coin."

"No problem. Remember I am an earth wizard. Earth and rock and minerals and
metals do what I tell them to do."

Sure enough, Jemsen stared at the clutch of silver coins Bullock spread on
a table, fixing their structure in his mind, then passed his hand over
them. The coins disintegrated, slumping into a small pile of powdered
silver. The paint shed supplied the lacquer. Soon they had enough silvered
lacquer to go around.

It wasn't applied just to the arrowheads but also to the first hand span of
the shaft behind the point. The twins, Drew, Axel, Nathan, and Eike applied
it to their blades and filled tiny medicament jars with more lacquer for
when that first application wore off or maybe washed off with the foul
blood of the demonic creatures.

"What about the Klarendes clan? Surely they could destroy the orcs. Liam
can get them here via a portal. And what of the druids who live in
Elsyion." Drew asked as they tried to figure out what to do to turn the
resort into a fortress.

Madden shook his head.

"The druids are in the capital making final preparations for their
participation in the conquest of Amazonia. The Klarendes are obligated to
protect Elysion, which is by far the most populous settlement in the
mountains. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

"Now let's take a look at the layout of our fortress to be. Goodman
Bullock, if you please."

Bullock passed out copies of the map that they handed out to visitors. It
showed not only the main house but also the outbuildings like the kitchen,
stables, laundry, toolshed, staff quarters, storage etc. It also depicted
the well and nearby terrain features which included a stream and a pond.

"Excellent. We'll mark everyone's position on their personal copy of these
handy maps."

From the topography and the layout of the place it was clear that the enemy
would have only two avenues of approach coming from the north as expected:
straight up the road to the entrance of the main house which faced east or
from the left rear through a blind spot created by outbuildings including
the stable. Toward the south were the pond used for swimming and boating
and the ornamental gardens which included two hedge mazes, the smaller for
kids and the larger for adults and courting couples.

Madden had the stable and nearby sheds rigged with incendiaries so it could
be touched off with fire arrows. With any luck, they could incinerate or at
least singe any orcs who sought to infiltrate from that direction using the
structures for cover.

They all put their heads together. Jemsen suggested he create bear traps
with earth magic. Sexton agreed the idea had merit and marked the map to
show where he wanted them. Bullock had the carpenter sharpen stakes to
plant in the bottom while he set some of the women to fashioning covers of
sticks and cloth and leaves and grass to conceal the openings.

Sexton was pleased to see that they had a secure source of water. The well
and ornamental fountain were in the courtyard in the middle of the main
house. To deprive the enemy of a reliable supply of water, Sexton had
Jemsen invoke his earth magic to reroute the stream and drain the
pond. Food was not a problem, not at a well-stocked resort.

Their main disadvantage was that they could muster only about seventy hand
to hand fighters plus the women and teens with crossbows against maybe six
or seven times as many of the enemy. True the orcs would be out in the
open, vulnerable to archers and the twin's earth and air magic and Liams'
various magics. Then there were the monsters. The gods forbid they got
inside among the defenders.

The key to a successful defense was throwing back the orcs' initial
attack. Once the orcs realized that they could not carry the place by
storm, they would settle down for a siege, which would work to the
advantage of the defenders. Time was on their side.

A withdrawal was unlikely. The object of their attack was undoubtedly to
gain control of the road which ran by the resort whether as a jumping off
point for further advances or maybe to establish a southern anchor for the
lands the orcs wanted to control.

The orcs wouldn't be expecting a vacation resort to harbor three wizards
and other magically gifted fighters including a powerful fetcher and a boy
who could wield ball lightning. Among the staff and visitors were two older
men who could throw lightning bolts, one master of magnetism, and three who
could Call Light.

It was in the nature of magic on Haven that the gifts most useful in combat
were the province of males. The most common gifts among women were healing,
a Green Thumb, the empathic sense, eidetic memory, delving, electrum
sparks, and fire starting, the last meaning they could kindle a bonfire or
set the fuel in a stove alight but not actually throw flame.

Now some of those gifts could be turned against individual
assailants. Healers could deal with attackers one or two at a time --
though not a body of men -- by stopping their hearts or putting them to
sleep, or paralyzing their limbs. Calling Light to englobe the head of a
rapist would kill him. A handful of electrum sparks snapped to a man's face
could blind him.

Delving had an obviously military function in siege warfare to detect
attempt to undermine the walls but not directly in combat. Many lady
delvers worked as or for civil engineers, architects, and mining engineers
or for the public works departments of cities and towns. (All excavation
work had to be cleared and foundations checked by a delver.)

Liam was stationed at ground level at the front entrance. At close quarters
he would use his telekinesis to wield steel spheres just as Drew did, while
also attacking the orcs with weather magic, reserving his white fire for
the critical moment during the main assault. With him was an oldster named
Baldur who was there with four generations of his family celebrating his
proverbial five score and ten. He allowed that as a firecaster his powers
had grown weaker, but he could still blunt or divert or disperse streams of
flame or clinging balls of fire hurled by enemy firecasters.

Liam was glad to have him at his side. Firecasting was the one gift lacking
in his own repertoire. (White fire is a learned skill, not a gift.) So even
a elderly firecaster whose powers were waning could employ them defensively
to put out fires started by the enemy whether with magic or fire arrows, or
perhaps a wagonload of hay rolled against the building.

The only fetcher among the fighters besides Liam and Drew was a plucky
fifteen year old named Steen who volunteered to fight though he was just
coming into his powers. It took considerable persuasion on Liam's part and
on Drew's to get his folks to allow the boy to fight at ground level with
his father, instead of shooting a crossbow from the relative safety of the
lower balcony alongside his mother.

"Ma, you gotta let me protect Pa with my powers. If he got killed you would
never forgive yourself knowing that I might have made the difference. I'd
never forgive myself either. Don't lay this burden on either of us."

Steen would carry a shield and a short sword just in case while standing
behind the line of defenders whom he would assist by yanking out the
eyeballs of foes pressing them hard. Drew also requisitioned a rack of
billiard balls for the kid to whirl about just as Drew did with his own
steel spheres. The billiard balls were a last resort which Steen would
wield to counter a breakthrough, holding the breach long enough for the
reaction force to counterattack.

The tool shed held a keg of nails which provided both fetchers ammunition
to hurl at the orcs. To make the supply last they would hurl only a handful
at a time, targeting clumps of foes rather than use the scatter shot
tactics normally used with nails.

Sexton's plan was for a resilient defense with a reserve force reinforcing
the defenders on the perimeter wherever it looked like they might crumble
and yield to enemy pressure. Corwin's ball lightning would be crucial as he
lead counter attacks shielding himself and his reaction force of ten staff
militia against any breakthrough. The staff militia were chosen because
they were used to working together and knew the layout of the rambling
structure.

Nathan was stationed to support those guarding the approach from the blind
side. The double handfuls of sparks he could fling would help their amateur
fighters hold out against the orc warriors. The burning heat and electric
jolt of his sparks were impossible to ignore and would distract the orcs at
the critical moment of contact, giving the defenders an inestimable
advantage in hand to hand combat.

Sexton commanded the defense from the upper balcony that ran all around the
main building. From there he would wield the legendary bow to pick off both
enemy commanders and their monsters. Eike was with Sexton on the upper
balcony. His job was to peer through a far viewer to identify profitable
targets for the wir wolverine's bow.

As a powerful fetcher Drew was a second reaction force all by himself,
though for starters he would be on the upper balcony for an overview of the
situation. In his role as a reporter for the Capital Intelligencer he kept
his note and sketch pads handy. The high vantage point on the upper balcony
also allowed the twins to see where best to employ their powers as well as
use their bows. Their proximity to Sexton made it easier to coordinate
their efforts.

Two younger boys were stationed as runners to carry messages between strong
points and the unit leaders Sexton had appointed who included two retired
army non-coms and the Army major from the quartermaster corps, all combat
veterans.

The carpenter and his assistant who doubled as glaziers removed the glass
windows on the ground floor from their frames, covering the bottom half of
the openings with room doors nailed to the frames and braced with posts and
floor boards or whatever else was handy. This gave the fighters good cover
against arrows and the improvised bulwarks could not easily be shoved
aside.

The double doors of the main entrance were there to keep the weather out
and never intended to withstand an assault. Only an active defense could
stop the enemy from pouring through. Bullock had the doors taken down and
nailed and propped the long way across the opening. That gave the defenders
a chest high bulwark from which to thrust spears at the enemy or slash at
them with their long knives.

Bullock passed out the few extra shields to the lucky fighters at the
barriers. The rest had to be content with improvised shields made out of
barrel heads, cut down floor planks, and the like, reinforced with staves
and leather or canvas covers. Eike helped with their fabrication.

"What were you looking at so intently over there?" Sexton asked Jemsen.

"That cliff beyond the pond is loose shale. I think I can bring it down on
the orcs if they march along the stretch of ground between the two."

"You have a good eye for terrain, Jemsen. "Wait for my cue. This is a trick
we can use only once so we will want to lure as many as possible into the
kill zone."

At Karel's suggestion, some of the guests took up shovels to loosen the
surface of the ground on the two lines of approach and also carted
wheelbarrows of gravel from the road and drive to those spots. The dirt and
stones would be ammunition for Karel's whirlwinds and dust devils. Let's
see the orc archers try to fire arrows when they had keep their eyes closed
against the dust. He also planned just when and where he would raised
missile shields made of hardened air.

Karel was reluctant to slay large numbers of troops with a sun mirror, wary
of the psychic backlash Count Klarendes had suffered in his youth. Perhaps
he could find a clever way to employ one indirectly. Karel had read about
an air wizard who boiled the water in a nearby pond then pushed the cloud
of superheated steam toward enemy entrenchments, forcing the troops
stationed there to withdraw lest they be scalded. Too bad Jemsen had
already drained the pond at the resort to deprive the enemy of a source of
water. Meanwhile Karel had another idea and sought out the proprietor.

"What are those hollowed out logs we saw in that big shed?" Karel asked
Rayburn Bullock.

"Wooden pipe for a storm drain we were about to lay to help drain that
soggy ground on the south end. The sections are shaped to fit together to
make a continuous channel. We used wood because it is available locally and
does not crack like pottery or corrode like metal pipe."

That gave Karel an idea. He wasn't sure it would work but he enlisted
Eike's mechanical talents and a couple of Bullock's men to join a dozen
sections of wood pipe into six tubes and block one end of each tube with a
wooden plug tamped into the end that would face the enemy. The workmen set
the six tubes in low mounds of earth Jemsen raised with earth magic. He
then rolled small boulders on top to anchor them in place.

"I still think your contraption looks backwards" Eike said. "Folks are
gonna wonder what good are tubes pointed at us rather than toward the
enemy?"

"Trust me. If my air guns work, the effect will be devastating. Now I don't
want to over-promise so let's leave it there for now."

"Guns?"

"It's an old word for a tube weapon which somehow shot lead bullets like
those used by slingers. I read about them in old stories. The trouble is
their authors assumed their readers would know how guns worked. So they
provided no technical specifics other than mentioning smoke."

Karel charged each tube or gun with several pounds of nails and any scrap
metal he could lay his hands on such as nuts and bolts, pins from door
hinges, saddle fittings, and the like. The plan was that when the orcs made
their initial charge he would direct jets of air into the open ends of the
pipe. The plug would resist long enough to let the pressure build up. When
the plug finally gave away, the blast of air would propel all the loose
metal at great speed against the orcs [like grapeshot fired from a
gunpowder cannon]. Against troops in the open, the storm of metal should be
devastating. Their main limitation was suitable ammunition, not propellant
of which there was a virtually infinite supply.

Just then their scouts Garret and Lorn ran up to report that the enemy was
close, no more than a mile away. It was time for everyone to stand to at
his position marked on his personal map and await the attack. Liam reported
that the Army was on the way but it would take time to traverse the
sixty-four miles from Bled to the resort. There was no war wizard or druid
available to open a space portal for them. So the next move was up to the
orcs.

				Chapter 5. Battle is Joined

As the horde of orcs emerged from the woods and deployed into a line of
battle, Drew focused his gift on the southern corrals. Lifting the top two
bars from the enclosing fences on the far side he let the draft horses and
mounts escape from the advancing Trackers and Slashers. The escape of the
horses would deprive the enemy of both cavalry mounts and a food supply for
their monsters.

Though the demonic animals started after the equines, their masters called
them back. Their job that day was to terrorize and fight, not to hunt. The
animals obeyed snarling their displeasure at the escape of their prey. Well
there was plenty of meat on the bones of humans and elves and dwarves
forted up in the buildings in front of them. For now the beasts had to
content themselves with two laggards caught while returning from a call of
nature between the staff latrines and the main house. A slasher
disemboweled one man with a swipe of his massive paw while trackers
literally tore a man limb from limb.

The orcs themselves were not cannibals but their thoughts too were
bloodthirsty. How dare a bunch of human and elven holiday makers defy them!
They would pay for their effrontery. The orcs had historic rights to the
eastern mountains. It was long past time for the orcs to reclaim their
stolen lands.

The orcs were all infantry armed mostly with lethal looking long hafted
maces with spiked or flanged heads and large round shields though they also
had a corps of crossbowmen and slingers. For magical support they had half
a dozen mages. Two of the orc mages were firecasters, one threw lightning
bolts, one could control magnetism and two could snap electrum sparks. As a
race orcs were magically weak. Occasional individuals might have a strong
gift though only a single gift -- not multiple gifts like the
Commonwealth's own war wizards. Orcs were ever shape shifters or druids
either. So magically they were completely outclassed by the defenders as
they soon found out.

Having shaken themselves out into a battle line, the orcs sent their
monsters forward both to terrify their foes and to clear their flanks of
any enemy bowmen lurking in ambush in the outbuildings or gardens. As luck
would have it fully one-third of the fifteen slashers and a half-dozen
trackers fell into camouflaged bear pits. Sharpened stakes at the bottom
their points coated with silver penetrated their vitals bringing horrid
howls from the stricken beasts. Those losses still left a half-score
slashers and half again that many trackers.

Then the big archer on the upper balcony got to work with his recurved bow
which propelled arrows far beyond normal range. The crossbows of the orcs
could not reach his position on the balcony, so he could shoot at them with
impunity.

Moreover Sexton's arrows were coated with silver which drew more howls from
the demonic beasts, reducing the numbers of both species by a third.  Their
masters set the remaining monsters to patrolling a wide perimeter around
the resort to make sure none of the humans and elves could escape though
the twins managed to sink shafts into several who got too close. Aside from
that, their part in the battle was over.

A firecaster tried lofting a ball of fire at the distant balcony but Karel
called a jet of air to divert it to the drained pond. The bolt of the orcs'
lightning thrower fell short by a good margin. So much for orc magic, at
least at that distance.

Meanwhile Eike had been watching for leaders among the orcs and realized
that their commanders wore distinctive green sashes to indicate their
rank. He told Sexton who shifted his aim to the enemy commanders who were
too proud to carry shields like an ordinary soldier. After three commanders
fell to his arrows, the enemy withdrew temporarily into the tree line. When
they re-emerged, no one sported a green sash, and everyone in front held a
shield.

"Good work spotting their leaders, Eike. Too bad I could not pick off more
than those three before they realized the threat I presented to them with
this powerful bow."

"Anyway now Goodman Bullock will have a true story to tell about how a
mighty hero wielded this signature bow against the orcs."

Eike nodded and grinned, proud to have been a part of the first strike at
their enemies. Meanwhile Drew was busy sketching the scene. These quick
sketches were to refresh his memory when he produced finished sketches for
his news-paper and a possible book, should they all live so long.

The only sour note was that with the enemy force out in the open, Sexton
could see that they numbered closer to eight hundred than the six hundred
of his first estimate. Their infantry advanced in three lines behind a line
of skirmishers who probed with long poles for further bear traps. Bypassing
the pitfalls, they advanced over open ground toward the main entrance of
the resort, hoping for force their way inside.

Karel's air guns proved to be a disappointment. The wooden plugs gave way a
little too soon so the force behind the "grapeshot" they hurled at the orcs
was weak, hitting only hard enough to wound some orcs in the front ranks.

"I still think the concept is sound, but the technique obviously needs
work." Karel admitted to Eike.

Now Madden Sexton had walked the lower balcony earlier, assuring his own
archers that they had nothing to fear from enemy crossbowmen. The air
wizard Sir Karel would raise a shield of hardened air over them or rather
just above and slanting back to the rear of the enemy spearmen. That way,
their own archers could shoot under the shield while the arrows launched by
the orc archers would bounce off the top.

That was why the women and kids should not target the enemy archers, only
the close-packed infantry below. Their heavy wooden shields could not
protect them simultaneously from spears and swords stabbing at their front
and quarrels shot from above.

Sexton admitted that the defenders were outnumbered overall, but not by the
orcs at the line of contact. There was room for only so many fighters in
the limited spaces at the window and door openings.

Which was why the attempt by the orcs to rush the main entrance
failed. Their archers started to fire as soon as they came in range but the
dust and gravel thrown about by Karel's dust devils and whirlwinds made it
impossible to aim straight. The winds fell away as the archers moved up
behind their own infantry. Karel set an impenetrable shield of hardened air
just above the massed orc infantry, blocking the flight of their
arrows. The orc archers were thus completely neutralized. Not so the
defending archers, women and teens, on the lower balcony who rained death
on the bunched up infantry below while their menfolk fought them with
spears at ground level.

Young Steen came into his own then, helping the defenders by yanking orc
eyeballs out of their sockets, making the attackers easy to kill. Father
and son came through the battle unscathed, their clothes splashed with
blood but none of it their own, much to the relief of not only the mother
but also Drew who had endorsed the boy's desire to fight beside his father.

Goodman Bullock snapped electrum sparks at the orcs with similar
results. Bullock's friend Edmond, the textile magnate, gave orcs heart
attacks with his weak lightning bolts or made their arms go numb at just
the worst moment for them while engaged in close combat. Axel and the
others with his gift scrambled orc brains by Calling Light and englobing
their heads.

With his mastery of magnetism, an orc disarmed a pair of defenders by
yanking their blades out of their hands. Raising their shields to fend off
his mace, they fell back. Axel stepped into the breach, his ensorcelled
amulet nullifying the orc's control of magnetism, allowing Axel to thrust
his blade into the orc's belly and slash downward, spilling his guts. The
orc died with a puzzled look on his face, not understanding why his magic
had suddenly failed him.

Axel continued fighting with his kukri stabbing, and slashing, and
thrusting, relying on his speed and reflexes to keep him safe though he did
take a nasty cut on his left shoulder, a salutary reminder that his amulet
shielded him from direct attack by magic but offered no protection at all
against conventional weapons.

Having come into range the single orc who could throw lightning bolts
targeted the weapons of the defenders knowing that steel was an excellent
conductor of electricity. The orc felt safe from crossbow quarrels and
arrows behind a heavy wooden shield, but Sexton had prepared a few special
arrows for just such an eventuality coating the points of the arrows with a
bit of Aodh's poison. His arrow penetrated the orc's shield deep to scratch
his arm, a negligible wound in other circumstances, but the poison was
deadly. The stricken orc rolled on the ground howling, begging for a quick
death from his comrades.

Orc firecasters directed streams of flames at the wooden walls of the
resort, but Old Baldur, as Drew would dub him in his reporting, diverted
them into the ground or even better into the mass of orc infantry. At one
point he drained the heat out of a pair of giant fireballs passing over the
infantry and aimed at window openings. Had the fireballs made it inside,
they would have set off a conflagration. Instead Old Badlur snuffed them
out and directed the heat energy into the bodies of a clutch of orc
fighters, flash boiling their bodily fluids and making then explode
messily. At the limit of his strength he was escorted away to a couch to
rest and recoup for later.

Sensing the morale of the attackers was failing, Liam cut loose with a
stream of white fire. Giving it everything he had, he swept it from right
to left cutting two hundred orcs in half, leaving their grisly corpses
smoking evilly.

That did it. The orcs panicked and ran from the field and into the woods
though late arriving reinforcements brought their flight to a halt before
they had gone very far. Their officers rallied the orcs for a second
try. This time the focus would be the blind spot in the rear, but the orcs
would also launch a simultaneous attack on the front.

"Are my eyes playing tricks on me," Drew asked a while later, "or are there
now more orcs than before we killed more than three hundred of them."

"Reinforcements." Sexton said shaking his head. "Bad news. It looks like
the orcs are not going to settle down for a siege, as I had counted on them
doing once we broke their attempt to storm our position. And here we have
shot off most of our quarrels."

He gave orders for nimble boys to run outside and retrieve quarrels stuck
in the walls or even in the bodies of the fallen, which refilled their
quivers twice over.

Meanwhile their single magical healer concentrated her powers on the less
seriously wounded who might return to the fighting line rather than expend
her strength on the most seriously wounded, which was one of the cruel
choices war forced on good people. Two patients died before the magical
healer could tend to them.

A chirurgeon and an herbalist plus Axel did what they could for the rest
with their skills in natural medicine. Though Axel was an experienced
combat medic he had left his medic's pack at home so he had to improvise
with bandages torn from pillowcases, splints from dowels, and poultices
made from herbs. The butcher's bill was heavy for so small a force as the
defenders had mustered: eight dead and twice that many wounded though most
of them including Axel and Goodman Bullock were able to return to the
fight.

				Chapter 6. Finale

"This time, with their larger numbers, the orcs will hit us from all sides
at once: in front, in the blind spot, and maybe even work a column around
the pond and past that cliff, though the gardens the mazes partly block
that approach. Three attacks at once. I am not sure we can hold out till
the army gets here. Liam what can you tell us on that score?"

"Good news. The army did not send cavalry but mounted infantry."

"How is that good news? Horses are still horses whether for mere transport
or for shock effect in a charge. You can push them only so hard before they
founder. So they won't reach us till tomorrow morning or midnight if they
push on after dark."

"Ah, but these soldiers are mounted on bicycles. Unlike horses their mounts
do not have to stop and graze or move at a trot [the gait horses used to
cover long distances]. With the infantry is a contingent from the army air
corps riding tandem bikes and pulling trailers bearing their yokes and
ammunition. They should reach us just about the time the enemy launches
their second attempt to storm our defenses."

"So they can fall on the enemy from behind. Excellent! You see Eike, your
wire wheels have made this possible, something I am sure Drew Altair will
not fail to mention in his coverage of our battle."

"Good for you, Eike," the others avowed. Sexton continued with:

"I don't mind admitting now that I wasn't sure we could hold out long
enough. Now I am hopeful that we can. For the next couple of hours we must
exert our magical powers to the utmost. Jemsen, get ready to bring that
shale cliff down on their third column. Liam, what can you do for us
besides whirling steel balls and white fire?"

"As you know I won't be able to throw white fire again till tomorrow, but I
am also a powerful weather wizard. Their attack will come late in the
afternoon, the perfect time for me to whistle up a monster of a
thunderstorm, which will be most effective in the open area to our front."

"Good. Karel, this time protect those with crossbows on our blind side with
your shield of hardened air. We'll have reposition some of our archers from
the front. Drew I want you stationed at ground level, to back up Corwin and
his reaction force. Those with lesser gifts like sparks and globes of light
are doing a fine job right where they are."

"Oh, and what about you, Baldur. You were looking pretty wrung out
earlier."

"I'm still tired but recovered enough to torch the outbuildings in our
blind spot. Just tell me when."

"Good man! Gentlemen, to your posts."

Liam stopped the attack at the front of the resort with his monster
thunderstorm. He pummeled the orcs with hail the size of hen's
eggs. Torrential rains wet and loosened their bow strings, while volleys of
lightning bolts flashed from the sky to strike the orcs dead, all of which
was accompanied by the crash of thunder suggestive of the wrath of the gods
to their superstitious minds.

Liam couldn't help thinking they could really have used Finn Ragnarson's
help. In his capacity as an avatar of Thor, thunder god of the Norse, Finn
was the personification of shock and awe.

For a finale Liam had a whirling funnel drop from the dark clouds to form a
tornado forty paces wide at the base which churned through the orc
formation, drawing scores of warriors into the sky only to spit them out to
fall back to the ground.

Afterwards Liam slumped back, drained by his repeated efforts.

Taking up the slack, Jemsen invoked his earth magic, tapping the water
table to turn the final open stretch into a quagmire. It wasn't impassable
but none of the orcs cared to fight with feet planted in slippery and
clinging mud where any kind of footwork was impossible. So the attack on
the front faltered and the remaining orcs withdrew in confusion about what
to do next.

Jemen destroyed the column that was threading the narrow stretch of solid
ground on the far side of the now drained pond and the base of the shale
cliff. His earthquake shook the shale loose and sent the entire slope
crashing down onto the hapless orc warriors, killing over two hundred. So
much for the second attack.

In the blind spot, Old Baldur torched the outbuildings the orcs were trying
to use for cover and threw a couple of clinging balls of fire into the mass
of attackers for good measure. Since the outbuildings had been rigged with
incendiaries, they burned merrily. Though the fires caught relatively few
of the enemy, the flames drove them into the open and backlit them for the
defending archers who included Sexton and his four rangers with their long
bows. Karel helped by sending whirlwinds to fling burning embers at the
enemy force.

Three of the rangers fired their long bows from behind room doors propped
against the railing. Garret and Lorn sheltered behind a a large shield Eike
had knocked together from floor planks, a shield wide enough to protect all
three of them. Thanks to his doubled strength he could shift the shield to
wherever Garret and Lorn needed it.

By this time the enemy had drawn so close that Karel's air shield could not
provide total coverage. An unlucky shot slipped under the bottom of Eike's
shield and struck his left calf. Lorn pulled the shaft all the way through
his flesh and Garret summoned Axel to patch him up.

Pressing their attack the enemy column did reach the walls and forced their
way into a rear corridor and adjoining rooms only to be met by Corwin and
his reaction force, ten staff members who had the advantage of knowing the
complex layout of the rambling structure. They ducked into servant runs and
through concealed doors to adjoining rooms only to pop up on the flanks of
the enemy column. The orcs never knew where they would come from.

But it was Corwin's ball lightning and Drew's deadly steel spheres that
broke the resolve of the orcs to press their attack. How could an orc armed
with a sword cope with a ball of lighting three feet wide, which hummed and
crackled menacingly till it zipped forward to deliver a fatal jolt to a
warrior and burn him to a crisp at the same time?

Nor could the orcs deal with steel spheres the size of peaches which
whirled about and crashed through shields and armor and bodies and
especially heads.  Drew also happily yanked eyeballs left and right a
crazed grin on his face, a psychological trick he had learned from Sexton
to disconcert opponents. Some orcs hurled throwing knives at the diminutive
redhead which were returned to sender thanks to the young fetcher's Missile
Shield, a tactic that really dismayed orc fighters.

The fight at the rear of the resort went back and forth till when Madden
Sexton brought reinforcements, ten fighters taken from the quiet sector out
front, to back up Drew and the reaction force under Corwin. that made more
than forty fighters battling the orcs out back counting Sexton's ten and
Corwin's ten man reaction force plus those originally stationed there. That
was very few compared to several hundred attackers but the enemy could get
only so many of their fighters through the rear doorway and window openings
they had forced.

Fighting in his human form Sexton flung half a dozen throwing stars then
waded into the fight armed with an ironwood buckler with a steel boss in
the middle and quite an unusual weapon, a morning star. A variant of a
flail only with a spiked steel ball attached by a chain to a wooden handle
the morning star could inflict blunt-force trauma as well as nasty puncture
wounds and lacerations.

Sexton's attack fell upon the intruders like a whirlwind of death. Swung by
a man with the strength of a Frost Giant, the morning star could take an
orc's head off or splash his brains all over his comrades, a tactic Sexton
relished for its demoralizing effect. Equally demoralizing was when a flip
of his wrist wrapped the chain of his weapon around the haft of an orc
mace, letting Sexton yank it right out of the hapless fighter's grip.

After a while there came an unintended pause in the furious struggle, the
result of the tempo of fighting falling off everywhere from sheer
fatigue. Hand to hand combat is exhausting. Standing only a few paces apart
the two sides confronted each other, the orcs suddenly uncertain, the
defenders filled with hope at the news Liam shouted that the army was
almost there.

With the other fighters flanking them, Corwin positioned his globes up
front as shields, Drew twirled his steel spheres in mid air, while Sexton
planted himself in the middle looking like a demigod of death, his muscular
form covered in blood and brains and gore casually swinging his morning
star. Glaring at the orcs he asked:

"Well? Are you going to wait around for the Army to get here or take off?"

The demoralized orcs answered with actions rather than words as they pushed
and shoved to get back out through the window openings and door they had
entered by. That put them in the open, perfect targets for aerial
attack. With Karel's thunderstorm dispersed the skies were clear for a
flight of six air corps flyers to drop fire globes on the orcs facing the
blind spot. The fliers veered off only to return moments later with another
load of bombs and another after that.

Meanwhile five hundred Commonwealth dismounted infantry, refreshed from a
brief rest after their long ride, fell upon the bedraggled orc warriors
milling around out front. With fresh troops pitted against exhausted
fighters, the result was a slaughter.

The Army eventually rounded up about two hundred prisoners, all that was
left of an orc force that must have originally totaled more than a
thousand. They were put to work dragging the bodies on the far side of the
property and dropping them in mass graves which Jemsen opened with earth
magic. Once the holes were filled, the earth surged once again to cover
them with ten feet of soil.

The Army officer in command of the rescue force met Sexton and the others
leaders in a conference room.

"So tell us Colonel Danzig what stirred the orcs up that they would attack
peaceable neighbors they had done business with for years?" Bullock wanted
to know.

Colonel Danzig shrugged. "From early interrogations I can only tell you
that the orcs thought this was the right moment to assert their historic
rights to the lands unjustly taken from them during the Formation Wars by
mass armies of humans, giants, elves, and dwarves, the main races in
today's Commonwealth."

"Well, I suppose I can understand their grievance, but why attack us
now?. Why couldn't they see how pointless it was to try to change the
verdict of history at this late date." Bullock said.

"They don't read our news--papers, but had heard from traders about how the
Commonwealth is overstretched, with a field army stationed in the Far West
and two more mustering for the invasion of Amazonia plus sizable garrisons
in New Varangia and the Western Plains, deployments which have diminished
the field armies left in the Commonwealth proper. Also they know that even
at full strength our field armies these days are much smaller than those
which overwhelmed them during the Formation Wars. They were sure that this
time their terrain advantage would defeat our much smaller armies."

The guest who was an Army major snorted.

"Our armies today may be fewer in number but are actually more powerful
than any we mustered in the old days. We have better weapons now like fire
globes which turn slingers into junior firecasters, swords and sabers made
from superior steel, and repeating crossbows. We also have officers trained
at military academies and mid-career professional schools and a solid corps
of long-serving non-commissioned officers. Our cavalry hits much harder
today thanks to stirrups and better saddles. We have strategic mobility
with space portals and tactical mobility with these new bicycles."

"And then there is magic. We now have more than just an occasional war
wizard for magical support. We have a dedicated corps of firecasters and
lightning throwers, and fetchers and masters of magnetism, and weather
wizards. The orcs' own mages were few and weak and no match for even a
chance collection of wizards on vacation much less those assigned one of
our field armies. And then there is our air corps which let the relief
force send aerial scouts before their attack while the orcs had no aerial
reconnaissance aloft to spot the approach of the army column."

"Instead of their expected victory they found defeat at the hands of a mix
of vacationers, resort staff, forest rangers, and wizards who happened to
be here on vacation who held out for hours against a thousand of their
warriors. Nor do these orcs have any concept of the power of a state that
covers the middle of the continent of Valentia, dominates the the Great
Inland Freshwater Sea, and numbers one hundred-twenty millions against
perhaps a hundred thousand orcs in the Eastern Mountains."

"The orcs will learn to their regret that Commonwealth does not start
trouble, but always ends it on our terms. This time, unlike during the
Formation Wars, we will totally expunge this colony of orcs. An infestation
is a better name for it."

"You contemplate genocide?" Axel asked.

"I hope not. I'd prefer that the orcs go into exile among their kinfolk who
live in the lands of the eastern barbarians far from our borders, not for
mercy's sake but to spare the lives of our own soldiers who would fall in a
fight to the finish."

"What shall we do about the monsters still on the loose?" Bullock asked,
explaining to the colonel about the Slashers and Trackers.

"Don't worry about them. I'll kill the monsters myself." Sexton
offered. "Without their handlers they are scattered, disorganized, and
confused. I can confront them one or a few at a time using myself as bait."

"How can that work?" Colonel Danzig asked.

"Simple, I am a shapeshifter -- a wir wolverine easily as strong as a Frost
Giant. I once killed a white bear of the polar isles and that was before
the Great Forest enhanced my physical powers. Besides, for this job I will
coat my claws with a deadly poison. One scratch on a Slasher's snout will
take a his mind off attack. He will be able to think only of pain in the
short time he has left before I blind him and tear out his throat."

That evening and for the next three nights after that, Sexton morphed into
his wolverine form. Axel brushed his claws with the fluid extracted from
the poison glands in the paws of Aodh his fellow wir and forest ranger,
careful to keep any of it from touching his skin. As a wir himself Sexton
was immune.

Despite the fact that both moons were down and there were only stars in the
sky for illumination, Sexton's four nightly hunts were successful thanks in
part to his superior night vision. He couldn't just see in dim light like a
cat, he could see into the infrared and detect the body heat of foes even
when concealed by a screen of shrubbery.

Most of his fights were one on one, but twice Sexton battled small packs of
trackers and once a pair of slashers. All told he killed eight Slashers and
a dozen Trackers. His transformative magic healed the hurts he took in his
fights. After two fruitless hunts, Sexton concluded that the threat had
passed though perhaps a monster or two lurked in the woods.

Eventually Madden Sexton and his four rangers, Dylan the elf, Brandon the
half-elf, and his two fully human cousins, the brothers Garret and Lorn,
returned to the New Forest, keeping an eye peeled for orcs. This war was
just getting started.

For their own safety the vacationers and staff were evacuated to the town
of Bled. From there they could find passage home. Before they left Drew
cautioned the youth Steen not to try flying till his powers were full
developed and only then under the guidance of a experienced flyer. Steen's
dad said he would make sure of it.

For the time being, the army would use the resort as an army base as they
maneuvered to counter the orcs. Bullock was unhappy with shutting his
business during the emergency but he consoled himself with the thought that
the Army would lease his premises rather than just requisition the
property. That wouldn't entirely cover the damage or the loss of business,
but at least Bullock did not have to give refunds to his customers, citing
the long standing legal rule about unforeseeable and uncontrollable
circumstances.

As for the eight vacationers, it was time for them to return to the
capital. Drew had articles to write and sketches to finish for the Capital
Intelligencer. Later he would start on that book about the mighty deeds
Madden Sexton had always hinted at. If this battle was a fair example of
his deeds Drew suspected the man had some great stories to tell. As for the
rest of them, Nathan and Liam were about due to travel to Alster. Axel
would resume his duties as Sir Willet's aide. And so forth.

"Next time Drew complains about the heat in the capital," Karel began,
"let's just lock him in an ice-house till he comes to his senses. We shall
entertain no more of his notions of trips to the cool air in the
mountains."

"Amen" Jemsen affirmed.

"It so happens that I will soon join the expedition to Amazonia." the
auburn-haired journalist retorted. "I understand the climate there is
cooler since the Amazon basin is farther from the Equator. Anyway I expect
you all will join me there sooner or later, except our journeyman naval
architect whose duties and career will keep him in the capital.

"Gosh, after this adventure, that's going to make me feel totally left
out." Eike said. "I envy you your powerful gifts which make you an asset in
a fight.

"Don't fret." Nathan assured him. "Your own gift will manifest in time and
likely fairly soon. Remember you are much the youngest of us except for
Corwin. Either way, gift or not, together or apart, you will always be a
member of this circle of friends."

Eike nodded and smiled, warmed by the presence and support of his friends
and lovers.

			Author's Note

This story is entirely fictional, with no resemblance intended to any
person living or dead.

If you have enjoyed this story and others like it, consider making a
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This story is one of an occasional series about the further adventures of
the characters introduced in the fantasy novel 'Elf-Boy and Friends' and
published by Nifty Archive. The chief protagonist of the novel, Dahlderon,
elf-boy and druid, will appear in these stories in a supporting rather than
starring role. Each story in the sequence stands on its own, with the focus
on one or a few of the original characters.

Readers who like these stories might want to try my two series 'Daphne Boy'
and 'Naked Prey' in the Gay/Historical section of the Archive. My 'Jungle
Boy' series of Hollywood tales is posted in the Gay/Authoritarian
section. The recent series 'Andrew Jackson High' relates the trials and
tribulations of five of its gay students. For links to these and other
stories, look on the list of Prolific Authors on the Archive.