by Linda Mooney
She had to get to her lodge and retrieve Mattox before Mink realized what was happening.
Chapter 36
Revenge
Height was her advantage. Climbing up the next ladder she came across, Atty used the catwalk to make her way toward the lodge. It appeared that all Blood soldiers had been pulled from sentry duty in order to search for the people who had attacked Mink’s guards and assisted the prisoners in escaping.
A wild idea brought Atty to a stop. What if Mink didn’t believe anyone had entered the compound to rescue Yulen and his men? What if she thought it came from internally? Atty glanced around at the abandoned parapets, and that realization became more cohesive. If Mink kept the search within the compound, then a door-to-door investigation would be the first thing she’d do. Not go outside and look for the intruders.
Atty mentally berated herself and sped up, no longer caring if she was spotted or not. When she reached the southern side of the compound, she eyed the distance between the wall and the side and roof of the lodge. There was no way she could jump the nearly fifty-foot distance. Neither did she have a rope, or else she’d tie it to an arrow and fire it over to the building. The closest ladder was behind her, which meant she had to backtrack several yards—
A shriek pierced the air. The sound of it jolted Atty, and she froze in shock. The scream came again, confirming her worst fear.
Atty dashed for the ladder, almost losing her grip and plummeting feet-first to the ground. Another scream came as she rounded the rear corner of the lodge, an arrow drawn.
Mink held Mattox in her arms. Or was attempting to hold the child in her arms. The little boy was struggling and fighting the woman, doing everything he could to get free of her grasp.
Atty focused to get a bead on the Blood leader, without success. Mattox’s movements were too erratic. If she tried to take the chance, he could jerk in the wrong direction at the last moment, and her arrow could kill him instead of Mink.
“There is one of them!” A Blood pointed at her, calling out her location. The melee in the courtyard gradually slowed to a halt as the Blood soldiers ran to circle Mink and provide a protective ring around her.
Mattox noticed her. He reached out for her, his chubby fingers grasping the air. “Mama!” His unique eyes were a bright pink and wide with fear. Suddenly, a third arm appeared from within the folds of Mink’s robes. A knife glittered in the twisted hand as she jammed the tip under the little boy’s ear. Mattox cried out in pain and tried to grab the knife, but a fourth arm reached up and snagged his one free arm. Mink’s embrace tightened around him, yet Mattox continued to struggle. A further dig, and the little boy finally stilled.
He was panting, tears wetting his cheeks as blood rolled down the side of his neck. Atty saw the panic in her son’s eyes as he stared at her, silently pleading for his mother to do something. To stop this woman from hurting him.
Atty’s aim never wavered, but she knew she couldn’t fire. Not when the knife was a hair’s breadth from slicing into his jugular vein. If she hit Mink, the impact could shove the blade into her son’s neck. Or if Mattox flinched or moved the wrong way, he would bleed to death.
Mink grinned over Mattox’s head. “I thought it might be you who killed my faithful. I have your son, Battle Lady D’Jacques. It would only be right that I take his life in exchange for the ones you took.” Her voice was flat, proving she had no problem with killing the child she held.
Atty narrowed her eyes, her mind racing with possible solutions. One thing stood out clearly. In spite of her threats, Mink hadn’t killed him. For some reason, the woman wanted him alive. Needed him alive. Otherwise, she would have gone ahead and killed the little boy simply to watch Atty crumple in anguish.
Atty opened her mouth to ask Mink what was holding her back when several Blood soldiers appeared. They hurried toward the Blood leader, then turned around and formed a tighter circle around the woman as they brandished their weapons threateningly.
A familiar noise came from amid the shadows between the rows of apartments and shops. It was the steady tramp tramp tramp of boots on the ground. The sound of a trained squad of soldiers, unlike Mink’s army. Atty kept her arrow aimed for Mink’s head in case a miracle opened a window for her to shoot through.
She grew aware of her men coming up behind her but stopping just short of surrounding Mink and her soldiers. They could see the woman held Mattox, and understood the little boy was being used as leverage. Atty could also tell Mink was trying to think her way out of this situation. She started to tell her to release the boy, but common sense told her it wouldn’t matter. At any moment Mink would realize she was dead either way. If she killed Mattox, she’d have an arrow in her skull before the little boy hit the ground. The longer she kept him alive, she’d be able to hold Atty and her men at bay, but for how long?
“I should have killed the Battle Lord D’Jacques when I first captured him,” the Blood woman commented.
“Ah, but then you wouldn’t have been given this compound,” Paxton remarked acidly from a few feet away.
“Didn’t need him anyway,” Mink snapped back. “My men from within would have taken it from you. They would have slaughtered all of you and claimed it in my name!”
“They would have taken it from us?” Paxton swept an arm around the square. “Look at yourself, Mink. Look at you and your men. Your men could have taken it from us?” He snorted in derision. “How’s that working out for you now?”
Mink sneered in Atty’s direction. “I will kill your son, then I will have my men kill you. And they will kill the Battle Lord D’Jacques when they find where you’re keeping him. And they will kill your traitorous doctor, too!” she added, almost as an afterthought.
Atty smiled to herself. Right then she realized Mink hadn’t gotten her hands on Madigan or Iain, or else she would have used the woman and child as additional leverage. Which left Mattox as Mink’s only hope for survival.
And the sands were slowly draining out of the Blood woman’s hourglass.
“I call your horseshit!”
Atty felt surprise to hear Renken’s shout, but she didn’t dare take her eyes off the woman.
The ex-mercenary slowly made his way through the rank of soldiers bracing Atty, but moved no closer to the Blood leader. “You’re full of horseshit, you stinking Blood bag!”
Mink’s face darkened, her expression hardening. It was a dangerous chance Renken was taking. He was hoping the woman would make that one wrong move, thus enabling Atty to take her down, but Mink’s grip never lessened, and the knife never wavered.
“You will let me and my people go,” Mink finally responded. “Open your gates and allow me and my people to leave. You will not follow us, and you will not try to attack us, or I will cut this Mutah runt into slices and feed him to my most loyal.”
She meant to take Mattox with her. There was no way Atty could allow that to happen.
One small opening. That’s all Atty needed. One brief opening without her son being in danger of being in the way when she fired.
Atty gave the orders. “Open the main gates!”
Paxton waved several soldiers to take care of cranking apart the immense barriers. As soon as those men left, Mink’s soldiers gathered tighter around her. Then, slowly, they moved as one thick mass toward the front entrance. At one point a small figure dashed from the side of the Battle Lord’s lodge and was quickly swallowed up within the huddled figures.
Atty followed, but she was unable to get a clear target. Although Mink kept Mattox tightly clasped in front of her, her Blood soldiers formed a solid barrier behind and beside her, preventing Atty from catching even a partial glimpse of the woman’s head. Still, Atty continued to stalk the group as Paxton signaled their men to close ranks.
The group’s movement was agonizingly slow. A straight shot, the walk that would normally take a minute or two was dragging out and becoming ten, then fifteen minutes. Atty gritted her teeth and fought the increasing wearine
ss in her arms from keeping the tension on her drawn arrow.
When they finally reached the main gates, Mink and her men continued forward. The Battle Lord’s soldiers watched, helpless and angry, from the ramparts as the mass of nearly thirty Bloods passed through and out into the open area.
Nearly a hundred lanterns came to light. Atty stared in shock at the sight of hundreds of Mutah, all of them armed, revealed in the lamplight. The Mutah surrounded the compound, preventing the Bloods from advancing any further.
The Blood army halted. Several of the soldiers waved their lances, thrusting them forward threateningly, but Atty knew they had to realize there was no way they could leave.
Mink whirled around. “Battle Lady D’Jacques! Your son is getting heavy, and my knife is thirsty. I’m afraid I won’t be able to hold onto him much longer.”
“What do you want?” Atty demanded. She’d gotten a second’s opportunity to fire, but the woman’s reaction had caught her by surprise. That chance was now gone, and Atty cursed herself.
“Horses for all of my men! Tell these Mutah to allow us to leave!”
Paxton moved up behind her. “Atty, if she manages to reach the woods, we may never have another chance to get Mattox.”
She nodded. “But what other choice do I have? She’ll kill Mattox without provocation. As long as there’s the smallest chance, I’m going to take it.” She raised her voice. “All right! You get your horses!”
She started to order her second to fetch the animals when the Bloods suddenly parted. Shock and disbelief reflected on their faces as they stared down at something on the ground.
Atty bolted for the center of the group. “Take them!” But the Battle Lord’s men had already seen the Bloods’ hesitation, and launched themselves at the group.
Within the mob, Atty drew her Ballock to slice her way to the middle, praying she’d reach Mattox before Mink could recover from whatever had caused the diversion. A couple of Bloods tried to fight her, but Paxton’s sword mowed them down in mid-reach.
When she reached the center of the group, Atty halted, unable to believe her eyes. At the same time, Mattox leaped toward her with a cry, and she embraced her son with relief. Paxton and Renken worked their way to her and also paused in surprise as the rest of the Bloods were quickly killed or taken into custody.
Mink lay on the ground on her back. Standing over her was a slender figure holding what appeared to be a knife from the Battle Lord’s lodge. The knife dripped with dark green gore. More greenish blood oozed from the cut sliced into the side of the Blood leader’s neck. The woman gazed up at the child-like person standing over her with an expression that was unreadable. After another few seconds, the little person dropped the knife and stepped away, wiping away the blood on her hand on the front of her dirty, ragged tunic.
“Warren!” The man’s name was barely past Atty’s lips when the second rushed forward and stomped down on one of Mink’s arms. Two more lieutenants followed suit, keeping the Blood woman pinned to the ground.
Atty turned to hand Mattox over to Paas, who stood nearby, but the little boy clung to her in desperation. His little body shook to the point where Atty couldn’t let go, and she undid her coat to enfold him within its warm depths. Holding her son tighter, she approached the Blood woman and got a firmer grip on her Ballock.
“This compound never was and never will be yours,” she told Mink. “I, Atrilan D’Jacques, Battle Lady of Alta Novis, do hereby rescind all your previous claims to this compound. As is my right, I am imposing the sentence of death, to be carried out immediately.”
Stepping up to the woman, Atty prepared to squat at the Blood’s head and plunge the blade into her eye, when a voice loudly shouted at her.
“No! Not you, Atty! It’s my right!”
Atty turned to hear Zane Batuset’s roar of defiance. She paused as the Battle Lord of Foster City shouldered his way through her shoulders and walked up to where she stood. The look of devastation still clouded his pasty face. His eyes bore the same haunted shadows she’d seen in them earlier, and his entire demeanor radiated defeat. But now there appeared to be a purpose to his step.
He gave her a pleading stare, something Atty had never seen as long as she’d known the man. “Allow me this kill, Atty.” He sounded as if his life depended on it.
Nodding, she held out her knife to him, but the man waved it away, then gently took her by the arm and guided her off to the side as he raised his sword. He gestured to Del Ray and Renken. “Strip her.”
The two men used their knives to cut through the thick robes. Throwing the material aside, people gasped at what was revealed. Atty pressed Mattox’s face against her shoulder to prevent him from seeing the monstrosity lying at their feet.
The lower portion of Mink’s body was one giant abdomen. What appeared to be four miniature feet waved helplessly at the bottom of the immense bulk. Two parallel rows of teats descended down the woman’s chest, but that wasn’t the most horrendous aspect. Her belly rolled, swelled, and deflated as if it was being manipulated from within. Something punched outward, causing a knob to form inside the shiny skin. Then another knob came from the other side.
“Oh, dear God.” MaGrath made his way over to Atty and stared in shock at the creature lying before them. “She’s like their queen. She’s pregnant with who knows how many of those things.”
Atty swallowed hard. “Go ahead, Zane. Do it.”
Batuset straddled the woman. Raising his sword above his head with both hands, he gave the Blood leader one final, searing look. “This is for Dardin Tabb. This is for murdering the man I loved.”
He brought his weapon down, piercing Mink in the center of her chest with one hard thrust. The woman gave a gurgling scream, but Batuset wasn’t finished. Atty had to close her eyes as the Battle Lord proceeded to saw his way through her abdomen, spilling blood, intestines, and fetuses over the ground. The air grew rank from the smell. By the time he reached the woman’s thighs, she lay split open and steaming in the cold night air.
Atty shuddered and turned to go back inside the compound, when someone asked, “What do we do with the rest of them?”
“Decapitate them now,” a beloved voice softly answered.
Stunned, Atty glanced over at where Yulen stood, propped between two of his men. Although he was wrapped from head to toe in a heavy coat and blankets, the Battle Lord still managed to give the impression of strength. Seeing his wife’s concern, he gave her a weak smile. “Give them the death they deserve, then throw them into the woods. Same for the unborn. This siege has ended, and it’s time we reclaimed our lives.”
Chapter 37
Assessment
“Wait.” Atty walked over to where one of her guards had grabbed the thin figure in the filthy shift by the arm. Their soldiers would not kill the Bloods here, but would take them further into the fields on the other side of the road.
She approached the young girl who kept her head bowed as she shivered in the cold. That uncomfortable feeling that always warned her of a Bloods’ presence continued to crawl under her skin. But when she reached out to the child-like figure, that feeling didn’t intensify.
Atty touched the young girl, who flinched but didn’t back away. Shushing her, Atty stepped closer and took the girl’s chin in her fingers, lifting the heart-shaped face until their eyes met. “What is your name?”
“Echo.” The answer was almost too soft to hear. The girl’s lips were blue, her body slowly succumbing to the cold.
Atty smiled, hoping to reassure the girl. “Why did you try to kill Mink?”
“Sh-she…” The girl stopped. After another moment, she gave a little shrug and shook her head.
“Thank you.”
Echo jerked her head up, her face registering her surprise. Before she could speak, Atty continued.
“You helped save my son’s life. A life for a life. I am granting you yours.”
The girl glanced over at the body of the Blood leader, and Atty realized
the girl no longer had a family. And God knew how long it had been since she’d had a decent home. Or a meal. Or warm clothing. This time when Atty reached out to her, Echo didn’t try to evade her touch. “Come with me.”
Echo gave her a defeated look and a single nod.
“Atty?” Borchart, one of her lead lieutenants, spoke up.
Atty shook her head. “It’s okay. She’s not a Blood.”
“She’s Mutah?” Renken asked, also surprised.
Atty shook her head again. “No. She’s a Normal.” Without waiting for anyone to comment further, she drew an arm around the young girl’s shoulders. “Can I get a jacket here?”
Borchart immediately shrugged off his coat to put around Echo. The garment was enormous on her. Echo slipped her arms into the sleeves, tucking her chin inside the neckline, and followed Atty back to the main lodge. Atty noticed the girl never looked back at Mink’s remains.
Yulen and the others were already in the main dining hall. Someone had fetched one of the overstuffed chairs from the Battle Lord’s lodge for him to sit upon, next to the roaring fire in the fireplace. His feet were propped up on the bench of a nearby table, where MaGrath had set a tray of instruments and supplies. As she walked into the room, she noticed the doctor unwrapping her husband’s feet.
The first thing she did was go over and kiss Yulen. Tasting his lips and filling her lungs with his scent. Their connection was stronger, enough to allow her to feel his growing strength and improving health.
“How is he doing, Liam?”
“I’m afraid he’s going to lose a couple of toes. But, God willing, he’ll be able to keep all his fingers.” MaGrath nodded toward the young woman standing behind her. “Care to explain her?”
“Her name’s Echo. She’s a Normal.”
Everyone showed surprise at the announcement.
“I saw her earlier, back in your lodge. She was working for Mink. No. Correct that. I saw her working under Mink.” The doctor glanced at the girl from beneath lowered brows. “You were virtually a slave, weren’t you?”