The Scout and the Scoundrel, page 23
Unless he’d already killed them all.
By the grim look on Zara’s face, she was thinking the same thing. She waved Roni along and circled far around the tree, searching the ground and the brush. When Roni spied a pair of legs through a gap in the plants ahead, she knew what Zara was looking for.
She pointed, and Zara gestured for her to lie on the ground. Zara followed suit and carefully parted some brush in front of them.
Roni held in a gasp. Ana, Tati, and Leo sat tied together on the ground beside a pit similar to the one that had swallowed Hacha before. A huge gnarled tree sat on the opposite side from the squad, its protruding roots like a lumpy half wall. But the difficult terrain wasn’t the only thing that made Roni gasp. Ana’s head lolled against her chest, and she’d been bound so that her lower legs were dangling into the pit. If she hadn’t been tied to the others—who leaned away from the pit—she might have toppled in and carried the others with her. As it was, Leo and Tati were lucky that more of Ana’s weight wasn’t poised above oblivion.
Still, a good kick would send them over, especially since their legs were also bound at the ankles. Maybe Hacha planned to swing down and deliver one if Roni and Zara got close. Roni shivered. She’d just have to rescue them before that happened. And maybe they’d know what had become of Finn.
“Circle around the other side,” Zara whispered in her ear. “I’ll use the Vox to distract Hacha or knock him from the tree.”
“What if he has more spikes to hurt the Vox?” Roni said, gesturing to drive her point home.
Zara shrugged as if saying what other choice did they have? “Their shrieks will bring the Firellians. You go for the squad once you hear the Firellians in the distance. If he goes for the squad before then, I’ll hold him off until you get the squad loose, then we can lose him in the confusion of battle.” She passed Roni her belt knife.
Roni nodded, her heart thundering, but she tried to breathe through it, to quiet her body as she did before every job.
Zara plucked her sleeve and pointed back to several points in the small clearing near the squad. Roni squinted but saw nothing. Zara came in for one more word: “Snares.”
Shit. Hacha had planned this trap well. Roni kept careful lookout as she edged around the pit and the gnarled tree. She avoided several snares, able to see them once she was nearly on top of them. She came to a stop on the other side of the tree, so it was between her and where Hacha waited.
The seconds dragged on, but Roni made herself wait quietly, flexing her limbs so she didn’t stiffen up. When the Vox shrieked, Roni nearly jumped but made herself sit still and waited for the sounds of approaching Firellians. She had the knife in hand, but she’d need to pull them away from the pit before she cut them loose. Hacha must have raided a Firellian camp for supplies and rope. She wondered if a squad of Firellian scouts was out there right now, following a line of bodies and thinking a devil walked among them.
Zara’s voice broke the silence. “He’s not in the tree. It’s Finn. Roni, watch—”
Roni lost the last of Zara’s words in the sound of her own heart in her ears. She ran for the squad, certain Hacha would be doing the same.
He hauled himself out of the pit using the tree roots. He had the end of a rope in hand. Roni had a moment to follow it back to the tied-up squad before he flashed an evil smile and gave the rope a yank.
Ana tipped forward into the pit, pulling the others after her.
“No!” Roni leaped, catching hold of the rope that held Leo’s arms behind his back and secured him to the other two. He cried out around a gag. She hauled back and grabbed wildly for another handhold so Tati couldn’t slide in either. Her hand flared in pain as she found a place to grab, but she held on.
They stopped sliding, thank the gods, but she couldn’t get any leverage to pull them up. She was stuck with her arms out, one leg underneath her as Hacha’s shadow fell over her in the fading light.
Chapter Twenty-two
Set Finn loose,” Zara yelled to the Vox while she ran for where Roni was stretched out on the ground, Hacha looming over her.
As she leaped a snare, Hacha glanced at her and grabbed Roni’s helmet. Quick as a snake, he had a knife to her throat while he pulled her head back at a cruel angle. Zara skidded to a stop, and Hacha grinned, his lips shiny with saliva, as if the chance to kill someone made his mouth water. “Give me the bird and the glove.”
Zara hesitated, mind racing. If she could only—
Hacha flexed, Roni grunted, and a thin line of red appeared along the side of her neck as if by magic. “Call it, now,” he said.
“Vox,” Zara said, swallowing a lump of fear and dread. What could she do? There had to be a way to win this.
The Vox glided over. “I managed to loosen her ropes, but Finn is still tied up,” they said in Zara’s mind. They perched on the gnarled tree over Hacha’s head.
He made a slurping, wheezing noise and smiled wider. “Take off the glove.”
She couldn’t.
“Do it,” the Vox said. “I’ll hop over the pit and fall.”
Zara fiddled with the end of the chain, acting as if she was removing it while thinking frantically to the Vox. “You’ll be destroyed, killed.”
“Maybe not. We don’t know how deep—”
“Hurry up,” Hacha said, and a second thin line joined the first on Roni’s neck.
“Better destroyed than in enemy hands,” the Vox said, something so in line with Zara’s own opinions, she swore she heard her own voice in their multitude. “Save Roni. Save them all.”
She uttered a small cry of pain as the Vox hopped backward, over the pit. She yanked the glove off, and the Vox fell like a stone. Hacha turned his head at the movement. Zara lunged, holding the gem in her palm in the hope that it would be enough without the chain holding it in place.
Hacha stumbled to the side, avoiding her swing, but he let Roni go. Zara pivoted, the gem clutched in one hand while she swung with the other.
* * *
Roni dropped her head, gasping for breath. The muscles in her arms burned, shaking so much she barely felt the sting of the shallow cuts on her neck or the dread in her stomach. She was free of Hacha, but how long could Zara last against him? And how long could she hold the squad up before—
She gasped as the weight seemed lighter. She didn’t know if they were helping somehow with their bound feet or if she was having a surge of strength, but she heaved, taking full advantage and grunting at the pain in her hand.
A rush of air washed over her, and she cried out when the Vox rose from the pit, helping drag Ana back from oblivion. Their wings seemed to stutter, their movements jerking as if they had gone lame. Roni grunted as she pulled with what remained of her strength. Tati and Leo watched her with wide eyes as they leaned away from the pit. When they were back on solid ground, Roni pushed to her feet and forced her leaden arms to work. She grabbed the Vox so they wouldn’t fall again and set them on the ground. Black spots danced across her vision. No, she couldn’t collapse now. She had to help Zara, who was still fighting Hacha off to her right. And he had to die here, either from her and Zara or from the Firellians who were probably advancing toward all the noise of combat.
Roni took a step and drew her truncheon, but Zara threw the chain glove in her direction. She couldn’t don it while her free hand was occupied with her saber and while barely keeping Hacha at bay.
“Fuck, yes.” Roni placed the gem to her wrist, then willed herself to hurry as she again wrapped the chain around her hand without remembering how she’d done it. When she felt the Vox come alive in her head, she said, “Watch out for any spikes.”
“Watch out for the knife,” they thought back to her.
Roni pushed through the pain and darted into the fight. Zara had several slashes to her arms and one streaming wound on her hip. Hacha seemed to know the best way around armor. Roni tried to serve as a distraction, knowing she couldn’t take him like Zara could. He gave ground but drew another spike from his pocket and slashed as quickly with that as he did with the knife. Still, the Vox flew past his head and hovered, snapping, clawing, and screeching, but something about the spike’s very presence made them keep their distance.
“It’s like a bubble of pain,” they said in Roni’s mind.
Hacha danced away from all their strikes, an evil smirk on his face. “I love a challenge,” he said as he darted at Roni, forcing her to give ground, then retreated before Zara could take a swing. “I knew you were good,” he said to Zara. “And I ain’t been disappointed.”
Zara scored a slash on his arm, adding to the blood still staining his jacket from the last time they’d fought. He laughed, a squealing sound like a pig in pain. The Vox flew at him, but he only had to lift that cursed spike, and the Vox careened sideways.
“Hanging around with this rat will get you killed,” Hacha said.
He went for Roni again. When Zara moved to protect her, Hacha cut the back of her sword hand, making her gasp, but she didn’t fall back, pressing her attack and gouging his shoulder. “I don’t know any rats,” Zara said. “She’s a soldier.”
Roni felt a surge of pride and anger. She took a glance to her right and thought to the Vox, “Drive him to his left. Fight through the pain.”
The Vox seemed surprised but circled around.
Roni bared her teeth at Hacha. “You shouldn’t underestimate me either, pig.”
The Vox dove at him, and Roni lunged with them. The Vox screeched in her mind as they came close to the spike, but Hacha had to move to his left to avoid them both.
Right into the snare Roni had just seen.
The snare closed over his foot, and the bent sapling it was tied to shot upward, dragging Hacha’s feet out from under him. He twisted as he landed hard on his back, slashing wildly, but the Vox pounced on his knife arm, talons sinking into his flesh.
Hacha’s shrieks joined those of the Vox as he lifted the spike. Zara grunted as she dove and swung, knocking the spike away.
With a cry, she buried her saber in Hacha’s chest.
Roni remained taut for a moment, disbelieving until Hacha gurgled his last. Gods and devils, it was over. “That was for Ernesto,” she whispered. She began to shake, all the fear and dread and uncertainty of the past weeks washing over her. She couldn’t hold it together.
Zara’s strong arms went around her from the side, crushing her in an embrace, stealing her breath. Roni leaned into her, and when the Vox hopped onto her shoulder in a smaller form and wrapped their wings around them both, Roni barked a laugh that was still partially a sob.
They’d done it.
“We can’t stay here,” Zara and the Vox said at nearly the same time.
Roni laughed again. She felt dizzy, and the spots were still there, but Zara was right. And though they’d scored a great victory, the war wasn’t won yet. The Firellians would be coming.
Roni passed Zara the chain glove without being asked and started for the squad, stopping when she saw Finn had already begun untying them. Finn’s face was puffy, with a split lip and one eye swollen shut, but she looked ready to give hell. Tati and Leo seemed equally beaten up, but they stood without complaint, and Tati lifted Ana across her shoulders again. Gods, they were a sorry looking bunch. There’d be no running from the Firellians today.
“We have to hide,” Roni said.
Zara had a faraway look on her face, and the Vox was gone, no doubt scouting. Zara nodded after a few seconds. “The Firellians are close.”
So they’d have to hide nearby and hope the Firellians didn’t spot them in the dark, but where? Zara moved to the pit and tied the rope around one of the roots of the gnarled tree, hiding the end in the brush. “Everyone tie on and get in.”
The squad looked at her dumbly until Finn said, “Move your asses.” They obeyed, Tati and Leo securing Ana between them.
Roni had her own doubts as she moved to the pit. In the gloom, she could just see a narrow ledge where Hacha must have been waiting. Below that lay yawning blackness. How far to the bottom? She swallowed, but the dread was back, sitting in her stomach like an unwelcome guest.
“Are you sure about this?” Roni whispered to Zara.
Zara’s steely look was back, the commander who didn’t hug her squad and certainly didn’t give in to fear.
Roni sighed and tied herself on before helping to lower Ana down and then climbing in with the rest.
* * *
Zara’s hands and arms stung from the many places Hacha had cut her. She could feel several of them oozing under her armor and clothing. Her hand and hip complained sharply every time she moved, and she knew she had to get a bandage on them soon. When dirt settled into the slash on the back of her hand, she cringed and predicted an infection in her future.
She’d be lucky to live that long.
Roni sat on one side of her and Finn on the other. The ledge was just long and wide enough for everyone to perch on even if it was extremely uncomfortable. A multitude of rocks dug into Zara’s back through the cloak and armor, an affliction no doubt shared by everyone. She looked down the line, but the light was so low, she couldn’t see the rest of the squad on Finn’s other side and hoped Tati and Leo could hold Ana up until the Firellians left.
Or until they lowered lanterns into the pit. Gods, she hoped that thought didn’t even occur to them.
“More are coming,” the Vox said in her mind.
Zara closed her eyes and saw through the Vox’s eyes from where they were hidden in the branches of a pine tree. The Firellians chattered to one another, exclaiming over Hacha’s body before searching the surrounding brush. One fell with a cry, and after others moved to help him, one called a warning to watch out for more snares.
If things weren’t so dire, Zara might have snorted at that.
Dusk had almost given way to dark, and the Firellians lifted lanterns and squinted into the gloom. Each was like a bonfire to the Vox’s owl eyes. Several soldiers growled about how it was useless to search for intruders in the dark, and most seemed to agree. Zara clenched her uninjured hand in victory, especially since no one suggested camping on the battlefield above and waiting for morning.
“Get one of the monsters,” someone said, a woman whose voice held an air of authority. Another soldier ran off, presumably to do her bidding.
Zara ground her teeth. If monster was indeed the word they used for their overpowered mages, she and the squad were in trouble. At least that confirmed that the Firellians had more than one mage. She just had to find a way to survive long enough to report that information to her superiors.
Zara drew Finn and Roni closer so she’d only have to whisper once. “They’re bringing in a mage.”
Finn grunted as if in pain, but Roni whispered, “So?”
“They read auras,” Zara said, remembering Gisele speaking of that before. “They might be able to see ours in here or follow our trail.” If auras even left a trail. Zara had no information on that, but she couldn’t take the risk. Her training hadn’t included dealing with enemy mages. The Firellians were rumored to fear or look down on magic, and a lack of mages in their military history had seemed to prove those rumors true. Even now that they obviously had their own mages, they still called them monsters.
If these were their mages.
Still, the training would have to be amended, another mental note.
The squad wasn’t in any shape to fight or try to climb down, even if the rope was long enough to reach the bottom without all of them tied to it. “I’ll kill them with the roc.”
She could feel Finn’s sharp gaze more than see it. “No, boss. You haven’t the strength.”
Zara jerked her close again. “I’ll find the strength.” She had enough to kill the soldiers out there, to free the squad, and if the Vox drained her completely, so be it. She turned her head to Roni, wondering what would be best said to her. Appreciation of what they’d shared, just in case she died? Regret that they didn’t have longer?
No, she didn’t have the time or the words. “You’ll have to hang on to my…to me. When I go limp,” she said in Roni’s ear.
Roni stiffened. “Are you sure about this? You’ll be helpless. You’ll be…” She gasped. “Hang on to your what? What were you going to say first?”
Zara clenched her hand. “Not so loud.”
“Your body, was that it?”
“Shh.”
Roni breathed quietly for a few moments. “No,” she said at last.
Zara waited for more, but when none came, asked, “No?”
“Finn might not argue with you, but I will. You need someone to tell you no on occasion, and I’m saying it now. The Vox can take a mythic shape, but you’re not dying today. I’m taking the glove off you before that happens.”
“That’s not your call.”
“Yeah? Stay awake and stop me.”
Zara ground her teeth again. No, they were never going to work as commander and subordinate. And that was just as well because Roni’s words did more than cause Zara to reconsider. They warmed her in a way that Adella’s or Gisele’s concern never did. As well-meaning as they seemed, her sisters’ warnings and objections always held an air of control, as if they knew better than her.
But Roni just wanted to keep her around. Zara had never pretended to be someone else around her, had never moderated her personality in order to make a good impression, as nearly everyone in her life had wanted her to do at one time or another. And Roni still wanted her to stay.
Zara rested her helmet against Roni’s for a moment.
“I think the Firellians heard you,” the Vox said. “They’re walking toward the pit, and the mage has arrived. Oh, and I’m glad you’ve decided not to die today. It makes my earlier attempt to sacrifice myself seem much more special.”
