The Jongurian Mission Read online

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  When Liu told Leisu that they were nearing the Oval and would be there in just a few minutes he ordered that the horn be sounded. One of the other men from Waigo smiled as he pulled the large horn from his pack and put it to his mouth, blowing as hard as he could into it. The sound was deafening in the narrow canyons, but Leisu smiled. He knew the effect it would have on the Adjurians’ morale to hear such a sound from behind them when they were pinned down from the front.

  Ko, with the help Xu, who knew Waigo well, had managed to track down this man Liu who had agreed to find them men and guide them through the canyon, for a price. Leisu was angry to have to pay, but he was in no mood to negotiate or threaten, so he promised the man what he’d wanted. Liu had provided another ten men, so with the six that remained after Hui had left the city to head to the Oval they had a total of nineteen men, counting Ko, Liu, and Leisu. It wasn’t as many as he would have hoped for, but it would have to serve. The Adjurians were too close to escaping and he’d throw each of these men’s lives away before he let that happen.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Now that it was clear that another group of Jongurians were coming up behind them, Rodden and Bryn moved up closer to where Iago lay.

  “We’ve got to get up to those boulders,” Halam said, looking at them all. “From the sound of that horn, whoever’s behind us isn’t far off.” He looked over at Jal. “How does it look out there?”

  Jal crouched down and crawled around the protective wall. He came back a few moments later. “They’ve moved up to another boulder further into the open,” Jal said. “It looks like they’ve killed a few more and might be pushing the rest back.”

  “Can we move up behind one of those boulders then?” Halam asked.

  “I think so,” replied Jal.

  Halam looked down at Iago. “We’re going to have to drag you up to the boulders, Iago.”

  “No you’re not!” Iago said. He moved to sit up, his face awash in pain. He fought through it, however, and was soon getting to his feet. “I can move just fine, now lead on.”

  Halam nodded, and looked at the rest of them to make sure they were ready. They nodded their heads, so he moved out around the wall, followed by Conn and Jal. Iago went next, the pain he must have felt in his chest and shoulder not slowing him any. Rodden urged Bryn forward while he followed close behind.

  When he came around the wall that’d been blocking the view of the fighting, but also protecting them from the Jongurians, Bryn saw that they were indeed winning the fight. Two Jongurians lay dead behind the boulder nearest to the mountain wall. One had an arrow through his throat, the other through his eye. Pools of blood collected around their heads. Bryn was able to see that Wen, Trey, and Willem had moved up to crouch behind the third boulder out from the entrance to the Oval. Another dead Jongurian was lying next to their position, a crossbow quarrel sticking out of his chest. Jurin, Jal, and Conn were directly behind them crouching next to another boulder, not more than a few feet from the larger rock protecting the first group, and about ten feet from the first boulder that Halam and Iago now leaned against. A little bit further ahead and twenty feet to their left were two more dead Jongurians laying beside another large boulder, both killed by arrows like the first two.

  Rodden and Bryn came up to sit next to Halam and Iago.

  “Looks like they took out the first two nests of Jongurians,” Iago said. “There are three more a good thirty feet ahead of us hiding behind that cluster of boulders in the center of this space.”

  “It won’t be long before more men come up behind us,” Halam said. “We need to get out of the open.”

  “We’ve three crossbows now,” Jal said, coming up to them and handing one of the weapons to Halam. “These Jongurians don’t need them anymore.”

  “Jal, you need to get up to Wen and tell him that we’ll have more men coming up on our rear any minute now,” Halam said. “We’ll be fighting on two fronts then, so we need to get some bows pointed toward that canyon we just came from.”

  “Aye,” Jal said as he crawled back up to the furthest boulder they had wrested from the Jongurians.

  “Give me that crossbow,” Iago said, taking the weapon from Halam’s hand. “I’ll be of the most use right here firing at anyone who comes out of that canyon. If I can’t stop them with this,” he said as he began loading a quarrel into the crossbow, “I’ll stop them with this.” He patted the longsword that was unsheathed and laying across his legs.

  “We can’t leave you here,” Rodden said.

  “You can come back and get me when we’ve killed all these men,” Iago said with a smile. “Until then you three need to get out of this place. Get back to Adjuria. Tell them what happened here.”

  Jal came back around the boulder with Trey behind him. “Wen wants us to stay and fend off whoever is behind us,” Jal said as he dropped a sheaf of crossbow quarrels onto the ground in front of him.

  “I’ll be staying right here to do the same,” Iago replied. He looked over at Halam and Rodden. “Move up closer to Wen. He’ll get you out of here.”

  Halam put his arm on Iago’s shoulder. “Thank you, friend,” he said, then looked back at Rodden and Bryn and moved around the boulder.

  Bryn gave one more look at Iago and the man smiled at him, then he followed his uncle around the boulder. Jurin and Conn were crouching next to the large boulder in front of them. Halam continued up to where Wen and Willem were another few feet past them. He exchanged a few words with the two men, then came back to sit down next to Jurin.

  “Wen’s going to provide some cover for Willem to move over to that boulder across the way,” Halam said, pointing toward the large rock where two of the dead Jongurian’s lay.

  “That’s got to be at least thirty feet of open ground he’ll have to move across,” Jurin said.

  “I think it’s Willem’s idea,” Halam said. “He wants to provide a target to draw out some of the enemy, giving Wen a better shot.”

  “He’s crazy,” Jurin replied. “But it might be just what we need right now.”

  “He wanted me to tell you to get ready to fire. He’ll be running across in just a minute,” Halam said.

  Bryn looked up to where Willem crouched down behind the boulder. He was taking off his pack and loading one of the Jongurian crossbows. He looked back at them and nodded, then said something to Wen before dashing out into the open ground. Several crossbow bolts sailed out at him, but they all landed just behind him as he ran. Wen stood up and fired his bow, and Bryn saw one of the Jongurians far ahead drop down with an arrow in his chest. Jurin also rose up a moment after Willem set out and he too managed to hit a man with the crossbow, sending him to the ground with a loud shout of pain as the bolt entered his shoulder. An arrow flew right in front of Willem before he dove through the air over the last few feet to land safely behind the large boulder. He looked back at them and smiled. His gamble had paid off; two more Jongurians lay dead or dying ahead of them.

  Their moment of joy was short-lived; from behind them Iago shouted up that they had company. Bryn spun around and peered over the boulder that he and Rodden were crouching near. Several Jongurians could be seen shuffling into the open ground through the narrow canyon that they had just emerged from. An arrow from Trey went sailing through the air to take one of them in the chest while the man next to him went down hard to the ground grasping at a crossbow bolt in his stomach, compliments of Iago. Both crouched back down behind their boulder to reload and smile. When Iago had another bolt ready to fire he stood up to look, but the men in the canyon had learned quickly and were now wary of showing themselves. From further out in the open area of the Oval an arrow sailed through the air. It hit the boulder that Iago was leaning against and he immediately hit the ground for cover.

  Trey spun around to level his bow in the direction the arrow had come from and a crossbow bolt struck the boulder just inches from where he was crouching. A Jongurian had crept up along the mountain wal
l to get a better position on the three men blocking the entrance into the open field of battle. Jal leveled his crossbow at the man and fired, taking him in the side as he tried to get back to the entrance. The main let out a cry of pain and kept on crawling, but Trey took aim with his bow and sent an arrow into his upper back. The man fell forward onto the ground and lay still.

  “That was close,” Bryn heard Iago say as he looked over at the dead Jongurian. More movement came from the canyon and Trey sent an arrow into it but it bounced harmlessly off the stone wall.

  “We’ve got to get out of here!” Conn said beside Bryn. “The Jongurians’ll steadily get closer from both directions until they have us.”

  “Wen, any ideas?” Jurin shouted.

  “We could run for it,” Wen called back.

  “We may have to,” Halam said loudly. “They’re closing in on us.”