Tracking the Trake

Tracking the Trake

         "I don't know why I let you talk me into these things, Jamien!" The sound of the two pieces of rock rubbing was a warning of coming fire. The man making the noises looked a bit like fire flints too.

         "Jobs like this never seem to pay off," the squat man muttered into his black braided beard. His broad shoulders shook as he spoke.

         "Let me explain again Kargon," quipped the towering woman walking with him. Compared to the harsh rumbling of Kargon, Jamien's voice was a soft summer breeze. "Boy sad. Pet gone. We find. He happy. We happy."

         Jamien stretched to her full height. The squat Kurakin's head was all that was above her waist. Jamien brushed a strand of silvery hair from her softly tapered ears. "No good deed goes unrewarded."

         "Yeah, or unpunished." Kargon ran a finger over his twin bladed ax as he grumbled.

         "Well, of course. A job like this wouldn't be much fun without that chance."

         Jamien had that twinkle in her eyes again. She was going to see this through, no matter what. Blasted Eldrin. She always jumped at the chance to...Oh great peaks! There she goes again. "Wait for me, Jamien. You know I can't keep up with those great strides of yours. You may as well be a horse. Slow down for the sake of the Great Forge. Thought you Eldrins were supposed to be patient and never in a hurry and all that!"

         "Sorry, Kargon. I always forget about those tiny stumps of yours when you bellow like a gale."

         The forest around them was an autumn rainbow. Sunlight poured through the holes in leafy roof. The smell of dry earth was all around. The sounds of their treads were all that broke the silence under the canopy.

         "I've found Thrark's tracks again. Maybe this time you can avoid stamping out the trail?"

         "Like that was my fault? I can't track here. You never told me where the tracks were so I walked where I wanted..."

         "Right across the path our quarry took, of course. It took most of the morning to pick up the trail again. In any case, there are Malorgs leading the sheep. Thrark seems to be following them."

         "So there really are Malorgs in the woods, huh? You may be right, Jamien. This could be fun after all."

         Jamien looked skyward. "Great forests preserve me."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

         They looked odd walking through the farmlands that morning. It was rare to see a fair, long legged Eldrin traveling with a dark, squat Kurakin. When war struck, the two races often worked side by side. In peacetime, though, they had nothing in common. It was better they stay apart unless there was a looming threat. The mix of Eldrin Lady and Kurakin man was odder still.

         The pair walked in silence. The Eldrin moved with the fluid grace of a mountain stream, the Kurakin with the fluid grace of a mountain avalanche. They had come from the badlands to the south and were dressed for it. Jamien wore twin Eldrin sabres on her belt. Kargon used his ax like a walking staff.

         It amazed most people that the Kurakin would favor so large a weapon. Kargon looked too small to lift the huge ax. Of course, most forgot that the Kurakin had the mass of a man twice their size. They had a lot of muscle to put behind their swings.

         Suddenly, Jamien stopped and looked around while Kargon paced around her. Jamien's senses were very acute. She could hear a fly buzzing a thirty paces. Best not to question.

         "Over in that field. I think someone's hurt. I can hear sobbing. Let's see what we can do." Jamien vaulted the low fence as she spoke.

         Kargon followed. He fell behind scrambling over the beams. Once over, however, he moved with amazing speed for his size. "You did that delibrate ya gangly oaf! You know I can't jump stuff like...Hey, you were right. I can hear some crying. Must be mighty upset from the sound of the hollering. If we're gonna see what's what, let's move it!"

         Jamien hid a small grin. Her partner acted gruff and greedy. Jamien knew his awful secret though. He really did care about people. He hated to see others suffer. Still, he'd rather eat a redwood than admit it.

         The source of the wailing was a small human boy. The way he was carrying on he'd flood the fields soon. Kargon let Jamien take care of things. Arms and armor were his specialty. Jamien was good with people.

         "Calm down, and tell me what's wrong sapling. Don't worry about Kargon there. He may look mean, not to mention smell funny.." that earned a glare as hot as the forge, "...but he won't hurt you. Now, why are you watering the garden here?"

         "It's Thrark. He's my friend and he's lost. He's the smartest Trake in the world. If he can't find his way home then something's wrong."

         Kargon began muttering again. "Fine. We get to search through the woods for some lost pet. Other adventures go on grand quests for magic and gold, we hunt midget dragons."

         When Kargon said this the boy looked up. His face shone like the full moon. "You two would go find Thrark for me? You're the bestest people ever!" He ran over and hugged Kargon. The Kurakin looked about as happy as a hunter hugged by a grizzly.

         "I..well, I mean...that is...Jamien, get it offa me!"

         Jamien did not disguise this grin. "Do you suppose we should help the lad, Kargon?"

         "Fine! Whatever! We'll find the little cave rotting Trake! Just get this kid away from me!"

         "Fine. Of course we'll find Thrark for you, lad..."

         "My name's Nelrith, Miss."

         "And I'm Jamien and that's Kargon. Now, Nelrith, where did Thrark go?"

         "I think he went into the woods. Last night I heard something. I went out to see what it was cause Papa's sick. Mama's off getting medicine or something and the workers are celebrating the end of the harvest so I had to look. My brother just slept through it and he's gotta do all the chores. Thrark must a heard something too 'cause he was chasing after someone. I saw a couple of people and they was taking some of our sheep. Thrark went chasing after them and he must a got lost or hurt or something. I can show you where they went..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

         Despite his protests, Kargon had little trouble keeping up for the half day they followed the tracks.

         The poachers had not been trying to hide their tracks by this time. The smell they had left was enough that Kargon could have followed them on his own. Once they left the road, they went into the forest.

         Kargon didn't much care for forest. Too many places things could jump out from. In the summer it wasn't much different from his home caverns with leaves blocking the sun. Now, it was an alien world to him.

         Finally, they came to a clearing. The Malorgs were camped there. The stench alone was enough to alert one to their presence. The camp was full of the squat creatures. They were hideous parodies of men. There skins were more diseased moss than healthy flesh. Their eyes burned with a pale yellow light.

         Even their voices were ugly, the sounds of a dozen people gagging their last breaths.

         Jamien estimated thirty battle-ready. There were maybe twice that many wounded and, of course, a number of children as well. Many among the wounded bore the claw marks of an agressive beast.

         In the centre of the camp was a crude enclosure. Within were about a dozen sheep. Tied to a post was a small Trake. It had been muzzled, but its claws were dirtied by Malorg blood. The pair fell back into the forest.

         "It looks like Thrark is a dangerous opponent," Jamien said. "If we could get it loose, it would be a valuable ally."

         Kargon replied, "Sure, if it doesn't eat us to get its strength back. Then I'd have to kill it. The boy would just love that, wouldn't he?"

         "I don't think we need to worry about that. Thrark never hurt Nelrith. I'll wager it was defending the sheep. I can probably convince it that we don't want to hurt it. Of course I'd have to get to it first."

         "Don't worry about that. I can distract those Malorgs for ya. They won't even know yer there."

         "By distract you mean try to kill them all at once, don't you?" Jamien asked.

         Kargon began to finger the blades of his ax again. "Can you think of a better way to distract them? If I cut all their heads off, they won't be looking for you. Let's stop jabbering and get on with it."

         "All right then. Just be careful, Kargon. It would take far too long for me to find another partner. Look at how much effort I went through to train you. I'd rather not go through that again."

         "There's only thirty of 'em, Jamien. I'll probably be done before you get to Thrark." Kargon began to walk to the camp. As he stepped out from the trees he shouted, "I thought I smelled something foul. Guess it's time to clean the filth out of the forest." Then he howled a Kurakin war cry and charged.

         The Malorgs were caught by surprise. Kargon was able to kill three before the rest were on him. Jamien lost sight of her friend in the mass of Malorg warriors. She hoped Kargon could take care of himself.

         In a soft singsong voice, Jamien called to the power of primal Chaos. The Eldrin were gifted with what others called Chaos magic. Born from Chaos itself, they could control its power. Not wanting to tire herself too much, Jamien caused her form to fade. She would be difficult to see for the next few minutes.

         As she walked through the camp Jamien saw Kargon once again. He had escaped from the press of Malorgs. Somehow he had reached the cookfires. Fighting with his back to a fire he kept the Malorgs from surrounding him again. He had some scrapes across his face. Nothing he wouldn't heal from. As Jamien approached the sheep pen, Kargon made a wide sweep with his ax and cut down four more of the Malorgs. Still, he was hard pressed.

         As she reached the pen, Jamien heard something moving in the woods. looking back through the trees, she could see shapes creeping closer. Curse the sky, they had a hunting party out. There were probably at least a dozen reinforcements coming. Kargon wouldn't know they were there until it was too late. Jamien knew she had to turn the tide soon, or they were both lost.

         Moving through the pen stirred the sheep up. They were even more agitated when her spell faded. She heard cries from the hunting party. They had seen her. Nothing to do now but follow the plan. She walked to the Trake. Once again she sang the songs of chaos. Then she spoke to the Trake. "I won't hurt you. I want to take you back to your friend Nelrith. I want to let you express your displeasure with your captors." She hadn't time to make her spell of communication work both ways. She had to trust that the Trake understood. The spell faded as Jamien cut the Trake's bonds and muzzle.

         The Trake let out a squak, "THRARRK!" It looked at Jamien, and its fanged mouth opened. A long tongue rolled out and licked her face. Then Thrark snarled at the Malorgs who had reached the pen. Bounding past Jamien, it attacked, its ferocity more than making up for its size.

         Thrark's claws tore strips of sickly green flesh from the Malorgs. Of course, it wasn't so angry that it would stoop to biting them. It had made that mistake already, judging by the care it took to keep it mouth closed.

         Jamien wasn't about to let Thrark deal with a dozen armed Malorgs alone. She crooned a harsh tune as she drew her twin sabres. As she finished, the began to glow with a shifting rainbow light. Then she attacked.

         The Malorgs were obviously more concerned with the arngry Trake than the woman that was with it. Jamien leapt into their midst and ran two through before they knew she was there. At the same time, Thrark tore the eyes out another. The reinforcements were quick to fall.

         Kargon was hard pressed. He was chopping the Malorgs up left and right, but they were getting a few good whacks in as well. Then they pushed forward forcing Kargon into the fire. Kargon was unprepared for them to display smart tactics and he fell in. He jumped out of the flames and swatted at the small fires on his clothes. The Malorgs moved to surround him again. Before they circled around the blaze, he sensed something at his back and turned to bring it down. His blade stopped just short of cutting Jamien's leg off.

         Jamien looked down at her friend and said, "Okay, I'm sorry about the funny smell comment." Kargon grinned and the pair stood back to back.

         The Malorgs were no longer able to flank their foes, but there were still many of them. Kargon cut left and right with his ax. Jamien slashed with her sabres, taking eyes and throats. Still, the Malorgs landed blows and the pair were quickly tiring. Then everyone heard a loud squawk. Thrark had come to aid his new friends. Between ax, sword and claw many Malorgs fell. The survivors fled into the woods. Jamien and Kargon collapsed, their energies spent. Thrark waddled around and licked each new comrade.

         It took three days to get back to the farm. They had to move slowly, thanks to their wounds. They also had to be careful of the Malorgs in the woods. In a week or so they would return to clear the pestilence out. The sheep couldn't move very fast either. The only one who seemed to be in a hurry was Thrark. Finally the farm was in sight.

         Thrark ran ahead and jumped through the fence beams with a loud squeal. Jamien and Kargon heard Nelrith call out "Thrark! You're back!"

         They brought the sheep to the gate and Nelrith let them in. "Wow! You brought Thrark and our sheep back. You are the bestest heroes in the whole world."

         They all heard a feminine voice call, "Nelrith. What's going on? What's all the noise?"

         "That's mama. Mama, Thrark's back. These two got him and most of our sheep back."

         Jamien and Kargon were surprised at 'mama'. She was a graceful slender woman. Not the typical farmer's wife.

         "So, you brought back my son's pet and our stolen sheep. That was kind of you. You should be rewarded." Her voice was somewhat harsh.

         Jamien replied, "No need for rewards, my lady. Your son's joy is enough for us."

         Kargon added, "Course dinner and a place to spend the night would be nice too."

         The woman looked a bit surprised. "I always thought wandering warriors expected payments for their services. That seems to be the norm these days."

         Jamien smiled. "We aren't your typical wandering mercenaries, good woman. Besides I doubt that your family farm would bring much extra money to you. As my companion said, a place to spend the night and a good meal are a fine reward."

         The woman smiled. "It seems you really did do this out of the goodness of your hearts. I suppose Nelrith didn't think to tell you who we are. My husband and I own much of the land in this area. This homestead is just our personal farm. We also run five others. I am also the proud owner of the biggest silver mine in the region. As you are not typical mercenaries, we are not a typical farm family. What you have done deserves better payment than a meal and a bed for the night. I will see to it that you are well rewarded. Come with me and we will see about the dinner."

         Kargon looked up at Jamien. "See, I told ya. No good deed goes unrewarded."

         Jamien smiled. "Yes, I seem to recall hearing that somewhere recently."