Dragon Riders of Etrea—Chapter 23

For the rest of the day they alternated between a canter and a fast walk and the horses never acted tired. Their energy seemed almost infinite.

“How far do you think we went today?” Tobias asked.

Henrik thought for a moment. “A fast horse can run a mile in two, two and a half minutes. We spent at least two hours at that pace, and since then we’ve continued to move quickly. I wouldn’t be surprised if we went seventy or eighty miles today.”

Tobias whistled between his teeth. “Eighty miles in a single day! I don’t think I’d believe it if I hadn’t been on the horse myself. Hell, I was right here and I still barely believe it. Hard to imagine going that far in a day. Certainly we’re catching up to them at that rate.”

“If we keep moving quickly, we might run into the orcs as soon as tomorrow,” Henrik said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we were able to see them by tonight. Speaking of which.” He reached back and pulled the looking glass from his saddlebags, then began scanning the horizon in front of them. “Nothing yet,” he muttered.

“How do you plan on dealing with that many orcs?” Tobias asked.

“Weren’t there twenty of them?” Rasud asked. “That’s a lot of people to fight, even for you, Henrik.”

“Simple,” he said. “I’m going to walk right in there and challenge them.”

Tobias just turned and gave him a flat look. “You can’t be serious.”

“Ah, one thing you’ll learn about Henrik is that he usually is, in fact, serious,” Rasud said, then turned to Henrik. “Really, though. You can’t be serious.”

“Orcs have a certain sense of honor,” Henrik said. “If I walk in there and challenge their best fighter, he’ll have to accept. Anything else would bring shame upon him. Can you imagine, the orc that refused to fight a human?”

“That’s true,” Rasud said.

“What about the others?” Tobias asked. “What’s the stop one of them from knifing you in the back?”

“Simple,” Henrik said, continuing. “If anyone else were to intervene, the orc I challenged would likely kill them for denying him the honor of a duel.”

“So, all you have to do is beat their toughest man in a fair fight?” Tobias asked.

“Oh, I’m sure it won’t be fair,” Henrik said. “In fact, I’m counting on them fighting as dirty as possible, and you two should expect to be ambushed.”

“Your plan isn’t filling me with confidence,” Rasud said.

“But think of all the men you can set on fire,” Henrik replied.

Rasud thought on that for a moment, then nodded. “Okay, I’m sold. And the witch-woman is mine. Tobias, you can have the horses.”

Henrik expected an angry comment, but Tobias just laughed.

“Hey, some of those orc horses were nice-looking. What can I say, it’s been a while.”

All three of them laughed at that.

“Do you think they’re still moving as quickly as we saw before?” Tobias asked some time later.

“No,” Henrik said. “Even their horses would tire. What’s most likely is that they raced away from the dragon’s cave as quickly as possible for as long as the horses could go, then slowed so they didn’t kill them. They probably had to take it easy today to keep from overstressing the horses.”

Henrik brought the looking glass back up and scanned the horizon again. A party of twenty orcs would leave an easy-to-follow trail, that much was certain. The dust cloud alone would make it easy to spot them. Unless they had already stopped.

“I think I see them,” Henrik said.

“Well, that was sooner than expected,” Rasud said. “I’m still not ready, though.” He combed his fingers through his black hair, then reached his hands behind his head and began braiding it. 

“They’ve stopped,” Henrik said. “I was looking for dust from all those hooves, but they’ve stopped and set up a camp. As I said earlier, their horses probably need to rest.”

“Good thing they don’t have dragon magic,” Tobias said.

“Nope, just twenty angry orcs with swords,” Rasud said in a grim voice. “I’d better confer with my ancestors about this.” He began speaking in a low voice, the way he did when talking to his spirits.

“Henrik, I have a question,” Tobias said. “Why isn’t the dragon doing this? I would think a dragon would go after her own egg.”

“I’ve been thinking about that as well,” Henrik replied. “I don’t have a clear answer, but something is clearly amiss.”

“Is the dragon injured?”

Henrik shook his head. “I don’t believe so. At least, not physically. It’s possible the witch-woman did something to it with magic, I suppose. Anslie didn’t allude to any of that, though. To be honest I have no answer, but I found it strange as well.” He brought the looking glass back up to his eye and watched the orc camp for a moment. “I’d say we’re about an hour away from them. Let’s take a moment to rest, both us and our horses. We’ll pay them a visit this evening.”

He gave his reins a gentle tug and his horse slowed and eventually stopped. The other men did the same, then dismounted.

“So, you’re going to fight their best warrior,” Rasud said. “Are you sure about that?”

“Somehow, I think I’ll be okay,” Henrik said. “You might want to stay clear of me for a few minutes though, until you’re sure it’s safe.”

Rasud groaned. “Well, there’s a plan that certainly can’t go wrong.”

“Huh?” Tobias asked, taking a step closer with his reins in hand. “What did I miss?”

“Oh nothing, just Henrik planning on losing his mind and killing everyone around him,” Rasud said. “No reason to worry about anything at all.”

“Relax,” Henrik said. “Everything is going to be fine. I know what I’m doing.”

It wasn’t fully a lie. Henrik knew his capabilities with a sword, especially one-on-one. If by chance he found himself facing an orc that was the better…well, then he’d simply rely on his anger, and hope things didn’t go too far. Perhaps not the most thought-out plan, but they didn’t have time to craft something detailed and intricate. Sometimes brute force was necessary.

“Is that really your plan?” Tobias asked.

Henrik nodded.

The other man shrugged. “Well, you’re the best man with a sword I’ve met. If anyone can do it, it’s you. I just hope I don’t get caught up in the mess.”

Henrik retrieved his whetstone from his saddlebags, then grabbed his sword belt. “Orcs have their sense of honor, remember. I’m sure they’d love to run a spear through your gut, but that would be seen as trying to affect the outcome of our duel. Anything like that would likely make my opponent angry to the point of him killing anyone that messed with it.”

“I don’t like it,” Tobias said. “I don’t see that I have much choice, though.”

“Exactly,” Henrik replied. “Best not to stress yourself over things you can’t change. Just stay prepared and keep both your blade and your mind sharp.”

Tobias grunted at that, then went to his saddlebags to fetch his own whetstone.

Henrik sat down cross-legged and pulled his sword from its scabbard. After spitting on his whetstone, he ran it down the edge of his sword, making sure to keep the angle just right. Each side of his blade received fifty strokes, until he could damn near shave with it.

His dagger was next. Since that weapon was more for thrusting and parrying, its edge was at a slightly different angle. One hundred strokes later, he could easily shave hair off the back of his forearm with it.

“I haven’t quite managed to get mine that sharp yet,” Tobias said as he worked on his own blade. “I’m close, though.” 

“Focus on the tip,” Henrik said. “That’s the part most likely to cut a man, and you generally won’t use the tip for parrying. Get it as sharp as possible. Although I suppose you can focus on your shield more than parrying with the blade.”

“Exactly,” Tobias said. “Being able to slam that thing into someone has saved my ass several times. You should consider using one.”

“I have in the past,” Henrik said. “Shields aren’t good for sneaking around, though. Same with armor. I just have to count on speed and a bit of luck.”

“Speaking of luck, I guess it’s time to see if those blessings we received are worth anything,” Rasud said.

“How are your ancestors?” Henrik asked. “Will they fight against orcs?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Rasud replied. “I mean, they aren’t keen on it, but they’re my ancestors. They’ll defend me from the gods themselves if I ask them. They’ll keep me alive at any cost, both because they’re my kin and because I’m their link to this world. As I told you before, when they serve me they get a taste of life again.”

“Well, I’m going to need a bit of their help,” Henrik said. “I know what I’m capable of, and contrary to what we spoke of earlier, I’d rather not lose my temper. I want to defeat this man squarely as myself.”

“I can help a bit,” Rasud said. “Remember, my ancestors are better at killing. Healing too, I suppose. We’ll do what we can, you have my word.”

“Wish I could do something to help,” Tobias said as he ran his stone down the edge of his sword.

“Stand on the outside of the ring and look as mean as possible,” Henrik said. “If anyone tries to help my opponent, kill them.”

“Oh, that simple?” Tobias asked with a chuckle.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there to help,” Rasud said quietly. “And I plan on using my full power there. I’m better when focusing on stationary targets, so a camp is an ideal place for me to sow discord.”

“And by discord he means fire,” Henrik said.

Rasud just nodded.

“You want anything to eat?” Tobias asked as he pushed himself to his feet.

Henrik shook his head. “I’m fine. Maybe a snack at the most, but I don’t want to fight with a full stomach.” He examined the edge of his dagger, then double checked his sword. Both were about as sharp as could be, so he decided not to waste any more time on them. 

Henrik stood up, then returned his sword to its scabbard. After that he buckled his sword belt around his waist, taking a moment to adjust it just so.

“Ready?” Rasud asked, watching him carefully. With battle close, the witchman had no time for jokes. 

Henrik nodded. “I’m ready.”