Soren’s impatient sigh decided the matter.
Methrym stepped casually out of the alley backed by Soren and his men marching in column. Trying to appear as if they belonged, they marched toward the towers. Terriss’ men covered them with their bows, but having that man with a bow behind him made his skin crawl. He clenched his fists. He had to trust Terriss this time. No choice.
Most of Talayan’s forces were asleep in barracks, and why not? Japura didn’t know it was at war. The slaves would take care of the garrison by the simple expedient of locking the doors and burning the place to the ground. Those men would soon be sleeping the sleep of the dead. Methrym chose the tower on the left, leaving Soren the right. He gave the signal and they shoved the doors open at the same instant. The fight was brief but savage. His men had no intention of being recaptured and that made them ferocious. No quarter was given, neither was it expected of the Japurans after seeing the slave pens. The battle was over almost before it began with the Japuran guards falling one by one. Methrym waved his men up the tower steps while he puzzled out the gate mechanism. The clang and shout of battle rose above him, but he took no notice.
There was a large crank that he assumed he needed to turn, but where was the lock? He heard a rumbling coming from outside and realised the lock must be in Soren’s tower. He quickly applied himself to the crank and opened his gate before running outside to signal Terriss.
A flicker of light within the alley, and an arrow flying into the air like a shooting star was his reply. He hoped Lorenz had sharp eyes. That was answered soon enough when the thunder of hooves heralded his approach. Methrym gestured everyone away from the gate less they be trampled, and lucky he did. Lorenz charged through with eight thousand men at his back yelling for all they were worth.
“What kept you?” Lorenz said as his men thundered by.
“A slight change in plans, Lorenz. We have women and children to see to,” he said waving a hand at the ex-slaves.
Lorenz’ eyes widened. “So I see. Orders?”
“Much the same as before. Kill all the men, free the slaves, loot everything in sight, and burn Invincible Talayan to the ground!”
“Burn it!” Lorenz gasped. “I don’t think Talitha will like that.”
“Screw her,” Methrym growled remembering the slave compound. “Vexin will, and that’s all that matters as far as I’m concerned. Now go.”
“By your command!” Lorenz said and rode after his men.
Methrym could already hear the wails and screams as the slave revolt gained a strong following. Fires were leaping up all over, and he knew much of Vexin’s loot would be lost. Not all of it though, and Talayan is… was fabulously wealthy. His men should be able to save a good deal of it. Looking around himself at the homes of the wealthy, he estimated that he would be able to carry away enough to buy all of Tanjung with money to spare.
Slavery is profitable it seems.
That thought wiped the smile from his face. Looking for something to do, he ordered the women and children out of the city and into the fields. They didn’t need to see or hear what was going on in those rich houses. Even if he was inclined to give them one, which he wasn’t, his men were unlikely to heed an order from him preventing the rape of the women. The slaves were raped every day of their lives just by being slaves, raped of their right to choose how to live, and that didn’t include the men and women who were raped in the usual sense of the word either. As far as he was concerned, all those living here were responsible for that and deserved their fate. He watched the fires leaping into the sky and smiled grimly. This was justice, his justice.
Women and children were flowing out of the gates in an unceasing flood. There seemed to be a lot more than he remembered seeing in the compound. He walked along the line a short way trying to see its end but he couldn’t! More were joining the line even as he watched. It seemed that someone had told them all to head this way and that was what they had done.
How would he feed them all?
“I’ll find a way,” he muttered thinking about the march ahead. “No reason to panic, the border isn’t that far.”
It wasn’t long before wagons began moving through the gate driven by Lorenz’ men. Methrym peeked inside one as it headed for the gate. It was full, and he did mean absolutely full, of gold coin. It was so full, he was surprised the wagon could carry it all.
“Where did you get all that?” he said in shock. He didn’t recognise the driver, but he thought he might be a friend or cousin of Lorenz.
“It’s the treasury!” the man said with so much glee, Methrym thought he was going to float off his seat. “Lorenz told me to keep an eye out for it.”
“Be careful not to run off the road. With that load you’ll bog down in no time.”
“It is a little heavy for a wagon this size,” the driver admitted. “We could only find these three.”
Three?
Methrym peered into the darkness and saw the other two heading his way. He waved the first one through and went to see this miracle. Two more wagon full of gold coin was… it was… there were no words to express it!
“We had to cover the wagon beds with shields to stop it breaking through the boards!” the third driver said laughing.
Methrym waved him through and watched as wagon after wagon followed him out of the gate in a continuous stream. Lorenz had taken his orders to heart it seemed. There were wagons filled with gems, wagons filled with bulk silks straight from the warehouses, wagons filled with every imaginable precious item—figurines, spices, wines… the list was endless.
He turned his attention away from the convoy of wagons and focused upon the situation in the city. The fires had taken a strong hold of the east section by this time, but he saw no sign of Japuran refugees. It was likely the few who did escape would go out the south gate… if the fires didn’t block the route of course. The first he knew of trouble was a yell and frantic hand signals from his men on the towers.
“Terriss!” he bellowed as he ran. “We have a patrol incoming on this gate! Get your bowman in position around the sides of the square! I’ll hold them, and you shoot them!”
“Right!” Terriss said as he pushed his family into a doorway to shield them.
The women and children drew back up the street as word of the patrol was passed. How large a force was it? Did he have enough men to hold them? It didn’t matter whether he did or not, he had to hold! Methrym arranged his men and waited. If the patrol galloped through the gate he was screwed, there was no way he could stop a charge, but he didn’t think they would do that. They didn’t know what they might find in Talayan, so they should be cautious and approach slowly. At least that was what he would do in their place. He prayed their officer would do the sensible thing so he could kill him.
He did.
The patrol was three hundred strong and trotted through the gate with swords bared. The officer was the first to die as Terriss fired. Arrows from all round the square struck their targets invariably killing the man struck instantly, but the Japurans were undaunted and urged their horses forward to the attack.
Methrym’s men didn’t need to be told what to do, every one of them hamstrung a horse and dragged its rider from the saddle. The fight turned into a chaos of screaming pain filled horses and clanging swords. In his own estimation, he did well—at first. He wasn’t struck and he did manage to dispatch three Japurans he was certain of. He took down another two he thought would be badly wounded, but his strength waned quickly. He was wounded twice in rapid succession, and fell away clutching his arm. He hobbled away cursing his lack of stamina, he was still suffering the after-effects of Henna poisoning.
His men covered his retreat.
He widened the cut in his trousers with his dagger and attended to the wound. His forearm was bleeding profusely, but he could tell from previous experience that the wound was minor. The leg was the more serious of the two, and he spent his attention on that. The strumming of bowstrings became constant,
but Terriss’ men were losing the battle. Methrym cursed the luck. He had the greatest army in Tanjung’s history, but he didn’t have enough men to hold a single gate!
* * *
It was the screams that alerted Trista. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and listened to the sounds of a struggle in the room above. Another scream made her jump. Without thinking she dashed upstairs to find a man in a filthy loincloth struggling with Mistress Lakshmi on the floor. Without thinking, she snatched up the jug from the table and smashed it down as hard as she could.
The man slumped bonelessly atop the mistress without a sound.
“Did I kill him?” Trista mumbled through her fingers in horror. “Is he dead?”
“If he isn’t kill him again!” the mistress said shoving the man off and climbing shakily to her feet. “Call the girls together and tell the boys to arm themselves. Talayan is burning.”
“Burning… but—”
“Quickly girl!”
Trista jumped to obey. “Yes mistress!” She ran into the kitchen and snatched up a knife before dashing downstairs to find Nona and Magda. Everyone was awake and getting dressed for the night’s custom.
“What’s happening?”
“What was that noise?”
“Where—”
“Who—”
“Quiet!” Trista shouted at her milling friends. “The mistress says to—” she thought for a moment and embellished. “We must collect our best things and go upstairs. The men are to arm themselves with knives and clubs to protect us.”
“Why?” Nona said.
“Talayan is burning. I think the slaves in the pens have escaped. I just killed a man trying to rape the mistress,” Trista said, but even as she did she realised it must be true. The man had been wearing a filthy loincloth and nothing else.
“Good!” Kim said heading for the stairs.
“Where are you going, Kim?” Magda said.
“You heard her, we can escape.”
“Oooh,” Magda said sarcastically. “And will you leave the rest of us to die?”
“No but… escape Magda, just think!”
“I am thinking, unlike you! The only place close enough is Tanjung, but it’s a long way. We need to stick together. Right?”
“She’s right—”
“There will be soldiers—”
“—the slave pens. They will rape us and kill us!”
Kim growled a curse. “I wish Nisim were here. He would know what to do.”
“Well he’s not, but I am,” Trista said taking control. “The boys will get knives and clubs, the girls will grab the best stuff we have. If we have to, we can sell it.”
“You heard her,” Kim said to the other men. “Let’s go.” He spun and bounded up the stairs. The men ran by leaving the girls to collect anything valuable.
Trista dumped her best dresses and all her small clothes on her bed, they were silk and the mistress said they were expensive. She added the headdress to it. It was made with silver and gold. She used the blanket to make a bundle and the others did the same. Dagmar clutched her case of paints in one hand, and a huge bundle in the other. Nona didn’t have very much, so she helped carry a few things for one of the others. Upstairs, Trista found the men standing guard at the windows and doors. The mistress was clutching a chest containing her gold. She had nothing else with her. Gold was heavy.
The mistress put the chest on the table and clapped her hands. “Talayan is burning. There are slaves killing people on the streets! We must leave for the south gate immediately.”
“I don’t think so,” Kim said.
“Silence!” the mistress said in shock. “You will do as I say!”
“That won’t work,” Trista said smugly. “We are leaving, but not to the south. We go north.”
“North to Tanjung!”
“—to freedom!”
“—leave her here!”
“No!” Trista said. “We don’t leave anyone. The mistress comes too.”
“But why? She wants to go south, I say we let her.”
“And do you speak for all of us now, Garym?” Magda said.
“Now Magda, don’t be like that. You know I’m right.”
“No you’re not, the mistress is free born. She can get us through the soldiers,” Magda said smugly.
There was silence as everyone turned to the mistress.
“I… will go north,” the mistress said nervously. She was watching the men as if expecting them to use their knives on her. “If soldiers try to stop us, I will talk us by them… or bribe them with gold.”
Garym and Kim exchanged a look, but they nodded.
“Youngest in the middle, older girls around them,” the mistress said regaining her composure. “The men will guard us,” she said and clapped her hands.
Everyone, including Garym and Kim, jumped to obey.
* * *
Naida searched frantically through the bushels of hanging plants but she couldn’t find it! In desperation, she spun to the curing bins and ransacked them, all to no avail.
“Ahhhh!” she screamed in frustration. “Where is it?” She clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle the sobs. Tanni was dead… he was dead!
Tears ran over her cheeks and rained onto her blouse, but she took no notice. Her bleary eyes searched the room frantically and stopped. There! She roughly wiped her eyes and stared up at the top shelf. It must be up there, there was nowhere else. She dragged a barrel close to the shelves and climbed up to see.
“I don’t keep my medicines here, Naida,” Adien said quietly. “Those herbs are harmless.”
Naida clutched the leaves to her breast, but then her shoulders sagged and she let the useless things fall. “Help meeee,” she sobbed.
“Not to kill yourself I won’t! Get a grip on yourself!”
Naida laughed and cried so hard it hurt. She held her stomach and cried tears of mirth. Adien thought… Adien thought she wanted to kill herself! She howled in laughter at the thought. Adien came forward in a rush and slapped her face—hard, and it hurt too!
“That hurt!”
“It was meant to. What’s the matter with you? I’m sorry Tanni’s dead, we all are, but I don’t want to lose you too.”
“You have it wrong, I want it for… someone else.”
“Someone else? The mistress?” Adien yelped. “That’s even worse! She’ll kill us all if she finds out.”
Naida grasped her friend’s shoulders. “She won’t find out. She’ll be dead.”
“But if you fail… you risk us all with this foolishness!”
“I won’t be turned from this Adien. She killed Tanni!” She said seeing again the fear on Tanni’s face and the desperation on Nisim’s as he fought to reach his friend. Poor Nisim, he had fought so hard and bravely, but it was for nothing. Tiberio was a trained soldier and Nisim was no match for him. He was clubbed and kicked to the floor still trying vainly to save Tanni from execution. “She killed him for nothing… he didn’t do anything wrong!”
“I know, Naida. The mistress is sick—evil. You know what she does to Nisim. She is sick in her head.”
“I don’t care! She killed Tanni, and I’ll kill her!”
“What about Tiberio?”
“That’s why I want the medicine. I’ll take up some wine and when he drinks it—”
“He will kill you,” Adien said with no doubt. She clenched her fists. “You’ll do this no matter what I say—won’t you?”
“I have to do it, Adien, have to,” Naida said and made to go around her friend but Adien grabbed her arm.
“I have an idea. Come with me.”
“What idea,” Naida said to her friend’s back. “Where are we going?”
“I have what you want, but I don’t keep it down here.”
“You have it?”
“I said I do. Be patient.”
Patient she says. How could she be patient when the mistress still lived while her beautiful Tanni lay dead? She squeezed her eye
s shut and held back the wail of grief that threatened to escape. The mistress had to die before she could join Tanni in the Other World. Naida shifted from foot to foot anxiously watching Adien rummaging in one of her cupboards in the kitchen. She watched wide-eyed as her friend removed a board from the back of the cupboard and pulled out a dagger.
“Here,” Adien said proffering the dagger by the sheath. “Well go on, take it.”
Naida took the thing and looked at it in puzzlement. “Tiberio will take it from me.”
“No he won’t. One scratch from that and he will be dead at your feet.”
“You put something on this?”
“No, a friend,” Adien said evading the responsibility. “Take the tray with the wine and keep the knife hidden under it. When the time comes, make sure you cut him—the deeper the better, but any cut that bleeds will do. He will be dead in less than ten heartbeats.”
“After all you said about me being crazy, it was you who was crazy!”
Adien shrugged.
Naida hugged her friend and picked up the tray. “Can you see it?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“Come back safe, Naida,” Adien said.
Naida nodded, but she didn’t intend to come back. Tanni was waiting for her; she could hear him calling. She climbed the stairs full of excitement but kept her face still. Tiberio was at his post, as she knew he would be. He turned to watch her ascend the stairs and waited for her to come to him. She stopped out of reach.
“You shouldn’t have come up here, Naida.”
“Adien said I must,” she spat not holding back her loathing.
“Hmmm, I doubt it. She has better sense. Why are you really here?”
Naida stepped closer. “The mistress will want her wine when she’s finished tormenting Nisim.”
“Tormenting him? She’s using—”
“I know what she does!” Naida spat and struck.
Tiberio saw the knife at the last instant and slammed a fist at her.
Pain crackled through Naida’s arm and she ducked back. She dropped the tray and attacked, but Tiberio jumped back unhurt. Before he could do more than slap at her knife hand, she bore in. In a frenzy she slashed and stabbed, the only sound was her panting breath and his grunts as he fended her off. She hit his armour more than half the time, but Tiberio—unknowing of the danger—was fending her off with his hands. Naida laughed as blood began to flow.
Devan Chronicles Series: Books 1-3 Page 81