Resurrected Soldiers: The Tyrus Chronicle - Book Three (23 page)

CHAPTER 24

A part of Ava felt at home slinking through the forest remains. She had so many memories of doing the same on a dark, starless night just like this one. In the army, she would be either at the front of the group, helping mask Hamath’s advance, or at the rear, covering their back trail as they went on another of Balak’s seemingly impossible missions.

She found herself in the middle this time. Bodies moved around her on all sides as she worked concealment spells.

The sense of being at home diminished when she looked to her left or right and didn’t see people like Omar, Hayyim, or Gal. Bloody faces, bloody chests, and hollowed eyes flashed in her mind instead. Those people were all dead.

Ira, Dekar, and Hamath weren’t there either. They had left her too.

The most important of them, her brother wasn’t there.

A sense of loneliness overtook her. A high level of anxiety followed. Young men and women, some acquaintances, some friends, surrounded her. None contained the skills she was accustomed to working with, and as a result, the pressure she put on herself only increased.

During the war, there were times that she carried the burden of the squad. It was only natural given the level of power she once possessed. There were times she had saved one of them. But someone else in the squad had done the same for her. That familiarity with people after years of working together put her at relative ease. She could rely on them.

She felt none of that ease now. She didn’t trust any of these people with her life.

But they trust me with theirs. It’s all on me.

Ava came upon two large pines, each six feet in circumference. One leaned precariously against the other. She peeked around one and spotted a dim light about two hundred yards ahead.

The Malduks.

A small chirp sounded, something like a cicada in the night. Ava froze and waited, unable to hide the smile forming on her face as Damaris eased up beside her. The call had been hers.

“Did Tyrus teach you that?” she whispered.

“No. Why?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

A small click sounded out front. Damaris peered toward the fire, and pointed. “There’s Eder. Are you ready?”

Ava nodded and Damaris made the chirp again, signaling Eder forward. Ava had asked her to help with directing people so she could spend more effort focusing on sorcery. Ideally, she would have liked Nason to come along as well, but the last thing she wanted was to risk his life when his children had already lost a mother. He reluctantly agreed to stay behind.

It had been difficult making Zadok and Myra stay with their camp. Neither liked having her go off on her own, but Ava wasn’t about to put them in unnecessary danger.

Ava focused on Eder’s position, felt him as he slunk closer to camp. The spell she performed was one of higher risk, one she never had to use on Hamath who could sneak around undetected almost as if he were a sorcerer himself.

She carefully wove an aura that enveloped the boy, muffling his movements, even his breathing, while also creating a shimmer over his body so that if someone looked at him, their gaze would naturally keep moving. The only way someone would discover Eder would be if someone tripped over him.

Ava wanted to look around, but fought against it. She knew Damaris was at her side, using sharp ears and eyes to keep a look out, and everyone else was told before venturing out to remain completely still until the right signals sounded.

Though Ava loathed giving up part of command, she could think of no better approach. It was difficult to perform sorcery while also visually taking in one’s surroundings, and making split-second command decisions.

In the army, she usually had Tyrus beside her handling the role she allowed Damaris. When broken into smaller squads, Hamath or Dekar might have taken on the role as well.

Ava sat deep in her spell for what seemed like an eternity, losing herself in the moment to better concentrate.

She opened her eyes as Eder crawled over to the pines near them. He came up in a crouch and sighed.

“Well?” she asked.

Eder took a small stick, and with great care so not to make any noise against nearby leaves, gently began to draw in the dirt and ash. He detailed a camp much like the one he had described previously.

“Twelve men,” he whispered low, making a deep gash to represent each figure.

He drew a circle around four. “Asleep.” Another circle around three more. “A game.”

He pointed at the last three that formed a triangle. “Watch.”

“Prisoners?” she asked.

He pointed near the fire at the center of camp.

“What about those two?” she asked, noting two marks far outside of the three men keeping watch.

“Uh. . . .” He reddened.

“What is it?”

“They’re sharing a moment,” he said blushing.

Damaris frowned at Ava, not understanding.

“Some men march to a different beat,” said Ava, realizing the reason for Eder’s reddening.

Damaris blinked. She grinned. “Oh.”

The grin was gone an instant later as she scurried off to others nearby, giving last minute orders or reaffirming the ones already in place based on what Eder said.

The signal to move forward came next. Ava’s task remained unchanged. Conceal and mask movement to avoid later casting any attack spells. Stay back and intervene only where necessary.

Ava didn’t like taking herself out of the direct action, though it made the most sense. She wanted to be close, even if it meant using a blade over sorcery. It’s not like she couldn’t handle herself with one.

Damaris chirped again, cutting off any uncertainty, doubt, or uneasiness. Ava was no first-timer to such situations and she wouldn’t allow her thoughts to distract her.

From her peripheral, she caught the slow slinking of dark shadows moving through the forest low to the ground. The exception being Damaris. The woman took point, walking briskly toward camp while trying to make as much noise as possible. Before leaving on the mission, she had changed into old, battered clothes and dirtied herself to appear desperate.

Though the overall plan of attack was Ava’s, it was Damaris who suggested her role in it, adamant that she directly contribute to the mission.

Gods, I hope I don’t regret agreeing to this.

Damaris increased her pace, half-jogging, half-stumbling with grunts and exaggerated breathing. She called out loudly in the dark “Hello?”

Activity around the Malduk camp erupted at the shout and several figures raced into the night toward Damaris while the rest of the camp stood on alert.

She waved her arms. “I’m over here.”

They came at her with weapons drawn, eyes darting warily in the night. They spoke in their native tongue, a language filled with short, choppy words. Two of the four figures who had rushed out, darted deeper into the woods after an order from another. They searched for any signs of others. Ava cast a faint spell that acted as more of a suggestion on where to look and where not to. None seemed to notice the sorcery directing them.

“Please,” said Damaris looking around. She held her arms overhead as one of the Malduks guarded her with a drawn sword. “I saw your fire. I just want somewhere to rest for the night. Maybe some food and drink.”

The two Malduks returned to the others and the four spoke frantically. Looks of concern turned to wide grins. They seemed comfortable in believing that Damaris was alone. Ava couldn’t speak the Malduk’s language as well as the Geneshan’s could, but she understood enough of what was being said.

They had orders not to touch the other prisoners and thought their god had blessed them with a fair woman. Blonde hair apparently wasn’t something they were accustomed to.

A Malduk took Damaris roughly by the arm and led her to camp.

They want to present her to their commander first. Likely give him the first go. Your part of the plan is working so far Damaris.

Let’s hope we don’t screw things up.

Ava gave the signal and the group slowly advanced.

Farther up, the Malduks called out, telling others of their prize. Several around the fire whooped in delight, one grabbing his crotch in anticipation. All the noise made Ava’s job of concealing movement much easier.

Everyone in their group fanned out into position and waited as Damaris entered camp and stood near the center fire. A large Malduk with gray at his temples came up and appraised her. Ava pegged him as the commander.

He circled Damaris, studying her. She spoke something to him as well as the others, but Ava couldn’t make it out. The Malduks ignored her whether because of a lack of understanding or because they didn’t care. The commander cupped Damaris’s backside, causing her to jump. A grin crawled across his face. He nodded in approval at the four who brought her to camp.

He took Damaris by the arm and pulled her out into the dark shadows on the opposite side of camp. As he did, those that remained behind slapped each other jokingly. They immediately began drawing lots, their gestures indicating the winner would have the next turn with their prize. All the while, the two dark-skinned prisoners looked with dread to where Damaris had disappeared.

Ava gritted her teeth. This was the part of the plan she had argued against. Damaris had hidden a blade under her dress, strapped against the back of her left thigh. Though Damaris had recently proven that she was not afraid to get her hands dirty, Ava thought it far too risky for them to rely on her to sound an alarm.

Killing a man with a spear is much different than doing so up close with a blade. And trying to kill a trained warrior in close quarters is just plain foolish.

The more she thought about the situation, the more Ava hated it. She began working sorcery, something different than what she had used before. She had to check on Damaris before something went wrong.

The Malduks continued to laugh around the fire.

Ava reached out, searching for Damaris and the Malduk leader. She found Damaris quickly due to familiarity. The other figure next to Damaris by default had to be the Malduk leader.

Ava honed in on him, getting a sense of his body’s rhythm so that she could attack and disrupt his breathing if needed. She was ready to begin squeezing his lungs when the figure jolted upright. Tensing, he screamed loudly in the night. Damaris shrilled in anger and the figure screamed again.

Ava lost her connection with both figures then as madness erupted, their group responding to Damaris’s scream, the signal.

A half dozen crossbow bolts flew through the night into the center of the Malduk mass. All found marks, killing or wounding their targets. Figures flashed through the woods a heartbeat later with weapons raised. They descended on the confused Malduks in a fury.

The Malduks tried to defend themselves. The first few failed miserably as weapons descended, cutting deep or smashing hard into them. Crunching bones, muffled grunts, and confused curses mixed with their cries.

After the initial shock, a couple of Malduks managed to recover and stand in a defensive position. However, by that point, they had attackers all around them and after a quick strike or two fell under the press of the group.

Gods, it worked!

Ava ran into camp. “Damaris!”

Those who had volunteered for the mission stood around the bloody carnage, heaving mighty breaths. The coppery smell of freshly spilled blood mingled sickeningly with the wood smoke from the fire. It reminded her of a freshly killed deer ready to be placed on a spit.

Eder was the first to retch as the reality of the situation caught up with him. Two more followed. Blood had spattered several people. Everyone involved looked at their gore-covered weapons, then at the carnage wreaked by them.

Eder retched again. The smell of vomit was a poor addition to the pungent odors already present.

Ava took that in while moving toward Damaris’s last known location.

“Damaris!”

Heads turned quickly and there was a rise of panic in Ava’s throat as sorcery flowed through her to aid her search. She only needed a couple of steps.

“I’m here,” Damaris said, emerging through the forest gloom.

Her appearance mirrored that to how she looked after killing the scout. Blood covered her hands and forearms, more adorned the front of her dress. Ava noted the dress had been ripped worse than before, split entirely up one side, exposing her hip.

Too much risk. Ao’s teats, we lucked out.

A spray of blood also splashed across Damaris’s neck.

Ava met her eyes. They blinked rapidly. Not blank, but distant, as they had been after killing the scout.

“Are you all right?”

Damaris nodded, silent.

“Are you sure?”

She nodded again.

Ava fidgeted. “Rest a moment then.” She started giving orders to others. “Get cleaned up as best as you can. Then start grabbing all the supplies and weapons you can carry. We’ll sort out what we can use when we get back to camp. We don’t want to be here much longer in case they were waiting on others to meet up with them.”

That announcement got people moving. No one wanted to be ambushed themselves.

Eder moved over to the two prisoners who surprisingly had remained perfectly quiet and still during the ordeal as if wondering how the newcomers would compare to the Malduks.

Ava wanted to go over to them and start asking questions, but decided it would be better to do so later. Besides, Eder was already cutting their bonds and explaining who everyone was. It appeared they knew the Turine language.

Better to let them catch their bearings. There are other things to consider first.

Ava faced Damaris again. The woman hadn’t moved. “You’re not really all right, are you?”

She frowned. “I’m not hurt if that’s what you mean. I killed him before he . . . you know.”

“Good. But that’s not all I meant. Are you all right up here?” she asked tapping her head.

“I don’t know.” She frowned. “Maybe not. I—I thought I was ready to do this, but maybe I wasn’t. Knowing what I had to do before hand, thinking about it, planning for it, expecting it. It made everything much different. And then the struggle. I was scared. It wasn’t like last time.”