by B. T. Narro
“How did you know the army was weak?”
“We watch. We wait. Now you watch. You wait.”
Andar knew he needed to figure out a plan, but he lost his concentration to overwhelming fear as he pictured barbarians raiding Jatn. Rygen and Yune were there. It would take weeks from now for Leo’s letter to arrive, though it had nothing in it about barbarians. Rygen, Yune, and the citizens of Jatn had no idea what was about to happen to their city, no, what had already happened to their city.
“What will become of us?” Siki asked the old man, bringing Andar back to their dire situation. He would have to worry about Rygen and his aunt later.
“You belong to one of us soon.”
“For one night?” Siki asked with fear.
“Yes,” the man said in a light tone. “For one night. Then another gesridahl the next night.”
The old man’s attention went back to the fight as the last man in the town fell to the same victor who had beaten the rest.
“Siki,” Andar whispered. “Run as soon as you can. They won’t expect you to break the ropes.”
“Please ensure I can break the ropes.” Her voice was shaky with fear.
Andar risked snapping a few more fibers as the victor walked over to Siki’s cage. He had a chest like a barrel and a face that looked as if it had been beaten too many times to ever really recover. The old man turned the key.
“Don’t fight them,” Andar warned Siki as he saw her bending her knees back as if to kick.
She relaxed her legs, though her expression was terrified. If she fought, they would expect her to attempt to run. Surprise was the only way she would actually get out of this.
The man pulled her out by her arms and picked her up. He put her over his shoulder and started walking off.
Do something now, Siki! Andar screamed inwardly. Soon the man would be too far for Andar to hold a strong link.
Siki twisted and elbowed the man in the back of the head as she hopped down. He was dazed by her blow, losing his balance and grabbing out toward nothing in particular. She keeled him over with a punch to his groin using both hands. Then she thrust her hands apart, ripping the rope around her wrists, and kicked off the rope around her ankles. Had Andar not known they were already frayed, he might’ve thought she had the strength of five men. Andar grinned as he saw the onlookers frozen with shock. But rather than flee, Siki took a damn moment to look back at Andar!
“Run!” he yelled. “What are you doing!”
A pained expression crossed her face before she broke into a sprint that rivaled Andar’s speed. Skyfire and ash, she was quick.
The man who’d won every fight got up and screamed something in their language. The men he’d defeated barked back at him as if they didn’t care. He yelled at them again as he ran after Siki.
Whatever he said the last time seemed to convince the rest of the men to follow. One had a bow and quiver. The rest had swords.
Siki had enough of a jump on them that Andar thought better than to make a link. Doing so would only cause some of them to fall. They would get up, break the link through strength and cooperation, and then ensure Andar would never escape.
For now, only women were left in the town, besides the old man. One had picked up Siki’s broken ropes. A group of them were looking at the bindings with confused expressions. They spoke among themselves for a time. Andar wanted to hurry them up. He couldn’t go after Siki until someone let him out of his cage.
Pylees approached Andar with another group of women behind her. She said something to the old man, who demanded that Andar put his hands and feet out. He stuck them between the bars so the women could investigate his ropes. Anything to hurry this along. They checked the strength of the ropes and seemed satisfied.
He watched with painful impatience as a pair of women fought in the same fashion as the men. They swung at each other, grabbed clothing and hair, and even threw some kicks. Whoever fell was replaced by the next. He chewed his lip as he sweated nervously. He had to get out of here and help Siki. They hadn’t realized he had frayed Siki’s ropes, and they wouldn’t realize he was doing the same to his own ropes now. These barbarians were natural summoners, but Andar had heard nothing about their skill with Artistry. Hopefully, any mage with decent skill had gone with the others to take the human cities. Andar felt guilty for wishing such a thing, but it was all he could hope for to survive this.
Pylees was the fourth woman to fight. Her opponent seemed frightened to approach, and Andar soon saw why. Pylees attacked and landed a clean punch against the woman’s cheek. She only fell to a knee, which meant she could still fight, but she pushed out her hands and said something in defeat.
Without breaking stride, Pylees walked over to Andar. His heart jumped as he realized this would be it. No other women were going to fight. Every man in the town had fought for Siki, while only a small portion of the women had fought for him, but he could care about his pride later. Pylees had her dagger aimed at Andar as the old man opened his cage.
He waddled out, his hands tied. He couldn’t see just how frayed the ropes looked without an obvious glance. Make sure they don’t look closely at them.
Pylees put her dagger under Andar’s chin and said something.
“If resist, you wish you not,” the old man said.
“I would be a fool to resist.” He spoke directly to Pylees. “You were right that I am not married.” He looked deeply into her callous eyes as the old man translated for Andar. “You are beautiful, Pylees.”
Her eyes softened, and her grip on her dagger loosened a bit. He leaned forward and kissed her. She did not reciprocate at first, but slowly she let down her dagger and put her arms around Andar’s neck. She leaned up to kiss him as she eased into him.
He needed her guard down, or he wouldn’t have the time to escape once he broke his ropes. He could feel her aggression waning as she kissed him. Her lips moved as if she had a fever that only his mouth could cure. He wanted to pull away as he thought of Siki running from a group of men with no weapon to protect herself, but he did his best to pretend that his heart was only for Pylees.
He tried to subtly pull the rope apart around his wrists, but he couldn’t manage to rip it without a jerk. He suddenly noticed the passion was gone between him and Pylees as he lost focus on her lips. She leaned back with an angry look, as if she was about to threaten him with the dagger again. He thought of kissing her once more to put her at ease, but he just couldn’t bring himself to wait any longer.
He risked a dagger wound as he broke the ropes around his wrists and ankles at the same time with powerful thrusts. Pylees and the others let out a sound of surprise.
“I’m sorry to do this,” he said, then struck the woman hard in the stomach.
She keeled over as she groaned. Andar grabbed the arm of her knife hand and twisted until she screamed and let go of the dagger. With Andar holding up the weapon, Pylees and the other approaching women stopped short of him.
He sprinted out of there with a look over his shoulder. Pylees looked more sad than angry. He pitied her, but just for a moment. He had to catch up to Siki.
Andar knew he would eventually, but he wasn’t sure it he’d get there fast enough.
The land was covered in slopes, some gradual and others extreme. It was late morning on another scorching, clear day. Andar ran toward the highest hill in front of him. He made it up and took a second to catch his breath, dropping the dagger to remove his shirt and tie it around his head as a hat. He picked up the weapon again. Where had Siki gone? He saw only the barbarian men speaking with each other at the top of another hill. Suddenly they split in four directions and hurried away from one another.
Siki hopefully had found somewhere to hide. Andar needed to find her before any of these men did, but they were well ahead of him. Andar sped down the hill as he came up with a plan that made him sick to his stomach.
He was unlikely to find Siki before one of these four men got to her. His best chance
of ensuring her safety and his was to hunt down each of them while they were apart and kill them. He figured Siki might head back toward where they had come to this large island through Leo’s rift. Andar ran in that direction ready to permanently stop any of the four men who crossed his path.
Thirst became a burden as he made it up and over the next few hills. He pushed himself onward, still far behind the one man who had chosen this direction.
Andar ran for quite a while before he had to slow somewhat. He was drenched with sweat when he came to a vertical hillside that he could not see around. The man had gone this way. Andar feared the barbarian might’ve caught wind of Andar chasing him. He could be hiding around the bend ahead.
Exhausted and burning from the heat, Andar slowed to regain some of his strength in preparation for battle. He tried to mask the sound of his footsteps by walking cautiously.
He made it to the bend and rushed around it with his dagger ready. Siki was ahead of him! He sprinted over to her as she stood still and looked down at something.
“Are you all right?” he asked, startling her as she turned at him with a rock in hand. “It’s just me!” Andar put up his hands.
Her breaths were ragged, her hair dark with sweat. He approached to see the same man who’d won their little tournament was now on the ground with a bloody wound on the side of his head.
“He tried to…” Siki stopped herself. She didn’t need to say more.
“Are you all right?” Andar asked again, noticing the tear down the collar of her robe.
“Yes,” she said after a few more breaths. She wouldn’t stop staring at her attacker.
The man groaned and moved a bit. Siki raised her rock as if to strike him again.
“Wait.” Andar grabbed her arm.
“He deserves death!” she said.
“I know, but think about what might happen if you kill him. The others will come after us with a vengeance. They will hunt for us, and I know nothing about keeping our tracks hidden. Do you?”
She shook her head.
“But if we leave him alive, they probably won’t go through the effort of tracking us.”
“They are savages. We don’t know what they’ll do.”
“This man is no longer a threat to us.” Andar nudged him with his boot. The man groaned. “He won’t be for a while. Leave him, Siki. Trust me. I’ve met many men who have killed people. It will change you.”
Siki looked to still be contemplating it as they heard someone come around the bend of the hillside.
The archer!
Andar jumped on top of Siki. “Get down!”
An arrow zipped over them. The barbarian loaded another as Andar pulled Siki up. The archer was too far away for Andar to stop the man’s limbs with a link. Andar and Siki could only run as another arrow was shot. It sailed wide.
They sprinted toward a copse of trees ahead of them as a few more arrows were fired after them. Andar looked back as the archer yelled to his comrades. He shot a couple more arrows, but he did not chase.
Soon Andar and Siki were hidden behind the swollen trunk of a tree, catching their breath. Siki looked around for something. Without telling Andar what it was, she suddenly made a run for what he saw to be an arrow. He checked on the barbarians to see two of them waiting for the third to catch up. The archer pointed in Andar’s direction.
Andar ducked behind the tree again. He and Siki had created enough distance that there was a chance the archer had not seen him but had only indicated the direction they’d gone. Siki was farther up the hill, behind more trees. She picked up an arrow with a broken head and grumbled something in Analyse.
“What are you doing?” Andar asked as he caught up to her.
“We need all the arrows we can gather. We’re going to get that man’s bow.”
Andar took Siki’s hand as he ran with her. “We’re not getting anyone’s bow. We’re running.”
She pulled free and stopped. “You are a strong Ascendant. I saw what you can do!”
“So that means you expect me to murder three men?” He checked on them again. They looked to be helping their fallen comrade.
“It’s not murder. They were going to force themselves on me, and now they will kill us. Fighting them is for our own protection.”
Andar had already recovered his stamina, so his sharp breaths were from his nerves now. He’d never killed anyone and didn’t want to now, but Siki was right. These men were going to kill them both, and only after they did what they wanted with the princess.
Andar wasn’t good with the bow, for he had practiced very little, so he didn’t value the weapon. But he let her search for more arrows as he spied on their approaching enemies. They had left the barbarian behind who Siki had struck with a rock. Surely his companions would come back for him.
“Stay back when they arrive,” Andar told her. “Run if it looks like I’ll lose.”
“We won’t.”
“We?”
“Yes.” Siki dropped the arrows she’d collected and started climbing the nearest tree. All the thick treetops here were densely packed together. Siki moved dexterously up to the canopy, where she had a lot more trouble navigating through the leaves and sticks. Andar stopped worrying about her falling and started worrying about the men coming for him.
He didn’t bother hiding any longer. They had spotted him but hopefully could not see Siki climbing one of the trees to Andar’s side. He stepped out and put up his hands in surrender, his dagger tucked in his pocket.
The archer lowered his bow. The two other men, each with a sword, headed toward Andar confidently. Andar started the process of linking their weapons together as the men laughed at him. It seemed like they were teasing him in their language, probably speaking of his cowardice. They did stop short, though, and look around for Siki or possible traps, not that they quit laughing as they did so.
They pointed up at the treetops, unfortunately finding Siki. Andar drew his dagger and rushed them. The surprised barbarians tried to get their weapons up, but the linked metals made their actions clumsy. Both looked at their swords with betrayal as they strained against the link. One was smart enough to drop his weapon, so Andar attacked him first. Andar knew he should stab the unarmed man but couldn’t bring himself to do so, instead jumping and kicking him in the chest. The man rolled backward down the hill. It would take at least a few moments for him to return to the fight. The other swung at Andar with his fist, giving up on using the linked sword. Andar ducked under it and delivered a quick stab to the man’s thigh. The barbarian screamed as he backed away and grabbed his wound.
Andar was frozen as he saw the archer taking aim with an arrow loaded. There was nothing between them, no time to jump behind the barbarian he’d stabbed. The nearest tree was a good five steps away.
Andar threw his dagger. The archer ducked as it spun over him. Andar cursed as the archer rose up and lined up his shot.
Andar flinched as the archer was about to let loose, but a stick spiraled down from the treetops and struck him in the shoulder as he fired. The arrow missed wide. The archer hurried to load another arrow, but an even larger stick was flying down from above, this one heavy enough that, if it hit, would knock him unconscious. Unfortunately, the archer dodged it. He readied his next arrow with his sight on Siki, while the other two barbarians charged at Andar.
Andar only had time to save either himself or Siki. He quickly linked the archer’s hands together. As the barbarian opened his fingers to loose the arrow, the fingers on his other hand opened as well. His bow dropped as he fired. The arrow went wild. He looked down at his hands in confusion as Andar ducked under a heavy swing from a thick-armed barbarian. The two men focused on him still hadn’t tried to use their swords again, and it was a good thing for Andar. He had let the link between the metal dissipate because he’d needed all his concentration.
But Andar could do nothing to stop the other barbarian from jumping on top of him. Crushed by the weight, Andar lost all the air
in his lungs and felt like he was suffocating. He was pinned quickly as the second man grabbed Andar’s arms. The first sat on top of Andar and cocked back his arm as if to strike Andar hard. He barely had enough time to link the man’s arms together. The barbarian swung hard enough to spin himself right off Andar as both arms swung in unison. Andar flipped backward from his supine position and kicked the one holding him, square in his ugly face.
That barbarian fell backward holding his nose. Andar noticed Siki jumping down away from everyone. The archer loaded another arrow with his sights on Andar now, so Andar linked the wood to that of the trees. They were not the same type of wood, but Andar had made more difficult links with ease. The archer walked toward Andar, but his bow did not move with him. Instead, it hit the man’s chest, forcing out a sound of shock. The archer tried to grab his bow out of the air but couldn’t move it.
He finally seemed to notice Andar holding out his hand at the weapon. The archer pointed at Andar and shouted something. The other barbarians rose up and seemed to agree as they pointed at him.
If they know what I am, they should leave now.
But these men were fools. The three of them charged from separate directions. Andar didn’t have time to link the boots of all of them.
He only managed to stop one man, tripping him with a link. Andar dodged the other one diving for him, but the archer was too fast. Andar found himself beneath yet another large barbarian, struggling to free himself. But a second one soon grabbed his arms. The third put his hand over Andar’s eyes. He couldn’t link if he couldn’t see!
Knowing that he would be struck with either fist or blade at any moment, Andar tried desperately to link limb or metal, whichever he could feel first. But he had never tried linking something physical that he couldn’t see. He had no idea how to do it.
He squirmed as he sensed his death coming.
He heard a thud. And then a guttural scream. The grip around Andar’s arms came loose. He was about to push away the hands over his eyes when they lifted on their own. With his vision returned, he saw the archer getting up off Andar with his hands raised. The one who’d taken Andar’s arms had his hands in the air as well. The last one did not have his hands up, though, for he was busy with something else. One hand hovered near an arrow that stuck out of his other arm. A sword sat on the ground nearby. This was the man who’d been about to kill Andar.
