Warrior (29 page)

Shrugging, he directed his gaze at the base of the wall. “Nothing, really. I just suspect that you’re used to better food than we eat. Compared to us, you’re royalty.”

Elyssa flinched. Royalty? Arxad had already accused her of acting like a queen. Was she being too bossy? Too self-assured? Since she was so thin because of her stay in the dungeon, Wallace couldn’t possibly think she was well-fed. He must have had a different reason for calling her royalty, maybe her penchant for skipping steps. She needed to be more careful.

She looked at the ground. “Let’s keep moving.”

Shielded above by arching branches, he bent low and scuffled through the undergrowth, pushing his finger through the gaps in the vines to test the blocks of stone at the bottom. After testing three blocks, he stopped. “Here it is.”

While Elyssa stooped next to him, he pulled a few thorny vines to the side, braced his feet against a root, and pushed a knee-high foundation stone with his hands. As he grunted, his face turned red. “It’s not as loose as before. I guess it hasn’t been used in a while.”

Elyssa knelt close and added her weight. The stone slowly gave way, leaving behind a low hole, perhaps two-feet square. Elyssa lowered her head to the opening. Since the stone was still in the way, wiggling through while continuing to shove would be quite a chore. “This won’t be easy.”

“It’s loosened up now,” Wallace said. “We’re stronger than Koren and I were back then. We should be able to do it.”

Elyssa began unfastening Wallace’s sword with one hand. “You go first and push it the rest of the way. When you’re clear, I’ll reach your sword through.”

Wallace grinned. “You remind me of Koren. She wasn’t shy about telling me what to do.”

Elyssa tried to return his smile, but it wilted. His remark felt like yet another jab at her queenly behavior.

Wallace dropped to his belly and, digging in with his elbows, crawled through the opening. After nearly a minute of muffled grunts, he called from the other side. “I’m clear.”

After passing the sword to him, she belly-crawled through the hole. When she reached the other side, he pointed with his sword and nodded. “That way.”

As they jogged into the wall-enclosed landscape, Wallace slightly in front, Elyssa measured the area with her mind. The vine-covered wall extended both ways about a mile and curved to form an ellipse. The opposite wall stood about a mile and a half across the way, easily visible over the flat expanse of pebbly terrain and dry grass. The dead body they had seen from the top of the wall during their last visit was now gone.

A few trees dotted the area, but only a sparse collection of leaves hung on each one. They seemed as starved as the cattle children likely were. Elyssa rubbed her thumb and finger together. Water ran somewhere nearby, likely the stream they had seen from the wall earlier, but it wasn’t in sight now.

Wallace explained the children’s duties. As she had seen in the mesa, the pheterone miners cut out stones, and mining children piled them on rafts and sent them floating on the stream. When the raft entered the cattle camp through a gateway in the wall, the cattle children collected the stones in pails, and, as the raft floated along, they hauled the stones to the stream’s exit from the camp. There they dumped the stones back onto the raft, and it departed through another gateway.

Elyssa fumed.
Pure evil.
The dragons designed this useless labor as a way to strengthen the toughest children while killing the weaker ones. These human beings were lower than cattle in the dragons’ eyes.

Soon the stream came into view, flowing left to right. Dozens of children milled about between the water and a ten-foot- high mound of dirt. They appeared to range from about three to maybe ten years old, walking aimlessly as they looked up at the sky with dull, vacant expressions. Smeared with dirt and blood, nearly all had narrow, bare chests, and the older ones wore ragged short trousers while the younger ones wore loin cloths or nothing at all.

With only two skinny trees separating her from the pathetic little slaves, a strange sense of exposure made Elyssa shiver. While she spent years in relative luxury, these half-naked children suffered in cruel bondage, lacking food, suffering lashes, and uselessly hoisting stones half their size, day after day after day with no hope for release from their torture.

Elyssa slowed to a halt, laid her arms over her chest, and wept. As she watched the suffering playing out before her eyes, suddenly she was the naked one. In all her dungeon daydreams about this journey to the dragon planet, the slaves had been smiling, grateful, even awed at her heroic feats. But this …

Stripped of the pride that she would be a valiant rescuer, shame replaced her snobbery. With her soul undressed, it seemed that every emotion spilled out with her flowing tears.

Wallace stopped and looked back at her. “It breaks your heart, doesn’t it?”

“And a lot more.” She wiped the tears with a thumb. “Let’s get these kids out of here.”

A small girl, maybe six years old, ran toward them, staying quiet as she glanced several times at the children behind her. When she arrived, naked from the waist up and just as dirty as the others, she whispered, “Have you come to take us out of here?”

“Yes,” Wallace said. “How did you know?”

“A woman swore that she would rescue us.” The girl pointed at Elyssa. “She’s about your size, only her hair doesn’t go past her shoulders, and she’s more muscular.”

Elyssa imagined a more toned version of herself. The only picture that came to mind was the sword maiden anyone in Mesolantrum would think about if given the same description. “Was her name Marcelle?”

The girl’s brow shot up into her jagged bangs. “So she
did
send you!”

Elyssa looked at Wallace. “Marcelle is one of the believers from back home. I knew she was trying to get here, and she fits the description.” She laid a hand on the girl’s sun-bronzed shoulder. “What’s your name?”

“Erin. But only my friends call me that. Most of the bigger ones just call me Dirt Squirt.”

Elyssa tried to smile, but the girl’s pathetic visage made it impossible. Her hair, braided into a matted, dirty rope, swung like a mongrel’s tail across her back, brushing at least five whip marks, two still red and angry.

“Well, Erin,” Elyssa said, swiping at another emerging tear, “we
are
here to rescue you.” She looked up at the sky. “Are any dragons around?”

“One. He said everyone else is locked down, so we don’t have to work. Now we’re all just waiting for food, but it might take a long time, because most of the dragons are busy hunting for someone.” Erin’s face contorted into a worried frown. “Could they be hunting for Marcelle?”

“I don’t know, Erin.” Elyssa stooped in front of her. “Can you help me get everyone organized? We should leave right away.”

The girl turned toward the other children. “Some might trust you, but not all will. Whenever we try to escape, someone gets cooked. Thad burned just yesterday.”

A boy writhing in flames pierced Elyssa’s thoughts, but she quickly pushed the image out. Crying again wouldn’t help. “Don’t they all have to come? If any stay behind, won’t they risk getting the same punishment Thad received?”

Erin nodded. “But I’ve been thinking about it. I have a plan.”

Suppressing a grin, Elyssa looked the girl in the eye. “What’s your plan?”

“Just follow me and watch.” Erin strode back to the group, her arms rigid at her sides.

Elyssa and Wallace followed several paces back, though still within earshot. When Erin rejoined the others, she pointed at the two would-be rescuers. “Since the dragons are busy,” Erin said, “we’re supposed to go with them to get food.”

One of the older boys eyed Wallace suspiciously. “Why does he have a sword?”

Erin shrugged. “The dragons are gone, so I guess he’s supposed to protect us.”

“Why did they tell you and not the rest of us?”

Tilting her head upward, she pointed at his nose. “Listen, you can stand here all day asking questions, but I’m going to get some food.” With that, she marched toward Wallace and Elyssa, using the same tight-armed gait, but a smile wrinkled her lips as she drew closer.

Behind her, the older boy waved his arm. “Come on. Let’s see what Dirt Squirt’s up to.”

As the children began to fall into line, a boy near the back pointed at the sky and shouted, “Nancor is coming!”

Elyssa hissed at Wallace. “Quick! Hide your sword! I’ll see what I can do to confuse him.”

While she opened her hand, a big dragon closed in, his wings beating fiercely as he slowed his body for landing. Adding a roar to the whipping wind, he touched down and trotted to a stop. “Who are you?” he shouted.

The children backed away from Elyssa and Wallace, staring with wary eyes. While Wallace held the sword behind his back, Elyssa stalked straight to the dragon and held the sphere close to his snout. “I am Elyssa. We have never met before.”

Nancor blinked several times. “Why are you showing me that shining stone?”

She fought the influence. It was strong, but she had to win. “It’s a gem of some kind. I heard dragons crave them, so I thought you might like to see it.”

As Elyssa waved her hand back and forth, Nancor’s head swayed with it, and his voice slowed. “It is an odd specimen.”

She glanced back at Wallace. He crept toward the dragon, the sword still hidden behind his back. This time he had figured out her plan without hearing all the steps, but would it work? Dizziness flooded her senses. She couldn’t keep the sphere exposed much longer, but she had to make sure he was fully hypnotized.

“Yes, it is rare, I think.” Elyssa took another step closer. “Tell me, how many children have you killed while on guard here?”

“I have not counted. They are vermin. Not worthy of the time it would take to keep track.”

“Can you guess?”

“Perhaps twelve. Usually the weakest ones. They would die anyway.”

Now within breathing distance of the dragon’s nostrils, she spoke in a chant-like cadence. “Keep looking, dragon. Drink in its beauty. Absorb its energy.”

Nancor stared at the sphere, his eyes completely glazed over, but he said nothing.

“I think he’s ready.” Backing away slowly, Elyssa looked at Wallace. “If I leave with the sphere, he might snap out of it.”

“Well, I can’t hold that thing.”

“Let’s try this.” She set the sphere on the ground. The moment it touched, it began to sizzle and throw off sparks.

“Uh, oh.” Wallace waved an arm. “Get out! Quick! He’s blinking.”

She turned and bolted toward the children, staggering as she ran. She set a hand on the two closest shoulders and whisper shouted, “Come! Everyone! Now!”

As she herded them toward the hole in the wall, she listened for Wallace but heard nothing. She resisted the urge to look back. Maybe he was delaying as long as he could to make sure everyone got out safely before he risked a stab. If he merely awakened the dragon from his stupor and couldn’t deliver a fatal blow, this escape attempt would end before they reached the wall. Then again, maybe the dragon had killed him.

When they arrived at the wall, she stooped next to the hole. “Erin, be brave and go first. I’ll come through last.”

“I think going last is braver.” Erin dropped to all fours and scooted through the opening. Then the others followed in single file. Elyssa stayed in her crouch, urging each child to scamper in as quickly as possible. Most scooted along the dry soil without a sound. A few of the youngest children cried, but they responded to Elyssa’s soothing words.

Finally, after the last child crawled through, Elyssa stood and allowed herself a glance toward the stream. Wallace ran toward her, his sword drawn. When he arrived, he showed her the blood-stained blade. “That’s one dragon who won’t be bothering children anymore.”

She gazed toward the stream. A dark lump marred the otherwise flat terrain. It seemed odd to feel remorse over the death of a murderous slaver, but the feeling swept through her all the same. This rescue mission had now become a bloody, life-and-death reality.

“Go ahead.” Wallace nodded at the hole. “We can’t keep them waiting.”

Her arms trembling, Elyssa elbow-crawled through the hole again. When she emerged on the other side, one of the bigger boys grabbed her wrist and helped her rise.

“Thank you.” She motioned for everyone to huddle low. Putting on a confident expression, she whispered, “Everyone must stay quiet. Nancor won’t bother us, but the other dragons still might.”

She looked back at the hole. Still no Wallace. While she brushed her elbows clean, she made a quick count of the cattle children. With their wide eyes staring at the trees, their bare skin exposed to potentially prying eyes from above, and their emaciated frames painting the portrait of starved war refugees, they seemed more pitiful than ever.

When she finished counting, she mumbled the total. “Forty-one.” How could they get this many children to the wilderness without being seen? And what if the younger ones made too much noise?

Wallace emerged from the hole and skulked to their huddle. “So far, so good.”

“What took you so long?” Elyssa asked.

He lifted a key, pinched between his thumb and finger. “I went back and found this. Nancor had it embedded between two scales.”

She glanced at the dozens of emaciated bodies surrounding her. “The bin?” she whispered.

“That’s what I’m hoping, but we can’t have a riot. Take them to the forest while I see if this works.”

Elyssa rose and, pressing a finger to her lips, spoke to the children in a hushed tone. “We’re leaving this place now, but we have to be very quiet until we get where we’re going.”

A little girl, barely more than a toddler, held a hand against her belly. “Is there anything to eat there?”

Elyssa pushed her fingers through the girl’s tangled black hair, and glanced back at Wallace. He had unlocked the bin and thrown open the lid. “We will eat soon. I promise.” Then, taking the girl’s hand, she bent over and walked into the undergrowth, wading through thick heather and ducking under low branches. She glanced behind her from time to time to check on the rest of her newfound brood. Although exposed to the prickly branches, they pushed through the obstacles, apparently ignoring the minor scratches.