Hostage Rescue (Princess Rescue Inc Book 2)

by Hechtl, Chris

  On the seventh day, the third DC-3 arrived. This one was outfitted as a special military aircraft. Max had requested turning her into a spooky, a flying weapons platform but had been denied. The need for transport was too strong. Instead, he had opted to create a rear hatch to be used for loading or to drop bomb packages.

  The bomber pilots were warned to drop their packages wide. “Seriously, no mistakes. Count for the wind, everything,” Eugene stated.

  “I won't fail.”

  “I'm saying don't hit the city at all . We've got people there. The troops are going to be on the ground in the city. We don't need friendly fire.”

  “Friendly … fire?”

  “The first rule of friendly fire is that it isn't—friendly that is,” he stated grimly. “Translation, we don't want you to kill our own people.”

  “Ah. Understood.”

  “Let's hope so,” Eugene stated.

  Eugene was surprised and amused when a familiar face turned up later in the evening. He went over and clasped arms with Sergeant Waters. “Damn good to see you.”

  “And to see you, Your Majesty,” the sergeant said in a complete deadpan. Eugene gave him a look. Wayne's face split in a smile. “Sorry, couldn't resist.”

  “Right,” Eugene drawled. “So, you are here; I heard Ginger too?”

  “Yeah. She was going to come but the pilots had already trained on the bird,” Wayne said. “I'm strictly here as an observer,” Wayne said.

  “Good. You can make sure they are rappelling right,” Eugene said, nodding to the team working on the wall.

  Wayne turned to that. They were using the castle walls to climb up and down for practice. He pursed his lips as he watched the fire team at work. “Not bad,” he said grudgingly. “They've been practicing this a while?”

  “A bit. Those battlements are scary; I don't want anyone firing down on our people. So, any tricks you can teach them, please, feel free.”

  “I can see giving them a few pointers,” the master sergeant said, patting him on the shoulder. “Beers later?”

  “Definitely. On me,” Eugene said with a nod.

  Chapter 47

  Licinius hand signed the team to move out from the landing site. Tycho had reported they'd taken the abandoned farm buildings nearby. It was still quite a hump though; the aircraft had been forced to land far enough out to not rouse suspicions from the locals. Each of the men were loaded down with heavy packs and weapons. Half of what they were carrying in was ammunition.

  When the decurion joined them there, he nodded to the two legatus. A temporary headquarters had been set up. “A storm is coming in,” the radio operator warned.

  “Good,” the decurion stated. “If it's light, we'll shift to the caves and then wait for the jumping off signal,” he said.

  The leadership nodded. He turned to see grim but slightly eager expressions on the men and women in the assault company.

  “Keep on it. Make sure you all get some rest,” he said with a nod to the miles in the room. There were two heavy weapon fire teams, both had machine guns. They grimly nodded and went back to servicing their weapons.

  He hoped those weapons wouldn't be needed. They were terrifying and worse, they were loud. They also ate ammunition at a terrifying rate.

  ~~~^~~~

  Zara looked up when she heard the sound of an aircraft engine. She looked through the window in surprise at the distant spec pulling away and then smiled. She played with the coin, spinning it on the floor.

  Fascinated by the movement, the imps played with it. They were intrigued by the shiny thing, cocking their heads and then coming down to see it. When it fell over and rattled to a stop, a bold fellow crept closer. When he saw his reflection in the metal, he eeped, jumping back with a growl and claw slash. Zara smiled as he hoped around in a dominance display.

  She was even more amused when he and a couple of his fellows tried to fly off with it. She managed to snatch it up and hide the coin when the guards came in with a bundle of wood.

  ~~~^~~~

  Emma had lost her father and brothers in the war. In fact, she'd lost everything when her intended had abandoned her. She had finally had enough of the simpering bitch of a princess and decided she wanted her revenge. She managed to get the key from the guards and locked her in and them out when she entered the room.

  Once inside, she dropped the basket of food and laundry and brandished a long kitchen knife.

  Zara stared at her as adrenaline made her heart pound faster. Her self-defense training kicked in. “So? You finally think you can get some revenge?” she asked, moving to the far side of the bed and away from the girl. In order to get to her the girl would have to go around the bed. They could circle it all day that way.

  "I am going to kill you. That was what I've been planning all along," the girl hissed.

  “You don't follow orders though. Do you think the domina will thank you for killing me?”

  “I don't care !” the girl snarled, trying to trap her. Zara stayed well out of reach of her lunge.

  "Aren't you forgetting something?" the princess asked mildly, using a stool as a shield. It was apparent that the guards were not going to come to her rescue.

  "What, that?" the girl scoffed, trying to bat it away.

  "No, them," the princess said, pointing up with her free hand.

  "Oh, like you can make me fall for that! You don't …,” dust fell, then the girl heard growls. She looked up and then took a step back as eyes stared down at her. A great many hostile eyes.

  Beady, angry eyes. Eyes above open mouths of sharp teeth.

  She was putting her arms up to defend her when the imps dropped off the beams to attack her. She was in shock as they hissed and clawed at her, swarming around her like a tornado.

  She screamed as she tried to fend them off.

  She tried to fend them off but ended up bending into a fetal curl in a heap to protect her face and front from getting ravaged by the tiny teeth and claws. Her dress was ripped to shreds. The knife skittered away when the claws and teeth bit that hand.

  The princess stepped on it and then picked it up. She put in her bosom and then thought better of it. Instead, she put the knife blade in the door hinge side to prevent the door from easily being opened. She could hear calls outside the door to find out what was going on. The door rattled. She looked over and noted the girl had the keys.

  She called off the imps. They settled on the bed and around the room.

  "Finally, someone listens to me around here," she muttered as she flipped the girl onto her stomach and pulled the girl's hands behind to meet. They were slick from blood and spittle. She pinned the girl's hands up between the small of her back.

  "What are you going to do?" the girl choked out, still sobbing.

  "I should just slit your throat," the princess said as she ripped strips from the girl's torn dress with one hand. She noted the dress was one of hers absently.

  "My face!" the girl sobbed. She feebly struggled, but the princess had her pinned hard. The princess found the girl's rope sash belt and pulled that off as well.

  She used the strips and rope belt to tie the sobbing girl up. She lashed the girl's wrists tightly together and then took a loop around the girl's throat for good measure. Any attempt to struggle would strangle her.

  She noted as she worked that the girl's face and hands were torn up. She got blood all over herself but at the moment didn't care. "Serves you right."

  "I saw that in a movie once. It was the second of a series, odd thing, Shrek 2 . It is a weird colorful art thing of moving pictures. I didn't get the references. I did understand what Charlie was trying to point out with women fighting and empowering themselves. I remember wishing I'd seen it before. Not that it would have saved Balthazar. Most likely it would have gotten me killed too.”

  She shook her head as the girl sniveled. She wiped at some of the bloody gashes. "They aren't deep but you did get torn up," she said.

  She got up and the girl
kicked and called out.

  "Bitch!" the girl said, starting to come to her senses. The imps around her hissed again. She looked at them fearfully.

  "I knew I forgot something, a gag," the princess said, ripping a part of the girl's dress hem and then balling it up and stuffing it into the girl's mouth before she could scream further.

  She took another strip of cloth and balled it up to stuff it in the girl's mouth. Maliciously, she grabbed her dirty under things and used those next. The girl tried to flip over and spit it out. She added another wrapping, this on cinching the ball in until the girl's eyes budged.

  She took one of her own sashes and captured a kicking foot and then the other. These were tied, and then the free end was yanked up until she could loop it over the girl's head and into her mouth, tightening the gag further until the girl was near choking.

  “Saw that in what the Terrans call a rodeo contest,” Zara said dryly as she dusted her hands off.

  She looked up as she heard noises at the door. She had rearranged her furniture some time ago, she moved quickly to get down on the other side of the wardrobe and push with her feet. It skated across the floor in a loud noise before it toppled over, blocking the door.

  She heard someone slam into the heavy door with their shoulder and then grunt in pain.

  "Serves him right too."

  ~~~^~~~

  Dominus Fenton came in to find the others standing around a shivering rusticus, looking grim.

  “What now?” he asked as he went over to warm his hands by the fire.

  “We just received word that my castle has fallen,” Domina Rasmussen said, eyes wide.

  “Fallen? Fallen to whom?” the dominus asked.

  “To that legatus and his people no doubt,” Percival growled.

  “How did they do it? I mean, they were but a few … our men had the same weapons …”

  “They used guile. They got in and took the castle before the defenses were raised,” the drott rumbled.

  “Turning our own tactics against us,” the dominus said with a shake of his head. “It truly fell that fast though?”

  The domina glared at him. “It isn't funny. It isn't right to make light of this situation. We only have so many people! And they have Terrans to train them!"

  "But they haven't struck here."

  "Not yet !"

  A paige came running up. All heads turned to the boy, wondering what fresh disaster was afoot.

  Percival listened to the whisper and then whispered orders back. The paige took a step back, bowed quickly and then retreated as quickly as he came.

  "And? What now?" the domina demanded.

  "It seems the princess has barricaded herself within her chambers," the knight drawled, picking up his goblet and then playing with it.

  "Let her! She can rot for all I'm concerned," Fenton growled.

  "We need her alive."

  'We have her. It's not like she can go anywhere,” Fenton replied with an indifferent shrug. "And she'll get hungry soon enough."

  "It seems she has a hostage of her own, one of her attendants went up there intent on killing her. She apparently turned the tables. We don't know how," Percival stated.

  Eyes looked at Domina Rasmussen. "That little bitch,” she hissed. “Are we even sure she's still alive and it isn't the attendant barricading herself within and pretending the princess is alive?"

  "That is a concern."

  "Send for axes. Have them cut the door down and find out," the drott growled.

  ~~~^~~~

  Once the others had left her, Domina Rasmussen sat for a moment, considering the future before she decided to order her servants to prepare her things to run. Where to run was a problem though.

  She finally looked out to the courtyard and noted a familiar figure striding across it. Siegfried. Go north to him and then beyond and get herself lost somewhere, somehow. That was her only answer.

  From there she could maybe circle to the west and then south. With luck she might get to Medicini.

  That idea brought up the thought of what to do. She made a note to herself to find the plans and samples, including samples of the powder and weapons. She needed to make sure her guard force had plenty of them as well as sketches of the Terran contraptions. Medicini would pay her a fortune for them, assuring her a life in his court.

  ~~~^~~~

  Princess Zara looked up to hear voices and then the sounds of hacking. She grinned. The door was made out of stout ironwood with heavy broad iron brackets and fixtures. They were going to have a tough time of it. And the landing only gave enough room for one or two men to work at a time.

  She heard them swearing and shook her head. The ax was already dull. When they did get in, they wouldn't be happy with her. So be it.

  She looked at the narrow window. The mortar was old and crumbling, she'd been tempted to break the window open and then try to slide down to a lower landing using her blankets and sheets, but to what purpose would that serve? They would just be waiting for her to land.

  She heard an engine above. She looked up, and then rushed to the window. She couldn't see it. The sun was setting, but she knew it was there. It was a balm to her bruised soul.

  She looked at her captive, noting the girl watching her. She knelt down in front of the woman and placed the coin at eye level. “She knows,” she said.

  The woman growled.

  “I'd hang you out the window but I think I'll wait,” she murmured. The girl's eyes widened and then narrowed.

  Zara sniffed and got up. No, it was best to wait and see what happened. She might need a hostage of her own. Not that she thought they took any value in the girl's life.

  ~~~^~~~

  Tendra managed to get to the eastern district and then into the Gunnar cheese cave. There she met with the assault company.

  She was excited by the black figures but nervous. They looked like wraiths, truly terrifying. She hoped they terrified the enemy as much as they did her.

  She tried to focus as she gave her report, passing on her notes. She had not spoken with Cadius since their last check-in; she had scolded him again about causing trouble. The decurion nodded.

  “As it gets dark, we'll have you go. We need you to get your radio and find an observation point near the militia barracks.”

  She blinked and then frowned. “You need me to observe?”

  “Yes. We need to know when they get the orders to move out.”

  “Ah,” she replied with a nod. “I can do that. Certainly.”

  “Good. You'll be watching our back. We're counting on you.”

  “Then I'll make sure I get it right,” she said with a firm nod.

  ~~~^~~~

  Olaf received a report from the axmen and shook his head. The ironwood was thick and stout; it wasn't going to be cut down easily. They couldn't get access to the hinges. They asked for permission to burn her out but he refused.

  "I'm with Fenton, let her starve up there. Eventually, she'll want food and water. Best that than to ruin a perfectly good door." He looked up to the sound of buzzing. "And find out what that infernal sound is!" he snarled, pointing to the ceiling.

  ~~~^~~~

  The decurion wasn't thrilled about the additional reinforcements flown in at the last moment, though he appreciated the help. The company had been reinforced to almost the full cohort.

  Moving them through the capital would be a problem though. For the moment, he focused on the company alone. The other companies would serve as a reserve.

  ~~~^~~~

  Augustus heard the odd sounds and the chatter from the guards. One came in talking of a dragon or great bird flying overhead. It was seen as a bad omen.

  He took it as a bad omen. A bad omen for the Duluthians.

  ~~~^~~~

  Domina Rasmussen heard the report and that Olaf had countersigned leaving the girl alone. She agreed; it wasn't worth breaking the door down. The door would have to be replaced. Besides, they had time on their side, at least for t
he moment.

  She considered sending Siegfried up to talk Zara out. She eventually discarded it for the moment. He was busy. Besides, Zara needed time to calm down and assess her situation again. It hadn't changed much.

  She did want the girl though. Taking Zara with her would be an added bonus. It could prove a problem though; Percival and the others would no doubt chase her. She frowned as she considered how to plan for that.

  ~~~^~~~