Mission To Mahjundar (21 page)

“Sweetheart, it’s me. I’m only sorry I couldn’t get to you sooner.” Mike said, taking a moment to wipe the knife on the sheet. “I’m going to cut you loose now so don’t move.”

“Michael.” His name sounded like a prayer on her lips. “Thank the goddess.” She swiped at tears on her cheeks with the back of her hand and took a long, shuddery breath. “Is he dead?”
 

“He’ll never touch you or hurt you again. No one will, not while I’m alive to protect you, I swear.” He severed the rope on her ankle.

 
Scooting closer to the end of the bed where he stood, Shalira opened one arm, still holding the fur against her body with the other, and Mike gave her a big hug, taking note of how she trembled. He wished he could transfer some of his strength to her. The sight of ugly bruises all over her body infuriated him. He kissed her cheek. “I'm sorry I had to leave you here, even for a day. Riding away was the hardest thing I ever did.”

She leaned into his embrace, rolling her head against his chest, soft hair brushing his arm. “He would have killed you if you hadn't gone this morning.”

Mike shoved the knife into its scabbard. “He could have tried.”

“He was prepared—he warned me not to betray him. I prayed so hard you’d understand that giving you my amulet was a plea for help. Thank you for coming back.”

“I never would have forgiven myself if I hadn’t.” He held her away from him, staring into her face. Her eyes were huge with shock, unseeing.
At least she’ll never have to deal with the memory of seeing the chief’s dead body.
 

Keeping her voice low, she said, “What do we do now?”

“We escape.” He paused, remembering how he hadn’t said enough to her at the tombs. Frustrated, he knew now wasn’t the time either.
She’s traumatized. We’ve got to get out of here before we’re discovered.
“We can’t stop to talk now, but you need to know one thing—this rescue has no strings attached, okay? I want you safely away from this hellhole. We’ll figure out the future, I swear.”

“I know. You’re a man of honor,” she said, stroking his cheek with one hand.

Her simple faith in him touched his heart. “We need to get out of here, before someone comes in. Can you walk? Are those your clothes over there on the floor?”

Nodding, Shalira clutched the furs. “You mean the rags they gave me after stealing all my clothes?”
 

Scooping up the garments, appalled at the wretched dress and blanket shawl, he brought the items to her, along with the practical sandals. He placed them on her lap. “I won’t peek, I promise. Unless you need help?”

Wrinkling her nose as she shook out the rough fabric of the dress, she shook her head. “I can manage. And you’re right, we’ll need to talk later. Although no one will come till dawn. He strictly forbade any interruptions in—in what he had planned.”

“We need every moment to get as far away from here as we can.” Hearing the rustling sounds as she dressed, Mike said, “I wish we had time to get you something better to wear, warmer. Mahjundan nights get cold. I promise, I’ll outfit you with stuff from our gear, once we’re safely away.”

“I’m ready.”

She was looping her unruly hair into a ponytail when he turned around. Grabbing the fur blanket from the bed, she stepped forward. He met her, taking her elbow in haste and steering her toward the exit, around Bandarlok’s body and the debris from their earlier struggle. “I’ve cut a hole in the wall of the storeroom,” he said as they crossed into the room. “From here we sneak across the rear of the compound. Stay low, try not to make a sound, and we’ll take the same route out I used to come in. Bandarlok’s guards are pretty lax.”

“Where’s Johnny?”

Bringing her to the slit he’d cut in the back wall, Mike said, “He’s doing recon to see if he can find any trace of Saium.”

She stopped walking, taking a sharply indrawn breath. “Saium’s missing? I took comfort in believing he got away safely with you.”

Cursing himself for not breaking the news more gently, Mike asked, “Bandarlok didn’t say anything to you about him?”

“No. I do know he hated our entire clan, which he claims to have wiped out, leaving only Saium and myself.” She touched the Windhunter necklace, tracing the design of the bird of prey picked out on the smooth gold of the collar in black pearls and diamonds. She was silent for a moment before raising her head defiantly. “A clan is more than a carved wooden totem and a golden collar. People are the heart of a clan, and as long as Saium and I both live, the Windhunters go on.”

“That’s the spirit, Your Highness,” Mike said approvingly as he peered through the slit in the back wall of the tent. Still no sign of guards patrolling the encampment. “All clear. We need to go quickly and quietly. I’ll guide you. We’re going to meet up with Johnny outside the camp, find out what he’s learned.”

Drawing the fur cloak tighter around her shoulders, Shalira nodded, face set in determined lines. “I’m ready.”

Mike patted her on the shoulder. “Quiet is essential now.” Keeping to the shadows, he led her outside the boundaries of Bandarlok’s large settlement. They had to lie low when a drunken warrior stumbled by on his way to the latrines, but in a few moments they were climbing the ridge to the rendezvous point.

Johnny was already there. He gave Shalira a hand up the last few feet, pulling her behind a tree on the ridge before accepting a hasty hug. “Your Highness, it’s good to see you again.”

“Any luck finding Saium?” Mike asked.

“Yeah. He’s alive, but it ain’t pretty.” Johnny glanced at Shalira, eyebrow raised.

“Go ahead and tell us what you’ve found, Sergeant,” she said, evidently hearing doubt in his voice. “Not knowing is worse than anything you can tell me.”

 
“They’re holding him in a tent off to the west, a few klicks from here. Not too far. Seems to be a makeshift prison. Two guards, both inside. They already beat the hell out of the poor guy, maybe tortured him. If we want to do something about it, we'll have to rush them through the front. No other way in. Can't cut through the back of the tent unobserved.”
 

“But doable?” Mike asked.

Johnny nodded. “How much time do we have till Bandarlok raises the alarm?”

“He won’t be raising any alarms. I killed him,” Mike answered. “Shalira says he ordered the guards and his servants to leave the two of them alone till dawn, so it’s a pretty safe bet we have a few hours. You’ll have to go along with us,” he said to the princess by his side.

“I don’t want to slow you down or cause any problems. You must save Saium.”

“She can wait with the horses while we go in and extract him,” Johnny said. “We can ride to within one klick of where they’ve got him, but then we’ll have to go in on foot.”

It was a short distance from the camp to where Saium was being held. There wasn't anything resembling a trail, but Johnny found his way unerringly. Leaving the horses safely tethered in a grove, he led Mike and Shalira to the top of one last ridge overlooking a small tent set in a grove of trees. A fire was burning inside, flickering light visible through the open flap at the front.
 

As he drew his knife, Mike said, “Shalira, I want you to stay here, hidden among these trees. When the coast is clear, either Johnny or I will come fetch you.”

“Wait, I need a weapon,” she said, holding Mike by the elbow.

He exchanged puzzled glances with Johnny. “What for?” Guiding her to the closest sizable tree, he cleared some debris to make a spot for her to wait in a bank of fallen leaves.

“I won’t be taken alive.” She wrapped up in the fur as she sank to the ground, back against the huge tree trunk. “I know you think we’re safe from pursuit for now, and I’ve every confidence in both of you but I’d feel better—more in control—having a weapon. And there’s no time to teach me to shoot one of your blasters, even if I could see to aim it.”

“No problem. Johnny, get the lady a combat knife, would you?” A moment later he gave her the blade his cousin took from a saddlebag. “Here’s the signal for one of us coming to get you.” Pursing his lips, Mike whistled a bird call from his home planet.

 
“Be careful.” She clung to his hand for a moment.

“This is what we do for a living,” Mike said, brushing a kiss on her palm as he gently disengaged from her grasp. “Knives only, Johnny. The sound of shots would carry back to the main camp in this still air, and then we'd have bigger problems.” He didn't wait for Johnny’s acknowledgment before descending the ridge to the tent, making use of all available cover. He and Johnny moved so quietly the guards in the tent had no warning of what was coming.
 

The clansmen's attention was on an unconscious Saium, strung up by the wrists on a framework of poles, his feet dragging on the hard- packed dirt floor. The guards had evidently been torturing him. A pattern of ugly, fresh burn marks trailed along his rib cage on the right side. Saium's head lolled to the side, a gag stuffed into his mouth to stifle any screams. Laughing and debating what to do to their victim next, the men were ready to revive him with a bucket of cold water.
 

Mike tackled the enemy on the left, Johnny taking the man to the right, achieving complete surprise. Both thugs fell dead in less than a minute. Johnny was already busy sawing at the rawhide thongs holding Saium to the poles, saying over his shoulder, “I took note of horses out back when I did my recon. Mounts for Shalira and Saium.”

As if brought back to consciousness by the sound of his name, Saium groaned as they removed the gag and lowered him to the floor. Opening his eyes, he blinked slowly. “Major?”
 

Mike put a firm hand on the guardsman’s shoulder. “Don't try to talk. You’ll need your strength to sit on a horse. We're getting out of here in a minute.”
 

The old warrior tried to sit up. “I owe you my life.” He grabbed at Mike’s arm. “You have to rescue the princess. Bandarlok’s plans for her—”

Patting him reassuringly on the shoulder, Mike said, “I’ve already got her out of that snake pit. She’s waiting for us on the ridge. Bandarlok’s dead—there wasn’t any choice if I was going to rescue Shalira.”

“I only wish I could have done it,” Saium agreed. “There’s much evil he has to answer for in the afterlife. It would have been a pleasure to send him there.”

Mike didn’t disagree, but the point was moot. “Johnny, he needs a temporary patch job on these burns. Can you give him a shot of something so he can ride?”
 

“No problem.” The always-prepared sergeant pulled a small medkit from one of the many pockets in his utilities. He pushed past Mike. “Give me some room.”
 

“My entire clan has been slaughtered by Bandarlok and his people. I can’t believe it, yet I must. The Bartuk Clan must pay for this treachery.” Saium's voice shook with rage and suppressed grief. “And I’m just the Windhunter to take the blood price for my people.”

“The best revenge is to go on living.” Mike’s voice was low and persuasive. “I’m going for Shalira, so she’ll know we succeeded. She’s probably worrying herself sick up there in the dark.”

“She’s used to the dark,” Saium said.

“Not like this, she’s not. She had a pretty rough time with Bandarlok before I got there.”

As Mike climbed the ridge, whistling the little bird call periodically, he remembered when he’d gone to fetch Shalira after the battle in the Valley of Tombs.
Things between us are going to have a more favorable outcome this time.

“Sweetheart?” he said in a low voice as he reached the tree line.

She stood up, back to the rough tree trunk, clutching the blanket in one hand and the big combat knife in the other. “Did you save Saium?”

“He’s alive, pretty banged up.” Mike reached her side. “Let me escort you to him. Johnny’s pumping him full of drugs so he can ride.”

He guided her down the hill, picking the easiest path for her.
 

Saium lay on the floor of the tent, eyes closed, jaw clenched as Johnny treated his wounds, but as soon as Mike brought Shalira in, the old man struggled to sit up. Tears in his eyes, he reached for her. Catching her hand, he said, “Can you ever forgive me for delivering you to that monster?”

She dropped to her knees, hugging him so tightly her knuckles went white in the firelight. “There’s nothing to forgive. We both were doing our duty.”

“And we’ve paid dearly for it,” Saium said.

“I hate to interrupt the reunion, I know it’s been a rough time for you both, but we’d better get going. If you’ll allow me to finish sealing his burns, Your Highness, I’d appreciate it. Move a few steps to the left, please?” Johnny said.

“She might need some painkiller too, while you’re at it,” Mike said. “She got pretty badly manhandled back there at the camp.”

Johnny nodded at the suggestion. “Sure, I got things that can dull the ache without putting you to sleep.”

“I’d be forever grateful.”

I’ll go get the horses, bring them up so we can get the hell out of here.” Mike squeezed Shalira’s shoulder and ducked under the tent flaps.

A few minutes later, ready to make a getaway from the vicinity of the clans, Mike boosted Shalira into the saddle. “Let's ride before our luck runs out. We've got to get as far as we can under cover of darkness, while the camp sleeps.”