Gleeson The Defender Part 6

The training schedule is intense. After the shops close for the day, everyone is required to train. Shops are only open part of the day anymore and everyone helps with feeding and hunting now.

The feeding is building strength in those that don’t have any. The hunting is creating marksmen of all levels. The nights are quiet. Gleeson sends his best riders out as scouts. They’re always in groups of two.

Erik is his lead scout. He is under strict orders, never to be seen and never to engage the enemy. The scouts are the town’s only defense at this time. If the scouts are to be seen the element of surprise is no longer theirs.

It’s been a fortnight since the town meeting. The training has been going great for a bunch of settlers. “We’re still not ready.” Gleeson confides in Mary.

“I know we’re not.” She grabs his hand, squeezing it softly. They look out the window of her house onto the street. Jake is leading the muscle building exercise.

“Why do you do that?” Gleeson turns to her.

“Do what?”

“Play with my emotions like that. You’re constantly touching me, caressing me.”

“I’m sorry, I-”

“It’s gotta stop or I’m likely to rip all your clothes off and make you mine.” Mary blushes a little. “Is that what you want?”

“No. I love my husband and my daughter. I will do anything to protect them.”

“Then stop. I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.”

“I just thought men like you wanted.” She stops, not really knowing what she thinks anymore. Gleeson looks out the window and sees his scouts riding up fast. He runs out the door into the street with Mary following him.

He meets Erik close to the training exercise. “The orcs, they’re here.”

“How many?”

“Six, at least, maybe more. Should we ambush them?”

“No, we’re not ready. Maybe if we had another couple of weeks. How far out are they?” Gleeson looks into the direction Erik came from.

“Not far, they’ll be here soon.”

“We submit.” Mary steps in. “It’s our only choice.”

“She’s right.” Jake walks up as well.

“I’ll be there with the food at the general store.” Mary looks around at the men in the circle. None of them interject.

“I’ll be with you as well.” A soft old voice comes from behind them.

“Father, you can’t.”

“How can I be a leader if I let my daughter sit there alone?”

“He’s right.” Gleeson walks away. “You three, gather the supplies for the orcs. Everyone else!” He yells for the town to hear. “Stay inside, no matter what happens!”

“I’ll be there, watching you.” Jake grabs Mary’s hands into his.

“You need to stay with Adeline.” Mary looks into his eyes. She tries a smile but it doesn’t fit. She looks over to Gleeson. “He’ll make sure we’re all safe.”

            “Fine.” Jake lets go of her hands. He walks over to Gleeson. “You let anything happen to them, I’ll-”

“You’ll what? Kill me?” Gleeson smiles at Jake. “You don’t need to worry about them, just take care of your daughter and all will be fine.” Gleeson shoulders past him. Gleeson walks to the general store across the street from Jake and Mary’s house.

The supplies are being loaded into a small wagon that can be connected to a horse and rider without great difficulty.  Bags of grain fill up most of the cart. Grain is the easiest for the little town to come up with. Other vegetables are loaded up as well and a sparse amount of meat is on top.

Gleeson spins his arm upright in the air with his index finger extended, signifying to wrap things up and for people to clear the streets. He walks away, but before he can get too far, Mary reaches out and grabs his hand. He turns back to face her.

“You keep them safe, you hear me?” A tear rolls down her cheek. Gleeson nods and she lets go of his hand. He walks up the steps to the porch and turns back around. Mary and Lord Gregory are right down the street.

“Sprinting distance.” Gleeson adjusts his belt that holds his two custom daggers. They’re longer than most daggers but still smaller than a short sword. He opens the door, leaving it cracked behind him. He grabs his claymore from the corner behind the door and straps it to his back. It’s held on by a half scabbard, leaving most of the blade exposed at the bottom. The blacksmith spent an immense amount of time crafting him a new sword and daggers.

The claymore has a secondary hilt that extends beyond the hand guard flaring out at the end where the blade actually begins. This is in the half scabbard itself, the pommel is right above his head. The blade reaches almost to the floor, even at its angle.

 Gleeson positions himself at the window, able to see Mary and Lord Gregory standing behind the cart. “Great job, Mary.”

“What?” Jake walks up next to him, staring out the window.

“She positioned them behind the cart and close to the door in case the orcs decide to attack. A great defensive move.” Gleeson sees Mary cough into a small rag. “She seems calm. That’s good.”

 “What can I do?”

“Take your daughter up into the loft.” Gleeson glares at him. Even though Jake is a large man, Gleeson still towers over him. Gleeson looks back out at Mary behind the cart, trying to conceal her rag from her father.

“She loves you, ya know?”

“I know.” Gleeson looks down at his knives. “It’s not really me she’s in love with. It’s what I can do for her that she loves.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” The anger in Jake’s face turns it red.

“She may love me but she’s in love with you.” Gleeson stares back out the window. “She loves me because I can keep you and Adeline safe when she’s gone. She’ll do just about anything for that.”

“So you know about that then?” Jake looks out at Mary too.

“It’s not hard to figure out. How long has she had the cough?”

“For a while. Her brother had it and she took care of him before he died.”

“She wants to make sure you two are taken care of after she’s gone. That’s where I come into play. I can take out the orcs, making you safe.”

“I see. If that’s her wish, then so be it.”

“It’s not like that. I’m going to do it regardless of what she wants. I owe it to my brothers.”

“You were planning this the whole time, weren’t you?”

“I wasn’t expecting to stay here.” Gleeson moves closer to the window when Mary turns her head to her left. Gleeson follows her gaze to his right. “Take your daughter upstairs. Stay up there regardless of what happens.”

“I can’t stand by and-” Gleeson interrupts Jake with a dark glare.

“You saved me once. Let me repay you, by saving all of you.”

“Fine.” The weak sound comes from Jake. He grabs Adeline’s hand and takes her up the ladder.

The orcs appear in the window right in front of him. There are six of them in all. The largest orc rides at the front, in typical orc formation. The largest are always the leaders.  He steps off to the right so he can keep an eye on them.

They stop at the supply cart. Gleeson can hear muffled voices coming from the orcs and Lord Gregory. Mary seems nervous to him, she keeps playing with her apron.

The muffled voices are getting more audible for Gleeson. He shifts his weight allowing his knife belt to shift more comfortably on his hips.

“Grain!” The big orcs voice bellows. “You expect us to eat grain? We want meat! Not this pile of shit you call food!” Gleeson tightens his hand around the hilt of a knife.

“Human meat!” Another orc draws his blade. The orc jumps up onto the little cart. He stabs Lord Gregory in the belly. The orc pulls the blade out, laughing. Mary screams at the sight of her father’s blood.

Lord Gregory falls and Mary is there to catch him. “Kill them all!” Mary looks beyond the laughing orcs, directly at Gleeson in the window. She pulls a blade from under her apron. The orcs see the blade in her hand and laugh even louder.

“Fuck!” He’s out the door without hesitation. He jumps off the porch pulling out both knives. Gleeson sprints across the street with the blades pointing down. He lets out a battle cry before he lunges in the air.

The orc closest to him turns too late. He drives his knives deep into the base of the orc’s neck. One blade is towards the back and the other, the front.

With a shearing motion, the blades cut through the neck of the orc, taking the head off. Black blood flows from where the head used to be.  Gleeson lands on his feet as the orc falls to the ground.

The orc that killed Lord Gregory is next. The orc slashes at Gleeson with its sword. Gleeson ducks under the sword spinning on his heels. He slashes the belly of the orc with his right hand, releasing more black blood. He comes up with a flash and stabs the orc in the chest with his left. Gleeson sees the sword stabbing at him out of the corner of his eye.

He pulls the orc down, using the blade buried in its chest like a handle. The sword protrudes from the chest of the orc just above Gleeson’s hand. He pulls down hard on his orc shield, causing the sword to be pulled from his attacker’s hand. Gleeson lets go of the knife’s hilt dropping the orc to the ground.

He slashes at the orc’s neck that lost its sword. Gleeson connects with the soft tissue just under the chin. Blood comes pouring out of the slit Gleeson made with his knife. The orc reaches up, grabbing at his throat. He falls to the ground with blood seeping through his fingers.

In the same motion, Gleeson pinches the blade between his fingers on his left hand. He spins and releases the blade with a flick of his wrist. It flashes through the air finding the eye of another orc.  The orc drops without a sound. Gleeson spins around grabbing the hilt of his Claymore, pulling it down.

This causes the long blade to extend almost straight out from his shoulders. He ducks once again catching the belly of an orc. Without stopping he finishes his turn pulling his claymore from its scabbard. He drives it down in an arcing motion, severing both legs of the orc.

Gleeson quickly grabs the secondary hilt with his right hand. He stabs the large leader in the gut using the claymore like a spear. He drives the leader back a few steps. The orc looks down at Gleeson who smiles back. With all of his might, Gleeson pulls up on the claymore’s secondary hilt, using the pommel as a pivot point. The blade glides through the orc, coming out at the right shoulder. Orc blood rains down on Gleeson as he splits the orc in two.

The large orc falls to its knees. Gleeson places a palm on its face and pushes it to the ground. He turns his attention back on the orc with no legs. He walks over to the orc that’s struggling to get its sword out. Gleeson stabs down with his claymore into the orcs chest. He twists the hilt, halting the struggling of the orc.

He lets go of the sword letting it wobble. He looks around the carnage, breathing heavy. Anger and hate present in his eyes. Black orc blood rolls off in beads down his hands. His shaggy brown hair is matted and clumped with black curdled blood.

Mary walks up to him cautiously, placing the blade back in her apron that’s now covered in her father’s blood. She grabs his gory hand in hers. He looks down at her, his cold blue eyes uncaring. She hugs him tightly, not caring of the orc blood. He looks down at her, wrapping his arms around her.

The townspeople come out of their houses a few at a time. They look at the massacre in their quiet little town. The blood of the orcs is all over the ground.  They see the two of them in the middle of the street. “They’re going to come back!” An old woman cries out.

“You said we weren’t ready. You said not to attack, you’ve doomed us.” She continues. Gleeson lets go of Mary.

“Go to your family.” He walks away from her. “You’re right, I did say that. I also said if they attacked, I’d deal with it.” He meets the crowd gathering in the street.

“What do we do now?” Erik meets him at the front.

“I need you to go talk to Jake. He said he tracked where I came from.”

“How’s that going to help?”

“If we can make it back to where my men were ambushed. We can get armor and weapons.” He looks back at the crowd.

“What do we need armor and weapons for?” The old woman cries out again.

“Why?” His anger flaring up again. He scans the crowd looking at all the scared faces. ““Because we now take the fight to them.”