Chapter 25. Thundertarr

After landing, the company made its way swiftly inland, meeting no resistance from the Kargellian villagers, but getting no cooperation either.  In appearance, they might as well be Alcatians, save for the fact there were few adult men and everyone bore a brand on the back of their necks.

When questioned, it became clear they were terrified of their Karga masters, but when more terrified of "Ferals" the term they used for foreigners.  They did, however point us straight to Thundertarr proper, a fortress perched on the top of a mountain overlooking a small town and the valley, which was composed almost entirely of well kept farmland.

Captain Alex stayed in the town with the majority of our troops, sending several sets of scouts, including Pongo, Lu and I, along with another man, who were sent up the eastern side of the mountain to survey the fortress itself.  We made it to the fortress just before dusk and spent about an hour surveying the possible approaches before meeting and putting together a report to take back down to the Captain, while Pongo and I stationed ourselves on either side of the one passable road leading up to the fortress.

Around midnight, the sounds of shouting from the valley below echoed up to us.  Shortly after that, the gates to the fortress opened and a squad of about twenty Kargellian infantrymen, along with a single man on horseback started jogging down the mountainside.  As we watched them approach by the light of the moon, it was pretty impressive.

The men were enormous (by Alcatian standards if not my own), muscular, and they jogged down the hillside at a pretty impressive pace, despite their armor.  As soon as they got within range, Lu took out the rider with a single arrow, and Pongo and I dropped to the road, intending to have some fun with the infantrymen.  Even without Lu's help, twelve on two had always been pretty easy odds for Pongo and I in practice, and we expected to manage this small Kargellian force without too much trouble.

We were wrong.  The Kargellians were almost as big as Pongo, and while they moved slowly in their armor compared to Pongo and I, they were very good, certainly better than any of the Alcatian regulars.  The first few went down easily enough, but as soon as they realized they had their hands full, Pongo and I found ourselves fully engaged and making extremely slow progress.

Then, we both heard Lu's scream, and the Karga, who turned out to be a boy of maybe 15, tossed her head out into the field and started giving orders to his men. It might have been Lu's head, or maybe Pongo just figured it made sense to take out the boy first, but for some reason, Pongo, who'd been fighting back to back with me, charged forward, suddenly leaving me surrounded.  I kicked it up a gear, but by the time I cleared enough men to get a look at Pongo and the Karga, I could tell it was not going well.  Pongo had been cut several times, and the Karga lad was toying with him, moving in and out and wearing the larger wounded man down.

By the time I got over to the Karga, Pongo was in bad shape, but he rallied when I joined him, and the little man's dancing moves weren't nearly as effective against two of us.  Finally, the kid made the mistake of trying to parry one of my blows and lost his sword.  Panicked, the boy stretched out to reach for it and a kick to the head, enough to kill a man twice his size, knocked him unconscious.

Breathing heavily, Pongo and I put one slowly dying man down quickly, and grabbed the kid before making our way of the road.  By the time we made it down the mountain, the main battle was over and it was clear who'd won.  Based on the number of Kargellian infantry milling about the town, it was probably about even numbers wise, but having fought the Kargelluans, it was easy to guess those odds had been hopeless.  I didn't know then what went into breeding, feeding and training a Kargellian battle slave, but the result was pretty incredible.  Pongo and I had struggled to defeat a mere dozen of them.

When the kid started to wake, Pongo gagged him, and we retreated into the woods, buying time for Pongo to get his strength back while we looked for the remainder of our company.

Kurt, our Karga captive, turned out to insufferable.  We got almost nothing out of him but his name and family, and even that came with the price of condescension and contempt.  Picture if you will, the worst sort of spoiled noble adolescent, and then mix in a lifetime of racism, training and conditioning which gave the kid even more of an attitude.  

The knowledge that he was incredibly valuable alive was all that kept us from killing him after a couple of days while we made our way back towards the coast and looked for the company, all the while hiding from Kargellian patrols, which were increasingly nume  

Finally, one evening, Pongo made me face facts.

"We've had a good run, Fi, but we can't keep this up forever.  If our company's alive, they've either been captured or left without us.  And it's only a matter of time before we ..."

"I know, Pongo" I said softly, thinking how much I agreed, but how I'd avoided talking about it because I had no solution.  

"What do you know about boats, Fi?  I know nothing really."

I bit my lip.  I hated boats and had rarely been on the water, but I'd lived my life amongst men who made their living on the sea, including my elder brother. I didn't like them, and probably would live to regret saying it, but I could probably manage a small boat if I had to.

"Enough, I suppose, to be dangerous.  I guess it's our only hope, huh?"

The next day, I left Pongo with Kurt and scouted a tiny fishing village, casing it basically, and figuring out which boats looked to be both suitable and stealable.  I found two that would work, and went back to the cave where I'd left them, only to find it empty.

As I stepped back outside, a dozen or so crossbowmen stared me down, along with a blonde haired woman in dark brown leather.

"Fiona, right?" she said, stepping forward.  "You are something special alright."

As she stepped closer, my heart leaped for several reasons.  First, I'd need a shield or hostage if I didn't want to get turned into a pincushion.  And second, the woman was gorgeous.  Gorgeous and captvating.  I was dazzled by her  smile.

"I'm Latarra, by the way, and he and your bushman  friend are just fine.  Nice piece of equipment there, by the way.  I can't wait to see him in action."

Latarra stopped about ten paces from me and smiled.

"Do be a dear and give me your sword, won't you? "

  Eying the crossbowmen, for a second, I reached back and unfastened my sword and scabbard, holding it out hilt first to Latarra.  Unfortunately, one of her men took it, but as soon as he did, Latarra finally stepped close enough for me to get my hands on her.

Only I couldn't.  Latarra smiled as she reached up and ran her hands over my body, tracing my thighs, abs and even brushing lightly over my breasts before caressing my arms.

"You're spectacular," Latarra said, "I didn't think muscles like that existed on any women but Karga, but here they are.  I bet you,..." she looked into my eyes "you're thinking you want to hurt me, only you want something else, don't you?"

I finally managed to move my limbs then, and reached out to grab the little blonde woman, but she was faster and stepped into me, landing a punch in my midsection which actually hurt. 

I was dazed, totally unprepared for the force behind her fist, and as she stepped back, holding her hand, she looked equally astonished that I was still standing.

"Hold your fire!" she called out, "I want this wench alive."

"If you're smart," Latarra said, "you'll be a good girl.  Your Bushman is still alive as are some of your Alcatian friends.  I'll take you to them, and maybe we can work something out.  They'd never last in the mines, anyway, but you and the Bushman are different.  I'm thinking a trade, you and the Bushman for your friends."

"Not a chance" I said, stepping forward, even as I tried to guess if I could get to the Karga before I became a pin cushion for all those crossbows.

Latarra smiled.

"Don't be stupid, Fiona.  Kriven sent you to me, girl.  And I'm thinking I might accept the gift and send Alex back alive.  This is tedious.  I'm sure your Alcatian masters don't tell you this, but there are quite a few outsiders living amongst us with most the rights and privileges accorded to Karga.  You don't fit in in Alcatia.  You might, though, with us.  Just be a good girl, and let me show you.  Give me your word you won't run until you've met with your captain at least. "

Glancing up at the crossbowmen and noticing the increasing number of heavy infantrymen filing in behind them, I sighed.  The best I could hope for was to kill the Karga before I died if I didn't play along.  But what Latarra said, in a way made sense.  I didn't believe her wholly, but what she said about Kriven made sense and at least if I went along, I might be able to figure something out later.

I shrugged. "Fine" I said.