"The movement stirred over here!"
The soldier sprinted so nearby that I could hear the grass hiss against his stride. Could hear the scratch in his voice from the smoke. Valasca, Kelius, Tilliandre, and Malaia laid still in the dirt behind me, swords in hand. Smoky tendrils floated the field, burning my eyes, slicking my hand to my hilt with sweat.
The same soldier’s heavy steps dropped slow now, crunching the dry blades as he neared me. I held in shuttering breaths, his torch lighting the grass by my sword. Glinting off my blade. I began counting down to my attack.
1...2...
Chapter 53
“Over here!”
“Get to the gate!”
Shouts ricocheted across the fiery field, summoning a myriad of clangs as several dozen soldiers charged back toward the fortress wall, pulling the torchlight away from me. I stayed my place, letting out the smallest of sighs. Loosening the grip on my hilt, I glanced back to my friends, whose expressions mirrored my own confusion. We eased up to our knees, looking through the fires to the front gate.
Flames lit up the night, revealing a tangle of men brawling in front of the fortress. Behind the flicker and blister of orange, the sight tightened my chest like a vice. Several soldiers yelled and cursed in struggle. Twenty or more men were already involved. Through the swelter, I caught glimpses of Laidea and Saratiese fighting. My heart raced into my throat and I lunged to run.
"No!" Malaia seized me back with a solid hand.
I shook loose. “Laidea told us nothing of this plan!”
“She told us what we needed to know.” Malaia said, her dark eyes trying to assure me. “Leave her to it.”
“Now we have cover.” Kelius hugged Tilliandre to her hip. “Gragore won’t search us out if he thinks he already has us. That’s why she took Lathenia, Belsiphiny, and Kia. To confuse him.”
“He won’t harm any of them if he can‘t figure out which one is ‘you’.” Malaia loosened her grip from my arm. “Once he realizes he doesn’t have you, he will call for a trade. You for the Queen.”
“This buys us time, Askca.” Kelius placed a comforting palm on my back as if I too were her little sister. “And if I’ve learned anything serving under Laidea, it’s that she always knows what she’s doing.”
Malaia gave a half smile. “Especially if it looks like she doesn’t.”
“You just have to trust her.”
I swallowed, feeling unsettled. Blindsided. I knew Laidea planned to light the fires as a distraction, but I had no idea she planned on getting caught. It seems the Commander did not reveal this to me intentionally, and I‘m certain Saratiese knew going in. That explained the girl’s worried look before we split up. If there was one thing I couldn‘t bare, it was being out of control, and of late, that’s the only thing I could rely on. Being out of control.
“Then I should go.” I glanced back to the gate, the scuffle between Laidea‘s company and the men getting louder.
“No.” Kelius tightened her grip on my shoulder. “What good will that do?”
“Kelius, GarTaynia needs Queen Perseathea. The Nation needs her. If I have to trade myself for her, that’s what I’ll do. That’s why we came here. To get her back.”
The shudder in my heart sped up, flitting like a terrified hummingbird, and the heat off the field fires wasn’t the only thing making me sweat. When I’d left GarTaynia just days ago, I hadn’t stopped to think what I planned to do once we found the Queen. Not once. But then, I hadn’t realized so much of what would happen on this quest, that now looking back, it’s like I was walking around in the dark. Nothing’s the same anymore and I didn’t know what to do. Only what I should do.
It‘s not that I wanted to surrender myself to Gragore. The thought of it suffocated me, icing my skin, but it‘s the only thing that made any sense. And as an Amazon warrior, I swore an oath to protect my Queen. To protect GarTaynia. Sadly, what the warlord had said at our last battle stood reasonable. Why trade the lives of a thousand simply to protect me? I didn’t understand it. I couldn’t do that to Queen Perseathea, or to my friends. And I couldn’t do it to Saratiese.
“How can you not see?” I shrugged my shoulders, looking to the two warriors. “What could be my worth in comparison? She is the Queen of our people. I‘m a warrior of but what…? A few days?”
“Do you not witness what the Queen has done to protect you?” Malaia crossed her arms, getting that same glint of agitation that I‘d seen in our own scuffle over keeping guard.
“But why have I never known this? Sensed it? If I am to be-”
“I’m not saying I understand it,” Malaia cut me off, “but I do believe the Queen. I will unto death. And if she believes you could be the Amazon hope, Askca, then I stand by her word. Especially if that means stopping you from endangering Laidea‘s plan.”
“The soldiers are relieving their watch a bit.” Valasca said, grabbing Malaia‘s arm to distract her from me. “They’re mostly consumed with the gate or the fires. We can slide by now.”
I looked past Malaia to Laidea and Hippolyta, standing back to back, fighting. Saratiese huddled the three braves in under her arms, clenching into them as the men worked to rip them from her. I couldn’t stand this. I wanted nothing more than to bust from the trees and rush to Saratiese. The same way I needed water or air, that same thing in me needed to help her. I could feel it coursing my veins. Speeding my heart. Trembling my hands and burning my cheeks. Making me feel like there was an untamed animal on the inside of me clawing to get out. To move. To run. To help.
But I knew Malaia and Kelius were right. The Queen had never led us in a way that wasn’t absolute truth. If she believed this possibility for me, then it must be truth. And Laidea, she stood as one of the greatest warriors I’d ever known, and she was my Commander. Who was I to thwart her plan? Kelius was right. I had to trust Laidea, no matter how bad my own flesh hurt to move.
“I can slide by.” I corrected.
Valasca’s eyes flashed to me with concern. “But-”
“She’s right.” Malaia interrupted the brave, surprising me. I looked to the woman, questioning.
“Kelius and I will cover you. But do not go near Laidea’s company and do not get yourself caught.” The woman’s words were firm.
“Once Gragore figures it out…” Kelius pulled Tilliandre back under her arm almost as if it were her subconscious effort to protect me, “…once he realizes he doesn’t have the Amazon he seeks, that fortress is the last place he’ll expect to find you.”
“Don’t do anything stupid.” Malaia warned me again, her eyes steely. Threatening. “Get in there and find Queen Perseathea while Laidea’s is giving you time.”
Chapter 54
At the gate, a horde of men mangled into the Amazons, knotting the women in a sea of black armor. Kia-Maie, Belsiphiny, and Lathenia were snatched up like hatchlings. Hippolyta lunged, cutting down every man daring touch one of the girls, unleashing a howl of red streamed cries at the end of her sword. The braves fled at each break, but only to be plucked up again by a barricade of new soldiers.
Saratiese, Laidea, and Hippolyta stood back to back, each combating two or more soldiers at a time. Their blood tinged swords flashed with the reflection of flames, and men jumbled at their feet, soaking the dead grass red.
Not long after, the numbers overtook the three Amazon warriors, and at the end of it, Laidea, Hippolyta, and Saratiese stood splattered in blood and bound in shackles. The mammoth gate drug open with a grating thunder. In the grip of three soldiers herself, Laidea dared a glance past the fires to the trees, her expression calm. Confidant.
“How many of you does it take to hold just one of us down?" Belsiphiny busted against the two soldiers dragging her in. Kia-Maie and Lathenia kept their eyes to the dirt, not daring any more resistance.
As the company passed under the archway, Saratiese paced in compliance with her captors, silent, studying the mass of carved rock and mortar likening itself to its’ own vill
age. Rows of stables lined the east end, their musky stink of hay and horse manure wafting into the smoky cough of the fires. A blacksmith, a bakery, and living quarters loomed on the north side. Lines of dark pathways snuck behind the edifices and crude cut steps led up the walls. A plethora of mysterious vaults, crypts, and darkened doorways also dotted the gray hamlet. An open yard of dust and dead yellow grass was the center of it all. Saratiese lifted her gaze to the night sky looming over her like an unreachable black shroud, smoke clouding out its’ stars.
"Well, well, well.” Gragore traipsed across the yard. He stopped before the huddle of Amazons, a smoldering smirk lighting his face. “I've been anticipating your arrival. I expected you much earlier."
"Gragore.” The name cr1awled off Laidea‘s tongue like a cockroach and she spit in the dirt at his feet.
"Yes." The warlord dipped his head, as if she had made his introduction. “And you must be hers. Hmm?” He caressed Laidea’s cheek, sliding fingers down to her throat. Gripping into it. His words dropped dark. “So woman, tell me what I want to know.”
Laidea lifted her chin saying nothing. Gragore tightened his hand, bruising over her air, clenching into her as his smile returned.
“Tell me which one of these is Askca.”
“What makes you think Askca is here?" Sarcasm squirmed out with Laidea’s strained words.
Gragore loosened from her throat, combing his hand instead through his raven gray hair, chuckling as if he enjoyed their exchange.
"I know more then you’d would wager, Amazon. For example,” he let his words settle with the cocky tilt of his head “you are Laidea. A Commander of GarTaynia. Second hand unto the Queen. And, I know Askca was summoned to a quest. This quest.”
“How would you know-”
“Your First Commander Masseeia sent word. The only secret you hold from me now is which of these is my daughter.”
Laidea’s jaw tensed at that word daughter, and had she not been shackled and held by three soldiers, she’d have kicked Gragore’s head from his shoulders. Instead, she calmed her words, preferring not to reveal her vulnerability to the warlord’s words.
"I’ll tell you nothing."
The calm dropped from Gragore. Gritting his teeth, he left Laidea, going to the three braves. Eyeing them. Grabbing their chins, one by one, and staring into their eyes.
"None of these match Masseeia’s description.” He growled, pacing. He studied over Lathenia, Belsiphiny, and Kia-Maie, scrutinizing each face.
“These are too young.” He lifted back into posture, turning back to Laidea. “I will give you these last few hours before dawn. At sunrise, if you do not tell me where Askca is, I will butcher these three girls in her place.” The warlord turned to Kia-Maie, cupping the child’s chin. “Then maybe you’ll be more inclined to answer my questions. Take them to the dungeon.”
The soldiers complied, pulling the girls out of the yard.
“And get more men in the field!” Gragore yelled after them. “I want that fire drowned out, now!"
The men nodded and carried on again with their orders.
“Wait.” Gragore put up a quick finger, the tension rapidly draining from of his face, melting him back into a calm demeanor. “Wait, wait, wait. Don’t take them just yet. I almost forgot. I have a surprise.”
The warlord grinned like a young boy eyeing his birthday presents, then snapped his fingers, summoning two new soldiers to the yard.
The men entered the yard, dragging another prisoner, bound at the hands and feet, as well as gagged. The man bled like red spring rain, bruises whelping over his body. The two soldiers tossed him to the ground in a puff of dust at Laidea‘s feet. The Commander looked down on the bludgeoned prisoner, not recognizing him, but with empathy twinging her heart. Tears glassed the his bruised and swollen eyes, but admirably, the prisoner never uttered so much as a whimper to appease his attackers.
Gragore sauntered over, crouching to rip the man up to his feet by the scruff of his blood soaked collar. A series of hoots and jeering circled the soldiers as they taunted the battered man.
“Amazon woman,” Gragore looked on Laidea, the man still dangling in his hold, “when you see Perseathea, tell her Bartamius has been rendered useless to her as of this last eve.”
Laidea’s heart dropped. Bartamius stared at her, his desperate words muffled by his gag, his eyes pleading with her to save his sister.
The warlord tossed the bound man back into the dust, knocking the wind from Bartamius as he hit, coughing and gasping under his gag. The horde of gawking men busted out with laughter.
"Take them away!” Gragore ordered with the flit of his wrist. “And throw this morsel of a man down there with them. He can be a woman as well. At dawn, they all die."
Chapter 55
I shot out of the dark trees. The blistering glow of the fires heated against my skin as I ran, lighting up the night. The field. Making me feel exposed. Midway across, I noted two nearby soldiers. Slowing into a hunch under the grass, I caught my breath. Laying a palm to my chest, the heavy pounding of my heart beat against the cool of my amulet. I wrapped my fingers tight around the green stone.
I will wear this amulet with great pride and respect. I will wear it until it is soaked in my own blood. I will wear it in death… proudly and bravely, as a symbol of my eternal allegiance to you, my Queen.
After the two soldiers left in search of another pail of water, I lunged back into my sprint. Nearing the colossal wall, waves of smoke wafted over me, gusting the musky scent down my throat. I squinted in the gritty burn, holding my breath, not wanting another cough to be my undoing. Glancing to the front gate, my eyes traveled up the towering stone wall. Tilting my head back to take in the full sight of it, it felt as if the fortress stood even with the moon itself. Long rows of torches flickered like distant stars along the top, glimmering up the shadows of a dozen or more soldiers as they paced the lofty wall.
Defeated by the thought of climbing over, I peered back out into the flames eating up the field. Men scattered about, cursing and tossing pails of water, trying desperately to squelch the spreading fire. The gate stood closed now, and still heavily guarded. Every corner of the citadel bustled with movement. I swallowed, striving to think. I’d taken off from the trees without much thought as to what my plan would be once I got here. I hadn’t thought much ahead of getting myself past the soldiers in the field. Forethought was quickly becoming my most obvious flaw, although in my defense, Malaia and Kelius hadn‘t exactly offered any ideas on getting into the fortress. But… in their defense, they probably assumed as a warrior I wouldn’t need the same constant direction as a child. They were wrong.
I crept the grass down the front wall, turning it’s corner. A lone soldier standing in the shadows down the east wall caught my attention. Why wasn’t he battling the fires or guarding the wall? Straining his neck ever so often, it appeared as if he were looking, or waiting, for someone. Like a snake stalking a field mouse, I tread low, keeping steely eyes on the man. As he fidgeted with his armor, I clenched into my sword hilt, sneaking up to his side. He tilted his helmet back on his head. I froze where, I stood not three paces away. Slicking the wet hair from his forehead with a stiff palm, he slid his helmet back into place.
I took a quick glance over my shoulder. Settling into a crouch, I glanced around the field. Most of the soldiers ran in groups of at least twos and threes. Not this man. He stood alone. Fidgeting. This made him perfect.
Leaping, I pummeled into the soldier, slamming us both into the dirt. Putting a quick hand over his mouth, I threatened him with my eyes, my blade sliding over the bob in his neck. He put his palms up in surrender, eyes wide and acquiescent. Pulling back up to my feet, I kept my sword point at his throat, prodding him up and into the cover of trees behind the fortress.
"Lay on your hands!" I managed to shout in a whisper once we were deep into the dark branches. The soldier complied and I settled my boot on his chest, resting the sword point in the curve
of his throat.
“I’ll take you in.” The soldier whispered. "I'll show you everything."
I raised an eyebrow. That was a bit too easy, wasn’t it? But the man lay calm beneath my boot without struggle, his hands tucked away just as I‘d instructed. He’d made no effort to fight. Not to run. Not even to shout out to the others. It all seemed a little too suspicious.
"I don’t believe you." I leaned lightly on my blade, pushing just enough to slice his skin, illustrating my point.
"Please, I’m Tythose…” he shuttered out from beneath a trickle of blood, the bob in his throat bouncing as he swallowed, “a friend of Bartamius."
I squared my jaw. “I’ve heard that one before.”
“I can get you in. Unseen. I know where Gragore is keeping the woman. I can take you right to her.”
Keeping my sword steady, I looked around the dark trees, assuring that we were still alone. “Why would you help me?” I asked.
“Not every soldier in the fortress is here by will. Bartamius is my closest companion. He is like a brother to me. If he needs my help, I honor that.”
I pressed my blade in, cutting another trickle of blood from his throat, but without offering any real harm. “Even if it’s your own life you risk?”
“Without hesitation.” The young man’s eyes stayed focused on me, unwavering, and he still offered me no struggle.
“Then tell me this, what is Bartamius’ interest in an Amazon Queen?”
“What?”
“Why is he helping her?”
“Don’t you know?” The man looked up at me as if
he were stunned by my question. “Perseathea is his sister. His twin soul.”
I took in a sharp breath. “Twin?”
Amazon: Signs of the Secret Page 28
