Demontech: Rally Point: 2 (Demontech Book 2) (35 page)

Haft and Silent looked at each other and shook their heads.

The Golden Girl approached with more dignity than Doli had. She spared Spinner and Doli a dismissive glance and planted herself in front of Haft and Silent. Others eagerly began to gather about.

“Are you going to tell us what happened,” Alyline asked softly, “or are you just going to watch her slaver all over him?”

Haft turned his face aside, glad it was still night and she couldn’t see the red he felt spreading over his face. “Ah, yes, tell you. Well, we set out to hurt them and we did.”

Alyline cocked her head, the mocking expression on her face not quite discernable in the moonlight. “That’s it? You hurt them? There’s nothing more to tell?”

Haft sighed. He darted a glance at Spinner, still trying vainly to free himself from Doli’s close attentions. “All right. Get everybody together and we’ll tell you.” He looked directly at Spinner and Doli. “Maybe by the time everyone is gathered, she’ll release her prisoner so he can help us tell about the raid.”

Alyline nodded sharply. “Go over there.” She pointed at the place he stood earlier that afternoon when he challenged the people to defy their despair.

“Yes, mistress,” Haft said to her back as she went off to gather the people. He looked up at Silent. “What do you think, should we try to rescue him?”

The giant slowly shook his head. “There are a few very important truths a man must know if he wants to survive in this world. One of them is never stand between a woman and the man she wants, even if he doesn’t want her.”

Haft shook his head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with that man; the only thing wrong with Doli is her dislike for me. Let’s go.” He signaled Xundoe and the four Bloody Axes and led the way to the place Alyline had assigned to them.

It was still before dawn, but everyone was up and gathered in front of Haft and the other six raiders. Few looked at them—most looked through the shadows at Spinner, who was still locked in place by Doli. Someone tittered. Doli looked manically about, saw everyone looking, and looked like she desperately wanted to be somewhere else.

Spinner took advantage of her distraction to walk briskly to Haft’s side. Haft leered at him and Spinner shook his head in embarrassment.

“All right,” Haft said loudly, turning to the crowd. “We’re back from the raid—all of us, as you can see, and uninjured. The Jokapcul can’t say the same.” Wild cheering stopped him and he smiled in openmouthed pleasure.

“Are guards posted?” Spinner asked as soon as the cheering dropped off enough for him to be heard.

“You left me in command,” Fletcher answered. “You know there are.”

“Thank you, Fletcher.” Spinner looked to his side, at Xundoe, and continued, “We owe our success to our mage and the demons he controls. He used imps, phoenix eggs, and the hodekin to set traps for the Jokapcul when Haft lured them into attacking us. We have Xundoe to thank for the Lalla Mkouma that allowed Haft to make a foray to the edge of the Jokapcul camp without being seen, and allowed four of us to close on them when they searched for us in the forest.” Then he described the night’s work in greater detail. Xundoe told some of how he booby-trapped and mined the fence and the area just beyond it. Haft reported in lurid and slightly exaggerated detail what he did on the Jokapcul side of the fence. Balta, the Bloody Axe who had stayed with them, Lalla Mkouma on his shoulder, gave an account of the one-sided fight in the forest. The other Bloody Axes also contributed to the telling. Alyline, Doli, Zweepee, and Nightbird translated for those who didn’t speak the languages the stories were told in.

When they were finished a man called out, “Did you hurt them badly enough to make them go away? We still have people held by them.”

Spinner and Haft quickly looked at each other, uncertain how to reply. Silent spoke up before either of them could.

“The only way to hurt the Jokapcul that badly is to kill all of them. Or at least kill all of their officers. We did neither. But I think we
did
hurt them badly enough that they are now afraid of us.”

“So how do we rescue the rest of our people from them?” a woman asked.

No one had a ready answer.

It was past noon when Spinner and Haft woke. Doli was kneeling by Spinner’s side, where she’d spent the hours of his sleep. He groaned and rolled away from her, insisting his sleep had been too poor for him to want to see anybody yet, but she fussed over him and insisted on feeding him. He allowed her to fetch a meal for him. When she was gone he turned a pained expression at Haft and groaned out, “Why does she pester me? Can’t she tell I don’t want her?”

Haft grinned, his sleep had been sound and he was feeling much more refreshed. “She wants you for the same reason Alyline doesn’t. You freed her from slavery.”

Spinner groggily shook his head. “That makes no sense.”

“Sure it does. Doli looks at you and remembers you freed her from slavery. She’s grateful. Alyline looks at you and remembers that you freed
her
from slavery. That brings back all the bad memories.” He shrugged. “It’s obvious.”

“Then why do they dislike you?”

“Ah, that’s different! Alyline dislikes me for the same reason she dislikes you. Doli dislikes me because before I knew she was a slave, I treated her like a common tavern wench.” He turned his gaze to the wall of the valley beyond which lay the ruins of Eikby. “Not all women who work in taverns and inns are as friendly as Maid Marigold and Maid Primrose,” he added wistfully.

Spinner snorted. “You didn’t treat Maid Marigold like a common tavern wench, that’s why she liked you.”

Haft didn’t answer right away. He was lost in thought, still looking beyond the valley wall. When he did, he spoke softly. “I wonder if they’re still alive.”

Doli returned just then and insisted on feeding him with her own hands.

“What about me?” Haft asked when he noticed. “Don’t I get breakfast?”

Doli ignored him. Spinner tried to say something, but Doli shoved a spoon into his mouth.

“Well, maybe there’s some food around here someplace for one of last night’s heroes,” Haft said as he stood. “Some people!” he said with a grin and a shake of his head as he walked away. A couple of minutes later someone handed him a bowl of stew and a hunk of bread and he settled under a tree to eat it. When he was through eating he went in search of the Golden Girl.

“Did you have fun last night?” she asked with a sneer when he told her he wanted to talk about the Jokapcul in the remains of Eikby.

He answered more politely than she expected. “ ‘Fun’ isn’t a good word here. In combat you’re trying to kill people who are trying to kill you. That doesn’t qualify as ‘fun.’ But am I glad we did it? Am I satisfied? We all came back whole. They didn’t.” He nodded. “Yes, I’m glad and I’m satisfied. But it wasn’t fun.”

“So you’re not looking for an audience to gloat in front of?”

He shook his head. “I’m thinking about the people who didn’t get away in time, the ones who are captive.”

She cocked her head. “And what are you thinking?”

“A few weeks ago you were talking to a dyer and a tucker in Nightbird’s company about making a costume like your dancing clothing. You didn’t like the first outfit they came up with. Did they ever get it right?”

Her face went cold. “What does that have to do with the captive people?”

“I’m thinking of a diversion.”

“What
kind
of diversion?”

Haft knew he was on dangerous ground. “Whatever else we can say about the Jokapcul, they are men. All men react the same way when they see a beautiful, graceful woman. As long as I can look at you from a safe distance, you’re the most beautiful, most graceful woman I’ve ever seen and I love looking at you.” She opened her mouth, probably to make some scalding reply, but he hurried on. “If they can see you in your gold clothing, you can distract them enough for us to attack them and free the captives.”

“You’re not standing at a safe distance now.” Her hand lashed out at his face. He saw it coming but didn’t try to deflect or block the slap. She pulled her blow and merely caressed his cheek. “Spinner wouldn’t ask me to do that.”

“Spinner loves you.”

“And you don’t.”

“I’m not fool enough to love a woman to whom I bring bad memories.”

She flinched then gathered herself and looked at him speculatively. “You’ve changed. You wouldn’t have said that when you and Spinner saved us from The Burnt Man Inn.”

He shrugged, but not enough to disturb her hand where it still lay against his cheek—her touch surprised him, and it felt strangely good. “I was still just a pea on then. Now people depend on me the way they depend on Spinner. There are a lot of things I say now that I wouldn’t have said then.”

“But you’ll still do insane things that should get you killed.”

He grinned crookedly. “If I’m good enough, those things won’t kill me—and if they don’t kill me, they aren’t insane.”

She searched his eyes for a long moment, then said, “I will think about your proposal.” She lowered her hand and took a step back.

“Thank you.” He bowed and turned away.

“Haft.” He looked back at her voice. “I’m not saying yes, but even if I do I won’t dance. You know that.”

He looked at her blankly for a moment, then remembered. “Right. Your musician.”

She nodded. “Mudjwohl. A Djerwohl dancer and her sothar player are joined as soon as their training begins. She cannot dance without his music. Did you know that?”

He shook his head.

“I told Spinner.”

“Spinner doesn’t tell me everything that passes between the two of you.”

She shrugged. “I told him my dancing is my life. When you sent Mudjwohl off to Oskul with the others the night you kidnapped me, you ended my dancing.”

Haft grimaced. “We didn’t kidnap you, we rescued you. I’m sorry we didn’t know about Mudjwohl.”

“You have an excuse, but Spinner is Apianghian, the same as me. He should have known.
Pfagh!
Lowlanders, they are so
ignorant
of the people of the mountains.” She spun around and stalked off.

Half an hour later Haft, his favorite Zobran Border Ward-ers and two Zobran Light Horse, slipped out of the valley on horseback. Most of them were armed with close-combat weapons, only Birdwhistle carried his longbow. Haft carried a short sword in place of his axe—he wanted to evade the Jokapcul, not engage them, so they did not take the demon weapons that Xundoe had offered. If they were heavily armed, the temptation to attack a target of opportunity might be too great. Their route went around the toe of the mountains then headed east through the forest north of Eikby. After an hour they began encountering oddly tame ducks and geese with clipped wings, all honking unhappily as they wandered under the trees.

“The Jokapcul must not be tending the flocks,” Haft observed.

“Must be they dislike fowl,” Birdwhistle replied dryly. He licked his lips,
he
liked fowl.

Haft chuckled. “Maybe we can collect a few on our way back.”

Archer and Hunter licked their lips as well, they also liked fowl.

If Eikby’s food birds had wandered here, Haft judged they must be almost directly north of the town. Soon after they encountered the first stray birds he angled toward the south. A short while later they stopped and dismounted. Haft left the two Light Horsemen to hold the horses and led the Border Warders south on foot—if they had to come back in a hurry, he didn’t want to have to waste any time removing hobbles or unhitching horses.

They examined their surroundings carefully as they moved south through the forest. The Jokapcul weren’t known for their sentries’ ability to hide, but they sometimes used watch demons. The three Zobrans were keen-eyed, their ability to spot anything even slightly out of place in the forest honed by years of successful poaching before they accepted the prince’s pardon and joined the Border Warders. Haft wasn’t certain he could spot a watch-sprite’s telltale red eye before the demon spotted him, but he had full confidence in the Border Warders’ ability to do so.

They were closer to the northeast corner of Eikby’s clearing than they had realized, it only took a few minutes for them to reach the forest edge. Haft put Archer and Hunter in a position from which they could observe the distant activity in the clearing, then he and Birdwhistle backed into the trees and continued in a circle to the east side. He thought that since every contact the Jokapcul had with the company was to the south and west of the town, they’d be less alert to the east.

To the north, west, and south of Eikby, the forest was neatly cut back and the land between it and the town proper devoted to fields, orchards, and fowl herding. Haft knew the forest came closer to the town on the east side, but he was surprised to discover just how close. The forest didn’t have a distinct edge and the nearest burnt-out buildings were less than fifty yards away.

The Jokapcul had mounted a six-man guard post on the east road just inside the trees. It was a poor post; a sheet of green canvas was strung over a crown bar between trees to provide rudimentary shelter from rain. The trunk of a felled tree served as a bench. There was not even a hearth for the guards to cook on.

Haft lightly tapped his fingertips on the hilt of his short sword when he saw the guard post. The soldiers didn’t look very alert. If he wanted he thought he and his Border Warders could overrun them all in seconds.

Haft smiled grimly—this was
exactly
why they were so lightly armed. An attack on this guard post, even if it was completely successful, would alert the Jokapcul to watch their east flank more closely, and that would defeat the purpose of this reconnaissance. They scouted farther and found no other guards on this side of the clearing.

“If the guard post wasn’t there we could probably walk straight down the road into Eikby,” Haft whispered.

Birdwhistle gave him a startled look. “The town’s not there anymore,” he whispered back.

“You know what I mean, the ruins.” Haft peered intently into the ashes, charred timbers, and broken foundation stones that were all that remained of the town. Except for a few soldiers guarding prisoners who seemed to be searching through the ruins for anything usable, he couldn’t see any Jokapcul in the town. The tents of the Jokapcul camp were clustered close to the southwest corner of the town. A large pavilion with rolled-up sides was to the southwest of the camp. They were too far away for positive identification, but Haft thought he recognized one of the people moving around under the pavilion roof as Eikby’s healing magician—he was surprised at the idea of the Jokapcul treating their wounded. Then he thought they might have trouble getting reinforcements quickly and might need to heal those they had. Closer to where he and Birdwhistle watched was a large fenced area with unidentifiable objects lying flat on the ground. It was difficult to make out the activity east of the ruins, but they knew from earlier observations that some kind of construction was going on there. Far to the west they saw mounted Jokapcul patrols entering and leaving the forest.