Two days later, it was still raining. The storm persisted as an eternal drizzle, with occasional gusts of wind and crashes of thunder in the distance. Aliah was beginning to suspect that the weather wasn’t entirely natural, the sheer intensity and longevity of the storm more in line with what happened when a Leviathan wandered too close to shore. She was trying not to think about what it ant for sothing like that to happen inland, as she had other concerns at the mont. She was being watched.
Carefully not looking to either side, Aliah continued her bedraggled trudge through the muck, the tattered and shortened cloak Rush lent her hanging like a sodden blanket over her likewise borrowed clothing. Her armor was safely stored in whatever non-space it went to when dismissed, as was her bow, though she held Rush’s instead. Its snapped string dangled uselessly, but that hardly stopped it from functioning as the crutch she was using it for. Her other hand was bound to her chest by a makeshift sling, her arm tied to a splint with bandages made from the missing half of her cloak. The cloth was stained red with a great deal of blood.
Not hers, naturally. She’d gone to a lot of trouble to look this bad.
The trail hadn’t been hard to follow, but Camp Asshole was situated on the crown of a broad hill, making it impossible to get a look inside without climbing above the canopy and thus revealing herself. Scrying Pool would have solved that issue neatly, but she had neither the ti nor the patience to unlock it. A direct assault, on the other hand, risked disaster should the hostages be used against her. That left infiltration.
“Ho, there!”
“Ah!” Aliah shrieked, fake surprise turning to equally fake pain as she spun, tripped over her own feet, then landed with a splat.
“That’s what you get for not watching your surroundings,” the voice said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Who—” Aliah began, then gasped, hissing through her teeth as she aborted her attempt to push herself up.
“That’s what I want to know,” the voice said, a pair of heavy black boots coming to a stop in front of her.
Aliah rolled herself over onto her back, making sure to hug her ‘injured’ limb as she took in a man wearing a thick hide jacket beneath his hooded cloak. While he was almost as drenched as she was, his clothing was much finer, making him either a Guilder or a well-to-do rcenary, not an Adamant.
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Openly inspecting her right back, the man’s lips quirked up into a wry smile. “What’s a fancy girl like you doing in a place like this?”
Aliah let herself go limp. “Dystees, I’m saved.” What about is fancy right now, exactly? She took a shuddering breath. “Please, my arm is broken. I need hel—”
“Answer the question,” the man said, resting his offhand on the poml of his sword.
“I’m just— Aliah, is my na.” Aliah made a show of only now noticing the weapon. “My brother and I were chasing a boar, and we got separated three...no...four days ago. And then there was the storm, and... Please...”
The man remained silent for a long mont, then clicked his tongue.
Aliah kept her eyes latched to the sword. “Did...did my brother, uh... Did he send you to find ? Are you a Guilder? Why else would anyone be—”
“Quiet,” the man said, fishing in a pocket, then withdrawing a speaking stone. “Nicho, this is tt. I found the skulker, so you can tell Innar to stop having a fit. It’s just a drowned rat of a girl, well, make that a drowned badger. I’d say she’s big enough to be part deer if I didn’t know better. Claims to have been out hunting with her brother and got separated in the storm.”
“No, before the storm, I—” Aliah tried to interject. They knew I was coming?
“Hush!” tt shouted, glaring at her, slapping the stone against his palm before holding it up to his ear. “Cracked piece of shit,” he muttered, waiting as he listened to whatever return ssage he was receiving. Finally, he tucked the stone away with a tired sigh, leaving only the sound of the drizzle and the steady drip of larger droplets falling from the leaves.
“Please, don’t hurt ,” Aliah said, cradling her bound arm. “Whoever you are, I can pay you if you help get back to my camp. I don’t have any coins on , but—”
“Get up.” tt interrupted. “Soone wants to talk to you. After that, I get to go look for your brother. Joy.”
“Thank you, I—”
“MOVE!”
Happy enough with this state of affairs, though she’d have been happier still to simply be welcod in, Aliah struggled to her feet, making it as much of a process as possible. The man didn’t so much as offer to help, watching her with a suspicious expression. Once she was up and leaning on her bow again for support, she decided to try again. “Do you know if—”
tt raised his hand sharply, as if he was about to smack her. She yelped in response, closing her eyes and flinching away.
At least I won’t have to feel bad about killing him later.
The blow, however, did not fall, and slowly, Aliah opened first one eye, then the other.
tt snorted, lowering his hand. “Your arm’s broken, not your legs. Bury in the depths if I’m carrying you, watchtower.” He tilted his head, then stepped aside. “That way.”
Watchtower? Aliah began hobbling in the indicated direction. Co on. I’m not THAT tall.
After about ten minutes of slow progress, the compound ca into view, as she’d known it would. The trees atop the hill had been cleared for quite so distance beyond the wooden palisade. Whoever these people were, they were only hiding in that they’d set themselves up in the complete middle of nowhere.
“Halt!” called one of the gate guards as Aliah reached the edge of the trees, and she did, only for tt to shove her roughly out into the open.
“It’s !” tt called, stepping past her as Aliah focused on the new guards.
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Both were n, ard and outfitted almost identically to the one escorting her, right down to the rust-brown color of their cloaks and the longswords on their hips. As she reached them and slowed to a hesitant stop, one of the n whistled.
“You weren’t kidding, tt,” he said, walking forward and grinning through his bushy mustache. He planted his hands on his hips, addressing her. “Right then, beautiful, stand still and drop the stick. Gotta check you for weapons.”
“Who are you people?” Aliah asked, taking a step back and trying to look as if she was on the edge of panic. “There aren’t any towns out here. What kind of camp is—”
“Calm down,” the third man said, the one who hadn’t spoken yet. “This is just a hunting camp.”
“What kind of hunting camp needs a wall?” Aliah asked, trying to take another step back, only for tt to grasp her roughly by the shoulder. “What kind of hunting camp has guards with swords?”
“Quiet,” tt said.
Aliah closed her mouth.
Not bandits. Too far from any roads for that to make sense. Not hiding from above, so they probably aren’t up to anything too illegal. They certainly aren’t growing anything. So noble’s retreat?
tt held her as the other man, the one with the mustache, pried away her unstrung bow and tossed it to their third companion. He then took her belt knife and used it to cut free her pouch, which was quite rude of him, really. Both were just for show, of course. Her real traveling gear was with Rush and his family, who were holed up safely out of harm’s way.
Seemingly disappointed in the contents of the pouch, the man tossed it away, then took a step closer to her. “Hiding the goods, eh?” He ran his hands across her hips, ostensibly checking her pockets, at least until he then slipped them around to squeeze her butt. Aliah released a startled yelp, struggling with precisely calculated force.
“Hold still,” tt said behind her, restraining her with such little effort that he was basically screaming the fact he was awakened. “Really, Nicho?”
“What?” the mustached man asked innocently, then roughly grasped Aliah’s breasts.
“STOP!” she yelled, thrashing, then crying out as tt grabbed her hair and yanked her head to the side.
“Gods, Nicho, you fucking pervert,” the third man said. “What if she’s soone important?”
“Out here?” Nicho said, still kneading roughly. “The only important folks around here are the family, though with pillows this fine—” He grunted, blocking Aliah’s attempted kick at his groin. “Hey now! None of that!”
Aliah scread her outrage, using her free hand to cover her breasts now that he’d released them to strip the boot from her captured leg. Really, what so dead man did with his hands was unimportant. She was more interested in this ‘family’ he’d ntioned.
Nobles for sure, then.
“Just get her inside,” tt said, shoving Aliah away once her feet were bare. She stumbled and tried to make a run for it, only for the third man to catch her around the waist.
“Gods, she’s a fighter,” he said, lifting her completely off the ground as she flailed. “Get her legs!”
“My arm!” she scread, seeing an opportunity as Nicho moved toward her again. With slightly more strength than she should have been able to muster, she twisted to the side and whipped her bare heel into his face, creating a satisfying crunch.
“AH, FUCK!” Nicho scread.
Aliah hid her smile as she slamd hard into the ground, almost taking her captor down with her. Behind her, tt was laughing, and she caught a glimpse of him walking off into the trees. Nicho quickly sprung back up, then stalked toward her, clutching his face. He slugged her in the stomach, hard enough that he might have risked breaking sothing had she actually been what she was pretending, and she made sure to make the appropriate noises as she allowed herself to be beaten into ‘submission.’
If that little tap was enough to break his nose, he can’t be more than level five or so.
Staying limp to make things difficult for the third man—Nicho wasn’t helping carry her, too busy trying to stem the flow—Aliah let her head loll, stealing glimpses of the interior of the compound through barely-opened eyes. The ground was bare, decreasing the likelihood of this being an illicit drug farming operation even further, noble-run or otherwise. There were several wooden buildings, plus one larger one that could convincingly be described as a manor.
And then she saw the pen.
It was clearly a recent construction, cobbled together from green lumber, saws and remnants of processed trees lying on the dirt just outside it. Inside were the villagers, dozens and dozens of them, most watching the commotion, but so not even looking up, hanging their heads against the eternal drizzle. Aliah’s eyes felt drawn to the tiny form of a baby, cradled in its mother’s arms. It took all of her strength to not break free that instant and do sothing about it. Instead, she dragged her gaze away, settling it on the three rust-cloaked guards standing beside the enclosure.
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Struggling with her rage, Aliah began counting prisoners, made difficult by their motion. She reached a count of seventy-one, then cursed inwardly and started again. Soon, her bare heels began thumping against the stairs to the manor as she was dragged up them, but she barely even noticed, too focused on the count. Again, she reached seventy-one.
Damn it. Six missing, one child and five adults, including Proudrock.
“Get the damned door, Nicho,” the man holding her said, his voice more annoyed than strained.
“Fucking bitch broke my nose!” Nicho repeated for the umpteenth ti, punching Aliah in her bound arm as he climbed past her. She scread, letting her voice break into a whimper.
“Stop that!” the other man admonished him, dragging her forward again as the door opened. “She’ll die if you keep it up.”
“Is that her?” a woman’s voice shrieked before Nicho could respond, and rapid footsteps ca running across the foyer. Aliah got a great view of the ceiling, which was high and brightly lit by Light Plates set into the walls. There were probably Heater Plates sowhere, too, from the sudden warmth and lack of an obvious hearth. Aliah managed to flop her head to the side to get a look at the newcor, who wore a blue silken dress and had a wand pointed directly at her.
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“Yes, Lady Innar,” man three said. “tt just brought her in.”
“Who is she?” Lady Innar demanded. “And stop bleeding on my floor, whatever your na is. Evet, where are you!? Get a rag and a mop!”
“We don’t know for sure, my lady,” man three said, rapidly filling the woman in as Nicho grumbled. Before long, a servant appeared, hurrying over to him and handing him a rag, which he snatched roughly. A bit of an argunt followed, finally diffused when Nicho stalked off, denied the healing potion he’d requested.
“Wake her up,” Innar commanded man three, still pointing her wand at Aliah’s face. “She feels suspicious. I want to interrogate her.”
Aliah tensed, preparing herself and glad of her decision to avoid mana use.
“And how would he do that, sister, when you won’t even spare a potion for the help?” a reedy man’s voice abruptly asked. A straight-pressed pair of black trousers appeared in her view, and she resisted the urge to look up at the newcor’s face. A foot was more than enough.
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“Just shake her or sothing!” the noblewoman said, and Aliah relaxed marginally. Clearly, the woman had sensory skills of so sort, but apparently not ones that could outright reveal her.
“Do not,” the male noble countermanded. “Dulls tend to break when you do that. You can talk to her when she recovers, supposing she ever does. You, Pon, right? What did you do to her?”
“Not , Lord Tenelin,” man three said, clearly the target of the question. “Her arm was like that when tt found her, and Nicho—”
“Spare him the details,” Lady Innar snapped. “We don’t need to go through it all again. Please, just let handle this, brother.”
“No, sister,” the lord replied, the stress on the final word indicating that this wasn’t even remotely their first disagreent of the day. “Just throw her in a cell,” he commanded. “When our grandfather wakes, he’ll decide what to do with her. Please inform us if you find the other hunter. Now, sister, I need to talk to you about how we plan on feeding the deer. Our supplies aren’t going to...”
Aliah continued listening to the bickering between the noble siblings as she was picked up, then carried away, cradled in the guard’s arms. She didn’t manage to glean any more important details before she passed out of the foyer and into a long hallway, keeping one eye barely open as her head dangled. Eventually, she caught a glimpse of another guard standing beside a banded tal door, again with a sword.
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What is it with these people and swords? Other weapons exist!
“That woman is a trial,” the newest guard said.
“Heard all that, did you?”
“How could I not? Get her down there, then go get Nicho that damn potion. He was injured in the line of duty, and our contract is clear on what we’re owed. If Lady Innar gives you any more trouble about it, she can take it up with .”
“Oh, she’ll love that. You two get on great.”
The only response was a grunt, then the rattle of a key in a lock. “If you ask , I think it’s ti to renegotiate our contract. I didn’t give up my plate to stand beside a door for twelve hours a day.”
“I hear you,” man three said. “What are we going to do, though? Kill them?”
“No, and keep your fucking voice down. North Harbor’s a smoking ruin, yes, but the twins got out, so more may be coming. Even if we could take them and the old man, and that’s a big if, we’d be in a real spot if the rest showed up and found out we offed their relatives. When I say renegotiate, I an exactly that. I an getting them to treat us with so deeping respect. They need us to watch the deer, and they know it.”
“Right.”
There was a sigh. “Don’t get wrong, it’s damn lucky they found them on their way in, but their fortune’s been a gigantic pain in my ass. If it were up to , we’d just slaughter the lot and be done, but no, nobles gotta be nobles. Always looking for more.”
“You should try working for the Bank. Can’t say I miss that.”
The other man grunted. “We’ll talk tonight. Just get her down there for now. And don’t put her in with the deer, or they’ll kill her.”
“Duh,” man three said, hiking Aliah up in his arms and guiding her head through the doorway.
As Aliah passed the inward-opening door, she risked opening her eyes slightly wider to get a look at it, but didn’t see any obvious runes or signs of enchantnt. The sa went for the wooden stairway as they descended into darkness. There was a heavy thud, then a click as the door was closed and locked behind her.
“Should have grabbed a damn candle,” her bearer muttered in the darkness. Eventually, as the stairwell continued far longer than she’d expected, she beca aware of a greenish hue coming from below. As she reached the bottom and was carried out into the cellar, the last piece of the puzzle clicked into place.
Ah.
The room was enormous, the need for the high ceiling easily explained by the shimring green bubble that dominated the space. A tal cage had been constructed around the lair, the bars of dark tal serving double duty and holding up the structure above. Runes had been etched into the tal, adding their own bluish glow to the magical ambiance, though the cellar couldn’t even remotely be described as bright. The rest of the space she could see was also dominated by ironwork, split up into cubic cells by the tal bars, though unenchanted. Most of the cells didn’t even have doors, filled with the random junk one might expect to find in a cellar. So, though, held people.
“Who is it!?” a cervidian woman demanded, rattling the bars of her cage before stopping suddenly. “Are they alive? Did you—? Oh.” There was a long pause, then a scoff. “It’s just a human. Imprisoning your own kind too, now?”
“Animals don’t talk,” the man holding Aliah said. She’d already forgotten his na. He laid her on the ground in one of the cells with more care than she’d expected, though it would not save him. He then knelt beside her, straightening out her legs and shifting her bound arm to lie more comfortably on her stomach.
“There,” the man said, getting back to his feet. “If you can hear , I’m sorry for Nicho, and stay away from the bars. The deer are not your friends.” There was a squeak of unoiled hinges, then a clang as the door slamd closed.
“We need water, human,” the sa female voice said bitterly, as if the words were being dragged out of her.
Apparently, this didn’t even rate a response. All Aliah heard was the rattle of a key, then a click as she was locked inside.
“If you want us to die, there are faster ways we would prefer.”
Again, this went ignored. Aliah listened to the guard’s footsteps as they retreated across the dusty planks that made the floor, soon fading as he climbed the stairs. Her awareness of his direction, though, didn’t fade, nor did her awareness of the others she’d Marked.
“Asshole,” the woman spat.
“Mommy?” a little boy’s voice asked from another cell. “Is the lady alright?”
“Who cares?” a male voice responded from further down the line.
Aliah waited, listening over the angry muttering of the cervidians. Finally, she heard the distant thud of the door at the top of the stairs.
She sat up, generating several sharp intakes of breath, and she turned to see five pairs of eyes staring at her. It was hard to make out details in the gloom, but she could see well enough to know that none of them belonged to Proudrock. Perhaps so of their antlers were slightly larger than nubs, but she couldn’t say for sure yet whether that was just her imagination. In her heart, though, she knew her suspicion was correct. She knew what the assholes had done. What they’d planned to do.
“Mommy?” the little boy asked again uncertainly as Aliah got to her feet, rage and anticipation of vengeance distorting her features.
A child. Why would they choose a child? And where is Proudrock?
“Who are you?” one of the n demanded.
“Please keep your voices down,” Aliah replied, managing to regain control as she turned to face her fellow prisoners. She bowed low, bending only at the waist. “I am Aliah, friend of Tallheart, and I’m here to rescue you.”
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