Champion of the Goddess Pt. 06

Zira sighed, "That leaves 8...unless they hired or gathered more. Protect the horses and drivers. We can fix wagons if need be."

They got around the first bend and Coral dropped the weapons into the back of the 5th wagon so they could all get armed.

She rode up to Ginger, "Plan?"

Ginger smiled, "I want you to get off into the woods coming in behind the group. Trail them but keep out of sight. Snipe when you can. If I know Korrok, he will have something to draw attention to where he wants to do battle."

Coral nodded and headed off into the woods on the right side and went up a ridge a good 50 feet from the road. She rode ahead and found a good observation spot about a mile up. She spotted the Raven down the road crossing the road and shook her head.

She watched the caravan of wagons pass. It was 30 minutes later when she saw 10 riders, including 2 casters riding down the road. She sighed, "Fuck Myssara, you are not making it easy on us."

She heard, "Challenging, yes. But not impossible. Your group has 4 skilled players, counting you, future goddess."

Coral took aim and shot one of the caster's horses while aiming for the caster. It reared up and bolted forward and then toward the woods away from her. The caster barely hung on but lost the reins. The others gave chase after her except for 2 who went looking for Coral. She got mounted up and shot up the ridgeline headed for the main group.

---

It took 15 minutes to get control of the runaway horse that shot into the woods. The mage looked at the arrow in the flank. She cursed out, "Fuck! Who shot my horse?!"

The two trailing riders showed up, "Whomever it was, they went in the same direction we were heading, riding up on the ridgeline. No clear shot at them through the trees."

She looked at her horse, "This horse is going lame after that shot. They are slowing us down."

---

Coral took aim her shot rang true as she put it into the back of one of the scouts who fell over dead. She took off again.

---

The mage looked over and shouted, "Fuck! Find who is shooting us?!"

3 riders went into the trees. The mage stripped the body while she switched horses. She pulled her tack and slit the horse throat and left it on the side of the road. The 6 remaining riders started going at double-time now.

Coral went down the ridge and got to the road and came in a few hundred feet behind wagon 5 and shot into the woods on the left side. Ginger spotted her. As did the archers waiting in the back of wagon 5. The 3 in the woods had to pull up. They headed back toward their group who fast approached the area. They got into the group as an arrow from the left took out the second arcane. She looked at the three riding in, "Did you find them? We got another on the left!"

The one spoke, "She was on a faster horse, She shot out behind that caravan by a few hundred feet and went up the left side. If we had pursued they would have seen us. As it was the fighter type in full plate spotted them at the very least and she pulled back toward the last wagon. She had a bow in hand. This archer is using hit and run tactics on us."

As he said that he got shot in the leg and shouted, "Fuck!" Then he got drowsy and fell from his horse.

The mage was pissed, "Somebody, wake his ass up. Scouts, into the woods, and find that damned archer."

---

Coral took off as soon as the rider fell from the horse. She went riding forward again and saw the dwarf getting into the last wagon with some aid. As they moved past the 'ambush sight.' She saw the display Raven had set up and chuckled, "Alright, that will get their attention."

She rode up and caught up with the Caravan, " We have a caster down, 1 scout down, 1 fighter wounded, and one horse killed. I wounded it, but the one mage killed and took the horse from the scout I killed. That mage appeared to be in charge."

Ginger nodded, "Ride point. If they know who you are, if they spotted you I want to pull them in closer. The right side of the lead wagon."

She nodded and headed up that way. Ginger smiled, "Korrok is still in the woods."

---

Korrok watched Coral's antics and chuckled. He knew the mage was the leader.

The three riders turned back and got back to the leader. He watched them from a perch in the trees. The one looked at her, "That archer is part of that caravan guard. That fighter is a paladin based on the shield on her back, Myssara.

The 4 in front are dead and hanging from or tied to a tree. One of the halflings has his foot on top of his own severed head, the other was hung. Your husband is hung by the neck with a shattered arrow embedded in his forehead. The sign said 'Bandits tried, convicted, and killed.' All of them were naked so they have been stripped of gear. The fourth one was hung by the wrists as he had no throat, it had been ripped out!"

Raven ordered his bird back and had it disappear as soon as it got near him. He watched them approach, "She cast protection from normal missiles on herself as he used spellcraft. As they headed for the Caravan. Raven targeted her throat, with the drop off it would hit her heart or her throat depending on how fast she moved.

He released just as she got shot at by Ginger. He hit her in the shoulder as the Mage had switched the line she had been riding with Ginger's arrow coming in. She had flinched. Ginger's shot deflected away from her spell.

The wagon unloaded onto the other riders or their horses. Two riders and 1 horse went down in the first volley. The mage pulled up and yelled, "Fuck! Get into the woods!"

Raven's next shot caught her in the heart as she pulled a wand. She fell off her horse dead or near dead. His sight showed she still had a heart beating slowly, He only nicked her heart. Four riders went into full retreat back up the road others headed for the woods. Four other arrows took down two more riders, the ones going into the woods. One arrow killed another horse. He could guess who was hitting the horses.

---

The 4 riders fled down the road one looked back, "Fuck if they did not ambush us instead."

The last thing he said as the regular arrow Raven fired went into his right ear and the other 3 split up and started riding back and forth some instead of a straight line as they tried to ride the horses to death to get further away. The dead rider and horse came to a stop and dragged the fallen rider a few feet.

The Dwarf and the others in the back of the wagon looked at Korrok as he walked out with the horses. Ginger smiled, "Nice shot, lover. The rest of you. Gather horses. Healers, we got one wounded pony."

Raven mounted up and went after the kill that was further back and put another arrow into the mage who sputtered her last breath. He got the horses and pulled the bodies back to be stripped.

Zira looked at the dead, "Those two were ..."

Raven looked at her, "Husband and wife. I know."

She nodded, "Co-leaders of that guard detail I had previously."

Raven handed the wand to Claire, "Detect magic on it, the mage was pulling it."

Claire shook her head, "Only one charge, but it is a fireball wand. She could have killed everyone in the wagon with that one."

Ginger smiled, "The lesson for the new guys?"

Crakem chuckled, "If a caster, kill it first."

Korrok commented, "Instead of the damned horses, Crakem. The horse cannot use a wand!"

Vicor looked over, "If in doubt, shoot them while they are down."

Raven laughed, "That was 3 you shot Crakem and 1 got wounded while you managed to kill 2 horses and helped to kill only one of the halflings from the first group because you missed the pony and got the rider in the leg by mistake. You know how to shoot. You just do the opposite of what you are told."

He sighed, "Alright! I need more practice with a bow. I know that now. It still saved our asses."

Ginger smiled, "Killing the riders saved our asses. Killing horses takes money out of our pockets. Strip the bodies and hand the gear to Claire to look over. Crakem and Korrok, skin the horses, we will need the hide. Might as well make use of them.

Monna, grab the tack and put it in the wagon. Get Claire to help you. Splints, heal the pony so we can get some of the halflings on horses, or ponies in this case. Coral, you think it is worth going back for the other body?"

She shook her head, "No we should work to make up time. They already stripped it of gear and Korrok brought it back with the wizard's body. She has a bag of holding she stored her gear inside of."

She nodded, "Viola prep the two turkeys for dinner. Keep the feathers for Korrok."

They took another hour getting things gathered, distributed, and packed up. They had 7 horses and 2 ponies now. Once Korok finished getting the horses skinned and salted. He had to teach Crackem how to do that properly. He strapped them over the wagons and got the pieces needed to build 2 smokers. He flushed out a couple of quail while he was at it to add to the meat supplies, not that there was much left on them after his arrows trashed them.

Zira looked at Ginger, "Damned if you did not manage to put together a working team. I was worried about the 4 halflings and 2 dwarves because of speed. The bows really kicked ass. Korrok is fucking lethal with a bow."

She made that comment as she looked at the remains of one of the quails. She shook her head, "Not much meat left on it."

Ginger chuckled and whispered, "He shot the ass end out of a rabbit through its mouth once and his arrow looked like it had skinned the rabbit. There was no meat on that thing. Nothing edible anyway."

Zira chuckled at that as Korrok went forward with Coral. He summoned up the raven once he had distance and called out, "Scout road. Stay in the woods mostly."

They got another 2 hours down the road and the bird came back, "Deer on the right side. He looked at Coral, "Stay on point. Scout road. Not the best direction to approach a deer as the winds are not in our favor. It will smell me coming. I might spook it toward you."

She nodded. He went off to the right side. He looked out into a small ravine and spotted a bull moose. It spotted him and charged. He put one shot into the front leg near the neck as he hopped down and drew his sword. He ducked in behind a tree and the Moose went to circle to take Korrok down.

Korrok swung the sword one-handed and cut off the front two legs as he buried it into the tree again. He went around the other side, dropped his bow, and used both hands and decapitated the Moose.

He went and got his horse after picking up his bow. He heard them before he saw them. Wolves. He sighed out. He went to the moose, took the head, and threw it in their general direction. Then he tossed out the 2 front legs. He stabbed the moose's corpse with his sword and went back to his bow. He sent his bird away. He did not want to alert the others of the raven's presence just yet.

He yelled out, "Ginger! Incoming wolves!"

Coral heard him and turned back toward Ginger, "Korroc called out incoming wolves."

Korrok looked and saw 11 Timberwolves. He did not wait for them to get close. He started shooting them at long range using standard arrows. He shot a line down the side of the first one he saw. And it yelped out. Then he saw 6 more come over the top of the ridge. He retrained his focus on them as they were closer.

One was big and black with blue eyes. He put his next arrow into that one and hit it just left of center. The wolves charged his position. He took down the Black one with one of the heavier arrows before they got near him. He jumped up on the corpse, grabbed his sword, and roared out a barbaric wolf howling yelp at the others. He had 15 wolves pause to stare at him.

Arrows started coming in from the road. Two wolves got hit and someone shot his horse which was on the opposite side of the ravine and away from the wolves. He could guess who that was as his horse took off. Some of the wolves went to chase it down.

Viola caught up with his horse and had her bow at the ready as she shot one of the incoming wolves headed for his horse. Then she saw another come in from Ginger.

2 of the wolves grabbed the moose legs he threw and started pulling them away. 2 others and then a third worked to pull the moose head away he had tossed.

That made 5 moving off, 1 dead, and 3 wounded wolves and left 8 out there with 2 that had headed toward Ginger, Viola, and his wounded horse. Korrok stood there with his sword ready for business as the wolves came in. He cut one of them in half and halfway into the second one. He killed them both. A third went for his leg and got kicked in the teeth for its effort.

The other 2 were trying to go for the moose corpse. 4 more arrows and 2 bolts came in and he was left with 1 that ran minus a few teeth, 1 wounded that fled, and the other 2 near his horse took the hint and ran off but one fell from the 2 ladies shooting it.

Ginger came in with his horse and he checked and pulled the arrow from his horse and removed it. Viola healed up his horse and shook her head as Korrok went off to find the dwarf.

Crakem chuckled, "Told you I am no good with a bow."

Korrok punched him in the face and the dwarf went flying backward with a broken nose and landed over 20 feet away. "You shoot another horse, especially mine, and you will be eating your cock!"

Splints came forward slowly and worked to heal up his partner after straightening out his nose. He looked at Korrok, "It's your fault for having him use a bow."

Korrok looked at him, "My horse was nowhere near the wolves. He just shoots the biggest thing he can see and hopes to hit it. When it is a horse, one of ours. That is a fucking problem. Be glad I didn't take his head off!"

Ginger came over and took the bow away from Crakem. She looked at him, "You can either start acting right or return to the inn we left...on foot. Every shot you fired was aimed at a horse or pony.

You killed enough of them that you do not deserve to be sent back with one. You hit the one halfling, according to Coral, in the leg. You know how to shoot. You just don't shoot the targets you need to shoot.

Maybe those bandits won't be waiting for you. Maybe they are waiting for you to report back. All the targets were on the left side of the ravine, not the right side unless he aimed at Korrok and missed him and hit the horse on accident."

Crakem looked pissed and scared as Korrok stood over him and still had his sword in hand. Korrok looked at Ginger, "You found your first brick."

He walked away as the dwarf struggled to get back to his feet. He looked over at Korrok, "Who in the fuck do you think you are?"

Korrok got his sword cleaned off and picked up his bow. He looked back at the dwarf, "Korrok of Clan BITTER WOLF. You don't want the answer to that question beyond that."

Ginger sighed and looked at Crakem, "You are fucking up left and right. Drop it."

Crakem looked at her, "Are you in charge, or is he in charge?"

Ginger had enough and thought to Myssara, "I was hoping to get further than a day out before revealing him to these others."

Myssara thought back to her, "Hold off. See what Raven does first."

Raven looked at Ginger, "The dwarf is your problem, lover. He manages to live to make it to the next inn, we can have a drinking contest to see which of us remains with the group. Dwarven spirits. If he has the balls for it. Something tells me he's not up for that challenge."

Splints looked at Raven, "You think you can outdrink a dwarf?"

Raven got the line on the moose, "I can outshoot him, out swing him, fuck longer, and out drink him. He's only a dwarf after all."

Viola could not help but laugh at his comment. She looked over, "We could start with arm wrestling if you want to do that now."

Ginger got everyone moving except the 2 dwarves as Raven rode forward, "I'd likely rip it out of the socket if we started with arm wrestling." Coral got a line on the Moose as Viola and the halflings went to skinning the wolves that were dead. She was teaching them how to do it as she did the black one first.

Zira looked at the dwarves, "Are you staying? If so, get to work helping so we can get moving again."

Those 2 got ropes on the moose and helped to pull it out to the fifth wagon. Ginger had the hammer out and worked the holes in the shields. Splints looked at the moose, "What does that thing weigh?"

Korrok got down, gutted the carcass, picked it up himself, and tossed it into the back of the wagon over the axle. He looked at them, "Around 1,400 pounds. Now around 1,100 pounds one we stripped off the head, front legs, and gutted it." He then proceeded to skin and butcher it himself into smaller pieces.

He looked over to see Vicor and Ox dragging a pine tree and looked at them, "What is that for?"

Ox looked up, "firewood."

Raven shook his head as Ginger went over, "Time for a little lesson. Pine is poison. You don't use it on cooking fires. Only as a last resort and never in smokers. Especially smokers. Besides, that is a green tree.

We need dry wood to start fires with. Downed trees or branches. Korrok, see if you can find something while I get them working the smoker setup. Take Vicor and Ox with you and show them."

Raven nodded, "We got an extra shield or 2. Might want to set up 4 instead of 2. We got a lot of meat to smoke if we want to preserve it. Put some in that bag of holding Ginger has to preserve the excess. I will find more poles but you will have to set them further back. I set out some roasts for cooking."

Korrok waved them back, "Grab the saw chisel and ax. I don't think we will make it much further today Ginger. Thoughts?"

She sighed, "We lost 3 hours dealing with taking the wagons back and the front ambush, then another 2 hours dealing with 2 separate combats and 5 hours of travel. We are half a day behind. That is our bad news.

The good news is that moose, we have enough meat that we can smoke it and not have to hunt anymore until after the first inn. He will still do some hunting as fresh meat for an evening meal is a good thing if the timing is right. The bag will help with that regardless. I will put a quarter of the moose, just under, in the bag for now."

Korrok nodded, "We will find something. I spotted a couple of downed trees back there. We just got to cut them up."

He rode out with Vicor and Ox and pointed. "Use the saw on that tree. Another white oak, dry, and partially rotted. That will start the fires quickly. I got green white oak that we can use to smoke the meat from the wagon repairs. He went off and pulled another 8 branches of mesquite for more poles. Ox asked him, "Why did you cut those down? They would be green as well."

Raven nodded, "Good question to ask. A smart question to ask. It grows fast, is mesquite that can be used to smoke food. Not poisonous to smoke meat. We are using those to help build smokers. The fact they are green helps early on as it will not catch fire as easily.

Later they can be used to smoke the meat on another part of the journey. We can replace the supports with something else or more mesquite if we can find it as it grows like a weed. Then we have some dried and some green of that wood."

They both nodded as he took it back to Ginger, "We got more white oak. Dry and ready for burning. Goes with the greener white oak for more smoke. Mesquite for the poles, we have the shields. Set up 4 of them and we will smoke as much as we can."

Viola smiled, "I got 3 roasts going already in the pot as soon as the fire is going."

Raven rode off and pulled logs of it. He looked at Ginger, "Set someone to split those. I will get more."

Ginger looked over, "Crakem, you get the ax from the wagon and start splitting the logs into quarters."

Craken looked at her, "I have an ax already."