Chapter XIII
The Mirkoid
One of the Mirkoid strode by, and being alert to any movement or sound of the swamp, suspiciously held his torch up to see if anything or anyone had encroached on their meeting, he looked in their direction, his face lit by the shadowy flame, fortunately Achil and Nicholas remained hidden behind the trees. They were both astonished at what they saw. The Mirkoid was clearly visible: he was not wearing a mask at all. His face was gruesome to look upon, disfigured by ritualistic carvings that made him appear monstrous. They wore armour that was well crafted out of small tight fitting metal rings, beneath which was a linen tunic, and their breeches were of a cloth that kept the water at bay, and on their feet were heavy boots.
In appearance the Mirkoid were certainly fierce looking, an obvious effort had been made to make them seem more disturbing and cruel than they actually were. Achil wanted to get closer, so he sent Nicholas to get Nishga’s strange cloak. Soon Nishga returned, and handed it to Achil. He carefully put it on, but regrettably it did not cover all of him, he was simply too big. Nishga looked at him with a shake of her head. Taking back the cloak she offered to go in his stead, and investigate what the Mirkoid were doing. She wrapped herself up in the cloak, and in front of Achil’s eyes, disappeared.
Nishga edged herself as close to the small group of Mirkoid as she could, and was careful not to arouse their suspicions as she walked among them. They spoke with deep guttural tones unmistakeably, she recognised the language, that of ancient Suberia. One of them appeared disgruntled: apparently they had been too long away from their homes. She overheard them discussing their community living in the swamp, to the north of where they were. That it would be dishonourable to return to their brethren with nothing to show from their venture. The reason they were there was because one of them was undertaking the Right of Emergence from adolescence to manhood. Nishga moved closer, someone seemed to sense her presence and turned to look. She kept quite still, fearful of being discovered, the man stared right through her, passed her, and on into the distance, he grunted to himself and turned back to face the others, and with some relief Nishga moved to better hear what was being said. She heard the final task. The youth had to be part of a War party. They were to go on a raid to rid themselves of the Wild Men that had invaded their territory to the west of there. Apparently these were half man, half ape creatures that had lived near to Ruin Mountain, but had fled from the Dragon. A heated debate ensued on what should be done next. When the Mirkoid had finished they gathered their things together and disappeared north to their commune. If they were to rid themselves of the Wild Men it would take a larger War party than that which they had. When Nishga was sure the Mirkoid were gone she removed the cloak and called for Achil to join her.
“What did you here?” asked Achil, still a little agitated by the sight of the Mirkoid.
“I think we may have a problem,” replied Nishga. “We have to pass a camp of Wild Men on route to Ruin Mountain they are to the West of here. From what I could gather the Mirkoid intend attacking them, and soon, so unless we leave quickly we may get caught up in the fighting.”
Achil nodded and gestured for them to return to the others, and so with Nishga close behind, the two hurried back to Andreas and Nicholas. When they arrived back Nicholas was waving his hands randomly, trying to explain to Andreas what he had just seen. Andreas was busy trying to calm his young protégé, when Achil jumped through the trees.
“Andreas we need to leave immediately the Mirkoid intend attacking some Wild Men that have moved into their territory,” cried Achil.
“You never mentioned Wild Men,” said Andreas turning back to Nicholas.
“Didn’t know that part,” shrugged Nicholas.
Andreas looked worried, “I don’t think we will be able to move quickly, not without giving our position away. If we try to, we may just as well signal to the Mirkoid or the Wild Men that we're here.”
“Perhaps if we are careful, we can go around the Wild Men,” said Achil. “What we'll do is when we get close to them; we'll slow down and move as quietly as possible. And with a little luck we‘ll make it.”
“Luck,” said Andreas, a bit perplexed at the need to trust something so fickle. “I’d rather trust to our skills.”
Achil responded indignantly, “So would I, but as you’re aware sometimes you have to trust to fate. Everyone lets go.”
They went on not daring to ride their horses, but instead they guided them through the swamp, throughout the night they moved softly among the trees. As the morning approached the land began to be less malleable, becoming firmer. A sign they hoped that they were nearing the edge of the swamp. The four of them began to relax, feeling secure that the worst of the swamp was behind them. Achil was about to reassure them that they had succeeded in making their escape, and that they could once more mount their horses, when out popped from all sides tall Wild Men, who were covered from head to foot in a thick golden coarse hair, they took hold of each of them in a vice like grip. Except of course for Nishga who had been quick witted enough to escape their attention by donning the Chameleon cloak. The Ape like Wild Men bound them with vines and took them to their settlement. The horses were also led away. The trek was not a long one, and at least as they were taken away there was no chance of them falling into a treacherous bog or some such earthly trap. The Wild Men were more than diligent in finding their way. Each stride they took was so long that their captives had to race by their sides to keep up. Trees rushed passed as thickets reached out trying to slow their passage. Clumps of Nettles could not restrain such mighty creatures, though they ripped out tufts of their hair, until finally they arrived at a small village. They were hurled to the ground before being tied to trees. Other Wild Men, women, and children came into view, these strange, unknown, never before seen creatures were almost human in their hierarchical social structure.
Andreas looked over at Achil shaking his head, and repeated what they had touched upon earlier.
“Did someone mention that we needed to go quickly, and trust to luck,” said Andreas. “I think all together, that idea has not turned out quite the way we would have hoped.”
Achil also shook his head ruefully, and tried to shift his bonds, as they were uncomfortably tight.
“Stop complaining,” said Achil. “At least we haven’t been eaten, yet.”
“Yet!” replied Andreas.
The Wild Men were hunched in a circle, talking to one another and pointing at their captives. Nicholas’s bonds were not so tight as the others, so at least he was managing to loosen them a little.
Nishga who had not been caught thanks to her cloak, had managed to keep track of them, and was now circling the camp looking for a good place to enter. She was about to sneak up to them when the head of an Wild Man appeared through the brush close by sniffing the air, it was about to move toward her when another appeared and pointed at Achil. The two heads disappeared back amongst the brush. Nishga shuddered, that was too close for comfort. She weaved her way through the choking growth and thicket, desperately making sure her cloak would not get caught on some tangled brush, and she also laboured hard not to disturb anyone. After much effort, she manoeuvred her way round to where Achil was tied up. Popping out cautiously from behind one of the trees she got as close she dared. In front of her was an area that had been cleared, where many huts had been erected, in the centre there were the Wild Men discussing their captives. Andreas struggled with his bonds, bemoaning once more their present condition.
Achil was also busy trying to free his hands but to no avail.
“Look it could be worse," said Achil.
At that point a Wild Woman went up to Andreas and carefully held his head in the palm of her hand, and turned it first one way then the other. She then picked something out of his hair and chewed upon it.
After she had gone, Andreas struggled even more desperately, "Believe me its worse."
Achil was trying not to laugh at the atten
tion Andreas had received. Nicholas on the other hand did not even pretend to hide his delight.
“Hey think on the bright side,” said Nicholas. “Your sons will grow full beards, be true men and look just like their mother."
At that Achil also chuckled, but his laughter was cut short as Nishga placed her hand across his mouth, and whispered into his ear for him to stay quiet while she attempted to free him. She then did the same for the others. When all were free, Nishga suggested that she use herself as a decoy for them to escape by; when out of the forest came a cry, and from behind the trees rushed forward, shrieking at the top of their voices, the Mirkoid, they threw their torches at the wooden huts to set them ablaze. Achil and the others now loose, raced to get their bundles from their horses, armed themselves and tried to make good their escape.
One of the Mirkoid blocked Achil’s way. He raised his mace, and brought it down, as he did so Achil parried the blow with his sword, deflecting it to one side. The Mirkoid was fast, swinging his club savagely round with a fierce intensity. It was all Achil could do to doge each crashing hit. He managed to get his shield free just as another blow landed. The club smashed into his sword so hard that it was knocked from his grasp. As another blow swung round, Achil let his shield deflect it. He then shoved the shield into the Mirkoid’s face, knocking him off balance. Achil dived to the ground to retrieve his sword, just as the recovering Mirkoid pounced; Achil swung the blade round, penetrating his foes midriff, the man collapsed to the floor dead. Achil looked around, it was savage chaos. There were a lot more Mirkoid than there were Wild Men. Andreas and Nicholas were fighting with their backs to one another, and as for Nishga she was nowhere to be seen.
Achil leapt to Andreas's aid knocking both him and the Mirkoid he contested with to the ground. As he did so, he had to block the next blow which came from Andreas.
“Andreas it's me,” shouted Achil pulling him to his feet.
Andreas realising what he had done stopped and turned to help Nicholas. The three of them then fought their way out of the small encampment. As they got to the trees, they looked back: they had made their escape just as the Wild Men were being overwhelmed by the Mirkoid.
Achil sensed something was wrong.
“Where’s Nishga? She could be hurt,” shouted Achil. “You two stay here while I go look for her.”
At that point Nishga removed her cloak and revealed herself, taking hold of Achil’s arm to prevent him from charging back. With a sense of relief Achil sheathed his sword, a stray axe came hurtling overhead and imbedded itself into a tree by their side.
“Come on we had all better disappear while we still can,” cried Andreas.
“What of the horses?” asked Achil, “Especially my bow?”
"You'll have to leave it, there's no time to search for it now," replied Andreas.
Achil knew it would be too difficult to go back for them.
“In that case we'll have to go the rest of the way on foot, and make do with what we’ve got,” said Achil. “Which is whatever Nishga's salvaged?”
"You're all lucky while you were busy fighting, I took the opportunity to recover your bundles though not your bow I'm afraid."
Nishga lifted from behind her three heavy holdalls, and threw them one after the other to her companions.
All four of them, with their packs swung over their backs, as quickly and quietly as possible finally made their escape toward Ruin Mountain making sure also to cover their tracks as best they could.