He had probed Chirard’s papers long ago, deciphered much of the code in which the mad wizard had tried to conceal his plans. That is what had led him by diverse passages to the means to free Maelgrum. But the process had been fraught with danger. Chirard the mad, the plain paranoid, had littered his papers with traps for the unwary. Glyphs of lightning, fire, and poison. And in all the papers, Haselrig could recall not one single word in reference to the Helm. The oddity only now struck him, that a lunatic obsessed with recording in double encrypted code every detail of his life, including his daily bowel movements, should have made no reference to the Great Helm, symbol of a throne he had sacrificed so many and so much for.
“You ssseeem puzzled, Hassselrig?”
“If the man is unequal to this problem, your eminence, I am sure I could solve it within the week,” Rondol volunteered.
Maelgrum shook his head. “No Rondol, there are other more important tasssksss you mussst do for me. Thisss trivial puzzle is Hassselrig’sss alone, well hisss and the Bissshop’sss. They will ssssolve it, or it will be the death of them.”
***
“They are early,” Willem growled from atop his massive horse.
“Orcs is ready,” Barnu ck snorted. “Plenty dead men soon. Battle won before sun is high.”
“Only if Nagbadesh follows the plan,” Dema silenced them both. They stood, an unlikely quartet of riders and their disparate mounts, atop a low hillock on the Eastern bank of the Saeth. Kimbolt, kept his counsel in the company of his betters, and contented himself with a quick survey of their surroundings.
The Saeth at their back was running low. The moss clad pillars of the bridge were laid bare , browning in the dry autumn sunshine. A quarter of the bridge’s span at either end traversed nothing wetter than the dried mud of an arid river bed. The half empty river channel rose sharply at its sides making a raised escarpment of the river bank. It was along the top of this bank that the deployment of Dema’s force began. The different divisions of her command stretched out in echelon formation from South West by the river towards the Northeast and the Palacinta Hills. The far right flank, to the South, was held by the nomad cavalry. Then came the infantry a little ahead and to the left of their formidable horse borne brethren. Further ahead still was the Redfang orcs’ position some hundreds of yard beyond the line of caution. To the Redfangs’ left the Blackskulls hung back leaving Nagbadesh’s tribe as a tempting orcish bait dangling in the jaws of the Gap of Tandar.
At the foot of their raised command position, Dema’s elite guard waited as a mobile reserve. These were the wolf riding Bonegrinders and the pick of the outlander warriors, victors of the battle of Derrach Bridge and of the capture of Listcairn. Veteran soldiers they sat or lay beside their mounts, snatching a few moments of nerveless rest or sleep, quite unfazed by the carnage which was about to unfold.
Kimbolt strained his eyes towards the hills. A cloud of dust was descending on the Redfangs as Rugan took the bait. “They have sixteen thousand, Nagbadesh has barely four,” Willem remarked as the clash of steel and the cry of distant battle reached their ears, some seconds after they had seen the lines meet.
“Nagbadesh has just to play the part,” Dema reminded him. “To appear the stupid orc he is, there is no act in that.”
“Orcs not run,” Barnuck said. “Nagbadesh think he brave. Think he stand and fight.”
“And that’s what’s stupid.” Dema muttered. “Orcs can run, a lot faster than humans can. He just needs to time his disengagement before the Redfangs are all destroyed, then he can pull this whole cursed army out of the hills and onto the plane for us to annihilate them.”
“Nagbadesh not running,” Barnuck pointed out. True enough, the banners of the Redfangs
“You ssseeem puzzled, Hassselrig?”
“If the man is unequal to this problem, your eminence, I am sure I could solve it within the week,” Rondol volunteered.
Maelgrum shook his head. “No Rondol, there are other more important tasssksss you mussst do for me. Thisss trivial puzzle is Hassselrig’sss alone, well hisss and the Bissshop’sss. They will ssssolve it, or it will be the death of them.”
***
“They are early,” Willem growled from atop his massive horse.
“Orcs is ready,” Barnu ck snorted. “Plenty dead men soon. Battle won before sun is high.”
“Only if Nagbadesh follows the plan,” Dema silenced them both. They stood, an unlikely quartet of riders and their disparate mounts, atop a low hillock on the Eastern bank of the Saeth. Kimbolt, kept his counsel in the company of his betters, and contented himself with a quick survey of their surroundings.
The Saeth at their back was running low. The moss clad pillars of the bridge were laid bare , browning in the dry autumn sunshine. A quarter of the bridge’s span at either end traversed nothing wetter than the dried mud of an arid river bed. The half empty river channel rose sharply at its sides making a raised escarpment of the river bank. It was along the top of this bank that the deployment of Dema’s force began. The different divisions of her command stretched out in echelon formation from South West by the river towards the Northeast and the Palacinta Hills. The far right flank, to the South, was held by the nomad cavalry. Then came the infantry a little ahead and to the left of their formidable horse borne brethren. Further ahead still was the Redfang orcs’ position some hundreds of yard beyond the line of caution. To the Redfangs’ left the Blackskulls hung back leaving Nagbadesh’s tribe as a tempting orcish bait dangling in the jaws of the Gap of Tandar.
At the foot of their raised command position, Dema’s elite guard waited as a mobile reserve. These were the wolf riding Bonegrinders and the pick of the outlander warriors, victors of the battle of Derrach Bridge and of the capture of Listcairn. Veteran soldiers they sat or lay beside their mounts, snatching a few moments of nerveless rest or sleep, quite unfazed by the carnage which was about to unfold.
Kimbolt strained his eyes towards the hills. A cloud of dust was descending on the Redfangs as Rugan took the bait. “They have sixteen thousand, Nagbadesh has barely four,” Willem remarked as the clash of steel and the cry of distant battle reached their ears, some seconds after they had seen the lines meet.
“Nagbadesh has just to play the part,” Dema reminded him. “To appear the stupid orc he is, there is no act in that.”
“Orcs not run,” Barnuck said. “Nagbadesh think he brave. Think he stand and fight.”
“And that’s what’s stupid.” Dema muttered. “Orcs can run, a lot faster than humans can. He just needs to time his disengagement before the Redfangs are all destroyed, then he can pull this whole cursed army out of the hills and onto the plane for us to annihilate them.”
“Nagbadesh not running,” Barnuck pointed out. True enough, the banners of the Redfangs
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