The Slave War

by James E. Wisher

  Two more explosions rocked the compound. Flames shot skyward. By their glow he saw more than a few bodies come crashing down as well. He forced the potential damage out of his mind. They’d have time to deal with all that once the threat was neutralized.

  Moz placed himself directly in the center of the main path through the compound. The only way the Dark Sages’ mercenaries could get to Ariel was through him.

  Three more explosions shook the night, these were weaker than the first ones. He drew his swords.

  Any second now.

  One minute passed then another and still no sign of the enemy. No more explosions went off either. Moz frowned. Where were they?

  He relaxed a fraction and went to join Callie who was tending a pair of injured refugees near the closest fire. Their wounds were horrific. One was missing an arm from the elbow down and another both his legs. Callie had sealed the injures so they wouldn’t bleed to death. Whether that was a kindness or not, only time would tell.

  “I haven’t seen any soldiers,” Moz said.

  Callie stopped her song and stood. “Me either. Maybe—”

  “Callie!” Tonia glided out of the darkness and landed behind them. “I found the ship. It’s on the western side of the compound. Sorry it took so long, but they used some kind of illusion to hide from the wind spirits.”

  Moz didn’t hear any more. He was sprinting back to the tent.

  The bastards had lured them east with the bombs then outflanked them. How could he have been so stupid?

  Cursing himself with each step, Moz finally reached their tent. Lucy had half dragged herself outside, leaving a heavy blood trail behind her.

  “Callie!” Moz dropped to his knees and pressed down hard on the wound. “Callie’ll be here in a second. Hold on. Where’s Ariel?”

  “They took her.” Lucy gasped and grit her teeth. “Two men in black. One was so fast. Faster than any man I’ve ever seen. Didn’t stand a chance.”

  “Where’d they go?” Moz looked back. Callie and Tonia were on their way.

  “West. Toward the far end of the compound. Go! Help her.”

  Moz put Lucy’s hands on the wound. “Keep pressure on it.”

  He scrambled to his feet and ran. He’d barely taken a step when a high, piercing scream tore through the air.

  That had to be Ariel. He pounded toward the scream, weapons drawn and ready.

  Twenty yards from the tent he passed the corpse of one of her hummingbird dragons. It looked like someone had nearly split it in half. That had to be what prompted her scream. She had a powerful connection to those little dragons. He didn’t understand it, but he recognized it.

  Ahead of him a figure flashed in front of one of the braziers. Moz caught a glimpse of blond hair. That was her. It had to be.

  He managed three strides before a roar split the air. The huge dragon that had protected Ariel from the riders outside the bardic college landed in the middle of the compound. Its tail swept tents and people aside with equal indifference.

  A blast of lightning blew a hole in the wall and sent one of the towers crashing to the ground. It roared again, sweeping its head left and right.

  Moz debated for a second what he should do, but in the end there was nothing he could do against a monster like that. If he recovered Ariel, maybe she could bring it under control.

  He ran toward where he saw the hint of movement. Halfway there he nearly stumbled over a trio of bodies. A patrol of three guards lay in a pool of blood, their throats cut.

  Moz leapt over the bodies and kept running. There was only about fifty yards of fortress left. The kidnappers had to be just ahead.

  Thirty strides on he reached a hole in the stone wall. It looked like someone had vaporized a perfect circle in the rock. Moz crouched and peeked through. It looked clear.

  He stepped through and let his eyes adjust. Starlight and a sliver of moon provided just enough light for him to see a pair of silhouettes running hard toward a second opening in the central wall.

  They were not going to escape! He sprinted after them. The pair only had about fifty yards on him. He could catch them if he hurried.

  There were bright lights directly ahead, the flickering flames of torches. His targets were running right for them.

  Moz snarled and kept going. He’d deal with whoever was there along with the ones that kidnapped Ariel.

  As he got closer, the torches revealed an entire company of Carttoom soldiers. Rondo stood in their midst, Ariel over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Another man in black looked at Moz with dark, arrogant eyes.

  A man in a Carttoom uniform sporting a captain’s patch moved to the front of the gathering. “Come any closer, Ranger, and you’ll be trespassing in the Kingdom of Carttoom. We’ll have no choice but to kill you.”

  Moz clenched his teeth so hard his jaw ached. She was right there, but he was helpless against so many soldiers. Dying here wouldn’t help Ariel.

  “I’ll see you again.” Moz glared hard at Rondo who flinched and the second dark man who grinned.

  He turned and stalked back toward the Rend fortress. The roaring had stopped. Perhaps the dragon had gotten tired and flew away. With Ariel unconscious it seemed aimless with undirected rage.

  Hopefully, their tent hadn’t gotten damaged too badly. In his saddlebags waited the map he took from the Dark Sages’ flying ship. There’d be some clue about where to find Ariel on it.

  There had to be.

  Chapter 31

  Leonidas landed lightly in the center of the gathered Carttoom soldiers. Other than their leader, none of them had ever seen Leonidas prior to this moment, yet they still shied away from him. Perhaps a man in black falling from the sky was a little much for your average soldier. Frankly, he neither knew nor cared. His eyes were focused on the unconscious little girl draped over Rondo’s shoulder.

  “We got her, Boss,” Shade said.

  “So I see. Well done. Both of you. It seems that after our many trials and tribulations, the ultimate prize is in our grasps.”

  He took a handful of her hair and lifted her face for closer inspection. There was nothing remarkable about the child. She appeared to be around ten years old, unharmed, and totally unconscious. Domina’s poison had done its job.

  “Did you have any trouble?” Leonidas asked.

  Shade shrugged. “Sure, but nothing I couldn’t handle. Weird thing though, the kid screamed once after I dosed her with the poison. Just once, then she went right back out, but I thought something like that was impossible.”

  “It should have been. That’s probably when the other dragon was summoned.”

  “Other dragon?” Rondo squeaked.

  “The big one. We watched it land and go berserk. The beast destroyed half the Rend fortification. Some of its lightning blasts shot over the border. There are some big holes in the Carttoom fort as well.”

  The commander of the soldiers cleared his throat. “In that case, Lord Black, if you have no further use for us, my men and I should go help the survivors.”

  “By all means, Captain. And please extend my thanks to your superior. I’ll be doubling his usual payment this quarter.”

  “Colonel Tremont will be delighted, I’m sure. Back to the fort, men.” The soldiers fell into line and marched off behind their leader.

  “An excellent notion,” Leonidas said. “We should be on our way as well.”

  He called on the power of the black ring and all three of them rose into the sky. A minute later they were standing on the deck of the remaining ship. He led the way down to the hold and Domina’s rebuilt lab. There was a chair all set up for Ariel and Rondo eased her into it.

  “You finally did something right, congratulations,” Domina said. She crouched in front of the unconscious girl and poked her cheek. There was no reaction at all. “She’s still fully under. It’ll take another sixteen hours for the poison to wear off. We can’t bind her with the circlet until she’s conscious.”

  “Shade, h
ave Jax take us back to the capital ruins. We can’t move on the final tower until we’re certain she’s under our control.”

  “Sure, Boss.”

  Shade left, leaving Rondo silently rubbing his shoulder. Leonidas shook his head. “You may go as well.”

  When the idiot had left them alone Leonidas sighed. He’d had his doubts after losing two ships, but everything had worked out in his favor. Only one tower left and he’d control all the dragons in the world.

  Moz stalked back toward the Rend fortress. It had taken all his willpower to retreat rather than attack. Now he had to make that decision mean something.

  He ducked back through the opening into the ruins of the fortress. This far from where the dragon landed, the tents appeared mostly intact. Frightened eyes stared out at him. He wanted to offer reassurances but didn’t know enough to speak. Better that they stayed huddled up and out of the way for now. When it was safe, someone would tell them.

  The further he went, the worse the damage appeared and the more frequently the bodies showed up. Soldiers lay broken like dolls tossed about during a child’s tantrum, their spears snapped and bodies mangled. Plenty of refugees had lost their lives as well. Bad as he felt for the fighters, those people really tore at him. They’d come here hoping for safety and found death instead. He would never say they would have been better off as slaves in Carttoom, but they would have been alive.

  The hot stink of ozone lay over everything like a wet blanket, making it hard to breathe. It was like the dragon’s rage had burned the air. He studied the sky but no silhouette blocked the stars. It appeared to be truly gone, for now anyway.

  Three-quarters of the way to their tent Moz spotted something moving off to one side of the path. Curious, he bent down and pulled aside a ragged piece of singed cloth. Underneath was the second hummingbird dragon. One of its wings had been severed at the first joint.

  “Hey, you remember me, right?” Moz spoke softly, trying to soothe the little dragon.

  It hissed and pushed itself into a sitting position with its front feet and tail. It looked at him with far more intelligence than he expected.

  Moz put his hand down beside it and the dragon hopped aboard. He picked it up and placed it on his right shoulder. Its claws dug into his armor just enough to give it purchase.

  “Don’t worry,” Moz said. “We’ll find her.”

  It hissed again as if in agreement. Could it really understand him? Before this moment, he would have said no, but now he wasn’t so sure.

  He set out again for the tent. Lucy sat in front of what remained of it. A bloodstain covered her tunic, but where it had been cut away, her stomach was smooth and unharmed. Callie got to her in time. Thank the gods.

  “She’s gone?” Lucy asked as he approached.

  Moz nodded and yanked the torn tent aside. Hopefully his bags were unharmed.

  “I’m sorry,” Lucy said. “Thanks for saving my life.”

  “I’m glad I could save someone.” He came out with the bags. They were unharmed and tied shut.

  He untied the left bag and rummaged around until he found the folded-up map. It showed the entire continent and was marked with four circles, three of which had Xs through them. The unmarked one was in the swamp where this all started. That was where Rondo had learned about Ariel and made the first attempt to kidnap her. Something at that spot required her gift.

  Moz couldn’t imagine what, but if he wanted to get Ariel back, he needed to return home.

  “Where’d you get that?” Lucy asked.

  “I took it off the Dark Sages when I found their base. Is Callie around?”

  “She’s tending the wounded. I wouldn’t expect her back for hours.”

  Moz didn’t know his enemies’ timetable, but he didn’t intend to wait around. They were already ahead of him. He couldn’t let them get further ahead.

  “Tell her I’m going back to the swamp. That’s where I think the sages will bring Ariel.”

  Lucy nodded. “I’ll tell her.”

  Moz nodded, tucked the map away, slung his bags over his unoccupied shoulder, and went to find a horse. He had a long ride ahead of him.

  It was the middle of the morning when Yaz led his companions out of the forest to Rend’s border. After escaping the capital, they’d kept mostly to the side roads and sometimes they abandoned the roads all together. Army patrols were still a regular thing and they had no desire to answer questions. The last big push was ahead of them. Once they crossed the border into Rend, they’d be safe. Figuring out how they were going to accomplish that feat now that Carttoom was on alert for runaway slaves was another matter.

  Silas had moved to walk beside him at the front of the group. The wizard stroked his amulet through his tunic. Yaz hadn’t decided if his fascination with the artifact was a good thing or not despite the power boost it provided. At the very least it hadn’t proven to be a hindrance, so far.

  “How do you want to handle the crossing?” Silas asked. “If we wait until dark, I can enchant the Carttoom fort again.”

  “That would probably be easiest if you don’t mind,” Yaz said. “For now, I want to get a closer look.”

  Ten minutes later they reached the tree line and Yaz stopped dead in his tracks. The fortifications on both sides of the border were in shambles. Some of the Rend towers had crumbled to rubble while the Carttoom fort had a hole in its side you could drive a wagon through.

  Other than the damage, there was no sign of a battle, so what had happened here? Brigid and the sages joined them a few seconds later.

  The moment she saw the damage Brigid gasped. “My parents.”

  Yaz caught her arm a moment before she could make a break for the fortress. “Easy. We don’t need to get shot full of arrows approaching them. Whatever happened is bound to have the guards on alert. Let’s all walk up nice and easy. I doubt the Carttoom soldiers are in any shape to get in our way.”

  Brigid let out a long sigh. “I’m okay now.”

  They set out down a long, gentle slope toward what was left of the main gate. The portcullis was little more than a pile of twisted scrap off to one side. The entrance was now guarded by a squad of spearmen. They shifted to block Yaz and his companions.

  “Border’s closed,” the squad sergeant said.

  “I believe General Rend will wish to speak to me if he’s around. He’s the one that gave us permission to bring as many slaves as we could across.”

  Just as Yaz hoped, mentioning the general’s name got the guards thinking. Finally the sergeant shrugged and motioned his men aside. “Go on.”

  They were barely past the guards when Brigid broke away and ran toward an open space where cloth-covered bodies had been lined up in a neat row.

  Yaz’s stomach clenched. This was all his fault. He sent his people here to keep them safe and look what happened. How would he face his father when he finally found him?

  There was a gentle hand on his shoulder and he turned to see Master Durnik standing at his side. “I know what you’re thinking, but this wasn’t your responsibility. There’s no way you could have foreseen what happened. No one could. I’ve lived my entire life in Dragonspire Village and I feel confident when I say any of our people would rather die free than live as a slave.”

  “Thank you, Master,” Yaz said. “Let’s see what we can do to help.”

  They split up and Yaz went to find Brigid. If her parents had died during whatever happened, she’d need him now.

  As he was walking, a middle-aged woman with a bandage on her face called out, “Young lord?”

  He knew that voice. She was the first one to speak up for him at the quarry. “I’m here. Can I do anything for you?”

  “I’m okay,” she said. “These Rend folk have been good to us. Who could have imagined a bloody dragon attacking the fortress?”

  Yaz stared for a moment. He’d never heard of a dragon attacking a human fortification. Most dragons preferred to avoid men when they could.

  �
�When did this happen?” Yaz asked.

  “Night before last. First there were explosions then a little later that damn monster dropped out the sky breathing lighting and smashing everything in sight. I figured we were all dead, but after a few minutes it flew off like nothing had happened. Don’t know why, but I’m not complaining.”

  “Did you lose anyone?” Yaz asked.

  “No one close. Could have been way worse without the bards lending a hand. Their magic saved a lot of lives.”

  Yaz took her hand and squeezed it. “Rest now. I need to check on the others.”

  She lay back down and he continued on his way. Twenty paces further on he spotted Brigid. She was sitting beside her parents, hugging her mother.

  The weight on his chest lifted. Thank goodness they were alive.

  “Yaz!” He turned to see Tonia gliding out of the sky toward him, her blue tunic fluttering in the breeze. She landed a few feet away. “When did you get here?”

  “A few minutes ago. We just walked right past the Carttoom fortress and no one made a move to bother us.”

  “The dragon hit them nearly as hard as us. I’m sorry about this. I know the general promised your people would be safe. We didn’t do a very good job of keeping our word.”

  “The people I’ve spoken to say you’ve taken good care of them. Thank you for that.”

  “The general insisted the refugees get priority over his own soldiers. I think he feels responsible since he didn’t let anyone move deeper into the kingdom. Anyway, I’m on patrol duty. Maybe I’ll see you again before you leave.”

  She shot back into the air before he could say anything else. It was a strange thing, seeing someone flying like a bird. He doubted he’d ever get used to it.

  He turned to see Brigid walking toward him. Her cheeks were still wet with tears.

  “Are they okay?” Yaz asked.

  “Yes, they were in a tent well away from where the dragon landed. Mom and Dad didn’t have a scratch, thank the gods.”