While the woman remained frozen, tears streaming down her face, Bolgor and two of the remaining three Gypsies sprinted across the dungeon to meet the five men who had emerged unnoticed from the jail-keeper's office. The last Gypsy, hearing one of the guards call for backup, grabbed the woman by the hand and pulled her toward the cells. Broken out of her stupor, she used her magic to break the locks on the cells while the man freed those chained to the walls.
Bolgor saw the men, women, and children streaming from the cells toward the open door as he reached the first guard, the one who slew Yori. With one violent swing, he introduced his mace to the man's face, crushing his enemy's helmet and nearly removing the man's head completely. The Gypsies were right behind him and threw themselves at the next two guards. Bolgor advanced on the fourth guard, his weapon at the ready. The guard parried his first blow and backed up.
Behind him, the last guard held a nocked bow. Once his colleague was out of the way, the guard released the arrow. It slid easily through a gap in Bolgor's armor and sunk into his hip. Roaring in anger and pain, he lunged forward, swinging his mace wildly. The guard closest to him scrambled out of the way, but the man with the bow tripped as he was turning around to run. His feet tangled and he landed heavily on his side. The last thing he saw was the bloodstained ground where he had tortured so many of the prisoners. The final guard, who had attempted to escape upstairs into the palace, was brought down by a Gypsy dagger nestled perfectly in his neck, just below his helmet.
When all the prisoners were freed, the large group made their way back to where Ator and Bellithana waited. They followed one of the Gypsies into the next corridor and turned left. They continued on in that corridor until they reached another set of double doors. Bolgor made his way to the front of the group and helped the Gypsy lift the barricade. Pushing the doors open, they saw a large ship waiting at a hidden port on the southern wall of the palace. The captain came out to meet the group, looking at the prisoners with apprehension. The Gypsy explained the situation and the captain nodded, beckoning for the group to board the ship. Once everyone was safely on board and Ator was stowed securely in the hold out of the slashing rain, Bolgor and Belli headed back down the gang plank. They had another mission to complete. They stole back into the palace and made their way to the exit.
Chapter 35
The group moved swiftly and quietly through the woods toward the gates, keeping an eye on the dragons approaching the city from the opposite side. They hoped the queen was already on the ship under the protection of the Gypsies, and that the little dragon was in the process of being rescued. The main force of the attack would arrive with the dragons, riding on slings below the bellies of the larger beasts, but this small group had an important job to do before those men could land safely. Under Commander Locke's instruction, the military had constructed half a dozen anti-dragon devices, which were secured within the walls. They were evenly spaced throughout the city and each was protected by a squad of soldiers. Several undercover Gypsies had previously attempted to dismantle or destroy these devices, but all proved unsuccessful, some of them suffering dire consequences as a result.
But the devices would make it impossible for the dragons to approach the city and deploy the ground troops. Though there were only six of them, the machines would wreak havoc on the air forces. The freedom fighters were not willing to risk the hundreds, possibly thousands, of men and women who would be killed in such a reckless attack. So Jora came up with a plan. Prigol would lead a group of two dozen Hidden into the city through the south gate, where they would break into four groups. Each group was assigned a target, then they would combine into two groups for the last two targets, which were more strategically placed and more heavily guarded. The soldiers had very little experience with Hidden, so Prigol expected the mission to be easy and over quickly.
His scout returned, informing him of the situation at the gates. A platoon had been placed in front of the target gate, and each of the gates around the city. Prigol was not worried. Each Hidden was worth half a dozen of the queen's men, and he signaled for his troops to attack. The guards on the outskirts near the trees were dispatched quickly, but the screams of a man skewered with an arrow reached the rest of the platoon before he was silenced. They formed up, looking confused and wary, searching the surrounding trees for the culprit.
Prigol sent half his men to flank the group as he led the other half straight on toward the swords. The guards did not see the incoming attack, but they sensed a disturbance in the air. One swung his sword wildly when he felt the approach of a Hidden and nearly managed to slice the man's arm off. A few other soldiers landed lucky strikes, but they were all taken out within minutes, most of the Hidden attackers suffering only minor injuries which were treated and healed quickly. The man with the deep gash bandaged his arm and tied it to his side. When all the bodies were in the woods, the Hidden split into their designated groups and moved toward their targets.
Prigol led his band of seven soldiers toward the anti-dragon device along the east wall. They slipped through the alleys along the wall, keeping to the shadows despite their almost perfect invisibility. They knew a few Hidden had defected to Aron's side during the war and they did not want to encounter one unnecessarily. They also knew that, though they could not be seen by the average human, their presence could still be felt. The air moved as they passed, the light around them shimmered as if affected by the heat. Objects could be moved and a person's path could be blocked by the unseen obstacle. They wanted to avoid any detection at all until at least the first four devices had been destroyed.
Prigol rounded a corner and stopped. Three little boys stood side by side in the alley, blocking their path. There was no opening in the wall of houses nearby and they could not waste the several minutes it would take to backtrack. Pausing for a moment, the Hidden leader thought furiously. He did not want to harm the children, but he could not move them forcibly without doing so. Suddenly, a thought dawned on him. He pulled out one of his CITS devices, perfected along the treacherous journey.
"What on earth is that?" asked the Hidden standing directly behind him.
Prigol beamed with satisfaction. "Watch this."
Putting the funnel to his mouth, he leaned in close to the boys. "If your mothers find out that you are out here, they will feed you to the dragons!"
The children squeaked and jumped, looking around with expressions of pure terror. Not seeing the owner of the voice, they glanced at each other with panic-stricken faces before taking off for their individual homes. One boy ran through the small group of Hidden, treading on one of the men's feet, causing him to swear quietly.
Prigol smiled smugly as he started walking again and said, "It's a Cross-dimensional Interactive Translation System. In my long journey, I have had plenty of free time and I needed a way to communicate more effectively with my travel companions. Thus was born the CITS. It used to be quite large, but I have condensed it into this beautifully simple creation, which fits in a pocket. Lovely, isn't it?"
Several of his fellow Hidden exchanged glances while the rest raised their eyebrows. Prigol scoffed at the looks on their faces and continued toward their target, mumbling about the uninventiveness of a race of invisible magicians. They could see the massive construction over the rooftops of the houses before they were anywhere near it. The anti-dragon device towered above the tallest buildings in the area. It was a large, open-sided box.
In the center of the box was a heavy metal creation. A tray slid along greased rails. Massive springs connected the front of the tray to the end of the rails, forcing it forward at a rapid speed when it was pulled back. The further it was pulled back, the more force the tray flew forward with, thus launching whatever was placed inside it. The entire tray could be rotated in a nearly complete circle and angled straight up, at the ground, or anywhere in between. From the alley, they could not see the tray, but they could see the tops of the rails. Prigol surmised that the tray must be loaded and aimed at
the incoming dragons, waiting for them to fall within range of the device.
As they came to the end of the alley, the group paused. Guards stood in the mouth of the alley, facing out from the device, watching for intruders. One of the Hidden slipped past a guard to survey the rest of the situation. When he returned, he reported that there were an additional ten guards, along with two Hidden.
Prigol's heart seized momentarily. It still hurt to see evidence of his own race's awful betrayal. After a quick strategy discussion, the group decided that two Hidden, who were skilled in teleportation magic, would port into the center of the guarded area, behind the Hidden, and take them out as quickly and quietly as possible. While they were dispatching the invisible defenders, Prigol and another Hidden would deal with the two guards at the mouth of the alley. The rest would move out to dispatch the guards blocking the other alleys as soon as the nearest two were down, then as a group they would take out the remaining soldiers.
At Prigol's signal, the two teleporters ported and Prigol and his partner moved forward toward their targets. They moved along the walls, sticking close to the shadows. Though they could not be seen directly, Prigol knew the humans would be able to detect their presence by the shimmering that resembled heated air over a flame. If the soldiers were trained in detecting Hidden, Prigol feared this mission could go very badly, very quickly. He knew many Hidden were secure in their invisibility and were often lazy or took unacceptable risks.
He pushed all fears out of his mind as he neared his target. The man stood stoically at the end of the alley, staring into the darkness. The sun did not pierce this side of the city labyrinth and the shadows along the walls were deep. The soldier's eyes shifted constantly, darting from the wall to the backs of the houses. His hand rested on the hilt of his sword, his fingers twitching nervously. The grinding of his jaw betrayed his irritation and fear.
The man was standing very close to the back wall of the last house and Prigol was forced to turn sideways to slip carefully past him. The ground near the house was uneven, though, and his foot slipped on a crumbled brick. His sword smacked into the soldier's, causing a hollow clang to echo through the alley. Prigol grimaced and launched into action. Pulling his sword from his belt, he grabbed the soldier's chin, even as the man turned to lunge at him. Gripping the man tight, he slid his sword across the exposed flesh between helmet and breastplate. Blood spurted into the alley as the soldier collapsed. His partner turned swiftly, but fell mere moments later to another Hidden blade. Both attackers lowered their targets gently to the ground, preventing the clash of metal against stone that would alert the other soldiers.
Stepping to the corner of the house, Prigol peeked around to gauge the status of the teleporters. One of the Hidden around the construction had been neutralized, but the other was putting up a fierce fight. Prigol's men were fighting desperately to keep the battle from alerting the soldiers, while the Hidden defender was attempting to both defeat his attackers and warn his fellow soldiers. Prigol watched in horror as one of his men fell, then led his group forward. By the time they reached the construction, the defender had alerted the soldiers to the threat at hand, but the soldiers turned on the Hidden teleporter and did not see the others coming at them. As Prigol and his men converged on the soldiers from behind, the Hidden defender defeated the other teleporter, the man's body falling haphazardly to the ground with a sword through his chest.
Prigol's men set to work taking down the remaining soldiers. More than half of the guards were killed before they were able to form themselves into a defensive posture. Another went down from a fatal misplaced swing from a fellow soldier. The last four formed up into a square, keeping their backs to each other as the six Hidden advanced on them. They had been trained by the Hidden in their ranks on how to defend against an attack and put up a good fight. The captain managed to take out two of the attackers before Prigol stuck a blade through his ribs, and one of the other soldiers wounded another Hidden severely before the Hidden slid his sword through the man's throat.
At last, all the soldiers lay dead or bleeding on the ground. The three remaining Hidden advanced on the anti-dragon device, pulling charges that Prigol had devised from their packs. The tray was pulled back, a heavy spear loaded into it, the lever set. The device could not be destroyed without the spear being launched into the air, endangering not only the Hidden and the approaching dragons, but also the citizens of Rona who lived around the area. It was impossible to release the lever without setting off the tray, so the Hidden had to spend several precious minutes devising a plan to remove the spear without setting off the tray. Eventually, two of the Hidden climbed up the supports to lift out the spear while the other two held onto the loops of rope attached to the tray, preventing it from firing if it was tripped as the spear was removed. When the spear was safely on the ground, the ropes were released and the tray snapped forward, clanging loudly on its rails.
Prigol glanced around and noticed several faces peeking through curtains in the nearby houses, confusion apparent on all of them. The men, women, and children had witnessed the slaughter of their soldiers by unseen attackers and now the anti-dragon device was moving on its own. Shrugging, Prigol turned back to the construction and affixed his explosive charges to one of the supports. After all charges were placed, the fuses were lit and the Hidden raced away from the area, taking shelter behind the houses. The charges had been placed strategically so that the big structure would not crush any houses, but wood splinters still sprayed the area. They were all thankful the streets had been cleared and everyone was safely inside their houses. Once the last support split and the structure toppled completely, the Hidden made their way to the rendezvous point, hoping other teams had fared better, as they were about to face a much larger battle.
Chapter 36
Prigol led his sorely depleted group toward the rendezvous point, slipping carefully past several guard positions and the occasional city dweller who was defying the law to stare at the mass of approaching dragons. The Hidden looked worriedly toward the center of town, where the two larger anti-dragon devices towered above the chapel. They met the others behind the chapel in the small graveyard that was no longer used. Standing alongside King Aron's tomb, Prigol and his men waited for the last team to arrive. When only two Hidden rounded the corner of the chapel, his heart sank.
"They were waiting for us," said one of the men, his head bleeding from a shallow cut. "They had Hidden and the soldiers were trained. Lia was badly wounded, so Nekki ported her out. The others are gone."
Prigol nodded and counted those left. Along with his three and the other two, one team returned with five, one with six. Seventeen Hidden to take on more than two dozen human soldiers. He had scouted out the area while they were waiting and noticed half a dozen Hidden, as well. He sighed and leaned up against the tomb, thinking. Four porters remained, and they would have to take out the six Hidden milling around the constructions. The other thirteen, a number Prigol inherently did not like, would have to handle the humans.
"Alright, here is what we're going to do. Ja, Dilly, Yon, Sia, you're going to port in and take out those Hidden. You need to be fast and efficient."
They all nodded, Sia thinking only of avenging her twin sister, Lia. "The rest of us will split up and flank the guards out front. Take them out quickly. Remember, they are trained, so be on your guard. Keep your eyes open, your swords up. We must bring those machines down. If they remain standing, this war is going to be over very quickly."
As the others moved to flank the guards, the teleporters prepared themselves. They were exhausted and faced a tougher challenge than those before, but this time it was more dire. Once the other Hidden were in place, Prigol gave the signal to the teleporters. They disappeared and reappeared moments later in between the two constructions. One raised his arm before swinging his sword at the nearest defender, and Prigol gave the signal to his men and the others standing opposite on the square. They moved quickly, taking out the closes
t guards before any others realized what was happening. The four teleporters were successful in bringing down two Hidden defenders before the others could react, then they moved into one-on-one battles.
Prigol took out four soldiers before he met with any resistance. A soldier watched Prigol take out his buddy, then tracked the Hidden carefully as he made his next move. Prigol was taken off guard as the man hit him from behind, but he recovered quickly and brought his sword to bear. He watched the man's face carefully. The eyes twitched wildly, trying to keep track of the nearly invisible being in front of him. He swung his sword, missing Prigol by several inches.
Readjusting, the man swung again and Prigol was forced to bring up his own weapon to ward off the attack. The two metals twanged strangely and the man's sword vibrated. He held tightly to it with both hands, pain on his face. Prigol took advantage of the situation and lunged at the man's side, slicing across his arm. It only inflicted a minor wound, but it was enough to throw the man off balance. The soldier reared back, pulling his arm away from the attacker. Glancing down, he saw blood seeping from a tear in his shirt. When he looked back up, he had lost track of the barely visible outline and panic set in. He searched the air desperately, swinging his sword as he lunged at nonexistent attackers.
Prigol stepped away from the man for a moment, watching him with a twinge of sadness in his soul. The poor guard had no chance, now. His fear had taken hold of him and Prigol was experienced enough to take advantage of that. As the young man turned his back to the Hidden, Prigol stepped forward and found a gap in the armor, sinking the sword deep into his side. The soldier gasped and jerked, trying to turn around to face his attacker, but he quickly grew weak, his sword falling from his grip. Blood bubbled from his mouth as his knees gave out and Prigol let him sink to the ground. Turning back to the foray, Prigol moved in on the next target.
Blood of the Dragon: An NA Epic Fantasy Page 20
