by Paul Yoder
“My god, he looks awful,” Arie whispered, holding her hand to her mouth. “May we go in to see him?”
The guard looked uneasy, uncomfortably stating, “We had a terrible time getting him to calm down. He could still be dangerous—”
Placing a hand on the guard’s chest piece, Arie moved in closer to him.
“This might be our last goodbye. Please, let us at least have a moment with him.”
The guard shifted uneasily a moment before looking to the other two guards on duty there at the cell. She only hoped their escort held command over the other two sentries there.
Looking to the two men, nodding his head for them to follow him, he unlocked the cell door and whispered, “Five minutes, no more. I’ll be right around the corner down the hall,” before walking back the way they had come, leaving Reza and Arie alone with Nomad.
“Hiro,” Reza softly spoke, moving towards him, Arie curiously waiting for Nomad’s reaction.
Reaching a hand out, she was just about to rest it on his shoulder when he snapped out of his tentative slumber, eyes flashing with a red glint, issuing a low snarl as he took in Reza and Arie.
At first, he just seemed tense, ready to snap at Reza, but she made no move, waiting for him to calm, whispering, “Lanereth warned me that there’s nothing left of you in there to save—please show me that’s not true. We want to help you, but only if there’s still someone in there to help.”
His snarl didn’t change, but Reza proceeded to place her hand on his arm, and to Arie’s surprise, he did not withdraw or lash out at Reza.
His features slowly began to melt into a tired slump, eyes going from red to black again, leaning forward as Reza caught him and cradled him, his torso heaving. Reza pulled him in tight as he let out a heavy breath.
Reza smiled. Rocking them both slowly as Nomad said his first words in many days, “The red…drowning in waves of searing blood and hate….”
She had stopped rocking upon hearing him speak and though she held him close, there was no warmth coming from the spasming body she held. He had been dealing with a terrible pull to darkness, she knew, and she wondered how long he would be able to hold out against it before he was completely enveloped in it.
“We’re here for you Hiro. We’ll come back for you tonight. Hold out till then—” she whispered, pausing as she could tell through his grunts, he was trying to respond to her.
“No…not tonight. Red. Endless red—” a jolt of pain racked his side as he contorted out of Reza’s hold, balling back up on the cell floor as he tried to deal with whatever internal torment that had regained its grasp upon him.
“Time’s up girls,” the guard said as he rounded the corner.
Reza stood up and joined Arie’s side as they took one last look at their friend, writhing in a ball on the floor accompanied by the constant clink of rustling iron chains.
“Come,” Arie whispered to Reza, “we got what we came for,” turning away from a scene she could no longer bear to watch.
9
Irons Rent
The small table in Arie’s inn was cluttered with parchment, drinks, food, tools, and hands sorting through rough-drawn maps of the jail the girls had drawn out for Fin and Cavok to work out their plans of a jailbreak.
“You say he was coherent when you saw him? He talked directly to you? About what again? His exact words. It didn’t sound overly lucid,” Fin quizzed through puffs of his pipe, looking at the route he agreed with Cavok on that they’d be using to get to Nomad’s cell.
“Drowning in a sea of red, blood, hate. Something to that effect. It sounded like he’s struggling with the call of Telenth, but he was with us for a moment. He let Reza hold him for a while,” Arie replied, Reza nodding in agreement.
“Hmm,” Fin let out, looking to Cavok with a bit of concern in his eyes. “We’ll need him with us for more than a moment upon escape. We can’t be dealing with a struggling Nomad if we want to escape quietly. Cavok, do you have any ink to help with sedating him? I didn’t bring any poisons or potions with me for that sort of thing.”
Cavok took off his glove and slid up his sleeved tunic enough for the group to see a rising moon tattoo that Arie and Reza did not recall him having before, and with the ink looking fresh, they suspected he had gotten it within the last moon cycle.
Arie traced the raised lines of black and purple ink that ran along the strong man’s veined arm. “Beautiful, but I fail to see how a tattoo is going to help silencing Nomad if he struggles with you during the jail break.”
“Do you remember Metus’ obscure present to Cavok? That strange token? Cavok cashed it in for a new set of tattoos. Not just any tattoos, hexweaved ink inscriptions. They are costly,” Fin sighed, a bit of jealousy showing in his admiring gaze. “Probably the most expensive gift Metus gave to any of us. There are few artists in any nearby regions, and the art is somewhat of a dying practice, but rumor has it, hexweaved tattoos can mimic spells if called upon by the host. Cavok has been testing some of his inscriptions out on the road with me, and I’ve got to say, though at first I was skeptical, our friend here has reached a whole new level of dangerous.”
Cavok pointed to the rising moon and said, “This one can put people to sleep. It works. I put Fin out a few times with it.”
“You did what?” Fin shot back incredulously, getting a smirk from Cavok, the large man replying with, “Had to test it on someone.”
Arie let Fin finish his grumblings before asking the two, “So you have your route in and out established?”
Fin directed his attention back to the task at hand, still a bit annoyed about Cavok’s non-consensual testing practices, and answered Arie, “Yes, yes. Seems straightforward enough. Since he’s on the ground level, we’ll be making our way in through a barred window. The prison courtyard is guaranteed watched, so we’ll slip past or take care of the night watch beforehand.
“After we’re in, we’ll take out the two guards standing watch over Nomad and break him out, returning the same way we got in. From there, you two,” Fin said, pointing to Arie and Reza, “need to already be out of the castle walls, waiting for us with horses ready for a long run that night. We’ll more than likely be trailed once they find Nomad gone.
“We’ll do best to cover our tracks, but I expect somewhat of a chase. Castle Sephentho is known for their tight justice system, and they won’t let a jailbreak go unpunished. It may be a rough couple of days as we move to outwit and outdistance them.”
“We’ll have our things packed and horses bought within the hour,” Reza said, getting a look from Fin and Arie, since, until that point, she had remained silent since her return from seeing Nomad.
“Yes, getting out of this inn would be good for both of us, I believe. We’ll spend the evening outside the city walls in wait for you. We’ll have a fire lit a mile outside the castle walls,” Arie added, nodding to Reza in approval.
Fin took a long drag on his pipe, taking the plan all in, blowing the smoke out atop the jail-sketch parchments. Picking up the bundle of fine rope and a satchel of pebbles, he patted his large companion on the shoulder and went to leave the room, stopping at the door before mentioning on his way out, “If by midnight we’re not out, you two pack camp and head back to Sheaf. There’s no sense staying to watch Nomad’s and our execution.”
“Always one for melodramatics,” Cavok said under his breath, getting up once Fin was gone, creating swirling trails in Fin’s smoke.
“We’ll be fine. See ya tonight,” he said, smiling, patting Reza on the back, then turning to follow his friend out of the inn.
Things were quiet that night, few night watchmen had been in the streets, and only a lone sentry stood inattentively watching at the jail wall. Fin wondered if this was normal for Sephentho castle. He had been through there once before, but it was years ago, and he was not paying much attention to the law enforcement activity levels at the time. In fact, he remembered very little of his la
st visit due to the amount of intoxicants that had been involved during his stay.
“Come,” he waved to Cavok, slinking along through side alleys close to the jail’s wall. The two men breezed through the shadowed streets like quiet alley cats, each step decisively avoiding any street rubbish that might give their presence away.
Both were donned in black now. They had bought a few goods from the market before sundown, among the items were black cowls and tunics.
Fin came to a halt at the edge of a shaded alley, looking down both walls for roundsmen before running up to the ten-foot-tall wall, easily scaling its rough crags, peeking over the top to get an idea of what they were up against.
It was slightly foggy out, making it a bit difficult to get a real take on the scene, but from what he could see, the courtyard seemed to match Arie’s description of the one where Nomad’s cell looked out to. It was large, a good two city blocks of space. It looked like most of the yard was reserved for some type of chain-gang mining operations, chiseling stone for various purposes. Fin briefly wondered if this was a main source of stone exports Sephentho was known for. Endless free labor. The more they could jail there, the more they put into the city’s coffers.
“Damn bureaucrats,” Fin breathed under his breath, looking back to the alley, waving for Cavok to follow. A moment later, the large man clung to the ledge along next to him.
“Only one guard watching the courtyard, over there in that small corner tower,” Fin said.
“Is he at attention?” Cavok whispered, knowing Fin had the better eyesight.
“Looks like it, we’ll need to sap him. You ready to use that tattoo on someone other than me?” Fin asked, a bit of salt in his voice.
Cavok simply nodded, dropping down to hug the wall, making his way over to the corner tower. Within a minute, Fin saw the guard slump onto his sitting stool. Soon after, Cavok hopped back up to hang on the wall once more next to Fin.
A bit winded, the large man whispered, “Alright, should be out the rest of the night. We ready to move to the courtyard?”
Scanning for guards one more time, Fin nodded, then hoisted himself over the wall and landed down in the stone-filled courtyard, Cavok dropping next to him.
There was little light, most coming from the steaming clouds of fog catching light from the surrounding lanterns and torches of the city, setting it a dim glow. It was just enough to light their path, while keeping them somewhat hidden as they picked their way through the courtyard, making their way to the jail wall.
A hellish yell echoed from within the jail a ways down from them, followed by a horrendous jangle of chains. Fin looked at Cavok and exchanged confused looks.
“What the hell was that?” Fin whispered, not sure if they should go and inspect or proceed with finding a barred window to break in through.
Before he had a chance to think twice about their path, another primal scream came roaring closer to the courtyard as they could now see hands on the bars of one of the jail cells windows.
The two men watched in shock as the bars, along with part of the cell wall, were ripped inwards, a plume of dust bellowing out of the now exposed cell.
Nomad, eyes aglow in a deep crimson, leapt out of the jail cell wearing a few cuffs and chain links along each limb, with a large iron strap around his torso.
Like that, he was gone, rushing through the courtyard and bounding up the ten-foot wall.
“Shit,” Fin cursed. “We need to leave town right now,” he slurred out as he bolted across the courtyard, climbing up another section of the ten-foot wall, Cavok following Fin’s lead.
The jail burst to life just as Fin and Cavok got over the wall, the courtyard now bustling with shouting voices. Atop the jail wall, boots rushed this way and that. Voices in the streets began to sound the alarm, and the whole town of Sephentho began to light up, the militia on high alert and organizing.
“Maybe that’s why we saw so few on shift outside. They were more busy dealing with what was on the inside,” Cavok said as they halted a moment in a trash alley.
“Yeah, probably right about that. Well, it doesn’t seem Nomad needs our assistance, and even if we could get to that maniac, I doubt even your sleep spell would calm that one down now,” Fin replied, peeking his head out of the street corner to get a read on the area of town they were in.
“They’ll be closing the castle gates, if they haven’t already. Good thing I brought this rope. We’ll need to get over that wall,” Fin said, waving for Cavok to follow and stay close as the two ran through side streets, avoiding the majority of the commotion along the main streets of the city.
“He’s on his way to the gates, boys! Lower the porte! Spearmen, ready up!” Fin and Cavok heard a booming voice, many blocks over, call out.
“Well at least we know where he is,” Fin said as they came to a stop at the castle wall. “Damn, he’s not making tonight easy on anyone though.”
“Com’on,” Cavok grunted, locking his hands together to give Fin a boost up the fifteen-foot wall.
Stepping onto Cavok’s hands, he easily flung Fin in the air, Fin grabbing onto the wall’s ledge, hoisting himself over onto the patrol path.
Unloosing the rope from his pack, Fin threw the end over to Cavok, leaning back, anchoring himself in place while his companion practically lunged up the wall on the rope.
“Oi, who goes there!” a voice called out, a guard rushing to the pair of black-cloaked skulkers.
“We’re part of the scout party the king’s sending after that madman,” Fin said, in as steady a tone as he could manage after the exertion he just went through of holding Cavok’s weight as the man made his way over the ledge.
“Stay where you are!” the man yelled, not seeming to buy Fin’s bluff.
“You stay where you are,” Fin snipped back, helping Cavok to his feet.
“Hold him back!” a distant cry sounded, the commotion at the city gate turning the guard’s attention away from Fin and Cavok momentarily. It was long enough for Fin to rush the man, elbowing him hard on the back of his head, knocking him cold to the ground.
Fin adjusted his cloak, tossing Cavok the rope to set up for their descent down the castle wall.
10
Night Hunt
“Put the fire out,” Arie said, eyes on the city gates, seeing that the portcullis was now closing and that there was a commotion happening along the parapets.
Reza covered the small fire in dirt, extinguishing its flame immediately, the low fog bank helping to conceal the remaining smoke.
“What do you see?” Reza asked, knowing that Arie’s bloodline of half haltia granted her greater eyesight than she had.
“I see Fin and Cavok along the wall, but Nomad is not with them. They’re clambering down the wall now,” she said, squinting, shifting her attention to the movement at the gate. “There’s a gathering at the gate, the portcullis is lowered. No—wait. It’s being raised again. I don’t know what’s happening there, but the place is buzzing with activity. We need to see if we can rendezvous with Fin and Cavok and figure out what happened.”
Reza looked to the horses she had bought earlier that evening and asked, “You think the castle’s militia is going to be out on the road? How are we going to keep hidden with four horses?”
Arie stilled a moment, considering possible answers to Reza’s question.
Leaping onto her mount’s back, she hastily issued orders. “I’ll take a horse, find the boys, and bring them here. You take the other three horses off the trail a ways, stay hidden, and wait for us.”
Arie was gone within seconds, and in the silence of the night, Reza could begin to hear distant voices yelling out towards the castle. She didn’t have long to break the camp down.
She quickly shoveled more dirt atop the campfire and bundled up their packs, strapping them to the horses. Looking along the road, she found somewhat of a break in the foliage, trotting the horses through the underbrush until
the road was barely visible through the trees. Tying the horses to a tree, she stood in wait, hoping for Arie’s quick return with Fin and Cavok.
After a bit, the horses quieted enough for Reza to listen once again to the voices on the air. They were still quite a ways off towards the castle, and they were less frequent now. She could only guess as to their meaning though. She felt so blind. What had happened with Fin’s plan? If Arie said that Nomad wasn’t with them, well, where was he then?
The sound of footsteps took her from her thoughts. Someone was on foot, racing down the road. Peering around the tree she had racked the horses to, she slowed her breath, waiting for the footsteps to pass by her.
A blur through the trees came into sight down the road, a slight rustle of iron links, and then, Nomad’s face, eyes streaking crimson, wounds visible along his torso and arms, dark blood slicking off as he ran.
A sharp clang of iron sounded, hinges breaking under impact and strain, and shackles flew into the brush off to the side of the road as he worked at his many cuffs; and then he was past her, off down the road heading south out of the mountains.
All of it came together for her suddenly. Nomad had broken out of jail with, or without, Fin and Cavok’s help, and the castle was very aware of it, judging by the amount of commotion she still could hear in that direction.
“They must be on his trail,” Reza breathed, unleashing one of the horses from the tree.
Looking one last time back towards the castle, hoping to soon see Arie, Fin, and Cavok show up, she mounted her horse and made her way to the road, taking off after Nomad.
She hoped Arie would be able to find the two spare horses, but she didn’t have time to wait around. Nomad might not only outdistance the city guard, but them as well if she didn’t keep track of him.
She spurred her horse on, knowing that within a minute or so, she’d catch up to him on the road, and she prayed he’d be able to recognize her as friend, not foe.
