Delver Magic III: Balance of Fate, Jeff Inlo [most popular ebook readers .txt] 📗

soldiers on horseback. These soldiers are not moving out. Why not?”

“They are afraid,” Chal said.

“No, they are moving with great certainty and purpose, not panic, but they are staying much too cautious. Could they know I already have them surrounded? No, that doesn’t make sense, either. Everything I feel indicates they are simply waiting, not truly preparing for a battle. It’s almost as if we don’t exist to them, as if the small raids never took place.”

“Maybe they don’t care about these farmers,” Chal offered, and at that, Sazar turned a head toward the goblin.

“They do not care? Hmmmmmm. Humans tend to be an excitable lot. When they feel they are threatened they either run or attack. A few of the more intelligent ones show a bit more caution, but in the end they also would meet a raid with some type of action. But what if they didn’t care? They might indeed ignore the claims of a few farmers and simply do enough to appear as if they are prepared to meet any additional threats. Very good, Chal. Let us give them additional threats.”

Sazar began sending new orders by mental command, first to his raiding commander and then to the individual pack leaders. He began narrating his new plans as he continued linking with the minds of the goblins in the fields. He spoke out loud to Chal as he completed most of his commands.

“Since there is no patrol to respond to the first raid, it is a waste of time to try and confuse them with another smaller raid in the same area. I’m calling for an immediate attack by all goblin raiding parties in the fields to the east of Connel. I am also directing them to force the humans to flee to the city by whatever means necessary. Let us see if the humans remain so cautious when many of the farmers to the east reach their guard posts with warnings of a larger raid. I think then they will care, they will care a great deal.

#

Even in the dark and over great distances, Lief could see the turmoil in the farmlands. The first raid to the south of Connel was smaller in scope. When he watched the goblins allow the farmers to flee toward the city, he realized he had a chance to enter Connel. He would be seen, but probably not noticed if he appeared as a fleeing farmer as opposed to an elf.

Pulling his cloak out about him to cover the bow and quiver of arrows on his back, Lief looked over his own appearance to see what he might do to be more convincing. Making small tears in the lower portions of his shirt and pants, his clothes fit more loosely making him appear wider, especially in the dark. Satisfied, he dropped out of the sparse area of trees, and upon the ground. He began to trot toward Connel, not with the speed and grace of an elf, but with the hurried and frantic gait of a fearful human. He kept crouched over and a hood pulled down well over his head. He remained on the main road as this was an area the goblins remained watchful over but had dared not encroach.

As he passed over several hills and past many of the southern farms, he peered to the east. Well past the city limits, the outlying farms in this region suddenly came alive with panic. The elf could see small fires being lit across the lands, and he spied the shadows of both goblins and humans running frantically about. Many of the humans took to the roads heading toward Connel and it appeared again as if the goblins were allowing them to make it safely to the city, though Lief could not imagine why.

The raids to the east grew in scope and intensity. The shouts became clearer. The fear grew more apparent in the human screams just as the hate intensified in the goblin shrieks. It appeared as if hundreds of farm families had been rousted from their beds and were now fleeing for the protection of Connel.

Lief quickly came to the area that he knew presented the greatest challenge. From his previous position, he knew that Sazar had surrounded Connel with his multitude of goblins. This ring, however, was not complete. In order to hide his horde, Sazar utilized the surrounding farmlands as cover and kept the monsters off the main roads and low in the fields. This presented several breaks in the goblin lines including one on the road that the elf now traveled.

The goblin position was also fluid and it moved with cunning to avoid previous human patrols. Lief did not know how it that was possible, but the goblins appeared to gain advanced warning to patrols, almost as if somehow they could sense the soldiers’ movement the moment they left the confines of the city. Retreating and parting to allow humans to pass, the goblins showed much more diligence in avoiding the guards than on seizing or attacking them.

As Lief approached the area he knew to contain the greatest concentration of goblins, he realized if he were to be stopped, it would be now. Still, he hoped he could avoid an encounter simply by appearing to be nothing more than a fearful human running toward the safety of Connel.

“If they let the farmers make it to the city, perhaps they will do so with me,” Lief said quietly trying to convince himself he was not running toward his own death.

He moved with a labored unsteadiness as he remained crouched over. He exhaled heavily almost to the point of wheezing, and he even threw in a few groans of despair as he looked over his shoulder appearing to fear what might be behind him. Every fiber of his being told him to move faster, to utilize his swift elf abilities to avoid the danger that he knew was all about him. To do so, however, would surely mean his death, and thus he fought down his own instincts. He rambled onward, even falling to his knees on the hard road. He scrambled up with all the contrived imbalance he could muster as he continued onward toward the lights of Connel.

Throughout his ungraceful run, he expected to hear the sizzling whistle of a crossbow bolt whizzing through the air. He waited for the burning sting of penetration into his back. The pain never arrived and he quickly neared the first outer buildings of Connel.

As much as he did not wish to be seen by the goblins, neither did he wish to confront the humans on guard. Several remained on watch peering out into the darkness. Attempting one last charade, Lief stumbled to the ground rolled over into the ditch and quickly slid on his belly away from the main road and into matted grass.

No longer needing to fool the goblins, he moved with his elf grace. Rolling silently through light underbrush he made his way to toward a dark building just off to his left. He climbed up a post as if climbing an oak tree. Avoiding the notice of the guard, he rolled up on to the roof and surveyed the area around him.

#

Running out of the old town library that now served as the town hall and the office of the Mayor, Helen Flisher reached the outside air just as Captain Tevor began leaping up the stone steps.

“I was just coming for you,” he said with an out-of-breath huff. “More trouble.”

“I hear. What’s going on that we can be sure of?”

“More goblin raids, this time to the east.”

“The east?! They’ve bypassed the city?” Mayor Flisher questioned in surprise.

“Unless they came from somewhere else other than Dark Spruce, it looks like it.”

“I didn’t think goblins liked the open lands.”

“I didn’t either, but we really don’t know too much about them.”

The mayor frowned. “Never mind, we’ll deal with that later. It sounds bad out there, what kind of goblin numbers are we looking at.”

“Too dark to get a good look,” Tevor admitted, “but it’s clear they’re hitting just about every farm that’s within walking distance on our eastern side. In order to do that, they would need at least two hundred maybe more.”

“Casualties?”

“No reports of any as of yet. Every farm family that has made it to the city has said that the goblins didn’t harm them or their family members and they didn’t see any dead on the road into the city.”

“They’re letting them escape?”

“Seems that way. I have the full cavalry waiting at the eastern border of the city for a full charge to repel. Even if there’s four hundred out there, we can send them into retreat and clear the area.”

The mayor considered what she was told and listened to the clamor in the distance. She wanted to give the order, but a great doubt weighed upon her mind. She hesitated and revealed her concerns. “Something about this isn’t right. They hit us to the south and now they hit us to the east with greater numbers. We didn’t respond to their first attack. If they just want food, why not use their numbers to sack everything they could from the southern farms? Why move up to the east? If they are from Dark Spruce, they put the city between them and their escape. If not, why did they break up their forces to hit the south first?”

“Two possibilities that I can think of, the first is that the two attacks are not related. Maybe these are two different goblin packs that have nothing to do with each other, but because of the storm, they both got the same idea. They just attacked from different points.”

“Do you believe that?”

“Not for an instant,” Tevor admitted, “but it is possible.”

“The second possibility?”

“The second is that they know the eastern farms are larger. When we didn’t respond to their first attack, they got brave and went for the bigger prize.”

Mayor Flisher shook her head. “If they know that the eastern farms are larger they should also know that it’s the dormant season and we moved most of the food from those farms into the city.”

“We also kept a good deal out in the farms in case the dwarves attacked again so we wouldn’t lose all our supplies.”

“True, so you think they just want our reserves?” the mayor asked.

“They’re goblins, they don’t farm themselves. Why not?”

“I don’t know. Something still doesn’t feel right about this.”

At that very moment, the first few snow flakes began to drift out of the night sky.

“It’s starting to snow,” the mayor said.

“Aye, what’s your order on the cavalry?”

“Hold them,” Mayor Flisher said quickly, but then she altered her position slightly. “Actually, no. Have them ride out and assist the escaping farmers, but they are not to engage the goblins—just a rescue mission, nothing else. It’s going to be light soon enough and it’s already starting to snow. We have enough food in the city that we can afford to lose those reserves, but I don’t think we will. They don’t have enough time to take everything. Pretty soon it’s going to be light out here and the snow is going to pile up and slow them down. If the goblins are still out there when it gets lighter, we’ll see them and know what we’re really up against. If they’re loading up with supplies and trying to run back to the forest, we can send out your forces then. What do you think?”

“I admit I don’t like running from a fight…”

“Well, we’re not really running. We’re just waiting for the right time.”

Tevor smiled lightly. “Aye, I can wait and I’d like to see