RECOVERY

AMBUSH

Raven stood over the graves of his sister Limp and Grey while Pavalon fed their horses. When he was through, he rejoined Raven at the graves they had dug for the women after their escape into the outlands. They found a perfect spot under a sycamore tree and laid them to rest there.

When the arrow got Limp as they escaped, she shouted as anyone would and called out to her brother. “I have been hit by an arrow.” “Hold on to me Limp, don’t let go” Raven told her as he stroked the horse to go faster. The pain was exhilarating and as she spun her head around in distress, she noticed that Grey too had been hit by an arrow but unlike her, Grey was dealing with it quite differently as she showed very little of a sign as someone on a speeding horse with an iron arrow head stuck to her back.

When they were out of danger, Pavalon rushed down from his horse to help Raven attend to Limp’s wound and that was when he discovered the woman he got mixed up in all of what was happening also had an arrow to her back.

The wounds were deep and both women died shortly afterwards because there was actually very little they could do about the wounds.

“You never told me about her.” Raven said to Pavalon after he joined him at the site of the graves. “Yeah didn’t think the time was right.” Raven nodded his understanding. “About the traitor the king refused to shut up about...” “I did what I thought was right and now everyone is dead because of me.” Pavalon cut him short with his eyes fixed on Grey’s grave.

“Don’t do that. None of this is your fault.” Raven tried to confort his friend. “I’ll need you to pull yourself back together and describe within the palace walls, guards routine and where the king’s chamber is located, I am going back in. We can mourn our losses after I kill him.” “You don’t need to” “What!” Raven looked at him. “I mean you don’t need to go back into Zorak.” “Okay, you have me lost here.” Raven was still confused. “The king would be riding out for his regular visit to the whispering caves.” Pavalon told him. “When?” “Today.”

Raven raised his head from the graves and looked at his friend. “Are you thinking of...” “an ambush, yes” Pavalon stole the word from his mouth and proclaimed it himself. “What route is he taking?” Raven asked him, they had taken their eyes away from the graves and were now facing themselves. “My best guess is the rocky terrain parallel to the silent valleys. That is where we have always used. An ambush in that area would be quite difficult which is why he likes taking it and I believe he would be taking it this time.

“Okay so we scout the area before he gets there and pick higher grounds.” Pavalon looked at him. “Raven, there is only two of us.” “Doesn’t matter.” “It does because we are planning on lunching an attack on the king who would be travelling with the best of his soldiers. I used to handpick them you know.” “What are you trying to say captain?” “Hey I know you are angry. I am likewise but anger clouds reasoning and sound judgement every time. If we attack him, we have to do it right and not just because the opportunity presents itself.”

Raven took a long breath and walked away from Pavalon. It was a smart move for he was not sure if he could control himself anymore. Pavalon understood this as well. When the air of violence had passed a little, Raven brought himself to say. “Look I am sorry. I totally lost it back there.” “I clearly understand why.” Pavalon reassured him. “How many men is the king used to visiting the caves with?” Raven asked him. “About Fifty of the...” “Best, yeah I know” Raven cut him and said mockingly.

“Alright them how about we use another approach.” “Which is?” Pavalon asked him. “Will the king be entering the caves alone?” “Yes as always” Pavalon looked at him and hoped he was not going to suggest what he was thinking, unfortunately he did. “In that case, I am proposing we attack him while he is inside the caves doing whatever it is he is doing.” Pavalon bent his head and shook it. “What is your exit plan if I may ask? What happens when the king’s soldiers get tired of waiting and decides to check what is keeping their king after we’ve killed him – if we succeed in killing him” “I don’t know, we’ll go through them or something.”

“Raven” Pavalon called to him with the tone of ‘you are being reckless” “Well if you have a better plan let’s hear it.” “I don’t mean to trample on your plan, my opinion is, since our target is the king, I say we take up higher grounds and end the king from there.” Pavalon said appealingly. “The soldiers would give chase” “and we would have a trap waiting for them.” “What trap?” Raven asked him. “We’ll get to it but if we are to do this, we have to get moving now.” Raven then went back to the grave site, bent down and muttered words that Pavalon could not hear. They mounted their horses and rode towards the whispering caves.

Back in Zorak, the king was trying his best to make his daughter see reasons why she needed to sit this visit to the whispering caves out but she was not complying. “You promised that I would come with you this time to the whispering caves father.” “Yes I did Tarin, I did not forget the promise but it is not safe not with those traitors out there and besides the whispering caves are not going anywhere now are they?” Tarin saw and knew that it was futile arguing with her father when ever his mind was made and she gave up and walked away.

Immediately she left, one of the palace guards approached him. “My liege we are all set to leave.” “Good. We ride within the hour, make sure there are guards on Tarin’s door until I return is that clear?” “Yes my liege” the guard saluted and walked away.

Raven had finally come to terms that waiting inside the caves for the king was not such a great idea and as they explored the silent valleys looking for the best place from which to launch their surprise attack, it occurred to them that the king might be expecting them to try and kill him and may have taken counter measures to that end.

“What if he decides not to show up?” Raven asked Pavalon. “He will show up. The visits to the whispering caves are very important to him, I have heard him talk about it but no one knows what he goes in there to do.” “Well I don’t intend to find out. Let’s just kill him and get this over with.” They found the perfect spot and waited for the king to show up.

Tarin watched from her window as her father mounted his horse along with close to fifty soldiers and rode out through the main gate. “We’ll take the rocky terrain and go through the silent valleys.” The king told the soldier he intended to make captain after Pavalon but not yet, and considering that Pavalon whom he trusted and considered as a friend had betrayed him, he would have a hard time trusting anyone again.

“My liege, there have been rumors that the red dragon has been frequenting the area around the silent valleys.” The soldier told him. “I’ve heard the rumors. Don’t worry about the dragon if it attacks, we’ll give him a taste of his own medicine. I trust you brought the flukes with you?” “We couldn’t have forgotten that.” The king looked at him. the soldier was yet to learn that the king liked direct answers to his questions and frowned upon the rest.

The fluke is a weapon that could be compared to a modern day hand grenade. It has a fuse that when lit, gave about six seconds before it goes boom. Raven had never heard about it or seen one before and Pavalon forgot to tell him about it. Now as they watched the king and his soldiers approaching, Raven lost sight of everything, gave in to his anger, drew his sword, blew their cover and stopped at the intersection where the king was to pass through just before he got to the caves. All of Pavalon’s effort to get him back in line with the plan failed. He exhaled deeply, dropped the bow he was aiming at the king’s head, drew his sword and joined his friend.

“Hey this was supposed to be an ambush.” Pavalon yelled at him in a whisper. “Change of plan.” Raven told him. “So we just attack them squarely? Listen they haven’t seen us yet, if we return to our position now we could still execute our original plan. “Too late” Raven said and nodded towards the front where the soldiers were emerging out of the concealment the hill created.

When the king saw them, he muttered to himself “as expected.” Then he ordered that a fluke be ignited and thrown at them. “Let’s see how they fight that.” The king said as the soldier threw the fluke at them. “Oh no!” Pavalon exclaimed. “What is it?” Raven asked him, but all he said was... “Run”. It was a little late and the explosion picked and threw them away like empty sacks.

“What was that?” Raven asked Pavalon. “Oops I forgot to tell you. It’s called a fluke.” Raven had bruised his head against a tree trunk while Pavalon got lucky. “Finish them” the king told his soldiers when he saw that they had survived the blast. Four soldiers dismounted and walked towards them but it would seem the explosion had invited a guest to the little get together that was in effect – the red dragon.

It flew in and grabbed one of the soldiers that were making for Raven and Pavalon. The soldier was dead centuries before the dragon released him and he hit the ground. Pavalon helped Raven up as they watched the dragon destroying the soldiers. Then the king himself took a fluke, ignited it and threw it at the dragon. It exploded close to his head and the dragon fell to the ground with a mighty thud but was still moving.

The king drew his sword, dismounted and walked to where it was and drove the steel  into the dragon’s half destroyed head. Raven and Pavalon watched in horror as the king drew out his sword, flapped it and cleaned the blood on the dragon’s body. He wanted to attack him but suddenly the pain of the impact with the tree came calling then everything went black for him.