"Answer," Peter ordered sounding surprisingly calm to his ears now. His voice was tight from trying to be commanding, but no longer sounded weak.
"I think the others escaped," a surprisingly feminine voice answered shakily.
The girl's voice surprised the soldier. He didn't know why it surprised him, since any discovered wilders were as likely to be female as male. As far as he knew, magic didn't choose one sex over another; so it was even odds that there might be a girl.
"You're hurting me," the girl breathed sounding a bit labored from the pressure against her upper body from the shield being pressed against her.
Easing back, Peter wished that he could see better. The dust above was slowly settling but it would be a long time before it would allow more light into the hole. The solid earth surrounding them would never change, however, and Peter thought to ask, "Is there a lamp down here?"
"There was," the girl replied calmly, "but I'm not sure what happened to it in the explosion."
He was surprised by the tone of her voice. Since it was too dark to see her face easily, Peter supposed that her physical features might have suggested otherwise, but he could only go with what he heard for now.
"Peter," the captain called out above him.
"I'm here, captain. I captured one of the wilders; but I'm not sure how to get out of here in the dark."
"Good work. Stay calm and we'll find a lamp in a moment.
"Is there just the one down there?"
"As far as I can tell, sir."
The girl started to move and Peter pushed back with the shield making her gasp again. As he eased back, she stated in irritation, "I was just going to look for the ladder. I heard it fall when Esterion and Gaius escaped."
"I dropped my staff and have a shield. Are you that it wasn't just me or any of the other noises caused by that wizard? He was a real wizard, wasn't he?" the soldier asked getting distracted by his thoughts as he tried to process what had happened. His training had exposed him to magic, of course, but this seemed more precise and destructive than anything he could remember seeing.
Her fingers found the top of his shield and pulled it down gently to avoid getting it jammed into her delicate frame again. "I know what I heard. Your crashing happened further away. As to Esterion, I assume that he is a trained wizard. He found me and Gaius and promised to take us away where we would be safe, but I guess that won't happen now," she finished with a sigh.
"Where was he going to take you?"
Ignoring his question, the girl knelt down after her shuffling feet connected with something solid. There was a lot of debris on the floor, but her hand found the ladder where it had fallen and she asked, "Can you help me with this?"
Peter bumped into the girl again. He had tried to keep track of her in the dim light and had moved with her. Moving to her left side, his free hand found her shoulder and traced her arm down to where her hand was touching the ladder. It was too dark to tell which end was correct, but between the two of them they were able to lift it up. The light above was dim, but the difference between the opening and the ceiling above them was easy enough to discern.
Walking the ladder close enough to lean it against the jagged remains of the floor and beams, the two made it steady and he sent the girl up the ladder before a lamp was brought to the edge of the hole. Men shifted ready to attack with the sight of the girl, but they eased quickly noticing the restrictive collar around her neck.
Peter retrieved his shield and followed. He would need the lamp to find his staff and to check the rest of the dark basement.
Once he had climbed the ladder to the top, the soldier noted his captain and two of the others waiting for him. He heard the girl cough and noted the heavy amount of dust in the air. Without the faceplate to protect them, Peter and the other soldiers would likely be coughing as well.
"Where are her cuffs, lad?" the captain asked gesturing towards the girl who had drawn the attention of the other men who remained close by.
There were men being tended to lying closer to the door. They had been significantly wounded by the wizards' escape if the squad wasn't trying to chase the two men who had fled, Peter thought. He had fallen, but not seen the true chaos of the wizard's magic when they fought free.
"She wasn't exactly resisting after I put the collar on her, sir, so I kind of forgot while we were looking for the ladder. I don't think that she's going to be any more trouble though," he admitted glancing at the girl who had lifted her hands to cover her nose and mouth while she tried to breathe without coughing more.
Signaling the two closest soldiers to go down into the hole to double check his assessment with a lantern, the captain made Peter walk the girl past the others to the porch. Only three of their men stood in front of the building, one of which was the sergeant who had handcuffed the shopkeeper and had him kneeling on the wood deck looking out at the street where several men and women peaked from safety on the far side of the street. Even fear of the hunters couldn't keep them from being curious about the sounds coming from the general store.
The captain took a pair of cuffs from Peter's belt as if the younger man couldn't be trusted to draw his own gear. Taking first one wrist and then the other, he restrained her with them in front of her unlike the shopkeeper whose hands were cuffed behind his back.
"You always cuff their kind. Even the collar can't guarantee that they can't try some kind of magic and most of their skills require their hands. Bind their hands and end the threat, soldier."
"Yes, captain," Peter replied with a tone of disappointment that he was unable to mask. He disliked being cautioned and dressed down for his inexperience. New to the squad, his training in the hunters' camp wasn't the same as dealing with wizards under real conditions.
His leader's eyes went to the girl's collar and he brushed her hair back to look at it closer. Turning to look at the young man who had captured her, he asked for him to show the bracelet on his wrist. Peter noted a line of pale green filled the etched runes running along its surface now. Looking to the girl's collar, he noted the same color in the lines of it as well.
Gullan was in sight, but Peter didn't see the same colors on his collar. He wasn't quite sure what it meant.
"Well, I guess you'll be her keeper for now also," the captain stated.
Peter's eyes opened wide in shock. "But I am not trained to be an inhaber," he said using the special term for a wizard's handler. "I just joined the hunters, Captain Trevanne."
Sniffing in amusement, the older man replied, "You know that all hunters have the possibility of becoming inhabers. When you put a collar on one of these wilders, you run the risk of having to train them."
Frowning at the two men talking about her, the girl asked apprehensively, "What kind of training?"
The men closest to them began to chuckle, but the captain snapped at her, "Quiet, wilder, you will find out soon enough."
"My name is Aurora," she complained in retort. Her brown eyes looked angry, but the captain looked to his junior ignoring her.
"You know how to use the crop? I assume you brought it in your gear," the captain looked like he would use a rider's crop on the soldier if he answered incorrectly.
Peter withdrew a short rod called a septerad or crop in slang. It had more runes on it. Putting it in his right hand, he looked at his captain questioningly though only his eyes could be seen through the holes in his mask. Most of the hunters left their facemasks in place during the entire mission only taking their helmets off once returned to their station or at night when they ate or slept.
"Test it," the captain ordered.
A moment's delay as the junior hunter appeared to want the captain to take his order back ended by his placing his thumb on a ragged circular mark. The touch sent Aurora to her knees and her bound hands reached for the collar as she cried in pain which only ended when Peter lifted his thumb away from the mark.
"Good it works properly. You know the various uses of it from training, correct?"
Peter avoided the accusatory eyes of the girl and nodded to his leader.
"Then keep her under control while we secure the building."
Aurora stayed where she had landed and looked at the soldier, her keeper as they had called him, and tears were in her eyes for the first time since he had captured her.
Trying not to look at the sad girl, Peter kept his thumb away from the more dangerous buttons on the rod while he waited for his commander to send them on their way once more.
Smart Alec in the Dark Lands Page 29
