by Jim Galford
“Keep going,” On’esquin insisted, spinning to give Raeln a grin before coming back around in time to block a soldier’s sword. “I can hold these whelps for hours if needed. Isn’t that right, boys? Put your backs in it or don’t bother trying. Bet you wished you covered your shoulder now, eh? I’ve been doing this longer than your masters.”
Raeln tried to ignore the urge to laugh at the absurdity of their situation. They were within minutes of being overrun, while On’esquin was having fun playing with the soldiers. In another city and time, he would have loved to watch the man spar, but this was not the time or place for that. Here, Raeln wanted to disappear before they were found out by much larger forces.
Turning to head up the alley in the hope that On’esquin would get the hint and follow, Raeln saw they had already taken too long. Four soldiers had diverted through a home and ran into the alley through a side door like the one that had led into Thomin and Ira’s home, filing into the space between Raeln and Yoska, who was trailing the lead group. Those soldiers took up defensive stances, clearly intending to hold their ground as long as they could until more troops could arrive. Unlike the previous group, these appeared to all be living men, though Raeln could see in their eyes that this was one of their first fights. They were terrified.
Drafted soldiers…that, Raeln could deal with. Their morale would be easily broken.
Raeln advanced on the nearest two soldiers, who dropped to one knee and raised their shields and swords. Their placement within the alley gave him little chance of getting past their defenses, but he could see fearful eyes watching him from the lip of their metal helms. The soldiers behind them leveled spears at him, apparently trying to convince him it would be too dangerous to keep coming.
“I was the last man standing in Lantonne when it fell,” Raeln told them, coming up to the limit of the spears’ reach. “Do you think the four of you can stop me? Lower your weapons and run. You either die here or you die if you are found to be cowards by the undead that rule here…pick one. The latter gives you a chance to lie convincingly or flee the city.”
Behind the soldiers, Raeln saw Yoska start heading his way to help.
The men hunkered down farther, holding their position, though Raeln could tell they desperately wanted to run. Two more soldiers stepped out of the house, cutting off Yoska’s attempt to come back to Raeln. Those men looked back at Raeln nervously, letting him know they had heard as well.
“Your general will execute you if he finds out you ran,” Raeln went on, listening to On’esquin’s approach behind him. He had a few more seconds before the alley needed to be clear. “I will break your arms and legs and throw you into the street to be spat upon by your fellow soldiers. In the end your general will still execute you and turn you into undead. Running now, you can keep your limbs and maybe get out of punishment if you are clever.”
The nearest of the soldiers took a swing at Raeln with his sword, which Raeln had expected once they reached their breaking point. He grabbed the weapon near its hilt midswing and yanked it away, shoving it into his own belt. That gave him two weapons, which was somewhat comforting.
The front row of soldiers gave each other nervous looks and then ran through the door beside them, leaving the other four behind—two spearmen and the two soldiers facing Yoska. Those men realized they were alone and shifted swiftly, putting their backs together so one faced Raeln and the other Yoska, while the spearmen pulled back their weapons to shorten them and get better maneuverability in the alley.
“Enough of this. We have somewhere else to be,” Raeln told the spearman who stood before him. Pushing aside the spear as it was thrust at him, he lunged. Raeln feinted high before kicking the man’s knee, buckling it backward. He grabbed the man’s helmet and twisted sharply, breaking his neck, and let the man fall to the ground with a clatter. The second spearman immediately dropped his weapon and ran through the open door.
Before Raeln could clear the body of the man he had just killed, the other two soldiers fell slowly to their knees and collapsed sideways. Both had wide gashes across their throats that poured out blood.
Yoska quickly knelt beside them, wiping down his knife on one of the soldiers’ shirts. “Talking is only faster when you do not have a knife,” Yoska noted, grinning up at Raeln. “Get moving. I help magic green man embarrass the others. You keep Estin from being dead when I return, yes?”
Nodding, Raeln stepped over the corpses and ran to catch up with Estin, Ira, and Thomin, who were still waiting at the corner, watching him.
Estin stood ready, his swords drawn and tail flicking angrily back and forth over his head, while the humans with him looked around nervously. None of them had expected this kind of resistance from what Raeln could see.
“I changed my mind,” Estin told him as he reached the group. “You can lead after what I’ve seen you do the last few minutes. You’re far better at this.”
Raeln laughed and walked past Estin and straight up to Ira. “Which way out of here?” he asked her.
Ira pointed toward a building at one end of the alley that rose far above many others in the area. “The oracles’ temple,” she explained, glancing past Raeln when the sound of weapons clattering echoed through the narrow alley. “They were taken weeks ago, so that building should be empty. It sits on three exits from the city walls. We go in, hide, and go out the far side. This has been our plan for a while, but with only three of us…”
“Understood,” Raeln replied, heading up the alley.
He ran north toward the temple, keeping his ears focused on the people behind him to be sure he did not get too far ahead. Soon they reached the edge of a street, with the high columns of the temple sitting on the far side. Splayed across the street, Raeln could see nearly a hundred undead soldiers, set up and ready to prevent entry. They had built up barricades in a hurry, which Raeln knew would not slow him, but the others would have to climb over. There was no way through that crowd without losing at least half of the people that followed him.
“Geraine knew about your plans?” he asked over his shoulder. Ira’s mumbled curses let him know he probably had. “What’s the new plan?”
“Side entrance,” Ira explained as Thomin and Estin came up beside her. “Cut around to the right side of the temple and there will be a door near the next alley. It will be locked but not barred. If you can kick it open…”
“I can,” Raeln assured her.
“…there’s a second door one room in that was meant to be a fallback point if the temple was invaded,” she said. “The oracles never trusted the politicians, which in hindsight seems to say something about situations like this one, yes? We need to get through that first door and bar the second. It will take them time to get someone with an axe to break it down. By then, we should be to or past the walls.”
“We’ll have to go through the soldiers,” Raeln warned, getting nods of acknowledgement from Estin and Thomin. Ira seemed less sure, but she kept quiet. “What about Yoska and On’esquin?”
“Have you met my bandoleer?” asked Ira, laughing nervously. “Lock the door and he will still get to us. This I promise on my ancestors’ blood. He could likely lead a full clan past these soldiers, though I have never learned how he does such things.”
Nodding, Raeln studied the soldiers for some gap in their watch. He soon spotted a pattern in the way the soldiers farthest to the east swept their attention across the occasional living travelers on the street. If he could cut to their right, they would not be spotted until they reached that side of the road. By then only a handful of soldiers would be able to reach them before they could get into the alley.
“Follow close,” Raeln warned the others, bracing himself. He had to time things perfectly or risk losing the one small advantage at their disposal. “We walk and then run. When I stop, stop with me.”
Not waiting for them to acknowledge him, Raeln began walking into the street, keeping his eyes low to avoid undo attention. He walked quickly, moving p
ast dozens of humans as he used them as shields against being spotted by the soldiers. Only a few more steps and they could begin running at the soldiers, and with luck, they would punch through the thin defenses near the far eastern edge of the temple.
“Oh my gods!” shouted a woman somewhere off to Raeln’s left. “Animals! Guards! Wild animals!”
Raeln had completely forgotten about his appearance, having spent his whole life accepted by his village of elves. He realized how stupid he was for expecting other lands to overlook him when he really knew better. Snarling in frustration, he launched himself toward the closest soldier, who had already noticed him.
Pushing past terrified citizens, Raeln ran straight at the nearest undead, who raised his weapon without any hint of fear. Within seconds Raeln reached him, ducking a wild swing and coming up with his own sword to nearly sever the corpse’s head. Spinning as his sword connected, he backhanded the other soldier within reach, sending him sprawling as his helmet turned sharply. Undead or not, without eyes the soldier was no threat.
Raeln looked back and saw Estin and Ira were holding their own against two more undead that had tried to circle in and trap them. Thomin stood between Raeln and them, his hands moving nervously, as though he were waiting for the right chance to strike with magic but unsure what to do until then.
Unlike Thomin, Estin did not hesitate. He dropped a sword and flung his hand toward a group of undead, using some form of magic to cause them to instantly crumble to ash, their armor and weapons hitting the ground with the clatter. Snatching his sword before more could come, he ran to catch up with Raeln.
“Keep going!” Raeln called out, grabbing the sword of the next undead with his off-hand and sweeping his own weapon across the man’s chest, tearing open his ribs and crippling his arms. “Push through!”
With the undead line broken, Raeln held his position while the others caught up. Ira, Thomin, and Estin raced past him toward the wall of the temple, while On’esquin and Yoska ran across the street to catch up. Four undead moved from their line, trying to intercept the gypsy and orc, and Raeln could see they would reach the two men before he could.
Raeln reached down to one of the corpses that continued to flail blindly around near his feet and grabbed a small axe at its side with his off-hand. Without aiming, he hurled the weapon at the lead zombie in the group headed for On’esquin and Yoska, taking it right off its feet. The others were several feet behind, giving Yoska and On’esquin time to reach him and run past toward the rest of their group.
Swinging his sword wildly, Raeln kept the growing numbers of undead at bay as he backpedaled, moving into the hall-like alley that led to the side door into the temple. He could hear the telltale sounds of a lock being forced.
A second later Ira spat, “Ancestors’ asses…this lock is tougher than I expected. Yoska?”
“There is no time for this!” Raeln shouted, cleaving the shoulder and chest of the nearest zombie. Spinning and running toward the door where the others were all huddled, Raeln shoved them aside and kicked the door. The thick wood shuddered, the area near the hinges splintering. His next kick took the door out of its frame, while undead poured into the alley. He stepped away as the rest of the group piled into the temple, ready to stop the undead if they got to him before the others were safe. Thankfully, they were quick this time and Raeln backed into the temple with them as the undead closed on him. The doorway forced the undead to come in one at a time, but they fought one another to get through, slowing them considerably.
“Keep coming straight back,” Estin called out to Raeln.
Following the voice, Raeln backed through a supply room of some sort, though it appeared to have been largely ransacked before their arrival. He continued back and soon passed through another doorway as the first slack-jawed undead pushed through the outer door. He took two more steps and Estin threw a door shut and slid a bar across it, cutting off the undead.
Almost immediately, claws scratched at the door and Raeln could hear the dull thumps of hands on the other side. They would break through it eventually, but it would hold for a time. So long as only mindless zombies were out there, it might delay them quite a while.
“Get us out of here, humans,” Raeln snapped, hesitant to take his eyes off the door, even though he knew he had a while before the undead got through. “How far to the outer exit through the walls?”
Ira spoke up, touching Thomin’s arm to keep him quiet. “We need to swing through the atrium to see if any oracles are still hiding in here,” she told him while the others moved out of Raeln’s field of vision. “Once we’re through that room, it’s no more than three rooms like this. The atrium is large, but will not take us long. Even if the undead come through the main doors, we should beat them to the wall.”
“Go,” he told her, lowering his weapon. “Lead us and make this quick.”
The woman ran past the others, taking the lead as they ran through winding halls and past several more rooms. Raeln soon lost track of where they were or how to get back, making him even more nervous about the closed spaces of the temple. He could easily have wandered for hours within the building and not found his way out.
A distant boom somewhere behind them gave Raeln his first warning that the undead had gotten into the temple. Assuming they would have to traverse an area roughly as long as he had, that gave him mere minutes before the undead might arrive.
Shortly after hearing the doors of the temple break open, Ira led the group into a large round room with no ceiling. The whole place was decorated with lavish sculptures, though they were abstract enough that Raeln could not guess at what they were meant to depict. Above those, a thin line of faded writing on the stones ringed the room. His only thought was for escape and that left him eyeing the five different doors along the walls, aside from the one they had entered through.
“No one here, so we can go,” announced Thomin, running past the others toward the far end of the room, where only one door stood.
On’esquin made no attempt to follow, instead wandering over to a bare section of wall, where Raeln could see faint patterning, as though the wall had been engraved and then worn down. It was this patterning On’esquin stared at, even going so far as to pull off his gloves and touch them.
“Anyone want to be somewhere else?” Thomin asked, standing halfway across the room, giving them all impatient glares, including Ira, who was waiting for Raeln, Estin, and Yoska.
Both Raeln and Estin sniffed almost in unison, and Raeln realized he smelled a new human scent. There was someone else in the room. However he did it, Yoska seemed equally aware, drawing his knives.
“Visitors?” came a soft voice that cracked. Coming around one of the larger sculptures, an old woman in heavy grey robes and hood limped toward Ira. “I thought I was the last one here.”
Raeln raised his weapon, but Ira put a hand up to stop him.
“An oracle,” Ira warned him, gesturing for him to lower his weapon. “Her robes are old, but I can still see the pattern that marks her as an elder.”
Raeln glanced over at Estin and saw Estin was watching him for an idea of what to do. The man appeared ready to attack the old woman and his eyes told Raeln that if given the cue, he would. Begrudgingly, Raeln brought his sword down and watched Estin pretend to relax. Yoska made no such effort.
“My children,” the old woman whispered, coming up to Ira. “You come during troubling times. What would you ask of me before the enemy comes?”
In the distance Raeln heard boots as a large group approached. The echo meant they could still be a ways off, but time was running out. Checking on Estin again, he saw the other wildling’s ears were tilted toward the same sounds.
Ira leaned toward the oracle, but the old woman stayed out of reach. “Elder,” Ira said nervously, motioning for Thomin to stay back. “We want to know how to fight the Turessians and free the city. What can you see? Tell us how to save the city.”
Chuckling, the oracle nodded her hoo
d, approached Ira, and took her hand. With a sudden lunge, the old woman yanked Ira off her feet, pulled her close, and clamped a hand to her throat and used her as a shield.
“You could start by running like craven beasts, but that much was evident by the company you keep,” the oracle snarled, and Raeln thought he saw red eyes under the hood, though he could not be sure. “My children, come and greet our guests.”
Raeln looked around and saw one of the other doors had opened silently and a black-robed woman was approaching, with a similarly robed man following her. The two stopped once attention was drawn to them and the hood of the woman swiveled to look toward the oracle.
“You will all drop your weapons and surrender yourselves,” the robed man announced, raising a hand toward Thomin. As he did so, Thomin threw a ball of flame toward him, but it hissed and faded away inches before hitting the robed man’s outstretched hand. “Continued resistance will ensure your deaths. You have thirty seconds and the woman dies. If you surrender, I can promise that you will live through this day.”
Raeln’s hand ached as he tightened his grip on its hilt. He was much too far to help Ira, and with the hold the oracle had on her, there was no way he could run over and strike before she had been killed. Estin seemed to realize the same, immediately bending down and putting his swords on the ground. On’esquin remained near the wall, pulling his hood lower over his face to hide his tattoos. Yoska and Thomin did not lower their weapons, but both appeared to Raeln to be struggling with how to save Ira without directly causing her death.
“Twenty seconds,” the Turessian man announced and the oracle’s grip on Ira tightened. “Do not tempt me. We have burned cities for far less. The oracle is under our control and will do as we say.”