David Wells - Linkershim

“There,” Alexander said to the sailor manning the rudder, “head for that draw. It looks like our best chance to get off the beach.”

Several minutes later, they ran aground, the rowers jumping into the water and pulling the boat out of the frothy surf. Many of the other longboats had already reached the shore. Kalderson’s crewmen were converging on Alexander’s position.

“How long before the pirates reach land?” Alexander asked.

“Ten, maybe fifteen minutes,” Jack said, shielding his eyes as he looked out over the water.

Kalderson came bustling up, breathing heavily. “I have seventeen men left from a crew of twenty-nine. Most are sailors but a few can fight if need be.”

“I’m hoping to avoid that,” Alexander said, trying not to think about the lives that had been lost protecting him.

Alexander ducked behind a large rock to avoid an arrow just as the last of Kalderson’s crew scrambled up the little seasonal waterfall and moved away from the top of the bluff. A dozen or more pirates had reached the base of the draw and the few armed with bows were wasting arrows trying for a lucky shot.

Alexander crouched behind the boulder, watching the pirates with his all around sight. When they began to move up the draw, he smiled to himself, remembering one of his father’s lessons: Position matters-where you’re standing in a fight can make all the difference.

“Shouldn’t we be going?” Kalderson asked.

“Soon,” Alexander said. “I need your five strongest men. Send the rest to wait just inside the tree line.”

Alexander closed his eyes, watching the enemy advance with his all around sight. When the last of the pirates was well into the narrow confines of the draw, he said, “It’s time.”

The five big sailors put their shoulders against a boulder perched on top of the bluff and pushed, straining with all their might against the prodigious weight of the stone. Slowly at first, it began to come free of the earth gripping its base, then all in a rush, it gave way and toppled over into the draw, crushing the pirates on its chaotic journey to the beach below.

“That was effective,” Jack said, craning his neck to see if any of the pirates had survived.

“It bought us some time,” Alexander said.

They quickly moved away from the top of the bluff. The scraggly and windblown trees gave way to a lush evergreen forest that blanketed the foothills of the small mountain range running along the coastline. The forest floor was mossy and cluttered with countless ferns fighting for the little bit of light that filtered through the ancient trees.

The well-shaded forest floor was wet with morning dew. Within minutes, everyone was damp and cold, pressing forward out of necessity and a desire to stay warm. They moved inland along the narrow stream that had cut the draw they were leaving behind.

While they walked, Alexander weighed his limited options and found them to be a list of bad choices and worse choices. He was trapped in enemy territory, being pursued by a superior force and he could see only two ways out: steal a ship or make for the Gate. Neither option seemed like it had a very good chance of success. He decided to wait until he could gather more information before he chose a course of action. Perhaps Talia’s people would arrive in time to offer assistance.

“Why are we running away?” Anja asked.

“What choice do we have?”

“We should fight!”

“To what end?” Alexander asked. If Anja was going to stay with him, he decided to educate her as best he could. She was childish and headstrong, but smart and passionate. Mostly, she was possessed of an innocence that he dearly wished he didn’t have to take from her.

“If we kill them, then they can’t chase us anymore,” she said.

“Others would come. If you’re going to stay with me then you have to understand this one truth: As long as I’m the Sovereign of the Seven Isles, there will always be people who want to kill me. And, as long as you’re at my side, those people will try to kill you too.”

“But I never did anything to them,” Anja said.

“Doesn’t matter. They’ll try to kill you for the same reason they tried to kill you before you were even born … to get to me. That’s why I keep telling you to go home. You’re not safe with me.”

She frowned, looking down as she walked, falling silent for several minutes before responding.

“I would rather be happy and in danger than miserable and safe. I’m staying with you.”

“I know,” Alexander whispered.

Sometime after midday, Alexander noticed several men watching them through the trees. At first, he was alarmed, but a closer look revealed that they weren’t pirates or soldiers but hunters, and from their colors, they were just as concerned about Alexander’s presence as he was about theirs.

“We’re being watched,” he whispered to Jack.

“Pirates?”

“No. I don’t think they’re a threat, but I could very easily be wrong. They’re shadowing us a couple hundred feet off to the right. Just keep your eyes open and be ready.”

“So just your average afternoon then?”

“Something like that,” Alexander said with a chuckle. “We should probably stop for a few minutes so I can take a look around.”

The sailors were happy for the break, most being used to hard work but not accustomed to walking for any length of time. All were struck silent when Alexander opened the door to his Wizard’s Den. He positioned it carefully behind a large tree to ensure that the four men following them wouldn’t see it. Jack handed out some food to the sailors while Alexander sat down in his magic circle and cleared his mind.

He floated through the trees to the place where the men were hiding and he listened to their conversation.

“Who do you think they are?” one said.

Two shook their heads.

The fourth said, “They don’t look like Andalians.”

“They could be mercenaries.”

“They’re not armed well enough, and mercenaries would have come from the other direction.”

“So what do we do?”

“We watch and wait. Their actions will reveal the truth of them.”

Alexander was considering introducing himself when a shout of alarm shattered the tranquility of the forest. With a thought, he was back in his body. He stepped from his Wizard’s Den, Thinblade in hand, and found two sailors dead, arrows buried in their chests. Another sailor cried out when an arrow drove through his leg.

The enemy had caught up with them. Several pirates were hiding behind a fallen log some sixty feet away while two of their number attacked with bows and arrows. Alexander was grateful that only two of them were armed with bows; had they all been, the first volley would have killed most of his men.

Alexander charged, racing as quickly as the stiffness in his leg would carry him. One of the archers smiled, releasing an arrow. Alexander took it in the chest, the shaft shattering when it hit his dragon-scale armor. The pirate stopped smiling. His companions raised their weapons to meet Alexander’s attack just before he reached the log, leaping atop it, then crashing into their midst, felling the first with a stroke through the skull before he even hit the ground. Alexander’s momentum carried him into another man, stumbling when his injured leg failed under the demands he was placing upon it, but not before he swept the Thinblade through another enemy’s legs at the thigh.

He fell sprawling face first onto the mossy forest floor, rolling to his back quickly and sitting up, taking another man at the knees with a wild defensive stroke. The man’s scream was suddenly drowned out by a guttural, animalistic roar that stunned everyone as Anja leapt over the log, landing on a pirate and crashing to the ground on top of him. The remaining men watched in shock and bewilderment as a girl of a mere hundred pounds repeatedly bashed the man’s head into the ground until blood and brains flowed freely.