Boern glanced off to his left. “Hold on. One more needs to join us before we can begin.”
Mazik could feel the others stiffen, but the person who climbed up the slope behind Boern wasn’t who they were expecting. Though, Mazik thought as she came into view, perhaps we should have.
She was middle-aged, probably a decade or two younger than Boern. She was tall, or at least she looked tall, her back ramrod straight and her lips puckered into a frown. Her entire face was severe, and her expression one of leathery contempt. Her hair, which was large, curly, and reached to the middle of her back, was collected in a tail at her nape, thought that didn’t stop it from ballooning out below the hair tie. Its volume helped to give her a commanding presence.
“Rhea,” said Hyra, her breath a whisper.
Mazik cocked his head to the side, examining the woman. From everything he’d heard, Rhea had sounded like a total hardass—someone prone to explosions of anger or disappointment, and who didn’t much like anyone. He could see how that could be, though she seemed awfully relaxed right now. He watched as she stopped beside Boern, her arms folded with calm assurance. Rhea was wearing full Noble Hunt regalia, all coarse fabrics in greens, browns, and dull reds, with leather gloves that stretched to her elbows and thick riding boots. She wasn’t wearing any visible weapons, which was consistent with what they had heard—she was supposed to be a finger-wiggler, the type to stand back and cast spells. Mazik assumed that included Noble Hunt spells now.
The two traitors gave no sign of their suspected affair, though perhaps they were standing a touch too close for mere coconspirators. Mazik couldn’t decide. After several seconds of taking in the situation, Rhea turned to Boern. “It’s not what we were hoping for, but we can work with this. What made you start the attack early?”
“We found out about your affair, and what you were planning to do,” interrupted Mazik. He grinned, and it was all teeth. “Glad to hear we rushed your plans along.”
Rhea arched an eyebrow at Boern. He nodded. “Found them digging around my house. Couldn’t risk being taken.”
The head breeder nodded, appearing to accept this. The aku stepped closer and nuzzled her neck. She swatted it on the nose. “Control yourself.”
“Thank you for lending me this one, by the way.” Boern stroked the aku’s flank. He looked around and frowned. “It’s just you?”
Rhea’s relaxed countenance slipped for a second as worry deepened the wrinkles around her eyes. “Yes. The rest are making sure our former neighbors don’t interrupt us. It sounds like your mercenaries aren’t working out as well as we hoped.”
It was Boern’s turn to look sour. “Aye. Some were barely fighting, and others were unwilling to kill. I guess you can’t trust mercenaries after all.”
“In their defense,” said Mazik, “that’s the reason most of them are still alive. And the adventurers, thank you very much, on our side have been doing quite well. Maybe if you weren’t trying to get them to backstab your—”
“Oh, shut up.” Rhea refolded her arms, spearing Mazik with an expression of haughty disgust.
Mazik was stunned for half a second, and then he grinned. “Good. I like older ladies who don’t put up with my bullshit. We’ve got one of those back in Houk, she’s a real trip. Shall we deal?”
“Perhaps you should be quiet and leave this to the woman who will be coming with us,” said Rhea.
Mazik tossed his head back and let out a deep laugh. Then he lowered himself into a fighting stance, his eyes narrowed. “Oh man, I’m going to enjoy killing you.”
Rhea turned away, dismissing him. Mazik bristled, but didn’t let himself move. Not while that knife was so close to Raedren’s neck.
“So this is her boyfriend, is it?” Rhea was looking at Raedren. She didn’t seem impressed. Then she startled, and raised an eyebrow. “Ah. He’s powerful.”
“A thorn in our side turned into a bargaining chip. I thought it was a nice trick,” said Boern.
Rhea’s lips pressed into a thin smile. “Agreed.”
While Boern kept the knife trained on Raedren’s neck and the mutant spellhound loomed over the proceedings, Rhea turned back to Mazik’s group and, for the first time, addressed Hyra. “Hyra. How have you been?”
Hyra inclined her head, though she looked like she wanted to vomit. “Rhea. Why did you betray us?”
Rhea chuckled. She looked pleased by the question. “I wanted to be more than I could ever be in that stifling village. Haven’t you ever wanted to do more with your life than train mutts and hide away from the world? I know you must have some ambition. Otherwise you wouldn’t have risen to your present position.”
Mazik thought he saw Hyra’s eyes dart to Raedren, but her voice was clear as she responded. “No. I had my herēst, same as you, and I made my choice. Even if it’s not perfect”—this time Mazik definitely saw her eyes move—“I’m happy and proud to be doing what I’m doing.”
Rhea shook her head. “A slave. You’re as good as a slave. Whereas we will be free to make our mark on the world.”
“What kind of mark is that? Of betrayal?” snapped Hyra.
Rhea’s smile sharpened. “Don’t worry. You’ll find out soon, once you come with us.”
Mazik wasn’t listening anymore. He thought back to something he had said months ago, before he convinced Gavi and Raedren to embark on the path that had led them here. I don’t want to be treated like a slave in exchange for my wages. I want my freedom back.
He felt light-headed. These two probably talked about how to break out of their crappy jobs, just like we did. They snuck around after work, just like we did. They—
Mazik’s hand twitched, and he had to stop himself from reaching for his knife. But our plan didn’t hurt anyone, or at least, not anyone who didn’t deserve it. Unlike these two. Mana swirled within him, mimicking the roiling in his stomach.
Gavi looked between Mazik and Hyra. Mazik had tensed again. Hyra looked like she was barely holding herself together. The six spellhounds around her looked like they were about to lose it as well, while Twenty-seven was glaring at Rhea with as much vitriol as Mazik. Gavi stood in the middle of the group, her sword low but ready to swing. But she couldn’t act, not with that knife on Raedren’s neck.
“Enough of this,” said Rhea, swiping her arm as if the conversation were crumbs on a dinner table. “Hyra, come with us and help me restart the breeding program. If you do that, we’ll let this man go, and we’ll even let you go once we’re finished. You’ll be free to go wherever you want, even if you choose to run back to your masters here.”
“And why should I trust someone who kills her own people?”
Rhea rolled her eyes. “Because we need your cooperation. We need the secrets in your head, not you. Once we have those, and we’ve verified that you weren’t lying, you’re of no use to us. We’ll even leave the others”—she nodded in the direction of the Nijāst village—“alone if you come with us. Unless you try to betray us, that is.” The threat in her voice was clear.
Hyra didn’t respond for several seconds.
Rhea sighed. “If it makes you feel any better, I don’t hate you. I never have. If all of this wasn’t necessary for what comes next, we would have left quietly.”
What comes next … ? Gavi didn’t like the sound of that.
Finally, Hyra’s shoulders relaxed, and she took a deep breath. “Sit. Stay.” The spellhounds looked uneasy, and only half of them obeyed. Hyra barked her orders two more times, until all the dogs save Twenty-seven were sitting in a circle around her.
Hyra stepped out of the circle, holding up her hand to stop the dogs from following her. “I’ll come halfway. She’ll come with me to take him.”
Gavi stepped alongside Hyra, her sword still out. When Rhea and Boern didn’t object, the two women advanced slowly. “Once we’re there, you come meet us and we’ll make the exchange. Is that okay?”
Rhea let out a sigh, full of exasperation. “No, that will never work
. Too much opportunity for betrayal, from both sides.”
This coming from them, thought Gavi, of all people …
Rhea pointed off to Gavi’s left. “You, with the sword. You stop over there, equidistant between our two groups. Hyra, you go to your right, over there.” She pointed again. “I’ll meet you there, and the chief will meet your adventurer friend at the other. Once I take you into custody, he will—”
Gavi let herself smile. She couldn’t have planned it better herself.
Boern’s arms wrenched backward, his knife tumbling to the ground. As Raedren’s limp body fell, Chief Boern turned to find Caspian clinging to his back, both arms threaded through the chieftain’s armpits as he pulled him off balance.
The glade exploded into action.
The entire time they had been talking, Caspian had been circling around the glade. Gavi was especially pleased with Rhea’s long-winded instructions, which had provided the cover for Caspian’s final dash. But she pushed those thoughts from her mind, her sword up as she sprinted forward. “Mazik, now!”
Mazik’s sonorous voice was like a proclamation of doom. Deep and resonant, it sent a chill down Gavi’s spine as he called out, “Mazik Missile Massacre!”
Bolts of blue mana streaked overhead, slamming into both Rhea and her aku. Rhea took several hits before she spat out the Noble Hunt evasion spell and slipped away. Her familiar roared, probably from annoyance as much as pain. As Caspian wrestled with Boern and Hyra whistled for her spellhounds to charge, Gavi crossed the final meters to Raedren and scooped him up.
“Get out of here!” she said, pushing him into Hyra’s arms. Raedren’s feet dragged the ground as Hyra ran, her spellhounds surrounding her like a living shield. Gavi spun to Rhea and attacked.
Mazik passed Hyra as she struggled back toward town, dragging Raedren. He left her to it. Everyone had a job, and his was the most difficult of them all. He had to occupy Rhea’s familiar until Hyra and Raedren got away.
He supposed he should be proud that Gavi had enough faith in him to think he could handle it. He ignored the part where he was the only one with more than a vanishing chance at success. Mostly he was just trying to stop his knees from shaking.
“Hey, you stinking mutant! Pay attention to me!” Mazik waved his arms in the aku’s face—rarely a wise move when facing something bigger, taller, stronger, and with teeth that looked like they could crush bones. As Twenty-seven galloped up beside him and growled, Mazik snapped his fingers, and glowing spheres blossomed around his shoulders, shot forward, and exploded.
The familiar didn’t even look at him. As it tried to step past him to get to Rhea, Mazik let the spell he had been holding at the ready bubble forth, and a glowing ball burst to life in his hand. Lunging into the familiar’s path, he leapt off his feet and slammed the spell into its ugly face.
The explosion hurled Mazik away.
He tumbled ass over end, until he finally came to a stop on his back. He patted his chest, reaching for a knife—and remembered that he wasn’t wearing his robes. Raedren had his knives, save for the one at his side. He grabbed it and pushed himself up.
He was just in time. Well, it appears I have its attention, thought Mazik with a strange calm as, outwardly, he screamed like a frightened middle schooler and dove out of the way. The aku’s jaws nearly closed on his boots, but Mazik wasn’t fast enough to stop it from battering him with its snout. He cursed as he did an involuntary cartwheel, and didn’t stick the landing.
“Lead it away, lead it away,” Mazik muttered to himself as he rolled onto his belly. He felt the beast’s heavy footfalls, the pounding filling his head, along with Twenty-seven’s snarling as the spellhound snapped at the aku’s hind legs.
“Mazik Move!” Blue winds pushed against the ground, and Mazik went flying again. He soared over the monster’s head like he had been launched by a catapult, swinging his knife out of sheer desperation. He collapsed on the other side, all of the air rushing out of his lungs—but he was on the right side now, away from the others. Lead it away, lead it away.
Mazik jumped to his feet and backpedaled, a barrier before his outstretched palms as he dodged wildly. This thing is fast—too fast! The beast was matching every move he made, and it was accelerating, giving Mazik no time to retaliate, no time to do anything but react. He just kept moving, leading the creature away from the others.
The aku feinted to his right, and Mazik fell for it. Shit! As it darted past his defenses, Mazik swung his barrier around, and accidentally knocked himself off his feet. As he fell on his ass, the aku’s snout glowed, neon green mana gathering.
Suddenly, Twenty-seven was in front of him, thick barriers a darker blue than Mazik’s own wrapped around him. The aku roared, rattling Mazik’s brain, and the spell shot forward. It struck Twenty-seven down the side, spinning the dog around.
“No!” shouted Mazik.
Twenty-seven landed on his feet. The spellhound shook his head, then resumed growling at the aku.
At first, Mazik was stunned. Then he laughed. “Good boy!” he said as he knelt behind the canine. As Twenty-seven let out a low, deep-throated bark, and the barriers deepened around him, Mazik wove a spell. He popped up from behind Twenty-seven when it was ready.
“Mazik Mega Cannon!”
The cloud of mana cleared, and the aku sniffed. Its barriers were crackling, a sign that at least the spell had struck, but the monster was uninjured. Mazik’s shoulders sagged. “Well, fuck.”
He and Twenty-seven scattered as the aku charged.
Gavi swung, but Rhea blocked it. Again. Rhea didn’t look impressed. Gavi got the impression that the older woman was stifling a yawn.
Rhea began chanting a spell, and before Gavi could stop her, she had slipped several meters closer to Hyra and Raedren. Nearby, Chief Boern did the same thing, causing one of Caspian’s arrows to go wide. They had done this several times since the battle had started, and though Gavi and Caspian had so far kept them from reaching Hyra, Rhea was less than ten meters away now, and closing.
Hyra’s spellhounds growled and snapped, but Rhea sneered. “Silence, mutts.” She waved a hand, and steely gray mana exploded against the nearest spellhound. It yelped and fell to the ground, its legs twitching.
Gavi closed the distance, her lungs burning. She stabbed at Rhea’s exposed side, but the woman chanted another spell. Gavi felt her sword buck in her hands, as if it had been batted away, though Rhea hadn’t moved and there were no signs of alteration magick. Rhea cast another spell, and a spellhound yelped but didn’t fall.
“Watch out!” Caspian shouldered Gavi out of the way, then caught Boern’s knife with his own.
The remaining spellhounds were barking and firing spells at the former head breeder as Hyra tried to pull away, but Raedren’s weight was making it difficult. Words spilled from Rhea’s mouth as she let her barriers absorb the spellhounds’ attacks, and her body blurred again. Suddenly she was ahead of Hyra, cutting off her escape.
“How many damn times can they cast that?” muttered Caspian. Gavi nudged him out of the way, taking his place in facing Boern. Caspian strafed and fired a hail of arrows at Rhea.
“We were given high ranks within Wildan’s host,” said Boern with a nasty smile. He blurred as well, and reappeared on Gavi’s other side, between her and Hyra. “Sorry, son. Stand down if you don’t want to get hurt.”
“Same to you, old man.” Caspian kept firing on Rhea. Another spell exploded among the spellhounds, dropping one and injuring another.
Gavi took in the battlefield. Rhea and Boern had Hyra surrounded, while Gavi and Caspian had been pushed to the outside, with Boern standing between them and their friends. Hyra, who wasn’t much of a fighter in the first place, had her hands full with the still-unconscious Raedren, and was down to four spellhounds, one of which was heavily injured.
She glanced behind, and saw Mazik and his spellhound companion still tangling with the aku. To their credit they had dragged it away and were keeping it
occupied, but it didn’t look like they had been able to put a dent in the creature.
Frustration welled up as Gavi searched for an answer, a part of her mind processing even as she attacked Boern, pressing him onto the defensive. She knew they needed to do something to hold Rhea and Boern here long enough for Hyra to get away, because they weren’t going to be able to make it back to the village with those two harassing them, not unless they left Mazik behind to occupy the aku, and she would not do that. But their options were limited. As far as tools went, Gavi had her sword, her knife, her holdout crossbow—and enough mana to change the flow of the battle, if I could only use it.
Gavi tamped down on her pessimism. No. Thinking like that won’t help me, she told herself as she circled Boern’s knife with her sword, trying to rip it from his hand. He stepped to the side, smoothly dodging a blast from one of the spellhounds, and forcing Gavi to dodge it herself.
I have to believe in myself, thought Gavi as she bent out of the way. The spell flew past her face, heating her cheek. I’m close. Mazik, Raedren, Hyra, and Caspian have all said as much. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.
The words repeating in her mind, Gavi felt the mana within her stir. She willed it to move more, urging it on faster. Boern was still in front of her, leering as he prevented her and Caspian from getting past. Beyond, Gavi could see Hyra scrambling out of the way as Rhea blurred again, and made a grab for her. There wasn’t much time left.
Gavi almost stopped mid-step as she remembered another tool she had. Oh, yeah. She chided herself for almost forgetting. “Ichn ir ukk—Swiftness!”
This time it was Gavi’s form that blurred. Chief Boern yelped as she surged forward, and he barely got his knife up in time to block her first blow.
He missed the second, and the third, and the fourth.
Boern winced as his barriers cracked, long cuts appearing through his clothes and skin. He chanted the evasion spell, and slipped several paces away—and found Gavi on him almost as soon as he reappeared. Though he redirected one of her attacks with another spell, Gavi still struck him several more times, his defenses eroding under her assault.
Freelance Heroics (Firesign Book 2) Page 39
