Anders watched from behind an oar, rowing on the count, as the ships entered a narrow bay, lined with thick green vegetation different from that which he was used to seeing back at Highborn Bay. The ships beached along the shoreline and they helped Britt and the others unload gear to set up camp.

“So this is where the elves live,” Anders said, admiring the broad-leaved trees and their splayed branches growing off in many directions.

“This is the beginning of the Glacial Melt Bays and, yes, it’s the southernmost border of the Everlight Kingdom,” Britt said as she hauled several wooden shields onto shore.

“Where are all the elves?” Anders asked not seeing any sign of civilization as he searched the forested land.

“Not here,” Britt said. “If you ask me, they aren’t as bad as all the others will tell you.”

“What do you mean?” Anders asked.

“Oh, you don’t know about our relationship with them?” Britt asked as Anders shook his head. “Elves and our people don’t exactly get along. It all began about two hundred years ago. Some elves saw our people when we landed on their shores, somewhere in this bay area,” she said sweeping her hand along the shoreline.

“It was the first time anyone from our islands had sailed this far east. They were desperate and starving. The elves saw them, had empathy for their ravaged state and invited them into a nearby village. Using their healing spells, the elves brought the Rollo Islanders back to their full strength. Once the warriors were strong again and having seen all the silver and gold trinkets the elves had, the crew hatched a plan to steal all of the precious items that evening. The elves gathered in one of their lodges for a feast. The crew locked the back doors and set fire to the building. They stood at the front of the building and slew all those who tried to escape. When they were done, they stole everything of value they could find.”

“That’s a terrible thing to do to repay your hosts,” Anders said.

“Our people were raiders,” Britt said. “The only thing they cared about was wealth and war.”

“What happened next?” he asked.

“When they returned home to the Rollo Islands, the crew was praised by our high chiefs. They were seen as heroes for bringing back piles of wealth they didn’t know existed before. When the warriors returned to this area to take more, the elves knew what our people had done. The elves were prepared and slaughtered them on sight. Only a few of the warriors escaped to tell the tale. Ever since then our two nations have loathed one another.”

Britt could tell her story made Anders feel uncomfortable for being on elven soil with the entire Rollo Navy.

“It has been a long time since our people shed blood,” Britt reassured him. “Our quarrels have subsided greatly, no longer resulting in physical violence as often as before.”

The rest of the afternoon and evening were quite uneventful. Anders and Max made camp with the rest of Britt’s crew. Ivan, Red and Jorgen had meetings with the other Rollo leaders about how to begin searching the area. Anders and Max remained uninvited.

After the meetings concluded, those privy to them passed the word down to those in command of ships. Each lead captain commanded at least five ships. The chiefs passed the word down to the lead captains, who, in turn, let the captains of each ship know the plan. Each captain kept his or her crew members informed of the plans. Somehow Anders knew Britt would be keeping them much better informed than Red ever would have.

During dinner that night, Britt told her crew what would be happening the next day. They were to split up into groups led by each lead captain. One group would search to the east, one to the north, and one to the west. The last group would remain in charge of watching over the fleet of ships and protecting camp.

“I hope we don’t get stuck here babysitting the ships all day,” Max whispered to Anders. Anders agreed; he would prefer to do something to help rather than sit at camp all day wondering if anything important was happening in the field.

“We will be joining Red’s command and going to the north,” Britt said. Max and Anders smiled at the news. “We leave at first light. Got it?” she said looking everyone in the eye.

The crew replied in unison, “Yes, Captain.”

“Make sure your blades are sharp and your bows are strung,” she added.

Later that night as he sat on his wool blankets, Anders sharpened the sword he’d bought at the market back in Brookside. Then he made sure his bow was strung and his quiver of arrows was ready. He said good night to Max and they both lay down to sleep. But Anders was not going to sleep right away. He could feel that Zahara had been following them and he desperately wanted to see her again. Once Max and the others were asleep, he made what was becoming his usual nighttime sneak-away and headed off into the woods.

Once he was far enough away from camp, he used his thoughts to say, Zahara… Zahara, where are you?

Emerging from behind a large tree, Zahara showed herself, Anders, over here.

Anders crept over to her, Is everything all right?

You were on that floating log for a long time, she said.

It’s called a ship and I didn’t know that we were going to be stuck out at sea for that long. It was a lot farther than I’d thought.

I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t risk the others seeing me or they might have done something to hurt me.

Tell me what? Anders asked.

I flew ahead of your ships and saw far into the distance. There is a large gathering of horrible-looking creatures that are heading this way.

How far ahead of us are they? Anders asked. As the words came out of his mouth, he heard shouts in the distance and saw a plume of smoke beginning to rise above the treetops.

They’re here, Zahara said.

Chapter 13

Orc Attack

Anders sprinted back toward camp as fast as he could, leaping over downed logs and bulling through brush as if it weren’t there. As he drew near, he could hear the horrible screams and shouts of battle. Clashing iron on iron rang through the night. He wasn’t sure if Zahara had followed him or not. Before he made it out of the trees and back to the shoreline where they’d set up camp, he saw a group of ugly creatures chasing one of the Rollo Islanders through the woods. Anders halted when he saw the dark figures, but it was too late to go unnoticed. He made eye contact with one of them. They stood tall like men but had the dark gray mottled skin and large tusks Britt had described.

Orcs, Anders thought.

The one he made eye contact with shouted to the others and three of them peeled off from the group to charge directly at him. Luckily, Anders had brought his hunting knife on his nighttime walk. He drew the short blade and ran toward the orcs head on. This was not a time to be fearful. For all he knew, the orcs had already overrun those he held dear back at camp; he had been lucky to be off in the woods when the ambush began.

Before he clashed with the orcs, he counted on his training for the Grandwood Games and flung his knife at the first orc, hitting him directly in the chest. Hoping to strike fear into the others, he bellowed a gut-felt cry and leapt into the air with both of his feet curled up in front of him. He kicked with all his might as he collided with the second orc, knocking it back so hard it took out the third orc behind it. Now on his back and vulnerable, but just ahead of the orcs, he used his speed to his advantage. He rolled over to the first orc, ripped his knife out of its chest, and pounced onto one of the orcs who was still trying to stand up. Anders swiftly slit its throat just in time to see the third orc rise to its feet. He went to throw his knife at it, but before he could, the orc dropped its weapon. Anders hesitated and then saw Zahara leaping over his head. She bared her dagger-like teeth and in one fell swoop landed on the orc devouring its upper half with her deadly jaws.

Anders’ jaw dropped in surprise as he witnessed the sheer power Zahara used to dispatch the orc. She turned and looked back at Anders, crimson blood dripping from her fangs.

Are you okay? she asked him.

“Yeah,” he replied, taking a breath. “That was crazy! Thank you!” Anders exclaimed. “I need to get to my things. I need my bow and sword. I won’t survive with just this knife.” Anders said with urgency.

I hope Max is all right, he thought to himself.

I can check, Zahara said.

“You can hear my thoughts too?” Anders said. It actually wasn’t that surprising to him, but he said it anyway.

Yes. I’ll look for him with my mind, she paused, and then said, I’ve got him. He is still alive, and not far from here.

Anders ran the rest of the way back to his campsite, but Zahara didn’t follow him this time.

I cannot risk being seen by your people, her voice sounded into his mind when he noticed she hadn’t followed him. I’ll watch over you from up here, she added, showing him a mental image of where she was perched high in the treetops. He could tell she didn’t want to leave him by himself to fight, but she needed to protect her identity from those he was traveling with. He understood that many in the war party would want to kill her if they found a dragon was nearby, even if she was helping to kill the orcs.

Out of the trees and onto the beach, Anders could see the attack much more clearly. The rising moon brightened the night sky and the shoreline glowed orange from the light of flames burning many of their ships. The orcs had attacked by land on the east side of the bay, opposite from his campsite. He looked across the bay and watched as several groups of the orcs waded into the shallow water and set fire to two more ships at the southeast entrance of the bay. Anders estimated half the fleet was already ablaze. He saw how the warriors had established a line of defense on the beach to protect their remaining ships.

Anders quickly found his sword, bow and arrows, and began to search for Max. He couldn’t afford to lose another friend; panic began to overwhelm him. His vision blurred and fear was beginning to overwhelm his other senses when Zahara called to him. The familiar presence of her voice brought him back to reality; he couldn’t see her but he could hear her voice clearly in his thoughts. She told him Max was with a group of warriors who were being separated from the line of defense at the other end of the bay. She sent him a mental image of Max’s location in relation to their campsite.

“How are you doing this?” Anders asked searching the treetops, but not finding where Zahara was hiding.