Plasma Frequency Magazine: Issue 14 (8 page)

When the men returned to the cage at sundown and had each been released from their shackles, Venil told Gant of his plan.  “I’ll back you up,” he said.  “But you should know this has been tried before and it has never worked.” Venil accepted this advice in silence and joined the others in the queue of gruel scoopers. 

Once they both had their food, he put a question to Gant.  “If it has never worked in the past, then why are you agreeing to help me?”

Gant shrugged his shoulders as he swallowed a mouthful of gruel.  A fly perched below his lower lip.  “Maybe I’m just tired of it all.” He smiled.  “Besides, I have a feeling about you.” 

When the Artemise came for Venil that night, he was ready.  A woman bearing shackles beckoned him toward her, the cage bars separating them.  He moved forward and she gestured.  “Arms.”

Venil stuck his arms through one of the slats between the bars and she shackled them  together.  He pulled his chained arms back inside the cage and the wild woman indicated he should sit.  Venil dropped to his rump as she produced another set of shackles and knelt.  “Now the legs.”

He pushed his legs through a space between the bars, just as he had done with his arms and felt the cold of the irons as they were secured around his ankles.  That done, he pulled his legs inside the cage and stood to his full height, arms together before him.  His muscles tensed and he willed them to relax.  The looser he was at the moment, the better.  He stood meekly before the door as the Artemise on the other side went through the motions of unlocking it.  He made note of the second spear-wielding woman standing off to other woman’s side, Venil’s left.

As the first Artemise opened the door with one hand and picked up her spear with the other, Venil rushed the door, slamming into it with his shoulder, careful not to trip himself up with the chain.  The door smacked the first Artemise in the face, staggering her back as Venil did a quick two-step shuffle out the open door.  Before the other could react, he swung a double-fisted blow at the second woman, knocking her to the ground.  Venil spun back toward the first guard as she sent up a cry of alarm.

Facing her, he saw she had recovered quickly and stood ready, with her spear leveled at him.  He assumed a fighting stance and focused his thoughts. 
Kelsey, your ‘shaman’ might be a little distracted in a moment. If you see an opportunity, seize it.
  The Artemise jabbed her spear at him and he twisted out of its way, grabbed the shaft just behind the spear point and pulled it toward him, bringing the guard along with it.  “Time to go, men!” he screamed as he angled the spear and shoved its end back into the woman’s jaw, causing her to release her hold on the weapon.  He could hear the other men clamoring over one another to get through the now open cage door at his back.

He reversed the spear in his grip and sent the edge biting into the woman’s belly.  He pulled the spear free and turned to see Gant had dispatched the other guard and retrieved her spear.  The other men were running in all directions for freedom, but the crux of them were about to be confronted by more Artemise responding to the earlier cry of alarm.  Things did not look too good for all those unarmed prisoners.  “Gant! This way!” Venil called.

Earlier, when he’d scoped out the camp, he had noticed that

one of the tents was more heavily guarded than the others.  He suspected that this was where Kelsey was being detained and that was where he and Gant were now headed.  Some might say that when attempting escape from a prison of any kind, it would be most wise not to run directly into an area heavily occupied by the enemy.  Some might have a point.

Venil and Gant dealt with the first three Artemise they encountered handily enough that Venil began wondering what it was that Gant had called a profession before he was captured by these wild women.  When four more spear-wielding women cropped up behind those first three and their compatriots arrived behind Venil and Gant, cutting off any means of egress, the two knew that escape was not in their immediate future, no matter how great the desire.

Any luck?
he thought to Kelsey.

No,
came the clipped reply.

Me neither.
  He dropped the spear and raised his manacled hands above his head as Gant did the same. 

~

Some good had come of the attempt, at least, Venil thought as he lay curled in a ball inside the cage, clutching his dislocated jaw with one trembling hand.  Some of the men who had not stayed with the main group had escaped into the wilderness.  With any luck, they would not be recaptured.  At least some of the men now tasted freedom.  An even larger number of men had been slain, either during the escape attempt or afterward as acts of retribution.  As the instigators, Venil and Gant had both been beaten severely and then tossed back into their cage with the other survivors.  Venil coughed weakly and spat blood into the dirt.  “Sorry about that,” he told Gant, who was lying prone a few feet away on the cold, hard ground.

“That’s okay,” he responded.  “I knew what I was getting into.”

A welcome unconsciousness rolled over Venil on the wave of his new friend’s forgiveness.

~

“Wake up.” Venil heard drops of water plopping onto metal above him.  “Come on, wake up. We do have little time.” Venil opened his eyes and saw an unfamiliar face swim into focus above him.  Then he realized the sound he had heard was not water on metal, but this woman snapping her slender fingers in front of his face to get his attention.

“Who?” he began, wondering what this woman was doing in the cage.  Had the Artemise moved him while he was out of it?

“We have no time for introductions,” she said.  “Not if you want to get out of here with the rest of them.  Can you stand?”

Venil sat up, clutching his jaw in one hand.  “Might be easier if I had both hands, but I think I can manage.”

The woman looked to Gant, who was struggling to stand as well.  “Hold still.”

Gant looked a question at the woman and then, thinking better of putting it into words, did as requested.  Venil watched as the woman tore a long strip of cloth from the bottom of her shirt, revealing part of a taut, tanned abdomen of which he knew he would like to see more at some other time.  Taking the strip of shirt in one hand, the woman twirled it round until it was one piece of wound up cloth and tied it around Venil’s head, so that it held his dislocated jaw in place.  “That will have to do for now,” she told him.  “We will take better care of it later.”

She turned toward the open cage door and looked back at the gathered men before stepping through it.  “Follow me, and be very quiet.”

As they crept out the door, Venil noted the still form of the Artemise guard on the ground.  He did not see any blood, so he assumed the woman was merely unconscious.  He hoped that when she awoke it was with a dreadful headache.  They made their way around the cage, and he could see that the other two cages had already been emptied of their prisoners.  Good to know that this was a tried and true method of escape.  They followed the woman out of the camp and down the hill upon which it was based. 

Venil did not want to leave without Kelsey, but he knew that he would be of little use to her in his current condition.  And it seemed this mystery woman had some knowledge of the Artemise camp.  Perhaps she might aid in his rescue of Kelsey, once he was clear of the camp.  Kelsey should be safe for another few days, in any case.

As he followed the woman and the other freed men through the wilds of the wasteland, Venil tried contacting Kelsey, but found he could not establish communication with her.  He knew the Artemise would not have killed the girl before fulfilling the requirements of their lunar ritual, so he figured he must be out of range of her abilities.  Trudging through the wilderness, he admired the muscular movements of the mystery woman’s body from the rear.  Her legs, what he could see of them in the moonlight, were toned and well-formed and seemed to stretch forever until reaching that pleasant curve between them and her back.

This area, too, was fit, and Venil felt a stirring of lust that made him envious of the woman’s tight breeches.  A loose shirt, torn along the bottom, covered her upper half, but Venil suspected if he were lucky enough to see it removed, he would find what was underneath to be as well maintained as the rest of her.  Her dark hair spilled down past her shoulders, stretching to the small of her back.  It had been a while, but Venil was not starved for a woman.  For this woman, however, he was ravenous.  And yet, he was currently in no condition to act upon these feelings, however intense they might be.

The group plodded down a grassy mound and trailing behind the woman, came to the opening of a cave.  “We should be safe in here until morning,” she told them.  “You will find clothing of assorted sizes just inside.”  Then she stood aside, observing as the men began filing into the rocky recess.   

After finding a set of clothing that fit, rather loosely, Venil sidled up to the woman and for a time, stood next to her watching the other men.  Then he turned to her, trying to smile and failing miserably thanks to his dislocated jaw.  “Never did get your name.”

She gave him a funny look, then noticed his jaw.  “Oh, right,” she said, holding up a finger.  “Wait here. We will get you fixed up right quick.”  She turned toward the stream of men, from which Gant had stepped forth when he saw Venil standing to one side.  The woman pointed to Gant as she neared him.  “You know this man, do you not?”

Gant looked to Venil and nodded at the woman.

“Come with me, please.”  She led him to Venil and then looked to the wounded man.  “I am going to pop your jaw back into place,” she told Venil.  “It is going to hurt. Quite a bit.”

Venil nodded his understanding.

“I do not want to get hurt by any thrashing around,” she said, turning to Gant.  “You need to hold his arms.  He looks like a tough guy, but I would rather not take any chances.”

Gant stood behind Venil, locking the man’s arms in a hold. 

The woman removed the cloth from around Venil’s head and jaw, holding the loose jaw in one hand.  Once that was done, with her free hand she gripped the side of his head, reaching her splayed fingers back for support.  “Okay, big guy. On three. And I would appreciate it if you do not spit at me.”  Her grip on his jaw tightened.  “One, two . .  .”

She pushed the loose side of the jaw upward, scraping bone against bone until the jaw snicked into place with an ear shattering pop.  Venil did not hear it, though he certainly felt it.  He screamed in agony and strained his arms against the locked limbs of the shirtless Gant.  The pain lessened by degrees until it faded entirely and his swimming vision returned.

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, to be sure that the jaw worked as it should.  Then he managed a smile.  “Thank you,” he said.  “For the jaw and the rescue.”

She patted Venil on the shoulder as Gant relinquished his hold on the other man’s arms.  “You are welcome, big guy.”

“My name is Venil.” He reached a hand out to rest on Gant’s shoulder.  “And this is Gant. Who do we have the pleasure of thanking for our rescue?”

“You may call me Raelynn.”

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Raelynn,” said Gant.

    “And a bit of pain for me,” joked Venil.  “Raelynn, you seem practiced at this rescue. Is it something you have had experience with before?”

She nodded.  “You are not the first prisoners I have freed from a Artemise camp.”

“Then perhaps you can be of further assistance.”

She looked at Venil.  “Your freedom and health are not enough?”

Venil reached a hand to the back of his neck.  “In the camp, there is a young girl I would like to free.”

She looked him over.  “Keep it in your pants, Venil. You will live longer.”

“No,” he objected.  “It is not like that.”

“Daughter?”

“No. She was charged to my care. I was leading her and another to Solara when we were captured.”

“And this other?”

“An initiate from Idastil. She was killed when we were taken.”

“I too, head for Solara. That is where I am taking these men. Give me her name and I will carry the news for you.”

“The initiate’s name is Jade.”

“And the girl?”

“Will be rescued. You do not need her name.”

“Look, I know this may be difficult for you to hear, but I have a responsibility to these men. I have to get them safely to Solara and I can’t jeopardize that by going after your ‘charge.’ Just give me her name. I will tell the elders in Solara that she is dead. And if she is not already dead, she soon will be. Or worse yet, if she is young enough, they may raise her as one of their own.”

“We both are headed for the same destination. What could it hurt to join forces?” He crossed his arms.  A vast silence bridged the gap between them.  “If you will not help me, then I will do it on my own.”  He stared into her aquamarine eyes.  At any other time, he might find them entrancing.

She crossed her arms under her ample breasts and raised her eyebrows.

“There is something else,” he admitted under her questing. “She is a Senser. In three days, the eve of the Artemise lunar ritual shall come to pass. She will be sacrificed and Solara will feel the loss. We must save her.”

She frowned at Venil, uncrossing her arms.  He could tell he had found a soft spot in her tough veneer, though she continued to act otherwise.  “What makes you think I care for the welfare of the cities?”