Fires of Memory

by Washburn, Scott;

  “Yes! Turn round!” Chenik did so and he quickly cut him free. Other men were starting to cluster around. “Untie them. I’ll get to work on the pen!” Chenik sternly warned the men to keep quiet and then started untying them. As each one was freed, that man would go to work on another. A steadily growing ripple of freedom began to silently sweep through the pen. Matt was already sawing at the ropes that held the pen together. The wooden stakes were all a few inches thick and had been pounded a foot or so into the ground. Then ropes had tied them together at the top and in the middle, leaving about a five inch gap between each one. It was a fairly flimsy barrier, but more than sufficient to hold men with their hands tied behind their backs.

  He cut through the middle ropes on either side of three of the posts. Then he called for one of the freed men to kneel down so he could stand on his back to get at the upper ropes. Two other men were already digging frantically at the base of the posts. Matt jumped up on the man and sawed as fast as he could. The prospect of getting away filled him with more energy than he’d had since they were captured.

  He—and almost everyone else—had sunk into a miserable apathy. The army was destroyed, the capital was falling, the Kaifeng were catching and enslaving everyone. They had been marched into this camp, bound, and herded into this pen. The Kaifs had managed to communicate the fact that they would all be killed soon enough, and there had been twenty men from the two hundred who had been taken earlier who described what had happened to the rest. All hope had faded as they waited for death. Even the spectacle of the captive women, stripped and whipped and forced to bring them their food and water, had not roused very many from their stupor. A few, like Matt, had been angry; and a few more had nearly gone mad when they recognized a wife or lover among the slaves, but most had not had the energy for anything. Matt had scanned the women’s faces, hoping to see Kareen. He had been glad then that he had not—each time one of those ghastly reunions had taken place, the Kaifs had immediately seized the woman and raped her right there in front of the crazed soldier. The thought that she was dead gnawed at him now, but he refused to let it distract him.

  The knife was starting to get dull, but he cut through the last rope and stepped down off the man. Immediately, he went to his knees and began chopping at the ground to help uproot the posts. Where were the guards? They had all seemed bored and uninterested—except when they were tormenting the prisoners. Were they asleep? The dirt was flying away from the posts, and he could sense men crowing behind him. Several men were pushing on the posts now and trying to rock them loose.

  “Easy!” he hissed. “No noise! All right, try to pull it out.” They had dug down nearly to the bottom of the posts on the inside of the pen. Now, a half dozen men seized the posts and the ropes still holding them and pulled. With surprising ease, they tilted over and came right out of the ground. They were laid down and then men began pushing for the gap in the pen.

  “Slowly! There’s plenty of room! Four hundred yards west there are horses. Go!” The gap was just big enough for one man at a time, and Matt and Chenik passed them through, whispering the instructions as they did so. Ten, twenty, fifty men were through. The others were crowding in. Suddenly, Chenik grabbed him and hustled both of them through the gap.

  “Our turn, sir. Not right for an officer to wait ‘til last.” Matt nearly protested, but then a fear gripped him that he might wait too long. Suddenly he had to get out. He ran.

  Almost immediately, they were in a bewildering maze of tents. It was hard to maintain a sense of direction in the dark, but he kept moving. He was aware of other dark shapes moving all around him. He stubbed his bare foot on a tent peg and nearly fell. The pain was so intense, that for an instant, he almost cried out. Chenik was right there and kept him moving. He hobbled for a dozen yards before the pain started to subside. He limped along, growing more afraid every second. Surely someone would give the alarm soon. They reached a dead end and had to backtrack and try another way. Where were the damn horses? They’d gone a lot farther than four hundred paces!

  “Over there, sir,” gasped Chenik. Matt looked and he saw a dark mass off to one side. Horses! He could smell them. They limped over to them as fast as they could. Other men had already found them and the horses were stirring and making far too much noise.

  “Hope you can ride bareback, sir. No hope of finding any saddles.”

  They reached the horses and Matt was relieved that they at least had bridles, but the steeds were picketed to stakes in the ground. Matt grabbed one and pulled it out. “They’ll chase us, Sergeant. Better take two apiece.” He grabbed a second picket rope and saw that Chenik was doing the same. He could already hear the sound of pounding hooves. Some of them were getting away!

  Suddenly, there was a shout from close by. Someone had seen them! He tried to scramble up on the horse, but it was hard without stirrups. He was weaker than he had thought. Then Chenik was there again, and he was boosted up onto the horse.

  “Go!” he said urgently. Matt clutched the horse’s mane with one hand and the two bridle ropes and the knife with the other. A man appeared out of the dark with a sword. Chenik turned to meet him. The sergeant was a big, powerful man. He blocked the attacker’s sword stroke and then knocked him to the ground with his fist. Left handed, too; his right was nearly useless now. He kicked the Kaif and scooped up the sword. He turned to look at Matt. “Go!” he shouted.

  “Come on, Sergeant! We can both make it!”

  There were more cries closing on them. Matt could see several Kaifs running their way.

  “Will you do what I tell you just once, Matt?” shouted Chenik. Then he turned and charged the Kaifs.

  “Sergeant!” There were cries and shouts and ringing steel coming out of the dark. Matt stared in frozen shock for a moment. He almost went to his friend’s aid. Almost. A dozen more shapes appeared, shouting in Kaif voices. They were closing in from almost all around.

  He turned his horse in the only open direction and kicked it into motion. He held back his sobs as he galloped north.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Kareen clutched the blankets to her and tried to burrow down in them even farther than she already was. Gods, she was tired! And sore, too. Not as sore as after those first two nights of her captivity, but sore enough. Unlike the aftermath of that first horror, today she had a growing exaltation inside her instead of a numbing shame.

  Matt was free! He was safe!

  Or at least she kept telling herself that. He had not been among the dead, nor those who had been recaptured. He had gotten away from the Kaifeng camps, and with any luck, he might get away completely. Nearly a hundred men had managed to steal horses and escape. Some had been caught and killed, but she did not think Matt was among them. With that many men to try and track down, his chances of escaping were good.

  She had to admit that the scale of the breakout had surprised her. Thelena, too, she was sure. They had simply wanted to get Matt out, but in hindsight, it was obvious that the other captives were not just going to roll over and go back to sleep! Clearly, neither of them had been thinking too clearly at the time. As it turned out, almost all of the prisoners had made it out of the pen, except for those who were too hurt or sick to move. But anyone who could even walk had gotten out.

  Kareen had been waiting and waiting for the alarm to sound. All the time the guards were using her, she had waited. She halfway expected them to kill her the instant they realized anything was wrong—her guilty conscience, no doubt. But when the first shouts had come, they had simply jumped up and ran back toward the pen. Kareen, knowing exactly what was happening, had not waited one second more, and she scrambled off into the darkness. No one had even chased her. The camp was in an uproar, and no one noticed one more naked girl running through the night. She had gotten back to the tent and sneaked in the way she had left; not even Atark had noticed. Thelena was already there. She just nodded to her and they tried to go back to sleep.

  It had been impossible to sleep,
of course; there was far too much commotion. But eventually the camp had quieted down, and Kareen had managed to doze off. In the morning, she had gotten up, done her chores, and waited while Thelena gathered news. Unfortunately, a lot of the news had been bad. Of the five hundred prisoners, nearly four hundred were dead. Caught while trying to escape, they had fought like lions rather than go back to the pen. Over twenty Kaifeng had died during the fighting, and many more had been hurt. She felt bad for Thelena: those were her people, enemies though they were to her. Neither of them had expected so much carnage. But Matt had gotten away. To Kareen, that was all that really mattered.

  She shifted in the blankets again. She really was sore. The guards had not been easy with her, but at that moment, she did not care. It was very odd: last night she had ‘willingly’ done things they had scarcely been able to force her to do that first night. But this time, she felt no shame. She had been there by her own choice, and she had been using them even though they didn’t know it. They had taken their pleasure from her, but in doing so, she had killed twenty of their fellows and let her own men die with honor—and saved her brother! A little soreness was a tiny price to pay for that!

  Of course, she might pay a much higher price in the end, but it would be worth that, too. The camp was still stirred up, and she imagined the Kaifeng were eager to find out who was to blame for the mess. If they decided to blame her…

  She turned to look when she heard someone enter the tent. She was relieved to see that it was Thelena. The other woman came over and sat down near her. She looked very tired. “Is…is there any news?”

  “Nothing beyond what you already know. Men are out searching for the ones who escaped, but a great many of the warriors were already out and won’t know about the escape. I think Matt has a good chance.”

  “Thank the gods!” She looked over at Thelena and smiled. “And thank you. I owe you so much now.” Thelena looked down and shook her head.

  “Save your thanks. This did not go as I had hoped. We may both have to pay a high price for your brother’s life.”

  “I’m sorry some of your people were killed.”

  “I… I was stupid. I should have known this was going to happen.”

  “There wasn’t any other choice, was there?”

  “The other choice was to let your brother die. But I couldn’t bear that choice, either. Sometimes there is no right choice.”

  “For me the choice seems right. And for that you have my thanks.”

  “You are welcome. I just wish…”

  Thelena was cut off by the tent flap opening. Atark stormed into the tent and Kareen could see that he was furious. She cringed back as he came right up and stared down at her!

  * * * * *

  Thelena stiffened when she saw the look on her father’s face. He was very angry, and when he stopped in front of Kareen, there could be little doubt what he was angry about. “Get up, you Berssian whore!” he snarled. Kareen’s eyes got very wide and she crouched down, clutching the blankets to herself.

  “Father, what’s the matter?”

  “This one!” he said pointing at Kareen with one hand. “This is the one that helped the prisoners escape! Get up, you slut! You will pay for your crimes!”

  “No, father! It was not her! She…she was with me last night.” She stumbled over the half-lie.

  “Don’t try to protect her, Thelena! The fools who were on guard could only say that the woman who pulled them from their duty had dark hair and was very pretty. The blouse that was left behind could have belonged to anyone. But she forgot about this!” Atark raised something in his hand and then flung it to the ground. Thelena hissed when she saw it. The wineskin. The skin they had put the brandy in. It was like a thousand other wineskins in the camp, but none of the others were decorated quite like this one...

  “Your mother made this! It hung in our tent the night you were made and the day you were born! And this bitch used it to free the captives and kill our warriors! She will die—slowly and painfully! And before she dies, she will tell us who else was involved. She clearly was not acting alone.”

  “No! No, father, you cannot!”

  “Don’t interfere, Daughter! I’ll get you another slave.”

  Thelena was trembling. She had never defied her father before, but now she did. She stood up and put herself between him and Kareen.

  “You may not have her, Father.”

  Atark’s eyes grew wide in surprise. “Why are you defending her? She helped kill our own people! Has this slave bewitched you? She must be dragged out and flogged to death for what she has done!”

  “Then you shall have to flog me to death, too, Father.”

  He took a pace back. “What are you saying?”

  “She distracted the guards, but I am the one who gave the prisoners the knife they used to escape. If she must die for her deeds, then so must I.”

  “I…I don’t believe you! You are just making that up!” The pain in his eyes was like a knife in her heart. She was hurting him. The last thing in the world she wanted to do, but she had to.

  “I speak the truth. And if you try to harm Kareen, I shall stand before the assembled kas and confess my guilt. Do you think they will not believe me?”

  He took another step back. “Why? For the sake of all the gods, why did you do it?”

  Her shoulders slumped and her head fell. “I…I had to, Father. Kareen’s brother was among the prisoners. I owed her—and him—a debt. It is paid now. And if I must pay further for this act, I will.”

  “They are both our enemies! You owed them nothing!” Atark cried in anger and anguish.

  “I owed them my life. I could not allow her brother to be sacrificed. But I was stupid, I never thought that any of our own people would be killed. For that I beg forgiveness.”

  “Forgiveness! Twenty of our people are dead, Thelena!”

  “They died honorable deaths—in battle. And so did the prisoners. Father, you must take no more sacrifices! It is an abomination!”

  “What are you talking about? What nonsense is this?”

  “When you steal the sacrifices’ strength, you rob them of the afterlife as well! You condemn them to wander forever in the shadows between worlds. I have heard their cries, Father. I know of what I speak! I could not allow Kareen’s brother to suffer such a fate. You must take no more sacrifices!”

  Her father shook his head and looked stunned. “This is madness,” he muttered. “You will speak of this to no one, Thelena! No one!” He motioned to the wineskin on the ground. “I have not mentioned this to anyone, and I sent the guards away before coming in. No one knows of your insanity. If you value the life of this slave—and your own—then no one must ever know. I am very angry and very disappointed with you, Daughter.”

  “I know, Father. I am sorry.”

  Atark turned to Kareen. “I grant you your life, slave. But give me no reason to regret my decision! If you do, you shall surely die!” He spun about and left the tent. Thelena slowly sank to her knees, her shaking legs unable to support her any longer. She jumped when Kareen reached out to touch her arm.

  “Am I to die?” she asked. “I could only understand a little of what was said. But I could tell your father was very angry.”

  “He was. But, no, you are not to die. At least not now.”

  “But he knew what I had done?” She touched the wineskin.

  “Yes.”

  “Then why is he sparing me? Surely he would have me killed. What did you say to him, Thelena? How did you save me?”

  “I…I…” she couldn’t say any more. She was too confused and she hurt too much inside. But suddenly Kareen clutched her.

  “You told him what you had done, too, didn’t you? You did! Oh, Thelena, that was foolish!”

  “He would have killed you if I had not,” she whispered. Kareen moved closer and put her arms around her and hugged her tight.

  “Thank you. Thank you for my brother’s life and for my own.” She held her f
or a long time. Finally, she pulled away, and when she did, she had a strange look on her face.

  “When… when I wanted to save my brother, it wasn’t just to save his life. It was…I guess you could call it an act of defiance on my part. Some way I could strike back at my captors. I never dreamed it would do so much damage. But now, I owe you two lives: mine and Matt’s. And I will repay you, Thelena. I suppose what I’m saying is that I’ve struck my blow and now I’m done. Back in the fort you were a good slave. I won’t insult you by saying that you were a servant. You served me faithfully, and now I promise to do the same for you. I won’t make any more trouble. Tell your father I’ll be a good slave, and I’ll serve you both well.”

  Kareen bowed down and touched her head to the ground. Thelena had no clue what to say.

  * * * * *

  Atark was still furious. A range of emotions fought through his mind; hurt, shock, embarrassment, but fury took the forefront. Somehow that Berssian bitch had subverted his own daughter! Every instinct told him to have the woman killed before she could do more harm, but he had seen the look in Thelena’s eye. She would really do it. If he killed the slave, his daughter would confess what she had done, and then not even his powers could save her.

  So the slave would live—for now. Perhaps later he would have her killed, but not now. Thelena would have her guard raised for some time, but if in a few months the woman simply disappeared one day, what could she do? He would not even have to kill her, so he would not have to lie to Thelena. Some of the merchant tribes were already starting to gather, and they would buy slaves and ship them west. Perhaps one of them would soon have this woman as part of their merchandise. Enough! He could deal with that later.

  Without thinking, he had been stalking up the little hill where his private tent was located. He had been spending almost every waking hour there for the last three days learning the new spell the Ghost was teaching him. This magic took immense power and could move the earth itself and bring down the walls of the Berssian city. He felt that he was very close to mastering it. The Ghost had complimented him on how quickly he learned. He was nearly ready. Just a bit more work…