Dawn of the Last Dragon Rider - Chapter 016 - A Threat to All

Kaen was packing a few things up in his room since he had some time before he and Hess would head to town to prepare for tonight.  A few men had stopped by earlier, and Hess had given all the extra meat they owned.  Since they were going to leave tomorrow, they would only take as much as they could in their pack.  Anything else would have to be hunted.

Looking under his bed for possibly lost items, Kaen saw all the dust and cobwebs he had not realized had moved in and started reproducing at an alarming rate.  It was good that Hess had not found this mess, or he would not have heard the end of it.

A reflection of something underneath his bed caught his eye, and he started to crawl underneath his bed, wondering what it was.

Just as he grabbed the item, in his head, he felt a sense of angst through his bond before Pammon shouted.

Kaen! We have trouble!

Smacking his bed against the wood planks that kept his old mattress from falling through, Kaen backed out from under the bed, cursing.

What is it?  What is wrong?

Goblins and orcs are slowly moving toward the town.  They are probably two or three hours away, but they found your trail from yesterday and are following it.  Kaen, there are thirty goblins and three orcs!

Cursing under his breath, Kaen rose to his feet, rubbed the spot on his head, and turned toward the kitchen.  Glancing down, he saw a small button in his hand that he did not remember losing.  Not a prize worth the bump he felt on his head.

“HESS! WE HAVE TROUBLE!” Kaen bellowed as he ran out into the main room.

Looking around, he saw Hess was not there.  Kaen quickly ran out the front door and started to shout at Hess when he noticed one of the women from the bar was with Hess near the property line, and they were talking very close to each other.

“Hess! I need you now!”

Hess turned and groaned for a moment.  The young woman looked frustrated as well. Kaen wished he could remember her name, but he did not know any of the women from the bar.  He never went in there.

Kaen tapped his head with a finger and then motioned toward the woods as Hess glared at him.  Realizing what Kaen was trying to tell him from across the yard, Hess gave the woman a quick kiss on the cheek and a tap on the rear and said something to her that made her laugh.  She nodded and waved goodbye at Kaen and then started to leave.

Hess jogged over and saw the look on Kaen’s face.

“I’m scared to ask.  What is it?”

“Orcs and goblins are following our trail,” Kaen whispered as he watched the woman walk away.  “Pammon says at least thirty goblins and three orcs are due here in a few hours.  What are we going to do?”

Hess immediately ran past Kaen toward the house.

“Follow me!” was all Hess shouted as he ran through the front door.

Kaen was right on his heels as Hess ran into his room.  Kaen had not been in here in ages but remembered Hess’s room was three times his size.

“Grab that end and help me lift the bed.  I can do it myself, but we can do it faster together.”

Kaen grabbed one corner as Hess grabbed the massive front end of the bed.  Even though it was solid wood from the trees he had harvested from the forest long ago, they moved it easily with the strength he now had and how strong Hess was.  Both men moved and pivoted without needing to talk during the process.  Years of moving stuff together made it so they could know which way the other would go by how they leaned.

After the bed was set down a few feet from the wall, Hess moved to the middle of the floor and pointed at two spots on the floor.  Kaen realized that there was not a single bit of dust or dirt under Hess’s bed.

“Here and here,” Hess said as he touched two small boards with knots in the wood at each of his fingers, “push at the same time and watch.”

Hess pressed both boards, and a click could barely be heard before a board section lifted from the floor.  Kaen was mesmerized momentarily, realizing what was hidden in Hess’s house.  Hess lifted the section and pushed it to stand up against the wall.  There underneath it was a set of stone stairs leading underneath the house.

“When did you do this?” Kaen gasped as he watched Hess start to go down the steps into the darkness.

“Long before you lived with me, boy, now hurry up!”

Kaen scrambled to follow Hess and had gotten five steps before he saw Hess had stopped moving.  Hess tapped on a weird glass thing five times, and suddenly it burst with light.

“A mid-level light orb,” Hess informed Kaen.  “They last for decades if one uses them every day.  With how little I use it, this one will still last for a lifetime.”

Kaen tried not to stand there in shock as Hess continued down the steps with the orb in his hand.  All this time, Hess had been holding out on him!  There was no telling what was down these steps.

Twelve steps later, Kaen found himself in a room that matched almost the size of Hess’s bedroom.  Large rocks lined the wall, and some support beams supported the ceiling above.  There was even a small rock ceiling that Kaen guessed was used to keep noise and light from spilling up into the house.

All along the wall were wooden chests and crates, pouches and bags, barrels, and other things he did not recognize.

Hess was moving to a leather backpack, grabbed it, and tossed it to Kaen.

“Get those on now!  We can discuss this later if we survive, but we must be prepared for the attack.  Tell Pammon to keep you updated on their movement but to stay out of sight!”

Kaen relayed the information as he opened the backpack and found the equipment his father had left him.  Putting the vambraces on, he fumbled with them and used his teeth to tighten them.  After he put the leather piece on, he realized he needed help to tighten it.

“A little help?”

Hess grunted and nodded.  He had already put on some chain pants and a chain vest.  Far heavier and stronger armor than the leather stuff he had worn when they had gone to the cave.

Moving quickly, Hess was not as gentle this time as he yanked on the leather cords and pulled the chest piece tight.  He wasted no time as he made sure it was snug and tied off in the back.

“Your bow is in that corner in that barrel.  Take it and the green quiver in there.  Find a yellow quiver and put the arrows from it in that one,” Hess stated, moving over to a chest and pulling out a chain head covering.  “Those arrows are higher quality ones and will fly truer.”

Kaen went to the barrel Hess had pointed to, popped off the lid, and stood there in awe momentarily.  He could feel something special coming from the barrel.  There was no moisture or anything.  It was as if the entire contents were dry and protected somehow.  Magic!  Burn Hess for hiding all of this from him.

Taking his bow out, he braced it and felt the white string go tight as he secured it to both ends.  He could feel it calling out to him.  Finding the green quiver, he pulled it out and started to grab an arrow from the yellow quiver he saw.  The moment his fingers touched the first arrow, he could tell the difference already.  The shaft was perfectly straight, and the feathers were perfect in condition and placement.  As he pulled the arrow out all the way, he saw the four-sided tip of it was heavy but not too heavy.  The whole arrow felt balanced and ready to kill.

“Stop gawking and load that quiver!”

Kaen nodded and quickly put as many arrows as he could into the green quiver.  Soon he had it almost full, not wanting to overfill it.  Twenty-five of these arrows…  How much would these cost to buy, Kaen wondered.

“Ready,” Kaen stated as he put the lid back on and affixed the quiver onto his back.

“Almost done here, now grab a small pouch holder from the chest two over from where  you are now.”

Kaen looked and saw a plain wooden chest that Hess must be talking about.  Opening it, he found pouches and small boxes and more.  Taking just a pouch, he shut it and turned to see Hess holding two small potions out to him.

“These will heal you if you need them,” Hess informed him as he held them out.  “Only drink them if you are truly injured.  They cost more money than I want to tell you but will save your life.  Do you understand?”

Kaen nodded and carefully took the two glass vials and slipped them into his pouch, and tied it around his waist.  They had a brown look to them, and even though they were glass, they felt surprisingly tough.

“Let’s go.  We do not have any time to waste!”

Kaen went up the stairs as Hess came behind him.  The light of the orb suddenly stopped glowing as Kaen turned to see Hess putting it back in the spot he had taken it from.  Once both of them were back in the bedroom, Hess lowered the floor and pushed on the same two spots again; another clicking noise came.

“Let’s move the bed, and then we need to run to town.  What is the time on those goblins and orcs?”

Pammon, how far away is that group?

Kaen could feel Pammon thinking somehow.  It was weird that each day it was as if he could feel more coming from what Pammon thought and felt.  The excitement was almost overpowering sometimes when Pammon was hunting.

Maybe an hour and a half.  Two hours tops!  They are moving faster now!

“They are only an hour and a half or more from getting here.  Pammon says they are moving faster.

Hess cursed as he and Kaen put the bed back in place.

“We need to go now!”

Running toward town was not a problem, even at the speed Hess was setting.  His legs felt amazing, and his lungs were barely having to work to keep up with the physical demands of his body.  Whenever they passed a farm or saw someone, Hess shouted that an attack was coming.

People stood there frozen for a moment until Hess yelled at them again to get the children to the town, grab any weapon they had, and join the rest of the people in town.

Soon the entire town was leaving food and decorations where ever they were and were gathering inside the center of town holding pitchforks, clubs, hammers, scythes, and other assortments of tools.  Even Patrick and Cale were there holding axes.

“LISTEN TO ME!” Hess bellowed over the clamor of calls by the people wanting to know what to do.  “In an hour or thereafter, we will be set upon by thirty goblins and a few orcs!  We do not have time to act like fools!  We need a plan, and I need you all to listen to what I say!”

“But we are not adventurers like you and Kaen,” Peter, the town’s baker, cried out.  “We do not know how to fight!”

Hess growled and shook his head and pointed his hand at Peter.

“That is a lie! You have had your fair share of fights with people over the years, and you know it.  You are just not trained, but we do not have time to argue this.  Everyone will have a weapon of some sort, and we must protect the town and the children.”

Hess paused and glared across the crowd.

“Anyone who desires not to fight can flee north of the town but know they will never be allowed back here again.  They will be branded a coward and a traitor and not a resident of Minoosh.  So who wants to flee now?”

“You cannot make that order!” Peter shouted over the crowd, which was murmuring amongst themselves.  “You are not the mayor!”

Storven strode forward and spoke up.  He had been belting his sword to his hip, and he still had a few pieces of armor to put on.

“Hess might not be the mayor, but I am.  I will back his decision.  Flee this town, and you forfeit everything of value.  You may only leave with what is on your back when you go!”

Peter started to talk again but shut his mouth.  He realized he was backed into a corner, and all those in the crowd had moved away from him as much as possible.  He stood alone at this moment, and he suddenly realized it.

“Now then, all of you know our safety lies with following Hess's plan, so no matter what he says, his word is final.  Do I make myself clear?”

No one spoke after Storven’s last two statements.  Death was not something any of them wanted, but if the town survived and they chose not to help that, they would lose everything.  That fate somehow seemed worse.

Hess moved closer to the crowd of people.

“Now listen, this is going to be difficult, but I know we can win.”