by CJ Embers
Creating a distraction so the others could sneak out might work, but it also held its own risks. It was very possible not all the guards would give chase, and if that happened, the prisoners would still be stuck.
I wanted to ask Helis for a nudge, an idea, anything, but I knew it would be pointless. The dark god would not help me; he had already provided more than I thought he would by giving me one of his swords.
The longer I silently weighed my options, the more fear crept into the group, and I knew I had to make a decision before panic would ignite. Taking a deep breath, I went with the only thing I could think of that would have the best chance at getting everyone out.
“Okay, here’s how it’s going to go. I’m going to sneak as close as I can to the guards, then attack. The citizens will run away, and I will take out as many guards as I can, then run before they subdue me. Hopefully, there will only be a few left and they will all give chase.”
“What if you’re captured?” one of the women asked.
“Don’t think about it,” I answered. “Think about yourselves. You get out of the city, and you keep going. Keep going until you find a safe place to hunker down. I will try to follow your tracks, but if I can’t, or if I get captured, then you need to figure out for yourself where to go from there. Stay off the main roads and travel at night, and it should be okay.”
Many of the women protested quietly, and the others were silent with uncertainty.
I shushed them. “I will be fine,” I said, trying to reassure them. “Once I lead the guards away, I will go for my two companions, and between the three of us, we will be able to get out of the city. Okay?”
Hearing that, the women looked calmer.
“What are we going to do with him?” another asked, nodding towards the hostage. “He’s heard all our plans now.”
I had already been thinking of the man’s use. I had originally grabbed him because I thought he might be needed as a bargaining chip, but the only time so far that he might have been needed, the women dealt with the issue themselves by using their numbers to their advantage. Now, he was simply a liability.
When I raised my sword to his throat, the man struggled and said, “Please don’t kill me! My— My brother is sick and he— and he needs me to take care of him. He doesn’t have anyone else!”
I hesitated.
“Kill him!” a woman hissed.
“Where is your humanity?” someone demanded.
“It’s too risky! How is this any different than those two guards?”
Gritting my teeth, I cursed under my breath and drew the weapon across the man’s throat. As he dropped, the arguing fell silent.
“We will have chances to atone for our sins when we’re free,” I said.
No one said another word, the expressions on their faces grim acceptance.
After making sure they were ready to run after I dealt with the guards by the gate, I was about to go when Maia snuck up to me. “I want to come with you,” she whispered.
I gave her a hard look.
“I can help!” she added with an edge.
Knowing she wouldn’t simply take no for an answer, I asked, “How good are you with a blade?”
The determination in her eyes faded a bit and she looked deflated.
I gave her shoulder a squeeze. “You will help me fight many battles, but you must train first. And the first part of it starts now— stay alive, don’t get caught, and help the other women get out of Marnori safely. Okay?”
The teen gave me a terse nod.
Steeling myself, I snuck off. The hostage was in the back of my mind as I worked my way towards the gate. If I had just knocked him out before talking about escape details, I wouldn’t have had to kill him; but I couldn’t change the past, and now, his sick brother was alone.
I fought to focus on the plan in front of me. As I told the women, we would have a chance to atone later. For now, my focus needed to be solely on fighting the guards and getting all the women out of Marnori.
The closer I got, the faster the adrenaline shot through my veins. Despite my words to the women, I truly had no idea whether I would actually make it out of the city, even with Kain and Oren with me.
There was one guard standing near a raised bed made of stone that held a tall tree in its center. The short wall was about three feet high. Still crouching, I tiptoed behind it and readied my blade. On the silent count of three, I dashed out and shoved the sword through his back. His spine severed and he crumpled immediately.
No one else seemed to have noticed the kill, so I dragged him out of sight behind the walled tree to give myself a little bit more time.
The closest I could get to the next guard was not close enough to do a stealth attack. It would be in plain view, attracting all the others.
I let out a breath, waited a few beats, then pushed off. Running towards the guard, I jumped onto a bench and jumped again. Soaring through the air with my sword in my grasp, the guard finally noticed me, but it wasn’t soon enough. I came down on top of him, striking him through the chest.
Panicked yells immediately ensued. Blood pooled out of the guard’s mouth, dripping down the side of his face. Stepping on his chest, I heaved the weapon loose. Crimson coated the blade, dripping onto the cobblestone as the guard convulsed, the life draining from his eyes.
Footsteps rushed towards me, and I whipped around, raising the sword. Metal scraping against metal, I traded blows with the next guard to reach me. Like flies the men dropped and I started to think I might actually be able to fight them all off.
I ducked just in time for a silver sword to graze the top of my head, and I whirled around, arm outstretched. The jagged blade landed with a sickening thunk in the side of a guard, and sheer agony ripped across his face. He dropped to the stone, and I went to give him a quick kill but was stopped in my tracks by another guard swinging at me.
I raised my arm to block and our swords glanced off each other with a clang. Dashing forward before he could recover, I shoved the sword through the man’s throat.
Ripping the blade from his flesh, I turned around to face another. To my surprise, there were none left. But my attention was quickly distracted again and I looked down the street to see another handful of guards running in the direction of the commotion.
I gave a shrill whistle to signal to the women, then ran straight for the men. When they saw me barreling towards them, they skidded to a halt and raised their swords.
Wanting to lure them away from the main road so they wouldn’t see the prisoners escaping through the gate, I turned and dashed down an alley. The sound of yells and pounding footsteps coming after me told me they had taken the bait.
I weaved through the buildings, going as fast as my legs would move. I turned right a few times and came up behind them. With a mighty swing, I tore the sword across their backs. Three went down immediately, taking another down with them. The last came for me, but I cut him down before he could even raise his weapon.
The last man was struggling to remove himself from under the bodies of his comrades.
I knelt and gripped his chin to force him to look at me. “Where are Oren and my wolf being held?”
He spat at me and I set my sword against his throat. “Tell me, or I will kill you.”
The guard struggled for a moment longer, making the edge of my blade cut into his flesh before he gave up. “Oren is usually in the athenaeum, and the wolf is caged in the stables.”
Hearing the latter, I realized that could be our way out. I’d get Oren first, then at the stables I would free Kain and steal two horses to book it out of the city.
I didn’t know where the athenaeum was, so I tugged the man out from underneath the bodies and pressed the tip of the weapon underneath his chin. “You will lead me to the athenaeum under the guise of having me shackled. If you try to switch it around, I will kill you before you even get the chance. Do you understand?”
He got out an agreement, barely able to talk with the s
word pressing into his skin.
I helped him up. “This will go a lot smoother if you realize I don’t want to hurt any of you. Behave, and everything will go fine. I just want to get my two companions and leave. No more bloodshed has to happen.”
The guard nodded again.
I ordered him to throw his sword to the side, and he complied. Although it was risky because someone could notice his missing weapon and put two and two together, I figured it was riskier to let him keep it and give him the ability to use it on me despite my threats.
My own sword was the only thing I couldn’t hide, and it stuck out like a sore thumb. Thinking quickly, I made some adjustments. When I was done, I was able to fasten it to my back. If anyone would show up in front of us, they wouldn’t immediately see the weapon.
My hostage told me to cross my wrists. When I did, he took the shackles from his belt and lay them in such a way that it looked like they were actually on me, but in reality I was holding the open ends underneath out of view.
Before we started off, I quietly said, “If you’re not believable, I will not hesitate to kill you.”
The man gave yet another nod, then grasped my arm and pulled me along.
“Take the back pathways. The fewer chances of running into more guards, the better.”
He complied, and as we wound through the buildings, I could hear panic spreading throughout the city.
Luckily, it seemed like my commotion by the front gate had drawn everyone out from the alleys, because we were having good luck in not coming across people. We eventually stopped in front of a building, and my fake captor nodded to the door.
I ordered him inside, and he stepped up to the door and turned the knob. Inside, there was an entrance, and it led into a large library. On the far side of the room was a group of men sitting at a table. When they heard the commotion, they looked over.
Seeing the guard leading a shackled prisoner, they stood, looking confused. In their midst, I saw Oren. We made eye contact and shock crossed his face. Confusion flooded me. Before they had all noticed me, my second in command had looked like he was enjoying a good conversation. He was also dressed in clean clothes.
Is this where they keep the male prisoners…?
“What’s going on here?” one of the men by Oren demanded.
In one swift motion, I dropped the shackles and pulled the jagged sword from my back and held it to the guard’s throat. “I’m here to retrieve Oren. Come on, Oren, let’s go!”
When my second hesitated, ice immediately flooded my veins. Something was off.
“Oren!” I growled.
The others glanced at him, and he stepped out of the group a bit. “Kena, drop the weapon and let the man go.”
Horror railed against my skull, making it hard to think straight. I knew exactly what was happening, but it felt surreal.
“You’re betraying me?” I hissed.
He raised his hands slightly, like he was trying to calm me down. “Kena, I agreed to repent in exchange for your life. Please don’t make the situation worse again.”
“For my life?!” I snarled. “Funny, I clearly remember a Tehjin and a bunch of guards coming to my cell earlier today and telling me I was being executed. You’ve been played, Oren.”
The sheer betrayal made my entire body tremble with rage and as the red haze descended, I drew the blade across my hostage’s neck.
Horror froze the men on the other side of the room as the guard dropped to the floor, blood pooling from the deep wound in his neck.
Storming up to Oren, I grabbed him by the shirt and aimed my sword at the other men. “You so much as try to move, and I will slaughter all of you!”
Bringing my attention back to Oren, I pressed my blade against his throat. “How could you betray me?” I demanded. Against my wishes, tears pricked at my eyes.
Hurt was writ across his face. “We can’t get out of here alive, Kena… I did what I did to protect you. They promised me you wouldn’t be executed.”
I snorted. “Even now knowing you were lied to, you’re still too much of a coward to come with me.”
“We wouldn’t make it! Please just stop this, Kena. I’m tired of the fighting. All the murder, the dissention? What positives has it brought us?”
“You’re pathetic,” I snarled, pressing the onyx sword against his neck.
My former second in command tensed from the pain and as tears spilled down my cheeks, I tried to find the courage to cut through his jugular.
“Maybe we’re both pathetic,” I growled, shoving him away. I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Oren lifted his hand to his neck and grimaced.
Without giving him another chance to speak, and not wanting to waste any more time here, I stormed up to the other men. They cowered, but I grabbed one and forced him to walk with the tip of my sword in his back. As we got out of the building, I ordered him to bring me to the stables quickly and discreetly.
The man was terrified and complied without a word. We weaved through the city for a few minutes until a large stable came into view.
I kept the sword pressed into the man’s back while I got him to open the door and go in. A stablehand saw us and made a run for the door at the far end.
I let go of the man, ordered him to retrieve a horse, and threatened his life if he decided it would be better to try running. As the man chose a horse, I jogged down the center aisle. I passed horse after horse, not seeing my wolf. As I got closer to the back with no Kain in sight, dread clutched at my stomach.
A stall right at the end looked fortified, and my hopes rose. Running for that one, I skidded to a halt when I reached it. When I saw Kain, I nearly burst into tears from the relief.
I unhooked the latch and swung open the door as my wolf perked up. “Come on, Kain!”
He bolted out of the stall and followed on my heels as I ran for the horse the Marnori man had retrieved for me. He had just finished putting a bridle on and was going for a saddle when I swung onto the horse and ripped out of the building.
Gripping on with my legs for dear life, I yelled for Kain to follow me and steered the horse to the main road. Heart roaring in my ears, I could barely hear the thud of hooves against the cobblestone.
Kain was keeping pace with me as we sped down the path. The main road came into view and I pulled on the reins to steer the horse. The cobblestone wasn’t grippy enough in the turn, and my horse slid.
For a heart-shattering moment, I was sure we would crash into the building on the other side. Citizens scrambled out of the way, crying out in panic.
Just in time, the horse regained his grip and I kicked my heels into his sides to propel him forward again. Tearing down the street, the houses and shops were a blur.
Nearing the main gate, I saw a handful of guards inspecting the scene of the crime. When they noticed me tearing towards them, they unsheathed their swords and ordered me to stop.
They realized almost too late that I wasn’t stopping and they dove to the side. Chest heaving, I looked back to see Kain soaring over the guards. He landed on the other side of them and kept going.
Turning back to face forward, I kept up the pace, crossing the threshold of the gate. I pulled back on the reins and the horse skidded to a halt, breathing heavily. Kain came up to me as I was studying the ground.
There were many prints in the dirt, and it was hard to figure out which ones were from the group of women. I pushed my horse to move quickly around the area until I found a trail moments later that led away from the main road.
To my confusion, I also saw hoof prints. When I realized it likely meant the group had been followed, I called for Kain to follow again and tore off in the direction the tracks led.
Dread was mounting as I struggled to keep my weakening muscles gripped to the sides of the horse. If only a few had pursued the group, it was possible the women were able to fight them off… But what if they weren’t? What if there were too many for them to handle? What if they were all dead
?
The wind tore at me, making my eyes burn. There was a forest on the horizon, but I had my doubts that the group had made it all the way there.
A small incline came up ahead, and I knew my horse was tiring. I silently begged for just a little more of his energy. Finally, we reached the top of the incline.
When I saw what greeted me a quarter of a mile away, my heart nearly stopped. The small valley below was bathed in blood and the bodies of the women lay scattered everywhere.
Chapter 17
H orror crashed into me like a landslide of jagged rocks, cutting and scraping at me until my nerves were raw and exposed. My lungs struggled for breath and my vision blurred.
No… No!
I pushed the horse again and he shot forward. I gripped his mane tightly, hanging on with lessening strength. As we neared the dead, more things came into view, and I saw three men fighting a handful of women.
I tore through the battlefield. Too late, the group noticed me, and I barreled the horse through the men. They went flying as I pulled back on the reins. Turning around, I saw one had managed to dodge, and he was making a run for it.
Kicking the horse, I dashed forward. As my steed came up beside him, I swung my foot around and pushed off, lunging for the man. I landed on him, sending us both tumbling to the ground. Snarling, I leapt for him again and railed my fists against him. I screamed my throat raw as his face was turned into a bloody pulp.
A cry from behind me broke me from my fervor and I whipped around to see one guard had survived the horse and was going for the women again. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get there in time.
“Kain! Attack!”
My wolf let out a blood-curdling snarl and bolted towards the man. He leapt, landing on his back and sinking his sharp fangs into the back of the man’s neck. His heavy weight brought down the warrior and Kain tore into him.
When my wolf stepped back, blood dripped from his jaws. Knowing the men were finally dead, I fell back in sheer exhaustion and immediately burst into heavy sobs that racked my body.
Kain trotted up to me and I threw my arms around him, crying into his fur. I felt the touch of someone and looked up to see the women had come forward.