by K Hanson
After dashing back to the tunnel opening and running through it, they arrived back where they had started inside the compound. “We may have just become the first people to run back into this place after having gotten out,” remarked Nereyda. “Let’s see what the damage is outside.”
They left the barracks to find a desperate situation. A thin and dwindling line of Imperials held against the horde of fire creatures as they slashed and burned their way through the soldiers’ ranks.
“What now?” asked Elvar. “We can’t fight this. Can you do the water thing again?”
Nereyda shrugged. “I’m not sure. That really drained me, so I don’t know if I have the energy to pull it off again so soon.”
As they watched and tried to figure out what to do, the monsters broke through the Imperial lines. Rather than let themselves get cut off and surrounded, the troops turned and sprinted away to retreat into the mines. Of course, the creatures just chased after them.
Nereyda was just about to order her own people to fall back. When the hoard approached her, they ground to a halt, letting the soldiers they had been pursuing escape into the compound.
“Why are you stopping?” she yelled at them, without knowing if they could actually understand her or not.
The mass of them sniffed the air and shifted restlessly on their feet, not moving any closer.
Nereyda couldn’t quite be sure, but she thought she sensed that they were afraid of her. “Is it because you sense what I did to your friends? I drowned them in a wall of water. If you don’t turn around and run away, far away, I’ll do the same to you.” She raised her sword to point it at them. “I won’t ask again.”
She didn’t know if they would actually respond to what she said. They hesitated, staring at her. Then, one of them took a step back. That broke the tension, and the mass of monsters ran away and climbed over the ruins at the breach, retreating into the wilderness beyond.
Nereyda lowered her sword and released a sigh of relief.
“You!” called the voice of Erhan, rudely interrupting her break. “I told you no magic. However, not only did you disobey me, you somehow conjured water, something that I’ve never seen you do before. Then, just now, you somehow get them to follow your orders.”
She turned to find him striding up to where she stood with her crew. “What should I have done? Let them all kill us?”
“Yes, you should have died and let us all die rather than use whatever foul magic that you obviously share with these creatures. Are there any elements you cannot control? Are you just going to keep playing god with us mere mortals?”
“I still haven’t figured any of this out. What I do know is that it is a gift, not a curse. If it gets us out of crap like this, then I will use it whenever I can.”
Erhan shook his head as he stalked in a circle around Nereyda, seemingly unsure of whether he should retreat or attack. “I’ve heard about your kind in church. You’re an abomination. They say that people like you caused the Shattered Sea to break apart. That you made the gods turn their backs on us.”
“That’s just a legend, a superstition. You can’t really believe that.”
“Of course, you wouldn’t believe in anything higher than yourself. The only person you seem to care about is you.”
“I’ve had enough of this. My crew and I did what you wanted. We cleared out the Stalstan troops, and I got the demons to leave or killed the ones I could.”
“I don’t think you’re going to get to leave now. Your crew can go, but not you. For the good of the Empire, I am going to put you down.”
Erhan charged at her with his sword drawn.
She slipped to the side and didn’t bother blocking or countering. Nereyda really had no desire to fight or kill Erhan. Not anymore. Once, after he had killed Jovan or when he had threatened to kill her friend Yusuf when she was pressed into service. But, not now. Today, she had had her fill of killing and watching people die in front of her. “I don’t want to fight you, Erhan.”
“Then just surrender. Or, if you’d rather, I’ll spend my whole life hunting you.”
“Whatever. I think I can handle someone chasing after me.”
“What about Brynja and the other half of your crew? They work for the Empire now. I can easily see that something happens to them while they’re on missions for us.”
At the mention of her first mate’s name, mixed emotions stirred in Nereyda. The betrayal of when they had arrived at the mining complex still hurt, even though she knew why Brynja had made the decision she did. Whatever anger she felt was matched in equal measure by pity. Realizing that she had no way to walk away from this and live in peace while Erhan lived, she resigned herself. “Fine. Come and face me. One on one, on even footing. I won’t even use magic, I promise.”
With the smoldering wreckage and rubble of the mining complex around them, Erhan and Nereyda clashed, their swords ringing over the flat plain of the inside of the walls. They were generally evenly matched.
Nereyda slashed left, blocked right, dodged back.
Each move that one of them made, the other countered expertly. Both of them strained with the effort, exhausted from the battle that had consumed their energies over the past few hours.
Nereyda felt especially drained, as her time in the mines started to drag her down. As short a time as she had been here, the lack of good food and an exhausting workload had left her without her usual energy. It had all been left on that hill. Most of what she had left had gone into the magic she had summoned to dispel the fire demons.
The sword heavy in her hand, she began to falter in making her own attacks. It became an effort just to counter Erhan's moves.He seemed relentless, as if he found a reserve of energy that Nereyda no longer possessed.
He began to drive her back further and further. Each impact of their swords against each other made her arm ache. With a quick twirl of his wrist, Erhan managed to disarm Nereyda, sending her sword flying through the air and out of reach.
“Kneel for me, and I’ll make this quick.”
Nereyda spat in his face in response.
“Fine.” He lunged forward and smashed the hilt of his sword into her stomach. As she doubled over at the pain, he grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the ground.
She looked up at him, her violet eyes electric with anger and pain.
“Finally, I get to finish you off,” Erhan said with a smile.
He stepped up to her and lifted his sword over her head. Just as he began to swing it downward, Nereyda shot her hand out and threw a wave of wind into him, tossing him through the air like a rag doll. His body struck one of the nearby guard towers, or what was left of it, with a sickening crunch before crumpling onto the ground.
Nereyda watched him for a moment but didn’t see any movement. He was either dead or unconscious. At this point, either was good enough for her. She didn’t have the stomach to strike down someone who had been knocked out anyway.
Now, she started back across the courtyard to her crew. As she walked, she allowed herself to look around at the destruction that the battle had caused. Most of the Imperial troops had perished in the battle, it seemed. A pile of their bodies lay near the breach in the wall, where the largest melee had occurred. Spreading inward from there, the charred corpses of those who had fallen victim to the demons lay in a state of eternal agony.
Silence had fallen over the whole complex. She heard the shouts of some of the remaining soldiers, working on cleaning up the rest of the Stalstan troops. Nereyda had gotten the fire demons to retreat for now, but who knew if they would actually stay away, or for how long. It would be hard for either side to call this a victory.
With the lack of troops that patrolled the mining fortress, Nereyda suddenly had an idea. The mines beneath her were still full of slaves working their pickaxes, likely oblivious to what occurred above ground. As she rejoined her crew, Nereyda said, “Before we go, how about we set everyone else free?”
“How long will that
take?”
“If we spread out throughout this place, hopefully not long. Most of the troops are either dead or busy. Besides, they’ve gotten used to seeing us fighting alongside them. You all know what it was like down there, even better than I do. Let’s end this place.”
Nereyda looked around at the faces of her crew and the Islanders, expecting someone to disagree. Instead, she saw a host of nodding heads.
“So, we’re all in this. Split off into groups of five or so, and we’ll each take one of the mines.”
Her crew members broke off in clusters and ran throughout the complex to liberate the prisoners. Nereyda knew that some of the people here were probably real criminals, but since most of them were simply prisoners of war or people that the emperor had decided he didn’t like one day, she felt okay with letting a few miscreants go free.
It took several hours for her crew to make their way through all of the mines. As Nereyda left the final mine, she watched the crowd of freed slaves that worked their way toward the unguarded gates at the wall. No guards made a move to stop them, nor were any even really visible from where Nereyda stood.
The mass of former prisoners trailed out through the openings in the wall. Nereyda didn’t know where they would go, but at least they would have a chance at a fresh start. Anything would be better than spending the rest of their lives under the heel of the Imperial guards.
---
Nereyda stood with her crew at the top of the hill, once again at the place where they had made their stand at the artillery barrage, and where she had finally called upon her powers willingly. She turned back to look at the sprawling mining complex, smoke floating up as the place smoldered. Almost nothing remained aside from scattered squads of Imperial troops running among the piles of rubble, searching for wounded comrades and cleaning up any remaining Stalstan troops.
She turned her back on the ruins to lead her crew away.
“Where are we going, Captain?” asked Elvar.
Where, indeed.
The Storm Raven was still impounded by the government, and trying to break it out would be reckless even by Nereyda’s standards. Brynja was out there somewhere, doing the bidding of the Empire. They had food that they had looted from the stores among the mines, but no money, and most of them were thoroughly worn out from their time in the mines and the battle that had exhausted the last of their reserves.
She could think of only one place to go where they might not be immediately arrested or killed. “Before I came here, I found someone who might be a friend. Or, at the very least, probably not an enemy.”
“That’s not the most reassuring thing I’ve ever heard.”
“It’s the best we’ve got for now. Let’s go. We can’t stay here.”
With her crew and her new Islander friends, Nereyda began to make her way north, back to Devrim’s place where, hopefully, they could find an ally to get them back on their feet.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
“I can’t believe Nereyda gave herself up to let us get free. Why would she make that deal, Brynja?” asked Zef, one of the gunmen on the Storm Raven.
“I’m not sure what was going through her head,” said Brynja uneasily. They were riding in a wagon away from the mining complex and to the next town. There, they would catch another transport to the docks where they would receive a ship to pillage the Stalstan merchants.
“When you disappeared, we thought you had been taken away to be killed or died in your cell,” said Zef.
“Didn’t the guards tell you something about why I wasn’t there anymore? Not even making something up?”
“No, they just told us not to worry about it. That you were just ‘gone.’ Where did you go, actually?”
“I’d rather not talk about it,” said Brynja, avoiding eye contact.
“Another trip to the deep cells, huh? What reason did they give this time?”
“They didn’t. They just tossed me in there until they decided to set us free.”
“So you really owe Nereyda your life, then. After seeing you that last time after your time in the deep cells, I don’t know if you would have survived a second go.”
Hearing Nereyda’s name hurt like a dagger plunging into her heart. Being reminded that her sacrifice was the reason they were all alive felt like the blade twisted inside her chest. “Probably not. I guess I’m lucky Reyda came when she did.”
It tore Brynja up to lie to the rest of the crew about what had happened. If she couldn’t forgive herself for what she had done to Nereyda, the crew certainly wouldn’t. But, after watching what they were going through in the mines, she didn’t feel like she had any other choice. Now, though, after seeing their hope at being set free, she began to regret sending her friend, sister, and captain into the very hell she had just escaped, along with abandoning the other half of the crew.
Someday, I’ll find a way to get her out of there. Otherwise, I’ll find another way of getting revenge.
She also didn’t know how to tell the crew that they were not actually free, just in a different sort of prison working for the Empire. Brynja didn’t like the idea of having to fight the people from her own country, but perhaps she could do just enough to keep the Empire and Erhan off of their backs. At the very least, maybe she could sneak in a visit to her homeland. It had been years since she had been there, but without the Storm Raven, it would be the next closest thing to home.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Every part of Erhan’s body ached as he woke to a dim room. He lay on a soft mattress, and a fire in a hearth spread its warmth and glow across the chamber. He tried to sit up, but his ribs and back yelled in protest. As he leaned back onto the bed, he felt bandages wrapped around his torso. Based on how he felt, it seemed as if they were holding him together.
“Ah, take it easy there,” said a voice from a dark corner of the room.
Erhan turned his head and saw a man with short gray hair rise from a chair and cross the floor to examine him.
“Who are you? Where am I?” asked Erhan.
“I am just the doctor that is trying to make sure you’re patched up. No need to know my name.”
“Thank you, I suppose. But, again, where am I? How did I get here?”
“You were found barely alive after the attack on the mining compound. You’ve been unconscious for days, but we managed to bring you here while you recovered.”
“And where is here?” Erhan insisted.
“I am not allowed to say exactly where we are, but it is a Stalstan fortress.”
Erhan tried to jump out of bed, but the pain and bandages stopped him. “So you captured me.”
“I suppose so, though I think the Minister of Foreign Affairs has something in mind for you if you want to go home.”
Letting out a humorless laugh, Erhan responded, “So you went to all of the trouble of capturing and healing an Imperial officer, just to let me go free? Somehow I doubt it’s that easy.”
“Oh, it won’t be easy at all. But I think you should hear the Minister out. You might find you like what he has to say. If you’re up to it, I’ll check if he’ll see you now.”
“Yes, I’ll see him now. Need me to get up?”
“No, he is quite willing to meet with you here. If you give me a moment, I’ll find him and let him know you’re ready to speak.”
The doctor rose and tapped three times on the door. After a click, the door opened, and he stepped out before the door closed and was locked once again. Erhan lay his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes. Captured by Stalsta. Years of service landing him in the heart of this enemy. What could they possibly want from him?
The click of the door latch made him return to the moment. He propped himself up on his elbows as a tall man with a rigid posture and regal bearing strode into the room.
“Commander Erhan, I am Audo of Kleifar, the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Stalsta Federation” he began, “I take it you’ve been well taken care of.”
“Your doctor
has been most attentive, and his care seems to have worked so far. Though, I’m curious why Stalstans would bother taking such good care of an Imperial officer.”
The minister gave him a slight smile. “Despite the propaganda that the Empire feeds you, we are not savages. We strive to mend and provide proper care for all of our prisoners of war, not just yourself. However, we have something in particular in mind for you.”
“The doctor mentioned something about letting me go, though he implied that there would be some sort of price.”
“Indeed. We will return you to the Empire, after you’ve healed, for a special assignment.”
“You mean as a spy? I’d sooner die than become a traitor.”
“No, we’re not asking you to betray your country, Commander. In fact, you might find that our interests align with this particular request.”
Erhan raised himself up further with interest, ignoring the pain in his torso. “What do you have in mind?”
“Is my information correct that you’ve had encounters with a certain individual with unnatural powers?”
“Yes. You must mean Nereyda. I’m not sure ‘encounters’ quite sums up what happened.”
“Then you are aware the danger she presents to everyone,” said the minister.
“Absolutely. She tore through my men, and yours, as if they were nothing.”
“I’m glad we are in agreement on this, Commander. I will set you free in exchange for your promise to hunt down this menace.”
“I can do that. I would like nothing more, but where do I begin?”
“Commander Erhan, what do you know of the Rite of Inquisition?”
The End
Nereyda will be back soon.
