Hostage Rescue (Princess Rescue Inc Book 2)

by Hechtl, Chris

  Fenton watched him go and shook his head in disgust.

  ~~~^~~~

  Euphrosyne tried to hide under her bed. Her whimpers gave her away though. “What do we have here?” a voice asked.

  “Tis the fat one.”

  “She'll do since we can't have the princess,” another voice growled.

  She was dragged out by her ankles by hard gloating hands. She kicked and pleaded, but they just twisted her around and then threw her onto the bed.

  She bounced and then screamed, but she was slapped. She shivered as the men began to unbuckle their belts as one on the other side of the bed pinned her wrists down. She shook herself, trying to deny what was about to happen but the nightmare wouldn't end.

  ~~~^~~~

  Domina Rasmussen heard from her spy that the castle had fallen and eagerly had her people guide her through the streets from the taberna to the castle. She was eager to take control.

  ~~~^~~~

  Eudoxia was woken by the firefight in the capital. She realized something big was going on. When she saw the fire in castle and heard the echoes of weapons fire there too, she realized it only spelled trouble. She ordered the medicus to action, rousing them and the nurses out of their beds.

  She expected wounded to come in and stuck to her training, setting up a triage area.

  She had the existing patients including Tolgen moved to an area near the supply entrance. It would keep them out of the way and allow her people room to work. “Any injured we triage. Separate them by how injured they are. Start filling the back up and then forward so we aren't tripping over ourselves,” she ordered. She sent the son of an orderly to check on the neighbors and see who had room to spare should they need it.

  ~~~^~~~

  Tacticus was woken by the shots. One was close, startling him awake. He was tired from another long day and wondered what was going on. When he heard the shots continue, he got up and checked on the guards.

  The guards tried the radio, but there was only a garbled response. They looked out the window to the street. Ordinarily it was deserted. Instead, they saw what looked like a mob moving in. Tacitus hissed in surprise and anger as they headed right to his workshop and broke in.

  They could hear the distant sound of crashing, and he snarled, grabbing his coat and things. The guards stopped him from going out the door. He watched and then grew puzzled as the mob leaders came out without anything. They hadn't looted; they hadn't set fire to the shop. Instead, they looked around and then passed orders to fan out and check.

  “We need to get out of here. Fast,” a guard said.

  “Out the back way,” his partner said, pushing the smith to the door.

  “Um …,” when Tacitus saw the mob knocking and then kicking in doors, he realized they were going door to door. “Yeah,” he agreed, moving out.

  Chapter 27

  Dominus Fenton was amused by every report of a successful capture and excited as news came that the castle had been taken and the barracks of Imperial miles roasting. He ordered a bucket chain to be formed by the castle staff to put the fire out before it spread.

  He took a quick tour of the princess's chambers and was incensed when he saw the wanton destruction of the Terran artifacts, however. He ordered the looting to be stopped immediately.

  "We needed that!" he snarled, waving to one of the things. It was the device that had showed images.

  Percival was there; he looked to Fenton and then shrugged. "It is done; it cannot be undone."

  "Perhaps one of them can fix it? Or make another?" a guard asked.

  Domina Rasmussen arrived behind Fenton and looked at the broken complicated metal contraption. After a long moment, she shook her head. "I doubt it. It looks to be made of beads of wire and bits …," she shook her head. "But save it anyway."

  “Didn't it have information on it?” Fenton demanded.

  “Save it,” Olaf ordered. “We have other work to be about this night,” he growled. He turned to the guards. “Search the castle. Find the others. We want them alive ,” he stressed, glowering at them. “Once the castle is clear, we'll secure it and move on to the capital in support of Stephan,” he said with a look to Percival.

  The knight nodded as the troops moved out.

  ~~~^~~~

  “Do those fools realize what they have done?” Fenton demanded once the others had left them.

  The domina looked at him pityingly. “Do you?”

  “Yes! I meant the devices!”

  She frowned.

  “That one!” He pointed to the laptop. “It had information on it! Lots of information on how to do things! All lost now! Perhaps information on how to make the weapons we need!”

  The woman frowned. “I see your point. But the princess made a point of telling us that there was no such information on it.”

  “And did anyone think to check?” Fenton asked. “To see if she lied?” he demanded. “What of troops? Could it tell us how many troops the Imperium has? Now it never will!” he said in frustration.

  “There was bound to be some breakage,” the domina said. “We need to keep it in check though,” she agreed.

  “Everything broken means one more thing we have to figure out how to rebuild. The Imperium is already ahead of us in these things. Those fools are just gloating in destruction,” he growled. “To think of the resources wasted ….” He shook his head angrily.

  “It is done,” the domina said, unconsciously echoing Percival. “Move on and preserve what we can.”

  “Most definitely,” Fenton said, moving to call his own supporters to order.

  ~~~^~~~

  As the fighting got progressively worse, Tacitus and his guard were forced on the run. A mill owner tried to hide them, but someone in the street pointed out their hiding spot to the Vikings. A mob formed up, and they just managed to slip out the back way.

  Tacitus led them to his favorite juice vendor, but the man's shop was locked down. They trio managed to get off the street and down a back alley as one mob passed but stumbled onto another one as they were headed out.

  “Run!” One of the miles said as he opened fire. The second stepped back and fired, then fixed a bayonet and rushed to help his partner.

  Tacitus turned as a door opened and a woman came out holding a kitchen knife. She stabbed him in the shoulder as he grappled with her. She managed to slice him in the side, but he pinned the weapon and chopped down on her arm.

  She screamed about her broken arm as he kicked her and the weapon in opposite directions. He looked back to see the miles who had been his protection detail get cut down.

  He turned and stumbled off just as his initial numbness wore off and the pain hit. He gasped, leaning against a building, then half falling, half stumbling into a side alley. The woman pointed in the wrong direction, and the mob rushed off like baying Garmr.

  Tacitus blessed his luck as he stumbled away, keeping pressure on the side wound the best he could. The shoulder wound was light. It had cut through his cloak and clothes and burned, but he couldn't do anything about it at the moment.

  He moved quickly away from the sound of battle, hoping that the countrymen he had left behind hadn't died in vain.

  ~~~^~~~

  Augustus found himself clubbed down repeatedly. At one point, he heard a familiar voice gloat over him before he was dragged off and thrown into the dungeon. Despite every attempt to remain conscious, his wounds and repeated concussion drove him into unconsciousness.

  ~~~^~~~

  Tycho realize there were too many, and the enemy had their weapons and had taken up defensive positions in the castle. He used his binoculars and noted that the barracks were on fire, and the enemy was in the armory.

  He only had a few troops with him. They needed a place to regroup, to hide and recover and reassess the situation. He knew deep down that they had to escape, to get the word out to the Imperium. He was bitter over the decision to abandon his comrades.

  Well, they hadn't yet. First, they neede
d a way to get out of the capital.

  As they went through the capital streets, they gathered supporters but were driven east and north, away from the main gates. He knew what the enemy was doing; they were being forced to run to ground so they could be broken. He had no intention of letting that happen.

  A runner came with news that the capital gates were shut and heavily guarded. That left them few options.

  ~~~^~~~

  Agnes had been awakened by the weapons fire. She had seen the fighting in the halls. Bewildered, she'd seen guards on the battlements firing on her own troops. When the barracks was lit, she realized she had to get out of there.

  She stumbled into Decius. The medicus tried to tend to a fallen man but the man bled out. The old man shook his head, closed the dead man's eyes and then moved on.

  “We need to find the princess,” Agnes said as a terrified guard came up to her.

  “She's been captured,” the old medicus said wearily. He looked them over, assessing their injuries and then nodded. “This way.”

  He led them through the back to a storeroom against the outer curtain wall. There was a small window; they had to barricade the door and then climb through the window. The guard went out first and then helped Agnes and Decius out.

  The slipped and slid on the ice-covered moat as they tried to get to safety. Something alerted the soldiers on the battlements; one turned and began to fire on them. That spurned them to move on faster.

  Agnes got to the other side of the moat and under a shanty cover as the shots made their way to her. She looked out carefully when they stopped and noted a guard arguing with someone else. She looked around for Decius but didn't find him.

  Bewildered she kept looking until she saw his body on the ice. She bit her lip, feeling tears prick her eyes at the sight of the pool of blood under the old man.

  “We can't help him,” the guard said gruffly. He grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her away.

  ~~~^~~~

  Once the gates and castle were secured, Percival regrouped his troops and began to sweep the surrounding areas. One of the first targets was the nearby hospital.

  Eudoxia and her medics had been awakened by the fighting and had been swamped by the injured. When the fighting came to them, they rushed to the basement to get away from the shooting, moving the wounded and ill with them as they could.

  Those that could fight and had weapons moved to cover the others while they tried to find a way out of the trap they had found themselves in. The fear of one of the enemy setting fire to the building as they had to other buildings and the barracks made sure no one had any attachment to remaining there long.

  Eudoxia kept going up for more wounded, despite her fatigue and the danger of getting shot by a stray bullet. She got them to the basement where one of the other medicus had volunteers moving them out the supply entrance to the basement. The supply entrance was in deep shadow and away from the main entrances and fighting.

  “Run,” a familiar old voice said as the enemy broke in. She turned to see Tolgen get to his feet from his cot. The old man looked like a skeleton, but he blocked an approaching attacker the best he could.

  “Foolish old man!” the Viking snarled when the old man tried to obstruct them. “Out of the way, you doddering fool!” he said, clubbing the old man down and then stabbing him to death before moving on. He then turned and stabbed a groaning miles in a nearby bed.

  Eudoxia gulped back a sob and half fell; half ran down the stairs while the attackers were distracted. It hurt, oh how it hurt to abandon her patients to be slaughtered, but she had no choice but to run.

  She got out to the street and turned to the castle. She saw a body on the frozen moat and realized it was Decius. She dashed angry tears and then turned away. She found her people and then kept them moving.

  ~~~^~~~

  Agnes found them on familiar streets near where she was repeatedly sent to get treats for the princess. She guided the guard to the bakery. By scratching at the door, they managed to get someone to come out of hiding to answer it.

  The guard stuck his pistol under the baker's nose and had him get out of the way as they slipped inside.

  Agnes grabbed a couple of cloaks. “Back way?” she whispered, pointing. The baker nodded.

  As they went to leave, he called to them softly. She turned and he hefted and then tossed them each a pair of loafs of bread. Agnes stared at them.

  “Fresh,” the baker said.

  Agnes smiled her thanks and tucked them under her arm. She made sure the guard removed his cap and hid his uniform under the cloak before they hit the alley and side streets. She wasn't sure where they were going other than away.

  For the moment, that was all that mattered, staying one step ahead of whoever was trying to kill them.

  ~~~^~~~

  Legatus Tycho kept one step ahead of the mob and Stephan's troops. They fought several running battles at a trot. No one who had conventional weapons were willing to face the rifles.

  They were driven northeast though, away from the castle. By chance they found themselves near the dairy and Gunnar's cheese cave.

  To their surprise, Gunnar let them in hurriedly and guided them down to the cave. There they found other terrified people huddled together. The reunion was bittersweet for some, celebrating the survival of a friend or relative as well as mourning the news that one person or another had been killed.

  Tycho decided to regroup his people there. He sent a couple people out dressed as the locals to keep watch. He knew some of his people were thinking of a counterattack. He quickly realized with a sinking heart that they couldn't fight their way back into the castle. They just didn't have the people or the weapons. The enemy had also captured the armory.

  “When do we attack?”

  “We don't. It's what they want.” he saw the looks, saw that order crush the hope out of some. “We gather who we can and get them out. There is still a chance that the princess escaped their clutches and is out there.

  A castle staffer who had been out at a brothel when the coup hit managed to find a stumbling Tacitus and guide him back to them. Eudoxia and seven of her medicus students along with two dozen wounded and other people turned up a short time later to their relief. She took charge of the wounded with them. The work kept them busy and their minds off of the troubles going on above.

  Agnes managed to get to them a short time after that, primarily by following in Eudoxia's wake. She warned them that the princess had been trapped and most likely captured. That made hearts sink lower. She also warned them that Eudoxia's passage had been noted and that they needed to move.

  Eudoxia bandaged the wounds she hadn't even noticed she'd picked up. They hurt a little, but the cold helped to numb them.

  “Can he be moved?” Tycho asked, nodding his chin to Tacitus as he took a quiet moment with the head medicus. Agnes stared at the technical smith and then back to the medicus in sudden fear.

  “He shouldn't be; he's lost a lot of blood. Agnes too. But the wounds have been closed the best we can manage. If we move them too much, they could rip open easily though.”

  “But he can walk?”

  “A short distance. Not far,” she warned. He nodded at the qualifier. He didn't want to leave the smith. He wasn't even sure if he should allow the smith to fall into enemy hands alive. He did his best to avoid that thought for the moment.

  When news of the patrols coming in their direction came, Tycho ordered his people to return. He turned to Gunnar as the cheese maker handed out spare rags and cloth. His wife had been serving stew to the refugees.

  “I thank you for this. We need to leave though. We don't wish to draw hellfire down on you,” the officer stated.

  Gunnar nodded. “Out the back way.” He quietly led them to the back exit.

  Tycho looked out to make sure the coast was clear. When they were sure it was safe, he had his people move out in small groups.

  When he was the last, he turned to the cheese maker.
“Tell them we forced you. That we hit you. That we threatened your family. Have some bruises ready,” Tycho warned. The cheese maker nodded. His wife looked troubled and doubtful though as their children clung to her skirts.

  ~~~^~~~

  Some supporters of Stephan and the conspirators formed a mob in the capital. They dragged people out into the street to beat and hang. They burned some of the Imperial buildings and equipment. The printing press was destroyed.

  The technical smiths who had been out in the capital tried to run. Their guards had rushed off to reinforce the troops only to be caught or slaughtered. Some of the smiths were caught and torn apart despite Percival and Stephan's orders to keep them alive. Everyone ascribed the actions as in the heat of the moment.