Even Gods Must Fall - Christian Warren Freed Page 0,74
think that Harlan was reduced to a meal without consideration of his rank or stature. All of these bodies deserved better. They were the best Delranan had to offer, now nothing more than passing indigestion for the filth of a horrid race. Ingrid vowed to avenge them all.
“There’s more at work here than a mere ambush,” Bahr offered after exploring the immediate area around the slaughter. “Bits of armor and scraps of uniform. Your rebels aren’t equipped like that.”
“What are you saying?”
He pointed towards the road leading north. “I’d guess that Harlan ambushed a company of Harnin’s forces before the Goblins struck. There are broken spears and spent arrows littering both sides of the road for a few hundred meters. One thing is for certain, there was a lot of fighting going on here yesterday.”
“That makes sense. With his force engaging the enemy it would be easy for the Goblins to sneak up on them,” Ingrid said thoughtfully. “He was no fool but becoming engrossed in a battle would take his eyes off of the road, especially if he was certain the way was clear.”
“Making the rebels easy targets,” Bahr concluded. “This is more dangerous than I feared. Not only do we need to contend with a fanatical Skaning but now the Goblin horde. We’ll get pinched between the two if we’re not careful.”
Ingrid grasped the gravity of their situation and felt her heart freeze. Logic suggested Skaning and Harnin’s loyalists would abandon their attack on the rebels with the new, and far greater, threat the Goblins presented. No one could accurately say how such an army had arrived in Delranan but that didn’t matter. The enemy had increased tenfold and possibly more in a short period of time. She couldn’t realistically fight both sides but offering a ceasefire with Harnin wasn’t possible. Skaning would stop at nothing to murder every last rebel and more than likely viewed the slaughter as a movement in his favor. The war would go on until no one in Delranan remained.
“What are we going to do?” She lowered her voice so only Bahr could hear. Ingrid had already avoided one panic. Driving them into another served no purpose.
Bahr placed his feet shoulder-width apart and his gnarled hands on his hips. He honestly didn’t have an answer. “So much of my life has been driving forward, always moving towards a fixed location in the future. None of this makes any sense. Nothing Anienam or Artiss Gran said mentioned anything like this. My gut tells me to keep moving. Our mission is to destroy the Olagath Stone and thus save the rest of the world.”
“Lofty aspirations but all of this changes matters,” Ingrid said.
“Indeed, but we can’t turn back now. Too much is at stake.”
He thought about telling her more, about how each and every one of his group had been handpicked by destiny to stop the dark gods. How could he possibly expect her to believe such mystic nonsense when he was still having issues with the concept?
“Do you truly believe you can alter the course of the world?”
Bahr offered a sly grin. “I certainly hope so.”
The last remains were buried shortly before dusk. All told, there were more than eight hundred distinguishable remains. Most were undeniably human while a small portion were denser, shorter. At least Harlan had taken a toll on the enemy. Perhaps not as much as Bahr would have liked, but there was only so much a paltry force could do against fifty thousand. Smoke from the funeral pyres rose high into the fading daylight.
Bahr stared up at the smoke for a moment before turning away. He’d already secured permission to take a handful of Ingrid’s best and scout the northern road in the hopes of ascertaining the truth of their predicament. Every minor bit of intelligence helped him form his final plans for the assault of Arlevon Gale. He feared he was going to need more than he was about to receive.
Anienam argued otherwise. The wizard’s faith in his own capabilities clearly outweighed Bahr’s. With talk of pickles subsided, the wizard agreed to wait behind with Ingrid. He quietly urged that time was nearly upon them. Only one more day and the Dae’shan would attempt to open the gateway between dimensions. Bahr had little time to dally with personal quests.
The Sea Wolf made it less than a third of a league before his senses began acting up. He drew his sword and tensed. Experienced eyes scanned the perimeter, catching every