Pointing, "Cat, your mistress is dying!"
Cat paused to glance at the gasping sorceress, who was starting to claw at the carpet as she tried to regain her senses. It was enough. Danica darted in and kicked Cat hard in the chest. Cat fell to the floor, trying to roll as she was trained to do, but Danica understood and was waiting, stomping down on her back to stop her. Then she reached down and jerked the circlet off, freeing Cat.
Pulling the sword from Cat's fingers, Danica turned to face an astounded Dame Falen. Still unable to even kneel, Rebecca was far too dazed and weak to cast any spells for the moment. Monique knelt beside her obediently, waiting to be ordered.
"Now it's your turn, Captain," Danica said. "May the Seven Hounds of Pits feast on your bones!"
Falen quickly regained her composure, presenting her blade with confidence. Danica smiled grimly. Both stalked forward, meeting halfway. Danica started the contest, kicking low at her feet, then thrusting her blade deep into Falen's left shoulder. Falen recovered, attempting to disembowel her. Leaping back, Danica received a painful cut just above the belt.
Keeping a close eye on Rebecca's quick recovery, Danica backpedaled across the chamber. Falen, thinking her opponent weakening, followed. Once Cat was between them and the stunned sorceress, Danica stopped and began meeting the Amazon's strong assault blow for blow.
"Cat, Rebecca is almost recovered!" she cried, successfully tying Falen up in combat. "Kill her! Kill her now!"
Cat struggled to her feet as Falen screamed with rage. Danica increase the pressure, forcing her into a desperate fight to survive. Cat, now unarmed, staggered over to the sorceress who recovered enough to understand the danger. When Rebecca lifted a hand and began to utter a Word of Power, the bravo snatched up a chair. As her long delicate fingers deftly traced out the required rune, the chair smashed into her head before the first syllable of the spell's trigger word, the Word of Power, passed her lips.
"Kill her!" Danica cried again, seeing Cat hesitate.
Rebecca lay unconscious at the bravo's feet.
"I can't just murder her!"
"She won't have any problem murdering you! Or me! Or Helene and Claudia!" she said, starting to find it difficult to handle the determined mercenary. Falen was now fighting in mortal fear. It gave her unnatural strength. "Just do it!"
Falen took advantage of her momentary distraction, lunging forward and fleshing her blade in Danica's left breast. Danica, surprised at the pain, cried out in agony and staggered back against the wall. Raising her blade defensively, she lost her grip on it when Falen struck it aside with a powerful stroke. As the sword clattered away, Danica looked up into Falen's vengeful face.
Falen placed the point of her sword hard against Danica's neck, pricking the skin.
"Don't move, Cat," she warned, seeing Cat start her way. "Or Danica dies where she stands."
"Kill her and Rebecca, and save yourself!" Danica said, staring at Falen defiantly.
"I think not," Falen said, smiling at Danica. Cat was no longer moving on them. Falen and Rebecca had won. "Now we start to have some real fun."
"I think not," Danica sneered, then spit in her eye.
It shocked the proud knight, allowing Danica to throw herself to one side with only a nasty cut across her neck. Rolling to her feet, she scrambled for her lost sword with Falen fast behind her. Scooping it up as she ran, she abruptly stopped and turned on the pursuing knight.
Falen cried out to Ashtar and kicked Danica in the right knee. Danica jumped to the side, her knee begging to collapse. Maintaining her feet, she slashed low at the Amazon's ankles. When Falen jumped high to avoid the sharp blade, Danica deftly changed the direction of her blade. Bringing her sword straight up with the last of her strength, she sliced a bloody red path from Falen's groin, up across her belly, through the steel cuirass, between her breasts, and ending just below her neck. The cut was bad, bleeding freely, but not deep enough to be fatal if she could receive medical assistance quick.
Gasping and sobbing in pain, her clothes and armor all but falling off, Falen tumbled back. Brandishing her sword, she just managed to fend an exhausted Danica off. An unseen Cat slapped her in the face with the remnants of the chair she’d smashed over Rebecca's head. The mercenary Captain lay still, bleeding heavily from her wound.
Danica staggered over and threw her arms around Cat. "Well met, Cat."
"Are you all right?"
"Never been worse off in my life," she said, grinning. "But I'll live."
She spotted Monique still kneeling beside Rebecca and gingerly poking her mistress as if to rouse her from sleep. Though her eyes still looked blank, Danica could see a measure of confusion coloring her pretty face. Danica walked over, and pulled the circlet off the enslaved sorceress's head, eliciting a startled yelp.
Confused, Monique looked around a brief moment, then her face twisted into rage. Her fists tightened into tiny balls as she glared at her unconscious captor.
"You are Monique, Talar — Taara's sister?" Danica said, just to be sure.
"You really aren't Taara?" she said, suddenly looking up at Danica. "You look remarkably like her. I could have never told the difference."
"In a manner of speaking, I am Taara," Danica said, grimacing. "Your sister stole my body, leaving me in this."
Monique looked aghast a moment. "Why would she give up such a beautiful body? That's why she stole it in the first place. Were you even more beautiful?"
"Danica was a man," Cat said. "Your sister wanted his body to fight Ayesha in."
"How horrible!"
"I agree," Danica said with feeling.
"To have to live in a man's body..." Monique shivered at the thought, and then rubbed her temples. "Taara must really be desperate to do such a thing. It's coming back to me. I remember Rebecca talking about it. Everything's so fuzzy."
"What's wrong with being a man?" Danica asked, slightly miffed at the implied insult.
Only Monique wasn't paying her any heed. She rolled Rebecca onto her back, then lifted her eyelids to peer in.
Turning to Danica, "Get me something to end her foul life with."
Danica made to hand her the sword, but Cat intervened.
"No. I won't be a party to cold-blooded murder," Cat said, her face set hard with determination.
"You have no idea what this vile woman has done to me! The humiliations and perversions I had to endure over the past months," Monique declared, incredulous that she was being thwarted in her vengeance. "I have every right to exact vengeance!"
"Not with my help," Cat said coolly.
When Monique turned to Danica for support, Danica said, "My friend will be deeply offended and hurt if we kill her like this. As much as I agree with you, I must support her stance."
"Thank you," Cat said, relieved.
"She's the most dangerous woman in the Empire. If we leave her alive, she'll hunt us down like mad dogs! Great Maag, she'll have the Empress set the whole army on us."
"I'm sorry, Monique, but we can't just kill her like that," Danica said.
Monique scowled at them, then nodded her acceptance. They had risked all to save her. That, she could not forget.
"Then find me some bindings and a gag," she said. "Otherwise, she'll enslave us all when she wakes."
While Cat ripped Rebecca's long skirt into strips, Danica rolled some of the cloth into a ball and stuffed it in the High Mage's mouth. By the time she finished tying strips around her head to keep the gag in place, Monique had her wrists secured. Cat seemed satisfied, even a little smug at what she had accomplished. Then Monique reach down and started breaking Rebecca's fingers, one by one.
"God of Mercy!" Cat cried, cringing at the snapping sound of another finger breaking. "What are you doing that for?"
Monique gave her an annoyed look. "If she can wiggle her fingers in prescribed manners or draw runes in the air, she can cast spells and free herself. We don't want that, do we?"
"No, but..."
"Sorry
, Cat, I let her live for you, but I've no intention of letting her recapture or kill me because you're squeamish," Monique said, never pausing in her ghastly task.
Cat looked to Danica for support, but found none. Indeed, Danica was nodding her approval.
Ignoring Cat, Danica said, "Monique, Rebecca said that she stripped you of your magic. Is that true?"
"Yes," she said softly, bitterly. "I'm almost as helpless as you now."
"Almost?"
Monique smiled. It wasn't a pleasant smile. She then began slapping Rebecca's face to rouse her. When the gagged and bound High Mage woke, she found her enemies above her in triumph. A situation she had never known before. Searing agony told of fingers mangled beyond hope of use. It could be weeks, even months, before they would be back to normal. If she lived that long.
"Awake at last," Monique said sweetly. Then her tone grew dark, menacing, "Now it is time for you to be repaid for all the wrongs done to me." Rebecca's eyes went wide at that. "These brave warriors won't let me kill you, but I've another idea almost as good. I shall repay you in kind."
"I don't understand. Exactly what are you going to do?" Cat said, fearing she'd go back on her word not to kill Rebecca.
"I'm going to strip her of magic," she said.
"How is that possible? You've been stripped of your magic. Doesn't that include all knowledge of how to wield it?" Danica said.
"Yes, it does, but Rebecca made one small mistake. When she stripped me of my knowledge of magic, she left intact my knowledge of the ancient tongues which are used to chant the spells. I've been quietly kneeling beside her for months, listening to her strip others of their magic. And inadvertently memorizing the necessary spells," Monique said, closely watching Rebecca's rising fear. Smiling at her former mistress, "Oops! Not a good turn of event, hey Rebecca?"
"Great!" Danica cried enthusiastically. "Hurry, before we're discovered."
While Danica and Cat held Rebecca still, Monique closed her eyes and began chanting softly, her fingers tracing strange runes in the air before the captive sorceress. With skin a-crawl, Danica and Cat watched in fascination and dread. Danica shifted to mage sight, seeing a myriad of pulsating streamers gathering around Monique and Rebecca. As the minutes ticked by, Rebecca tearfully became more desperate to escape, thrashing about and struggling in their grasp. Finally, in something of an anticlimax for her two helpers, Monique finished her incantation and touched Rebecca's forehead. The High Mage of the Amazon Empire tensed a second, then swooned. The pulsating magicks Monique called up simply vanished, leaving her sheathed in what Danica now recognized as personal wards.
Monique sat back on her legs, a satisfied look on her face. For the first time she seemed truly alive and relaxed. Danica noted how much more beautiful she was now that her face was more animated. Her sapphire eyes sparkled mischievously as she locked eyes with Danica.
"That felt real good."
"I can see that, but how powerful are you now?"
She shrugged, "Slightly less powerful than I was before Rebecca captured me. She might've stolen my magic, but it didn't do her much good. Sorcery is like any art. I need only practice diligently to reach my full potential again."
"Can you spell, or transport, us to Allaria?" Danica said hopefully. Even Cat perked up at that idea.
Monique paused, assessing her strengths, the pre-cast spells stolen from Rebecca, and the stolen reserves of life energy to propel those spells. She determined that she had neither the power, nor no pre-cast spell to use. Rebecca had used up too much of her horded energies in capturing and torturing Danica and Cat. Teleportation spells were difficult and time consuming, especially when involving more than one person.
"I'm sorry, but we'll have to use your original escape plan," she said regretfully. "It'll take too much time and energy to cast the spell."
"That's the problem," Cat said. "We don't have an escape plan. We had one, but it was lost when Helene and Claudia were captured."
Danica and Cat looked at each other. Helene and Claudia, they had almost forgotten about their friends. Even now they were being tormented by Dame Falen's troops.
"We have to move fast," Danica said. She rushed to Falen, still stretched out on the floor. With the Pumas' captain as a hostage, they would easily secure their friends' release. Only she found Falen had bled to death. "Monique, can you help us save Helene and Claudia?"
Rising to her feet, Monique said, "Yes, we must rescue your friends. Follow me."
She turned for the door and stopped dead in her tracks, glancing down at her nakedness. Frowning a second, she spoke a Word of Power and then she was standing there clothed in dark blue shirt, trousers, and boots, with a cowled, black cape hanging off her shoulders. That done, she led the way out the door.
Danica watched with mage sight as Monique gathered magicks around her as they hurried to the next chamber over. By their very look she could tell they were fighting magicks, meant only for destruction. Some of them even set her teeth on edge when looked at too closely.
Monique paused at the door, blocking it with her body.
"Perhaps you should stay out here," she said. "I know what Rebecca and Falen did to them, and I'd rather you not see them as they are. I will do what I can for them, magically, or send them to the Goddess without further pain."
"No," Danica said, trying to swallow past the painful knot in her throat. "We all go in. No matter what has happened to them, I will see to it they are taking care of properly."
Cat nodded, grim-faced. "Agreed."
The door opened before any could turn to enter. All turned to find Maeve staring at them open-mouthed.
"Maeve!" Danica cried.
Magicks flashed before Danica's eyes as both sorceresses sprung. Though to Cat it seemed as if the two only glared at each other, Danica could see the true violence of their battle. She could also see that Maeve stood no chance against a much more powerful Monique. Within seconds, Maeve fell to her knees, her face a mask of strain and fear. What looked like a half-formed demon slowly stalked forward, horrid talons prepared to rip out the Tyrian's throat.
"What are you doing?" Helene said.
"Stop!" Claudia cried, rushing forward to place herself between the battling sorceresses.
Monique, Danica, and Cat stepped back a step, and stared in shock at the two belligerent looking Vikon witches. Their clothes hung off their bodies in tatters, but the flesh underneath was smooth and unmarred. Both looked in fine spirit and health. Both looked too good to have just been tortured both magically and mundanely.
"Danica, why are you attacking Maeve?" Helene demanded, eyes flashing as her fist erupted in eldritch fire.
Monique answered instead.
"She slaughtered an entire Vikon tenement this morning!" Monique said. "She murdered your kinswomen."
"No she didn't," Claudia said. "She told us what happened. Some are dead, but she saved the rest once the geas was lifted. Even now they are preparing to leave the city."
"Besides," Helene said, letting the eldritch flames around her fist die out. "Maeve just saved our lives, and healed us. Healed us of injuries we couldn't have dealt with on our own with witchcraft."
"If you want Maeve Snapdragon, then you have to go through us first," Claudia said, an edge to her voice Danica had never heard before.
"We didn't know," Danica said. "We thought...I mean..."
"And you were correct in that, Danica," Maeve said, just coming to her feet. Her losing efforts were apparent in her gaunt face and the way her hands still trembled. "First Ayesha, then Dirusa bespelled me, then set me on your trail,. In truth, I obeyed my geas to the letter, hunting you was all I had. I do not deny it."
"And we're to trust you now?" Danica snapped.
Maeve flinched, seeming to withdraw. "No. I understand. I will go far away. Seeing hate in your eyes is more painful than a dagger in the heart."
"She's telling the truth," Monique said. "Rebecca talked about the geas with both Maeve and Ayesha n
umerous times. While you were talking I probed her and couldn't find any trace of the geas. She's her own woman again."
"But who does she follow?" Cat said.
Maeve looked up, catching Danica's eyes. "I'll follow you, Danica. If you'll have me?"
"We need all the magical help we can get," Monique said. "If nothing else, she's a brawler."
"She's a hero," Claudia said. "Mine anyway."
Again, everyone looked to Danica. It always ended up her decision, whether in a male or female body. If she made the right decision, everyone would talk about how smart and cunning she was. If not, she took all the blame. This time though, it was Maeve, a woman she once loved. If only briefly, and she was Carl's cousin.
"Great Gods, she'll only get into trouble and muck things up if I don't keep an eye on her," Danica said.
Maeve flung herself at Danica, hugging her tightly.
"You won't regret this, Danica. That I promise." Stepping back, Maeve smiled widely at them all. "I stood in on some of their most secret meetings and strategy sessions. With Rebecca put down, the threat to the Empire is greatly diminished. We should return to Allaria immediately."
"Yes, and Helene and Claudia will have to come with us back to Allaria," Cat said. "It's too dangerous here for them."
"No," Monique said. "They must stay. Their people depend on them."
"But Rebecca is stripped of her powers," Danica said. "Surely the threat within the Empire is now extinguished."
"Not entirely. There are others," she said. Maeve nodded. "And they know how the Vikon helped you. That act has placed all of the Vikon in our camp, whether they like it or not."
"She's right," Helene said. "We are needed here. Someone has to warn our people and begin the defense."
"Before we make too many plans, we should figure out how to get out of the palace first," Cat said.
Into Lands Forbidden (The Elfmaid Trilogy Book 2) Page 28