The portstone came out of the wall with a little prying, and when I started homeward, I discovered I was only a couple of miles above Serl. Lius and Geremos were waiting for me, and by the next evening we'd perfected our plan.
We assembled at the old fort the next midday, loaded down with weapons and firebombs and dressed in uniform black. This time Geremos had been prevailed upon to take the special mask; he'd need the extra stealth for this assignment. I watched him out of the corner of my eye while Lius fixed the portstone to a wall. He stood proudly erect, bristling with anticipation; every wrinkle and age spot erased by the magic of the mask. But I knew how old he was, and I couldn't help worrying about him. Geremos might be a warrior, but he was a senior citizen, too, his other body already half-crippled by arthritis. If there had been any way to make him stay behind, I would have used it--and so, I thought, would Lius. But for this assault we needed as much backup as we could get, and the old man wouldn't have passed on an opportunity like this in any case.
"Ready?" Lius asked, and the two of us nodded. He drew his sword, then activated the portal and stepped through with Geremos and me right behind.
Orcs aren't exactly allergic to sunlight, but they are nocturnal creatures, and bright light hurts their eyes. Therefore, we weren't surprised to find the midday sentries in the portstone chamber rather than at the gate. Lius had already dispatched the first one and was hard at work on the second by the time I made it through the portal. But just as he drew his arm back for the killing blow, Geremos skewered the orc from behind. "Trying to outdo me already, eh?" the younger man grinned. He was in full "Zorro" mode now, as cocky as he'd been when I first saw him.
"What do you mean, 'trying'?" his grandfather answered smartly. "Taught you everything I know, and this is the thanks I get!" He turned to me and winked, then started up the tunnel, leaving Lius to dig the portstone out of the wall. I shrugged and hurried after him.
Soon the torchlight faded, replaced by shadowy daylight as we made our way toward the cave mouth. The two men eased carefully along the walls, trusting their masks to conceal what their bodies revealed, while I took to the ceiling as before.
"This isn't good," Lius whispered, as we came within sight of the entrance. We'd expected to find the valley deserted, but there was still a skeleton crew at the pits--and presumably children within them.
"Half-orcs," Geremos nodded grimly. "They haven't just been using those kids as slaves; they've been breeding with them." I closed my eyes and groaned, and he laid a hand on my shoulder. "Are you all right, Kyriel?"
"I will be," I growled, clenching my fists. My hand ached for the dagger, but it was too soon to change. "This is going to make it a lot harder to get all the children together," I said, trying to distract myself from the other issue.
Lius nodded, his mood tempered by my obvious pain. "We've just got to save as many of them as we can. Hopefully, most of them are in their cave. Kyriel, you take the portstone and fly over first; we'll take the long way around the rim."
"Wait," Geremos objected. "She'll be seen without a mask."
Lius saw what was coming and tore off his own disguise before either of us could move. "Here, Kyriel," he said firmly, and thrust it into my hand. I nodded and took it just as quickly -- before Geremos could offer me his.
"I'll bring it back as soon as the kids are safe," I promised. Then I took off for the far rim, flying close to the wall to maximize my camouflage.
This time the children's cave was guarded--a good sign, I thought. It meant, first of all, that there were enough kids inside to make it worth the effort; and second, that they probably weren't chained. I swooped down low over the top of the cave, still wearing my human shape. This was no time for the Fury; that form limited me to a dagger, and I had to take out both orcs at once to avoid raising an alarm. Carefully I drew the broadsword Geremos had loaned me, its weight dragging me down the moment it left the scabbard. It was an unwieldy weapon at best, and from this angle, almost impossible to use; but it was also the only thing I had that could take off two heads with one swing. Praying the children would all be asleep, I raised the sword over my shoulder and swung it like a baseball bat.
It was a completely unprofessional move, but it did the trick. I caught the first orc at an angle across his jaw, shearing off the top of his cranium, then swung on through and took the next one at eye level. Two bodies slumped to the ground, their scalps in a puddle beside them.
Then came a muffled shriek from within, and a series of cries and moans. So much for the kids being asleep. Sighing, I dropped to the ground and turned to face them, spreading my arms wide and doing my best to look harmless. "It's all right, it's all right," I soothed, glancing around at the sea of dirty faces. There were nearly fifty children there, ranging in age from about five to fourteen years, huddled together in a single frightened mass. Most looked gaunt and ill, and a few of the oldest girls were pregnant. The one quality they all shared was a pair of dazed, despairing eyes. "I'm going to get you out of here," I told them, smiling helpfully, but I received only blinks in return. The only movement came from a few of the little ones, who hugged one another for comfort.
"I'm here to rescue you," I tried again, and shot a nervous glance back outside. There was no telling how long it would take the pit orcs to realize something was wrong. "You--" I pointed to an adolescent boy whose eyes were less glazed than the others. "Do you know what this is?" He flinched as I held out my hand, then gasped. I was holding out the portstone.
"That--" he started slowly, his voice a rasp, "that's what they used to bring us here -- isn't it?" Then he started to cry, and I almost broke down myself as the hope seeped back into his face.
"That's right," I answered, and slapped it into the wall. "Now I need your help to get everyone out of here."
While the oldest kids coaxed the youngest through the portal, I busied myself by standing the dead orcs on their feet and propping them up with their spears. It wasn't a perfect charade, but it was the best I could do. Hopefully, the half-orcs outside would be too busy to notice their comrades had lost a few inches off the top. "Keep moving, keep moving," I urged, patting the kids on the back and scooting them toward the open portal. But they cringed at my touch, and it didn't take me long to realize that the worst thing I could do was lay a hand on them.
Three-fourths of the children were gone by the time the alarm sounded. Even though I knew it was bound to happen, I couldn't help groaning as I drew my sword and rushed for the entrance. And there I stopped. The orcs weren't coming for us; they were pouring toward the eastern rim of the valley, which was already engulfed in flame. Lius and Geremos! I thought. They'd been discovered--and I still had Lius' mask!
But even as I started toward them, I remembered the pits. The half-orcs were all heading toward the battle, and they might have left children unattended. I could do the same, and hope they'd be all right until I was able to return; but I'd seen how quickly the kids were overcome by the pits' fumes. Left untended, they might very well die down there. I couldn't let that happen, no matter what else I did or didn't do. Moaning, I turned away from my friends and raced toward the pits.
There were kids there, all right--nine in all, in two separate pits. Three were already unconscious by the time I hauled them up, and two more were too weak to stand. Desperately I worked to get them moving, conscripting the most alert to be crutches for their peers. But every straggling step seemed like ten, and not a single moment passed without my glancing toward the battle on the rim. Lius and Geremos can take care of themselves, I told myself over and over. They're duals and they're warriors, and each of those bombs can take out twenty orcs if it's thrown right. But more orcs were pouring out of their holes by the second, and the firepower would have to run out sometime.
When we finally reached the cave I all but slung the kids through the portal. Then the Fury exploded out of me and I exploded out of the cave without taking time to remove the portstone. In fact, I was so frantic that I barely noticed Lius' mask shredding around my head. I'd forgotten to take it off before I changed. It was too late to worry about that now, though.
It looked like every orc and half-orc in the valley had converged on the short eastern rim. The piles of flaming corpses slowed them down, but orcs weren't picky; they just swarmed over the top and kept coming. Worse yet, a small group had picked their way along the cliff walls and were positioning themselves to attack the two Zorros from behind.
Lius was struck just before I could reach him. Focused on the orc at his sword-tip, he never saw the demon bearing down from above. Only a shift in weight saved him from losing his head entirely, but even so, it was a terrible wound. He crumpled and his attacker bellowed in triumph.
I had thought I was flying as fast as I could, but when I saw Lius fall, my speed seemed to double. I barreled into the orc with such force that my dagger not only pierced its chest, but even the rock behind it. I yanked the blade free and whirled around, fearful of what I might find.
Lius was alive, but the severity of his wound even made me ill. He couldn't last long in that condition, I knew, but somehow he still retained a shred of consciousness. "Geremos," he whispered, and motioned feebly with his hand. I followed his finger and saw the older man, still lobbing firebombs with one hand and shredding orcs with the other. He shot me a brief, anguished look and shouted, "Help us, Kyriel -- keep fighting!"
If anything, his fear for Lius had made him even fiercer; I'd never seen a warrior of any age who could swing like that. I glanced at Lius again and my resolve hardened. Geremos was right; if there was any chance to save him, we had to finish the battle quickly and get help.
The rage and desperation I felt then was more intense than anything I'd ever experienced. It blasted out of me in a cloud of solid black, washing over the orcs and blinding them en masse. From within the darkness came shouts of confusion, then the clash of weapons as they turned on one another in their terror. Geremos caught the spirit and began to race around the outer edges, slashing at anything that broke free; and I swooped down from above and punctured skulls.
The pickings were easy, but not quick. Our minds were fixed on Lius, the one we'd never expected to get hurt at all; and each orc that died bought him another chance at life. Or so we hoped -- we were so desperate to finish the battle, that we couldn't spare a glance to be sure he still was alive. Finally the last orc toppled and we rushed toward him together, our lips moving in tandem prayers.
Lius was unconscious now, his face pale as sand, his breathing shallow and ragged. "We've got to get him to a healer," I gasped. "I'll bring the stone over here so we can transport him back to the Tip."
"No, wait --" Geremos threw up a hand. "If you do that, we'll waste time at the other end trying to carry him overland to the hospital. You go through the portal alone, then take the other stone to the hospital and bring a healer back."
I shot off without another word.
The healer, a middleaged woman with a face like a fireplug, wanted to argue; but I hustled her through the portal with a minimum of speech. She understood the moment she stepped out of the cave, anyway, and broke into a run toward the eastern rim.
It didn't take me long to outdistance her, and I threw myself down at Geremos' side while she was still a couple of hundred yards away. The old man was still bent over his grandson, crying and praying and cradling his limp hand. I thought Lius was dead until Geremos looked up at me with an expression both strained and hopeful. "Is that her?" he asked, glancing toward the bustling healer. She was halfway here now.
"That's her," I said. "Dammit, I should have brought the first portstone over here before I left."
Geremos hung his head and nodded, acknowledging that he hadn't thought of this, either. Then his eyes moved on to his grandson, and finally up again to me. "Maybe it's best you got here before she did," he said after a long moment. "Lius wouldn't want to be seen without his mask, you know. I thought of putting mine on him, but--" he winced-- "I'm not sure it's safe to touch him. Do you think...?" and here he trailed off helplessly.
"Of course," I answered. I stretched out my hand, letting the shadows flow once more, and they closed around Lius' head in the shape of a mask.
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