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An Ambushed Ambush isn't Very Nice By Talon The single oxen cart ground to a halt as it rounded the shoulder of a steep bluff on its way through the low mountain pass. A rock fall had effectively blocked the wagon track, and the small alpine meadow facing the bluff was studded with glacial remnant boulders and scrub trees, making it nearly impossible to maneuver the cart around the obstacle. Captain Lars casually planted the butt of his light spear into the dirt and looked about the area with the huge idiot grin that he habitually wore. “Rowan, go on up there a bit and check things out, would ya?” the captain said with a hint of gleeful malice twinkling in his eyes. “You do realize that this is all probably an AMBUSH, right?” whined the slimmer, nervous looking man decked out in a patchwork of leather armour. “Oh, ya, I know.” the captain replied, still grinning. Caius and Duncan chuckled quietly at this, and the two traders driving the cart exchanged anxious looks. “Sir, yes sir.” Rowan responded. The reluctant scout stalled for a moment as he hefted his long iron tipped spear, adjusted the sheaf of javelins that sat across his shoulder, and then reseated the weight of the short, heavy sword sheathed against the small of his back. Finally resigned to his fate, he heaved a sigh and began advancing toward the rock fall. Caius worked the lever of a repeating crossbow against his shield rim as he scanned the ridge of the bluff above them, and Duncan surveyed the meadow as he un-strapped a massive two edged sword. Lars hefted his own oval shield and adjusted his grip on the secondary spear that he held along with it in his left hand as Rowan scrambled to the top of the obstacle and looked around. “Yup, just what I thought,” he said as he turned a full 360 degrees and examined the mound, “It’s a pile of rocks.” “Well, don’t just stand there like an idiot!” barked one of the traders. “Get to work moving that rubble right away!” His partner was becoming visibly distressed as both their heads began darting about, trying to see everywhere at once. Their imminent panic was suddenly interrupted as another shower of rock tumbled down the steep slope above them. “Here it comes!” Lars yelled with obvious delight as he sprung forward to help Caius protect the oxen’s fragile legs from the tumbling stone with their shields. “Goblins!” cried Duncan as he spotted several of the short olive coloured creatures cresting the bluff to hurl rocks directly at them. “I knew we should have hired on more guards!” cried the second trader as he and his partner dove for cover in the lee of their cart. “And pay them with what?” bawled the first. “These four were the only ones crazy enough to do this for nothing more than the bounty on goblin ears!” “Just be glad that it’s too early in the season for Orcs to be coming down from the mountains yet.” commented Duncan as he hovered protectively over the pair. Caius had dropped one of the rock throwers with a bolt in its throat, and these now fell back as more of their cousins surged from scrub brush bordering the meadow. He turned and steadied his bow across the back of the ox as he dispatched two more in rapid succession. Lars lofted his first spear in a high arc that split a goblin’s crown as it came back to earth, before stepping around the cart into the open and hurling his second spear in a straight drive that pinned a charging goblin through the chest. Meanwhile, Rowan still stood defiantly atop the pile of rubble. Holding his long spear outstretched in his left hand for balance, he began flinging his own sawed off javelins one after the other into the horde. The unusually long steel shanks mounted on shortened hardwood shafts, weighted with bands of lead, tore through the wicker shields the goblins tried to protect themselves with and lodged deeply into the chests and forearms behind them. The knapped flint head of a goblin dart thunked against a cart wheel as the two traders scrambled for cover, while Duncan scooped up a stone the size of his own head in one hand and charged forward as well. Bringing the stone to his ear, he hurled it on the run like a shot-put, and crushed the legs out from under an opponent before bringing his giant sword to bear on another. Lars and Caius had both drawn swords as well, and were now wading forward as Rowan pierced a goblin through the thigh with his last javelin. With the danger now obvious, the otherwise twitchy young guardsman had become deceptively calm as he leapt form the mound of stones to meet the foe with his spear. He knew better than to let his spear blade get tangled in the woven shields they bore, and instead he swept the eight foot weapon through their ranks like a threshing stave. The swinging blows cracked skulls and shattered ribs as he bowled them over, dispatching goblins where they fell with a steel rimmed boot heel to the head. Caius crushed a goblins skull with his shield rim while thrusting his sword into another’s neck. Lars had become a blinding dervish as he hacked through wicker shields, stone tipped lances, and the arms carrying them. Duncan squared off against a foe and planted his boot square in its chest. The creature staggered back with crushed ribs as Duncan’s sword swept downwards and split it from crown to cod. “Are they done yet?” squeaked a trader as he peered out between the cart wheels. Lars silenced the last surviving goblin with a sharp kick to the head as it tried to crawl away with both its legs shattered. “You two, help Duncan get that rubble out of the road. We’re going to want to get out of here fast.” the Captain snapped. “Rowan, gather as much wood as you can for a pyre. And Caius, give me a hand with the bounty?” “Wh-why are we bothering to waste time burning the bodies?” stammered the second trader as he too crawled out from under the cart. “Because,” Lars drawled as he slipped a deep bellied skinning knife from its sheath on his leg, “We only get paid if we bring back the ears. And if you think this was bad, you really don’t want to see how upset goblins can get when you leave behind evidence that you’ve mutilated their dead . . .” Both traders seemed to turn green as they exchanged another significant glance with each other, and then set to work moving stones with a vengeance. |