by Cat Wilder
Turning back to the other men with a big grin, "We just caught ourselves a couple of thieving wenches to play with boys. Boras, untie those two. Mik, you go and round up everyone else."
"You got it," Mik said and turned to go.
"And bring back a couple nets, too."
~**~**~
"Great Gods!" Ciara cried. "We’re doomed."
"Don’t think like that. As long as we have life, there’s hope," Tara said, not feeling particularly hopeful.
"You don’t think they really will do all those things to us we heard them saying?"
"And then some," Tara said, gritting her teeth. "I'm sure they’re the types that take great delight in tormenting the helpless."
Tara was soul sick at the prospect, more for Ciara than for herself. She had endured most, if not all, of the things the guards would do to them. But Ciara had never truly been subjected to such humiliations.
"Ciara," Tara said.
"Yes?"
"I don’t see any way for both of us to escape, but one might. Since you’re faster than me, I’ll do everything in my power to help you. You must do everything in your power to escape, hear?"
"No! I won’t desert you!"
"You won’t be. I’m counting on you to escape and get the crew together to rescue me."
"Don’t you understand what they’ll do to you?" Ciara said. "Padraig wants you dead, and he’ll want to draw it out, too."
"There’s no doubt in my mind," Tara said between clenched teeth. "But the alternative is for them to torture both of us to death, with no hope for rescue. It’s a long shot that even you will get out, but it’s all we have."
"There’s got to be a better way."
"I’m listening. Give me one. I’d love for both of us to escape," Tara said. "Tell me how to do it and we’ll both leave. Otherwise, I’m counting on you making it."
~**~**~
Baart’s mouth watered in anticipation. Not only would the women provide some excellent sport, but this might redeem him in the Master Orjan’s eyes. The steward had taken him apart like no one had ever before. He had tried to defend himself, but no words would come to justify his actions. He had made terrible mistakes in misjudging the two women. Mistakes he probably wouldn’t have made if it had been men, but old prejudices are hard to kill. He was determined not to make them again.
The guards began showing up in ones and twos. It took awhile for all the house guards to show up fully armed and armored. He wasn’t in any hurry, after all, the thieves weren’t going anywhere.
Baart was going to run it like a military operation. They would go in with the weight of superior numbers and overwhelm the thieves. And if they proved difficult, he would use nets to capture them. He had every intention of capturing them, too. In his mind they owed him for the humiliation of earlier that evening and all the problems their little misadventure caused. And he would enjoy taking the full measure of their debt to him slowly and surely.
When the men were ready, he explained how they would capture them. Everyone had specific instructions as to where to go and what to do inside the chamber. They would not charge in like the undisciplined bunch of guards many thought they were, but move into the chamber in formations he had taught them. He also stressed that they had better not get caught trying to relieve the captain of any of the treasure inside. Anyone caught would lose a hand before he turned them over to Padraig.
"Now let’s not mess this one up, hear? My ass is still smoking from Master Orjan’s...assessment of our previous performance." Baart grinned and patted his buttocks. The men laughed, they were more than happy to comply. They had also felt some embarrassment about being outwitted earlier by those two. "Remember, I want them alive. I have a few tricks I'm gonna show them."
"Anything you say, Baart," Masi said, eyes fierce. "But I want second shot at them. They owe me for this knot on my head, and I aim to take it out of their asses, but good."
After ensuring everyone was ready, Baart unlocked the door and opened it slowly. They were prepared for the women to charge out. If they had made that mistake then the women would not have lived to regret it. The front rank of guards had been holding their swords aimed at the door and the second rank was ready to pounce on anyone coming out. These men trained for this all the time. They were as ready as they could be.
Opening the door wide, Baart ordered the foremost men to dismantle a wall of chests blocking the door. That done, he ordered them in. They slid in slowly, prepared for an attack that never came.
Baart continually barked orders and maneuvered his men around the obstacles about the room despite the captain’s treasure being strewn liberally across the floor. He tried to ignore the flung insults of the women, but was stung by a few. But he maintained control of himself and his grumbling men.
Once his men were deployed to his satisfaction, Baart paused to look the women over. They were even more beautiful than he had thought, despite both being incredibly filthy. They looked to be covered in soot. He got butterflies in his stomach when he thought of the pleasures they would give up shortly.
They probably thought that would help camouflage them, the fools, Baart thought, smiling, and turned to look his men over one last time.
Chapter 11
Tara and Ciara didn’t just sit and wait for the guards to come for them. They positioned heavy chests before the door and built a small wall to block it. Then after scattering some more chests and statues around the room, they built another small wall of chests in front of the back wall. No one would be able to advance on them in a straight line. Indeed, all of Padraig’s accumulated wealth was scattered about on the floor.
"That ought to slow the dogs down," Tara said, surveying their handiwork.
"But it won’t stop them."
"No, but hopefully they’ll be disrupted enough for at least you to escape. Who knows, we both might even get out," Tara said, pleased with herself.
"I wish I had your confidence," Ciara said, eyeing the door nervously.
So do I, Tara thought.
They could hear the guards assembling. The men were laughing and joking as if nothing was amiss. Though they couldn’t make out the words, the women had a pretty good idea of what the men were talking about. They had heard it all earlier that night.
Both women crouched and gripped their swords tightly when they heard the key turning in the lock. They steeled themselves for the sudden charge as the door opened. But the men came in slowly and cautiously. Yeah, it took a few minutes for them to disassemble the wall of treasure chests.
"You call yourselves men?" Tara taunted. "My mother could charge into a room better than that."
"Smart move, let’s really piss them off," Ciara said.
There was some grumbling about her insult, but the guards didn’t take the bait. They moved deliberately, slowly advancing towards the women. Tara had been counting on them blindly charging their position, with most of them tripping and thus give her and Ciara an opportunity to escape in the chaos.
The bloody bastards are better disciplined and organized than I expected, she thought.
Tara continued throwing insults at the men in an attempt to incite the hoped for blind charge. Not to be outdone, Ciara was soon adding her own insults and taunts. The men still refused to do their bidding.
"We're fucked," Ciara whispered.
"Not yet," she replied. "If they're so timid, then we'll take the fight to them. Follow me!"
Darting though the obstacles, they cried out to Varissa for help as they attacked.
"Die, you bug ugly misfits!" Tara screamed.
A pair of goblins met her halfway to the door. She slashed at one's face, before lashing out with a foot to the other's face. An orc came at her from the left flank before she could exploit her advantage, forcing her to backpedal. Ciara slammed into her back a second later, being pushed back by overwhelming numbers.
"Did I mention we're fucked," the elfmaid gasped out.
"Retreat," Tara shouted,
and pushed her friend toward their defensive wall of chests. She lunged forward, thrusting her sword into the throat of a grizzled old human. "Ha! Take that!"
An orc thrust at her face, which she barely parried in time. Ciara took off running at that time, so Tara quickly followed. The guards thought the women had broken and the victory was theirs. They took off after them with cheers of joy and triumph.
Defeat was the last thing on Tara’s mind.
"Follow me and do what I do."
Tara ran behind the wall of chests and out the other side. She then charged straight at the men again. The guards stopped dead in their tracks and steeled themselves for her attack. Tara in the lead, the women ran as hard as they could straight at the guards. Then instead of attacking, they used a chest to step up on and launch themselves over the confused men.
Rolling into defensive stances, the women glanced back at their would-be captors. Most of the men had ducked and were unaware of what happened. Some few were looking back at them with looks of astonishment on their faces. Tara pushed Ciara toward the door.
"Run! I’ll hold them a second and follow."
Ciara sprinted out the door as Tara backpedaled slowly. The guards recovered quickly and turned on the one remaining woman. One of the orcs showed he was their leader. He started barking orders to regain control of the situation. Tara stopped and held her ground as the men moved toward her slowly.
The sounds of fighting outside the door distracted Tara a split second. Seeing this, one of the guards picked up a small ivory statue and threw it at her. The statue glanced off her left temple, stunning her a second. She dropped to one knee as the men rushed forward. As eager hands reached for her, Tara dropped to her side and rolled. The men were taken by surprise and four were tripped by her spinning body. She sprang to her feet and disemboweled a half-orc to her left and brutally slashed the face of a human to her right before sprinting to the back of the room.
~**~**~
Ciara ran out the chamber not expecting anyone outside the door. She found ten guards waiting, half with nets. She ran head on into one man and they fell in each others' arms. With wide eyes she looked into his startled face as they lay there, face to face. Then as he began to smile. She thrust her sword up under his jaw and deep into his skull.
Before she could stand, a net was thrown above her. She thrust the point of her sword under the edge of the net and threw it back over her head. The men were completely taken aback by the ease of her escape and stopped their advance.
"You flea bags don’t have what it takes to catch me," Ciara taunted.
She stepped forward and jabbed at the face of an elven guard about to throw another net. The feign scared him so much he fumbled the net and only managed to entangle himself. Ciara laughed and kicked him to his back.
Two goblins moved in from opposite directions. She watched them approaching in with a critical eye. They seemed competent enough to be dangerous. While she was intent on the two goblins, another guard charged in and tackled her.
Ciara rolled across the floor in her struggle with the human guard. He let go of her arms and wrapped his hands around her throat, thumbs pressing painfully into her windpipe.
"Yield!" he said between clenched teeth.
Ciara brought her sword up to cut at his face. Another guard stepped up and kicked her sword hand and sent the blade skidding across the floor. Then both her arms were seized by the pair of goblins and the guard released her throat.
"Bastards," she croaked between gasps for air.
They jerked her to her feet. Ciara spat at the guard who had choked her, and then kicked him in the groin. As he doubled over, she stomped down on the foot of the goblin guard on her right. He let go as her heel shattered the small bones of his foot. Ciara then punched the other goblin holding her. He held on so she kneed him in the groin, and he collapsed with a whimper. She pulled her belt knife and threw it at another man running up to help. The knife struck him just below the Adam’s apple. He stared at her in disbelief as he fell first to his knees and then his face, dead.
At the sound of footsteps, Ciara turned and was kicked in the belly. She doubled over in pain and felt a net fall over her. Her feet were kicked out from under her and the men began rolling her up in the net. Then she was jerked to her knees and a rope was looped around her several times, pinning her arms down. She screamed in frustrated rage.
A big bald-headed, apelike guard grabbed her face in a viselike grip and studied her intently. He looked familiar to her. Then she recalled that he was the dozing guard she had knocked out earlier. He had a vicious look of triumph on his face. Somehow it scared her more than a look of hate would have.
"Now you’re going to pay, wench," Masi said.
"Fuck you," she spat back defiantly.
"You will," he said and hit her in the jaw with an uppercut.
Ciara fell to her back, struggling to remain conscious. It was a losing fight, and blackness quickly consumed her.
Chapter 12
Meanwhile, Tara was proving more than a little problem for the men in the chamber. After running to the back of the room, she had begun throwing anything readily at hand. She managed to fell several like that. Most of the men seemed more concerned in defending themselves from her missile attack than obeying orders.
"Surrender!" their commander said. "You can’t escape."
Tara paused to study the orc a moment. Big and ugly, she knew her fate in his hands would be brutal. Mercy and compassion were orc traits.
"Don’t make me laugh, sewer breath," she said. "I’m kicking your stinking asses. But if you insist, I might be willing to accept your surrender."
"You won’t feel so funny when we capture you, bitch," he said. "Of that, I’ll personally see to."
"Barking dogs don’t bite," she countered.
"What are we going to do, Baart?" one of the guards asked.
She had a name. Small victory, allowing her to get a little more personal with her verbal attacks. The guard captain looked frustrated, so it shouldn't take much more to make him crazy.
"Yeah, Baart, what're you going to do about me?" Tara taunted.
"Before or after I bend you over a chair?" he asked, grabbing his crotch.
Baart pulled his men back to regroup. He berated their clumsiness while Tara added her own insults. Occasionally she threw another statue or plate at them just to watch them jump aside. She was pleased to see how her mocking laughter grated on their nerves. Then Baart stepped over to the door. He barked several orders that she couldn’t make out.
Tara’s eyes went wide as two men with nets entered. Ciara! She prayed her friend had made it through the guards outside the door. It hadn’t occurred to her that they would leave anyone to guard the door. She cursed herself for that oversight.
The guards started forward slowly on line. She continued her bombardment to no avail. Tara ducked behind the wall of chests as they closed. The men massed on both ends and moved in. She jumped up on the chests and pulled them down on everyone. Then barely avoiding being crushed by the chests herself, Tara scrambled over the pile of trunks and made for the door.
A guard stepped through the doorway as she approached. Tara didn’t slow down, but instead aimed her sword for his heart. He barely parried her blade aside before she body-slammed him at a full run. They were both left sprawled on the floor, though she failed to force him back through the door.
Varissa help me! What is it going to take to get out that door?
Tara tried to stand and was promptly kicked in the gut by another guard. She fell back with a loud grunt, tripped, and rolled away. As she gained her feet, he tried to kick her again. She blocked the kick with her sword, which sank deep into his shin.
"I bet that hurt," Tara said.
Then Baart was on her, pounding away at her weakening defenses. Though both quickly realized she was the superior sword fighter, there was no doubt that the fresher, stronger orc warrior would prevail in that fight. So Tara thrust for his
face and then made a run for it.
After only a few steps she realized that the men had cut off her only escape. She slid to a stop to scan the passage. She looked past the guards and noticed Ciara outside the door, bound and unconscious on the floor against the far wall.
"Ciara!"
A net flew over her. She hurriedly started pulling it off as she tried to run. Her foot got caught in the net and she fell hard. Tara rolled upon hitting the floor and managed to untangle herself.
A hand grabbed her by the hair and jerked her off her feet again. She lashed out, breaking free, but he kicked her feet away. On her back, Tara kicked at the surrounding house guards trying to grab her. She screamed as another man grabbed her long hair and started dragging her across the floor.
Tara stabbed at the guard and caused him to release her. But another man grabbed her right ankle while still another took hold of her left wrist. She was snapped tight between them. Baart took the opportunity to jump forward and stomp on her belly.
"Uggh!" she cried, all of her air forced out.
The big orc seized her sword arm and pried the sword out of her hand. Tara desperately gasped for breath as more men grabbed her arms and legs, and then rolled her onto her belly. She felt her arms pulled behind her and tied. Then her ankles were tied together.
She didn’t even have the wind to scream her frustration.
The guards started cheering, laughing, and bragging. They had already forgotten the difficulty they had in capturing the women. To hear them talk then, you would think they were all great warriors and defeat was unknown to them.
~**~**~
"I'll kill you!" the black-haired thief cried as Baart dragged her out of the treasure room by her hair. She kicked and struggled mightily, but her bindings held. "I'll gut you like a pig!"