Bearers of the Black Staff

“Not as busy as you, from what my runners tell me.” He glanced over at Panterra. “Who is this boy you’ve brought with you? Word is, you always travel alone. Don’t tell me you’ve produced an issue?”


Panterra was mortified. He could feel the flush in his neck and cheeks. Sider was grinning. “No issue of mine, though I could do much worse. This is Panterra Qu; he’s a Tracker from Glensk Wood and a good one. He was the first to discover what sort of creatures we might be forced to deal with once the mists had failed. He and a friend were tracking two of them when I caught up to them.” He gave the King a look. “This boy was held captive by the Troll army that threatens us. He knows about them firsthand.”

Esselline gave Pan an appraising look. “Then he needs to be part of our discussion, I think. Is it true, then? Have the mists receded and the protective wall collapsed? Let’s sit while we talk of this. Take that chair by the boy. Tell me of the wall. I hear this is the message you have carried to some of the other communities.”

“You heard correctly.”

“Yet you didn’t come to me first? You went elsewhere, to those of lesser stature?”

“Knowing they would turn me down. I wanted to make clear to you when we met how desperately your help is needed. Others equivocate and dither. But you will not, once you hear what I have to say. If you act, they will come around. We are all in the same boat on a very dangerous ocean, Hadrian. As that old saying goes, if we don’t hang together, we shall all hang separately. That is what I need for you to believe.”

“Oh, I believe it all right.” The King nodded emphatically.

“Well, then? Do I have your promise of help?”

“Not so fast. There are other things to consider. Your plan is to keep the enemy out of the valley by bottling up the passes north and hoping the ones south remain undiscovered. I see problems with this. We might close him off from one entrance, but we cannot reasonably think the others won’t be found. We might be better off to let the Trolls come in and fight them on our own ground.”

“And lose how many of our people in the bargain?”

“Few. We take them all to the strongholds, like this one, and keep them safe until the battle is finished.”

“Assuming the battle ends quickly, which I doubt. You haven’t seen this army, Hadrian. I have. It’s big and well armed. Too many for any of us separately and maybe all of us together. We need to fight it from behind walls and in places like Declan Reach and Aphalion where it cannot bring its full strength to bear. You are a brave man and a skilled fighter. But most in this valley aren’t, not even within your own army. We haven’t fought a real battle against a real adversary since our ancestors came here. It won’t be easy.”

Esselline studied him. “So you would trap them in the passes and do battle there? From behind walls? That sounds like a siege to me, Sider. How much longer would that take than a direct confrontation? Besides, you undervalue not only my army, but those of some of the other southern strongholds and the Elves, as well. They will account themselves well if brought to the moment.”

“First, we do not simply fight them from behind walls in the passes. That is just where we begin.” Panterra watched as Sider leaned forward, assuming an almost confrontational posture. “They will divide their forces to come after us, choosing to attack more than one of the passes. But I don’t think they will take time to find the ones they don’t know about before they attack. They are impatient and confident in their strength of numbers. They will attack what they know and scout out other choices while they do so. That gives us a chance to slip out of the valley and get around behind them. It gives us a chance to trap them where they cannot defend themselves as they are used to.”

He paused. “I do not denigrate the fighting skills and heart of our people. But fighting is not our way of life as it is for these Trolls. You will have to take my word on this. And Panterra’s. These Trolls are not like anything we have seen before.”

Panterra straightened up as Esselline looked over at him. “What say you, boy? Does he speak the truth as you see it? Are these Trolls really so big and bad as he says?”

“Much worse,” Pan answered without hesitating. “They are armored, and they have creatures called Skaith Hounds to track down anything that tries to elude them. And there are more than you think. Five thousand would be a low estimate.”

“Yet you escaped them, did you not? Did you fight your way clear?”

Pan shook his head. “I was let go to come back here and arrange a meeting with the leaders of the peoples in this valley. It was a trick to find a way in, and I helped them make it work.”

There was a long silence. “Well, you show courage in admitting this, Panterra. And we have all been tricked in ways that make us look foolish, myself included. Although not lately.”