by Jon F. Merz
Ran nodded. “Let’s get on with it then.”
“Agreed,” said Zal. “I admire the way you’re handling this. Others in your position wouldn’t be so keen to start.”
“Sometimes you have to accept the inevitable,” said Ran, still rubbing his shoulder. “I have.”
Zal smiled. “Excellent.” He turned to Mithrus. “You may take her away and do with her whatever you wish. Knowing you, that will involve some sort of tawdry action that will no doubt besmirch the young woman for the rest of her life.”
Ran stepped forward. “She had nothing to do with this!”
Two guards appeared behind him and pinned his arms back, while two others grabbed Cassandra and dragged her away.
As Zal sat on his throne laughing, Mithrus walked over to Ran and stuck his face into Ran’s. “I’m going to enjoy her in ways she’s never even dared dream of.” He chuckled. “Be sure to listen to her moans and screams while you await execution.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Cassandra struggled as the guards hauled her away. Mithrus whistled as he exited the chamber, leaving Ran with the two men pinning his arms behind him. Zal was wiping his eyes and then stared at Ran without blinking. “Mithrus truly is a sick man. I imagine that poor woman is in for a rather rough time of it. A shame you won’t be around to see what she looks like when he’s done. I’m told his penchant for using his dagger on faces borders on the grotesquely artistic.”
Ran eyed Zal. “She had nothing to do with this. Why don’t you let her go?”
“Because there’s no fun in that, frankly,” said Zal. “And Mithrus needs a bit of a diversion, anyway. Life below ground like this is a tough adjustment for a warrior like him. It’s been weeks since he’s had anything to do with his excessive amount of energy. Your friend there will provide him with hours of entertainment . . . in more ways than one, mind you.”
“I’ll kill him for it.”
Zal waved his hands. “Won’t that be rather difficult to do when you’re dead?”
“I’m not going to die,” said Ran. “At least not yet.”
Zal sighed. “Big talk considering my men have you in their custody. But do hold on to that bravado. It will be charming when you listen to the woman’s pleas while you await your own grisly destiny.” Zal looked at the guards. “Remove him from my sight. But put him in the cells closest to the chambers of Mithrus. I want him able to hear every sordid sound that comes from there.”
Ran felt the guards shove him out of the chamber. He took one final glance back at Zal and set his jaw. There would be time for his death. For the moment, Ran had to coordinate his own escape and then find a means to rescue Cassandra before Mithrus was able to exact any sort of depravity upon her.
The guards led him down a side tunnel, and somewhere up ahead, Ran could hear Cassandra still struggling with her captors. He heard something that sounded like a kick and a guard doubled over in pain. Then he heard Mithrus’s voice. “Enough.”
There was a pause and then the sharp sound of a hand slapping flesh. Cassandra cried out once and then fell silent. The blow might have stunned her or even knocked her unconscious. Ran felt his blood boil at the thought that Mithrus had laid a hand on her. He forced himself to breathe and keep his rage in check. Anger was a useful tool; rage rarely so. And if he allowed himself the luxury of becoming emotionally unbalanced, his enemies would win.
Ran had no intention of letting them survive, let alone win.
The guard steered him into a holding cell and then closed the metal door behind them. Three quarters of the way toward the top, there was an opening that was just wide enough for Ran look through. His view was only of the tunnel walls outside his cell. But at least there didn’t seem to be any guards around. No doubt they thought the cell impervious to escape.
Ran turned his attention to the interior of the cell, but a cursory examination revealed little in the way of exploitable weakness. The cell had been chiseled out of the hard earth and rock. It didn’t connect to any other cells, and the metal door itself was thick enough that Ran wouldn’t be able to force his way out. Even if he could, he had little room within the cell itself to maneuver. He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, hoping to think of something that he could use to make his escape.
He still had the dagger that Yasseh had given him back at the scene of the caravan attack, but what good would it do inside the cell? He would need to launch an attack when Zal’s guards came for him, presumably at the time of his execution. Ran would have but one chance to make his move, and it would need to be sudden and savage in order to succeed.
He stopped. If he waited, it would be too late to save Cassandra. Mithrus would have already enjoyed his sordid fun at Cassandra’s expense. For all Ran knew, Mithrus could be having his way with her at that very moment. The time to act wasn’t when the guards would expect it; it was now, when they might not think he’d had enough time to formulate a plan.
Ran started banging on the door and coughing. He hacked for what felt like minutes before one of the guards appeared at the door.
“What is that racket?”
Ran gasped. “Water. Something in my throat.” He retched and forced himself to throw up the little contents of his stomach. The guard backed away and shouted for some help. No doubt Zal wanted Ran alive until he could execute him, so if anything happened, the guards would be at fault.
As he continued to cough, Ran bent over double and used his right hand to draw out the dagger. As his hand closed over the hilt, he felt a surge of adrenaline flood his system. He primed himself by gasping deep breaths that would ensure he had enough air to fight with.
The lock on the door rattled once as the guard slotted a key into the lock and turned it. Ran was still doubled-over coughing as the two guards entered bearing a bowl of water.
“Here—” one of them started to say.
But even as the word left his mouth, Ran was already launching himself at the two men. Before they had time to react, Ran had punched a neat stab into the base of the throat of the man with the bowl of water. He jerked the blade free, spun and went low, slashing at the inside of the second guard’s thigh before coming up with a single stab to the heart. Both men slumped to the ground. The bowl clattered against the wall of the cell before rolling to a stop in the pool of blood.
Ran regained his breathing and wiped the dagger’s blade on one of the guards. The door to his cell stood open. He had scant minutes to find Cassandra, kill Mithrus, and then start their escape.
As he stole into the tunnel, he wondered if it would be enough time. It would have to be, he decided. And somehow, he still had to find Kuva and help his friend escape as well.
A single torch flickered high on the tunnel wall, illuminating a scant bit of the area around him. Ran used his peripheral vision to try and pick his way along. He was badly exposed right then, and he needed to reach wherever Mithrus had taken Cassandra without alarming the entire complex. Even for a shadow warrior, overwhelming odds were nothing to take lightly.
Ran kept the dagger tucked close to his body as he stole sideways down the tunnel. His lead hand stayed out in front of him, carefully guiding him away from rocky outcroppings and feeling along for anything else that might surprise him.
“Wake her up.”
Mithrus’s voice floated down the tunnel. Ran frowned. Cassandra had obviously been knocked out. Ran suppressed the rage burning within him again and forced himself to objectively assess the situation he would soon be in. He needed to know how many men Mithrus had with him. And then he needed to figure out how badly wounded Cassandra was. It was no use trying to escape with her if she was incapable of fending for herself.
He continued on. There was the sound of splashing water followed by coughs and sputters. Mithrus laughed then. “Welcome back, my dear. I trust you had a delightful little nap?”
“I hope the crows feast upon your withering carcass under a noon sun,” spat Cassandra.
Mithrus laughed
again. “That was very nearly poetic. But unfortunately, your skills are wasted upon me. I’m a simple man. I live by my blade and take what I achieve through force.”
“Because no woman would ever give herself to you willingly.” Cassandra laughed now. “Your manhood is questionable at best.”
“You’ll find out soon enough,” said Mithrus.
Ran crept ever closer and saw the outline of the cavern where Mithrus must have taken Cassandra. Light flickered from within, and Ran watched several shadows reach out into the tunnel. He frowned. There might be as many as four men in there with Mithrus. Such odds weren’t necessarily bad, provided Ran maintained the element of surprise. But if he was heard approaching, he’d walk right into a death trap.
“Undress her.”
Ran’s jaw clenched. The time for planning was over; action was all he had left now. He moved closer and took several deep breaths to flush himself full of air prior to combat. He heard the sound of fabric tearing. Cassandra gasped. Mithrus laughed. Several other voices laughed as well.
Ran gripped the dagger and moved to just outside of the cavern opening.
“Now, my dear—”
Ran slid into the cavern and immediately saw the targets before him. Two guards flanked Cassandra, who stood partially naked, with the glow of the fire behind her silhouetting her body. Mithrus stood with his back to Ran.
Ran didn’t pause. He stepped forward and plunged the dagger into the base of Mithrus’s skull, cutting to one side and then the other. Mithrus let out a quick gasp and then simply dropped, letting the blade slide free of his head as he did so.
The guards looked shocked at the sudden appearance of Ran, but their inaction proved to be their undoing. As Cassandra immediately grasped the implications, she elbowed one of the guards in the stomach even as Ran closed the distance between him and the other guard and feinted a high cut before diving low and stabbing up between the man’s legs. The guard screeched and then fell forward clutching at his bloody groin. Ran stepped behind him and drove the dagger into the ear canal of the guard.
“Ran!”
He turned and saw Cassandra struggling with the other guard. He leapt across the fire and kicked the guard in the back of his leg, buckling the man’s knee. Cassandra tore herself away from his grasp, and Ran moved in fast, driving the dagger into the man’s neck. He gurgled and spewed blood across the cavern before slumping forward onto his face.
Ran watched as Cassandra gathered her clothes about herself. “Are you okay?”
The princess was fiercely proud. “I’m fine. Thank you for coming when you did.”
“They locked me in a cell,” said Ran. “I had to figure out a way to escape before I could find you.”
Cassandra didn’t seem to be paying attention. She was studying the corpse of Mithrus. She reached down and ripped his sword free from its scabbard. “This bastard meant to pollute my body.” She raised the sword high overhead and brought it down on Mithrus’s head, cracking his skull open with a single cleave. Ran watched bits of bone and gray matter ooze from the opening. Cassandra retched once and then turned away.
“Hang onto that sword,” said Ran quietly. “Chances are we’re going to need it.”
He helped himself to the swords worn by the other guards. They were a bit unwieldy, but the more weapons he had, the better Ran felt. “We have only a little bit of time to get out of here before someone notices that Mithrus is absent and comes looking for him.”
Cassandra grinned. “Something tells me that he’s not some sort of all-night lover. We might even have less time than we think if any of his men know him well enough.”
Ran smiled. “Good to see you still have your sense of humor.”
“And my dignity,” said Cassandra. “Thank you, Ran.”
“Time for thanks later,” said Ran, moving past her. As much as the thought of being with the princess attracted him, they had more pressing matters before them. “We need Kuva. If we have any hope of getting out of here alive, we’ll need the big guy to help us out.”
“So you know the way back to the tunnels?” asked Cassandra.
“I can probably find the way,” said Ran. “But we’re going to run the risk of seeing more guards.”
“You can deal with them, though,” said Cassandra. “Can’t you?”
Ran frowned. “I’m tired. The truth is, you’re going to have to help me. If we run into a squad of guards, you’ll need to fight also.”
“Fair enough,” said Cassandra. “I’ll hold my own. Just find Kuva and let’s get the hell out of here.”
Ran eased back out of the cavern and into the tunnel. He closed his eyes and tried to remember the direction they’d come from when Mithrus had dragged them before Zal. His gut was telling him left, so Ran headed that way, aware that Cassandra was right behind him. He glanced back. “Put a little space between us. If we get into trouble, that space will be crucial to us being able to fight properly.”
“Sorry.”
Ran smiled at her. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll get through this. I promise.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” said Cassandra. “Which way?”
Ran pointed, and they kept moving. They came to a branch in the tunnel, and Ran felt that they should veer to the right. The ground sloped downward. Ran felt certain they were heading back toward the dig site. He just hoped that Bagyo wasn’t anywhere about. The last thing he needed was to have to fight some giant beast.
A deep rumble sounded from somewhere far below them. To Ran’s ears it sounded like an explosion. But what would be the cause of that?
“What in the world was that?”
Ran held up his hand. “I don’t know. It came from below us, though.”
“Should we wait?”
Ran heard voices to his left and pushed Cassandra back into the darkened recess of a wall nearby. A bunch of guards rushed down the tunnel a few feet from where they hid. They all had their weapons drawn. Ran frowned. What was going on?
He waited until after they’d gone before stepping back out into the tunnel. “I don’t know what caused that explosion, but it certainly seems to have the place alarmed.”
“Kuva’s down there,” said Cassandra. “He could be hurt.”
Ran licked his lips. There was more risk heading down there now with all those guards in the area. But Kuva was his friend, and Ran detested the idea of leaving the big man behind to fend for himself. “I’ve got to risk it.”
“We’ve got to risk it,” corrected Cassandra. “If you’re going, so am I.”
“We might not make it out alive.”
“Then we die together.” Cassandra grabbed Ran’s hand and led him toward the sound of danger.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Cassandra led them down the tunnel. Before Ran could retake the lead position, they heard the sound of running feet. Cassandra raised her sword and cut down at an unseen target.
The blade came screaming down, but then ran right into the handle of a pickax.
“By Harbul’s ghost, what are you doing with that thing? Trying to kill me already?”
Kuva’s face emerged from the dark. He broke into toothy grin and eased Cassandra’s sword blade from the shaft of the pickax. “Next time you take a swing at someone, try to make sure they’re not a dear friend first, would you?”
Cassandra blanched. “Sorry.”
“You very nearly cleaved my skull in two with that thing.”
Ran came up and gave Kuva a quick hug. “Where did you come from?” He gave Kuva one of the blades he carried, and the big man grinned as he hefted it.
“Down below. We were working normally when all of a sudden all hell broke loose. One of the walls exploded, and then a whole bunch of armed warriors broke in from the other side.”
“The other side?”
Kuva nodded. “Zal’s been wanting to break through, hasn’t he? Well, it seems someone on the other side decided to take the initiative and attack first. I was lucky to get out of
there with my life, mind you. Zal’s men are down there as we speak doing battle with them.”
“Will they prevail?”
“I don’t know,” said Kuva. “When I left, there were literally hordes of troops pouring through.”
Even as he said this, the sounds of battle seemed frighteningly close at hand. Ran eyed Cassandra. “We should get out of here now while we still can.”
“You won’t get an argument from me,” said Cassandra. “The sooner we’re free from this infernal place, the better.”
Kuva hissed. “More guards coming. Let’s get out of here.”
Ran turned away from the tunnel leading down to the battle, and they rushed back toward where Mithrus had imprisoned Cassandra. Ahead of him, he could see more guards coming toward him. Ran led them into the chamber where Mithrus’s body lay and waited as the guards stormed past. In the corridor outside they could hear Zal’s voice clamoring for someone to find Mithrus.
“Uh-oh,” said Kuva when he saw the corpse on the floor.
“Unavoidable,” said Ran.
Kuva grinned. “Am I right in assuming that the cracked skull might be due to our overzealous female companion here?”
“You’d be right in assuming that,” said Cassandra. “And I had good reason to do so, just remember that.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Kuva. He looked at Ran. “We can’t stay here. They’re going to want their commander coordinating the defense.”
Ran nodded. “All right. We’re going right out of this cavern. Ahead there should be a branch, and the tunnel should slope upward. Let’s follow that to the surface.”
Kuva took the lead, and they exited the chamber.
And ran right into a squad of guards at the entrance.
“Stand fast!” shouted the guard leader.
Kuva had no intention of doing so and blundered into them, shoving them back into the tunnel and clearing the way for Ran and Cassandra to get out. As they did so, Kuva retreated so the guards were behind them.
The tunnel was wide enough for two men to stand abreast, so Ran joined Kuva at his side brandishing his own sword.
