Soldiers of Avarice
Page 33
“Forget the formalities,” Olaf muttered. “If you have something to say, out with it.”
“The enemy has been pushed out of the town,” she explained. “We’ve lost twenty of the twenty-five guards, including Sergeant Redfurn.”
“What’s your name?” Colt asked gently, after noticing that the woman was still trembling.
“Private Mathilda,” she replied, in the strict cadence of one addressing a superior officer. Aiden guessed that was all she had to hold on to.
“Congratulations, Private, you’re now a Sergeant,” Colt continued. “Take a deep breath, then get out there and make sure the injured are treated. Then post guards on all the gates and report any further movement back here.”
“Yes sir,” Mathilda said with a quick salute. She took a breath as ordered, which restored a little color to her face, then hurried back out the door.
“You don’t have the authority to promote someone in the town militia,” Olaf pointed out, though his expression suggested he regretted doing so almost immediately.
“Do you think I give a shit what you think?” Colt spat. “She got the orders she needed to keep going. You can demote her after I’m gone.”
A moment of silence fell over the room as they all took a moment to grasp what had just happened to the once-peaceful town. “Those were Robert Black’s mercenaries,” Colt stated. “How the hell did they get into the town without going through the gates?”
Though Aiden’s mind was sluggish with exhaustion, he knew the answer to this question. “They dug in under the wall,” he informed them, “just like they tried in Culdeny.”
“Of course,” Pacian sighed. “They must have been digging for weeks.”
“It seems coincidental they attacked just when the Akorans were going to, also,” Sayana added. “Wait — show me that battle plan you took from Erag, Aiden.”
He took the rolled-up plans from inside his tunic and handed them over to her, wondering what she wanted with them. The wild girl unfurled the parchment and took a closer look at it.
“If one of my people wrote this, it would not have been in Aielish,” she said, confirming what Aiden has suspected earlier. “This plan wasn’t made by Akorans; it was given to them, to coordinate with the warriors who came here this day.”
Aiden smacked his forehead for missing that little clue, as the answers to the events of the past few days were starting to crystalize.
“You’re all wasting time,” Marshald said from down on the floor, cutting off any further discussion of this new information. “Go and rescue Princess Criosa from her captors, or their plans, whatever they are, will succeed.”
He tried to stand up, but his legs gave out beneath him. “You’re lucky to be alive, Captain,” Nellise warned. “I have healed the wound as best as I can, but you will require days of rest before you will fully recover.”
“He will be cared for, miss,” Olaf assured her. “You have to leave immediately.”
“We only just returned from a harrowing mission down into Akoran territory,” Nellise protested with a trembling voice, her resolve starting to wither. “You have no idea just how badly things went for us down there...”
“I can see that it must have been very difficult for you,” Olaf admitted. “But this is an emergency. The town has been devastated by this attack, and if you had not returned when you did, I doubt any of us would be alive to have this conversation. I implore you, do as the captain says and pursue Criosa’s captors, or the people behind all of this might succeed in whatever nefarious plans they have in play.”
Aiden looked around at his weary friends. They were wounded, tired, and traumatized, but no one disagreed with the mayor’s assessment. Reluctantly, he knew there was only one answer he could give.
“Very well,” he sighed, feeling exhaustion in his bones like he’d never felt before. “We will go, but we’ll need supplies.”
“Take what you need from here,” Tom offered and, as if on cue, Aislin scrambled out from under the table to start collecting bread, cheese and sausages into a sack.
“I’m going to need more crossbow bolts,” Nellise murmured absently, resigned once again to her fate. She started looking around at the fallen mercenaries for spare bolts, while Colt did the same, looking for arrows.
“The princess and her contingent rode here on horses, which are still in the stable,” Tom informed them. “I don’t think she’d mind if you borrowed them for a while.”
“Fantastic, because I don’t think I can walk another step,” Pacian said with relief.
“They went out this door here, yes?” Colt called from across the room. Olaf nodded, and the big ranger responded by kicking the door off its hinges. With his sword drawn, he stepped outside into the near-darkness of early evening, with Aiden and the others quickly gathering their gear before following him outside.
“Please save her,” Aislin begged, looking up to Aiden as she handed him a sack full of food. “She was nice to me, and didn’t deserve to be dragged off by those bad men.”
“Don’t worry,” Aiden assured the little girl with a resigned sigh. “Apparently, this is what I do for a living.”
Chapter Twenty-One
It only took them a few minutes to find the concealed tunnel entrance — a covered hole in the ground, cunningly hidden near some bushes close to the wall. Their departing enemies had left deep boot prints in the thick mud, and even the small light provided by Nellise’s prayer was sufficient to allow the ranger to follow them.
“They must have been in a hurry,” Colt muttered. “That, or they’re stupid. Either way works for me.”
“Fine; just don’t go down there until I take a look,” Pacian advised, waiting for Nellise to finish healing a cut to his arm before cautiously approaching the hole. “No sign of any trip lines. If they’ve lain in some traps, I can’t see them.”
“I do not find that reassuring,” Sayana said, watching the proceedings with impatience before making a small noise of frustration and promptly climbing into the hole. Nearly a minute passed in tense silence before she signaled that it was clear below.
“They’ve left a ladder down here. Just give me a moment to prop it up.”
“I’ll go first,” Colt grunted. “If they’ve got people watching this end of the tunnel, she isn’t going to give them much of a fight. Nel, you and Pacian get the horses from the stables and meet us at the bridge. I’m willing to bet this tunnel doesn’t go past the river.”
“Are you okay with this?” Aiden asked Nellise, who stood next to him wrapped in the thick winter cloak that was her only real protection against the cold.
“I’m doing my best,” she replied in a quiet voice. “There’s been so much death, so much killing that I never thought humanity capable of. However,” she added, pre-empting Aiden’s next comment, “the thought of Princess Criosa in the hands of the men who attacked the town fills me with anger such as I have never known. I will not rest until she is freed, though I fear for her safety in the interim.”
“Okay. Hang in there,” Aiden consoled her, wishing he could take away her pain.
“You too,” she replied as she and Pacian hurried off to the stables. Colt carefully stepped onto the proffered ladder and slowly made his way down, with Aiden following him moments later.
The digging of this tunnel was quite an impressive feat, given it had been done without anyone in town noticing. It was easily twenty feet deep, and wide enough for two armored men to stand shoulder to shoulder. Wooden buttresses were set up at regular intervals to provide additional support, and the smell of damp earth was strong, while the sounds of dripping water in the distance gave the tunnel an eerie atmosphere. A small flame danced in Sayana’s palm, providing them with light.
“They’re not that far ahead of us,” Colt grunted, crouched near the ground to read the footprints in the earth. “It appears as though eight of ’em escaped from the town. The princess is being dragged, from the looks of these heavy marks. She’s no
t giving up without a fight.”
“I don’t know much about construction,” Aiden muttered, “but something tells me this tunnel wasn’t built to last."
“If it’s the same quality as the tunnel at Culdeny, we should probably get out of here as soon as possible,” Colt agreed.
The tunnel continued on for fifty yards, when they abruptly came to the end of the passageway. Sayana was crouched beneath another hole, much like the entry back in town.
“No ladder,” she whispered. “They may have left a few men behind to ambush anyone coming through.”
“Kill the light,” Aiden whispered. She nodded and the glimmer vanished, leaving them shrouded in darkness aside from the thin sliver of moonlight coming down from the evening skies. “Sy, could you fly up there and check it out?"
“Good idea,” Colt added. “Here, take this rope and tie it to something big.” She silently took the rope and quietly spoke an invocation. Her glowing tattoos momentarily lit up the immediate area of the tunnel, though the writhing light faded after a few seconds, returning them to darkness. Her shadow passing across the moonlight was the only indication of her upwards movement through the shaft.
“All clear,” Sayana called a couple of minutes later, as the welcome sight of a rope tumbled down to them. Colt was the first one up, disappearing over the lip of the tunnel in a matter of moments, while Aiden had a little more trouble negotiating his way out. The tunnel had been excavated with trees and scrub providing cover from the walls of Bracksford and would have been difficult to find in the darkness.
“Can you see any tracks in this light?” Aiden whispered to his companions.
“Vaguely, though not with any great detail,” Sayana whispered back.
“Here, put these on,” Aiden said, taking the lenses from his head and offering them to Colt. The big man took the proffered device and strapped it on.
“These are bloody impressive,” he grunted with amazement. “It’s almost as bright as an overcast day out here.” He spent a moment looking around at their surroundings before focusing on the mess of tracks at their feet. “They’re heading north-east, across the river, which I could have told you even without these things.”
“What lies in that direction?” Sayana wondered.
“The town of Lachburne,” Colt answered.
“Could they be using it as a base?” Aiden mused aloud.
“Only if the mercs took control of it,” Colt answered. “We’ll have to follow the tracks and see what we see. Sy, light up and go find Nellise. We need those horses.”
“No need,” Pacian said as he and Nellise emerged from the scrub a short distance away, with five magnificent horses in tow. “We followed the sound of your voices. I take it we’re safe for the moment?”
“The remaining captors will be traveling fast and light,” Colt explained. “We have to keep going if we don’t want to lose them.”
“I feel like I could collapse right now,” Pacian said, lowering his head in resignation.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Nellise mumbled, “but I can’t stop thinking about Criosa in the hands of those mercenaries.” She opened one of her pouches and produced her mortar and pestle.
“Oh no,” Pacian groaned. “Not that energy concoction again.”
“It’s the only way we’re going to keep on our feet,” Nellise sighed, sounding less than thrilled by the prospect of using the bitter-tasting tonic once more. “When it runs out, we’ll want to be somewhere we can rest.”
“Yes, I vividly recall what it felt like after it had run its course,” Aiden grumbled. Nellise ground the substance into a powder, then added some water and gave each of them a drink. Aiden shuddered after swallowing the foul stuff, which reminded him of the smell of swamp water.
“Guh,” Pacian exclaimed, walking around in circles a few times after drinking his share.
“Quit complaining and mount up,” Colt growled, giving Pacian a shove as he moved past. “Honestly, I’ve had a gutful of your bellyaching.”
Aiden caught Sayana’s attention while the others were taking a closer look at the horses. Looking at her long, curly red hair and large sad eyes, Aiden felt a longing to reach out and hold her close.
“Are we okay?” Aiden asked her tentatively. She gave him a curious look; then her expression hardened as she realized what he was referring to.
“This is not the time or place to discuss it,” Sayana answered distantly.
“Just ... give me something.”
“You died, Aiden,” she hissed under her breath. “No one comes back from that without being changed. I feel like you never returned from Akora. A dragon always takes its price. You will find out what it took from you someday, and only then will you understand.” Without waiting for an answer, she headed over to join the others.
Sayana’s response left Aiden in a state of emotional limbo. He wasn’t sure there was anything else between them, aside from physical attraction, but he would have liked to find out. Pushing these thoughts to the back of his weary mind, he climbed into the saddle.
Aiden was far from an expert on horses, but knew enough to realize these were quality mounts from the finest stables in Aielund.
“I don’t know how to ride,” Sayana pointed out to the others when confronted with the last remaining horse, a white mare. Colt wordlessly grabbed her hand and pulled her up onto the back of his saddle. They sat upon a roan charger, a trained warhorse probably belonging to Captain Marshald, and the largest Aiden had ever seen.
They forded the river at one of its shallower points and waited a minute while Colt confirmed the direction of the tracks. With the trail obvious, they rode for the next hour or so, following a path set by Colt’s silhouette against the clear moonlight. The trees of the forest passed by on their left, and by the time the tonic had run its course, they had travelled far to the north of Bracksford with no sign of their prey.
Aiden’s head felt like it was going to split open, and his muscles ached. The others must have felt the same, because nobody objected to resting for a few hours. Although cold, they didn’t dare light a fire, in case it was spotted by prying eyes watching for signs of pursuit. Aiden wrapped himself up in his winter blanket as best he could and promptly fell into a deep sleep.
* * *
They continued their pursuit after dawn, having unenthusiastically downed a simple cold breakfast of cheese and bread. With the foul weather of the last few weeks finally behind them, the cloudless sky above was a welcome sight. Colt paused every half-mile or so to make sure they were still on course, and the news was good.
“We’re not far behind now,” he explained. “The tracks are fresh, so they had to stop overnight as well. If we push hard, we can catch them before the day is out.” Giving their horses full reign to blaze a trail across the wide plains, the group settled into the pursuit.
As they sun began to sink towards the horizon, Colt altered their course a little to continue on the path he followed.
“We’re closing in, and it looks like they’ve gone to somewhere on the western edge of Lachburne,” he explained when they walked the horses for a time. “Maybe there’s some local forces hidden there that they’ve hooked up with. We’ll find out shortly.”
Just after sunset, they came to the fallow vineyards of Lachburne, where they called a halt and dismounted, for their horses were lathered in sweat and almost exhausted. Deciding to leave their mounts there, they proceeded on foot, with Colt following the trail around to the western edge of town. The smell of wood smoke permeated the air, and from here, at least, everything in Lachburne seemed perfectly normal.
With Colt using Aiden’s lenses to follow the trail, they eventually wound their way through the streets to a large manor house on the northern side of Lachburne. It was a sprawling, single-story affair with extensive gardens on every side. Every window glowed with warm light, and nothing seemed amiss — until Colt spotted men dressed in the livery of the Steel Tigers patrolling the grounds.
“Now for the fun part,” Pacian purred, gripping the hilt of his dagger.
“I’m inclined to think the rear entrance will be easier,” Colt said.
“Perhaps a distraction would allow us to move inside undetected?” Sayana suggested.
“I was thinking that too,” Pacian agreed. “Aiden, throw a rock at the wall when we’re in position, and we’ll take the guards out as quietly as we can. When they’re down, catch up to us.”
“Can do,” Aiden agreed, blindly feeling around on the ground until he grasped a fist-sized rock that would do the job nicely. Colt and Pacian crept forward silently, keeping low as they moved to the wall. Sayana kept a close eye on their progress, for neither Aiden nor Nellise could see them in the darkness.
“They’re in position,” the sorceress whispered. Aiden hefted the rock, took aim at a distant part of the stone wall, and heaved it for all he was worth. It sailed invisibly through the air, leaving them in suspense as to the accuracy of his throw until it struck the wall with a loud crack.
“I think it’s working,” Sayana advised Aiden. “They’ve moved away from the back entrance.” The sound of a scuffle could be heard, followed by the muffled grunt of someone being hit in the head. Sayana grabbed Nellise and Aiden by the shoulders and led them forward, creeping through the garden until they arrived at the door.
Colt was disposing of the unconscious guards under a nearby bush, while Pacian worked his magic on the lock. Within moments he had the door open, and with weapons drawn, the small group crept inside.
The passage beyond was dimly lit, with a pair of lanterns hanging in the hallway. They continued forward silently until they reached a door. Pacian placed his ear to it, listening for any sound beyond. Satisfied it was safe, he very carefully opened the door and led them inside.
“Looks like a study,” Aiden whispered, stepping into the room. Two cluttered desks sat against the far wall, and another door beckoned to their left.