The Crimson Cobra

by Thomas Green

  Evelyn checked the man holding her. His eyes were fixated onto the cage, so he paid her no heed. The creatures inside the cage prowled forward. Tobias stepped back until he hit the end of the cage. He realized his error and stepped forward. The closest direwolf leaped forward. Tobias slashed with the sword. He hit the direwolf to the side. The strike lacked strength. The blade cut skin but didn’t reach bones. The direwolf caught Tobias’s ankle, crushing his bones between its massive teeth. Tobias screamed in pain and fell to the ground. He tried to stab the direwolf. The second direwolf bit into his arm, tearing out a chunk of his flesh in a fountain of blood. Tobias lost his strength. His screams and cries echoed through the cavern as the direwolves bit off chunks of his flesh, eating it. The third direwolf leaped onto Tobias and sunk its teeth into his neck. Tobias’ screams ended.

  The slavers were all staring at the direwolves, hypnotized. Evelyn sneaked out of her guard’s vision, drew his dagger from his sheath and teleported to the ceiling. She rammed the dagger into the main pulley and teleported back before anyone noticed she was gone.

  The metal screeched as the pulley broke, the cage shook, but didn’t fall. Allara, Rik, and Lars jumped from the cage onto the road, while Evelyn returned the dagger into her captor’s sheath.

  “The dogs got fat,” Rik remarked.

  Lars shook his head. “Bloody hell, this will take forever to fix.”

  Within the tilted cage, the direwolves were still eating Tobias, undisturbed. They had ripped open his ribcage and were now feasting on his organs.

  “We’ve gotta fix that before Marco arrives,” Allara said.

  Lars snorted. “Yeah, don’t want this to come off our pay.”

  Rik stepped to the edge of the abyss. “Alright, everyone, due to the unforeseen accident, the show is over. We apologize for the disruption, please allow me to assure you that we will do our best to fix our equipment and continue with the other escapees as soon as possible.”

  The slavers caught Matt, Lisa and Evelyn and brought them back to their cell. Matt and Lisa stared at each other in disbelief. They exploded into tears as the shock left. Evelyn leaned onto the wall and tried to catch some sleep.

  “How can you sleep like this?” Matt asked when he saw Evelyn has awoken.

  Evelyn looked through the bars and saw there was no special guard at their cell. The slavers were clearly too busy fixing the pulley to have any people to spare. “Got nothing better to do.”

  “What? As soon as they fix the chains, they will feed us to the direwolves!”

  Evelyn shrugged.

  “You are one of them, aren’t you? There’s no other way you could be this calm!”

  “Drop it, Matt!” Lisa interrupted him.

  “Why? She’s obviously one of them!”

  “I don’t think so. There is something she isn’t telling us, yes, but it doesn’t make sense for her to be here with us if she was a part of the slavers. It’s not like they need hidden agents to keep us in check.”

  Matt shook his head. “I don’t know… she took the key from me. Let me guess, you don’t have it now, don’t you, Evelyn?”

  Evelyn took out the key and tossed it to him. “Whatever you want to do is a bad idea.”

  He stared at the key for a while before he hid it within his tunic.

  Lisa sighed. “Well, we know that if we don’t do anything, we die tomorrow, at the latest.”

  “Oi! Make space!” echoed from the bars. They looked up and saw the slavers opening the lock. The bars swung open, they shoved in two people, and the bars shut close. The newcomers were a boy and a girl, both around the same age as Matt and tied in ropes.

  “Welcome to our cell,” Matt said in a flat voice. “I’m Matt. This is Lisa, and that’s Evelyn.”

  The girl shook her head to clear her chocolate hair off her face. Her eyes were red, and she had a bright welt on her face. “I’m Paula, he’s Ren.”

  “Why are you still tied up?”

  Paula grinned. “We didn’t come quietly.”

  Evelyn’s eyes narrowed. “Which of the slavers chose this cell for you? Hmm?”

  “How would I know the fucker’s name?”

  “Did they call him Rik? Well?”

  Paula shrugged. “Maybe?”

  Evelyn shook her head. “He spoke a lot, looked unremarkable and didn’t sound like a total moron, did he?”

  “Yea, that one,” Ren said. “Why?”

  Evelyn pursed her lips. “No reason.”

  Ren and Paula stared at her with confused faces.

  “She does this all the time,” Matt said. “Want me to help you out of the ropes?”

  Ren smiled. “Yeah, that would be nice.”

  A few minutes later, Ren and Paula were stretching their arms to force some blood into their tired limbs. Upon a closer look, they looked almost the same. The difference between them was that Ren’s hair was short while Paula’s long.

  “You three don’t look like the typical farmers,” Paula remarked. “Feel like trying to escape?”

  Matt smirked and pulled the key out of his tunic to show it for a moment. “I thought I would have to convince you.”

  Paula´s eyes widened. “Wait, this is beyond suspicious. Why the hell would they put people who tried to escape into one cell?”

  Matt motioned to Evelyn. “Ask her, she probably knows.”

  Evelyn rolled her eyes. “I don’t.”

  “Stop bullshitting us, Evelyn, you know what’s going on!”

  I do… the most probable scenario is that Rik is bored and thus puts all people likely to escape into one cell, so he can have fun watching them try… which also means one of the walls of this cell is thin enough to hear through and he’s behind it, listening. “No, I don’t.”

  They all looked at each other.

  Ren smiled. “Useless. Anyway, let’s focus on the task at hand, we have a freedom to claim and slavers to kill.”

  Lisa arched an eyebrow. “That’s a lot of fighting spirit.”

  Paula clenched her fists. “We were raised with swords in our hands. The slavers killed the old man who raised because he was too old… they killed the other kids at the temple because they were too young. Everyone… everyone we know is dead. We might as well join them in the afterlife… and go there as warriors… not as slaves.”

  Matt looked outside. “They will be swarming around for as long as they are fixing the pulley. At least it should tire some of them, so we can try to make a run for it at night. This time though, we need to take some light, like a lantern or at least a few torches. Our last escape ended by getting lost in the darkness once we got off the mountaintops.”

  “What then?” Paula asked.

  “We need to find help for the others. There is a Palai Order’s outpost half a day north. I think if we run there, they won’t refuse to help us free the others.”

  “Smart… why are you so motivated?” Paula pried.

  “I have a little sister here. If we both get sold to different places, I will probably never see her again… and she will spend the rest of her life as a slave.”

  Ren smiled. “Let’s get some rest then, tonight will be long.”

  The night had come. Most of the slavers went to sleep, leaving a single extra guard in front of their cell and half the usual amount of guards around the mountain. Matt, Lisa, Paula and Ren stretched their bodies. Lisa sneaked to the bars and opened them without making a single sound. She slid them open and Matt crept forward. He leaped onto the guard and caught his throat between his arms. The slaver struggled, but couldn’t scream. Matt pulled him into the cell where Ren knocked the guard out with a single kick. There was no alarm, so they clearly went unnoticed. Matt took the guard’s sword while the others all took a dagger. Paula slit the man’s throat.

  Evelyn didn’t rise from the ground, she lay still by the wall, observing them.

  Matt pierced her with a glare. “Not coming?”

  “No.”

  Ren sneered. “Pathetic.
”

  Matt stepped forward. “Let’s go.”

  The four of them sneaked out of the cell. Evelyn gave them ten seconds, then walked to the side, focused on her mark and teleported to the ceiling. The pulley she broke yesterday was almost repaired. She undid their progress with a single well-aimed kick. Then she peered down and scanned the cavern with her eyes. Matt and his friends knocked out another guard, the one by the brazier. Evelyn caught herself by the pulley with her legs and reached to her shoulder. With a well-practiced move, took out a thin sleeve from within her hair. She slid a thin needle out of the sleeve, held it carefully and focused on the shadows above their cell.

  There! She saw a cluster of shadows move ever so slightly. Evelyn focused, stretched out her magic and teleported behind the moving shadows. Rik stood before her. He jumped in his skin, drew his sword and whirled. Evelyn caught his wrist, twisted it and caught his mouth with her other hand, pricking him with the needle. He tried to struggle. Evelyn tightened her grip, digging her fingers into his muscle. Rik forced his body to relax to signal defeat.

  Evelyn pushed him to her to whisper into his ear, “Now listen, Rik. The needle was coated in slow-working snake venom. Within twelve hours, you will be paralyzed to the point where you suffocate, because your lungs cannot move. It’s not a pretty death, trust me. So, how about you stop struggling, make no sound and listen to how I allow you to survive this night?”

  Rik nodded.

  Evelyn removed her hand from his mouth, allowing him to speak. “First of all, verify me something. My intel says your group is split into four bands, that being yours, Lar’s, Allara’s and Marco’s. Marco is supposed to be running the show since he’s the only one with connections to sell the slaves. Is this correct?”

  “Yes.”

  He doesn’t look like he’s lying. Good. “When’s the big boss coming around?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  “Excellent. Now, you will do something for me. You will pack your sorry ass and sprint to the Onyx Crossroads where you will meet my friend Larissa. You will tell her everything, and I mean everything about this place, its defenses, escape and access paths. Understand?”

  Rik nodded. “What’s in it for me, darling?”

  “You get the antidote.”

  “And do what afterward? Life of a former slaver isn’t filled with bountiful prospects.”

  “Smart indeed… alright, I will let you apply for a position. If you prove yourself worthy, you will become an agent of mine. Prove yourself excellent and you might see your hair turn gray one day.”

  Rik’s eyes widened. “How will your friend know I’m not lying?”

  “Tell her Cobra sent you, she will know.”

  Rik gulped, fear filling his eyes.

  Evelyn’s face twisted into a vicious grin. “Now off with you, I’ve got work to do.” She let go of his hand.

  Without looking around, Rik caught himself by the wall and climbed away.

  Evelyn looked toward the exit. Matt, Lisa, Paula, and Ren were running away through the cleft, lanterns in hands while Allara and half a dozen slavers nipped at their heels. Evelyn went to a suitable position, placed her mark and teleported to it. She hid beneath the bushes to observe how it went.

  Ren was at the head of the group, sprinting through the cleft. The slaver outpost by the end had no lights. “This way!” He shouted and turned toward the bushes as he left the cleft.

  A spear flung out of a bush and sunk into his chest. Ren shouted out in pain and leaped back. Lars rose from the bush, dozen other slavers did the same from the surrounding bushes, encircling Matt and his friends. They gathered to stand back to back, swords in hands.

  Evelyn sighed. Alright, Matt, you are a smart boy, so figure out that this is the point you should surrender. Or Lisa, you aren’t a complete moron, surrender, get taken back, live till tomorrow when I can end these fools.

  “Didya think the same escape plan would work twice?” Allara asked as she caught up to them, vicious blade in hand.

  “What do we do with them?” Lars asked.

  “Make sure to not harm the handsome one, he’s too valuable. The rest doesn’t matter, Marco won’t be pleased with four lost slaves, but we have a good reason not to get the rest taken off our pay.”

  “Might as well have some fun to make this worthwhile. I will take the black-haired one.” Lars lunged at Ren with his spear. Ren sidestepped the jab and bolted forward. Lars stepped back, withdrew his spear and stabbed again. Ren weaved away and swung his sword. Lars dodged, but the blade cut his arm. Ren pushed forward with a swift stab. Lars knocked it aside and smashed his spear to the side of Ren’s head. Ren wobbled, but didn’t fall. Lars kicked him in the side, Ren crashed to the ground, straight under the feet of the slavers. They stabbed their swords into him. As blood sprayed onto Ren twitched, gurgled, and soon stopped moving.

  Paula roared a battle cry and charged at Lars. He jumped back. Allara’s net caught Paula’s legs, knocking her to the ground. Lars smirked, as he sunk his spear into Paula’s chest. She fell to the ground, grasping onto the gaping wound. There was no way she could stop the outflow of blood. Her life flowed out through between her fingers, leaving behind nothing but a corpse.

  Matt and Lisa stood back to back. Allara stood before Matt, Lars before Lisa. Lars stabbed at Lisa’s chest. She weaved and darted forward. He leaped back from her swing and motioned a high stab. Lisa ducked to dodge, but Lars withdrew his spear from the feint and stabbed low. His spear crushed her instep. Lisa screamed out in pain, but didn’t fall. Lars smirked and stabbed at her shoulder. Lisa whirled and slashed. Lars’s fist crashed into her face. Blood and teeth sprayed onto the ground as his punch crushed her jaw. Lisa didn’t collapse and swung wide. He caught her hand with his, twisted her arm and crushed her wrist. A stomp on her healthy ankle sent Lisa to the ground, crying in pain.

  Matt charged at Allara. She parried his strike, stepped in and kicked him in the knee. Matt wavered. Allara slapped away his hand, slid by him and locked her arm around his throat. Matt struggled, but her grip was merciless. She soon choked the air out of his head, sending him into unconsciousness.

  Evelyn cursed, teleported back into the mountain and then back into her cell. Fucking human kids! If they waited for tomorrow, I could have solved this. But I can’t do shit now, because Marco isn’t here yet and they will call him off the second I make trouble. Plus, they still have the detection spell-scroll to find me sneaking around if they see I’m not in the cell.

  “Good riddance.” Lars smirked and grabbed the whimpering Lisa by her hair. “You and I are going to have a lot of fun.” He started dragging her back toward the mountain.

  The other slavers tied Matt up and went on to carry him back to his cell.

  Allara came with the slavers, opened the bars and tossed Matt in. She pierced Evelyn with her stare. “Not trying to escape?”

  “No.”

  “Why?”

  Evelyn motioned toward Matt. “It’s stupid.”

  Allara narrowed her eyes. “I don’t like you. Take her.”

  Two slavers stepped in and grabbed Evelyn by her shoulders. They dragged her behind Allara, descending to the village at the base of the mountain. The village was more ruins than anything else, but most of their houses were used by the slavers. What caught Evelyn’s eye was what lay beyond. There was an exit out of the village, an exit leading to another cavern, one through which flowed a river. The small dock with six ships tied to it stood there as a testament to what the slavers planned.

  So this is how they plan to take the slaves out of here… fucking bastards, no wonder we haven’t caught them yet.

  “Tie her here.” Allara motioned to a wooden pole by the side of the village. “And bring me my favorite.”

  The slavers forced Evelyn to the pole, tying her to it by her arms and neck.

  Allara leaned onto her from behind. “Who are you?”

  “Evelyn.”

  “What were you doing in the villag
e?”

  “Sleeping at the inn.”

  “Because?”

  “I’m a spice merchant, I was traveling to Nurnfell.”

  Allara narrowed her eyes. “Where’s your spice?”

  “Burned at the inn, you know which one, together with the horse I traveled on.”

  “A horse? That’s a rather expensive way to travel, especially for a spice merchant traveling alone.”

  “I peddle saffron and cloves, all the way from Agol Zal to Nurnfell. One good trip settles me for a year.”

  “Your story makes sense… but I still don’t trust you.” Allara drew her dagger, pulled onto Evelyn´s tunic and started cutting it apart. She cut it all the way from the bottom to the top, straight through the middle of the back. Allara pushed the tunic to sides to make sure Evelyn´s back was bare and revealed. “That’s a lot of muscle for a spice merchant.”

  “I carry around heavy stuff, it happens naturally.”

  Allara smirked, walked back, took a whip the slavers brought her, cracked it and slashed.

  The hard leather sunk into Evelyn´s skin, tearing it apart with searing pain. She screamed out in pain. Allara hit her again, again and again. Evelyn´s back was a mess of blood and torn flesh.

  “So, feel like telling me who you are?” Allara shouted.

  Evelyn bit back her tears. “I told you… I´m a… spice merchant.”

  “Wrong answer.” Allara lashed her with the whip again. She kept lashing her until the skin of Evelyn’s back became invisible beneath her own blood. “Shackle her and take her back to her cell.”

  The slavers untied Evelyn from the pole. They caught her hands behind her back into heavy shackles, did the same to her ankles and used a rope to tie the two shackles together. The slavers carried Evelyn back to her cell, tossed her on the ground and locked the bars behind her.

  Chapter 5

  Searing pain wreathed Evelyn’s back. She grunted in pain as she awakened, her attempt to sit up was marred by the shackles. They dug deep into her wrists and ankles, making them numb. Evelyn shook her head and looked around. The cell was crammed with people. Aside from Mat, who lay sagged against the stone wall. There were eight new people inside the cell. She searched the room until her eyes met with those of a girl who didn’t look away.