Freelance Heroics (Firesign Book 2)

by Stephen W. Gee

  “Where is it heading?”

  Mazik looked at the compass in his hand, then back at the city walls, which were dimly visible at this distance. “Site five? Maybe. I’m guessing. Around that area. That’s only if they didn’t swerve or do something else that will make it hard for me to follow it back.”

  “I’ll call the others and have them meet me where the stream meets the road. I’ll call you back soon. Be careful.”

  “Right-o.” Mazik heard the faint, persistent hum of Stýlori magick cut off as the connection was severed. Staying low, Mazik gathered up the back of his robes and sprinted along the orcks’ path, moving as quickly as he dared.

  *

  It took another ten minutes for Mazik to follow the trail back to their camp, dodging the occasional straggler along the way. By that time, Gavi, Raedren, and the Blue Boar had met up and were moving down the nearby stream. Mazik told Gavi that he would backtrack and wait for them along the far bank.

  “There he is,” said Raedren, pointing ahead.

  Gavi squinted, but she couldn’t see anything in the darkness. “Can you see us?” she whispered, one hand to her ear.

  “Ayup. Keep coming, though try to keep low and quiet. The camp is close.”

  Gavi led the others along the stream. They weren’t quite sprinting, but they were close. She could practically feel their chance to search the orck camp ticking away.

  They found Mazik crouched beside a tree, drinking from the small waterskin he kept in his robes—which wasn’t filled with whiskey or beer this time, she hoped. She frowned. “That is water, right?”

  Mazik looked offended. “What, do you think I would bring whiskey on a quest?”

  “Yes.”

  “Absolutely,” said Raedren.

  “From what Mas Moro has told me, that seems likely,” said the Blue Boar.

  Mazik shot them an injured look. “Well, I wouldn’t.” He stashed the waterskin back in his robes. “Not when I know I’d be running a lot. Probably. I mean, maybe I’d bring beer, but this time it’s water.”

  Gavi smiled, and was grateful as some of the tension bled away. “Anyway, there’s no time for banter. Lead on.”

  Mazik stayed low to the ground and waved for them to follow. Gavi followed closely, with the other two trailing behind her.

  “They weren’t at site five,” Mazik whispered as they made their way up a hill. “They didn’t pick that good of a spot. Which is nice, since it makes it easier to sneak up on ’em.”

  Gavi didn’t reply. She could tell they were getting close. More of the bushes that made up the Saffirite underbrush had been disturbed, and she saw several stumps where trees had been felled. There were also dark patches on the ground that looked suspiciously like blood, though she couldn’t tell in the low light. The way that Mazik and Raedren, with their magickally enhanced sight, avoided them seemed to corroborate her suspicions, though.

  There was light coming from up ahead—torchlight or campfires, she assumed. As they climbed up another shallow incline, Mazik held up a hand, indicating for them to slow. As Gavi crept forward, she was glad it was spring, rather than autumn—a layer of dead leaves would have made this difficult.

  Mazik guided them to a pair of shrubs near the top of the hill. He carefully parted the leaves and let the three of them look through.

  Had they possessed a bird’s-eye view of the surroundings, it wouldn’t have made it any easier to find the orck camp, because all of the trees were still standing. Aside from those that had been chopped down outside the camp, presumably for firewood, all the trees in the camp proper remained, though the underbrush had been ripped up and hurled into the forest.

  Instead of clearing the area, like a human army might have, the orcks had used the trees as tent poles, tying large stitched-together animal skins to the trunks to make rough lean-tos and primitive tents. Dotted throughout the camp was the occasional fire—cooking fires, by the looks of them, and smartly made ones at that, with nary a whisper of smoke to betray the camp’s position.

  Amid the tents, there were two unusual structures. One was a tent as well, but a large one, tall enough to stretch into the branches of the tree it was built around. It looked like a circus tent in shape, with what appeared to be a second floor—a platform, Gavi guessed—suspended several meters above the ground. In front of it was a bonfire.

  The other unusual structure was a proper building. It was a small log cabin affair, thrown together with roughly split logs, likely taken from the trees the orcks had felled. It had only one room, which was about as large as the living room in Mazik and Raedren’s old apartment. Another stitched-together collage of animal skins served as a ceiling, and the gap where a door would have been fitted was instead blocked by two heavy tree stumps, each as tall as Gavi herself. In front of the doorway was a single orck, while inside—

  “Godsdammit,” swore Raedren.

  Gavi saw that he was looking in the same direction she was. “What is it? I can’t see that far.”

  “Hostages,” whispered Raedren. “They’ve got humans locked up in that cabin.”

  The Blue Boar swore. “I never knew they were taking hostages!”

  “Shhh, shhh!” said Mazik, waving frantically. “Yes, they have hostages. We’ll take care of it. Try not to get us found.” He started to say something else, then stopped. “Wait. If you didn’t have any reason to think they were taking hostages, why did you tell us we had to save them if they had?”

  “I say that to everyone I work with.”

  “Ah.”

  Gavi searched the camp for orcks. “Huh. That’s odd. Do you guys see any orcks other than the one over there?”

  Mazik was scanning the camp as well. “No, I don’t. I didn’t see any when I was here last time, either.”

  “Me neither,” said Raedren.

  “Do you think they all joined the attack?” asked the Blue Boar.

  “If so, all the better for us.” Mazik pointed at the middle of the camp. “I think we need to check out the big tent. Other than the cabin and what looks like an eating area—” He pointed to an open area along the far side. It had noticeably more campfires, as well as the remains of plenty of orck meals, i.e. bones. “—that’s the most suspicious place. The purpose of the other two is fairly obvious.”

  “We must rescue the hostages first. Their lives are in danger!” said the Blue Boar.

  “Shhh!” said Mazik, waving him into silence. “Gods, if I knew you were going to be this noisy, I would have brought a gag.”

  Gavi rubbed the edges of her necklace as she thought. “We can’t rescue the hostages until after we’ve gotten a look around the camp, but we don’t have much time to waste either way. We’ll have to split up.”

  No one seemed happy about this, but neither did they argue. “It will make sneaking around easier,” said Mazik.

  “Plus, I’m not very good at sneaking,” said Raedren. Mazik nodded, a bit too emphatically. Raedren gave him a hurt look.

  Gavi smiled, then turned to the Blue Boar. “Mas Blue Boar, how are you at stealth? You seemed pretty skilled when you snuck up on us, but are you confident you can get to that big tent undetected?”

  “I don’t know how sensitive orck hearing is, so I can’t make any promises, but I believe I can do it.”

  “Then Raedren and I will get into position to rescue the hostages,” said Gavi. “Mazik, you and the Boar sneak over to that big tent and see what you can find out. Whenever you’re finished, we’ll free the hostages, and you can either run over and help us or lead any other orcks away. Though if we think we can sneak them out, we’ll do that.”

  Mazik glanced at the Blue Boar. He grimaced. “You know, I agree, and I’d probably suggest all that myself, but I still don’t like it. Why do I have to get stuck with this blue bastard?”

  “Complain another time. Or better yet, never.” Gavi rolled back on the balls of her feet, inching away from the bushes. “Let’s keep our call from earlier open, so we can comm
unicate with each other.” Gavi repeated the incantation, and Mazik accepted it. “Everyone ready?”

  There was a chorus of hushed agreements, and another grumble from Mazik.

  Raedren and the Blue Boar slunk away. Gavi started to follow, but Mazik waved for her to stop. “You getting used to playing leader yet?”

  Gavi snorted. “I’m not the leader. You still are. You keep picking our destinations and getting us quests. I just figure out how to do ’em.” Gavi reached out to squeeze Mazik’s hand—then pulled back, squeezing his thumb instead.

  “Well, you can back me up anytime,” Mazik said with a wink.

  Gavi rolled her eyes. “Just try not to blow anything up unless it’s necessary.” She crept away, heading after Raedren.

  *

  Gavi caught up to Raedren quickly, then took the lead. They were currently sneaking around the outside of the camp, sticking to the forests where Raedren’s glowing eyes wouldn’t give them away. While Raedren swept for enemies with all his senses, Gavi carefully selected their route. The log cabin was situated about a third of the way around the camp.

  Gavi forced herself not to look toward the camp any more than necessary. She would have preferred to go with Mazik. Not because she didn’t trust him—rather, it was herself and the Blue Boar that she was unsure of. The Blue Boar was a relative unknown, as far as stealth went, whereas she had seen his combat skills last night, and knew he was better than she was. On the other hand, she was sure she would have been able to sneak into that camp as well as or better than Mazik, whereas her combat abilities left something to be desired.

  But if things went sour, it would be much harder to escape from the middle of the camp, and she had more faith in the Blue Boar managing that than herself. That’s why Gavi sent the superhero with Mazik, and why she was preparing to fight an orck. Even with Raedren’s help, she wasn’t looking forward to that. She was hoping all they would have to do is stall the orck while the hostages escaped. She was pretty sure she could handle that.

  Probably.

  They drew closer to the jail. It was on the edge of the camp, with the blocked doorway facing the camp and the back wall abutting the forest. To its left—the direction Gavi and Raedren were coming from—were two full tents wrapped around their respective trees, while to the right was at least one lean-to, though Gavi couldn’t see farther than that from the angle they were approaching. There was a smoldering campfire in front of the two tents to their left.

  As they neared the cabin, Gavi led them deeper into the forest, away from the orck guard’s ears. Like the Blue Boar said earlier, she didn’t know how sensitive orck hearing was—it was supposed to be better than a human’s hearing, but she didn’t know by how much. She didn’t want to risk it. She found a tree whose roots had become exposed by a shift in the soil, creating a small hillock they could crouch behind. They settled in to wait.

  “See anyone else?” whispered Gavi.

  Raedren shrugged out of the empty backpack he had brought along. His eyes glowed. “No one other than the two of us, the hostages, and the guard. I don’t keen anything, either.”

  Gavi examined the jail. She couldn’t see much from this distance, but she could tell the building wasn’t especially well-constructed. The logs had been piled on top of each other in an interlocking pattern, but there were plenty of gaps that let them see inside—and let the hostages see out. None of the gaps were big enough for anyone to fit through, though.

  “I wonder if they could move those logs, if they all worked together … .” said Gavi, mostly to herself. She shook her head. “Maybe, but the guard would notice. The building might collapse, too. And I bet none of them are casters.”

  “Correct. Or at least, none of them have mana pools at the moment,” said Raedren.

  Gavi continued examining the jail. It was true that a caster could masquerade as a manaless by releasing all of their mana, but she doubted any of the hostages were doing that. If they had been here for more than a day, they knew about the attack yesterday, and that it hadn’t led to their freedom. Why lay low for a chance that may never come? Especially since they wouldn’t be ready if it did.

  Gavi mentally shrugged and settled back to wait.

  *

  Mazik and the Blue Boar slunk through the mostly empty camp. From what Mazik could tell, there were about twenty-five tents in total, laid out in three concentric circles, with the large tent at the bullseye in the middle. Despite the battle that had taken place here the day before, Mazik had only seen three tents that were damaged—the first three they passed. Apparently, the Saffir forces didn’t make it far.

  Mazik stepped around a stake, careful not to let his robes brush the tent. The Blue Boar was off to his right, moving in tandem. Mazik was relieved—it turned out the self-proclaimed superhero was good at moving silently. The two of them passed through the outer layer, and then the next, without incident.

  They stopped at the last circle. For the third time in a row, Mazik dropped to his knees and peered under the tent beside him. There was no one inside. He strained with all his senses, but neither sight, sound, nor keen could detect any orcks coming their way.

  He leaned out into the open air to get a look at the large tent ahead.

  The mouth of the main tent faced the one Mazik was crouched beside, affording him a good view of both the entrance and the small clearing in front. Off to his right, closer to where the Blue Boar was crouched, was the bonfire they had glimpsed from outside the camp. The flaps of the entrance were pulled back enough to let a single orck through, if they ducked. There were no orcks in evidence. From this angle, Mazik could only see a few feet inside the tent. All he saw was empty ground.

  Mazik waved for the Blue Boar to stay put. The Blue Boar nodded. Mazik slunk over.

  “There’s no reason for us to go in the front when we can lift up the sides and peek in.” Mazik pointed at the gap between the ground and the animal skin covering on the tent beside them.

  The Blue Boar nodded. “Let’s find out what these monsters are up to. For Saffir.”

  “Of course we will, BB. Of course we will.” Mazik patted him on the shoulder, taking not-so-secret delight in the way the superhero bristled.

  Moving together now, they retreated back into the camp. They curved wide to their right, using the other tents to shield themselves from view until they safely arrived on the opposite side. They saw no orcks on the way. As soon as they had slunk back up to the main tent, Mazik lowered himself to the ground. Drawing his black-bladed cultist dagger, he used the flat of the blade to gently lift the edge of the tent.

  He saw a pair of boots, along with the accompanying pair of legs, as well as the indistinct shape of another figure deeper in the tent to the right. There were stacks of boxes and crates along most of the walls. Mazik saw an especially big pile to their left. He let the side of the tent drop back into place.

  Once they were sure they hadn’t been seen, Mazik pointed to their left. He mouthed: Follow me.

  They shuffled over silently. Once Mazik had verified that they were in the right place, he flipped the blade so it was vertical, the edge just barely cutting into the fabric. With his voice barely audible, he pointed at the tent and whispered. “Crates, big pile. Can hide behind them and listen. Ready?”

  The Blue Boar nodded. Mazik carefully cut a vertical slit in the tent wall. He was grateful that the psychos he stole the knife from, whatever their other (many) failings, had picked a sharp knife to revere. The animal skins split cleanly. Gathering up his trailing robes, Mazik crouched low and slipped inside. The Blue Boar joined him.

  Inside, their view was completely obscured by the wall of boxes, which were stacked higher than Mazik was tall. To their left and right were nothing, their view obstructed by the curve of the tent. Above was indeed a wooden platform, which was making the tent bulge near the top. Mazik could see the top of a ladder leading up to the platform on the opposite side of the central tree trunk.

  He examined
the wall of containers. They had no labels or writing he could find, though several of them didn’t have lids. He searched for one he could peek inside safely.

  “Are they inside the city yet?”

  Mazik almost jumped out of his boots. If the way the Blue Boar tensed up was any indication, he wasn’t alone.

  A deep growl. “They are. The humans are fighting well today. Our warriors are still collecting.”

  “Good, good,” said the first voice. There was a gentle swish, like jewelry being stirred in a box. “Keep me updated.”

  Mazik frowned. The second voice was the deep, resonant bass of an adult orck—and one of the ruling class, he suspected. But the other was different. A child? It’s … well, not high, exactly. It’s probably as deep as my voice. It’s just nothing compared to the other orcks I’ve heard. Maybe that’s how their children sound?

  He searched for a gap he could look through. He found one at waist height to his right. He kneeled down until he could peer through.

  A human male stood near the back of the tent, rooting through a small box of what sounded like jewelry. On the other side of the tent was a big orck with red feathers around her arms and legs. The human’s back was to Mazik, and—

  Wait—a human?

  Mazik gaped. He had never heard of an orck, outside of the exiles, so much as talking to a human, save as a prelude to violence. Yet here one was, not only alive in an orck camp, but free and, from the looks of it, giving orders.

  Well, thought Mazik. That’s probably not good.

  *

  “We may have a problem,” said Raedren.

  Several minutes had passed, probably. Gavi was keyed up for action, which had made the time pass both quickly and slowly. Now her adrenaline spiked.