Art | Animation | Characters | Campaigns | Maps | Fiction
Home | Information | Downloads | RPG Shop | News | Search | Games | Links | Site Contacts

I was awake, blood running cold. Someone was watching the camp, if not in it. I waited, wide-awake. What was it that had snapped me from slumber? A Nightbird trilled in the trees on the other side of the river. The call had been a good one, but I had heard its like before. Someone out there had been in the Saeroshic army at one point or another. Or the Ozirian military. But whoever it was had learned the call in the north, near the Ozirian border. Here, in the south, the call was slightly different. I stood up and regretted the immediate movement. I went to where Sjienna had fallen immediately asleep. I placed a hand over her mouth as I nudged her. Her eyes rounded out in fear.

"Shhh," I warned. "Go inside the wagon, now!" I kept my voice low and pulled her toward the wagon’s door. I collected Mugha, who was immediately alert to my distress. I opened the door to the wagon and handed the two women up into the space. As I expected, Shiza was at the opening, blade drawn immediately. Zhura was already on roving guard patrol.

"What?" Even the barely audible whisper held anger and curiosity.

"Someone is watching the camp, I think you ought to rouse the guard," I whispered. At her look I started to get angry. "Quit looking at me like that and move your ass, Shiza!" my forced hiss made its way through her suspicion and she silently padded off into the night. There was no place for the women to hide in the wagon, but I had them move all the way to the front. I took up a good post near the rear door. It was a tedious wait. I was beginning to sweat, and droplets rolled down my face and into the bandages. The stinging back there was keeping me focused. When it came, I still almost missed it. I felt the wagon shift ever so slightly. Whoever it was was used to wagons.The thought of D’Shan Malachi’s calculating look two nights ago came unbidden.

The wooden stopper turned free of the jamb, without a sound. The door opened and the only tell-tale was a slight breeze that whirled softly in the exchange of air. Had I not been coated in a thin sheen of sweat, I might have missed it. A darkened blade appeared with a body close behind it. Sjienna stifled a whimper, but not effectively enough. My mind kicked into gear as I saw the figure’s stance. The blade was neither too far extended to allow an easy disarm, nor was it too close to be ineffective in a parry. Either way, I had no choice. With my good arm, I grabbed the wrist and pulled the figure into my arm lock. My right arm was weaker than I had thought. The assailant spun slightly in my hold and freed the knife. By necessity, I broke the woman’s neck. Her blade fell upon Shiza’s bunk. The small contact we had told me she was a woman. Strong, though.

"Lock the door behind me," I whispered. I laid the body down quietly and took the blade. As luck would have it, it was a Saeroshic Kathad. I had some familiarity with the weapon. The blade was eight inches long, thin and two edged. This one was probably poisoned, but I could not tell in the dark. I slipped out of the wagon and into the night. I crouched below the wagon and hid in its shadows. Several figures moved together across the way towards a trio of wagons. I was about to go there when two pairs of stealthily moving legs appeared. They came one from each side along the wagon moving from the front to the back. I picked the bigger of the two and stepped out behind him. He must have felt me because he started to turn. I had the blade buried in the base of his skull before he rotated more than a fraction. I ripped the knife free of the twitching bulk and it hit the ground like a bushel of potatoes. Sounded just like it, as well.

I slipped beneath the wagon and ran smack into the other figure as it darted under at the same time. I parried a blade aside with a ’shink’ of steel on steel. Slashing at the figure’s eyes, my blade kissed only metal of a very fast blade. I feinted, and at the slight twitch, I slashed diagonally across the figure. A hiss told me that I sliced against the figure’s leg, but not seriously. I forced my lithely built opponent back out from under the wagon. I sensed it was a male, smaller in build than me, but skilled nonetheless.

Luckily he wasn’t used to this kind of one on one. I made several strikes in combination from head to groin. All were parried, but the momentum brought me to a position where I stepped into his stance and chopped down on his blade. It hit the dirt. I reversed my knife and thrust it at the man’s belly. Blocked with his cross-arm move, I sliced up and back, ripping open a long gash along his left arm. He hissed and stepped back. In the return momentum from the slash I sent the blade back at him. It stuck, buried hilt deep in his chest just below the right clavicle. For a shocked second, he just looked at the knife. Then he arched his back and fell forward. I tensed for an attack, but as he fell, I saw the white feathers of two shafts in his back.

Zhura strode up with Shiza in tow. Both were re-knocking arrows. "I thank you both," I said. "Several others were headed for that trio of wagons over there." I pointed to the place where I had seen the figures heading.

"You stay with the wagon, Dog," ordered Shiza with a curt whisper. Both women loped off in a crouch. I forced myself to give up the hunt, despite the pain starting to seep into my awareness. It was an act of supreme will, even though I was hotter than hell and sweating like a Himeshian mine-slave. I perched myself warily near the rear of the wagon, keeping my eyes moving. I heard the singing of twin bows and a ’chink’ of arrows piercing armor. A muffled cry also punctuated the end of the bow’s conversation. Torches flared in the night. Idiots, I thought, making targets of yourself. No sooner thought than one of the torch bearers went down with a shallow cry. Bows sang once more and the night was quiet. The jingle of armed men grew louder as the guards swept this end of the wagon train. Sitting on haunches, I slipped the knife belonging to the larger of my assailants beneath a bag of onions sitting beneath the wagon’s step. I stood as I recognized Morben and Aedus approaching; wouldn’t due to think me winded after so short a fight... They were checking bodies as they stalked through. I had expected Sollen to be present, but I did not see him. Strange.

"Good evening, gentlemen," I said conversationally. "Fine night we’re having, no?" I smiled and gave a little wave. My mood had lightened considerably with the workout - and because I was still drawing breath. Morben’s gaze narrowed as he took in the two dead bodies. Thank Mossa the big one had stopped twitching. That has always given me the willies. Aedus was looking about the camp.

"Sjienna is inside and safe, Aedus," I whispered. The look of relief I got made me smile. I opened the door. "It’s me," I said as I opened it. The body of the woman still blocked the doorway, so I grabbed a soft black boot and pulled the corpse out. Her head smacked inelegantly against the threshold as I dumped her on the ground. She’s dead, she doesn’t care, I thought. I smiled as I caught Aedus’s wide eyes, and Morben’s. "Come on out, ladies, the danger is over I think." Sjienna came first, a look of fright on her face. Mugha came next, much more controlled. She gave me a strange look as I handed her down. Aedus gathered Sjienna up in a strong embrace. They were lucky. I heard the first screams of terror as bodies were discovered elsewhere; lovers elsewhere would grieve tonight.

"Are you injured?" I was about to answer when I realized Morben was speaking to Mugha. I smiled at his concern.

"I am quite well," whispered Mugha. She cringed to hear another wail of anguish. "But there is need for my services elsewhere."

I squinted as Mugha fuzzed out. I don’t think the blurring worried so much as the dawning realization that I was in deep, deep, trouble. I tried to look for the wound, but as soon as I shifted my weight, my knees collapsed. I think I was laughing at the irony of it when I slammed into the ground and I was thrust into darkness.