“You look good. Andinna armor works on you.”
“Rain said you males normally fight without body armor?” She nodded at him. “You are still in just a cloth shirt.”
“Easier, since we’re so big. Some females do too.” He shrugged. “We already have unprotected wings. If we’re taken out of the air, nothing is going to stop a blade from entering our heart. The armor is just a nuisance at that point - more weight. You’ll notice, they’re all wearing thin leather as well, nothing substantial.”
“Understandable,” she mumbled. “Let’s go.”
“Promise me something?” he asked, not letting her pass.
“Depends,” she replied, looking up into the green eyes.
“Try not to get hurt?” he said the words softly.
“You should be careful; you sound like you genuinely care about me.” She was teasing but also meant the words. Before, caring for her got people killed. Caring for them had lost her everything.
“You know I care,” he whispered. “And I know you care, or you would have let us die in the pits. You wouldn’t have come to find us when we were jumped.”
“I can’t swim. You should know that. Before we go there…I can’t swim. If I go overboard, I’ll need someone to come in after me.” She felt it was a good time to reveal that. She had never been in a large body of water. It also changed the topic. This male found the worst times to talk about these sorts of things.
“Thank you for the information. Let’s get up there.”
He let her pass and leave first, following close behind her. When they made it above deck, she looked around and could see the boats behind them. They weren’t close enough to fire at them, not with archers, and they were being left behind as well.
“At this rate, we’ll leave them in the dust by the time we hit Myrsten, which we’ll make it to much earlier. But Myrsten will be a nightmare. I bet half the damned Navy is there waiting on us now.” Mat sounded so casual, but she saw the worry on his face and tense way he held himself.
“I’ll repeat, we signed up for this,” Bryn called out. “We knew it would be hell comin’ so deep into the Empire to get our boys.”
“It wouldn’t be so much trouble if we didn’t bring her along,” Alchan fired back. Mave turned to him, finally annoyed with his bad attitude.
Don’t do it, Mave.
She didn’t listen to her better half. “Then give me back,” she dared, meeting his amber eyes. “See if that solves all your problems. The other gladiators used to think if I died, their lives would somehow get better, too.”
Silence fell over them as she and the male glared at each other. He was rude. He might not have said anything mean to her specifically, but his attitude reeked of condescension and arrogance. He was angry with her for something she had little control over.
What was she supposed to do the night before? Stay in that room while Matesh and Rainev ran? Tell them to go without her when Zayden was obviously there for her as well, along with the Elvasi guard who gave his life and Dave, her most recent human.
I will not let him treat me this way. I will not be what I was in the pits.
The silent war for dominance continued as others started trying to talk them down. It was pushing on too long. She refused to lower her eyes because of his behavior, and she knew he was trying to stay the dominant Andinna on the boat.
“I’m not handing you back over to them,” he finally relented. He didn’t break the gaze, but it was an olive branch. “I’m stating the simple fact that we didn’t just take some of the Empress’ ‘property’, we took all of it. She’s going to do everything in her power to get you back before you get out of the Empire and further from her reach. And we’re all here for her to capture now. She knows it’s us.”
“No one is considering giving you back,” Luykas interfered, stepping between her and his brother. It ended the battle of wills. “He’s an ass when we’re on missions. It’s just what it is. He’s not here trying to insult you.”
“Doesn’t seem that way,” she snapped back. She’d been patient and listened to them the entire time on this boat, since they gave her a way out of the only life she’d ever known. But she was out of patience for Alchan’s comments. “I think he’s insulted me at nearly every turn, or blamed your troubles on me.”
“He’s just an ass,” Luykas admitted.
“Well, he should know he’s in good company with all the other Andinna I’ve ever met.” She looked around Luykas, up at Alchan behind the wheel of the boat. “Don’t worry. I’ll be leaving your company as soon as possible when we’re out of the Empire.”
Alchan didn’t have a response, his eyes wide at her sly insult. Luykas sputtered as another male, sounding like Matesh, cursed under his breath.
“Come on, Mave,” Rain whispered, grabbing her arm. He pulled her, but she refused to budge. “Big sister, now isn’t the time. You aren’t going back. Alchan isn’t like that, I promise. He’d die before seeing an Andinna in his care go back into slavery.”
“He just has no problem with leaving them there if it suits his purpose,” she growled out, pulling her arm away. The silence from others was still heavy, until Luykas waved a hand.
“Everyone, get on guard,” he ordered, his tone sharper than she’d heard from him yet. He looked at her, his face harder - only a slight change, but it bent his face in the other direction of his heritage. The expression made him look more like a stoney Elvasi than an Andinna. “You’re right. The Ivory Shadow Mercenary Company isn’t a band of heroes out to free slaves. We do, when we can, but we gave up on liberating everyone ages ago. We had to. If it had been possible to take our men out without needing to make a deal to take you out too, we would have gone with it.” His face softened slightly before he continued, “I wanted you free when I realized who you were, for my own reasons. I won’t lie, though, and say that it wasn’t also convenient, thanks to the help from Trevan and Dave, and that was how I convinced everyone else to agree to it.” He turned to walk to his brother, and she missed what he whispered harshly at him.
She felt slapped. There was the truth. Hadn’t Mat warned her, though? Or Rain? One of them had told her that very thing. The Ivory Shadows weren’t heroes who went out just to save people. They focused more on annoying the Empire and supporting the already free Andinna, not starting a war with the Elvasi Empire and its cunning Empress.
Even though she recognized the intelligence of their decision, it still didn’t ease the hurt. They would have left her if they could. I shouldn’t have said anything. I shouldn’t have tried to use it against him like that.
They did leave countless others all the time, like the other gladiators in the pits. Like I left the gladiators in the pits. I didn’t even consider them when we were escaping.
They weren’t heroes.
“We wouldn’t have left without you,” Rainev whispered to her. “Mat and I would have made sure you came too, no matter what.”
That was a comfort she needed that moment. “Thank you, little brother,” she mumbled back.
The conversation dropped, and Mave felt like she’d lost some sort of argument, a battle. No one spoke to her as she leaned on a rail and looked out over the river. Sure enough, as the night wore on, they left behind the boats trying to catch them and Myrsten came closer and closer.
“Are you okay?” Mat asked softly.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “Weird to hear someone say that sure, they would definitely leave you for slavery if it made their lives easier.”
“Yeah…Mave, we tried before.” Matesh seemed uncomfortable, and she frowned at him.
“What do you mean?”
“For about two hundred years after the War ended, we tried to be those men. We saved countless people…and got more killed. You know, only about five percent of our people escaped the end of the War. Now roughly twenty percent are free. That’s not only because our population grew…it’s because the Empire, for every one we saved, killed two in
retribution. Now we save sparingly, so those left behind aren’t going to get culled because of us.”
Her heart sank into her stomach. The Empire had paid them back for freeing their people, all right. No wonder they refused to play hero. “I didn’t know,” she mumbled. “I had…no idea.”
“Taking just the three of us could get a lot of those gladiators in the pits killed. Not like I’ll be sorry to see them gone, but we should expect some retribution. She owned us personally. This is a slap to her face.” Mat sighed and wrapped an arm around her waist. “Alchan’s attitude isn’t because he hates you. We just know the outcome to this better than most. Probably better than anyone.”
She didn’t say the obvious. They had still done it. They had still slapped the Empress in the face and stole away her ‘property’ right under her nose.
But they weren’t heroes.
It felt like an eternity later as she mulled it over when someone broke the silence of the Company. “We’re drawing closer to Myrsten,” Alchan called out. “They’ll know we’re coming. Everyone be ready. There’s a chance our way out of the bay is being held by guards at this point.”
“Why?” she asked, braving the idea of him calling her stupid.
“They’ll have boarded every foreign ship, knowing one of them is our way out. No Elvasi ship would take us. They won’t kill any of the merchants or sailors, since it would be a political nightmare, but they’ll hold them until we’re captured.” He explained it with less harshness, as if it didn’t bother him to give her an explanation. She frowned at the change in him. Maybe her insult had hit home. Maybe whatever Luykas had said to him had made some sort of difference.
“Thank you,” she replied, hoping he knew she meant it. She genuinely liked the knowledge. She only had a mind for combat in a dictated area. This was military maneuvering, and that was beyond her.
He just shrugged in response to her thanks, effectively ending the conversation.
It was Luykas who continued. “Pull the sails down, and everyone keep their wings in tight. We’re going to pull up to one of the first docks and get off and disappear into the city. They might find this ship, but they won’t find us until it’s too late.”
“So, we’ll walk onto our ship without them any the wiser, kill any soldiers on it, then get the fuck out,” Nevyn clarified, smiling her way. “Not a bad idea, if we don’t hit any soldiers in the city.”
“It’s better than floating right into the middle of them and trying to do a transfer in the water. Plus, we’ll lose their trail for a moment.”
“We’re comin’ up on the dock now,” Bryn called. Mave watched Varon and Rain pull down their sails. She looked forward and saw what they meant by a problem. The bay was coming into sight for her, and she saw it was filled with ships and smaller boats that seemed so close together that they must have been touching. “Do we need anythin’ else from this raft? I’m runnin’ down to get my bag.”
Mave shrugged. She had everything she’d always had. Two blades and clothes on her back. Nevyn ran down with him and they came up with several packs though. One was handed to her and she slowly took it, confused.
“It’s just some gear we need to bring,” Nevyn explained. “If you feel the need to get rid of it to survive, feel free. We’re just trying to save what we invested in for this mission.”
“Okay.” She pulled the pack close to her. Nevyn was trusting her with something. She was going to guard the damned pack with her life. In her mind, it was now hers. Something she could have and keep and protect. Another piece of property. She knew she was just protecting it for them, but until she gave it back, she was going to treasure it like she did her own blades.
Because he was trusting her with it.
No one noticed how possessively she held the pack as Alchan and Varon tied the boat. It was a tiny dock and they weren’t even in the bay yet, on the edge of the city.
“Stupid Elvasi think we’re going to sail right out there.” Mat snorted. “Fucking pointed-ear idiots.”
“Aye. Everyone follow me. I know these docks. Bet not much has changed since the last time I roamed them as a slave. You know the pier number of our escape?” Bryn took charge, looking to the group’s leaders.
“Fifteen,” Alchan answered.
“Good, means towards the end. Longer walk through the city proper, but once we’re on, less shit to deal with to get out of the bay.”
“Think we can make it?” Luykas asked that as they began leaving the boat. She just stayed at Matesh’s side, the pack in one hand and a gladius in the other.
“Aye, I do. Just keep yer heads down and follow me.”
He led them into an alley, and she felt like it was a flashback to what they had just done in Elliar the night before. Again, they were creeping through a city. At least this one didn’t have walls they needed to get through.
They were hushed as they entered a dingy, broken-down area of the city. None of them dared to speak as they pushed through hanging laundry and avoided kicking any of the crates and boxes lying around.
“We’re in the slums,” Bryn finally whispered. “Smugglers come through here pretty often, and there’s a lot of dissension amongst the free humans and dwarves about the Empire’s treatment of them. There’s a high chance they won’t say nothin’ if they see us because they hate the Elvasi. But there’s also a chance they will for the bounties on our heads. An escaped slave is worth hundreds of gold suns, and they all need the money.” She just listened carefully to what Bryn had said. It was fascinating.
So that’s how much I would be worth? More money than I could ever hope to see?
“Let’s just keep moving,” Luykas whispered back.
They slid into an even dirtier alley, where Bryn jumped a quiet, unsuspecting human, and put a hand over the woman’s mouth to stop her from screaming.
“We’re not goin’ to hurt you,” he whispered to her. Mave could practically hear the woman’s heart race. “Now, I’m going to need you to go to sleep.” She watched as Bryn held the woman around her neck, covering her mouth, until she stopped struggling and her eyes closed. He gently laid her down on top of some boxes, not putting her on the wet and filthy ground. “She’ll be fine. I didn’t want to take a chance on her screamin’.”
No one responded as he led them further into the dark through the slums of Myrsten.
Their next problem? A patrol.
Bryn raised a hand and they all stopped. “Jump them,” he ordered. Mave noticed that not even the leaders, Luykas or Alchan, disagreed. In that moment, someone could have said that Bryn was the leader of the Company and she wouldn’t have questioned it. “They’ll make a pass back, I promise. I don’t want ‘em behind us, though. Our party is too big. Wait on my call. Keep it as quiet as possible.”
Mat drew his sword next to her and she heard other steel slowly coming free from their sheaths. She already had her gladius in hand and waited on the word. She couldn’t see the target, but she knew Bryn could, at the front of their pack and looking out of the alley.
“Their backs are turned on us. Go.”
She took off with Mat at her side. As a unit, they moved quietly out of the alley, and before any of the soldiers knew what hit them, they were dying. It wasn’t the way she liked to do combat, preferring the fierceness and fairness of open combat, but she knew the practicality of staying quiet during their journey through Myrsten.
She killed two, feeling like she was cutting down civilians since it was almost too easy. The second had seen her but was too shocked by his men dying to have a response. She buried her sword in his chest faster than he could consider fumbling for his own.
“Leave the bodies,” Bryn commanded. “We don’t have time for ‘em. Once the sun comes up, these streets will get too crowded and leavin’ will be impossible.”
They all quietly followed back into the alleys and off the street where they took out the guards like pigs to slaughter.
As they went back to weaving through al
leys, she just stayed focused on what would come at the end. This was it. They would get on their ship, clear it and then get out of the Empire.
She could taste freedom. It was so close. Something she had never even dared to wish for.
I can’t lose it now.
28
Mave
The streets and alleys slowly changed from crowded, covered in filth, and cramped to cleaner and more open passages between buildings. She guessed they were leaving the slums as the city changed. The laundry was clean, more organized, and the clothing that hung wasn’t rags, tattered. They were maintained. The buildings weren’t dingy, decrepit brown shacks stacked on top of each other, but clean wood and stone homes and businesses. Every so often Bryn held up a hand and they would stop. They would only keep moving if the hand came back down.
Then it changed.
Bryn held that hand up then waved it frantically. The males began to move in different directions, as if they had been told to scatter, but she didn’t know who to follow or where to go. Someone grabbed her and yanked. She once again found herself against a wall, like in Elliar, but this time there was a hand over her mouth. It also wasn’t Matesh there. Zayden held her there. She was so nervous that her chest was visibly rising and falling, pressed up against his. He just stared into her eyes, not moving. It looked like he wasn’t even breathing. His other arm was on the wall next to her. It was like he was shielding her.
She could hear guards moving, the clang of their metal armor. They were so close, and in the same alley as them. She tried to turn to see, but Zayden held her tightly, his hand still over her mouth. He gave a tiny shake of his head.
If we stay here, we’ll get caught. We can’t stay here. She tried to look to her sides, only rolling her eyes to see anyone else. Why wasn’t he letting her move? They needed to go.
The soldiers drew closer. “Slaves. What are you doing here?” one called out.
Zayden grunted and growled. “Trying to steal a moment to breed a pretty female, sir. Ain’t no harm,” he answered gruffly, like he was putting on Bryn’s accent.
The Gladiator's Downfall Page 33
