Carvin leapt out from behind Jacob as the Adherents worked furiously to rearm their guns and fired both his pistols at the same time. He got one man in the chest and the other caught a glancing blow on the shoulder that spun him around and sent his weapon flying.
“Grab him before he gets away,” Jackie shouted. She and Jane bolted into the room and kicked the man’s legs out from under him. His arm limp at his side, he spat at them as he struggled to get away.
“Where is he?” Jane growled at him. She grabbed the front of his robe in her fist and yanked him toward her. The man looked like he wanted to attack her, but the looming barrel of Carvin’s pistol and the grim look on Jacob’s face told him it wasn’t worth it.
“Where’s who?” he replied. He stopped fighting and tried to gather his strength.
Jane was startled to see a look of genuine confusion flicker across his face. Suddenly she wondered if they had been played for fools.
“We know you took Tasker. We want him back,” Jacob said grimly. “We’ll tear this island apart piece by piece if we have to.”
“I hope you brought a lot of friends, because you’re going to need them,” the Adherent replied. “In fact, I hope you brought your whole stupid little army because it’ll save us the trouble of going to Duluth to get you out of our city.”
They were surprised at the man’s defiance, but decided it was typical Adherent bluster.
“Fine, we’ll do this the hard way,” Carvin said. “Bring him and the other three. We’ll find a cell for them.”
He forced the man to stand, then entered the first of the long halls. There were ten cells on each side of the hall, and each had a solid wooden door. “This one will do,” Carvin said. He motioned for them to stop. He worked the keys taken from the jailor and opened the door. Inside were two haggard dwarves who had the look of merchants from the deep halls.
“I assume you gents don’t want to stay in here any longer?” Carvin asked. They both scrambled to the door. One of them kicked the Adherent in the shin on the way out. They helped haul the rest of the unconscious Adherents down the hall and put them all in the same cell. It was a tight fit but when one of them complained, Carvin smiled.
“You should have thought about that when you started locking people up,” Carvin replied. He swung the door shut and locked it. As an extra measure of security, he snapped the key off in the lock. That door was going to remain shut until they removed it from its hinges.
However, the further they penetrated into the prison halls, the more grim their moods became. They freed dozens of prisoners—humans, a minotaur, a fairy, a dwarf, a leprechaun, a pair of centaurs, two stone spirits, and a lion-like being Jane didn’t recognize. In fact, she only knew the being was female because she was not wearing any clothes over her matted fur. Although Jane didn’t think her feminine attributes were too obvious, Jacob’s face got red, and he kept trying to avert his eyes as they were helping her stand.
“Stop staring,” Jane growled. She stomped on Jacob’s foot so hard he hopped up and down and yelped. She offered a cape to the being, who accepted gracefully, thanking her with drawn-out syllables.
“I wasn’t,” Jacob protested, rubbing his foot. “It’s not that. I just . . . okay, well, maybe it is that, but . . . oh, never mind.” He walked out of the cell.
“She’s the child of a lamassu,” Bella explained. “From the lands far to the east, where the winged bulls of Sumeria and Akkadia rule the skies.” She fluttered over to the girl’s shoulder and joined Jackie in comforting her. She listened for a moment as the lion-girl spoke quietly in an odd dialect. “She says her name is Shakadii. She was captured while traveling with her parents. She doesn’t know what happened to them.”
“Poor thing,” Jackie said.
Everyone they freed said the same thing: no one had seen Tasker, or a dwarf who matched Tasker’s description. No one had even heard of any special prisoners being brought inside.
“It’s almost morning,” Jacob said. After half a night of searching, they had cleared the entire place, and the rooms up top were packed with former prisoners. “Our soldiers will be hitting the shore soon. This place is going to get crazy.”
As they worked back to the upper floors, Jacob and Carvin scavenged every weapon they could and armed anyone they thought could fight. Jane managed to get Shakadii to put on a shirt so Jacob wouldn’t be distracted, though, in all fairness, he wasn’t the only one who had a hard time keeping their eyes off the lion-girl’s figure.
Suddenly an alarm bell rang out, and shouts and cries came from outside the building. The door to their hiding place was barricaded with every bunk and piece of timber they could find. They waited. The plan called for them to simply hold their ground until the rebels pushed this far north and freed them.
“There are soldiers running around,” Bella reported, “and I think they’re heading out the gate.” She crouched in the corner of a window watching the activity, trying to make sure she was not spotted. “I think they found the busted controls at the gatehouse,” she called down. Her voice was quiet enough that no one would hear her other than the former prisoners and her friends. With a push of her wings, she jumped to another window for a new vantage point.
Suddenly an earth-shaking explosion and a massive ball of fire arose just a few blocks south of the castle. The walls shook. Many of the rescued prisoners fell to their knees and cried out in panic. The timbers used to block the door shook so hard they fell to the side, and the door swung partially open. Bella clung to the windowframe and tucked her wings in to avoid being hurt. With her wings finally healed, she didn’t want to chance being injured again.
“What was that?” Jacob shouted. Their ears rang, and dust and small stones shook free of the ceiling and walls, showering down around them.
All pretense of quiet ended as a swell of voices echoed from the former prisoners behind them, finally getting so loud a worried-looking guard came running to see what was going on. Carvin stepped outside and stunned him with a single shot. Together Jacob and Carvin sprinted to where the Adherent lay, grabbed him by the arms, and dragged him back to the prison building to be locked into another cell.
“Did anyone see us?” Jacob asked, breathless. He pushed his way back to the front door, which was blocked by debris and would not fully close. Jackie and Jane worked furiously trying to clear the rocks and stones, but the doorframe seemed to have warped. No matter how hard they pushed, the door refused to close.
“I don’t think so,” Bella said. “Three more just ran out the gate. I haven’t seen anyone else in a while.”
“Should we move out to the gatehouse?” Jacob asked. “Maybe we could get into this fight.” He was itching to join the battle and give their people moving north some support.
“I’m starting to regret ruining the gate controls,” Carvin muttered. “Let’s go. Bring some timbers and whatever weapons we have. We’ll do our best to lock the gate shut.”
Carvin and Jacob crouched outside the prison building, watching the empty courtyard. Shouts of alarm came from outside the walls, but the castle was quiet. It seemed everyone had left in an effort to discover what was going on.
“Grab what arms you can,” Carvin shouted to the group inside. “We’re going to find out what the explosion was. If we can’t rescue Tasker, maybe we can make a difference in this battle.”
About twenty-five prisoners managed to find muskets and a variety of other weapons and followed Carvin toward the gate, where they all stopped and stared. A gaping hole had been blown into the ground to the south, leveling fully half of the dwellings and buildings around it. The shock wave had rattled everything in its path, including a large number of Adherents who had been gathering outside the castle and getting ready to move to the battle raging south of them. Black-robed figures lay scattered all over the ground, a few of them groaning as they st
ruggled to rise to their feet.
“What in the world could have caused that?” Jacob said. The hole in the ground looked like it had once been part of one of the big copper mines scattered around the island. A large portion of Adherent wealth stemmed from the copper on Isle Royale, the rest coming from the iron mines around the northern edges of the lake.
One of the Adherents turned toward the gate, and Jane dropped him with a blast of energy from her musket. The figure collapsed and lay motionless, knocked unconscious by the bolt. She knew from experience he would be there for several hours at least.
Suddenly a groan came from around the corner of the fortress wall. A dozen eyes turned to look. Carvin drew a pistol and pointed it at the figure, but Jackie reached out and pulled his arm down.
“I think we know her,” she said. “Eriunia?” Jackie called in a wavering voice. The elf looked almost dead. What had gone so horribly wrong? Images of their people scattered and driven back from the shores of Isle Royale filled Jackie’s mind.
Eriunia’s battered figure was covered in soot and ashes, but she stepped toward them with her arms held out. With a last faltering step, she fell into Jane’s arms. It took all of them a moment to realize it truly was Eriunia. She looked as if she had been tossed into a burning fire and then slammed against a wall a few times.
“Eriunia, what happened?” Jane cried. Jackie helped her lower the elf to the ground. Jane used a clean piece of cloth to wipe ash from her face.
“They had a large force of the mechanical suits ready for battle,” Eriunia said. Her voice came out overly loud.
Jane noticed a little dribble of blood coming from her ears. Ruptured her eardrums, Jane thought. That would take a long time to heal.
“I lured them into chasing me into the mine shaft,” Eriunia explained in a dazed voice. “Then I stole a power source for one of the machines and set it to overload at the entrance to the mine. I didn’t realize it would set off the others so quickly. I thought I’d have more time to escape.”
“You’re lucky to be alive,” Carvin said in amazement. He looked over to where the devastation covered blocks of the city. A few fires had broken out, adding panic to an already chaotic situation.
“Carvin, we need to move into a more defensible position,” Jacob shouted. He leveled his musket and dropped an Adherent running toward them. The soldier was looking backwards, like he was running away from something. Soon more rushed up the street toward the castle.
“Get everyone inside,” Carvin ordered. “We need to bar the gate as best we can.” Suddenly the decision to sabotage the gate mechanism seemed a terrible lapse in judgment.
“How are we going to lock it?” Jacob called back. He slipped a shoulder under Eriunia’s arm and helped her stand. With Jane’s help, he got her inside the gate and sitting against the wall to the right of the gate. Once she was settled, he rushed to join Carvin in trying to push the massive portal shut.
“I don’t know,” Carvin said. The massive wooden gates had a gap big enough for two men to walk through side by side. No matter how hard they pushed against them, the remaining gears and pulleys would not allow the gates to shut.
“Let us handle it,” one of the two dwarf prisoners called. He and the other dwarf vanished into the gatehouse and went to work.
“Don’t let them get too close,” Jane shouted. She leveled her musket out the gate and fired at more Adherents. The blast missed but it sent them scurrying for cover. A spate of shots slammed into the wooden planks around her, and she could feel the jolts of the near misses. “Get a few people firing from on top of the gatehouse,” she called to those gathered behind her. “That’ll make them keep their heads down.”
A dozen former prisoners vanished up the stone steps. Moments later, a steady rain of bolts flashed out from the wall. The Adherents outside were caught between the rebel forces moving north across the city like an angry flood and the few defenders atop the castle walls. They fought with desperation, as if sensing their time in the city was coming to an end.
“We can’t hold the gate like this!” Jane shouted. At least a hundred Adherents were running toward them, and she could see the horns of a minotaur at the far end of the street. The battle was coming to an end, but if they breached the gates, the Adherents would be able to hold out for hours. It would cost the rebels lives to retake the walls.
“We got it!” one of the dwarves shouted suddenly. He poked his head out of the gatehouse. “Stand clear of the gate while it closes.”
Without waiting to see if anyone was listening, he vanished back inside. Moments later, the big wooden gate began to move. The chains creaked and groaned as they forced the massive gates to move.
When the gate slammed shut, the sound reminded Jane of a hammer hitting an anvil. Jane smiled at Jackie and shouted, “We did it!” They grabbed each other’s arms and swung around in a circle until they lost their balance and fell to the paving stones.
“We should get up on the wall and keep an eye on them,” Carvin said. “We don’t want the Adherents scaling the wall like we did.”
He led the remaining prisoners and others up the stone steps to the top. Eriunia was able to walk under her own power by then, and she limped up the stairs. Below them in the open area outside the castle, Adherents pounded on the gate until a few well-placed shots scattered them. Some of the more agile ones tried climbing, but they, too, were quickly knocked back.
Then a flood of rebel soldiers rushed up the street, and the fighting moved north of the castle. Jane looked out and noticed Puck standing in the middle of the street directing his goblins into the side alleys, where they flushed out stragglers and herded them into the still-smoking crater.
“How’s it going?” Jane shouted to him. She waved over the edge of the stone parapets at him.
“Perfect,” Puck shouted back. “Eriunia cleared the towers, and we had our troops fully landed before anyone even knew we were here. Say, have you seen her—” he stopped when the elf lifted a hand to him from the top.
“Wow, you look horrible,” Puck shouted, a sly grin dancing around his lips.
“Thanks, Puck,” Eriunia called down. “You look terrible, too.” Still, she smiled at the goblin, knowing he was only looking out for her and truly cared about her.
“Did you find Tasker?” Puck asked. He walked over until he was standing in front of the gates looking up at them, stepping around unconscious Adherents, though he seemed to enjoy stepping on arms and bouncing his hooves off the heads of those wearing black robes.
“No, and that worries me,” Jane replied. “We’re going to have to tear this town apart and find out if anyone’s seen him.” She was beginning to wonder if this had been a wild goose chase.
The battle lasted until late the next day, with a few pockets of Adherents holed up in a smaller fort on the northern side of the island. The rebels finally resorted to Jane’s map. She managed to open a hole in their defensive wall. From there, the goblins and rebel troops poured into the fort and captured the last of the enemy soldiers.
“What do we do with them?” Jane asked. She saw Actur and Puck huddled with Carvin, discussing the future of the two hundred or so prisoners they had taken. The death toll among the Adherents had been terrible during this battle, with many hundreds refusing to surrender, choosing instead to throw themselves into the lake in an attempt to swim to shore. Few made it. Many were found later, drowned. Carvin had details of soldiers fanning out across the city searching for any survivors. Others gathered the fallen to prepare them for a proper burial.
“Well, if we keep them, we have to feed them,” Puck muttered. “I say we turn them loose in the north woods and let the yetis chase them down one at a time. At least they’ll have a running chance.”
“I say we kill them here and now,” Actur rumbled. “They killed my wife out east before they captured me.�
�� He glared at one of the Adherent commanders tied up nearby. He raised a massive hand threateningly as if to strike the man. The Adherent cringed.
“We’re better than they are, Actur,” Jane said. She put her hand on his mighty arm and looked at him. “We’re better than that.” She knew a lot of hatred had built up, but she could not abide taking revenge on helpless prisoners. “Strip them of their gear and load them in a ship. We can drop them off beyond our borders and let them try and make their way back to their masters. Let them carry the word that once again the Temple has been defeated and forced to retreat. That should do wonders for them in the old world.”
Actur grunted and eyed the battered Adherent sitting on the ground. Then he huffed loudly and walked away. Jane looked down and realized this black-robed figure was an elf.
“Why would you join such an evil cause?” Jane asked, curious. Eriunia, standing nearby, walked closer.
“Yes, tell her why,” Eriunia said. She glared at the elf.
“I was outcast from my people. The Temple took me in,” the elf snarled.
“Tell her why you were outcast,” Eriunia continued. When silence followed, she reached over and yanked his hood back. She pointed to the black mark tattooed to his face. “Jane, this is how my people deal with those who commit a crime so horrible it cannot be forgiven. They are branded with this mark and sentenced to five years of hard labor. When the sentence is up, they’re exiled from our lands, never to return.”
Jane stared at the elf in disgust and a bit of pity. To be forever banished from your home with no hope of ever returning was hard. Still, maybe the elf had it coming. She would never know. Unable to say anything, she finally turned and walked away before she changed her mind on what to do with the Adherents. They would be banished from rebel-held lands. If they were ever spotted near Duluth or any city loyal to the rebellion, the consequences would be severe.
The Map Maker's Choice Page 5