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This story continues from Part VI: A moment's peace.
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Rienne and Till rejoined the others. They hadn’t waited, but they were still eating, and there was plenty to go round. Kane was keeping up a steady level of light chatter. Fingeleth seemed a little quieter than normal, but Tanner was looking visibly better. The strain had left his face, and he was tucking in with gusto. Whether he was more relieved to be back or to be fed it was hard to say. He only started to slow down after his fourth sausage, which no one begrudged him. Till hadn’t been aware she was hungry, but as soon as she sat down to eat, she swiftly discovered she was ravenous too.
For a little while, falling on their belated breakfast feast, Till wasn’t much of a conversationalist, nor was she paying much attention to what was being said. But when Kane, who had finished and was growing bored, finally asked Tanner what had actually happened, she zoned back in at once.
Tanner glanced at her before replying - as if asking for permission. Her intent dark gaze was answer enough.
And so he told them.
What had been supposed to be a standard patrol - along the Icebay Road in the valley, north from Ost Forod, as far as the old archway of Cirith Rhiw that marked the northern bound of those lands - had been forced into a long detour. Tanner and Reese had come unexpectedly upon the remains of numerous slain goblins, apparently killed with weapons and then left strewn in the woods for scavengers to find. They followed the trail of destruction all the way to Tum Fuin, a high grove at the northern end of Tyrn Fornech which for many months had been home to a goblin camp - only to find it now occupied by Gauredain.
Where they had come from Tanner could only speculate. They may have crossed the Even-rills from the western shore of Evendim; or they may even have come down from Taur Orthon, or other lands closer to the Icebay beyond Cirith Rhiw. Either way, Tanner and Reese had realised at once that they needed to report back as fast as they could - which meant getting away fast: for the Wolfmen did also keep wolves for companions, who had every chance of catching their scent at any moment.
And that indeed is what eventually happened. Tanner and Reese had gone less than a league before a great howl went up and they realised the Wolfmen were on their trail. They were forced into a further detour, trying to lose the Wolfmen pursuers in the hills (lands which, fortunately, they knew much better than their enemies). Although rapidly running out of food, water and stamina over the course of the next day, by nightfall they had thought they had succeeded. They pressed on through the night - and it was only around the foredawn that they realised that the enemy was still in pursuit. Exhausted, and close to home, they finally broke cover to race for the threshold of Ost Forod just as the sun was rising.
“And the rest you know,” Tanner finished quietly.
No one spoke for a while. Kane was looking at Till, whose brow was furrowed in thought.
“The goblin carcasses,” she asked, eventually. “You found the first near the road?”
Tanner nodded.
“Quite close to Cirith Rhiw, the Wintercleft?”
He nodded again.
“How many did you find in total? Were there no living goblins anywhere?”
Tanner reflected.
“It is difficult to say exactly. The carcasses were not fresh - we mostly found bloodstains, bones with most of the flesh picked off, shredded garments and abandoned weaponry. But from the road to Tum Fuin, we found five or six separate spots where goblins seemed to have come to their deaths. Then, at the Tum Fuin camp…” He paused, shuddering.
“I can hardly describe it to you. There were bodies everywhere - and the reek of them… it was enough to make you sick. The Wolfmen’s wicked pets tearing at the carcasses as they liked. Carrion birds everywhere. The overpowering stink of rotting flesh is probably the only reason they didn’t scent Reese and me straightaway. It was… I don’t think I will ever forget it. It was like the foulest The foulest butchery you have ever seen.”
He paused again. “... but yes. The goblins must have been wiped out. There were just so many bodies. Maybe some tried to escape, but… I don’t see where they could have gone, and we saw no signs. No, if I had to guess, I would say the Wolfmen surrounded the camp at unawares and left no survivors.”
Tanner licked his lips. “Till… I think we are in serious trouble. The massacre of the goblins must have been six, maybe seven days ago now. And the Wolfmen are many. What happens when they run out of carcasses on which to feed their pets? Or come to avenge their fallen brother? One at least of them now knows exactly where we are… we have to warn the town.”
Till watched him coolly.
“You scouted the camp.”
“Yes.”
“You said they were many. How many?”
“Reese and I counted two-dozen - but they are all huge, at least twice the size of a normal man, like you saw - and we think there are probably twice that many. We don’t know how many. We could not see the whole camp, and we do not know how many were away from it, or if more may join them. If they no longer respect the boundary of the Even-rills, we could have every Wolfman from here to the Blue Mountains pouring into the Northspine-”
“You’re certain they came from the Even-rills then?” cut in Till. It was more to cut Tanner off before his panic infected the others than anything else.
“I… think it must be the most likely. The only thing keeping them out was always their own strange ancient wards, right?”
Till didn’t reply. She had no idea. The silence lengthened for a moment. Tanner was watching her, and seemed about to speak again, but Fingeleth spoke up unexpectedly.
“These Wolfmen… can they talk?”
Till looked at her in surprise. Then at Tanner.
Tanner scratched his neck. “I… don’t know. I think they… communicate with each other. Like beasts. But we didn’t hear them actually talk…”
It was at that exact moment that the front door burst open with a bang, revealing a small girl, maybe ten years of age, out of breath from running.
“Till! … come quick… Magde said… you had better see this.”
Kane was aware of Till’s spoon clattering on the table and then she was already at the door. Realising he was about to be left behind, Kane hastily followed her - turning back at the door to Tanner and Fingeleth. For once, they both seemed to be looking at him. He hesitated for a moment longer.
“Just - rest up, alright?”
Feeling embarrassed, he pushed it from his mind and ran after Till.
♦
Unable to climb the watchtower in her current state, Magde maintained her vigil from the old arena, below the fortress. But as Till and the girl raced towards her, they found her coming back up the hill the other way, breathless on her crutches. Worry gnawed at Till’s belly. With Basil out of town, Reese out of action and her own arm in a sling, Ost Forod’s potential defenders were looking pretty thin on the ground.
“Magde! What is it, what did you see?”
Magde shook her head, continuing to climb the hill.
“More… more are coming. Till… five of them.”
Till didn’t really have to ask. She did it anyway.
“W… wolfmen?”
Magde nodded. The three of them had reached the top of the hill; they were back in the town. Till gazed away down the sleep slope Magde had just climbed. The road ran northeast out of Ost Forod, through a narrow cleft. It could be blocked straightforwardly enough; but there was no actual gate that could simply be closed. If the Wolfmen arrived right now, they would find the way into the fortress held by two injured miltiawomen and a small, frightened girl.
Small stones skittered as Kane caught up. Till had rarely been more glad to see him; and not far behind him was Fingeleth. She wore a serious expression, and unlike Kane had the good sense to have brought her sword - but all Till saw how small and fragile she looked.
She knelt, and spoke to the little girl - the runner who had been keeping Magde company at her watchpost.
“Jen. You did the right thing. I need you to go back and fetch Tanner and my mother. Have them bring weapons. Just in case.”
Jen sped off. Till turned to Magde.
“Can you stand?”
Magde’s face fell with shame. “I’ll do my best.”
Till shook her head. “No. Rally the folk. Gather them here. Bows, spears, pitchforks - whatever they have. Sound the alarm. There are more of us than there are of them, but we need numbers… do it now.”
Till never raised her voice but she brooked no argument. Magde nodded once and was gone, lurching after Jen in the direction of the town centre. Till turned to Fingeleth.
“Do not draw your weapon unless it is clear that it is going to come to blows. But if it does… do not hesitate to go for the kill.”
Fingeleth looked very pale, but she nodded, resting her hand on its hilt. “Understood.”
Kane looked at Till. “Where do you want me.”
Till managed a smile - and gently punched his chest.
“Right beside me. But only because you’re the biggest.”
Kane feigned offence. He looked pleased - but Till’s gaze was already away in the distance again, struggling to penetrate the misty valley bottom…
They heard them before they saw them. A howl, like nothing most of them had ever heard before. Bestial, chilling - and full of danger. Wolflike - and yet not wolflike. Another voice joined it. And then another.
“... five,” Fingeleth murmured, listening closely.
As the howl was still ongoing, above them and to their left in the old fortress, a brash, rustic horn rang out: Magde, raising the alarm. It sounded to Fingeleth like an answering challenge.
Tanner and Rienne joined them - Rienne, with the strange glittering blade Fingeleth had noticed earlier; Tanner, doing his level best to show no sign of his exhaustion. Weapons were passed around. True, two of them were not trained fighters; two more were injured; and none of them were fresh - but there were five of them. They had evened the odds.
Then the Gauredain emerged from the mist.
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The story continues in Part VIII: Plans and Fears.
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