Finally finished with the torches, she was walking back toward Mykel when she heard something from a sentry on the front wall.
“Is the old woman still awake?” The man was shouting down inside the walls to someone Nara couldn’t see. “Torches are going out. Wake that wench and send her out to light new ones.”
There were civilians in there.
A few moments later, Nara met Mykel near a fallen tree. “Be mindful of the innocents,” Nara said.
“Is anyone who serves Kayna innocent?”
“Yes.”
Mykel sighed, then nodded.
Nara led him to the left side of the outpost.
“Jump or climb?” Mykel asked.
“You can do what you want, but let me get close before you blow our cover. I’m climbing.”
Just then, a creaking sound revealed the front gate swinging open. A middle-aged woman in a sopping-wet overcoat made her way toward a sconce holding a sputtering torch in one hand and two unlit torches in the other.
“An open front door,” Nara whispered. “Even better.” She dashed toward the gate in the near darkness.
“Who’s there?” the woman asked as Nara approached.
In a burst from the shadows behind the woman, Nara grabbed the woman’s torch and threw it into the rocks far beyond.
“Wha . . . ?”
“Run away, good woman,” Nara said, whispering into her ear. “This outpost will be a dangerous place tonight. Don’t scream. Just run.”
“What’s going on down there?” came from the wall above.
“Uh . . . nothing,” the woman answered, then promptly dropped her other torches, lifted her skirts, and ran away.
With the exterior torches now extinguished, it was time to pick the fight. Nara flared earth, and the bottom of the gate became trapped on either side by stone. It would move nowhere now, and only one person could come through at a time.
“Brilliant,” Mykel said. “But they’ll have archers on the wall in no time once this starts.”
“I can handle them.”
Nara retreated to the left side of the fort, watching for archers while Mykel moved to the roadway in front of the gate. He would be in plain view once the soldiers found some light. Several moments of shouting and frustrated voices inside the fort were followed by three soldiers bearing torches, exiting through the gate, one at a time. Two tried to push on the gate to open it further.
“It’s stuck,” one said. “A bunch of rock down here blocking it.”
“I believe we’re to blame for that,” Mykel bellowed, quickly grabbing their attention.
The soldiers turned toward him, holding their torches high in an effort to see him. The rain made hissing sounds as it hit the flames.
The soldiers pulled swords from scabbards as they snapped into action. Once they got close enough to see it was a single unarmored man with a staff, they seemed to relax.
“You’re under arrest,” said one. They were the only words spoken before Mykel moved. In a few heartbeats, all three were on the ground in various stages of discomfort. A sword lay broken, along with a leg, an arm, and several ribs. One man remained conscious, whimpering softly. A moment later, a loud bell rang and more soldiers streamed out of the front gate. Several appeared on the wall, and Nara saw an archer. It was her turn.
The archer nocked an arrow, aiming at Mykel. Nara flared motion and pulled. Or pushed, actually, from the opposite direction. That was how the motion rune worked—you always had to push. But her aim was way off, and the archer launched off the wall as if a catapult had thrown him way too hard, and in Mykel’s direction. She changed perspectives in her mind, imagined being below him, and gently pushed upward to slow his fall, but his sideways momentum was so great that if the fall didn’t kill him, an impact with a tree or a rock surely would have. She switched perspectives again to counter his lateral momentum but was too late. He hit the ground hard in front of the outpost, bouncing and rolling, his bow flying off to one side. When he came to a stop, he didn’t move. She hoped she hadn’t just killed the man.
More soldiers poured out of the gate. “Surrender now and you’ll live,” Mykel said, but he didn’t give them long to consider before engaging them, whirling with his staff and flinging the men to the ground in short order.
Two more archers reached the top of the wall, and Nara focused on a bow this time, flaring motion and pushing it out of his hands. That was way easier. She pushed on the second bow, but the archer was holding so tightly, he almost came with it, and barely kept himself from falling from the wall. Disarming them was a much better strategy. She would have to learn to be smarter about these things.
Mykel had now defeated a dozen soldiers, each lying in various degrees of consciousness on the ground. Nara heard a sound near the front gate. They were stacking crates to bar the entrance. Smart play. They were changing the confrontation, probably directed by a commander within. She would need to get to him somehow.
She flared protection and approached the gate again.
“Nara, stay back,” Mykel said.
“I’ve got protection up. I’ll be fine.” She walked up to the gate and yelled. “I repeat my offer. My name is Nara Dall. Surrender. All of you. No harm will come to you. Follow me against the Queen and—”
An arrow fired through the doorway hit her in the chest. Even with protection up, it hurt. A lot. Her temper flared, and all thought of restraint abandoned her. These men had killed Sammy and so many others in Dimmit. Burned her town. She’d shown patience, but they refused her offer of leniency. They understood force and nothing else. She would learn to speak their language.
Flaring earth, she commanded the ground to erupt below the gate, dislodging it to one side with a horrendous snapping sound. She flared strength and leaped through the now wide-open gate, soaring through the air at least thirty feet. The inside of the fort was plain, with several buildings against the inner walls and a tower in the middle. More than a dozen soldiers stood about, eyes wide in surprise at her entry.
Several soldiers screamed, “Gifted!”
She flared speed and felled two soldiers in the middle with strength-enhanced punches to their chests, knocking them back, one into the wall of a building, the other into a hitching post near a horse that whinnied in surprise. Several more emerged from the barracks with swords, running straight at her. She flared earth and their feet became one with the dirt, stopping them abruptly.
Several arrows whizzed by her without striking, luckily, as she realized that she’d dropped protection when she leaped in through the door. She flared protection and speed, then turned toward three archers atop a smaller building. They launched arrows at her again; she dodged two and caught the third in her right hand, spun around, preserving part of its momentum and flared strength to throw it right back at the archer. It sank into the archer’s leg just above the knee, dropping him instantly with a howl of pain.
More soldiers streamed out of the barracks, but now Mykel was inside the fort. Finally. Under the power of the speed rune, her sense of timing was wildly distorted, and it was easy to forget how slowly other people moved. Mykel battled several near the barracks, then disappeared inside, sounds of conflict continuing.
Nara’s eyes darted across the scene, seeing that some soldiers were now retreating in the face of a superior threat. But where was their commander? As if in answer to her query, a door on one of the larger buildings opened and a single figure emerged in silver armor. Royal livery was emblazoned on his breast—a gold dragon rampant on a red background. The man carried a sword at his side but didn’t draw it. He shouted for the soldiers to stop fighting.
As she looked at him, the first enemy figure of authority she’d met, she experienced an odd feeling. It was a combination of anger she held for these people and the power she felt at having them before her, unable to defend themselves in any significant way. But the need to turn their allegiances in a different direction tempered her desire for justice.
&nb
sp; I really don’t know what I’m doing.
The leader approached, a man in his mid-thirties who had far too much grey hair for his age. He stopped about twenty feet away, then motioned to his soldiers to stay further back. They obeyed. The sounds of fighting in the barracks ceased, and Nara turned to see Mykel emerge, seemingly uninjured. He walked to her side, nobody barring his way.
Nara turned back to the commander.
“So you’re her,” he said, matter-of-factly.
“I am.”
“They warned me about you. Even put a price on your head.”
“How much?”
“Ten thousand crowns. And five for him.”
“Is that a lot?”
“Yes.”
“You won’t beat me,” she said. “Not ever.”
“Oh, I know that. They won’t even give me gifted to fight with. Too precious, apparently. Only for rounding up little kids and torching their parents. How they expect me to earn a bounty for capturing the likes of you with only these few brave men, I have no idea.” He gestured to the soldiers as he spoke.
“Brave men who kidnap children and murder their families, you mean.”
“True. But when one’s life is threatened, or one’s family is at risk, brave men will do what they are told. Killing them won’t stop the horrors.”
“Maybe we kill you instead,” Mykel said.
“Yeah, that would work. For a while. Until they replace me and it all starts again. I don’t like it any more than you, but if you want to stop this madness, you will have to get to the heart of the problem. And she’s not here.”
“We’re not yet ready to attack Fairmont,” Nara said.
“You command the earth,” he said. “Ripped the gate right off my outpost.”
“Yes.”
“Never even heard of that before. And you are a bear. And a steelskin. Arrows bounce right off you.”
They still hurt, though. He didn’t know that. “Yes.”
“You move like a racer and have fire, too. Used it to kill the king. Right in the middle of his throne room, I hear.”
Mykel stepped forward. “She can do even more,” he said. “Far more.”
“I don’t doubt it.” He paused for a moment. “My name is Captain Ander Jahmai,” he said. “I saw the king single-handedly rout an entire barbarian army. Most amazing feat I ever witnessed. If you killed him, then I’d rather be with you than against you. And we’ve been waiting for someone to stand up against Fairmont. Others will feel the same.”
Was this man offering, right here, to lead his men against Kayna?
Another man stepped forward. He was tall, wearing the same uniform and with a thick beard. “I’m Lieutenant Martel. I’ll join. Many of us are sickened by what we’ve done. But not all will come. Many have families. You will get maybe one in three from this outpost.”
“That would be more than we have now,” Mykel said.
“How many follow you?” Jahmai asked, looking about.
“None,” Nara said. “Still willing?”
Jahmai didn’t look so sure, then gave a resigned expression and sighed. “Yes.”
“I don’t want you to follow because you fear me,” Nara said. “I won’t fight with those who will stab me in the back when they get the chance. And I won’t lead those who fight only to preserve themselves. We’re doing something bigger than that.”
“How about fighting with those who have something to atone for?” Jahmai asked. “With those who are ashamed at what they’ve done and want nothing more to do with a Queen who has no heart? That woman cares nothing for her people. We’ll fight, and we’ll fight hard. But it will be out of guilt and a fair measure of fear, at least for a while.”
She surveyed the men before her. Their faces looked tired, and they had given up easily, which didn’t say much for their ability to endure in a protracted conflict. Clearly, their spirits were broken, but she didn’t have a lot of options. “I suppose it will have to do,” Nara said. “But don’t expect sympathy. With what you’ve been part of, what you’ve inflicted on others–” She didn’t know how to describe her anger. “I’m furious. I came here fully accepting that I might destroy you all. And I’m not convinced that I still won’t.”
“That would be justice. I hope you won’t deliver it.”
“Prove yourselves useful in the conflict ahead, and I won’t have to.”
“Fair enough.”
“Where are the children you took from Dimmitt?” she asked.
“Not us. That detail came directly from Fairmont. Queen’s special decree. Very irregular. She has a sweet tooth for that backwater town, for some reason.”
“Where do you think they are?”
“The kids? Fairmont. All are taken to Fairmont. No idea what she’s doing with them.”
A long pause ensued, and Nara was in no rush to fill it. In truth, she didn’t know what to say. She looked over at Mykel, who shrugged.
“You’ll need to feed us,” Jahmai said. “And pay us. That will take money.”
“I have none,” Nara said.
“That’s okay,” he said, glancing at Martel, then back at Nara. “I know where we can find some.”
14
The Compound
Gwyn followed on horseback, trailing the soldiers and their rolling cages. When her horse showed signs of hunger, however, she unstrapped the saddle and set it to wander free. She carried no food for the animal, and it would do better on its own. A shame. If a scout or wandering patrol surprised her, it would have been nice to make a quick escape on horseback.
After a second day following them, Gwyn saw the kidnappers arrive at their destination, a fenced compound just outside of Fairmont. She could see the twin peaks of Mount Fi to the southeast and a road heading toward the capital. The tall spires of Fairmont Castle reached high above the city, as if presenting a warning to any who defied the crown.
The north gate of the compound opened, and the soldiers led the wagons into a wide staging area that was equally suitable for practicing swordsmanship and archery; dummies on posts lined the perimeter of the area. A western gate, smaller than the main one on the north side, was also visible. Recently broken ground outside the fenced area showed evidence of excavation in recent months, with piles of dirt unaffected by rainwater runoff or erosion.
Five brick buildings stood inside the high wood fences. The largest of the buildings was several stories high, positioned near the south end of the fort, with some high windows and two guards pacing on the roof. Four smaller buildings were closer to the walls. The fresh color of the bricks made it clear that the buildings were recently-built. This was a new fort.
She climbed a tall tree to get a higher viewing angle and was able to see activity near the tall brick building in the southernmost part of the compound. She was too far away to get a good look, but the soldiers might have been guiding the children inside a ground-level door of that building.
She considered the fences again. Tall, so they would be difficult to climb over, but not that sturdy. They would not repel any well-supplied invaders, but that wouldn’t be necessary this close to Fairmont, where they had plenty of resources for defense. No, these walls and buildings were hastily built, intended to keep whatever was going on inside from the citizens of the Great Land. To hide secrets.
She waited in the woods until dark; sneaking around was always better at night. She wished she could take a closer peek from a nearby hill or high trees, but there were no hills nearby—they’d carefully chosen this location to avoid easy spying into the compound. The trees were gone as well, cleared for several hundred yards on every side. She would have to cross a wide, flat area to approach the compound. Fortunately, there were still plenty of dirt piles and discarded tree stumps littering the landscape that might hide her approach.
Once the sun had set, Gwyn placed her traveling pack down near a bush. She grabbed her bow and tested her grip as she pulled back the bowstring, the pain in her forearm making her win
ce. That arrow may not have hit the bone, but the muscles refused to be very useful. Perhaps in the heat of battle, adrenaline would help her with this. She removed the quiver from her back. Only nine arrows left, but hopefully she wouldn’t need any of them. She tucked four arrows into leather slits inside the quiver, equidistant around the inside perimeter so they wouldn’t move about. She placed the extra arrows inside the bush for later retrieval. It wouldn’t do to have loose arrows rattling about.
She then replaced the quiver over her shoulder and sat on the edge of a fallen tree to remove her walking boots so she could extract the linings. The layer of soft leather served as insulation from cold and would be perfect for softening footfalls when sneaking around secret compounds. She used string from inside her pack to fasten a boot lining around each foot, then dropped the pack onto the ground.
She then did a noise check—at least, that’s what she liked to call it. She wiggled back and forth, hoping to find anything that jingled or rattled. The quiver was tight, the arrows secure. No noise. A strap on her back was loose, however, and she secured it with a tug. Silence must be her ally tonight.
As she made her way through the cleared area, the soft leather of her boots made almost no sound on the disturbed earth, allowing her to approach undetected. Using her own special vision, she looked for sources of life in the darkness ahead, noting three sentries on raised platforms behind the high fences and two on the roof of the tall brick building. She hoped that none of them were watchers, and spent long moments tucked behind tree stumps and dirt mounds as she got closer, each time gauging the reactions of those who were glancing in her direction. If they spotted her, they’d call out, allowing a retreat long before they could pursue. But none reacted, and she got within a hundred paces of the western wall without incident.
Finding Kai Page 9