The Crimson Gold r-3

by Voronica Whitney-Robinson

  "Yer new home," sneered the guard

  Tazi was only able to see one other occupant. All she could make out was a small, dark shape in the far corner of the ten-foot-by-ten-foot cage. Before she could do or say anything, one of the guards spun her around again and slammed her back against the cage door. It was the one who had hit her earlier. He pushed her so hard into the door that her hands were bruised against the cage bars. His sweaty face was only a few inches from hers. And there was no mistaking the leer on it.

  "Well, 'milady,'" he said, "as you may have noticed, you're a bit overdressed for your accommodations."

  "Ami?"

  "I've been waiting for this since we took you from the tavern," he sneered. "All right then, uniform of the day," he ordered.

  With callused hands, the lecherous guard grabbed the top of Tazi's laced vest and started to tear it open. Tazi wasted no time. She grabbed a hold of the metal crossbar with her bound hands and braced herself. Then she brought up her left knee straight between his legs. The guard released his grip and staggered back, cupping himself and cursing. Still gripping the bar for support, Tazi swung her right leg around full force and caught the pain-blinded guard solidly on his chin. He fell to the floor, semi-conscious. She released her hold on the bars and started to run, but the other escort, still laughing about his friend's condition, lost no time catching Tazi from behind.

  He wrapped his arms around her in a powerful bear hug. She slammed her head back into his forehead and brought her right boot down on his foot, crushing at least one of his toes in the process. He loosened his hold, and Tazi slipped free. By this time, though, some of the other guards had arrived, and Tazi, bound and unarmed, was outnumbered. As the reinforcements started to unlock her pen, the first guard had recovered enough to charge at her with a murderous gleam in his eye.

  Two of the others stopped him.

  "Let it go," one of them said to the enraged guard. "She'll get hers soon enough. Remember?" he finished, and Tazi wondered at the last, cryptic remark. The injured guard shrugged his way out of his comrades' restraining grip.

  "All right," he muttered. He stared at Tazi once more and seemed mollified at the thought of her "getting" hers. His foul humor was almost restored by the time he helped his partner up.

  "Let's get a drink," Tazi heard him tell the other, and they sauntered off.

  The remaining guard swung open the cage door and pushed Tazi inside. With her hands still bound behind her, she lost her balance and fell to the dirt floor. As she struggled to turn around, she heard the ominous snap of the lock's closure.

  "Damn."

  Tazi squirmed around on her backside to get a better look at her cellmate. The dark figure remained in the corner of the cage and. Judging by its size, Tazi suspected it was another child. She was certain he or she must have been terrified.

  "It's all right," she said soothingly. "I'm not going to hurt you. I was only hurting those men so that we could get away."

  Thinking that her words had made the child feel safe, Tazi watched as the small shape separated itself from the shadowy corner and moved slowly a few feet into the dim light. She gasped in surprise at her error: her roommate was not a child at all, but a dwarf.

  Tazi initially thought the dwarf must have been a prisoner for a long time. His coloring looked terribly off. She assumed it was a male because it had a ratty beard, but she wasn't sure. Tazi remembered Cale had once told her that some of the females sported them as well. He was very gaunt compared to the few dwarves she had met in her life.

  "They've gone for now," she told him. She moved her bound arms a little and said, "Could you help me untie my hands?"

  The dwarf squatted down and turned his back to her. Tazi was taken aback because she had initially thought he was scared and that was the reason why he was unable to help her. Now, as she got a better look at him, she changed her mind. His coloring, she realized, was not off. It was naturally gray. And even though he was not as stocky as the other dwarves she knew, Tazi could see his arms were wiry and muscled. He wasn't wasted; that was his natural state. Tazi searched her memory and came up with a name: duergar. He wouldn't help her, if what she had heard about the creatures was even partially true.

  She shrugged and moved to her knees. Tazi stretched her arms down as far as possible and sat back, fitting her backside between the circle of her tied arms. She straightened her legs in the air and formed a V with her body. She passed her bound hands under the length of her legs and over her feet so that they were in front. The leather thong that tied them together had a piece that dangled somewhat. Grabbing it with her teeth, she started the process of pulling it apart.

  Between mouthfuls of leather, she grumbled at the dwarf, "This would go much faster with a little bit of help, you know." The only response she got was best described as a snort.

  Once her hands were free, she resisted the urge to throw the line away in anger. Instead, she tucked it in her waistband, thinking to herself that she never knew when it might come in handy. Tazi massaged her wrists, and winced at the raw spots. As she circled her arms around in an effort to restore the circulation, she regarded her cellmate once more.

  He wore a tight, long-sleeved tunic and pants, though they were both ragged. Tazi wondered how he had managed to keep his attire. Everyone else she had seen was nude. Then she realized she had kept her own clothes, so perhaps he had put up a good fight as well. Like most dwarves, he had hair around the side of his head but was bald on top. His beard was short and hung in little, matted braids. The brief glance he had given her revealed he had the blackest eyes. Tazi tried once more to make conversation.

  "How long have you been here?" she asked.

  Silence.

  Tazi decided to give up for the moment. She settled her back against one of the cage walls and started to watch the guards, learning their patterns.

  After an hour, Tazi straightened as a guard approached, carrying something at waist height. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a tray. He stopped at her cell and placed the tray on the ground near one of the small, deliberate openings between the bars.

  "Back away," he ordered Tazi and the duergar. When they obliged, the sentinel slipped two bowls into the cell, picked up his tray and continued to make his way down the aisle. Tazi watched as he repeated the same steps at each pen.

  The dwarf snatched one of the bowls and moved to the far corner of the pen. By the sound of the slurps, Tazi guessed the stuff was edible. She picked up the remaining bowl and sniffed it. It would never win any cooking awards, but it smelled all right. She sipped it experimentally and realized the broth was little more than lukewarm water. Tazi began to understand why the others were so emaciated. Not sure when the next serving might arrive, Tazi gulped hers down. The guard returned to collect the dishes, and they doused the torches as they passed.

  The dwarf continued to ignore her, and she pillowed her head on her arms and lay down for a few hours of sleep. After that, she would figure out what to do next.

  Tazi awoke suddenly. Lying on her side, she pushed herself upright and leaned on one arm. Blinking sleep from her eyes, she looked around. For one moment, she was disoriented. She didn't know if it was day or night. Only a distant torch flickered, providing little illumination. As soon as Tazi spotted the bars though, she remembered everything.

  A shuffling sound drew her attention to the door of her cage-the same sound that had roused her. Tazi jumped to a squatting position and placed both her hands on the ground in front of her. From outside the pen, she recognized the murmur of the lecherous guard's voice. He was chuckling softly about something with his cohort. Tazi heard them grapple with something decidedly metallic and realized they were fumbling with the lock to her prison. Then there was the telltale snick as the lock disengaged.

  Come to finish me off, she wondered silently, or perhaps take up where you left off on my vest? Tazi decided to remain silent; better to let them think she was asleep and give her the advantage, however brie
f. Her breathing quickened, and she tensed. She recognized that their amorous advances might yet prove her means of escape.

  Come on then, boys, she thought. Come on.

  The heavy shuffling continued, and Tazi found herself squinting, straining to see what was going on. The noise didn't sound like the men moving about. She turned to see if the dwarf was awake as well, but she couldn't tell in the darkness. Tazi cursed to herself and planned on working alone. A strange gurgle puzzled her, and she didn't know what to make of the sound other than knowing it was in her pen. In a burst of light, the mystery was solved.

  The guards relit most of the gutted torches. By their flames, Tazi had her answer. Lumbering just inside the pen was a creature almost eight feet tall. It was covered in short, gray-green fur, mottled in a few places. The body was generally humanoid, but its hands ended in claws. It had a yellowish mane and the head was hyenalike blended with something else. Instead of a canine snout, the creature's nose resembled a pig's snout. The creature was much beefier than any gnoll she'd ever come across-obviously well fed. She deduced that the animal was someone's creation, a wizard's experiment or even his pet. It was covered in rags and makeshift bits of armor. A sword dangled from its belt, but Tazi knew that weapon was not what made the gnoll dangerous. What made it truly lethal was the fact that someone, the guards more than likely, had taken a smoldering stick and put out its eyes.

  There were other wounds, but none as severe as the ones to its face. It clawed at them piteously. She inched back and turned to check on the dwarf once again. In the torchlight, she could see that the duergar was very aware of their predicament. Even with an ally, they were both still unarmed. Backing toward the dwarf, she faced the monster holding her breath.

  For one moment, no one moved.

  The lecherous guard let out a sudden whoop, and his friend moved around the cage near Tazi and the dwarf. He rammed his longstaff in toward the gnoll and jabbed it in an open wound at its side. The now-enraged beast moved toward Tazi, flailing its claws.

  The other guards surrounded the cage, calling and shouting. Tazi thought they were trying to anger the beast until she heard numbers-they were calling out bets, wagering on how quickly she and the dwarf would die. As the gnoll lumbered closer, Tazi tossed aside all other thoughts and focused on the threat before her.

  Another jab incited the beast further. It charged Tazi and the dwarf. They split up and each ran to a different side of the cage. The gnoll smashed into the bars and howled. The guards stabbed at it further, only this time the gnoll stayed in place and swung its long arms around him, trying to strike its tormentors. Tazi and the dwarf met up on the other side of the pen.

  "If you can maneuver behind it and get low," Tazi whispered to him, "I think I could knock it over. A good crash into the metal bars, and we might be able to knock it senseless." The dwarf just ignored her.

  The sentries stopped their torture of the gnoll, and it turned toward Tazi like the beast was regaining its bearings somewhat. It stood tall and raised its odd snout in the air. It snuffled from one side and the other.

  It won't take long to sniff us out in this little pen, she thought.

  The beast began to shamble in Tazi's direction. With each hesitant step, the gnoll swung one of its massive arms out in a wide arc. Tazi could hear his claws whistle through the air. She looked to the dwarf in hopes that he might attempt her plan and move up behind the beast, but he was trying to climb the cage and get above the creature's reach. But the guards decided that was not allowed, and several of them used their staffs to smash at the dwarf's hands until he fell. Tazi felt the cage bars behind her and realized she had no where else to go.

  "Don't be shy, 'milady,' " she heard from behind. And she felt the sharp jab of a staff in her back as the lecherous guard forced her closer to the gnoll.

  Tazi whipped around and grabbed the staff before the startled guard could retract it. Pulling it about two feet in, Tazi leveraged the weapon against a bar and pulled it toward herself as hard as she could. The wooden stick snapped and she was left with a small club. She turned back in time to duck as the gnoll nearly took off her head. Trapped in the corner, Tazi had nowhere to run. The gnoll smelled her and yanked her to her feet. The beast's claws tore into the flesh of her upper arms. The gnoll raised her high overhead, nearly smashing her skull against the pen's ceiling. Tazi gripped the club with both hands and swung it full force against the beast's head. The weapon made a solid crack as it struck the gnoll's jaw. It screamed in a mad frenzy and tossed Tazi across the cell, unknowingly at the dwarf.

  The dwarf didn't even attempt to break Tazi's fall, but hurried out of the way. The gnoll had caught his scent by this time and made a move for the duergar. But the dwarf nimbly dropped low and rolled beneath its legs, pausing only long enough to deliver a devastating punch to the beast's groin. The dwarf clambered away, and the gnoll continued to swing its massive arms, desperate to claw either of its opponents.

  Tazi regained her footing and slipped past the monster, but the gnoll turned and sprang into the air after her. They both tumbled to the ground. The gnoll flipped Tazi onto her back and pinned her with its massive bulk. Tazi looked up into the horrendous visage of the beast, with its blood and pus-matted fur and snapping jaws a few inches from her face. She only had one chance. Just as the beast reared back its head, opening its mouth wide to rip out her throat, Tazi freed her hands enough to use the wooden shaft again. When the beast descended on her, she wedged the club between its yellowed teeth, barely keeping its head above hers. Tazi twisted her head to one side and called to the dwarf.

  "Get over here," she screamed. But the duergar remained impassive.

  Realizing she was on her own, Tazi kneed the beast where the dwarf had already inflicted some damage. The gnoll loosened its grip, and she drew both her knees up to her chest, kicking out at the gnoll. The beast was knocked flat onto his back, though Tazi lost her club in the process. She scrambled to her feet.

  Since the gnoll landed close to the dwarf, he tried to climb up and around the beast again. This time the guards were ready for his acrobatic trick. The moment he grabbed the bars, several sentries pinned each of his arms. While they held him, one of the other guards prodded the gnoll-who had regained its footing-in the duergar's direction.

  "Let me free, you bastards," the dwarf screamed, but they held him fast. The gnoll was practically on top of him when Tazi suddenly remembered the length of leather cord in her waistband. Pulling it free, she wound each end around her fists a few times. She tugged on the length between her hands once and launched herself onto the gnoU's back.

  With her arms crossed at the elbows, Tazi looped the thong around the beast's head and wrapped her legs tightly around its waist. She pulled her arms apart, the tether hard against the gnoU's throat. It bucked and spun around, desperate to shake Tazi loose as she crushed its windpipe. In desperation, the gnoll ran itself backward into the cage bars in an attempt to smash her, but Tazi held tight despite the pain. Eventually, the beast sagged to its knees and collapsed face first.

  Tazi rose to one knee, breathing ragged, and pulled on her makeshift garrote until she was sure the creature was dead. The cheering from the guards faded into silence, and they released their hold on the dwarf.

  "That's one you owe me," Tazi said breathlessly, when the duergar moved over to inspect the dead gnoll. He said nothing.

  From a corner of the stable, Heraclos stepped into the light. He looked no worse for wear from his skirmish with Tazi, sporting a fresh cloak and no obvious signs of injury. Tazi was both surprised to see him and not so. Since her mock trial, she suspected something. Events had seemed contrived, and she knew someone was manipulating her. The bodyguard's appearance at this moment merely confirmed her suspicions. All that had just transpired was a show for his benefit. Tazi wasn't certain if it had been for his amusement or something more, but she was sure he had arranged it.

  "Take that thing out of there," he ordered the guards, pointing at
the very dead gnoll. They obeyed him instantly, even the lecherous one. So much for him just being a servant, she thought.

  Two of the guards forced Tazi and the duergar against the far side of the cage with their staffs. Tazi was still breathing hard, as was the dwarf, and she realized they didn't have the energy to escape. Four others entered and each grabbed one of the gnoll's limbs. Between them, they were able to haul its deadweight out of the cell and down the aisle, though Tazi heard more than a few curses drift back to her. She glanced past the sentry with the longstaff to watch the Thayan bodyguard.

  "That is to be all for tonight," he instructed the guard who had mentioned Tazi would 'get hers' earlier in the evening. She was positive some coins changed hands.

  "Let them be," he added, and Tazi saw the guard nod in acquiescence^. The bodyguard turned with a flourish of his cloak and strode down the aisle toward the exit. Tazi noted he never spared a single glance toward any of the other pens' occupants. The remaining guards looked at Tazi with a more appraising eye and whispered amongst themselves. Finally, they filed away as well and extinguished the torches as they passed by them for the second time that night.

  "If it is night," Tazi muttered. "No way to tell in here."

  Utterly exhausted, Tazi lay down in one of the corners of the pen. She was too tired to even try to talk any further with the dwarf or make certain he wasn't injured, though she was confident he had managed to escape serious hurt; he seemed skilled at looking out for himself and himself alone. There would be time enough tomorrow, she mused. She also felt confident enough that they would be left undisturbed for the rest of the shift, and she planned to make the most of it. The last sight Tazi saw before her heavy lids closed was the duergar watching her coldly. Then, for a few hours, she saw no more.