The Changelings (War of the Fae: Book 1) (38 page)

It took two long strides towards Chase and backhanded him.
 
Hard.
 
Chase flew to the side as far as his bonds would allow, then swung back the other direction, like a human pendulum.
 
Anger blazed in his eyes, fresh blood dripping down his cheek from a gash that had opened up over his cheekbone.
 
The orc wasn't finished with him yet, though.

I saw Spike and Finn watching in horror at the violence playing out before them.
 
Spike ducked with every hit, as if he was the one being beaten.

Jared used the distraction to sneak up behind me and cut the vines around my wrists.
 
He whispered in my ear before heading off to Finn, "Pretend like you're still attached.
 
Don't let them see you're free until I get everyone.
 
Get ready to run
that
way."
 
He signaled the direction that was behind the biggest group of orcs, all sitting down having some sort of powwow together.
 
Probably planning when they were going to eat us.
 
I wasn't so sure I wanted to run in that direction, but there was no way to communicate that to everyone, and the worst thing we could do was get separated.
 
Jared had already left me, moving on to Finn.
 

I kept my hands together, like they were still connected, but my eyes immediately went to Chase.
 
He was getting his ass royally kicked by the burned orc and there was nothing he could do about it.
 
Now he had another bleeding gash, this one over his eye.
 
I could see him trying to blink the blood away.
 
Spike wasn't looking anymore.
 
His head hung low, but I could see him still flinching every time Chase was hit.
 

I felt horrible that I'd made this happen – sure it had provided a great distraction for Jared, but it wasn't worth it.
 
I had to figure out a way to help Chase, but part of me was panicked that I'd make the situation worse.
 
Unfortunately, the gift of future sight had not come with the gift of talking to The Green.

Suddenly, I saw my chance.
 
Another orc was coming across the clearing, obviously hyped up by the violence he saw.
 
He was nearly jumping with joy, and making motions with his hands like he wanted in on the action.
 
He stood just behind the other orc, ready to take his turn.
 

I quickly communicated with The Green, asking for another tripping.
 
The vine came out of the trees, moving rapidly across the ground towards the second orc.

Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down.
 
I kept chanting fervently to myself until the vine secured itself around the second orc's feet, effectively tying them together.

The first orc took a step back from beating Chase to catch its breath, and the second orc took a step forward to begin its turn at the fun game called 'Beating the Shit out of Chase'; but its feet didn't cooperate as expected.
 
The orc's arms went out, flailing and searching for something to stop its fall.
 
They made contact with the first orc whose back was to the entire scenario and didn't expect to be touched or, in this case, tackled.

The first orc spun around, shoving the second orc to the side, causing it to land in the fire, face first.
 
But the second orc had managed to grab the first's arm, and it didn't let go.
 
The first orc found itself pulled into the fire too.
 
It stumbled, looking for something to grab, knowing it was about to be burned again.
 
The only thing there was to grab onto was the dwarf on the spit.
 
The orc grabbed it, intending to right itself, but the spit wasn't strong enough to hold it.

The stick holding the roasting dwarf split, sending both the orc and the dwarf into the flames and hot coals below.

The group of orcs that were sitting off to the side grunting and conspiring jumped up, enraged that their dinner was being compromised.
 
A few of them came stalking over with angry strides to take care of the problem.
 

The second orc got pulled from the edge of the fire by its feet, its face a mass of bubbling blackness, its screams of pain and rage ringing out through the forest.
 
Another orc grabbed Tony's axe that was leaning against a nearby tree and hacked the screaming orc's head off, throwing the axe off to the side when it was done.
 
It landed where the other unguarded weapons were.
 

Black goo spurted out of the headless orc's neck, sizzling as it landed among the coals.
 
The screams of the second orc ceased immediately, but the first orc's screams and roars continued.
 
I barfed a little in my mouth, spitting it out on the ground next to me.
 
Seeing gore on television is one thing; seeing orc beheadings live – a whole other deal altogether.

I looked over in horror at the group of orcs that were mobilizing in the direction of the fire, and I saw that all of our weapons were leaning against a tree where the orc had thrown Tony's axe.
 
I put my foot on the root and sent out a message for the vines to take our weapons and pull them into the forest behind Tony for safekeeping.
 
I could get them later as we left – I knew I was going to grab Tony before I did anything else.
 
I looked toward the action for a second and when I looked back, the weapons were already gone.
 
Good, one less thing to worry about.
 
Thank you my Green friends.

Two more orcs pulled the first orc off the dwarf body and began beating the shit out of it.
 
I didn't know if the orc was roaring or screaming from the painful burns or the beat-down it was getting, but scream and roar it did.
 
I covered my ears with my hands to block out the sound, forgetting I was supposed to still be tied up.
 
I quickly moved my hands back to the vine dangling above my head.

I saw Jared now behind Chase.
 
He'd cut the vines from Finn, Tony, Spike and me.
 
Tony was still out cold.
 
I agonized for a brief minute about what a bad sign this was, but I knew I couldn't take the time to really freak out about him now.
 
Hopefully, there would be time to worry later, if we were lucky.
 
Right now, I had to figure out how to get him and the rest of us out of here.

Jared couldn't figure out how to get to Chase without being seen.
 
The orcs were fighting very close by, some of the bodies even falling at Chase's feet.
 
Chase turned, seeing Jared behind him for the first time.
 
I saw Chase's head jerk and then something flashed near the tree.
 
Chase's movements told me that Jared had tossed the knife and Chase had caught it, now using it to cut his own vines.
 

I looked over at Finn and grabbed his attention.
 
Then I pointedly looked at Tony and then back at Finn.
 
Finn looked at Tony, then me, nodding his head.
 
I took this to mean that he knew that I wanted us both to grab Tony when it was time to go.

I saw that it was almost time.
 
I caught flashes of Jared through the trees; he was heading back to Tony, which made me feel a little better.
 
We'd be able to move Tony with us faster if we could trade-off carrying him.
 
Between Finn, Chase, Spike, Jared and me, maybe Tony wouldn't slow us down too much.

I sent one more message out to The Green before I quickly slipped my sock and shoe back on.
 
Luckily the orcs were too caught up in their bloodlust to pay any attention to what I was doing.
 
I didn't have time to formulate the idea in my head, really, so I hoped The Green knew what I wanted and that I hadn't forgotten to consider any consequences that could backfire on us.

As soon as I saw Jared coming through the trees behind Tony, I made my move.
 
So did Finn.
 
We grabbed Tony's very still form and dragged him back into the trees.
 
Our weapons were there, vines wrapped around them.
 
I reached down to retrieve them, the vines dropping off as my hand touched them.
 
I tucked the gun, stick and axe into my waistband; the bow and arrows I slung over my back.
 
Spike's slingshot wasn't among the weapons.

One of the orcs saw us and immediately started roaring.
 
I didn't stick around or even look back to see whether the other orcs paid him any attention.
 
I just took off running next to Finn and Jared who were running as fast as they could, dragging Tony between them.

We made a wide circle around the camp of orcs, hoping to come out on the far side, just as Jared had instructed.
 
Chase and Spike weren't with us, so we had to go that way if we were ever going to hook up with them again.

The sounds of crashing and pursuit resonated behind us.

"They're coming!" I yelled, panic reaching up into my throat, nearly choking me.
 
The adrenaline was coursing through my veins.
 
I felt like I was going to vomit again.
 
My legs were tired; they didn't want to move as fast as I needed them to.

Finn was huffing and puffing, his face bright red and sweating.
 
He and Jared were trying to get through the trees and brush and over fallen logs as fast as they could.
 
Tony's dead weight was a serious problem; especially it seemed, for Finn.

I could still hear the orcs behind us, but occasionally I'd hear a loud thump and then a roaring that sounded like rage.
 
Hopefully, that meant my plan was working, and with any luck, it would give us more time to get away.

We had finally reached the point to where Jared had told us to run to.
 
We were behind the spot where the group of orcs had been sitting and talking, or grunting, to each other.

Chase and Spike weren't there.
 
We stopped for a minute so Finn could catch his breath.
 
Jared wasn't even winded.

We started running again, heading in the direction Jared told us was towards the last waypoint.
 
I had no reason to doubt him now; without him we'd still be sitting around that fire and Chase probably would have been beaten to death.
 
Jared had redeemed himself in my eyes.
 
Whether he'd needed to, I still wasn't completely certain, but it didn't matter now.
 
We were getting the hell out of there.
 

The sounds of orc screams were growing more distant.
 
Finn shook his head as he jogged along.
 
He tried to talk, but couldn't, too out of breath.
 
"Stop ... for a ... sec ... ," he gasped.

We stopped and I took over holding Tony for Finn as he bent over to get his breath.
 
I looked at Jared to see how he was faring, but he seemed fine.
 
He was barely out of breath, hardly breaking a sweat.
 
Man, is he in shape or what?

"Why haven't they ... caught us yet?" asked Finn, still gasping for air.

Jared had a confused look on his face.
 
"I have no idea.
 
I expected to have them on our heels the whole way back."

"Back?
 
Back where?" I asked, suddenly suspicious again.

Jared sighed, but it was no use lying.
 
"Back to the final waypoint.
 
I've already been there."

I knew it.
 
"Why didn't you just leave?"

"Because I was worried about you guys."
 
He shrugged his shoulders.

His answer made sense.
 
It's what I would have done – it's what Tony and I
did
do when we had Becky with us.
 
My throat tightened at the thought of her, bundled up by my feet that one morning.
 
Poor little thing ...

I cleared my throat and continued.
 
"Well, I set up a little plan of action as we were escaping which is probably why they've been slowed down; but they're only delayed.
 
It's not going to keep them away forever."

The light bulb went on for Finn.
 
"Ahh, I see.
 
Okay, then, let's get going."

Jared looked at us, confused.
 
"I don't get it.
 
What's going on?"

"I'll explain later," I said.
 
For some reason I still didn't want him to know.
 
I trusted him, but then again, I didn't.
 
I felt like he was keeping secrets, so I had no regrets about keeping some of my own.

Finn took Tony from me, and he and Jared set off jogging again.
 
I followed behind, the sounds of our pursuers still echoing through the trees behind us.

We stopped several times so Finn could catch his breath.
 
The trees around us were all green.
 
I wondered how many orcs had come from this area of the forest.
 

Jared looked around him, shaking his head in what looked like disbelief.
 

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"When I came through here before, all these trees were black.
 
They were all dead.
 
Now everything's green – I don't understand what happened."