Chapter 5

Picking his way carefully through the gravel along the ridge of the hill, Harper had a quick look around him over the undulating countryside covered with patches of woodland, trying hard not to look back at the swamp behind him. Satisfied that there was nothing out of the ordinary he turned around to see the rest of his Fist stark against the skyline as they followed him.

Taking a bearing from the sun again he tried to work out the best route over the next hill to the river. The plan was to follow the river bed through the ravine down to the Great Wood rather than try to climb down the cliff. But first they had to get to the top of the next hill and provide cover for the Chosen One.

Pausing a moment to close his eyes and shrug his sore shoulders, Harper picked a path at random and started up the hill. With one hand grabbing on to steady himself, the climb was slow and dangerous, at one point almost slipping and landing on his shin.

Once at the top of the hill Harper pulled his cape off and dropped in on the ground before lying on it, looking through the magical sights back the way he came. Looking past his Fist he watched the party slowly walk along obliviously. He took a moment to look up and down Nicole's body before he looked over at Mikhail. The Chosen One hadn't completely gotten over his sprained ankle and limped along by himself, the others avoiding him like a leper with worries about the prophecy going wrong.

Hearing Jarvis scrabbling and pulling himself onto the hill Harper looked round to see him stand waving his hands over his head. Looking over at the direction Jarvis was facing, he looked through his sights to see Miller from the other Fist waving back at Jarvis before picking up his things and starting towards them.

Satisfied that the other Fist was coming Harper concentrated on watching back and forth, trying to catch glimpses of anything out of place as the rest of the Fist got to the top of the hill.

Harper could feel something indefinably wrong just over the horizon, and the tension of trying to focus on keeping watch while wondering what was happening was getting to him. His mind kept scattering from point to point, from the string in his crossbow needing replacing soon, to the rain dripping down his neck and in his eyes.

Seemingly all of a sudden the other Fist was there, saluting them with their fists to their chest. Drying his face and stretching, he noticed the party at the foot of the hill. Bull came over, laying his hand on Harper's shoulder. 'Come on, lets be off. They're pausing for lunch once we get in the wood.' Harper winced at the idea, before rolling his eyes in disgust and nodding.

'We could have been there in half the time if they knew how to travel.' he whinged.

'Yeah, yeah. Not much further though.'

With another nod Harper picked his cape back up and put it on. With his crossbow on the sling around his neck he turned and started climbing down the hill, the river they were to follow visible half a mile ahead.

The ravine was worryingly steep and the footing was a choice between muddy and slippery next to the river or rocky and slippery far from it. Harper moved slowly along the rocks at the edge of the riverbed, wiggling his foot slightly every step to check his grip.

Looking up either side, the walls of the ravine were getting higher and higher. The echo of every footstep and every breath, comment or stumble seemed to get louder and louder.

As they walked, something kept niggling at the back of Harper's mind. Pausing a moment he looked back and forth, seeing Ginger ahead of him, the others behind. Just entering the ravine was the main party, sounding extremely loud. Feeling the walls closing in, he put one hand up to stop those behind him. Kneeling to pick up a stone, he threw it at Ginger's back, before gesturing for him to stop.

Once still, Harper closed his eyes and tried to listen for movement, for someone else breathing, for anything. Getting a stupid idea in his head, he waved at Ginger before picking up several stones. Aiming carefully, he threw them ahead of him at increasing distances, aiming at where he'd be if he was walking. Gesturing for Ginger to do the same, they carried on, Ginger throwing about 30 feet ahead of him.

The Fist cautiously continued for five minutes until the edge of the ravine was only about 100 feet in front. Beyond it was an open area surrounded by trees and bushes, with the river continuing into the forest. Looking back, the main party had gotten halfway up the ravine.

It happened all of a sudden: a loud creaking, then high pitched yelling Harper recognised as goblins and two large tree trunks were thrown from both sides of the top of the ravine shortly behind where Ginger was aiming his stones. They rolled downhill slightly over where Ginger would have been.

Less than five seconds later another two logs were thrown down to about the same place. Meanwhile Harper could see masses of goblins rushing up from the bottom of the ravine to try to get to them. Ginger had frozen stiff, staring at where his dead body would have been. The sounds of the heavy chunks of wood crashing to the ground reverberated up the ravine.

Checking up at the top of the ravine Harper couldn't see any goblins looking down, but stopped looking when he heard another couple of crashes behind him. Looking back he saw another two logs falling down behind the main party. They were trapped on both sides with goblins charging them.

Looking at the sides of the ravine, Harper knew they wouldn't be able to climb the walls. Thinking quickly he kicked some of the rocks towards the muddy section of the ravine floor to create a more stable section, then moved over to it and pulled some bolts out. Quickly getting a rough count, he guessed that there were only about 20 more bolts left.