~~~
Bianca
Still waving two bloody blades in the air Bianca ran down the stairs and burst out of the mage’s house. “Father, Father,” she yelled loudly heedless of who heard her. “Come quickly.”
~~~
Astrid
Father Christopher looked around. He doesn’t have an idea about how he will get down. Astrid dropped her bow. Lucky the arrow did not explode as it fell. She quickly pulled up the rope. A quick bowline round the priest and she threw him over the cliff, rapidly lowering him. While she did so, she could hear Christopher getting in a quick prayer of thanks. At least I think that ‘gratias’ is thanks. He is clumsy with a pack on his back, but it will be needed. He has all his clerical stuff in it and his chirurgeon’s supplies. He has often said that no priest leaves home without them.
“Who is down?” Astrid called down, she could feel a sinking sensation in her stomach.
“I am not sure, but I think probably Basil,” replied Bianca.
Without thinking Astrid grabbed the rope and slid down it, ignoring the heat in her arm wrapped around it. When she got to the bottom the priest was still struggling to undo the knot. Automatically she had grabbed her spear and, without realising the danger to Father Christopher, she had grasped near the head and used it to saw at the rope to cut him free.
“Go,” she urged. Christopher ran towards the house, but she quickly passed him. She ran up the stairs. “Which way?” she called.
Ayesha replied, “Here,” and Astrid turned left.
~~~
Rani
Rani thought for a moment and started muttering to herself, “If I were to have a set emergency teleport from here, where would I go? It has to be clear—the roof—of course—there was a noise up there earlier.” She ran to the other set of stairs and up them. There was a trapdoor at the top and, haste overcoming caution, she threw it open and peered out. In front of her was a naked body, or at least most of one, lying on a pentangle. Hopefully that is the escaping mage and not someone else. Astrid must have hit him when he appeared with one of my arrows. Blood is pooled around the body, obscuring the design, but actually less than I would have expected. Hopefully the design had not been charged…or if it was, hopefully the disruption is over. She looked around cautiously—there were no manifestations that she could see. Freed and unconstrained mana can do strange things—particularly in these circumstances. From where she stood on top of the building she could see that Bianca was in the village courtyard and Astrid and the Christian priest had come down from the ledge. Two bodies lay out in the street and Stefan and Hulagu were just standing there looking around. There seems to be no more resistance.
Quickly she went down into the building.
~~~
Thord
Thord heard screams, cries for help and movement, but no more combat. I can kill Dharmal easily, but the others seem to be in control outside and this Dwarf must have information they want…like where the map is. I will concentrate on the bandit chief. I just have to keep out of Dharmal’s reach and keep him contained. I don’t have to keep him unhurt. Dharmal kept trying to scuttle around the bed to the corner. There must be something useful there. An ungentle tap from my hammer onto a bare foot or one knee or the other stops the tentative moves. It is not doing too much more damage and it has Dharmal twisting around like a forest lobster out of water and trapped by a waving torch giving out amusing yelps as he does so.
I am hurting and revenge is fun.
~~~
Father Christopher
Astrid had passed him quickly and now Father Christopher rushed up the stairs and followed to where the noise was coming from. He rounded a corner and entered a room. Theodora was straightening up from where Basil lay on the floor. Ayesha, her hands covered in blood, was clutching a rag to Basil’s head. “His pulse is weak,” she said.
Astrid is already kneeling at Basil’s side, clutching a hand. I can see the pain in her face. He knelt down. The bleeding has mostly stopped and, what was a major wound to Basil’s head is, although raw and bloody, mostly healed enough to stop the bleeding. “Theodora, you have cast a cure already?” he asked.
“Yes, I have done the best that I could for the moment. I thought it would hold him until you arrived.” Without saying anything Astrid began to weep.
“It has. You may have saved his life, but he is still slipping away. The damage is bad.” While he spoke his hands were moving over Basil, checking his pulse. Ayesha was right. He searched for any other wounds. “Quick,” said the priest, “I need something to draw with. Clear a space on the floor where there is plenty of room and away from the blood.…Stop crying child. If we act now we can save him. He needs you to be strong for him.” Theodora swept aside a Caliphate rug that covered most of the floor and reached into a pouch, pulling out some chalk. She handed it over. “Now we lift him. Ayesha, you will keep hold of his head. Astrid—pull yourself together girl—he needs you. You and I will lift him by belt and leg. Everyone take hold, on the count of two, ready…one…two…lift. Basil was moved into the cleared area. “Ayesha—keep hold there and note his pulse. Tell me if he gets worse.” Now that Father Christopher was in his area of expertise he had lost his diffidence before the others and was quick to act and take charge. They can kill things, but I am a healer. I speak with the authority of the Lord and others move. He started to draw a figure around himself and the three on the floor.
People began to arrive and a glance up showed Theodora and Rani holding hands in the doorway. When the symbol was complete, Father Christopher took off his backpack and, placing it outside the figure, began pulling items out. He handed Theodora an incense burner and, without asking, Rani lit it. He gave her his open prayer book and she automatically held it as close to where he stood as she could without stepping on the pattern. Good I can make out the words. Out came his icon of Saint Christopher, which he kissed and placed on a bare spot in the symbol. He removed an asperser and filled it with Holy Water and, starting to sprinkle it over them all, began to chant in deep and sonorous Latin as he read. He concluded with “In nomine patre, filis et sanctu,” and rose weakly, staggering as he did so.
Basil began to breathe more freely and opened his eyes to have his mouth closed by Astrid’s.
“Let him breathe girl. He will live now and you can bear his children later.”
She drew clear and began to stroke his brow.
“Astrid,” Basil whispered.
Christopher moved to a chair and sat down heavily. “I hope no more is needed. I have done more than I should normally do, otherwise he was lost. Now, someone make this bed clean to lay him in. Astrid—no you are useless here—Ayesha, if you would not mind. The rest of you, see if the others need help with anything else.” Looking up he could see that his words had made the two mages realise that they were not all here as they started and looked at each other. Half our group is missing. Thord has not appeared…nor have Hulagu and Stefan…Bianca has not returned either. I hope that they are all well and not in need of prayer as there is little that I can do at present without risk to myself. I wonder if I should see to that girl who is still crying hysterically a few rooms away. I will see if one of the others is with her first.
~~~
Hulagu
Hulagu looked at Stefan and Stefan looked back at him. Weapons in hand they both started looking around the paved area in the middle of the village. I am starting to shake a little with a reaction to killing that man. I think Stefan is doing the same. There is a wailing in the mage’s house, surely not one of our women, and lots of noise in the slave’s barracks, but all else seems quiet.
Suddenly Bianca came bursting out into the courtyard crying out for Father Christopher and then the priest and Astrid were running into the house. Bianca stayed outside. “I lost mine. I wounded him but didn’t kill him, and he just left,” she said.
“T’ere was just an explosion on, I be thinkin’, t’roof,” said Stefan. “It might have been one of
t’arrows t’at Astrid had—twas only one—so it probably worked. What do we do next?”
“We wait,” said Hulagu. “The others are busy. We can see from here if anyone else is hiding somewhere or if someone has survived and is trying to escape. Bianca, get out your sling.” Once she had her sling out, Hulagu moved to the guardroom and opened it. He saw what Ayesha had done and gave a grunt of appreciation. She would be good in a raid if she could work outside as well as she did in a village. He sent Bianca up onto the low wall where she could see any movement, while he and Stefan began checking all the shadows. With the dying of sounds of battle the slaves have quietened down, but I can see glimpses of the occasional face trying to peer out through barred and shuttered windows.
All of the doors to buildings were locked and they eventually came to the conclusion that there were no enemies left outside. “Now we check the barracks. I think we should all go.” They moved in. Although there was a common eating area and a bunkroom, it appeared that most of the bandits had their own rooms. Some showed no sign of recent occupation, but others indicated where the guards they had killed lived. Two had women in them. One had a Havenite girl who was huddled, terrified and naked in a bed clutching a sheet to her bosom. The other had a big-breasted black-haired girl with very pale skin lying tightly bound in an uncomfortable position face down over a chest, but curiously calm. They took the two with them.
Bianca shuddered when they went into one room, obviously, from the clothes, a woman’s. There was a frame set up on the wall and a selection of whips hung beside it along with a crude apparatus of leather straps combined with a huge and cruel-looking leather phallus on a peg. I know now why Astrid had said that one of the women had been so terrified that she was the girl the woman bandit had chosen.
In the end they concluded that no one else was alive in the building.
~~~
Bianca
Going back outside Hulagu grabbed Stefan and started to collect the bodies and lay them in a row while Bianca sat the two girls down and tried to comfort them before fetching the girl from upstairs in the mage’s house. I am glad that she fell silent when I held her. It seems she has regained her composure and even had the presence of mind to get her clothes. “It will make it easier for the mages to see if there is magic,” she could hear Hulagu tell Stefan, as she returned, “and this way the slaves can tell us if anyone is missing and still hiding.” He looked at the three Bianca had with her. “That is if that one can find the courage to stop crying…city dwellers,” he muttered in Khitan.
The other freed girl from the barracks glared at him and hugged the crying one. “Then get us something to cover us so we can get warm and not feel so…exposed,” the calm one said in a velvet voice in the same tongue.
“Do you have clothes back in there?” I am fairly certain I have it right with what the girl had said, but I had to ask in Hindi. The girl nodded. “Then I will take you in and we will get them.” Taking the others by the hands, Bianca took them into the building. She looked at the calm girl beside her. Although she is short, she was very well built and attractive. Oh…she is as naked below as Theodora is. She glanced back. Both of the men are following her walk with their eyes. Well, it looks like I am always going to be the plain one around here…I’ll bet she can dance as well. Aloud she said: “I am Bianca and I want to hear your stories, how you got here, and what it has been like.”
“No you don’t,” said the quiet one bleakly.
~~~
Thord
Thord had just hit one of Dharmal’s feet again and the Dwarf on the floor was clutching it with one hand while he tried to grab his other knee as well. It looks quite funny from here. I wonder…if I hit the other foot next which extremity will he grab? Rani and Theodora came in. “Eventual remembered t’Dwarves did you?” he said. “I pulled t’is snake’s fangs for t’moment, but he keeps tryin’ to get to something in t’corner.”
Both of the mage’s walked over to the spot. “I sense magic,” said Rani.
“Several items,” said Theodora. “Let us get him out of here where we can talk. Can you carry him, since you have prevented his walking?” she asked Thord.
“He doesn’t like me very much. He could hop…”
Dharmal glared at him. “You’ll be dyin’ for t’is,” he hissed.
“But I’m a just startin’ to live. If’n you don’t mind I’d rather it be you who died.” I know I have a grin on my face, but fuck him and his sheep. I am the one who will live.
He could see Rani looking at the Dwarf on the floor. “Thord is going to carry you downstairs. If you try and hurt him or grab him or do anything that he does not like I am sure that he would like to drop you down the stairs.” Thord found himself nodding. She is right. “So do what you are told and do not give him a chance…Thord, give me all of your weapons to remove temptation from his reach.”
Thord did what he was told. I wonder why the woman held them as if they could explode or hurt her…later. Thord made Dharmal take off his mail. It is just as uncomfortable to wear without padding as I thought it would be…and even worse to take off when I helpfully pull on it. It turns out that Dharmal is male. With the mages following Thord carried him down the stairs. Dharmal is lucky they are wide and there is little opportunity to run into anything.
“Put him on that bare ground,” said Rani.
Why should I be gentle? He just dropped him, and was rewarded with a shriek of pain.
“Right, now see if you can find some rope and something to attach it to. We will need to keep him still while we talk to him.” Once this was done she addressed Dharmal. “You are going to stay here tonight, looking at the bodies of your bandits, and thinking about…things. We will guard you and in the morning we will all talk.”
~~~
Hulagu
Typical, the People always get left guarding things. At least the mages have decided to leave the slaves who were locked up still confined until morning. I agree with Rani’s logic that this way there will be less trouble. They might even settle down during the night. Rani has even hung that light thing from around her neck up so everyone can see what we are doing.
At least, being the guard, I don’t have to collect all of the bodies, half a body in the case of that one from the roof. Bianca is pulling blades from it and inspecting them. One has a handle that was a bit scorched and its blade is a trifle blackened. It must have been near where the arrow hit. He asked what was happening inside. It seemed that Astrid and Father Christopher were staying with Basil in the room of the dead bandit captain tonight while Bianca and Ayesha would take turns comforting and gaining the trust of the girls who had been outside the barracks. They would be in the downstairs room.
Once it was all set up the two mages, Thord, and Stefan started sharing his watch over the night and their captive. Sleepers went into the room with the freed girls to occupy a couch. After a while Hulagu gave a grin. When Ayesha is not in sight, I have taken to looking over my shoulder occasionally. By the Spirits, the girl was good.
He looked down on their captive. Luckily for him, although it is a chill night, what with the approaching winter, it is not raining. Unluckily for him his last night will be spent in pain and he will not be allowed to sleep. If he looked like drifting off to sleep someone would prod him with a blade or kick him until he was awake again. It is a bit disturbing to find that, despite his discomfort and injuries, he soon seems to have regained at least some of his composure. He mentioned this to Rani and she just shrugged and muttered something about it being temporary.
Chapter VI
Verily I Rejoice In The Lord Tiller
The night that she was freed, the night she had hoped for, the night that she feared would never come, Verily sat in the bandit’s common room drinking a mug of brandy and milk with Naeve Milker and Lakshmi, two other freed slaves, and poured out her story to two girls who had always walked free. She was warm and for once she was not in fear, but she was still filled with uncertainty
and, to an extent, with self-loathing.
She said in Hindi, “I was named Verily I Rejoice in the Lord Tiller. My name is a cruel irony, and I was born to a slave woman in the place that outsiders call the Brotherhood. It seems that in other parts of the Land the child of a slave is born free. That is not the case where I come from. It is only after seven generations of slavery that a child is born free. I was of the seventh generation and my children would have been born free. My master, who I think was also my father, decided that he had a good use for me. Rather than spend money to raise me, he sold me to pay his tithe when I was six years of age.”
She paused and swallowed a little nervously. I am about to say things that I have thought about and brooded over to myself, but that I have never told anybody. Such openness is new ground for me. What will happen to me if I speak in this way to my new owners who I don’t know, but now I am not sure that I care. At least these are women and they seem to be gentle so far. “He is the first man that I wanted to kill, because he knew what would happen to me. Although I did not understand until later what was meant by this, he assured my buyer, who now lies dead outside, that I was a virgin. My buyer brought me here and I was a virgin on and off for two more years. I lost my virginity in pain every few nights—and then was given it back by healing. Think what happens if you have a cruel man who can heal and what he can do. I notice that he also lies dead outside. Now…the warlock from the Swamp…the one with the crow…It is a pity he is dead. Is it possible that you can resurrect him for me? Him and the bear man both? I want to have them at my mercy for a long time…so do others.” She inclined her head towards the barracks. She looked at the two women from among those who had freed them. They are shaking their heads at what they were hearing. It looks like their faces are masks of horror. It seemed that nothing had prepared them for this. I was perhaps right to be open. “Oh well, it would have been good…very good. When I was eight I used a knife to cut myself after they had healed me and, although it hurt me a lot and I bled and bled. When they found out what I had managed to do to myself they beat me badly. I survived. At least it was too late for them to ‘heal’ me when they found out what I had done. They liked it that I never grew hair, even when my time came.”
Engaging Evil (Warriors of Vhast Book 2) Page 9
