by CM Raymond
“You guys need a break, huh?” she asked, sweat dripping down her face. “I get it. Not everybody can dance through a mountain path like I can.” She breathed hard through pursed lips, sending a tendril of her bangs up and off her forehead. No matter the reason, she was glad for a short rest.
“We didn’t stop,” Dardanus replied. “She did.” He pointed at the wolf who sat in the middle of the path.
Laurel bent down to her and whispered in her pointed ears. As she stood, the wolf cut off the trail, leaping between rocks as she made her own path.
“They didn’t go to the village,” Laurel said, pointing in the direction of the wolf navigating the terrain. “Turned off the path here. My friend has their scent, and it looks like a small group passed through here not long ago.”
“Why the hell would they do that?” the mouthy guard asked. The other nodded along with him. “They got the boy. Made it this far. Why not just descend into the city?”
“He’s right, screw the animal. We need to get down there immediately before they hurt him.” Dardanus’s face was stern and resolved.
“I’m not screwing the animal,” Hannah quipped. “An Arcadian would never…”
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
Hannah laughed. “Lighten up, D, before you hurt someone. It’s stupid to go charging in guns blazing. None of this adds up. We should tread lightly.”
The men looked back and forth, trying to figure out who to follow. Dardanus was their leader, but Hannah had showed herself to be quite the badass.
The tall man crossed his arms. “Listen—”
“No, you listen.” Hannah cut him off with the wave of her hand. “You may have forgotten that my life, and the life of my friends is riding on this. Like it or not, we’re a team out here. I have my magic, charm, and stunning good looks. You guys have your height and your little balls.” She pointed to the bola hanging from his belt and winked. “But Laurel, she’s got all of this natural world around us speaking to her. And right now, she has that wolf leading the way. It’s time you drop the controlling leader thing, if only for one more day, and trust us.”
“And why the hell should we trust you?” the second in command asked.
“Well, we got you this far, did more than our fair share against those roamers, saved one of your men from certain death… other than that, I’ve got nothing. You march into the middle of town, and Samet is there, they’ll kill him in an instant. And then kill you. Let’s give Laurel her shot. If he’s not there, we take the night and make a plan. Remember what would have happened if you rushed that group back there? You’d be having a lot more hard conversations with mourning wives when you got home. Get the picture?”
Dardanus held his second’s arm, holding him back from responding. “We will follow you, Hannah from Arcadia. But I swear, if this turns to shit, it won’t just be your life on the line.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard it all before. Let’s just do this.”
The group headed up the path with Laurel in the lead. Aysa walked close to Hannah, perfectly comfortable finding her own path. “There’s a hut up here.”
“No shit?”
She shook her head. “None. Abandoned, though. It was built early on, high on the rocks as a watchtower while the town was being founded.”
“Sounds like a good place to hide a prince.”
Aysa nodded. “Bad part is, they can see all around from there. They probably know we’re coming.”
“Got it.”
“And the Kofken are really good at throwing rocks.”
“Got that, too,” Hannah nodded.
“And the climb gets steeper at the end, the approach will be nearly impossible if we’re attacked.”
“And… got it.” Hannah scanned the rocks above, but all she saw was more of them. “So, you’re saying we’re screwed?”
“An oldtimer from Baseek used to have a saying about rowing up shit creek without a paddle...”
Hannah shook her head. “Great.”
They continued up the path. At one high point, Hannah could swear she made out the roof of a building in the distance, but it disappeared when they dipped into a tiny saddle that sat between the rises.
She stayed on high alert, ready to throw a shield if necessary. Although they’d done nothing but hike since the battle below, she knew that some of her strength had returned. Probably not enough to pull off anything too heroic. She wished there was time for a steak dinner, a hot bath, and a feather bed to really amp her up. But those things were likely out of the question.
Catching up with Laurel, who was moving quickly through the boulders, even with her wounded leg, Hannah pulled on her sleeve. “Listen. There’s a hut ahead, some sort of outpost. I bet my magic they’re keeping little Sammie there. Be on high alert.”
Laurel brow was knit with concern. “Got it. But I’ll tell you the truth. I don’t have much left in the tank.”
“I hear you. But we can always dig deeper.” Hannah cursed as her foot slipped, ramming her shin into a rock.
“Yeah. I keep telling myself that,” Laurel replied.
As they wove through a pile of giant rocks that jutted from the ground, Laurel’s wolf howled out a warning.
“They know we’re here,” Laurel whispered.
“If they didn’t before…”
Laurel laughed. “I know what that howl means, Hannah. She’s telling us someone is waiting for us at the top.”
Dardanus crouched next to them. “I’m going first.”
“Like hell you—”
He interrupted Hannah’s dispute. “Arcadian, where you come from you have fought battles for your people, your place. Important battles. Is that right?” She nodded silently. “And if some shit-talking guard from Baseek came and wanted to lead you into the last moments of those battles, would you step aside and let him take both danger and tribal pride away from you?”
“Not a noble’s chance in the Boulevard.”
He cocked his head to the side. “I’ll take that as a no. Now, you understand. I need to go first. It must be me.”
“I’m going to be right behind you,” she replied.
He nodded gravely. “I sure as hell hope so. Now, let’s go.”
Dardanus gave his men and the other women the command to wait behind cover, they grumbled but complied as he slid out from behind the rocks, keeping his head low. He crept through a path his feet found faster than his mind could actually process them. Moving on this ground was second nature to him. Hannah tripped along behind him.
As they stepped out from behind the last giant boulder, a rock hummed between their heads and shattered off the rocks behind them. Hannah and Dardanus dropped to the ground.
“Stand with your hands over your head,” a voice bellowed. “We are many, and our aim is true. The next shot won’t be a warning.”
Dardanus swallowed hard and raised his hands, standing up out of the rocks, and Hannah did the same.
“Dardanus?” the voice cried. “The hell you doing out here?”
“What do you think, Baris? I’m looking for the boy.”
After an uncomfortable amount of time, Baris yelled down to them. “Shit, why you still standing there with your hands in the air. Come on up. Bring the others hiding behind the rocks, too. Samet is with us.”
Dardanus exhaled. “Thank the mother.” He turned and placed his hands in a front of his mouth. His cheeks puffed out and a strange squawk escaped. Seconds later, the rest of his unit were coming up behind him.
They started back up the climb, Dardanus maintaining a pace Hannah could manage, which gave the others a chance to catch up. Stepping through the last course of rocks, the watchtower came into view.
It was more of a hut, much like the ones in the village below, only more rudimentary. Looking around, she understood why the place was here. She could see a mile in every direction, and the idea that they could have snuck up on anyone paying any attention was ludicrous.
“Dar
danus!” Baris gruffed, holding his arms out to his comrade.
They embraced quickly, then Dardanus stepped back. “What the hell is happening here? Where’s Samet?”
“We will tell the whole tale, but first, come, come. Let us get you off your feet and something to eat. Rufus only just brought back some game and is now getting the fire ready. Then we’ll tell you everything.”
The head guard from Baseek nodded, his eyes dashed around the grounds surrounding the hut. Hannah’s did the same. Something still felt off, but she wasn’t sure quite yet what it was.
“But… Samet?” Dardanus asked as he moved toward the door.
Looking over his shoulder, Baris said, “He’s inside, friend. Don’t worry.”
They all filed in behind Baris into the hut, which was a basic, open room. A man crouched at the fire, blowing the flames into a fire. The newly butchered animal sat on a low table next to them.
The man preparing the meat glanced over his shoulder and gave a nod to the Baseeki men and their captain. “Welcome, brothers,” he said.
“Sam!” Aysa’s voice sounded larger than ever in the tiny hut.
Hannah spun to find the girl leaning over a small cot in the corner. A boy, smaller than Hannah had imagined, lay on the bed. He didn’t stir, and she wondered if she was looking at the prince or his corpse. Face swollen with the signs of torture, she spun, hands out ready for attack.
“Whoa!” Baris yelled. “Easy there darling. I said I would explain everything. And… Who exactly are you?”
“I’m the woman who is going to end you if you don’t start explaining this shit, pronto.”
He nodded, glancing back at her hands. “You’re not from here, are you? You have the powers?”
“More than you can imagine, douche nugget, and if you don’t want a firsthand display, start talking. What’d you do to the boy?” Her eyes narrowed on him, watching every move.
“Dard, can you call off your attack dog, please?” Baris laughed nervously, looking toward his fellow soldier.
“Don’t know, friend. I might be with her on this one. Looks awfully suspicious to me.” Dardanus eased his hand down to the rope of his bolas, waiting for a response.
The man’s eyes cut to Dardanus’s hand, ready for action and back to Hannah. He raised his hands. “I don’t want any trouble here. Just doing my job.”
“Your job,” Aysa shouted from across the room, “was to protect him.”
Baris cast the one-armed girl a look of disdain. Hannah could tell he didn’t like her, but according to Aysa, no one did. She took a second to nudge Laurel in the ribs, nodding toward the man by the fire. Her friend gave a slight tilt of her head, and kept her eye on the second guard.
Looking down at the dirt floor, Baris’s face filled with embarrassment. “She’s right,” he said, pointing to Aysa. “It was my job—our job. Hell, we’ve been watching the kid for weeks; easiest assignment of my life. In fact—” his eyes wandered to each of the guests in the hut “—I wondered why the hell Vatan put us on babysitting duty.” He looked at Dardanus. “I mean, no offense, but our skills could be used in a lot better ways.”
Dardanus clenched his jaw, showing self-control. “None taken. Yet. Go on.”
“We brought the little brat up to the spot above our village. Kid wanted to go there almost every day. Rufus and I were just chilling under a tree when the arrow came in.”
“Kofken arrow,” Dardanus’s second chimed in. “We saw it in the tree.”
“Yeah,” Baris laughed. “Better the tree than in my ass. We hit the ground and returned a little fire up into the crags, but when we were sure the coast was clear, the damned kid was gone. We tracked them for the better part of the day until we came upon the site, just down the trail from here.”
“He was tied up,” Dardanus said, seeing where the story was leading.
“Yeah. And beat to hell from what we could see. Not sure why they stopped where they did, maybe they wanted to bring the enemy home to their people truly vanquished, but they went further than they should have, I imagine.”
Hannah could feel the men from Baseek relax around her, but something still didn’t feel right. She wanted the rest of the story. “How’d you free him?”
“You’re not the only one with powers, honey,” Baris said with a sneer. “When we snuck up the rise, we found there were only three of ‘em. Wasn’t nothing for Rufus and me to give them enough of a rock shower that they decided the kid wasn’t worth their lives. They turned down for the village.”
Rufus, turned from the fire, and joined the conversation. “I’ve been up here before. My cousin, from Kofken and I would meet here and drink some swill he made in the woods. Figure we’d need to nurse him back to life, give his body a rest, before we tried getting him home.”
Hannah watched the man’s cheek twitch in concert with his right hand by his bola.
“Guys…” Dardanus looked down in shame. “Forgive me I thought…”
Hannah wasn’t so convinced. She closed her eyes to hide their color as she cleared her mind. Rufus was certainly the weaker of the two, so she focused on his mind, tunneling her way in.
They’re actually buying this shit, he thought. Easy.
“Yeah,” Baris said. “They're planning something, Dard. The Kofken might be our family, but they aren’t our friends.”
“You guys are so full of shit I can smell it from here. Tell the truth, before this ends poorly,” Hannah said. “I’m giving you one chance to—”
Before she could finish, Rufus pulled the device from his belt, pointing it at Dardanus, he pulled the trigger. But Hannah was ready. She flipped her wrist and threw a small shield, big enough to block the power of the blaster before it met its mark.
Rufus missed his only chance. Before he could fire again, he was screaming with his hand wrapped by Laurel’s leather whip, the metal tine biting into his flesh. She pulled it hard, spinning the man off balance. Dardanus’s second in command sprung to action, landing a right fist to Rufus’s gut and meeting his drooping head with a knee to the chin.
“Not bad,” Laurel said.
As Laurel took care of Rufus, Hannah turned toward Baris. Her eyes grew, finding the man already had Dardanus locked in a submission hold, knife on his throat.
“Don’t do anything rash, you stupid witch,” he hissed. “You can keep the kid, and I’ll even let you have this guy back. But Rufus and I are walking out of here alive.”
Hannah glanced over her shoulder at the other man in a heap on the floor. “Doesn’t look like he’s walking anyplace soon.”
Baris looked down at the other guard and laughed. “Eh, he’d just slow me down anyway. Enough small talk. I’ll drop this asshat at the bottom of the hill. You can find him there.”
“And guess I shouldn’t follow you? I’ve learned the Baseeki have good aim.”
The man gave a crooked grin. “Aim? These dicks are imbeciles compared to me.”
Hannah smiled. “You know who else has good aim?”
“Who?” he asked, with a look of confusion.
“She does.” Hannah motioned to Laurel, who didn’t hesitate.
Before Baris could even shift the blade at Dardanus’s neck, her rope was wrapped around his forearm. Straining, Laurel pulled it away.
With the enemy’s blade out of harm’s way, Hannah pulled her own, and threw it, trusting in the training she had received from Karl.
Inches from Dardanus’s face, the blade sunk into Baris’s eye. The traitor reached for its hilt. No sooner had he grabbed it than he hit the ground, dead.
“Bullseye,” Laurel said with a giggle. “Get it? Bullseye.”
Hannah looked over at her, heart still racing. “Oh, I definitely get it.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“What the hell is going on here?” Cal shouted as he watched Baris’s blood spill onto the floor.
Dardanus raised a hand, his eyes on Hannah and Laurel leaning over Samet. “Seems we found our prince and hi
s captors. But you need to hold your tongue so they can concentrate. The boy is in bad condition. Death is on the doorstep, and the magicians are trying to tell him he isn’t welcome here.”
After ten minutes, give or take, Laurel collapsed onto the floor, exhausted. Hannah soon followed.
“It’s all I have,” the druid said.
Hannah nodded. “Me, too.” She turned to Dardanus. “He’s not good, but stable for now. I need some rest, as does Laurel. Not to mention that you and your men look almost as bad as the kid here.”
“And you’ll be able to heal him in the morning?”
She shook her head. “No. I’ve taken him as far as I can, but I know someone who can help.”
They all found a spot on the dirt floor and covered themselves with whatever they could find.
Aysa crawled over to Hannah’s side. “I’ll keep first watch. You sleep.”
Hardly able to nod, Hannah thanked her.
“No. Thank you… for Sam.”
The magician considered saying “you’re welcome,” but she was asleep before the words could form on her lips.
****
Hadley dropped from the window and landed in the grass next to Parker. Silently, they sped for the back pathways they had originally come from. Once safely away from Vatan’s hut, they took a breather and leaned against a small shed, out of sight from the main path.
“Damn, that was intense!” Hadley said. “We barely made it out of there.”
“I agree it was a skin of our teeth moment, but you probably could have done something, right?”
“Yeah,” he said, rolling his eyes, “but our folks don’t know that. Let’s make this story the best we can for the others.”
Parker laughed. “All right, you can work on our tall tale while I work on a way to save the day. So, what exactly did she say in her head?”
Laughing, Hadley said, “What do you say in your head?”
Parker sat staring without a response.
“What I mean is, people don’t really think like that, you know, in words. At least that’s not how I see them. It’s almost always pictures.”