by JC Kang
Allie motioned for him to follow her up a tree. The sweet evergreens grew straight and limbless to the height of two men, but the trunks’ proximity to one another allowed him to spider-climb between them. At a height of about twenty feet, he and Allie perched themselves on branches, with a good view of the entire camp.
The clearing was about ninety feet in diameter, with an additional trail leading out to the southwest. Twelve large round tents, all ragged and dirty, surrounded a bonfire. Four long poles lay on the ground on the southern edge of the camp. Outside of the ring of tents, ogres worked at making rope, rendering meat, tanning skins, and sharpening rocks.
Tian counted eight ogres in the open. He named them based on their distinguishing features: Mop Head, Big Brute, and the like. After an hour, he identified thirty distinct individuals, all male, with one obvious leader and two secondary leaders. One of those lieutenants, shoulder bandaged and arm hanging in a sling, looked like the one who’d led the raid on their camp.
Allie signaled for him to come down. The other rangers rejoined them, and she motioned them deeper into woods, out of earshot of the camp.
In the darkness, she whispered, “What did we learn?”
“Thirty ogres,” Rami said, “though the number of tents suggests that more live here.”
“No prisoners. They must have already left with an escort,” said Keril.
Thielas scuffed his foot in the dirt. “They leave a guard by the supply tent constantly.”
“There’s a tent,” Tian said. “That none of them entered. Or left.”
Allie nodded. “We can’t attack now. They’d have the advantage with their night vision. Let’s get some sleep. Two-hour watches, one person observes the camp, while another guards here. We’ll strike at dawn.”
Tian frowned. No telling what they’d do to the princess in that time. But Allie was right. A bad plan would get them all killed, without helping the princess at all.
They laid out bedrolls on the forest floor. Thielas took reconnaissance duty first, while Allie stood guard.
Tian couldn’t sleep. His mind buzzed with thoughts. All the mistakes he’d made that had led to the princess’ capture. He stared up into the sky, barely able to see the stars through the dense tree cover. Thick clouds rolled in from the west, completely obscuring his view.
He sat up and let out a deep sigh. Something hit him lightly in the back of the head, and he turned.
Leaning up against a tree, Allie beckoned.
He crept over.
“Can’t sleep?” she whispered.
“Can’t stop thinking. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. It’s my fault. I’ve never failed at anything. I’m not used to this feeling.” Why had he said so much to a stranger?
She patted him on the shoulder. “The first failure is the hardest.”
Tian shrugged. “I feel so out of place. In this forest. In the wilderness. None of my talents serve me.”
“Sometimes, you just have to...surrender.” She reached behind his head and drew his face closer to hers.
Tian’s heart pounded. His obsessive thoughts blurred out of focus. Surrender. Allie was beautiful, something that he’d missed behind her strong and commanding nature. Or maybe it was because her rugged exterior was so unlike the classical Hua beauties.
He closed his eyes, and their lips met. It was intoxicating. All his worries and concerns melted away. He pulled her closer to him, savoring her intriguing combination of toned muscle and feminine softness. Her lips parted, inviting him deeper.
Images of the princess crept into his mind. Heavens, here he was, losing himself in a stranger’s embrace, while the woman he was responsible for faced untold violation and humiliation. Waves of guilt careened over him, dousing his fire. He opened his eyes and pushed Allie away.
She searched his expression.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I can’t...surrender.” Or maybe he was crazy about the princess.
There! He admitted it. How foolish. She hated him, anyway. And even if she didn’t, he wasn’t an appropriate match. She was courting his brother, for the love of Heaven.
Allie shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. It wasn’t fair of me, to take advantage of you when you were feeling weak. Forget this ever happened.”
If only he could. Tian hung his head. “I’m sor—”
Thielas appeared without a sound. “Ogres, coming this way, fifteen of them, about three minutes behind me.”
Thoughts of princesses and brothers and ranger girls blinked out. Tian snapped into ready alertness. Allie handed him a dagger, then woke up the rest of her group. Though they were too far off the path for the ogres to accidently stumble upon them, the rangers all took up arms and pressed themselves against trees.
Tian squeezed the dagger hilt, sweat beading on his forehead. The eight of them didn’t stand a chance against twice as many ogres, except by surprise. He peered through the trees.
Shadowy figures lumbered by on the path, making plenty of noise. Several carried the long poles from the campsite.
The sounds disappeared into the distance. Allie beckoned the group together. “I know we’re all exhausted, and we wanted to wait until dawn. However, this might be our best chance to strike, now that half of the ogres have left the camp.”
Thielas nodded. “From their activity, I’d guess they’ve gone out to capture more slaves.”
Allie nodded, drawing a rough schematic in the dirt with a twig. “We need to take either their leader or his lieutenants alive so that we can find out where they’ve taken Tian’s princess.” She pointed with the stick. “We’ll form a ring around the camp, placing ourselves so that we have a line of sight on the bonfire between each two tents. On my mark, take down as many targets as you can with your arrows. Every time one is killed or incapacitated, yell out the count.”
Eyes following Allie’s stick, Tian looked for possible flaws. What if several stayed in the tent? What if they didn’t have a full count? There were just too many uncertainties to come up with a good plan.
“Once they sound the alarm,” she continued, “we can expect them to head into the tents to arm themselves. If there’re eight or less at that point, we will close in on the perimeter of the tents, and only engage hand-to-hand if necessary. If there’re more than eight, I’ll enter into the camp and try to get as many of them as possible to chase me down that southern trail. The rest of you will engage the remainders. Any suggestions?”
Tian tapped his chin. Not the best plan, but he couldn’t have made a better one with their limited information. At least Allie’s made the best use of the terrain and resources... Wait. He raised his hand. “All I have is a dagger. What am I supposed to do?”
Though cloaked in the darkness, Allie’s smile was clear in her tone. “Your job is to check out the tent near the northwest corner that nobody goes into. Make your move in the ensuing confusion, and with your stealth, I am sure you will be fine. If you can, take out the guard on the provisions tent, right next door. Everyone give him your dagger.”
Tian stuffed a few sheathed daggers in his belt, and one in each boot. He followed the rangers back to the campsite and continued around to the opposite side while the others fanned out.
He counted six dark ogre shapes along the outside of the tent ring. Cloud cover obscured the starlight, making it darker still. He waited for the signal, visualizing the path he would take between the supply tent and the unknown tent.
Allie’s shrill call echoed in the night sky. Chaos broke out. Ogres bellowed in pain.
Shouts erupted around the perimeter.
“One down!”
“Two down!”
Crouching low to stay below the line of arrow fire, Tian broke towards the tent.
“Five down,” called Keril from the east.
Disorganized ogre wails.
“Six down,” Thielas yelled from the south.
Arrows whizzed above him.
“Seven down,” another ranger called,
again from the east.
Allie shouted out orders.
“Eight down,” came Rami’s yell from the west.
Now inside the tent ring, where firelight evened the odds between ogre and human, Tian assessed the threat. Fifteen feet away, the sentry at the provisions tent made direct eye contact. Tian hurled the dagger in his hand, and immediately followed with another at his belt. The first hit the brute in the throat, the second in the head.
“Nine down,” Tian called.
Directly ahead, the injured lieutenant ogre ducked into the supply tent. The leader waved a huge two-handed sword, barking out orders from the front of his own tent. Two ogres emerged on the northern and southern side of the ring, both armed with spears.
“Ten down!” Allie’s voice called from outside the tent ring.
Five enemies remained, one of them unaccounted for.
Tian threw himself towards the entrance of his assigned tent, staying low. Hopefully, the bonfire would obscure the ogres’ view of him. He slipped in through the flaps.
Pitch black.
He listened carefully, trying to filter out the clashing sounds from outside.
“Eleven down!”
“Twelve down!” called Allie.
Only three threats left. This fight was won.
Inside, near the center of the tent, was quiet breathing. Human breathing. Probably a woman trying to hide the sound of her breath.
Please let it be the princess. No, it couldn’t be, not this long after their capture. “Dian-xia?” he ventured.
Whoever it was in the center of the tent burst into sobs. “Tian!”
Tian let out a sigh. He crawled toward the middle to avoid tripping over anything. Halfway there, his hands found a thin cotton carpet. Past that, a fur blanket which covered the smooth skin of the princess’ crossed legs. He jerked his hand back. He’d touched her.
“Tian.” Her voice was choked, laced with uncharacteristic pleading.
He rose up onto his knees and wrapped his arms around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder, softly crying. Her upper body was clothed, and her hands were bound behind her back, tied to the tent’s central pole.
He stroked the back of her head. “Are you okay?”
Her only answer was gentle sobbing. He traced a hand down her arm to her wrist, where he found the cold metal of manacles. He felt at his belt for his lockpick pouch.
The tent flap opened, casting a flickering light throughout the tent. Tian turned, making out the silhouette of an ogre with a huge sword in one hand.
A glaring light flashed from the other hand, washing Tian’s eyes in a bright haze.
He sprang to his feet, simultaneously taking two daggers from his belt and throwing them. One clanged against metal, the other whirled out of the tent and tumbled across the ground. He squinted. A large blurry figure lurched towards him. It raised a sword with two hands to hack him in half.
Tian side-stepped the chop as he bent to pick up the blanket. The sword smashed against the dirt where he’d just stood. The blade then whistled towards him on an upstroke, rising at an angle with enough force to sever his head. Tian swept the blanket up into the sword’s path while diving headfirst under its trajectory, into the ogre’s knee. He seized the back of the ogre’s ankle with both of his hands and drove his shoulder into its shin.
The leverage caused the brute to fall backward. The sword pitched across the ground. Tian finished with a forward roll, ending straddled on the ogre’s chest.
He swept another dagger from his belt and stabbed downward with an overhand hold. The ogre caught his forearm in a powerful two-handed grip. Undeterred, Tian twisted his wrist, slashing the blade across the ogre’s left wrist tendons. The grip from that hand went slack, and blood sprayed.
Tian bounced into a crouch and used his left hand to grasp his opponent’s right arm—which still held fast to his own dagger hand. He twisted around and leaned back, hyperextending the ogre’s arm in an armbar. He arched his back. The tearing ligaments and rubbing bones made popping and grinding sounds. The ogre roared.
As his vision adjusted to the light, Tian gave the ogre a sharp kick to the side of the head, knocking him out. He climbed back up to his feet, blinked his vision clear, and looked down.
The leader.
“Thirteen down.” Tian turned to the princess. Her eyes burned red from crying, and tears left dirt streaks down her cheeks. With the blanket gone, her perfectly-shaped legs were bare. His gaze involuntarily lingered, and she twisted her body in an attempt to conceal herself.
Ashamed of himself for so many reasons, Tian turned his head. He picked up the blanket and covered her. “I’m sorry...” he mumbled. “I, uh, will see if he has a key.”
He leaned over and searched the unconscious ogre. A ring of four keys hung on its belt. The smallest one fit into the princess’ manacles.
Hands free, she wrapped the blanket around her waist and held it together with one hand. She extended her free arm, tacitly asking him to help her up. Her legs wobbled as she stood, and she threw herself against him, burying her face in his chest. He embraced her warmly, protectively, as she pulled him closer and wept.
What could he say? There were no words of comfort he could offer. Maybe the Moquan Tiger’s Eye mind-block could blunt the emotional trauma. No—no telling what it would do to someone not trained in Moquan ways.
“I’m so sorry, Dian-xia.” He stroked her head. “It’s my fault...that this happened to you. If only we’d gotten here sooner.”
She looked up at him with furrowed brows. “We?”
Tian looked down at her with an equally perplexed expression. “We... Some friends I met. I wanted to storm the camp hours ago. We could’ve spared you...you know...”
She lowered her head, pressing her ear to his chest. Her words shook through the shuddering of her shoulders. “They didn’t.”
“But your...” He pulled her closer. It was too awkward to continue. Maybe Allie would say something appropriate. “Never mind.”
Outside, the sounds of battle died down to only an occasional ear-wrenching death keen. The ranger Rami burst into the tent, nearly tripping over the ogre. He stopped in his tracks. “Sorry to ruin the moment.” He turned around and jumped out.
Heat rose to Tian’s face. What must Rami be thinking?
A couple of minutes later, Allie spoke in an exaggeratedly loud voice, just outside the tent opening. “You men, wait a few minutes so the lady can make herself presentable. Zheng: be a gentleman—if that’s possible—and come out here.”
Tian gritted his teeth and stepped back.
The princess looked up again, this time with a demure smile. “You heard her. Out you go.” She turned him around and pushed him in the back towards the entrance.
A blast of cold night air greeted him. Allie’s expression wasn’t much warmer. Thielas stood by her side, while the other rangers investigated the tents.
“Your lady friend okay?” Allie asked.
“Traumatized. But it looks like you were right about...that...”
Allie chuckled and pushed past Tian into the tent. “Don’t come in until I tell you.”
Thielas shrugged. “Curious creatures, women. Especially human women.”
“Especially human women?” Tian cocked an eyebrow. “Do you know this from experience?”
“More than you’d expect.” The elf grinned back.
“Are all the ogres taken care of?”
Thielas held up two fingers. “There are two unaccounted for: the leader and one of his seconds. That one has an injured arm, so he’s not an immediate threat beyond his ability to bring reinforcements.”
Tian tilted his head towards the tent. “The leader is incapacitated in there. Did you check the provisions tent?”
“Yes. It looks like a lot of the possessions they took from captives, as well as a locked chest.”
Tian produced the key ring from his belt. “Perhaps one of these will fit.”
Allie�
�s muffled voice called from inside. “Okay, you can come in now.”
Kaiya felt exhausted to the core, her legs barely steady enough to support her lithe form. She’d used the power of her voice several times to fend off the ogre’s repeated attempts to violate her, and it took a physical toll. At first, when she realized how thoroughly she could control him, it was almost amusing to watch him approach, only to be cowed by her command to back away.
She looked down at the unconscious leader and shuddered. Each time she’d used her voice, it drained her in alarmingly increasing increments. The effect of her command took longer to take hold and lasted shorter. As her fear grew, she found it harder to even find her voice. The last time, he had managed to rip her pants off, and only the hook of her thumb kept her undergarments from going with them. She shuddered to think what would have happened if he had had another chance.
She pulled her pants back on. After this torment, she’d never look at a male the same way again.
That changed when the tent flap opened.
Tian entered. A sense of relief washed over her. When had that happened? In two months, he’d transformed from an uncaring oaf to the dear friend she remembered from childhood. His embrace had felt...good.
Behind Tian followed the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen, with delicate features and large violet eyes that could’ve been the essence of a dawn cloud concentrated into a rich liquid. Vibrant golden hair tumbled down his shoulders. He seemed familiar.
Kaiya ran her hand through her own short hair, suddenly feeling naked again despite the warm woolen pants.
Tian’s attention shifted to the semi-conscious ogre. Kaiya shivered. Its rough hands had rubbed her face. Even now, after Allie had tightly secured those same hands around the pole, behind his back, Kaiya edged away from the brute.
“Greetings, Your Highness. It has been a while.” The elf’s voice sung like the symphony of gods. Oddly, it sounded familiar, even if she’d never seen him before—and she’d certainly not have forgotten meeting someone so beautiful.
