Matthew Nesheim
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Chapter 48: Calista - The Horde
🕑 Added 2023-11-03 17:00:03 +0000 UTCThe next morning they traveled east as the hills became sharper and more rocky. Mountains that had once loomed in the distance now looked down on them with ominous foreboding. Clouds and mist covered their peaks. Once, Calista thought she spotted something winged and dark as it passed between the clouds but when she pointed it out to the others it disappeared into the mist.
Around evening, the small valley they had been following turned to greet the base of a towering foothill. Here, Grumner took out his map and, with the helps of Cat’s Eye, pointed to where the valley led up to Krakoam Pass. However, as Calista looked to where he pointed, all she could see were rocks and cliffs. When she pointed this out, Cat’s Eye assured her the path was there.
The valley now led them up. They found a stream and marched along the water’s edge over the rocks and sand and soon a fog fell on them. Remembering the dark wings, Calista let out a sigh of relief as the fog swallowed them.
They reached the first cliff shortly after night fell. After some debate, Grumner and Calista were able to persuade Lefty to push on in the hope of finding the pass in the dark. While the fog had not yet lifted, Cat’s Eye swore he knew where they were and insisted he could find the mouth of the pass simply by following the edge of the rock. Sure enough, after less than an hour of stumbling in the dark, they found a jagged path that seemed to lead straight up between two cliffs.
Here they as they took shelter beneath an rocky overhang and set up camp for the night. Grumner and Calista had each caught a rabbit that day and after gathering some wood, Lefty lit the tinder with his magic and they had a cooking fire.
The night passed without incident and they awoke to a cold morning with a fog that still covered everything in a blanket of gray. After they cleared their camp, they took off for the trail they hoped would lead up the pass. Grumner took the lead with Lefty and Cat’s Eye close behind and Calista at the rear. A few steps up the trail, Feathers decided his webbed feet were not made for mountain terrain and mounted himself onto the wizard’s back.
Up they marched, scaling the jagged trail through the fog as the dim light of the sun ebbed and faded against the clouds. All of them were hungry, tired, and more than a little cross. The rabbit they had eaten the night before was long forgotten as they marched up into the gray. Twice, Calista took a shot at a bird she saw sitting on a rock and twice she missed. Each time, as her arrow flew wide, she heard the one of the others curse and she found herself wondering how long they could go without in game food and what that might mean.
Then they reached a low point in the valley and Calista looked up to the south ridge to see two shadows lurking along its edge. Immediately, she grabbed Grumner and with a signal, they led the rest of the party into a tangle of brush. It was a thorny place full of weeds, vines, and thorns, but they huddled together in the bracken all the same.
They watched as the two shadows marched along the ridge line. Whoever they were, did not appear to have spotted their party as the two shadows moved in an unhurried manner. When one shadow emerged from the trees and into the light, Calista could clearly see what it was. A goblin.
Minutes passed as they watched the goblins make their way along the ridge. The two scouts were marching west to east, in the same direction their little party had been traveling. Calista was about to tap Grumner on the shoulder to ask if he wanted to take them out when Lefty grabbed her arm and pointed. Following his outstretched arm, she looked.
There were too many to count. Marching at twelve abreast, in a formation more ordered than they had any right to be, the goblin horde was making their way down the center of the valley. Column upon column, the army rumbled toward them. To her left, Grumner looked more frightened than she had ever seen him before, while to right, Lefty looked positively paralyzed. Frantic, Calista glanced behind them to see if they had any avenue of escape, but the thorn bush they were hidden in was surrounded by only few trees. Nowhere else was there any cover that could hide them from the thousands of eyes that were about to descend upon them.
For the uninitiated, an encounter with an army is not told by the eyes. It is heard and felt more than it is seen. So it was that the ground began to tremble as the horde approached and the air was filled with the sound of a thousand voices, a thousand boots, and thousands of weapons being ferried across the grass. Still they waited, hoping against hope that this massive thing of a thousand faces might pass them.
Then, the dragon. It swooped down out of the sky, bursting through the clouds like a giant black avatar of death. While Calista had encountered her before, this time she got to lay and watch Vevic at wing in her full glory. This was a dragon. Her scales were black mixed with shimmering indigo. Her four golden eyes searched the trees and surrounding hills. And as she swooped down over her horde, she flew so low that her claws nearly brushed their helmets. Then, with a few strokes of her terrible wings, she ascended back up into the clouds.
The horde was upon them now. The outer column of goblins were marching within feet of their thorn bush. Calista lay still, scared to even breathe as she watched the feet and legs march past. Minutes seemed to drag past like hours. She could smell them. Sweat mixed with blood and grime and everything else. Here and there she spotted the thicker, larger foot of a hobgoblin, or the yellow and spotted leg of a gnoll.
When finally the horde has passed, they stayed in the thorn bush, laying as still as stones as they waited to see if anything else might come. Time seemed to grind to a halt. Over an hour had passed since they had first spotted the two scouts along the ridge. Now they waited for another hour, watching and listening. Then, content that all was clear, Grumner gave the signal to move again. After they all carefully crawled their way free of the brush, they then stood and picked the thorns out of their clothes before finally they all again fell in behind the dwarf. Before them was a valley of beaten earth, the grass trampled and torn in the wake of their foes. So it was that they set out again, with the knowledge they were outnumbered many to few.
