The Reluctant Warrior Read online

  “I always figured it was to see things very few others ever had.”

  Rex slowly shook his head. “That’s what I’ve always let everyone think. But it’s really so that I can be a man.”

  “I don’t think I follow you.”

  “In New York I always felt like I was looked down on because I wasn’t a metro-sexual. You know the sort, a smoothie who charms the ladies by being a bit of a cream puff.” He shifted his weight uneasily. “When we were away on our expeditions it was the only time I felt I could be a man without feeling ashamed of it. And here,” he waved his arm in the direction of the village, “its paradise. The women love you for being a man. I finally feel like I belong somewhere.”

  “Wow… I wasn’t expecting this,” Jed confessed. “Going on what you’ve just told me I guess even if we did find a way home you wouldn’t come with me.”

  “I wouldn’t let you down if that’s what you’re worried about,” Rex assured him. “We’ve been friends since we were youngsters, so if you needed me to help you get home I’d go with you.”

  “Doesn’t look like it’s going to come to that,” Jed said despondently. “I can’t see any way we can get back across that ice alive. So it looks like you’ll get your wish with the pretty water carrier.”

  Later that day Jed discovered what Erik and Amora’s business with the Skraelings had been. They had gone to enlist their allies support for an assault on Montrose’s fortress. The dead men they had found on the river bank had gone with them but in another canoe. Erik had been sad to learn of their deaths but not surprised. “The Sky-Gods are everywhere,” he had said.

  He was glad he had turned up when he did, to attack the fortress would have been suicidal. Now, however, with them in charge they could steer this war in a different direction, a direction Montrose wasn’t used to, a game of cat and mouse that would ultimately leave him frustrated. He just hoped he would live long enough to see the outcome.

  Over the next few days Jed and Rex taught six handpicked warriors how to use the rifles they had taken from Montrose’s dead men. The rifles were of course empty, they couldn’t afford to use up any of their precious shells on practice.

  “I don’t know what we’ll do when we run out,” Rex said. “I guess we’ll have to pray we take some more in battle.”

  The same concern was gnawing at Jed. Montrose would have his ammunition well guarded, so the best they could hope for was to take a few rifles and ammunition belts off his men, hardly enough to turn the tide of the war. He knew they could hold Montrose off for a while, even cause enough casualties to concern him, but they didn’t have a dog’s show of defeating him. Not without a miracle happening. All they could reasonably hope for was to delay the inevitable, and it made him sad to think that his friend mightn’t have much time left to enjoy the company of the pretty water carrier.

  It was six days after their arrival in the village that Jed ran into Amora on the trail to the river. He was heading down; she was heading up, alone. He deftly skirted around her and thought he was in the clear when he heard her call to him. “Do I displease you?”

  He stopped dead in his tracks. He hadn’t counted on this, up until now she had acted so shy around him that he had fully expected to just walk past her without a word being spoken. But because her question deserved an answer he retraced his footsteps until he was standing before her. “Of course not,” he said gently.

  “Then why do you avoid me?”

  A lump came into his throat. How could he tell her that he came from a different world and so there could never be anything between them? “I’m not avoiding you,” he lied.

  She came a little closer. “Yes, you are avoiding me. You are not like Noragin men. You seem to be afraid of women.”

  “I’m not afraid of women,” he said quickly, more than a little offended by the accusation.

  “Then why…why do you avoid me?”

  “Men act differently with women where I come from,” he said, slipping back into lying mode.

  She wasn’t having it. “Your two friends don’t. They both have eyes for our women, and aren’t afraid to spend time with them.”

  Jed risked stepping closer to her. “Look…I’m staying in your brother’s home. I am his guest. It would be wrong for me to be too friendly with his sister.”

  She looked at him quizzically. “Why?”

  “Because you are his sister and I do not wish to offend him.”

  She smiled sweetly. “Erik would not be offended. If he did not like you he would not have invited you to live with us.”

  “Maybe he does like me, but that doesn’t mean he’d like me spending time with his sister.”

  “He wouldn’t mind.”

  “I can’t afford to run the risk of offending him. He is the only friend I have in this village.”

  “I could talk to him about it if you are afraid to speak to him yourself.”

  “I am not afraid of him,” Jed snapped, then wished he hadn’t when he saw the look of surprise on her face. “I’m sorry, Amora. It’s just that I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to get too friendly.”

  Her eyes dropped to the leaf strewn track. “So I do displease you.”

  “No.” He was beginning to get frustrated by all this. Obviously she had it in her head that he thought she was beneath him, and that wasn’t the case at all.

  “Rex told me you liked me,” she said sadly, “but I guess he lied to me.” She began to move away.

  He grabbed her by the arm and swung her round to face him. “No…he didn’t lie to you. I do like you. I like you very much.”

  She lifted her head and looked him in the eyes, and it was something he would never forget, for in that brief moment it was as if he could see into her soul, her pure and beautiful soul. “Then spend time with me,” she pleaded.

  “I have had other women, Amora,” he confessed, knowing it would shock her. “I was living with a woman just before I came here.”

  If she was shocked her face did not betray it. “Is she your wife?”

  He thought about how to answer her. “No, we just lived together as lovers. In my land that is common.”

  “Why did she not come with you? Noragin women usually travel with their men.”

  “She left me just before I came here.”

  Now her eyes did widen in shock. “She left you?”

  “Relationships are different where I come from, Amora.”

  “Do you still love her?”

  “I don’t know. I guess. She was very pretty but she had a terrible temper.”

  “How could you love her if she had a terrible temper?”

  “I don’t know.” Then he laughed. “I honestly don’t know,” he said again. “But she’s gone now and so I try not to think about her.”

  “Is she the reason you’ve been avoiding me?”

  “I guess she is part of the reason. I don’t want to get hurt like that again.”

  She smiled that sweet smile again. “You will find the women are different here, Jed. We do not leave our men, and we do not lose our tempers.”

  He chuckled. “I’m glad to hear it.”

  “So you will speak to Erik?”

  “Yes, Amora, I will speak to Erik about you,” he promised, unable to resist her any longer.

  “Good. But do not leave it too long, people are starting to talk.”

  He watched her as she made her way back towards the village and couldn’t help fearing for his heart. She was the sort of women who could make men go weak at the knees, and he fancied he could feel a slight trembling in them now as his eyes rested on her shapely form moving with more sensuality than any women should be allowed to possess.

  Chapter Eight

  Jed couldn’t believe their good fortune, there in the middle of the forest clearing was a grounded helicopter with five of Montrose’s men milling around it laughing and joking. He, Rex, and Jonathon had been on a sortie to learn their way around the various forest pathways when they cam
e across it.

  Jonathon peered through a thorn bush as the spectacle unfolded. “What are they up to?”

  “Stopped for a toilet break by the looks of it,” Jed observed, as he unshouldered his rifle. “Get your rifles ready, and then on my signal fire.”

  Jonathon looked at him in alarm. “What if there are more of them in the trees?”

  “That’s a risk I think we need to take. We have to ground that chopper, it’ll mean one less to attack us from the air.”

  Jed steadied his rifle against a branch and waited while the other two got themselves ready. “Okay…fire,” he commanded.

  Three Sky-Gods tumbled immediately to the ground. “Get the one climbing into the chopper,” Rex barked, “I’ll get the other one.” He bolted from his cover like a greyhound in pursuit of a rabbit as Jed and Jonathon simultaneously squeezed their triggers. The chopper pilot doubled over before sliding from his seat and making acquaintance with the ground.

  The two friends turned their attention to the spot where Rex had disappeared into the forest and waited anxiously. Two shots rang out, followed by a third twenty seconds later.

  “Three shots do not sound good,” Jonathon said nervously. “He should never have gone after him.”

  Jed peered through the undergrowth towards the clearing, praying that Rex would be okay, and then breathed a sigh of relief as he broke the cover of the trees. He did a quick double take. Rex was staggering. “He’s been hit.” Leaving his hiding place he crossed the clearing in record time. “Where’ve you been hit?”

  “Shoulder…”

  A crimson patch was rapidly spreading in size down Rex’s shirt, and so Jed carefully unbuttoned it to reveal a hole neatly punched through the shoulder. “It’s come out the back so it’s a clean wound.”

  “Doesn’t feel like it,” Rex rasped.

  “It hasn’t severed anything vital so we should be able to stop the bleeding.” Jed flicked a hand towards the helicopter. “Jonathon, see if there’s a first aid kit in there will you.”

  Jonathon returned minutes later with a wad of gauze and a roll of bandage. Between the two of them they managed a fair job of patching their wounded buddy up. “It’s going to be a long walk back for him when he’s in that much pain,” Jed said, straightening up to inspect their handiwork.

  “Won’t have to,” Jonathon said, matter of factly. “We’ll fly him back in the chopper.”

  Jed tore his eyes away from Rex’s shoulder and rested them on Jonathon. “Do you mean to tell me you know how to fly that bird?”

  “Had my chopper license for a few years now,” Jonathon said modestly. “This one’s a bit ancient, but it shouldn’t present me with too many problems.”

  “How are you going to put it down in the village, the forest canopy is too dense?”

  Jonathon thought it over as they carried Rex towards the chopper. “I reckon I can put it down on that flat rock near the top of the village. It’ll be tight, but I think I can do it.”

  As the helicopter skimmed across the tree tops Jed considered the panic it would cause in the village. One of Montrose’s Death-Birds hovering above the Noragin would send them into a frenzy of fear. He had no wish to give them the idea that Montrose had found them and had arrived to wreak havoc, but until he had landed and put their minds at rest he had no choice. There was an idea forming in his head as well, that he couldn’t give his full attention to until he had Rex safely landed and in good hands. But it was an idea that just might tip the balance of power in their favor.

  Jonathon was as good as his word, the chopper coming to a text book landing on the hard rock surface. Jed was moving Rex towards the door before the blades had even begun to slow down.

  Jonathon jumped out quickly and stood at the edge of the rock. “It’s all right,” he shouted down towards the village, “it’s just Jonathon and Jed. We need some help, Rex has been wounded.”

  Several men emerged from their homes and hurriedly made their way up to the rock. In minutes they had Rex lying on a bed in Erik’s cabin so Amora could tend his injury.

  “She is the best healer in the village,” Erik said proudly, as he and Jed stood by watching her work her trade. “She will have him well quickly.”

  Jed took Erik to one side. “We’ve brought a Death-Bird,” he said gravely. “I want to use it to attack the Sky-Gods fortress.”

  Erik’s eyes lit up. “You are a mighty warrior,” he said with undisguised admiration. “We have fought the Sky-Gods for many years but never captured one of their Death-Birds. You have done it in less than a week.”

  “I need you and four of the warriors we trained to use the thunder sticks to come with us when we attack the fortress. But we must hurry; we must leave now before Montrose discovers we have his Death-Bird.” Jed noticed a momentary flicker of fear in his friend’s eyes and realized the prospect of being in the bowels of a Death-Bird while flying high in the sky would be a terrifying thought for any primitive man. But being the true warrior that he was Erik hid his reservations well.

  “I will get the warriors ready,” he said, and then slipped quickly out the cabin door.

  Jonathon had been listening in to the conversation. “Is the plan to disable Montrose’s choppers?”

  Jed nodded. “If we can ground him we’ll have swung the war in our favor.”

  “It’ll take more than bullets to destroy all those choppers.”

  “I’ve got an idea.”

  “I thought you might.”

  “I think they’ve modified those choppers to fly on methanol. If we siphon some out and put it into clay jars…”

  “We’ll have ourselves some bombs,” Jonathon said excitedly.

  “Problem is, we have to get down low enough once inside the fortress to toss the bombs inside the open doors of the choppers.”

  “Ah,” Jonathon’s enthusiasm rapidly faded, “that’s a big ask.”

  Jed placed his hands on Jonathon’s shoulders. “If we don’t pull this off we and all the Noragin are dead. We need you to do this for us.”

  “I’ll give it my best shot, but you must realize we probably won’t be coming back from this. Flying that low in a heavily armed compound is the closest you’ll ever get to committing suicide.”

  “It’s our only hope.” Jed looked across to see how Amora was coming along with Rex and caught her looking at him with eyes full of concern.

  “I’ll go and get the chopper ready,” Jonathon said, and then slipped discreetly out the door.

  “Will he be all right?” Jed asked nodding in Rex’s direction as Amora crossed the room to be near him.

  “He has passed out from the pain but he will heal.” She looked into his eyes. “Come back to me.”

  “I will try.”

  “Have you spoken to Erik yet?”

  “No.” He searched for the right ords to say. “I will speak to him when I get back. I need to get this mission out of the way first.”

  Her eyes remained on his for what seemed to him to be an eternity, and then placing a gentle kiss on his lips she turned back to tend to Rex. His reaction to the kiss surprised him; it had sent little ripples of delight cascading throughout him. What he was feeling at this moment disturbed him, and that was something he could do without at a time like this. It was like he had known her all his life, almost as if they had been destined for each other from before they were born. As he walked amongst the cabins towards the chopper he felt as if a part of her was going with him, and he had never felt that with any woman, not even Cassie.

  He did his best to shake her from his thoughts once they were in the air. There were more important things at stake than his relationship with Amora right now, and as he looked around at his Noragin friends and saw the fear in their eyes as they struggled to come to terms with the fact they were thousands of feet in the air he realized he wasn’t the only one fighting to keep it together.

  Jed drilled them on what their tasks would be as they skimmed across the prairie towards Mont
rose’s fortress.

  He would man the mounted machine gun which took pride of place in the open doorway while two would fire from either side of him, Erik would fire from the seat beside Jonathon, and the other two from the opposite door. The Sky-Gods wouldn’t know what had hit them with this kind of fire power raining down on them he assured them. The beauty of the attack was that Montrose wouldn’t suspect he was about to be hit. The sound of the incoming chopper would only mean the return of his own men from their morning mission.

  When the fortress came into sight Jed couldn’t help but be impressed. Twenty-five foot high walls of stone enclosed an area of around ten acres, it was quite a feat of engineering, and Jed realized that the only way the place would ever be taken was from the air. An all out assault would have cost thousands of Noragin and Skraeling lives for no gain.

  Jed could see Jonathon’s face from his position and it was all concentration. If he botched this then they were dead for sure. The chopper climbed another sixty feet, and Jed guessed it was so Jonathon could get a better look at the compound on his approach. He would have to locate the grounded choppers immediately if he was to have any chance of lining them up properly. How he was going to do that, cut back on the throttle without stalling her, and keep the chopper only inches above the ground at the same time Jed had no idea.

  As the helicopter topped the wall Jed got his first glimpse inside the compound, bustling as it was with the activity of men going about their business. He knew this was quite possibly going to be the last few minutes he had left to live.

  “I’ve got a line on the choppers,” Jonathon shouted above the noise of the rotors. “I’m going to swing this bird around and bring her down alongside.”

  “Hold your fire until I give the signal,” Jed ordered the warriors. “We’ll need to deal to the Death-Birds first.”

  Jonathon brought the helicopter around, and dropping alongside the first chopper with unbelievable precision gave Jed the opportunity he needed to light a rag wick and toss it along with its methanol filled jar through the window. The effect was as he had hoped, a huge ball of flame erupted inside the chopper leaving him in no doubt that it would soon explode. He immediately lit another jar and found his second target with the same pleasing result. His hands were shaking uncontrollably by the time Jonathon had maneuvered him alongside the third chopper, and he could hear Montrose’s men shouting. It would only be a matter of seconds before the shooting started. He tossed the jar. Bulls-eye, the craft would soon be an inferno.