The Staff of the Winds (The Wizard of South Corner Book 1) (9 page)

As they worked their way ever westward, and the sun continued its rise toward noon, Owen found himself becoming more and more apprehensive about the possibility of discovery and ambush.  He couldn’t quite determine why, but he felt strongly that they were approaching some specific peril.  As they were walking their horse up a small rise, much like many others that they had climbed already, Owen called a halt.

“I don’t know why,” Owen whispered, “but I have a strong feeling that there is something waiting for us on the other side of this hill. Marian, why don’t you hold the horses here, while Jack and I take a look. We’ll waive you up if there is nothing there.”

Jack gave Owen a quizzical look, but dismounted with his friend and climbed the hill carefully on foot.  They crouched down as they approached the crest.  Jack pointed to a small outcropping of rock that broke up the contour of the hilltop, and the boys crawled in behind it to scout the land beyond.

Owen and Jack lay on their stomachs and carefully inched forward to gaps in the rock from which they could see the terrain beyond. All was quiet. They could see the trail continue ahead of them, rising and falling until it bent around the south side of a hill in the distance. There was no other sign of either the group that they were trailing, or any evidence of an ambush. For long minutes their eyes searched the country ahead, but neither of them could see any sign of the enemy that Owen felt certain was staring back at them.

Finally, Jack began to rise, and said, “I’ll have Marian bring up the horses.”

At that moment, Owen suddenly knew what he was looking for. He frantically grabbed Jack and pulled him back down. “See that hill in the distance, the one that stands alone where the trail we’re following winds around the base?”

“Yes, I see it. What about it?”

“Look carefully at the top.”

“You mean that rock formation next to the old oak?”

“That’s it, but it’s not just a rock formation. Look again.”

“I don’t see what you… Damn! It’s a tower isn’t it?” he declared, an icy finger seeming to run up his spine.  “It’s some kind of old watchtower. What is it doing way out here?” he asked in a whisper.

“I think that I just figured it out. Do you remember those stories that the Old Wizard used to tell us when we were kids? The ones about Carraghlaoch? Well, we’ve been working our way for the past two days more or less towards the Wizards Moat and McDonald’s Break. If those stories were true, we’ve got to be getting close to where Carraghlaoch must have been. That has to be one of the old watchtowers that they used to give them advance warning in case of an attack against the city.”

“I know that Aaron was really into that stuff,” Jack answered, “but I never much believed those old tales myself. But what else could that be? Do you think that there is anybody in it now?”

“I’m sure of it,” Owen said flatly.  “From that tower, the enemy could watch their back trail and any other direction of approach for leagues around.  That’s why there has been no ambush before this.  If they could make it this far, they didn’t need to worry about anybody catching them by surprise. It probably also explains why they were pushing so hard; they wanted to get past this tower before anyone could catch them. Now no one can surprise them between here and the pass.

“Marian is probably getting impatient, let’s get back to the horses and decide what we’re going to do next.”

Carefully the boys backed away from the summit, staying low so that they would not be spotted against the skyline by any lookout in the tower.  It was possible that a watcher might have already spotted Jack when he began to rise before they first saw the tower, but it seemed unlikely.  He had not risen far, and was only up for an instant.  Such a sighting from that distance would have taken extraordinary eyesight and the lookout would have had to be staring at that exact spot at that exact instant.  That combination would require the most amazing bad luck.  On the other hand, who knew what a gorn could see.  They could be coming out to get them right now.

When they got back down the hill, Owen briefly described what they had seen to his younger sister and told her their conclusions.

“So how do we take the tower?” Marian asked.

“Take the tower,” Jack exclaimed. “You’ve got to be crazy. We can’t take that tower. Our job was to find out where the raiders were going, and then report back. If there are gorn up there, it’ll take a lot more than two men and a girl to take that tower. We should turn around now and report back.”

Marian bristled at being called a mere girl, but Owen put his hand on her arm to stop her from responding, then turned to Jack. “Marian’s got a point. We can’t get by that tower without being seen. It will take us more than a day to work our way around it, and if we do, we’ll have the enemy at our backs.  And there is still too much that we don’t know.  We’ve got to find out how large a force the gorn have on this side of the West Wall, where they are taking our friends, and what they plan to do with them once they get there.  And, if there is any chance at all, we’ve got to do what we can to rescue our people.”

“Owen, I know how you feel, I’ve got friends up there too, but we were just told to scout the situation out so that our dad’s could rescue the villagers.  The sooner we get back to them, the sooner they can take action.  Besides, we’ll need every man we can get to storm that tower.”

“No, I think that’s where you’re wrong,” Owen said. “If we tried to storm it, a few gorn could probably hold off all the farmers in the parish, at least for a while, and by then they could probably get reinforcements.  But a small force, like you and me, might have a chance to sneak up on them.  If we can get close enough without being seen, we can at least find out how many they left behind there, and if there aren’t too many in the tower, we might even be able to catch them by surprise.  I hate to just turn back now and abandon our people to their fate.  We still don’t know where they are being taken or how many men are holding them.  I don’t think our job will be done until we at least know that much.”

“You might be right, but how can we get closer? There is nothing but open country between us and that tower, and there must be someone watching in this direction.”

“I saw a copse of trees across the valley from the tower to the north. I think that we can get into it from the other side without being seen. From there, we should be able to at least tell if there is any chance of getting closer.”

“Alright,” Jack said, “let’s go take a look; but if we can’t get any closer then I’m for going back for help.”

“Agreed,” Owen answered.

Marian wisely stayed out of that discussion, but she was proud of her brother for at least wanting to try to continue against the odds. Now she just had to make sure that they didn’t try to leave her behind to keep her “safe”.

It took most of the rest of that day, but shortly before the sun had set behind the mountain peaks of the Wall, the trio had crawled up into the bushes at the edge of the little wood looking across the valley at the old watchtower. From their vantage, they could see three figures relaxing in the shade of the tower. It was difficult to make them out at that distance. They were clearly man-like, but somehow their heads seemed to be hunched more into their shoulders than a man’s should be. Whatever clothing they were wearing was a mottled gray and brown that made them even harder to distinguish clearly against the stone of the old tower. They seemed to be cooking something on a spit over a small fire, and did not appear to be concerned about the thin line of smoke that was rising high into the evening sky.

Movement caught Marian’s eye, and she tapped her brother on the shoulder and indicated the tower’s old battlement. For a few moments, they could clearly see another figure at the top of the tower looking out over the lands to the east. Then it stepped away from the crenellation and was gone.

The trio continued their observation for some time.  A fourth figure joined the other three near the fire, and whatever was cooking on the spit was divided among them.  After eating, the four passed around a large jug.  The watchers in the woods could occasionally just make out loud guttural laughing, or possibly cursing, when the rising evening breezes drifted the sound in their direction.  Finally, Owen signaled his friends and they slowly and carefully edged their way further back into the woods.

Over a meager meal of venison jerky and dried biscuits, they discussed their prospects. “I’m pretty sure that there are just four of them,” Owen said. “They didn’t seem to be too concerned about possible attack, and it didn’t look like any of them was especially willing to miss dinner in order to maintain the watch.”

“Four is more than we’ve got,” Jack responded.

“Do you think we could catch any of them sleeping tonight?” Marion offered. “That, at least, would even the odds a little.”

“That will have to be our plan, I think,” Owen answered. “Did you notice that draw that leads from the end of these woods to the east up near the north side of the tower? The brush along it should provide us with cover, if it’s not too thick to get through quietly.”

“I looked that over pretty closely,” Marian volunteered. “There is a short open area that we will have to cross to get into the gully, but it looked like the bottom is mostly clear, with the brush growing up the sides. We should be able to make our way within a hundred paces of the tower before we lose our cover. With luck, they should bed down near that fire and be within an easy bow shot of the end of the gully.”

“Jack, what do you think?”

“I still don’t like the odds, but going home without finding out what we came all this way for… Well, I guess we should try, but I don’t think Marian should come along.”

“I’m a better shot with a bow than you are, Jack Farrell,” Marian snapped back, “and I’m smaller, more agile and just plain sneakier than either one of you.  I’ll be able to move up that draw without being heard or seen, which may not be true for you two.  Besides, if you think I’m staying here alone, in the woods, in the dark, when there’s gorn around, you’ve got another think coming.”

“Okay, enough already,” Owen interjected before Jack could respond.  “You get to come, but if we have to go into the tower to fight, you stay outside and watch our backs.  Let’s try to get some sleep.  There’s a gibbous moon tonight.  Let’s use the last of it to make our way through the gully, then attack before dawn as soon as there is enough light to be sure of our targets.”

Jack once again took first watch, while Marian and Owen rolled up in their blankets to try to sleep. They talked quietly for a while, then as the last light left the sky, rolled over and closed their eyes.  Owen found himself lying on the Old Wizards headpiece, so he eased it from his pocket and rather than putting it in his pack, held it with his left hand against his chest.  It felt a little warmer than you would expect a lump of bronze to feel on a cold autumn night, but then his thigh had probably kept it warm in his pocket.  Thinking of Aaron and Sarah Murray, in cruel captivity somewhere ahead of them, he finally began to doze.

When Owen opened his eyes, he was looking out over the little valley towards the old watchtower. The gorns’ fire there had burned down, but he could still easily see two figures sitting near it. A movement about five paces to the left revealed a third standing facing a bush. He could not see the fourth; he had probably taken up watch in the tower.

Silently, he opened his broad wings and dropped from the tree. He flew low towards the tower, angling toward the gully that they planned to use later that night. Marian had been correct. The bottom of the wash was sandy, with thin bushes growing along the sides. The bushes had lost their leaves for the coming winter, but they should still provide them with enough cover to approach the tower unseen if they were careful.

Owen gained altitude once he was west of the tower, and soared around it once from a safe distance.  As he remembered from the previous night, part of the rampart on the southern side had fallen, but the structure still looked basically sound.  It was built tall and round with a narrow stone staircase that wound part way up the outside starting on the western side to a door opening to the south that was set at about twice the height of a tall man.  The remnants of the door had been pushed inward and were sagging on their hinges.  Owen reasoned that the thin stairway and the high door would make it difficult to assault the tower against an alert defense.  There was no room to swing a battering ram from the narrow landing before the door, and only one man at the most would be able to assault the old oaken door with an axe.  Heavy stones or hot oil dropped from above would make that axeman’s task more than perilous.

Owen circled the tower one more time, but could not see any sign of the fourth sentry. Downwind of the tower he caught the faint but distinct smell of fresh blood, probably from the game that the gorn had butchered for their dinner. After his lesson of the previous night, Owen dared not land on the battlement wall, and he also did not want to alert the gorn by loitering too long near the tower, so veering off to the west, he took up the trail of the villagers and their guards.