Nowhere to Run

by Elliott Kay

  “He doesn’t want me. He wants a bargaining chip.”

  “If he sees his princess as a bargaining chip, that’s up to him. It’s no sweat off my back. You were never going to stay with me, anyway. You never intended it.”

  Teryn stared back at him. “Do you want to talk about that in front of your friends? Are you worried they don’t believe you slept with a princess? I’m not afraid to admit my mistakes. I was too young and looking for ways to rebel. You should be more worried I’ll tell them what you’re like in bed.”

  “Intimacy leaves both parties vulnerable, princess,” said Barret.

  “I couldn’t care less what a murdering bigot has to say about me. If I’d known that about you in the first place I’d never have come anywhere near you. Live and learn, I guess.”

  “You know, the best part of returning you to your father is he’ll never believe you if you tell him about us. He’ll assume it’s all lies for the sake of revenge. It was a risk when it happened, but now I’ll be in the clear. Rewarded for my service, even. Anyway, I expected you would put up a tough front. Never show weakness. I taught you everything you know.”

  “Keep giving yourself credit. You’ve earned none from me. Maybe that’s why you changed the topic from your other inadequacies.”

  The man by the window snorted out a laugh. “Even my best fighters can spend the day shoveling horseshit, Carl,” Barret warned him.

  “They know. Their commander does it every time he opens his mouth,” said Teryn. The men to her either side managed to stifle their snickers before much noise escaped, but Barret’s fuming expression was reward enough. “You brought along three men and your pet wizard to keep me tied to a chair. The embarrassment is your own fault.”

  “Returning you to your father is too important to take lightly. Nor is it my only concern. You were here with that crew of monsters the other night, and then at the battle at the camp. I didn’t recognize you before, but I know now.”

  “And here we are again,” said Teryn. “Did you turn back around and terrorize Eastford into submission after we kicked your ass at the camp? Or did you tell Mayor Dunning the truth and hand him an order bearing the seal of the king to demand his cooperation?”

  Barret flashed her a tight smile. “The latter. You guessed it word for word. He is far more cooperative now that he knows the real threat.”

  “That being the king,” said Teryn.

  “Read it as you will. I care not. He’s much warmer toward us now, although I suppose our promise not to loot made some difference. That’s all details. I’m much more interested in that battle and the magic your friends displayed. Your shaman friend didn’t turn the ground itself against us. That was some other little goblin. How?”

  “Like you said, magic.”

  “We all know that was no ordinary magic,” Timothy spoke up gravely.

  “Is ‘ordinary magic’ a thing?” Teryn smirked. “Like your ordinary creepiness?”

  “You run with beasts and you find me creepy?” asked Timothy.

  “Not in a good way. Don’t flatter yourself.”

  “Your shaman employed common spells I am familiar with,” Timothy explained. “A goblin ran out into an open field with a shovel and caused a massive eruption of earth. He did not bear the look of a shaman. That was something else.”

  Teryn shrugged as best she could. “You say shaman like it’s an insult.”

  “It is. And you deflect like someone who has something to hide.”

  “I suppose you’ve got me. Your creepiness isn’t your only awful quality, Timothy. I didn’t want so say anything about your looks, but now you’ve forced the issue. Your ugliness is quiet and yet still unsettling. There’s nothing specifically misshapen about you but your facial features are all just wrong when put together. Like each of the gods took a turn trying to fix you but eventually gave up. Probably your mother did, too, and I can’t even blame her.”

  “Stop,” said Barret.

  “Also your armor might be issued by the cavalry, but everything you wear under it is—”

  “Stop,” Barret repeated. “Your banter doesn’t hide your fear.”

  “It’s not fear, Barret,” Teryn sighed. “I resigned myself to dying rather than serving your king long ago. All I have left for him and his loyal servants is contempt. I know a monster when I see one.”

  “That’s fine. Henry, Talbot,” Barret said to the men at Teryn’s sides, “bring him in.” The pair stepped out of the room without a word. While the door was open, Teryn noted yet another man at the door as a sentry.

  “How badly did that battle frighten you?” Teryn wondered out loud. “This is a lot of trouble for only one prisoner.”

  “But you’re not only one prisoner. You’re the princess, as we’ve discussed. You’re also the first real source of information we’ve had fall into our lap since the battle. We have questions. We’d be fools to send you off to your father before asking them.”

  Heavy footsteps and indistinct thumping approached in the hallway. Teryn thought she heard a groan or a whimper. When the door opened again, Henry returned with a small chair that he put on the floor facing Teryn. Talbot wrenched along a young hobgoblin, bound and gagged and bearing more than a few bruises. Henry took up his spot between Teryn and the door. Talbot planted the hobgoblin in the chair and then stood behind to hold him in place. The youth looked from one face to another with open terror.

  “This is Ralgo,” said Barret. “He’s not quite of age yet, as hobgoblins determine it. We caught him fishing out at one of the streams. The goblin folk know they are unwelcome in these lands and yet they’re still everywhere. No respect for the law. Ralgo doesn’t know much of use to us, but he can help us out in other ways.”

  Barret launched a brutal punch at Ralgo’s head, knocking the prisoner halfway out of his seat but for Talbot’s strong grip.

  “No!” Teryn shouted. “Stop this! Leave him alone. You said yourself, he was only looking for food.”

  “He was stealing food from lands where he doesn’t belong,” said Barret. He slammed his fist into Ralgo’s side. The hobgoblin’s eyes bulged as he wheezed for breath through his gag.

  “The king’s edict—”

  “Your father,” Barret corrected. “Funny how you keep referring to him otherwise.”

  “The edict did not banish anyone north of the mountains. No one here has anywhere else to go regardless. You want to punish him for being alive?”

  “No. I want answers from you. I know you too well to think you’ll give them freely. It’s clear you hold me in contempt, so a friendly approach won’t work. You’re tough enough to reject any comforts and privileges I might offer. We lack magic that might pry the answers from your mind. And we all know I can’t hurt the princess of Theralda. But Ralgo here? Ralgo is someone I can hurt, and that’s something you don’t want.”

  He punched Ralgo again.

  “What good does this do?” Teryn shouted.

  “That depends on the answers you give, princess. Tell us what we want to know and we can stop hurting him.”

  “You can stop hurting him anytime you choose. No one is forcing you to do this. Don’t put your cruelty on me. Let him go.”

  “Cruelty? Cruelty is leaving these monsters to raid and steal whatever they want. Cruelty is leaving the people of this town undefended from these brutes. Cruelty is forcing decent people to live among filth.”

  “So what, you think this is protection? You think this makes you a hero?”

  “I am protecting my people. If that makes me a hero, fine.” Barret drew his dagger. “I’m ready to make hard choices. That’s what heroes do.”

  “No!” she shouted again. Teryn’s mind raced for a solution. She needed a palatable lie that might buy time. “I’ll tell you. Put the knife down.”

  “Too easy,” Barret decided. “You need to know I’ll do it.” He looked back to Timothy and Carl standing behind Ralgo at the window. “Help Talbot hold him tight.” Then he paus
ed, staring into the window. The others hesitated in uncertainty.

  A furry brown fist slammed through the window and past Timothy’s neck—holding a knife. The wizard’s eyes snapped wide as the blade tore through his flesh. The hand turned and yanked backward, plunging the knife under his collarbone and yanking him through the remaining glass and out into the night.

  Carl spun and got his hand on his sword before Timothy was gone. He didn’t draw in time to ward off the next attack. Shady Tooth heaved herself through the window in a tackle led by her bloody knife. They landed on the floor together, but only one suffered a fatal stab.

  “Ralgo, get down!” Teryn shouted. She threw a kick at the back of Barret’s leg that barely connected, but it disrupted his normally fast reactions. Heeding her words, Ralgo hurled himself to the floor and curled up by the foot of the bed.

  It was all enough time for Shady Tooth to recover with her other knife drawn. Everyone else had their weapons out, too. Talbot attacked first. The bugbear parried his downward swing as she rose to her full height. Her other hand came up at Talbot’s gut. Though his leathers were enough to stop her blade, they didn’t protect him from the power of her fist. The blow lifted him inches off his feet.

  In such close quarters, Talbot’s plight created yet another obstruction for Barret. He wasn’t the only one blocked from a clear blow, but he held his priorities. “Get her out!” he barked.

  His remaining subordinate gave up an open path of attack to follow orders. Cursing, Henry grabbed the back of Teryn’s chair and hauled her the few steps to the door with urgent strength. She took a cue from Ralgo and threw her weight to one side. It was enough to wrench the chair from Henry’s grip and put herself on the floor.

  The door flew open. Shady Tooth launched Henry into the hallway with a forceful kick that sent him and the sentry outside sprawling on the floor. It left her with a moment to focus on the leader. “What did I tell you, Barret?” she roared.

  He had his sword out now along with his dagger. To his credit, he knew how to work with both in close quarters. Barret came at Shady Tooth with a lunge meant to clear the way for his dagger, landing a cut across her arm while she parried away the longer blade. The single hit didn’t undermine her greater size and strength. She slammed him hard with her wounded arm to knock him back onto the bed. He rolled off in time to avoid the downward stab of one knife and the follow-up slash of the next.

  Talbot took up a fighting stance again, giving Barret a chance to regain his footing and take up a spot on her opposite side. One threat was faster and more skilled than the other. Shady Tooth wrenched her knife from the bed in a twisting motion that carried the blanket along in a sweep toward Barret.

  An opponent of flesh and blood was one thing. A formless mass of fabric was another. Barret tried instinctively to swat it away with one blade, but it only got him caught up in the mess. His opponent had bigger plans. With his back to the window and his view obstructed, Shady Tooth rushed into the mess elbow-first to shove Barret halfway out the window.

  “No!” Talbot blurted. He lunged in with his blade, but wasn’t fast enough to catch her. His momentum carried him too close for his own good. One of Shady Tooth’s blades dug into his side. The force of her stab shoved him off again and onto the bed in a gasping mess.

  Fully turned around again, Shady Tooth faced the biggest threat. With his blade still tangled in the torn blanket, Barret could defend and parry against only so much. He saved himself from the first blade, but not her second—or her thick shoulder as she rushed in. Shady Tooth jabbed him once in the side, feeling far more hardened leather armor than flesh against her knife, but she nonetheless ended their match as she shoved him out the shattered window at his back. Barret fell into the night with an angry cry.

  The fight wasn’t over. Henry had Teryn and her chair halfway upright again, ready to drag her out, with the two sentries from outside ready to guard him—until Shady Tooth spun around again.

  Henry dropped Teryn and her chair. Her head bounced against the floor painfully amid the roar of a bugbear and the screams of grown men. Shady Tooth leaped over Teryn to get at her remaining foes. Amid the crash and howls of pain, Teryn winced. “Ow,” she complained.

  “Nooo! Oh gods, aargh!” came a scream.

  “Mercy! Merc—ack!” yelped another.

  “Mmph?” Ralgo tried from behind his gag.

  “It’s going to be alright, Ralgo,” Teryn assured him. “Ow.”

  A single footstep hit the floor behind her. The rope around her abdomen tugged and released. “We need to move fast,” said Shady Tooth.

  “Yeah. I doubt that fall killed Barret.” Teryn sighed with relief once Shady Tooth cut the bonds around her wrists. Her savior moved on to cut Ralgo free while Teryn picked herself up off the floor. “Where are the others?”

  “It’s only me. I sent DigDig back with the weapons and followed you on my own. Eight men on horseback seemed like a little much even for me. This was my best chance. Ralgo, can you move?”

  “If it gets me out of here, yes,” he answered. His voice wavered. “Though I may not be as fast as you.”

  “Then we take one of their wagons. Pick up a weapon. The townsfolk are armed, but I don’t think they want a fight if they can avoid it. We might scare them off.”

  “Armed?” asked Teryn. She claimed her sword and belt from the floor, strapping it on with unsure fingers still numb from her bonds. “More than when we were first here?”

  “Barret had men outside training them when they got here with you. Big group drills. Amateur stuff, but they’re planning something.”

  “Oh gods, he must have given the mayor a levy order from the crown,” Teryn realized. “He’s conscripting people from the town. Gods, are they not even waiting for the Greyfalls garrison?”

  “The garrison? For what?” asked Shady Tooth.

  “Another attack, I think. A bigger one.” Picking up her bow, Teryn straightened and looked around the shattered room. Bodies and blood marred the floor. Shady Tooth bled, too. “You came after me yourself?”

  Shady Tooth almost gritted her teeth to get the words out. “You’re my friend.”

  “I—” Teryn began. She stopped herself. They’d discussed this. She shook her head. “Don’t make it weird.” She snatched the tattered and tangled bottom sheet from the bed and tucked it under one arm. “We’ll need to bind your wounds. Let’s go.”

  The hallway presented almost as much carnage as the bedroom. They stepped over bodies and weapons on their way to the stairs, with doors slamming shut along the way as guests thought better of peeking at the noise. No one challenged them at the stairs.

  Only a scattering of customers were on the tavern floor along with the barkeep. Most kept their distance with wide and fearful eyes. A couple at the bar in cloaks worn rugged from travel turned to their drinks as if to cede the floor. The barkeep looked ready to jump out the window. Shady Tooth pushed the door open for a wary look before walking out. She found the first resistance waiting in the road.

  “Arms up! Charge!” shouted another of Barret’s riders, rushing at Shady Tooth with a spear. She parried with one knife and slashed upward with the other as his momentum carried him into her reach. Without a second look, she cast him aside to face the next.

  It didn’t come. The townsfolk he seemed to expect to follow him stood arrayed at the front step armed with spears and axes, but wearing no armor. They glanced to one another with uncertain eyes as Shady Tooth stared them down. “Now you pick up weapons,” she said. “You hid behind us when bandits threatened, but now you’re willing to stand. Great. And where is Barret now?”

  “Where you won’t get him,” said Mayor Dunning at the center of the assembly. His tight grip made his spear shake. “Drop your blades. You’re not leaving.”

  “So he’s hurt? Good,” said Shady Tooth. “Get out of the way or get hurt with him. I doubt you lot will handle it as well.”

  “Things have changed. We have been served
with a militia levy.”

  “Is that a rallying cry or an excuse?” Shady Tooth scowled.

  “Move out of the way, you idiot,” Teryn snapped at him. She walked past Shady Tooth to come face to face with the mayor. “Do you know what Barret plans? He’s going to lead you all against the goblin camp. You’re all farmers and trappers, not a militia. Every one of those goblins is born ready to fight. Barret has no use for you on the field except as fodder. You’ll be slaughtered.”

  “We lived here for decades,” said Ralgo. “I lived here all my life. We never hurt anyone. Now even leaving isn’t good enough for you?”

  “We have no choice.” Dunning’s eyes wavered, looking to his townsfolk as he spoke. “We have an order of conscription from the king.”

  “So either you go to war and die fighting people who never hurt you, or you refuse and your own leaders throw you in jail or worse. Yeah, I can see why you’re so loyal to your flag and your country. Inspires patriotism, doesn’t it?” said Shady Tooth.

  “Get out of the way, Mayor,” said Teryn. “We’re leaving.”

  “We can’t...” He wavered. He wasn’t the only one. “I...”

  “Last I looked, most of you have families—just like the neighbors you banished,” said Teryn. “Move and live another day.”

  “If you need me to cut and punch some of you up to make it look good, I’m fine with it,” said Shady Tooth. “If you actually fight it’s going to get ugly fast.” The mayor went white. More than one of his fellows took a step back. Wordlessly, the rest followed suit.

  Teryn started walking. “Good. If we’re lucky, we can find a way out of all this for the goblin folk and for your stupid town.”

  * * *

  They carried him into the tavern on a stiff board from the carpenter’s shop next door. Barret didn’t catch their names. Given the pain of his broken left arm and his leg, he hardly would have remembered such details, anyway. He survived the fall by rolling hard with the landing. It also cost him any chance of rejoining the fight.