“I’m sorry to disappoint you,” I declared, “but there are no juicy details. I don’t think that Thorn has committed herself, and I certainly have no idea what’s going on in that mind of hers. It’s all so confusing! I honestly don’t know what to make of her. She says she likes me, but five minutes after that she’s yelling at me for something I’ve said or done. Frankly, I’m totally lost.”
Nix grinned. “Yes, that sounds like our Thorn,” he stated.
“Now that you’ve successfully poked your nose into my affairs,” I said, dryly, “do you have any sensible advice to offer?”
“Not really,” Nix revealed. “Thorn is a complex character, and I think her emotions run extremely deep. So deep, in fact, that she’s having trouble accessing them but, when she does, she doesn’t know how to deal with what she finds. It’s new territory for her, so she’ll need some time to get used to what’s going on.” He shrugged. “All I can suggest is to be patient. Thorn needs time to work it all out.”
“Good advice,” I said. “Thanks.”
“She’s very vulnerable,” Nix declared, suddenly intently serious. “She may act all tough on the outside, but I think she’s actually extremely fragile inside. Treat her gently, Stephen. I believe her heart would break very easily.”
Chapter 21
We arranged a council of war and I found myself unanimously elected leader. I wasn’t keen on the idea, because the thought of any of my orders resulting in someone’s death horrified me. But I realised that all the representatives of the races were totally ignorant of war and violence, so I sat everyone down and outlined what I had in mind. My plan consisted of a small scouting expedition comprising of Nix, Thorn, myself and the leader of the dwarf contingent. Once we spied out the land, we’d return to the main group and plan our attack from there. Everyone agreed, so I gathered our scouting party and set off to see what was ahead. The dwarf leader had assured me that the dissident camp was close, therefore we covered the remaining distance extremely carefully, taking advantage of any cover we could find.
We reached our destination and, peering over a rocky outcrop, surveyed the scene below. The area we viewed comprised of a natural canyon, bounded by a cave at one end and a waterfall at the other. Various huts had been erected on the canyon floor and I counted about twenty dwarfs either sitting down or roaming around in a desultory manner.
“Where do you think Cathlionum would be?” Thorn hissed.
“At a guess, I’d probably say she’s in the cave,” I answered, softly. “I don’t think any of the huts would be sufficiently secure.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Nix whispered.
“Hey, give me a bit of time to come up with one, will you?” I stated, mapping out the surroundings in my mind. “I’m not Napoleon, you know.”
“Napolo who?” Thorn questioned, curiously.
“You know,” I remarked, turning towards her, “for someone who spends a lot of time in the human world, you certainly don’t seem to know much of its history.”
Thorn sniffed dismissively. “Human history is so tiresome,” she declared. “I just couldn’t be bothered learning it. It’s mostly about fighting wars.”
“It certainly does seem that way,” I sadly agreed.
“Getting back to this Napoleon ……. ” Nix interjected.
“He was a famous French commander,” I lectured. “And a military genius. His tactics in war were unrivalled, and I wish we had him here with us. He would have had the whole thing wrapped up by now.”
“But seeing as he isn’t here right now,” Nix continued, “what do you suggest?”
I contemplated the terrain for a few seconds longer. “I suggest that a small group of us keep climbing along this ridge until we’re as close to the cave as possible.” I pointed. “Look, there’s a narrow pathway down from the ridge to the canyon floor just beside the cave entrance.”
“And how do you expect us to do that without being seen?” Thorn argued.
“That’s where the rest of the force comes in,” I explained. “They’ll launch a frontal attack as a distraction. While that’s going on, and all the dwarfs are rushing forward to repel the attack, we’ll sneak into the cave.”
“Who’s this ‘we’ you keep going on about?” Nix questioned. “As if I didn’t already know.”
I grinned at him. “It’ll be the usual crowd,” I informed him. “Me, you, Thorn and Max.”
“You’re going to bring Mirnaxillum along?” Thorn disputed.
“We have to,” I assured her. “After all, it is his sister we’re trying to rescue and I can’t see him staying behind. At least this way we can keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t get himself killed.”
“That makes some sort of sense, I suppose,” Thorn grumbled. “Okay, when do we do this?”
“No time like the present,” I answered, slithering backwards out of view of the canyon floor and standing up. “Let’s go round up the rest of the troops.”
We rejoined the rest of our company and I outlined my plan.
“And for heaven’s sake,” I urged at the end of our conference, “please don’t get yourself killed. I don’t want your deaths on my conscience. On the face of it, we outnumber them two to one, so pair off and keep an eye on your partner. Our opponents are armed with swords and clubs, and they probably won’t be afraid to use them, therefore you’ll have to overcome your inherent antipathy to violence and disarm them as quickly as possible. We don’t want to hurt anyone if we can possibly avoid it so, if they run away, let them. However, we do want the one who’s been doing the killing, so keep an eye out for him. He’ll probably be the one fighting the hardest. Fink can lead the attack. Make as much noise as you can. We want maximum distraction. Any questions?”
Apart from a mass scratching of heads and various whispers of “Who’s this Fink, then?” to their neighbours, a concerted shaking of heads answered me, so we set off on our mission.
“Give us five minutes before you start,” I whispered to Fink. “I want to get close to the cave before anything happens.” Fink nodded and, in a surprising move, shook my hand.
“Good luck, Stephen,” he declared, sincerely.
“And to you as well,” I told him. “Be careful.”
“I’ll try,” he replied, with a tight little smile.
Chapter 22
Thorn, Nix, Max and I crept along the ridge line until we were as near to the cave entrance as possible, and waited in a little group for Fink’s attack. I looked around at my companions. Max was understandably nervous but, in contrast, Nix seemed characteristically calm. Thorn twitched with suppressed emotion and her hand convulsively gripped her sword handle. I felt somewhat disturbed myself because I really had no idea what we would find inside the cave. Maybe the place was swarming with extra dissidents. Maybe Max’s sister wasn’t even there, and this whole expedition would end up being a wasted exercise. If that happened to be the case, I’d be gambling everybody’s life for no reason. I shook my head in negation, refusing to bow to negativity. This situation would always call for a leap of faith, and I had to hope that everything would turn out for the best. At that moment, Fink began his attack.
Yells and screams erupted as our forces scrambled down the incline to the canyon floor and commenced their assault. The dissident dwarfs looked up in shock, grabbed for their weapons, and began a mass exodus away from the cave mouth. I waited a few moments more and then signalled to the others to begin our descent. We hurriedly made our way down to the cave and, peering anxiously inside, I led my band of merry men, and one variably merry female, into the semi-darkness.
The rocky walls twisted and turned until we met our first surprise – three astonished dwarfs who were sitting at a table, playing some sort of a card game. Nix and Thorn immediately attacked and disposed of the three in a surprisingly short time.
“Nicely done,” I congratulated them as I surveyed the three unconscious forms. Nix, I noticed, was scooping money off the table and poc
keting it.
“Danger money,” he grinned at me. “We’re not getting paid for this, you know. I think we deserve something for risking our lives.”
“I hope you going to share your ill-gotten gains,” Thorn observed with a slight grin.
“Later,” Nix said, airily. “If you’re lucky,” he added, smiling broadly.
“Oh, I’m definitely lucky,” Thorn stated firmly. “I’ll see to it.”
“I just bet you will,” Nix muttered to himself.
We continued on and finally found Max’s sister, imprisoned in a cage at the very back of the cave. Max immediately ran to her with a cry of relief and grasped her hands through the bars. “Thank all the gods, you’re safe!” he exclaimed in relief.
“We’re not totally safe yet,” I reminded him, looking at the lock on the cage. “There’s the little matter of a bunch of dwarfs between us and freedom. First of all, we have to get your sister out of here.”
“Will this help?” Nix remarked, offering me a key.
“Where did you get that from?” I wanted to know.
“I frisked the guards and found it,” Nix replied, modestly. “I guessed at some stage that we might need a key, and the guards were the ones most likely to have it.”
“Clever,” I praised, inserting the key into the lock.
“Was the key the only thing you were looking for?” Thorn asked, sardonically. “Did the guards, perchance, have any loose money in their pockets as well?”
“I did happen to come across some spare change, now that you come to mention it,” Nix replied, unrepentantly. “Funny that. These dissident sommubants seem to be well paid. Maybe we should swap sides?”
“Remember that we’re sharing the proceeds,” Thorn threatened.
“Thorn, I’m shocked!” Nix exclaimed, with an expression of mock horror on his face, solemnly putting his hand over his heart. “As if I’d ever cheat you.”
“See that you don’t,” Thorn growled. “I’d hate to have to take it off you by force.”
“I can tell you’re living in a fantasy world again,” Nix commented smiling. “Take it off me? Just who do you think you’re kidding here?”
“We don’t have time for your witty banter,” I told the both of them. “We have to get out of here before anyone comes.”
“You must be psychic,” Thorn muttered as six dwarfs came running round the corner, coming to a surprised stop when they saw us.
Immediately Max stepped in front of his sister and drew his sword. Nix and Thorn stood side by side as the six dwarfs recovered and charged us. From then on, it became utter chaos. I contented myself with kicking anything that came within reach, while our two established warriors battled the majority. In the ensuing mayhem, Nix received a cut to the arm, Max collected several bruises and Thorn was knocked down, but overall, our side held their own magnificently. Eventually, all the baddies were prostrate on the ground, and I moved to congratulate my companions. As I moved past one of our fallen opponents, he suddenly sprang to his feet and lunged at my unprotected back with a dagger.
“Stephen!” Thorn screamed, throwing herself in front of my attacker. His blade, instead of reaching its appointed destination in the middle of my back, ended up embedded in Thorn. I whirled around at her choked cry and saw Nix tackling the dwarf and pounding his head onto the rocky floor. I dropped to my knees beside Thorn, horrified at the blood pooling from her wound. The knife had entered her side, just below the rib cage, and seemed to be wedged there. I couldn’t decide if it would be best to pull it out or not. At this stage, it acted as a semi-plug, but what would happen if I took it out? Would Thorn lose even more blood if I did so? But, on the other hand, it had to be removed sooner or later. I wished I knew more about these sorts of injuries, but hey, where was I supposed to learn about them? Nix joined me and cradled Thorn’s head.
“What do we do?” he whispered in anguish.
“I wish I knew,” I replied. “We have to take out the knife, but we’re going to need some bandages to stop the bleeding. Look around for some cloth, will you?”
Gently lowering Thorn’s head on the ground, Nix scouted around and came back soon with a wide strip of cloth. I took it thankfully, and told him to hold Thorn steady. Max and his sister knelt beside Thorn and held her down. I looked at Thorn’s face. She looked decidedly pale and her shockingly large eyes stared unblinkingly up at me. She hadn’t uttered a sound since this whole thing had started and I wondered if she was even conscious.
“I think I love you, Stephen,” she suddenly whispered.
“First things first, sweetie,” I told her. “We’ll talk about it later. Take a deep breath and grit your teeth.” So saying, I jerked the dagger free. Thorn gasped in pain and her blood gushed from the open gash. Hastily, I tried to block the haemorrhage with the cloth, forcing it into the wound and then binding the strip of cloth as tightly as I could around her middle. Thankfully, that seemed to ease the blood loss and I began to hope that the situation might be less critical than I had first assumed.
It was at this stage of proceedings that Fink appeared, leading his cohorts. “It’s over!” he proclaimed enthusiastically. “We’ve rounded them all up.” Then he saw Thorn and stopped, horrified.
“What happened?” he asked, in a low voice. He glared at me accusingly. “How could you let her be hurt?” Next, he glowered at Nix. “And I thought you were protecting her! I’ll be holding you both personally responsible for this!”
“Oh, shut up, Fringapellumna,” Thorn objected weakly, glancing up at him. “It was all my fault.” She coughed wetly, and a trickle of blood ran from the corner of her mouth. “Don’t you dare blame Stephen or Nix. This rescue mission was always a risk, and I guess I just got unlucky.” She turned her attention back to me and groped feebly for my hand. “I think this would be a good time to talk about us,” she murmured faintly. “I’ve finally accepted my feelings for you, Stephen. I’m sorry it took so long. I don’t expect you to respond, but I wanted you to know how I felt.”
“Do you think it’s really is the best time for this, Thorn?” I questioned, squeezing her hand.
She smiled gently. “What other time do I have?” she whispered. “I’m dying, aren’t I?”
“Actually,” I informed her, clearing my throat, “I don’t think you are. It isn’t a scratch by any means, but I don’t believe it’s fatal. The bleeding has stopped and, once we get you to a doctor, I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
Thorn closed her eyes. “Well, this is embarrassing,” she muttered. “I really thought I had only a few minutes left.” Her eyes flew open. “How could you let me think I was dying?” she snapped angrily at me.
“That’s the Thorn we’ve come to know and love,” Nix chuckled. “Keep that anger, my dear. It’ll speed up your recovery.”
“Thank you for saving Cathlionum,” Max announced gratefully, breaking into our conversation, capturing Thorn’s other hand and holding it firmly.
“Yes,” his sister added, putting her hand over his. “I’ll be in your debt forever.”
“It was a group effort,” Thorn corrected. “We all played a part.”
“Did you manage to find the dwarf killer?” I asked Fink.
“We think so,” he answered. “He fought like a demon, so he’s probably the one. It took five of us to capture him.”
“He certainly sounds a likely candidate,” I said. “Was he using a knife?”
“How did you know that?” Fink exclaimed, astonished.
“It’s his weapon of choice,” I informed Fink. “I was told that the two who were killed had multiple stab wounds that weren’t long enough for a sword slash, so I guessed that it had to be a knife, but that’s beside the point. I don’t want to move Thorn right now, so we’ll have to fetch a doctor here.”
“I’m on it,” Fink announced, spinning around and addressing his guards. “Find the nearest doctor and bring him here immediately,” he ordered. “Take a party of four and look everywhere. I want y
ou back here as fast as possible!” The four guards saluted and hurried away.
I tenderly stroked Thorn’s head. “They won’t be long,” I encouraged. “Don’t worry.”
Thorn blushed a little. “About what I said earlier,” she stammered. “It was ……. I mean, I thought I was dying.”
“Did you mean it?” I asked softly.
“Yes ……. No ……. I mean, yes,” she stumbled. “Yes, I did mean it!”
“Are you sure now?” Nix interrupted, smirking.
“Shut up, ugly!” Thorn told him, animatedly. “When I want your uninvited and uninformed opinion, I’ll ask for it, but don’t hold your breath.”
“Charming,” Nix sniffed derisively. “I think she’s well on the road to recovery. At least, her obvious lack of manners are.”
“You unmitigated ratbag!” Thorn exclaimed. “Just you wait until I’m better! I’ll show you manners! And don’t think I’ve forgotten about my share of what you’ve been stealing, either.”
“It’s not stealing,” Nix protested. “It’s liberation! There’s a world of difference. Of course, I wouldn’t expect someone like you to know the difference. It takes intelligence.”
Thorn wriggled in my grasp, endeavoring to rise. “I’ll kill him,” she cried. “I’ll slice him into small pieces. Then I’ll glue all the pieces back together, just so I can kill him again! It’s the least he deserves.”
“You not slicing anything,” I ordered, holding her down. “You have to stay still. Nix, stop taunting her! She needs rest!”
“Sorry,” Nix immediately apologised. “You’re right, but at least we know she’s back to her normal self again.”
“Yes, isn’t she,” I agreed, smiling down at her affectionately.
Thorn grimaced. “Okay, enough with the criticisms, you two clowns,” she grumbled. “I can make a fool of myself without your help, thank you very much.”
Dangerous Desires (2) (The Underground Kingdom) Page 8
