by J. K. Barber
With a leery look on her face, Chyla disappeared behind Katya’s head and Jared could see the leather strap across the sorceress’ mouth begin to move. Eventually, the tiny Nhyme was able to loosen Katya’s gag enough that she was able to slip the thick strap off her mouth, down her chin and let it hang loosely around her neck. Katya spit the wad of dirty cloth that had been shoved into her mouth out into her lap. The sorceress moved her jaw from side to side spitting several times trying to get the foul taste of the cloth out of her mouth. Giving up after half a dozen tries, Katya looked at her sister.
“What is it?” she croaked, her voice raspy from dehydration and disuse. “What’s your big idea?” There was a heat and petulance to Katya’s voice that surprised Jared.
“First, that’s enough of that,” Sasha said, sounding like she was speaking to a much younger sister rather than her twin. “Whatever problems you have with me,” Katya’s eyes darted to the hunter, “and with Jared,” Sasha added, catching the gaze, “are just going to have to wait. We have more pressing matters.”
Jared was shocked. “What did I do?” he sputtered.
Sasha turned on the woodsman, her eyes full of fire. “This is really not the time for this,” Sasha looked back her sister. “From either of you. Okay?” The swordswoman’s tone clearly indicated her statement was not a question, but out of courtesy and in the name of expediency she waited for Jared and Katya to nod their assent before continuing.
“Good,” Sasha said. “Now, what can you do, Katya?”
“I don’t understand…”
The red-haired woman cut off her raven-tressed twin’s reply. “Magic-wise. You can speak now. What can you do?”
Jared’s spirits rose only to be dashed again by Katya’s reply. “It doesn’t work that way. The words are only half the process. I need my hands free to perform the proper gestures. It’s… it’s hard to explain unless you’ve… well, unless you’ve been trained to do it.” Katya shrugged her shoulders, her face expressing the frustration she felt at trying to explain sorcery to a pair of non-sorcerers.
To a certain extent, Jared understood. There was no way to explain what he did when he talked to animals. It was an experience outside the understanding of the vast majority of people.
“What about healing?” Sasha persisted. “I’ve seen you and Chyla do it and neither one of you spoke.”
“That’s different,” Katya replied. “Besides, I’m not going to be able to heal my way out of here.”
“No,” Jared interjected. “But, you could take some of the strain off of Chyla. She could rest up enough so that she could blast our way out of here.”
Now it was Chyla’s turn to chime in. “I’m sorry, but I can’t.” The little Nhyme girl looked truly apologetic.
“What? Why not?” Jared asked.
“Because, I don’t know how to do what Katya does.” Chyla responded.
The hunter looked dumbfounded. “But sorcery is sorcery. If Katya can do it, why can’t you?”
“It’s not like that,” Katya interjected, seeing the frustrated look on Chyla’s face at Jared’s question. “Saying the sorcery I perform is like the healing Chyla does is like saying archery is like swordplay. Yes they’re technically both warfare, but they require completely different sets of skills.”
“I don’t understand,” Jared said. The hunter looked like he was going to continue but was cut off by Sasha.
“We don’t have time for a lesson in magic here,” the swordswoman said. “What we need are ideas on how to get out of here.” Sasha turned to her raven-haired sister. “If Chyla frees your hands, can you get us out of here?”
“Doubtful,” the young sorceress replied. Jared released a sigh of frustration, earning him a reproachful look from Katya before she continued. “On my best day, which this is obviously not,” the dark-haired twin grinned weakly for effect, “I would probably be able to defeat half the force that attacked us before they got to me. Now, I wouldn’t last for more than a few moments.”
“And we don’t know how many more there are outside the tent,” Sasha supplied.
“But Chyla does,” Jared interjected.
“True,” Sasha replied, “but reasonably we can expect that there are more in this camp than there were in the group that attacked ours.”
Jared nodded at the logic in the red-haired woman’s statement. “But it’s not just Katya by herself.” Chyla began to protest again, but the hunter cut her off. “I’m not talking about you Chyla. I know now you can’t cast the spells that Katya can.” Jared used his chin to indicate himself, Sasha and the others. “If Chyla can free Katya, she can then free the rest of us.”
“And then what?” Katya asked. “The dozen of us fight our way out, half-starved and without weapons? Excellent plan there, Jared.” The sarcasm in the young sorceress’ voice was not lost on Jared. “Besides, I’m fairly certain I can’t free any of you without maiming you in the process.” Katya looked over at Mala, who had remained silent the entire time. “I could free Mistress Mala, but even then it would just be the two of us.” A mild look of confusion spread across Katya’s face. “Why would they put her in a cage?” the young sorceress inquired quietly, as though speaking to herself. “Why not tie her up like the rest of you?”
Sasha quickly interrupted her sister’s train of thought. “Why couldn’t you free us? I’ve seen you blast things apart that were much bigger than these manacles.” Sasha raised her arms, jangling the chains that led from the shackles around her wrist to the iron rings driven into the wooden post securely buried in the ground behind her.
“True,” Katya replied, frustration rising in her voice. “And do you remember what the ground looked like around whatever it was I was blasting?” Realization dawned on Sasha face. “Exactly,” the dark-haired woman said, reading her twin’s expression. “Blasting those chains apart would be like trying to pound a nail into a chair using a sledgehammer. The nail would go in, but the chair would be smashed to bits in the process.” Katya continued to drive the idea home. “I could blast those chains apart, but I’d probably take your hands off at the wrist while I was doing it.”
“But…” Jared began, only to be cut off by an increasingly irritated Katya.
“But what?” the young sorceress snapped at Jared, before she continued on in a mockingly slow tone. “I break chains, I break your arms. Broken arms bad.”
Jared glared at Katya, but ignored her jibe. “I’ve seen you cast much more subtle magic, back in Valshet. You killed that assassin by driving the air out of his lungs,” the hunter paused as his mind ran over the scene again in his head. “And, you never said a word while doing it.”
Sasha and Chyla both looked at Katya, wearing matching expressions of surprise.
Through the dirt and dried blood that covered her face, Jared was certain he saw the young sorceress blush. “Oh, that…” she started weakly before trailing off.
“Yes, that,” Jared said, waiting for Katya to reply.
Before the young sorceress could say a word, Chyla spoke up, her tone hurt. “Did you take what we taught you and use it to kill someone?” The Nhyme girl was appalled as she stared at her friend, for a moment completely ignoring the situation they were in, her mind solely occupied by what she obviously considered the ultimate betrayal.
“No,” Katya said, her voice cracking, betraying clear and considerable doubt.
“Have you learned to perform sorcery without words then,” Sasha asked, her tone incredulous. “No sorcerer can do that, except...,” her voice trailed off in disbelief. “The Administrator,” Sasha’s voice was barely a whisper. She stared at her sister, astonished.
“No,” Katya quickly replied, looking back and forth between her sister and Chyla. “No to either… to both.” The young sorceress looked flustered. “I didn’t do either thing.”
“Then what did you do?” Jared said, pressing the matter.
Katya mumbled something too quietly for the hunter to make out.
“What?” Jared barked, causing the dark-haired young woman to jump.
“I don’t know,” Katya replied quietly at first, but then spoke louder, holding her head up to look her three companions defiantly in the eye. “I don’t know what I did. I only remember wanting the man to die, wanting to make sure I was quiet about it and making sure he was quiet in the process.” The look of defiance slid off of Katya’s face like an ill-fitting mask. “I have no idea how I did it.” The young sorceress turned to Chyla, sincere regret in her voice. “I honestly don’t know.” Katya lowered her head, hiding her face behind her long black hair.
A moment of uncomfortable silence hung in the air before Jared spoke up, breaking the stillness. “We need a new idea then,” the hunter blurted out. Sasha and Chyla turned to regard Jared, looking slightly surprised; even Katya peeked out from beneath her matted black tresses. “If she can’t do it again, she can’t do it again. There’s no point in harping on it.” The hunter caught a glimmer of gratitude in Katya’s eyes as she raised her head again fully. “Fighting our way out of here isn’t going to work, and I think we can all agree on that.” Everyone nodded at the woodsman’s statement. “We wait until night, then Chyla frees Katya. Katya then releases Mala and the three of them sneak out of here under cover of darkness.”
Jared saw Sasha’s eyes dart to the swordmistress in her cage, an expression of doubt in her gaze. The hunter didn’t have time to inquire about the look so he continued outlining his plan. “Hopefully, the three of them can make it back to our camp; find some weapons, some armor, and Mother willing, maybe some survivors. Once they’re rested, fed and equipped, then they can sneak back here with what they need to free and arm us. Then we all slip out again.”
“I’m not sure…” Sasha began, her voice trailing off as she looked at Mala.
“About what?” Jared asked. “We’ve already established that we can’t fight our way out of here. Neither Katya or Chyla can free us with their magic, and Mala and the Nhyme are two of the three people most likely to stealth their way out and back in again.”
“You being the third,” Katya said, smirking faintly.
“Of course,” Jared responded, the cockiness in his voice hiding his qualms about the plan.
“I don’t know,” Sasha said, again expressing her doubts.
This time it was Katya’s turn to reply to the swordswoman’s reservations. “It’s the best plan we have, sister.”
Sasha looked at her twin then lowered her voice even more. “What about… you know?” When Katya looked at the red-haired woman with confusion, Sasha leaned towards her sister slightly, barely whispering. “In the catacombs… under Aeirsga….”
Jared’s perceptive ears caught the swordswoman’s whisper. “Would that work?” he asked, startling Sasha with his question. The red-haired woman looked truly shocked that he had heard her words.
“I don’t think so,” Katya replied, her voice just as quiet at Sasha’s had been.
“Why?” Jared inquired.
“From what Sasha and Talas told me before we left, I think we can only do that if we’re fighting whatever it is that is considered a direct threat to Aronshae.” Jared did not need his sensitive hearing to detect the doubt in the young sorceress’ voice.
“It’s worth a try though,” Jared said. “Isn’t it?”
The twins looked skeptically at each other, but couldn’t dispute the logic of the hunter’s words. They had nothing to lose in the attempt.
Taking their silence as assent, Jared continued. “Good. Chyla, get to work on Katya’s ropes.”
The Nhyme girl nodded and then slipped out under the edge of the tent without a word, returning a few moments later with a jagged piece of rock. Chyla then began the laborious process of severing the leather cords that held Katya’s hands together behind her back and also to the wooden post to which she was tied.
The next few hours passed with excruciating slowness. Every time Jared heard footsteps outside the tent, he signaled to Katya, who in turn whispered to Chyla to stop her efforts and hide. Luckily, only once did one of the ice orcs enter the tent. The same beast that had been torturing Jared paid the hunter another visit. Despite his best efforts to keep his temper under control, the woodsman could only take so much before his rage once again came bubbling to the surface. Jared had endured a particularly savage beating, made more so by the orc’s frustration with the woodsman’s refusal to rise to the blue-skinned creature’s bait. Eventually though, the hunter could take no more and gave himself over to his anger and frustration at being chained and beaten.
Jared’s tormentor continued to beat the hunter for only a short time afterwards, apparently eliciting the reaction he wanted and then left Jared lying unconscious on the muddy floor of the tent, blood seeping from the hunter’s mouth and collecting in a small pool.
Chyla had to stop her ministrations on Katya’s bonds to heal the hunter back to consciousness. “Sorry, I cannot do more,” the Nhyme girl said as Jared regained consciousness.
“I understand,” the woodsman replied. “Save your strength.” Jared spit the taste of blood out of his mouth and sat up painfully. Chyla flew back to her work. Sasha wore a pained expression looking at the woodsman. Once Jared had settled himself into a more comfortable position he noticed Sasha’s worry. The hunter shrugged, wincing in pain, but smiling slightly at the red-haired young woman. Sasha looked away, hiding her fear in the shadows of the tent.
Just then the flap flew open again letting in bright sunlight and a blast of frigid wind. A trio of orcs filed into the tent, including Jared’s tormentor. In the vivid light the woodsman could see four scars running down the orc’s face from the center of his brow diagonally to his jaw. The third and fourth parallel line just missed his left eye. The disfigurement was far too ragged to have been made by blades. Jared imagined a huge white bear dragging its claws across the orc’s face and smiled. The scarred ice orc looked at Jared a moment and then directed his gaze to Sasha, grinning a malicious smile of jagged yellow teeth.
“No,” Jared whispered, then more loudly. “No!” The hunter began to thrash against his chains trying to get up, only to be slammed in the gut by the scarred orc’s huge fist. Jared collapsed to the floor, the breath knocked out of him and his earlier injuries causing him to grit his teeth in pain.
It took Sasha and Katya only a moment longer to realize what was happening. Sasha drew her legs in ready to kick any of the orcs that got near her. Katya began screaming at the brutes, which earned her a meaty fist to the side of her head and the reapplication of her gag, dirty rag and all.
To her credit, Sasha put up a vicious fight, managing to deliver a heel to one of their captor’s knees. There was a satisfying crunching sound and a howl of pain from the ice orc who had been struck, but the swordswoman’s moment of triumph was short lived. There was simply no way Sasha could fend off three orcs, each one easily twice her weight and half again her girth, shackled as she was. After a brief but violent struggle, the young red-haired woman was knocked unconscious, released from her manacles and carried out.
Pandemonium broke out in the tent. Katya began muffled screaming around her gag at Chyla to hurry up cutting her bonds. Jared rose agonizingly to his feet again and lunged after Sasha, the chains attached to his wrists bringing him up short. The hunter felt a new pain blossom in his shoulder as he wrenched the joint against his shackles. The other soldiers that were left began pulling in unison on their chains, which were attached to a common wooden post driven deep into the ground. The thick timber did not budge, but lack of movement did not dissuade the men and women of the King’s Army. Even Mala, silent and nearly unmoving up until this moment began throwing herself against the door of her cage as best her cramped quarters would allow. The normally reserved swordmistress was yelling in incoherent anger as she impacted the iron bound wooden door of her prison.
After what seemed like an eternity, with a final effort from the young sorceress’ thin arms, Katya burst her
bonds. Chyla, who had been cutting furiously at the leather cords, went flying across the tent, only barely preventing herself from impacting the animal skin walls with a desperate flutter of her gossamer wings. The Nhyme girl quickly darted into Katya’s hood. In the chaos that had erupted since Sasha’s abduction, none of the Illyander soldiers seemed to have noticed the tiny winged woman’s presence.
Katya clawed at her gag, pulling away the leather strap and pulling the dirty rag out of her mouth. The raven-haired twin leapt to her feet and took half a step towards the tent flap.
“Wait!” Jared and Mala yelled at the same time.
“You can’t go out there alone,” Mala begged, gesturing at the lock of her cage imploringly.
“Release me!” Jared growled, yanking once again at the chains that held him prisoner.
“I told you,” Katya replied, her voice full of frustration and rising anger. “I can’t break the chains. My control isn’t that precise, especially without my staff, to shatter the chains without mangling your arms in the process.”
“I don’t care,” the hunter said, his eyes beginning to cloud over with a thin film of red. Jared knew he was about to go over the edge into a mindless rage and took a few quick breaths, trying to calm himself before he continued. “I don’t need my arms to fight.”
Katya looked at Jared incredulously.
“I’ve been trained to fight without my hands, if need be.” The hunter looked hungrily at the closed tent flap. “I promise I can help you save Sasha.” Jared looked back at Katya, the worry and fear was plainly visible in his eyes, despite the darkened tent. “Please,” he begged, his voice thick with anxiety, “let me help save her.”
“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Katya replied, taking a long focusing breath. “And be ready, this is not going be quiet. We’ll have ice orcs on us in seconds.”