The third volley struck one guard in the ankle, crippling him.
The merchant, by now had found his legs beneath him, and a spare pickaxe from his cart. He hid behind the toppled cart. He probably screamed something, but we don’t see words in the mud.
The fourth volley landed hard across the third cart. The horses were hit, as well, and both of them died very quickly. The man driving this cart made a break for it, away from the hill. A single arrow chased after him, and missed.
Now, the raiders jumped out from behind their hiding places on the hill. They were armed in light leathers, and long pikes. They quickly formed themselves into a line. They charged down the hill at the carts.
Raiders do not traditionally operate with military precision.
Djoss and Rachel ran to each other. Rachel conjured powerful fires and startled the raiders. Djoss deflected one pike with his crate top, and smacked another with his hard fist. Rachel tossed strong winds over the raiders. They fell back, and found themselves buried beneath a wall of ice.
The merchant jumped out swinging his sword. The pikemen stabbed him in both legs. He fell to the ground, and bled out, dead in a few minutes, to be buried with his own son by the roadside.
Rachel ran to Djoss, pulled water vapor from the air, and froze it in a ring of ice.
The raiders watched, amazed. They chipped at the ring with their pikes, hesitating against Senta spells they hadn’t seen in times of war. Senta are not warriors this far south.
Djoss frowned at Rachel. He probably told her to kill the raiders. She probably told him she wouldn’t kill anyone.
The raiders did not expect much in the way of magic, but they had their answer. When the ice was chipped back, they swore they’d kill Djoss if Rachel didn’t come peacefully with anyone else that had, by now, surrendered.
The raiders slaughtered the horses for meat, pulled anything edible from the carts, and anything they happened to want, and then they pushed the carts off the road, and set fire to them. A few ran off into the woods to look for men that had escaped the volleys of arrows.
The raiders numbered at least thirty-two hard-scrabble soldiers. An absurd number for any legitimate raiding party, and the violence made no sense when most would easily just take what they wanted from the carts that were outnumbered and let the people pass on.
The raiders kept their base outside the tower. When the prisoners arrived, they were kept on a rope chain, tied hand and belt and foot, all together.
Rachel had been blindfolded, like everyone else, so she couldn’t aim her powers at anyone. She sat sullenly in the mud, waiting for something to happen, bound to the beginning of the rope, against the tower.
CHAPTER 21
“Believe it or not,” said Jona, “I saved your life.”
Calipari said nothing. He couldn’t. His mouth was filled with cloth, and wrapped with rope to hold it in like a horse’s bridle.
Jona pulled a bottle of brandy out from a bag the raiders had given him. It was horrible brandy, more rancid water than heat. Jona drank it in little, wincing sips. When he had to relieve himself, he went up top to the signal fire. He’d have to leave it dry, but he wanted to dampen it with the brandy that had passed through him like a flood. He had to piss as best he could in hiding in case someone’s blindfold was loose.
He paused when he saw the prisoners bent on their knees in the sun. Wounded bodies wrapped in bandages and ragged clothes and numb faces waited with naked dread beneath the blindfolds torn from dead men’s clothes.
Jona was thinking about Sabachthani’s promise. She said everyone would live. That’s what she had said. As soon as this passed, he wouldn’t have to kill again if he didn’t want to. But, here he was on the brink of killing again. He looked out at all the people who had survived the killing that had come because of him.
He saw a familiar body at the edge of a chain of prisoners.
Jona looked closer and closer, and the pain swept over him.
The figure of Djoss slept in the sun, tied to a man’s corpse. Djoss leaned over the dead body like a pillow.
The breath flew from Jona’s chest. He cursed.
Rachel heard his voice, up against the guard tower where she was bound separated from the rest of the prisoners.
She cocked her head. “Hello?” she said.
Jona cursed again. He scurried back down the ladder, into the darkness of the tower, and Calipari tied to a chair.
These raiders were going to kill most of the people on the chain. Jona wasn’t supposed to save all of them. No one would believe a miraculous rescue, only a desperate rescue.
Back in the room with Calipari, Jona paced furiously. Then he looked down at Calipari. Jona pushed Calipari awake. Calipari didn’t flinch. He snorted from behind his rags.
Jona thrust his fist into the wall next to Nicola’s face. The punch was weak. Jona sat down in a corner. “I know you don’t believe me,” said Jona, “but I hate this more than you do. I hate it so much. The woman I love could be killed. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t want to hurt anyone, Nic. I really don’t. Sabachthani will be queen. There’s nothing we can do to stop it. We just have to stay out of the way, or help it along. I’m helping it along, all right? Bloody Elishta, but Rachel’s out there, and they might hurt her. They might take her off somewhere and… Nic, I don’t know what to do!”
The sergeant said nothing. He couldn’t with the gag.
“Do you think she might foresee her death, and escape somehow? She’s Senta, right? She can do that, can’t she?”
He mumbled a grunt.
Jona yanked the gag out.
“Nicola, say something. I’m trying to keep everyone alive over here.”
“You brought this on yourself, and on me,” said Nicola, at last. “I got nothing to say to you, Jona. Corporal Lord Joni, I don’t think we have anything to talk about again.”
“Nic, I’m trying to save your life, here. I can bribe you. You swear to sing the song we give you, and you retire and take a parcel with all the coin Sabachthani can muster. You and I both know that the Pens was never where anyone cared about anyone. We had to make our own way. My father was killed for treason, his lands taken, and it wasn’t true. We have to fight to get along. I had to fight, Nic.”
“I got nothing else for you, Jona.”
“Lady Sabachthani is the one running all the demon weed. I opened a shipment and saw it with these eyes. Dogs with their tongues cut out, chewing on demon child bones and infected with some kind of vine growing out of their bodies. It’s her ship. She wouldn’t deny it.”
“So what if it is? Arrest her.”
“You arrest her.”
He snorted. “You dropped good boys like nothing, and you won’t drop a bad noblewoman?”
“If I hadn’t done it, you’d all be dead.”
“This is your grand scheme. You kill king’s men right here, and think I’ll help you do anything. How many of my good boys have I watched die, huh? I’ve lost so many boys didn’t deserve it in the Pens, and you drop two like nothing.”
“I need your help, Nic.”
“You will hang,” he said. “If I don’t kill you first, you’ll hang.”
Jona paced. “I can offer you money. Be a tavernkeeper, not a farmer. Be anything you want.”
Calipari closed his eyes.
“Be a nobleman, for all I care. I can make that happen.”
“You just tell Franka how I died, and who did it. You look her in the face and tell her you betrayed me and the king and everything we’ve lost so many good boys over. How many coffins burning in the bay? How many boys don’t come back for morning muster? How many good people hooked into the sewers with no one to claim the corpse? Ain’t you seen enough death? I haven’t. Not until I see your death. Dropping two good boys like they’re animals. I heard things about you, Lord Joni… Terrible things. I didn’t think you was so deep in the pinks. I didn’t think you was so deep.”
Jona sat down. He g
rabbed at his stomach, feeling it flip and turn.
“I’m not like you, Sergeant. I can’t sleep at night. I never could.”
The two men sat until nightfall, feeling sick. One more day, then another. Then, when the king’s soldiers came calling, Jona would have his great victory.
***
Nightfall, he walked carefully on the balls of his feet through the grass at the edge of the guard tower. He felt the mortar stones scraping away the mud like jagged fingernails.
Rachel was asleep, and the rope around her wrist attached to the wall of the guard tower. The rope along the guard tower extended all the way around, resting in the mud and grass where the building met the dirt.
Jona crept until he saw her. She was on her side in a small patch of grass. Her hands remained bound against the main rope. Her eyes were covered in a cloth torn from the bottom of her own dress. Jona cut her blindfold first, with one swift cut of his knife. Her eyes were half-open. They rolled back in her head like broken marbles. Her mouth hung limp in sleep.
He placed his hand over her mouth. Undoubtedly, the taste of mud filled her dreams. She woke up, gasping for air.
Her eyes focused on Jona’s muddy face in the dark.
“Hush…” he whispered.
She nodded. He cut her hands loose from the main rope. He took her hand and led her into the tower.
***
Calipari was drifting in and out of uncomfortable slumber, strapped into his very uncomfortable chair. He told me about it, but he couldn’t remember words.
He told me he saw Jona covered in shadows. He saw a woman, wrapped in filthy cloth. He heard voices, murmuring softly as if an invisible wall muffled the sound between them and him.
He couldn’t tell me what they said.
I must rely on Jona’s memory.
“Jona, I don’t know what’s happening. What are you doing here?”
“It’s complicated. I don’t have time. They’re going to try to kill you, Rachel. Calipari, too. You’re both too dangerous to them.”
“Jona, what’s happening? What are you doing here?”
“Look, it’s complicated. Just give me a minute to get dressed.”
Rachel placed a hand on Calipari’s cheek. She started to tug at his bonds.
“Don’t,” said Jona, “Please…” He pulled her hand away from Calipari’s bonds.
“Jona,” said Rachel, “We have to get Djoss.”
“We can’t,” said Jona, “Look, we just can’t. I’m going to have to hide you somewhere. The roof, maybe. When it’s all over, I can take you back with me. Just trust me.”
“I don’t trust you, all right? I can’t. Not now.” said Rachel, “Please just tell me what’s happening.”
Jona told her that the men came for him. He told her that all these soldiers running murder through the woods were there so Jona could defeat them, free the hostages, and return to the city a hero.
“That’s not very heroic,” said Rachel.
Jona pulled his uniform on over his muddy skin. “It’s… This is the way it is, okay. You make it sound like I have a choice. I don’t. I’m just a pawn. I’m done, though. I’m done with all this. I want to get you out of here. We’ll go, you and me. They’ll try to kill me for it, but I’m done. Please, will you go with me?”
“Why would they kill you?”
“They’ll kill you if I don’t hide you.”
“What about Djoss?”
“I don’t know. I’ll try. Look, I just want you to be safe, and to leave with me.”
“But Djoss…”
“Please, just come with me. Please, I love you.”
“I won’t leave Djoss to die. You would ask me to do that… Thank you for saving me. I’ll never forget you.”
“Please, Rachel…”
“I’m going to save Djoss,” said Rachel, “so whatever happens, stay out of my way.” Rachel closed her eyes. She took a deep breath. “I’m so scared, Jona.”
“Please…” said Jona, “Let me come with you.”
“What?” said Rachel.
“I’ll leave everything. I’ll just leave everything. We’ll go out there, and get him and escape together. Please, Rachel, I have to be with you. I love you, and I have to be with you.”
“Jona… Oh, Jona…” She centered herself in breathing. Emotion drained away from her face until she was a mask of breathing. Senta fire caught the bonds that bound Calipari. He saw them and held them up to be burned.
“Rachel, please…” Jona had to sit down. He looked at Calipari’s bonds burning. He looked at Calipari’s killing smile. “Rachel…”
She was already halfway up the ladder. “This is a future that can never be. I cherish the time we had together. I do. I don’t understand how you could cause so much pain. Good-bye.”
Rachel climbed up to the roof of the guard tower. Behind her, Calipari’s bonds burned. The signal fire at the top of the tower caught Senta fires and ignited in the night.
The raiders below, most of them sleeping, did not understand what had just happened. They were asleep, complacent in the plan that was working, and then their dreams filled with the smell of smoke.
Two bandits charged in from the fringe, screaming about the lit signal fire. Eyes looked up. Bandits woke up.
Rachel wrapped winds around her body to soften her jump from the roof. She filled the ropes of the prisoners with fire. People tore at their burning bonds.
Rachel filled the air with fire and ice to catch and stumble the men who would kill in the night. Swords were wrapped in ice. Arrows were blown away. Fire burned at clothes and grasses. Prisoners tore from their bonds with new life and fought back.
The prisoners outnumbered the guards three to one.
Rachel threw tongues of flame in every direction, and cast ice in thick chunks upon weapons and arrows that fell with the weight. She screamed Djoss’ name. She ran through the fields of death and flame.
Jona heard the sounds of battle. He grabbed his sword. He shouted at Calipari to help him. He threw a sword at Calipari’s lap. He ran his sword down the ropes and sliced them loose.
Calipari roared. He swung his sword at Jona, striking the air only.
Jona threw the door open, his sword in the air. “Help me, Nic! You have to save these people!”
Jona ran after Rachel. He turned his blade to the men that jumped at him. He didn’t know if they were prisoner or bandit. He knew they were attacking him. He knew they were in between him and the center of the fire.
Rachel had her arms around her brother. He limped against her, shaking his tight legs loose. He had been bound tight for days, and his muscles weren’t working right, yet.
And Jona ran after them. He charged bandit archers with his blade, and they ran in fear of the man that had turned on them too soon. He cut them down, screaming her name. Their arrows would not fall on Rachel’s back. The raiders scattered that were left, but Calipari was coming. He was out the door, and staring down Jona, who had betrayed him. He was not fast enough, and it was dark out, and the hills were long.
Rachel was gone as soon as Djoss was on his feet.
“Rachel!” shouted Jona. He leaned into the treeline, where the grassy hillside above the valley faded into wooded bluffs.
She turned once, in the dark, and saw him leaping into the woods. She lifted her hand and a wall of fire rose up from the underbrush.
“Please, Rachel!”
She shouted, “I don’t know what you are. I don’t know anything about you!”
“Trust me, please!”
She cast wind that pushed his feet out from under him. He fell and banged his jaw on the ground. He bit into his cheek, and felt blood sizzling out into his mouth. He spit and kept after her.
“Please, Rachel, I can’t just let you go like this!”
The ice came next, and it swallowed his feet and hands in a weight that pulled him down. He struggled to walk with the ice cracking off his ankles.
“I don’t know w
ho I am, Rachel. I don’t know what I am. I don’t know anything, but I’m so tired, Rachel. Elishta, but I’m so tired.”
“Good-bye, king’s man,” said Djoss.
Jona stumbled forward after her, crawling on his hands and knees. The violence had ended behind him. The raiders had run off into the night. The prisoners were free. The signal fires burned over the hills calling like bells in the city streets for hard men to come. Jona turned to look back at the mess he had made of his life.
His only thought was to leave. He had lived in Dogsland and suffered for it every day of his life. He wanted a new life. He wanted to go somewhere no one knew him, and he could start over brand new, a nobody with nothing to mark him.
He wanted to be born brand new, an infant with no past.
Calipari filled the stars with the darkness of his shadow. He grabbed Jona’s throat. The ice that clutched at Jona’s hands made it hard to fight back. Calipari punched Jona hard in the face, and held Jona’s throat closed.
Jona couldn’t bear to fight back.
He tried to tell Nicola that he was leaving, to just let him go, but the fist descended and darkness came. He wasn’t dead, yet. He was resting for the first time in his life.
CHAPTER 22
I watched him a long time like that.
Did you pray for him.
I don’t think so. I wasn’t praying. I was cursing him, a little. I was wishing he was already dead. I was wishing I didn’t have to kill him. Mostly, I was watching him unconscious, and telling myself that if he just stopped breathing and didn’t wake up that would be for the best. I didn’t want him to wake up again, because I didn’t want to spill my friend’s blood.
Then you were praying, and you didn’t know it.
I don’t know what prayer is.
A curse is a prayer of hate. A wish is a prayer of hope.
We Leave Together Page 22