A Perilous Journey

The Ahlissan Chronicles

~ Novella 2 ~

A Perilous Journey

~ 6 ~

Taken

*****

Eryca opened the outer door and ran up the ladder into a cacophony of light and sound, a complete assault on her senses. To her right lay her grandfather, checking him she saw that Astinos' prayers had stopped his bleeding but he needed more extensive healing. Feeling her touch upon his shoulder he opened his eyes and assured her that he would be fine. Reassured that William would live Eryca looked up and tried to make sense of the battle.

Astinos, Brion, Barnard and Aizantius had taken up position in a semicircle in front of the hatch leading to the lower decks to protect Karolyn and the children. Captain Nerelas and his crewed were engaged against the hobgoblins all over the main deck. Eryca decided to move forward between the two swordsmen where she thought she could be the most help. Once she was between Brion and Barnard, Eryca whispered the spidery words that produced a raging fireball in her left hand which she promptly hurled at a pair of incoming goblins.

Lord Brion rammed his blade through the gut of the approaching hobgoblin, when out of the corner of his left eye he saw two goblins with clubs raised running towards him. Just as he prepared to turn and face them he felt extreme heat just before a ball of reddish pink flame flew past him and engulfed the two would be attackers. Half turning expecting to that Aizantius had moved up behind him he saw a cloud of red hair blowing as another fireball flew out to incinerate yet another foe.

"In the name of...! Eryca! What are you doing up here?" Brion yelled above the noise as he slashed downward relieving a goblin of his right arm. "You are supposed to be below!"

"I saw that William was injured and I came up to help!" She yelled back as lightning jumped from her fingertips burning the leather chest armor of three hobgoblins, she watched as they lay convulsing on the deck. "My Lord, do not even say that my place is below in that stateroom cowering!"

Brion parried a hobgoblin's blade and then kicked it in the chest knocking it backwards. "Such a hideous thought never even crossed my mind, my Lady!" He smiled slyly. She had known exactly what he had been thinking.

* * *

Wulfgut had climbed that foremast and was standing on the lowest yardarm surveying the battle when he saw several of his raiders engulfed in bright pink and red fireballs. He looked down to see the newest combatant to join the fight. Excellent! He thought, their quarry had appeared; now he could complete his mission and end this before he lost too many warriors. Signaling to get the attention of several of his more experienced warriors who were waiting on the lower yardarm of the mainmast, he pointed to their target. Nodding that they understood, the three large hobgoblins made ready.

* * *

Brion laughed to himself as he watched Eryca use her staff to bash a goblin on the skull and then kick away the dirty humanoid. Just then he heard a loud roar from an unusually large hobgoblin watching the battle from the foremast. He wore fairly well maintained chainmail and carried a steel sword and therefore had to be the leader. As he watched the creature leaped down from its' perch and knocked its' own warriors aside as it charged towards him.

The knight raised his sword and ran forward to meet his new foe. The two met in a clash of steel as they thrust and parried with their swords. The smelly thing had some decent sword skills Brion thought as they engaged in battle.

* * *

The trio of large hobgoblins saw Wulfgut engage the skilled human warrior, which was their signal. Swinging down from the mainmast they landed behind the mage. They had been told exactly what to do and to make sure they did it as quickly as possible lest they be destroyed by the mages' mighty magik.

Eryca sensed something behind her; quickly turning she was faced with three large grey-green hobgoblins. As the words that would summon a cone of fire came to her lips the closest creature grabbed her and shoved a rag deep into her mouth painfully choking her off. Before she could reach up to remove it the second had grabbed her hands and cinched them together with a length of rope. Suddenly, she was thrown over the shoulder of the largest of the three and he ran as fast as he could toward the makeshift gangplank.

Barnard and Astinos chased after them trying to get a grip on Eryca's robes but the other humanoids ceased fighting and began a rear guard action to cover the escape of the kidnapper. Brion saw the instant change in the flow of the battle and turned to see Eryca over the shoulder of a large hobgoblin being carried down the gangplank. Turning from Wulfgut he called out.

"No! Eryca!" he yelled as he tried to reach her but the pleading look in Eryca's emerald eyes was the last thing he saw before he felt the butt of Wulfgut's sword come crashing down on the back of his head.

* * *

Blackness surrounded him so he slowly opened his eyes, as soon as the dim light of his surroundings entered his eyes Brion's world became a throbbing mass of pain. Suddenly like a rushing wave his last memories crashed over him and he sat bolt upright.

"Eryca!"

Brion howled as the pain in his head and the sudden movement almost made him pass out. Brion's head throbbed in agony as he looked around and found that he was in his stateroom; he had been placed on his bed. He swung his feet onto the deck and then standing he took a step forward and grabbed at his table for support as he felt a wave of dizziness and nausea sweep over him. Not allowing his pain to dictate his actions he forced himself to walk to his door and out into the hallway. A new wave of pain washed over him as he mounted the ladder to go above deck and the bright light of day was forced into his eyes.

The Scarlet Queen's main deck was organized chaos as he heard the voices of the Captain and the first-mate directing the crew to secure the ship and tend to the wounded. As his eyes adjusted and the pain in his head became a sharp ache instead of a blinding pain, he thanked the Seven Heavens that there weren't as many wounded as there could have been. He watched as Astinos went to each man, placed his hands on their forehead and muttered his prayers of healing. He was followed by the ships' healer who attended to the more minor wounds, spreading salves and applying bandages. Through the haze of pain in his head he heard his name being called.

"Brion, son, you shouldn't be up here right now." It was his father who spoke and helped to steady him as the nausea returned. "You have a bad head wound son, you need to take it easy."

"They took Eryca, which way did they go?" Brion asked his concern for her overriding his own pain.

"I'm sorry son; they managed to escape with her. As soon as we have things under control here we are going after her." Brion looked at his father and nodded that action caused a pain in the back of his head that felt like someone had shoved a knife into his skull. Before he could speak his next words he felt as if his world had spun around him faster than he could see and then all went black.

* * *

When Brion awoke he was again on the bunk in his cabin, he could feel that the nausea had left and after reaching up he could feel a good sized bump on the back of his head. He again sat up and after testing himself stood and walked out. The commotion above deck had died down considerably and after asking the first-mate, who was overseeing things, was told the captain was in his cabin. Brion made his way aft and entered the captain's cabin to find the others gathered around the map table.

"My Lord, by the gods I am going to tie you down to that bed." Astinos said to him as he walked over and helped Brion into a chair. "You need to give yourself time to heal before you can go after anyone!"

"I'll live Paragon, although right now I do not feel as if I deserve to."

Lord Barnard turned and looked at his son, who sat brooding in the chair.

"Brion we all tried to save Eryca, do not blame yourself." He said softly but with authority. "We have discussed the incident and although they attacked like experienced pirates they took only Eryca." He looked down at the map table, his mood darkening. "Kidnapping her was the objective of their attack."

Brion stood his legs almost giving way beneath him before he managed to lean on the map table for support.

"Okay, first things first, Captain Nerelas what is the current disposition of the crew?"

"I lost two men in the battle my Lord, as for the wounded the majority are minor and the Paragon managed to heal the severely wounded. My ships' healer can handle everything from here on out."

"Very good and how is the ship?"

I have men working now to free us from that damned net. The 'Queen suffered no major damage so once we've removed the net and repaired the jib sails we could be underway in an hour maybe two."

"Excellent work as always Captain, I don't see William among us. I know he was wounded, how is he?" Brion asked as he looked around the table.

"He will live my Lord" answered Astinos "the blade that pierced him left a clean cut and I managed to staunch the bleeding during the battle. However, he will need several days of bed rest so that his body can finish mending. As to your wound my Lord..."

Lord Brion cut off Astinos' words with a wave of his hand. What he needed now was to keep busy; bed rest would only give him time to remember his failure to rescue his betrothed over and over in his mind.

"Now where are we exactly? And what direction did the raiders take as they left?"

Lord Barnard spread a map out in front of Brion on the table and pointed to the last great bend in the Nesser River in the southeastern portion of the Celadon Forest.

"According to Captain Nerelas we are here at this bend to the south of the Spurned Vale. The goblin horde headed west towards the foothills of the Abbor-Alz. With a group their size they should be easy enough to track and overtake. If they make it into the highlands and we lose them for some reason we can always go to Castle Seh here in the foothills." Barnard pointed to a black star on the map. "It is a border outpost for the Duchy and I am sure they will know where a tribe that can host a raiding party of that size can be found."

Lord Brion shook his head in agreement which made the room spin madly. His father had a good plan and he had considered the same factors as Brion had. Given their available intelligence and resources it the only option available to them. Turning to look out the porthole Brion could see that the sun was already beginning to set in the western sky.

"Night is approaching, if we try to track them in the dark we will only ruin whatever tracks and clues they have left behind." He said darkly. "So ready yourselves we leave at first light. The Captain and his crew will stay with the 'Queen to keep her ready for when we return."

The men around the table nodded in agreement. They all wanted to leave immediately but they knew what Brion had said to be correct. If they went stumbling in the dark they may well destroy their only hope of finding Lady Tandris. As much as they hated to, they had to wait for first light.