Elf-Boy's Friends 25
Orcs II
by George Gauthier
[The further adventures of characters from the novel 'Elf-Boy and Friends']
Chapter 1. Rangers
Lord Madden Sexton, the leader of the five forest rangers who had helped defend the Sign of the Bow, the mountain resort attacked by orcs and now taken over by the Army, stepped cautiously, wary of running into another war party as their patrol hiked back to their base at Elysion on the eastern side of the mountain range. He and the rangers proceeded slowly and deliberately, stopping periodically on ridge lines to peer through a far-viewer tube to check the route ahead, and took care not to leave a trail by which they might be tracked.
Sexton's rangers had acquitted themselves well during the defense of the resort, loosing shaft after shaft from their long bows at the attacking orcs from their "shooting gallery" on the balcony. Archers typically do not engage in hand to hand combat. They wear no armor and cannot carry a shield. Besides the bow is all offense and offers no defense, no way to parry a mace or a sword.
Sexton himself had wielded a giant bow which was really the arc of a dismounted naval catapult without the mechanism normally used to draw and cock the string. Later Sexton had engaged in hand to hand combat, with a buckler to fend off orc maces and a morning star in his grip, as he joined the reaction force on the ground floor to repel attackers who had pushed their way into the main building via a rear entryway. But then unlike Dylan who was a full elf or his lover the elf-human hybrid Brandon or the latter's fully human cousins, the brothers Garret and Lorn, Sexton was a shapeshifter, a wir wolverine with a magically enhanced physique that made him as strong as a Frost Giant, which was why he could draw that powerful bow in the first place.
Doughty fighters though they were, forest rangers were not soldiers. They were civilian peace officers whose job was to protect the New Forest from interlopers like miners and settlers and charcoal makers not war bands of orcs. Like the vacationers and staff at the resort the rangers had been caught up by events over which they had had no control.
Now that the Army was on the scene, it was up to the military to keep the orcs out of the New Forest which was already magically self-aware but still new and too weak in its powers to defend itself, unlike the ancient Great Southern Forest far across the continent which would have made short work of any invading army.
The rangers hoped that all was well at Elysion which, as the single largest settlement in the mountains, was a likely target for the orcs. Aside from their sizable and well-trained militia, the folk of Elysion could count on the powers of the Klarendes family for protection. Count Taitos Klarendes and his two sons Artor and Eborn were powerful firecasters, as fire wizards were commonly called. All three could hurl streams of flame or great clinging balls of fire farther than a bowshot.
Both the count and his older son Artor could also stream white fire [subatomic plasma] which nothing could withstand not even armor, stone walls, or earthworks. In the battle at the resort the white fire called by the young war wizard Liam had scythed hundreds of attacking orcs in the first all-out assault though that effort had drained him badly. He had needed a day to recharge before again hurling white fire. By contrast the Klarendes, father and sons, were among the very few who could wield white fire again and again.
The only known counter to white fire was a space portal. The druid Lord Dahlderon or Dahl, as the elf-boy was called by his friends, had once defended himself in a duel against white fire with a portal which directed the irresistible plasma stream to the top of the atmosphere where it could do no harm. Only druids and some war wizards could create such portals.
Once over the crest of the mountains and past the hawthorne hedge that marked the boundary of the New Forest, Sexton relaxed a little. As a wir he had a psychic link to the forest which would warn him of the presence of hostiles.
Elysion was a bowl shaped valley eight miles across. When they rangers reached the rim they unlimbered the far-viewer tube and scanned the village and manor. Everything seemed normal except for activity around the usually deserted military barracks on the far side, built years ago as a redoubt against invaders in case the Army of the Plains had to retreat to Elysion. It now housed a battalion of Frost Giants normally stationed at the garrison town of Dalnot but shifted to Elysion as soon as the Army heliograph brought news of the orc uprising. Good. Five hundred Frost Giants would go a long way in deterring attack.
The rangers were spotted working their way down the slope and were recognized as friendlies and welcomed by Count Klarendes and his family, the village council, and the commander of the giants, Major Siggurdsen.
"We all recognize the major's authority." the count explained to Sexton. "He is in overall command as well as in immediate command of his battalion while I retain command of the militia of Elysion."
"Good. I am all for unity of command. So I am placing myself and my rangers under his command as well. We would prefer to fight together as a unit of long bowmen rather than form up with your shield wall."
Sigurdsen nodded. "That is acceptable. Your longbows can outrange the crossbows of the orcs and those of the militia. Anyway archers have no business mixing it up close."
True Sexton had taken charge at the resort of a bunch of civilians when there was no one else with command experience. At Elysion, the leadership of the defense rightly fell to the highest ranking military officer.
"And even though I am a Hand of the Commonwealth" Artor explained, "I am not invoking my authority to take over. I know my limitations. I have seen combat, but I have never commanded any large body of troops."
The Hands were the chief trouble-shooters for the Commonwealth. As plenipotentiary agents of the state, their authority could override that of any civil official or military officer.
The Klarendes sons Artor and Eborn would support the defense with their fire magic fighting alongside a couple of villagers who had useful gifts. A blacksmith could throw lightning bolts strong enough to stop hearts or numb limbs, and a tavern keeper could snap electrum sparks. They would wield their magics at foes closely engaged with other militiamen, giving them the advantage.
Aodh too would direct his so-called killer screech at the orcs. Incapacitating rather than fatal in itself the screech was an intolerable sound something like that of fingernails scraping on a slate only far worse. It was powerful enough to rupture eardrums and induce pain, dizziness, and temporary deafness. The screech was highly directional, strong in a conical zone in front but negligible to the sides or behind. Those it was directed against simply could not put up a fight against their enemies and could be cut down easily.
"Klarendes was just explaining about how his slinger boys fling their incendiaries right over their own shield wall. My giants also have fire globes and slings, but this time we will leave the pyrotechnics to you and yours. My men will meet the enemy with spear and sword and shield."
Klarendes nodded.
"As an enemy approaches our militiamen engage with repeating crossbows. In close action they wield axes rather than swords. We keep forty men back as a reserve. I also have a squadron of mounted retainers armed with lance and sword. All of them once served in the army. Now a dozen cavalry is not much, but working with the reserves they could be useful as a reaction force or in pursuit of a retreating enemy."
"Pursuit, eh? Now there is an optimistic thought. We still have no idea about the numbers of the enemy. I do like the way your village is sited though. Very defensible."
The village was situated atop a knoll around which a waist deep creek split in two and flowed entirely around it only to rejoin as a single channel below. The houses were closely spaced, the windows equipped with stout shutters with loop holes for crossbows.
"It does look rather like a fortress on a hill on an island behind a moat. Of course it is not a fortress at all, but the houses are sturdy enough, all stone or timber construction with tile roofs, hence very hard to set on fire. If we were overwhelmed in open battle we could fort up behind barred doors and shuttered windows. Both men and women are armed with repeating crossbows to shoot through loopholes and embrasures on the roofs."
"If they are too many to face in open battle, we giants will retreat to the fortified gatehouse you call the Stone Castle. The precinct around the barracks is too large to be held by only five hundred."
"That would divide our forces." Klarendes pointed out.
"Yes, but it would also place our enemies between two fires. And it lets your folk protect their village and lets my battalion keep control of the exit from the valley. Sorry, but we came here to protect Elysion, not to get overrun out by overwhelming forces."
"As an Army veteran I understand about military necessity. You are saying that you might have to retreat so you could fight another day."
"One more thing," Sexton began. "If it comes down to a siege, two of us are powerful wirs with abilities that would let us operate at night to terrorize an enemy encampment. As a black panther Aodh could sneak in to slash a dozen sleeping orcs with his poison claws before bounding away in the dark. His poison is as potent as that in the spines of the dreaded stone fish. Even a nick with a claw will induce the worst pain a living being can endure without dropping dead from shock. A full dose will kill. Either way, one scratch and a foe is out of the fight."
"Now in my wolverine form I am not quite so stealthy as a panther, but I can see into the infrared in total darkness. I could sneak up on their sentries and take them out. Since I would be operating outside their lines, it would be easy to get away in the dark."
"Good. Let us hope it does not come down to a siege," Klarendes added. "Our village does have emergency reserves to tide us over a crop failure. I would hate to see invaders trampling the grain which is ripening in our fields. It pains the gentleman farmer in me to think of crops ruined that way."
Chapter 2. Circle of Friends
"Up and at `em!" Karel cried cheerily tugging at Axel's foot to get him up. He was prepared to drag the notorious slug-a-bed a bed right out of the tangle of sheets and limbs sprawled across a bed large enough for a frost giant. The limbs belonged to Axel and his roommate and lover Drew Altair.
"Come on sleepyhead." Drew chided, giving Axel's bare rump a smart slap. That got the carrot-topped youngster out of bed. Karel's twin Jemsen steered Axel to the bathing chamber where he first stood under the shower head and ran cold water to wake himself up. Only then did he mix it with solar heated hot water for a proper shower.
For his part, Drew took his cue and bounced right out of bed bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
"What's the hurry, Karel? This is a festival day. Everyone has the day off."
"Sorry, but we have orders for a command performance. All six of us."
That meant Karel and his twin brother Jemsen, Axel and Drew, and their neighbors down the hall Corwin Klarendes and Karl-Eike Thyssen. Actually a total of eight friends lived in three adjoining suites in an upscale residential hotel in the capital, but the war wizard Liam and Lieutenant Sir Nathan Lathrop were back in Alster with the Navy.
"What do you mean by command performance?" Liam asked.
"We have been called to a meeting with the High Command. Everyone will be there: the big brass in the Army, the druids and war wizards, plus Lord Zaldor, General Urqaart, and Baron Jarmond the Chief Hand of the Commonwealth."
"So why us?"
"We are what passes for resident experts at fighting orcs."
"Oh that. Haven't we done our share of that already?"
A ten-day earlier the circle of friends had helped defend the Sign of the Bow, a resort in the mountains, from more than a thousand orcs intent on reclaiming their ancestral lands. Instead of trying diplomacy, the orcs simply killed every human, elf, or dwarf they could get their hands on. During the Formation Wars centuries ago the three founder races of the Commonwealth of the Long River had driven the orcs out of their mountain fastness except for a remnant in an enclave surrounding their sacred peak.
As the six took their seats around a large conference table, Lord Rahnald Zaldor introduced them.
"For those who might not have already met our experts on fighting orcs, let me indicate the two blonds in sarongs who are the famous twins Captains Sirs Jemsen and Karel. Jemsen in green is an earth wizard and his brother Karel in blue is an air wizard. The carrot topped youngster who just sat down next to Sir Willet Hanford is his aide, Sir Axel Wilde."
"Next to him is the renowned journalist Drew Altair. Now before somebody complains about a breach of security from having a reporter in our midst, let me vouch for Altair's discretion. As one of the Young Peacemakers Four he kept the scoop of the century under wraps for years from his publisher, his own father."
"The blond boy sitting next to Drew is his colleague at the Capital Intelligencer Corwin Klarendes, a decorated veteran of the Lightning War. Finally that really young looking fellow at the end is an journeyman naval architect named Karl-Eike Thyssen who invented those wire wheels which let our bicycle borne dragoons get around so fast."
"They are here as civilian consultants today since we have not activated their reserve commissions in the Army, not yet anyway. I should add that the twins, Drew Altair, and Corwin Klarendes are all Holders of the Military Cross for Valor. Axel Wilde, Drew Altair, the twins, and Karl-Eike Thyssen are all Pioneers of Flight. Finally the twins and Drew are Stalwarts of the Commonwealth. So don't dwell on their youth or fact that they are reservists and only company grade officers. Believe me these young fellows have been around, and you could learn a thing or two from them."
Lord Zaldor then outlined recent events including the battle at the mountain resort, the battalion of Frost Giants sent to protect Elysion, and the mustering of forces from both the garrison town of Bled and the Army of the Plains stationed at Dalnot to cordon off and contain the orcs.
Since Madden Sexton was not there, it fell to Eike, who had acted as his aide during the battle, to describe and answer questions on his tactics and overall strategy. The twins and Drew described the use of magic by both sides, while Drew and Corwin recounted the climax of the battle and the collapse of orc morale after the reaction forces they lead drove back the only penetration they really made into the main building of the resort.
Zaldor then noted that the druids very much wanted to see a quick end to the problem with the orcs which they viewed as an intolerable distraction from the main effort against the genocidal trolls.
"Lord Dahlderon, you wanted to add something to that?"
"Yes. Baron Jarmond has learned from interrogating orc prisoners that it was the establishment of the New Forest by us druids on the far side of the Eastern Mountains which brought on this war. The orcs had long counted on ultimately expanding across the mountains to relieve the pressure of a rapidly rising population. In our complacency we had always supposed the orcs numbered in the tens of thousands at most. In fact there are almost six hundred thousand orcs in the mountains."
That brought alarmed looks from the High Command which had mobilized forces of less than twenty thousand to contain the orc menace. One lean hatchet-faced general in the Army Air Corps rose to speak.
"They might outnumber us right now in the war zone, but our own population numbers in the tens of millions. Their numbers ultimately count for nothing except maybe as a problem of where to bury them."
Jarmond picked it up from there. "An orc who witnessed Liam's attack with white fire bragged that we would soon be getting a taste of our own medicine. It seems the orcs have at least one mage who can throw white fire."
"Bad news that." Sir Willet opined. "We had better be ready to counter it. Dahl let's put our heads together afterwards and work out a stratagem. This war is starting to turn serious."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." General Urqaart said. "It may not be too late to negotiate peace."
"Negotiate!" the Air Corps general exclaimed. "After the orcs have killed two hundred in their recent rampage? Urqaart you've been basking too long in your reputation as a Peacemaker. This is a council of war."
"And so it is, General Keene" Lord Zaldor soothed. "If that is what it comes to. Remember we ourselves have already slain over a thousand orcs, a lesson which will not be lost on them. And yes while Urqaart and I are justifiably proud of making peace out West we are also proud to be holders of the Shield of the Commonwealth in his case and the Sword in my own, so we are no strangers to warfare."
That pointed reminder of his and Urqaart's sterling military reputations silenced the hawkish general for the moment.
"If overpopulation is their motive, I am sure we druids can fix their problem much as we fixed the trolls in the Southern Archipelago." Dahl asserted sounding uncharacteristically hawkish himself.
That threat to the fertility and fecundity of orc males showed that Dalhderon was at the limit of his patience with marauders of all sorts, whether eastern barbarians, centaurs, trolls, orcs or anyone else who always sought to take from others but not to build or to grow what they needed themselves. Enough already. And he wasn't the only druid who felt that way. His lovers Owain and Meirionnydd were on board with him too. After all they actually lived in the Commonwealth of the Long River.
"Gentlemen," Lord Zaldor said getting their attention. "Remember it wasn't so many years ago that we thought that a long ruinous war with the Despotate of Dzungaria was inevitable, yet we found a way to make peace. And now the Far West has joined the Commonwealth. And look how negotiations led to the alliance with the Frost Giants and the occupation and settlement of New Varangia and the Barren Lands."
"Or how diplomacy secured our northern border more recently." Axel Wilde noted. "We welcomed the arrival of the Medkari a friendly people who filled a power vacuum that might ultimately have put the Commonwealth at risk. Let's give peace a chance."
"The grizzled general shook his head. "Who is this stripling to lecture men such as ourselves on matters of war and peace?" he sneered. That got Sir Willet up on his feet.
"Must I remind you General that this stripling as you called him is my aide Sir Axel Wilde who was knighted for teaching men to fly. You owe him your gratitude for having an Army Air Corps in the first place. And just so you know, Sir Axel is under orders to speak as the peacemaker in our councils of war. We soldiers sometimes get too caught up in the excitement of conflict and get to liking war too much or seeing it as the first resort rather than the last."
"Maybe so," Dahl conceded, "but we druids will not let the orcs settle in the New Forest which is now a sentient being, no longer just an ordinary stand of trees. Besides those lands must always remain a wilderness to protect the vital watershed of the Eastern Plains."
"So what can the orcs do Lord Dahlderon? They are already too many for the lands they occupy but they cannot expand into the vacant lands to their east. I am open to suggestions."
"Amazonia!" Axel shouted as he shot to his feet, energized by a sudden thought. Looking around at their puzzled faces, he went on to say.
"Let them settle in Amazonia after they help us conquer it. Don't you see? The trolls have already exterminated the humans, elves and dwarves who used to live in that vast country. So let the orcs settle there. It is a perfect solution to the problem of the orcs: a land empty of people for a people in need of a land!"
His interlocutors sat back, stunned by the scope of Axel's solution. Even grizzled General Keene seemed thoughtful.
That just might work." Dahl admitted. Nods around the tables indicated agreement.
"The quickest way to end this war is to turn our enemy into our ally." Urqaart noted.
"Even I can see that," Keene allowed, but how do we persuade the orcs?"
Zaldor smiled. "With diplomacy, which I always define as the marshaling of threats and blandishments toward the solution of geopolitical problems. Amazonia is so vast that even a quarter of it should satisfy the orcs. As for threats, that is why we have an army and war wizards. The orcs can choose to either to end a war they cannot possibly win or join us and fight in one where they are sure to be among the victors."
"And to further persuade them" Dahl began "We druids could threaten to set a blight on their food supply. That should force them to make peace on our terms."
"What are their food crops anyway, Lord Dahlderon? You cannot grow grain or maize in the mountains."
"Yet the orcs have managed to support a population of six hundred thousand up in the mountains without flat land to grow grain of any sort, not wheat, not rice, not maize, nor rye or oats. The small amount of wheat they import goes for cakes and muffins and confections of all sorts sweetened with beet sugar. The orcs aren't so different from us that they do not have a sweet tooth."
"Instead of grain, the orcs rely on two plants as their staples. First is the tuber variously known as the earth apple or potato. It rivals maize for the amount of food energy you can get out of an acre of land. The orcs also grow the breadfruit, a tree which they intercrop with the tubers. It is called the breadfruit because when the ripe fruit is cooked it has a flavor like that of freshly baked bread."
Dahlderon explained that the breadfruit was one of the highest-yielding food plants. A single tree could produce up to two hundred grapefruit-sized fruits per season with very limited care. Breadfruit trees which grew to a height of eighty feet (25 m) also yielded latex, a milky juice, which was useful for boat caulking and was one of the orcs main exports, finding a ready market among the boatmen of the rift valley of the Long River with its many tributaries and canals.
The council decided to mobilize additional troops drawn from the other field armies in the Commonwealth proper and put General Urqaart in overall command. No one had more experience in commanding disparate forces. The peace delegation would be lead by Lord Zaldor and included the three druids, four war wizards two of whom were Sir Willet and Sir Rikkard, and five of the six friends.
A battalion of Frost Giants five hundred strong would provide an escort that was strong enough for protection and impressive enough to uphold the dignity of the delegation. The giants would also physically overawe and intimidate the orcs, giving the hostiles a chance to see what they would be up against.
Chapter 3. Taking Stock
Eike felt low at being left out, the only one of the six friends in their circle to attend the council of war who would not be part of the diplomatic mission. Yes, he understood that he was a civilian and one who worked for the Navy while a war with the orcs would be a land campaign. And yes, he understood that without a powerful magical gift or military training or diplomatic experience he could really contribute nothing to a diplomatic mission.
Still it hurt to be the odd man out -- odd boy out really, for Eike and Corwin were true teenagers, both chronologically and physically. His other friends certainly looked like teens, and their constitutions were the same as during their teenage years thanks to druidic life magic which had stopped the aging process. They all would stay young and vital for at least half a millennium, never agains but growing wiser from greater life experience. Eike would be the first to admit to a lack of life experience especially after spending five years alone as a castaway on Huckleberry Island.
Eike yearned to manifest a powerful gift of his own. Jemsen and Karel had suddenly become earth and air wizards. Why couldn't that happen to him too? Wasn't he worthy of a major gift? True he no longer thought he needed a gift to give him a direction in life. He already had that thanks to a circle of friends, wealth beyond the dreams of avarice, a fascinating career, and his tinkering and inventing on the side, but what teenage boy does not dream of adventure and martial glory?
When Eike considered the four classical elements, earth, air, water, and fire, he favored water. Why water? Well what could be more appropriate for a naval person than water as his tutelary element? Besides, of their circle of friends the twins already had earth and air covered. Liam wielded white fire and Corwin ball lightning, both forms of energy. Energy was also the tutelary element for those like Nathan who could snap electrum sparks. Finn could call lightning from the heavens so their circle of friends had energy covered four different ways.
Their group needed a water wizard to round out their talents, didn't they?
Eike was aware that natural philosophers considered the four classical elements to be metaphors for the four states of matter -- solids, liquids, gasses, and energy. Fire then represented heat energy not merely the alchemical process of combustion or the flames it produced. Air was all the gasses in atmosphere or those that could be generated by alchemical experiments or by industrial processes. Solids meant earth, stone, metals, and even jewels, though by convention ice fell within the province of a water wizard.
Water and air wizards were engaged in an ongoing debate in learned journals about the status of water vapor. The former insisted it was merely evaporated water while the latter countered that the familiar liquid phase was merely condensed vapors. No resolution of their debate was likely for centuries if ever.
Upon reflection Eike had to concede that the group already had the realm of water covered. Liam was a water wizard strong enough to raise giant waves at sea to smash enemy ships. Not surprisingly he had not invoked that gift in a fight up in the mountains. Instead he had relied on some of his other gifts.
Liam was also a weather wizard and a fairly strong fetcher though less powerful than Drew who, as he often reminded folks, could lift a brontothere into the sky and had actually done so. Liam could manage a horse. Liam could also raise a Concealment or a Missile Shield and create space portals. Though he was not a true firecaster as fire wizards were called, he had acquired the skill to throw white fire [subatomic plasma] which was not fire at all.
His lesser powers included the ability to communicate long distance with infrasound and to see in very dim light, better than a cat, thanks to the so-called moon-glow in his eyes, which is characteristic of war wizards. Druidic life magic had also enhanced his physical powers.
In a sense fetchers were also energy wizards. Drew used the kinetic energy of his whirling steel spheres to splash the brains of his foes out of their skulls. As a fetcher in naval combat Liam had used the kinetic energy of boulders dropped from above to put holes in troll longships.
Eike just hoped that whatever gift finally manifested it would be something he could really use. A naval architect would have little use for a Green Thumb or empathy. It was very rare though for a gift to reflect a person's hopes and dreams. Gifts just happened. Finn Ragnarson was one of the lucky few, coming into a gift that let him realize his boyhood dreams of his great hero Thor, thunder god of the Norse, the remote ancestors of the Frost Giants. It was also not coincidental that in his first career Finn was a blacksmith, working at the forge with hammer in hand.
Meanwhile Dahl and Sir Willet put their heads together to find a way to counter the orc reputed to be able to throw white fire. They had drawn Karel into their deliberations. Jemsen too, for where one twin went, so did the other. The four devised a plan which struck them as so fiendishly clever that it would be a real shame if they never got to spring their trap on this wielder of white fire. But only time would tell, for none of them was telling anyone about their tactic.
The only hint they gave about their plan was when they asked the battalion commander to have the fifty giants assigned as their guards drilled in switching their personal weapons from their right side to their left. In other words, to hang their swords at their right hip, bear their shields with their right arm, and hold their spear to their left. They weren't expected to fight like that, just stand in formation till given the order to switch back. What this all was for neither druid nor wizard would not say.
Drew and Corwin and Axel were excited at the prospect of the expedition to the enclave of the orcs. The two journalists amicably agreed to share a byline on any reporting about the expedition, as they called the peace mission. General Keene thought of it as a reconnaissance in force, which it might turn out to be if the orcs would not agree to terms.
Axel knew that if it came to a fight he had only a weak magical gift that could be used offensively in that he could Call Light to englobe the head of a foe, which would kill him by scrambling the electrical circuits of his brain. Axel also had a magically enhanced physique which gave him twice the strength, stamina, speed, and reflexes of a normal human. Those physical abilities would count for much in close combat.
Axel also had a unique advantage in that his ensorcelled amulet rendered him immune to direct attack by magic. Even this orc's white fire would fizzle out or simply fail if it were directed against him.
He had mentioned that to Sir Willet and volunteered to act as a shield for the negotiators, but his boss told him that they already had a plan to deal with that kind of attack. Axel should hold himself ready for other contingencies. Axel just might be their secret weapon.
It only made sense then to test Axel and his amulet and see what its capabilities and limitations were. They had several days before the expedition set out, so the wizard and his aide agreed to start the next day. That would give Sir Willet time to recruit aggressors for Axel to defend against. Drew would do for a fetcher but with Nathan away they needed someone who could throw electrum sparks. Sir Willet knew that one of the other aides could fling lightning bolts and the war wizard himself would pit water magic against the amulet.
The next day at a testing ground Sir Willet explained to the first aggressor what he expected of them. Young Jonas was a messenger who delivered heliograms to homes and bureaux. His ability to snap electrum sparks had saved him numerous times from bites from overly territorial canines.
"Most folks don't realize that even a minor gift like sparks has a lot of uses; self-defense was only one of them. Sparks are a handy way to get a camp fire going, much easier than flint and steel or bow and drill. At night you can signal with sparks using the same code as the heliograph."
"Muleskinners find sparks handy to control their notoriously stubborn charges. Usually it takes just once to acquaint a beast with the unpleasant effects of an electrum spark shot at its rump. The recalcitrant ones occasionally need a reminder, a spark that comes close without quite touching them. Some sparklers, as we who can snap electrum sparks call ourselves, work as entertainers, and throw rainbows of colored sparks into the sky along with alchemical pyrotechnics."
"OK, I am ready." Axel assured Jonas.
Axel wore just a sarong leaving him bare to the hips. The silk sheath flattered his slender physique and would offer some protection to his dangly bits if Jonas's aim was off.
"Shouldn't you really be naked so the wizard and I can gauge the effects if my sparks get through?"
"Is that really why you want to see me naked, Jonas, this test? Or do you have an ulterior motive?"
"I am sure I don't know what you are talking about, Axel" Jonas assured him blandly.
"Then you wouldn't want to get together afterwards, to let us get better acquainted, I mean."
"Of course I would Axel. You are so damn cute, who wouldn't want to spend some time with you?"
"Now boys" Sir Willet admonished. "Save the fun and games for later. Let's get started with the tests."
The two youths winked at each other then Axel braced himself for a possible burn and electric jolt, but Jonas' strongest sparks just fizzled out about an arm's length from Axel's body. It didn't matter if the sparks came one at a time or in double handfuls. It also did not matter if Axel's back was turned and his eyes closed proving that the amulet was not using Axel's senses to detect magical threats but had its own field of awareness.
Much the same thing happened with lightning bolts thrown by Sir Ahndray's aide Lemuel and aimed at Axel's legs. The bolts grounded themselves harmlessly just short of their target. When Sir Willet raised a wave from the nearby swimming hole the waters parted around the shielded aide who never got his feet wet. Yet when Sir Willet raised a slug of water and held it above his test subject then let go, it fell and drenched him. The difference seemed to be that the wave was under magical control but gravity was in control when the slug of water fell on Axel from above.
Drew first used his gift to Throw dried corn cobs at Axel. They all slipped from the young fetcher's control and fell to the ground.
"One minute the cobs were in my mental sphere of awareness and the next they just weren't." Drew explained. "And they somehow lost momentum too, which is very strange."
Yet when Drew raised the cobs above Axel and let go, they fell and hit him. On an impulse, Drew picked a cob up in his hand an threw it overhand at his target bouncing it off Axel's chest, confirming that physical attack did not trigger the protective magic of the amulet.
"Hmmm," Drew mused. "Demonic beasts like Trackers or Slashers are magical creatures aren't they? I wonder whether they would ignore Axel or take a bite out of him. Next time we capture one, we'll have Axel stick his hand in its cage and find out."
"Oh very funny, Drew. If it is all the same to you, we'll try that experiment with a friendly unicorn and see if he can nip me."
"That is actually a good idea," Sir Willet opined, "even if it started out as a joke. Now be off with you. We'll pick this up tomorrow."
"Guys how about we all head over to Twinkle Town for food, drinks, and dancing. That includes you Lemuel. Everything is on me, and spare me your polite demurs. Remember I'm loaded."
"Ah, but isn't it really Eike who is rich beyond the dreams of avarice?" Drew asked.
"I am not so far behind him, as if it mattered." Axel gave back.
Everyone knew how little he cared for money beyond a sufficiency of means for a comfortable existence. In reality Axel was quite wealthy. His street lighting business provided a reliable income and he had significant passive investments in other industries like the manufacture of bicycles and in the family porcelain business whose expansion he had helped finance. Mostly he lived on his salary from the Institute of Wizardry and Magic.
Across town the three druids had put up at Count Klarendes' town house even though their hosts were still in Elysion protecting it from orcs. The staff were familiar with the three frequent visitors and made them feel right at home. Or as much as any druid can feel in the middle of a big city. Fortunately the garden out back was a refuge from the hustle and bustle of the capital.
Stretched out in the shade on lounge chairs with chilled juice drinks close to hand, the three druids chatted or read the news-paper or paged through a book. They hardly looked liked three of the most powerful wielders of magic on the planet of Haven. Short and slightly built pretty boys with the sculpted musculature of athletes, dancers, or acrobats, they could easily pass for a pack of rent boys taking a day off.
Only they weren't really boys, not chronologically. Dahlderon was the youngest; the raven hair elf-boy was in his twenties though he looked to be more than a decade younger, say sweet sixteen going on seventeen. Next came Owain; the diminutive strawberry blond human might look no more than eighteen, but he was only three years short of the two century mark. Merry was the most senior by far, over a thousand years old most of it passed in the form of a unicorn till his transformation a decade ago into an elf-boy. It was hard to say which one was the most beautiful.
Lithe, preternaturally lovely, gracile, or comely were words that hardly did justice to the raven-haired elven beauty. With his delicate features, chiseled jawline, and killer cheekbones shielding green eyes the color of growing things, his was the sort of youthful male beauty that would take your breath away, or would make even the most dedicated cenobite reconsider his commitment to celibacy. Though he stood only an inch over five feet and weighed five pounds over a hundred-weight he was he was nearly four times as strong as he looked thanks to druidical magic.
The strawberry blond human with the sky blue eyes topped Dahl by an inch and carried a half dozen more pounds on his wiry frame. His physical strength was four times normal for his size, which was the maximum enhancement that magic could achieve without radical outward changes in size, constitution and form.
As a unicorn Meirionnydd's coat had been snow white. As an elf-boy Merry's hair was the same color only the growth of hair was restricted to the top of his head. Like all elves his skin was smooth and glabrous and entirely free of hair. Though Merry was an inch taller than Owain, he was more slender so only about three pounds heavier but a match for Owain in strength.
After a companionable silence of a half hour, Owain laid the book he was reading in his lap and turned to Merry and asked.
"Merry, you have been around for centuries, from before the Formation Wars. Can you tell me why the capital of the Commonwealth of the Long River does not have a proper name? Everyone just calls it the capital."
"And thereby hangs a tale. The three founder races, humans, elves, and dwarves, agreed on where their new capital city should be laid out. They just could not agree on what to call it."
"They could not use the old name. There wasn't even a hamlet here originally, just a tavern by a river crossing called McKonkey's Ferry. Can you see that as the name of a world capital?"
"I suppose not."
"Each race wanted a name meaningful in their own language. So they looked for an auspicious word spelled the same in all three languages though with different meanings. All the matches had unfortunate connotations in one tongue or another. You understand this was before the formal adoption of our common tongue, which was merely a lingua franca at the time."
"Rather than wrangle further over the issue, the founders left it up to future generations to sort it out. In time folks grew comfortable with just calling it the capital and writing the name or rather the word in lower case."
Chapter 4. War and Peace
The expedition traveled via a space portal between the capital and Bled, the garrison town which lay at the western end of the winding mountain road that lead to the Eastern Plains. That was the closest than any of those with the skill to open portals had ever been to the area of military operations against the orcs. One limitation on portals was that you could not open one to a place you have never been to before or could not see in the distance.
From Bled their route of march paralleled the mountains, bypassing the secondary road to the mountain resort recently attacked by the orcs, in favor of another road that penetrated the mountains farther along. Once they reached the foot of the mountains their scouts unfurled the green and white pennant which signified a parley. (A white flag would signify surrender.)
A couple miles into the mountains they were met by orc scouts. Though their manner was surly they respected the parley banner and lead the column a few miles deeper into the mountains. Across an open meadow were the orcs defending a wall recently thrown up across the mouth of a defile leading deeper into the mountains. The Commonwealth escort of Frost Giants formed a shield wall facing the orcs but did not draw their weapons. They were here for a parley, not a battle.
With the parley banner raised high the delegation and fifty guards moved close to the wall and called on the orcs to bring their leaders out to meet them. The orc scouts had told the delegates that their approach had been observed almost all the way from Bled so the orc chiefs had come to this spot to receive the delegates.
"We come in peace." Zaldor began, "but we are prepared for war if you insist on it."
Standing atop the wall the orc spokesman nodded and replied:
"The issue of peace or war depends on whether you accept our terms. We orcs are reclaiming our homeland in the southern half of these mountains all the way to the road that leads to the Eastern Plains which we will concede to the Commonwealth as an earnest of our desire for peace. Our territory also includes the so-called New Forest whose establishment we regard as an affront to our sovereignty."
Zaldor shook his head. "You are laboring under a misconception. We are not here to listen to your terms, which are completely unacceptable anyway. No power on this planet dictates to the Commonwealth of the Long River. We don't start wars, but we always end them on our terms."
"Your vaunted Commonwealth has grown weak and currently is badly overstretched. You could never conquer these mountains. The side that faces the rift valley is steep and rugged. The mountains form a natural fortress defended by six hundred thousand orcs."
Zaldor shrugged. "There are a one-hundred thirty millions of us. Do the arithmetic."
"Are you really ready to pay the butcher's bill for a war to the death."
"Actually we have a proposal that might satisfy both parties, a way for both peoples to get what they need if not exactly what they want."
"We're listening. For now."
Zaldor then explained about the opportunity for the orcs to ally themselves with the Commonwealth and acquire a new land for the orcs in Amazonia, one with room for them to grow. He also said that orc perceptions of the Commonwealth's weakness was the worst sort of wishful thinking, and they should not bet their survival on that delusion. Zaldor reminded the orcs of their recent defeat at the resort at the hands of a bunch of civilians including women and teenagers and oldsters. Why the kitchen staff alone bragged about having "carved up" dozens of orcs.
Did they orcs really think they could take on a professional army supported by an air corps that could rain death from the sky. Nor could the orcs defeat the Commonwealth's mages and war wizards.
"We druids have taken a hand in this too." Owain declared. "If the orcs insist on war, we druids will blight your food crops."
"You have given us much to think on. We shall meet again in two hours."
With that the orc leaders retired to deliberate. When talks resumed, the orcs had a new spokesman, a military man from the look of him. The former spokesman and his supporters stood to one side clearly unhappy with the outcome of the deliberations.
Raising his mace the new spokesman shouted:
"You have marched into our land to threaten us with war and starvation. So be it. We choose WAR!"
The sweep of his mace was the signal for an orc mage to throw white fire at the delegates and their bodyguard of fifty giants. White fire streamed out unstoppably from his outstretched hands, but instead of cutting down the Commonwealth delegates the incandescent stream shattered a sun mirror Karel had created to reflect the image of the delegation which was actually standing to one side behind a Concealment raised by Sir Willet.
Behind the mirror was a space portal opened by Dahl which swallowed up the stream of white fire and spit it out on a trajectory that streamed across the sky. Only this stream of destruction did not expend itself harmlessly at the edge of the atmosphere. It entered a second gate opened by Sir Willet whose exit faced the orc hardliners. The relay ensured that a long stream of white fire would emerge through the second gate even as the orc mage died.
The assembled orcs watched horrified as their mages and their hawkish leaders were disintegrated into a cloud of subatomic particles. Sir Willet dropped the concealment, and the grinning Frost Giants switched their weapons and shields back to their normal side.
Dahl nodded to Karel and Sir Willet. "Nicely done. Jemsen was right to label our stratagem fiendishly clever."
"It took all four of us to bring it off," Sir Willet observed, "combining your portals with my concealment and Karel's mirror plus Jemsen's trick of reversing the way the giants bore their arms so it would look normal in a reflection."
Zaldor called out to the orcs, giving them one last chance to rethink their choice for war. He pointed out that as their own war hawks had just found out, the choice for war was suicide. The original spokesman nodded.
"After that demonstration, we would be fools not to make peace with the Commonwealth and instead go to war with these trolls you have told us about to conquer a vast new land for our people. Now lets us sit down and work out the details of the peace. My name is Janne Saari. With the war party so er... abruptly removed from office, I and my supporters now speak for the orcs."
The orcs agreed to stop hostilities and recalled the column that was headed toward Elysion. Under the terms of the treaty most orcs would remain in the mountains till the trolls were defeated and they could emigrate en masse to their new land.
Meanwhile, the treaty provided that the orc army would form an expeditionary corps to join in the campaign against the trolls. The Commonwealth would provide logistical support, chiefly supplies and transportation. Since the orcs in the expeditionary corps would be away from home for some time, they would be carried on the rolls of the Commonwealth as auxiliary troops and paid a regular salary. The area immediately around the sacred peak would remain inviolate and legally an exclave of the orc's new homeland.
The orcs insisted on complete independence in their new land. Zaldor agreed. The orcs would be too busy establishing themselves in Amazonia to make trouble for the Commonwealth.
Drew and Corwin got another continent-wide scoop for the Capital Intelligencer. Karel had the deep satisfaction of using his powers to help bring about peace even if he had to kill several dozen orcs in the doing. Jemsen shrugged and told him to regard the deaths of the hardliners as a case of assisted suicide, which Karel thought really droll.
Axel was hailed as another Young Peacemaker and later made a Stalwart of the Commonwealth which inspired Karel's joke that at the rate the were going and given their longevity, by the time they got to be old men, they all would need a cart to haul around all the titles they were accumulating.
Two months later, the circle of friends went off to war again, this time against the trolls in Amazonia. But that is another story.
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 donation to the Nifty Archive. It is so easy. They take credit cards. Point your browser to http://donate.nifty.org/donate.htm
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 several of the original characters plus some new ones.
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.
Comments and feedback welcome.