Keep on the Borderlands

by Ru Emerson - (ebook by Flandrel; Undead)

  “Minotaur!” Jerdren’s eyes lit.

  Eddis hauled him around by the shoulders and gave him a good shake. “I’ve heard about them, Jers. Damned few of us would survive an encounter with a minotaur, and that’s if we got far enough into the maze to find it! We’re not done with these bugbears and any prisoners they’re holding. Or did you forget?”

  Jerdren sighed, shook his head.

  “The smoke’s starting to clear out, but we’re still at a dead end passage, because I am not counting that secret door. I say a very quick search here and we’re gone before we’re trapped.”

  “What—by half a dozen bugbears?” Jerdren demanded. “We’re better than that.”

  Eddis scowled, and he turned to shuffle his feet through the things on the floor as he moved toward one of the tables.

  “Her’s got gold earrings,” Flerys said, pointing at the dead female with her spear. It was the first thing Jerdren had heard her say all day.

  “So she has. You take them, girl, and put them somewhere safe,” Jerdren said. He abandoned the table and went over to where Mead was slowly moving, his eyes searching along a high shelf.

  “Thought so,” the mage said. “There—a chest, see it?”

  It proved heavy, and Mead insisted they use care getting it down. Kadymus broke the lock, to reveal a heavy, pale statue.

  “Worth something,” Jerdren said, “but too heavy to bother with, leave it. Look—there’s a pile of coins under it. We’ll divide that for carrying. What’s that leather tube, Mead?”

  The mage drew it out and turned it carefully in his hands, then peered down the open end. “Potions for healing. Good! They’ll be needed.”

  Jerdren waited while the party divided up the silver, then led the way back out. “Quiet here?” he asked the men on guard, and one of them nodded.

  Back down the stairs, and along the main passage. It was quiet here at the moment, and Jerdren could smell smoke from the chief’s chambers. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to have alerted anyone else up this way. Where the long passage ended, he could make out low voices off to his right.

  The other direction, a natural cave sloped up, heading roughly north and out of sight around a bend. Willow went a ways along the slope and stood listening, then came back.

  “There are more bugbears that way, but not close, and I believe there is a closed door between them and us. Sleeping quarters, I would say.”

  Blorys came back from the right-hand passage. “Steps heading down, just up there. I can hear guards down there and someone moaning.”

  “That’ll be the dungeons, then,” Jerdren said quietly. “Leave the barracks for the time being.”

  Panev went ahead, hands clasped together and lips moving silently, the rest following. At the base of the stairs, the priest stood aside to let the others pass. Jerdren paused while they were still in shadow. There was no door.

  It’s a dungeon, all right, Jerdren thought. You couldn’t mistake the sounds or smells of such a place. He could see guards now: five bugbears sitting at a table right in front of the entry, though they weren’t watching it. Jerdren quietly drew his sword and started forward, the others right on his heels.

  Just inside the chamber, he slapped his sword against the wall, and shouted, “Who wants to fight?”

  The bugbears leaped to their feet, catching up spears and throwing them in one lightning-fast move. Jerdren dropped to one knee, swearing through his teeth as bruised bone protested.

  Behind him, someone cried out, and Eddis yelled, “Are you mad, Jers? No, Flerys—behind me and stay close, do it now!”

  She brushed past him then, knocking him off balance and back into the wall, leaping out of the way, sword swinging in a shining arc as M’Baddah’s bowstring twanged and one of the black-fletched arrows Mead had found buried itself in a hairy shoulder. The bugbear roared a curse and clutched at it but couldn’t pull it free.

  Spears were flying both ways. Jerdren shoved to his feet, got a two-handed grip on his sword-hilt, and settled in next to Eddis, hacking and slicing, though so far all he’d done was leave cuts in poorly tanned, hardened leather armor. He ducked as one of the brutes jabbed at him with a thick spear, slammed his blade down across the exposed forearm. Blood ran down the bugbear’s fingers and pooled on the floor, and it lost its grip on the spear. M’Baddah’s arrows finished it in short order.

  A crossbow quarrel pinned one bugbear to the wall by its hand. The beast snarled and strove to tear it free, but too late. Eddis stabbed high, plunging the sword deep into the female bugbear’s throat, angling up. The creature sagged, quarrel tearing through its hand as it went down. A little blood trickled from the gaping wound, then stopped.

  “Good one!” Jerdren shouted. Eddis rolled her eyes and backed away from the entry, drawing Flerys with her.

  “Move!” she ordered him. “You want to get pinned by one of your own spearmen?”

  Another cry of pain from up the hallway, then Mead strode into the open, lips moving and hands out before him. A spear whistled by his head, barely missing his ear, but he stood his ground and brought his hands together.

  It was the same spell he’d used on the bandits, Jerdren thought, but in this enclosed place, the result was incredibly bright and loud. The bugbears were caught dead center. By the time the light faded, all the guards lay unmoving, and the air was filled with the stench of burning hair. Sword at the ready, Jerdren moved forward to check the bodies, but Mead shook his head.

  Brief silence, broken by a sudden clamor of voices from the far ends of the chamber. Men, Jerdren thought—but other things, too.

  “All right, people! We’ve got the guards down, and we’ve got locked cells at both ends of the room here! Anyone hurt back there, get help from our priest here, or Mead, or M’Baddah. Kadymus, I need you!”

  He was aware of Eddis’ sneer as the young thief swaggered into the dungeon and edged around the dead guards to search for keys.

  Willow joined Jerdren, who was looking up and down the long, narrow chamber. “Panev’s silence spell is holding. Any guards up that slope won’t have heard anything.”

  “Good. We’ll move fast anyway,” Jerdren said. “We don’t know when they change guards here, and we’ll be slowed by our injured and what hurt men we find here.”

  The priest nodded and went back to keep watch partway up the stairs, taking two of the archers with him.

  “Kadymus, keys?” Jerdren added tersely.

  “Ahead of you,” the thief announced and handed over a heavy ring of them before producing his bundle of lock-picks.

  “You go to the right, boy, but wait until Blor or Eddis checks that pen before you open it. I’ll take the other. Two of you Keep spearmen come with me, in case there’s trouble.”

  He strode down the passage and peered into the gloomy pen. The air was fetid, close, as though the straw littering the floor hadn’t been changed in a long time. There were several beings inside, chained together, but the only light was down by the entry, so he couldn’t make out much else.

  “Light,” Jerdren demanded, and one of the Keep men broke out a candle lantern and flint and tinder.

  An odd lot, Jerdren thought as he peered into the cell: three hobgoblins, two gnolls and—yes, a bugbear. And a wild-looking, wild-eyed man, who blinked and threw up an arm to shield his face from the light. The bugbear grumbled as his chains tightened, and the man kicked at him.

  “Die of it, ye filth,” he growled.

  Jerdren grinned.

  “Wouldn’t be a feller named Hebold, would you?” he asked.

  “Might be. Who asks?”

  “Fellow who’s talked to a merchant named Zebos. Fellow who was rescued from hobgoblins a while back, just around here. Said he’d appreciate if we found you and got you out.”

  The man stared at him for a long moment, then began to laugh. “Beats all, how the luck follows a man! Aye, I’m Hebold, all right. Break me out of this foul pit, and I’m for another chance to smite a few monste
rs.”

  “I’ll see you get it,” Jerdren said. He finally had the right key, and the lock turned easily. “But what about these others?”

  “Don’t speak Kobold or Gnoll myself, but he does.” Hebold indicated the bugbear with a jerk of his head. “And, being here as long as I have, I’ve picked up enough Bugbear to get by on. He’s in for leading a revolt against their chief. Was a lot more of ’em, but they’re all gone now. Likely dead and probably eaten as well. Him and them other creatures have been planning how to get free, kill what bugbears are still around here. I was trying to get ’em to take me along, but not getting too far.” He grinned fiercely. “Seems they don’t think a man’s strength counts for much, compared to theirs, and they weren’t too sure they could trust me.”

  “Would you trust them, if we were to let ’em out of here?” Jerdren asked.

  The man shrugged. Didn’t know or didn’t care, perhaps.

  “Mead!” Jerdren called out, and when the mage came up, he explained. “Any way to tell if we can trust ’em not to pick a fight with us if we loose ’em?”

  “They’ll die if they stay here,” the mage said. “They’ll starve, if nothing else. Wait.” He stepped into the cell, squatted down, his hands moving in a curious gesture as he asked a question in some language Jerdren didn’t know. The hobgoblins sat up straight, and one of them replied, the words spilling from it. The gnolls spoke then, more haltingly. The bugbear merely growled deep in his throat.

  “I asked if they would fight bugbears if we released and armed them. They said yes, and they told the truth.”

  “Great,” Jerdren said. “I think. Someone find these fellows weapons! Those dead guards won’t be needing theirs.”

  “I will go talk to the others,” Mead said and strode down to the far end of the chamber. Jerdren ran through a number of keys before he found the one to free the chain from the wall and then the one to undo the shackles. Hebold came into the passage blinking and stretching.

  He was a big man, Jerdren realized: as tall as he, but half again as broad through the shoulders, and his neck was massive. Hair paler gold than Eddis’ was tangled wildly with a red-gold beard and moustache that Jerdren thought must ordinarily be very neatly trimmed. His eyes were an unexpected brown—so pale as to be nearly tan.

  “By Kord, it feels good to move again. I owe you a life, man. Now, where’s these bugbears?” he added eagerly.

  “Soon,” Jerdren promised as they started back toward the entry. “There’s a few more prisoners there. We’ll free them before we move on.” A look assured him that Kadymus had the cell open.

  Mead emerged moments later, two wan-looking men following him, and an assortment of thinnish kobolds, goblins, and orcs stumbling in their wake. A dwarf came last. He gazed down at the dead bugbears and spat, then reached into the mess to come up with a battle-axe. His eyes gleamed as he patted the haft.

  “All clear down there?” Jerdren asked.

  Kadymus nodded.

  “All right, let’s do this fast. Mead, you translate for me. You prisoners don’t owe us a thing, but if you want to help us, there is a guard room or a barracks up the passage from here, beyond the stairs. We believe all the other guards here are dead. The chief’s wife is dead, but he went out a secret door, and our priest says there’s a minotaur on the other side. Now, he may have run, but I think myself he’s gone to find help. Any who want to come with us when we leave here, so long as you swear not to harm us, you can do that. We’ll know if you lie. Any who want to stay and fight—that’s your choice.”

  “Minotaur!” Hebold’s eyes gleamed.

  Jerdren winked at Eddis, who sighed. “Any of you men, or you, dwarf, who want to stay with us, we’ll arm and feed you best we can, and see you’re rewarded for helping us. We’re doing our best to cleanse these caves, though. You might find yourselves dead, just as any of us might.”

  “Better than what the bugbears offered,” one of the men said.

  “For a chance to avenge my murdered clansmen?” the dwarf demanded in a harsh voice. “But I am armed already, human. This axe was taken from me when I was brought here, ten days ago.”

  “Good. Stay with us, and stay close,” Jerdren ordered. “We’re getting out of here and back to our camp, fast as we can. We’ll talk then.”

  The kobolds, the bugbear, and gnolls needed no urging to attack the remaining bugbears. Jerdren led the way up the stairs then stood aside to let them race up the passage. He grinned at the ensuing howls of surprise and pain. There was a very brief clash of weapons up the sloping passage. Eddis tapped his shoulder and gestured the other way, then started out at a long-legged stride for the outside world, Flerys right on her heels, and M’Baddah behind the child. Kadymus, a heavy sword in one hand and a bugbear mace in the other, came on behind them.

  They made the outside without incident, but the sky was a dirty black. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and a muddy flare of lighting briefly lit the clouds, somewhere to the south. More thunder—distant, for the moment, but by the wind and the look of the sky, the storm was moving straight for them.

  “Not good!” Eddis had to raise her voice to be heard above the wail of wind over stone and through trees. “We’d better find shelter, unless we’re going to run all the way back to camp! But under all those trees is the worst place to be in a storm like this!”

  “It’s not that close!” Jerdren replied. “If we go now….”

  He looked back to make sure everyone was out of the cave. The rest of his company—their company—was out. Two of the hobgoblins, one bleeding from a head wound, came into the open and tore down the hill, running as fast as they could for level ground.

  Hebold was staring all around him, teeth bared in a fierce smile. “Know this place,” the man said suddenly. “There’s orcs over yonder—east of here. The filth. I owe ’em something.”

  He swung around jerkily, waved an arm. The rebel bugbear came into the open, two bugbear heads dangling from one hand, a heavy broadsword in the other. The gnolls were with him. Hebold shouted something Jerdren couldn’t understand, slapped his chest with the axe, and took off running. The bugbear threw aside his trophies and followed, the gnolls and a hobgoblin loping after.

  Blorys stared after them. “He’s mad!”

  “No,” Jerdren said. “Angry. Do you suppose we should go after—”

  “You’re the madman, Jers!” Eddis yelled. “We’ve got wounded, we’ve got rescued prisoners, and there’s a bugbear chief probably making a deal with a minotaur right now, and it’s not gonna be good for us if we’re here when that deal’s made! We are not in any shape just now to take on a twisty cavern full of orcs!” Tense silence, which she broke. “That—that ‘hero’ doesn’t have any responsibility except to himself, Jers! You and I have others depending on us not to get them killed for no good purpose, remember?”

  He sighed and finally nodded. “You’re right, of course. Let’s go.”

  They made it to level ground without incident, but as Jerdren turned to lead the way east, lightning flared, turning the forest blue-white, and a nearby tree exploded. Thunder shattered the air. Jerdren staggered to his feet, but his legs gave way. He looked dazed, and blood trickled from his nose.

  “Back!” Blorys shouted above the din of sudden wind, drenching rain, and more thunder. “We could all die out here! Back to that cavern!”

  Thunder roared, drowning his words.

  “No!” M’Baddah blocked the way. “We would never make it, not in this weather!” He pointed. “This way—against the cliff! Perhaps we can find an overhang! Everybody move—now!”

  Eddis helped Blorys get Jerdren moving, letting Flerys carry her bow. Another brilliant flare of lightning and a loud crack! M’Baddah jumped back just in time to avoid a huge branch that crashed down from high above, then leaped over it and kept going.

  There was no overhang, only more trees, and the lightning had intensified as they fled, thunder deafening and non-stop. Wind drove the rain s
ideways, lashing their faces and hands, soaking everything.

  M’Baddah waved his arms and pointed as they came into the open. Just ahead, a vast, dark opening loomed. Eddis caught up to him, and her nose wrinkled.

  “Gods, M’Baddah! I never smelled anything so horrid!” She had to yell to be heard.

  “You want to look for another shelter, woman?” Jerdren yelled back.

  Lightning stabbed into the trees a short distance away. Flame and smoke licked greedily up the branches but was doused by the rain.

  “Or you want to die out here? Come on, we won’t go in very far!”

  “You got that part right!” Eddis screamed and ripped her sword from the sheath as she stepped into darkness. Flerys hesitated, then dove after the woman as thunder cracked across the sky. The rest followed hastily.

  They huddled together as near the entrance as they dared.

  “Keep watch,” Jerdren ordered. “Every last one of us, both out there and behind us. And we’ll stay close together, if no one minds.”

  “What are you watching for?” Eddis snarled at him. “Anything in here is dead. Very, very dead.”

  “Who knows? Whatever killed what you’re smelling?”

  The storm raged on. Bushes bent to the ground under the intense downpour and more branches came crashing down. Lightning was everywhere and though the storm seemed to be gradually moving away, each time Jerdren started to get up, another strike hit close by.

  “I swear,” he mumbled, “the filthy storm is trying to keep us here!”

  “None of that,” M’Baddah said sharply, before Eddis could reply.

  Flerys hunkered down between M’Baddah and Eddis, her face buried in the outlander’s cloak. She started violently whenever thunder cracked nearby. Kadymus alone seemed unfazed. He was wandering around, straying farther from the others by the moment.

  “Wretched little dungeon-bird, you stay put!” Eddis ordered him, but the thief shook his head. “Don’t disturb anything in here!” she added sharply.